media

Main Event
Date: June 24, 2021
Location: Yuengling Center, Tampa, Florida
Commentators: Kevin Patrick, Byron Saxton
It’s back to the land of random as this show continues to be all over the place. You never know what you’re going to see around here and I can’t believe I’m saying this after watching this show for so many years. I’m not sure what to expect this week and I like that feeling. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Bronson Reed vs. Drew Gulak Non-title. Gulak can’t do much with the huge Reed to start as he gets thrown down a few times. Reed lifts him up for a piledriver and then throws him down instead. There’s a rather heavy headlock to set up a knockdown into a backsplash as it’s all Reed so far.
Gulak’s trip to the floor lets him snap Reed’s arm across the top but an Irish whip doesn’t work. Another shot to the arm works a bit better but Reed calmly gorilla presses him. Gulak jawbreaks his way to freedom and starts in on the arm again, only to have Reed crush him. A supl..

When the boss comes around. Vince McMahon has more power in wrestling than he knows what to do with and every now and then you get to see him doing something out of nowhere. It can be interesting to see what happens when McMahon feels like changing things, which seems to be the case this week. Now that McMahon is done with his idea, we know a few more details.
McMahon visited the WWE Performance Center to scout talent this week. According to PWInsider.com, McMahon was joined with Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis, Bruce Prichard and WWE President Tony Khan to meet with staff and observe talent. While the wrestlers and staff at the Performance Center were worried about McMahon showing up, the situation was described as “a breath of fresh air”, as the situation was nowhere near as bad as expected. There is no word on any decisions or changes that McMahon made or plans to make.
McMahon is kind of a big deal. Check out some of his decisions over the years:
[This post contains vi..

It isn’t something you hear about every day. There are certain wrestlers who work together very well no matter what situation they are in together. Those matches will be repeated over and over because the promotion knows that they have something with them, which is certainly the case in WWE. Now we know a reason why one of the wrestlers liked working with another and it is as unique as you can get.
Samoa Joe recently appeared on Out Of Character With Ryan Satin and discussed his feud with AJ Styles. During the interview, Samoa Joe revealed that he liked choking Styles unconscious with the Koquina Clutch because he liked the smell of Styles’ hair. According to Samoa Joe, Styles uses a mixture of hair conditioners that contain lavender and lilac, though he does not like when Styles uses the shea butter. Here are his comments, with transcription courtesy of Fightful:
AJ [Styles] always has impeccably smelling conditioner in his hair. It’s always very pleasant for me. I get a little lave..

Restock the shelves. The biggest WWE story of the year has been all of the names who have been released from the company. That is the kind of thing that you do not see take place very often but this year has seen the roster shaken up in a way not seen in years. Several WWE wrestlers are now gone from the company, but this time they have added some new ones.
WWE has announced that three new signings have reported to the Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. The new signings are:
Feicheng Wang, who was trained by former WWE coach Hartley Jackson and Japanese wrestler Alexander Otsuka. Sean Tan, who wrestled in Singapore under the name Trexxus in the Pro Wrestling Southeast Asia promotion. Jie Yin, a CrossFit athlete and an indoor rowing champion. He placed second in the CrossFIt China Open and has competed in the Asia CrossFit Championships. There is no word on when any of the three will have their first matches or appear on NXT television.
You might need to get used to them. Check ..

It’s the long term plan. In comparison to other promotions, AEW has not been around for very long. However, in the just over two years AEW have been around, the promotion has built up a nice reputation in a few areas. One of these areas is their pay per views, which have been rather well received for the most part. They have another one coming up and now we know what the plan is for the top of the card.
This week on AEW Dynamite, the Dark Order suggested that Hangman Page receive the next shot at the AEW World Title, though Page seemed hesitant to accept. According to Wrestling Observer Radio, the plan is to have Page accept being #1 contender with the title match taking place at All Out on September 5. AEW is taking its time as the title match will not be held for over two months so they want to wait a few more weeks before officially making the announcement.
The story has been put together. Check out some of the pieces:
[This post contains video, click to play]

[This post contai..

That could be worse. Injuries are the kind of things that happen to everyone at some point or another in wrestling. That does not make it any better, but one of the worst parts is waiting to find out how long someone could be out of action. Every injury is different, which was the case this week as two wrestlers were hurt on back to back days. Now we know a little more about both.
According to Wrestling Observer Radio, Mercedes Martinez suffered a concussion during this week’s edition of NXT when Xia Li kicked her in the head. The match was stopped as a result of the injury, as Martinez was not able to stay down to be covered. There is no word on how much time Martinez could miss because of the injury, as concussions can take different amounts of time to heal.
The other injury this week took place on AEW Dynamite, when Rebel suffered a dislocated kneecap during a tag team match. Rebel was breaking up a pinfall attempt when her knee went out, causing her to miss the rest of the match ..

That would be a big one. Celebrities have made appearances in wrestling for decades now and that will always be the case. It is the kind of thing that makes all kinds of sense, as wrestling fans want to see what happens when an outsider comes into their world. If it is someone who has an athletic background of their own, it can be made even easier. That might be the case again, in a rather big way.
During an interview with Pop Culture, Shaquille O’Neal talked about wanting to face AEW’s Paul Wight in a match at some point in the future. The match was hinted at in WWE in 2016 but never took place, reportedly due to WWE thinking O’Neal would not have taken it seriously enough. Since the, O’Neal has wrestled in a tag team match in AEW, teaming with Jade Cargill to face Cody Rhodes and Red Velvet in a losing effort on March 3. There has been no suggestion of such a match from AEW.
O’Neal has some experience. Check out his time in the ring:
[This post contains video, click to play]

[Th..

NXT UK
Date: July 1, 2021
Location: BT Studios, London, England
Commentators: Andy Shepherd, Nigel McGuinness
We have a pretty stacked card this week with Jordan Devlin vs. A-Kid and Tyler Bate defending the Heritage Cup against Jack Starz. This is a good example of what NXT UK does well, as they have built those matches up to feel important rather than throwing big names out there and having them do whatever. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Emilia McKenzie vs. Isla Dawn McKenzie charges straight at her but Dawn hammers her down. That doesn’t seem to bother McKenzie, who is back with a swinging neckbreaker into a suplex. Dawn gets in some stomping and a forearm to the back of the neck gets two. What might have been a botched suplex is turned into a small package to give Dawn two more and McKenzie is sent outside.
A whip into the barricade has McKenzie in more trouble but she comes back in with an enziguri and a cutter. McKenzie’s spear only hits knee though and a Saito suplex pl..

Down they go as well. WWE has been in the middle of a huge shakeup as of late as the company has been going through a number of personnel changes. While the changes to the active roster get the most attention, there have been several moves made behind the scenes as well. This includes a good many people being let go from the company, and now more can be added to the list.
According to PWInsider.com, WWE let more employees go from WWE HQ, though it is not clear how many are now gone. Some of the people fired were from the marketing department but there are no details about how many lost their jobs. This is the latest in a series of cuts and releases as new WWE President Nick Khan reshapes the company under authority from Vince McMahon.
WWE has some experience with the market. Check out some of their time working with it (yeah I’m stretching):
[This post contains video, click to play]

[This post contains video, click to play]

[This post contains video, click to play]

Opinion: Th..

Just to confirm. Second generation wrestlers are often put in an especially hard situation. Simply having to live up to your parent’s name is almost impossible to pull off a lot of the time and it is made even harder if you are the son or daughter of a successful wrestler. That can often drag a career down, and now it seems that such a career is officially over, which probably is not the biggest surprise.
In a new interview with Insight With Chris Van Vliet, Ted DiBiase Jr. confirmed that he considers himself retired from wrestling at the moment. DiBiase mentioned that he believes that to be the case at the moment, but he could not rule out a return to the ring at some point in the future as he still has the itch to get back in the ring. While a possibility, DiBiase said it would have to be the right scenario for him to wrestle again.
DiBiase is the son of Ted DiBiase Sr. and is best known for his time in WWE where he wrestled under his real name from 2007-2013. During his time with ..

Impact Wrestling
Date: June 24, 2021
Location: Skyway Studios, Nashville, Tennessee
Commentators: Josh Matthews, D’Lo brown
We are on the way to Slammiversary and the show is starting to take shape. This week is likely going to deal with the fallout of Tommy Dreamer (yep) being announced as the new Anthem representative, because not only do we need two bosses, but one needs to be Tommy Dreamer. Last week Dreamer fired Don Callis, right before Kenny Omega gets to defend against Sami Callihan. Let’s get to it.
The opening recap looks at the end of last week’s show with Dreamer announcing Callis’ firing.
Don Callis and Kenny Omega arrive but Callis is not on the talent list. Callis lists off his recent accomplishments and he insists that he is here with Omega.
Rosemary vs. Kiera Hogan Tasha Steelz is here with Hogan. We hit the stall button to start with Hogan bailing to the floor. Commentary talks about the MICKIE trash bag from last week as Rosemary plants Hogan with a side suplex f..

Welcome to KB’s Old School (and New School) Reviews. I’ve been reviewing wrestling shows for over ten years now and have reviewed over 5,000 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?
19th Anniversary Show
Date: March 26, 2021
Location: UMBC Event Center, Baltimore, Maryland
Commentators: Ian Riccaboni, Caprice Coleman, Rocky Romero
This is the Ring of Honor Wrestlemania season show and I get to continue my tradition of taking forever to get to the company’s pay per views. Things are still getting back to normal after the pandemic, though Rush is still the World Champion and defending the title against Jay Lethal. Let’s get to it.
Commentary kicks us off with some bad news: Dragon Lee is off the ..