NEWS

That could be a big way to go. There are a lot of wrestlers on the WWE roster and that opens up a lot of doors. It can be a lot of fun to see a new combination of wrestlers put together and find out what they can do. With so many interesting potential matches out there, you get to see some surprises every now and then. That might be the case again as WWE teased something new.
Over the weekend, WWE ran a live event in Bridgeport, Connecticut. During the show, Intercontinental Champion Gunther defeated Ricochet to retain the title. After the match, Gunther continued to attack Ricochet but Drew McIntyre came in for the save. Gunther ran as McIntyre got in the ring and helped Ricochet to his feet. The two have never met before in WWE.
It was an interesting showdown. Check out how things went:
[This post contains video, click to play]

Opinion: This is the kind of thing that can be interesting in WWE. You have two guys who could put on an interesting match together and now WWE is teasin..

Call it an in the air future? WWE, and the wrestling world, have been shaken up by the retirement of Vince McMahon. Despite what you might think of him, McMahon was the driving force in wrestling for a very long time and what he said or did could change the industry in an instant. That was the case on both the large and small scales, which seemed to be the case with a popular name.
Shane McMahon returned to WWE back in January at the Royal Rumble and was one of the final entrants in the match. Reports at the time indicated that Shane had suggested that he be a focal point of the match, which resulted in him no longer appearing on WWE TV. According to a new report from Fightful Select, Vince said that after the Royal Rumble, Shane “would never get another pop in this company as long as I’m around”, suggesting that Vince would not allow Shane to return to television. It is not clear if Shane will return now that Vince is out of power.
Opinion: I’m not sure how long this decree would ha..

Things are looking up. To say WWE is in a state of flux would be a huge understatement as there have been all kinds of changes taking place in the last few weeks. Those changes could have some very long term implications for the company and some individual people, but how positive they are remain to be seen. There is however some good news for WWE, at least in the short term.
According to PWInsider.com, this week’s Monday Night Raw from Madison Square Garden was a sellout and had been for several days before the event. While there were tickets available on the secondary market, wrestlers and crew were told that there were no complimentary tickets available leading up to the day of the show. WWE has not run Madison Square Garden since a live event on March 5.
Opinion: There was an old saying in WWE that amounted to as the Garden goes, so goes business. While it might not be the same as it was before, the Garden is still one of the most important places in all of wrestling, especially ..

It had been previously reported that WWE had made a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, announcing that Vince McMahon had paid $14.6 million that were not recorded as company expenses. According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, the SEC and federal prosecutors have launched inquiries into payments made by McMahon to settle allegations of sexual misconduct.
The report states that the payments were made from 2006 through 2022. WWE has said McMahon “has or will pay” all the expenses personally, and it expects to revise previous financial statements going back to 2019 to reflect the payments. WWE also said that an internal board investigation “expects to conclude that its internal control over financial reporting was not effective as a result of one or more material weaknesses.”
WWE has lucrative licensing deals with entertainment giants such as Fox Corp. and NBCUniversal, which could be at risk due to these allegations. The company is also seeking new busines..

This is only a rumor, so take it for what it’s worth. According to a report from Cageside Seats, Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics said on Busted Open Radio that longtime WWE producer Kevin Dunn will most likely be finished with the company. This comes after the announcement that Vince McMahon was retiring and on his way out of WWE.
Thurston said that he has heard that Dunn and new Co-CEO Stephanie McMahon “don’t like each other,” while Wade Keller of PWTorch states that Dunn is not a “Triple H guy.” Keller thinks that Dunn will be out “about a year from now.”
Dunn has been employed by WWE for almost 40 years and has grown from Associate Producer to Executive Producer & Chief, Global Television Distribution. However, he is generally not spoken of very highly by current and former talent, current employees, and wrestling fans in general.
We will continue to monitor this story and provide updates as they are made available.
Editor’s Opinion:
This doesn’t surprise me, and I think thi..

Put it on the card. We are less than a week away from Summerslam and that means most of the card is set. The majority of the show is ready and now WWE has to build up what they have. There is still a little more time to add something else though and that is what they did this week, as a new grudge match was added to the show. This time though, there is a bit of a twist.
This week on Monday Night Raw, a No Disqualification tag match between the Mysterios and Judgment Day was added to the Summerslam card. The match was added after the Mysterios defeated Judgment Day in a regular match earlier in the show, only to have Judgment Day attack Rey Mysterio later in the night. This will be the third match between the teams, with the Mysterios having won the first two.
Opinion: I’m not sure how much need there is to have this match added to Summerslam after the Mysterios defeated Judgment Day again this week. Maybe the stipulation can add in something new, but there is a very good chance that ..

Monday Night Raw
Date: July 25, 2022
Location: Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York
Commentators: Jimmy Smith, Byron Saxton, Corey Graves
We’re officially in an all new era as Vince McMahon is completely gone and HHH is now in charge of creative. That may sound very interesting on paper but I would give it another week before you see any major changes. There might be some surprises here and there this week though as it’s the go home show for Summerslam. Let’s get to it.
We open with Miz and Logan Paul mid-brawl in the ring with referees having to break it up.
With that out of the way, here is the Bloodline for a chat. Roman Reigns gets to the point by having the Garden acknowledge him before handing it off to Paul Heyman. After the mic goes out (Heyman: “We have a sound guy that must be from New Jersey or something. We want your name written down. You’re the next one out the door.”), we hear about everything Brock Lesnar has done over the years.
Lesnar has ruined a lot of..

WWE Smackdown Women’s Champion Liv Morgan was recently interviewed by Bleacher Report where she discussed a number of topics. Among them were winning the championship, the turning point in her career, and her future goals, including being in the main event of WrestleMania.
Below are some highlights from the interview:
On winning the Smackdown Women’s Championship:
“That whole day was make or break for me,” she said. “I felt professionally in that moment that if I don’t do this for my fans, I dropped the ball. That’s how I was feeling, so I took it very seriously and felt I had no choice but to win. Heading into the match, I was thinking, ‘OK,’ but as soon as I walked through and heard the crowd, it struck a chord with me for some reason and thought, ‘They want me to win this so bad.’
“It made me emotional. In that moment, I said, ‘I’m doing it. There’s no way I’m leaving this match without that briefcase in my hands.’ It was a very overwhelming feeling where I was trying to compose..

That isn’t good. The biggest wrestling story of the year has been Vince McMahon leaving WWE as he announced his retirement from the company last week. This comes amid an internal investigation into McMahon allegedly paying women to stay silent about relationships with him, with millions of dollars being spent. Now things might be getting even worse as a new detail has emerged.
WWE has made a new 8K filing with the SEC, announcing that $14.6 million in payments from Vince McMahon were not recorded as company expenses. According to PWInsider.com, if this means that McMahon used company money to pay the women, which could lead to legal actions against him from shareholders in the company. In addition, WWE is planning to release revised financial statements from 2006- 2022, the years the payments were made, by August 9.
Opinion: The more you look at something like this, the more clear it is that this was a lot more than McMahon retiring. It is hard to imagine that he would have been allo..

A new game will be played. WWE issued a press release this morning, announcing several changes to leadership within WWE. Amongst them was that Triple H will now be overseeing all creative duties within the company.
You can see the full press release below:
STAMFORD, Conn., July 25, 2022 – WWE® (NYSE: WWE) and its Board of Directors today announced the appointment of Stephanie McMahon and Nick Khan as co-Chief Executive Officers. Ms. McMahon has also been appointed Chairwoman of the Board, and Mr. Khan will continue to serve as a member of the Board. These appointments follow Vince McMahon’s retirement announcement on Friday, July 22.
“We are grateful for the opportunity to lead WWE together with our unmatched management team,” said Ms. McMahon and Mr. Khan. “We recognize this is a tremendous opportunity and responsibility, and we look forward to serving the WWE Universe.”
Additionally, WWE executive Paul Levesque will assume all responsibilities related to WWE’s creative, in additi..

So I had a column set up about the upcoming Summerslam title matches and how WWE doesn’t have much of a choice but to do a series of rematches. Odds are you’ll see that one in the future, but the wrestling world being turned upside down. After forty plus years of being in charge, Vince McMahon officially retired from WWE and has handed control over to his daughter Stephanie McMahon and Nick Khan. Yeah I think that might be a bit more important than anything happening at Summerslam with its big package of rematches (more on that later)
This is the kind of thing that you always knew was going to happen at some point but it’s hard to actually believe it went down. Vince has been the force in WWE and the idea of anyone being in charge of the company is almost impossible to fathom. There is no way to put together Vince’s legacy into anything shorter than a rather long book so this week we’re going to look at some of the high points of his career and what this change might mean for modern W..

NXT LVL Up
Date: July 22, 2022
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Sudu Shah, Nigel McGuinness
This show has started to change a little bit in recent weeks and that is a good thing. There have been some original interviews and even a tease of some storylines. It shouldn’t be that hard to do SOMETHING with this show but unfortunately that doesn’t seem to be WWE’s idea. Maybe they have a different idea this week though so let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Thea Hail vs. Brooklyn Barlow Chase U is here with Hail. They fight over wrist control to start before trading some rollups for two each. A headlock takeover puts Hail down and we hit the armbar as commentary talks about how much Chase U appreciates Hail. Something like a seated abdominal stretch brings Hail back to life for a side slam. A standing moonsault into Hail Yeah finishes Barlow at 5:37.
Result: Thea Hail b. Brooklyn Barlow – Hail Yeah (5:37)
Hank Walker isn’t going to let Duke Hudson disre..