NEWS

Welcome back. There is something special about a wrestler making their return to the ring. You might know that someone is on their way back at some point in the future but the actual moment that they get back is a big deal. Sometimes they take you by surprise and now we have two new returns from the same night, albeit in completely different methods of coming back.
Two returns took place this week on NXT. First up, Elektra Lopez made her return, attacking both Indi Hartwell and Sol Ruca after Hartwell defeated Ruca in a match. Lopez has not been seen since the August 23 episode of NXT. Later, Edris Enofe and Malik Blade were leaving the arena and ran into Odyssey Jones driving a truck full of women. Blade and Enofe left with Jones and the women following their loss to Pretty Deadly. Jones has been out of action since January with a knee injury.
Opinion: That is the kind of night that you do not get to see very often and it was cool for two returns to take place in a two hour span. Lo..

She’s impressed. There are different types of wrestlers throughout the industry and one of the most prominent is the powerhouse. These are wrestlers who mainly rely on their size and strength to dominate matches and they often easily overpower their opponents, especially near the end of a match. Now a former WWE powerhouse has some high praise for one of the current WWE editions.
Last week on NXT, Rhea Ripley made her return to the ring after a four and a half month absence due to an injury. Ripley defeated Roxanne Perez in the match with the Riptide and stacking her up for the pin. Former WWE star Nia Jax commented on the pin, saying that Ripley was “pancaking” her. Jax is a former Raw Women’s Champion but has not wrestled since September 20, 2021, after which she was released from WWE.
134 days since my last match…
Still the best! Still a menace ? pic.twitter.com/MNpvvS2pZe
— RheaRipley_WWE (@RheaRipley_WWE) October 20, 2022
pic.twitter.com/34SfbnLSDu
— WrestleSR (@wrestle_sr) ..

That’s a good place to be. The rise of AEW has changed the wrestling industry in a major way and there is nothing to suggest that the company is going to be slowing down anytime soon. One of the most important assets the company has is its television deal with Warner Brothers Discovery, which puts Dynamite and Rampage on TBS and TNT respectively. That is a great start, and it seems like it might be continuing for a long time to come.
During John Arezzi’s Pro Wrestling Spotlight podcast, Arezzi said Warner Brothers Discovery executives are seeing AEW as a sport and something that they want to work with long term. While Arezzi said that he couldn’t go into details about what was going on, AEW and Warner Brothers Discovery are working on a new long term agreement which would see the two sides working together for years to come. There is no word on when such a new deal could be announced.
Opinion: If this is the case, that is some very good news for AEW, as having a prime television deal..

It’s not a happy response. There are a lot of people on the WWE roster and a lot of them are not able to get the amount of television time that they would like. With so many wrestlers on the roster, it can be difficult to find something for everyone to do. At some point, a wrestler is going to snap and that took place again this week, after some WWE commentary did not sit well.
This week on Monday Night Raw, Seth Rollins did guest commentary on a match between Mustafa Ali and Mr. Money In The Bank Austin Theory. Rollins said that Theory had a better chance of cashing in on Dana Brooke than Rollins, should he win the WWE Universal Title. Brooke responded on Twitter, saying she works hard and “will not take this s*** anymore.” She talked about working through injuries and could fit any position. Brooke has not wrestled on Monday Night Raw since August 15.
Talk is CHEAP!! I work my ass off every single day & will not tolerate this shit anymore! I can promise you I am the hardest working..

A change of schedule. There are a lot of WWE events throughout the year and some of them get a lot more attention than others. You know one of the bigger events when you see it and many of those take place in major stadiums. It means something when WWE goes to one of those bigger places and that will be the case again next year, but not as it normally happens.
According to PWInsider.com, WWE’s first show in Saudi Arabia of 2023 will not take place in February, as has been the case in 2020 and 2022. Instead, the show is expected to take place “sometime in the spring”, though the exact date is unknown In 2022, WWE ran its annual Elimination Chamber event in Saudi Arabia in February, but the 2023 edition will take place in Montreal.
Opinion: This is one of those things where it wasn’t a matter of if but when WWE would be heading to Saudi Arabia next year. At the end of the day, there is WAY too much money for WWE to make by presenting the shows and from a business perspective, they woul..

NXT
Date: October 25, 2022
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Vic Joseph, Booker T.
We’re fresh off of Halloween Havoc and that means not much has really changed. The only new champion crowned was Wes Lee, who won the vacant North American Title. In other words, pretty much everyone should be on to something new as we are coming up on Deadline in about six weeks. We do have a pair of Tag Team Title matches though, which feel like matches that they just couldn’t fit on Halloween Havoc. Let’s get to it.
We open with a recap of Halloween Havoc.
Women’s Tag Team Titles: Kayden Carter/Katana Chance vs. Zoey Stark/Nikkita Lyons Stark and Lyons are challenging. Carter and Lyons start, with the latter busting out some splits. Stark comes in for a chinlock which doesn’t work very well, allowing Carter to kick her away. Chance slingshots in with a flipping splash for two but a headscissors gets Stark out of trouble. Lyons comes in and works on Chance’s back unt..

Maybe not? There have been a lot of important news stories taking place in the wrestling world this year but very few of them have been discussed as much as CM Punk’s rant at the AEW All Out media scrum. Punk has not yet returned to AEW TV and there is a chance that he never will. Should he leave AEW, there is only one other major place he would likely go, but that might not be so easy.
Earlier this week, a story surfaced suggesting that AEW was working on a possible contract buyout for Punk, which would eventually free him up for a possible return to WWE. However, according to PWTorch.com by way of Wrestlinginc.com, while Triple H would be willing to allow Punk to return, there is at least one person in Triple H’s “sphere of influence” of “decision-making” that would be a hard No on a Punk return. There is no word on when Punk might be able to return to WWE, assuming his AEW contract is bought out.
Opinion: While Punk leaving AEW immediately brought up discussions of a return to WWE..

That would be a way to go. There are all kinds of stars in WWE but Roman Reigns is far ahead of just about everyone else. Reigns has held the WWE Universal Title for over two years and there is nothing to suggest that he will be losing the title anytime soon. After dominating for so long, it is going to take someone special to take the title from him. Now we know who might be one of his next challengers.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE may have Sami Zayn challenge Reigns for the title at some point in 2023. Zayn is currently part of Reigns’ Bloodline stable as the honorary Uce, which has led to issues with Reigns’ cousin Jey Uso. There is no word on how WWE would split Zayn away from the stable or set up the match, whenever it would take place.
Opinion: This is one of those ideas that isn’t that hard to fathom and I would be surprised if it didn’t happen at some point in the future. Zayn is getting more and more popular every week and having him split off from the..

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?
Joey Janela’s Spring Break 6 Night 2
Date: April 1, 2022
Location: Fair Park, Dallas, Texas
Commentators: Dave Prazak, Kevin Gill
It’s the second half of the show and in this case, it needs to get a pretty big upgrade over the first half. Night one was a decent enough show, but it wasn’t memorable, which is the point of a show like this. Now that being being said, this show is built around the Clusterf*** Battle Royal, which could be quite the mess. Let’s get to it.
We open with Joey Janela talking about beating ..

He wants in too. There has not been a WWE star on as much of a roll as Roman Reigns in decades. Reigns is rapidly closing the gap with the longest WWE Title reigns in company history and the question becomes how far he can take his current reign with the title. A lot of people are interested in getting involved with Reigns, including someone who has been gone for a long time.
During the latest edition of his Cafe de Rene podcast, former WWE star Rene Dupree said that he believes he could do great business with Reigns, or any of the top stars in WWE. This could include facing Reigns on his own and then teaming with him, with only a phone call from Triple H needed to make it happen. Dupree, 38 years old, regularly wrestles for Pro Wrestling NOAH in Japan and last wrestled for WWE in 2007.
Opinion: While I can’t quite imagine WWE bringing Dupree back in, there is something to be said about how many people want a piece of the Reigns pie. Reigns has become the biggest thing in wrestling a..

That’s a shot. A finishing move is one of the most important parts of any wrestler’s presentation. Having the right signature move is the kind of thing that can make anyone look like a star but even then it has to be done in a certain way. At some point different people are going to wind up using the same moves as others, and now one of the biggest stars in wrestling history doesn’t like how another star uses his signature move.
WWE Hall of Famer Goldberg appeared on the Roman Atwood podcast where he talked about Roman Reigns using the spear. According to Goldberg, Reigns has said that it is stupid to go out and hit someone hard, though Goldberg says if you can hit someone hard and not hurt them it’s pretty smart. Goldberg also said “plus, I don’t look like a, no offense, girl when I tackle people.” Reigns defeated Goldberg earlier this year at Elimination chamber.
Opinion: Those are the kind of words that are going to get attention and that is no surprise. Goldberg was one of the fi..

They need some time. There are all kinds of reasons to take someone off of a television show. It could be for anything from an injury to someone needing some time to be freshened up a bit. WWE does this on a regular basis and that is what they have done in two different ways with a pair of wrestlers, both of which were announced on the same television show.
WWE seemingly wrote off or explained the absences of two wrestlers this week on Monday Night Raw. First, the Miz mentioned Tommaso Ciampa missing during a promo, with Johnny Gargano responding that Ciampa was not missing, but rather injured. Ciampa has not wrestled since a live event on September 17. It is not clear what is wrong with him or when he will be back. Later in the show, Damage Ctrl attacked Candice LeRae, with commentary later announcing that LeRae had suffered a shoulder injury. There is no word on when LeRae will be returning to the ring.
Opinion: This is what has to be done every now and then and the question instan..