NEWS

I think that qualifies as a big deal. We are less than two months away from WrestleMania 38 and WWE has its work cut out for the show. Not only is the show taking place at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, but it is going to be taking place over two nights. That means about 200,000 possible tickets being sold and WWE is going to have to work hard to make that work. They might have an idea of how to do just that this time.
According to Fightful Select, WWE has made a “significant overture” to Steve Austin about wrestling a match at WrestleMania 38. While WWE has not said anything about the situation, people backstage at WWE are said to have a mixed response, with some thinking the match will take place. According to PWInsider.com, WWE made its offer to Austin around the end of 2021 to see if he had any interest, though there is no word on if Austin is interested. There is no word on any potential opponent or storyline, though Austin is expected to appear at the show in some role.
Aust..

Call it a fresh start. With so many wrestlers on its roster, WWE has to have quite a bit of television time at its disposal. The company needs a good number of shows to get that many people a chance to showcase themselves to the audience. As a result, WWE puts quite a bit of effort into making its shows look good, but now they are trying things with a bit of a twist.
This week’s edition of Monday Night Raw began as usual, with its traditional montage of clips from throughout the company’s history. At the end though, a voice over said the words “THEN, NOW, FOREVER”. After the montage ended, the WWE logo came up, again as usual, but this time the same voice said “TOGETHER”, which appears underneath the logo. WWE has also referenced the change on its Twitter account.
THEN
NOW
FOREVER
TOGETHER#WWERaw
— WWE (@WWE) February 15, 2022
Opinion: I’m not sure how much of a difference this is going to make but this feels like a very WWE thing to do. The company loves to tout itself and everyth..

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?
Elimination Chamber 2021
Date: February 21, 2021
Location: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida
Commentators: Samoa Joe, Byron Saxton, Tom Phillips, Michael Cole, Corey Graves
The long Road to Wrestlemania continues here as we have one of the two pay per views between the Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania. This time around they are doing something a little different with the Elimination Chamber matches as the Raw World Title is on the line, but the winner of the Smackdown Chamber gets an immediate title shot. Let’..

The roster keeps growing. There are a lot of incredibly talented wrestlers on the AEW roster and the combination they have put together is a major reason for their success. AEW has found a great balance between all kinds of wrestlers and as a result, they are able to offer all kinds of matches and feuds. Some of their wrestlers are quite young, but now the company has reached another level.
Over the weekend, Nick Wayne faced Christopher Daniels in the main event of a Defy Wrestling event. Following the match, AEW’s Darby Allin came to the ring and offered Wayne an AEW contract. After thinking about it for a few moments, Wayne accepted the deal, but it is not that simple. According to Wrestling Observer Radio, the deal is similar to an apprenticeship, as Wayne is sixteen years old and must graduate high school. Once he is 18 years old, he will be a fully contracted wrestler.
This was a special moment. Check out the surprise contract offer:
[This post contains video, click to play]
A..

It could be a little while. The amount of talent available in the wrestling world is almost hard to fathom these days, as a variety of companies have signed so many great wrestlers that it is almost hard to watch any promotion without seeing some great action. There are some great free agent wrestlers as well, and now that list has grown again, albeit there will be a bit of a delay before we get to see someone in action again.
Last week, news emerged that former Impact Wrestling World Champion Josh Alexander may be on his way out of the company and into the free agent market. Alexander has since taken to Twitter and offered more details, including a confirmation that his Impact Wrestling contract has expired. In addition, Alexander’s American work visa has expired as well, meaning that he will be forced to miss this month’s Terminus event. There is no word on when Alexander will be able to return to the ring, though he said that he hopes to have the issues resolved soon.
Today my con..

She’s in. We are less than a week away from WWE’s latest Elimination Chamber event and that means the show will be built around the show’s namesake matches. This year will feature both a men’s and women’s match, with the latter being for a shot at the Raw Women’s Title at WrestleMania 38. That means the bigger names are going to be involved and now we know the match’s final entrant.
Over the last several weeks, a series of vignettes showing Alexa Bliss in therapy on Monday Night Raw. This week’s show featured the final therapy session, with Bliss being released from the doctor’s care. As she was leaving, Bliss said that she would be the final entrant in the women’s Elimination Chamber match. Bliss joins Rhea Ripley, Nikki Ash, Doudrop, Liv Morgan and Bianca Belair in the match. This will be Bliss’ first match since her loss to Charlotte at Extreme Rules in September 2021.
Opinion: This is one of the many directions that they could have gone, but one of the best things about the retur..

Sounds like a future to me. WWE has a huge roster, but unfortunately it is nowhere near as big of a lineup as it used to be. That is the kind of change that can make things all the more confusing and difficult for the regular television shows, but WWE has to figure something out after all of the changes. In theory that might mean some NXT stars moving up to the main roster, and now we might be seeing that happen, at least in the short term.
Last week’s edition of NXT saw Dolph Ziggler make a surprise appearance on the show. Ziggler seemed to insert himself into the NXT Title picture but former NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa disagreed and got in a fight with Ziggler. Ciampa appeared on this week’s Monday Night Raw, doing commentary during a tag match between Ziggler and Robert Roode against the Street Profits. The match ended when Ciampa threw water on Ziggler, allowing the Street Profits to get the pin. Following the match, Ziggler took Ciampa out with a superkick. There is no word on a ..

There’s always room for one more. We are less than a week away from WWE Elimination Chamber in Saudi Arabia, which is shaping up to be quite the big card. That is something that is going to make the company put in quite a bit of effort and that seems to be the case again. It was certainly the case this week, as WWE has added a last minute match to the show’s card.
This week on Monday Night Raw, a match between the Miz and Rey Mysterio was added to the Elimination Chamber event. The match comes after Rey’s son Dominik has been having issues with the Miz over recent weeks. During this week’s show, the Mysterios were facing the Alpha Academy when Rey attacked Miz, leaving Dominik to get pilled. After the match, Miz laid Rey out with a Skull Crushing Finale.
Opinion: This is something that needed to be added to the show as it was missing a few more stars. When so many of the wrestlers are involved in a pair of Elimination Chamber matches, you need something else to draw in a little inter..

Monday Night Raw
Date: February 14, 2022
Location: Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana
Commentators: Jimmy Smith Corey Graves, Byron Saxton
It’s the go home show for Elimination Chamber and that means it’s time for a lot of talking about the matches that have already been made for Saturday’s show. It also means that we are in for another limited commercial show, because if there is one thing WWE needs, it is more content. Let’s get to it.
The opening video now has a voiceover saying “FOREVER. TOGETHER.”
Here is Bobby Lashley with MVP to get things going. Lashley talks about having *to go through the Elimination Chamber to get to WrestleMania as WWE Champion. The Chamber has shortened careers and impacted lives….but so has he. MVP says there is 16% chance of Lashley retaining the title, but when you add in the Almighty Quotient, it is about 100%.
Cue Seth Rollins to interrupt, saying that Lashley looks great, but not as great as he does. Rollins talks about how Lashley is c..

She is moving on. There are all kinds of ways to present a wrestler to the audience and some of them can be a little bit over the top. Wrestlers have to find the right balance between absurd and believable to make things work, which can be rather tricky. Sometimes adjustments need to be made to find the right balance, which seems to be the case again with a current star.
According to Wrestling Observer Radio, AEW may be changing Kris Statlander’s gimmick. Statlander’s longstanding character had been that of an alien from the Andromeda galaxy but she has recently been acting more like a normal person, with the alien characteristics being dropped. The gimmick is not said to have been entirely dropped yet but Statlander is moving in a new direction.
Opinion: This is probably the right way to go, as the alien gimmick was only going to get Statlander so far. It is a pretty silly and over the top character but the talent is certainly there. Statlander is good at what she does and it makes ..

An audience of one. Whether you are a fan of it or not, there is no wrestling promotion in the world on the level of WWE. It is the biggest wrestling company in the world and nothing is anywhere close to its level. That is at least the case from a business standpoint, as the wrestling side might not be seen as so great. WWE fans have not been so thrilled, but there is one person who is rather happy, and he is the one that matters.
According to Mike Johnson in a PWInsider.com Q&A session, WWE does not make any changes to its product because Vince McMahon is happy with how everything is going. WWE made over a billion dollars in 2021 so McMahon sees no reason to change anything about the way the company is presented. McMahon presents the stories and ideas that he wants and that is not likely to change anytime soon.
Opinion: I don’t think this is the biggest surprise but it is certainly disappointing. WWE certainly does make a ton of money and there is no way to argue against the results..

That won’t go well. The fans are one of the most important parts of any wrestling show. While the wrestlers are the featured attraction, there is nowhere near as much energy without the fans around. Just look back at WWE’s shows in the Thunder Dome to see how much different things are without them. However, there are some lines that fans cannot cross, and that was done this weekend.
Over the weekend at a Warrior Wrestling event outside of Chicago, AEW’s Thunder Rosa faced Athena (formerly known as Ember Moon in WWE). During the match, a fan reportedly shouted a racist statement to Athena, saying “tear her weave off”. Following the match, Rosa got on the microphone and told the fans to have some respect for the women who are putting their lives in danger during the matches. Rosa went on to say that fans who are disrespectful to the wrestlers in that way have no right to be at a show.
Racist towards Athena (Ember Moon). A comment about weave.
— thrillking722 (@thrillking722) February ..