Originally published at https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/03/26/pollocks-news-update-conor-mcgregor-under-investigation-per-report/
POST IT NOTES
**Earlier today, I had the chance to have an extended sit-down interview with Kenny Omega, who is in Toronto promoting the “Omega Man: A Wrestling Love Story” documentary on TSN. The 25-minute chat can be downloaded now and features a lot of topics covered from his departure from New Japan, his current relationship with the group, the start of AEW, having an extended break since his last match, the decision to go ahead with this documentary, growing the fanbase and lots more. There is also a video version on our YouTube channel.
**Today’s edition of Rewind-A-Raw is available with Wai Ting’s return from vacation. This is a loaded show with a rundown of Raw, additional matches added to WrestleMania, the Beat the Clock segment, Kurt Angle’s match with Samoa Joe, the Last Man Standing main event involving Dean Ambrose, plus a rundown of a busy day of news at the start of the show.
**We will be back with Rewind-A-SmackDown tonight. Usually, the Double Shot is on Tuesday nights for members of the POST Wrestling Café but this week it will be posted late Wednesday night with a review of the Omega Man documentary on TSN.
**Braden Herrington and Davie Portman will be doing a “Watch Along” this Wednesday of NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn I from August 2015. Follow their social media channels for information @TheBrayD and @DaviePortman. They have also opened up an upNXT Pro Wrestling Tees store and have six shirt designs available.
**Nate Milton will be on the Café Hangout this Thursday at 3 pm Eastern for Double Double, Iced Capp and Espresso members of the Café.
**Jay Hunter of OSW Review will be joining us on Rewind-A-Wai this Friday as we review the two episodes of “The Simpsons” that Jay chose as our Espresso Executive Producer.
POST WRESTLING SCHEDULE
*Tonight: Rewind-A-SmackDown
*Wednesday: The Double Shot – A Wednesday night edition of the show with a review of “Omega Man: A Wrestling Love Story” (Patreon)
*Thursday: Café Hangout live at 3 pm Eastern with Pollock & Wai and guest Nate Milton (Live for Double Double, Iced Capp, and Espresso members)
*Thursday: upNXT with Braden Herrington and Davie Portman
*Friday: MMA news and notes with John Pollock and MMA Junkie’s Mike Bohn
*Friday: Rewind-A-Wai #33 – Wrestling themed episodes of “The Simpsons” with guest Jay Hunter of OSW Review (Patreon)
*Saturday: POST Puroresu with John Pollock and WH Park
WRESTLING NEWS
**Tonight’s WWE tapings take place from Uncasville, Connecticut at the Mohegan Sun Arena. They have announced the following matches for SmackDown and 205 Live:
*Kurt Angle vs. AJ Styles
*Mandy Rose vs. Sonya Deville vs. Naomi vs. Carmella with the winner facing Asuka at WrestleMania
*Drew Gulak, Jack Gallagher and Humberto Carrillo vs. Lucha House Party on 205 Live
**The news that the women were headlining WrestleMania did not translate to a higher viewership on Monday’s episode of Raw. The show was down 4% from last week and was their lowest average since February 11th. The show began with 2.7 million viewers and began with the Beat the Clock Challenge with Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch, and Charlotte Flair finished after the first 20 minutes of the show. There was a slight drop to 2.665 million viewers in the second hour and then a larger drop in the final hour to 2.4 million viewers. If you compare to last year’s Raw number from the same week it’s a decrease of 23% and a 21% drop this same week in 2017.
**As of Tuesday afternoon, the women’s battle royal and a SmackDown tag title match are both scheduled for the WrestleMania card. If you included those two matches and the pending Daniel Bryan vs. Kofi Kingston announcement that brings the match total to 16.
**The WWE announced on Tuesday that Joan Jett will be performing “Bad Reputation” at WrestleMania for Ronda Rousey’s walkout. That’s a great addition by the company to add to the main event mix. It’s amazing the UFC never did this during Rousey’s heyday. One of the best atmospheres for a UFC main event was at UFC 189 in July 2015 where Sinead O’Connor performed Conor’s McGregor’s walkout and Aaron Lewis performed for Chad Mendes.
**AAA held a press conference today promoting TripleMania in August. The news from the press conference centered around former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez attending with Dorian Roldan stating he would be part of the event this August with the implication he would have a match. According to Lucha Blog’s live report, Roldan announced that Velasquez was entering a deal with AAA and TV Azteca with the event scheduled to air live. Throughout the press conference, Velasquez was confronted by Psycho Clown, El Texano Jr., and Pentagon Jr. but they didn’t announce anything officially for Velasquez. We have reached out to the management team for Velasquez for further details on this arrangement with AAA. It is worth noting that Velasquez has fights remaining on his UFC deal and would require their permission to go through with a match.
**Lucha Central broke the news that several performers that were under contracts to Lucha Underground are now free of those deals. Two lawsuits had been filed by El Hijo del Fantasma and Texano Jr. against the El Rey Network and Baba-G Productions for financial damages, plus there was a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of Joey Ryan, Kobra Moon, Ivelisse, and Fantasma as they sought to get out of their contracts. Lucha Central reported Monday that Texano withdrew from the lawsuit and is expected to stay with AAA. The others reached a settlement with Ryan, Moon, Fantasma, and Ivelisse released from their deals immediately. The lawyer for the wrestlers, Andre Verdun, issued the following statement to the website:
I’m honored to say that we received 100% of the relief that we were suing to obtain and four young talented wrestlers are no longer bound by an unfair contract that prohibits them from taking full advantage of their talents at the prime of their career. I wish them all the best of luck.
**The WWE has named Susan Levison as its new Senior Vice President and head of WWE Studios, replacing the outgoing Michael Luisi, who left that role last summer. Levison previously served as the Senior Vice President of Alternative Programming at CBS Television Studios. She also worked at VH1 and helped launch “Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood” and “Candidly Nicole”, a reality series focusing on Nicole Ritchie.
**Kenny Omega arrived in Toronto on Monday for two packed days of media for the “Omega Man: A Wrestling Love Story” that premieres Wednesday night at 7:30 pm Eastern on TSN. Omega was scheduled for ten interviews on Tuesday and another ten on Wednesday.
**Here is an interview that Omega did with Jay Onrait and Dan O’Toole for TSN discussing the Golden Lovers, his decision to not sign with WWE, and the Winnipeg Jets.
**The season-finale of Total Bellas averaged 448,000 viewers on E! It was up more than 13% from the week prior and was their highest viewership figure since January 27th. The show featured Nikki Bella’s announcement that she was retiring following her match against Ronda Rousey at the Evolution event last October.
**Mike Johnson at PWinsider.com reported that an ad ran on WHTX 100.3 FM in New York City that included Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake’s name among the list of Hall of Fame inductees for April 6th at the Barclays Center.
**MLW has announced that L.A. Park will take on Jimmy Havoc on Friday, April 5th at the Melrose Ballroom at their Battle Riot II card during WrestleMania Week.
**The WWE stock closed at $88.29 on Tuesday.
**Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch, and Charlotte Flair’s appearance on ESPN Tuesday morning:
MMA NEWS
**The New York Times has released a report that Conor McGregor being investigated in Ireland after being accused of sexual assault by a woman this past December. The report states that McGregor has not been charged but McGregor was arrested in January, faced questioning and was released. The female in question alleges that the assault took place at the Beacon Hotel in Dublin, with a source telling the Times that McGregor would book the penthouse suite at the hotel. Until this report came out, McGregor’s name has been kept confidential among Irish outlets due to certain laws. Karen J. Kessler, who is a publicist for McGregor, was contacted by the Times and said that “we don’t comment on rumors”. Neither McGregor or the UFC commented on the allegations. The New York Times released their story Tuesday afternoon hours after McGregor announced his retirement on Twitter.
**Later in the day, McGregor’s publicist Karen J. Kessler did provider a lengthier statement to ESPN’s Ariel Helwani regarding the allegations:
This story has been circulating for some time and it is unclear why it is being reported now.
The assumption that the Conor retirement announcement today is related to this rumor is absolutely false.
Should Conor fight in the future it must be in an environment where fighters are respected for their value, their skill, their hard work and their dedication to the sport.
NOTE: The following story on McGregor’s retirement tweet was written prior to the release of the report by the New York Times.
**Late Monday night, Conor McGregor put out the following tweet announcing his supposed retirement yet again:
Hey guys quick announcement, I’ve decided to retire from the sport formally known as “Mixed Martial Art” today. I wish all my old colleagues well going forward in competition. I now join my former partners on this venture, already in retirement. Proper Pina Coladas on me fellas!
I would say that few are taking this announcement with any degree of seriousness. ESPN reporter Brett Okamoto reached out to Dana White and White gave the response any experienced poker player would by calling McGregor’s bluff and stating:
He has the money to retire and his whiskey is KILLIN it. It totally makes sense. If I was him I would retire too. He’s retiring from fighting. Not from working. The whiskey will keep him busy and I’m sure he has other things he’s working on. He has been so fun to watch!!! He has accomplished incredible things in this sport. I am so happy for him and I look forward to seeing him be as successful outside of the octagon as he was in it.
It’s been openly discussed recently that the UFC and McGregor were in talks for a fight in July. Donald Cerrone’s name was discussed and apparently, that fell apart over McGregor being reserved for a co-main event slot on the July pay-per-view. McGregor recently said he’d be willing to fight on any position on the card providing he receives equity in the company. The equity stake has been something McGregor has been discussing since becoming a dual champion in November 2016.
McGregor still has enormous leverage given his difference to an average year and a fantastic year for the company as 2018 showed. It was estimated the UFC did 5,515,000 buys on pay-per-view last year and if you eliminate UFC 229 and the record-setting 2.4 million that McGregor did with Khabib Nurmagomedov it’s a 44% drop. That said, the UFC just announced a deal with ESPN+ that greatly insulates them from being at the mercy of any other individual.
If McGregor fights this year, it’s the biggest hook ESPN+ could hope for in attracting new subscribers. But, if he doesn’t fight, the UFC is still guaranteed an enormous amount by allowing ESPN+ to be the exclusive U.S. distributor. While that figure is not public information, there is no way the UFC was taking their cards off DirecTV, InDemand and Dish Network if it wasn’t a sweetheart deal to go from a universe of approximately 100 million consumers to ESPN+ that has just over 2 million.
He did this song-and-dance in 2016 where he announced his retirement and was removed from the UFC 200 card. In the end, the UFC went from having one monstrous pay-per-view with UFC 200 to getting two that summer with McGregor and Nate Diaz fighting the next month at UFC 202.
In today’s new climate, McGregor’s side would want to protect itself and be paid as much up front as opposed to relying on new subscribers from ESPN+ and earn a percentage from the new technology that will take a long time to grow to become anything resembling the model of traditional pay-per-view. There will come a point that ESPN+ will want McGregor fighting and becomes a card to play when they need a boost of subscribers that McGregor can attract more than any other MMA fighter.
**Bellator 219 takes place this Friday night from Temecula, California and will air at 9 pm Eastern on the Paramount Network and DAZN. Below is the main card of the show:
*Saad Awad (23-10) vs. Brandon Girtz (15-8)
*Daniel Straus (24-8, 1 NC) vs. Shane Kruchten (12-4)
*Andrey Koreshkov (21-3) vs. Mike Jasper (13-4)
*Joe Schilling (3-5) vs. Keith Berry (15-14-1, 1 NC)
There are a few interesting fights scheduled for the prelims and after the live broadcast. Shawn Bunch will take on Dominic Mazzotta, David Rickels meets A.J. Matthews and undefeated Joey Davis will be fighting Marcus Anthony among the untelevised fights.
*****
THE POST INTERVIEW: Kenny Omega
John Pollock sits down with Kenny Omega to discuss “Omega Man: A Wrestling Love Story”, which premieres on TSN Wednesday night.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/03/26/post-interview-kenny-omega/
*****
RAR 3/25/19: Joe-Angle, Conference Call Paul, Last Man Stan-Dean
Monday’s episode featured a Last Man Standing match between Drew McIntyre and Dean Ambrose, Triple H quotes the Spice Girls as his career is threatened, SNL hosts added to the WrestleMania battle royal & more.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/03/26/rar-3-25-19-joe-angle-conference-call-paul-last-man-stan-dean/
*****
NJPW NEW JAPAN CUP FINALS (Patreon)
John Pollock reviews the final night of the New Japan Cup tournament, featuring Kazuchika Okada facing Sanada in the finals in Nagaoka. Plus, a review of the whole show, angles shot on the undercard and a preview of the week ahead at POST Wrestling.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/25597525/
*****
upNXT Movie Review – The Raid: Redemption (2011)
Braden Herrington & Davie Portman are joined by friend of POST Wrestling, WH Park of POST Puroresu to discuss the 2011 Indonesian martial arts film, The Raid: Redemption.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/03/22/upnxt-movie-review-the-raid-redemption-2011/
*****
upNXT MOVIE REVIEW – The Raid: Redemption (2011)
Braden Herrington & Davie Portman are joined by friend of POST Wrestling, WH Park of POST Puroresu to discuss the 2011 Indonesian martial arts film, The Raid: Redemption.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/03/22/upnxt-movie-review-the-raid-redemption-2011
*****
ASK-A-WAI: Ask Us Anything! (April 2019)
John Pollock and Wai Ting (joining us remotely from Hawaii) answer their patrons’ questions from the POST Wrestling Forum in the April 2019 edition of Ask-A-Wai. We cover over 35 questions in this 80 min podcast, discussing AEW, WWE house shows, Umaga, Konnan, Wrestling GIFers, parenting, dental hygiene and more.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/25536475/
*****
POST Interview: Damian Abraham from “Turned out a Punk”
John Pollock is joined in-studio by Damian Abraham and discuss tons of topics, including Damian’s trips to Japan, hanging out with Atsushi Onita & lots more.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/03/21/post-interview-damian-abraham-from-turned-out-a-punk/
*****
upNXT 3/21/19: I Got 5 On it
Braden Herrington and Davie Portman review this week’s WWE NXT with Triple H and his announcement regarding the fate of the NXT Title & TakeOver New York, and a crazy one match TV main event Fatal 5 Way featuring: Ricochet vs Adam Cole vs Aleister Black vs Velveteen Dream vs Matt Riddle.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/03/21/upnxt-3-21-19-i-got-5-on-it/
*****
BWE 3/20/19: OTT Scrappermania V, wXw 16 Carat Gold, NXT UK
Martin and Benno are joined by Jamesie to talk their live perspectives from OTT Scrappermania V (Walter vs.Jordan Devlin, Scotty Davis vs. Jushin Liger) and WXW 16 Carat Gold (Starr vs. Walter).
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/03/20/bwe-3-20-19-ott-scrappermania-v-wxw-16-carat-gold-nxt-uk-njpw/
*****
POST Interview: New York Ric of ESPN
John Pollock is joined by ESPN’s New York Ric to chat about TJ Dillashaw relinquishing the 135-pound title, UFC-ESPN+ deal, Jorge Masvidal, UFC welterweights, Michael Bisping & more.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/03/20/post-interview-new-york-ric-of-espn/
*****
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