NEWS

Death Before Dishonor 2022
Date: July 23, 2022
Location: Tsongas Center, Lowell, Massachusetts
Commentators: Ian Riccaboni, Caprice Coleman
Ring Of Honor is back and that should be a good thing. The company certainly has a history and it is nice to see that history continuing, but there has only been a limited build to the show on AEW TV. Then again, Ring Of Honor has always been about the in-ring work more than anything else and maybe that is enough to make the show work. Let’s get to it.
Zero Hour: Colt Cabana vs. Anthony Henry JD Drake is here with Henry. Cabana takes him down by the arm to start but Henry spins out and strikes away in the corner. A sunset flip is blocked and Henry twists Cabana’s neck around to slow things down. Some more neck cranking sets up some kicks to the chest, which just fire Cabana up. Henry is fine with that and cuts him off with a piledriver for two.
Back up and Cabana grabs a spinning belly to back suplex, setting up the Flip Flop and (slightly delay..

Hand it over? Stables have been a feature of wrestling for a very long time now and there is nothing to suggest that will change in the near future. They are still an effective idea as they allow multiple wrestlers to be able to get on television in a single segment. There are still times where things need to be changed though, and that seems to be the case again in an odd way.
This weekend’s Ring Of Honor Death Before Dishonor card was scheduled to feature a six man tag match involving Tully Blanchard Enterprises. However, before the match, Ring Of Honor mainstay Prince Nana announced that he had purchased the stable from Blanchard. Nana would appear in the corner of Kan/Toa Liona/Brian Cage for their six man tag, as well as Jonathan Gresham as he lost the Ring Of Honor World Title to Claudio Castagnoli. There is no word on why the change was made or if Blanchard will have something else to do in AEW/Ring Of Honor.
Opinion: I’m curious about what happened with Blanchard, but this do..

I guess he didn’t fit? There are a lot of storylines in wrestling and some of them have to include some very specific wrestlers. Some of the stories are just not going to work with the wrong people in there and sometimes you have to make the right kind of adjustments. That seems to be the case again in WWE, as someone has been moved out of a story that was built around him in the first place.
According to Pro Wrestling Torch, Max Dupri is done with the Maximum Male Models stable, with his sister Maxxine Dupri taking his place as of this week’s SmackDown. Max was said to not be fitting in and “rubbing some people the wrong way”. There is no word on what is next for Max in WWE. According to Fightful Select, Vince McMahon had the idea for the character and wanted Max to be nothing like LA Knight from NXT. Max would also challenge the writers for what he was being told to say. McMahon’s retirement could be seen as a positive for Max, who has supporters in WWE and could get another opportu..

That could have been worse. There are a lot of wrestlers in the world today and a lot of them wrestle on shows of different levels. You are only going to have heard of so many wrestlers out there, but a good many of them might have made an impact wrestling elsewhere at one point or another. One such former WWE star had some bad news recently, but it could have been much worse.
Former WWE Universal Champion Adam Scherr, better known as Braun Strowman, revealed that he was involved in a car accident earlier this week. The accident resulted in a boat and truck being badly damaged, though Scherr said that everyone walked away from it safe. It is not clear what caused the accident, which incidentally took place on the corner of a road called McMahon Road.
Always count your blessings. Trucks and boats can be replaced. Everyone walked away from this ok. Thankful the lord was watching over us. #Blessed pic.twitter.com/s09EgFbrEv
— Adam Scherr (@Adamscherr99) July 21, 2022
Opinion: That cou..

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 2001
Date: August 19, 2001
Location: Compaq Center, San Jose, California
Attendance: 15,293
Commentators: Jim Ross, Paul Heyman
I’m not sure how it happened but this show was twenty years ago. We’re in the middle of the Invasion so this is going to be a rather Alliance heavy show. That may or may not be a good thing, but the double main event of Steve Austin vs. Kurt Angle and Rock vs. Booker T. would likely fall on the good side. Let’s get to it.
The opening video is a naration-less highlight package ..

Maybe not? Wrestling has a bit of a shaky reputation when it comes to being a real spot. There are a lot of people who will instantly point out that the endings are scripted and that is going to cause some people to look at it skeptically. It can help to have more mainstream athletes participating for the sake of offering credibility, but one such star might be taking his time getting there.
Back in 2021, NCAA and Olympic wrestling champion Gable Steveson signed a contract with WWE and was officially drafted to Monday Night Raw. Steveson made an appearance at Summerslam 2021 and at WrestleMania 38, but he has yet to wrestle a match. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Steveson is considering a return to the University of Minnesota for an attempt at a third NCAA Heavyweight Championship and possibly another Olympic gold medal in 2024, though he has yet to make up his mind. There is no word on when he would appear for WWE again.
Opinion: While I think that ultimately Steves..

Rampage
Date: July 22, 2022
Location: Gas South Arena, Duluth, Georgia
Commentators: Excalibur, Taz, Jim Ross
We’re finally finishing up the two week long Fyter Fest and hopefully there is a bit less shark enthusiasm this time around. We’ll be seeing some good stuff this week, including Christopher Daniels vs. Jay Lethal as we are only a day away from Ring Of Honor’s Death Before Dishonor. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Hangman Page/John Silver vs. Butcher and the Blade Silver charges at both of them to start before Page can even get his vest off. That means Silver gets beaten down in the corner as the numbers game gets the better of it. Butcher, who looks to have slimmed down a bit, chops away and it’s off to Blade for the stomping. A suplex gets Silver out of trouble and it’s back to Page to clean house. The fall away slam sends Blade flying and a slingshot dive takes Butcher out. A top rope clothesline gets two on Blade but Butcher pulls Page to the floor for some whips into ..

It’s an opportunity. While WWE has a lot of television time to fill, there are only so many spots for the wrestlers to fight over. The top stars have their spots almost guaranteed, but at some point a change might need to be made in order to bring up someone new. That was the case earlier this month, but it turns out that it was more a matter of necessity than anything else.
Back at Money In The Bank, Liv Morgan won the show’s namesake match and cashed in her briefcase later in the night to win the SmackDown Women’s Title. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the change took place partially due to Sasha Banks and Naomi walking out on WWE back in May. The company needed a new top female star and the fans had shown enough support for Morgan to give her the spot. Morgan is set to defend her title against Ronda Rousey at Summerslam.
Opinion: I don’t think it’s that hard to fathom that WWE didn’t want to push Morgan in the first place given her track record, but at least she is..

That could slow him down. Wrestling can be a violent sport and sometimes a wrestler is going to be put on the shelf due to some kind of an injury. That can happen to anyone and the question becomes how long someone is going to be out of action. That time can range from a little while to a very long time, but thankfully this instance seems to be a bit more on the lighter side.
Last week on SmackDown, Sami Zayn appeared with his arm in a sling while talking to Theory. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Zayn’s injury is legitimate, though it is not clear what exactly is wrong. The injury is not seen as major and Zayn is expected back in the ring in a few weeks. Zayn has not wrestled since July 2 when he competed in the men’s Money in the Bank ladder match.
Opinion: That’s almost a relief as just a few weeks is a lot better than several months after major surgery. Hopefully Zayn is ok sooner rather than later as he is doing rather well as of late. Zayn is quite good in the r..

That could have been worse. Friday was one of the busiest days in WWE history, as not only did Triple H return to his role as Head of Talent Relations, but Vince McMahon also retired from the company entirely. That is the kind of day you never expect to see happen and it remains to be seen how far some of these changes go. Now though we do know one change that doesn’t seem to have happened.
Following McMahon’s announcement, another story broke saying that Brock Lesnar had walked out on SmackDown and would not be appearing. However, Lesnar did appear at the end of the show and attacked Theory. According to Fightful Select, a wrestler said that the situation was “overblown” but it was not clear if Lesnar would be back for the show or not. The ending was intentionally written so that it could take place with or without Lesnar being involved.
Opinion: Thankfully things seem to have calmed down, but it could have been quite the mess had things not gone this way. If nothing else, WWE needs..

Welcome to the team. With WWE being as competitive as it is, there is only so much that can be done to make yourself stand out. At some point, a wrestler has to do something that gives you a reason for WWE to believe in them enough to give them a new role. That seems to be the case again, as an NXT star has been moved up to the main roster as someone completely new.
This week on SmackDown, NXT’s Sofia Cromwell made her main roster debut as Maxxine Dupri, the sister of Max Dupri. Maxxine promised that Maximum Male Models would debut their swimwear collection next week, though that had originally been announced for this week. Maxxine had appeared as Cromwell in NXT as part of the Robert Stone Brand for the last few months, though she has yet to wrestle a match on television.
Opinion: That’s quite the upgrade for Cromwell, who thankfully hadn’t built up a big reputation for herself in the ring before being turned into someone new. This is something that could go a little somewhere for h..