NEWS

They’re ready in advance. We are in the holiday season and that means there are some big days coming up. At the same time, wrestling is still going on, even if it means that there are going to be fewer people watching every week. Thankfully companies are smart enough to tape some of their material in advance to avoid a bunch of headaches. That was the case this week, with one of the biggest TV shows in wrestling.
WWE taped the December 24 edition of SmackDown on Friday night, following this week’s live SmackDown broadcast. The show will air during the usual time slot on December 24 with two matches announced in advance. First, there will be a 12 Days of Christmas gauntlet match to determine a new #1 contender for the Intercontinental Title. Also, Charlotte will defend her SmackDown Women’s Title against Toni Storm. Here are the results, courtesy of PWInsider.com:
* Sami Zayn won a 12 Days of Christmas Gauntlet Match after last eliminating Ricochet. With the victory, he gets a shot at..

DiBiase can still do it. Legends are often in a weird place in wrestling, as they can still be major contributors but have certain limitations on them. They are still able to talk and their status helps make things seem that much more important, but ultimately they are older and can’t do everything they did back in their day. That was not the case with a recent appearance though.
Earlier this year, Ted DiBiase returned to WWE for a storyline involving NXT’s Cameron Grimes and LA Knight. During the story, Knight punched DiBiase, who went flying as a result. DiBiase spoke to Fightful Select and revealed that the original plans called for security to catch him as he fell to protect his body, but DiBiase, 67 years old, insisted on taking the full bump. In addition, DiBiase said that Knight and Grimes were both very easy to work with during his time in NXT.
It was a cool return. Check out some of DiBiase’s time in NXT:
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You have to restock the shelves. WWE has released all kinds of wrestlers from the company in recent months, including nearly two hundred wrestlers between the main roster and NXT. The idea is to move towards younger stars, which can be difficult to find at times. Every now and then WWE will look around and see what they can find, which seems to be the case again with a current champion.
According to PWInsider.com, current Ring of Honor Women’s Champion Rok-C took part in a WWE tryout camp in Orlando, Florida. Rok-C signed with Ring of Honor earlier this year but like everyone else in the company, her contract will be expiring at some point before March. There is no word on what would happen to the title should Rok-C be offered a deal and opt to sign with WWE. Rok-C is nineteen years old and was trained by Booker T.
She has done well in her limited time. Check out what Rok-C has done in Ring of Honor:
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That’s a bit harsh from Allin. Wrestlers have a tricky time when it comes to characters, as their job is to make you believe that they are something they very well might not be. That is harder than it sounds but they have to figure out a way to make it work. It can be easier if the character ties into someone’s career, but that is not always the case. This time, it seems that is not ok with a current star.
AEW’s Darby Allin sent a since deleted tweet to NXT’s Cora Jade, saying that skating is part of his life rather than just part of his “fake character on TV”. Jade, who rides a skateboard to the ring in NXT, responded that “being a good person with no abuse allegations against me is a huge part of my life and not just a character I play on TV.” This is in reference to SpeakOut allegations against Allin which were made last year. Allin has not since responded to Jade.
Cora Jade really left Darby Allin in the dirt, eh? pic.twitter.com/ipxLw57bt2
— Just Talk Wrestling (@JustTalkWrestl..

What could have been. There are a lot of people on the WWE roster and there are times when it is not that easy to get everyone on television. Sometimes there are some specific reasons to keep the wrestlers off of television, as WWE has a reason to not bring them back. For a current WWE star on hiatus from the ring, the plans have changed within the last few months.
According to Fightful Select, the original plans for Money in the Bank called for Sonya Deville to make her return to the ring during the show’s namesake ladder match. The plans reached the point of graphics being made up for Deville. This did not happen, with Deville not returning to the ring until October. Deville has not wrestled full time since August 2020 and it is not clear when she will be regularly back in the ring again.
Deville is a heck of a star when she gets in the ring. Check out some of her WWE work:
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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?
D-Generation X: In Your House #19
Date: December 7, 1997
Location: Springfield Civic Center, Springfield, Massachusetts
Attendance: 6,358
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler
Since the show is named after DX, it only makes sense that one of their members is in the main event. In this case it’s WWF Champion Shawn Michaels defending the title against Ken Shamrock who was named #1 contender for no particular reason. Seriously there’s nothing more to it than that. One night it was just announced that he would challeng..

Run it back? The World Title is the main prize of any wrestling promotion. That is one of those ideas that has worked for the better part of ever in wrestling and it continues to be the case today. A major World Title match is one of the most important and interesting things you see in all of wrestling and now it seems that we are going to be seeing another big one soon.
Earlier this week on AEW Dynamite, World Champion Hangman Page successfully defended his title against Bryan Danielson in a sixty minute time limit draw. As a result, during an appearance on Busted Open Radio, AEW President Tony Khan announced that Danielson is still the #1 contender and will receive another title shot in the future. There is no word on when the title match will take place.
It’s a big one. Check out the title match, plus how we got here:
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Opinion: I don’t think there is ..

It’s worth something. There are all kinds of prizes and accomplishments to be won in wrestling and some of them have some long histories. Those titles are some of the most important things in all of wrestling, but they have to start somewhere. Such accomplishments have to be done for the first time at some point and that will be the case again next year.
This week on AEW Rampage, an announcement was made for the first ever Owen Hart Cup Tournaments, which are set to begin in May. There will be a men’s and women’s edition of the tournament, with the finals of both taking place at Double Or Nothing. The tournaments were announced last year and are designed to honor the legacy of Hart, whose wife Martha will be on hand to award the cups to the winners. No entrants have been announced so far.
Hart had some classics. Check out some of his better matches in WWE:
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Rampage
Date: December 17, 2021
Location: Curtis Culwell Center, Garland, Texas
Commentators: Excalibur, Ricky Starks, Taz
It’s a very stacked show, as we have three matches with a total of twenty people involved. This week features an eight man tag, a ten man tag and a submission match, which is quite the use of an hour. This show can go in more than a few ways and hopefully they go in a good one this week. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Best Friends/Rocky Romero vs. Superkliq/Bobby Fish Chuck hits a quick standing Sliced Bread for two on Matt to start before it’s quickly off to Fish vs. Romero. Fish gets taken into the corner and Cassidy gets to come in for his slow clotheslines. Cole comes in for the Cassidy showdown but hands it off to Nick without getting physical. Cassidy walks the ropes but stops to put his hand in his pocket and jumps down without doing anything.
Nick gets armdragged and hiptossed despite Cassidy’s hands being in his pockets, meaning it’s time for the f..

The card is still growing. We are about two weeks away from WWE Day One and that means the card is mostly set. While there has been a lot of work done already, there are still a few things that need to be set up. Some of these changes involve new matches being added to the show and that was the case this week, as a grudge match has been added to the pay per view card.
This week on SmackDown, a grudge match between Madcap Moss and Drew McIntyre was officially announced for WWE Day One. Last week, Moss and Happy Corbin stole Adam Pearce’s desk, which contained McIntyre’s sword. This week, Moss and Corbin failed to pull the sword from the desk, causing McIntyre to come pull it out instead. Corbin would volunteer Moss to face McIntyre at the pay per view.
It was a different way to go. Check out how we got here:
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Opinion: This is one of those ideas that might..

There’s your development. There are a lot of stories going on in WWE at any given time and some of them are a lot more interesting than others. Some of those stories can get very interesting and it is often fun to see what happens with them. That was the case again this week, as one of the biggest stories in WWE today took one heck of a turn in a new direction.
This week’s SmackDown ended with Roman Reigns questioning Paul Heyman’s loyalty to him, following Brock Lesnar’s statements the previous week. Heyman said that he was protecting Reigns from Lesnar, after which Reigns officially fired Heyman as his special counsel. Reigns hit Heyman with a Superman Punch but Lesnar made the save to end the show. Lesnar is scheduled to challenge Reigns for the title at Day One on January 1.
It was a heck of an ending. Check out how the show came to a close, plus Heyman with both monsters:
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Smackdown
Date: December 17, 2021
Location: Allstate Arena, Rosemont, Illinois
Commentators: Michael Cole, Pat McAfee
We’re rapidly approaching Day One and the big main event of Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns is all set. That should open a few interesting doors this week, but there are some other matches that need some work of their own. Hopefully the build keeps working so let’s get to it.
We open with a long recap of last week, with Paul Heyman not liking the friendlier Brock Lesnar and seemingly snapping him back into Beast Mode. Roman Reigns might not be pleased though.
Toni Storm/Sasha Banks vs. Shotzi/Charlotte Fallout from Storm becoming #1 contender to Charlotte last week when Charlotte kicked her face in. Storm takes Shotzi down with a headlock to start and then kicks her in the chest. Banks, in Spider-Man gear, comes in for the showdown with Charlotte, who gets taken down with a running hurricanrana. It’s back to Storm, allowing Charlotte to kick Banks in the face. Shotzi k..