NEWS

He’s saying never. Wrestlers have a strange career trajectory as they have to get out of the ring one day, but it is easy for them to stick around for one more match. Several wrestlers over the years have done just this for a very long time, but there are others who are able to get out of the ring for good. It might not be their choice though, and that seems to be the case again.
AEW’s Sonjay Dutt appeared on the AEW Unrestricted podcast to discuss his current role in the company and his own career. Dutt mentioned that he now works full time behind the scenes for AEW, as well as acting as Jay Lethal and Satnam Singh’s on-screen manager. As for wrestling a match, Dutt said there will be “zero chance” that he will ever wrestle again. Dutt mentioned that he had a variety of physical issues that were keeping him out of the ring. Dutt’s most recent match took place on December 28, 2017.
Opinion: It’s nice to see someone with this kind of a perspective on wrestling, as well as someone who ..

Nice to meet you? There are a lot of ways to make a wrestler stand out and one of the easiest is to give them the right name. Having a wrestler with a standout name is something that has worked for years and that is still the case to this day. WWE has had some issues with getting names right though and now they might be doing that all over again.
According to PWInsider.com, the Grizzled Young Veterans will both be undergoing name changes. Going forward, Zack Gibson will be named Rip Fowler and James Drake will be named Jagger Reid. The team will continue to be part of the NXT roster once they return, as they have not wrestled since April. There is no word on when the team is expected to be back on television.
Opinion: If you have been watching NXT in recent weeks, you might be able to guess what the Veterans are going to be doing. The last few weeks have seen Joe Gacy’s Dyad become more of a regular team, with Gacy saying that their identities will be revealed next week. That might n..

Can you blame him? NXT is a pretty unique wrestling show, as it is designed to be both WWE’s developmental territory as well as its own promotion. That can make for some odd moments, as you will see wrestlers who have no business being in a minor league on the show for a very long time. It seems that one wrestler who has been in NXT for a long time is trying to get out but can’t make it work.
According to Wrestling Observer Radio, NXT’s Roderick Strong is “pretty beaten down” by the way he is booked on television and has attempted to get out of the promotion. Strong has not been allowed out though, leaving him in a situation where he does not want to be there but is stuck doing so for the time being. There is no word on when Strong’s NXT deal expires.
Opinion: Can you blame him for wanting out? Strong has been in NXT for more than a few years now and there is nothing to indicate that he is going to be moving up the card. I would assume that WWE thinks he is too small to be treated as..

That could be worse. Injuries are one of the few universal issues in wrestling, as anyone can go out of action at any time. It can be quite the ordeal waiting on them to recover, as any storyline could be stopped out of nowhere. That can hurt all kinds of things in a wrestling promotion, but sometimes the injury is part of the storyline. Thankfully that is the case again.
Last week on AEW Dynamite, the Jericho Appreciation Society slammed Ruby Soho’s hand in a car door, seemingly breaking it. Soho appeared on this week’s show but did not wrestle, with Eddie Kingston swearing revenge against Chris Jericho for causing Soho’s injury. According to Wrestling Observer Radio, Soho’s injury is not legitimate and is only a way to extend the Kingston vs. Jericho feud. Soho wrestled a match for Wrestling Revolver over the weekend with no issues.
Opinion: That is a relief after AEW has suffered so many injuries in recent months. Thankfully Soho should be back in the ring in no time, as the injur..

They did it again. Wrestling is a rather dangerous sport no matter how it is presented. The amount of time in the ring, training and experience that someone has does not make someone immune from an injury and it can happen at any time. There are injuries that are built up over time and there are injuries that take place all at once. The latter was the case this week.
According to Wrestling Observer Radio, Matt Jackson of the Young Bucks suffered a stinger during the main event of this week’s edition of Dynamite. The match was a triple threat with the Young Bucks defending the AEW Tag Team Titles against Keith Lee/Swerve Strickland and Team Taz. Early in the match, Lee and Powerhouse Hobbs suplexed Jackson, resulting in him jarring his neck and causing him to wrestle slowly for the rest of the match. There was nothing wrong with the suplex, as Matt has a history of neck issues due to years of wear and tear. There is no word on how long he might be out of action, if at all.
Opinion: Th..

It’s almost time to get ready. Just over three months ago, WWE presented WrestleMania 38 from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The two night spectacle showcased the best that WWE had to offer, all in front of the biggest crowds of the year. Those are some special moments to see in front of your eyes, and now you have the chance to see it again, albeit in an even bigger city.
WWE has announced that WrestleMania 39 tickets will go on sale on August 12, with special Priority Passes going on sale on July 22. According to PWInsider.com, the top package will include a tour of Mattel’s design center, a backstage tour at WrestleMania before the show begins, dinner with a WWE star, a tour of El Segundo Brewing Company, where Steve Austin’s Broken Skull IPA is made and priority seating at WWE Axxess sessions. WrestleMania 39 takes place at SoFi Stadium on April 1 and 2.
Opinion: This is one of those times that can be very exciting for fans. It means that it is already time to start getting re..

The gold it is a changing. There are a lot of titles in the wrestling world and some of them have a unique setup that allow for some variation. It can be nice to have something different, as you can only do so many things with a standard championship format. One of those titles changed hands this week, with a record setting reign coming to an end after a bit of an upset.
The main event of this week’s NXT UK saw Mark Coffey defeat Noam Dar to win the NXT Heritage Cup. Coffey defeated Dar two falls to one in the sixth and final round. The win ends Dar’s reign after 259 days, the longest in the title’s history. Coffey’s title win marks the first singles title win of his NXT UK career, though he is a former NXT UK Tag Team Champion with Wolfgang.
Opinion: This is something that had to happen and it makes sense given Gallus’ issues as of late. Coffey winning the title opens up some doors for him as he wins something of his own and might even set up a title match against his brother Joe do..

Let the carnage begin. According to a report by Andrew Zarian of F4WOnline, WWE RAW will be returning to a TV–14 rating on their programming. The change to this is said to begin with this coming Monday night’s edition of the show.
Starting July 18th WWE Raw will have a TV-14 rating moving forward on USA Network. The PG Era is over.
Starting July 18th WWE Raw will have a TV-14 rating moving forward on USA Network.
The PG Era is over.#WWE #WWERAW pic.twitter.com/wQskL3IVPb
— Andrew Zarian (@AndrewZarian) July 14, 2022
Smackdown, which airs on FOX, is said to remain as a TV-PG show.
WWE has maintained a TV-PG rating across all platforms since July 22, 2008. The 2008 SummerSlam pay-per-view was the first event of its kind to carry the rating.
This move is coming after reports that WWE was discussing to make NXT 2.0 a TV-14 show.
Within the origins of this NXT 2.0 concept was an idea that the programs rating would shift from TV-PG to TV-14. Source confirms that’s still very much on..

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?
Monday Night Raw
Date: December 10, 2007
Location: Arena At Harbor Yard, Bridgeport, Connecticut
Attendance: 7,000
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler
It’s time for a special show this week as it is the fifteenth anniversary celebration of the show. That means not only do we have a bunch of guest stars, but it is an extra large three hour edition. Throw in that it is also the go home show for Armageddon and this is going to be a busy night. Let’s get to it.
We open with a mash up of Raw intros over the years, th..

It could be a little while. One of the biggest wrestling stories of the year has been Sasha Banks and Naomi walking out on WWE. The pair vacated the Women’s Tag Team Titles in the process and neither has been seen in a wrestling capacity since. That left quite the hole in WWE, but it also opened up some doors for other promotions that could land them. Now though, it seems that it could be a ways off.
According to Fightful Select, Banks is not accepting wrestling bookings until 2023 at the earliest. She is willing to take non-wrestling bookings, such as the upcoming C2E2 convention in Chicago. It is not confirmed that Banks has been released, but a promoter who asked about booking Banks said they cannot imagine that she is not gone from the company so far.
Opinion: This is the kind of thing that is sort of a wait and see situation. There is little reason to believe that banks is going to be wrestling anytime soon, as she has yet to officially be released from WWE so far. I’m curious t..

That’s never good to hear. There are a lot of people who work for a wrestling promotion besides just the people you see in the ring. In addition to the wrestlers, there are also the people who help train the wrestlers but rarely get that much attention. Some of those names are famous in their own right though and one such name was missing in action this week.
AEW star and trainer Dustin Rhodes announced that he would not be at this week’s Dynamite tapings in Savannah, Georgia as he was home sick. Rhodes did not specify what was wrong with him or suggest that he would be missing any additional time. In addition to wrestling, Rhodes works with the women’s division as a coach and trainer. His most recent match took place on the July 1 edition of AEW Rampage.
Not at #AEWDynamite #FyterFest tonight as I am super sick at home. Y'all tune in to @TBSNetwork at 8/7 central. @AEW
— Dustin Rhodes (@dustinrhodes) July 13, 2022
Opinion: That doesn’t sound great but hopefully he is back at ..

That’s not good. WWE has been trying to bring in a variety of new stars to bolster its roster, both for the present and the future. A lot of this has been through the Next In Line (NIL) program, as WWE has been able to sign college athletes to name, image and likeness deals. Those names have not appeared on WWE programming to date, though one of them seems less likely to appear ever.
Accord to the O’Colly (Oklahoma State University’s student newspaper), WWE NIL signee AJ Ferrari has been removed from the Oklahoma State wrestling team amid an investigation of sexual assault. Ferrari, who has currently not been charged with any crime, was part of the initial NIL class in 2021 and has not wrestled for WWE. The company has not responded to the investigation.
Opinion: That is a very serious allegation and it would not surprise me at all to see Ferrari dropped by WWE as a result. Such a change might come immediately or after the investigation is over, but either way, Ferrari is going to be..