NEWS

Make sure you get it straight. We are finally ready to reach the new norm in WWE, as the new rosters from the WWE Draft are officially beginning as of this week’s SmackDown. That is going to mean a lot of changes in WWE, including new wrestlers appearing on both main television shows. Those are not going to be the only changes though and now we know a bit more about what to expect.
WWE will be making changes to several wrestlers following the 2021 Draft. According to PWInsider.com, the following changes will be made:
*Xia Li will be a babyface on Smackdown.
*Mia Yim is scheduled to be a babyface when she debuts on Raw.
*The current plan is for Shotzi Blackheart to be a heel on Smackdown now that she and Tegan Nox have been split.
*Nox will remain a babyface for the Raw brand.
*There’s been talk over the last week of shifting Apollo Crews and Commander Azeez into a tag team going forward.
*Hit Row’s Swerve Scott and Ashante Thee Adonis will be utilized as a tag team with Top Doll..

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 29, 2003
Location: SBC Arena, San Antonio, Texas
Attendance: 12,000
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler
We’re FINALLY done with this terrible year with one last show and, of course, it’s focused on HHH, who is defending the World Title against Shawn Michaels in Shawn’s hometown. This will set some stuff up for the Royal Rumble, which is in about four weeks and has barely been discussed yet. Such is life in WWE, which is rarely up for capitalizing on the extra time that they have. L..

He might be worth a look. Wrestling occupies a weird place in the sports world, as it is not considered a “real” sport, but the people involved are considered athletes. The people in a ring are going to be putting in some serious effort and that is something that is often recognized. However, there are several sports that are held in higher esteem, but now athletes from a different sport might want to try his hand, and foot, at wrestling.
Tareg Ali Hamedi, a silver medalist in karate in the 2021 Summer Olympics, appeared at WWE Crown Jewel and took out Mustafa Ali, following Ali’s loss to Mansoor. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Hamedi is interested in a career in wrestling as he was impressed by the WWE’s production. WWE would be interested in having a Saudi Arabian celebrity and sports star on its roster. There is no word on when Hamedi would be interested in signing with WWE, should he ever do so.
It was a big moment. Check out the save, the fallout, and some other..

Try it again. There have been a lot of wrestlers over the years but only a select group of them have ever reached the pinnacle of the business as the World Champion. There are multiple different World Titles throughout the industry and some wrestlers have been able to win titles from different promotions. Now one of those wrestlers might be making a return to the ring.
Former WWE and WCW World Champion Paul Wight appeared on the Brandon Kravitz Podcast and said that he might be getting in the ring for a match on this week’s edition of AEW Dynamite. There is no word on who Wight will be facing and AEW has not made an announcement. Wight has only wrestled twice for AEW, though Saturday would be the 26th anniversary of his in ring debut at Halloween Havoc 1995.
Wight has been a player in AEW. Check out his time there, plus his debut back in 1995:
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Opinion: ..

That’s one way to get rid of him. Every so often, you see a wrestler who is just different from everyone else. It might be something physical that sets them apart, or perhaps something they say, but sometimes it is just their mere presence. That is the case with a certain current WWE star, though after this week, you might not be getting to see him again for the time being.
This week on WWE SmackDown, Brock Lesnar attacked Roman Reigns, along with various other production works with a camera being broken in the process. WWE executive Adam Pearce then suspended Lesnar indefinitely, which caused Lesnar to beat Pearce as well. This suspension is likely being used as the way to write Lesnar off of television as he is not a full time WWE star.
This won’t go well. Check out what happened, plus what happens when he gets angry:
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Opinion: I don’t think this is ex..

Two for one. Titles are about as simple of a concept as you are going to get in wrestling. Someone is wearing a belt and therefore they are (in theory at least) the best wrestler around. Someone else wants to take the title from them and a big match is set up as a result. That is how things have gone for but now we are seeing another way for titles to change hands.
This week’s edition of WWE SmackDown ended with SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte and Raw Women’s Champion Charlotte swapping their titles. This was done as the two have both been drafted from one show to another, meaning that both titles were on the opposite show. The same solution was used to change the SmackDown and Raw Tag Team Titles between the New Day and the Street Profits last year.
This was a bit strange. Check out the exchange, plus both champions in action:
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Opinion: I’m still n..

Rampage
Date: October 22, 2021
Location: James L. Knight Center, Miami, Florida
Commentators: Taz, Ricky Starks, Excalibur, Chris Jericho
It’s tournament time as we get the first match in the World Title #1 contenders tournament. That alone should be enough, but we also get a rematch between Andrade El Idolo and Pac. The first one was a heck of a fight and the rematch could live up to the expectations so let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
World Title Eliminator Tournament First Round: Orange Cassidy vs. Powerhouse Hobbs Cassidy has bad ribs coming in. We see a clip of Cassidy beating an unknown Hobbs in twelve seconds in July 2020, with Taz promising that will not happen again. Hobbs hits a spinebuster for an early two as Matt Hardy is pleased from the crowd. Cassidy’s ribs are bent around the post and a side slam gives Hobbs two. A clothesline cuts off Cassidy’s comeback attempt and we take a break.
Back with Hobbs staying on the ribs, including a torture rack. Cassidy slips out a..

Smackdown
Date: October 22, 2021
Location: Intrust Bank Arena, Wichita, Kansas
Commentators: Michael Cole, Pat McAfee
We’re done with Crown Jewel and that means it is time to start getting ready for Survivor Series. The big story coming out of the show is Roman Reigns retaining the Universal Title as Paul Heyman managed to stay in the middle while still interfering in the match. That could mean more than a few things going forward so let’s get to it.
We open with a recap of Roman Reigns retaining the Universal Title over Brock Lesnar, albeit with an assist from the Usos and a title belt shot.
Here are Reigns and Paul Heyman for a chat to get things going. Reigns isn’t happy with Heyman, as he doesn’t get why the title was thrown into the middle of the ring last night. Reigns: “Shall we work on this?” He demonstrates how to put the title in his hand and says that Heyman isn’t good as his job. We hear Reigns’ various monikers, including the greatest Universal Champion of all time. Rei..

The shots continue. This week, WWE presented its latest Saudi Arabia event, which included one of the most stacked cards in a very long time. However, as is the case with every Saudi Arabia show, there are certain problems hanging over the show, as Saudi Arabia’s human rights issues will be brought up every time. Now another wrestling promotion’s star is taking a shot at WWE as a result.
During Crown Jewel, a fan held up a sign was held up saying “All My Homies Love Adam Pacitii” of Cultaholic, with Pachitti tweeting out a photo of the sign saying “I’ll take ‘things I didn’t expect to see on a WWE Saudi Arabia show’ for 500, Alex. Thank you!”. AEW’s Max Caster responded to the tweet with a Photoshopped version, with the sign saying “All My Homies Love The Acclaimed”, with the caption of “I’ll take “Things I Didn’t Expect to See on a Blood Money Show,” for $500, Alex!”. Caster has taken various shots at WWE and NXT in his raps before.
I'll take 'things I didn't expect to..

That’s your explanation. Wrestlers are some of the more versatile performers that you will see in any form of entertainment. In addition to all of the athleticism that comes to wrestling a match, wrestlers have to make fans believe in what they are presenting. That is rather complicated and hard to pull off, and it would make sense to have wrestlers get attention for their efforts. Now it seems to be paying off for a wrestler as a result.
Back on the September 27 edition of Monday Night Raw, Shayna Baszler attacked Eva Marie, stomping her arm on the ring steps. Eva Marie has not been seen since, and there is no word on when she will be back on WWE television. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Eva Marie is off filming a movie and the injury was used to write her off of television. This is also why she was not drafted to either show during the WWE Draft.
Eva Marie certainly has a place in WWE. Check out the beatdown, plus some of her better time in the company:
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Impact Wrestling
Date: October 21, 2021
Location: Skyway Studios, Nashville, Tennessee
Commentators: Josh Matthews, D’Lo Brown
It’s the go home show for Bound For Glory and the card is set. That could leave a few different directions to choose this week and I’m curious to see where things are going to go. The good thing is that Impact has earned the benefit of the doubt over….dang a year plus or so? Let’s get to it.
Opening recap.
Opening sequence.
Bullet Club vs. FinJuice For the Bound For Glory Tag Team Title shot and that would be Chris Bey/Hikuleo for the Club. Finlay starts with Hikuleo with the big man knocking Finlay down without much effort. It’s already off to Robinson, who backsplashes Bey for a fast two. Robinson knocks Bey off the top and a double bulldog drops Hikuleo for two. Finlay gets knocked down though and it’s Bey coming in with a springboard rake to the back.
The chinlock goes on but Finlay gets up and, with Bey holding a leg, hops over for the tag to Robinson..

What could have been. There are all kinds of ways to make a match more interesting, with one of the easiest ways being to add a stipulation. This could be anything as there are so many possibilities to make things better. Some of them are a lot more common than others, while some are very simple as well. That was almost the case this week, but then things changed.
The main event of this week’s WWE Crown Jewel event saw Universal Champion Roman Reigns defending his title against Brock Lesnar. Prior to the show, WWE announced that the match would be no disqualification. However, during the Kickoff Show, another announcement was made saying that neither of them had any interest in the change, so it was dropped as a result. There is no word on why WWE announced the change and then reversed course.
No disqualification matches can work rather well. Check out what almost happened:
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