NEWS

That could have been a lot worse. Injuries in wrestling can happen at any time and they can be nothing short of devastating. What seems to be something simple and not that bad can wind up being horrible as well. That wound up being the case last week when someone got hurt in the blink of an eye. As it turns out though, things could have been a lot worse than they wound up being.
Last week on SmackDown, Big E. suffered a neck injury when he fractured two vertebrae after landing on his head on the floor during a match. Big E. has made a post on Twitter, saying that he had his first doctor’s appointment, where he was told that he narrowly escaped a stroke, paralysis, or death because of the fracture. As a result, Big E. said that life feels more precious and valuable now. There is no word on when Big E. will return to the ring, or if he will ever be able to do so.
[This post contains video, click to play]
Opinion: Anything that involves not having a stroke, being paralyzed or dying is ..

That’s worth a look. WrestleMania has been around for the better part of forty years now and has grown so far beyond what it was when the show was introduced. Now instead of being run in an arena, the show takes place over two nights inside of an NFL sized football stadium. That is quite the change, and now there is even more proof that the show has gotten even bigger.
According to PWInsider.com, the first night of the WrestleMania 38 Kickoff Show will air live on the USA Network from 6pm-8pm. The show will also air on Peacock and the WWE Network. There is no word on what will be airing on the show, though the show usually includes several matches. The Sunday Kickoff Show has not been announced to air on USA, but there is a chance that it will be as well.
Opinion: That is the kind of thing that makes WrestleMania feel special, as the show is being treated as something bigger than anything else all year. Airing the first two hours on the USA Network is something that you do not get to..

That’s a unique one. Wrestlers can get hurt at any time and it can mess up some plans in a hurry. You never know how bad someone could get hurt or how long it might take for someone to get better. Some of those injuries are a lot worse than others and some of them are just flat out strange. That is the case again with one of the bigger stars in wrestling today.
During a Facebook gaming live stream, Ronda Rousey revealed that she has torn her labial frenulum, a piece of skin that attaches the upper lip to the gums. As a result, Rousey has been feeling sick and her voice is not as it normally sounds. Rousey is expected to challenge Charlotte for the SmackDown Women’s Title on the first night of WrestleMania 38 on April 2 and there is nothing to suggest that the injury will cause any issues with the match.
Opinion: There are some weird injuries in wrestling and this one is near the top of the list. I’m almost surprised that the thing had a name and that it could get hurt, let alone that..

The sincerest form of flattery. Wrestlers are almost walking cartoon characters a lot of the time, as they do things that no rational person would ever consider and somehow make it work. That is a style that has worked for the better part of ever in wrestling and it always will. Sometimes you see someone do something very over the top that gets a positive reaction, and that certainly seems to have been the case this week.
This week’s Monday Night Raw opened with Kevin Owens coming to the ring to Steve Austin’s theme music, complete with an Austin shirt, Austin’s signature jean shorts and a bald cap. Owens went on to beat up a ringside attendant as Austin did over the years and drank a beer. The segment received some attention online, with Mick Foley praising it and Taz pointing out that Don Callis did something similar at AEW Revolution with Kenny Omega’s music. Taz also said he was expecting more from a company with so many writers.
MAN, I LOVE THIS TYPE OF THING!
Great job by KO t..

Back like it was before. There are certain shows throughout the wrestling year that a lot of fans look forward to. While WrestleMania is the biggest show of the year and in a way WWE’s season finale, the next show serves as something of a season premiere. The Monday Night Raw after WrestleMania has a long history to it, but things have slowed down a bit in recent years. We might be seeing that change.
Cagesideseats.com is reporting that there is talk about making the Monday Night Raw after WrestleMania 38 similar to previous editions, including several surprises and returns. There is no word on who might be appearing on the show. WWE has treated the Monday Night Raw after WrestleMania as a major show in years past, with returning wrestlers and NXT callups, to the point where the company released a DVD compilation of the show’s greatest moments in 2017.
Opinion: This is some good news, though I’m not sure who WWE has to bring in that could make the show feel like the old days again. T..

He still has some time. WrestleMania is coming up in about ten days and that means most of the card should already be set. However, WWE does not exactly follow the norms when it comes to WrestleMania and that is the case again this year, as they seem to have more than one match left to set but without having made any official announcements. Now we know what they might be waiting on in one case.
Earlier this week, news broke that WWE was planning on a match between Omos and Bobby Lashley, though Lashley has not wrestled in a month due to a shoulder injury. According to PWInsider.com, Lashley was at AT&T Stadium last week, but he is not yet cleared to wrestle. WWE is hoping that he will be ready for the match, though nothing has been announced or mentioned for either Lashley or Omos so far.
Opinion: This feels like it might be optimistic at best and that doesn’t bode well for something with so little time remaining before the show. There is always the chance that WWE leaves the match u..

What could have been. AEW has brought in several wrestlers throughout its brief history, with several of them coming from different backgrounds. Some of them have not even come from wrestling, which makes can make for some interesting situations. That was the case earlier this month when a mixed martial artist was brought into the fold, but she could have had a very different story.
Earlier this month, Paige VanZant officially signed with AEW, following multiple appearances with the company. VanZant appeared on Throwing Down With Renee and Meisha and explained that she had a meeting at WWE headquarters last year about the possibility of signing with them instead. However, WWE had a “different plan” for her, though she did not explain what it was. VanZant said that she was happy that AEW would let her continue with MMA and are knuckle boxing while also wrestling for them.
Opinion: This isn’t the biggest surprise for me but it’s probably for the best. At the end of the day, WWE has a h..

Time for the NXT shakeup. WWE does a lot of things right but there are some areas where they might need to improve a bit. One of these things is changing up matches and plans that have already been established and even advertised. That seems to be the case again, as a title match set for an upcoming show has expanded in a big way that hasn’t been done before.
This week’s NXT featured the finals of the Women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. Kay Lee Ray and Io Shirai won the tournament, earning a shot at the Women’s Tag Team Titles. However, Ray and Shirai announced that they would instead be adding themselves to the Women’s Title match at Stand & Deliver, where Mandy Rose is scheduled to defend against Cora Jade. This is the first time that the winners of the Dusty Classic will be challenging for a singles title.
Another new match was also added to the Stand & Deliver card, as Gunther will be facing LA Knight. Gunther has been critical of Knight in recent weeks, saying that Knight tal..

That’s quite a long time. The Coronavirus pandemic changed the way a lot of things worked in the world, including in the wrestling industry. While WWE was shaken up, they were able to continue moving forward thanks to their access to the Performance Center, where Monday Night Raw and SmackDown took place for several months. However, it turns out that things were a lot more difficult than they seemed.
Former WWE referee discussed WWE’s time in the Performance Center during his Monday Mailbag Forum this week, where he revealed that some Performance Center matches took hours to shoot. The process involved starting a match, cutting the camera, filming the next piece of the match, and then splicing the material together. WWE moved out of the Performance Center in August 2020 and took up residence in the Thunderdome in Tampa, Florida. They returned to normal touring last July.
Opinion: The more I hear about this period in WWE, the more fascinated I am by the whole thing. The lengths WWE we..

NXT
Date: March 22, 2022
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Vic Joseph, Wade Barrett
Stand & Deliver is coming up soon and now we have the main event set, as Bron Breakker will get his rematch against Dolph Ziggler for the NXT Title. Other than that, we have some qualifying matches for the North American Title ladder match and the finals of the Women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. Let’s get to it.
Trick Williams and North American Champion Carmelo Hayes arrive and don’t care about who make it into the ladder match.
North American Title Ladder Match Qualifying Match: Roderick Strong vs. Solo Sikoa Malcolm Bivens is at ringside. Strong grabs a choke to start as Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams join commentary. Sikoa fights out and the strike off is on, with Strong getting knocked down against the ropes. Back up and Strong knocks him down again to take over, setting up the reverse chinlock. That’s broken up and Strong chops up against the ropes with a ..

Add it to the card. WrestleMania is the biggest wrestling event in the world and that means there is a lot of time to fill on the night. The fact that this year’s edition is going to be two nights makes it even more complicated, with WWE’s limited roster making it all the more difficult. They are going to have to think outside of the box though, and now they have something to cover part of the time.
As announced by WWE, DJ Valentino Khan will be performing at both nights of WrestleMania 38, where he will “welcome fans with the hottest hits in music as they arrive at AT&T Stadium each night in Dallas”. There is nothing to suggest that Khan will be performing on the WrestleMania broadcasts. Khan also performed last year at Summerslam in Las Vegas and is the latest in a long line of WrestleMania musical guests.
Opinion: This could be a far worse idea as I’m not big on the idea of having a musical guest at WrestleMania. The show is already far longer than it needs to be, to the point whe..

That’s a different way to go. We are less than two weeks away from WrestleMania 38 and as usual, WWE will be taking over the show’s home city. It makes things feel that much bigger and it can be interesting to see what they are doing on any given year. That is the case again, though this time WWE is going to be trying something different for WrestleMania in Dallas/Fort Worth.
WWE has announced that it is partnering with Nextbite to bring a WrestleMania themed virtual restaurant to the Dallas/Fort Worth area. The restaurant, called WWE Smackadillas, will be available via delivery services such as DoorDash, UberEats and GrubHub, and will feature a series of quesadillas with wrestling themed names, such as Powerbomb Pizza. The menu will be available through April 11.
Opinion: This is the kind of gimmicky thing that could be good for some fun around WrestleMania season. You don’t get this kind of idea throughout the rest of the year and I could go for something like this just for the sak..