Originally published at POLLOCK'S NEWS UPDATE: Dark Side of the Ring covers Johnny K-9
POST IT NOTES
**There will be a special edition of MCU L8R tonight hosted by Wai Ting and WH Park with special guests Nate Milton and Rich Fann to review the final episode of the first season of Marvel’s What…If? The four will share their thought on the final episode of season one and thoughts on the season overall and will be taking phone calls from members of the POST Wrestling Café.
**Rewind-A-Dynamite is available for everyone to download as Wai and I reviewed AEW Dynamite from Philadelphia. On the show, we also shared our thoughts on Tuesday’s edition of NXT 2.0, the problems with the show, the direction it is going, viewership numbers for NXT & Raw, Bret Hart being inducted to Canada’s Walk of Fame, the return of WOW – Women of Wrestling, and we take your feedback to Dynamite.
**Wai and I will be back Friday night at 11:15 p.m. ET for Rewind-A-SmackDown to review SmackDown & AEW Rampage and we will open the phone lines. The show is available live for all members of the Café. We will also have a special G1 Climax show this Saturday for Patrons as we review the G1 cards from Thursday-Saturday.
POST SCHEDULE
Tonight: MCU L8R with Wai Ting, WH Park, Nate Milton & Rich Fann (LIVE at 10 p.m. ET for Patrons)
Friday: Rewind-A-SmackDown (LIVE at 11:15 p.m. for all Patrons)
Saturday: G1 Climax – Days 11-13 Podcast (Patreon)
Sunday: The NWA Podcast with Nate Milton, Kris Ealy & Andrew Thompson
WRESTLING NEWS
**The second anniversary of AEW Dynamite was highlighted by the return of Hangman Page to win the Casino Ladder Match, and a phenomenal opening eight-man tag with The Elite beating Bryan Danielson, Christian Cage, Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus. It was a great reaction for Page, who the fans treated as a top-tier star and came out of the show as a main event level babyface on par with the top tier in the company. It’s fun to do the surprises and it allows fans to let their imaginations run wild but this worked so much better and the audience was equal, if not louder for AEW’s own star than if they have used the spot to debut someone regardless of stature.
It’s an interesting picture they have for the AEW Championship with the combination of Kenny Omega, Bryan Danielson, and Hangman Page. The result should be Page getting his victory over Omega but there is plenty of juice left in Omega’s reign especially for the Danielson rematch, which is only logical for the title to be at stake next time. Timing Page’s return with this show would suggest that Page challenging Omega is imminent with Full Gear as one option. AEW is also set to run Norfolk, Virginia (Page’s home state) for the Dynamite/Rampage tapings immediately following next month’s pay-per-view as well as a big show on Thanksgiving Eve in November at the Winrtust Arena in Chicago (where Page and Omega had the legendary match with The Young Bucks at Revolution in 2020).
**AEW will air Rampage this Friday with the matches taped on Wednesday and then are off for an entire week. They return for back-to-back nights at the James L. Knight Center in Miami for Rampage on October 15th and a Saturday night edition of Dynamite the following night. Dynamite will air on Saturday on both October 16th and October 23rd before returning to Wednesdays on October 27th.
**Former IMPACT Wrestling star Chris Harris was arrested this past Tuesday in Kenton County, Kentucky, first reported by Mike Johnson at PWinsider.com. Harris was arrested Tuesday evening and is charged with operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol and failure to produce a card displaying his insurance. Harris was let out the following morning with a bond set at $2,5000 and will appear in court on November 2nd.
**Dark Side of the Ring will focus on Ion Croitoru (or Kroitoru) a.k.a Johnny K-9, Bruiser Bedlam on tonight’s edition of the show at 9 p.m. ET on Vice TV.
The story of Crotoru is much more of a true-crime drama than a professional wrestling story. He began his career in 1984 and wrestled for Stampede Wrestling just before it shut down after Stu Hart struck the deal with Vince McMahon for the rights to the television slots in a deal that didn’t pan out for Hart and he re-opened the territory. Croitoru did plenty of undercard work for the WWF throughout the ‘80s and briefly held the Southern Heavyweight Championship wrestling as ‘Taras Bulba’ in Tennessee and beating Jerry Lawler in August 1985 and dropping it back three weeks later. Croitoru then had a big run in Smokey Mountain Wrestling in 1994 as ‘Bruiser Bedlam’ until SMW shut down. Crotoru continued his career bouncing around various independents in the U.S. and Canada and came back for one match in June 2013 in British Columbia.
However, the story of Croitoru is centered around his gang activity where he became a notorious criminal in Canada. He had been a member of the Satan’s Choice and United Nationals gangs throughout his life and linked to several major crimes including serving time for bombing a police station in Sudbury, Ontario. In 2009, he was arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit murder and was sentenced to thirteen years in prison, he was released in 2016 to live inside of a halfway house in Toronto, which is where he died at the age of 53 in February 2017.
Unknown to his fellow wrestlers, Johnny K9 was leading a double life climbing the ranks of Canada’s Satan’s Choice biker gang.
A preview clip from “Bikers, Bombs & Bedlam” premiering tonight at 9pm on @vicetv & @CraveCanada. pic.twitter.com/JifFw6jmNf
— Dark Side of the Ring (@DarkSideOfRing) October 7, 2021
**MLW airs a special one-hour version of Fightland tonight on Vice TV at 10 p.m. ET. The special will include two of the championship matches from this past Saturday’s taping at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia as the promotion debuts on the network immediately following Dark Side of the Ring. Below are the matches set to air tonight:
*MLW World Heavyweight Championship: Jacob Fatu (champion) vs. Alex Hammerstone
*MLW Middleweight Championship: Myron Reed (champion) vs. Tajiri vs. Arez vs. Aramis
MLW is also introducing a news segment on the Vice episode featuring reporters discussing various news items. The first edition will be a panel hosted by Alicia Atout and reporters Dave Meltzer, Andreas Hale, Raj Giri, and Emilio Sparks.
**IMPACT Wrestling airs tonight at 8 p.m. ET on AXS TV as they continue its build for Bound for Glory later this month. Below are the matches advertised for tonight:
*Christian Cage & Josh Alexander vs. Ace Austin & Madman Fulton (this is one of those continuity issues where Cage was laid out last night with a neck injury and will be wrestling on tonight’s episode, which was taped weeks ago)
*Hikuleo, El Phantasmo & Chris Bey vs. Juice Robinson, David Finlay & Chris Sabin
*Heath addresses the IMPACT Zone
*Black Taurus vs. Steve Maclin vs. Petey Williams
**Mike Johnson at PWinsider.com reported that Kenn Doane has been hired to coach at the WWE Performance Center (he appeared during a backstage scene on NXT a few weeks ago). The site reported that Doane had been working at the PC over the past several weeks and Doane updated his Twitter bio to reflect the new role. Doane started wrestling at a young age and had a developmental deal with WWE by the age of 18 while working in OVW. He was a member of The Spirit Squad that was brought up to the main roster in 2006 and feuded with DX members Triple H and Shawn Michaels that ended with the group completely embarrassed and literally packaged into a box with an “OVW” sticker placed on the box to write them off. Doane was repackaged as “Kenny Dykstra” because someone was a Phillies fan and he had a prelim role on the roster until his release in 2008. Doane and fellow Spirit Squad member Mike Mondo were brought back briefly in 2016 on the SmackDown brand but it didn’t pan out.
**The G1 Climax continues Friday from Kochi with the B Block show streaming at 6 a.m. ET on New Japan World. It’s the second of three consecutive days of shows with the following matches and point totals:
*Kazuchika Okada (10) vs. Taichi (4)
*Hiroshi Tanahashi (6) vs. EVIL (8)
*Jeff Cobb (10) vs. SANADA (4)
*Hirooki Goto (2) vs. Chase Owens (2)
*Tama Tonga (2) vs. YOSHI-HASHI (2)
*Non-tournament: El Desperado vs. Kosei Fujita
**IMPACT Wrestling will be airing the Knockouts Knockdown pay-per-view this Saturday, which was taped in Nashville, Tennessee at Skyway Studios. The women’s pay-per-view will include a one-night tournament featuring the following first-round pairings:
*Jamie Senegal vs. Tasha Steelz
*Chelsea Green vs. Renee Michelle
*Rachael Ellering vs. Lady Frost
*Mercedes Martinez vs. Brandi Lauren
The card will also feature a Knockouts Tag Team Championship match with Rosemary & Havok defending against Madison Rayne & Tenille Dashwood and Deonna Purrazzo defending the Knockouts Championship against a mystery opponent. The pay-per-view streams at 8 p.m. ET on IMPACT Plus and will feature Veda Scott and Mickie James n commentary and Melissa Santos as the in-ring announcer.
**The New York Comic Con (NYCC) begins today with a heavy presence from AEW over the next several days. Eddie Kingston and Ruby Soho will be holding signings on Thursday, Friday will feature The Lucha Brothers, Kris Statlander, The Blade & The Bunny signing throughout the day, Saturday has Darby Allin, Adam Cole, and Thunder Rosa appearing for signings, and Sunday features Penelope Ford, Kip Sabian, Colt Cabana & Alex Reynolds.
**Lenny Leonard and Rocky Romero will be the commentary team at Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport 7 on Friday, October 22nd in Los Angeles. The event will stream at 11 p.m. ET on Fite TV that night. GCW has announced that Alex Coughlin and Clark Connors have been added to the event.
**DEFY Wrestling returns on Friday night with a card at the Kliever Armory in Portland, Oregon that is headlined by Eddie Kingston & Brody King taking on SCHAFF & Ethan HD. The promotion will run a show in Highland Park, California on October 14th featuring Christopher Daniels vs. Daniel Garcia.
**A tribute to Curt Hennig:
Tuesday Trick Shot “Compilation” @espn @overtime @barstoolsports @Gatorade #bradjohnson #challenge #tryit pic.twitter.com/AVMQWkWCsT
— Brad Johnson “BigBadBrad14” (@Brad_Johnson_14) September 7, 2021
MMA NEWS
**Francis Ngannou and Ciryl Gane are expected to fight for the UFC heavyweight championship in January 2022, according to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto. The contracts have not been signed but verbal agreements are in place for the two to fight at UFC 270 on January 22, 2022. This will be Ngannou’s first fight since he defeated Stipe Miocic to become champion last March. During that period, Gane became the interim champion when he defeated Derrick Lewis in August at UFC 265.
**Holly Holm is out of the main event of the UFC Fight Night card on October 16th, first reported by Ariel Helwani. Holm was scheduled to headline the card against Norma Dumont but sustained a knee injury and has withdrawn from the contest according to Helwani. The card had already been hit with the loss of Miesha Tate vs. Ketlen Vieira after Tate contracted COVID-19 and the fight was moved to a later date.
ESPN is reporting that Aspen Ladd will step in and replace Holm on short notice for the featherweight contest. Ladd was scheduled to fight Macy Chiasson this past Saturday but failed to make weight for the bantamweight contest and featured a scary scene as she was visibly shaking on the scale and weighed 137 pounds. While it’s concerning that she is coming back so quickly after a brutal weight cut, she is at least fighting at the higher weight class. Ladd has not fought since December 2019. Dumont is coming off a pair of wins against Ashlee Evans-Smith and Felicia Spencer.
**Alberto El Patron (Jose Alberto Rodriguez Chucuan) launched a lawsuit against Combate Americas this past July over breach of contract stemming from an agreement signed in 2017 for his fight with Tito Ortiz. The details of the suit were reported by PWinsider.com with the professional wrestler outlining the original agreement the two sides had in 2016 where Chucuan would be paid $250,000 per year to hold a variety of non-fighting roles with the promotion including as a spokesman, liaison, color commentator, and interviewer and receive an extra $10,000 per event if he served as a color commentator. That deal ended in July 2017 but shortly thereafter, a new agreement was reached for Chucuan to fight Ortiz with Chucuan offered $500,000 to promote the fight and $250,000 for the actual fight and claims he was never paid the fight purse. Additionally, Chucuan alleges that he handed over his social media accounts to the promotion, who have ignored his messages and questions regarding the accounts. Chucuan is seeking the $250,000 he believes he is owed for the December 2019 fight with Ortiz, the interest he is owed on that figure of at least $26,250, plaintiff costs and attorney’s fees, control of his social media accounts, and further relief.
**The weigh-ins for Saturday’s UFC Fight Night take place Friday morning in Las Vegas. It is hardly a star-studded card although the main event has implications on the 115-pound weight class for the winner. Below is the full card:
MAIN CARD (4 p.m. ET on ESPN)
*Mackenzie Dern vs. Marina Rodriguez
*Randy Brown vs. Jared Gooden
*Tim Elliott vs. Matheus Nicolau
*Mariya Agapova vs. Sabina Mazo
*Deron Winn vs. Phil Hawes
PRELIMINARY CARD (1:30 p.m. on ESPN+)
*Felipe Colares vs. Chris Gutierrez
*Alexandr Romanov vs. Jared Vanderaa
*Charles Rosa vs. Damon Jackson
*Loopy Godinez vs. Silvana Juarez
*Steve Garcia vs. Charlie Ontiveros
**In an interview with James Lynch for Middle Easy, UFC bantamweight Rob Font stated he was offered the interim title fight against Petr Yan for October 30th in Abu Dhabi. Font said he was offered the fight before Cory Sandhagen accepted the fight and stated he declined the fight because he recently contracted COVID-19 and would not be ready to fight that quickly. Font is now scheduled to fight Jose Aldo on December 4th. Yan and Sandhagen will fight for the interim championship at UFC 267 on October 30th after champion Aljamain Sterling was unable to fight Yan on that date due to effects from his neck surgery earlier this year.
**Bellator has released the entire lineup for the Bellator 268 card on Saturday, October 16th with the main card airing on Showtime at 10 p.m. ET. The card is highlighted by the two semi-final fights in the Light Heavyweight World Grand Prix with 205-pound champion Vadim Nemkov defending against Julius Anglickas and former champion Ryan Bader fighting Corey Anderson. The main card will round out with Benson Henderson taking on former lightweight champion Brent Primus and a featherweight fight between Henry Corrales and Vladyslav Parubchenko.
**Georges St-Pierre spoke with Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports about his recent induction into the UFC Hall of Fame. St-Pierre last competed in November 2017 when he defeated Michael Bisping for the UFC middleweight championship and illness prevented him from defending the championship and eventually, he retired. Recently, St-Pierre had campaigned for a boxing fight with Oscar De La Hoya, but his UFC contract remains in place, and was prohibited from taking the boxing fight.
**Ariel Helwani has a lengthy interview with noted sports reporter Stephen Brunt on his YouTube channel. Brunt currently works at Rogers Sportsnet and has written and spoken extensively about many sports but specifically boxing throughout his career.
ON THIS DATE
Beth Phoenix wins the WWE Women’s Championship for the first time on this date in 2007 at the No Mercy event defeating Candice Michelle:
In a follow-up to their classic match in Brooklyn the month prior, Bayley and Sasha Banks had a 30-minute Ironman match in 2015 at NXT TakeOver: Respect:
Tony Ferguson defeats Kevin Lee at UFC 216 on this date in 2017 to become the interim lightweight champion:
*****
REWIND-A-DYNAMITE: Casino Ladder Match, TBS Championship
John Pollock & Wai Ting review the second-anniversary episode of AEW Dynamite from Philadelphia featuring the Casino Ladder Match and big eight-man tag with The Elite vs. Danielson, Cage & Jurassic Express.
*****
SHOT IN THE DARK: Strictly Business Turn on Nick Aldis, Charlie Dempsey Debuts
John Siino reviews this week’s editions of AEW Dark, AEW Dark: Elevation, NXT UK, 205 Live, NJPW Strong, NWA Powerrr, Ring of Honor, and Main Event in under 15 minutes on Shot In The Dark.
*****
upNXT 10/5/21: “Woker Stars”
Braden Herrington and Davie Portman talk about the October 5th 2021 episode of WWE NXT 2.0 featuring a Fatal Four Way Elimination Match for the NXT Tag Team Championship!
*****
REWIND-A-WAI #96: Ospreay – The Rise of an International Pro Wrestler
John Pollock & Wai Ting are joined by Benno to review Ospreay: The Rise of an International Pro Wrestler, a crowd-funded 2020 documentary profiling the early career of Will Ospreay and the UK independent wrestling scene
*****
REWIND-A-RAW 10/4/21: WWE Draft Night 2
John Pollock & Wai Ting are back to chat about WWE Raw and the second night of the WWE Draft with an overview of all the changes
*****
POST PURO Bonus: Stardom 5* Grand Prix, G1 Climax 31
WH Park is joined by returning guest host, Karen Peterson. They share their thoughts on the outcome of the Stardom 5* Grand Prix and discuss its ramifications for the promotion’s next major shows.
*****
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