NEWS

NXT LVL Up
Date: May 20, 2022
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Sudu Shaw, Nigel McGuinness
We’re off a pretty hot ending on Smackdown and hopefully at least a little bit of that can carry over here. Other than that though, there is always the chance to run down Sasha Banks and Naomi again, because doing it on national TV wasn’t enough. And there might even be some wrestling thrown in. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Javier Bernal vs. Bryson Montana Montana was the last man standing in Ivy Nile’s challenge a few weeks back. They fight over arm control to start with Montana flipping out and staring at Bernal a bit. A side slam plants Bernal but he fights out of an over the shoulder backbreaker. Some kicks to the leg put Montana down and a Codebreaker finishes Montana at 4:11.
Result: Bryson Montana b. Javier Bernal – Codebreaker (4:11)
Ivy Nile vs. Yulisa Leon Valentina Feroz is here with Leon. Feeling out process to start with Nile winning a tes..

There’s the confirmation. Injuries are one of the worst things that can happen to a wrestler as they can be doing anything and then have their momentum cut off in the blink of an eye. That is the kind of thing that ever wrestler dreads and the question becomes when they can get back in the ring. Now we know what happened to an AEW star and it is one of the more severe possibilities.
AEW’s Leyla Hirsch has announced that she has undergone successful surgery to repair a torn ACL. Hirsch said that she suffered the injury during a Dark Elevation taping when she landed on her feet while attempting a moonsault and landing on her feet. There is no word on how long Hirsch will be out of action. Rumors of her injury sprung up earlier this month but this is the first confirmation.
On April 5th, during AEW Dark Elevation, I suffered an injury. After landing on my feet from a moonsault, I tore my ACL. Today I was finally able to get my surgery.
Thank you to everyone for the support . I promise..

So much for them? We are just over a week away from WWE’s Hell In A Cell event but that doesn’t mean it is too early to start on the next show. In this case, that would be Money In The Bank, which is taking place on July 2, albeit in a different venue than previously planned. As a result of the change of location, WWE has made another change in the form of the lineup appearing.
On Thursday, WWE officially announced that Money In The Bank will be heading to the MGM Grand Garden Arena rather than the previously announced Allegiant Stadium. This also comes with a new promotional poster for the event, which features several new stars. The previous poster featured:
AJ Styles
Sasha Banks
Bianca Belair
Drew McIntyre
Becky Lynch
Charlotte
Bobby Lashley
Ronda Rousey
Brock Lesnar
Roman Reigns
The new poster features:
Drew McIntyre
The Street Profits
Rhea Ripley
Miz
Cody Rhodes
Bianca Belair
Riddle
There is no guarantee that any of the wrestlers listed will or will not appear on the show. Ho..

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?
Survivor Series 2007
Date: November 18, 2007
Location: American Airlines Arena, Miami, Florida
Attendance: 12,500
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield, Jerry Lawler, Jim Ross, Tazz, Joey Styles
It is pretty rare when you have a true one match card but that is what we have here, as Batista is defending the Smackdown World Title against the Undertaker inside the Cell. There might be a few other things going on here, but that has been treated as the be all and end all of the show, as it should be. Let’s..

That’s a shakeup. WWE presents a lot of wrestling events at any given time of the year. This can make for some very big events, as the company has the budget and the status to pull something like that off. It doesn’t mean that they are guaranteed successes though, and that might be the case again soon. If it is the case, WWE is going to be making a very big change.
According to Brad Shepherd, WWE will be moving July 2nd’s Money in the Bank pay per view event from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada to the MGM Grand Garden Arena, also in Las Vegas, due to poor ticket sales. WWE has yet to announce any such change and as of Thursday morning, still has Allegiant Stadium listed as the show’s venue. In addition, Allegiant Stadium’s Twitter account advertised the show taking place in the venue this week. There is no word on when the announcement will be made.
On May 19th, I broke the news on the Brad Shepard UNLEASHED Patreon that #WWE was considering moving to a different venue for Mon..

That’s never good to hear. One of the last things that you ever want to hear about in wrestling is an injury. Someone can be on a roll and then have something to go wrong that wipes them out for a short or long amount of time. Wrestlers can be taken out in the blink of an eye and unfortunately that seems to be the case again. Now we know some more about just how bad things are.
It was announced this week on NXT that Nikkita Lyons was injured, forcing her out of the Women’s Breakout Tournament. Lyons has since posted a video to Instagram, announcing that she has suffered a partial tear of her MCL, as well as an MCL sprain. There is no word on how long Lyons is expected to be out of action. Tiffany Stratton took her place in the tournament and advanced to the finals against Roxanne Perez.
This doesn’t sound good. Check out Lyons’ announcement:
[This post contains video, click to play]
Opinion: I’m not sure what this is going to mean for Lyons’ future but hopefully she isn’t out of ac..

It’s still a change. There are a lot of different ways to keep a wrestler feeling different and one of the most important is the wrestler’s name. Having the wrong name can cause a few problems for someone and as a result, WWE likes to mix things up a bit every now and that. That is the case again for a current WWE star, though this is one of the smallest changes you will ever see.
WWE has officially changed Ludwig Kaiser’s name to Ludvig Kaiser, as shown on his WWE.com profile page. There is no word on why the change was made and it has yet to be acknowledged on WWE TV. Kaiser was called up to the main roster full time earlier this year after the split of of the Imperium stable. He has continued to appear with Gunther on SmackDown, though Kaiser has yet to wrestle a match on WWE TV.
Opinion: This is one of those “only in WWE” things as they have literally decided to change a single letter in the name of someone who doesn’t actually wrestle at the moment and is solely there to introdu..

That is too far. Fans are the life blood of wrestling and the last few years have shown that the industry is not the same without them. You can only do so much without having fans in the arena and they keep the shows functioning as usual. However, there are occasions where a fan takes things too far, and that seems to be the case again in a very serious way indeed.
On Tuesday night, Alexa Bliss was promoting an upcoming fundraiser when someone posted a comment asking if she had anything to say. Bliss responded saying that she has seen a direct message from the fan threatening to shoot Bliss and her husband Ryan Cabrera. Bliss has said that she has turned those in, presumably to the authorities. There is no word on any response from either the fan or from the authorities as a result. Bliss returned to action on Monday Night Raw this month after nearly three months off.
This is crazy man wtf??? pic.twitter.com/qJWxxYecTP
— Wrestle Ops (@WrestleOps) May 25, 2022
View this post on Inst..

It can happen to anyone. Injuries can take anyone down at any given time and that is never good to see. Any wrestler can be hurt doing just about anything but at the end of the day, there are some moves and stunts that are even more dangerous. It might not be the best idea to try something like this but wrestlers can do some wacky things. That was the case recently and now it isn’t going well.
AEW has announced that due to suffering an unspecified injury, Sting will be unable to participate in this weekend’s Fan Fest Meet and Greets. There is no word on how Sting was injured but it said to have taken place last week. Sting was not scheduled to appear at the show and it is not clear when he will be able to return to television or action. While Sting has not wrestled regularly this year, he has helped Darby Allin during various brawls.
Due to injury last week, @Sting has not been cleared to travel & will unfortunately not be at this Saturday’s #AEWDoN Fan Fest Meet & Greets. For fans w..

That would explain it. There are a lot of ways to present a wrestler to WWE. Sometimes you see them brought in for the first time but other wrestlers have already been around for a long time and need a shakeup. That can lead to some rather creative debuts as someone needs a repackaging and now we might be seeing WWE’s latest efforts with one of its many superstars.
This week on NXT, a vignette aired for a debuting wrestler by the name of Giovanni Vinci. There was no specific information given about him, though the wrestler was shown as being from Italy. According to Cageside Seats, this will be a repackaging of Fabian Aichner, who has been missing from television since the split of the Imperium stable. There is no word on when Vinci will be debuting.
Opinion: I don’t think this is the biggest surprise as the Italy detail was about all you needed to hear. Aichner getting his own singles push instead of being part of Imperium could be a good way to go for him, as he certainly has the t..

Meet your invaders. One of the most interesting parts of AEW has been the amount of international promotions that have worked with the company. AEW has brought in several wrestlers from around the world and it can offer more than a few cool moments. That was the case again this week, as two international stars appeared for a preview of something coming next month.
This week on AEW Dynamite, New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Great O’Khan and Jeff Cobb interfered in a match between FTR and Roppongi Vice for FTR’s Ring Of Honor Tag Team Titles. Following the match, O’Khan and Cobb attacked both teams and held up the title belts. This comes just over a month before the New Japan/AEW co-promoted Forbidden Door event, though no matches have been announced. The interference marked O’Khan’s AEW debut and Cobb’s first appearance in AEW since February 2020.
Opinion: This is the kind of story that can get my interest, as Cobb and O’Khan are part of the United Empire in New Japan and not just two people..

The card keeps growing. We are less than four days away from AEW Double Or Nothing and the card is all but set. The matches have been made for quite awhile not, but this time around there are some gaps that still need to be filled in. This includes a few tournament finals, and now we know who will be taking part in one of them, with a prestigious prize on the line.
This week on AEW Dynamite, Samoa Joe defeated Kyle O’Reilly to advance to the finals of the men’s Owen Hart Foundation tournament. As a result of his win, Samoa Joe will face Adam Cole at Double Or Nothing on Sunday May 29. The match will mark the finals of the first ever edition of the tournament, as well as the first time that the two of them have faced off in their careers.
Opinion: This is the kind of match that is certainly intriguing, as I could see either of them winning. What matters here is having the best match they could, as I can imagine that the goal will be to put on a match to honor Hart. Samoa Joe winning w..