SmackDown sellout in Chicago, U.S. cable homes decline

POST IT NOTES

**A reminder that the deadline to submit your POST Wrestling Christmas Jingle is subsequent Wednesday for our annual Christmas Present that comes out subsequent week. You possibly can submit your jingle on the POST Wrestling Forum thread or ship it to john@postwrestling.com. We are going to play all of the jingles on the Christmas Present, which comes out subsequent Friday.

**Rewind-A-SmackDown is live at 11 p.m. ET tonight for POST Wrestling Café members. Wai Ting & I will probably be reviewing SmackDown & Rampage and taking calls from patrons all through the present. We may even chat concerning the Wrestle Kingdom 17 card and new cheering tips, the most recent on Sasha Banks, Dynamite’s rankings & extra.

**On Saturday, WH Park will probably be joined by Damian Abraham on The Lengthy & Winding Royal Street to debate Atsushi Onita vs. Hector Guerrero and get into an enormous dialogue on the legacy and profession of Onita.

**David Meyers & Bruce Lord will probably be releasing the December version of POSTmarks on Saturday (accessible totally free on the POST Wrestling Café feed) and chatting with Scrump from the PWT Forged.

**One of the funniest shows of the 12 months:

POST SCHEDULE

Tonight: Rewind-A-SmackDown with John Pollock & Wai Ting (11 p.m. ET on Patreon)
Saturday: The Lengthy & Winding Royal Street with WH Park & Damian Abraham (Atsushi Onita vs. Hector Guerrero)
Saturday: POSTmarks with David Meyers & Bruce Lord with visitor Scrump
Sunday: Wrestlenomics Radio with Brandon Thurston, Chris Gullo & Jesse Collings

WRESTLING NEWS

**WWE has a double taping of Friday Night time SmackDown tonight on the Allstate Enviornment in Chicago. Tonight’s present consists of the return of Roman Reigns, who has not appeared since Survivor Collection final month. Beneath are the matches introduced for tonight’s present at 8 p.m. ET on Fox:
*Intercontinental Championship: Gunther (champion) vs. Ricochet
*Girls’s Tag Workforce Championship: IYO SKY & Dakota Kai (champions) vs. Liv Morgan & Tegan Nox
*Viking Raiders vs. Hit Row vs. Cruz del Toro & Joaquin Wilde

**WrestleTix stories that SmackDown is sold out tonight with 12,369 tickets distributed for the double taping.

**AEW Rampage is a taped present from Garland this week and continues the try to spice up the present’s profile. For the second week in a row, Jon Moxley is wrestling on the present they usually have added a sit-down interview involving Jim Ross and Preston Vance. Final week’s quantity was encouraging after the present hit its all-time low within the demo two weeks in the past. Final week’s quantity wasn’t sturdy however a practical objective over the following two months can be hitting 200,000 viewers within the demo on a routine foundation. Over the previous ten weeks, the present has averaged 162,000 within the 18-49 demo as a comparability.

Beneath are the matches and segments for tonight’s present at 10 p.m. ET on TNT:
*Orange Cassidy, Finest Pals & Dustin Rhodes vs. The Butcher, The Blade, Kip Sabian & Trent Seven
*Dr. Britt Baker vs. Skye Blue
*Jon Moxley vs. Sammy Guevara
*Wardlow in motion
*FTR to seem
*Jim Ross interviews Preston Vance

**The WWE inventory closed at $73.76 on Friday. The inventory was buying and selling over $76 as of Tuesday morning previous to the most recent Wall Road Journal report that included the information that McMahon was telling others he wished to return to the corporate and felt he obtained dangerous recommendation by stepping down over the summer season.

**Over the previous 12 months, houses with cable in the US have dropped 4.7% with the present quantity at 78,970,000. Of these houses, USA Community is in 74.363, TBS is in 73.739, and TNT is in 73.595 of the main cable networks carrying skilled wrestling programming. Properties with entry to community tv elevated 1% over the previous 12 months with 123.8 million houses gaining access to Fox and subsequently, giving Friday Night time SmackDown an enormous benefit over its cable contemporaries. It is usually price noting that Neilsen has included out-of-home viewing into its tabulations and has been cited as a boost for NFL viewership this season. (Information from @SportsTVRatings, Wrestling Observer Newsletter)

**After the 2 dwell occasions this weekend and Uncooked on Monday, the WWE crew has a full week off for the vacations. They resume touring on 12/26 with the post-Christmas tour seeing stops in New York (9,770 tickets out, per WrestleTix), Columbus (4,960 tickets out), Atlanta (5,858 tickets out), Cleveland, Greensboro (4,593), Hershey (4,163), Toronto (6,555) and Miami (3,460) that week.

**NXT has dwell occasions in Fort Pierce tonight and Tampa on Saturday, that are its remaining reveals of the 12 months. The model held a double taping on Wednesday for the episodes that may air on 12/20 and 12/27.

**AEW’s third annual Winter is Coming occasion was successful ending third on cable that evening behind the NBA. The strongest efficiency was amongst adults 18-34 the place the present posted its highest mark since Grand Slam in September. Particularly, Dynamite edged Uncooked in male viewers 18-34 and topped Uncooked amongst males 12-34. Uncooked had the sting in males 18-49 and 35-49 however each classes had been aggressive.

**Ric Flair spoke about his relationship with Jim Ross on his podcast this week. Aptitude mentioned that Ross misplaced all credibility with him after showing on Darkish Facet of the Ring on the Airplane Journey from Hell episode. Aptitude was important of Ross., stating he’s making an attempt to remain related and the way that episode affected his household. The episode centered on the allegations by Heidi Doyle, who was one of many flight attendants on the Could 2002 flight the place she alleged that Aptitude took off his garments and compelled Doyle to the touch his penis, which Flair has denied stating he has by no means compelled himself on anybody. A go well with was filed with a settlement ultimately reached involving the events and was lined on this week’s 9 Lives of Vince McMahon documentary that aired on Vice TV. Aptitude has his personal documentary popping out in a number of weeks that will probably be streaming on Peacock.

**The New York Instances has two skilled wrestling tales this week. The primary is a profile on Satnam Singh and his transition from the NBA to skilled wrestling. The second looks at WOW (Women of Wrestling), which is persistently doing the best non-WWE, non-AEW viewership of any wrestling program within the U.S. with a better skewing feminine viewers. Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics was interviewed for the piece on WOW. It’s a distinctive case with WOW as they’ve an incredible syndication package deal with clearance throughout the nation and but it doesn’t generate any important consideration.

**The Athletic has named Pat McAfee its Sports activities Media Individual of the Yr. In the story by Richard Deitsch, he spoke with Michael Cole about working with McAfee on SmackDown:

Pat helped reinvigorate my love for our enterprise. I’ve been sitting in that chair at ringside for 25 years calling dwell sports activities leisure each single week. I’ve missed two tv reveals over that interval. As one can think about, that quantity of repetition can change into tedious after time. Pat modified all that, and every week grew to become a brand new journey and a brand new chapter in my profession. Pat additionally gave me the arrogance to open up and have enjoyable on the market. One in every of my profession highlights was calling Pat’s match at WrestleMania. He deserves all his success.

**GCW presents Amerikaz Most Wished from the Ukrainian Cultural Middle in Los Angeles tonight and streaming on Fite+ at 11 p.m. ET. The cardboard has Nick Gage vs. Tony Deppen for the GCW Championship, Los Macizos vs. RockNES Monsters for the tag titles, Joey Janela vs. Pagano for the Excessive title, Darkish Sheik vs. Masha Slamovich, Matt Cardona vs. Starboy Charlie, Charles Mason vs. Effy, Hunter Freeman vs. Sawyer Wreck, Jack Cartwheel vs. Cole Radrick vs. Titus Alexander vs. Nick Wayne vs. Jordan Oliver vs. Alec Worth, and a Trios match with Komander & ASF & Arez vs. Gringo Loco & Los Vipers (Latigo & Toxin).

Hijo del Vikingo takes on Blake Christian however per the stipulations by AAA, Vikingo’s matches can’t be streamed and subsequently, solely these in attendance will get to see that match. It’s a tough predicament for promoters to e-book Vikingo however not be capable of maximize his worth by providing his matches past these shopping for tickets. Given his latest visa approval, there will probably be an preliminary buzz to e-book him nevertheless it’s unknown if that will probably be sustained given the restrictions. It was famous by thecubsfan that Vikingo’s match(es) at Battle of Los Angeles will probably be included on the DVD and it’s an edict by AAA particularly concerning dwell streaming.

**AAA has a card at Domo Madero in Tamaulipas on Saturday evening headlined by Rush, Cibernetico & Dralistico towards Komander, Pagano & Taurus together with Sammy Guevara & Tay Melo taking over Abismo Negro Jr. & Flammer, and a AAA Trios title match with Cuatrero, Forastero & Sanson defending towards Willie Mack, Aramis & Octagon Jr. in the principle matches.

**CMLL’s Gran Alternativa tournament begins tonight at Enviornment Mexico with a longtime star teaming with a rookie in a tag match over the course of two weeks. The introduced groups are Atlantis & Arkalis, Volador Jr. & Panterita del Ring Jr., Titan & El Suicida, Soberano Jr. & Halcon Suriano Jr., El Valiente & Valiente Jr., Blue Panther & Cachorro, Stuka Jr. & Neon, and Gran Guerrero & Raider.

**AAA has posted the Hijo del Vikingo vs. Laredo Kid match from 10/23, which was simply given 5 stars within the Wrestling Observer Publication. It was the match the place Laredo Child was injured and found he had a ruptured gut after being taken to the hospital and has not wrestled since.

**The Undertaker’s next 1deadMAN Show will happen in Montreal on 2/16 previous to SmackDown and Elimination Chamber over the next days within the metropolis. The occasion will happen at L’Olympia and tickets happening sale subsequent Tuesday at 10 a.m. ET. Friday Night time SmackDown on 2/17 and Elimination Chamber on 2/18 will each happen on the Bell Centre.

**For anybody looking for out the Action Andretti match with QT Marshall from AEW Darkish, it begins on the 38-minute mark of the ten/11 episode.

MMA NEWS

**UFC president Dana White spoke with Brett Okamoto of ESPN for a year-end dialogue and one line acquired quite a lot of consideration. White was explaining the mentality behind taking the steps to run a card in Africa and famous that he isn’t fascinated by retiring however “can see the sunshine on the finish of the tunnel” noting that he’s been doing this since he was 30 and is now 53 and time goes by so shortly and that if he doesn’t make a transfer to go run in Africa that one other ten years will probably be up. It’s tough to learn an excessive amount of into that line apart from it’s on his thoughts and he volunteered the knowledge. After the sale in 2016, White was in a distinct monetary sphere that may by no means require him to want work however has been the face of the model since Zuffa bought the corporate in 2001 and was thought of integral when the transition occurred. White has received the race along with his model of MMA to date forward of the pack with an unbelievable deal by means of ESPN with their subsequent spherical of U.S. media rights most likely taking them a lot increased. The following main initiative for White is getting Energy Slap off the bottom and has already achieved what Tony Khan couldn’t with ROH by getting a tv deal on TBS.

**Deron Winn was scheduled to combat Julian Marquez on Saturday’s UFC card in Las Vegas however was eliminated after fainting on the Efficiency Institute. Winn announced that his fight was off the cardboard after fainting on the PI and struggling a light concussion after hitting his head and neck when he fell. After being taken to the hospital, he mentioned his exams got here again regular. The UFC opted to not discover a last-minute opponent for Marquez.

**The UFC holds its remaining occasion of the 12 months on the Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday evening and is headlined by a middleweight combat between Jared Cannonier and Sean Strickland. Cannonier, 38, is coming off a loss to 185-pound champion Israel Adesanya at UFC 276 this previous July. Strickland, 31, fought on the identical card in July the place he was knocked out by Alex Pereira and ended a six-fight profitable streak for the contender.

MAIN CARD (7 p.m. ET on ESPN+)
*Jared Cannonier (15-6) vs. Sean Strickland (25-4)
*Damir Ismagulov (24-1) vs. Arman Tsarukyan (18-3)
*Amir Albazi (15-1) vs. Alessandro Costa (11-2)
*Julian Erosa (28-9) vs. Alex Caceres (19-13)
*Drew Dober (25-11) vs. Bobby Inexperienced (29-13-1)
*Michal Oleksiejczuk (17-5) vs. Cody Brundage (8-2)

PRELIMINARY CARD (4 p.m. on ESPN+)
*Cory McKenna (7-2) vs. Cheyanne Vlismas (7-2)
*Matt Semelsberger (4-2) vs. Jake Matthews (17-5)
*Saidyokub Kakhramonov (10-2) vs. Mentioned Nurmagomedov (16-2)
*Rafa Garcia (14-3) vs. Hayisaer Maheshate (6-1)
*Rinat Fakhretdinov (21-2) vs. Bryan Battle (8-1)
*David Dvorak (20-4) vs. Manel Kape (17-6)
*Sergey Morozov (18-5) vs. Journey Newson (10-3)

*****
THE BIG FAT WRESTLING QUIZ OF 2022
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REWIND-A-DYNAMITE & Vince McMahon doc review
John Pollock & Wai Ting evaluation AEW Winter is Coming with MJF defending the AEW Championship towards Ricky Starks and Match #4 between Demise Triangle and The Elite.
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POLLOCK & TING: Talk (Vol. 7)
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BREAKING NEWS: Latest WSJ report on Vince McMahon
John Pollock is joined by Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics to debate the most recent Wall Road Journal report on Vince McMahon.
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REWIND-A-RAW
John Pollock and Wai Ting evaluation WWE Uncooked with Seth Rollins vs. Bobby Lashley in a #1 contenders match, they usually focus on Ring of Honor happening Honor Membership, Matt Riddle, Sasha Banks & extra.
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WRESTLENOMICS RADIO: Tony Khan announced ROH TV for Honor Club
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