POLLOCK’S NEWS UPDATE: What’s My Age Again? The State of New York

The latest on the NYSAC involving age restrictions, Roman Reigns on his bout with COVID, Nick Khan feature, Francis Ngannou on UFC issues.

Photo Courtesy: FITE TV

POST IT NOTES

**Rewind-A-Dynamite is live tonight at 10:15 p.m. ET. Wai Ting and I will review AEW’s Beach Break and take your feedback and questions. Double Double, Iced Capp & Espresso members of the POST Wrestling Café can watch live.

**Beginning today, the POST Daily Show will stream live each weekday at 1 p.m. ET across all our social platforms on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.

**Rewind-A-Wai #102 covered WCW’s Christmas Brawl themes, which was a CD the promotion released in 1996. Wai Ting was joined by Nate Milton and Kris Ealy for the review as they went through each of the songs on the release and provided some hilarious results. This show is available in both audio and video for members of the POST Wrestling Café.

*On Thursday, Bushby & Thompson’s Wrestling Adventure will cover the WWE No Way Out card from February 2003. Martin Bushby and Andrew Thompson will be joined by Fightful’s Jeremy Lambert to review the show and will be available on The British Wrestling Experience feed.

**Our Royal Rumble Pool is now open and it is free to join at www.postwrestling.com/rumble. You can make your picks in all the different categories with the deadline set for Saturday at 3 p.m. ET. We will announce the top point-getters this Monday on Rewind-A-Raw.

POST DAILY NEWS SHOW

-The WLRD on GCW does well on FITE TV
-New York State Athletic Commission, age requirements
-WWE Raw ratings
-Recap and thoughts on NXT 2.0
-WWE’s developmental system
-Nick Khan and WWE profiled in Sports Business Journal
-AEW Beach Break tonight

Audio version for POST Wrestling Café members.

WRESTLING NEWS

**Since the story came out regarding 16-year old Nick Wayne being removed from Sunday’s GCW show at the Hammerstein Ballroom, there has been a lot of confusion regarding the actual age restrictions for professional wrestlers in the state of New York. Last year, there was a 2CW show in the state where a fine was issued after Brodie Jr. a.k.a. -1 did a run-in, so Wayne wasn’t an isolated case of one’s age being subject to actions by the commission. This was one of several issues the commission had with the 2CW event.

When I initially reached out to the commission, I was referred to Section 1015 of the state law that reads:

No person under the age of eighteen years shall participate in any authorized professional combative sports, and no person under sixteen years of age shall be permitted to attend thereat as a spectator, provided, however, that a person under the age of sixteen may be permitted to attend as a spectator if accompanied by a parent or guardian.

However, it was brought to my attention that at least as of 2018, professional wrestling was specifically listed as not being a combative sport. Below is the passage from Section 213.2 of the New York Codes, Rules, and Regulations:

“Professional Wrestling” means an activity in which participants struggle hand-in-hand primarily for the purpose of providing entertainment to spectators and which does not comprise a bona fide athletic contest or competition. Professional wrestling is not a “combative sport.

Furthermore, the section on professional wrestling does not list an age requirement to participate. The only age requirement I could find is for professional boxing where the fighter must be eighteen years of age or older to compete.

David Bixenspan has further reported on this story in his Babyface v. Heel feature including the language used in the commission’s inspector report form that lists someone must be 18 years of age but doesn’t continue with the language specifying to “professional combative sports” of which pro wrestling is not categorized as in New York. Bixenspan also lists the specific complaints the commission had with the 2CW event last October including but not limited to the use of an underage performer. As well, Bixenspan notes that GCW was informed by the NYSAC inspector on Sunday that they could expect a fine for in-ring alcohol consumption, which is another rule that is being questioned whether it applies to professional wrestling and whether any violation actually occurred.

Whether there is an actual age restriction for professional wrestlers within the state or if there is confusion among the ruleset, that is the unknown question. I have followed up multiple times for clarification with members of the commission and am hopeful of receiving a clear answer regarding this matter.

**Roman Reigns appeared on the SI Media Podcast with Jimmy Traina and discussed his recent battle with COVID-19 that forced his withdrawal from the Day 1 event in Atlanta, Georgia. Reigns said he tested positive a week prior and finally got a negative test just before the January 7th edition of Friday Night SmackDown, which he appeared on.

**AEW presents Beach Break tonight and looks like a loaded show on paper including the promotion’s fifth-ever Lights Out match in their history (we had previously listed this as the third but there was both the Kenny Omega vs. Joey Janela, and Jon Moxley & Eddie Kingston vs. Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer matches). This show also features the ladder match to unify the TNT championship between Cody Rhodes and Sammy Guevara, which should be spectacular given who is involved and the type of reaction Rhodes elicits for his matches.

Below is the current line-up scheduled tonight at the Wolstein Center in Cleveland at 8 p.m. ET on TBS and TSN 2 in Canada:
*Lights Out Match: Adam Cole vs. Orange Cassidy
*Ladder Match for the TNT Championship: Cody Rhodes (champion) vs. Sammy Guevara (interim champion)
*Chris Jericho, Santana & Ortiz vs. Daniel Garcia & 2point0
*Red Velvet vs. Leyla Hirsch
*CM Punk speaks
*Dr. Britt Baker speaks

**John Ourand has a feature in Sports Business Journal on WWE and spoke with company president Nick Khan. There were several notable quotes from the feature but the one with the most attention was regarding the subject of whether the WWE is for sale:

The WWE has undergone so many changes since Khan joined in August 2020 that rumors have run rampant that WWE is prepping itself for a sale. Khan said the company has taken some inbound calls from companies looking to buy. But he stressed that WWE is not in active conversations trying to sell the company and is not actively looking to sell.

The feature also went over some of the key people that have been hired since Khan’s joined the company in the summer of 2020 including Jamie Horowitz, Chris Legentil, Steve Braband, Colin Campbell, Scott Zanghellini, Alex Varga, Kirsten Polley, and Claudine Lilien. Khan explained the shifting philosophy:

For the company to be treated the way that Vince, Stephanie, [WWE executive] Kevin Dunn and myself and others believed it should be treated in the community, you needed executives who reflected that, who had range, who could get people on the phone and who could be taken seriously by their peers.

**NXT 2.0 will hold its next special on Tuesday, February 15th with Vengeance Day from the WWE Performance Center. Thus far, they have announced Carmelo Hayes defending the NXT North American Championship against Cameron Grimes and the finals of the men’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic for the show in three weeks.

**Syfy has updated its listings and includes WWE Raw airing on the network on Monday, February 7th, and NXT 2.0 on Tuesday, February 5th due to the coverage of the Olympics on the USA Network. Last week in the Observer, it noted that the February 14th and 15th editions of each show would also air on Syfy, which would include the Vengeance Day special. The Olympics runs from February 4-20. In a WWE.com story, they are promoting it for the USA Network that night.

**Edge spoke to SI.com ahead of the mixed match at the Royal Rumble this Saturday. The performer spoke about teaming with his wife Beth and how she has had the opportunity to speak more and believes it goes back to her speech at the Hall of Fame:

Over the years, her character was always stoic, a heater, always ready to smash stuff. We still have that element, but what’s been great about this is she’s been able to show that when you put a microphone in her hand, she has that ability, especially after doing commentary the past three years. Personally, I think this all started after her Hall of Fame speech. That opened a lot of eyes. That led to commentary, and that led to this. To me, that’s the coolest part; we get to see her flex those muscles and spread those wings. And we get to do this together.

Edge spoke about his approach and preparation regarding promos and logging material he comes across:

I’m always looking in every direction for kernels of ideas. Whether that’s hearing something, reading something or seeing something, I’m always on the lookout. I take that kernel of an idea and make that my own, and relate it to Seth Rollins. Or Roman Reigns. Or The Miz or AJ Styles. I’m always on the lookout for that stuff. My notes in my phone are just promo lines. You can keep scrolling for a long time. If I think of something about Kevin Owens, I log it right away, even if we’re not in the middle of something.

**Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish spoke on Talk is Jericho about their departures from NXT and moving to AEW last year and the formation of The Undisputed Era in WWE.

**Trish Stratus is the guest on The Bellas Podcast today.

**West Coast Pro out of California has added a match between Speedball Mike Bailey and ACH for ‘The Art of Drowning’ event on February 11th that will stream on IWTV. They have also announced a four-way match involving Kylie Rae, Rachael Ellering, Masha Slamovich, and Nicole Savoy.

**C*4 Wrestling has added Biff Busick to its ‘Fantastic Voyage’ event on Friday, March 25th in Ottawa, Ontario.

**Becky Lynch lists off the best of all time in various categories as a preview for her appearance on the Broken Skull Sessions that comes out Friday.

**Chris Van Vliet speaks with Wardlow.

**Malakai Black appears on ‘Rasslin with Brandon Walker of Barstool Sports.

MMA NEWS

**UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou appeared on The MMA Hour this past Monday to discuss all the issues leading up to his fight with Ciryl Gane at UFC 270. On Tuesday, December 28th, Ngannou suffered a full torn MCL while training and damaged his ACL, and required a knee brace for subsequent training sessions but Ngannou persisted and didn’t want to withdraw from the fight. Ngannou confirmed that when he saw a physician last Tuesday after arriving in Anaheim, the doctor told him not to fight. In addition to the physical problems, are the ongoing issues with the UFC that got nasty. On Saturday morning, Ngannou’s manager and CAA agent Marquel Martin received a notice from the UFC that threatened a lawsuit for their team allegedly speaking with Nakisa Badarian, who is the business partner of Jake Paul and co-founder of Most Valuable Promotions. Martin also received an anonymous text message from a 702 (Las Vegas) area code with racist language. It was notable after the fight that Dana White did not enter the ring to put the belt around Ngannou’s waist and White didn’t appear at the post-fight press conference, although it is unknown what the reason was for his absence and it’s only been speculation whether it had to do with Ngannou’s victory.

**Dana White is scheduled to do a Q&A today with subscribers of ESPN+, which will be hosted by the UFC’s Laura Sanko. Obviously, the Ngannou story would be the obvious subject for White to address but we’ll see if that subject is covered or not.

**The UFC 270 prelims were split between ESPN2 and ESPN due to the coverage on the main network being delayed. The prelims started at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN2 and averaged 146,000 viewers and 0.05 in the 18-49 demographic. ESPN picked up the prelims beginning at 8:21 p.m. ET and averaged 421,000 viewers and 0.14 in the key demo including the featured prelim fight between Victor Henry and Raoni Barcelos. This was a very tough night with the UFC prelims going against the NFL playoffs with the San Francisco 49ers vs. Green Packers averaging 36.9 million viewers on Fox beginning just after 8.

**ESPN’s Marc Raimondi reported on the actual weight of all the fighters on the night of UFC 270. California releases the weights from Saturday to outline how much weight each fighter has gained since the weigh-ins on Friday morning with a limit of how much you can add. The largest percentage gain was by Cody Stamann who walked into the cage at 159.0 pounds, adding 17.3 percent from his Friday weigh-in figure of 135.5 pounds. The other largest gains were Saimon Oliveira (136 to 157.8 or 16 percent), and Deiveson Figueiredo (124 to 148.2 or 15.5 percent). While it was speculated by Daniel Cormier on the broadcast that Francis Ngannou was much larger from Friday, the heavyweight champion weighed 257 pounds at the weigh-ins and walked into the cage at 260.4 pounds. Ciryl Gane was actually lighter by fight time with a 247-pound weigh-in and walked into the fight at 245 pounds.

ON THIS DATE

The 2014 Royal Rumble ended with the audience completely turning on the match after Rey Mysterio came out as the final entrant. The anger was not over Mysterio but rather it signaled Daniel Bryan wasn’t going to be in the match. Bryan was never advertised for the Rumble but after he lost a match to Bray Wyatt earlier in the show, it heightened interest that he would appear in the 30-man Rumble. This was at the peak of the Yes Movement and was assisted by the actions of CM Punk the next day when he left Raw before it went live on the air and threw a wrench into ‘Mania’s plans with Punk no longer involved.

Edge returns at the 2020 Royal Rumble after retiring nine years prior. The match was won by Drew McIntyre, who eliminated Brock Lesnar and began McIntyre’s ascent into the main event picture that year.

*****
POST DAILY NEWS – January 26
John Pollock & Wai Ting are back to discuss Nick Khan’s interview with SBJ, GCW’s performance on FITE, NXT 2.0, and WWE Raw ratings.
*****
upNXT 1/26: Ollie Jay Tuesday
Braden Herrington is joined by John Siino to review the January 25th, 2022 edition of WWE NXT 2.0, headlined by Cameron Grimes vs Tony D’Angelo.
*****
REWIND-A-WAI #102: WCW Christmas Brawl Theme Songs (1996, CD)
Wai Ting is reunited with Nate Milton & Kris Ealy to discuss WCW Christmas Brawl Theme Songs, a limited-edition 1996 CD compiling entrance themes from Diamond Dallas Page, Disco Inferno, American Males, Public Enemy and more.
*****
REWIND-A-RAW 1/24: Birthdays, Weigh-Ins & Academic Challenges
John Pollock & Wai Ting review WWE Raw featuring birthdays, weigh-ins and academic challenges heading into the Royal Rumble. They also discuss #FreeAli and reports about Ronda Rousey’s WWE return.
*****
Wrestlenomics: New Japan back on AXS TV, Raw & NXT pre-empted in February
New Japan returned to AXS TV this week and we have the exclusive ratings breakdown for the program as well as the final airings for New Japan in 2019. We’ll look at how the New Japan TV audience might differ from Impact and others in wrestling.
*****
UFC 270 POST Show: Ngannou vs. Gane
John Pollock and Phil Chertok are back to review UFC 270 featuring 2 title fights including Cyril Gane vs Francis Ngannou and Brandon Moreno defending against Deiveson Figueiredo.
*****
TRMPS: Fast & Furious 8 – The Fate of the Furious
Nate Milton heads back into “The Fastiverse” to review one of the most polarizing entries in the Fast & Furious franchise with Joey Lewandowski & Joe Two (2 Fast 2 Forever) and F&F aficionado, Benno (GRAPPL, The British Wrestling Experience)!
*****
REWIND-A-SMACKDOWN: Jon Moxley’s in-ring return, TBS title defense
Wai Ting & Kate from MTL review AEW Rampage featuring Jon Moxley’s in-ring return and WWE SmackDown as Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns continue their rivalry.
*****
THE WELLNESS POLICY #12: Setting Goals
Wai Ting and Jordan Goodman are back to kick off year two of The Wellness Policy! This month, they discuss the topic of goal-setting.
*****

Browse the POST Wrestling Store
https://store.postwrestling.com

Subscribe to POST Wrestling
https://postwrestling.com/subscribe

POST Wrestling Forum
https://forum.postwrestling.com

Support our Patreon – The POST Wrestling Café
http://www.patreon.com/POSTwrestling

Follow us
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube

About John Pollock 5483 Articles
Born on a Friday, John Pollock is a reporter, editor & podcaster at POST Wrestling. He runs and owns POST Wrestling alongside Wai Ting.