Originally published at POLLOCK'S NEWS UPDATE: AEW Full Gear location, Jericho responds to Levesque
POST IT NOTES
**Rewind-A-SmackDown is live for POST Wrestling Café members at 11 p.m. ET. We have a loaded show tonight with Wai and I reviewing SmackDown & Rampage, we’ll chat about Paul Levesque’s interview with Ariel Helwani, Tony Khan’s media call from Thursday, and previews of both Clash at the Castle and All Out this weekend. All Café members have access to the live version or can download it immediately after the show ends.
**Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics and this site is the guest on today’s Talk is Jericho discussing the trends and patterns of wrestling television viewership, the big stories to watch, the impact of various technologies on pro wrestling, and the significance of the 18-49 demo to advertisers.
**I want to thank everyone that has reached out regarding the interview with Michael Landsberg, who was the long-time host of TSN’s Off the Record and someone I’ve wanted to interview for a long time. The chat is about 45 minutes with Landsberg’s recollections of launching OTR in September 1997, the role professional wrestling content played on the show, his series of interviews with Vince McMahon, his WWF audition, and traveling to Stamford for a set of shows they recorded at WWF HQ in the summer of 1999 as well as his ongoing work for his foundation Sick Not Weak.
**Wai and I are back on Saturday evening with a Clash at the Castle POST Show exclusively for POST Wrestling Café members. The All Out POST Show on Sunday will stream live for everyone immediately after the pay-per-view.
**Additionally, Café members in September will receive two editions of Rewind-A-Wai covering the WWF Raw from SkyDome in Toronto in February 1997 as well as WCW’s Starrcade from 1995, we will be doing another edition of TALK, the Ask-A-Wai Mailbag Show, weekly editions of MCU L8R as well as Rewind-A-SmackDown.
**The Long & Winding Royal Road will be released on Saturday with WH Park being joined by Daniel Makabe to discuss Genichiro Tenryu & Stan Hansen taking on Giant Baba & Rusher Kimura from November 1989.
**Due to travel this weekend, Wrestlenomics will be released on Monday evening with Brandon Thurston, Chris Gullo, and Jesse Collings.
POST SCHEDULE
Tonight: Rewind-A-SmackDown with John Pollock & Wai Ting (Live at 11 p.m. ET for Café members)
Saturday: WWE Clash at the Castle POST Show (Patreon)
Saturday: The Long & Winding Royal Road with WH Park & Daniel Makabe (Baba & Kimura vs. Tenryu & Hansen)
Sunday: AEW All Out POST Show with John, Wai, Braden Herrington & Davie Portman (LIVE on POST YouTube)
Monday: Wrestlenomics Radio with Brandon Thurston, Chris Gullo & Jesse Collings
WRESTLING NEWS
**Fightful was the first to report that Newark, New Jersey was the working plan for AEW’s Full Gear pay-per-view in November. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter has since reported the show is set for Newark on Saturday, November 19th to avoid the UFC 281 pay-per-view the week prior and NFL football on Sunday. Dave Meltzer noted that there would be a live edition of Rampage at the Prudential Center on the night before the pay-per-view. It’s a loaded month for big events with WWE holding two premium live events between the Saudi Arabia card on November 5th and the Survivor Series on November 26th.
**We have a story on the site going over Paul Levesque’s interview with BT Sport and covering a lot of ground. We’ll also be discussing the interview on Rewind-A-SmackDown tonight at 11 p.m. ET. Levesque also spoke about Brock Lesnar’s reaction the day of Vince McMahon’s departure announcement and acknowledged that there was truth to the reports of him being upset. Levesque said he had dealt with Lesnar upon his return because Lesnar and McMahon had a frayed relationship but in time, Lesnar would deal exclusively with McMahon and the sides worked things out in July when the announcement came that McMahon was stepping away.
The comments everyone has focused on was Levesque being asked about AEW beating NXT when they ran head-to-head and stating that AEW beat their developmental brand. Alex McCarthy of Inside the Ropes interviewed Chris Jericho shortly after the interview was released and got his reaction to the comment:
Once again it is just changing the narrative and changing the history, which makes me laugh. Because when it started, it was not developmental, it was a third brand, it’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon, and all the other bullsh*t that they said, so of course we beat the developmental or whatever you want to call it, but who gives a sh*t?
It’s such old news, and the show sucks, NXT sucks, it’s not a good show, and they know it. Whether they were punished or not, they probably were punished. That’s probably why Triple H said those things because he is angry that we beat them, and he is probably angry that we exist. But you know, we don’t care about WWE, we care about our show, we care about putting on the best stories that we can put on, we care about building our fanbase and building our ratings.
**Friday Night SmackDown is a taped edition from last week in Detroit due to the crew and talent in Wales for Clash at the Castle. While it would have been more expensive to produce, had they done SmackDown at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff today, it would have been a super-hot crowd especially for Roman Reigns and Drew McIntyre on the night before their match. It is a lot on the crew to do a show the day before a stadium event even in the same city, but it can be done given how SmackDown was handled going into WrestleMania this past year.
The following matches were taped for tonight’s episode airing at 8 p.m. ET on Fox:
*Roman Reigns celebrates two years as Universal champion
*Karrion Kross vs. Drew Gulak
*Hit Row vs. Maximum Male Models
*Happy Corbin vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
*Ludwig Kaiser vs. Butch
*Viking Rules: Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods vs. Viking Raiders
*Ronda Rousey’s “Final Judgment”
**AEW Rampage is live from the NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois for their final show before All Out. Tony Khan mentioned on the media call on Thursday that there is a possibility of another match being added to Sunday’s card. They have announced the following for tonight’s show at 10 p.m. ET on TNT:
*Trios Tournament – Semi-Final: Hangman Page, John Silver & Alex Reynolds vs. Best Friends & Orange Cassidy
*Sammy Guevara & Tay Melo vs. Ortiz & Ruby Soho
*Ricky Starks vs. QT Marshall
*Mark Henry interviews Jade Cargill and Athena
*Swerve in Our Glory and The Acclaimed to appear
**The Countdown to All Out special will air on TNT immediately after Rampage.
**Kyle O’Reilly posted a photo on his Instagram story from a hospital bed, in the next photo was an ad for a Ford Fusion with “Ford” crossed out and replaced with “Neck” Fusion. It is not confirmed if O’Reilly did in fact have neck fusion surgery although that’s certainly what he is indicating. O’Reilly, 35, last wrestled on June 8th where he lost a #1 contenders match to Jon Moxley on Dynamite.
**IMPACT Wrestling averaged 104,000 viewers and 0.02 in the 18-49 demographic on Thursday and ranked #146 among cable originals. Last week’s show averaged 111,000 and 0.02. (Showbuzz Daily)
**Game Changer Wrestling and Black Label Pro present 4 Cups Stuffed in Hoffman Estates tonight and streaming on Fite TV at Midnight ET. The card features Calvin Tankman vs. Rich Swann for the BLP Heavyweight title, Joey Janela vs. Ernest “The Cat” Miller, Speedball Mike Bailey vs. Kylie Rae, Marko Stunt vs. Shane Mercer, Gringo Loco, Latigo & Toxin vs. ASF, Drago Kid & Laredo Kid, Bryan Alvarez & Billie Starkz vs. Tom Lawlor & Killer Kelly, and a ten-person tag with Team BLP’s Dominic Garrini, Kevin Ku, Joshua Bishop, Crash Jaxon & Levi Everett against Team GCW’s Blake Christian, Tony Deppen, Nick Wayne, Cole Radrick & Jordan Oliver.
**Pro Wrestling NOAH will hold the finals of the N-1 Victory tournament on Saturday morning in Osaka and streaming on Wrestle Universe. The finals will see Hideki Suzuki taking on Kaito Kiyomiya while Great Muta will work his final show in Osaka teaming with Great O-Khan & NOSAWA Rongai against Kenoh, Manabu Soya & Tadasuke as part of Muta’s farewell tour that will go into next spring. Saturday’s card will also feature Yoshinari Ogawa & Chris Ridgeway defending the GHC tag titles against Eita & Kotaro Suzuki.
**New Japan Pro Wrestling kicked off its Burning Spirit tour on Friday with a show at Yokohama Budokan in front of 1,421 and the following results: (Courtesy: Purolove.com)
*JONAH, Shane Haste & Bad Dude Tito over Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Toru Yano in 14:24
*Zack Sabre Jr., Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado over Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI in 11:04
*KENTA, Taiji Ishimori & Hikuleo over KUSHIDA, Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma in 9:15
*Jeff Cobb, Great O-Khan & Aaron Henare over Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens & Gedo in 7:58
*Ryusuke Taguchi, Master Wato & Jado over TJP, Francesco Akira & Gideon Grey in 9:18
*EVIL, SHO, Yujiro & Dick Togo over Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI, YOH & Ryohei Oiwa in 9:44
*The DKC over Kosei Fujita in 6:45
**Monday’s card from Korakuen Hall will feature a portion of the audience that will be able to cheer marking the first time for a New Japan show since the pandemic began.
**IMPACT Wrestling has released a shirt for Joe Doering with 100% of the proceeds going to Doering, who is undergoing another battle with brain cancer and is stepping away from wrestling.
**The WWE stock closed at $67.80 on Friday.
**The UFC will make its debut in France on Saturday afternoon at the Accor Arena with the prelims beginning at Noon Eastern on ESPN+ in the U.S and Fight Pass internationally. All the fighters made weight on Friday with the following fights set for Saturday:
MAIN CARD (3 p.m. ET on ESPN+)
*Ciryl Gane vs. Tai Tuivasa
*Robert Whittaker vs. Marvin Vettori
*Alessio Di Chirico vs. Roman Kopylov
*John Makdessi vs. Nasrat Haqparast
*Jarno Errens vs. William Gomis
*Nathaniel Wood vs. Charles Jourdain
PRELIMINARY FIGHTS (Noon ET on ESPN+)
*Abusupiyan Magomedov vs. Dustin Stoltzfus
*Fares Ziam vs. Michal Figlak
*Joaquin Buckley vs. Nassourdine Imavov
*Benoit Saint-Denis vs. Gabriel Miranda
*Christian Quinonez vs. Khalif Taha
*Ailin Perez vs. Stephanie Egger
REVIEW
IMPACT Wrestling (August 31st)
-Results: Matt Taven & Mike Bennett over The Good Brothers to win the IMPACT tag titles, Speedball Mike Bailey over Kenny King to retain the X Division title, Mascara Dorada over Alex Zayne, Masha Slamovich over Deonna Purrazzo
-The main angle on the show was kicking off “The Last Rodeo” for Mickie James as IMPACT is going to recreate the Ric Flair story from 2007-08. After her recent losses, Mickie contemplated retirement but isn’t going to go out like that and is going to start from the bottom of the women’s division to work her way up the ladder to challenge for the Knockouts title but cannot lose along the way. Once she loses, she is done, so she either wins the title or retires. It was a strong promo from Mickie where she doubted herself and listed off the insults she’s heard about herself over the years and allowed those negative comments to affect her, getting fired by WWE two years ago and how the IMPACT fans reminded Mickie who she was. It was a very good segment.
-There was a short backstage segment with Violent by Design where they explained that Joe Doering had his own battle to go fight (sadly, his brain cancer has returned) and they shook hands and parted ways for the time being.
-Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows dropped the tag titles to Mike Bennett & Matt Taven and finished up last weekend in Dallas with one more match set to air this month.
-Masha Slamovich beat Deonna Purrazzo in the main event using the Snow Plough and overcoming Chelsea Green’s interference to set up a title match with Jordynne Grace for the Knockouts title at Bound for Glory on October 7.
-Mascara Dorada made his debut beating Alex Zayne in a fun match for television where both worked to the other’s strength and showcased more of Dorada’s move set than as typical while he wrestled as Gran Metalik in WWE.
-We are still a month away but Josh Alexander vs. Eddie Edwards as the big title match for the biggest show of the year has not clicked for me yet and needs something to make this one feel like the big title match of the year.
-Next week’s show will feature Aussie Open coming in to face Chris Bey & Ace Austin, Eddie Edwards vs. Heath, Taya Valkyrie vs. Chelsea Green, and the debut of Yuya Uemura in IMPACT.
-Prior to Bound for Glory, they have Victory Road on September 23rd, which will feature Sami Callihan vs. Moose vs. Steve Maclin in a Barbed-Wire Massacre match, and are teasing an alliance between Maclin and Moose ahead of time.
ON THIS DATE
Triple H is awarded the World Heavyweight Championship in 2002 as the WWE splintered its world championship to have belts on both Raw and SmackDown. This came just after Brock Lesnar won the Undisputed Championship at SummerSlam and was kept on SmackDown:
*****
POST INTERVIEW: Michael Landsberg
John Pollock speaks with Michael Landsberg on the role professional wrestling played in the rise of TSN’s Off the Record in Canada.
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MCU L8R: She-Hulk Episode 3
Rich Fann is joined by Daniel Palmer of the MTR Network to discuss Jennifer’s evolution throughout She-Hulk: Attorney at Law Episode 3: “ The People vs. Emil Blonsky”.
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REWIND-A-DYNAMITE
John Pollock & Wai Ting review the go-home edition of AEW Dynamite featuring Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks vs. Will Ospreay & Aussie Open.
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SHOT IN THE DARK
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 WWE Main Event in under 15 minutes on Shot In The Dark.
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upNXT: Worlds Collide Go-Home Show
Braden Herrington and Davie Portman review the August 30th, 2022 edition of NXT 2.0 headlined by Gallus vs Diamond Mine.
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REWIND-A-RAW: Wai Ting Returns
John Pollock and the returning Wai Ting chat WWE Raw from Pittsburgh featuring the finals of the women’s tag title tournament and an appearance by Kurt Angle.
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30th Anniversary of SummerSlam 1992 w/ author Steven Bell
John Pollock is joined by author Steven Bell to discuss the 30th anniversary of Bret Hart vs. The British Bulldog at SummerSlam 1992 in Wembley Stadium.
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WRESTLENOMICS: Has WWE-AEW momentum shifted?
TV ratings for WWE Raw are doing well since Triple H took over creative after Vince McMahon’s exit. Critical reception of WWE has improved too. AEW’s ratings are stable amid multiple reports of conflicts between talent as the All Out pay-per-view draws near.
*****
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