POST IT NOTES
**Rewind-A-Dynamite is live tonight at approximately 10:10 p.m. ET (we will be live minutes after the show ends, which is expected to have an overrun). Bruce Lord will be joining me for the show tonight and we will be live on the POST YouTube channel and taking your feedback from the POST Wrestling Forum.
**For Thursday’s POST Daily News Show, I’m trying a different format where I’ll be hosting the show solo and going through the news of the day and taking your questions. The video will be posted on the POST YouTube channel late tonight – and you can post your questions in the comments section and I’ll take as much time as necessary to go through them all on Thursday’s show at 1 p.m. ET. We will not have a Daily New Show on Friday due to it being a holiday in Canada but will have Rewind-A-SmackDown on Friday night at 10:05 p.m. ET after Rampage and SmackDown.
POST DAILY NEWS SHOW
John Pollock & Andrew Thompson of POST Wrestling discuss NXT 2.0, call-ups and utilizing NXT U.K, Monday’s WWE Raw ratings, Cody Rhodes after two weeks, WWE’s stadium events this summer, match tease on ‘Young Rock’, and tonight’s edition of Dynamite from New Orleans.
WRESTLING NEWS
**Here are the matches for tonight’s edition of AEW Dynamite at the UNO Lakefront Arena in New Orleans:
*ROH Television Championship: Minoru Suzuki (champion) vs. Samoa Joe
*AEW Tag Team Championships: Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus (champions) vs. reDRagon
*CM Punk vs. Penta Oscuro
*Chris Jericho, Jake Hager & Daniel Garcia vs. Eddie Kingston, Santana & Ortiz
*Keith Lee & Swerve Strickland vs. Powerhouse Hobbs & Ricky Starks
*MJF vs. Shawn Dean
*Marina Shafir vs. Skye Blue
This is one of the deeper television lineups of the year from the company both from an in-ring standpoint and star power given that CM Punk and Chris Jericho are both wrestling. It’s a question of how much Suzuki means but I feel the dynamic with Joe is strong and it should be punctuated by a hot crowd. As of this afternoon, WrestleTix reported that approximately 3,500 tickets were out for the show, so it’s not a giant number.
Tony Khan stated there is an overrun expected with the show going past 10 p.m. ET. Obviously, they have their reasoning for it, and perhaps it’s a test to see if Dynamite can artificially enhance the number for Rat in the Kitchen, which immediately follows on TBS. On the schedule, they are listing Rat in the Kitchen for 10:02 p.m. ET. The downside is that inevitably you are going to upset some of your audience that isn’t following every announcement on Twitter and have their DVRs set for 8-10 p.m. ET where the show never runs past the two-hour mark. It’s hardly an anomaly as many programs play with this type of method and it was a constant in the days of Raw and Nitro with Raw only abandoning the overrun in 2018.
In Canada, TSN’s programming team is aware of the overrun and it won’t affect the network’s coverage of Dynamite. In speaking with someone from TSN, they did encourage those relying on their DVRs to record the next program so they don’t miss the overrun portion.
**There was a noteworthy scene on Tuesday’s episode of “Young Rock” on NBC. The scene was set in 1993 when Dwyane Johnson would have been 20 years old and is watching Yokozuna on television, alongside his cousin Joe Anoa’i a.k.a. Roman Reigns, who would have been six. Anoa’i is trying to get Johnson to wrestle him with Johnson responding, “the world’s not ready. A match that big can only happen at WrestleMania.” It would be the first example of synergy between the program and WWE if the match happens next year at SoFi Stadium. It has been reported that match is the hope but of course, it will be contingent on Johnson’s schedule and would be his first real match in ten years, discounting the angle and “match” he did with Erick Rowan at the show in 2016 that lasted four seconds. The fact is, Johnson was injured in both WrestleMania matches against John Cena and the second one led to the delay in filming “Hercules” that spring and that becomes a major risk if a large production is altered because the lead star wants to do a wrestling match – and will be 50-years old by the time ‘Mania rolls around next April.
**The demand for the WWE’s event in Wales this September appears to be through the roof. Both The Daily Star and Alex McCarthy of talkSport reported on Wednesday that over 59,000 people have pre-registered for tickets within 24 hours of the announcement of the September 3rd event at Principality Stadium in Cardiff.
**The Young Bucks spoke with Justin Barrasso of SI.com on last week’s rematch with FTR noting that it was originally scheduled for later this month and they convinced Tony Khan to do it in Boston:
The first go-around might’ve been more like a love letter to tag team wrestling, while this one was more like a technical tag team wrestling showcase. I remember after we did the first match, the four of us all agreed that we should take a breath and not touch for a while. We were all so mentally and physically drained, trying to live up to the pressure and hype of what people anticipated. I don’t think any of us intended on it taking 18 months to get to the rematch, but maybe that’s why the arena was as electric as it was.
**The WWE event page for WrestleMania Backlash is no longer advertising Brock Lesnar for the show on May 8th. Lesnar lost to Roman Reigns at WrestleMania and has not been on WWE programming since.
**NXT 2.0 performer Raul Mendoza has received a name change. The Legado del Fantasma member will now be known as Cruz Del Toro with his profile on the WWE site reflecting the change. Mendoza is his real name and comes after a slew of recent changes including ones for Marcel Barthel, Raquel Gonzalez, Pete Dunne, and Austin Theory.
**Darby Allin skating at a recent Ludacris concert.
**A dark match has been added to Saturday’s NJPW Windy City Riot with Rocky Romero & Wheeler Yuta taking on Kevin Knight & The DKC from Villa Park, Illinois. The match will be performed for the audience in attendance thirty minutes before the start of the pay-per-view on FITE TV.
**Paige VanZant spoke with Damon Martin of MMA Fighting on her commitment to AEW while also noting she is seeking a contract extension with BKFC with plans to balance both careers:
It’s a long-term partnership for sure [with AEW]. This is not something I’m doing it for I guess to check off my bucket list, just to say that I did it. I want to be a part of their show. I truly do. I love what AEW does.
**The Champion Carnival continued Wednesday from Yokohama with a show in front of 223 fans. There were three tournament matches with Shotaro Ashino defeating Ryuki Honda in the A Block, Jake Lee over Shigehiro Irie in the B Block, and Kento Miyahara beat Takuya Nomura in the B Block. Lee and Ashino each move to four points in the block to tie T-Hawk for first place. The B Block is currently led by Nomura with four points while Miyahara is now tied with Suwama for second place with three points each. (Courtesy: Purolove.com)
**Stardom’s Cinderella tournament will continue Sunday at Korakuen Hall with the conclusion of the second-round matches and two quarter-final contests. In the second round, it’s Saya Iida vs. Mai Sakurai, Unagi Sayaka vs. Natsupoi, Mayu Iwatani vs. Saki Kashima, and Giulia vs. Koguma. The Giulia/Koguma winner faces the Iida/Sakurai winner and the Iwatani/Kashima winner meets MIRAI later in the show.
**Pro Wrestling NOAH has added a GHC National Championship match for its Majestic 2022 card on 4/30 at Sumo Hall. Masakatsu Funaki will defend the championship against Simon Gotch on the same card where Kazuyuki Fujita defends the GHC heavyweight title against Go Shiozaki. The show will stream on Wrestle Universe.
**Emily Devlin, a volleyball player at Robert Morris University spoke about going to Orlando in June for a 60-day extended tryout at the WWE Performance Center and how the recruitment process went for her. Devlin graduates in May in hopes of securing a WWE contract at the tryout.
**C*4 Wrestling returns with their next show “Time and Tide” in Ottawa, Ontario at St. Anthony’s Hall (523 St. Anthony’s Street) on Friday, April 22nd with Kevin Blackwood vs. Jonathan Gresham and Kevin Ku vs. Biff Busick in the top matches along with LuFisto, Jody Threat, Anthony Greene, Janai Kai, and more on the card. The card takes place at 7:30 p.m. and doors are at 6:30.
MMA NEWS
**Cain Velasquez appeared in court on Tuesday and was granted his request for a continuance by Judge Jose Franco and comes after he was denied bail in March during his arraignment. Velasquez also released a statement through his social channels on Tuesday:
To everyone that has expressed your support, my family and I will never be able to thank you enough,” Velasquez wrote in the statement. “From the bottom of our hearts and the depths of our souls, we are forever grateful for your love. Your selfless gestures and kind words have given me strength in my darkest times.
Velasquez was arrested on February 28th and charged with attempted, premeditated murder after allegedly shooting at a vehicle carrying passengers, one of whom was accused of molesting someone in Velasquez’s family. Velasquez was believed to be targeting Harry Goularte but shot Goularte’s stepfather, who was treated at a hospital.
With the continuance, Velasquez will remain in jail without bail.
**UFC bantamweight Marlon Moraes is retiring from the sport at the age of 33. His manager Ali Abdelaziz confirmed the news to Marc Raimondi of ESPN with Moraes issuing a statement to the outlet:
I want to thank everyone: [UFC matchmaker] Sean Shelby, [UFC president] Dana White and the UFC for giving me so many opportunities. I want to thank my family, my coaches, my manager, everybody who has been around and been part of my career. I’m still gonna be around the sport helping young guys, and helping my friends.
Moraes began his career fifteen years ago in 2007 and broke out as a star for the upstart World Series of Fighting promotion (which later evolved into the PFL). He was part of the first WSOF card in November 2012 and would go 11-0 with the promotion, winning their 135-pound title in March 2014 and defended it five times before leaving the company as champion and moving to the UFC in 2017. He lost his debut in the company to Raphael Assuncao at UFC 212 but won his next four fights where he knocked out current champion Aljamain Sterling and avenged his loss by submitting Assuncao in February 2019. He fought Henry Cejudo for the vacant bantamweight title at UFC 238 in June 2019 and lost by TKO in the third round and would go 1-4 over his next five fights. He beat Jose Aldo by a narrow-split decision in December 2019 (which I agreed that Moraes won) but it was Aldo who would get a title fight after the loss. Moraes’ career ended with stoppage losses to Cory Sandhagen, Rob Font, Merab Davlishvili, and was knocked out by Song Yadong last month.
ON THIS DATE
It’s the 25th anniversary of ECW’s Barely Legal pay-per-view from Philadelphia in 1997. It was the company’s first event on pay-per-view after myriad struggles including fallout from the Erick Kulas incident. The show was built around Terry Funk winning the ECW Championship at the age of 52 in the main event from Raven. Moments after going off the air, the power went out and it was a miracle they made it to the end with seconds left. The show was immortalized in Barry Blaustein’s “Beyond the Mat” film that came out two years later featuring the famous pre-event speech from Paul Heyman rallying the troops.
*****
SHOT IN THE DARK: The Factory on NJPW Strong, LuFisto debuts on AEW
John Siino reviews this week’s editions of AEW Dark, AEW Dark: Elevation, NXT UK, IMPACT Wrestling, NXT Level Up, NJPW Strong, NWA USA, NWA Powerrr, and Main Event in under 15 minutes on Shot In The Dark.
*****
upNXT 4/12/22: Pretty Golden
Braden Herrington and Davie Portman review the April 12th 2022 edition of WWE NXT headlined by a Gauntlet Match to determine the new NXT Tag Team Champions.
*****
REWIND-A-RAW: Cody Rhodes vs. The Miz, THEORY
John Pollock is joined by Nate Milton to review WWE Raw from Detroit featuring Cody Rhodes’ first match on Raw since 2016.
*****
