Originally published at https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/10/25/pollocks-news-update-tmz-releases-footage-of-jimmy-usos-july-arrest/
POST IT NOTES
**Wai Ting and I are back tonight with Rewind-A-SmackDown for all members of the POST Wrestling Café. We’ll be reviewing Friday Night SmackDown and discussing whatever fights I catch from the Bellator 231 show, which includes Jake Hager’s fight. Plus, we will take your feedback and questions at the end of the show.
**On Saturday, we are launching THUNDERSTRUCK hosted by WH Park. The weekly series will look back at classic matches from Jushin Thunder Liger’s career beginning with his January 1990 match against Naoki Sano. WH’s first guest is Damon McDonald from the Super J Cast. The show will be released on the main POST Wrestling feed.
**We have this week’s edition of the Café Hangout up on the site with lots of phone calls throughout the show. I really love the format of this show on Thursday afternoons as there is never a shortage of news topics and we always get great phone calls, so thanks to all the new listeners and people checking out the Hangout. The show is available live for Cafe members and is available free later that day.
**Next week, we will be doing a special Thursday night edition of the Café Hangout at 11 pm eastern. We are doing the show late because Crown Jewel is airing during the day. We will be doing a quick review of the show and then opening up the phone lines for people’s opinions on the show, how they feel about the shows in Saudi Arabia, and any other topics you want to discuss.
**This week’s edition of Five Questions with Phil Chertok covers Conor McGregor’s press conference, Greg Hardy’s past week, Dominick Reyes, and the Ben Askren vs. Demian Maia fight in Singapore.
POST WRESTLING VIDEOS
WRESTLING NEWS
**With Fox’s coverage of the World Series, Friday Night SmackDown runs on FS 1 tonight from the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri. The show will air live at 8 pm eastern and replay at 11 tonight. Below is what they have announced for the show:
*A face-to-face segment involving Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez
*Miz TV with Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair as guests
*Robert Roode & Dolph Ziggler vs. Kofi Kingston & Big E.
*Mandy Rose vs. Nikki Cross
**SmackDown airs in its regular slot on Sportsnet 360 in Canada.
**FS 1 will also be airing a new episode of WWE Backstage following tonight’s broadcast of SmackDown. Renee Young and Booker T. will be joined by Paige and Christian and they will have an interview with Finn Balor.
**TNT will be running an extended edition of this past Wednesday’s episode of Dynamite tonight. The replay runs from 8-10:05 pm eastern and will include footage that didn’t air after the Kenny Omega vs. PAC match. This includes the set up for PAC and Hangman Page’s match at the Full Gear pay-per-view on November 9th.
**TMZ has obtained footage of Jimmy Uso (Jonathan Fatu) being pulled over back on July 25th prior to his DUI arrest in Florida. The footage shows Fatu swerving and speeding before the officer signaled for the WWE performer to pull over. On camera, Fatu states he had a glass of wine at dinner earlier in the evening before repeatedly asking if he was being detained and wanting a lawyer. The officer told Fatu that he had been going 85 mph in a 45 zone.
TMZ adds that Fatu is scheduled for a hearing next week to fight the misdemeanor DUI charge he received. Since the arrest in July, The Usos appeared on the following week’s episode of Raw and have been off television since.
**Xavier Woods has undergone surgery for his torn Achilles tendon and is expected to be out for a long time stemming from this past week’s injury he sustained in Australia. In July 2009, Edge suffered a torn Achilles tendon and returned at the Royal Rumble the following year.
**Impact Wrestling is holding two nights of tapings at St. Clair College in Windsor, Ontario beginning tonight. These are the first set of episodes that will air on AXS TV beginning next Tuesday at 8 pm eastern. They have announced the following matches for tonight’s taping:
*Brian Cage vs. Sami Callihan in a steel cage match for the Impact title
*Naomichi Marufuji vs. Josh Alexander
*Michael Elgin vs. Fallah Bahh
**MLW C.E.O. Court Bauer spoke with Chris Jericho on Friday’s edition of Talk is Jericho. On the show, he discussed the origin of MLW from its initial run from 2002 until 2004 and reviving the brand as a podcast vehicle in 2012 and then returning to a fully functioning promotion in 2017. Below are a few of the subjects covered as the promotion gets set for its first pay-per-view next weekend:
Financing MLW:
We did have sponsors early on before we were actually on TV. We had Totino’s pizza and a video game and that helped us. That alone with our rights deals, media rights deals are precious. Now, we are in fourteen countries. We’re in the U.K., Ireland, Israel, Africa, Canada, U.S. all these countries that’s how we really cover our bills then ticket sales, of course. Media rights, that’s the biggest driver in the business right now. For us, fourteen counties is a good start but in the next year, I want to be in a lot more houses. We do the big SportTel Monaco conventions and stuff and we shop the product aggressively internationally. You look at the deals WWE gets, these billion-dollar deals, we’re going to get a small modest fraction of that but that’s how leagues exist not just in wrestling it’s really based on content.
The struggles of competing for talent with larger groups:
I think the biggest challenge you have with a company like this is trying to match contracts with other companies. I think that becomes difficult, like if ECW had let Rob Van Dam go they wouldn’t have had the cashflow issues trying to make end’s meet in 2000-2001 and try to rebuild and regenerate a new generation because you’re not going to be able to match everybody on a contract, you’re going to have to understand that. The fanbase is going to know you’re going to have a new generation come and you’re going to see them organically blend with this generation, so it naturally segues. That’s part of it and that’s part of booking and I don’t think you can do that with a writing team, you have to have those instincts and it takes time and you have to have a flow and understand where your talent is – contractually, creatively and where the fans are with that.
**Prior to the MLW pay-per-view on November 2nd, the card will have a pre-show at 7 pm eastern. The free pre-show will stream on the MLW YouTube channel, Fite TV, as well as beIN Sports and through the InDemand, DirecTV, and DISH Network channels that are carrying the show. They have announced the following four matches for the pre-show:
*Simon Gotch & Ikuro Kwon vs. Dominic Garrini & Douglas James vs. Spirit Squad
*El Hijo de LA Park vs. Zenshi
*Savio Vega vs. Leo Brien
*Air Wolf vs. Gino “El Intocable” Medina
**Here are the matches for Saturday night’s episode of MLW Fusion at 9 pm eastern on beIN Sports from the tapings in Tijuana, Mexico:
*Contra Unit vs. Promociones Dorado
*The Hart Foundation vs. Dragon Lee & Extreme Tiger
*Torito & Toto vs. Proximo & Terror Azteca
**For those in Canada, AEW Dynamite will be airing on TSN 2 next Wednesday after originally being scheduled for TSN 3. The Wednesday night program will run on TSN 2 on October 30th, November 6th, November 13th, November 20th, and November 27th. TSN has not finalized its schedule beyond that but Dynamite will have a consistent channel destination at least through the end of November.
**This past Tuesday’s episode of Total Divas averaged 279,000 viewers on E! After averaging 436,000 viewers for the past season, the current season is averaging 268,000 viewers after the first four episodes.
**Ring of Honor began its Honor United tour in the U.K. on Friday. They continue Saturday with the following card in Newport:
*Marty Scurll & Flip Gordon vs. Flamita & Tracy Williams
*The Briscoes vs. Kyle Fletcher & Lucky Kid (who is replacing the injured Mark Davis)
*Matt Taven vs. Joe Hendry
*Rush & Jeff Cobb vs. PCO & Brody King
*Kelly Klein vs. Lana Austin
*Kenny King vs. Mark Haskins
*Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham vs. Silas Young & Rampage Brown
*Dalton Castle vs. Hikuleo
**The WWE stock closed at $68.37 on Friday.
**All Japan Pro Wrestling has released the scheduled for their annual Real World Tag League tournament. The tour begins on Monday, November 11th with a show at Korakuen Hall. The teams consist of Triple Crown champion Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi, Shuji Ishikawa & Suwama, Joe Doering & Dylan James, Jake Lee & Naoya Nomura (who have both recently challenged Miyahara for the Triple Crown), Tajiri & KAI, Zeus & Ryoji Sai, Daisuke Sekimoto & The Bodyguard, Yoshitatsu & Joel Redman, Parrow & Odinson, and Takashi Yoshida & Gianni Valletta. This year the round-robin matches will run through December 9th and the semi-finals and finals will take place on January 2nd and 3rd at Korakuen Hall.
**EVOLVE has announced that Matt Sydal has been added to their upcoming shows. Due to EVOLVE’s connection with WWE, he will be wrestling as “Evan Bourne”. He is scheduled for November 9th in Queens, November 10th in Brooklyn, December 6th in Livonia, and December 7th in Chicago.
**The Windsor Star has a short piece on tonight’s Impact tapings at St. Clair College and interviews with Scott D’Amore and Ken Shamrock. D’Amore discusses Anthem’s recent purchase for a majority interest in AXS TV and serving as an executive with Impact Wrestling.
**Marc Raimondi at ESPN reported that Santana, Ortiz, and Sammy Guevera will be attending the Bellator 231 event tonight in Uncasville, Connecticut. Raimondi added that they may do a photo-op with Jake Hager in the cage. Hager will be fighting Anthony Garrett in the main card opener at 9 pm eastern.
**Simon Abrams gives a very favorable review to “Girl on Third Floor” that stars Phil Brooks in the lead role as Don Koch and is directed by Travis Stevens.
**The NWA has released a new edition of Ten Pounds of Gold reflecting on the launch of NWA Power:
**A trailer has been released for an upcoming independent film called “Cutter Bill” that features Dustin Rhodes in a supporting role.
RATINGS
Going against the World Series, All Elite Wrestling and NXT held up fairly steady in viewers. AEW saw a drop of 5% and NXT down 3% in overall viewers.
NXT saw a big increase among their female viewership with a 36% increase among females 18-49 and up 50% in females 12-34. Conversely, NXT took a big hit among males 12-34, which were down 45% from the week before.
AEW also saw increases in their female viewership with a 22% increase in the 18-49 demo and 54% among females 12-34. The major drop was in the 50+ audience, where AEW was down 24% and was the lone demo that NXT won for the night.
In comparing AEW to Raw, the most competitive demographic was among males 12-34 where AEW did a 0.43 and that was 83% of the number Raw did in the demographic this week. The weakest was 50+ where AEW only did 25% of Raw’s number.
Here are the breakdowns by demographic for both shows on Wednesday night:
P 18-49
AEW: 0.45 (+2%)
NXT: 0.21 (+5%)
F 18-49
AEW: 0.28 (+22%)
NXT: 0.19 (+36%)
M 18-49
AEW: 0.62 (-4.5%)
NXT: 0.23 (-15%)
P 18-34
AEW: 0.39 (+34%)
NXT: 0.13 (-7%)
F 12-34
AEW: 0.20 (+54%)
NXT: 0.12 (+50%)
M 12-34
AEW: 0.43 (+19%)
NXT: 0.11 (-45%)
P 25-54
AEW: 0.46 (-8%)
NXT: 0.26 (+8%)
P 50+
AEW: 0.25 (-24%)
NXT: 0.33 (-6%)
REVIEW
I had the chance to catch the Kento Miyahara match against Jake Lee from Thursday’s card at Korakuen Hall. This was another in Miyahara’s unbelievable stretch of title defenses with a match that went just past thirty-three minutes. Lee had such a unique aura as the challenge that would get cocky at the right times, play around with Miyahara and act heelish in subtle ways to gain sympathy behind Miyahara. There was a brutal stretch of head butts that Miyahara delivered while holding the hair of Lee to prevent him from blasting the head but still going full force with his head towards Lee. My hope was these head butts were safe but watching them, they looked brutal. Lee’s kicks were sensational and it’s a great aspect to his striking technique with the precision and variety he displayed. Miyahara used multiple Blackouts and had Lee kick out from a Shutdown German suplex before beating him with the maneuver at the end.
The full match is available on AJPW.tv and continues a career year for Miyahara. While I feel Will Ospreay is a lock for Wrestler of the Year, I feel Miyahara is number two and that’s a hell of an accomplishment when the in-ring level has never been higher than now.
MMA NEWS
**An uproar was caused Thursday evening when Nate Diaz posted a statement indicating he had been flagged by USADA and added he would not be fighting Jorge Masvidal in next Saturday’s UFC 244 main event at Madison Square Garden:
Your all on steroids not me pic.twitter.com/ykrZmRIoPS
— Nathan Diaz (@NateDiaz209) October 24, 2019
Diaz stated he had elevated levels but did not specify the substance he had been flagged for.
ESPN is reporting that Diaz has not been provisionally suspended by USADA, which is standard protocol and the New York State Athletic Commission had not been aware of the finding. The outlet went on to report that it is believed Diaz tested positive for a SARM (selective androgen receptor modulator). USADA is expected to make an announcement later today as the status of next weekend’s fight appears to be up in the air.
**Randy Couture released a statement regarding the heart attack he suffered this past Wednesday. Couture had been training at the Unbreakable Performace gym in Los Angeles and was experiencing discomfort. Couture went home to rest and the problem continued to persist, so he opted to walk to Cedars Sinai Hospital rather than get into traffic. It is believed that he walked three blocks to the hospital and then discovered he had suffered a heart attack and needed surgery.
Contrary to recent rumors I have not kicked the bucket yet. I am alive and well. Special thanks to the amazing staff at Cedars Sinai Hospital. From the ER to cardiac icu thanks for taking care of me. I’m one of those people that has crazy thick blood and nominally high bad cholesteroil. Unfortunately, those 2 factors combined to create a nice clot occluding my Diagonal artery. The Cath lab at Cedars got right on it, cleared it out and placed a stint in its place. Thanks to all of you out there expressing your concern. Your love and support mean the world to me and my family. Live your lives to the fullest. You never know when you’ll draw that last breath in.
**Bellator 231 takes place tonight from the Mohegan Sun Arena and is the promotion’s first of two cards in the arena this weekend. Tonight’s show will be simulcast on the Paramount Network and DAZN with the following main card fights at 9 pm eastern:
*Frank Mir (265.75) vs. Roy Nelson (258)
*Phil Davis (205.5) vs. Karl Abrektsson (205)
*Ed Ruth (170) vs. Jason Jackson (170.5)
*Bec Rawlings (125.5) vs. Ilara Joanne (125.25)
*Jake Hager (249) vs. Anthony Garrett (265)
**Bellator 232 goes down Saturday night from the same arena with a 10 pm eastern start for the main card, which airs exclusively on DAZN. The weigh-ins for Saturday’s card took place earlier today with the following main card fights set:
*Rory MacDonald (169.25) vs. Douglas Lima (169.25) for the Bellator welterweight title and the finals of the Welterweight Grand Prix
*Paul Daley (174.75) vs. Saad Awad (173)
*Patrick Mix (136) vs. Isaiah Chapman (136.25) – Chapman missed by 1/4 pound and was fined 20% of his purse
*Manny Muro (160) vs. Nick Newell (159.75)
*Kevin Ferguson Jr. (160) vs. Craig Campbell (158)
**The fight between Robin van Roosmalen and Cris Lencioni was canceled after van Roosemalen missed weight by over nine pounds. Lencioni was not willing to take a catchweight fight. The promotion moved the fight between Kevin Ferguson Jr. and Craig Campbell to the main card.
**The UFC is holding an early morning card from Singapore on Saturday with the card streaming on ESPN+ in the United States and Fight Pass internationally. The full card and weigh-in results are below:
MAIN CARD (8 am eastern on ESPN+, Fight Pass)
*Demian Maia (170.5) vs. Ben Askren (171)
*Michael Johnson (156) vs. Stevie Ray (156)
*Beneil Dariush (156) vs. Frank Camacho (155.5)
*Ciryl Gane (239) vs. Don’Tale Mayes (250)
*Muslim Salikhov (171) vs. Laureano Staropoli (171)
PRELIMINARY CARD (5 am on ESPN+, Fight Pass)
*Randa Markos (115) vs. Ashley Yoder (115)
*Alex White (155) vs. Rafael Fiziev (155)
*Movsar Evolev (146) vs. Enrique Barzola (146)
*Maurice Greene (250) vs. Sergei Pavlovich (253)
*Alexandra Albu (116) vs. Loma Lookboonmee (114)
*Raphael Pessoa Nunes (264) vs. Jeff Hughes (254)
**Combate Americas has a show scheduled for Friday, November 22nd at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California airing on Univision and TUDN. The show will be headlined by a lightweight fight between Ignacio Bahamondes taking on Salvador Becerra and a women’s strawweight fight between Corina Herrera and Caroline Gallardo.
**LFA will also be running a card on November 22nd from Broomfield, Colorado. The card is headlined by a fight between Brandon Royval and Jared Scoggins to crown the LFA flyweight champion.
**Bellator has posted the first fight between Rory MacDonald and Douglas Lima from January 2018 at Bellator 192 ahead of their rematch on Saturday:
*****
Café Hangout – Oct. 24, 2019
John Pollock and Wai Ting discuss this week’s news including reactions to the glitch-filled release of WWE 2K20, AEW vs. NXT Week 4 ratings, Conor McGregor’s plans to fight in January, a report on Randy Couture, thoughts on this week’s NXT & NWA Power episodes, and our thoughts on “Joker”.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/10/24/cafe-hangout-wwe-2k20-reaction-aew-vs-nxt-week-4-joker-review/
*****
REWIND-A-DYNAMITE 10/23/19
John Pollock and Wai Ting review this week’s AEW Dynamite on TNT featuring Jon Moxley vs. PAC and a big angle with Cody and Chris Jericho. Plus, we choose a new theme song for Rewind-A-Dynamite.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/10/24/rad-10-23-19-break-down-the-doors-of-jericho-theme-song-contest/
*****
upNXT 10/23/19
Braden Herrington and Davie Portman are back to review this week’s WWE NXT featuring Keith Lee vs. Dominik Dijakovic vs. Roderick Strong for the North American Championship, Matt Riddle vs. Cameron Grimes, Rhea Ripley vs. Bianca Belair and a HUGE angle to close the show!
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/10/24/upnxt-10-23-19-balor-club-is-not-for-everyone/
*****
POST INTERVIEWS: Big John McCarthy & MMA analyst Robin Black
John Pollock speaks with “Big” John McCarthy about his role as a broadcaster, MacDonald vs. Lima II, CSAC’s new weight cutting rule, plus a chat with MMA analyst Robin Black.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/10/23/post-interviews-big-john-mccarthy-mma-analyst-robin-black/
*****
REWIND-A-WAI #47: WCW Monday Nitro – June 30, 1997 (Patreon)
John Pollock and Wai Ting review WCW Monday Nitro from June 30, 1997, featuring the WCW Nitro debuts of Raven and Curt Hennig.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/10/22/rewind-a-wai-47-wcw-monday-nitro-june-30-1997/
*****
RAR 10/21/19: The Street Prophet, Eric Bischoff Speaks
John Pollock and Wai Ting review WWE Raw featuring the return of Kevin Owens to the brand and the in-ring debut of The Street Profits.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/10/22/rar-10-21-19-the-street-prophet-eric-bischoff-speaks/
*****
BOUND FOR GLORY POST SHOW
John Pollock and Nate Milton review Impact Wrestling’s Bound for Glory pay-per-view with Brian Cage vs. Sami Callihan for the Impact title, Ken Shamrock vs. Moose & more.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/10/21/impact-bound-for-glory-post-show/
*****
TRMPS #10: Race to Witch Mountain
On this edition of The Rocky Maivia Picture Show, Nate Milton celebrates October by reviewing Dwayne Johnson’s scariest movie to date, Disney’s “Race to Witch Mountain”! Featuring guest hosts Davie Portman and Daniel Perry.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/10/19/trmps-10-race-to-witch-mountain-2009-w-davie-portman-daniel-perry/
*****
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