NEWS

A nice stop over. The wrestling world has been changing in a lot of ways over the last few months and that is likely going to continue to be the case for a long time to come. You are going to be seeing various wrestlers moving from one promotion to another, with most of them going to or from WWE or AEW. There are other promotions out there though, and this time someone made a cameo elsewhere.
Ric Flair appeared at Sunday’s NWA 73rd Anniversary Show in St. Louis, Missouri in a special segment. During his interview, Flair mainly thanked various WWE names, including Vince McMahon, Triple H and Shawn Michaels for allowing him to be here. He also talked some legends and his memories of wrestling in St. Louis. Flair’s appearance had been advertised in advance, but no other details had been mentioned.
This was a special one. Check out part of the promo and some of Flair’s time in St. Louis:
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It’s another way to go. Roddy Piper had a great line about acting (paraphrased): “When I was a wrestler, they said I was just an actor. When I was an actor, they said I was just a wrestler.” There is absolutely a connection between wrestler and acting but very few wrestlers have actually managed to pull it off. There has been some success though, and now another wrestler is interested in taking her shot.
During a new interview with Entertainment Tonight, WWE’s Alexa Bliss mentioned that as much as she loves wrestling, she would love to try her hand at acting. Bliss said that she would always be at home in WWE but she has been working with an acting coach for the last ten months. There is nothing to suggest that Bliss will be leaving or taking any time off from WWE to pursue acting anytime soon.
There is something to this. Check out the interview and some of Bliss’ time in WWE:
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Not so fast? Injuries can be one of the most devastating things in all of wrestling as they can take someone out of action all of a sudden. Some are far worse than others and the very worst can put someone on the shelf for the rest of their lives. However, one interesting trend as of late has been wrestlers returning from career ending injuries. Another wrestler seems to be teasing joining the club.
Back in 2018, Paige was forced to retire from in-ring competition due to a series of neck injuries. As a result, her wrestling career was over but she has since returned to various other on-air roles. However, over the weekend, Paige sent out a tweet saying that she was “not done yet”. According to Instinct Culture’s Denise Salcedo, Paige said that she was training for an in-ring wrestling return, but would not be telling anyone when the return would happen so that it could serve as a surprise. Paige has not wrestled since December 2017.
I’m not done yet. ??
— SARAYA (@RealPaigeWWE) Augu..

That’s the big one. Titles are one of the easiest concepts in all of professional wrestling. Any fan can get the idea of putting a championship on the line and seeing who walks out with the gold. A wrestler holding a title for a long time can make their title reign seem all the more important, especially when someone finally takes it from them. That was the case this weekend.
Trevor Murdoch defeated Nick Aldis at the NWA 73rd Anniversary Show to become the new NWA World Heavyweight Champion for the first time in his career. In addition, Murdoch had put his career on the line in the match. Murdoch’s win ends Aldis’ second reign at 1043 days, which was more than double the longest reign with the title since 1999. Aldis’ reign was the sixth longest in the title’s history.
It’s a big deal. Check out the new champ and a quick look at the historic title reign:
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At least they had a plan. There were more than a few surprises at Summerslam but perhaps the biggest was Becky Lynch returning to squash Bianca Belair in less than thirty seconds to win the SmackDown Women’s Title. That was not exactly the kind of thing that you would expect to see, but Lynch is off to the races. That leaves Belair in a bit of a bind, though WWE has a plan for her as well.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the idea behind having Belair lose in such dominant fashion was to build sympathy on her going forward. Lynch was not the original planned challenger and Belair was taken by surprise, which was designed to make fans feel that she did not deserve the loss. Belair has since earned another title shot against Lynch, which will take place at Extreme Rules on September 26.
WWE might be on to something. Check out what they are doing with Belair:
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That’s one way to go. One of the more confusing situations in WWE is the way they bring up wrestlers from NXT. While the wrestlers have a tendency to be rather successful with a character or style in NXT, WWE has a history of resetting things. That has not exactly played out well every time, but now they seem ready to try it again with an interesting combination.
According to Wrestlingnews.co, Keith Lee may be in line for a monster heel push. Lee returned from a five month hiatus in July but has not wrestled a match on television since the August 2 Monday Night Raw. Instead, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Lee has been wrestling a series of dark matches before Monday Night Raw and SmackDown in an attempt for WWE to find the right way to use him. There is no word on when Lee will return to television.
Lee could make a monster. Check out what he can do in the ring:
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There’s a reason for that. Summerslam included more than a few surprises, with Becky Lynch’s return being perhaps the biggest of them all. Lynch made her return after nearly a year and a half away and won the SmackDown Women’s Title in less than thirty seconds. That was quite the turn of events and it seems that Lynch is going to be a villain. A change like that warrants some more information and now we have just that.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Lynch has returned as a heel at her own request. She has been inspired by Roman Reigns’ heel run and the work that he has done in the last year. Since returning, Lynch has turned down a challenge to face Bianca Belair on this week’s SmackDown, but she has been confirmed to face Belair for the title at Extreme Rules.
This could be interesting. Check out what Lynch has done since her return
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They didn’t have much time. Summerslam was certainly an eventful show and now comes the interesting part, as we get to see the fallout. WWE has more than a few different choices as they go forward, including some big names back on the roster. This includes the surprise from the end of the show, but now we know a new detail that makes things all the more interesting.
Brock Lesnar made a surprise return to end this year’s Summerslam, appearing to confront Roman Reigns after the show’s main event. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE came to terms with Lesnar just before Summerslam, meaning that Lesnar did not have much time to prepare for his appearance. The deal was made due to John Cena leaving WWE, WWE wanting to appease FOX and CM Punk debuting with AEW. As a result of the situation, Lesnar was able to get an even better deal for himself. He is expected to wrestle about eight matches over the next year and a half.
It was a comeback to remember. Check out Lesnar’s ret..

That’s a change of pace. NXT has been undergoing a complete rehaul over the last few weeks and that seems to be continuing going forward. This could be quite the reshaping over everything and it remains to be seen just how many changes we get out of the whole thing. NXT has come a long way doing things in one way, but now they are making a pretty big switch.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE is no longer looking at independent wrestlers to find new talent. Instead, WWE is allowing AEW to focus on the independent circuit and will focus on finding people with the right look to turn into wrestlers. There will also be more tryouts for athletes, similar to the tryout camp recently held in Las Vegas. However, it is also noted that WWE has changed its mind on this kind of decision before.
WWE tryouts are no joke. Check out how they have gone before:
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It’s time for the next step. We are over a week removed from Summerslam and that means it is time for WWE to start moving on. The company has done just that with a fresh episode of Monday Night Raw and SmackDown. With less than a month to go before Extreme Rules, it is time to get ready for the next pay per view, and it seems that we have a title match set. It turns out that isn’t all though.
Two upcoming title matches have been confirmed, with one taking place on free television and another on pay per view. First up, Finn Balor ended this week’s edition of SmackDown by challenging Universal Champion Roman Reigns to a title shot on the September 3 episode. While Reigns did not agree to the match during the show, WWE officially confirmed the match after the show went off the air.
Second, the official YouTube page of the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio has announced that SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch will defend her title against Bianca Belair at Extreme Rules on September ..

That would make a change. AEW does not have the deepest history to date but there have been some things that they have done which have gotten them on the map. One of their biggest strengths has been bringing in the right people, many of whom have gotten them some extra attention. Not all of these names have been in the ring, and now one of them is rumored to be changing things up a bit.
According to Ringsidenews.com, Jim Ross is planning to move out of his current role as the main AEW broadcaster. This does not mean that Ross will be leaving AEW, as he will still be calling big matches and doing special segments. Ross signed a three year deal in 2019, which will expire in April 2022. However, Ross has responded to the reports, saying that it is “news to him”.
It’s news to me… https://t.co/ZlzbuDVWCo
— Jim Ross (@JRsBBQ) August 28, 2021
Ross has been a big deal for AEW. Check out some of his moments with the company:
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It was a strong career. There are certain wrestlers who make an impression on you just based on how they look. That can make for some special moments when you can find someone who can back it up in the ring. You know these wrestlers when you see them and they do not come along that often. That was the case with one in particular, though now she is hanging up her boots.
This weekend at the NWA Empowerrr women’s event, Awesome Kong made a surprise appearance and announced that she was retiring from wrestling. Kong interrupted and attacked Taryn Terrell, Jennacide and Paola Blaze before her longtime rival Gail Kim appeared. Kong referred to King as her greatest rival and announced that she was done with wrestling. Her most recent match took place on January 1, 2020 during an episode of AEW Dark.
Kong was a force in wrestling. Check out some of her most famous moments:
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