POST IT NOTES
**We will be live with Rewind-A-Raw tonight at 11:05 p.m. ET with a recap of Raw and discussing a very busy weekend of news from professional wrestling.
**The next G1 Climax podcast will be released on Thursday with Eric Marcotte joining me to chat about Day 3 (Tuesday) and Day 4 (Thursday) on the POST Wrestling Café. Karen Peterson & Kate from Montreal will be doing a show on Sunday to cover Day 5 (Saturday) and Day 6 (Sunday).
**I did a TNA Slammiversary review this past Saturday for POST Wrestling Café members with my thoughts on the show and a rundown of the card from Montreal.
**The N.W.A. Podcast comes at you with a stacked, five-hour show with a big focus on the U.S. political landscape after the news that President Joe Biden will not seek re-election this November.
POST SCHEDULE
Tonight: Rewind-A-Raw with John Pollock & Wai Ting
Tuesday: upNXT with Braden Herrington & Davie Portman
Wednesday: Pollock & Thurston
Wednesday: Rewind-A-Dynamite with John Pollock & Andrew Thompson
Thursday: G1 Climax – Day 3 & 4 with John Pollock & Eric Marcotte (POST Wrestling Café)
Thursday: MCU L8R – “Deadpool 2” with Rich Fann, WH Park & Wai Ting (POST Wrestling Café)
Friday: Rewind-A-SmackDown (POST Wrestling Café)
Saturday: Collision Course with John Siino & Kate from Montreal(POST Wrestling Café)
Sunday: G1 Climax – Day 5 & 6 with Karen Peterson & Kate from Montreal (POST Wrestling Café)
WRESTLING NEWS
**Two years ago today, Vince McMahon resigned from WWE for the first time amid mounting allegations related to non-disclosure agreements McMahon had brokered with former employees and talent. The reporting had begun the previous month by the Wall Street Journal with McMahon’s initial strategy to combat the news by placing himself on television in front of an adoring audience that cheered the “Mr. McMahon” persona. He made a very rare public appearance at UFC 276 on July 2, 2022, shortly after WWE’s Money in the Bank with both events being held in Las Vegas that night. Further reporting unearthed more details of what was alleged, and it became untenable for McMahon to hold onto his position as the company chairman and head of its board of directors. McMahon opted to resign while maintaining his “super shares” in the company, which were the key to his eventual return. That night, daughter Stephanie McMahon addressed her father’s exit from the company and led the audience in a “Thank you, Vince” chant, which didn’t provide a good look given what was alleged and aged horribly. In late December, McMahon made his intentions clear to the board of directors that he was ready to return and felt the company needed his leadership to steer them toward “strategic alternatives”. The board politely declined his request and took a unanimous vote to repeal his return but held no weight as McMahon had the shares to pull a powerplay and make his return while installing former company co-presidents George Barrios and Michelle Wilson to the board and ousting Jeffrey Speed, JoEllen Lyons Dillon, and Alan Wexler. The insurance McMahon had was the intent to explore a possible sale, and the stock reacted positively toward that shareholder revolt over McMahon’s return and cemented his return. Despite a public front that McMahon was removed from the creative process, it became clear he had his hands in that aspect of the company which was detailed in Ronda Rousey’s second book. The merger to form TKO was formally announced in April and finalized in September with McMahon maintaining a high-ranking executive position under Ari Emanuel, who stated he insisted McMahon stay on board and even gave up equity in the split to ensure. It appeared McMahon had offset the largest scandal of his career when the lawsuit from Janel Grant was filed in January and expedited a second resignation by McMahon with no chanting crowds to bid him farewell. Unlike the first resignation, McMahon no longer possesses the stock power to elbow his way back to the company as he rakes up legal bills to defend himself against the Grant civil suit, and a potential federal case.
**TNT Sports stated on Monday afternoon to announce that they have submitted paperwork to the NBA to formally offer a match on one of the pending distribution deals. This would indicate that it could end up in court with a judge left to decide if WBD is offering a comparable match with the belief they are attempting to the Amazon offer. The loss, or the inclusion, of the NBA, dramatically affects the state of WBD and its core sports programming.
TNT Sports' statement on NBA media rights: pic.twitter.com/PteJJKJO5x
— TNT Sports U.S. PR (@TNTSportsUS) July 22, 2024
**The 34th edition of the G1 Climax opened this weekend with back-to-back nights at Edion Arena in Osaka, Japan. The opening night drew 4,177 with Shingo Takagi beating LIP stablemate and IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito in the main event. Sunday’s card drew 2,545 with Yota Tsuji over David Finlay on top.
Some observations:
– The core contingent of Yota Tsuji, Yuya Uemura, and Shota Umino have already stood out as the ones on the rise with this year’s G1 becoming a demarcation point in their ascensions. Of the three, Uemura has impressed me the most after two nights and has all the tools to be a top star, although it feels it is Tsuji with the highest ceiling of the three when it comes to the potential of winning the entire tournament.
– I remove Ren Narita from this grouping as he feels lost as an underling with a dead-end character that won’t evolve until he’s either the leader of House of Torture or exits, with a higher potential with the latter. He risks being stigmatized in this role.
– Tetsuya Naito is 0-2 after two matches with losses to Shingo Takagi and Zack Sabre Jr. The match with ZSJ was stronger than Takagi but both came off stronger than the recent match Naito had with Jon Moxley at Forbidden Door.
– Konosuke Takeshita and Tsuji had an excellent match on the first night as Takeshita is a strong addition to this year’s roster.
– I’m exceptionally high on Gabe Kidd and continues to adapt to the type of match best suited for his opponent. Kidd had a very good performance with EVIL on the first night, which is a tough dynamic with the proxy attachment between the War Dogs and House of Torture. They brawled throughout the arena and Kidd conveys a dangerous element to the audience that no one else possesses. On the second night, he faced Great O-Khan, and this was better than the match with EVIL.
– Jake Lee didn’t impress me with either match. He had the most dominantly booked win on the first night with a quick win against SANADA.
The tournament resumes on Tuesday in Hiroshima with the following card at 5:30 a.m. ET on New Japan World:
*A BLOCK: Tetsuya Naito (0-2) vs. Jake Lee (1-1)
*A BLOCK: SANADA (1-1) vs. EVIL (2-0)
*A BLOCK: Shota Umino (1-1) vs. Gabe Kidd (1-1)
*A BLOCK: Shingo Takagi (1-1) vs. Great O-Khan (0-2)
*A BLOCK: Zack Sabre Jr. (2-0) vs. Callum Newman (1-1)
*B BLOCK: Konosuke Takeshita (1-) vs. Jeff Cobb (1-0)
*David Finlay & Gedo vs. HENARE & Francesco Akira
*Yota Tsuji & BUSHI vs. El Phantasmo & Jado
*Oleg Boltin, Toru Yano & Katsuya Murashima vs. Hirooki Goto, Tomoaki Honma & Shoma Kato
**There was a major fire in Cleveland on Sunday, which caused Gargano’s Catering to be destroyed. Johnny Gargano wrote about the destruction of the restaurant, which was family-run, and stated it was the life’s work of his father. He added that his father was safe and not on the premises when the fire began. The local Fox affiliate reports that it took nearly 70 firefighters to put the blaze out and lasted three hours with approximately $700,000 in damages.
**WWE Raw is at the Resch Center in Green Bay, Wisconsin with over 6,100 tickets distributed, according to WrestleTix. The following is advertised:
*CM Punk appears
*Xavier Woods, Otis & Akira Tozawa vs. Karrion Kross & AOP
*Lyra Valkyria vs. Sonya Deville
**Friday Night SmackDown averaged 203,800 viewers and 80,600 in the 25-54 demographic on Sportsnet 360 in Canada. The show ranked third among sports programs on Friday and was second in the demo behind the CFL game between Winnipeg and Saskatchewan (and topped the Edmonton vs. Ottawa game).
**TKO issued a filing on Monday noting that WWE president Nick Khan has sold 22,693 shares for a market value of $2,394,846.54. Wrestlenomics has a detailed breakdown and explains that this stock sale is to pay for Khan’s tax burden and a routine transaction. After the transaction, Khan remains with 211,731 shares, which are worth over $22 million with TKO stock currently trading at $105.61.
**TNA has moved its September dates from Cleveland, Ohio to San Antonio, Texas. The September 13 & 14 shows have been moved to the Boeing Center in San Antonio with the Victory Road special on the first night and television nights the next evening. TNA has also added shows in Fayetteville, North Carolina at the Crown Arena on November 8 & 9, and at Center Stage in Atlanta for the Final Resolution special on December 13 & TV tapings on December 14.
**Satoshi Kojima & Okumura will defend the MLW World Tag Team Titles against Minoru Suzuki & Ikuro Kwon at MLW Summer of the Beasts on August 29 at the Melrose Ballroom. The event will stream live on the promotion’s YouTube channel.
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G1 Climax 34 Night 1 & 2
G1 coverage begins at POST! Bruce Lord & Karen Peterson review and rate all 19 matches of the opening weekend including Tetsuya Naito vs. Shingo Takagi and Yota Tsuji vs. Konosuke Takeshita.
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THE N.W.A. Podcast
The Nubian Wrestling Advocates are back to discuss Joe Biden’s presidential race exit, “Terry from Florida”, SummerSlam, and more.
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TNA Slammiversary Review
John Pollock reviews TNA Slammiversary featuring Moose vs. Nic Nemeth vs. Josh Alexander vs. Joe Hendry vs. Frankie Kazarian vs. Steve Maclin for the TNA Heavyweight title.
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COLLISION COURSE [FREE]
John Siino & Kate From MTL review the first show of AEW Collision’s Texas “residency”. Featuring The Patriarchy vs Bang Bang Gang for the unified trios titles, Roderick Strong vs Tomohiro Ishii, and the debut of Hologram.
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REWIND-A-SMACKDOWN
John Pollock & Wai Ting review WWE SmackDown from Omaha with Cody Rhodes addressing The Bloodline’s attack on Randy Orton.
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REWIND-A-WAI #161: WWF Invasion 2001
John Pollock & Wai Ting review WWF Invasion from July 22, 2001, featuring a series of matches between WWF and the invading WCW-ECW Alliance.
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