NEWS

They liked what they saw. NXT superstar Roxanne Perez made her main roster debut this past week on Smackdown, teaming with Shotzi and Raquel Rodriguez to take on Bayley, Dakota Kai, and Iyo Sky of Damage Control.
According to reports from both Wrestling News and PWInsider, WWE officials were very impressed with what they saw from Perez and plan on continuing to use her on the main roster again very soon.
Perez has had quite the rise in professional wrestling since beginning her training at Booker T’s wrestling school at the age of 16. She debuted for Ring of Honor in April 2021 at the age of 19, winning the inaugural ROH Women’s World Championship and becoming the youngest female champion in company history. She would debut in NXT in April 2022 at the age of 20.
Editor’s Opinion:
There are some sueprstars that just have natural talent, and she appears to be one of them. I’ve always been a big fan of her work and now that she’s having the opportunity to show the world what she can d..

That’s some high praise. There have been a lot of stars throughout WWE’s history but only a few have reached the top of the company. Those are the names that fans remember for decades to come as they have left a lasting impact on everything they do. Hearing from them even after they are retired can still mean a lot and now one of the all time legends has made a bold statement.
During a recent edition of WWE’s Table For Three, WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart said he never saw a villain in WWE who was as good as Jerry Lawler, who was also on the show. Hart and Lawler feuded on and off from 1993 until 1995, with the two squaring off in multiple matches, with their most notable being the Kiss My Foot match at King Of The Ring 1995.
Opinion: You don’t get that kind of praise from someone on Hart’s level very often and Lawler deserves quite a bit of credit. There was something so dastardly about Lawler that it was easy to want to see him get pounded into the ground every time he was on camera…

He wasn’t a fan. There are all kinds of characters in wrestling and some of them are a lot more successful than others. Finding the right character for the right wrestlers is one of the trickiest things to do as the wrong combination can be a complete mistake. WWE seemed to think that someone was doing the wrong thing and the change has taken place right before your eyes.
Last week on Monday Night Raw, WWE advertised the return of Elias on the following week’s show. This will seemingly be Elias’ full time return after more than a year away, save for a one off cameo earlier this year. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Triple H dropped the Ezekiel character and reverted to Elias almost immediately upon regaining power in WWE. There is no word on if Ezekiel will be referenced again.
Opinion: This is one of those things that makes sense the more you think about it. There was little future for Ezekiel, as his entire personality was built around saying he was not Elias’ broth..

Welcome back. Injuries are one of the worst things that can happen to any wrestler. No matter who you are or how long you have been around, an injury can take you out at any time, even through no fault of your own. Aside from your health, the question becomes how long you are going to be on the shelf. Now we have an answer to that, as a long injured WWE star is back in the ring.
Monday Night Raw’s Rhea Ripley returned to action this weekend at a WWE live event in Sioux City, Iowa. Ripley teamed with Damian Priest in a losing effort against the team of Dolph Ziggler and Nikki Ash. This was Ripley’s first match in over four months as she had suffered a brain injury, which kept her from challenging Bianca Belair for the Raw Women’s Title at Money In The Bank.
RHEA RIPLEY ?@RheaRipley_WWE #wwesiouxcity pic.twitter.com/WOIjTrzPag
— WefLucha (@WefLucha) October 16, 2022
Opinion: It’s great to have Ripley back as you never want someone to be out of action for any length of time. Ripley is..

He doesn’t go here. WWE is the biggest and most powerful wrestling promotion in the world but it is not the only one. There are several other promotions around the world, some of which have their own legacies and histories. Their biggest events are among the most important in the world and that was the case this weekend. It was so big that a WWE legend made a surprise appearance.
This weekend, Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide held the third and final night of its TripleMania XXX show. The event marked thirty years of AAA and WWE Rey Mysterio made a surprise cameo via pre-recorded video. Mysterio talked about how important it was to wrestle at TripleMania and praised the company and wrestlers on the card. Mysterio wrestled in AAA in the early 1990s before coming to American to wrestle full time.
This was special. Check out Mysterio’s message for AAA (and some of his trophy room):
[This post contains video, click to play]
Opinion: This is the kind of cool cameo that makes a show feel specia..

Clear it off the calendar. WWE runs a lot of events throughout the year, with the majority being weekly television shows. In addition, the company runs about one premium live event a month, many of which have some sort of theme. Some of these have a long history but others are one off ideas that do not have a chance to go anywhere. It seems that there will be another on that list.
According to Brandon Thurston’s Patreon account, WWE has canceled the January 1, 2023 Day One event at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia and it will not be rescheduled. As of now, there are no premium live events scheduled between Survivor Series in November and Royal Rumble in January. There is no word on why the show was canceled, though scheduling against football could be an issue. An event is currently still listed on the State Farm Arena’s website, though the event is listed as TBA.
Opinion: This is a move that makes sense, as WWE would have trouble continuing these events on every January 1. I..

A worthy substitute. One of the most valuable resources that WWE has is the ability to draw wrestlers up from its NXT developmental system. It allows WWE to get wrestlers ready for the main roster and then call them up at the right time. Sometimes they are called up as originally planned, but occasionally a change has to be made. That took place recently but for a very specific reason.
Earlier this month, Legado del Fantasma made their main roster debut on SmackDown, attacking Hit Row. However, Elektra Lopez was missing, with Zelina Vega being with the team instead. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Vega replaced Lopez because WWE felt that she was a better opponent for Hit Row’s B-Fab in future matches. There is no word on what will be done with Lopez going forward.
Opinion: This is the kind of thing that makes sense once you hear the reasoning, but it isn’t exactly a great thing to see if you were a fan of the original Legado del Fantasma. Hopefully Lopez gets to do s..

He wants back in. There have been a lot of stars to appear in WWE over the decades and some of them have made quite the impact. Whether or not they were major successes in the company, they have done something to get the fans’ attention. Some of those stars leave over the years, but that does not mean their time in WWE is over. One former star is now hoping for a third run with the promotion.
Former WWE star Chris Masters, 39 years old, has sent out a tweet mentioning the 2023 Royal Rumble and saying that he has been away from WWE for twelve years. The image includes a fan sign saying BRING CHRIS MASTERS BACK. Masters wrestled two stints in WWE over the years, from 2005-2007 and 2009-2011. There is no word on if WWE is interested in bringing Masters back. In between and after his time with WWE, Masters has wrestled in a variety of independent and smaller promotions.
2023 Royal Rumble?
I mean it has been 12 freaking years???#wweuniverse #royalrumble #wwe #2023 #wrestling #smackdownliv..

They’re big pickups. With so many stars on WWE’s roster, the company has to split them up into different rosters. That can make things all the more interesting when you have the Monday Night Raw and SmackDown rosters being kept mostly separate. Occasionally you will see some of them crossing over though and that will be the case with a pair of stars going forward.
This week on SmackDown, Omos and MVP appeared in the crowd to stare down Braun Strowman during a match. Strowman challenged Omos to face him but MVP turned down the offer. According to PWInsider.com, Omos and MVP will be appearing on SmackDown regularly going forward, though they are still internally listed as Monday Night Raw stars. There is no word on how long this will last.
Opinion: This is one of those things that can be rather interesting and I’m curious to see where it goes from here. There is a chance that this will end once Omos vs. Strowman takes place but at least we could be in for some nice crossovers until the..

Crossover? There are several wrestling promotions in the world but only a handful are among the top named companies. While WWE has been the top promotions in America for the last few decades, but there are others outside of the United States with deep histories of their own. Now the biggest promotion elsewhere will be getting something of a crossover with WWE.
Earlier this week, the OC (Karl Anderson/Luke Gallows) made their return to WWE after a two year absence. The two have recently appeared for New Japan Pro Wrestling, where Anderson is still the reigning Never Openweight Champion. According to Fightful Select, the team will continue to make its dates with New Japan, which are scheduled to run through Wrestle Kingdom 17 in early January. WWE is allowing them to work the dates going forward.
Opinion: This is the kind of thing that shows you how much wrestling is changing these days. It would be hard to fathom WWE allowing something like this to happen in recent years yet here they..

She can get away with that. There are a lot of talented stars in WWE but only a handful of them reach a superstar level. Some of those names come in with that label attached to them and it can be a lot of fun seeing what they can do when they are given the chance. Occasionally those stars will be allowed to put something together on their own and that has happened again.
In recent months, Ronda Rousey and Liv Morgan have feuded with each other over the SmackDown Women’s Title. During the feud, Shayna Baszler got involved and exchanged words with Rousey. According to Fightful Select, this was a story planned by the two of them and not put together by WWE. There are currently no plans to include the two together in the near future.
Opinion: This is an interesting one as while WWE has more or less stopped anything the angle could do, it is a good sign that they were able to get anything on television whatsoever. With WWE being as heavily scripted as it has been before, it can be nice to..

There was something in mind. WWE runs a lot of different angles on television in any given year. Some of them are more memorable than others and you will occasionally see one that sticks out for years. That might not always be a good thing though and now we know the original plans behind one of the more infamously strange stories that the company has presented in recent memory.
Back in November 2019, Erick Rowan began carrying a cage to the ring with him but no one could see what was inside. Over the next several months, whatever was in the cage proceeded to bite several people, including Rowan himself. The creature was eventually revealed to be a large spider, which was then crushed a week later. During a new interview with the 10 Count podcast, Rowan revealed that Seth Rollins told him the original plan called for the creature to be a pet rat. Rowan liked the idea as he felt it tied into his previous story where he tried to kill Roman Reigns. There is no word on why WWE changed plan..