NEWS

Looks like that’s next. We are less than a month away from Summerslam and that means it is time to start getting the card ready. You can probably guess more than a few of the matches from here, but there are still a few slots to fill. One such slot is the main event, which we seemed to have but something has now been changed. Someone else is getting their match, and it could be interesting.
The main story coming into this week’s edition of SmackDown was John Cena’s appearance to challenge Roman Reigns to a Universal Title match at SmackDown. Cena did issue the challenge at the beginning of the show. Reigns appeared at the end, where he declined Cena’s challenge. Instead, Finn Balor appeared and challenged Reigns, though no date was given for a potential match.
There is a history here. Check out the challenge plus what these two have done before:
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Opinion:..

Smackdown
Date: July 23, 2021
Location: Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, Cleveland, Ohio/Rolling Loud Festival, Miami, Florida
Commentators: Pat McAfee, Michael Cole
We’re into the second week of having fans back and this time the big story is John Cena returning to Smackdown to see Roman Reigns. You can see Summerslam from here but we still need to make it official. Other than that, Carmella is getting another shot at Bianca Belair for no particular reason. Let’s get to it.
We start fast this week with John Cena starting us off in a hurry. He talks about how hyped up the fans are here and knows that Roman Reigns is coming. There is some sports news coming out of Cleveland today, which is why he has changed his middle name to Guardians (as did Cleveland’s baseball team). He has to protect the little respect that WWE has left because Roman Reigns is terrible as Universal Champion. We’re back live and that means we are on the way to Summerslam, which is a place for the fans to show what the..

He matters most. While he might not be around as often as he was before, there is no one more powerful in WWE than Vince McMahon. His opinion or thought on a wrestler, storyline, or pretty much anything in the company can determine its fate and that is often a powerful weapon. It can be both good and bad, though in one infamous occasion, it did not turn out well at all.
Back on July 2, 2001, Monday Night Raw included a WCW World Title match with Booker T. defending against Buff Bagwell. The match was meant to kick off the new WCW but was so poorly received that it partially caused the plans to be canceled, setting up the InVasion storyline instead. It was an important night in WWE’s history, but what did McMahon think about what happened?
Jim Ross discussed the match on his Grilling JR podcast, saying that McMahon was not happy with the result. The match resulted in a loss of fan interest and momentum for the story, as McMahon felt that Booker T. and Bagwell could have a good match t..

NXT UK
Date: July 22, 2021
Location: BT Studios, London, England
Commentators: Andy Shepherd, Nigel McGuinness
This was supposed to be the big showdown between Walter and Ilja Dragunov but the injury bug struck, meaning the match has been postponed. Instead, we have to settle for Subculture challenging Pretty Deadly for the Tag Team Titles. I’d call it a downgrade but they can probably make it work. Let’s get to it.
The opening video recaps the NXT Title match being canceled and a look at the Tag Team Title match.
Sid Scala opens things up and we go to William Regal (fine after being laid out on Tuesday), HHH and Shawn Michaels (the birthday boy), who announce Walter vs. Dragunov II will take place at Takeover 36 on August 22.
Eddie Dennis says Symbiosis is ready to destroy Moustache Mountain.
Laura DiMatteo vs. Nina Samuels Samuels works on the arm to start but gets pulled down for a front facelock. That’s reversed back into a wristlock but Samuels reverses into a cradle, which D..

Kind of an important detail. As you have probably heard, WWE is back on the road for the first time in over fifteen months. That is a great change of pace for WWE and it is already feeling like something more important. WWE has needed to hit the ground running after their time in Florida and now they are going elsewhere. We might even know where one of their most important shows is going.
According to Andrew Zarian of the Mat Men Wrestling Podcast, this year’s Survivor Series is expected to take place at the Barclay’s Center in New York City, New York. WWE has yet to announce the location of the show or any matches for the card. As previously reported, the Rock is rumored to be appearing at the event. This would be the fourth time the event would be held in New York, following 1996, 2002 and 2011.
Tentative plans for Survivor Series location is Barclays Center in Brooklyn NY. pic.twitter.com/EtKlmmNHs9
— Andrew Zarian (@AndrewZarian) July 22, 2021
Survivor Series is one of the big ..

That could have been worse. With the fans returning to WWE events, it is time for WWE to come up with something fresh to hook the viewers in. There are all kinds of ways to do this, but one of the most effective is to mix up the locations a bit. WWE is already taking the shows to venues outside of Florida, but now they are trying two at once. It just has a bit of a hiccup on the way.
This week’s SmackDown will be split between the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio and the Rolling Loud Festival in Miami, Florida. According to Local 10 (ABC Miami affiliate), a video screen being used for the festival collapsed on Thursday before the festival began. According to the Rolling Loud Twitter account, no one was hurt and the wall will be repaired before the start of the festival on Friday.
SmackDown will feature an appearance by John Cena, who returned last Sunday at Money in the Bank and confronted Roman Reigns. Cena appeared on Monday Night Raw as well, promising to come see Rei..

That would be a big get. There are top names in wrestling history and then there is The Rock. After an all time wrestling career, The Rock moved on to Hollywood and became the biggest name in the movie industry. Either one of these things is amazingly impressive but he managed to do them both at a relatively young age. Every now and then, Rock will return to wrestling and now we might know where he will be next.
According to the Mat Men Wrestling Podcast, The Rock is expected to appear at this year’s Survivor Series, though there is no word on what he will be doing on the show. In addition, the Rock is expected to appear on WWE television shows leading up to the event. This will be the Rock’s first appearance on WWE programming since the September 4, 2019 SmackDown. The event will also mark twenty five years since the Rock’s WWE debut, which took place at Survivor Series 1996.
After making his debut at Survivor Series 1996, the Rock went on to join the Nation of Domination and become..

Sometimes you need to move on. The wrestling world has been changing a lot as of late and some of the moves have made things a lot more interesting. One of the biggest changes has been the movement of wrestlers from one promotion to another as it can be fascinating to see where someone winds up. We might be finding that out again as someone is taking their leave.
Former Impact Wrestling Knockouts Tag Team Champion Kiera Hogan has announced that she is finishing up with Impact Wrestling after this week’s television tapings. The announcement was made on her OnlyFans account courtesy of Wrestlinginc.com. There was no reason given for her departure, other than Hogan saying she wanted to see what else is out there. Hogan is best known for her time as part of Fire N Flava with Tasha Steelz, with the team becoming the only two time Knockouts Tag Team Champions. She has been with Impact Wrestling since 2017.
Hogan was good in Impact Wrestling. Check out what she did there:
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The roster continues to grow. According to a Tweet from AEW’s official Twitter account, the company has officially signed Thunder Rosa to a long-term deal. Even though she has appeared multiple times with the company, she was officially a member of NWA’s roster.
Welcome to the team…@ThunderRosa22 is #AllElite pic.twitter.com/GcvAds6ANx
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) July 22, 2021
According to a report from Wrestling Inc., AEW was able able to sign with the company, even though her NWA contract ran through the year. Rosa was to become a free agent in 2022 and was excited about this possibility.
Rosa made her AEW debut back on the September 2, 2020 episode of Dynamite, while she was still the NWA World Women’s Champion. She defeated Serena Deeb that night, but then would lose to then-AEW Women’s World Champion Hikaru Shida at All Out just three days later. She has continued to work for AEW and the NWA since then, while also making a few indie appearances.
She also appeared at Impact W..

That’s how you get them to stay. WWE has been in a bit of a weird place as of late, as they now have fans back in attendance but also need to come up with a way to keep them watching. The honeymoon period is only going to last for so long and it does not help when the promotion makes some interesting decisions. That was the case this week and WWE had a bit of an odd solution.
Earlier this week on Monday Night Raw, Jeff Hardy defeated reigning NXT Champion Karrion Kross in one minute and forty seconds. This was Kross’ first pinfall loss in WWE, either on NXT or a main roster show. According to Bodyslam.net, a Kross segment had to be retaped at this week’s NXT, as the fans chanted HARDY throughout the interview. A source said that the segment was shot at the end of the night, with a member of the production crew telling him that something special was going to happen as a surprise, though nothing happened after Kross’ segment.
Kross is worth a look. Check out what happened to him on Mon..

That’s a new one. One of the biggest WWE stories of the year has been the amount of changes made to the roster. The company has moved all kinds of people in and out of the roster, making it look a good bit different than it did at the start of the year. Some of those wrestlers have since moved on to other promotions, but now one is moving on to something entirely different.
According to Deadline.com, CJ Perry, formerly known as Lana in WWE, will be a part of the cast for a reboot of the Surreal Life on VH1. The show will see Perry and the rest of the cast living together in a mansion and completing tasks. The rest of the cast will include Dennis Rodman, August Alsina, Stormy Daniels, Tamar Braxton, Frankie Muniz, Kim Coles and Manny Mua. There is no word on when the show will premiere.
Perry certainly has personality. Check out her better moments in WWE:
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That’s a huge one. If there is one thing you can almost guarantee in today’s WWE, it is the success of a Takeover card. NXT has figured out the Takeover formula to near perfection, to the point where it seems impossible for them to put on a bad edition. That is a nice situation to have and it seems that we are seeing it again, as the first match has been confirmed for the next Takeover.
This week on NXT UK, NXT officials Triple H, William Regal and Shawn Michaels announced that Ilja Dragunov will challenge United Kingdom Champion Walter at Takeover 36 on August 22. This will be a rematch from their original title match in October 2020 where Walter successfully defended his title. The match was originally scheduled for this week but was postponed due to Walter suffering a hand injury. Takeover 36 will be held at the Capitol Wrestling Center in Orlando, Florida.
I would say this works. Check out the announcement and how we got here:
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