POST IT NOTES
**Rewind-A-SmackDown is LIVE tonight at 11:15 p.m. ET with Nate Milton joining me as a guest co-host. We will have reviews of Friday Night SmackDown and AEW Rampage and taking your calls. We will be live for all members of the POST Wrestling Café.
**Wai Ting and I put out a bonus POST News show on Friday discussing Tony Khan’s news that All Out topped 200,000 buys, the Dynamite viewership figures from Wednesday, SmackDown & Rampage previews, and Bound for Glory heading to Las Vegas with a later time slot that night. We have posted the audio on both the POST Wrestling Café and free POST Wrestling feeds.
**Andrew Thompson has a big interview with Rok-C, who recently signed with Ring of Honor and will be facing Miranda Alize this Sunday at the Death Before Dishonor event.
**The British Wrestling Experience has announced that Andy Ogden is going to be a permanent co-host on the show alongside Martin Bushby and Benno. Ogden has a tremendous knowledge base especially of the rising talent on the U.K. scene and is part of the Graps & Claps podcast as well as being a frequent guest for years on the British Wrestling Experience prior to this announcement. This week’s BWE features Ogden joining the team and discussing all the latest U.K. news and discussing WALTER vs. Ilja Dragunov, TakeOver 36, and Rev Pro’s 9th anniversary.
**The NWA Podcast returns this Sunday with Nate Milton, Kris Ealy & Andrew Thompson. This will be available on the free POST Wrestling feed.
**John Siino will have coverage of the ROH Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view this Sunday night on the site.
WRESTLING NEWS
**Al Snow is being hailed as a hero after rescuing a child from an ocean riptide in Florida. TMZ is reporting that Snow was at Santa Rosa Beach in Destin, Florida, and saw the child being hit by waves and didn’t think the lifeguard would make it in time, so he sprung into the water. Snow grabbed the boy’s arm and said he got to him just in time with Snow having a flashback to the story involving Shad Gaspard, who died while saving his son in May 2020. After the rescue, Snow said he felt exhausted and was ready to collapse after getting out of the water.
**Friday Night SmackDown is a big show from Madison Square Garden tonight as WWE returns to the venue for the first time since December 26, 2019, and the first television episode at the venue since September 2019. The company is going all out with the first appearance by Brock Lesnar on WWE television since March 2020, a rematch from SummerSlam, the advertisement of several performers from Raw, and John Cena is listed but not being promoted for the television portion. SmackDown has been doing very good numbers of late and topping 2.2 million viewers over the past two episodes, so tonight’s show should be able to top those figures. Below are all the matches and segments announced:
*SmackDown Tag Team Championship: The Usos (champions) vs. The Street Profits
*Edge vs. Seth Rollins
*Brock Lesnar appears
*Contract signing between Becky Lynch and Bianca Belair
*John Cena, Bobby Lashley, Drew McIntyre & Charlotte Flair are being advertised but there has been no promotion involving them for the televised portion of SmackDown
*On the events page, Sasha Banks is being advertised and has not been on television since August 13th
**AEW Rampage will feature the matches taped on Wednesday after Dynamite from the Fifth Third Arena in Cincinnati. The following matches are scheduled for tonight airing at 10 p.m. ET on TNT:
*Interviews with Bryan Danielson and Adam Cole
*PAC vs. Andrade El Idolo
*Dr. Britt Baker, Rebel & Jamie Hayter vs. Ruby Soho, Riho & Kris Statlander
*Brian Pillman Jr. vs. Max Caster
*Darby Allin & Sting respond to Tully Blanchard
**A fan that attended last Friday’s edition of Rampage and the All Out pay-per-view at the NOW Arena has posted on Reddit that he tested positive for COVID-19. The person had floor seating and stated they were fully vaccinated and wore a mask.
**Paul Heyman spoke with Joseph Staszewski of the New York Post and shared his thoughts on the character shift for Becky Lynch:
If the audience wants to embrace Becky Lynch as she shows this side of her personality after taking a year and a half off, after having a baby, becoming a mother, the responsibilities and the obligations and accountabilities that go along with the role in her life then if the audience wants to embrace Becky Lynch, embrace Becky Lynch. And if the audience finds that is a saltier side of her personality that’s worthy of their contempt and disdain then they will bestow upon her a reaction that is akin to that emotion.
I’m not a big believer in the positioning of people as protagonists and antagonists, I think these personalities have multiple sides to them. Events in life will change your perspective, demeanor and the way you address people. So, if there is a more coarse side of Becky’s personality that is now coming to the forefront and you’re a fan of Becky then embrace it and accept it. And if you just judge someone by their immediate actions and their short-term perspective then I guess you now have a villain for whom you can root against.
Regarding the changes in the industry and rise of AEW:
Any industry can never go wrong when the consumer has a choice.
**Becky Lynch spoke to Kate Feldman of the New York Daily News about her character since returning at SummerSlam:
I just did what an intelligent person would do. If you haven’t been wrestling in a long time, then you’ve been strategizing. You’ve been strategizing because you haven’t been in the ring with this person, so then you are going to do something different. You are going to catch them off guard. And now suddenly I’m the bad guy because I came back even better than ever? I don’t really understand this talk about me being a heel. I haven’t changed. I just got smarter.
**This past Monday’s edition of WWE Raw averaged 206,200 viewers and 85,400 in the 25-54 demographic on Sportsnet 360 in Canada. Due to Labour Day, the Toronto Blue Jays and the CFL games took place in the afternoon and Raw’s only major sports competition that night was U.S. Open tennis. It was still Raw’s lowest viewership in Canada since July 26th.
**NXT averaged 87,800 viewers and 37,800 in the 25-54 demo on Tuesday night in Canada on Sportsnet 360. They finished among the top ten sports programs in the country that night, which was led by the Toronto Blue Jays vs. New York Yankees and U.S. Open tennis coverage.
**Adam Cole appeared on Busted Open Radio on Friday and noted that this is the first time since 2009 that he and Kyle O’Reilly have not been in the same company.
**WWE has released its documentary on the September 13, 2001, edition of SmackDown from Houston, Texas. The live edition of SmackDown took place two days after the terrorist attacks in the U.S. that left the talent and crew grounded in Houston, where they had been scheduled to tape the show on 9/11. From a presentation standpoint, the attacks also led to the company dropping the “Raw is War” branding in favor of just “Raw” a few weeks later.
**Here are the matches for tonight’s edition of NJPW Strong airing at 10 p.m. ET on New Japan World:
*Karl Fredericks vs. Ren Narita
*Clark Connors vs. Alex Coughlin
*Kevin Knight vs. The DKC
**IMPACT Wrestling averaged 111,000 viewers and 0.03 in the 18-49 demographic on Thursday, per Showbuzz Daily.
**AIW out of Cleveland has a card streaming at 7:30 p.m. ET tonight on Independent Wrestling featuring The Philly Marino Experience defending the AIW tag titles against The Rip City Shooters, Lee Moriarty vs. Anthony Greene, Tom Lawlor vs. Eric Taylor, Rhino vs. Kaplan, Mance Warner vs. Ethan Wright, Matthew Justice vs. Derek Dillinger, Cheech & Colin Delaney vs. PB Smooth & Joseline Navarro, Louis Lyndon & Jack Verville vs. Calvin G. Lewis & Malcolm Cambridge, and Matt Cross vs. Alex Zayne vs. Chase Oliver vs. Gringo Loco.
*IWTV is also streaming the West Coast Pro event from San Francisco tonight at 10 p.m. ET with a strong line-up. The card is headlined by Alex Hammerstone defending their heavyweight title against AJ Gray along with Vinny Massaro vs. Yuya Uemura, Calvin Tankman vs. Kevin Blackwood, Starboy Charlie vs. Titus Alexander, Reno Scum vs. Trey Miguel & Myron Reed, Chris Bey vs. Jordan Oliver vs. Steven Tresario, Jacob Fatu vs. Levi Shapiro, and a six-man with Juicy Finau, Midas Kreed & Nick Wayne vs. Lucas Riley, D-Rogue & Cocky Johnson.
**Ring of Honor returns to pay-per-view this Sunday night with Death Before Dishonor from the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia. It’s a fine show on paper and it’s rare you don’t see great reviews for an ROH pay-per-view but this is the ongoing struggle of various companies attempting to hold their share of the wrestling fan’s appetite with added options and the available means to watch so much. Moving their shows to Sunday would appear to be a wise move as Friday nights have become the worst night to try and compete. Here is the full card for Sunday’s show with the pre-show airing at 7 p.m. ET on traditional pay-per-view, Honor Club, and Fite TV:
*ROH World Championship: Bandido (champion) vs. Brody King vs. Demonic Flamita vs. EC3
*ROH Pure Championship: Jonathan Gresham (champion) vs. Josh Woods
*ROH Six-Man Championship: Shane Taylor Promotions vs. Dragon Lee, Kenny King & La Bestia del Ring
*ROH Women’s Championship Finals: Miranda Alize vs. Rok-C
*The Briscoes vs. Matt Taven & Mike Bennett
*Jake Atlas vs. Taylor Rust
*Tony Deppen, Homicide & Chris Dickinson vs. John Walters, LSG & Lee Moriarty (who was just offered an AEW contract at the Dark tapings on Wednesday in Cincinnati)
*Dalton Castle vs. Eli Isom
*Hour One Pre-Show: Honor Rumble
**Tito Ortiz missed weight for his boxing fight against Anderson Silva for the Triller Fight Club event. The two were contracted to box at 195 pounds with the former UFC light heavyweight champion weighing 200 pounds while Silva was 192.6. Globo reported that Ortiz will be fined 20 percent of his purse. Saturday’s Triller event will be headlined by Evander Holyfield and Vitor Belfort, who both made weight for their heavyweight fight. Holyfield weighed 225.4 pounds and Belfort was 206.2.
**Bellator 268 has added a pair of fights for its October 16th event in Phoenix, Arizona. A lightweight fight has been added between Benson Henderson (28-10) and former champion Brent Primus (10-2), along with a featherweight fight between Henry Corrales (18-6) and Vladyslav Parubchenko (16-2). The card airs on Showtime and will be headlined by Vadim Nemkov defending the light heavyweight championship against Anthony Johnson in the semi-finals of the Light Heavyweight Grand Prix and the other semi-final fight between Ryan Bader and Corey Anderson.
ON THIS DATE
CM Punk made his MMA debut in 2016 at UFC 203 against Mickey Gall in Cleveland, Ohio:
Kenta Kobashi defends the GHC Championship against Akira Taue in 2004 at Budokan Hall:
John Silver and Alex Reynolds (as “Alex Keaton”) wrestle Heavy Machinery on SmackDown just a few weeks before Dynamite would launch on TNT:
*****
POST News Update 9/10/21: AEW All Out tops 200,000 buys
John Pollock & Wai Ting discuss news of AEW All Out topping 200,000 buys, Dynamite ratings, SmackDown at MSG, Bound For Glory and more.
*****
MCU L8R: What If…Episode 5 “Zombies?!”
Wai Ting & WH Park are joined by Mike Murray to review What If…? Episode 5: “What If… Zombies?!”
*****
BWE: WALTER vs. Dragunov, RevPro 9th Anniversary, Charlie Morgan
Martin Bushby & Benno are joined by Andy Ogden to discuss the last month in European wrestling including the big Walter vs. Ilja Dragunov rematch from NXT TakeOver 36, RevPro’s 9th Anniversary and more.
*****
REWIND-A-DYNAMITE: Moxley vs. Suzuki, Danielson/Omega
John Pollock & Wai Ting review AEW Dynamite from Cincinnati featuring Jon Moxley vs. Minoru Suzuki and appearances from Bryan Danielson, Adam Cole, and CM Punk following the All Out pay-per-view.
*****
SHOT IN THE DARK: CM Punk on AEW Dark, ROH Women’s Tournament Semi-Finals
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 9/7/21: “Crack That Nut”
Braden Herrington and Davie Portman review the September 7th 2021 edition of WWE NXT featuring the bachelor and bachelorette parties of InDex, plus MSK vs Danny Burch & Oney Lorcan for the NXT Tag Team Championships!
*****
MCU L8R: Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Wai Ting and WH Park review the 25th Marvel Cinematic Universe film, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), Marvel’s first film starring an Asian-lead.
*****
REWIND-A-RAW 9/6/21: Charlotte vs. Nia Jax II, All Out Fallout
John Pollock & Wai Ting chat Raw from Miami with the highly-anticipated rematch between Charlotte Flair and Nia Jax, fallout from AEW All Out, Bryan Danielson, CM Punk & Adam Cole speak & more.
*****
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