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Dark
Date: August 25, 2020
Location: Daily’s Place, Jacksonville, Florida
Commentators: Taz, Tony Schiavone, Veda Scott
I’m not sure what to expect from this show as it might be the last show without fans, but at the same time it is a thirteen match card that lasts an hour and fifty eight minutes. Yes I mention the time and the amount of matches every week, but given how this show goes, what else am I supposed to talk about on a show made of squash matches? Let’s get to it.
Announcers’ welcome.
Storm Thomas/Demitri Jackson vs. Best Friends Orange Cassidy is here too. Chuck headlocks Thomas to start and drops him with a sunset flip. It’s off to Jackson, who is chopped in the corner by Trent. A Meteora drops Jackson again and a hanging northern lights suplex makes it worse. Chuck comes back in but gets kicked in the back so Jackson can take him into the corner. A knee out of the corner allows Chuck to get over ..

205 Live
Date: August 21, 2020
Location: Amway Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Drew Gulak, Vic Joseph
What does it mean when 205 Live comes to the Thunderdome? Probably not all that much as last week’s show was pretty much nothing. That’s what happens when you fall back on the same wrestlers who didn’t work in the first place and still don’t now that more time has passed. Maybe they can go with some of the good stuff this time so let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Drake Maverick vs. Tehuti Miles Hold on though as Miles wants to make sure that his shiny fanny pack is placed in the corner before heading outside. After taking his time combing his hair, Miles comes back in for a lockup so he can take Drake down. Maverick goes after him in the corner so Miles hides in the ropes and stops to comb his hair. That earns him a dropkick to the floor and the beating is on, with Gulak suggesting that his former boss get him.
Miles manages to send Maverick back first into the post for two..

The familiar sounds. There are certain wrestling songs which are forever linked to some wrestlers. You know who is coming out if you hear glass shattering. You know who the Real American is. You know what that gong means. Those are the kind of songs that are going to be linked with a wrestler forever and while some others might not be as iconic, it can be annoying to see them changed up for less than satisfactory reasons.
Over the last several years, a majority of WWE’s music has been handled by CFO$, a band which has produced some pretty good entrance themes for the current generation of WWE stars. You know them when you hear them and the songs are pretty catchy. They offer a lot of recognizable theme songs but a decision outside of WWE’s hands is going to change a lot of them.
According to Fightful Select, WWE is trying to get its wrestlers to move away from theme songs produced by CFO$ as the group is no longer affiliated with WWE. Several wrestlers have declined to make the chang..

It’s better than nothing. With so many people on the WWE roster, it can be difficult for everyone to get some kind of television time. This can prove very frustrating both for the wrestlers and the fans, as they both want to see people on TV but it doesn’t always work that way. There are some alternatives to getting in the ring though and two WWE wrestlers are doing just that.
You might not have watched it all that much, but 205 Live has produced some of the better action in WWE over the last few years. There was a stretch where it was possibly the best show the company had from an in-ring perspective with one high flying match after another. A big reason for that was a group of wrestlers they had, all of whom are now on bigger shows. They are reuniting in a way though, even if it isn’t in the ring.
This is a unique one. Check out a new commercial featuring WWE stars:
https://media.wrestlingrumors.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/25215750/Mustafa-Ali-Cedric-Alexander.mp4 WWE stars Mus..

That’s a good explanation. A turn in wrestling can be both surprising and beneficial. Sometimes you need to see something switched for the sake of freshening their career up in both the short and long term. Some of these are more effective than others of course, but that does not make them any less exciting. We saw one such change this week and now we know a little more background.
This week on Monday Night Raw, Aleister Black made his return after about a month away to appear as a guest on the Kevin Owens Show. After looking at a clip of the injury which put him out of action in the first place, Black fell to the ground in pain but then popped up to hit Black Mass on Owens, turning heel for the first time in his WWE career. There was a reason for that and it is actually pretty simple.
According to Wrestling Observer Radio, Black was turned heel for the sake of giving Owens someone to feud against. Owens was originally penciled in to feud with Seth Rollins, but with Rey Mysterio re-s..

Main Event
Date: August 20, 2020
Location: WWE Performance Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton
It’s the final show of any series in the Performance Center despite this being the show that needs to be in the place. I would say that I don’t know is going on here but you can pretty much guarantee what you’re going to be seeing. It helps that this is the go home show for Summerslam so they’re going to have a focus at least. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Bianca Belair vs. Billie Kay Peyton Royce is here with Kay. Belair drives her into the corner for an early clean break before taking it to the mat with no real effort. Kay can’t get a single leg as Belair blocks her with straight power and the hiptoss connects. Belair bounces around a bit but Peyton’s distraction lets Kay connect with Shades of Kay for two. We hit the seated abdominal stretch but Belair powers up and takes her into the corner. Belair hits a dropkick into a nip up and she heads up top. A..

Long time no hear. The WWE has had a lot of different names working for it over the years and that can make for some nice memories. Some names might have been around a lot longer than others but there are always going to be some people who you forget. That can make for some nice moments if and when they pop up again and that is the case with a former WWE star.
One of the most popular things for wrestling fans to do is ask what if. There are so many situations over the years that may make fans wonder what would have happened had things gone in a different direction and that is also the case with names not getting the kind of push that fans wanted. One name who never broke through is returning to WWE, but not in the way some expected.
According to Pro Wrestling Sheet, former WWE star Wade Barrett will be joining the NXT commentary team for this week’s show. This is seen as a one off appearance and there is no indication that Barrett has signed a full time deal with WWE. Barrett left th..

That could be an explanation. When Roddy Piper was wrestling, he was told he was just acting. Then when he tried to get into acting, he was told he was just a wrestler. There is a weird relationship between the two industries and it can be rather frustrating to try and figure out the differences. Some have tried and the acting can keep them out of the ring for a bit. That seems to be the case again and it might explain something.
This past weekend, Cody was defeated by Brodie Lee for the TNT Title. The title change was surprising enough, but the real surprise was seeing Cody defeated in a completely dominant fashion, with Lee totally squashing him. After the match was over, Lee and the Dark Order beat him up even worse, including turning over his stretcher. It came out of nowhere, and now we might know why.
According tp PWInsider.com, Cody may have been written off AEW TV so he could participate in the filming of Heels, a Starz television series. This comes after series star Stephen ..

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?
Souled Out 2000
Date: January 16, 2000
Location: Firstar Center, Cincinnati, Ohio
Attendance: 14,132
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, Bobby Heenan
And then everything changed. The big matches for this show were scheduled to be Chris Benoit vs. Jeff Jarrett in a 2/3 falls match for the US Title and Bret Hart defending his WCW World Title against Goldberg. Then Goldberg, Hart and Jarrett all got hurt so we’re going to get Sid Vicious vs. Benoit for the World Title, which is being announced the night of the sh..

Switch things up a bit. Wrestlers can do a lot of things in the ring and on the microphone but at some point, most of them need some kind of a change. There are different ways to present a wrestler and one of the best is to turn them in one direction or another. This can open up some different stories for them while giving their character a fresh take. That was the case this week on Monday Night Raw.
One of the better problems that WWE has at the moment is having so much talent on television. All three of their regular television shows have some very talented wrestlers on their rosters and that means it can be difficult to figure out everything in the right order. That can involve some changes and turns, including one which took place during this week’s television show.
This came out of nowhere. Check out Monday’s heel turn:

This week on Monday Night Raw, Aleister Black made his return to television after missing about a month due to an eye injury caused by Buddy Murphy. Black saw ..

That would be big. AEW has hit the ground running in their rather short existence and that is very impressive. At the end of the day, they have not even been on weekly television for a year yet and they are already near must see viewing for wrestling fans. The action alone should be enough to make fans want to watch but now there might be someone else to help draw in an audience.
Celebrities have had a place in wrestling for decades and that is always going to be the case no matter what. At the end of the day, it can be interesting to see someone come into the bubble of wrestling and if they are someone famous, it makes things even better. The best way to really cap it off is for someone with an athletic background to come in. AEW might be about to make it happen.
WarnerMedia, which owns TNT, has issued a press release, by way of NBA.com, announcing that basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal has signed a contract extension with Turner Sports. Included is a suggestion that O’Neal could w..

It fits the name. This week’s Monday Night Raw and SmackDown are going to be very busy shows as they are not only some of the early Thunderdome shows but are also the fallout from Summerslam. In addition to that, they are designed to set up Sunday’s Payback pay per view, which is coming up on Sunday with just a week’s notice to make up the card. A lot of that has already been done and now more of it is being filled in.
One of the bigger stories to come out of Summerslam was the announcement that former NXT Champion Keith Lee was coming to Monday Night Raw. This was a big deal as Lee had only lost the NXT Title on Saturday at Takeover: XXX so he was moving up in a hurry. This was an exciting moment for a lot of fans and now we know what he is going to be doing in his singles pay per view debut.
This week on Monday Night Raw, a match between Randy Orton and Keith Lee was announced for Payback. The match is a rematch from earlier in the night, as WWE Champion Drew McIntyre had interfere..