POST IT NOTES
**Rewind-A-Raw is live at 11 p.m. ET tonight with a review of WWE Raw from Atlanta, a recap of the major events this past weekend, and the latest news covered at the beginning of the show. You can join us live on the POST YouTube channel or subscribe to POST Wrestling on your podcast app.
**The POST Wrestling Café will have G1 shows on Tuesday with WH Park & John Pollock, Wednesday with Bruce Lord & Karen Peterson, Friday with WH Park & Eric Marcotte, and Sunday with Bruce & Karen this week. There will be eight shows on the Café this week, which I’m pretty sure is a record for us.
**The Wellness Policy airs on Tuesday at 3 p.m. ET with Wai Ting, Jordan Goodman & Neal Flanagan chatting Food & Fitness with a dietician and personal trainer Justin Goodman joining them this month.
**New Japan statistician Chris Samsa will be on Pollock & Thursday this Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. ET.
**Our review of the second night of the G1 Climax is a special free show for a sample of the shows we will be putting out over the next month:
POST CAFÉ SCHEDULE
Tuesday: G1 Climax – Night 3 with WH Park & John Pollock
Wednesday: The Double Shot – Abdullah the Butcher, Dark Side of the Ring
Wednesday: G1 Climax – Night 4 with Bruce Lord & Karen Peterson
Thursday: Rewind-A-Wai #135 – AWA SuperClash 1985
Thursday: MCU L8R with WH Park & Rich Fann
Friday: G1 Climax – Night 5 with WH Park & Eric Marcotte
Saturday: Collision Course with John Siino & Kate from Montreal
Sunday: G1 Climax – Night 6 with Bruce Lord & Karen Peterson
Full schedule for the week.
WRESTLING NEWS
**This was an incredible weekend of high-level wrestling with shows from across the world producing a wide variety of must-see matches. Some of the ones that stood out:
*Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Kento Miyahara (Pro Wrestling NOAH: One Night Dream): This was all backstory with the two beginning under the tutelage of Kensuke Sasaki and having their first 1-on-1 match since 2012 and Nakajima holding a 3-0 record in previous meetings. There were references to their history in Diamond Ring with Masa Kitamiya seated ringside and I have no doubt, the Japanese commentary probably added a whole lot of context. There were over 1,500 people at Korakuen Hall, and they reacted so loudly throughout this one, which was a struggle for every inch. Nakajima kicked out of the Shutdown German for a major near-fall and responded with a frightening slap that dropped Miyahara. Nakajima hit a PK to the jaw and Vertical Spike to win. This was among the best matches this year and was my pick for the match of the weekend.
*Ren Narita vs. Shota Umino (G1 Climax, July 15): This established the new G1 format by having these two go to a 20-minute draw and had the audience riveted down the stretch and will be a major positive throughout the tournament where you can expect plenty of time limit teases. Kevin Kelly and Chris Charlton did an amazing job going over their history and the expectations on their shoulders from New Japan. You will be able to go back in five years and watch this match, and it will be even better once they are top stars. A key spot was Umino using the STF that was taught by Masahiro Chono but Narita reached the rope and I assume the idea is Umino has not perfected the hold and should be saved for late in the tournament when he finally gets someone with it. I felt this was the best G1 match of either night in Sapporo.
*FTR vs. Bullet Club Gold (AEW Collision): They went 58:03 and had an amazing crowd in Calgary that treated it like a classic. The camera work during the Power & Glory spot as the audience rose their feet in anticipation, was one of my favorite shots in a wrestling match this year and was prime sizzle reel material for future use. This didn’t drag for me and you can flip a coin between this and the previous week’s match dependent on your taste. Jay White was something else in this match and this show’s format has been a Godsend for him. This would be my choice for the best match in Collision’s short history. Ian Riccaboni called it the greatest TV match he has ever called.
*El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Kenny Omega (TripleMania XXXI): Their first meeting in Mexico and a match that AAA has attempted for years. You could not have a different atmosphere going from the first match in Independence, Missouri to a baseball stadium of 15,000+ in Tijuana. The atmosphere was electric and they had a similar dynamic to the first where there was no babyface and heel, but two of the best in the world trying to prove who was better. For breathtaking moments, I’d rate the Dynamite much from March above this one, but the atmosphere added so much to this one and they worked a hell of a match. With nineteen minutes, they did not waste anything in this one and climaxed with a clean finish and the opportunity for a rubber match later.
*Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (G1 Climax – July 16): For anyone that was down on Tanahashi’s recent performances, this was a big rebound. He worked a different type of match incorporating a lot of submissions and borrowing from Zack’s playbook while Zack tried to use Tanahashi’s moves to mirror him. I don’t think these two can have a bad match together as their chemistry is among the best in the industry. Kelly & Charlton incorporated Tanahashi’s shortcomings and even mentioned the slip in Toronto during the Swerve Strickland match as signs he is physically battered and needs a defensive style to continue. Tanahashi went for a Triangle and got stacked while holding onto his grip and was caught for the pin. It does make you wonder how many more times these two will have the opportunity for a 1-on-1 match, but perhaps we’ll look back in ten years and laugh at that thought. For me, it was this match and Shingo Takagi vs. Eddie Kingston that were the standouts on the second night of the tournament.
*Speedball Mike Bailey vs. Yoshihiko (GCW Now and Forever): This won’t be everyone’s cup of tea but to deny the degree of complexity and difficulty is so short-sighted. Bailey noted to us he was more nervous for this match than any other in his career and think of what ground that covers. For nearly 24 minutes, Bailey paid tribute to the Ospreay vs. Omega 2 with a blow-up doll and incorporated all the key spots and moments with hundreds of fans along for the ride at the Melrose Ballroom. Again, you can make fun of this and state it isn’t your taste, but there are so few people in the industry that could pull this off successfully.
**Both Raw and SmackDown are sold out this week, according to WrestleTix. Tonight’s event at the State Farm Arena is listed at 11,406 tickets distributed while SmackDown at the Amway Center in Orlando has 12,185 tickets out. Raw will have an angle involving Brock Lesnar and Cody Rhodes with both set to appear and the expectation that the SummerSlam match will be locked in tonight. The following has been announced for the show:
*Women’s Tag Title Match: Raquel Rodriguez & Liv Morgan © vs. Sonya Deville & Chelsea Green
*Non-title match: Gunther © vs. Matt Riddle (Imperium is banned from ringside)
*Non-title match: Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn © vs. Damian Priest & Dominik Mysterio
*Viking Rules Match: Viking Raiders vs. Alpha Academy
*Brock Lesnar to appear
**There is a GoFundMe campaign set up for Shotzi’s sister, Shawnee, who is undergoing chemotherapy to fight cancer. It was noted that back in February Shawnee was diagnosed with Stage 3 B cholangiocarcinoma, which spread to one of her lymph nodes with the hope that chemo will prevent it from spreading further.
**Don Callis was legitimately attacked following Saturday’s TripleMania XXXI card in Tijuana. Kenny Omega was being interviewed by the press when Callis joined and cut a promo on Omega and bragged about Omega having lost five big matches since Callis left him before Konosuke Takeshita attacked Omega. While this angle was occurring, someone took Callis down to the grass and injured him with the belief that the person thought it was real. Konnan spoke with Nick Hausman at Haus of Wrestling and stated it was a former security guard who was visiting and thought the incident with Callis and Omega was real. The site reports:
We are told that the former security guard who attacked Callis “got worked,” but we were not given any more details beyond that. For those unfamiliar with what “got worked” means, it usually entails someone who physically gets involved in a pro wrestling show but was not intended to do so legitimately being beaten up.
The Wrestling Observer site added that Callis was going to San Diego from Tijuana to receive medical attention with his neck and ankle injured during the altercation.
Here is the video of Don Callis in Mexico. It actually looks like security took him down. Maybe they didn't know he was working? Or something else happened after the video cut off? 🤔#AEWpic.twitter.com/xOCrysEeGl
— Jack Cassidy (@RealJackCassidy) July 16, 2023
**The Blood & Guts edition of AEW Dynamite is going to end up being one of the promotion’s best drawing shows this year with WrestleTix reporting over 8,100 tickets distributed for AEW’s debut at the TD Garden. Tickets saw noticeable movement once Blood & Guts was announced and continued as the teams were revealed along with the additions of PAC and Kota Ibushi. When it comes to non-PPV events, Boston is only behind the shows in Seattle and Los Angeles this past January and last month’s debut of Collision at the United Center. It was a big move for AEW to go from the smaller Agannis Arena to the TD Garden, which is the major arena in the city.
**The WWE live event in Salisbury, Maryland on Sunday had the unfortunate injury to Bayley during the fatal four-way with Asuka, Bianca Belair & Charlotte Flair. Bayley did state on social media that she would be alright, but there has not been any update regarding the severity of the knee injury. The card in Salisbury had 3,560 tickets distributed and was headlined by Seth Rollins over Finn Balor to retain the World Heavyweight title with the rest of the show including Asuka winning the four-way match, Omos over Akira Tozawa, Cody Rhodes over Dominik Mysterio, Rhea Ripley over Natalya to retain the Women’s title, AJ Styles & Karl Anderson over Austin Theory & Kit Wilson (with Elton Prince injured on Friday), and Gunther over Chad Gable and Matt Riddle to retain the Intercontinental title. (Cagematch)
**The G1 Climax resumes on Tuesday with the third night of the tournament from Yamagata. The show streams at 5:30 a.m. ET on New Japan World with the following A & B Block matches:
BLOCK A: Kaito Kiyomiya (1-0) vs. Chase Owens (1-0)
BLOCK B: Great O-Khan (0-1) vs. KENTA (0-1)
BLOCK A: Hikuleo (0-1) vs. Gabe Kidd (0-1)
BLOCK B: Taichi (1-0) vs. Tanga Loa (1-0)
BLOCK A: Ren Narita (0-0-1) vs. Yota Tsuji (0-1)
BLOCK B: Will Ospreay (0-1) vs. YOSHI-HASHI (1-0)
BLOCK A: SANADA (1-0) vs. Shota Umino (0-0-1)
BLOCK B: Kazuchika Okada (1-0) vs. El Phantasmo (0-1)
**GCW begins a tour of Japan on Tuesday with a card at Shin-Kiba 1stRing and returns on Wednesday. Tuesday’s card will stream on FITE+ at 7 p.m. ET with Masashi Takeda vs. Joey Janela, Masha Slamovich & Rina Yamashita vs. Charli Evans & Sawyer Wreck, Blake Christian vs. Shigehiro Irie for the GCW title, Daisuke Masaoka vs. Shane Mercer, John Wayne Murdoch & Los Macizos vs. Toru Sugiura, Tomoya Hirata & Mammoth Sasaki, and a Six-Way Scramble with Jimmy Lloyd vs. Dragon Libre vs. Terry Yaki vs. Gringo Loco vs. Kikutaro vs. Minoru Fujita. Wednesday’s Planet Death card streams at 6 p.m. ET featuring Jun Kasai vs. John Wayne Murdoch and Masashi Takeda vs. Masha Slamovich (that’s quite the five-day period for Slamovich after doing Slammiversary and TV tapings in Windsor this past weekend and over to Japan two days later). The GCW crew will also be part of a FREEDOMS event this Thursday at Shin-Kiba.
**Tuesday’s episode of NXT features Wes Lee vs. Dominik Mysterio for the North American Championship, Nathan Frazer & Dragon Lee vs. Los Lotharios, Kiana James vs. Gigi Dolin, Bronco Numa & Lucien Price vs. SCRYPTS & Axiom, and Tony D’Angelo returns from jail.
**KENTA will defend the DEFY Championship against Mark Haskins on August 26 at the Electric Ballroom in London, England.
**Being the Elite Ep. 356: Jingle
MMA NEWS
**Francis Ngannou spoke on The MMA Hour about his deal to fight Tyson Fury on October 28. Ngannou stated that it is a professional fight and that the outcome will go on each man’s record; however, Fury’s Heavyweight Championship is not at stake. Ngannou’s team had been in discussions about fighting Deontay Wilder with the Fury fight only coming together over the past five weeks. From a financial perspective, Ngannou called it life-changing money he would make for this fight and that it was larger than all his previous UFC fights. Ngannou would not disclose how much money he is making for the Fury fight but Helwani said he has heard it is above $8 million. Ngannou added that there is a rematch clause if he beats Fury, but if Fury wins, he is not sure about a rematch adding that he needs to win the fight. He said if there is a second fight with Fury it would not happen until after he fights for PFL.
**Kevin Lee spoke with Submission Radio about his decision to retire from MMA at the age of 30 following his latest loss.
**Despite breaking his hand and losing the UFC Flyweight Championship last weekend, Brandon Moreno made his scheduled appearance at TripleMania XXXI. Moreno was in the corner of Nicho, Damian 666, Rey Horus & Xtreme Tiger and did an angle with Daga including a spin kick and armbar.
😤 Right back at it!
Former #UFC flyweight champ, @theassassinbaby got involved at @luchalibreaaa #TripleManiaXXXI launching an attack on Daga and even putting him in an armbar.
[ LIVE NOW on #FITE 👉 https://t.co/JARxIaHYlr ] pic.twitter.com/cmyGpC6XKa
— FITE (@FiteTV) July 16, 2023
**The UFC returns to the O2 Arena in London, England this Saturday and streams on ESPN+ beginning at Noon ET. The card will feature a main event between heavyweights Marcin Tybura (24-7) and Tom Aspinall (12-3). Tybura has won seven of his last eight fights and is coming off decision wins against Alexander Romanov and Blagoy Ivanov. Aspinall has won eight straight fights before losing to Curtis Blaydes last July when Aspinall suffered a knee injury and the fight was stopped in 15 seconds.
*****
G1 Climax Night 2 Review [FREE]
John Pollock & Wai Ting review Night 2 of NJPW G1 Climax 33 featuring Shingo Takagi vs. Eddie Kingston, Tetsuya Naito vs. Jeff Cobb, and Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
*****
COLLISION COURSE
John Siino & Kate From MTL review AEW Collision & Battle of the Belts VII featuring CM Punk vs. Ricky Starks and Ruby Soho vs. Willow Nightingale in the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament Finals.
*****
G1 CLIMAX NIGHT 1 REVIEW
Bruce Lord & Karen Peterson review Night 1 of NJPW G1 Climax 33 featuring opening matches from A Block and B Block headlined by SANADA vs. Hikuleo and Taichi vs. Will Ospreay.
*****
STAN HANSEN BIOGRAPHY
Mike Spears from The Open the Voice Gate podcast joins WH Park to talk about the life and career of the greatest American wrestler to ever step foot in a Japanese ring, Stan Hansen.
*****
REWIND-A-SMACKDOWN
John Pollock & Wai Ting review WWE SmackDown with Asuka defending the Women’s Championship against Bianca Belair. Plus, a big preview of the G1 Climax.
*****
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