NEWS

Welcome to KB’s Old School (and New School) Reviews. I’ve been reviewing wrestling shows for over ten years now and have reviewed over 5,000 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?
Clash of Champions 2017
Date: December 17, 2017
Location: TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Corey Graves, Byron Saxton
It’s the final pay per view of the year and this time the focus is on champions. Well, at least some of it is as the rest of the focus has been on Kevin Owens/Sami Zayn vs. Shane McMahon, who has put together Randy Orton/Shinsuke Nakamura to fight for him. Let’s get to it.
Kickoff Show: Mojo Rawley vs. Zack Ryder
They were partners who kept losing so Rawley turned on him…

It’s so simple. Every now and then, WWE can find something big and catch fire on a story and that is the kind of thing that they can’t plan in advance. If they find something that catches the fans’ attention though, a lot of good things can be accomplished in a hurry. This time now though, the idea might be able to do take care of two unrelated tasks at the same time.
This time around, the big idea was to FINALLY turn Roman Reigns heel for the first time in over six years. The idea was to pair him together with Paul Heyman, which is one of the biggest surprises that you probably did not see coming. It turns out that there were a few reasons to put the two of them together, one of which is a little bit surprising given what it could have been.
According to Wrestling Observer Radio, there were separate reasons for putting Reigns and Heyman together. In Reigns’ case, the idea was to cement his heel turn, as Heyman is seen as a major heel in WWE. Heyman will be Reigns’ agent or advocate ..

The real world situation. You never know when you might see something on a wrestling card changed at the last minute. That is not the worst thing in the world as occasionally it is not something that can be controlled, but it can be disappointing. WWE had been building up a big gimmick match at Summerslam but changed it just before the show. There was a pretty specific reason for the move.
One of the most disturbing stories wrestling has seen in a long time broke earlier this month when Sonya Deville’s home was invaded by a fan in possession of a knife and zip ties who had planned to kidnap her. Deville escaped the house and the fan was apprehended, but it was still quite the traumatizing experience. This is something that is going to go on for a long time, and that played into the Summerslam match being changed.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the Summerslam match was changed due to Deville’s upcoming court appearances. Deville was scheduled to lose her hair at Summe..

They have a plan. Back at WrestleMania 36, Drew McIntyre won the WWE Championship and has gone on to hold it for the last six months. McIntyre has become the face of Monday Night Raw and has done rather well during his reign with the title. This has included some rather nice title defenses against some big names but one of the people who McIntyre has defeated isn’t done quite yet.
McIntyre defeated Randy Orton to retain the title at Summerslam in a match which saw McIntyre survive off a backslide. Orton was not happy with the loss and attacked the champ the following night with three Punts in less than three hours. This put McIntyre on the shelf, but now we know where things are going to be going with him, including when the title will be on the line again.
According to Wrestlingnews.co, McIntyre is expected to return to WWE television at some point after Payback to set up the rematch with Orton at Clash Of Champions. McIntyre was put on the shelf on Monday Night Raw due to the Punts..

That’s a good team for Cesaro to emulate. Tag team wrestling has been around for a very long time and it isn’t going away anytime soon. While it might not be at the heights it has been before, tag team wrestling can work very well if a company can find some teams with a chemistry. You don’t get to see it all that often, but it can help to look at some of the all time greats. One of WWE’s more prolific tag team wrestlers does just that.
There are very few WWE stars of this generation with as much tag team experience as Cesaro. Over the years, Cesaro has teamed with Tyson Kidd, Shinsuke Nakamura, Jack Swagger and Sheamus with quite the bit of success most of the time. Cesaro is a very talented wrestler and has done some great things in tag teams and it might have to do with his inspiration.
In a new interview with the Bump, Cesaro spoke about how he tries to emulate the Steiner Brothers in his tag teams and wrestlers more like either Rick or Scott Steiner depending on his partner. His ..

There’s your big moment. Payback has come and gone and now WWE gets a needed break from pay per view for the time being. The show was the second pay per view in a week and that meant that WWE needed something big to get the fans’ attention. They certainly had a big main event that came after a major twist on SmackDown, but could they deliver after that moment?
The big surprise at the end of Summerslam saw Roman Reigns make his return to WWE after five months away over Coronavirus concerns. Reigns would attack the new Universal Champion the Fiend and former champion Braun Strowman, setting up a triple threat at Payback. Then on SmackDown, Reigns aligned himself with Paul Heyman in a major twist, leaving some questions going into the pay per view.
Reigns won the Universal Title at Payback, pinning Strowman after a spear. The match started with Strowman and Fiend fighting each other alone, as Reigns did not show up until about ten minute in. Heyman accompanied him to the stage where Rei..

Next show up. Like any other wrestling promotion, WWE is built around its big shows. You need something to build towards and that is where pay per views come in. They are going to be set up rather well in some cases and a lot of that has to do with time. If there isn’t much time to set things up, a theme to the show can help, which is what WWE is going to have in September.
Titles are one of the easiest concepts in wrestling. Wrestlers fight over a prize and whoever wins the match is the best. That is as simple as you can get and it is something that will work almost every time, no matter what else is going on in the story. WWE has more titles than they know what to do with a lot of the time and if they set things up well, we could be in for something fun next month.
During Sunday’s Payback, WWE confirmed that Clash Of Champions 2020 will be taking place in four weeks on September 27. As the name suggests, the theme of the show will be championships, with all of the company’s titles ..

Sometimes champions don’t always have the advantage. Tonight at the 2020 edition of Payback, three different titles changed hands, just one week after WWE’s biggest part of the summer, SummerSlam.
In the opening contest of the evening, Bobby Lashley defeated Apollo Crews to become the new United States champion. The finish came when Lashley made Crews tap out to the Full Lashley submission hold.
Next, Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax defeated Bayley and Sasha Banks to become the new Women’s Tag Team Champions. While the Golden Role Models hung in there, The Queen of Spades put an Indian Deathlock on Banks and the Kirifuda Clutch to Bayley at the same time. The champs had no choice but to tap out.
Finally, Roman Reigns defeated “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman to become the new Universal Champion. After The Fiend super-plexed Strowman from the top rope, causing the ring to implode, Reigns showed up with a chair and started beating both of them with it. After a couple of minutes, T..

Payback 2020
Date: August 30, 2020
Location: Amway Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Samoa Joe, Byron Saxton, Michael Cole, Corey Graves
We’re back on pay per view less than a week after the last one ended, because that’s a thing that needed to happen. This time around we have the big main event of the Fiend defending the Smackdown World Title against Braun Strowman and a surprisingly heel Roman Reigns, with Paul Heyman in his corner. That sounds like it could have some serious legs so let’s get to it.
Kickoff Show: IIconics vs. Riott Squad The IIconics promise to expose them as frauds before the match. Riott charges at Royce to start and the chase is on around the ring. That means Riott runs into Shades of Kay and it’s off to a neck crank inside. Kay forearms Riott for two and the trash talk is on in a hurry. Royce knees her in the back a few times and we hit the chinlock.
Riott fights up but a Kay distraction lets Royce knock Liv to the floor. Kay tries to convi..

You want fast and furious action? Look no further. WWE has posted a new video to its YouTube channel in which they show the full match between Seth Rollins and Samoa Joe from Payback 2017.
You can see the video in its entirety below:

From WWE.com:
The Kingslayer started the match with a fast-and-furious attack, taking every risk to knock down Joe. But his formidable opponent only needed one shot at Rollins’ knee to turn the showdown 180-degrees. From there, the bout became an exercise in punishment, as Joe twisted and smashed Rollins’ ailing knee just like a lion would toy with a gazelle.
The damage lingered with Rollins for the rest of the match, as every move of offense or defense resulted in him writhing in pain. The Kingslayer fought through the agony, though, flying halfway across the ring for a crushing Frog Splash.
The hard-hitting Samoan tried to suck the life out of Rollins with a sleeper hold and looked for one more maneuver to finish him off, but The Kingslayer suddenl..

It’s long overdue. There are a lot of names under the WWE banner and some of them are around a lot more often than others. At times it does not seem possible for someone to be as active as they are without collapsing but some people just have that drive that cannot be stopped. It makes for some amazing performances, but sometimes even those stars need a break. We might be seeing that again.
Earlier this year, Becky Lynch stepped away from WWE after announcing her pregnancy. That announcement sent some shock waves through the WWE women’s division as Lynch was the top star in the division by far and one of the biggest stars in all of the company. However there was an interesting detail in her case, as her fiance is also a top WWE star. With Lynch taking time off, her fiance might be as well.
According to Ringsidenews.com, a rumor is circulating that Lynch’s fiance Seth Rollins may be taking some time away from WWE in the near future. Rollins is currently in the middle of a feud with Re..

The future is…different. WWE is in a strange place at the moment as they are trying their best to build things up back up while still dealing with the Coronavirus. That is not the easiest trick in the world to accomplish but they are doing what they can. One way to do that might be to take a new direction but WWE might be doing even more than that. Instead, they might be trying two new directions at once.
Last Sunday at Summerslam, the Fiend became the new Universal Champion to begin his second reign. As soon as the match was over though, Roman Reigns made his long awaited return and speared the Fiend down, showing quite a different edge in the process. That was weird enough, but then things got turned completely upside down on SmackDown when Reigns aligned himself with Paul Heyman, seemingly turning heel for the first time as a singles wrestler. It turns out that it isn’t the only big change in the works.
According to PWInsider.com, the current SmackDown plans call for Reigns, with ..