NEWS

That’s a different talent pool. WWE has a lot of wrestlers on its roster but they have to be kept in rotation to keep things fresh. That can be more than a little tricky as the company has to find extra talent to take their places. Sometimes WWE can find them in places you might not expect and that is the case again, as they have signed someone you probably would not have guessed.
This week’s edition of NXT featured a video on Thea Hail, a high school student who has been signed by WWE. Hail, 18 years old, was signed by WWE and will continue to train as she continues her education in college. Hail made her in-ring debut for AEW in September 2021 and has five matches to date for WWE, with all of them coming on NXT LVL Up. There is no word on when she will make her regular NXT debut.
This is pretty impressive. Check out the first look at Hail:
[This post contains video, click to play]

Opinion: It’s almost hard to fathom that something like this is taking place but Hail has looked po..

NXT
Date: May 17, 2022
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Wade Barrett, Vic Joseph
We’re officially on the road to In Your House and that means more of Joe Gacy vs. Bron Breakker because of course it does. Other than that we have more of the women’s Breakout Tournament, which at least started out somewhat ok. Tonight we have more first round matches so let’s get to it.
Opening recap.
Carmelo Hayes/Trick Williams vs. Solo Sikoa/Cameron Grimes Before the match, Hayes and Williams promise to take the North American Title back at In Your House. Grimes kicks Hayes in the face to start and Sikoa drops a backsplash on Williams to start fast. Williams is back with a jumping clothesline on Grimes and Hayes adds a springboard crossbody. It’s a double tag to bring in Williams and Sikoa with Sikoa getting taken down as we take a break.
Back with Hayes holding Sikoa in a chinlock, which is broken up without much trouble. The tag brings Grimes back in to clean hou..

They’re back at it. Wrestling has a lot of active parts to make the whole presentation work, but the live fans are one of the most important. Fans offer feedback and allow the wrestlers to get an idea of how they are doing at the moment. It can make a lot of difference when the fans are missing, but now some wrestlers are going to get a better idea of how things are going.
NXT has announced that they will be returning to live touring. This week on NXT, an announcement was made that the promotion will be holding a tour of Florida in June and July. Eight shows were announced, with more being promised in the future. This marks the return of regular touring for NXT, with the promotion only running one show outside of Orlando, Florida since their relaunch in September 2021. Here are the tour dates:
* Friday, June 10 – UACDC Complex in Tampa, Fla.
* Saturday, July 11 – Largo Event Center in Largo, Fla.
* Friday, June 24 – Jacksonville Armory in Jacksonville, Fla.
* Saturday, June 25 – Veni..

There’s your big one. NXT has come a long way since its relaunch and that has been great to see for a lot of wrestlers, as well as the fans. What matters most is allowing more quality wrestling to be seen, which has often come in the form of some of the promotion’s bigger shows. That will be the case again next month, and now we know what will be headlining the card.
This week on NXT, an NXT Title match was announced for the June 4 In Your House special. NXT Champion Bron Breakker agreed to defend the title against Joe Gacy, with the stipulation that Gacy will win the title if Breakker gets disqualified. This will be the second match between the two, after Breakker defeated Gacy in a previous title match earlier this month at NXT Breakin.
Opinion: This has been quite the weird feud between the two of them and I’m not sure how much they need to have another match. The weirdest part is the fact that Breakker has already defeated Gacy, making a second match between the two feel a bit un..

It had been previously reported that Sasha Banks and Naomi left the arena before the beginning of Raw going live on the air. The duo were reportedly unhappy with the creative direction of their characters and did not participate in the scheduled 6-pack challenge main event.
According to a report from PWInsider, the original plan for the main event was to have Naomi pin Banks to earn an opportunity against Bianca Belair for the Raw Women’s Championship. The conceived storyline idea was that Naomi would then go to Hell In A Cell and lose to Belair. Some believe that at this week’s Smackdown, an angle would have also been shot for Sasha Banks to wrestle and lose to Ronda Rousey at the premium live event.
At some point during the day, likely after the initial concerns about creative were raised, an alternative idea was pitched that would have seen Banks and Naomi have a short tag team match instead and be beaten down after setting up a different program. One source cited their opponents ..

That’s one way to do it. WWE has posted a new video to its YouTube channel in which they show the full match between John Cena and Batista for the WWE Championship in an “I Quit” Match from Over the Limit 2010.
You can see the match in its entirety below:
[This post contains video, click to play]

From WWE.com:
When WWE Champion John Cena and his opponent Batista faced off in an “I Quit” Match, it seemed entirely appropriate that the two Hemi-powered heavyweights found themselves dueling in the Motor City. Each man buried the speedometer as they rumbled toward each other until, finally, The Animal ran out of fuel and was forced to utter those infamous words, “I quit.”
For months, Batista had complained about The Champ, stating that The Animal should be the real “face of WWE.” That animosity only intensified after Batista was embarrassed in a Last Man Standing Match when Cena prevailed by duct-taping his feet together around one of the ring posts.
As for Cena, The Champ has appear..

Yes, again. There are very few wrestlers who truly retire from the ring. For one reason or another, a wrestler will almost always return to the ring for one more run or even one more match. That does not mean it is a good idea, as there have been some terrible comebacks in wrestling history. Now another one is taking place, as one of the biggest names of all time is returning to the ring.
After a few days of speculation, Ric Flair has confirmed that he is returning to the ring for one more match later this year. The match will be held in Nashville, Tennessee on July 31 as part of the Starrcast V convention. According to Fightful Select, the match will see Flair teaming with FTR to face the Rock N Roll Express and Ricky Steamboat, though no official announcement has been made. Flair last wrestled in September 2011 for Impact Wrestling.
The Rumors Are True! I’m Going To Walk That Aisle, Style And Profile, One Last Time! July 31st! Nashville, Tennessee! Jim Crockett Promotions!
I Will ..

That could have been big. There are certain things that almost have to be present to make a wrestling show work. This might seem a bit obvious, but one of the most important is a wrestling ring. The wrestlers get in the ring to have their match, and it is fairly easy to tell what you are watching if you see a ring present. That was almost taken in a different direction this week.
One of the matches advertised for this week’s Monday Night Raw was a cage match between Omos and Bobby Lashley. This was the third match between the two of them after they split the first two. According to the WrestleVotes Twitter account, an idea was floated to have the match end by destroying the ring. This did not wind up happening, as Omos threw Lashley through the cage wall, allowing Lashley to escape and win. The ring has been destroyed before, usually via a superplex, but never in a cage match.
Over the course of the past week, there was an idea for a collapsing ring angle during the cage match tonigh..

The important ones. WWE is the biggest and most powerful wrestling promotion in the world but they still have new places to conquer. The company already has a huge international presence and some major television deals, but they can always use more money and power. Now they have the chance to do so, and we know who they are using to help present themselves.
This week, NBC Universal is holding its up fronts in New York City, where the company tries to convince companies to buy advertising time on their shows. This includes WWE, which featured the Miz and Bianca Belair as WWE’s official representatives. The NBC Advertising And Partnerships Twitter account posted a photo of the two at the presentations. NBC Universal currently airs WWE Monday Night Raw and WWE content on its Peacock streaming service.
Our LIVE events bring people together to share in the biggest moments around the world. ? ?Talent from across @NBCSports, @WWE, and @TelemundoSports highlight the power of appointment view..

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?
Smackdown
Date: May 18, 2007
Location: 1st Mariner Arena, Baltimore, Maryland
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield
It’s the go home show for Judgment Day and I’m not sure what that is going to entail. Everything was shaken up last week when Edge won the World Title from Undertaker, who seems to be going on the shelf. Edge is going to be defending against Batista on Sunday, meaning it’s time for the rapid fire build. Let’s get to it.
We open with a recap of last week’s cage match, Mark Henry’s return..

It’s their identity. Theme music is one of the most important parts of a wrestler’s presentation. Without the right song, a wrestler might not be presented in the right way and that can cause them all kinds of problems. A theme song sets the mood for a wrestler and now one of the more established names in WWE is shaking things up a bit with a new theme song.
This week on Monday Night Raw, Alexa Bliss defeated Shayna Baszler for the second week in a row. Prior to the match, Bliss debuted a new theme song, replacing the music that she had used for most of her main roster career. The song included lyrics, marking a change from Bliss’ normal music. This was the second straight appearance for Bliss on Monday Night Raw, following three months of inactivity.
Opinion: The new song is a change of pace for Bliss, and that might be just what she needs. Her time as the female version of the Fiend was not the most well received and it is nice to see WWE getting further and further away from that ..

That’s a showdown. The WWE women’s divisions have come a long way in recent years and it has been impressive to see just how far they have come. A lot of that has been due to the amount of talent that the divisions have and it can be a lot of fun to see those wrestlers get together on the big stage. Now we are going to be seeing that again in a pay per view title showdown.
The main event of this week’s Monday Night Raw saw Asuka defeat Becky Lynch to earn a Raw Women’s Title match against champion Bianca Belair at Hell In A Cell. Late in the match, Lynch grabbed Asuka’s umbrella but Asuka sprayed green mist in her face, allowing Asuka to hit a kick to the head for the pin. This will be the second singles match between Belair and Asuka, with the first taking place on the May 9 Monday Night Raw and ending in a no contest.
Opinion: This is the kind of match that draws my interest as Asuka is one of the most talented stars that the WWE women’s division has ever seen and Belair has moved ..