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Hold tight because the show is not over. WWE presents a lot of television on any given week and it can be difficult to keep track of everything that they do. It doesn’t help that they company has so many wrestlers that sometimes they do not have enough time to get everyone on the shows. That being said, just because the cameras stop rolling doesn’t mean the action is over. That was the case this week as well.
There were two post show segments following this week’s WWE SmackDown. First up, Ronda Rousey came to the ring and addressed the crowd, only to be interrupted by Natalya. A fight broke out and Rousey cleared Natalya from the ring. Rousey had appeared on the show in a backstage segment with Liv Morgan. Next, Bobby Lashley successfully defended the United States Title against Austin Theory. Neither of the two had been on the show.
It was a busy night. Check out both post show segments:
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[This post contains video, click to play]

Opinion..

And so it is set. Over the last few years, WWE has regularly traveled to Saudi Arabia for a series of shows. These events have received a mixed reaction to say the least but they certainly do get attention. WWE will present a unique selection of matches, often including names that do not appear for the company full time. Now they have a new main event set in a first time ever match.
WWE held a press conference in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday, officially announcing that Logan Paul will challenge Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Title in the main event of Crown Jewel on November 5. The match was set up over the course of the week, beginning with the two arguing on Twitter and leading up to a face to face segment between Paul and the Bloodline this week on SmackDown. This will be Paul’s first ever title shot.
Opinion: The match was all but made this week on SmackDown so the press conference and official announcement were little more than a formality. Paul is certainly goin..

NXT LVL Up
Date: September 16, 2022
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Sudu Shah, Nigel McGuinness
I actually got a bit of hope last week as we had a slightly bigger name in the main event to make it feel a bit better. Then again there is always the chance that they are going to completely drop it and switch back to the normal way of doing things. That would be the LVL Up way so let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Ivy Nile/Tatum Paxley vs. Sloane Jacobs/Erica Yan Paxley takes Yan down to start and she seems a bit surprised. Back up and Paxley pulls her to the mat for a hammerlock before it’s off to Nile for some more arm cranking. Yan tries to roll out and gets hammerlocked again as this is one sided so far. An escape over to the corner brings in Jacobs, who is kicked down just as fast.
Paxley flip splashes onto her but stops to glare at Yan, allowing Jacobs to grab her own armbar. A spinning middle rope crossbody gives Jacobs two and we hit the neck ..

They have a lot to lose. There have been multiple changes behind the scenes in WWE in recent weeks and it does not seem like those changes are going to end anytime soon. The changes have included all kinds of people leaving the company, meany of which have been on the corporate side. Now it seems like even more names have left as another department is being shaken up.
According to Brandon Thurston, WWE has laid off several members of the marketing department, including some as high as the level of Vice President. This comes as the marketing department has been shaken up, including Catherine Newman being named as the new head of marketing earlier this year. There is no word on if more people will be laid off anytime soon.
I'm told there were layoffs today to WWE's marketing department. Multiple people at the VP level were let go. Possibly a part of a restructuring to that department. EVP Catherine Newman was hired this summer as the new head of marketing.
— Brandon Thurston..

It’s a bonus punishment. AEW has changed the way the wrestling world works and that has been a good thing for fans. While AEW is a major promotion on the biggest stage, it also allows its wrestlers to work independent shows, allowing fans to see mainstream talent on smaller stages. That is a rather cool thing, but it is not going to be the case for some of those wrestlers for the time being.
Earlier this month, a backstage brawl took place after AEW All Out, resulting in several suspensions. It is not clear when the wrestlers will be back, as AEW is still conducting an investigation. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the suspended wrestlers are not allowed to work independent dates while they are away from AEW. CM Punk, the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega are currently suspended, though Punk is unable to wrestle as he is recovering from tricep surgery.
Opinion: They really didn’t have a choice here as you can’t have wrestlers suspended from AEW and getting to wrestle elsewh..

Change it up. There are a lot of characters in WWE and sometimes you need to do something different to keep things interesting. That is not always the easiest thing to do, but occasionally something will be served up to WWE on a silver platter. It seems to be taking place again, as a WWE star is changing up his character in perhaps the easiest way possible.
According to PWInsider.com, Ezekiel is no longer listed on the internal WWE roster, as he has been replaced by Elias, his former character. This comes after Ezekiel was written off of television last month, with Elias appearing in a hospital room with him. There is no word on when Elias will be making his return to WWE TV. Elias has only made cameo appearances since leaving WWE TV over a year ago.
Opinion: This is one of those changes that probably needed to take place, as Ezekiel was nothing more than “I’m Elias’ brother”. That can only get you so far, as the entirety of the gimmick is based on someone else. Elias didn’t have a l..

Rampage
Date: September 16, 2022
Location: MVP Arena, Albany, New York
Commentators: Jim Ross, Excalibur, Chris Jericho, Tony Schiavone
The road to normalcy continues this week but there might not be as much to get hyped about with this show. The problem is that with no tournament matches for this week, there is only so much that can be done to bring in the interest. Rampage has a tendency to not feel the most important but maybe they can pull it off. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Matt Hardy vs. Darby Allin They shake hands to start and it’s Allin grabbing a headlock takeover. Hardy fights up so Allin crucifix bombs him for two. With Hardy on the floor, Allin’s dive is cut off but he drives Hardy into the steps to knock him silly again. Allin goes Jeff/PCO by trying a Swanton, which only hits apron because people like him never learn.
We take a break and come back with Hardy hitting a Side Effect out of the corner for two. The Twist of Fate is countered and a suplex is as well..

Welcome back. One of the best things about WWE having such a huge roster is that it can slip in different wrestlers and stars when it needs to. Someone being gone for so long can make for some very interesting return moments, even if WWE advertises them in advance. That was the case this week as one of the more intriguing names in WWE made their return after more than a month away.
This week on SmackDown, Paul Heyman made his return to television after more than a month and a half away. Heyman appeared in the opening segment to confront Logan Paul on Roman Reigns’ behalf, as Reigns had told him to do on his behalf. Heyman had been gone since Summerslam, where he was F5’s through a table by Brock Lesnar. There were no signs of injuries and nothing to suggest that Heyman will not be back full time.
Opinion: This is great to see, as Heyman is the glue that holds the Bloodline together. While Reigns is awesome at what he does, there is something different about having Heyman around that ..

That’s never good to hear. An injury can take anyone out of action at the drop of a hat and that can shake things up rather quickly. You never know when you are going to see someone get injured and sometimes you do not even realize that it is happening right in front of your eyes. That was the case again and now we know what is keeping someone out of action.
This week on SmackDown, it was announced that Erik of the Viking Raiders has suffered a foot injury and is out of action. The injury took place two weeks ago when the Viking Raiders defeated New Day in a Viking Rules match. There is no word on when the Viking Raiders will be back in action or if Ivar will compete as a singles star while Erik recovers from his injury.
Opinion: This explains a bit as there is little reason to not have the Viking Raiders in a recent #1 contenders match. Erik being hurt clears things up and hopefully he is back in the ring a lot sooner than later. The Viking Raiders should be a dominant force but the..

Welcome to KB’s Old School (and New School) Reviews. I’ve been reviewing wrestling shows for over twelve years now and have reviewed over 6,000 shows. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I’ll be posting a new review here on Wrestlingrumors.net. It could be anything from modern WWE to old school to indies to anything in between. Note that I rate using letters instead of stars and I don’t rate matches under three minutes as really, how good or bad can something that short be?
WrestleFest 1993
Hosts: Gene Okerlund, Bobby Heenan
Commentators: Sean Mooney, Lord Alfred Hayes, Gorilla Monsoon, Vince McMahon, Bobby Heenan
It’s back to Coliseum Video and in this case we’re jumping to one of the weaker times the company has had. The good thing is that these tapes almost always have something worth seeing and there is always a hope that we could see the same thing here. There is no major theme here most of the time and that makes things more fun. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence, featuring va..

Smackdown
Date: September 16, 2022
Location: Honda Center, Anaheim, California
Commentators: Corey Graves, Michael Cole
As has been said multiple times lately, and then everything changed. Over the course of the week, Roman Reigns started focusing on Logan Paul, which seems to be a likely Crown Jewel main event. That is the kind of thing that seems hard to fathom, but here we are with a big segment needed to make it work. Let’s get to it.
Here is Logan Paul to get things going. After commentary recaps Paul’s issues with Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman this week (Reigns went on Paul’s podcast and had an interview, then after Reigns left, Paul said he could beat him), Paul says he has done it again, meaning he has made someone mad.
We get some hardcore WHATing before Paul talks about how he has challenged people like Floyd Mayweather before, so tomorrow there is going to be a press conference in Las Vegas. If Reigns is man enough, he can show up and meet him face to face. Cue the Bloodli..

It’s a way to go. We are firmly in the Roman Reigns era as Reigns is now over two years into his run as Universal Champion. This is in addition to the WWE Title that he won back at WrestleMania 38, making him the undisputed World Champion of the company. That much time as champion means that he is going to run out of challengers, but now WWE has a fresh opponent in mind.
Earlier this week, Reigns and Logan Paul went at it on Twitter, with Reigns assigning Paul Heyman to deal with the situation. Heyman said that he would take care of it and Triple H invited Paul to SmackDown to do so. According to F4WOnline.com, Paul vs. Reigns is expected to headline Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia on November 5, with a press conference planned for Saturday. The match is likely to be announced on SmackDown.
Opinion: This is the kind of match that comes out of nowhere and I’m curious to see how Paul can do in that kind of a setting. He did very well at Summerslam which is a big enough deal, but this is an..