NEWS

It’s time to climb. We have reached another of WWE’s major pay per view events and this time it is mostly going to be about becoming something close to #1 contender. As usual, there is a men’s and women’s version, both of which should have quite the collection of major spots. These shows tend to be a lot of fun, even if the build could use some work. Let’s get to it.
Smackdown Women’s Title: Ronda Rousey(c) vs. Natalya Let’s get this one out of the way before it puts me to sleep. This hasn’t been an interesting feud as Natalya is by definition not interesting. Rousey hasn’t been much better, but WWE has been trying to turn Natalya into something bigger than she is and it hasn’t quite been working. That is what they are trying to do again here though, apparently due to Sasha Banks’ latest meltdown.
Of course I’ll go with Rousey winning here, as the story of “I ALMOST made her tap to the Sharpshooter in a non-match” isn’t enough to sway me to the Natalya side. I’m sure the match itself..

Rampage
Date: July 1, 2022
Location: Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, Michigan
Commentators: Jim Ross, Excalibur, Tony Schiavone
We are done with Forbidden Door and that means it is time to start moving forward. In this case that means we need a new challenger for Jon Moxley’s newly won Interim World Title. We can find that out tonight in what sounds like a Royal Rumble for the #1 contendership. That should be enough to carry the show so let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Royal Rampage So this is a two ring battle royal, but not in the traditional sense. Instead, there are two rings with a separate battle royal going on in each. Once there is a single person left in each, they will have a two man battle royal for the shot. It is also Royal Rumble style entrances and it’s Hangman Page/Powerhouse Hobbs in blue and Darby Allin/Tony Nese in red to get things going.
Nese kicks Allin down and poses as Hobbs powers Page around. Page low bridges Hobbs to the apron as Ricky Starks is in the r..

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 1990
Date: August 27, 1990
Location: Philadelphia Spectrum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Attendance: 19,304
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Roddy Piper
I watched this show more times than I can count as a kid as it was the first wrestling show I had on video. I’ve seen it so many times that I can probably quote at least a bit of the commentary from every match and know most of the matches by heart so looking back at it should be fun. It’s a double main event as Hulk Hogan returns to face Earthquake and Ultim..

Shocking. There are two major wrestling promotions in the United States today, with AEW and WWE dominating the country’s industry. That means the companies are in competition with each other, especially when it comes to signing talent. Both companies bring in stars from elsewhere, and a recent signing of a former WWE wrestler to AEW has left some people surprised.
Last weekend at Forbidden Door, former WWE star Claudio Castagnoli, formerly known as Cesaro, made his debut and defeated Zack Sabre Jr. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE stars were shocked at Castagnoli going to AEW due to the amount of money that WWE offered him. It was believed that AEW was no longer matching or exceeding WWE offers, though there is a possibility that Castagnoli moved for the sake of a chance at a push rather than money.
Opinion: This is the kind of thing that is a bit of a surprise, especially if WWE was offering him that kind of money. Castagnoli has already made quite the impact in A..

That could be a big change. AEW has done quite a bit in its first three years of existence and a lot of that has been due to the signature style that they work. The company presents a combination of high speed and hard hitting matches between a variety of wrestlers. That can create some exciting matches but it might also be causing some issues, some of which might be addressed soon.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Adam Cole suffered a very serious concussion at Forbidden Door, which led to the awkward finish to the IWGP Title match. This is the latest in a series of injuries in AEW and should AEW President Tony Khan see it as a result of the company’s style, he may limit the amount of dangerous spots, perhaps even limiting them to pay per view. There is no word on if Khan will do so, or if he will see the injuries as a mere run of bad luck.
Opinion: This is the kind of thing that AEW might want to consider slowing down on anyway, as the fast paced offense and hard hit..

Welcome back? While WWE and AEW get most of the attention, there are a lot of other talented wrestlers performing elsewhere. That can open the door for a lot of fans to see stars that they new knew before, but sometimes these other promotions have stars that you have seen somewhere before. It seems to be the case again, and now a seemingly blackballed star is on her way back.
Hurricane Pro Wrestling in Beaumont, Texas has announced that Tessa Blanchard will be appearing at their event on July 16. There is no word on what Blanchard will be doing on the show, though she is featured in the center of the post. Blanchard has not wrestled since September 12, 2020 for Warrior Wrestling. Since then, she has been living in Mexico with her husband Daga, following allegations of racist statements against a wrestler in Japan. She had been announced as part of the revival of Women Of Wrestling but her association fell through after a disagreement with the promotion.
HPW – Sat July 16 – @FordPark,..

That would be a loss. There are a lot of talented stars in WWE, to the point where the roster has been split into a variety of groups. This includes NXT, which may be the official developmental program but it still contains a wide variety of incredible stars. Now though, it seems that WWE could be in danger of losing one of those stars, even if she has not been around much lately.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, NXT’s Io Shirai has not signed the latest contract that WWE has offered her. Her current WWE deal expires next month and if she does not sign a new deal, she will become a free agent. Shirai has reportedly been telling others that she wants to return to Japan to be near her family. There is no word on where she would wrestle next should she leave NXT. Shirai has not wrestled in NXT since being injured at Stand & Deliver on April 1.
Opinion: This is the kind of thing that is going to happen at one point or another and that is something WWE has to deal with when..

Hold on for a second. There are very few stars in the history of wrestling who have reached the heights of John Cena. While he might not be the most popular star among all fans, Cena has become one of the biggest names ever in WWE and the company certainly values what they can get out of him. That seems to be the case again, but it might be a little while before Cena is back between the ropes.
This week’s Monday Night Raw was focused on twenty years of Cena in WWE. Cena appeared on the show and got into a backstage confrontation with Theory. This comes after rumors of Cena vs. Theory at Summerslam have been circulating. However, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the match might be postponed until WrestleMania. Cena is one of WWE’s biggest draws and they would want to promote the match as far in advance as possible but not mention was made on Monday Night Raw. Cena also made it clear that he would wrestle again, but he said he did not know when.
Opinion: This makes sense..

Another few on the list. Stables have been a huge part of WWE for a long time now and that is likely to continue for a good while to come. It makes sense to put a bunch of people together in a group to maximize the amount of television time that they are receiving. WWE has a pretty strong track record of doing this and now we have seen their latest concept come to life.
This week on SmackDown, Max Dupri debuted his Maximum Male Models stable, consisting of ma.cé, formerly known as Mace, and mån.sôör, formerly known as Mansoor. The models walked down the aisle and posed for photographers as Dupri listed off their various attributed. This comes after weeks of Dupri attempting to debut his team but not being able to due to various reasons.
Opinion: This is the kind of thing that can fit in very well if WWE embraces the goofiness of the idea. I don’t think anyone is thinking this is going to be the idea that relaunches WWE into the stratosphere but it’s ok to have something that is nothi..

They might want someone else. NXT is a unique promotion as the show Is supposed to both stand on its own as well as develop new stars for Monday Night Raw and SmackDown. That can make for some tricky situations as stars are build up in short order and can be sent to the main roster in a hurry. It may be the case again, as WWE has its eye on another NXT star.
According to Fightful Select, there have been serious discussions about bringing Solo Sikoa up from NXT to the main roster. Sikoa is a member of the Anoa’i family, which includes Roman Reigns and the Usos, but it is not clear if he would be joining them should he be called up. There is no word on when this call up would take place, or if WWE has come to a final decision on moving Sikoa.
Opinion: I don’t think there is much of a surprise to WWE considering this as Sikoa is kind of perfect to bring up to the main roster. He has the look and could easily be put into the Bloodline, or he could do something on his own. At the end of t..

Smackdown
Date: July 1, 2022
Location: Footprint Center, Phoenix, Arizona
Commentators: Pat McAfee, Michael Cole
It’s the go home show for Money in the Bank and that means we probably need a lot of talk about the percentages of wrestlers who successfully cash in. I for one could go for some good old statistics to make me care about the show, as it isn’t like there is much else to say. Maybe they can surprise us though. Let’s get to it.
The participants in the men’s Money in the Bank ladder match are on ladders in the ring (save for Omos) and talk about how they want to win on Saturday. It means they can cash in, with Seth Rollins saying Summerslam sounds like a good idea. Sami Zayn says he’ll win and keep the contract in the Bloodline’s house. MVP laughs off the idea of anyone but Omos winning and there is no one who can do anything to stop them. Sheamus wants to beat Brock Lesnar, though Drew McIntyre says he has already done it.
Cue Miz (Drew: “The frickin MIZ?”) to says he is a t..

They have plans. NXT has a unique setup in wrestling as it is not only WWE’s official developmental territory, but also a promotion of its own. The show runs for two hours every week on national TV and that means they need a lot of content to fill in that time. Now we might have an idea of what some of those people will be doing and it could involve a few changes.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, NXT may be planning some changes for some of its women’s division. First up, Tatum Paxley and Ivy Nile have been rumored as a tag team. This has been hinted at for several weeks but the team has never officially come together. In addition, there has been a discussion of Cora Jade turning on Roxanne Perez. The two are scheduled to challenge for the NXT Women’s Tag Team Titles on Tuesday at the Great American Bash.
Opinion: This is the kind of thing that has to be done at some point, though I’m not sure if I would have Jade turn on Perez so fast. They haven’t been a team for tha..