NEWS

That’s some star power. Wrestlers are in a weird place when it comes to celebrity status. While they are known for appearing on national television, they are still going to be viewed as wrestlers. That does not leave them with a wide variety of options available in mainstream appearances, though they do happen occasionally. It took place again this week, with quite the theme situation.
Monday Night Raw’s Seth Rollins appeared on the Tonight Show during the Audience Suggestion Box segment. The suggested asked for a combination of WWE and St. Patrick’s Day, which led to Rollins hitting the Stomp on a leprechaun. Rollins did not speak during the segment but was introduced by name and did his full entrance, complete with his theme music playing.
It does kind of fit. Check out how Rollins did on the show:
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Opinion: This is the kind of thing that you do not get to see very often but it is something pretty cool. If nothing else it gives WWE some pu..

That’s what they’ll be called. A wrestler’s name is one of the most important parts of their entire presentation. If a wrestler has the wrong name, it could leave them fairly low on the ladder, as no one will be taking them seriously. Sometimes you will see a wrestler change their name for one reason or another, and that was the case again this week with a pair of names.
This week’s edition of AEW Dynamite featured the first interview with the newly formed Jericho Appreciation Society. During the interview, Chris Jericho said that 2.0 was a bad name from “bad creative” and announced that they would not be going by their previous names of Matt Lee and Jeff Parker. Instead, they would not be known as “Daddy Magic” Matt Minard and “Cool Hand Ang” Angelo Parker.
Opinion: I’m not sure how much of a difference the changes are going to make, but at least they have done something interesting with them for a change. 2.0 have been fairly successful during their time in AEW but they haven’t exa..

It’s a good excuse. WWE has a rather diverse roster with wrestlers from all over the world. That can make for some interesting matchups as you can see different styles coming together to face off on some rather big stages. There are some setbacks to having so many international wrestlers though, which apparently was the case with one such star a few months ago.
During a new interview with BT Sports, WWE United States Champion Finn Balor revealed that he missed a significant amount of time in January, including the Royal Rumble, due to visa issues. Balor’s visa was expiring and he had to return to Ireland to get it renewed, which resulted in him not having a match from January 17 until February 21. The renewed visa will keep him in good standing for the next ten years.
He would know best. Check out Balor’s announcement:
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Opinion: This could be a lot worse for everyone involved and the fact that it was something beyond WWE’s control makes it a..

It’s a delayed honor. There are very few honors in the WWE world as important as an induction into the company’s Hall of Fame. While there have been a lot of different names inducted over the year, there are very few major names in the company’s history that are not inducted. The induction ceremony can be quite the moment, and now we might have an idea when an overdue entry will take place.
Former WWE star Batista was announced as part of the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2020. However, the induction ceremony was postponed until 2021 due the Coronavirus pandemic. Batista was unable to attend the ceremony due to a scheduling conflict. WWE removed him from the class as per his request, leaving him to be inducted later. According to PWInsider.com, Batista will be in attendance in Dallas this year for Undertaker’s induction but is not expected to be inducted until 2023 in Los Angeles over WrestleMania 39 weekend.
Opinion: This is the kind of thing that makes sense and I could see WWE’s logic..

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?
Monday Nitro #79
Date: March 17, 1997
Location: Savannah Civic Center, Savannah, Georgia
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, Larry Zbyszko, Bobby Heenan
It’s the night after Uncensored and the big story is that Sting has declared his loyalty for WCW by attacking the NWO to close the show last night. At the same time though it’s not all good for the purple and gold (WCW for you young people out there) as the NWO won the main event last night, basically giving them unlimited power in the company. There are ele..

Catch him down the road. The AEW roster is quite the mixture of young stars, up and coming wrestlers and legends. The grouping has turned into a unique mixture, which has allowed AEW to present a wide variety of matches. AEW keeps bringing in new names though, meaning some wrestlers are going to have to leave. Now we know another one who won’t be back for the time being.
During an interview with Instinct Culture, AEW’s Joey Janela announced that he will not be re-signing with the company when his contract expires on May 1. This comes after Janela had said that he would be re-signing in previous interviews. Janela said that while he is satisfied with his time in AEW, the company goes radio silent on wrestlers they are not going to renew. While he wishes AEW would talk to him more, he considers AEW President Tony Khan to be a friend and appreciates his time with the company.
Opinion: This doesn’t seem to be the biggest surprise as Janela has not appeared on Dynamite or a pay per view i..

That would be a big pickup. Legends in wrestling are a bit different than in other sports, as legends can still pop up to be a part of the show every now and then. The story has to be set up in the right way, but it is something that can be done. Having the right legend in the right spot can be a great thing and it might be happening again with one of the biggest names in wrestling history.
This week on AEW Dynamite, the Young Bucks mocked FTR, saying they could bring in “the best manager there is” but it wouldn’t be enough to help FTR beat them. While not confirmed, this could be hinting at Bret Hart in, based on Hart’s “best there is, best there was and best there ever will be” catchphrase. Hart has appeared before for AEW, unveiling the AEW World Title at Double Or Nothing 2019.
Opinion: I’m not sure if I buy this one, as Hart coming in would be a nice thing to see but not exactly necessary. Hart was not known for his talking abilities and it isn’t like FTR needs someone to handle..

It’s one of their strong suits. AEW has not been around for a very long time compared to other promotions, though they do have some strong traditions. One of their bigger ones is the way they treat their titles. The company’s championships have been treated as the most important things in the entire promotion and a title change makes a difference. That was the case again this week.
The main event of this week’s AEW Dynamite saw Thunder Rosa defeat Britt Baker to become the new AEW Women’s Champion. Rosa won the title in a cage match after giving baker a Fire Thunder Driver onto thumbtacks. The match was a rematch of last year’s St. Patrick’s Day Slam, when Rosa defeated Baker, who had held the title since May 30, 2021 for a reign of 290 days.
Opinion: This was a title change that felt like it had been coming for a long time now and that is not always a bad thing. Baker had been champion for the better part of a year and there was little reason for her to hold onto it any longer. Rosa..

Dynamite
Date: March 16, 2022
Location: Freeman Coliseum, San Antonio, Texas
Commentators: Excalibur, Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone
It’s time for another major show with St. Patrick’s Day Slam and we actually have a rematch from last year’s edition. This week will see Thunder Rosa challenging Britt Baker for the Women’s Title inside a cage following their classic war last year. Other than that, Wardlow gets his TNT Title shot so let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Jurassic Express/Hangman Page vs. Adam Cole/ReDRagon Jungle Boy hurricanranas Cole down to start but gets sent into the corner so Fish can come in to crank on the arm. That doesn’t last long as it’s off to Luchasaurus, who sends the villains outside but gets kicked off the apron. Fish posts him to take over and it’s time to work over the leg back inside. O’Reilly twists the knee around but Luchasaurus fights his way out and the hot tag brings in Page to clean house.
A sitout powerbomb gets two on Fish and Jungle Boy hits a big ..

That approach will work. WWE has posted a new video to its YouTube channel in which they show a full segment from the March 7, 2011 episode of Raw. In the segment, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin names himself the special guest referee for a match between Michael Cole and Jerry “The King” Lawler at WrestleMania.
You can see the segment in its entirety below:
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From WWE.com:
Last week, Michael Cole announced that his trainer for his WrestleMania match against Jerry “The King” Lawler will be Jack Swagger. This week, the other boot dropped. Cole revealed his choice as the special guest referee: JBL! Only one problem.
Before The Lonestar Loudmouth could sign the contract, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin confronted the two. After stunning JBL, The Texas Rattlesnake signed on the dotted line to become the match’s special guest referee and chased off Cole.
Editor’s Opinion:
I love segments like this. It’s always fun to see Austin come out and do what he doe..

The third time’s a charm. WWE has posted a new video to their YouTube channel, which shows the full match between “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and The Rock from WrestleMania 19. It was the third match between the two on the “grandest stage of them all.”
You can see the match in its entirety below:
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As mentioned, this was the third meeting between the two WWE legends at WrestleMania. Austin had been victorious at WrestleMania 14 and 17; however, The Rock was able to pick up the victory in this final contest between the two. This match was a classic and sent each superstar on their own separate journey.
Editor’s Opinion:
Oh man, do I remember this one. The Rock was playing an arrogant, Hollywood heel, who was constantly badmouthing the fans and singing songs about how much he hated being in the various towns that he was in. It was during this time that he even had a brief encounter with “The Hurricane” that was absolutely hilarious! These two a..

I’m not going to bother suggesting anything else this week. Over the weekend, news broke that Scott Hall has suffered three heart attacks due to complications after hip replacement surgery. On Monday, Hall was taken off of life support and passed away later that night. Today we are going to be looking at some different parts of Hall’s career and what made him the legend that he is.
We’ll start with the big stuff, and by that I mean what Hall could do in the ring. He was a bigger guy in the Drew McIntyre size range and could work against anyone from Bret Hart or Undertaker, making him a very versatile star. That is the kind of thing that let him do all kinds of things against a variety of opponents and that was the case throughout almost all of his career.
That was on display with the ladder matches against Shawn Michaels, both of which completely paved the way for ladder matches for years to come. Hall and Michaels had some of the most amazing matches ever, with the first being all a..