NEWS

Rampage
Date: May 27, 2022
Location: Michelob Ultra Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada
Commentators: Excalibur, Taz, Ricky Starks
It’s the final show before Double Or Nothing and that means it is time for the last push towards the show. If nothing else, we get to find out who will be in the final of the women’s Owen Hart Foundation tournament, because that is still going. Tonight is mostly about firming up what is already there though so let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Bryan Danielson vs. Matt Sydal William Regal is on commentary as Danielson wins a test of strength and grabs a headlock. Back up and Sydal snaps off a flying mare, leaving us with a standoff. Danielson uppercuts him down and fires off the forearms to the head but Sydal is back with a leg lariat. We take a break and come back with Danielson dropping a knee for two of his own, only to have Sydal kick him in the face for a breather.
A hurricanrana gives Sydal two so he goes up for the Meteora, which is pulled into a nasty half..

I remember him. There have been so many wrestlers throughout the years that it can be difficult to remember all of them. All kinds of stars come and go with little to no impact, but there are some that stand out for one reason or another. That is the case with a bunch of stars from WWE’s Attitude Era and another one was back this week, albeit for a completely different company.
Former WWE star Gangrel made a surprise appearance this week on AEW Rampage, accompanying the Young Bucks to the ring for their match. This was part of a Young Bucks parody of the Hardys, who Gangrel briefly managed in WWE as the New Brood. Following the match, the Bucks attacked Gangrel but the Hardys ran in for the save. There is nothing to suggest that this is anything more than a one off appearance.
This was hilarious. Check out the surprise cameo:
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Opinion: This is the kind of a cameo that works very well, as a wrestler like Gangrel does have enough of a connect..

The card still has room. AEW does not run pay per view events very often so when they do go on the big stage, it means a lot more than usual. That is the kind of show that everyone wants to be on, meaning the shows are often packed. The same is true with this weekend’s Double Or Nothing, though now AEW has made the show even bigger by adding some more matches to the card.
There were two new matches added to the Double Or Nothing card during this week’s edition of Rampage. First up, Darby Allin challenged Kyle O’Reilly to a grudge match after O’Reilly attacked Sting last week. The match was made official later in the show. Second, the Men of the Year and Paige VanZant agreed to face Sammy Guevara/Tay Conti/Frankie Kazarian in a six person tag. If Guevara and company loses, Guevara and Kazarian can never challenge for the TNT Title again.
Opinion: I think that’s enough, as we are now all the way to thirteen matches taking place on Sunday night. That is more than enough in the first pla..

Smackdown
Date: May 27, 2022
Location: Simmons Bank Arena, Little Rock, Arkansas
Commentators: Michael Cole, Pat McAfee
We’re almost up to Hell In A Cell and that means it might be time to actually add some things to the card. I’m not sure what the main event is actually supposed to be but maybe we get something else this week. If nothing else, New Day has a mystery partner to FINALLY wrap up their feud with the Brawling Brutes. I’m sure. Let’s get to it.
We open with a recap of the Usos taking out RKBro last week to unify the Tag Team Titles. Randy Orton was injured pretty badly last week to put him on the shelf for the time being.
Here are the Usos for a chat. After thanking Roman Reigns for making this possible, we hear about how the Usos recently celebrated twelve years in this company and they couldn’t have done it without the fans. The fans have cheered and booed them while seeing their up and definitely (Jey’s word) seeing their downs. After all their time together and all th..

Impact Wrestling
Date: May 26, 2022
Location: Osceola Heritage Park, Kissimmee, Florida
Commentators: Matthew Rehwoldt, Tom Hannifan
We are well on the way to Slammiversary and that means it is time to build towards the matches that are already set for the show. This includes the World Title match of Josh Alexander defending against Eric Young, which will probably be built up a bit more this week. Let’s get to it.
We open with a recap of last week’s main event, with the Briscoes retaining the Tag Team Titles over Violent By Design. This set up a post match staredown also involving Josh Alexander.
Opening sequence.
Ultimate X Qualifying Match: Alex Shelley vs. Trey Miguel We get a respectful handshake to start until Shelley grabs a hammerlock. Miguel spins out of that in a hurry though and we’re at a standoff. A whip into the ropes doesn’t work for Shelley, as Miguel is right there with a few kicks to the arm. Shelley sends him outside though and there’s the baseball slide to stagge..

Pack the bags. WWE runs a lot of major events every single year, some of which are among the biggest on the wrestling calendar. The company’s top events are some of the most well known in the industry and as a result, they are able to draw in tends of thousands of fans to the larger events. That is usually the case, but now things will not be taking place as originally planned.
WWE has officially announced that July 2nd’s Money In The Bank pay per view will be taking place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada instead of Allegiant Stadium in the same city. Fans who had purchased tickets to the event in the original venue have been sent an email saying that they will receive a refund and be allowed to purchase tickets to the new venue in advance. WWE’s website has also changed the venue to the new location. The email did not give a reason for the changes, though previous reports cited poor advance ticket sales.
WWE sent out the following email to fans that Money in the Ba..

There’s still time. We are less than a week away from AEW Double Or Nothing and that means it is a special time for the company. AEW only runs a pay per view every quarter and that means a spot on the show is one of the most valuable things that the wrestlers can attain. The card is already stacked, but AEW might be adding one more match to the show before bell time.
According to Fightful Select, AEW may be adding a grudge match between Kyle O’Reilly and Darby Allin to the Double Or Nothing card. This comes after O’Reilly attacked Sting with a chair last week on Dynamite, resulting in Sting being pulled from this weekend’s meet and greet due to injuries. The match has yet to be announced, but could be added during this week’s live Rampage. Double Or Nothing takes place on Sunday, May 29.
Opinion: The match does make sense, but I don’t know if it is something that needs to be put onto Double Or Nothing. The show already has a long card and adding something else to it might be a bit of..

Maybe he isn’t done? There is a stigma when it comes to professional wrestlers that they are not real athletes. While this is easy to refute based on simply watching a match, the other way to solve it involves having more mainstream sports represented in wrestling. That often involves amateur wrestling stars moving to the professional ranks, but that might not be the case so soon.
In an interview with the Pioneer Press, University of Minnesota wrestling coach Brandon Eggum said that Gable Steveson would like to return to the university for his senior season. Steveson retired from amateur wrestling following his junior season, when he won his second Danny Hodge Trophy and second NCAA Heavyweight Championship. Steveson is also signed to WWE and appeared at Summerslam and WrestleMania 38. He was expected to begin on the WWE roster full time following his junior season but he has not appeared on WWE TV since WrestleMania. There is no word on if Steveson will be returning to the university..

That would be a problem. There are two different worlds in wrestling and only one of them takes place in front of the camera. In addition to what happens in front of an audience, there is everything that happens when the cameras are off. That can include backstage issues between the wrestlers and we might have seen one of them take place in front of our eyes.
According to Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez on Wrestling Observer Radio, there may be some backstage heat on CM Punk in AEW. The two both cited the promo exchange between Punk and Hangman Page this week on Dynamite, saying that it felt like the Shawn Michaels/Bret Hart exchanges from the Attitude Era. This is seen as speculation as the two did not say that there were definite issues between the two or heat on Punk for that matter.
Opinion: That is quite a bit to infer off of a single exchange. There is a very real chance that AEW was trying to make the segment feel more like a worked shoot, which means that they did very well. M..

Catch you later. Wrestlers are very impressive athletes, but there is always the chance that someone is going to get hurt. You never know when you might see it happen and that is one of the worst possibilities in wrestling. Some of the injuries are worth than others but any time away from the ring is bad. That is the case again with a current WWE star, who will not be around for a little while.
According to PWInsider.com, Monday Night Raw’s Zelina Vega has suffered some sort of an injury and will be out of action for another six to eight weeks, meaning she would be back around Summerslam. Vega has not wrestled since the April 11 edition of Monday Night Raw and was injured during her match against Bianca Belair. It is not clear what kind of injury she has sustained but there is a chance she will receive a push when she gets back. Vega has been praised for doing whatever is asked of her and working hard at anything.
Opinion: While you never want to see someone on the shelf for any amou..

Get the gold plates. Titles are one of the easiest concepts in wrestling and that has been the case for a very long time. Since wrestling began, the idea of having a championship belt to signify the best wrestler in the company has been a well known concept and that is still the case to this day. It means a lot when a promotion brings in a new title and that might be the case again in one of most prominent companies around.
During an interview with the AJ Awesome Show as part of the Double Or Nothing media conference call, AEW President Tony Khan mentioned that he would love to introduce Women’s Tag Team Titles to the company in the future. Khan said that while he needed to wait until some new wrestlers have been brought in and some wrestlers return from injury, but he would like to bring in the titles eventually. Also mentioned were the long rumored Trios Titles, though no date was given for either set of titles.
Opinion: I really hope that this isn’t something we see, as there are ..

As has been the case for the better part of two years, we are in the Roman Reigns reign in WWE, as Reigns has held the Universal Title since August 30, 2020. That is more than enough to make his time as champion an all time great, but despite some great matches and an aura that no one else has, things might be getting a bit tiresome. Today we are going to look at the problem with Reigns’ reign, plus another champion who has been presented in a much better way.
To say Reigns has dominated SmackDown, and WWE in general, in the last twenty two months is an understatement, as Reigns has been presented as the biggest star in the company with no one coming close to taking the title from him. There is a good chance that we are coming up on the actually epic showdown of Reigns vs. The Rock at WrestleMania 39 next year in Los Angeles, but that brings up more than a few problems.
Reigns has beaten all kinds of challengers during his time with the title and at the moment, it does not seem like ..