THE PASSING OF SHANNON SPRUILL
I wanted to start off by discussing the tragic news involving Shannon Spruill a.k.a. Daffney.
This story has hit people exceptionally hard on multiple levels. There are those that worked closely with her that have had no shortage of great memories and personal stories of Spruill’s willingness to help younger talent and added positive energy to any locker room she was part of. For fans of hers, she was a well-remembered character during the final years of WCW that brought energy and a look that was very different than the typical portrayal of female talent during that era.
What is really tough about this loss is the way in which it played out in real-time. Often, we hear of a person taking their own life and wondering what was going on during those final moments and wishing you could have helped. In this instance, people got to see what she was going through and set the online community in a sense of panic with attempts to contact her and secure her safety. It was too late and sadly, she is no longer here.
This is a tragedy in many ways involving someone that was affected by their mental health but also was greatly impacted by her physical health from several terrible injuries sustained during her wrestling career.
Spruill should also be remembered as someone that didn’t just complain about the system, she tried to take active measures to change it. In 2011, she filed a worker’s compensation claim in a suit against TNA/IMPACT Wrestling over medical costs that were bestowed on her as well as an attempt to classify whether she was an employee rather than an independent contractor. Any prolonged legal battle is rife with stress and ultimately, a confidential settlement was reached in March 2013 but her wrestling days inside of the ring were over and she paid a great toll physically.
Her death places a focus on mental health awareness and further encouraging those struggling to reach out, that there are people who care and want to help.
While the stories of Spruill are those of great memories and indicative of a wonderful person, perhaps it’s also worth emphasizing that being perfect isn’t a requisite for happiness and acceptance nor an expectation that anyone should be held to.
We are all imperfect, we have faults, we make decisions we regret, and that’s okay. It’s also imperative to understand that some are struggling at a far greater level and regardless of their outward demeanor, you never know what is happening on the inside.
When you’re struggling, it’s not a sign of weakness to ask for help nor a sign of strength to keep your insecurities to yourself. Often, your network of friends will surprise you with the amount in which they can help, and that network does exist even when you may think you’re isolated from everyone.
On Wednesday night, it was too late for anyone to save Shannon Spruill and my hope is that in the wake of her passing, these discussions provide a light for someone that can be reached in time.
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (U.S.) – 1-800-273-8255
International numbers – https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines
POST IT NOTES
**We will be live tonight at 11:15 p.m. ET with Rewind-A-SmackDown as Wai Ting and I review SmackDown & Rampage. We will be taking your calls for the remainder of the show and previewing the weekend coming up. There is live access for all members of the POST Wrestling Café.
**Happy Birthday to our own Davie Portman.
**On Sunday night, our AEW All Out POST Show will be live immediately after the card for Double Double, Iced Capp & Espresso members of the Café. Wai Ting and I should be live about ten minutes after the main event and we will also take calls on that show.
**There will be a bonus show on Sunday for Café members with Wai and I recapping both NJPW shows from the MetLife Dome and discussing the news following both events.
**The Wellness Policy covers “Modern Dating” with Wai Ting, Jordan Goodman & Braden Herrington and special guest Erica Lambart.
**I was a guest with Stephanie Chase to preview AEW All Out and below is the entire show:
WRESTLING NEWS
**Friday Night SmackDown takes place from the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida tonight. Below are the advertised matches for tonight’s show at 8 p.m. on Fox:
*Universal Championship: Roman Reigns (champion) vs. Finn Balor
*The Usos vs. The Street Profits in a non-title match
*Seth Rollins vs. Cesaro
**AEW Rampage airs at 10 p.m. ET on TNT for the final episode before All Out. It is the promotion’s second of three events at the NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. Here are the matches and segments announced:
*CM Punk to appear on the show
*Darby Allin vs. Daniel Garcia
*Malakai Black vs. Lee Johnson
*Kris Statlander vs. Jamie Hayter & Rebel
*Miro speaks
**CM Punk spoke with Moose & Maggie on WFAN to promote All Out and share his feelings about deciding to sign with AEW. During the interview, Punk was asked about whether it’s a foregone conclusion that Bryan Danielson is coming to AEW:
Listen, in the seven years I was gone if you told me ‘Who is the one guy that could get you back to wrestling?’ Just one match, it would be him (Danielson). I don’t know if that answers your question or not. The guy was in the WrestleMania main event six months ago, you know what I mean? So, that would be a huge acquisition and I think he could do, just like me, everything he wants to do and for a guy like him and me, pro wrestling is art – this is our art. Other people paint with brushes, this is our art, we’re very much in the footsteps of a Bret Hart. So, if he does show up, I’m excited to see what he does, if he doesn’t, I’m excited to see what he does elsewhere.
**IMPACT Wrestling averaged 126,000 viewers and 0.04 in the 18-49 demographic on Thursday night on AXS TV.
**Below are the matches scheduled for NJPW Strong’s ‘BBQ Brawl’ tonight at 10 p.m. ET on New Japan World:
*Josh Alexander vs. Daniel Garcia
*Rey Horus vs. TJP
*Hikuleo vs. Matt Morris
**205 Live will stream at 10 p.m. ET tonight on the WWE Network with the following matches announced:
*Joe Gacy vs. Josh Briggs
*Andre Chase vs. Xyon Quinn
*Cora Jade vs. Amari Miller
**Freelance Wrestling presents ‘No Place Like Home’ at 8 p.m. ET tonight on Fite TV. The card will include GPA defending the Freelance Championship against Danhausen and Nick Gage & Kylie Rae taking on Robert Anthony & Frank the Clown among the matches scheduled.
**Game Changer Wrestling and Black Label Pro present ‘3 Cups Stuffed’ tonight at Midnight ET from the Grand Sports Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, and streaming on Fite TV. Below is the card:
*BLP Heavyweight Championship: Jake Something (champion) vs. Effy
*Death Match: G-Raver vs. Jimmy Lloyd (this is a rematch from ‘2 Cups Stuffed’ in 2019 where G-Raver sustained a terrible injury from a light tube nearly cutting an artery and taking him out of action for over a year).
*Nick Gage, AJ Gray, Mance Warner & Matthew Justice vs. The Barbarian, The Warlord, Danhausen & Warhorse
*2 Cold Scorpio vs. Stallion Rogers
*BLP Midwest Championship: Alex Shelley (champion) vs. Tom Lawlor
*Chris Dickinson vs. Kevin Ku
*Juventud Guerrera & Super Crazy vs. Gringo Loco & Arez vs. Dragon Bane & El Hijo de Canis Lupis vs. Laredo Kid & ASF
*Jordan Oliver vs. Nick Wayne vs. Mike Jackson vs. Billie Starkz vs. Starboy Charlie vs. Marcus Mathers
**NJPW has a huge weekend with back-to-back shows at the MetLife Dome featuring Kota Ibushi’s first match in two months. He will headline the first night against Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP United States Championship and is no small task for his return match. The two have had several classics over the past years and the bar is always high when these two perform together. The first show streams early Saturday morning at 3:30 a.m. ET beginning with the Stardom tag match on New Japan World. Below is the full card:
*IWGP United States Championship: Hiroshi Tanahashi (champion) vs. Kota Ibushi
*Kazuchika Okada vs. Jeff Cobb – They had a great match at the Tokyo Dome with Okada winning but not with the Rainmaker. This could go several ways, but I think it sets up Cobb as a major name for the G1 if he gets this win and sets up a rubber match in the G1 or later.
*KOPW 2021, I Quit Match: Chase Owens (holder) vs. Toru Yano
*YOH vs. SHO
*Robbie Eagles & Tiger Mask vs. Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI
*Momo Watanabe & Saya Kamitani vs. Maika & Lady C
I would anticipate that the participants for the G1 Climax will be revealed this weekend as the tournament begins in two weeks. The hope would be that NJPW has a few surprises up their sleeve for the blocks given the talent that is outside of Japan that won’t be participating this year with Will Ospreay as the major omission. While several heavyweights are out of the G1 this year, there is the potential of Hiromu Takahashi entering his first G1, which would be a major addition and create some incredible singles matches within his block.
**The second night at the MetLife Dome will stream late Saturday night at 1:30 a.m. ET on New Japan World with the following:
*IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Shingo Takagi (champion) vs. EVIL
*IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Robbie Eagles (champion) vs. Hiromu Takahashi
*IWGP Tag Team Championship: Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi (champions) vs. Tetsuya Naito & SANADA vs. Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI
*IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Championship: El Phantasmo & Taiji Ishimori vs. El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
*Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Jeff Cobb & Great O-Khan
*Momo Watanabe & Saya Kamitani vs. Giulia & Syuri
**Lucha Blog has a recap of RUSH’s press conference on Thursday with his family following his knee surgery that Ring of Honor states will keep him out of action for the remainder of the year. There are a variety of timelines out there regarding his recovery process with RUSH stating at the presser it could be 8-12 months, which is far longer than others anticipated, if accurate. The former Mistico II also appeared at the press conference under the name moniker of ‘Dralistico’ and is now a member of La Faccion Ingobernable. The press conference is available on YouTube.
**The first three award recipients for the 2022 induction weekend have been named by the George Tragos/Lou Thesz Hall of Fame in Waterloo, Iowa. The Lou Thesz Award will be presented to Trish Stratus, who was set to be honored this year but could not attend the ceremony due to border restrictions between the U.S. and Canada. The Gordon Solie Award will be presented to Jim Ross of AEW. The Hall of Fame has also announced that Mike Rotunda will be inducted over that weekend, which is scheduled for July 21st to July 23rd of 2022.
**Will Ospreay has been added to Chris Jericho’s ‘Rock ‘N Rager at Sea’ from October 21-25. The announcement was made on Friday with the note that Ospreay would not be wrestling on the cruise but will be making special appearances. The latest list of AEW talent taking part includes Britt Baker, Orange Cassidy, Lance Archer, Jake Roberts, Powerhouse Hobbs, Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, Anna Jay, Colt Cabana, The Gunn Club, and Wheeler Yuta.
**GCW presents ‘The Art of War Games’ on Saturday night at 9 p.m. ET headlined by a War Games match between MDK and 440H along with Matt Cardona defending the GCW Championship in an Open Challenge, and Juventud Guerrera vs. Super Crazy.
**Minoru Suzuki’s U.S. tour will include a match against Dominic Garrini for Timebomb Pro Wrestling on Thursday, October 21st in Fargo, North Dakota at the TAK Music Venue. The company has sold the most tickets in its history since announcing the match this past week.
**The WWE stock closed at $52.00 on Friday.
MMA NEWS
**TMZ broke the news that Oscar De La Hoya has tested positive for COVID-19 and will not be able to fight Vitor Belfort on September 11th. The same site is reporting that Triller is attempting to replace De La Hoya with Evander Holyfield, but it requires approval from the California State Athletic Commission. TMZ adds that if California turns down the fight that Triller will move the event to Florida, which explains the problems with oversight when Triller can just move to a friendlier commission with lower standards.
**The UFC Fight Night card on Saturday takes place from the Apex in Las Vegas (it was originally targeted for London, England) and will be an afternoon card with the main card airing at 4 p.m. ET. The key fights on the card include the main event between middleweights Derek Brunson and Darren Till along with the promotional debut of former Cage Warriors star Paddy “The Baddy” Pimblett in the main card opener. Below is the full line-up:
MAIN CARD (4 p.m. ET on ESPN+)
*Derek Brunson (22-7) vs. Darren Till (18-3-1)
*Tom Aspinall (10-2) vs. Serghei Spivac (13-2)
*David Zawada (17-6) vs. Alex Morono (19-7)
*Modestas Bukauskas (11-4) vs. Khalil Rountree (8-5)
*Paddy Pimblett (16-3) vs. Luigi Vendramini (9-2)
PRELIMINARY CARD (1:30 p.m. ET on ESPN+)
*Molly McCann (10-4) vs. Ji Yeon Kim (9-3-2)
*Liudvik Sholinian (9-1-1) vs. Jack Shore (14-0)
*Charles Jourdain (11-3-1) vs. Julian Erosa (25-9)
*Marc-Andre Barriault (12-4) vs. Dalcha Lungiambula (11-2)
*Marcelo Rojo (16-7) vs. Jonathan Martinez (13-4)
*****
THE WELLNESS POLICY: Modern Dating
Wai Ting and Jordan Goodman invite upNXT’s Braden Herrington on a three-way date episode of The Wellness Policy. Dating Profile Consultant Erica Lambart joins to help listeners navigate the treacherous waters of online dating.
*****
MCU L8R: What If…Ep. 4 “Doctor Strange Loses His Heart”
Wai Ting & WH Park review What If…? Episode 4: “What If… Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?” Plus, Wai shares his spoiler-free immediate reactions following his viewing of Shang-Chi.
*****
REWIND-A-DYNAMITE
John Pollock & Wai Ting review AEW Dynamite from the NOW Arena with the final week of promotion for All Out, CM Punk delivers a GTS in an AEW ring and we go through all the news.
*****
SHOT IN THE DARK
John Siino reviews this week’s editions of AEW Dark, AEW Dark: Elevation, NXT UK, 205 Live, NJPW Strong, NWA Powerrr, Ring of Honor, and Main Event in under 15 minutes on Shot In The Dark.
*****
upNXT 8/31/21: “Toe to the Moon”
Braden Herrington and Davie Portman review the August 31st, 2021 edition of WWE NXT headlined by Tommaso Ciampa vs Ridge Holland!
*****
ASK-A-WAI: Ask Us Anything! (September 2021)
John Pollock and Wai Ting answer their patrons’ questions from the POST Wrestling Forum in the September 2021 edition of Ask-A-Wai.
*****
REWIND-A-RAW 8/30/31: Nia vs. Charlotte, NWA EmPowerrr
John Pollock & Wai Ting chat Raw from OKC featuring a bizarre match between Charlotte Flair and Nia Jax. Plus, SmackDown & Rampage numbers, NWA EmPowerrr, Jake Paul-Tyron Woodley & more.
*****
POST PURO Bonus
WH Park is joined by Andrew Thompson to look at Minoru Suzuki’s upcoming American tour, how All Japan should book the Royal Road finals, Stardom’s 5 Star Grand Prix and more.
*****
Browse the POST Wrestling Store
https://store.postwrestling.com
Subscribe to POST Wrestling
https://postwrestling.com/subscribe
POST Wrestling Forum
https://forum.postwrestling.com
Support our Patreon – The POST Wrestling Café
http://www.patreon.com/POSTwrestling
