POST IT NOTES
**We have this week’s edition of Rewind-A-Raw posted on the site with Wai Ting and I chatting about the following:
-A complete review of Raw from the Honda Center
-The Roman Reigns promo on Brock Lesnar and building up their WrestleMania match
-The show-closing angle involving Ronda Rousey, Kurt Angle, Triple H, and Stephanie McMahon
-John Cena going to SmackDown and throwing out The Undertaker challenge
-A preview of all the wrestling events going on WrestleMania Week in New Orleans and the shows Wai and I will be attending
-Your feedback at the end of the show
**Wai and I are back tonight with Rewind-A-SmackDown and we will be discussing SmackDown, 205 Live, and the Mixed Match Challenge. I’ll also speak on today’s CSAC hearing with Jon Jones and we will take your questions and feedback.
**Our POST Wrestling WRESTLEMANIA MASTER LIST OF EVENTS can be found here.
SHOWS THIS WEEK AT POST WRESTLING:
*Tonight: Rewind-A-SmackDown
*Wednesday – WH Park returns
*Thursday – Keep It 2000 with Brian Mann and Nate Milton (June 19th, 2000 episode of WCW Monday Nitro)
*Friday – Ask-A-Wai mailbag show (Patreon only)
*Saturday – UFC 222 Post Show with John Pollock
WRESTLING NEWS
**There was a lot of news related to WrestleMania programs coming out of Monday’s episode of Raw in Anaheim, California. The most discussed item was the Roman Reigns promo that he cut on Brock Lesnar with Reigns stating that Lesnar didn’t show up and running down his lack of commitment to the company and in the process it babyfaced Reigns to the audience.
I inquired during the show with one person flat out stating to me that the goal of this program is to make it as much of a shoot as possible to put Reigns in the position as a babyface. It was also said to me by multiple people that Lesnar was never in the building on Monday night at the Honda Center.
Both Mike Johnson and PWinsider.com and Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported that a segment involving Reigns and Lesnar was in earlier versions of the Raw script, so it is not known when the change was made or if it was the original plan all along. WWE has posted a story on their website where they have attempted to reach Paul Heyman for comment and paints a picture that is consistent with the idea it’s a storyline.
I am unaware if the photo posted with Dana White was something the WWE knew ahead of time, although Lesnar has a long history of these types of public displays of posturing. In 2012, right after Lesnar’s first match back with the company where he lost to John Cena, he appeared at the UFC 146 pay-per-view and appeared on camera and traveled to the show to meet with Dana White and instantly led to speculation. In 2015, Lesnar had a meeting with Vince McMahon and ended up leaving the building prior to an episode of Raw in Nashville that he was advertised for and then showed up at the UFC 184 pay-per-view the following weekend.
In terms of execution, I felt Reigns cuts a tremendous promo and perhaps the best of his career with legitimate passion and at least this week they achieved the goal of the audience getting behind Reigns as a representative of the people against Lesnar.
Lesnar is advertised for Raw in two weeks in Detroit, Michigan on March 12th. He is also scheduled for a live event at the United Center in Chicago this Saturday night.
**John Cena is scheduled for tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. It would seem most logical that this will set up a match between Cena and Shinsuke Nakamura for the Fastlane pay-per-view on March 11th in Columbus, which Cena has always been advertised for. Tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live will also feature the following matches:
*Sami Zayn vs. Baron Corbin
*Ruby Riott vs. Naomi
**The following matches are scheduled for 205 Live and the Mixed Match Challenge tonight in Los Angeles:
*Roderick Strong vs. Kalisto (205 Live)
*Cedric Alexander vs. TJP (205 Live)
*Finn Balor and Sasha Banks vs. The Miz and Asuka (Mixed Match Challenge)
**Asuka and Nia Jax will have another match on next week’s episode of Raw from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
**Netflix has picked up a third season of “Ultimate Beastmaster”, which is a competition series where participants attempt to conquer the obstacle course. Two of the hosts for the third season will be former WWE performers CM Punk and Stu Bennett (who wrestled as Wade Barrett). The third season will consist of nine episodes and will be released later this year.
**The following matches were taped in Anaheim on Monday night for this week’s episode of WWE Main Event:
*Goldust vs. Curt Hawkins
*Ariya Daivari vs. Akira Tozawa
**Here is the updated pay-per-view card for Ring of Honor’s 16th Anniversary show on Friday, March 9th at Sam’s Town in Las Vegas, Nevada:
*Dalton Castle vs. Jay Lethal for the ROH title
*Cody vs. Matt Taven
*Motor City Machine Guns vs. The Briscoe Brothers for the ROH tag titles
*Marty Scurll vs. Punishment Martinez
**A match between Dan “The Beast” Severn and Chris Dickinson has been added to Matt Riddle’s Bloodsport on Thursday, April 5th at 3 pm in New Orleans during WrestleMania Week. This is the first major event of the week and takes place at the Pontchartrain Convention Center.
**After a big close at $38.28 on Monday, the WWE stock dipped down on Tuesday and closed at $36.82.
**MLW has announced a match between Lance Anoa’i and Maxwell Jacob Freidman for the March 8th Spring Break ’18 event in Orlando, Florida at the Gilt Nightclub. Tom Lawlor is off this show, where he was scheduled to face Matt Riddle and a replacement will be announced on Wednesday.
**Boston Wrestling will have a booth at WrestleCon over WrestleMania weekend from April 6th – 8th in New Orleans, Louisiana. Larry “The Axe” Hennig, Hardcore Holly, “Cowboy” Bob Orton, and John Cena Sr. will be appearing on behalf of the group at WrestleCon and information is available at http://www.bostonwrestling.com/EVENTS-20180406-WrestleCon.html.
MMA NEWS
**Jon Jones had his hearing in front of the California State Athletic Commission on Tuesday afternoon. Following a lengthy hearing where Jones was unable to explain how Turinabol made its way into his system, Jones had his license revoked by the commission and was issued a fine of $205,000 (40% of his UFC 214 fight purse + an additional $5,000). Commission member Martha Shen-Urquidez handled the Jones testimony and brought up his many infractions over the years. During the testimony, it was revealed that Jones had signed off on taking a series of online USADA tutorials in 2015 for fighter education regarding the drug testing process. Jones admitted he didn’t take the tutorials and his management forged his signature and made Jones and his team come across very poorly.
There was no suspension issued as the CSAC has revoked his license and will await the outcomes of USADA’s hearing with Jones where they will choose a length of time for his suspension, which could be up to four-years since this is not his first drug test failure. A date for the USADA hearing has not been announced yet. Jones will not be able to re-apply for a license within the state of California until August 2018, although if he receives a longer suspension, California has the ability to withhold licensing Jones beyond that time frame.
**A light heavyweight fight between former Bellator light heavyweight champion Phil Davis and Linton Vassell has been added to the Bellator 200 card on Friday, May 25th at the SSE Arena in London, England.
**Saturday night’s UFC post-show on FS1 averaged 192,000 viewers. There was a big talking point coming out of the FOX card because of the controversy over the illegal blows thrown by Jeremy Stephens prior to his stoppage win over Josh Emmett.
**Below is the first episode of this week’s UFC Embedded going into UFC 222 in Las Vegas this Saturday night:
*****
REWIND-A-RAW 2/26/18: Ronda vs. Stephanie, Reigns Cuts Great Promo, John Cena to SmackDown
https://postwrestling.podbean.com/mf/download/u4v2wj/180226_RAR.mp3
*****
WWE ELIMINATION CHAMBER POST SHOW WITH JOHN POLLOCK AND WAI TING –https://postwrestling.podbean.com/mf/download/wqph58/180226_ELIMINATIONCHAMBER.mp3
*****
REWIND-A-WAI – WCW SUPERBRAWL III (Patreon show)
https://www.patreon.com/posts/rewind-wai-5-wcw-17158582
*****
BRITISH WRESTLING EXPERIENCE 2/22/18: OTT Homecoming, ICW Square GO, Progress Chapter 63, Tetsujin
https://britishwrestlingexperience.podbean.com/mf/download/phz4me/180221_BWE.mp3
*****
REWIND-A-SMACKDOWN 2/20/18: Fast Lane Matches Announced, Buddy Murphy’s 205 Live Debut
https://postwrestling.podbean.com/mf/download/qcz8km/180220_RASD.mp3
*****
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