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Dynamite
Date: February 2, 2022
Location: Wintrust Arena, Chicago, Illinois
Commentators: Excalibur, Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone
We’re back in Chicago, where a lot of big things tend to happen. There is a good chance that will be the case again here as we have a major main event between CM Punk and MJF. These two have been going at it for a long time now and we should be in for a heck of a blowoff (maybe) here. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Jon Moxley vs. Wheeler Yuta
Yuta, with Orange Cassidy and Danhausen, is taking Brian Kendrick’s place after some previous controversial comments resurfaced. Moxley runs him over to start and knocks Yuta outside for a quickly broken sleeper. Back in and Moxley ties him up in something like an STF, sending Yuta to the ropes.
Yuta is sat on top for a heck of a back rake before being sent outside. That means another Danhausen/Moxley staredown, allowing Yuta to hit a big dive to the floor. Back in and Moxley grabs a cutter for two, because almost ..

See you soon. Over the last year and a half, WWE has released a ton of wrestlers from the company. That is the kind of change that you do not see happen very often in wrestling and unfortunately it cost a lot of people their jobs. While it certainly changes how WWE works, it also changes how other promotions work as well. Now, some of those promotions are able to pick up more than a few new wrestlers as a result.
On November 2, 2021, WWE released several wrestlers from their contracts. These wrestlers were on 90 day no compete clauses, which have now expired as of February 2. Therefore, the following names are now free agents and can sign wherever they like, appearing immediately:
Keith Lee
Karrion Kross
Mia Yim
Ember Moon
Davey Boy Smith Jr.
Oney Lorcan
Gran Metalik
Lince Dorado
Eva Marie
Nia Jax
There is no word on where these wrestlers will appear. Several NXT wrestlers were released on the same day, but their 30 day no compete clauses expired in December.
Opinion: This is the k..

There goes a big one. We are fresh off of the Royal Rumble, where WWE presented a large portion of its roster in a pair of matches. That is the kind of thing that can remind you of some of the names who are around that you might have forgotten about. At the same time, there were some names you might have forgotten about making some appearances. Now though, one of them might be gone.
According to Ringsidenews.com, Shane McMahon has been “quietly” let go from the company. This comes after McMahon was reportedly involved in the planning of the men’s Royal Rumble match, which he had wanted to be built around him. McMahon was described as a “nightmare” during the setup for the show. He was also rumored for a major match at WrestleMania, possibly against Seth Rollins, which is now off as well.
Opinion: Well that’s a surprise, as it’s weird to see anyone with the name McMahon being punished for something in WWE. That being said, the Royal Rumble seems to have been rather poorly received and..

That’s a different kind of story. With all of the prominent wrestlers in the world today, there is bound to be a moment that might not go as expected. Some of these things are rather different than others and some of them might catch your attention. That is the case again, as it is a wrestler involved in a bit of a situation, though everything did not exactly go as it seemed.
In recent weeks, explicit photos and an explicit video of former Ring of Honor and Impact Wrestling star and current Major League Wrestling star Davey Richards were leaked online. This prompted Richards to issue a statement, clarifying that the material had meant to be gifts for his wife but were released without his permission. Richards also responded to a tweet making it clear that he was not upset by the incident.
Well lol the vid was supposed to be a private one for my wife that apparently is now not so private lol. Oh well, it’s a wiener- they can look if it makes their day. But no, I don’t do porn – well p..

Not everyone is happy. The Royal Rumble has come and gone, meaning that we are on the Road To WrestleMania. That means things are about to get all the more interesting in the coming weeks, but there was also some work put in to get things ready for the Royal Rumble as well. Now some wrestlers are not happy with what happened at the show following the buildup.
According to Fightful Select, there has been some frustration backstage over the men’s Royal Rumble as some of the wrestlers who were involved in the build did not recent any focus in the match itself. This includes the Mysterios, Dolph Ziggler/Robert Roode and the Street Profits, who had been in a three way feud to help hype the Royal Rumble. The six if them did not have any significant interaction during the match, with only the Mysterios eliminating anyone (with one elimination each).
Opinion: This is the latest complaint that has come up about the match, which did not seem to have gone very well, either for the fans or a lot..

To the other side. The rise of AEW has changed the way the wrestling world works in a good way. Now that AEW has been established as a second major wrestling promotion, there are several other spots available for wrestlers who might not fit into the WWE’s plans. They now might have something fresh and available, which seems to be the case for someone fresh out of WWE.
AEW has announced that former WWE star Brian Kendrick will make his debut with the company this week on Dynamite in a match against Jon Moxley. This is a bit of a surprise as Kendrick had been working for WWE as of late January, having appeared on NXT TV back in December. According to Fightful Select, Kendrick had been granted his release from the company on Tuesday after attempting to obtain it for several weeks. It is not clear if Kendrick will be wrestling for AEW long term.
Kendrick has wrestled for WWE in multiple stints since 2004. Over the course of his time with the company, Kendrick is a former WWE Tag Team and..

You might miss him. There are a lot of wrestlers on the WWE roster and some of them are pretty noteworthy. Those wrestlers have often been around for so long that they are going to make an impact just by being on television. They are often such big stars that you are going to notice them missing, which is going to be the case for the time being with one of the bigger stars WWE has to offer.
Randy Orton was absent from this week’s Monday Night Raw with no explanation or reference to his whereabouts. According to Wrestling Observer Live, Orton will be gone from WWE “for a little while”. There is no word on why Orton will be gone and there is nothing to suggest that he has any health issues. Orton participated in the men’s Royal Rumble match on Saturday, making it to the final five before being eliminated by Brock Lesnar, the match’s winner.
Opinion: I’m curious why Orton will be out of action, but this could be as simple as him having a vacation built into his contract. It isn’t like O..

That was almost different. WWE is the biggest wrestling promotion in the world and that means they are going to be able to have some rather large events. That was the case last weekend with the Royal Rumble, which featured a series of some of the bigger matches of the year. This included some important title matches, one of which almost went in a rather different direction.
The Universal Title match at the Royal Rumble saw Seth Rollins defeat champion Roman Reigns via DQ when Reigns would not release a guillotine choke when Rollins reached the rope. The original idea for the match called for Reigns to defeat Rollins and attack him with a chair after, but Vince McMahon decided that it would have been too much for Rollins to take. What mattered was keeping Reigns strong though, as the focal point of the show was to build to Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 38.
Opinion: This isn’t exactly a surprise, but it is nice to see that Rollins was somewhat protected. Ultimately he was rea..

What could have been. We are about two months away from WrestleMania 38 and that means the card is going to start to take shape in the near future. Depending on your taste, that could be very good or very bad news, as WWE’s choices for the matches could be all over the place. There are some names you can almost guarantee seeing though, and now we know what WWE was thinking at one point.
Last weekend, WWE presented the 2022 Royal Rumble, which featured the return of Shane McMahon in the show’s main event. According to Wrestling Observer Radio, McMahon was originally scheduled to be part of the upcoming Elimination Chamber event in Saudi Arabia, which would have set up a WrestleMania match with Seth Rollins. While neither are set to be involved in the Elimination Chamber match at the moment, there is still a chance that the Rollins match could take place.
Opinion: I don’t know if this match is going to take place, but given that Rollins had been rumored for a spot in the WWE Title matc..

NXT
Date: February 1, 2022
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Vic Joseph, Wade Barrett
It’s time for a big tag match as NXT Champion Bron Breakker and Tommaso Ciampa are teaming up against Legado del Fantasma. That is part of the way to build things up for Santos Escobar’s upcoming title match, but for now we get what should be a good tag match. Let’s get to it.
Imperium vs. Diamond Mine The fans chant WALTER during Imperium’s entrance. Gunther isn’t having any of the posing to start and kicks Roderick Strong in the head before the bell. Brutus Creed suplexes Aichner to start but Aicnher manages a Regal Roll in quite the power display. It’s off to Barthel for an armbar and the WALTER chants start up again. Brutus fights up and hands it off to Julius for some knees to the ribs.
That’s broken up in a hurry as Barthel hits a middle rope elbow to the face and it’s off to Gunther to kick Julius in the head. We take a break and come back with Brutus coming ..

It might be a bit. There are all kinds of ways for a wrestler to be taken out of the ring for either a short or a long time. Most of those things tend to be due to something negative, mainly including injuries. Unfortunately those situations can put someone on the shelf for a good while and that seems to be the case again, as an injury seems to be a bit worse than it initially seemed.
Earlier this month, Riho was injured in a match against Britt Baker at AEW Battle of the Belts. According to Wrestling Observer Radio, Riho suffered a broken collarbone during her match and will be out of action for about three months. The injury occurred early in the match and Riho finished the match as planned without once complaining about the injury. Riho has returned to Japan, where she will be recovering.
Opinion: It is impressive enough that Riho finished the match but the fact that she did not complain about it is all the more impressive. That is the kind of thing that you almost never hear take..

It certainly was unique. There have been all kinds of wrestlers leaving WWE over the last year and a half, though move of them have not gone voluntarily. The vast majority of them have been released from the company, though there have been some who have walked away on their own. That was the case with a high profile exit late last year, and now things have gotten more interesting.
Back in December 2021, Jeff Hardy literally walked out of a match at a live event and was released from WWE a few days later. Jeff’s brother Matt Hardy discussed the release on his latest Twitch stream where he attributed Jeff deciding to leave WWE due to being under stress. He also spoke about the drug test that Jeff was forced to take before being sent home, which came back completely clean with no evidence of drugs in Jeff’s system. Finally, while Jeff was fighting to get the results of his drug test, WWE actually offered him a spot in the 2022 Hall of Fame class, which Jeff declined.
Here are some highl..