NEWS

That’s a better fit. Celebrities have a weird history in wrestling, as some have done very well but others have clearly been in over their heads with no reason to be there in the first place. That can create some problems if they try to have a match without a lot of catering to their individual cases. WWE seems to understand this and is making such an adjustment to an upcoming celebrity match.
Sami Zayn is scheduled to face Jackass’ Johnny Knoxville at WrestleMania 38, following a months long feud between the two of them. This week on SmackDown, Zayn requested that the match be made anything goes, with Knoxville accepting the stipulation later in the night. Knoxville and Zayn have been feuding since January, with Zayn eliminating him from the Royal Rumble and Knoxville flying Zayn’s phone number behind a plane over Los Angeles last week.
Opinion: This isn’t much of a surprise and is the right move for everyone involved. Knoxville can do his Jackass style stuff and probably bring in s..

The more the merrier. WrestleMania is the be all and end all for WWE and the last few years have seen the show get even bigger than ever before. This year’s WrestleMania 38 will be the third straight edition to feature a two night event, meaning even more wrestlers will have the chance to be on the card. Now the number of wrestlers on the show has grown even higher.
This week on SmackDown, Sonya Deville added Natalya and Shayna Baszler to the Women’s Tag Team Title match at WrestleMania 38, making the match a fatal four way. Natalya and Baszler interfered to cause a double DQ in a match between the original challengers, Liv Morgan/Rhea Ripley and Sasha Banks/Naomi. After the match, Baszler and Natalya motioned to the champions, Queen Zelina and Carmella, that they wanted the titles.
Opinion: Sure why not. This is one of those matches that didn’t have much of a story in the first place as the two challenging teams were thrown together in the first place. SmackDown commentary even poin..

The nightmare returns. According to a report from Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com, Cody Rhodes has signed a new deal and will be returning to WWE.
The report states that Rhodes signed his new contract about 10-14 days ago. The current plan is to have Rhodes debut during Wrestlemania 38 weekend, with the early word among those in the company saying that Rhodes will be on the Raw brand.
It has been heavily rumored that The American Nightmare will be facing Seth Rollins at WrestleMania, but nothing is finalized yet.
We will continue to monitor this situation and provide any updates as they become available.
Editor’s Opinion:
If I’m being honest, I’m surprised that this is happening. There has to be something in place where he has a little bit more creative control over his contract, because if they try to have him revert to his old gimmicks, the return may fall flat on its face. That being said, he is one of the most incredible talents globally and will be a fantastic addition to the r..

You have to restock the shelves. There have been all kinds of wrestlers released from WWE over the last few years. These changes have completely reshaped the company’s roster and those adjustments will be felt for a long time to come. At some point WWE is going to have to do something to replenish their roster, and now they are taking some steps to help take care of the problem.
WWE has announced its latest class of 14 NXT wrestlers, who will be reporting to the performance Center over the coming weeks. Some of these names have appeared on WWE television before, though some are still waiting to make their debut. The highest profile names include former Ring Of Honor Women’s Champion Rok-C and Fallon Henley, who has already appeared on NXT television. Here are WWE’s looks at everyone in the new class:
Theresa Schuessler who debuted on NXT 2.0 as Fallon Henley, is a 24-year old Tampa, Fla., native with five years of experience under her belt competing in the independent circuit under t..

That isn’t a good thing to see. There are several common criticisms of WWE these days and a lot of them seem to be focused on the way WWE presents its storylines. This is often blamed on the creative team, but the situation is a little more complicated than that. WWE has all kinds of people on its creative team, but that comes with some issues of its own. Now we know something more about how things tend to go.
According to the Mat Men Pro Wrestling podcast, WWE writers have said that WWE “beats the creativity out of you”, with some of the writers having lost all of their confidence in their abilities. This comes despite the writers having experience on top level television shows. WWE creative is responsible for coming up with the ways stories are presented, though Vince McMahon has the final say on who is pushed in what way.
Opinion: Is this a surprise in any way? WWE has a long history of turnover on the creative team with all kinds of stories about how they are often seen as being ..

It would have been a big loss. There have been a lot of stars in WWE over the years but there are only some who have been around for so long that they become one of the company’s regulars. Some names have been around for well over ten years and they are still big deals in the company to this day. It turns out that one of them almost never got to WWE in the first place.
During an appearance on My Love Letter To Wrestling, Natalya spoke about how she nearly quit wrestling after tearing her ACL in 2006. However, she was talked out of quitting by her uncle Bret Hart and future NWA owner Billy Corgan, who she met at Hart’s Hall of Fame induction and considers to be a good friend today. The two both told her to continue with her career, which included spending six months recovering from her injury. Natalya was signed by WWE less than three months after she returned to the ring and has stayed with WWE for fifteen years since.
Opinion: It really is kind of hard to fathom that someone making ..

They don’t own the whole thing. WWE is the biggest and most powerful wrestling promotion in the world. This has been the case for a long time now and no one has given WWE any kind of a serious threat for years. However, that does not mean WWE is the only wrestling promotion around, and now they have had to admit that in front of a judge as part of a lawsuit.
Earlier this year, Major League Wrestling, alleging that WWE is a monopoly on the wrestling industry. WWE has since filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit and, according to Dave Meltzer, presented a copy of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, which showed that AEW defeated WWE head to head in a thirty minute period. As a result, the company showed that they were not a monopoly on the wrestling business. There is no word on if the lawsuit will be thrown out or when a decision will be made.
In the WWE's response to the MLW lawsuit, besides the written response they provided an exhibit. The exhibit was the October 18, 2021 issue ..

He’ll be back. Retirement is a weird thing in wrestling, as it is rare for a wrestler to ever truly walk away from wrestling as a whole. There is always the chance to see someone get back in the ring for a one off appearance or one final run, which can take some fans by surprise. Now another wrestler who seemed like he might have been done has clarified his status and explained where he has been.
Titus O’Neil Appeared on 95.3 WDAE (St. Petersburg, Florida) and revealed that he is currently rehabbing from a medical procedure on his knee. O’Neil made it clear that he has not retired from the ring and plans to wrestle again. There is no word on what O’Neil had done or when he will be back in the ring. O’Neil’s most recent match took place on the November 9, 2020 edition of Monday Night Raw when he lost to Bobby Lashley.
Opinion: O’Neil is one of the most fascinating cases in WWE as he has never had the greatest success in the ring, but everything else he does outside of it more than mak..

There’s the reason. One of the biggest wrestling stories of the last few years has been WWE releasing several wrestlers from the company. That has not been a normal thing for other companies as several promotions have had minimal releases save for special circumstances. Sometimes wrestlers leave a bigger promotion when their contract expires, which is the case again in AEW. Now we know a bit more about what led to the decision.
In an interview with Denise Salcedo, Joey Janela revealed that he would be leaving AEW when his contract expired on May 1. Janela also said that he believes accidentally breaking Eddie Kingston’s orbital bone in a match was the final straw for his time in AEW, as he was labeled a dangerous wrestler. According to PWInsider.com, the Kingston injury was part of the reason for Janela’s departure, but he was also believed to have injured other wrestlers in the ring. Janela has not wrestled for AEW since January 15.
Opinion: Being a dangerous worker, or being labele..

From one legend to another. There are very few wrestlers who have reached the top of WWE. You have all kinds of main event stars, but there have only been a handful who have become the face of the company. That is not something that is always around as WWE can take a while to find a new one. Every now and then you will see two of them together, and this time it was a rather nice moment.
In honor of Austin 3:16 Day, WWE has uploaded a video of Steve Austin running into John Cena backstage at Raw Reunion in 2019. Austin says he is proud of what Cena did in his segment on the show. After Austin leaves, Cena says he is glad that was caught on camera, as Austin saying he was proud melted Cena’s heart. Austin is scheduled to be a guest on the Kevin Owens Show at WrestleMania 38 while Cena is not currently scheduled to appear.
It was a pretty cool moment. Check out Cena and Austin backstage:
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Opinion: That is quite the meeting, both from a fan’s p..

Call it a scheduling issue? Wrestling has been put together in a similar fashion for a long time now. Most of the time, television shows have been designed to set up the bigger events down the line, often in the form of pay per views. Most major promotions in the world operate this way, but now we might be seeing two big shows taking place pretty close together.
The WrestleVotes Twitter account is reporting that WWE will be returning to the United Kingdom for a pay per view on September 3 at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. This is on the same weekend as AEW All Out 2022, though it is not clear when All Out will be taking place. This will be the first major WWE pay per view event in the United Kingdom since Summerslam 1992.
Source states the long-awaited WWE United Kingdom PPV return will take place Saturday, September 3rd at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.
That is the same weekend as AEW’s ‘All Out’ PPV.
— WrestleVotes (@WrestleVotes) March 17, 2022
Opinion: This i..

Ring Of Honor
Date: March 9, 2022
Host: Ian Riccaboni
We’re done with the Hall of Fame shows so I have no idea what to expect this week. We could be in for something interesting out of the vault, but Ring of Honor has a tendency to throw in a surprise here or there. The relaunch is less than a month away though so they don’t have much more time to fill. Let’s get to it.
We open with a look at how Ring of Honor has come up through the years and the foundation of what it was built on.
Ian Riccaboni welcomes us to the show, which will be a Hall of Fame special looking at the original class.
First up we look at the Briscoes, who have been around since the first match in Ring of Honor history and are the greatest tag team the company has ever had. We see some clips of their greatest feuds and a highlight reel of some of their big matches, from title wins to grudge matches. Jay Briscoe’s World Title wins are included as well.
Riccaboni brings in Cary Silkin for a chat about the Briscoes..