NEWS

The ones that matter. NXT has been completely changed in recent months, with the launch of NXT 2.0 taking away almost all of the things that defined the promotion for years. That is the kind of thing you do not see take place very often and it was a big shakeup, including for the television show. The audience is not what it once was either, but what does that mean to the USA network?
According to the Mat Men Wrestling podcast, USA is happy with the audience that NXT has been drawing in recent weeks. This includes an audience in the 600,000 viewers a week range, with 700,000 for a major show. The last two editions have featured audiences of 624,000 on March 15 and 613,000 on March 8. USA also reportedly does not care if WWE stars appear on the show, as long as the audience is in the acceptable range.
Opinion: A lot of fans, certainly myself included, will regularly discuss the audience numbers for a wrestling show, but ultimately the network’s opinion is what matters the most. If USA ..

It would be nice to have him back. AEW has had some impressive success in its early years and a lot of that is due to the wrestlers on its roster. There are some very talented people working for the company and some of them are among the best in the world. There are times when a wrestler has to miss some time, and now it might be even longer than originally expected.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, AEW’s Kenny Omega is current recovering from knee surgery. The recovery time from the surgery is expected to last about ten weeks, though it is not clear when Omega underwent the surgery. Omega is also expected to have surgery to correct a sports hernia at the end of March, which is followed by another two month recovery. There is no word on when Omega is expected to return to the ring. He last wrestled at Full Gear in November 2021.
Opinion: This is something that might be frustrating but Omega is taking his time to get everything better, which is more important than getti..

NXT UK
Date: March 17, 2022
Location: BT Sports Studios, London, England
Commentators: Nigel McGuinness, Andy Shepherd
We have a guest start this week as Roderick Strong is coming over from NXT. That isn’t something that happens very often and I’m curious to see where it leaves. It very well may be a one off match, but it’s a little weird to see WWE suddenly caring about this show after years of indifference. Let’s get to it.
In Memory Of Scott Hall.
Opening sequence.
Oliver Carter vs. Tyler Bate Ashton Smith and Trent Seven are here too. Bate works on a wristlock to start but Carter slips out and grabs one of his own. They go to a quick pinfall reversal sequence and it’s off to an early standoff. Carter takes him down with an armbar and then does it again to show off. Back up and Bate hits a running dropkick out to the floor for a crash.
Bate starts in on the ribs but gets taken down by a quick crossbody. That doesn’t see to bother Bate, as he is right back with the airplane spin..

Next one down? There has been a lot of turnover on the AEW roster in recent months as the company has brought in several new starts to take the places of some of the company’s originals. This has not included many wrestlers being outright released, but it has included some contracts expiring and not being renewed, meaning that the two sides can go their separate ways. That seems likely to be the case again in the next few weeks.
According to Fightful Select, Marko Stunt’s AEW contract expires in May and there is nothing to suggest that the two sides will continue working together. Stunt has not appeared in an AEW match since September and he has not been backstage at Dynamite in months. Stunt did begin taking independent bookings again in January and has been appearing on the independent circuit since.
Opinion: I don’t think this is much of a surprise as Stunt has not been around for a long time in AEW. He certainly has a fan following, but right now that does not seem to matter in t..

Maybe she wants to do something else? With so many people on the WWE roster, it can be tricky to find something for them to do. That can make some of WWE’s maneuvers seem all the stranger, as it can be rather confusing to try and figure out what they are thinking from time to time. That is the case again now, as a recent return seems to have fizzed out just after it got started. Now the wrestler involved has commented on it too.
Last month at Elimination Chamber, Alexa Bliss wrestled her first match for the company since September. However, she has not appeared or been mentioned in any significant way since. Some fans asked Bliss about this on Twitter, with Bliss responding that it isn’t her decision when she comes back. There is no word on when Bliss will be back, but previous reports suggested it would be after WrestleMania.
Isn’t life just Crazy sometimes …?
— Lexi Kaufman (@AlexaBliss_WWE) March 18, 2022
Yes it is.
Now come back.
— $tr@ightfire (@24nshika) March 18, 2022
not..

Welcome back? There have been some big changes in the wrestling world as wrestlers move from one promotion to another. It can be quite the moment when someone shows up in another place, especially if it is someone coming back to where they have been before. That is going to be the case in the near future, but how is the rest of the locker room reacting to the whole thing?
Earlier this week, news broke that Cody Rhodes would be returning to WWE after leaving AEW earlier this year. Rhodes is expected to return to WWE television at some point over WrestleMania weekend. According to Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com, some top WWE stars recently told him that they are “very excited” about Rhodes returning to WWE. There is no word on what he will be doing when he returns.
I spoke to a lot of top WWE talent last month very excited about Cody Rhodes possibly coming to the company
— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) March 19, 2022
Opinion: Rhodes re-signing in WWE should be a big ..

It was more violent than it seemed. While it might be predetermined, wrestling can be a very physical and violent sport. Wrestlers are going to be hurt at some point in their careers and sometimes they are more serious than others. You can very clearly see some of these take place, and it seems to have been the case again earlier this month in a rather widely seem clip.
Earlier this month, WWE ran an event at Madison Square Garden, which ended with WWE Champion Brock Lesnar defeating Austin Theory to retain the title. After the match, Roman Reigns and the Usos attacked Lesnar, leaving him blood to end the show. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Lesnar was intentionally busted open hard way with no blade used. The clip has also been a success, becoming the most viewed clip on WWE’s Instagram account with 5.44 million views. Lesnar vs. Reigns in a title unification match is scheduled to headline WrestleMania 38.
It was an intense moment. Check out the huge brawl from Madi..

So that’s what happened. AEW has come a long way in a short amount of time and they already have some signature moments in their history. Some of these have been very well received moments that have caused a major shakeup in AEW, often involving a new star coming in. That was the case last August, but he has been missing as of late. Now we know where he has been.
CM Punk defeated Maxwell Jacob Friedman in a dog collar match at Revolution but has not yet appeared live on an AEW show since. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Punk has been away filming the second season of the Starz series Heels. Punk appeared in the first season as well, along with other wrestlers. There is no word on when he will be returning to AEW TV.
Opinion: That is a lot better to hear than anything involving an injury of some kind. Punk has been a game changer for AEW and it would be awful to see him go on the shelf with some kind of an injury after the amazing MJF feud. I’m curious to see what is n..

I’d call it a success. AEW has come a very long way in its short time span and it has been a success in a number of areas. This includes with its audiences, which have tended to be rather strong for most of their shows. The pay per views have featured some large audiences as well, leading to some high amounts of money coming in. Now AEW has done it again, but better.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, AEW Double Or Nothing 2022 has sold 12,939 tickets at Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. That is worth $1,145,000 dollars, which sets a new record for the largest gate for any non-WWE event in North American history. The previous record was $1,100,000, held by the Ring of Honor/New Japan Pro Wrestling G1 Climax event in 2019. The show is still not a sellout, meaning that it will push the record even higher than it has already gone.
Opinion: This is a situation where a lot of the proof that you need is in the numbers. AEW has made a lot of money off of this show and ..

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?
March To Wrestlemania IX
Date: March 28, 1993
Location: Cumberland County Memorial Auditorium, Fayetteville, North Carolina
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Bobby Heenan
I don’t know how but the last three of these that I’ve picked at random have all been full shows. This time around it’s….well I think the name speaks for itself in this case. We’re about a week away from Wrestlemania IX and we get to see some glorified warmup matches. Let’s get to it.
We start with the contract signing between Yokozuna and Bret Hart ..

Rampage
Date: March 18, 2022
Location: Freeman Coliseum, San Antonio, Texas
Commentators: Excalibur, Taz, Ricky Starks
We’re on late this week due to the NCAA Tournament so I’m not sure what kind of an audience this show is going to have. The good thing is Rampage is rarely the show that features a lot of important developments, but it does offer some good action more often than not. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Butcher vs. Darby Allin Sting is in Allin’s corner. Allin charges right at him to start but gets sent into the corner and out to the floor. Back up on the apron and Allin slaps him in the face. They change places though and Allin hits a hard suicide dive into the barricade. Back in and Allin starts working on the hand but Butcher knocks him down again as Jericho talks about how a hand injury could hurt Butcher’s music career. A hard clothesline drops Allin and they head outside, with Butcher glaring at Sting.
We take a break and come back with Butcher putting on a Tex..

Smackdown
Date: March 18, 2022
Location: Spectrum Center, Charlotte, North Carolina
Commentators: Pat McAfee, Michael Cole
Wrestlemania is two weeks from tomorrow and we have most of the card set. There are still some matches to be made, but most of this show is probably going to be about building on what has already been started. That can make for some successful shows, but the stories need to be good in the first place. Let’s get to it.
In memory of Scott Hall.
We open with a recap of Roman Reigns attacking Brock Lesnar at Madison Square Garden, leading to Lesnar trying to eat Paul Heyman last week.
Here is the Bloodline to get things going. Reigns tells the crowd to acknowledge him before moving on to Lesnar. Hold on though as Heyman interrupts, saying that due to a bad weather pattern, Lesnar is stuck in Canada and will not be here tonight. The fans want Lesnar and Reigns says he wants the same thing.
Reigns talks about how he would have smashed Lesnar had be been here but kee..