POST IT NOTES
**Wai Ting and I have a lengthy WWE Fastlane POST Show up on the site with the two of us reviewing Sunday’s Fastlane card, looking at the updated list of matches for WrestleMania and sharing our thoughts on the show. We also have a review of Ring of Honor’s 16th Anniversary card from Friday night in Las Vegas and a look at the first three nights of the New Japan Cup and the updated brackets. It’s a packed show and you can download it now at https://www.postwrestling.com/2018/03/12/fastlane-2018-post-show-with-john-pollock-wai-ting/.
WRESTLING NEWS
**Tonight’s episode of Raw takes place from the Little Caesar’s Arena in Detroit, Michigan. They have promoted tonight’s face-to-face between Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns as the major item on the show along with Ronda Rousey making an appearance as well.
John Cena is also advertised for tonight’s show and I would assume that his direction for WrestleMania should be made on tonight’s show. Both Cena and Rousey are scheduled for all episodes of Raw leading into WrestleMania.
**CM Punk (Phil Brooks) was asked when he would be fighting next and answered that it would be on June 9th. That is the date of UFC 225 in Chicago at the United Center and was the date many were expecting to see Punk have his second professional fight, although that has not been officially announced beyond Punk’s tweet on Monday. After signing with the UFC in December 2014, Punk began training with Roufusport in Milwaukee the following month. Punk’s debut in the UFC was postponed due to a series of injuries, including a procedure he needed on his back in 2016. After defeating Mike Jackson in February 2006, prospect Mickey Gall earned the chance to fight Punk at UFC 203 in September 2016 and stopped Punk in the opening round of their welterweight bout. Punk has continued to train and is now 39 years old as it appears he will return for another fight.
**The latest information regarding Jeff Hardy’s DWI arrest from this past Saturday night includes the court date being set. Mike Johnson at PWinsider.com reports that the date is scheduled for April 16th. CBS Sports obtained the arrest report and stated that Hardy allegedly ran off the roadway and struck approximately 105 feet of guardrail and led to the back end of the car spinning out 90 degrees. The arrest report stated Hardy did $8,000 worth of damage to his vehicle and another $5,000 to the guardrail.
**Ronda Rousey will be appearing on “The Ellen Show” on Tuesday and I would imagine the discussion will focus on her transition to the WWE. Ellen is one of the few outlets that Rousey has appeared on over the past two years, although I would expect Rousey to be doing more media over the next month then she has been since her loss to Holly Holm in 2015.
**The New Japan Cup opening round matches concluded on Monday morning with Toru Yano defeating Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Sanada pinning Chuckie T. after applying the Skull End and following with a top rope moonsault. I felt the Yano vs. Smith match was nothing special and probably went longer than necessary and it’s a comedy figure advancing and should lose to Sanada in the next round. The main event had a good final five minutes where the audience was into the near falls by Taylor, including Sanada kicking out of the Awful Waffle. Today’s tournament matches were not close to the level of Sunday’s show with Kota Ibushi vs. Yoshi-Hashi and Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tetsuya Naito.
**The New Japan Cup takes a break on Tuesday and will resume with a show on Wednesday in Shizuoka and Thursday at Korakuen Hall. Below are the four quarter-final matches that will take place on those two shows:
*Michael Elgin vs. Juice Robinson
*Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Bad Luck Fale
*Kota Ibushi vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
*Sanada vs. Toru Yano
The semi-finals take place on March 16th and 18th and the finals are set for Wednesday, March 21st with the winner receiving a title shot of their choosing at Sakura Genesis on Sunday, April 1st.
**It was announced on Monday that Kid Rock will be an inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame this year as their celebrity inductee. Kid Rock first appeared on Raw for a live performance in May 2000 and his music was integrated many times over the years, including The Undertaker using “American Bad Ass” when he returned in 2000, “Lonely Road of Faith” was used for a tremendous WWF Desire video that aired on Raw in January 2002 and his music has been used for many pay-per-view themes. Kid Rock also performed live at WrestleMania 25 at the Reliant Astrodome in Houston in April 2009 and his 2007 song “New Orleans” is the theme for this year’s show. Below is the Desire video that aired on Raw, it was incredible when it aired 16 years ago and still holds up:
**The third and final night of the wXw 16 Carat Gold Tournament took place on Sunday with the tournament’s conclusion. Earlier in the night, Absolute Andy defeated Timothy Thatcher and David Starr defeated Keith Lee to set up the final match of the tournament with Andy and Starr. Absolute Andy won the tournament and will now receive a title match for the wXw Unified World Wrestling championship, which is currently held by Ilja Dragunov. The 16 Carat Gold tournament began in 2006 and has grown to become one of the biggest weekends of the year in European wrestling and worldwide with many people traveling to Germany for the weekend. Prior winners have included Chris Hero and Tommy End each winning the tournament twice and last year’s tournament receive enormous praise for the WALTER vs. Ilja Dragunov tournament final and received added attention because the tournament aired on the FloSlam streaming service, which no longer exists. Both Oli Court and Benno of the British Wrestling Experience podcast on our network attended the tournament live and will have many noted on the shows on next week’s show, which drops on Thursday, March 22nd.
**Taiji Ishimori announced in a press conference on Monday that he is leaving Pro Wrestling NOAH in order to wrestle freelance with the goal of eventually making it to the WWE. Ishimori began his career in 2002 after being trained in the Toryumon system and bounced around promotions, including working for NOAH as a freelancer beginning in 2006. Ishimori became a full-time member of the NOAH roster in 2008 and went on to become a three-time GHC junior heavyweight champion and six-time GHC junior heavyweight tag champion. He was well known because of his representation of NOAH internationally where he represented the group in AAA, Ring of Honor, New Japan, and most recently for Impact Wrestling, where he became the X division champion (he dropped the title to Matt Sydal, which just aired last week on POP TV). Ishimori is 35-years old and cited Shinsuke Nakamura and Hideo Itami as examples he wants to follow of achieving success in the United States and figured now is the time to make a move or else he would have regretted not attempting to.
**Impact Wrestling and Lucha Underground have announced the first match of their combined show for WrestleCon on Friday, April 6th in New Orleans. The promotions announced a six-man tag on Monday with Dezmond Xavier, DJZ, and Andrew Everett vs. Drago, Aerostar, and King Cuerno.
**Sami Callihan will be doing an Impact Wrestling conference call this Wednesday at 2 pm Eastern with members of the media.
**Over the weekend, Ring of Honor personalities Dalton Castle, Jay Lethal, Bully Ray, Colt Cabana, Beer City Bruiser, and Ian Riccaboni visited the Sunrise Children’s Hospital and met with patients at the facility in Las Vegas.
**Tickets went on sale this morning for MLW’s “World Heavyweight Finals” card on Thursday, April 12th in Orlando, Florida at the Gilt Nightclub. The finals will feature Matt Riddle taking on Shane Strickland to crown the MLW heavyweight champion. Tickets can be purchased at http://www.MLWtickets.com.
**The WWE stock closed at $37.83 on Monday.
*****
WWE FASTLANE POST SHOW
John Pollock and Wai Ting review WWE Fastlane, ROH’s 16th Anniversary card, the first three nights of the New Japan Cup, and take your feedback & questions.
https://postwrestling.podbean.com/mf/download/emtzw4/180311_FASTLANE.mp3
*****
REWIND-A-WAI – WRESTLEMANIA XX (Patreon only)
John Pollock and Wai Ting go almost three hours reviewing WrestleMania 20 with the disaster between Brock Lesnar and Bill Goldberg, Chris Benoit’s title win and viewing it today, The Undertaker’s return and tons more.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/rewind-wai-6-xx-17448189
*****
BRITISH WRESTLING EXPERIENCE 3/8/18: Progress Chapter 64, Fight Club Pro “A Tribute to Francois Trebec”, wXw 16 Carat Preview, 5 Star Wrestling
https://britishwrestlingexperience.podbean.com/mf/download/y8mddk/180308_BWE.mp3
*****
REWIND-A-SMACKDOWN 3/6/18: Zayn Swerves Owens, Braun & Alexa Flirt
https://postwrestling.podbean.com/mf/download/c68vh3/180306_RASD.mp3
*****
NJPW 46TH ANNIVERSARY REVIEW (Patreon only)
https://www.patreon.com/posts/17403218
*****
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