NEWS

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?
Extreme Rules 2020
Date: July 19, 2020
Location: WWE Performance Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton, Samoa Joe, Corey Graves, Michael Cole
We have finally arrived at this one and I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not. The show is dubbed The Horror Show at Extreme Rules because we have reached the point where a show involving taking someone’s eye out and a Swamp Fight requires a subtitle. There are no expectations coming in so hopefully they can exceed. Let’s get to it.
Kickoff ..

It’s about time. We are coming up on Extreme Rules but you might not know it based on what you have seen so far. One of the major ideas lacking from the show is anything extreme, as none of the announced matches have included anything in the way of stipulations. WWE might want to fix that, and now they have at least one of the bigger matches covered.
This week on Monday Night Raw, WWE announced that the Universal Championship match at Extreme Rules between Roman Reigns and Finn Balor will now be an Extreme Rules match. Balor will be wrestling the match in his Demon persona, following a loss to Reigns in a previous Universal Title shot. This is the only stipulation match announced for the card as of Monday night.
There have been some hard hitting Extreme Rules matches over the years. Check out some of the better ones:
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Opinion: This is the kind of change ..

There’s always room for one more. We are less than a week away from Extreme Rules but you might not know it based on the card that has been set. Most of the matches have been announced for the show, but there has not been anything actually extreme set. None of the matches have any kind of stipulations, though at least a little something has been changed for the show.
This week on Monday Night Raw, Jeff Hardy defeated Sheamus in a singles match. As a result, Hardy has been added to the Damian Priest vs. Sheamus United States Title match at Extreme Rules. There was no storyline reason given for Hardy being given the opportunity. Hardy’s most recent win on Monday Night Raw came on July 19 and he lost to Priest in a US Title match on September 13.
Now there are three options. Check out the three participants in action against each other:
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Opinion: This worke..

Monday Night Raw
Date: September 20, 2021
Location: PNC Arena, Raleigh, North Carolina
Commentators: Jimmy Smith, Byron Saxton, Corey Graves
It’s the go home show for Extreme Rules and in theory that should mean that it is time to actually add something EXTREME to the card. It would be nice to have the show actually live up to its name, though I think you can guess what kind of stipulations we are going to be seeing. Let’s get to it.
We open with a recap of Big E. cashing in Money in the Bank to win the WWE Title last week.
Here is New Day to celebrate Big E.’s title win. Big E. is rather emotional as he soaks in the YOU DESERVE IT chants and says this feels like Thanksgiving to him. He is thankful for everyone who has been here chanting New Day Rocks and (and those who chanted NEW DAY SUCKS).
There are some great people here to celebrate with and one more above watching down (cue the BRODIE chants, and Big E. has to pause for a second). As for tonight though, it is time for some b..

It can happen to anyone. You have all kinds of wrestlers on any given roster and unfortunately some of them are going to get hurt at one point or another. There is no way around it and some of the injuries are a lot worse than others. Unfortunately it seems that someone has been hurt again and now it is going to be a long time before we see him in in the ring again.
According to Dave Meltzer, Sami Callihan suffered a broken ankle at this weekend’s Impact Wrestling taping and will be out of action until spring 2022. There is no word on how Callihan broke his ankle at the taping or what will be done to make up for his absence. Callihan is a former Impact Wrestling World Champion and teamed with Eddie Edwards in a losing effort against Moose and W. Morrissey at Victory Road over the weekend.
Sami Callihan suffered a broken ankle Saturday at the Impact tapings and had surgery. Looks to be out until spring 2022.
— Dave Meltzer (@davemeltzerWON) September 20, 2021
Callihan is a big loss ..

Ring of Honor
Date: September 15, 2021
Location: UMBC Event Center, Baltimore, Maryland
Commentators: Ian Riccaboni, Caprice Coleman
It’s Death Before Dishonor weekend and that is a heck of a show. It’s such a heck of a show that Ring of Honor has barely spoken about the card so far outside of a few matches here or there. That is typical of Ring of Honor, but it has not exactly made things that much better over the years. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Quinn McKay gives us her usual welcome and rundown.
Briscoes vs. Bandido/Rey Horus This could be good. Honor is shown before the match as we hear about the Briscoes’ history of troubles against luchadors. Bandido and Jay circle each other to start with Jay fireman’s carrying him to the mat for an armbar. That’s broken up and Bandido shows Jay the finger gun and starts flipping around to send us to a standoff/break.
We come back with Mark bringing Jay back in to elbow Rey in the face. A trip to the outside goes badly for the luch..

A new voice. Commentary is one of the most important parts of a wrestling show. The commentary team guides the fans through what they are watching and tells them where the promotion wants them to go. That is the kind of thing that can make or break a show and the wrong commentary team can be a bit of a mess. Now we are seeing an adjustment to one such team.
AEW’s Ricky Starks was recently interviewed by WrestleTalk and revealed that he would be replacing Mark Henry as a permanent commentator on AEW Rampage. This comes after just six episodes of the show, with Henry being on commentary team since the beginning. Henry has still been conducting interviews before the main event. It is not clear if he will continue in this role going forward, or what else he will be doing for AEW.
Starks is talented enough. Check out what he has done during his time in AEW:
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Those are some communication issues. WWE has been going though a lot of changes as of late, with several wrestlers leaving the company. That can make for some interesting fallout, as several of the wrestlers have had some not so great things to say in WWE on their way out. It seems that is the case again, as we are hearing another story about WWE being all over the place backstage.
Recently released WWE star Alex Zayne was interviewed by Fightful Select and spoke about his release from the company. Zayne, who wrestled in NXT and on 205 Live as Ari Sterling, mentioned that he called WWE talent scout William Regal after his release, to which Regal was said to be “in shock”, as he did not know cuts were coming. Zayne was informed of his release by John Laurinaitis, who was said to be very polite in explaining the news. There is no word on any more releases coming to the NXT or WWE rosters.
Zayne was quite a star on 205 Live. Check out what he did during his time in the company:
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It would be an honor from AEW. There are certain wrestlers who are legends for at least one reason, but there are some whose reasons are a lot sadder than others. That is certainly the case with wrestlers who pass away before their time. Thankfully there are not as many of these as there have been in generations past, and now one of the better known ones will be receiving an honor.
AEW has announced that they will be partnering with the Owen Hart Foundation to honor the legacy of Owen Hart. This will include an annual tournament held within AEW, with the winner receiving a trophy known as “The Owen”. AEW will also offer exclusive Hart merchandise and Hart will appear in an upcoming AEW console video game. There is no word on when the tournament will start.
#AEW and The Owen Hart Foundation (@owen_foundation) Enter Into A Relationship to Honor World Renowned Wrestler Owen Hart’s Legacy
To read the full release visit – https://t.co/Ba1WJx0PJS pic.twitter.com/Y43ZNydS9V
— All Elite Wr..

Maybe that can help things. There are all kinds of stories in the history of wrestling and some of them are a lot better than others. You often hear stories of wrestlers doing good things, but unfortunately you hear bad stories all the more often. Some of these have been told on television, which was the case last week. Now though, one of the people involved has had to issue an apology.
The most recent episode of Dark Side of the Ring focused on the infamous Plane Ride From Hell. Back in 2002, a group of WWE stars flew on a transatlantic flight after a European tour. What followed was quite the mess, with all kinds of alcohol being consumed and wrestlers doing some rather bad things. One such thing in particular went further than the rest and now a wrestler is having to apologize for his comments about the situation.
During this week’s show, flight attendant Heidi Doyle spoke about Ric Flair forcing her to touch his genitals during the flight. Tommy Dreamer dismissed the comments and..

Get his face off the milk carton. There are all kinds of names on the WWE roster and some of them get to be on television a lot more often than others. That can make for some interesting situations as you don’t know who is going to show up on any given night. At the same time though, there are some wrestlers who do not show up and now we know why one wrestler has not been around.
Back in July, Davey Boy Smith Jr. returned to WWE, wrestling a dark match before an episode of Monday Night Raw. Smith appeared in a video after the match, saying he was back in WWE, but he has not wrestled since or appeared on WWE television. According to PWInsider.com, Smith is still with WWE but has not been assigned to a brand as of yet. His situation is described as “hurry up and wait” at the moment.
You might need to get to know him again. Check out some of Smith’s time in WWE:
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Now with hard numbers. Since AEW’s debut around two and a half years ago, the promotion has gone into something of a cold war with WWE. While the two companies have gone head to head on Wednesday nights with NXT, it wasn’t quite the same thing as AEW Dynamite vs. WWE Monday Night Raw. That still is not the case now, but something similar has caught some eyes.
On Monday November 29 and Wednesday December 8 respectively, Monday Night Raw and Dynamite will be held in the UBS Arena in Long Island, New York. The WrestleTix Twitter account is reporting that, as of Saturday evening, Dynamite is outdrawing Monday Night Raw in ticket sales, at 70% sold for Dynamite and 32% sold for Monday Night Raw. Dynamite’s setup allows for about 1,500 more fans and Monday Night Raw has nearly twice as many tickets still available (5,033 to Dynamite’s 2,684).
WWE Monday Night RAW
Mon • Nov 29 • 7:30 PM
UBS Arena, Belmont Park – Long Island, NY
Available Tickets => 5,033
Estimated Capacity => 7,398
Tickets..