NEWS

The biggest news story of the day, by far, has been the sudden release of Bray Wyatt by WWE earlier today. But what is the reason for his departure from the company?
According to a report from F4WOnline, Wyatt was told by John Laurinaitis that his release was due to budget cuts and not something that he had done. He was, in fact, preparing to return in August to a Monday Night Raw show on August 9.
PWInsider is reporting that the reaction within the company was one of complete disbelief at the news. Wyatt’s licensing has been huge in recent years, with The Fiend had been a massive hit for both t-shirts and action figures.
One idea being tossed around is that WWE President Nick Khan and CFO Kristina Salen are so “obsessed” with the company not being even red on the financial ledgers, that even after the most recent financial quarter, there had to have been a push to cut costs. It had also been noted that Wyatt’s relationship with Vince McMahon’s was very “hot and cold” at times.
The..

I think I’d call that interfering. For the first time in a very good while, there is another wrestling promotion on the national stage which is doing rather well. It is the first time that WWE has had anything close to their level for a very long time now and that makes for some interesting changes. It also makes WWE do more than a few different things, including some possible sabotage.
Earlier this week, Nick Gage vs. Chris Jericho headlined AEW Dynamite. During the match, Gage used a pizza cutter on Jericho’s forehead. At the same time, a Domino’s Pizza ad aired in the picture in picture. This has caused some issues from Domino’s, as they were not pleased with what was airing during their commercials. It seems that things might be a little more complicated than that.
Since Wednesday, rumors have been circulating that WWE has been spreading the story of Domino’s issues to various media outlets. According to Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com, there were stories of WWE pushing the Domino’..

You don’t get many like this one. As we approach Summerslam, it is time for WWE to start making some of the final preparations. There are all kinds of things left to cover on the show but some of the bigger ones have been covered. This week, the show’s main event was set, but the match still has some work to be done. Some of that was taken care of after the cameras stopped rolling.
According to Wrestlinginc.com, the dark match after this week’s SmackDown saw John Cena teaming up with Dominik Mysterio and Rey Mysterio to defeat the Usos and Roman Reigns. Cena hits Reigns with an Attitude Adjustment, followed by another one to Jimmy Uso before the pin. This is the same match with the same ending that has been taking place at live events.
Cena has been busy since he came back. Check out what he has been up to, plus some classic Cena:
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Opinion: This is one o..

That’s certainly new. There have been countless gimmicks and characters in wrestling over the years and some of them do not stand out all that well. Some of them are going to work because of one trait or personality quirk which stands out and that is the case with a current WWE star. Now though, some of the biggest things which set him apart have been dropped in an interesting way.
Following this week’s edition of SmackDown, 24/7 Champion Reginald was asked about his background. Reginald responded by saying that he was not really from France, but rather St. Louis, Missouri and that his name was Reggie. He also did not have his accent, saying that he answered an ad to be Carmella’s sommellier and was asked to speak French. Reggie said that he has been a wrestling fan for years and would do anything to get into WWE, hence doing whatever Carmella wanted. Reggie won the 24/7 Title his first in WWE, on the July 19 Monday Night Raw.
This was a different one. Check out the interview plus wh..

That’s the big one. WWE has been changing their roster in a lot of ways as of late and some of them have been a lot bigger than others. There have been wrestlers coming and going from the company all over the place and it can be fascinating to see who goes where and when. That seems to be the case again and this time around, it is about as surprising of a release as you could get.
WWE has announced that Bray Wyatt has been released from the company. There is no reason given for his release at the moment. Wyatt has not wrestled since WrestleMania 37, when he was defeated by Randy Orton in the opening match of Night Two of the show. His last appearance came the following night on Monday Night Raw, where he said he was leaving to find a fresh start. Wyatt is a former three time World Champion in WWE, having won the WWE Title once and the Universal Title twice.
WWE has come to terms on the release of Bray Wyatt. We wish him the best in all his future endeavors. https://t.co/XIsUbaMUZ7 pi..

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?
Bash at the Beach 1997
Date: July 13, 1997
Location: Ocean Center, Daytona Beach, Florida
Attendance: 7,851
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, Dusty Rhodes
It’s 1997 and the unofficial anniversary of the NWO being formed. This was in that weird period for WCW as everything was setting up for Sting vs. Hogan, but at the same time it took forever to get there because we waited 9 months between Sting’s moment of showing he was WCW and the actual match. The main event here is Luger/Giant vs. Hogan/Rodman. As ..

That’s a relief. Injuries can be devastating to both wrestlers and wrestling companies. They can derail plans, but far more importantly they can derail careers. A wrestler might never be the same after an injury and it can stop everything they are doing at a moment’s notice. Finding out how bad things are can be a rather scary process, but we might be getting some good news this time around.
Natalya suffered some sort of a leg injury during this week’s edition of Monday Night Raw. Her knee gave out during a tag match and she did not return to the ring. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Natalya suffered an ankle injury, but an MRI revealed that the damage was “better than expected”. Natalya is expected to be out for a few weeks, meaning that WWE will not have to vacate the Women’s Tag Team Titles. On Friday, Natalya tweeted out a photo of her ankle in a cast, revealing that she has had surgery to repair the unspecified injury. There is no word on when she will be back in ..

They need to work on their communication. A company as big as WWE is going to have a lot of wrestlers on its roster, which can be a good and bad thing. On one hand, the company has all kinds of wrestlers to pick from and they can do a lot of different things. At the same time though, it can be easy to lose track of some of them, which seems to be the case again.
According to Fightful Select, WWE has moved Slapjack, better known as Shane Thorne, to SmackDown from Monday Night Raw. However, Thorne was not told about the move and only learned about it when other wrestlers told him that he was listed on the internal SmackDown roster. Thorne has not wrestled on television since the April 9 SmackDown, though he did participate in a battle royal dark match after last week’s SmackDown.
Thorne is worth another look. Check out what he can do when he is around:
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Op..

One more time? Every now and then, athletes from other sports come into wrestling to try their hands at something else. It can make for some rather interesting results as you never know how something like this could go. There have certainly been some successful results, but others have not gone so well. This time around, someone who did not do so well the first time is trying again.
During an appearance on In This Corner with Cyrus Fees, former UFC Heavyweight Champion and WWE star Cain Velasquez announced that he was returning to AAA in December. Velasquez said that he still loved both AAA and WWE but he needed to develop his skills to a higher level before he could wrestle for WWE again. There is no word on if WWE is interested in bringing him back in the future.
Velasquez has only wrestled four matches in his career, with two each in AAA and WWE. His only televised match in WWE was at Crown Jewel in 2019 when he lost to Brock Lesnar in a WWE Championship match. Velasquez was relea..

Move over. There are so many wrestlers on the WWE roster that you can only find so many places for them. As a result, WWE has its wrestlers split into multiple rosters, with Monday Night Raw, SmackDown, NXT and NXT UK. Those rosters are not knocked into stone though and every now and then you see someone moved elsewhere. That was the case again this week, though it was a bit of a strange situation.
Reckoning’s WWE.com profile once again lists her as a member of the Monday Night Raw roster. This comes after she was moved to SmackDown, though she never actually wrestled on the show. Reckoning, better known as Mia Yim, has not wrestled since December 2020. There is no word on why she has been absent from television, or if she will be known as Reckoning or Yim when she returns.
She is worth having around. Check out what might be coming to Monday Night Raw:
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That should do fine. With Summerslam less than a month away, it is time to start getting everything ready for the biggest show of the summer. That means WWE needs to really hammer home some of the build, which could include more than a few big matches. Some of them might even need to be bigger than others, with one of the most important being set up this week.
Sasha Banks made a surprise return this week on SmackDown, saving Bianca Belair from a two on one attack at the hands of Carmella and Zelina Vega. Banks and Belair teamed up to defeat Carmella and Veta in the main event, only to have Banks turn on Belair after the match was over. This was Banks’ first appearance since the SmackDown after WrestleMania 37, when she had no comments on losing her SmackDown Women’s Title to Belair at WrestleMania.
It’s the latest chapter. Check out how we got here:
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Opi..

We have a main event. Summerslam is in less than a month and that means it is time to get ready for what might be the biggest show of the year. For the first time ever, Summerslam is going to be taking place in an NFL stadium, meaning there are going to be tens of thousands of people in attendance. That show needs a headliner and now they have just that.
This week on SmackDown, John Cena vs. Roman Reigns for Reigns’ Universal Title was officially confirmed for Summerslam. Reigns and Finn Balor were signing the contract but Baron Corbin interrupted by attacking Balor. Cena ran out to prevent Corbin from signing the contract himself and then signed, with the match being made official. This comes after Reigns had declined a match with Cena last week.
They do have a history together. Check out Reigns vs. Cena over the years:
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Opinion: This was a matter of ma..