NEWS

What could be. There are a lot of things going on in the wrestling world and some of them are the kind of things that make a big impact in the future. You don’t see that kind of thing happen very often but when they do, it means a shakeup on a high level. We might be seeing something like that again, assuming that some speculation is what we are going to see next week.
This week on AEW Dynamite, a preview for next week’s episode revealed that AEW President Tony Khan would be having a major announcement. On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer suggested that the announcement could be either a streaming deal for AEW or a broadcast deal for Ring of Honor Wrestling. AEW has not given any suggestion of what the announcement will be.
Opinion: I’m not sure what the announcement is going to be but you can probably assume that it is going to have something to do with more content from one of Khan’s promotions. Khan does have a history of making such announcements, though I’m almost worried ..

More history has been made! Titles are the simplest concept in wrestling, as any fan of any experience level can understand the concept. A champion is the best around and someone else wants to take their spot. It has worked forever in wrestling and it still does today, as a title change can shake up any promotion in the blink of an eye. That seems to be the case again this week.
The main event of this week’s AEW Dynamite saw Samoa Joe defeat Minoru Suzuki to win the Ring of Honor Television Title for the first time in his career. Suzuki won the title from Rhett Titus at the Ring of Honor Supercard of Honor event on April 1. There is no word on when Ring of Honor will return to running regular events or if Samoa Joe will defend the title on AEW television going forward.
Opinion: That’s not exactly a shocking result as Suzuki felt like someone there to hold the title for a few weeks before someone else won the thing. I can go with the transitional title reign as Joe holding the title i..

Welcome to your new home. The rise of AEW has done a lot of things for the wrestling world. One of the most important is allowing wrestlers and people in the wrestling industry a new place to work outside of WWE. AEW is going to need to bring in some people to work in front of and behind the camera and now they have done just that, including someone who has been with WWE very recently.
According to PWInsider.com, former WWE producer Pat Buck has begun working for AEW. Buck was backstage at both this week and last week’s AEW Dynamite, though it is not clear when he officially started. This comes less than two weeks after Buck left WWE, where he produced matches for this year’s WrestleMania. Buck reportedly wanted more free time to spend with his family.
Opinion: That is a very fast turnaround but if this is what Buck wants to do then good for him. He is obviously talented at what he does and if AEW is interested in bringing him in and he was interested, it makes all the sense in the w..

Who are you again? WWE has an odd history of changing wrestlers’ names out of nowhere. Sometimes it means that a wrestler is going to another roster, but other times it means that WWE has just changed their minds about something. Neither of them are exactly great reasons, but WWE loves to make the moves. That is what they have done again with a bit of a surprising name.
According to his WWE.com profile, Raul Menoza’s name is now Cruz del Toro. The name was used this week on NXT during del Toro’s appearance in a tag match, though there was no formal announcement was made. There is no word on why the name change was made and nothing to suggest that del Toro is on his way to the main roster. His Legado del Fantasma’s teammates names have not been changed.
Opinion: I’m not sure why WWE made this change and I would actually be surprised if they had a concrete reason either. The name changes have been coming rather quickly as of late and I don’t know how much good they are going to do for ..

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 2007
Date: April 29, 2007
Location: Phillips Arena, Atlanta, Georgia
Attendance: 14,500
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole, Taz, John Bradshaw Layfield, Joey Styles
It’s the Wrestlemania followup show and the company is still on something of a hot streak. We have a big double main event as Batista challenges Undertaker for the Smackdown World Title in a Last Man Standing match and John Cena defends against Edge, Shawn Michaels and Randy Orton. That’s enough star power, plus Vince McMahon g..

Maybe not? There are certain wrestlers who are going to get your attention no matter what they do. There is something about them that catches your attention and does not let it go, which makes for a rather special appearance. WWE has some of those wrestlers today but they are few and far between. One such wrestler’s appearances might be even fewer and further between for the time being.
The official WWE.com page for WrestleMania Backlash is no longer advertising Brock Lesnar for an appearance, as he had been previously listed for an appearance. At the moment, Lesnar’s next scheduled appearance is at Money in the Bank on July 2 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Lesnar was defeated by Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 38 as Reigns won the WWE Championship and retained the Universal Championship.
Opinion: This isn’t the biggest surprise as Lesnar is hardly a full time star. He has been around more this year than he has been in a very long time and it makes sense for him to be away for the time being. Le..

Put it on the list. We are done with WrestleMania but WWE is not done with using the show’s name. In addition to two nights of WrestleMania, there is also WrestleMania Monday Night Raw and WrestleMania SmackDown. That is four nights of the WrestleMania banner, but now there is another show called WrestleMania Backlash. Now we know something else to expect on the show.
This week on Monday Night Raw, Sonya Deville announced that she would be the next challenger for Bianca Belair and the Raw Women’s Title. This week on the Bump, the match was officially confirmed for WrestleMania Backlash on May 8. Deville has only wrestled five televised matches since August 2020 due to dealing with an ongoing legal case. She has since returned to wrestling on WWE live events.
Opinion: After Monday, this was more a matter of time than anything else and that isn’t a bad thing. Deville as the first challenger to Belair is a little weird, but at least it is a fresh match and something that could work out ..

Dynamite
Date: April 13, 2022
Location: UNO Lakefront Arena, New Orleans, Louisiana
Commentators: Excalibur, Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone
It’s the start of a big week around here as we are on the third of five shows. There are some important matches set up for this card and there is a good chance that we could be in for a fun one. If nothing else, they are coming in off a white hot main event last week so hopefully they can keep up the momentum. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
CM Punk vs. Penta Obscuro Alex Abrahantes is here with Penta. Punk isn’t overly intimidated by Obscuro’s entrance and they stare each other down to start. That goes into the big chop off, with the fans getting right into this as soon as they get going. A superkick staggers Punk but he kicks Penta in the ribs to cut him off. Punk strikes away as commentary runs down tonight’s card, including Samoa Joe vs. Minoru Suzuki. The GTS is countered into an ankle lock and Punk gets sent to the floor. Some suicide dives t..

We are still in the big news period of the WWE year as WrestleMania season is finally wrapping up. That means WWE is going to be doing a lot of things as we enter what should be the start of the company’s new season. WWE is actually trying to do a few things differently and one of the last announcements has me rather interested, as it is something that took is LONG overdue.
Back around 2009 (the year isn’t important), WWE held its annual No Way Out/Elimination Chamber event. As usual, the show featured a pair of Elimination Chamber events, with one serving as the show’s main event. During the second of the two matches, Michael Cole said something to the effect of “when have you ever seen this kind of carnage?” Watching at home, I said out loud “about an hour and a half ago.”
One of the most common complaints about WWE is that there is too much. Too much of what? Everything pretty much. There are too many shows, too much content, too much talking, too much bad and too much….everything..

Who else is left? WrestleMania is the biggest and highest profile wrestling event in the world. The main event of WrestleMania is, by definition, often the most important wrestling match of the year. Some of them have been among the most well known matches in wrestling history. WWE is hoping to do it again next year, and now a possible match is being teased on other programs.
The Rock vs. Roman Reigns has been rumored as a possible WrestleMania 39 main event. This week on Young Rock, a child version of Reigns jumped on a teenage version of Rock’s back and asked to wrestle, but Rock said something like that could only happen at WrestleMania. Last month, an episode of WWE Evil on Reigns featured a clip of Reigns saying he would fight the Rock.
The teases are strong. Check out the two shows hinting at the match:
[This post contains video, click to play]
[This post contains video, click to play]
Opinion: I don’t know if the match is going to happen but WWE is certainly teasing that we..

That’s a different way to go. Wrestlers are very talented people but they do not always get to show what they can do out of the ring. That can make for some very entertaining moments and sometimes it can be as good if not better than what they do on a wrestling show. Another wrestling personality is trying his hand at something outside of the ring and it could be worth a look.
NXT’s Malcolm Bivens has announced that he will be trying his hand at stand up comedy at The Stand Comedy Club in New York City on May 5. Bivens tweeted out a poster advertising the event, which features quotes from Kevin Owens and Shayna Baszler, though there is nothing to suggest that the two will also be appearing. Bivens captioned the photo saying “if you’ve been praying for my downfall, now’s your chance.”
If you’ve been praying on my downfall, now’s your chance.
May 5 // Tix: https://t.co/BVgJDvxSUb pic.twitter.com/n9InMkw39Y
— MALCOLM (@Malcolmvelli) April 13, 2022
Opinion: I know Bivens is a great te..

They have a plan. WWE has a lot of wrestlers on its roster but they are not exactly on the same levels. The company is going to want to have some names that are presented more than others and it is not hard to figure out who they are. That list does change every now and then though and now we know a bit more about what WWE sees as their current hierarchy of the roster.
According to PWInsider.com, Cody Rhodes is listed as the #2 babyface on the Monday Night Raw roster after only Bobby Lashley. In addition, Drew McIntyre is listed as the top babyface on SmackDown. On the other hand, Roman Reigns is viewed as the top heel on SmackDown and is not listed on Monday Night Raw. The top heels on Monday Night Raw are Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Edge and Damian Priest.
Opinion: There is something fascinating when you get to see how WWE views its own lineup. At the same time, it can be interesting to see how fast things change, or at least how WWE treats the wrestlers it views as top stars on eit..