NEWS

Investing in the future. WWE has more money than they know what to do with and they continue to bring in even more money every single year. They know how to make money like no other wrestling promotion and there is a chance that will continue for a long time to come. The company does have to think about its future though and that is what they are planning on soon.
WWE held its first quarter financial conference call this week and according to Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com, the company announced plans to expand its Performance Centers. There is no word on how or when these processes will begin. In addition, the idea of adding new Performance Centers internationally is currently on hold, with no idea of when the project could continue.
WWE claim they're looking at expanding and improving on their Performance Centers.
I've heard recently that the global expansion was still “on hold” in that regard.
— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) May 5, 2022
Opinion: This ..

Ouch, again. Injuries are a part of the wrestling world and unfortunately they can take out anyone at any given time. There is no way around this for any wrestler and you never know when someone is going to go onto the shelf for a long time. Unfortunately that seems to be the case again, and this time around it is someone who has not even been back in the ring that long since their last horrible injury.
During an appearance on the Universal Wrestling Podcast, AEW’s Malakai Black revealed that Darius Martin was involved in a car crash which will put him out of action for another six to nine months. There is no word on the nature of the accident or what kind of injuries Martin suffered. This comes less than two months after Martin returned to action following a torn ACL. He only wrestled eight matches before he was injured again.
Opinion: That is another level of snake bit and that is never something you want to see. Martin is a young, talented star but unfortunately he isn’t going to ..

He has their eye. WWE is a rather powerful wrestling promotion and can bring in just about anyone that they want. Other than some top stars who are practically tied to their promotion, most wrestlers will listen when WWE comes calling. That call might come after someone has left WWE in the first place and that might be the case again with a former WWE star.
This week’s edition of AEW Dynamite included a surprise appearance from William Morrissey, formerly known as Big Cass during his time in WWE. According to the Mat Men Pro Wrestling Podcast, WWE was impressed by Morrissey’s appearance. There is no guarantee that WWE will be attempting to bring Morrissey back in when his Impact Wrestling contract expires, but they were impressed. Morrissey was released from WWE in June 2018.
Opinion: I can’t say I’m surprised that WWE is interested in Morrissey, as he is the kind of person that WWE would absolutely love. What matters most is that Morrissey now seems to be clean and clear of his alco..

Talk about a dark match. There are a lot of matches taped at an AEW event, as the company films not only Dynamite, but also Rampage and Dark: Elevation. That makes for a rather long night as there is so much stuff to cover at once. The same time frame was in place this week, but things were delayed as there was a situation in the building that made the match a little more difficult.
According to Wrestling Observer Radio, there was a power failure at this week’s Dynamite taping, which caused some changed to the Dark: Elevation schedule. During a match between Max Caster and Cheeseburger, the power went out near the entrance and at the commentary desk. The match was able to finish, but the following match between Nyla Rose and Skye Blue could not be taped, resulting in it just being for the live audience. The show’s scheduled main event was then taped after Dynamite and before Rampage. The problem was fixed before Dynamite went on the air at 8pm EST.
Opinion: That certainly could have ..

To put it mildly, there is a lot of WWE programming out there. With so many hours of content every week, it can be difficult to keep up with everything that WWE is offering. It doesn’t help that the shows are already pretty long in the first place, meaning that there is quite a bit to see week to week. It can certainly be done, but seeing and remembering everything the company offers is more than a bit tricky. With that being complicated enough, it isn’t made better when WWE decided to make things that much harder.
Over the last few months (if not a lot longer), WWE has seemingly gone out of its way to change a bunch of things at the drop of a hat. This has ranged from major matches already announced to characters to wrestlers’ names, leaving things looking very different for a lot of people almost overnight. While I’m sure there is some twisted Vince McMahon logic behind the whole thing, it can be incredibly frustrating to deal with and that is what we are going to be looking at toda..

I mean, he has a point. Last week’s edition of Monday Night Raw was focused on Randy Orton, who was celebrating twenty years as part of the WWE. That is a number that almost no one reaches and it is very impressive to see anyone get that far. Orton has certainly earned the praise that he receives and he is still very good today. Now he is showing just how smart he can be too.
Last month, Orton served as a lumberjack in a match between Sami Zayn and Drew McIntyre. During the match, McIntyre hit a running flip dive onto the lumberjacks at ringside. Before McIntyre was diving, a fan filmed Orton laying on the ground away from the pile. The fan asked Orton why he was down and he said he didn’t want to get landed on, as seen in a video that has made its way to Twitter.
That’s a smart Viper. Check out Orton’s logical move:
[This post contains video, click to play]
Opinion: This is the kind of thing that you don’t get to see very often but shows how Orton is rather smart at what he does. ..

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?
Backlash 2005
Date: May 1, 2005
Location: Verizon Wireless Arena, Manchester, New Hampshire
Attendance: 14,000
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler
It’s the follow up to Wrestlemania and that means we’re in for a rematch for the Raw World Title with HHH challenging Batista for the title. Other than that, we have the ultimate teaming of Shawn Michaels/Hulk Hogan vs. Muhammad Hassan/Daivari because we need a way to get to what is likely going to be Shawn vs. Hogan at a big show. Let’s get to it.
The opening video i..

They might have a case. One of the most important things a wrestling company can do is connect with its fans. There needs to be a way for a promotion to be able to give its fans information about all kinds of things the company is doing and one of the best is a website. Without a good one, things can get a little troublesome and that seems to be the case again in a pretty serious way.
According to Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston, AEW is facing a class action lawsuit over its website violating the Americans With Disabilities Act. The site does not include coding that allows the use of screen readers to used by the visually impaired. The coding allows a program to describe items being displayed. WWE faced a similar lawsuit in 2020 and settled with the plaintiffs shortly thereafter.
A plaintiff has filed a class action complaint against All Elite Wrestling, LLC for allegedly violating the Americans With Disabilities Act, claiming https://t.co/HckO1NRSoH isn't accessible to visually..

It’s a gig. Wrestlers have a weird relationship when it comes to acting, as while they are professional athletes, they are also acting in a way. They are asked to go out in front of an audience and portray a character, while also wrestling a match. That is easier said than done, but now one prominent wrestler is getting more into the pure acting side of things with the ring not being included.
Earlier this week, AEW’s CM Punk appeared in an episode of Mayans M.C. as Paul, a military veteran. According to show runner Elgin James in an interview with Gamespot, the character was written with Punk in mind and he will continue to appear throughout the rest of season four. Punk has dabbled in acting before, most notably in the horror movie The Girl On The Third Floor and the Starz wrestling series Heels.
Punk has some screen presence. Check out his appearance on the show:
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Opinion: This is something that is rather cool to see as Punk has a bit of..

One more on the list? There are a lot of wrestling promotions in the world but only a few rise to prominence. It takes a lot of money, time and effort to make a promotion work and a lot of that comes down to the owner. If the right person is not behind the wheel, things can go badly in a hurry. Now someone you might have heard of before is throwing their hat into the ring.
Freddie Prinze Jr., an actor and former member of the WWE Creative team, has announced on his Wrestling With Freddie podcast that he is planning to start his own promotion. Prinze says that he hopes to have the promotion up and running in eighteen months but does not expect to get a TV deal right away. He hopes that his shows are about two hours each and wants men and women to have equal time. In addition, Prinze is hoping that the show will be a SAG show, meaning that everyone involved will be a member of the Screen Actors Guild.
Opinion: This is one of those things that might sound good on paper but it might be a..

He might have a future in this. Wrestlers often have a hard time finding a way out of the industry, as it is all they have done for so long. It can be sad to see someone hanging on for far longer than they should, but that is not always the case. Sometimes you see someone find a career that suits them very well, and that is the case again with a wrestling legend who will be continuing in an important role.
Earlier this week, Glenn Jacobs, better known as Kane, won the Republican primary in the race for Mayor of Knox County, Tennessee, a position he currently holds. Jacobs ran unopposed and will move on to the general election in August. While holding office since 2018, Jacobs has continued to make occasional WWE appearances, including last week. Jacobs has also issued a statement on his victory:
Tonight was a victory for our Knox County conservative values. I can not express my gratitude to everyone who has shown me support over the past months! It is my honor to serve as your Mayor…

The forbidden door continues. Tonight on AEW Dynamite, William Morrissey, known as W. Morrissey in Impact Wrestling, made his debut with the company. He served as MJF’s mystery opponent for Wardlow and would be defeated in his debut.
You can see the video of his debut below:
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Morrissey has been with Impact since April 2021, when he was revealed as the surprise replacement for Eric Young in Violent by Design’s match against Chris Sabin, Eddie Edwards, James Storm, and Willie Mack. He is best known for his time in WWE as Big Cass, which is a shortened name of his former ring name, Colin Cassidy.
It is unknown at this time if this was a one-off appearance, or if he has signed a deal with the company.
Editor’s Opinion:
This was a great moment for Morrissey and I’m thrilled that he got his opportunity to wrestle in AEW. I always thought that he had a ton of potential in WWE and it was unfortunate that he was released in the circumstances that ..