NEWS

He has the name. The owner of a wrestling promotion might not get the most attention but they are almost as important of a person as you can have in the operation. That person is going to be financing the company and is often the face behind the whole thing. Having an owner that fans recognize can be helpful and now someone who is known by more than a few people might be getting into the wrestling industry.
Actor Freddie Prinze Jr. mentioned on Twitter that he is working to finance his own wrestling promotion. Prinze responded to a fan on Twitter who asked about such a promotion, saying that he was returning to work to finance such a project. He did not offer any further details on the promotion. Prinze has a background in wrestling, having worked as part of the WWE Creative team, as well as actively hosting a wrestling podcast.
I hope so. Only went back to work to finance the muthafucka. Give me some time tho ??
— Freddie Prinze Jr (@RealFPJr) April 22, 2022
Opinion: I have no ide..

Welcome back. There are a lot of people who are involved in making a wrestling show work. In addition to having the wrestlers in the ring doing everything they need to do, there are also the people behind the scenes who help put the whole presentation together. It makes sense for those people to have a great background in wrestling and now WWE is getting back one of its Hall of Famer producers.
During a recent edition of his Table Talk podcast, WWE Hall of Famer D-Von Dudley announced that he will be returning to his role as a producer on June 15. This comes after Dudley has been away from the ring since having spinal surgery back in February. Dudley has worked for WWE as a producer since 2016. It is not clear which brand he will be working on when he returns.
Opinion: It’s always great to see someone getting back to work after missing time due to health issues. Dudley is someone that has the experience and the reputation to make an impact on the WWE roster and he has been around lon..

Back, but with a twist. With so many wrestlers on its roster, WWE has to come up with some different ways to keep things interesting. That can be easier said than done, but sometimes the best way is to have someone flip from good to evil or vice versa. It is an idea that has worked for years and now it seems to have been done again by someone who has not been around that long.
Xia Li made her return to WWE TV this week on SmackDown and seemed to turn heel in the process. Li had debuted on the show and billed herself as the Protector, but this week she said that she did not see anyone worthy of her protection so she would be protecting herself. This comes after Li has been absent from SmackDown for several weeks, with her only televised match on the main roster taking place on February 25.
She made it pretty clear. Check out what Li said:
[This post contains video, click to play]

Opinion: This feels like another example of WWE bringing someone onto a new show and having no idea wha..

You might want to get used to it. WWE has a huge roster with all kinds of talented wrestlers working for the company. The roster is so big that it is divided into several groups who primarily appear on their own show. That is a concept called the Brand Split, but the rosters have started to come together a little bit more over the last few months. It turns out that might not be a sign of things to come.
WWE has announced that the Raw and SmackDown Tag Team Titles will be unified at the upcoming WrestleMania Backlash event. This has led to some speculation that the Brand Split may be coming to an end, but that is not the case according to the Wrestling Observer newsletter. Vince McMahon is currently not thinking about bringing the rosters back together and the title unifications are events that will not impact the Brand Split as a whole.
Opinion: I’m glad to hear that the Brand Slit is not likely ending, as WWE did not exactly do well without it last time. It is kind of nice to have t..

We need a place to go. WrestleMania Backlash is coming up in just over two weeks and that means it is time for WWE to know most of the card. That being said, it is a lot easier said that done to have a major match ready in such a hurry, especially when only some of the show has been announced. While the matches have yet to be set, WWE does seem to know what they have in mind for the main event.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the likely main event for WrestleMania Backlash will see Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns defending against Drew McIntyre. Reigns does not have an opponent for the show as of yet and McIntyre’s feud with Sami Zayn could end next week in a cage match. The match was teased this week on SmackDown when Reigns told the Usos to get their family’s name out of McIntyre’s mouth. WrestleMania Backlash takes place on May 8.
Opinion: While the match taking place is not the biggest surprise, the match taking place at WrestleMania Backlash is a s..

Welcome back. WrestleMania has come and gone for the year and as usual, it was WWE’s major event on the calendar. The company goes out of its way to showcase its biggest stars on the grandest stage of them all and that is what they did again here. There were a lot of important moments over the two nights, including multiple title changes. Now we know when we will be seeing one of the former champions again.
On Night One of WrestleMania 38, Bianca Belair defeated Becky Lynch to win the Raw Women’s Title. Lynch has yet to return to WWE television since the loss on April 2. This week on SmackDown, an advertisement announced that Lynch will be making her return on next week’s Monday Night Raw. There is no word yet on what Lynch will be doing on the show.
Opinion: It’s going to be good to have Lynch back as it will be interesting to see what she is going to do without the title. For the parts where she was around, Lynch was basically champion uninterrupted for three years so it makes a bi..

Yes, again. There are all kinds of ways for a wrestler to be injured and one of the worst things is waiting to find out how long it is going to be before they get back in the ring. Sometimes that takes a lot longer than other situations, but it is great to see them return to action. Every now and then though, you see someone get hurt again almost immediately after they get back, which is the case now.
According to Fightful, AEW’s Darius Martin is out of action with a leg injury that took place “fairly recently”. Martin is expected to be out of action for a lengthy period of time though it is not clear how long that will be. This comes after martin returned to action on March 2 after missing over a year with a torn ACL. After his return, Martin only wrestled eleven matches before being put out of action again.
Opinion: This is one of the worst things to hear in wrestling as Martin was barely back at all before he was injured again. I have no idea how long he is going to be out of acti..

Rampage
Date: April 22, 2022
Location: Petersen Events Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Ricky Starks, Taz, Excalibur
We’re back on Friday this week as AEW has been trying to ramp this show up a bit more in recent weeks. That means more star power, and this week it means a title match as Jade Cargill is defending the TBS Title against Marina Shafir. We also have a pretty big showdown between Adam Cole and Tomohiro Ishii. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Owen Hart Foundation Qualifying Match: Adam Cole vs. Tomohiro Ishii We go right to the ring (with Rocky Romero and Orange Cassidy at ringside) with Cole striking away but getting dropped with a chop. They head outside with Ishii hitting the post and getting driven into the barricade. Back in and Cole grabs the chinlock but seems to be favoring his arm. Some forearms don’t do much on Ishii, who knocks Cole into the corner with a single shot. Back up and Cole charges into a powerslam but slips out of a powerslam.
The fi..

Smackdown
Date: April 22, 2022
Location: MVP Arena, Albany, New York
Commentators: Michael Cole, Pat McAfee
We are less than two weeks away from Wrestlemania Bakclash and it is time to start adding some things to the card. Roman Reigns still doesn’t have anything to do, though there is still the chance that they pick up whatever they stared with Shinsuke Nakamura two weeks ago. Let’s get to it.
We open with the contract signing between Charlotte and Ronda Rousey with Adam Pearce in charge. After a recap video of their issues together….there is no contract. Drew Gulak brings it out and has even made a special PowerPoint presentation (it was his thing when he was on 205 Live) about the rules of an I Quit match but Charlotte tells him to shut up. She has been looking forward to this match for a long time and lists off some of the ways she can make Rousey submit.
Charlotte signs and says she beat Rousey at Wrestlemania. Rousey explains the idea, allowing Charlotte to say she won at Wres..

Ring Of Honor
Date: April 20, 2022
So this is the last episode of the Sinclair show and that means it is hard to say when the show is going to be back. That is quite the shame as I had been looking forward to this show for the last few weeks recently as opening the vault has offered a lot of gems. Maybe we can do that one more time. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
From Manhattan Mayhem IV, March 19, 2011.
Ring Of Honor World Title: Roderick Strong vs. Eddie Edwards Strong is defending. They shove each other around to start and Strong shoulders him down. Edwards sends him into the corner for some chops and a fireman’s carry faceplant has Strong down. A running boot to the face in the corner rocks Strong again and we’re clipped to Strong kicking him in the face and sending him outside.
We’re clipped again to Edwards running into a boot in the corner and getting caught in the Stronghold. That’s broken up with a grab of the rope and we’re clipped again to Edwards backdropping him o..

He has enough of it. Like him or not, there are very few success stories in the wrestling world like Vince McMahon. He has taken over the wrestling world and dominated it for the last twenty years or so. As a result, McMahon is one of the wealthiest people in the world and has more money than he could ever reasonably spend. Now though, you can have a chance to have some of his money.
WWE Shop is selling a McMahon “No Chance In Vegas” shirt, featuring McMahon playing cards in a casino and the phrase “No Chance In Hell” on the back, with the last word crossed out and Vegas written underneath. The shirt also comes with a collectible $1,000,000,000 bill featuring McMahon’s face and Titan Towers on the back. The combined package sells for $99.99.
Opinion: That’s uh, quite expensive as most WWE shirts sell for $20-30 each, meaning you are paying about $70-80 for a collectible. I’m sure there is a market for this, but that seems to be quite the mark up on something that comes out of nowhere..

Maybe next time? With so many wrestlers on the WWE roster, it is impossible for everyone to be a success. Sometimes someone is just not going to work out and it can be a bit difficult to see. You can often tell when it isn’t working for a star and that seems to be the case again. After this week, WWE might be thinking about pulling the plug, if they have not done so already.
This week on NXT, Tiffany Stratton defeated Sarray after the two had spent several weeks feuding. According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, Sarray is unlikely to go to the main roster. Meltzer cited her size and how she has been used during her time in NXT so far. Sarray debuted on the April 20, 2021 edition of NXT but was taken off television in October. She would return in February, saying that 2021 had not gone as planned and she had made a new start.
Opinion: I can’t exactly argue with this, as Sarray has not quite felt like a huge success in NXT so far. While she has had her moments, the fact th..