NEWS

That’s not good developing. WWE is a massive wrestling company and has to do a lot of work to keep things moving. That is certainly easier said than done, but one of the best things that the company can do is keep the talent coming in to the promotion. There are multiple ways to do that, but WWE might be altering one of their primary means of bringing in new wrestlers.
WWE has been holding tryouts for new stars over the course of the week in Nashville, Tennessee. The tryouts have mainly included athletes from outside wrestling, which has been WWE’s main focus in recent times. According to Wrestling Observer Radio, this set of tryouts will be the last to focus on non-wrestlers, as there were several injuries due to the athletes not being experienced. The tryouts were reportedly described as a “disaster”. Therefore, the solution will be to bring in more independent wrestlers who are experienced in the ring.
Opinion: I can get WWE’s mentality here, as there is no reason for WWE to put i..

Cancel that. We are less than a month removed from Vince McMahon leaving WWE and being officially gone from the company that he built into an empire. While that makes a huge difference on the business side of things, it is also going to make a huge difference in the television aspect. That seems to be the case when it comes to the status of some legendary names.
According to PWInsider.com, the original plan for this week’s Monday Night Raw as well as Summerslam called for WWE Hall of Famers Edge and Beth Phoenix to appear. However, neither appeared and there is no word on when they will be back. The change is reportedly due to McMahon’s retirement, as the plans were changed. It is not clear on what the original plans for the pair were going to be.
Opinion: While I’m sure Edge and Phoenix will be back, it is rather interesting that plans were changed for such big names at the last minute. It would be great to have them back for something with Judgment Day, but right now it seems that ..

Rampage
Date: July 29, 2022
Location: DCU Center, Worcester, Massachusetts
Commentators: Excalibur, Chris Jericho, Tony Schiavone, Jim Ross
It’s another night of Fight For The Fallen, which went very well on Wednesday so maybe they can keep it up here. You never know what that might mean but the more star power this show can have, the better it is going to be. I’m not sure what that is going to be this week, but Rampage can be quite fun. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Best Friends vs. Satnam Singh/Jay Lethal/Sonjay Dutt Dutt is still in his suit, complete with pencil behind his ear. Trent and Lethal start things off with Trent countering la majistral into a cradle for two. That means a standoff and the fans seem pleased. Cassidy comes in (under the bottom rope) and gets Dutt, who takes off his jacket and tie, which he hands to the referee. Jericho: “That’s a $5000 suit he’s wrestling in!” Ross: “You really believe that?” Jericho: “Well it’s wrestling.”
Cassidy puts his sunglass..

Just like the other guys. There are a lot of wrestling promotions in the world today but WWE and AEW get far more attention than anyone else. That is due to a variety of reasons, but their star power is very high up there. Both companies have stars that fans are going to want to see and it turns out that both of them have the same policy in order to keep those wrestlers around under certain circumstances.
WWE has a policy that the contracts of injured wrestlers are allowed to be extended in the case of injuries. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, AEW wrestlers undergo the same situations if they are injured, as their contracts have the clause included. There is no word on if any of the currently or previously injured AEW stars have had their deals extended in this way.
Opinion: This is the kind of thing that might not be the nicest sounding thing in the world but it makes sense from the business side. It isn’t fair to AEW or WWE to sign a wrestler to a multi year deal an..

I’d say he is worth it. There are certain wrestlers who stand above the rest of their peers. You know these wrestlers when you see them and they are the ones who become the top stars and eventually the legends of wrestling. It is rare enough to see someone become a legend in their own time but a WWE star has done just that. Now we are seeing WWE pay tribute to him.
Earlier this week, WWE celebrated the twenty year anniversary of Rey Mysterio making his debut with the company. Throughout the week, the company has presented a variety of tributes and looks back at Mysterio’s career. This includes a new video looking at the Top 20 Moments of Mysterio’s career, featuring various matches and championship wins over the last twenty years. Mysterio is scheduled to team with his son Dominik against Judgment Day in a No DQ match at Summerslam.
There could be a lot more. Check out the Top 20 Mysterio moments:
[This post contains video, click to play]

Opinion: This is the kind of area where WW..

That could be some time off. There are a lot of very talented wrestlers in the world today and you will see a lot of them on WWE television. While there are some problems with the presentation at times, the wrestlers’ talent is certainly there and cannot be questioned in some cases. However, sometimes a wrestler will need to be out of action for one reason or another and that might be the case again.
This week’s SmackDown featured a tag team match between New Day and the Viking Raiders. After the Viking Raiders won, the team attacked Xavier Woods and crushed his ankle using a chair. While not confirmed, there is a chance that this means Woods will be missing time from the ring to recover. Woods is also currently co-hosting the Arena on G4, which regularly features WWE stars.
Opinion: I’m curious about what this means for Woods, as that is the kind of thing that is done to put him on the shelf for a long time. Maybe he is getting some time off for the sake of G4, but the SmackDown tag..

Another one down. It can be interesting to see a wrestling storyline change out of nowhere but it is not always for the best reason. A wrestler can be taken out of action for a variety of reasons and some of the worst are health issues. That seems to be the case again with a current WWE star who was scheduled for action this week, but there might be a bit of a silver lining to the whole thing.
Lacey Evans was scheduled to face Aliyah this week on SmackDown but did not appear. Commentary said that Evans was not medically cleared to compete, with Shotzi taking her place and defeating Aliyah instead. It is not clear if Evans’ medical issue is a storyline or not, as was the case with Riddle earlier this week. There is no word on why Evans did not appear on the show.
Opinion: This is a situation where we’ll need to see what is going on, because you never can tell why someone is out of action on a WWE show. If nothing else, considering that Riddle’s absence from Summerslam was confirmed as..

Smackdown
Date: July 29, 2022
Location: State Farm Arena, Atlanta, Georgia
Commentators: Michael Cole, Pat McAfee
This is going to be a weird one as it’s the go home show for Summerslam so there won’t be much in the way of moving forward to the show, but there is a #1 contenders match for the next major show. At the same time, this is the first television show with no influence from Vince McMahon following his departure from the company. Let’s get to it.
Sheamus vs. Drew McIntyre Donnybrook match, meaning street fight, and the winner gets a World Title shot at Clash At The Castle. Sheamus jumps McIntyre during his entrance and they start fast with McIntyre being thrown inside for the opening bell. A Michinoku Driver gets McIntyre out of trouble and it’s time for the Shillelagh. That doesn’t work yet so McIntyre grabs a table, only to be sent into the steps (near the makeshift bar).
They get back inside with Sheamus whipping out the cut Shillelagh from last week to beat on McIntyre e..

Not so fast? While anyone who can make it to WWE television has at leas some talent, there has to be something that makes them stand out. It might be anything from their size to their look to the way they are presented, but something needs to be there. Occasionally you will see someone appear and have what makes them work best taken away, but this time it seems to have been returned.
This week’s SmackDown featured a segment from Maximum Male Models, featuring Max Dupri. During his appearance, Dupri’s tone was changed from previous weeks, with more of a serious sound to his voice and less talking. This comes a week after Dupri was missing from the team’s segment, with his sister Maxxine taking his place. Max’s role in the angle reportedly did not go over well with Vince McMahon, who wanted him to sound as little like his LA Knight character from NXT as possible.
Opinion: I could go for something like this, as Max is quite the talker when he is allowed to be more like his old self. Tha..

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?
Summerslam 2021
Date: August 21, 2021
Location: Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas, Nevada
Attendance: 51,326
Commentators: Pat McAfee, Michael Cole, Jimmy Smith, Byron Saxton, Corey Graves

It’s time for one of the biggest Summerslams ever, as this is the first major event after the attendance restrictions were lifted after the Coronavirus pandemic. They need a major main event to make that work and that is what they have with John Cena challenging Roman Reigns for the Universal Title. Other than that, we have Bobby La..

They’re looking to the future. Summerslam is less than a day away and that means WWE has almost everything set up for one of the biggest shows of the year. That does not mean they are done with everything though, as there are other shows that have to be covered as well. This time, WWE is starting early on the next show, which is going to be one of the most unique events in a long time.
This week on SmackDown, Drew McIntyre defeated Sheamus in a Good Old Fashioned Donnybrook Match to become the new #1 contender to the WWE Universal Champion. McIntyre will receive his shot at Clash At The Castle on September 3 in the first stadium show in the United Kingdom in over thirty years. McIntyre will challenge the winner of Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar, who face off at Summerslam in a Last Man Standing match.
Opinion: I don’t think there was much doubt over McIntyre winning the title shot, but this puts WWE in a bit of a dilemma. McIntyre almost can’t lose in the main event of such an importa..

WWE legend Kurt Angle was recently interviewed by Bleacher Report to promote his upcoming episode of A&E’s Biography: WWE Legends this Sunday night. He discussed several topics, including the documentary, managing Chad Gable, the future of WWE, and more.
Below are some highlights from the interview:
On the biography:
“I really hit on a lot of things I had to overcome,” he said. “The documentary is about overcoming. Overcoming my addiction, my injuries, deaths of close family members. It’s really about redemption and turning my life around and being a good husband, father and role model.
“Good things happen in your life, bad things happen in your life, but it’s all about how you respond to them and how you overcome them,” he added. “When you’re high on your horse and doing really well, there’s no complaints, but when you’re down in the gutter, it’s really hard to get out of it, and I know that personally.”
On managing Chad Gable:
“I would love to manage Chad Gable and Otis,” he re..