POST IT NOTES
**Rewind-A-Dynamite and The Double Shot are live tonight. The Dynamite review kicks off at 10:05 p.m. ET on the POST YouTube channel and then, we’ll jump on the POST Wrestling Café for a review of The Tragic Fall of Adrian Adonis episode from Dark Side of the Ring. Join us live tonight and leave your feedback on the POST Forum.
**Vol. 9 of Pollock & Ting TALK is available now for POST Café members to discuss our past month away from work and go over a wide range of topics that dips in and out of work-related topics.
**Stephanie Chase will join Brandon Thurston and I on Thursday at 3 p.m. ET to discuss her recent article on women in wrestling media and we’ll also discuss AEW All In at Wembley Stadium and the recent WWE tour of the U.K. Plus, all the latest news & your Super Chats.
**The latest edition of upNXT with Davie Portman & Braden Herrington is available on the POST Wrestling feed to chat about Tuesday’s episode featuring the Judgment Day taking on Carmelo Hayes & Trick Williams, the Florida judicial system playing out inside the ring, and Dominik Mysterio receiving a title shot next week.
**Brandon Sears will have a review in the coming weeks of the Tod is God book by former ECW owner Tod Gordon and Sean Oliver. The book will be released on July 25 by Permuted Press.
POST SCHEDULE
Tonight: Rewind-A-Dynamite
Tonight: The Double Shot – The Tragic Fall of Adrian Adonis (Patreon)
Thursday: Pollock & Thurston with guest Stephanie Chase (3 p.m. ET)
Thursday: MCU L8R – Secret Invasion Ep. 4 (Patreon)
Friday: Rewind-A-SmackDown (Patreon)
Saturday: Stan Hansen Retrospective with WH Park & Mike Spears
Saturday: G1 Climax – Day 1 with Karen Peterson & Bruce Lord (Patreon)
Sunday: Collision Course with John Siino & Kate from Montreal (Patreon)
Sunday: G1 Climax – Day 2 with John Pollock & Wai Ting (FREE)
WRESTLING NEWS
**The Home Run Derby that opposed WWE Raw this past Monday averaged 5.52 million viewers on ESPN and 596,000 on ESPN 2, according to Austin Karp of Sports Business Journal. Those numbers are down from 6.02 million and 858,000 respectively from 2022 with Karp adding it was the least-watched Home Run Derby since 2018. This week’s episode of Raw averaged 1,809,000 viewers and 0.56 in the demo and was up 2.5% in viewers, 20% in 18-49, 23% in 18-34, and 19% in 35-49 from the July 18, 2022, episode of Raw that aired against last year’s Home Run Derby.
**Logan Paul’s Prime Energy Drink is being recalled in Canada due to the drink exceeding the acceptable caffeine limit of 180 milligrams per can. There is a differentiation between Prime Energy and Prime Hydration with the latter being a non-caffeinated version. There is concern in both the U.S. and Canada regarding the drinks being marketed to a younger audience with the drinks providing such a heavy concentration of caffeine.
From The Globe and Mail:
Health Canada says Prime Energy exceeds the acceptable caffeine limit of 180 mg per can and should not be sold in Canada.
Health Canada says it’s aware that Prime Energy – which is different from the widely sold Prime Hydration drink – may be sold in some Canadian stores without approval.
It says caffeinated energy drinks are considered supplemented food and are therefore regulated by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
Both agencies are working to address the issue, Health Canada says in an e-mail.
**Michael Mulvihill, who oversees insights and analytics at Fox Sports notes that Friday Night SmackDown is now going to be categorized as an entertainment program. Since it launched on Fox in 2019, it had been classified as sports (as opposed to Raw, NXT, and AEW’s programming which is considered entertainment programming). It was touted by Mulvihill that due to that distinction, SmackDown was the #1 entertainment program last week for the episode in New York City that drew 986,000 viewers (0.76) in the 18-49 demographic. It was SmackDown’s largest demo audience since December 25, 2020, which was aided by a giant lead-in audience from the NFL.
**AEW Dynamite is at the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon tonight for the promotion’s second show in the province this week. WrestleTix last reported just over 3,200 tickets distributed for the event, which includes a Rampage taping. The mystery participants for next week’s Blood & Guts match will be revealed by The BCC and The Elite with many people speculating about Kota Ibushi’s potential involvement after Kenny Omega’s post-show promo to the audience in Edmonton last week that led fans in that direction. Here are the matches and segments scheduled for tonight:
*Chris Jericho vs. Komander
*Swerve Strickland vs. Nick Wayne
*Blind Eliminator Tag Tournament: MJF & Adam Cole vs. Brian Cage & Big Bill
*Blind Eliminator Tag Tournament: Orange Cassidy & Darby Allin vs. Sammy Guevara & Daniel Garcia
*Owen Hart Cup: Ruby Soho vs. Skye Blue
**NJPW has announced Fighting Spirit Unleashed for Sam’s Town Live in Las Vegas on Saturday, October 28. Tickets for the event go on sale July 18 with SANADA, Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Tama Tonga featured on the poster. Tickers range from $29 to $299.
**PWTorch.com had the breakdown of the three-hour viewership figures for WWE Raw. Overall, the show averaged 1,809,000 viewers with the first hour doing 1,851,000, a small increase to 1,869,000 in the second hour, and the third hour averaging 1,707,000. Brandon Thurston has the quarter-hour breakdown with the most-watched segment occurring between 9:15 and 9:30 p.m. ET with 1,923,000 viewers for Becky Lynch vs. Zoey Stark and a backstage segment with Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn. The most-watched in the 18-49 demographic was 765,000 viewers for 9-9:15 p.m. ET for the face-to-face between Ricochet and Logan Paul and just edged out Lynch vs. Stark. The lowest point of the show was the 10:30-10:45 p.m. segment with Sonya Deville & Chelsea Green vs. Katana Chance & Kayden Carter and a backstage segment with Matt Riddle and Drew McIntyre at 1,609,000 viewers and 685,000 in the demo.
**The WWE stock cooled down a little bit on Wednesday with a 1.6% drop and closed at $109.21. On Wednesday, it hit its highest level in history since the company went public in October 1999. The stock has increased by 7.7% over the past month.
**Thursday’s episode of IMPACT Wrestling is the go-home show before Slammiversary. This show was taped in Atlanta prior to the shows in Australia where Steve Maclin was injured and subsequently replaced by Deaner in the tag match with Bully Ray against Scott D’Amore & PCO, so they’ll likely have to make some changes to reflect the new match. The lineup for Thursday’s show on AXS TV includes:
*Deonna Purrazzo’s Open Challenge
*Moose & Brian Myers vs. Rich Swann & Sami Callihan
*Chris Bey vs. Zachary Wentz
*Kevin Knight vs. Speedball Mike Bailey
*Joe Hendry & Yuya Uemura vs. Kenny King & Sheldon jean
*Before the Impact: Dirty Dango vs. Heath
**This weekend is the annual Scenic City Invitational tournament that runs over two nights in Tennessee and streams on IndependentWrestling.tv. Past winners include the late Jimmy Rave, Matt Riddle, Daniel Makabe, and AC Mack. The opening round matches air Friday night at 7:30 p.m. ET with Bobby Flaco vs. Rico Gonzalez, Tank vs. Timothy Thatcher, Eli Knight vs. Landon Jale, Shazza McKenzie vs. Adam Priest, 1 Called Manders vs. Noah Hossman, Mike Jackson vs. BK Westbrook, Jaden Newman vs. Suge D, and John Wayne Murdoch vs. Sawyer Wreck. The tournament continues and wraps up on Saturday.
**Jon Moxley’s independent tour continues with a return to Pro Wrestling Revolver on August 3 in Dayton, Ohio. No opponent is listed for the AEW performer, but the show will also feature Jake Crist vs. Matt Cardona for the Revolver title, plus Alex Shelley, Masha Slamovich, Lio Rush & Max the Impaler are on the card and streams on FITE+.
**The first night of GCW’s Homecoming on August 19 will feature a Double Dog Collar Match with Joey Janela & Sawyer Wreck against Carter Mason & Parrow. The show will stream on FITE+ from Atlantic City, New Jersey.
**MLW’s next card is Fury Road on September 3 from the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia that streams live on FITE+. They have announced a special start time of 6 p.m. ET, so it is unlikely to be affected by the AEW All Out show on the same night. This past Saturday’s Never Say Never was just over two hours in length. The remaining dates for MLW this year include live-streaming specials on October 14, November 18, and December 7.
**Vice TV is launching ‘Dark Side of the 2000s’ next Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET as a lead-in for Dark Side of the Ring. Vice did a series covering the ‘90s before this latest installment of episodes. Subjects for the new series will include TMZ, TRL, Jon & Kate Plus 8, The Bachelor, Siegfried & Roy, Lindsay Lohan, men’s magazines, and the radio wars between Howard Stern and Opie & Anthony. (Variety)
MMA NEWS
**Former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou is set to box WBC champion Tyson Fury later this year in Saudi Arabia. ESPN was the first to report the confirmation of the bout that takes place on Saturday, October 28 in Riyadh. It is not confirmed if this fight will be an exhibition bout or count towards their records. It is expected to be a 10-round fight, which would not feature Fury’s championship at stake as the head of the WBC stated that Fury is being given an exemption to take this fight while not being stripped of the belt. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed but given the location of the fight, the purses should be gigantic and easily represent the largest amount that Ngannou has ever made for a fight. A big component to this becoming a reality was the fighter’s lawsuit against the UFC that was filed in 2014 (the “Cung Le lawsuit”) and led to UFC adding sunset clauses to its deals, including Ngannou’s, that led to the active heavyweight champion being able to exit the promotion instead his deal automatically rolling over.
**The PFL has reached a partnership with USADA to oversee a drug testing program in the wake of multiple fighters recently testing positive for banned substances. USADA, which oversees the UFC program, will take part in year-round testing and will go into effect immediately according to a memo from PFL president Ray Sefo. USADA has come under scrutiny over the years for its handling of various cases that have severely impacted fighters’ careers. (MMA Junkie)
**UFC fighter Kevin Lee has announced his retirement at age 30. Lee (19-8) began his pro career in 2012 and signed with the UFC after winning his first seven fights. He debuted for the promotion at UFC 169 where he lost to Al Iaquinta by unanimous decision but won his next four fights. After a stoppage loss to Leonard Santos at UFC 194 in December 2015, he won his next five fights including a submission of Francisco Trinaldo and a controversial technical submission of Michael Chiesa, which Chisea took issue with the referee’s stoppage. It led to Lee fighting for the interim lightweight title in the main event of UFC 216 in October 2017 where he was submitted by Tony Ferguson. After the loss to Ferguson, he struggled by losing four of his next six fights in the UFC and left the promotion. He had one fight for Eagle FC in 2022 against Diego Sanchez and returned to the UFC last weekend where he was submitted in 55 seconds by Rinat Fakhretdinov.
From Lee’s Instagram post: (Transcription: MMA Junkie)
The last three years have been rough, especially on my body. It’s been a lot of injuries and honestly, that’s one of the main factors of me making this decision. I’m in need of another surgery after that last fight. I’m proud that I went out on my shield. I’m proud that I stood up in there and went out on my own terms. But at this point, I have to think about more than just myself and my skills. The time and energy that I put in this sport, I can put into something else. And God willing, and all glory to God, he’s going to lead me down another path, the right path to where I can use my skills to help people.
**Walt Harris is unable to fight on this Saturday’s UFC Fight Night card at the Apex due to an issue with USADA. Harris was scheduled to fight Josh Parisian in a heavyweight fight but issued the following statement:
I wanted you to hear from me first that my fight has been cancelled due to an issue that just came up with my most recent USADA test. I believe this came from a supplement that I’ve trusted my entire career, but at the end of the day it was never USADA approved. I’m a complete idiot for not checking prior, but I’m definitely not a cheater. I sincerely want to apologize to my opponent Josh Parisian. I was looking forward to doing battle with you in the octagon. Once I get pass this if you’re down I hope we can try again! I am going to face this had on while working with UFC and USADA and hope to have all of this sorted out in the coming weeks. Thank you for all your patience and support and I am looking forward to making this comeback very soon.
**Jack Della Maddalena is set to fight this Saturday after losing his opponent this past weekend at UFC 290 under unique circumstances. Della Maddalena (14-2) was set to fight Josiah Harrell with both making weight on Friday prior to Harrell being flagged after an MRI revealed a rare brain disease, which Harrell has stated is treatable and plans to continue his career but was lucky to have it discovered during the medical screening. On Tuesday, Ariel Helwani reported that Della Maddalena will fight Bassil Hafez, who is making his UFC debut. Hafez (8-3) has previously competed for CFFC and Fury FC and is coming off a KO of Evan Cutts this past February. Della Maddalena is 4-0 in the UFC and submitted Randy Brown in his last fight at UFC 284 in February.
**Jason Knight was the latest member of Team Chandler to advance to the semi-finals after submitting Team McGregor’s Landon Quinones on Tuesday’s episode. Team McGregor is down to one fighter remaining with Rico DiSciullo fighting Team Chandler’s Hunter Azure next week before the semi-finals begin for the bantamweight and lightweight tournaments. Team Chandler is comprised of former UFC fighters attempting a comeback while McGregor chose all the prospects that have never fought with the organization. The season runs until August 15 and there is still no update regarding the status of McGregor and Chandler fighting.
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upNXT
Braden Herrington and Davie Portman review WWE NXT from July 11th, 2023 featuring Trick Williams & Carmelo Hayes vs Judgment Day.
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POLLOCK & TING: TALK Vol 9
John Pollock & Wai Ting talk about Threads, keeping up with wrestling, Forbidden Pour, Barbie, and their families in the latest installment of Pollock & Ting: TALK.
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REWIND-A-RAW
John Pollock and Wai Ting review WWE Raw with Cody Rhodes addressing Brock Lesnar and a face-to-face involving Logan Paul and Ricochet.
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COLLISION COURSE
John Siino & Kate From MTL review AEW Collision featuring CM Punk vs. Samoa Joe in the Owen Hart Cup Tournament Semifinals — their first encounter since 2005.
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REWIND-A-SMACKDOWN
John Pollock & Andrew Thompson review the WWE SmackDown featuring The Trial of The Tribal Chief Roman Reigns at Madison Square Garden.
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MCU L8R: Secret Invasion Ep. 3
This week, WH Park and Rich Fann are joined by Daniel Palmer of The MTR Network to talk episode 3 of Secret Invasion, “Betrayed”.
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