POST IT NOTES
**Thursday’s edition of Pollock & Thurston included a chat with Patrick Auger of the Fight Business Podcast with a review of TKO’s earnings report. The three of us went through the highlights from the quarter, Mark Shapiro’s comments about the pricing of UFC’s pay-per-views and the impact of piracy, the continued push for site fees, “Festivalizing”, and more. Plus, a recap of the latest developments involving Janel Grant, the response from Dr. Carlon Colker, and our experience in Cleveland covering SummerSlam.
**We are live tonight at 10:05 p.m. ET with Rewind-A-SmackDown with a review of the show from Tulsa and we’ll chat about the passing of Kevin Sullivan. You have access to watch and listen tonight on the POST Wrestling Café.
**Bruce Lord and Eric Marcotte have a review of Day 13 of the G1 Climax from Yokohama Budokan featuring Shingo Takagi vs. EVIL.
**Collision Course is back on Saturday at 10 p.m. ET with Kate from Montreal & John Siino on the POST Wrestling Café.
POST SCHEDULE
Tonight: Rewind-A-SmackDown with John Pollock & Wai Ting (POST Wrestling Café)
Saturday: Collision Course with John Siino & Kate from Montreal (POST Wrestling Café)
Monday: G1 Climax – Day 14 with Bruce Lord & Eric Marcotte (POST Wrestling Café)
Monday: Rewind-A-Raw
WRESTLING NEWS
**There are plenty of tributes and memories of Kevin Sullivan after news of his death following medical complications this year. Sullivan was a very influential force within the industry and regarded as one of the smarter minds with an openness to teach those interested in garnering heat and building heels.
I’m very saddened to hear of my friend Kevin Sullivan passing. My deepest condolences to Kevin’s family. They’ll be no blessings from me as we’d spoke a lot in the 90’s and I knew Kevin’s ideologies lay elsewhere! Rest well my dear rogue.
— William Regal (@RealKingRegal) August 9, 2024
His work in Florida as the Prince of Darkness was radical for the era and holds up well given where the industry went but was a very controversial gimmick in 1982. Sullivan grew up in the Northeast and was an avid fan of wrestling history throughout his life and shared similar passions for U.S. history and baseball.
Man, I feel horrible just hearing about the passing of the great Kevin Sullivan… The real devil of Pro Wrestling.
I cannot begin to tell you how much this man helped me in my career, I knew him way before ECW where we were tag team champions. But I worked with KS in Japan,… pic.twitter.com/RKCHyJPxVx— taz (@OfficialTAZ) August 9, 2024
Most would have discovered Sullivan during his roles within World Championship Wrestling beginning in 1987 through 1991 and returning in 1994 and staying until 2001. He was named head booker under Eric Bischoff’s regime in September 1994 after Hulk Hogan arrived in the company and played a major role as the company became profitable, the development of the New World Order, and the introduction of Bill Goldberg.
Godspeed, Kevin Sullivan. Whether in front of or behind the camera, your contributions to our industry are without question. Grateful for the times we shared, your advice, and kindness. Honored to have gone into the @nwa HOF together. Rest well, sir. 🙏 pic.twitter.com/OsoSmC1L4F
— Adam Pearce (@ScrapDaddyAP) August 9, 2024
His return to power in early 2000 was the impetus for Chris Benoit, Eddy Guerrero, Perry Saturn, and Dean Malenko to exit the company (with Shane Douglas and Konnan attempting to go too) and was a major loss for WCW. Sullivan had his loyalists and detractors in that environment and his return to booking in 2000 only lasted two months before Brad Siegel engineered a return for Vince Russo and Eric Bischoff.
#RIPKevinSullivan pic.twitter.com/KmjXhgGHH2
— Death Machine (@TheSamiCallihan) August 9, 2024
After WCW, he never had another high-profile role in the industry as a booker or performer and wasn’t going to acclimate to the WWE system in the era of the writing staff even though he had a major ally in Dusty Rhodes in that system and could have brought a lot of wisdom at the NXT level over the past decade. He remained connected to the industry over the past years from fan conventions, shoot interviews, podcasting, and roles at the independent level including booking. There was a lot of attention from WWE including a post by Paul Levesque and would suggest that Sullivan’s passing will be acknowledged on SmackDown tonight. He did have a run in the WWWF in the mid-’70s under Vince McMahon Sr. where he was an undercard babyface but never worked in WWE after the national expansion. While he never got around to writing a book, he did do years of podcasts on the MLW network and interviews, so his stories are out there.
**Friday Night SmackDown is at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma following SummerSlam. The return of Roman Reigns is the focal point as he is set for tonight’s show and next week in Orlando with his first TV appearance since WrestleMania. The following matches and segments are advertised:
*The return of Roman Reigns
*L.A. Knight’s championship celebration
*#1 Contenders Match – U.S. Title: Andrade vs. Santos Escobar
*#1 Contenders Match – Tag Titles: DIY vs. Pretty Deadly
*Alba Fyre vs. Jade Cargill
*Street Profits vs. A-Town Down Under
**The TKO stock surged after the second-quarter earnings were released on Thursday. The stock closed at $117.67 on Friday and increased over 13% this past week. The record-setting quarter included the company increasing its revenue guidance for the year and noting that UFC has already hit its sponsorship budget for the year. It was a gigantic quarter between WWE holding WrestleMania 40 and a card in Saudi Arabia while UFC 300 & 303 were major shows and they ran a Fight Night in Saudi Arabia, which garnered a $20 million site fee. No doubt, the huge escalation of rights fees for the NBA is going to trickle down to the UFC and increase market speculation on what the promotion can acquire when its rights are due at the end of 2025 and the next major set of U.S. sports rights coming due.
**AEW Rampage airs at 10 p.m. ET on TNT with matches taped in Winston-Salem, North Carolina:
*Darby Allin vs. The Butcher
*Saraya vs. Nyla Rose
*Wheeler Yuta vs. Rocky Romero w/ Bryan Danielson on commentary
*Private Party vs. Dave & Zane Dawson
*Dustin Rhodes to speak
**MJF continues his defenses of the AEW American Championship when he travels to London for the RevPro’s Summer Sizzler card on Saturday. MJF headlines the York Hall show defending the belt against Michael Oku, which should be an excellent match. The show is RevPro’s last big event until its return to the Copper Box Arena on August 24 for its biggest show of the year. Saturday’s show includes Dani Luna vs. Nina Samuels for the Undisputed British Women’s title, Ricky Knight Jr. vs. Zozaya, Jack Cartwheel vs. Leon Slater, Donovan Dijak vs. Robbie X, Trevor Lee vs. Luke Jacobs, Gideon Gray vs. Dan Magee, and a four-way match for the British tag titles. It’s a tremendous show on paper.
**The G1 Climax has one more week left with a show on Saturday and resumes on Monday. Saturday is a B Block show with two round-robin matches left in that block. The standouts of this year’s tournament are Konsouke Takeshita and Hirooki Goto, both in the B Block with matches on the show, which takes place from the Xebio Arena in Sendai and streams at 3 a.m. ET:
*B BLOCK: Yota Tsuji (4-3) vs. Yuya Uemura (3-4)
*B BLOCK: David Finlay (4-3) vs. Jeff Cobb (5-2)
*B BLOCK: El Phantasmo (2-5) vs. Hirooki Goto (4-3)
*B BLOCK: HENARE (3-4) vs. Ren Narita (4-3)
*B BLOCK: Konosuke Takeshita (4-3) vs. Oleg Boltin (2-5)
HENARE and Uemura need to win to stay alive while Boltin and Phantasmo are already eliminated. The main event is a huge one for Tsuji and Uemura to tear the house show and gain some attention. Tsuji came in with a lot of fanfare but he’s been overshadowed while Uemura had a very good G1 but this is a chance to solidify their standing with a great main event. The story of Goto has taken on a life of its own and is the sentimental favorite. Phantasmo has been the most under-appreciated of this year’s tournament and realistically, he’s one of the guys that should be elevated but I have no doubt, he and Goto are going to have a great match. Takeshita and Boltin should be one to keep your eye on as it’s not even a sleeper match anymore with Boltin improving at a strong rate in this tournament. Finlay versus Cobb is a match between the IWGP Global Heavyweight and Television Champions and if Cobb wins, he clinches a playoff spot.
The round-robin stage continues Monday with the final A Block show from Niigata and the B Block ends on Wednesday in Shizuoka. The quarter-finals take place on Thursday and the semi-finals and final are next Saturday & Sunday at Sumo Hall.
**AEW Collision continues at Esports Stadium on Saturday and returns to its regular start at 8 p.m. ET on TNT. So far, they have announced House of Black vs. Bang Bang Gang with Christian Cage as the special referee and the winners earn a Trios title shot at All In, and a Texas Bullrope match between Thunder Rosa and Deonna Purrazzo.
**Thunder Rosa’s Mission Pro Wrestling is going on hiatus after its August 17 event. Next weekend’s event is the company’s fifth anniversary and while they are not ruling out a return, there are no future shows scheduled. Rosa (Melissa Cervantes) is the co-owner and co-founder of Mission Pro Wrestling, which launched in 2019.
**Steven Johnson has launched a site to promote his upcoming biography on Jim Londos. Johnson is the co-author of the excellent series of books with Greg Oliver in the Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame series. The Londos book is scheduled to be released later this year, but no date has been revealed. The site includes details on Londos’ career and material that didn’t make the final cut for the project.
**There are two sets of ROH tapings at the building in Arlington on Sunday.
**Alexa Bliss turns 33 years old today.
**The UFC card from the Apex airs Saturday with the entire card airing on ESPN. This is a very weak lineup and is further proof of the appeal of fights involving names on paper without a compelling hook in the lead-up. The show is airing against the Olympics, so it’s a tougher Saturday than usual but the UFC has its core audience, but this will test that loyalty. Three fighters missed weight on Friday and below is the card:
MAIN CARD (7 p.m. ET on ESPN & ESPN+)
*Marcin Tybura (25-8) vs. Serghei Spivac (16-4)
*Damon Jackson (23-6-1) vs. Chepe Mariscal (16-6) – Mariscal missed weight by three pounds
*Nikolay Veretennikov (12-4) vs. Danny Barlow (8-0) – Barlow missed weight by ¼ pound
*Chris Gutierrez (20-5-2) vs. Quang Le (8-0)
*Yana Santos (14-8) vs. Chelsea Chandler (6-2) – Chandler missed weight by five pounds
*Charalampos Grigoriou (8-4) vs. Toshiomi Kazama (10-4)
PRELIMINARY CARD (5 p.m. on ESPN & ESPN+)
*Pannie Kianzad (16-8) vs. Karol Rosa (17-6)
*Karl Williams (10-1) vs. Jhonata Diniz (7-0)
*Youssef Zalal (14-5-1) vs. Jarno Errens (14-5-1)
*Stephanie Luciano (5-1-1) vs. Talita Alencar (5-0-1)
G1 CLIMAX
Day 13
Bruce Lord and Eric Marcotte review NJPW G1 Climax 34 Night 13 featuring Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Gabe Kidd and Shingo Takagi vs. EVIL.
Day 11 & 12
Wai Ting and Kate from Montreal review NJPW G1 Climax 34 Nights 11 & 12 with Shingo Takagi vs. SANADA and Hirooki Goto vs. David Finlay in the main events.
Day 9 & 10
WH Park and Eric Marcotte review NJPW G1 Climax 34 Nights 9 & 10 featuring Shingo Takagi vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
Day 7 & 8
Bruce Lord and Kate from Montreal review NJPW G1 Climax 34 Nights 7 & 8 featuring Tetsuya Naito vs. SANADA and David Finlay vs. Konosuke Takeshita in the main events.
Day 5 & 6
Karen Peterson and Kate from Montreal review NJPW G1 Climax 34 Nights 5 & 6 featuring Tetsuya Naito vs. EVIL and Hirooki Goto vs. Yota Tsuji in the main events
Day 3 & 4
John Pollock and Eric Marcotte review NJPW G1 Climax 34 Nights 3 & 4 featuring Konosuke Takeshita vs. Yuya Uemura and Tetsuya Naito vs. Jake Lee in the main events
Day 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
RECENT SHOWS
POLLOCK & THURSTON
John Pollock and Brandon Thurston are back to discuss TKO’s second-quarter earnings report and the Janel Grant case developments.
***
REWIND-A-DYNAMITE
John Pollock and Wai Ting review AEW Dynamite from Winston-Salem with an Anything Goes Match between Bryan Danielson and Jeff Jarrett.
***
upNXT
Braden Herrington and Davie Portman review WWE NXT The Great American Bash Night 2 from August 6th, 2024 headlined by Ethan Page vs Oro Mensah for the NXT Championship!
***
REWIND-A-RAW
John Pollock and Wai Ting review the post-SummerSlam of edition of WWE Raw with The Wyatt Sicks vs. Chad Gable & The Creeds.
***
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