NEWS

That could have been worse. There are all kinds of injuries that can put a wrestler on the shelf and you never know how bad things can be until you get a better diagnosis. As many times as you can see a wrestler get hurt in the ring, there are other times when something goes wrong that you might never see. That was the case last year, and it turns out that things were a lot more serious than people realized.
Last year, Chris Jericho was hospitalized during a UK tour during a tour of England with his band Fozzy. Jericho opened up about the situation during his Talk Is Jericho podcast, revealing that he was suffering from blood clots and had a pulmonary embolism (blood clot in the lungs). Jericho talked about performing at a show in Newcastle, England and having trouble breathing. This led to a hospitalization and several appearances being canceled as Jericho recovered. The clots have since been removed, allowing a full recovery.
Opinion: This is one of those things that is absolutely ..

Smackdown
Date: July 8, 2022
Location: Dickie’s Arena, Fort Worth, Texas
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves
We’re done with Money In The Bank and have just over three weeks before Summerslam, but because this is WWE, we need to build towards Clash At The Castle too. This week will feature Drew McIntyre vs. Sheamus for the shot at Roman Reigns at the show in Wales in September. Let’s get to it.
We open with a recap of Theory losing the US Title but then becoming Mr. Money In The Bank later in the night.
Here is the Bloodline to get things going. After their full entrance, Theory pops up on the stage, with Cole asking if he’s going to cash in Money In The Bank now. After a break, Roman Reigns talks about how happy he is to be here, including saying that he’s hearing some mixed reactions from the fans.
As long as God wakes him up every day, he can handle anything. Now he’s here and seeing the Usos and his Special Counsel….and the Counsel looks like this. Heyman looks terrified b..

They aren’t buying it. WWE has a lot of very talented people on its roster and the company knows how to present a lot of them in a variety of ways. It is WWE’s job to come up with the most interesting set of matches that can draw the most interest and therefore the most money. One of the best ways to do this is to present a special match, which is what they will be doing later this month. However, not everyone completely believes what WWE is saying.
The main event of this year’s Summerslam will feature Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar in a Last Man Standing match. The match is being billed as the last showdown between the two, but according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, several backstage in WWE do not believe that it will be the case. Some wrestlers feel that WWE will run the match again when they need to, partially because the match is taking place due to Randy Orton being injured. If Lesnar can be brought in as a replacement for Orton, he could be used in the future.
Opinion: ..

It had been reported that Vince McMahon paid $3 million to a WWE employee due to a sexual relationship between the two. The company’s Board of Directors was investigating it, but apparently, the scandal didn’t end there.
According to a new report from the Wall Street Journal and iHeart, McMahon paid more than $12 million in hush money to four women during the past 16 years to suppress sexual misconduct and infidelity allegations.
The report states that all four women were affiliated with WWE and signed agreements with McMahon prohibiting them from publicly discussing possible legal claims or their relationship with him. Sources with knowledge of the situation confirmed this to the Journal.
The new reported settlements include McMahon paying $7.5 million to a former WWE wrestler who claimed McMahon coerced her into giving him oral sex and then demoted her before ultimately deciding not to renew her contract after she resisted other sexual encounters, sources familiar with the situati..

An interesting pair. There are all kinds of wrestling stories going on in the world, but there are a lot more that take place outside of the industry. Sometimes though those worlds combine as wrestling is connected to the outside world, which can often lead to some interesting situations. That was the case again in one of the biggest stories in the world of any kind.
One of the biggest international stories of the week has been the collapse of Boris Johnson’s government in the United Kingdom. This included the resignations of over sixty members of Parliament, including Michelle Donelan, who was named Secretary of State for Education, only to resign in protest of Johnson about thirty six hours later. Donelan is a former WWE employee, having worked as International Marketing Campaign Manager from 2010-2014.
Opinion: This is one of those things that you do not see happen very often but it makes for a bit of an interesting note. Donelan is not someone most would remember from her time wi..

They have a plan for that. Titles are some of the most important aspects to wrestling as they are the symbol of a top star. Fans can instantly understand the idea of a champion with a shiny belt and that has been the case for almost all of wrestling’s history. Since there are so many titles in modern wrestling, there has to be a way to make a title stand out. Now we might have an idea of how that will be done with one in particular.
At Forbidden Door, Pac won the inaugural AEW All Atlantic Title in a four way match. During an interview with the Masked Man Show, AEW President Tony Khan revealed that the title will be a traveling championship, with the title being defended in various promotions around the world. This comes as Pac already has international title defenses scheduled, including some in the United Kingdom.
Opinion: This is an interesting way to go with the title and something that could work out well for AEW. It allows the company to have an international presence that keep..

That’s not a great sign. There have been a lot of changes taking place in WWE as of late and a lot of those changes have involved the roster. The biggest of these changes took place in May, when Sasha Banks and Naomi walked out of the company, vacating the Women’s Tag Team Titles in the process. Neither has appeared on WWE TV since, and now we might have a big update.
According to Fightful Select, both Banks and Naomi have been removed from WWE’s internal rosters and WWE creative is not expecting them back. They are still both listed on the WWE.com roster page. At the same time, according to Wrestlinginc.com, both Banks and Naomi have removed all references to WWE from their Instagram biographies. Instead, the term “professional wrestler’ is now used, though both of their Twitter handles still include WWE.
Opinion: I don’t think there is much of a surprise here, as it was almost hard to fathom the idea of Banks and Naomi returning to WWE after everything that had happened. I’m not su..

That doesn’t sound great. There are all kinds of injuries that can put someone on the shelf for a long time and that is never good to see. One of the worst parts about an injury is waiting to see just how long they are going to be gone. That is the case with a variety of AEW stars at the moment and unfortunately things might be a bit worse for him as he works towards recovery.
During an interview with the New York Post, AEW President Tony Khan spoke about Adam Cole’s injury status following Cole’s injury at Forbidden Door. Khan said that while Cole had no contact between Double Or Nothing and Forbidden Door and was cleared going into his match at the latter, he is needing some time off to recover. As a result, Cole will not be wrestling until he is 100%. There is no word on when he will be back in action, but he has not appeared on AEW television since Forbidden Door.
Opinion: You never want to hear about something like this and unfortunately it seems like Cole is going to be out of ..

Homecoming? It is always sad to see a wrestler put on the shelf for a long time as you never know when they are going to be back. That can make for some rather terrible waiting spells and a WWE star is in the middle of one of the longer in recent memory. Fans have been waiting for her to be back for a long time now and that might be a lot sooner than they think.
According to PWInsider.com, Bayley has been at the WWE Performance Center for several days in the past week, though what she is doing there has yet to be confirmed. Bayley has been out of action since June 2021 with a knee injury and it is not clear when she will be able to return to the ring. Over the last few months, Bayley has dropped hints suggesting that she will be back in the ring soon.
Opinion: This is one of those things that sounds great on paper but you don’t know what it is going to mean, as Bayley could be out of action for a long time to come. What matters is the fact that she is at least on the road to recovery..

She probably should be. With so many wrestlers under one banner, WWE has to split them up into multiple rosters. In theory the rosters are specific for each show, but that is not always the case. That can make for more than a few interesting situations, especially when one wrestler moves to another roster. Sometimes that needs to be the case and it seems to be so again, especially since a title is involved.
According to PWInsider.com, Liv Morgan has been moved from the Monday Night Raw roster to the SmackDown roster. This comes after Morgan defeated Ronda Rousey to become the new SmackDown Women’s Champion last weekend at Money In The Bank. Morgan won the women’s Money In The Bank ladder match earlier in the night and cashed in on Rousey despite being part of the Monday Night Raw roster. Morgan had been on the Monday Night Raw roster since she was drafted to the show in October 2021.
Opinion: This is about as logical of a move as there was to make and WWE didn’t have much of another ..

That’s a big one. There are all kinds of wrestlers on the WWE roster and some of them are better known than others. With so many stars out there, it is difficult to keep track of everyone out there, as WWE has its roster split up into different groups. Now one of them is going to be on the shelf for the time being, which unfortunately has major title implications.
According to Inside The Ropes, Ilja Dragunov was forced to vacate the NXT United Kingdom Title at this week’s television tapings. Dragunov appeared at the tapings in a walking boot and announced that he was unable to defend the championship. As a result, an eight man tournament to crown a new champion was announced, with the winner being crowned the new champion. There are no details on Dragunov’s injury. The announcement should air on NXT UK TV before the end of the month.
Opinion: While this isn’t good to hear, it does explain a few things. Dragunov has not been around very much lately and has not wrestled in over two mon..

Stick around for a bit. Commentary is one of the most important parts of any wrestling show. The broadcasting team is tasked with telling the fans what they are seeing and why it is important. They help guide the fans in the right direction and give them the stories that the promotion wants to present. Having the correct voices out there is very important, and now WWE has locked up one of its more prominent voices for a good while.
WWE has announced that SmackDown broadcaster Pat McAfee has signed a multi-year extension with WWE that will keep him with the company for the forseeable future. There is no word on how long the extension will last. McAfee has been broadcasting SmackDown since April 2021 and has also wrestled, defeating Theory at WrestleMania 38. He is scheduled to face Happy Corbin at Summerslam.
Opinion: This is the kind of thing that makes all the sense in the world for WWE as you would want to keep someone as good as McAfee around. Ignoring McAfee’s following from his ..