Ring of Honor & New Japan Pro Wrestling sell out Madison Square Garden

POST IT NOTES

**Wai Ting and I sat down this week and did a live commentary track watching the Kota Ibushi vs. Kenny Omega match from the DDT Peter Pan show in August 2012 at Budokan Hall. This is available for “Double Double” and above members of the POST Wrestling Café where you can sync this audio commentary with the match online. The link to the commentary track is at https://www.patreon.com/posts/kenny-omega-vs-20675471.

**Our latest G1 podcast is up on the POST Wrestling Café for all our members with Wai Ting and I joined by WH Park, who attended the A Block final on Friday from Budokan Hall. The three of us run through the entire show, discuss the tremendous main event between Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kazuchika Okada, the final standings in the block, the storyline to keep the Firing Squad from interfering on Saturday’s show, along with tons of live notes from WH’s experience at Budokan. You can download the show from the Café at https://www.patreon.com/posts/g1-climax-28-10-20680388 and if you join the Café, you will receive a custom RSS link to add to your favorite podcast app.

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**We will be back with another G1 show on the POST Wrestling Café on Saturday with WH joining us again for a live report. Sunday’s final will be a free show for everyone.

**Martin Bushby has a great interview on the site with Daniel Richardson, who UK fans may know as “James Dixon”. Richardson has spent 14 years working in the industry and he discusses backyard wrestling with Neville, working with 1PW, booking for What Culture Pro Wrestling, his current role consulting for World of Sport, and past dealings with the WWE. This show can be downloaded directly or subscribe to the British Wrestling Experience iTunes and/or RSS feed.

WRESTLING NEWS

**The G1 Supercard that will take place on Saturday, April 6^th at Madison Square Garden is sold out. The general on-sale began Friday and following an incredible demand during the pre-sale, that began on Wednesday, the event sold out almost immediately after tickets were made available Friday. The event is configured for approximately 15,000 seats and was sold out before any matches were announced. The co-promoted event between Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling will go head-to-head with NXT TakeOver at the Barclays Center that weekend and destroys Ring of Honor’s previous attendance record of 6,200 for this past year’s Supercard of Honor event in New Orleans. The story of booking the arena, the incredible demand and the lead up to this show with the key contracts coming due would make for a fascinating documentary.

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**It appears that Colt Cabana (Scott Colton) and CM Punk (Phil Brooks) will continue their legal battles, but this time against each other. The Chicago Sun-Times reported Thursday that a lawsuit was filed by Colton this past Tuesday in the Circuit Court of Cook County in Illinois. This suit is alleging unpaid legal fees that Brooks had agreed to compensate Colton for in their legal case filed by Dr. Christopher Amann.

In December 2014, several weeks after Punk’s interviews on Cabana’s “Art of Wrestling” podcast, a demand letter was issued to Cabana both electronically and by mail requesting the removal of the episode that contained statements made by Punk that Amann and his legal counsel found to be defamatory. Their side also requested a retraction to be of the statements perceived to be false.

Cabana alerted Punk to the demand letter, with Punk stating he would have his lawyer, Sunny Brenner of the Loeb & Loeb Firm, handle it and went on to tell Cabana he would be “100% covered”. Cabana opted not to remove the show or issue a retraction.

The promise to cover Cabana’s legal fees was documented with a signed retention agreement between the two sides and Punk’s legal team that would bill Punk for the legal fees. This occurred in the first half of 2015.

One year later, it seems evident that there was a falling out between Punk and Cabana. Punk alerted Cabana in late April 2016 that Cabana was to pay half and provided Cabana with the following letter:

“To date I have spent $513,736 dollars on this Amann lawsuit. My outstanding current bill is at least 300k. Half of all this is yours. Divide the 513,736 by 2 and that is what you owe me and what I expect you to pay me. Starting now I will no longer be paying your bills. You are on your own. Whatever my bill is currently, will be cut in half, and half will be yours. If you choose to make this all ugly, that’s fine too. I hope you won’t, but I gave up on you doing what is right a long time ago.”

Cabana sought to seek different legal representation after being alerted to this change in coverage for the legal fees. Sunny Brenner was able to convince Cabana to stay with them and stated they would cover his legal fees going forward. Brenner continued to represent both men until March 2017 when it is alleged in the lawsuit that Punk caused the Loeb Firm to withdraw from representing Cabana in the suit, leading to Cabana seeking council from lawyer Carey Stein.

After the Amann lawsuit ended in June 2018, Cabana’s legal counsel requested they be reimbursed $200,000 in legal fees by Punk’s side and that request was turned down.

Cabana’s side is arguing that if Punk had not promised to cover his legal fees, he would have complied with the request to remove the “Art of Wrestling” episode back in 2014 and not proceeded in the legal battle.

Cabana’s side is seeking $200,000 in general damages from the legal fees incurred, along with punitive and exemplary damages of $1,000,000.

**The A Block portion of the G1 Climax is in the books following Friday’s show at Budokan Hall, which was New Japan’s first inside the historic venue since June 2003. The tournament came down to the main event between Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kazuchika Okada, who wrestled to an incredible 30-minute draw with Tanahashi advancing with 15 points and Okada finishing the tournament with 13. Earlier in the night, EVIL defeated Jay White to play spoiler and eliminate White, who finished with 12 points in his first G1. On the B Block side, it is down to Kenny Omega with 12 points, Tetsuya Naito with 12, and Kota Ibushi with 10. Omega will face Ibushi in the main event inside the same arena as their DDT match in August 2012 where Ibushi was banned from after executing a moonsault from the balcony. Naito will face Zack Sabre Jr. prior to the main event and needs at least a draw. Here are the ways the B Block end:
*For Kenny Omega to win: He wins or draws Ibushi and it doesn’t matter what Naito does
*For Kota Ibushi to win: He must beat Omega and Naito must lose to Zack Sabre Jr. Ibushi would win the tiebreaker with wins over Omega and Naito.
*For Tetsuya Naito to win: If he beats Zack Sabre Jr. and Omega either draws or loses to Ibushi; If he draws with Zack and Ibushi beats Omega.

**Below is the lineup for the sold out B Block Final at Budokan Hall on Saturday morning at 5:30 am Eastern on New Japan World, which is sold out:
*Michael Elgin & David Finlay vs. Toa Henare & Shota Umino
*Hangman Page & Chase Owens vs. Tanga Loa & Bad Luck Fale
*Jay White Roppongi 3K vs. The Young Bucks & Marty Scurll
*Minoru Suzuki & El Desperado vs. EVIL & Bushi
*Hiroshi Tanahashi & Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Kazuchika Okada, Yoshi-Hashi & Gedo
*Tama Tonga (3-5) vs. Toru Yano (2-6)
*Juice Robinson (2-6)) vs. Hirooki Goto (3-5)
*Tomohiro Ishii (4-4) vs. Sanada (4-4)
*Tetsuya Naito (6-2) vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (5-3)
*Kenny Omega (6-2) vs. Kota Ibushi (5-3)

**New Japan is doing an angle where if any members of The Bullet Club OG (Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Bad Luck Fale) interfere in any matches on Saturday’s card, they will be suspended for three months and fined.

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**Impact Wrestling had a major drop of 32% in viewership for this week’s episode. Thursday night’s show averaged 168,000 viewers, their third lowest number ever on POP TV and lowest of 2018. There is no logical explanation for such a dramatic drop and is the second straight week they have experienced a major dip. The post-Slammiversary episode averaged 299,000 viewers as a comparison. There was an NFL pre-season game last night on the NFL Network, but the game did a fraction of the audience for last week’s pre-season game that aired on NBC.

**Wednesday’s episode of Lucha Underground on the El Rey Network averaged 115,000 viewers, almost identical to last week’s figure of 114,000. This week’s show was built around a match between the Worldwide Underground and The Reptile Tribe.

**The new main event for NXT TakeOver in Brooklyn is a “Last Man Standing Match” between Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano for the NXT title. An angle was shot to explain Aleister Black’s removal from the card where Black was mysteriously attacked outside Full Sail University with several suspects included in the video they posted. Black legitimately required groin surgery following a recent match in Las Vegas with Ciampa and was unable to be cleared to wrestle on the show. Below is the current TakeOver card set for the Barclays Center on Saturday, August 18^th:
*Tommaso Ciampa vs Johnny Gargano in a Last Man Standing Match for the NXT title
*Adam Cole vs. Ricochet for the NXT North American title
*Shayna Baszler vs Kairi Sane for the NXT women’s title
*Roderick Strong & Kyle O’Reilly vs. Tyler Bate & Trent Seven for the NXT tag titles
*Velveteen Dream vs. Ethan Carter III

**Tegan Nox, who previously wrestled as Nixon Newell, suffered a serious injury during the taping of the Mae Young Classic on Thursday night at Full Sail University. We won’t reveal the result, but it was announced later in the show she suffered a broken leg and she has released a statement on the injury.

**The WWE has announced the second match for the “Super-Show Down” event on Saturday, October 6^th at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia. John Cena is set to face Kevin Owens on the show, joining a previously announced match between The Undertaker and Triple H. The event will be airing live on the WWE Network that morning at 4 am Eastern and takes place the same day as UFC 229 featuring Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor.

**Chuck Carroll of CBS Sports and the “Press Slam” podcast on the MLW Network, recently spoke to Ring of Honor’s General Manager Greg Gilleland on their ability to secure Madison Square Garden. The interview was conducted on Wednesday when the pre-sale began so they already had a sense of how high demand was. Gilleland stated that they already sold half of the building within the first 40 minutes of the pre-sale. When they were notified by MSG that they were not going to receive the date, they began seeking back up plans, which included Philadelphia and would have been a tough move to leave New York City during the biggest weekend of the year. Of note, Gilleland added that the UK has now surpassed Canada in several metrics as their second largest fanbase behind the U.S.

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**Martin Hines at Metro in the UK has a great write-up on the World of Sport experiment on ITV after two episodes. Hines argues that average doesn’t cut it in the crowded wrestling space and details the problems the show has demonstrated from a heavy introduction of so many characters, poor utilization of their star performer Will Ospreay, poor production, and outlining the limitations when attempting to presents “shades of grey” characters rather then easily identifiable heroes and villains. This is a really good article and can be applied to promotions beyond World of Sport.

**Chris Charlton has noted that he won’t be part of the G1 broadcast on Saturday but will be working Sunday’s final at Budokan Hall with Kevin Kelly and Rocky Romero. Don Callis was unavailable this weekend because of the Impact Wrestling tapings in Toronto on Sunday and Monday.

**Triple H, AJ Styles, The Miz, and Charlotte Flair will be appearing at the Fan Expo in Toronto on Thursday, August 30^th. There is an “Ultimate Package” priced at $489 to meet all four that includes admission to the Fan Expo, an autograph and photo op with each, a VIP Express Pass, and first-priority seating at the panel. There are also individual packages to meet Triple H for $199, AJ Styles for $100, The Miz for $100, and Charlotte Flair for $90, which include an autograph and photo op with each.

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*****
BWE 8/10/18: Daniel Richardson Interview
Martin Bushby chats with Daniel Richardson a.k.a. James Dixon about his 14-year career, coming up with Neville, working with 1PW, booking for What Culture Pro Wrestling and later Defiant Wrestling, as well as his consulting role with World of Sport & lots more.
https://britishwrestlingexperience.podbean.com/mf/download/8v4sh7/BWE_Daniel_Richardson_Interview.mp3
*****
BWE 8/10/18: Daniel Richardson Interview
Martin Bushby chats with Daniel Richardson a.k.a. James Dixon about his 14-year career, coming up with Neville, working with 1PW, booking for What Culture Pro Wrestling and later Defiant Wrestling, as well as his consulting role with World of Sport & lots more.
https://britishwrestlingexperience.podbean.com/mf/download/8v4sh7/BWE_Daniel_Richardson_Interview.mp3
*****
upNXT 8/9/18: Parking Lot Blackout
Braden Herrington & Davie Portman review this week’s NXT, featuring Aleister Black vs. Johnny Gargano, the debut of Keith Lee, a Mae Young Classic Qualifier, and the latest on the TakeOver main event.
https://upnxt.podbean.com/mf/download/2rtjpq/upNXT-August9.mp3
*****
BWE 8/18/18: Progress Chapter 74, World of Sport, WXW Update, NXT UK, Rev Pro
Martin Bushby, Oli Court & Benno are back to chat the recent Progress Chapter 74 card feat. Travis Banks vs. Walter, the US tour Progress is on, WOS on ITV’s viewership, NXT UK news, and lots more
https://britishwrestlingexperience.podbean.com/mf/download/64tpv7/BRITISH-WRESTLING-EXPERIENCE-Aug-8-2018.mp3
*****
DOUBLE SHOT: 8/8/18: Lucha Underground, Being the Elite 114
John Pollock & Wai Ting present a show for Café members with reviews of last week’s murder-filled episode of Lucha Underground and a recap of “Being the Elite”
https://www.patreon.com/posts/20626015
*****
REWIND-A-SMACKDOWN 8/7/18: New Day vs. The Bar, Becky & Charlotte team up, News of the Day
John Pollock & Wai Ting review SmackDown from Orlando, a 25-minute main event, more matches for SummerSlam, News of the Day covers Raw’s viewership, Total Bellas renewed, Mae Young Classic & more
https://postwrestling.podbean.com/mf/download/826vn6/180807_RASD.mp3
*****
REWIND-A-RAW 8/6/18: Ronda Rousey’s first TV match, Paul Heyman cries
John Pollock & Wai Ting review Raw from Jacksonville with Ronda Rousey vs Alicia Fox, a tremendous performance from Paul Heyman, “All In” scheduled for PPV & WGN America, news from the day, feedback & more
https://postwrestling.podbean.com/mf/download/kiaev8/180806_RAR.mp3
*****
UFC 227 REVIEW
John Pollock is joined by Phil Chertok & Ziggy Cao to review the UFC 227 card from Saturday with T.J. Dillashaw defending the bantamweight title, Henry Cejudo unseats Demetrious Johnson, full rundown of the card, and we chat Nurmagomedov vs. McGregor.
https://postwrestling.podbean.com/mf/download/ymdsii/UFC-227-POST-SHOW.mp3
*****

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