NEWS

Fare thee well. AEW has shaken up the wrestling world and it has made for some rather exciting moments. There is something special about seeing someone show up and making their AEW debut, as the company has landed some major stars. That creates the problem of overloading the roster, which means some wrestlers have to make their leave. Now we have another name being written off of the roster.
Jack Evans has announced that his AEW contract will be expiring later this month and he will not be re-signing with the company. Evans described his time with the company as “fun and enjoyable” and thanked the fans and company for the time. During his time with AEW, Evans was mainly a tag team wrestler in the Hybrid 2 with Angelico. Evans last wrestled on AEW Dark on February 5.
My time with #AEW has been a fun and enjoyable but it has come to an end as I will not be re-signed when my contract ends at the end of April. I'd like to thank everyone at AEW and the AEW fans for the opportunity.
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They want them back? AEW has changed the way the wrestling world works and that is not a bad thing. The company has allowed all kinds of wrestlers a chance to get in the ring and on a bigger stage for the first time in a very long while. Some former WWE stars have made their way to AEW but now WWE wants two wrestlers who have worked there before to come back.
According to Fightful Select, WWE is interested in bringing FTR back once their AEW contracts expire. FTR’s AEW contracts expire at some point this summer and WWE wants them to return to the company. However, AEW also has a one year option that they can exercise on the two. FTR wrestled in WWE as the Revival from 2014-2020, winning five Tag Team Titles between NXT and the main roster. There is no word on if FTR is interested in returning to WWE.
Opinion: I can’t fathom the idea of FTR returning to WWE, as they are able to wrestle all kinds of great matches against top opponents and it makes things that much better for fans. Why ..

Back to NXT soon? There are a lot of reasons to move a wrestler off of television in one way or another. Some of these ways might be due to a storyline while some might be for a legitimate reason. You don’t know when you might be seeing another wrestler again, as they could be gone for a long time. That might be the case again this week with two names at once.
An announcement on this week’s NXT revealed that two wrestlers will be missing for the time being. Following Von Wagner attacking Ikemen Jiro last week, Jiro has suffered internal injuries and will be out of action for about a month. In addition, Wagner has been fined and suspended for an undisclosed amount of time. This comes after Jiro’s partner Kushida left the company when his contract expired.
Opinion: This feels like a way to get around Kushida leaving WWE, as the other two didn’t have anything to do. I’m not sure what that is going to mean for Wagner and Jiro going forward, but at the moment they get to figure out someth..

NXT
Date: April 19, 2022
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Wade Barrett, Vic Joseph
Things are both picking up and being let down around here. While Pretty Deadly and some other imports are a nice upgrade, the NXT Title picture is leaning more into B movie territory as Joe Gacy becomes more of a Bond villain parody. Hopefully the things in the middle can make it better so let’s get to it.
The opening recap looks at Pretty Deadly winning the Tag Team Titles and Joe Gacy telling Bron Brakker he needs to make a sacrifice.
Here is Pretty Deadly for a chat. They have dominated England and decided it was time to come to America and dominate here as well. And it wasn’t even that hard! Cue the Grizzled Young Veterans (with the graphic ignoring their first names, which has me worried). Drake says Pretty Deadly wouldn’t have won had they been here and it is time for the Veterans to win the titles. Cue Legado del Fantasma to brawl with the Veterans though and a..

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?
Multiverse Of Matches
Date: April 1, 2022
Location: Fairmont Hotel, Dallas, Texas
Commentators: Tom Hannifan, Matthew Rehwoldt
This was a show that got my attention as it has a pretty nice card with a lot of things going on. The idea is that there are multiple companies coming together with some representatives for some matches we might not have seen before. That should be enough, even if this is just a side trip on the way to Rebellion. Let’s get to it.
I was in attendance for this show, sitting opposite the ent..

One more time? There are very few wrestlers in history as famous as Ric Flair. Over a career that spanned the better part of forty years, Flair became one of the true icons of wrestling. This included more title reigns than anyone should be able to keep track of, plus a legacy of catchphrases and appearances that will never be matches. Flair also has a history of rivalries, and now he is working with one of his more infamous rivals.
Flair has posted a video to Instagram, showing himself in a ring with AEW’s Jay Lethal. The video shows the two training and taking bumps, including a slam and a headlock takeover. The video ends with the two exchanging WOO’s in a callback to their infamous segment in Impact Wrestling. Charlotte, Flair’s daughter, responded with a comment saying “Dad WTF.” Flair, 73 years old, has not wrestled since the September 15, 2011 episode of Impact Wrestling.
It was something else. Check out the Flair vs. Lethal video, plus their legendary WOO Off:
[This post con..

Can you blame her? There are so many people on the WWE roster that it can be difficult to come up with something for everyone to do. Some of them have been around for a very long time and can often need something new to make things fresh. That makes sense in theory, but sometimes WWE can’t make it work. It seems to be the case again and one of the wrestlers isn’t pleased.
According to Fightful Select, Alexa Bliss is frustrated with her lack of creative direction in WWE. Bliss reportedly pitched to be part of the Becky Lynch vs. Bianca Belair match at WrestleMania 38 though she did not appear. At spme point, she reportedly spoke to Vince McMahon about her issues. Bliss has not appeared since Elimination Chamber in February, which was her first match since Extreme Rules in September. Between her matches, she appeared in a series of vignettes on Monday Night Raw, showing her in therapy to rid herself of her obsession with her Lily doll. There is no word on when she will be returning to W..

I guess that counts. There are a lot of seemingly random changes that take place in WWE and a lot of them seem to stem from Vince McMahon’s crazy decisions. Some of these changes feel like they come out of nowhere and last as long as McMahon thinks it is a good idea, which might be the case again. Now we do have an idea of why McMahon is making the changes he has made.
WWE has recently changed several wrestlers’ names, with the new rule saying that wrestlers are unable to use their real names or names they used on the independent circuit. According to Wrestling Observer Live, McMahon issued the change as a way to prevent wrestlers from using their WWE names if/when they leave for AEW. The idea has led to changes such as Austin Theory becoming just Theory and a variety of other changes to brand new names.
Opinion: It does make sense, but ultimately I don’t think fans are going to care that much about what an easily identifiable wrestler is going to be called. Fans are going to know if..

That’s something to brag about. WWE is the biggest and most powerful wrestling promotion in the world and has been for a very long time now. While the company has been centered in the United States for their entire history, it also has a long run of success outside of the company. Now they are having another success from another part of the world on its biggest nights of the year.
According to India.com, WrestleMania 38 set a new record for wrestling viewership on the Sony Sports Network. The show was viewed by 56.1 million viewers over the show’s two nights. The debut of Veer Mahaan on Monday Night Raw the following night was credited with a 9% increase in the show’s viewership. WrestleMania 38 took place on April 2 and April 3 at AT&T Stadium.
Opinion: I’d certainly call that a success, as tens of millions of people watched WWE’s show. I’m not sure what that compares to other wrestling shows in India but it is certainly a good looking number for WWE. It also shows why Mahaan is goin..

It was nice while it lasted. Women’s wrestling has come a very long way in WWE in the last few years, as it has gone from a complete joke to something actually worthwhile. The company has built up a roster with some depth and women’s matches are treated as big deals these days. There is even a tag team division, though now one of those teams seems to be no more.
Liv Morgan and Rhea Ripley unsuccessfully challenged Sasha Banks and Naomi for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles this week on Monday Night Raw. Following the match, Ripley blamed Morgan for the loss and attacked her, seemingly ending their team. Following the attack, Ripley said that she did not owe anyone an explanation for the split. Ripley and Morgan only began regularly teaming together in early March of this year.
This didn’t go well. Check out how the match and split went down:
[This post contains video, click to play]

Opinion: I’m not sure if this is the biggest surprise as the two of them seemed ready to be split up ..

Fare thee well. There have been a lot of departures from WWE over the last several months and the majority of them have not been against the wrestlers’ wishes. WWE has released so many wrestlers that it has been hard to keep up with all of them, but not everyone has been let go. Now it seems that another wrestler has left, but this time it was their own decision to depart.
According to Fightful, Kushida has left WWE. This comes after Kushida was attacked by Von Wagner last week on NXT, though there was no indication that Kushida was leaving. Kushida officially signed with WWE in April 2019 and spent his time with the company in NXT and on 205 Live. He won the Cruiserweight Title in April 2021 and held it for a little over five months before losing the title to Roderick Strong in September of the same year. There is no word on where Kushida plans to sign next.
Fightful has confirmed that Kushida has left WWE
We'll have details as we learn them on https://t.co/jy8u4a7WDa. pic.twi..

In reality. There are certain situations where you can tell that a new wrestler is going to be a star from the moment you see him. It can be something about what they do or the way they talk but you know what you are going to be getting sooner or later. That is the case in WWE today, and now one of those wrestlers with this much potential has actually accomplished something.
This week on Monday Night Raw, Theory defeated Finn Balor to become the United States Champion. The win marks Theory’s first championship in WWE and comes after he has been deems Vince McMahon’s newest protege. Theory debuted on the main roster in October 2021 and has been paired with McMahon since November of last year. The victory ends Balor’s title reign at 49 days.
Opinion: I don’t know how Theory’s reign is going to go, but he beat Balor clean in the middle of the ring to win the title. That alone should put him on the right path as he is now ready to move up to the next level. Theory is someone who has show..