NEWS

Welcome home. There are a lot of wrestlers throughout the history of the industry, but some of their names stand out over the others. That is certainly the case with some wrestling families, as certain families carry a lot of weight in the wrestling world. Sometimes you might not have known about them during their time in the ring, but the truth comes out later. Now things are coming a bit more full circle.
According to the Daily Item (Sunbury, Pennsylvania), WWE Hall of Famer Samu has signed a new “nostalgia” contract with WWE. While not confirmed, this appears to be a Legends deal, meaning that WWE will produce Samu merchandise and have Samu make various appearances. Samu is part of the Anoa’i Family, best known for his time as part of the Wild Samoans. He is also the father of Universal Champion Roman Reigns.
Opinion: This is something rather cool for Samu, who is indeed a legend in WWE’s history. He and Afa were one of the more dominant tag teams the company has ever had and it i..

That’s rather kind of him. Wrestlers are a rare breed of people who have to travel the world and work in one city after another over and over again. That is not the kind of thing most people get to do and it can make for some interesting situations. Odds are that can get a bit tiring at times, but there are other times when something stands out. It seems that was the case in the last few days for a current WWE star.
Monday Night Raw’s Kevin Owens posted to Twitter, thanking fans for making three recent events some of the favorite nights of his career. Owens mentioned shows in Salt Lake City, Utah, Boise, Idaho and Denver, Colorado, which took place over the weekend and on Monday Night Raw respectively. On Saturday and Sunday, Owens defeated the Miz and on Monday, he defeated Austin Theory.
Hello!
I just wanted to say, for everyone at the shows in Salt Lake City, Boise and Denver over the weekend and on Monday:
Those were legitimately 3 of my favourite (??) nights in my career. Spec..

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?
Summerslam 2003
Date: August 24, 2003
Location: America West Arena, Phoenix, Arizona
Attendance: 16,113
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole, Tazz
It’s one of the biggest shows of the year and I can’t bring myself to get excited over it. This show really hasn’t been built up very well with only the Smackdown World Title match with Kurt Angle defending against Brock Lesnar offering much interest. The rest of the show feels very flat, especially the Raw World Title match which should have been Goldberg..

He has his supporters. There are so many wrestlers on the WWE roster that some of them are going to be more popular than others. It is nice to hear about someone getting a positive reception backstage, which is often due to the hard work and effort that they have put in over the years. Now it seems that the locker room is not happy with how one of the more popular wrestlers have been treated.
Back at WWE Day One on January 1, Big E. lost the WWE Title to Brock Lesnar. Since his loss, Big E. has been moved back to SmackDown and put back in a tag team with Kofi Kingston. According to a PW Torch podcast, the WWE locker room is unhappy with how Big E. has been treated. Big E. is popular in the WWE locker room and his current treatment is not seen as fair. There is nothing to suggest that WWE will be changing anything about Big E.’s booking anytime soon.
Opinion: I can completely get something like this, as Big E. did not get much of a chance to be viewed as a top star. He won the title v..

There was something to that. Every now and then, you see a story that goes well on its own, but could have been that much better with one more change. That might be a different direction, a different result, or even a different wrestler involved. It seems that WWE had an idea of how to upgrade a recent storyline, but for some reason they did not go in that direction. However, we do know what might have been in the plans.
Over the last few weeks, WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle revealed that he was in discussions to be brought in for a short for storyline. The plans were canceled for reasons that were not clear, but Angle never revealed what he was supposed to do. According to Fightful Select, Angle would have been part of the Academic Challenge between RKBro and the Alpha Academy. Had Angle been involved, the challenge would have been the Three I’s Challenge, as a takeoff of Angle’s Intensity, Integrity and Intelligence catchphrase. It is not clear why WWE changed their minds on the stor..

They might be building to something. Wrestling fans are living in a pretty amazing era when it comes to pure talent around the world. There are so many skilled wrestlers and it is so easy to see a lot of them at any given time. That can be done rather easily in a lot of situations, but sometimes fans have to wait a little bit. That is the case with one legendary star, but now we might be seeing a hint of what is next for him.
This week on AEW Dynamite, Matt Hardy walked out on a match between the debuting Keith Lee and Isiah Kassidy. Hardy walked through the crowd, which was described as “erratic behavior” by commentator Tony Schiavone. This was the same term used to describe Matt’s brother Jeff, who walked out on WWE during a match in December by walking through the crowd in what was described as “erratic behavior”. Jeff’s no compete clause is expected to expire in early March.
Opinion: I don’t think there is any surprise to the idea that Jeff is on his way to AEW. With Matt already..

That’s where we could be going. AEW has a unique setup for its major shows as the company does not run monthly pay per views. Instead, AEW presents quarterly major pay per view events, meaning that the cards are all that bigger. There are always major matches on the show, mainly focusing on the company’s championships. Now we might have a hint about what is coming up on their next pay per view.
The main event of this week’s edition of AEW Dynamite featured Hangman Page retaining the World Title over Lance Archer in a Texas Death Match. After the match was over, Adam Cole came to the ring and picked up the title belt to end the show. While not confirmed, this suggests that Cole will be Page’s next challenger at the Revolution pay per view event on March 6.
Opinion: This isn’t the biggest surprise in the world as Cole seems to be primed for the title shot. The match should be quite the showcase for both of them, as they are capable of having some great results when they get the chance…

It’s a hard job. There are a lot of jobs to do in the wrestling world and some of them are rather important. While the wrestlers themselves are the focal points of any given wrestling show, there is another group of people on most events that have an important role of their own. That would be the commentary team, whose consists of guiding the fans where the promotion wants them to go. It seems that WWE was not pleased with one of their more prominent voices.
During the most recent edition of his podcast, SmackDown broadcaster Pat McAfee revealed that he gets yelled at every time he refers to someone as a “future Hall of Famer”. Someone, occasionally Vince McMahon, will speak to him in his headset, saying that the company does not know if a wrestler will be inducted into the Hall of Fame or not. McAfee said that sometimes he tries to use the line as often as possible to see how many wrestlers he can name a future Hall of Famer per show. McAfee has been a full time SmackDown broadcaster..

Close the door behind you. AEW has done quite a few good things for the wrestling world, including adding a new place for all kinds of new wrestlers. Some of these wrestlers are names that you might not have not seen before. One of AEW’s most interesting traditions has been allowing wrestlers from other promotions to showcase themselves on a bigger stage. That was the case again this week.
This week’s edition of AEW Dynamite featured the debut of New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Jay White. During the show, White attacked Roppongi Vice to assist Adam Cole and the Young Bucks. This did not sit well with the Bucks, who were unhappy with Cole for not telling him that White was coming due to White’s issues with Kenny Omega in Japan. White came to the company through the Forbidden Door concept of bringing in wrestlers who are under contract with other promotions, meaning White has not been signed to AEW.
Opinion: While the main focus of the show was on the debut of Keith Lee, White is another big..

Welcome to the team. WWE has released well over one hundred wrestlers during the last year and a half. It is not clear if the string of releases has ended, but they have flooded the free agent market with some very talented wrestlers. That makes for some very interesting moments as wrestlers are able to appear all over the wrestling world. The same thing took place this week as another major name made his debut elsewhere.
This week’s AEW Dynamite featured the debut of Keith Lee, who appeared as a mystery opponent for Isiah Kassidy in a qualifying match for the Face of the Revolution ladder match. Lee won the match and will participate in the ladder match at Revolution on March 6. This is Lee’s first match since being released from WWE in November and AEW President Tony Khan has announced that he has signed a contract with the company.
It’s official!!!@RealKeithLee is ALL ELITE!!!#AEWDynamite on @TBSNetwork pic.twitter.com/uzG74YKCHF
— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) February 10, 2022
He migh..

Dynamite
Date: February 9, 2022
Location: Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey
Commentators: Jim Ross, Excalibur, Tony Schiavone
This is another big night and that is because Tony Khan has promised a huge debut in a qualifying match for the Face of the Revolution ladder match. As a result, there has been a lot of excited speculation and that has made the show feel that much more important. Other than that, we are probably seeing some more from the potential Jon Moxley/Bryan Danielson pairing. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Here is Wardlow with some cardboard cutouts of MJF sitting on CM Punk’s chest and MJF putting Punk in the sleeper. Wardlow looks annoyed as he hands Justin Roberts some cards with introductions for FTR with Tully Blanchard and Shawn Spears, who has his own introduction for MJF. As you might expect, it is as over the top as you can get, including talking about how he beat punk TWICE in the garbage heap that is Chicago in the mid-mid-mid-midwest.
MJF comes..

He was on deck. WWE has been around for a very long time now and there have been countless wrestlers walking in and out of the door. While there have been a lot of wrestlers, there are even fewer who have made any serious impact. Those wrestlers are big deals and when you see them pop up again, it can mean a lot. That was almost the case last month in a pretty big role.
During a recent interview with Sportskeeda, WWE Hall of Famer Rob Van Dam said that he contacted WWE about being on standby for the men’s Royal Rumble. Van Dam even had a special outfit made up for the event, though WWE did not call him for the event. This came as WWE was said to have several NXT names on standby in case the Coronavirus took some scheduled names out of the match. Van Dam has wrestled multiple stints in WWE, with his most recent match taking place in August 2014.
Opinion: It’s kind of a shame that WWE did not take Van Dam up on his offer as he is a star who would have gotten a nice reaction. Van Dam is..