NEWS

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?
Invasion 92
Hosts: Sean Mooney, Lord Alfred Hayes
Commentators: Sean Mooney, Lord Alfred Hayes
Now this is more my speed. I’ve been doing a lot more indy level stuff lately so let’s take a major step away and go with something I grew up on with a Coliseum Video. This sounds like a bunch of international matches and I’m not sure what to expect from that. These tapes can be from one extreme to the other so it could a lot of ways. Let’s get to it.
Sean Mooney, dressed up like a Star Trek officer (in theory at least ..

He might be gone for a bit. With so many wrestlers on the WWE roster, there is only so much television time to go around. It can be difficult to keep track of everyone and it is even worse now with more wrestlers either coming up from NXT. At some point someone is going to have to loser their spot and that very well may have been the case this week on television.
This week on Monday Night Raw, Kevin Owens returned to action and fought Ezekiel. During the match, Owens knocked Ezekiel outside and hit him with an apron powerbomb. The match was stopped after about a minute with Ezekiel being taken out on a stretcher. This would suggest that Ezekiel will be missing television time. It is not clear when he will be back or what character he will be using when he returns.
Opinion: This might be the best move for everyone as Ezekiel has kind of run his course in WWE. There is only so much that can be done with someone playing their own younger brother and that seemed to be obvious. Ezekiel hi..

There’s a team for you. Wrestlers have a rather hectic schedule meaning that wrestlers can only find so much free time. They are either wrestling, traveling or training and that can cause issues for wrestlers’ personal lives. This includes their romantic lives, but sometimes it can work out. Two AEW wrestlers recently managed to make it work very well, and in a permanent way.
AEW’s Tay Conti and Sammy Guevara have announced that they were married this weekend after dating since January and getting engaged in June. As shown on Twitter, WWE’s Nikki Ash was one of Conti’s bridesmaids with other wrestling personalities in attendance. Conti and Guevara have been paired together on AEW television. There is no word on if or when they will miss any time due to a honeymoon.
View this post on Instagram A post shared by TAYNARA MELO GUEVARA? (@tayconti_)
I have the best bridesmaids ?? pic.twitter.com/4US8bGTqrI
— TAYNARA MELO GUEVARA (@TayConti_) August 7, 2022
We are not perfect
We'll ..

Welcome back. There are a lot of wrestlers today and not all of them are in WWE or AEW. It can be interesting to see where those wrestlers wind up, as some of them will either debut or return to one of the bigger promotions. That can make for some very interesting moments, especially if the return is a surprise. That was the case this week as a familiar face came back to WWE.
There was a story taking place in the background this week on Monday Night Raw involving a car. During the show, wrestlers were seen looking at a wrecked car in the parking lot. Later, the car was put on a tow truck, with police offers running from the scene of the crash into the arena. At the end of the show, the police arrested a man in the crowd, who was identified as former NXT star Dexter Lumis. This would be Lumis’ first appearance since April when he was released from his WWE contract.
Opinion: For the first time in a good while, I’m curious about where a story is going. Lumis was around NXT for a long ti..

Monday Night Raw
Date: August 8, 2022
Location: Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, Cleveland, Ohio
Commentators: Jimmy Smith, Corey Graves, Byron Saxton
This could be a very interesting show, as we are coming off last week’s pretty awesome episode, but now the question is how they follow it up. They certainly don’t need to have some big moment or debut/return, but keep up the energy and put on a good show and they should be fine. Let’s get to it.
We open with a recap of Bayley/Iyo Shirai/Dakota Kai coming together at Summerslam and running some roughshod last week.
We get the brackets for the Women’s Tag Team Title tournament:
Tamina/Dana Brooke
Iyo Sky/Dakota Kai
Alexa Bliss/Asuka
Nikki Ash/Doudrop
Raquel Rodriguez/Aliyah
Xia Li/Shotzi
Nikkita Lyons/Zoey Stark
Natalya/Sonya Deville
Here are Bayley, Iyo Sky and Dakota Kai for a chat. Bayley: “DING DONG!” Bayley can’t believe that she’s getting this kind of a reception when the fans need her. They are here to save this women’s division..

Tick tock. Perhaps the biggest story in professional wrestling this past week has been the return of Karrion Kross to WWE. He attacked Drew McIntyre in the closing moments of last week’s episode of SmackDown.
According to a report from PWInsider, WWE is planning to push Kross to be the No. 2 heel on the blue brand, behind Roman Reigns. In addition, Scarlett will continue to manage him and isn’t currently planning to be wrestling regularly, but that could be a possibility in the future.
The report also states that after the pair were released last year, there was still regular communication between them and the company. Kross is also expected to complete his independent wrestling appearances that were signed prior to his return to WWE as much as possible.
Editor’s Opinion:
Can you blame WWE for making this decision? The pair was easily one of the best things about NXT during the COVID-19 pandemic, and I still, to this day, don’t understand why Vince McMahon decided to release them f..

Add it to the card. We are on the way to WWE Clash At The Castle, which is going to be one of the biggest events that WWE has ever presented. The show will be the first United Kingdom WWE event to take place inside a stadium in over thirty years and that means WWE is going to have to stack the card. They have already gotten a good start, but now things have gone even bigger.
This week’s Monday Night Raw opened with Bayley, Iyo Sky and Dakota Kai being interrupted by Alexa Bliss, Asuka and Bianca Belair. The six women argued and Bayley issued a challenge for a six woman tag, with Belair accepting for the team. Bayley, Sky and Kai returned at Summerslam and attacked Becky Lynch the following night on Monday Night Raw, putting her out of action. Clash At The Castle takes place on September 3.
Opinion: That is a smart way to bring Bayley back rather than putting her straight into what seems like a guaranteed Raw Women’s Title feud with Bianca Belair. Let her have the six woman tag where ..

You have to start somewhere. There are a lot of titles in WWE and holding a championship still means quite a bit. Winning a title can be a game changer for a wrestler and often serves as the start of someone’s move up to the next level. There are a few ways to become a champion and now we have a better idea of how two people will be winning a title at once.
WWE has released the brackets for the tournament to crown new Women’s Tag Team Champions with the first round beginning this week on Monday Night Raw:
Tamina/Dana Brooke
Iyo Sky/Dakota Kai
Alexa Bliss/Asuka
Nikki Ash/Doudrop
Raquel Rodriguez/Aliyah
Xia Li/Shotzi
Nikkita Lyons/Zoey Stark
Natalya/Sonya Deville
The tournament is being held after Naomi and Sasha Banks walked out on WWE in May, vacating the titles in the process. It is not clear when the finals will be taking place or if Lyons and Stark have been called up from NXT permanently.
Opinion: That is a pretty nice field for the tournament and I’m curious to see how well..

He opened some eyes. There are a lot of talented wrestlers throughout the world and it can be a lot of fun to see someone pop up out of nowhere and become a star on the big stage. It opens up a new door and offers a variety of fresh matches for a bunch of people. That is the case with a new star in AEW but he has a few changes coming up and they could lead to something even bigger down the line.
Konosuke Takeshita made his AEW debut on the April 25 edition of AEW Dark: Elevation and has since moved on to face various top AEW stars. According to Wrestling Observer Radio, Takeshita is currently on excursion from DDT-Pro in Japan for one year and is currently living in the United States. AEW and DDT-Pro have a good relationship though and Takeshita would be allowed back at any time. In addition, WWE is said to be looking for a Japanese wrestler with a “large build”, which fits Takeshita’s description. It it unknown when Takeshita’s DDT-Pro contract expires or if he is interested in signi..

The Eater of Worlds has spoken. Earlier today, bray Wyatt posted a cryptic message on his Twitter account where he addressed his thoughts about professional wrestling. He talks about what he believes wrestling is and why it is important to its fans and to the public in general.
Wyatt had the following to say:
“Wrestling is not a love story; it’s a Fairy Tale for masochists. A comedy for people who criticize punchlines. A fantasy most can’t understand, a spectacle no one can deny. Lines are blurred. Heroes are villains. Budgets are cut. Business is business.
But it can also be a land where Dead men walk. Where Honor makes you Elite. Where Demons run for office. And Rock bottom is a reason to rejoice. WOOOOO! It’s an escape. A reason to point the blame at anyone but yourself for 2-3 hours. An excuse to be a kid again, and nothing matters except the moment we are in. Wrestling is not a love story; it’s much more. It’s hope.
And in a world surrounded in hate, greed, and violence, a wor..

It had been previously reported that John Laurinaitis had been placed on administrative leave following his involvement with the scandal that led to Vince McMahon retiring from WWE. According to a report from PWInsider, the company has now officially terminated Laurinaitis.
According to the report, the decision to fire Laurinaitis was kept very quiet beyond a very small circle, and the termination happened within the last week. WWE has not publicly announced the dismissal as of this notice.
McMahon is currently being investigated for an alleged $3 million payment to a WWE employee due to a sexual relationship between the two. The investigation also includes a variety of other possible claims of misconduct against McMahon and Laurinaitis. McMahon is said to have used his own personal money to make the payments.
Laurinaitis first joined WWE in 2001 following the demise of WCW. He was promoted to Senior Vice President of Talent Relations in 2007 and resigned in 2012. However, he return..

It still doesn’t feel real. Vince McMahon retired from WWE last month, ending nearly forty years of him in control as the company. It seems that retired might be the nice version of what really happened, as McMahon left amid an investigation into sexual misconduct with various employees. As a result, McMahon did not leave on the best of terms, but what has he been doing since?
According to PWInsider.com, McMahon has had no official contact with WWE since retiring. McMahon has not been at Titan Towers, including not even going to the building’s gym. McMahon is not legally allowed to run the company in any capacity due to his retirement and could face legal issues if he did something behind the scenes. In addition, John Laurinaitis is officially still part of WWE but is likely to leave as soon as the investigation into him ends.
Opinion: I know it has been a few weeks now but this is still hard to actually accept. McMahon did not get to leave on his own terms (at least in theory) but h..