NEWS

The plug has been pulled. WWE has a bit of a strange history of pushing wrestlers, as sometimes they are given every chance in the world but others are given almost no chance whatsoever. That is the kind of thing can leave fans more than a little confused as some of the moves that WWE makes can be a little odd. That seems to be the case again, as another wrestler is now back to where he was before.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Big E.’s return to SmackDown and his reunion with Kofi Kingston marks the end of his singles run. Big E. was not brought over to feud with Roman Reigns, though that might still be the case later, as Reigns is in need of fresh opponents. During his singles run, Big E. won the Intercontinental and WWE Championship, losing the latter to Brock Lesnar on January 1.
Opinion: This is the kind of thing that rarely makes sense from WWE and yet they keep doing it. At the end of the day, Big E. was turned into a single star for a little over a year, won..

Three in a row. With so many wrestlers on the WWE roster, there is almost no way to avoid having some of them get lost in the shuffle. That is not a good thing, but it is something that is going to happen at one point or another. That means some wrestlers are going to go away once in awhile and that can be for a variety of reasons. It also means that we can see some nice returns, and that might be the case in more than one way soon.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, three WWE women should be back on television before WrestleMania 38 in early April. This includes Lacey Evans, Bayley and Asuka, all of whom have been missing for several months. Evans has been away on maternity leave since February 2021 but is training for an in-ring return. Bayley (torn ACL) and Asuka (elbow) have both been out of action since last summer and are both expected back in the next few months. There is no word on what any of them will be doing when they return.
Opinion: Not only is this good to..

So that’s up next. We are past the Royal Rumble and are on our way to WrestleMania 38. That means the company needs to be build up in a hurry and thanks to the Royal Rumble, WWE has a leg up on getting towards the WrestleMania card. This includes setting up a pair of title challengers but the Royal Rumble winners need to pick which champions they want to face. Now both of those have been covered.
This week’s SmackDown featured the announcement that Ronda Rousey would challenge Charlotte for the SmackDown Women’s Title at WrestleMania 38. Charlotte and Sonya Deville had been in the ring before Rousey arrived, where Deville announced that Rousey would be challenging Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch. Charlotte said that should would defend against Sasha Banks instead before Rousey appeared to challenge Charlotte instead.
Opinion: I don’t think there was much in the way of a surprise but the way they set things up was a little odd. I’m not sure why Charlotte and Deville announced a diffe..

With the Royal Rumble out of the way and the path to Elimination Chamber cleared, we are officially on the Road To WrestleMania 38. It is the biggest time of the year and that means we are on the way to those two nights in Texas and that means WWE is supposed to start picking things up. This is the important stretch of the calendar….and it just isn’t working this year.
I was in the house for this year’s Royal Rumble and I have had tickets to WrestleMania for months. I’m flying down to the show and I have a nearly full schedule ready for the weekend, but the whole thing is not clicking. The Rumble had me very fired up, but after seeing what WWE has done, it doesn’t exactly leave me excited about what we are going to be seeing in the coming months (assuming they don’t make any last minute changes to the expected card).
The biggest problem is still the main event scene, which as of Monday Night Raw, will be featuring Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns. Again. For the third time at WrestleMan..

The card keeps growing. We are now on the Road to Elimination Chamber which is on the Road to WrestleMania 38. This year’s show will take place in Saudi Arabia, meaning the card is going to be a little bit different this year. WWE has presented some big shows from Saudi Arabia before but the quality can be a little hit and miss. Now we have a new grudge match added to the show.
This week’s SmackDown featured an appearance by Drew McIntyre, who made his return at the Royal Rumble. McIntyre was then confronted by Happy Corbin and Madcap Moss, with McIntyre laying Moss out with a Claymore. Later in the night, McIntyre vs. Claymore was announced for Elimination Chamber. This will be a rematch from Day One where McIntyre defeated Moss. Following the loss, Corbin and Moss attacked McIntyre, putting him on the shelf until he made his return at the Royal Rumble.
Opinion: I’m not sure what WWE sees in this Moss/Corbin vs. McIntyre feud but it continues to move along. Neither of them feel like..

Rampage
Date: February 4, 2022
Location: Wintrust Arena, Chicago, Illinois
Commentators: Excalibur, Taz, Chris Jericho
We’re still in Chicago and it’s a stacked card as Jay Lethal challenges Ricky Starks for the FTW Title. On top of that, Sammy Guevara defends the TNT Title against Isiah Kassidy and Adam Cole faces Evil Uno. Ok so maybe they’re not all huge matches this time around. Let’s get to it.
Adam Cole vs. Evil Uno Cole jumps him to start and the choking begins on the ropes. That lets Cole get a bit more cocky but Uno fights up and runs him over. The Swanton hits knees though and some kicks rock Uno. The Boom finishes for Cole at 2:25.
Result: Adam Cole b. Evil Uno – The Boom (2:25)
Post match Cole lists off a bunch of names that he has beaten while he is still undefeated. He doesn’t care about last week because it doesn’t exist. What does exist is a new Adam Cole and now he is ruthless. He has won World Titles and always winds up dominating anywhere he goes. There is one th..

Smackdown
Date: February 4, 2022
Location: Paycom Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Commentators: Pat McAfee, Michael Cole
We’re done with the Royal Rumble and it’s time to get going on the Road to Wrestlemania. That is going to get going on this show with a pair of big talking points. First up, Paul Heyman will be explaining why he sided with Roman Reigns and Ronda Rousey might be announcing her Wrestlemania opponent. Let’s get to it.
We open with a recap of Brock Lesnar getting screwed out of the WWE Title at the Royal Rumble but then coming back to win the Royal Rumble later in the night. Then he announced that he will be challenging Roman Reigns for the Universal Title at Wrestlemania.
Here is the Bloodline to get things going, complete with a look at Reigns retaining the Universal Title over Seth Rollins at the Royal Rumble. Paul Heyman talks about how there was no plot or plan, because he made a huge mistake by telling Reigns what he thought. He felt that Reigns needed to be pro..

That’s what’s next. We are less than two months away from WrestleMania 38 and you can see the card starting to take shape. The problem with that is there are still a lot of matches to be made, some of which are among the biggest on the card. WWE has a long way to go with some of its stories, but now we know another big step that they are going to take before we get there.
This week on SmackDown, Goldberg made his return to WWE television and challenged Roman Reigns to a Universal Title match at Elimination Chamber on February 19 in Saudi Arabia. The match was made official later in the night. This will be the first time that the two have ever faced off, though they were scheduled to do so at WrestleMania 36. However, Reigns pulled out of the match due to issues involving the Coronavirus pandemic.
Opinion: This is a match that WWE has been teasing for a VERY long time now and it will be nice to finally get it out of the way. I’m not sure how much interest there is in having Goldberg g..

Welcome back. There are a lot of wrestlers on the WWE roster and several of them do not get to appear on television at times. This could be the case due to a variety of reasons, some of which might be due to an injury. Sometimes a wrestler is going to miss time because they are forced onto the sidelines, but now one of them will be back on the active roster going forward.
According to Fightful Select, Xavier Woods has been moved to the active internal roster after missing several weeks due to a calf injury. There is no word on when he will be back on television or back in the ring. Woods was not in action at either last week’s SmackDown or the Royal Rumble. This should lead to a New Day reunion, as Big E. has been moved back to SmackDown along with Kofi Kingston.
Opinion: It is always great to see someone getting to return to the active roster as Woods was injured for a good while. He is one of the more entertaining stars on SmackDown, though I don’t know what New Day is going to do ..

It’s a different way to go. We are on the Road To WrestleMania 38 and that means it is time to start getting the build for the show. There is a big show to get through first with Elimination Chamber, which will feature an Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship. Bobby Lashley will be defending the title against five challengers, and now we might know what this is going to mean.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the current plan is for Brock Lesnar to win the WWE Championship at Elimination Chamber, making his planned match against Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 38 title vs. title. Vince McMahon feels that the match needs some extra hype because Reigns and Lesnar have fought so many times before. Lesnar and Paul Heyman have been pushing for the title for title match and McMahon is likely to go in that direction.
Opinion: This makes me think of two things. First and foremost, if Reigns and Lesnar have fought so many times before that it needs a special stipulatio..

It won’t be quite the same. The Royal Rumble has come and gone and a few wrestlers made surprise appearances in the show’s namesake matches. These moves have allowed the company to have some new options on the Road To WrestleMania, as there are now some more wrestlers available for bigger matches. That includes one of the bigger names in WWE, who is back ahead of schedule.
Drew McIntyre made a surprise return to action in the men’s Royal Rumble, lasting all the way until the end before being eliminated last by Brock Lesnar. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, McIntyre was hidden from the rest of the roster to make his return as big of a surprise as possible. McIntyre is expected to continue his feud with Happy Corbin and Madcap Moss but will only be appearing on television. He will not be making live event appearances in an effort to allow his neck to heal and rehab as much as possible.
Opinion: It’s great to hear that McIntyre is back in the ring as he is one of the bigg..

NXT UK
Date: January 27, 2022
Location: BT Sports Studios, London, England
Commentators: Nigel McGuinness, Andy Shepherd
It’s time for a big title fight but things are a bit different this time. Ilja Dragunov will be putting the United Kingdom Title on the line against Jordan Devlin but the match will be in the empty arena. I’m not completely sure why that is going to be the case, though the match sounds like it has some serious potential. Let’s get to it.
The opening video looks at the title match.
Opening sequence.
Die Familie vs. Gallus Joe Coffey and Teoman slug it out to start until Teoman is taken into the Gallus corner. Mark Coffey comes in for a chinlock, which is broken up without much effort. That means Mark can go up top, where a quick distraction lets Raja pull him down and take over. Teoman comes in and gets driven into the corner but comes right back with some arm cranking.
Now it’s Dempsey getting a chance with a front facelock and a rather nasty arm crank. Raja’s f..