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Make room on the roster. WWE is in the middle of a huge roster shakeup at the moment as there have been all kinds of changes taking place in recent months. In addition to the dozens of wrestlers being released from the company, there are also stories of names coming up from NXT to take some main roster spots. Now two of those seem to have become a reality.
This week on SmackDown, NXT’s Tegan Nox and Shotzi Blackheart made a surprise appearance, defending WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Natalya and Tamina in a non-title match. Both women have recently wrestled dark matches prior to WWE television tapings, though there is no word on if these are permanent callups or just one off appearances. Both have wrestled on SmackDown before, appearing in a battle royal on the August 14, 2020 SmackDown.
These two could do something. Check out their time in NXT both on their own and together:
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Smackdown
Date: July 9, 2021
Location: Yuengling Center, Tampa, Florida
Commentators: Michael Cole, Pat McAfee
It’s the final Smackdown at the ThunderDome and that is a long time in the making. The big story coming into this week is Bayley blowing out her knee at the Performance Center, meaning she will be lucky to make it back to Wrestlemania. Other than that, it is time to see who else is in the men’s Money in the Bank ladder match. Let’s get to it.
We open with a recap of Roman Reigns vs. Edge.
Jimmy Uso tries to go into Reigns’ locker room but Paul Heyman stops him. Reigns has something special planned for Jimmy for later.
Opening sequence.
Here are Paul Heyman and Roman Reigns for a chat. After a long canned ROMAN SUCKS chant, Reigns talks about how he does not like Edge suggesting that he is in Reigns’ head. Reigns might have been a bit scared at Wrestlemania when he was in the crossface but then he stacked them and pinned them. They even printed a shirt up about it! Two wee..

205 Live
Date: July 2, 2021
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Nigel McGuinness, Vic Joseph
Welcome to the all new 205 Live, as the roster was completely gutted by all of the releases earlier this week. That means we could be in for a lot of fresh blood, which could be a good thing. Then again, it isn’t going to matter if the overall structure of the show isn’t changed as well. Let’s get to it.
The opening video looks at the NXT Breakout Tournament, with qualifying matches beginning tonight.
Breakout Tournament Qualifying Match: Guru Raaj vs. Andre Chase Chase is better known as Harlem Bravado. They fight over the wristlock to start and Raaj takes him down for the meaningless early control. A hiptoss into a headlock takeover works a bit better for Raaj and he grinds away to keep Chase down. Back up and Raaj chops him into the corner, setting up a monkey flip for two. Chase gets smart by sending Raaj throat first into the top rope and a Russian legswee..

That’s horrible. Wrestlers have to deal with all kinds of problems which could mess with their careers but one of the truly universal issues is an injury. No matter how good or talented a wrestler may be, there is always the chance that they could get hurt. It can wreck a career in a hurry and unfortunately that seems to be the case again with one of SmackDown’s biggest stars.
WWE has announced that Bayley has suffered an injury in training and will be out of action for approximately nine months. As a result, a replacement will be announced for Bayley’s SmackDown Women’s Title match at Money In The Bank this week on SmackDown. There is no word on what kind of injury Bayley suffered. The injury may prevent Bayley from appearing at WrestleMania 38 in 2022.
There are some better moments. Check out some of Bayley’s better time in WWE:
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Opinion: There isn’t m..

NXT UK
Date: July 8, 2021
Location: BT Studios, London, England
Commentators: Nigel McGuinness, Andy Shepherd
I’m not entirely sure what to expect from this show and that is a nice feeling. Above all else, there are a lot of ways things could go, but first we have a grudge match between Trent Seven and Eddie Dennis. I like both guys a good bit so hopefully they can do something good here. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Nathan Frazer vs. Kenny Williams Williams works on the arm to start but gets flipped into the corner for his efforts. Frazer takes him down without much effort and they run the ropes until Williams gets taken down into an armbar. The stomping is on in the corner and Williams is sent outside for the dive. Back in and Frazer hits a running shoulder to the knee to take over and the cranking begins. The knee is fine enough for a sunset flip but Williams kicks him in the face for the same. There’s a running kick to the knee in the corner and Frazer is in trouble.
That..

What a mess. The biggest WWE story of the year has been the string of releases from the company. WWE has released dozens of wrestlers over the first six months of the year and there is always a chance of more taking place. The releases have been from all levels of the roster, including some from NXT. This led to some extra details, and now another released wrestler has revealed another big one.
Earlier this week, Malaki Black, formerly Aleister Black in WWE, made his AEW debut on Dynamite. This was a bit confusing, as Black had only been released from WWE for thirty five days, rather than the usual ninety days. After, a report stated that the issue was over a clerical error, as Black’s clause was not changed from thirty days to ninety when he was moved from NXT to the main roster. It turns out that might not be the only case.
In an interview with Fightful, former WWE superstar Buddy Murphy revealed that WWE called him on June 3, the day after he was released, to ask if he wanted to e..

It isn’t looking good. There are certain moments in wrestling that go far beyond what you see on television and in the ring. These are often a lot more serious and unfortunately a lot more negative, including situations involving things like substance abuse. There are wrestlers who have far bigger issues like this than others, and now WWE is going to have to deal with one of them.
Earlier this week, Jimmy Uso was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence. This is not Uso’s first issue with alcohol, as he has now faced similar issues three times in as many years. The latest issue comes as Uso is in the middle of the biggest singles storyline of his career and possibly the biggest of any kind for him whatsoever. It was quite the extreme situation, and now we know more about what happened.
Wrestlinginc.com has released new details from Uso’s arrest report. Uso was clocked going 50mph in a 35mph zone and ran a red light as a police car chased him. The police officer then smell..

Main Event
Date: July 1, 2021
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Kevin Patrick, Byron Saxton
This show was turned upside down last week as it was all about NXT, which is not something you see happen around here. I’m curious to see what they have this week, but it would not surprise me to see quite the downgrade this time around. Then again, the surprises have been coming a lot faster around here and it might be the case again. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Veer vs. Drew Gulak Shanky and Jinder Mahal are here with Veer. Gulak gets powered into the corner to start and seems a bit worried here. An armbar doesn’t get very far on Veer, who shrugs off a kick to the leg and punches him down. The sidewalk slam does it again but Veer misses a running boot in the corner. The nerve hold doesn’t last long so Veer goes with a neck crank instead. Back up and Gulak starts kicking at the leg, setting up a leglock to keep Veer down. That’s broken up as well so Ve..

The boss is in. WWE has grown into the biggest and most powerful wrestling promotion in history, reaching a level that was almost impossible to fathom. They currently have seven hours of new television a week in prime time, including two hours of SmackDown on FOX. However, the television audience has been taking one hit after another, and it might be time to do something about it.
According to the Mat Men Pro Wrestling Podcast, Stephanie McMahon has been meeting with television executives to attempt to find a way to deal with WWE’s declining television audiences. The meetings are designed to help find some new concepts to reverse the trend, though it is not clear what could be proposed. There is no word on which network McMahon was meeting with or what might happen if the numbers do not increase.
WWE has had some concepts before. Check out a few of their ideas:
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Odd pairings are fun. Every now and then, you see some wrestlers come together for a match that surprises you in a good way. What can make it even more interesting is when it takes place between wrestlers on vastly different levels of star power. It can make for some very nice moments and now we know something new about a pairing that only got together a few times.
In a new interview with Wrestlinginc.com, former WWE star Rodney Mack spoke about his relationship with Goldberg when they were in the company together. At the time, Mack was on an undefeated streak, which was broken by Goldberg on the June 23, 2003 Monday Night Raw. According to Mack, Goldberg did not want to end Mack’s streak and stuck up for him with management, but Mack was in no position to argue the decision. Mack also said he wished they could have worked a program together, as they could have drawn money.
The two only met once. Check out their match plus a bit more of each of them:
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Ring of Honor
Date: June 30, 2021
Location: UMBC Event Center, Baltimore, Maryland
Commentators: Ian Riccaboni, Caprice Coleman
We are rapidly approaching Best In The World and a lot of the card has either already been made or is pretty obvious. That is not a bad thing either, but we also have to set up the rest of the Survival of the Fittest tournament. In other words, you can feel things getting interesting around here again and that is a very nice thing. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Quinn McKay welcomes us to the show and runs down the card, which will be headlined by the Survival of the Fittest finals.
Here’s how all six of the finalists qualified.
But first, this.
Matt Taven vs. Dutch Dutch has Vita Von Starr and Bateman with him. Taven goes straight at the monster to start and gets shoved down without much effort. Some heavy forearms to the chest have Taven in trouble but Dutch’s powerslam is broken up. A dropkick has no effect on Dutch, who runs Taven over to send us..

Not so fast? Like any other business, you can get some bad news in wrestling from time to time. People are going to have to deal with negative situations and some of them are a lot more serious than others. Some of the worst involve health issues and that was the case with one of the biggest legends in wrestling history this week. It just might not be as bad as it seems.
Earlier this week, news began to circulate of Terry Funk being in poor health. Later in the day, Funk’s official Twitter account acknowledged the reports, saying that Funk was indeed staying in an assisted facility for both physical and mental health issues. It seemed that Funk, 77 years old, was in pretty bad shape, but then an update came in that made things seem a lot better.
During an appearance on Busted Open Radio, Tommy Dreamer said that he spoke to Funk on June 30 and that Funk was better than reports suggested. Dreamer said Funk was “sharp as a tack” and spoke for forty minutes the previous week. In another ..