NEWS

Moving on up? NXT has been shaken up in a huge way over the last few months and that seems like it could be continuing for the foreseeable future. At the end of the day though, NXT exists as the developmental program for WWE and that means the wrestlers need to move up at some point. One wrestler seemed ready to go but there is a specific reason they are sticking around.
According to Wrestling Observer Live, Raquel Gonzalez was ready to move up to the main roster but the move was postponed for the sake of the women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. There are not enough teams available so Gonzalez is staying around to help fill in a spot. No teams have been announced for the tournament, which is scheduled to begin at some point in February.
Gonzalez has been in NXT since 2020, where she debuted as Dakota Kai’s enforcer, a role she would continue in for over a year. The team would win the first ever women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic and the first NXT Women’s Tag Team Titles. Gonzale..

That might be a better idea. Every now and then you see WWE make a decision that might not make the most sense. It might be the kind of thing that could get them in a bit of hot water, or at least some bad publicity. Sometimes a new solution has to be found, if nothing else for the sake of damage control. That seems to be the case this week, as WWE has already changed a change.
This week, WWE filed a trademark for the name Gunther Stark, which is also the name of a Nazi U-boat captain from World War II. During this week’s edition of NXT, Walter defeated Roderick Strong in the show’s main event and then announced his new name as Gunther. Now, Walter’s WWE.com profile has been changed to Gunther, with no sign of the name Stark. While not confirmed, this could suggest that WWE has dropped the name Gunther Stark, instead sticking with just Gunther.
Opinion: Having Walter change his name to Gunther might not be the greatest idea in the world, but it is the kind of thing that WWE tends to ..

It happens to everyone. There are so many wrestlers in WWE today and some of them have been around for a very long time. You get to see some of these wrestlers for years and years, to the point where you might forget just how long they have been around. Those years ago going to add up, and now one of the more legendary wrestlers has started to feel some of the damage.
Monday Night Raw’s Randy Orton was recently interviewed by FOX 2 Now in his hometown of St. Louis, Missouri. During the interview, Orton spoke about how his body is starting to feel the thousands of RKO’s he has delivered over the years. Orton said that he wished he had invented a signature move that did not involve jumping as high as he could have and landing on his back. Now 41 years old, Orton is now currently scheduled for the Royal Rumble, though he could still be added to the show.
Opinion: This is the kind of thing that is going to happen over the years and that is not the best thing to hear. Ultimately, Orton is..

That’s never good to hear. Wrestlers may play larger than life characters on television but they are still humans like all of us. That means they are going to have their good and bad days, with some of those days being a bit more serious than others. Occasionally this can mean a health issue, which was the case this week with a wrestling legend. Thankfully though, things seem to have gotten better.
Alfonzo Lizarraga of The Gladiatores is reporting that Konnan has undergone heart surgery due to complications from the Coronavirus. While the situation continues to change, Konnan was considered stable as of Wednesday afternoon. There is no word on when the surgery took place or when Konnan will be released from the hospital. Konnan has been part of several promotions throughout America and mexico, most notably in WCW, Impact Wrestling and AAA.
Konnan fue sometido a una cirugía de corazón por secuelas de Covid, aún que la situación fue y sigue siendo delicada todo indica que al momento es..

That’s a different way to present things. Professional wrestling has been around for a very long time now and you can see it take place in all different forms. The style that was popular in the early days of wrestling is quite different than what we see today, which doesn’t even include all of the style changes along the way. Now though, we might be seeing something that has never been done before, even in wrestling.
Aro Lucha, a lucha libre promotion, has announced that it will stop producing live wrestling events and move towards an animation project instead. In an announcement to its current investors, courtesy of Fightful Select, the company spoke about their decision, citing the Coronavirus pandemic, the market opportunity of the animation industry and the growing Latino and Hispanic market. The company has already begun working on the untitles animated series. Aro Lucha ran four events in Texas and Tennessee in December 2017 and January 2018, with most of its wrestlers now being..

It’s a spot. Wrestlers are in a weird place when it comes to celebrity status. Yes they are famous and people who are on television every single week, but ultimately they are known for one thing and one thing only. Every now and then you get to see someone move into another area and get exposure on a new stage. That is the case again with a soon to be returning WWE star.
According to Yahoo News, WWE Hall of Famer Brie Bella has been announced for the upcoming FOX celebrity competition show The Real Dirty Dancing. Bella will be part of the cast, which also includes Corbin Bleu, Tyler Cameron, Cat Cora, Howie Dorough, Antonio Gates, Anjelah Johnson-Reyes and Loni Love. The show debuts on February 1, three days after Bella is returning to the ring as part of the women’s Royal Rumble on January 29.
Opinion: Bella is one of the wrestlers who has managed to make it to a certain level of success outside of wrestling and a lot of that is due to her reality show efforts. If nothing else, at l..

It can happen to anyone. The Coronavirus pandemic has changed the wrestling world and while things have come a long way, there is still the chance that things could go badly at any point. Anyone can come down with the virus at almost anytime and that certainly includes wrestlers. Unfortunately that seems to be the case for another prominent AEW star.
The Enjoy Wrestling promotion has announced that former AEW Women’s Champion Nyla Rose has tested positive for the Coronavirus and will not be able to appear at their Striking Distance event this weekend. It is not clear when Rose will be able to return to the ring or AEW television. Rose did not appear on this week’s show and has yet to comment on the situation.
Rose has been part of the AEW roster since the company’s founding and was the second holder of the AEW World Women’s Championship, defeating inaugural champion Riho for the title. Since then, Rose has feuded with a variety of wrestlers, including making a run to the semifinals o..

Dynamite
Date: January 19, 2022
Location: Entertainment & Sports Arena, Washington DC
Commentators: Jim Ross, Excalibur, Tony Schiavone
It’s a big night around here as we have the return of Jon Moxley after a nearly three month absence. Moxley has been out of action due to undergoing alcohol rehabilitation treatment and it is great to have him back. What matters most is that he is healthy and if that is the case, I’m glad he can be around here again. Let’s get to it.
Here is Jon Moxley to a hero’s welcome to get things going. Moxley gets in the ring and, after telling a fan “Go f*** yourself, get that piece of s*** out of here” (completely uncensored on the broadcast), Moxley talks about having a dream where a demon told him he would never make it. He has more scars on his body than most people and those are the things that tell our story. Those scars are the ones that tell us the story of who we are. Nobody is perfect and no one should be afraid to stand up and bare it all.
Everyth..

That’s in a name. The right name is one of the most important parts of a wrestler’s presentation. Going with the right name can make a career while going with the wrong choice can cripple a wrestler’s run right out of the gate. Sometimes you will see a wrestler change their name to something better or worse and now we have another interesting change taking place.
This week’s NXT featured the full time debut of Walter, who has moved over from NXT UK. Walter defeated Roderick Strong in the show’s main event before grabbing a microphone. Following the match, Walter said that the winner of the match was “Gunther”, leading to a brawl between Imperium and the Creed Brothers to end the show. This comes on the same day PWInsider is reporting that WWE has filed a trademark for the name “Gunther Stark”, which is the name of a Nazi U-Boat commander during World War II. The name “Stark” was not used during the show.
Opinion: This is the kind of thing that seems like it could have been solved by ..

That could have been big. We are less than three months away from WrestleMania 38 as WWE holds its biggest event of the year. A show that big is going to need a major main event and since the show is taking place over two nights, we might as well make it an extra big one. It seems WWE has something in mind, but it might not be the thing that they had been teasing.
Earlier this month, WWE teased a Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns title for title match, with Lesnar defending the WWE Title and Reigns defending the Universal Title. However, according to Wrestling Observer Radio, WWE is not considering running the match at WrestleMania. Lesnar vs. Reigns is still expected to take place, but it is not expected to be title vs. title. Instead, WWE only presented the idea because both of them were champions at the time, suggesting that at least one of them will lose their title before WrestleMania in April.
Opinion: I don’t think Reigns vs. Lesnar is going to be the biggest surprise, but I’m als..

She might have some insight. WWE presents a lot of different stories across its wrestling shows and some of them are not the most well received. Sometimes a story seems to be rejected right out of the box and there is little that can be done to make it better. That seems to be the case again and now the subject of the story has something to say to its critics.
Over the last few weeks, Alexa Bliss has made her first appearances on WWE television since September, when Charlotte ripped up her Lily doll. In her two appearances since, Bliss has been seen in therapy, where she is shown to still be obsessed with Lily. The segments have not be the most well received, prompting Bliss to respond to the criticisms on Twitter. Bliss said that “sometimes you need to just be patient & see how things play out.” There is no word on when Bliss will be returning to the arena or the ring.
Sometimes you need to just be patient & see how things play out …
— Lexi Kaufman (@AlexaBliss_WWE) January 18, 202..

They’re back. With so many wrestlers in WWE today, it can be difficult to remember who everyone is and what everyone is doing. A lot of the time, these wrestlers need something that makes you stand out among the rest, with the best way often being a big return. That can be hard to pull off, but WWE tried it in two ways this week on the same television show in the same night.
There were two returns this week on NXT, with a pair of wrestlers making their first appearances in several weeks. First, Dante Chen made his return, saying that he had suffered a leg injury to put him on the shelf. Chen also said that he had been inspired to improve his career by the death of his father. He would face Guru Raaj in a match that went to a double disqualification when Duke Hudson interfered. This was Chen’s first match on NXT since September 21, 2021.
Later in the show, Sarray returned in a vignette, though she did not appear in the arena or in a match. Sarray has been in Japan for several weeks bu..