NEWS

Welcome back to back. There are a lot of wrestlers on the WWE roster and as a result it means that some are going to fall through the cracks. For one reason or another, there are a few people who just are not going to be around very often. It might be due to an injury or due to some issues backstage, but now we might be seeing one of each of them coming back soon.
Two missing WWE stars may be returning to Monday Night Raw this week. First up, according to Fightful Select, “imminent” plans for Asuka to make her return, possibly to feud with Becky Lynch in a short form story. Asuka has been out of action since July with an arm injury. There is no word on when her first match back might be. This is not considered to be definitive, as plans are not set in stone.
Second, according to Fightful Select, Mustafa Ali may be returning to WWE television as well, though there is no word on what he might be doing when he gets back. Ali has been absent from WWE television since October 2021 after a..

It’s a McMahon thing. There are all kinds of stories about Vince McMahon and some of them are almost impossible to believe. At the end of the day though, McMahon is the most powerful person in wrestling and as a result, fans and employees have to put up with his ideas. That seems to be the case again and now we might be seeing some changes due to McMahon’s new ideas.
Last week on SmackDown, Xia Li made her return to WWE television, turning heel in the process by saying she will be protecting herself rather than others. According to Wrestlingnews.co, more babyface or heel turns will be taking place soon as McMahon feels that there are several wrestlers who are currently miscast. There is no word on which wrestlers will be turned or how many of them will be changed.
Opinion: This is the kind of thing that changes WWE up and that might not be a good thing. I can go with the idea of changing things up every now and then, but you need a reason to make it happen. Otherwise it’s just changi..

They’re interested. WWE does a lot of things and some of them are often not that well received by fans. This can create a problem as WWE might be doing something that takes them in the wrong direction from what their audience wants to see. It can help to get some feedback on what the fans want on their shows and now that is what WWE seems to be trying to get.
According to PWInsider.com, WWE has sent out a fan survey asking about a variety of topics. Some of the ideas that fans were asked about included NFTs, a wrestler ranking system and more behind the scenes looks at wrestlers. The survey also asks about how much wrestling fans watch and what platforms they use to watch it. There is no word on if any of these ideas will be implemented.
Opinion: This is something that could help, but it doesn’t make a difference if WWE doesn’t listen in some way. Otherwise, this is little more than lip service for the sake of appearing like they’re trying. Hopefully WWE tries something new for the s..

That’s some good heeling. If a wrestler is a villain, their main job is to antagonize the fans. There are a lot of ways they can do this, but one of the best and easiest is just to mock them over something that they see. Maybe it is over the result of a match or over someone making the fans mad, but there are multiple ways to go. One of the easiest was on display this weekend as a WWE star went after a fan.
WWE United States Champion Theory has posted a video to his Instagram showing himself after a win at a recent live event. Theory then went up to a young fan dressed in John Cena clothes and said that the win made him better than Cena. The fan could be heard shouting “NO!” after Theory left. Theory won the United States Title last week and has called out Cena in recent weeks.
This is how you do it. Check out Theory messing with a fan:
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Opinion: I can always go for something like this as it isn’t cruel but it does make the fan that upset at..

I think they’ll take him. Wrestlers get an unfair reputation when it comes to their athletic abilities. While it’s true that their matches are predetermined, they are still out there putting in the work and the effort every single night and that takes a lot of talent. It can help wrestling quite a bit when a mainstream athlete shows up and now that might be the case again soon.
On Saturday, boxing’s Heavyweight Champion of the World Tyson Fury retained his title via knockout over Dillian Whyte. After the fight, Fury suggested that he was ready to retire from the sport and move on to something else. During the post fight media scrum, Fury mentioned that he might be appearing at Summerslam. Fury said that he had a great time when he appeared at Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia and would love to be at the Cardiff, Wales event in September. Fury has wrestled a match for WWE before, defeating Braun Strowman via countout at Crown Jewel 2019.
Opinion: Something tells me that WWE would be thrille..

I guess he was a fan. While there are a lot of wrestlers going today, only a handful reach the status of being a legend in their own time. Occasionally you will see someone reach that point though and it is a special thing to see. There are a few of those stars around today and one of the bigger ones got to do something this weekend that was more than a bit out of character for him.
The main event of this week’s edition of SmackDown saw Drew McIntyre defeat Sami Zayn in a lumberjack match. Randy Orton served as one of the lumberjacks and he was still at ringside following the show when Bianca Belair came to the ring for a dark match. A video has been posted online, showing Orton dancing to Belair’s theme song as a way to hype up the crowd as he left ringside. Orton did not wrestle on the show.
I didn’t know Vipers danced. Check out Belair’s entrance (Orton is waving the shirt):
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Opinion: This is the kind of thing that happens after WWE’s cam..

It was a busy night. Titles are the easiest concept to understand in all of wrestling. Someone has a shiny belt and it means that they are the best at what they do. Someone else is going to want to take it from them and the two will have a match as a result. A title change can mean a lot when it takes place and that is what happened on Saturday, with multiple titles changing hands.
Impact Wrestling held its Rebellion 2022 event on Saturday night and three titles changed hands on the show. First up, Taya Valkyrie defeated Deonna Purrazzo to win the AAA Reina de Reinas Title, though Purrazzo’s Ring Of Honor Women’s Title was not on the line. Next, Ace Austin defeated reigning champion Trey Miguel and Mike Bailey to become a three time X-Division Champion. Finally, Josh Alexander won the Impact Wrestling World Title from Moose, becoming a two time champion. Knockouts Tag Team Champions the Influence, Tag Team Champions Violent By Design and Knockouts Champion Tasha Steelz retained their ..

Hopefully it isn’t too bad. You never know when you are going to see someone get injured but what makes it worse is that you do not know how long they are going to be on the shelf. Different injuries have different times on the bench and there are some that are going to cause injuries you cannot see. That is the case again, and now a big match is off the card as a result.
Impact Wrestling has announced that Ring of Honor World Champion Jonathan Gresham has been pulled from his match against Eddie Edwards at Saturday’s Rebellion event. Gresham suffered an injury during his match last week at AEW Battle of the Belts against Dalton Castle and has not wrestled since. Chris Bey will now face Edwards on the Countdown to Rebellion preshow and the X-Division Title match between champion Trey Miguel, Mike Bailey and Ace Austin will now be on the regular card.
Opinion: That’s never good to see and unfortunately it seems like we might not be getting Gresham in the ring for a little while. You d..

Welcome to the team? One of the easiest ways to present several wrestlers at the same time is with a stable. The idea is something that has been done decades in wrestling and it still works to this day. You can take several wrestlers and put them together under a concept that could be either simple or more complex but it will often be a useful move. That might be the case again with some WWE stars.
Last week, NXT star LA Knight appeared in a dark segment where he announced the Knight Model Management stable. Knight introduced Mace as his first client and helped him win a match. This week, Knight introduced Mansoor as the second member of the stable before SmackDown began. There is no word on if or when the team might debut on television. Knight last appeared in NXT at Stand & Deliver on April 1.
This does have potential. Check out how the new member of the team looked:
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Opinion: This is one of those ideas that could go somewhere if they hav..

Put it on the card. We are about two weeks away from WrestleMania Backlash and the card still needs some work. While you can probably guess a lot of the matches that are going to be a part of the show, WWE has to actually make the announcements of the matches so they can be properly built. That was the case this week, as a new grudge match has officially been added to the card.
WWE has officially announced that Madcap Moss will face Happy Corbin at WrestleMania Backlash. Corbin turned on Moss following Corbin’s loss to Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania 38, leading to Moss becoming a fan favorite in the process. This week on SmackDown, Corbin offered to reconcile with Moss, who turned down the offer. This will be their first ever singles match against each other.
BREAKING: @BaronCorbinWWE and @MadcapMoss are done joking and ready for battle at #WMBacklash as announced on #TalkingSmack.https://t.co/OzUGfrZp3B pic.twitter.com/m9DbQRZCs9
— WWE (@WWE) April 23, 2022
Opinion: You had to know..

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?
Monday Night Raw
Date: April 23, 2007
Location: Earl’s Court, London, England
Attendance: 12,000
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler
It’s a special show as we are in London and it’s time for a Wrestlemania rematch. The main event of this week’s show will see WWE Champion John Cena facing Shawn Michaels in a non-title match. That’s not a bad way to spend Cena’s thirtieth birthday and they can probably do some good stuff. Let’s get to it.
Here is Shane McMahon, seemingly ready for a match, to get things going. Sha..

The bidding war is over. Wrestlers have a bit of hard time finding a way out of the business. While there are some who have enough money to get out and not have to do much else, but there are several who have to stick around the industry for a very long time. Now a legend who has long since been out of the ring has gotten a new deal, which will actually keep him off of television.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Bret Hart has signed a new deal with WWE, which will keep him away from all AEW events. Hart will still be allowed to appear at independent shows, but will likely not be able to appear as part of AEW’s Owen Hart Foundation tournaments. It also ends the speculation about Hart coming in to AEW to manage FTR. There is no word on how long the new deal lasts or if it will appear on WWE television more often.
Opinion: This is the kind of thing that can be rather nice to see as Hart gets a great payday and a contract that he should be able to live off of for a long t..