NEWS

It was nice while it lasted. Stables are an idea that work very well in a lot of ways. One of the best things that they can do is bring together a lot of wrestlers who might not be able to get enough television time on their own. At some point almost every stable splits up though, and that is the case again with a stable that has been around for a while. This time it ended in a bit of a unique way.
Last week on AEW Dynamite, Hook answered an open challenge from Ricky Starks and win the FTW Title. Following the title loss, Powerhouse Hobbs attacked Starks and left him laying. All three are members of Team Taz, with Taz himself ending the team the following week. Taz said that he was ending the team because he did not know what the members were doing and no one cleared these actions with him.
Opinion: I do like the logic here, as there was no reason for Taz to stick around if his team has nothing to do with him. There isn’t much of a reason to keep the thing going so let everyone go fo..

Dynamite
Date: August 3, 2022
Location: Schottenstein Center, Columbus, Ohio
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Excalibur, Taz
We’re rapidly coming up on All Out but first we need to get through this weekend’s Battle Of The Belts, which is apparently a thing that is happening. So far there is one match announced and that means we will probably get the rest of the card announced. Whether that is in rapid fire or with more traditional announcements remains to be seen, but Excalibur is probably warming up his throat. Let’s get to it.
Jay Lethal vs. Orange Cassidy Cassidy rolls him up to start and knocks Lethal up the ramp, setting up the lazy kicks. Lethal crawls away but it’s Satnam Singh waiting at the top of the ramp. Cue the Best Friends, with Trent on Taylor’s shoulders, to be taller than Singh, who leaves for no logical reason. With that HILARIOUS visual gag out of the way, we get back in and Cassidy hits a high crossbody but the tornado DDT is countered into a dragon screw legwhip. Ca..

There’s the next generation. There are a lot of wrestlers in the world today though some of them are away from the ring at times. Those wrestlers are still waiting to get back to the ring at some point, but there are things that can slow them down. Some of those things are very good news though and that is the case again, as two wrestlers have a very positive announcement.
AEW star Shawn Spears and former WWE and Impact Wrestling star Cassie Lee (better known as Peyton Royce) have announced that they are expecting a child. The video shows Spears opening a gift and seeing something inside that tells him Lee is pregnant. An ultrasound photo is also shown, along with photos of Spears hugging Lee’s stomach. There is no word on when the baby is due.
This is special. Check out the reveal:
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Opinion: That’s awesome to see and probably the most important thing that the two will ever get to announce. You can see the emotions on their faces and that is..

It’s quite the introduction. Celebrities have a strange history when it comes to wrestling. There have always been famous people coming inside the wrestling bubble and at times, it can draw in an extra audience. That is a tricky balance to find though, as you do not want a celebrity with a small following taking up too much time. WWE has tried to find that balance, and now they may have again with a famous star. He just might not be famous to everyone.
Triple H appeared on Logan Paul’s Impaulsive podcast and revealed that he had never heard of Paul when approached about Paul appearing for WWE. In addition to people in WWE telling Triple H who Paul was, his children also talked about Paul, which helped show Triple H just how big of a star Paul is. Paul has wrestled twice for WWE, including last weekend at Summerslam, where he defeated the Miz.
There is a lot to this. Check out the full interview:
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Opinion: This is one of those things that ha..

We are living in a brand new reality in wrestling and that is going to take some getting used to over the next….well years probably. Following the retirement (or forcing out, whichever you prefer) of Vince McMahon, WWE is officially in uncharted waters and the boss is not there to steer the ship. That could create a lot of problems, but that certainly wasn’t the case this week.
This week’s Monday Night Raw featured the fallout from Summerslam and happened to be one of the best editions of the show that I have seen in a LONG time. The show felt quite a bit different that anything Monday Night Raw had done in years and you could tell that there was a breath of fresh air to the whole thing. That was the case for a lot of reasons and we are going to look at some of the bigger ones this week. Note that this isn’t meant to be exhaustive, but rather the things that stood out to me the most.
The biggest change that stood out was the wrestlers were acting more like humans. How often have you ..

It’s finally here. AEW issued a press release today, officially announcing their upcoming video game ‘Fight Forever’. This comes after an initial announcement was made in late 2020.
From the press release:
THQ Nordic GmbH and All Elite Wrestling, LLC (AEW) and YUKE’S Co., Ltd. today confirmed that the release of AEW: Fight Forever will be the tag-team event of the century! The two companies have joined forces to bring developer YUKES’ latest creation to PS4™, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC and Nintendo® Switch.
“One of the first things I did after signing with AEW was to ask Tony Khan to let me help assemble the best gaming team on the planet, to make the best wrestling game ever,” said Kenny Omega, EVP of AEW and former AEW World Champion and AEW World Tag Team Champion. “Well, we just landed the perfect finisher by partnering with global publishing and distribution powerhouse THQ Nordic for AEW: Fight Forever. The THQ brand has long been synonymous with wrestling games – ther..

Sharing knowledge is always good. AEW issued a press release earlier today, announcing expanded backstage roles for several of its current talent. The company also announced they are bringing in Madison Rayne to assist and coach their women’s division.
From the press release:
AEW CEO, GM and Head of Creative Tony Khan announced an expansion to AEW’s talent relations team with the promotions of key staff members including Sonjay Dutt, QT Marshall, Pat Buck and Tony Schiavone. In addition, Madison Rayne will join AEW as a coach in the women’s division.
As AEW continues its meteoric rise, the expanded talent relations team will strengthen the infrastructure required to facilitate the development, health and safety of AEW’s outstanding roster. The following promotions and additions are effective immediately:
Sonjay Dutt (Retesh Bhalla) has been promoted to Vice President of Production and Creative Coordination. In this role, he will coordinate communication of AEW storylines, liaise ..

It might not all be great. WWE has been shaken up by the departure of Vince McMahon after decades of him running the company. That is something that was not expected for a long time and it is now time to make changes at a faster than thought pace. Some of them have already gone well, but there are a few wrestlers who are not so happy that things are being changed.
According to Wrestling Observer Radio, while the majority of the WWE roster is happy with the changes that are being made. These wrestlers are worried about losing their spots, as Triple H’s new regime has already started moving some wrestlers into new roles. It will also take several weeks for Triple H’s creative vision to be presented in full on WWE television. There is no word on any other major changes Triple H is hoping to make.
Opinion: I can understand why some of the wrestlers are worried but at the end of the day, as William Regal once said, nobody owes you a living. If these wrestlers aren’t impressing the new bos..

The more things change. WWE has a lot of things going on at once, which is made even more complicated as the roster is split into two different groups. While there is some crossover between Monday Night Raw and SmackDown, there are some wrestlers who almost never move over to the other show. Now it seems that one of the newest top SmackDown stars was almost in a very different spot.
According to Wrestling Observer Radio, the original plans for Judgment Day involved Liv Morgan being the foil for Rhea Ripley. The two faced off multiple times with Ripley often getting the better of things, but the story was to continue. However, Morgan would eventually move to SmackDown when she won the SmackDown Women’s Title at Money In The Bank. Since then, the story has changed to Edge and the Mysterios attempting to take out Judgment Day instead. It is not clear who will be dealing with Ripley.
Opinion: This is a bit of a confusing story, as Ripley and Morgan had already had their matches and they ..

Welcome to the new age. WWE is changing a lot in recent weeks and that is likely going to be the case for a long time to come. With so many different things taking place, the company is starting to shift away from what they have been doing for so many years. Some of those changes are things that fans have been wanting to see for a good while and one of those changes is already taking place.
According to PWInsider.com, WWE has been allowing wrestlers to have a bit more freedom in their promos, including allowing them to improvise more. This has allowed them to be more creative than they have had in recent years. The freedom is also taking place in the ring, such as with Sheamus vs. Drew McIntyre from last week’s SmackDown. The match was called in the ring rather than being laid out in advance, which is said to have helped make it great. There is no word on if everyone will be given the same freedom.
Opinion: That is some of the best WWE news that you will hear for a long time. A big p..

It’s a different audience. AEW has come a very long way in less than three and a half years and a lot of that is due to the variety that you are going to see on any one of their shows. The company has figured out how to put together a bunch of different pieces to make events more enjoyable. This often means not focusing on just one thing, but that might be changing in the future.
According to PWInsider.com, AEW has trademarked the term “All Elite Women” for a variety of uses, including streaming pay per view events over the internet. While not confirmed, this could mean that AEW is planning for either some kind of a show focused on women or featuring women. There is no word on what the specific show would be or when AEW might make an announcement about it.
Opinion: This is an interesting one as AEW has long since focused on their women’s division. It would not surprise me to see the division get its own stand alone show, or perhaps some kind of a YouTube streaming show. Replacing eit..

It’s not entirely the same. There are a lot of ways to present a feud in wrestling and some of them have been used in a variety of different forms. One of the most common is to have a wrestler injure someone they are feuding with and that is something still being used today. The latest instance took place last week on Monday Night Raw, but you wouldn’t know that at other events.
Last week on Monday Night Raw, Seth Rollins attacked Riddle, resulting in Riddle suffering a storyline neck injury. Their scheduled match at Summerslam was indefinitely postponed, though Riddle attacked Rollins at Summerslam. According to PWInsider.com, even though Riddle is not wrestling on television, he is still expected to appear at upcoming WWE live events. There is no word on when he is expected to wrestle on television again.
Opinion: That’s a bit of a strange way to go as you might not want to let everyone know that what they are seeing on television is completely separate from what is happening on li..