POST IT NOTES
**Today’s edition of Rewind-A-Raw is up on the site with Wai Ting & I reviewing the “go home” episode of Raw before SummerSlam. Off the top, we chatted about the passing of Jim Neidhart, the Colt Cabana lawsuit filed against CM Punk and then a big review of Raw, followed by your feedback & questions. As always you can download the show, subscribe to POST Wrestling on iTunes and listen on any podcast app, including Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play etc.
**On tonight’s Rewind-A-SmackDown, we will review SmackDown and present a big preview for SummerSlam at the end of the show.
**On Wednesday, we will release the “Double Shot” for members of the POST Wrestling Café. On this week’s show, I’ll be reviewing the new book “NITRO: The Incredible Rise and Inevitable Collapse of Ted Turner’s WCW” by Guy Evans, plus last week’s Lucha Underground. Wai Ting will be recapping this weeks’ edition of “Being the Elite” as well.
**This Friday on the POST Wrestling Café, Rewind-A-Wai returns with Wai Ting and I reviewing the WCW Bash at the Beach event from July 1998 with Hollywood Hogan & Dennis Rodman vs. Diamond Dallas Page & Karl Malone. This show was chosen by Espresso Executive Producer Thorsten Wendelmuth and we are taking feedback & questions on the POST Wrestling Forum.
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SCHEDULE THIS WEEK:
*Tonight: Rewind-A-SmackDown
*Wednesday: The Double Shot (Patreon) with reviews of the new NITRO book, Being the Elite & Lucha Underground
*Thursday: upNXT with Braden Herrington & Davie Portman
*Friday: Rewind-A-Wai on WCW Bash at the Beach 1998 (Patreon)
*Saturday: EGGSHELLS Podcast Companion with Chris Charlton joined by Nate Milton chat 1997 cards at the Tokyo Dome
*Saturday: NXT TakeOver review with Braden Herrington & John Pollock and Davie Portman calling in after attending the show live
*Sunday: WWE SummerSlam review with John Pollock & Wai Ting
WRESTLING NEWS
**It was reported on Tuesday that former UK wrestler Ian “Doc Dean” Brown has passed away at the age of 48. Dean started wrestling at the young age of 14, teaming with current NXT trainer Robbie Brookside as The Liverpool Lads. He toured around the world and began working for WCW in 1997. With WCW and New Japan having a working agreement, he participated in the Best of the Super Juniors tournament in 1997. This was at a time when the junior heavyweight division was loaded and enhanced with New Japan’s working agreement with WCW that also allowed for Chris Jericho and Chavo Guerrero Jr. to work the tournament. Dean finished with two points in his block with wins over Guerrero and Liger in the round robin. While he was relegated to enhancement work within WCW, he was one of many performers that considered hidden gems in the promotion, often providing great work on the Saturday Night program during that era. Robbie Brookside posted the following after learning of his former teammates’ passing:
RIP Ian Doc Dean. I met you in 1984, you were dressed in a Doctors coat, a pair of rubber boots and a helmet. From then on we drove down every road and sailed the 7 seas. The great times will always be with me forever. I shall miss you my dear friend. Forever with me.x
**We started Monday night’s show discussing the life and career of Jim Neidhart and I also have a write up on his career. Ross Hart spoke to the Associated Press on Monday and said he believed Neidhart suffered a grand mal seizure Monday morning. Hart added that Neidhart went to lower the temperature on the air conditioner early that morning and collapsed, believing that Neidhart died quickly after the fall. Neidhart had been battling with Alzheimer’s disease as well.
Neidhart’s passing has received lots of national coverage because he is one of the many larger than life characters that the WWF’s 1980’s boom produced. He was an extremely colorful figure within the industry with the over-the-top delivery in his promos, a perfect nickname to compliment his body structure and link him to his past exploits as a shot putter, and the famous laugh. An underrated aspect to Bret and Neidhart standing out was their unique color scheme of pink and black that always jumped through the screen with those colors that worked so well as they were establishing themselves as heels, and later as babyfaces.
The two periods of his career that will be remembered by most are the initial Hart Foundation tag team from 1985 – 1991 and then the USA vs. Canada program in 1997 with Neidhart aligned with Bret, Owen, Davey Boy Smith, and Brian Pillman. That program was so hot during that era, it peaked at the Canadian Stampede card in July 1997 at the Saddledome with the Hart Foundation defeating Steve Austin, Ken Shamrock, Goldust and Legion of Doom. The atmosphere was electric for the main event and the closing scene with the entire Hart family in the ring celebrating was a memorable one. It is very sad to look back at that program and realize that four of the five members have died. After the Survivor Series that November, Neidhart did get a deal with WCW and was paired with Davey Boy Smith as a team but never caught on and were relegated to an undercard tag team that was done before the end of 1998.
I will add it’s unfortunate that neither Neidhart or Vader were included in one of the recent Hall of Fame classes by the WWE, as it was something both men wanted, and others had pushed for. In the WWE Hall of Fame, anyone can go in and given both were in bad health over the years, it’s just unfortunate they couldn’t go in while they were still here.
**Nattie Neidhart posted the following statement on the passing of her father:
I can’t put into words how hard it is going to be for myself and our family to have to say goodbye to my dad. He meant the world to us, and nothing will ever replace the special times we shared together as a family. My dad was always a fighter and an incredibly special person. There was no one like him. I’m just gonna miss him so much. We are going to hold all of the moments we had with him close to our hearts forever and never let them go. I promise to keep your memory alive. We love you so much, Daddy! On behalf of my entire family, we would also like to personally thank everyone for the outpouring of thoughts and prayers. It’s meant so much to us.
**The SmackDown and 205 Live tapings are in Greenville, South Carolina tonight from the Bon Secours Wellness Arena and is the final set of tapings before SummerSlam. Here is what has been announced for tonight’s show:
*New Day vs. Sanity in a six-man tag
*Andrade Cien Almas vs. Aiden English
*The return of Jeff Hardy
*In-ring segment with Carmella, Becky Lynch, and Charlotte Flair
*Cedric Alexander vs. Jack Gallagher in a non-title match on 205 Live
*Lio Rush vs. Akira Tozawa on 205 Live
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**Regarding the opening segment of Raw, I cannot imagine how difficult that speech was for Ronda Rousey to address the passing of Jim Neidhart. Not only is she close friends with Nattie, but Rousey lost her own father when she was eight-years-old. Her father had broken his back and was in significant pain, resulting in him committing suicide and that played a huge impact on Rousey’s life. It was probably a very emotional speech to deliver and then she had to snap into pro wrestler mode for the forthcoming match and angle with Alexa Bliss and Alicia Fox.
**The WWE’s updated card for this Sunday’s SummerSlam card is up to 13 matches at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Here is the updated card:
*Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns for the Universal title
*AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe for the WWE title
*Alexa Bliss vs. Ronda Rousey for the Raw women’s title
*Dolph Ziggler (w/ Drew McIntyre) vs. Seth Rollins (w/ Dean Ambrose) for the Intercontinental title
*Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Jeff Hardy for the U.S. title – they could insert Randy Orton into the match tonight or Orton gets involved in the singles match with a run in and they opt to save Orton’s match with Hardy for another show
*Braun Strowman vs. Kevin Owens for the Money in the Bank briefcase
*The Bludgeon Brothers vs. New Day for the SmackDown tag titles
*Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz
*Carmella vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch for the SmackDown women’s title
*Finn Balor vs. Baron Corbin
*Cedric Alexander vs Drew Gulak for the Cruiserweight title
*Andrade Cien Almas & Zelina Vega vs. Rusev & Lana on the Kickoff show
*The B Team vs. The Revival for the Raw tag titles on the Kickoff show
They have also announced that Elias will be performing at SummerSlam, presumably for a segment that involved Bobby Lashley. While there doesn’t appear to be room for any other matches, the main talent without anything scheduled includes Asuka, Bayley, and Sasha Banks. The latter two have a program with The Riott Squad, but Asuka has nothing going on unless they added her to the women’s title match, although that dilutes the focus from Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair with the story that the two friends are both attempting to become champion and getting in each other’s way.
**There was apparently a BAT that was flying around ringside at the Greensboro Coliseum on Monday during the Alexa Bliss vs. Ember Moon match.
**Renee Young did an interview with WWE.com after the show to reflect on her performance calling Raw with Michael Cole and Corey Graves. Of note, she stated that Vince McMahon only got into her ears once during the show with a note to slow down:
**Ring of Honor has announced dates for their Global Wars tour this November with four shows scheduled and will all air on the Honor Club streaming service:
*Wednesday, November 7th in Lewiston, Maine at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee
*Thursday, November 8th in Lowell, Massachusetts at the Memorial Auditorium
*Friday, November 9th in Buffalo, New York at the Buffalo RiverWorks
*Sunday, November 11th in Toronto at the Mattamy Athletic Centre
**Kofi Kingston turns 37 years old today, Johnny Gargano turns 31, Bobby Eaton is 60 today, and Bob Backlund turns 69 today.
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MMA NEWS
**Tom Lawlor’s tenure with the UFC appears to be over, following a statement from Lawlor announcing he has been let go. MMA Fighting added that his release hasn’t been finalized yet, but they are in the process of completing it. Lawlor had been serving a two-year suspension issued by USADA that was set to expire this October with Lawlor requesting his release over the past two years and being denied. Lawlor came off Season 8 of the Ultimate Fighter, which was the season that Ryan Bader and Efrain Escudero won the tournaments. Lawlor started fighting at middleweight in the UFC, defeating C.B. Dollaway at UFC 100 in July 2009 and earning a submission of the night bonus. In April 2013, he defeated Michael Kuiper on a card in Sweden, where he fought on the Facebook prelims (In a trivia note, Conor McGregor made his UFC debut on the same Facebook prelim card that night defeating Marcus Brimage). In the fight with Kuiper, Lawlor suffered a knee injury and didn’t fight again until July 2015 when he moved back to light heavyweight. Lawlor knocked out Gian Villante in his return bout and last fought at UFC 196 where he dropped a decision to Corey Anderson. During an out-of-competition drug test, Lawlor tested positive for ostarine, which he vehemently denied taking. Lawlor was so concerned about ever ingesting a tainted supplement that he opted not to take any supplements. The unfortunate part was that without any supplements to list, he had no idea how ostarine got into his system and rather than engage in a big appeal process, he accepted the two-year suspension and resumed his professional career in 2017. Lawlor is a regular on the U.S. independent scene and recently won MLW’s Battle Riot.
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**The UFC has also cut ties with long-time lightweight Gleison Tibau. Tibau began fighting for the UFC in November 2006 and fought 28 times for the promotion. His last four fights dating back to February 2015 were losses to Tony Ferguson, Abel Trujillo (which changed to a loss after Tibau originally won by submission and then tested positive for a banned substance), Islam Makhachev and then to Desmond Green this past June in Utica, New York. Tibau was suspended for two years following an in-competition test failure for the fight with Trujillo and failed an out-of-competition test that was taken before the fight and the results came back after the bout with both tests detecting EPO in his system. Tibau spoke to Guilherme Cruz of MMA Fighting and said he has received offers to fight elsewhere and will also move up to welterweight.
*****
REWIND-A-RAW 8/13/18: Jim Neidhart Remembered, Cabana vs. Punk suit, Dean Ambrose Returns
https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/download/u8jrw5/180813_RAR.mp3
*****
G1 CLIMAX FINALS 8/12/18: John Pollock, Wai Ting & WH Park review the finals of the G1 from Budokan Hall
https://postwrestling.podbean.com/mf/download/xbma79/180812_G1.mp3
*****
EGGSHELLS Podcast Companion: 1996 w/ Damian Abraham
https://postwrestling.podbean.com/mf/download/hvvbkx/EGGSHELLS_Podcast_Companion__1996_w__Damian_Abraham.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
*****
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
*****
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