NEWS

That’s a different way to go. While he might not be the most popular star in the world at times, there is something about Brock Lesnar that just feels different. You do not get someone like him very often and it makes sense for WWE to want to push him as one of the top stars in the company. Lesnar is back again at the moment, but he almost returned in a rather different way.
Lesnar returned from a suspension during this week’s SmackDown and by the end of the night, he was set for a Universal Title match against Roman Reigns at next month’s Day 1 pay per view. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the original plans for Lesnar’s return would have seen him appear on next Friday’s December 10 show in Los Angeles, having bought a ticket to sit in the front row. There is no word on when or why the plans were changed.
Lesnar does have a good record for returns. Check out some of his comebacks:
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One more round? WWE has been around for a very long time now and the company has done a lot of things over its history. Some of these things have been more popular than others, but a few of them have been very memorable. That is not necessarily a good thing, but now it seems that WWE might be bringing back one of its older concepts for another try after a good many years.
According to Fightful, on November 30, WWE filed a trademark application for Tough Enough. This could mean a return of the competition series, though WWE has not yet made any announcement. Tough Enough originally aired in 2001 and six seasons have been held, with the most recent taking place in 2015. Neither of the most recent winners, Sara Lee and Josh Bredl, ever wrestled a match on the main roster.
There have been some moments on Tough Enough. Check out what has happened there before:
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It can happen to anyone. Injuries are one of the few constants in the world of wrestling and unfortunately that means anyone can be hurt at any time. It happens more often than anyone would like and the question instantly becomes just how long someone is going to be out of action. It seems that we saw another injury take place this week, but it might not be as bad as one might think.
AEW’s Alan Angels has announced that he suffered a strained MCL during his match against Bryan Danielson on this week’s Dynamite. As a result, Angels was unable to wrestle at this week’s AEW Dark. It is not clear when Angels will be able to return to the ring. Danielson defeated Angels with a kneebar and referenced the injury as soon as the match was over, taking credit for it in the process.
I was supposed to compete at the AEW Dark tapings today but unfortunately I suffered from a strained MCL at the hands of Bryan Danielson Wednesday. Hope to be back soon!
— Alan Angels (@Alan_V_Angels) December 3, 2..

It’s the end of an era. Wrestling is a sport that works a lot better when you can see what is going on. You can only get so far without being able to watch everything and luckily that has gotten a lot easier over time. The rise of streaming video has been a game changer for wrestling fans in a very positive way. Now though, it seems to have led to the demise of something else.
According to Wrestling DVD Network, WWE will be discontinuing DVDs and Blu-Rays in the United States, Australia and Canada starting in 2022. The final release will be Survivor Series 2021, which will be released on December 28. The United Kingdom will continue to receive viewers through March. There is no word on why WWE has decided to discontinue the sales.
I do get the change. Check out some of the matches that were featured on more than one DVD:
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Opinion: I’m not surprised that ..

So much for that? Romantic relationships are some of the most complicated things to pull off in wrestling, as so much of a wrestler’s time is spent on the road. That does not exactly make it easy for the people involved to see each other and that can make things more complicated. Several wrestlers wind up in relationships with other wrestlers, but that no longer seems to be the case with two of them.
According to Bodyslam.net, Charlotte and Andrade El Idolo have ended their romantic relationship. This comes after El Idolo has stopped following Charlotte on social media and has deleted all photos of Charlotte from his own social media accounts. While it is not known why, Charlotte is said to have been the one to end the relationship, which was not mutual. The two have been dating since February 2019 and became engaged on January 1, 2020.
The two are both great elsewhere. Check out what they have done in the ring:
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That could be a different way to go. The right character can be everything for a wrestler, but the wrong one can be much worse. If something doesn’t click, it can drag a talented wrestler down in a hurry. It can take a lot of tries to make it work right and sometimes you don’t see everything that a wrestler tries. That is the case again, but what might have been sounds fascinating.
According to the WrestleVotes Twitter account, WWE had no long term plans for Elias’ segments in a graveyard and merely wanted to find a way to get rid of his previous character. WWE’s next idea for him would see him with colorful trunks but Vince McMahon felt that it was too similar to Randy Savage and dropped it. There is no word on what WWE plans to do with Elias or when he will be returning to television.
Interesting note on Elias, source states they had no end plan for graveyard vignettes. Just shot them to kill off the “music” gimmick. His initial rebranding weeks back looked to similar to Randy Sava..

Maybe they’re next? The wrestling world really has changed in the last few years and those changes continued this year with what seems to be the demise of at least the current version of Ring of Honor. You don’t see that kind of change very often in wrestling, and in this case it opened up the question of what would happen to the Ring of Honor roster. Now we might have a better idea.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Ring of Honor’s Matt Taven and Jonathan Gresham were both backstage at this week’s AEW Dynamite taping. Taven and Gresham’s Ring of Honor contracts both expire later this year, with their last appearances scheduled for Final Battle on December 11. There is no word on if either or both have come to any agreement with AEW.
You might need to get to know them. Check out both Gresham and Taven in Ring of Honor:
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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?
Monday Night Raw
Date: December 23, 2013
Location: Frank Erwin Center, Austin, Texas
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield
Tonight is the taped Christmas special featuring the potentially amazing Damien Sandow vs. Mark Henry battle to save Christmas. Again, it’s the 400lb monster who talks about splitting wigs fighting a Latin speaking know it all to prevent Christmas from being canceled. There is no way this won’t be awesome. Let’s get to it.
We open with Santa Henry and Damien Claus taking turns re..

Stick around for a bit. While it has made quite the impact on the wrestling industry, the reality is that AEW has not been around very long. The company has only been active for a few years now, which means they do not have the longest history. They have yet to have to deal with some of their bigger names leaving, though now it seems that might continue to be the case even longer.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the core of AEW’s roster signed three year deals, effective January 1, 2019. Those deals will expire on December 31, 2021, though Tony Khan will have an option to extend them for two more years. The Young Bucks’ option has already been exercised and wrestlers such as Kenny Omega, Cody and Brandi Rhodes, Chris Jericho and Hangman Page have similar deals. There is nothing to suggest that any of them will be leaving AEW anytime soon.
Those are some important names. Check out who will likely be sticking around AEW:
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It’s a different kind of release. There have been all kinds of changes to the WWE roster over the last year and a half and there is nothing to suggest that the changes have stopped. With so many wrestlers gone, the company is looking rather different than it was before, but several of the releases have been from other areas. That was the case again this week with another release.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, a longtime WWE security guard has been released from the company. Aycock has been with the company since 2004 and it is not clear why he has been released. This comes soon after a fan jumped the barricade and attacked Seth Rollins on Monday Night Raw, though it is not clear if this is the reason for Aycock’s release.
Security has a hit and miss record in WWE. Check out some of their efforts:
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Opinion: I’m not sure what happened her..

Time to set it up. We are rapidly closing out the year and that means it is time to get ready for the new one. WWE is not exactly wasting time with this one as they are setting up their Day 1 pay per view event on January 1. That is not a lot of time to get ready but now they are boosting things up in a big way, as they have tripled the amount of matches set for the show in one night.
This week’s SmackDown saw the addition of two more matches to the Day 1 card. First up the New Day will be challenging the Usos for the SmackDown Tag Team Titles. King Woods was facing Jey Usos when Jimmy Uso interfered, drawing in Kofi Kingston for the save. The match was made later in the show. Also on the show, Roman Reigns defeated Sami Zayn to retain the Universal Title. As a result, Reigns will now be defending against Brock Lesnar at Day 1.
There are three matches set. Check out how all of them were set up:
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Rampage
Date: December 3, 2021
Location: Gas South Arena, Duluth, Georgia
Commentators: Taz, Ricky Starks, Excalibur
This week we get to find out what happens after Cody Rhodes lit himself on fire to try and get people to cheer for him. That could make for a slightly weakened crowd, but I’m not sure how much of a difference it is going to make. At least the card looks good this week so let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
TNT Title: Sammy Guevara vs. Tony Nese Guevara is defending and goes right after Nese at the bell. Nese is sent outside and the big running flip dive takes him down again, but Guevara bangs up his own ribs in the process. Guevara gets sent into the steps but comes back with some chops against the barricade. Back in and a gutbuster plants Guevara again and Nese gets to stomp away at the bad ribs. The double springboard moonsault gets two on Guevara, setting up a spinning kick to the face for two. The logical bodyscissors goes on and we take a break with Guevara in tro..