POST SCHEDULE
Tonight: Rewind-A-SmackDown with John Pollock & Wai Ting [FREE]
Tonight: Collision Course with John Siino & Kate from Montreal [POST Wrestling Café]
Saturday: AEW Full Gear review
Saturday: MCU L8R with WH Park & Rich Fann – “The Marvels” [POST Wrestling Café]
Sunday: The N.W.A. Podcast with Nate Milton, Andrew Thompson & Kris Ealy [8 p.m. ET]
**A programming note that tonight’s Rewind-A-SmackDown is FREE for everyone beginning at 10 p.m. ET. A special Friday night edition of Collision Course will be up late tonight with Kate from Montreal & John Siino reviewing Collision & Rampage for POST Wrestling Café members. Tonight’s show will also cover all the latest news and we’ll chat about this year’s inductees into the Observer Hall of Fame.
**Our AEW Full Gear review will stream live on the POST YouTube channel immediately after the pay-per-view ends.
**The N.W.A. Podcast is live this Sunday night at 8 p.m. ET with Nate Milton, Andrew Thompson & Kris Ealy.
**Rewind-A-Wai #143 is available for all POST Café members with a review of NJPW’s Wrestle Kingdom 10 from Jan. 4, 2016, and includes:
*The latest in the saga between Kazuchika Okada and Hiroshi Tanahashi
*The significance of the feud and this match
*Which match was their best?
*The closing scene of Wrestle Kingdom 9
*Shinsuke Nakamura and AJ Styles’ first match
*The pending departures of both
*When New Japan found out
*The major angle shot at New Year’s Dash
*The rise of Kenny Omega
*Tomohiro Ishii vs. Katsuyori Shibata
*Kenny Omega vs. KUSHIDA
*News from the week of Jan. 2016
*John Cena undergoes surgery
*IMPACT Wrestling moves to POP TV
*Promotion of executive in UFC
*The future Great O-Khan begins training
*CM Punk’s UFC future & more
**Our next review of Rewind-A-Wai will be ECW December to Dismember with the show coming out November 30 on the POST Café.
**Chris Hero’s book reviews:
For John Pollock’s audio version of today’s news update – become a Double Double or Espresso member of the POST Wrestling Café.
WRESTLING NEWS
**WWE and AEW will present five hours of live programming tonight plus the Full Gear countdown special. Unlike previous head-to-head contests, this one has no urgency or stacking of the decks as it’s an impossible comparison. SmackDown should easily attract its regular two million viewers on Fox while Collision airs on an unfamiliar night, on cable, and is just not as hot of a program as SmackDown is at present. It is possible this could be the least-watched Collision ever for those reasons but isn’t cause for a “sky is falling” reaction on Monday when the numbers are released. WWE is airing a run-of-the-mill episode with the lone announcement of Jimmy Uso vs. LA Knight and the fallout from Damage CTRL’s alliance last week. We should have the women’s War Games match confirmed tonight with one week until the show and setting the table last week. Collision will take a hit tonight and again next Saturday when it airs against Survivor Series, which is at least equal to if not stronger than SummerSlam this past August in terms of promotion for a WWE event airing head-to-head with Collision.
Here are the lineups for both shows:
WWE SmackDown in Evansville, Indiana at the Ford Center on Fox:
*#1 Contenders Match for Tag Titles: Street Profits vs. Pretty Deadly vs. Brawling Brutes
*LA Knight vs. Jimmy Uso
*Solo Sikoa returns
AEW Collision at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles on TNT:
*Dax Harwood vs. Rush
*Daniel Garcia vs. Miro
*Hikaru Shida & Kris Statlander vs. Ruby Soho & Saraya
AEW Rampage at 10 p.m. ET:
*Toni Storm vs. Emi Sakura
*Renee Paquette interviews MJF and Jay White separately
**Tony Khan held his regular call with the media on Thursday to promote Full Gear. Khan touted that All In stood at around 200,000 buys and would make the August event the second most-purchased show in company history behind All Out 2021 featuring CM Punk vs. Darby Allin. Khan was asked about the females in positions of power within the company with reporter Stephanie Chase citing the recent report of Megha Parekh focusing more of her duties on the Jacksonville Jaguars. Khan didn’t speak about Parekh’s status but leaned on the backstage roles of Madison Rayne and Sarah Stock. Khan seemed very happy with the pay-per-view business drawn in 2023 and expanding its events calendar with Forbidden Door last year and WrestleDream & Worlds End added this year. Including ROH, the company will have held 11 pay-per-view events this year (Final Battle is technically a streaming-only event but does require a purchase to watch). Worlds End is being positioned for the final weekend of December, which has traditionally been an advantageous one in the past as the annual weekend for Starrcade and later, the UFC, although the latter has since abandoned that weekend. In theory, AEW already has two mega events in the new year between Sting’s retirement and the return to Wembley Stadium with each having a high ceiling of opportunity.
**Adam Copeland was interviewed by Joseph Staszewski of the New York Post about this Saturday’s pay-per-view and his desire to maintain a full-time schedule as compared to the limited one he had in WWE:
I think from their perspective and I see their perspective entirely, if we bring you out too much then it’s not special anymore. I get that. I really do. So it was for limited dates. With that though, you can’t really get into a proper story. You can’t really dive into what this thing could be. For me looking at it, it’s like I’m 49. I got a very, very limited time to capitalize on what I have left. Because three months off, that’s three months where I could have done some stuff. And I know it sounds great on paper and don’t get me wrong it wasn’t a horrible place to be. But, if I’m gonna do this man. I want to do it. I want to try to craft some stories and do what I can while I can. So limited time, yeah, because I’m far closer to the end of my career than I am to the beginning. But still think I got some good stories that I can tell and a whole new roster of people who I’ve never touched before.
**Chris Hero returns to the ring tonight in the featured match of West Coast Pro’s Whiplash event against Timothy Thatcher. Hero has not wrestled since March 2020 and has been serving as a matchmaker for the promotion over the past year while also joining AEW as a producer. The card will stream live on YouTube (although West Coast Pro will not archive the event on the platform after it airs, so you need to watch it live for the free version but the replay will be on IWTV). The show will also see Starboy Charlie defend the West Coast Pro title against Chris Bey, Kevin Blackwood vs. Jiah Jewell, Alpha Zo vs. Bryan Keith, Masha Slamovich vs. Johnnie Robbie, Los Suavecitos vs. South Pacific Savages, Steve Maclin & Westin Blake vs. Beef Tank, and Rachael Ellering vs. Sandra Moone.
**AEW is looking hire to a Vice President of People and Culture. From the description:
The Vice President of People and Culture is responsible for driving and executing talent management including recruitment and retention, employee relations, succession planning, compensation design, total rewards, training, executive coaching, and people development. The Vice President of People and Culture will also be responsible for collaborating with the CEO and leadership team to shape and refine the culture and employee experience. This Vice President will create, implement, and monitor programs and policies that support AEW’s core values. This Vice President will sit alongside the broader executive management team and serve as a strategic thought partner on overall business and individual departmental success.
**GCW is running its Going and Going card in Seattle tonight at 11 p.m. ET on FITE+. The card features Blake Christian vs. SCHAFF for the GCW World Title, Matt Cardona vs. Santana Jackson, Nicole Matthews vs. Maki Itoh, Violence is Forever vs. Bollywood Boyz for the GCW tag titles, Speedball Mike Bailey vs. Joey Janela, Aramis teams with Laredo Kid & Rey Horus against Arez, Gringo Loco & Latigo, plus Alex Price vs. Jordan Oliver.
**MLW’s Fightland event streams on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET on FITE+ from the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia. It is headlined by Alex Kane vs. Jacob Fatu for the MLW World Heavyweight Championship along with Matt Cardona vs. Mance Warner in a Loser Leaves MLW Match, Rickey Shane Page & Akira vs. Matthew Justice & 1 Called Manders in a Ladder Match for the MLW tag titles, and Rocky Romero & Barbaro Cavernario vs. Ichiban & Mascara Dorada among the matches. MLW will also tape upcoming episodes of Fusion on Saturday.
**AAA’s Guerra de Titanes airs Sunday from Ciudad Juarez with El Hijo del Vikingo defending the Mega Championship in the main event against Dralistico, Arez & Komander vs. Forastero & Sanson for the AAA tag titles, QT Marshall vs. Octagon Jr. for the Latin American title, Pagano & Psycho Clown vs. Sam Adonis & El Texano Jr., Negro Casas & Pentagon Jr. vs. Black Taurus & La Bestia Del Ring, and Lady Shani vs. Chik Tormenta.
**Stardom’s New Blood West 1 event is available on YouTube from Friday morning at Osaka Azalea Taisho Hall. The card was headlined by Rina vs. HANAKO for the Future of Stardom title as part of the East-West Best-of-Three Series along with Miyu Amasaki vs. Chi Chi and Momoka Hanazono vs. Lady C. The show kicks off with the in-ring debut of Yuzuki against Momo Watanabe.
**All Japan’s Real World Tag League continues in Nagoya on Sunday. There will be four tournament matches with Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi vs. Ryuki Honda & Yuma Anzai, Suwama & Hideki Suzuki vs. Cyrus & Ryan Davidson, Yukio Sakaguchi & Hideki Okatani vs. Shuji Ishikawa & Ren Ayabe, and The Saitos vs. Galeno del Mal & Hayato Tamura.
**Sunday’s New Japan Road event in Tochigi is headlined by an eight-man tag with SANADA, Taichi, Yuya Uemura & DOUKI against Shingo Takagi, Hiromu Takahashi, Yota Tsuji & BUSHI. The World Tag League begins on Monday with back-to-back nights at Korakuen Hall. The first night of the tournament is headlined by Shota Umino & Ren Narita against Great O-Khan & HENARE. The World Tag League runs until December 10 with the winners in line to challenge IWGP Tag Champions Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI.
**The TKO stock closed at $78.32 on Friday.
MMA NEWS
**The UFC held a press conference in Toronto at the Sportsnet studios to promote next year’s UFC 297 pay-per-view and the promotion moving to the network when its deal with TSN expires after 2023. The UFC is looking to increase its shows in the country with only one card since 2019 due to the pandemic. Senior Vice President Dave Shaw stated they were looking at up to four shows in Canada next year, but it’s not confirmed. When asked about the talks with Sportsnet, Shaw said they went back about eighteen months and strategically wanted their rights to end around the time of a pay-per-view return to Toronto. WWE’s ten-year deal with Sportsnet expires in 2024.
**Bellator 301 airs tonight with its final broadcast on Showtime and the future of the company is unknown. There are no more Bellator shows announced beyond tonight as everyone awaits news regarding whether PFL will purchase the promotion and what it does with the brand. The main card airs at 9 p.m. ET and it’s a very lineup of fights but the elephant in the room is hard to ignore and should be a somber atmosphere with the future unknown.
*Bellator Welterweight Championship: Yaroslav Amosov (27-0) vs. Jason Jackson (16-4)
*Bellator Bantamweight Championship: Sergio Pettis (23-5) vs. Patchy Mix (18-1)
*A.J. McKee (18-1) vs. Sidney Outlaw (17-5)
*Lightweight Grand Prix – Semi-Final: Patricky Freire (25-11) vs. Alexander Shabily (23-3) – The winner was set to challenge Usman Nurmagomedov for the Lightweight title in the finals but Nurmagomedov was just suspended for six months and with no future shows announced, it’s not even guaranteed if we’ll see the Grand Prix conclude.
**The UFC is back at the Apex on Saturday night for a card on ESPN+. The show is headlined by a middleweight fight between Brendan Allen and Paul Craig. Allen has won his last five fights including submissions in his last three fights. Craig moved down to middleweight in his last fight and stopped Andre Muniz in July. Below is the card:
MAIN CARD (5 p.m. ET on ESPN+, Fight Pass in Canada)
*Brendan Allen (22-5) vs. Paul Craig (17-6-1)
*Jake Matthews (18-6) vs. Michael Morales (15-0)
*Jordan Leavitt (11-2) vs. Chase Hooper (12-3-1)
*Nick Aguirre (7-1) vs. Payton Talbott (6-0)
*Amanda Ribas (11-4) vs. Luana Pinheiro (11-1)
*Uros Medic (9-1) vs. Jonny Parsons (9-2)
PRELIMINARY CARD (2 p.m. ET on ESPN+, Fight Pass in Canada)
*Jonathan Pearce (14-4) vs. Joanderson Brito (15-3-1)
*Chad Anheliger (12-6) vs. Jose Johnson (12-7)
*Christian Leroy Duncan (6-1) vs. Denis Tiuliulin (11-8)
*Mick Parkin (7-0) vs. Caio Machado (8-1-1)
*Jeka Saragih (13-3) vs. Lucas Alexander (8-3)
*Ailin Perez (8-2) vs. Lucie Pudilova (9-6)
*Trey Ogden (13-6) vs. Nikolas Motta (13-5)
*Rafael Estevam (11-0) vs. Charles Johnson (13-5)
*****
REWIND-A-WAI #143: NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 10 (2016)
John Pollock and Wai Ting review NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 10 from January 4, 2016, featuring Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi and Shinsuke Nakamura vs. AJ Styles.
*****
REWIND-A-DYNAMITE
John Pollock and Wai Ting review the final AEW Dynamite before Full Gear featuring the “Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name” Street Fight.
*****
POLLOCK & THURSTON
John Pollock and Brandon Thurston chat about the state of AEW going into its Full Gear event and welcome Rich Fann from PW Torch.
*****
upNXT
Braden Herrington and Davie Portman review WWE NXT from November 14th, 2023 featuring Wes Lee vs Baron Corbin.
*****
POST INTERVIEW: Chris Hero
Chris Hero returns to the ring this Friday night after 1,350 days since his last match and he is here to speak about it.
*****
REWIND-A-RAW
John Pollock and Wai Ting review WWE Raw with Finn Balor & Damian Priest vs. Cody Rhodes & Jey Uso in a rematch for the Undisputed Tag Team Championships.
*****
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