POST IT NOTES
**First off, I want to thank everyone for their feedback on the POST Roundtable show with Mauro Ranallo and Haris Usanovic. It appears a lot of people enjoyed that show and I’m glad we were able to set it up. The audio version is free for everyone and if you’d like to watch the video version, it is on the POST Wrestling Café for ‘Double Double’ and above members.
**Wai Ting and I will be back with Rewind-A-Raw tonight. We are going to review Raw, take your feedback and then we will have a bonus “Overrun” show up for members of the Café with reviews of Total Bellas and today’s Best of the Super Juniors final from Korakuen Hall.
**On Tuesday, we are dropping a new concept idea called “POST Profile” and the first subject is Ken Shamrock. We hope you enjoy it and it will available on the site and through the main POST Wrestling RSS feed.
POST WRESTLING SCHEDULE THIS WEEK
*Tonight: Rewind-A-Raw
*Tonight: RAR Overrun – Total Bellas & BOSJ review (Patreon)
*Tuesday: POST Profile feat. Ken Shamrock
*Tuesday: Rewind-A-SmackDown
*Wednesday: POST Puroresu
*Wednesday: Keep It 2000 with Brian Mann & Nate Milton with special guest Lance Storm (Aug. 7, 2000, WCW Monday Nitro)
*Thursday: upNXT with Braden Herrington & Davie Portman
*Thursday: POST Production Video (Patreon ‘Double Double’ & above)
*Friday: Rewind-A-Wai – WWF King of the Ring 1993 (Patreon)
*Saturday: NJPW Dominion review with WH Park (Patreon)
*Sunday: UFC 225 Roundtable review with Pollock, Phil Chertok & Ziggy Cao
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WRESTLING NEWS
**The defamation trial involving Dr. Christopher Amann, CM Punk (Phil Brooks), and Colt Cabana (Scott Colton) continued Monday, which is fight week for Punk as takes on Mike Jackson this Saturday at UFC 225 in Chicago.
Ross Berman of WrestleZone attended Monday’s proceedings at the Cook County Courthouse and took extensive notes on the cross-examination of Punk along with his wife, AJ Lee, taking the stand and testifying.
Punk was asked about the lump, which it was determined last week was on his butt and not his lower back to explain why photos around this time didn’t show any marking. Punk said the lump formed in the fall of 2013. He never showed Dr. Samson the lump, but he did show it to Dr. Amann. Punk stated that in December 2013 the lump was the size of a quarter.
Punk stated he had a drainage procedure performed and felt discharge and fluid on his neck and back. He received an “excuse note” from Patrick Duffy, who was the physicians’ assistant that AJ Lee recommended to Punk and executed the drainage procedure. The note was produced in court and listed “possible staph” on it. He did confirm it was later diagnosed as a cyst.
Despite having a concussion and lump, Punk told SmackDown trainer Larry Heck that he was “physically fine” in a text message, although the date of this text was not stated. This would presumably be after the Royal Rumble which is where the concussion in question would have taken place during the clothesline spot from Kofi Kingston. His questioning concluded with Punk stating he never measured the lump or signed a HIPAA release.
AJ Lee took the stand. She began dating Punk in August 2013. She saw Punk’s lump several times and it was on his left butt cheek and saw it for the first time in August 2013, which would be earlier than Punk’s estimate of the fall of 2013. She stated it started out the size of a zit and was at its largest at the Royal Rumble in January 2014. She recommended Patrick Duffy to Punk and believed he was a doctor at the time. She added that she was surprised Dr. Amann didn’t see the lump as a problem earlier.
**Brandon Howard at Wrestlenomics Radio recently listened to the “Art of the Wrestling” interviews from November 2014 with Colt Cabana and CM Punk. In an interesting note, Dr. Christopher Amann is never identified by name during the interviews. There was one person with the last name Amann who was mentioned, that being WWE lawyer Scott Amann, who has no relation to Dr. Amann.
**Tonight’s episode of Raw takes place from the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas with Roman Reigns back on the show after being off last week. They have announced several matches in advance for tonight’s show:
*Kevin Owens vs. Finn Balor
*Nia Jax vs. Natalya
*Braun Strowman vs. Bobby Roode
*Tag Team Battle Royal – the winner receiving a tag title match against Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt
**The SmackDown crew has a house show in Laredo, Texas tonight. AJ Styles is not listed in the advertising for the show but is scheduled for Tuesday’s television. The live event is headlined by The Miz vs. Daniel Bryan, along with a four-way with Jeff Hardy vs. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Big Cass vs. Shelton Benjamin for the United States. Sanity is also listed in the advertising for the show and was on the road this past weekend.
**The WWE has announced that The Undertaker will be appearing on the Madison Square Garden house show on Saturday, July 7th. The card will also feature Nia Jax vs. Ronda Rousey and Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor vs. Elias for the Intercontinental title. The card goes up against both UFC 226 and the New Japan G-1 Special from the Cow Palace in San Francisco.
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**The 25th Best of the Super Juniors tournament wrapped up Monday at Korakuen Hall with Hiromu Takahashi defeating Taiji Ishimori in a match-of-the-year contender. It wasn’t the best match I’ve seen this year, but the audience treated it as such. Takahashi was beaten so convincingly that when he broke free of the second crossface, the audience erupted with the belief he was going to win the match. They also set up the junior heavyweight title match for Dominion between Will Ospreay and Takahashi, so on paper Dominion looks like the best show of the year and the expectations will be through the roof.
**The full Dominion card should be out on Tuesday. They set up a six-man tag for Dominion with Jushin Thunder Liger suggesting a six-man tag teaming with Hiroshi Tanahashi & Rey Mysterio to take on Marty Scurll, Yujiro and another member of The Bullet Club. This would naturally lead to a Mysterio singles match at the Cow Palace in July against either Liger or Scurll. The Dominion card is so deep that you didn’t need to have a singles match with Mysterio.
**Tomoaki Honma made a surprise appearance on Sunday’s Best of the Super Juniors card at Korakuen Hall. Honma announced he would be returning to the ring on June 23rd after 15 months away due to his neck injury. Honma was injured taking a draping DDT in a March 2017 match and was unable to move his legs and arms temporarily. Honma remained in the hospital for more than three months following surgery on his spinal canal.
**Marc-Andre Boulanger, who is better known as wrestler Franky TM / Franky the Mobster, is set to go on trial following a raid of his home in 2016. Boulanger is facing charges of conspiracy, possession of drugs, including steroids for the purposes of trafficking, and possession of an illegal weapon. A warrant was issued, and his home was raided on June 22nd, 2016, with a judge ruling this past Friday that the warrant was valid. The start date of the trial has not been confirmed yet. Boulanger is still wrestling, including on Sunday’s Smash Wrestling event in Toronto at the Phoenix Concert Theatre.
**Jeff Jarrett showed up as a surprise on AAA’s Verano de Escandalo event on Sunday. Jarrett appeared alongside Juventud Guerrera under a hood and revealed his identity. This led to a segment with Dr. Wagner and Jarrett was inserted into the AAA Mega heavyweight title match along with Rey Mysterio to make it a three-way match. A fake version of La Parka was out alongside Jarrett and he made the fast count to allow Jarrett to win the match. The masked figure was revealed to be Konnan. Rey Fenix also appeared on the card to chase off the heels at the end.
**Impact Wrestling held a press conference at the Real Sports Bar in downtown Toronto on Monday to coincide with tickets going on sale for Slammiversary in the city on July 22nd. The pay-per-view will be headlined by Austin Aries vs. Moose for the Impact title and that the Impact and Grand championships have been merged. They have also added Taiji Ishimori to the Slammiversary card.
**Impact will also be holding two sets of television tapings at The Rebel Entertainment Complex in Toronto this summer. They will be taping episodes of Impact on Monday, July 23rd, and Tuesday, July 24th following Slammiversary. They will return to the same venue on Thursday, August 12th, and Friday, August 13th for additional tapings.
**A new episode of WWE Photoshoot featuring The Godfather will air tonight on the WWE Network following Raw.
**Low Ki has been added to this Thursday’s MLW television tapings in Orlando the Gilt Nightclub.
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MMA NEWS
**The UFC presents one of their deepest cards of the year with UFC 225 on Saturday from the United Center in Chicago. The main event is a middleweight title rematch from last July with Robert Whittaker defending the title against Yoel Romero. In their last fight, Romero was strong for the first two rounds and tide turned in Round 3 as Whittaker took over and won with superior conditioning. Romero just turned 41 years old and it’s hard to imagine his conditioning will be vastly superior 10 months later. It’s an interesting fight because the first was so close and Whittaker hasn’t fought since their last fight. The other title fight features Rafael dos Anjos and Colby Covington for the interim welterweight title, despite Tyron Woodley ready to fight this summer. If you look at it as a number one contender’s fight, you’ll be able to enjoy this fight for what it is. It’s a very hard fight to predict and is Covington’s toughest to date, and a step up from Demian Maia. If this card does above average numbers, you would have to isolate Covington and CM Punk as difference makers on the main card. When it comes to Punk and Mike Jackson, it’s just a strange fight for many reasons with the belief that Punk still has drawing power left. I think Punk means something but I’m pessimistic as to how much. It’s the antithesis of fights the UFC used to make where regardless of the outcome you have something to work with, in this case, if Mike Jackson wins, then what? Either way, you will have a 1-1 pro fighter that has no business in the UFC and no one you can match them up against that won’t grossly outmatch them. I feel it’s a good shot that you never see these two in the promotion again, obviously if Punk wins they will be tempted to book him again but it’s purely booking an attraction as opposed to someone connected to the UFC body.
**Jon Anik, Joe Rogan, and Jimmy Smith will be calling UFC 225 this Saturday from Chicago.
**Johnny Nunez, the partner of Miesha Tate, announced on Sunday that the couple’s child, Amaia Nevaeh Nunez, arrived after Tate was in labor for over 67 hours. Congratulation to them.
**Andrea Lee, who just debuted in the UFC and is a former LFA champion, was involved in a major controversy over the weekend. Lee posted a photo with her husband and trainer, Donny Aaron while the two were out by the lake and Aaron’s arms were displayed. It was noted that Aaron had a Swastika tattooed on his left forearm. Since the photo came out, others found a photo of his right arm with a Nazi SS bolt tattooed. Aaron has come out with a statement apologizing, stating he was a different person in his 20s than he is in his 40s. He got the tattoos when he was in prison and referred to them as his “scars”. He brought up the options of laser removal or having them covered up and was vague by stating, “I’ve explored both avenues and unfortunately neither is an option for me.” Lee has also released a follow-up statement following her initial Twitter comments on the controversy. Both Lee and Aaron’s statements can be read on the MMA Fighting website. Lee just made her UFC debut last month by defeating Veronica Macedo in Chile.
**The first PFL (Professional Fighter’s League, formerly World Series of Fighting) card takes place Thursday night from The Hulu Theatre adjacent to Madison Square Garden and will air at 9 pm Eastern on the NBC Sports Network. Below are the main card fights for Thursday’s event:
*Andre Harrison vs. Jumabieke Tuerxun
*Lance Palmer vs. Bekbulat Magomedov
*Alexandre Almeida vs. Lee Coville
*Steven Siler vs. Magomed Idrisov
**Here is the Countdown to UFC 225 special:
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*****
POST ROUNDTABLE #6: Mauro Ranallo & Haris Usanovic
https://www.postwrestling.com/2018/06/03/post-roundtable-6-mauro-ranallo-haris-usanovic/
*****
upNXT Interview: WWE UK’s Amir Jordan
https://upnxt.podbean.com/mf/download/3nfkb4/upNXT-WWEUK-AmirJordanInterview.mp3
*****
ASK-A-WAI: Ask Us Anything! (June 2018) Patreon show
John Pollock & Wai Ting answer almost 60 questions from the mailbag
https://www.patreon.com/posts/19163339
*****
upNXT 5/31/18: Rap Shoot
Braden Herrington & Davie Portman review this week’s NXT episode, they review Enzo’s rap single, Drake vs. Pusha T feud, and take your feedback
https://upnxt.podbean.com/mf/download/dippux/upNXT-May31-2018.mp3
*****
BWE 5/30/18: OTT Scrappermania, Progress Be Here Now, WWE UK, UFC in Liverpool
Martin Bushby, Oli Court, and Benno review all the latest U.K. shows
https://britishwrestlingexperience.podbean.com/mf/download/qag6fc/180530_BWE.mp3
*****
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