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Battle of the Belts
Date: January 8, 2022
Location: Bojangles Coliseum, Charlotte, North Carolina
Commentators: Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone, Excalibur
It’s the first of AEW’s quarterly specials but I’m assuming they couldn’t get the rights to Clash Of Champions. This show is all about the titles, with three championships on the line. One of them is a new title, as Cody Rhodes’ medical issues means we need an Interim TNT Title. Let’s get to it.
Interim TNT Title: Dustin Rhodes vs. Sammy Guevara This is a new title as TNT Champion Cody Rhodes is missing due to Coronavirus issues. Arn Anderson is here with Dustin. Respect is shown and it’s an armdrag to take Sammy down. That’s fine with Guevara, who grabs a hiptoss but gets kicked away to give us a standoff. They run the ropes and Dustin needs a breather so Sammy flips over him a few times before knocking Dustin outside.
A whip into the barricade rocks Dustin again but he’s back with more chops. There’s a piledriver on the floor to leave ..

Well, that happened. WWE has posted a new video to its YouTube channel in which they show the full nWo Invitational Battle Royal match from WCW Road Wild 1998. The match featured Goldberg, Scott Hall, Curt Hennig, The Giant, Scott Norton, Sting, Lex Luger, Kevin Nash, and Konnan.
You can see the match in its entirety below:
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From our own Thomas Hall:
You can be eliminated either over the top or by pin/submission. Hall interrupts the ridiculously long entrances with the survey to keep this show going even longer. The NWO factions brawl while Goldberg hides in the corner. That lasts about fifteen seconds before Goldberg goes after Giant, which should have been a regular match tonight in the first place. Again that doesn’t last long and the match breaks down into a regular battle royal.
Hall loads up the Outsiders’ Edge on Goldberg but gets backdropped out. Nash eliminates himself (you can’t make up jokes like this) and goes after Hall as Gol..

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?
Takeover: Orlando
Date: April 1, 2017
Location: Amway Center, Orlando, Florida
Attendance: 14,975
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Nigel McGuinness, Percy Watson
It’s already time for another Takeover as the time between these things is seemingly getting shorter and shorter. If nothing else it certainly feels that way and that’s not the best thing in the world. These shows need time to build up and they’re not getting as much time now. Still though, if Bobby Roode vs. Shinsuke Nakamura can be as good as it was before, ..

Maybe that’s where it goes. Sometimes, a wrestler needs to be freshened up. It happens to almost everyone at some point in their careers, as they just need something to make them feel new again. There are a few ways of doing this, and one of the best is to switch a wrestler either good or bad. It needs to be done well, and we might have seen a blueprint in an off air segment this week.
This week’s SmackDown ended with Seth Rollins seemingly being revealed as Roman Reigns’ challenger for the Universal Title at the Royal Rumble. A video has been circulated on Twitter, showing Rollins coming to the ring after the show went off the air. Rollins was attacked by the Usos but fought them off and laid them out to end the night. This was a dark segment, meaning that it is not official, but could be a sign of things to come for the story.
The night wasn’t done. Check out how the night ended, plus what Rollins has been doing lately:
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That’s a different take to get. WWE is in a weird place at the moment as they are switching a lot of things around. The company has released a lot of wrestlers over the last year and a half and it has impacted how the roster looks. This is probably not going to help the fact that WWE has a reputation for booking rematches, and now a rather unlikely source is talking about just that.
Actor Macaulay Culkin was a guest on Freddie Prinze Jr.’s Wrestling With Freddie podcast to discuss various topics in wrestling. Culkin talked about his issues with WWE’s repetitive matches, citing Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar and New Day vs. the Usos as matches that have been run too often. In addition, he also revealed that he had spoken to WWE about being a consultant. Culkin has appeared at some wrestling events over the years, including WrestleMania 7 and an episode of Monday Night Raw. Here are some of Culkin’s comments, with transcription courtesy of Wrestlinginc.com:
On Modern WWE:
“Especially t..

That could be worse. There are a lot of ways a wrestler can get injured, but some of them are issues that build up over time. That can create a serious problem as you do not know how long they can go without getting some sort of treatment. Unfortunately, that seems to be the case again with a top WWE star, who might be out of action for a rather long time to come.
Last week at WWE Day One, Drew McIntyre was attacked by Happy Corbin and Madcap Moss, with the injuries being used to write McIntyre off of television due to a neck injury. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, McIntyre’s neck issues have been going on for months now. WWE is hoping to avoid McIntyre undergoing major neck surgery and will have him undergo examinations over the course of the next week. Should he not need major surgery, the hope would be to have McIntyre return by WrestleMania in early April.
McIntyre is a force when he is around. Check out what he can do in the ring:
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That’s why they’re gone. The WWE releases struck again this week, as several more wrestlers and employees were let go from the company. This batch focused on NXT, as several coaches and scouts were released. Some of those coaches were active wrestlers until the relaunch of NXT, and now we know why a pair of them were let go from their contracts.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Timothy Thatcher and Danny Burch were let go from WWE because the company did not see any kind of a future for them. WWE has changed NXT to a place for developmental wrestlers they feel can make the main roster one day. Wrestlers such as Burch and Thatcher were seen as talented but not people who would make it on the main roster. There is no word on where either of them will wrestle next.
These two have some talent. Check out what the two of them did in NXT:
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Opinio..

It’s going around these days. The Coronavirus pandemic has changed the way the world works and wrestling has been no exception. It seems that every single day sees another wrestler either testing positive for the virus or being put in quarantine over possibly coming in contact with someone who has. Now it has happened again and it has changed two upcoming title matches.
Both Impact Wrestling and AEW have announced that title matches scheduled for this Saturday have been postponed due to Coronavirus issues. Impact Wrestling Knockouts Tag Team Champions the IInspiration have come in contact with someone who have tested positive and will not be able to defend their titles against the Influence at Hard To Kill. No replacement match has been announced. In addition, AEW has announced that TNT Champion Cody Rhodes will not be able to defend his title against Sammy Guevara at Battle of the Belts. Instead, Cody’s brother Dustin Rhodes will face Guevara for the Interim TNT Title.
This is a big..

That would be a game changer. A lot of wrestlers have nicknames, but the right one can go a long way in making them feel like a top star. That can be rather tricky to pull off, but if someone finds something that clicks, it can work wonders for them. That is the case with a few current WWE stars, though one of them might not be able to use her most famous moniker any longer.
During a recent edition of his WOO Nation podcast, Ric Flair claimed that he once again owned “the Man” name. WWE had been fighting him over the name, which had been used by Becky Lynch. If this is the case, Lynch will no longer be allowed to use the name. However, according to Fightful, WWE still has permission to use the name, but has been moving away from it, with Lynch being referred to as “Big Time Becks”. WWE still sells The Man merchandise for Lynch on its online store.
Lynch got a lot of mileage out of the name. Check out some of her time using it:
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He’s next. We are less than a month away from the Royal Rumble and that means it is time to start setting up the show. As usual though, that can be rather tricky when sixty people are going to be tied up in two matches. There are a few ways to get around that problem though, and WWE is going to be doing just that in one of the show’s main event title matches.
This week on SmackDown, Adam Pearce was told to find Roman Reigns’ challenger for the Universal Title at the Royal Rumble. At the end of the show, Reigns was in his dressing room when Seth Rollins came in, signifying that he would be the next challenger. The match has yet to be officially announced. Rollins defeated Reigns for the WWE Championship at Money in the Bank 2016. Their most recent singles match came on the October 11, 2019 SmackDown, with Rollins winning via disqualification.
It was a big moment. Check out Rollins’ appearance, plus what these two do against each other:
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[Thi..

Rampage
Date: January 7, 2022
Location: Prudential Center, Newark, New Jersey
Commentators: Excalibur, Chris Jericho, Taz, Ricky Starks
We’re still in New Jersey and this week’s show is featuring some big names. Adam Cole is here, but we also have a street fight, which is something that hasn’t been done (or anything close to it) in at least a week around here. Rampage has been good as of late though and hopefully that keeps up this week. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Jake Atlas vs. Adam Cole Cole takes him down with a headscissors to start but Atlas flips out and does the Boom pose. Back up and they both dodge a bunch of kicks before teasing superkicks at the same time. Atlas puts his hand in Cole’s face but gets tossed outside, where Cole sends him into the post. Back in and Atlas hits a few shots of his own, only to springboard into a Backstabber as we take a break.
We come back with Cole being sent outside so Atlas can hit a suicide dive. A springboard missile dropkick hits..

Impact Wrestling
Date: January 6, 2022
Location: Sam’s Town Live, Las Vegas, Nevada
Commentators: Matt Striker, D’Lo Brown
We’re back after two weeks off for the first show of the year but it is also the go home show for Hard To Kill. Last year ended with Matt Cardona accidentally hitting his fiance Chelsea Green in the head with a chair, thanks to Moose. That is not going to sit well and now it might be time for revenge. Let’s get to it.
The opening recap looks at the contract signing when Matt Cardona accidentally chaired Chelsea Green down.
Opening sequence.
Tasha Steelz/Lady Frost/Chelsea Green vs. Rachael Ellering/Jordynne Grace/Rosemary
Savannah Evans and Havok are the seconds here. Ellering headlocks Steelz to start before taking her down without much trouble. A gutwrench toss into the corner brings Frost in so Ellering shoulders her down in a hurry. It’s off to Rosemary vs. Steelz, with the latter being knocked into the corner. A sliding clothesline gives Rosemary two and ..