NEWS

There is room for one more. We are less than a week away from AEW’s Double Or Nothing and the card is already stacked. The show has several title and grudge matches already set and there is not much left to do. AEW has set up a lot for the show but there is still room for a little bit more. As luck would have it, AEW has set up another match that would fit on the card and it seems that is what they are going to do.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, AEW is planning on running a mixed tag match for Double Or Nothing. The match will feature Tay Conti/Sammy Guevara vs. Paige VanZant and either Scorpio Sky or Ethan Page. Guevara had agreed to the match weeks ago, though the participants were never specifically announced. It is not clear if the match will take place on the Buy In show or the regular show.
Opinion: This is a match that would make sends based on what was set up on television, but that doesn’t mean it needs to be on the pay per view. I’m sure the match will work..

They might need some help with that. Last week, WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Sasha Banks and Naomi walked out on the company. While their futures with WWE have been discussed extensively since, the titles, now vacant, have only been mentioned once on SmackDown. WWE has a plan for the titles, but they might need some help in making it all work out.
Last week on SmackDown, Michael Cole announced a tournament to crown new Women’s Tag Team Champions. No details were announced for the tournament, including start date, the number of teams or brackets. According to Wrestling Observer Live, WWE is planning to have teams from NXT brought up to the main roster to fill in some gaps. There is no word on which teams will be brought up or if they will be staying on the main roster.
Opinion: This is something that WWE is going to have to do as they do not have the amount of women needed to make something like this work. At the same time, I have no idea what they are supposed to do with the titles..

That would be a way to go. One of the bigger wrestling stories over the last few weeks has been Ric Flair announcing his return to the ring. This has led to some questions, as the match is expected to be a six man tag, with Flair and FTR teaming with the Rock N Roll Express with a third person to be named. Now we might know who it might be and it could be amazing.
During an appearance on Wrestling Shoot Interviews, former WWE star B. Brian Blair says that he is looking forward to seeing Flair facing Hulk Hogan, suggesting that Hogan will be the sixth man in the match. When directly asked if he knew for sure that Hogan will be the partner, Blair said that he did not know it to be true. Blair is a friend of Hogan’s and was Hogan’s first ever opponent.
Opinion: This is the kind of thing that I could see happening, but at the same time I do not want it to happen. How much of a mess could it be for Hogan to be in the ring with Flair? At the end of the day, this is supposed to be about Fla..

Welcome back? Wrestling is interesting in a lot of ways, as you will see a wrestler appear in different characters and gimmicks over the years. Every now and then you will see them revert to some of their own characters, which can make for more than a few interesting options. It can be interesting to see how the wrestler goes when things change and now that might be the case again.
Over the weekend, Robert Roode returned to the ring for his first match in two months. Roode wrestled as a singles star with no mention or reference of his regular tag team partner Dolph Ziggler. In addition, Roode came to the ring to his Glorious theme song, which he has not been using during his appearances. There is no word on if this will be used on television going forward.
This is quite nice to hear again. Check out Roode’s entrance over the weekend:
[This post contains video, click to play]
Opinion: Roode’s theme song is one of the best things about him and it is great to see him getting to use it..

That makes things more complicated. One of the best things that a promotion can do for a match is add a little something to it. Maybe it is a match that the fans have seen before or that might not sound too interesting on its own, but occasionally some extra spice is needed. That can be done by way of adding someone new to the mix and that is what happened this week.
The main event of this week’s Monday Night Raw saw Becky Lynch defeat Asuka in a rematch from last week. As a result, Lynch was added to the Raw Women’s Title match at Hell In A Cell, which already involved Asuka and champion Bianca Belair, now making it a triple threat match. Asuka had already wont he right to face Belair by defeating Lynch last week.
Opinion: It’s a bit of a weird way to go but I do like the idea of not burning through a big singles match on a lower level show like Hell In A Cell. You don’t want to do Lynch vs. Belair all over again so adding Asuka in keeps things tied to what they were doing before wh..

They got some more covered. We are less than two weeks away from WWE Hell In A Cell and the show is going to be built around its namesake matches. Those matches do not make up the entire card though and that means WWE is going to need to add in something else to make it work. That is what they have done this week, as more matches have been added to the card.
WWE added two more matches to this year’s Hell In A Cell card during this week’s edition of Monday Night Raw. First of all, Bobby Lashley challenged Omos to a match at the show, which was accepted. Later, MVP defeated Lashley in a match to decide who would get to pick the stipulation for Lashley vs. Omos. That night on Raw Talk, MVP decided he and Omos would face Lashley in a handicap match. The second match will see Kevin Owens face Ezekiel, after Owens issued the challenge. Hell In A Cell takes place on June 5.
Opinion: This is the kind of a build that they needed for the show, which doesn’t have much going on at the moment. I’..

Get your passports ready. WWE presents a bunch of major events every year, with some of them being held in fairly prominent locations. This involves WWE going outside of the United States to make things more international and the company has been leaning more in that direction in recent years. That will be the case later again this year as WWE is heading overseas again.
This week on Monday Night Raw, WWE announced that they will be returning to Saudi Arabia for their latest show in the kingdom, as Crown Jewel will be held on November 5. The event will be WWE’s first in the country since February’s Elimination Chamber and the fourth Crown Jewel event. There have been no matches or names announced for the show so far.
Opinion: These shows are going to be the norm for a long time to come and this is the latest edition. The Saudi Arabia shows are hit and miss at best most of the time and that very well may be the case again. You never know what you might see from them and hopefully they ..

Monday Night Raw
Date: May 23, 2022
Location: Ford Center, Evansville, Indiana
Commentators: Jimmy Smith, Corey Graves, Byron Saxton
We’re in a bit of a different era these days, as we now have unified Tag Team Champions, plus the lack of Sasha Banks and Naomi. I know WWE got their chance to complain about Banks and Naomi last week, but why do it once when you can do it again? Other than that, we might actually get something new set for the pay per view next weekend. Let’s get to it.
We open with a recap of the Usos beating RKBro to win the Raw Tag Team Titles. The Bloodline wrecked RKBro after the match.
Here is Riddle for a chat. Riddle talks about how things have been hard for Randy Orton in the last few years. His back was messed up before the unification match and he could barely walk. Riddle isn’t happy with “that tribal piece of trash” Roman Reigns and he wants revenge on all of the Bloodline. Vengeance is sworn and he knows that Orton is watching at home. The RKBro chants ta..

Impact Wrestling
Date: May 19, 2022
Location: Promowest Pavilion, Newport, Kentucky
Commentators: Tom Hannifan, Matthew Rehwoldt
We are on the way to Slammiversary and as of last week, we have a new #1 contender. Eric Young won Gauntlet For The Gold to earn the title shot against World Champion Josh Alexander, but that leaves a lot of the card to be filled in. This week will feature the Briscoes defending the Tag Team Titles against Violent By Design in an Under Siege rematch so let’s get to it.
We open with a recap of last week’s Gauntlet For The Gold, with Eric Young beating Chris Sabin to win the title shot.
Opening sequence.
Ultimate X Qualifying Match: Laredo Kid vs. Mike Bailey The winner moves on to Slammiversary. They trade legsweeps and no counts to start before flipping to their feet. An exchange of armdrags sends Bailey outside but he blocks a dive with a kick of his own. Back in and the fans are behind Bailey as he kicks Kid down for two more. The exchange of kicks goes..

This could be a bad one. The biggest wrestling story of the week has been Naomi and Sasha Banks walking out on WWE. The two left last week’s Monday Night Raw over creative differences involving the show’s planned main event. Since then, WWE has spoken negatively about the two of them and things are not looking great. Now things have been taken to another level.
According to Wrestlinginc.com, Naomi has removed all references to WWE from her social media accounts. This includes removing the “WWE Superstar” description and “FeelTheGlow” hashtag. Now, her biography simply has links to her Instagram and TikTok, though her handle is still @NaomiWWE. There is no word on when or if Naomi could return to WWE programming.
Opinion: This whole situation is such a mess and I have a bad feeling that it is going to turn into a huge logjam as neither side is interested in waiting. Banks and Naomi leaving might not have been the best decision, but WWE burying them on national TV wasn’t exactly great ..

It’s a group project. Wrestling and acting have a weird relationship, as wrestlers are acting but when it comes to acting, they are only seen as wrestlers. You will occasionally see a wrestler who has success in the acting world but they are often few and far between. Every wrestler turned actor has to start somewhere though and now we might be seeing that be the case again.
Film director Michael Matteo Rossi has announced that Impact Wrestling’s Tenille Dashwood has been cast in his upcoming film The Charisma Killers. Dashwood is at least the third wrestler who will appear in the film, along with Jessie McKay and Brian Pillman Jr, whose participation was announced earlier this month. There is no word on if any other wrestlers will be cast or when/where the film will be released.
Here is how the film is described:
When the old mentor of 7 killers finds out he has terminal cancer, he gives them all an opportunity at his fortune to prove themselves for one night only to exact revenge…

Another look. There have been all kinds of wrestlers over the years and several of them have some very interesting stories. That is the kind of thing that can make for some fascinating looks back and in recent years, a good many more of those looks have taken place. Now we seem ready to see even more, as some fresh wrestling documentaries are in the works.
According to Fightful Select, the Reelz movie channel is planning to release several new wrestling documentaries this summer. Names that are confirmed for such documentaries are Roddy Piper, Steve Austin and Chyna, though it is not clear if the living people or their families will be involved. These are not part of the A&E documentary series and are not expected to have involvement from WWE.
Opinion: This is an interesting idea, but at the same time I’m not sure how well things will go with limited participation. At the same time, Piper and Austin are names who have been documented before, with Austin’s story being fairly well know..