NEWS

I titled this week’s Monday Night Raw review “May All Your Walls Be Sticky” because it was pretty obvious that they were throwing whatever they could think of out there this week and hoping they found something that worked. It has been a long time since a non-Monday Night Raw after WrestleMania had so much going on and that is not a good sign for WWE. They are flailing to find an audience right now as the fans just are not interested in what they are presenting. That can be a dangerous place to go as you never know what you are going to see, but there were two ideas that really stood out to me on this week’s show.
As usual, the WWE.com preview for the show focused on the main points, most of which were drawn from previous episodes. However, there were two things that were being introduced for the first time this week and those are the things we are looking at today. They were very different and seem to be completely separate from each other, and that might be the best thing possible a..

The timing didn’t work. Every now and then, WWE will throw out some big idea that seems like it is going to change things in a major way. Some of these are a lot better than others but when you get something big, it could be a major event that can take the company a long way. It was the case again this week and if it seems to have been a little rushed, it is probably because it was.
The big story coming out of this week’s Monday Night Raw was the introduction of Raw Underground, which focused on Shane McMahon running an underground fight club. Some other wrestlers got involved over the course of the night but a lot of things felt a bit more unscripted and serious instead of a good chunk of the rest of the show. Things still did not exactly click though and there is a reason for that.
According to Wrestling Observer Radio, Raw Underground was designed as a last minute idea to prevent the television ratings and audience from going even lower than they have in recent weeks. This week’s ..

It’s a special one. AEW is just over a year old but they already have several things going for them which set them apart from other promotions. That kind of identity is a good thing for everyone involved as you don’t want to just be another company who acts like WWE with some slight variations. One of those ideas is pushing a distinct division on their show, and now it will be getting its own night.
Tag team wrestling has been a big part of AEW since its inception and the idea has continues to be treated as something important. This involves a rather deep tag team division with several teams who could be seen as contenders for the Tag Team Titles. The company also focuses on the old school in a way, which will certainly be the case on next week’s Dynamite.
During this week’s Dynamite, AEW announced the card for next week’s Tag Team Appreciation Night. The show will include special appearances by Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard and the Rock N Roll Express, plus Hangman Page and Kenny..

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?
Summerslam 2000
Date: August 27, 2000
Location: Raleigh Entertainment and Sports Arena, Raleigh, North Carolina
Attendance: 18,124
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler
This is another show that I barely remember at all. A lot has changed since last time and it’s dramatically changed the card. To begin with, Austin is out with neck surgery and Rock has ascended to the top of the company. He’ll be defending the title tonight against HHH and upstart star Kurt Angle, a real Olympic gold medalist. On top of that, four guy..

Card subject to change. We are coming up on Takeover: XXX and the card is starting to come together. There are a lot of things left to cover though, including filling out the field for the North American title ladder match. The match will involve five participants, all of whom have to qualify by winning a triple threat. Two of them already have, but now things are already needing to be changed.
While it may be forgotten at times, NXT is a developmental system and is designed to set up new stars over the years. That can take some time to do on occasion but sometimes NXT finds something new and makes them into a bigger deal. At the same time though, fans might not always see things the same way as the company. That seems to be the case with a current star, but he might not be around for the time being anyway.
This week on NXT, Dexter Lumis was ruled out of the North American Title match at Takeover: XXX. Lumis suffered an ankle injury last week during his victory over Timothy Thatcher ..

I remember you! There are a lot of people to remember in wrestling history and of course some of them are going to be bigger names than others. That is the case in any wrestling promotion, but sometimes someone’s reputation is strong enough to carry over to another company. It certainly is true of the Attitude Era and that was on display this week on a big show.
One of the biggest current feuds in AEW is Orange Cassidy vs. Chris Jericho. For some reason Jericho has become obsessed with destroying Cassidy once and for all but has not been able to put him away. It has kept going for a good while now, and this time around the big idea was a debate between the two. That involved a special moderator who was a wrestling legend in his own right.
This week on Dynamite, Eric Bischoff made his AEW debut as the moderator for the Cassidy vs. Jericho debate. Bischoff asked five questions and had the wrestlers give their response before ultimately declaring a winner. There is no indication that Bi..

The card needs to be built. We are less than three weeks away from Takeover: XXX and the card is going to be a big one. The key phrase there is going to be as a lot of the show has not yet been announced. There is still time to set things up though, with NXT knowing very well how to do just that in a hurry. That was the case this week, as a title match was added to the show.
The NXT women’s division has been a big deal for a long time but it is going through a bit of a transitional phase. After Charlotte popped up to take the title from Rhea Ripley at WrestleMania 36 and then dropped it to Io Shirai, things have been shaken up a bit. We are starting to see things settle back down, but Shirai could use another win to establish herself as champion. She will have that chance at Takeover.
This week on NXT, Dakota Kai defeated Ripley to become the new #1 contender to the NXT Women’s Title, with her title shot coming against Shirai at Takeover: XXX. Kai defeated Ripley after interference f..

Dynamite
Date: August 5, 2020
Location: Daily’s Place, Jacksonville, Florida
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Taz, Jim Ross
It’s time for another big themed show with Super Wednesday, and in this case that means more Orange Cassidy vs. Chris Jericho. This time around it’s in the form of a debate, with a special moderator. Other than that we have the World Title on the line as Jon Moxley defends against Darby Allin. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Dark Order/Colt Cabana vs. Young Bucks/FTR/Kenny Omega/Hangman Page They restart very fast with everyone already in the ring and Matt springboarding at Lee. 9 comes in and goes up top, only to be taken down by Nick again. FTR starts working on 9’s arm and it’s off to Omega to do the same as JR accuses Tony of staring at Anna Jay near commentary. The Kitaro Crusher hits 9 for two and Uno/Stu Grayson come in for the save and knock everyone off the apron. FTR come in for the save and it’s a triple suplex to put a lot of the Order down. We sett..

That’s a good place to be. There are a lot of people in the wrestling world but not all of them got there in the same way. With so many other sports out there, wrestling would be smart to try and see where they could draw from. A lot of football players make their way into wrestling, but that is not the only way to go. Another athlete from another sport has made his way to WWE, and he might be doing rather well.
NXT UK has become one of the better proving grounds for the main NXT roster as the stars are able to go out there and showcase their talents. There are a lot of talented wrestlers in the United Kingdom and some of their backgrounds are from different sports. That is the case with someone heading to regular NXT and WWE certainly seems to be rather impressed so far.
According to Wrestling Observer Live, Ridge Holland is seen as the next big thing in NXT. Holland is a former rugby league player who has wrestled both in NXT and NXT UK under both the names Holland and Luke Menzies..

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Dark
Date: August 4, 2020
Location: Daily’s Place, Jacksonville, Florida
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Taz
Things are getting interesting around here again as the road to All Out is getting bigger and bigger. The most important thing we seem likely to be seeing is Maxwell Jacob Friedman challenging Jon Moxley for the World Title. I’m not sure how much we will be seeing of that round here, but at least they seem to have a goal in mind about a month out. Let’s get to it.
Tony and Taz give the usual quick preview.
Will Hobbs vs. Scorpio Sky Hobbs jumps him in the corner to start and hits a spinebuster for two. Sky slips out of a powerslam though and hits a running kick to the back of the head in the corner. The TKO gives Sky the pin at 1:15.
Result: Scorpio Sky b. Will Hobbs – TKO (1:15)
Post match Sky puts a chair in the ring and calls it symbolic. Lately, people have been calling him the king of AEW..

It’s that time of year again. You know the one I mean. Ok maybe you don’t because that could mean a lot of different things. I’m talking about the time of year again when WWE makes it very obvious that they do not care what is going on with their television shows and more or less says we’ll see you when it’s time for Summerslam. I don’t know why I’m surprised by this, but it doesn’t make it any less annoying.
There is no secret to the fact that WWE does not try its hardest every single week. You can feel when they turn on the jets and it makes their television shows that much more interesting at the drop of a hat. It can be so frustrating to see the effort suddenly being there, but at the same time I can understand that they can’t go full blast every single week of the year. At some point you’re just going to run out of steam and while it might be annoying, it is also realistic.
Now that being said, who are they kidding with what we are getting at the moment? I can understand that th..