Search Results: "picking"

NEWS

Up For Grabs: Former IWGP World Champion Jay White Free Agent Soon, WWE And AEW Interested

January 11, 2023

He’s up next? The rise of AEW has changed the way the wrestling world works, as wrestlers are no longer stuck picking between WWE and everything else. AEW now offers another large scale promotion where wrestlers can go and showcase themselves with more exposure. It means that a wrestler becoming a free agent means a lot, and that is the case again with a top international star. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Farewell: Wrestling Legend Says His Career Is “Probably Over” According to Fightful Select, former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion is expected to leave New Japan Pro Wrestling when his contract expires. While there is no firm date for when his deal is up, it is believed to be in the near future. White will be courted by both WWE and AEW, with a source saying that WWE will come out on top. On February 11, White is scheduled to face Hikuleo in a Loser Leaves Japan match. Neither White nor New Japan have responded to inquiries about the situation. White is one of the best in the world. Che..

NEWS

Monday Night Raw Results – January 2, 2023

January 3, 2023

Monday Night Raw Date: January 2, 2023 Location: Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee Commentators: Kevin Patrick, Corey Graves We are inching closer to the Royal Rumble and that means it is time to start setting up the show. With so many wrestlers needed to get into the Royal Rumble matches, there are only going to be so many spots left for other matches. At the same time though, only one person has been announced for either Royal Rumble so they might want to start picking up the pace. Then again, they might want to have a lot of surprises this time. Let’s get to it. We open with the Bloodline (minus Roman Reigns/Paul Heyman) wrecking havoc at ringside. Sami Zayn says they’re taking over tonight but here is Kevin Owens to interrupt. Sami calls this a hostile takeover but Owens says he wants to punch Zayn in the face. Cue Adam Pearce and company to tell Owens that this isn’t happening tonight or all year. Security goes after the Bloodline but gets dropped, drawing Owens into the r..

NEWS

LISTEN: Enzo Amore Releases Tribute Song To Hacksaw Jim Duggan

December 31, 2022

That’s a special tribute. Music has played a big part in wrestling for decades as the right theme song can make or break a wrestler. That can be easier said than done as picking a proper song can be difficult. At times there are wrestlers who are able to put together their own music, but this time around a wrestler has put together a song for one of the more recognizable legends in wrestling history. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Safe At Home: Hacksaw Jim Duggan Explains How He Stopped An Intruder At Gunpoint Enzo Amore, under his musical name of Real1, has released a song called Hacksaw, a tribute to WWE Hall of Famer Hacksaw Jim Duggan. The lyrics include a repeated reference to Duggan waving the flag and standing up for his country. There is nothing to suggest that Duggan was involved in the creation of the song in any way. Amore has released music since he left WWE and performed his own theme song during his time with the company. It’s a nice idea. Check out the song, plus the two in t..

NEWS

WWE Announces Violent Match For Extreme Rules

September 24, 2022

Tie them up. There are a lot of stipulations that can be added to a match to make it more personal. That being said, the tricky part is to figure out which stipulation fits in with which story. That can be rather difficult and you can see when something doesn’t quite work. WWE has a hit and miss record with picking stipulations, but this time they seem to have figured it out quite well. This week on SmackDown, Drew McIntyre announced that he had requested and been granted a strap match against Karrion Kross at Extreme Rules on October 8. This comes after Kross has jumped McIntyre from behind multiple times. McIntyre said that he wanted the match so he would know where Kross was at all times. The two then brawled with the strap tying them together. Opinion: WWE seems to have gotten it right here as this stipulation does fit the story that they are telling. Kross has jumped McIntyre from behind multiple times but now Kross can’t sneaks up on him this time. I’m not sure how the match is..

NEWS

Israel Adesanya Comes Out To The Undertaker’s Music

July 3, 2022

Greatness recognizes greatness. Last night at UFC 276, Israel Adesanya competed in the main event. To do so, he came out in one of the greatest entrances in UFC history; using The Undertaker’s music and imagery. You can see the entrance below: [This post contains video, click to play] From ESPN: In a clinical, albeit unspectacular, performance, Israel Adesanya outpointed Jared Cannonier via unanimous decision to retain his middleweight title in the main event of UFC 276 on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena. The judges scored the bout 49-46, 49-46, and 50-45. Adesanya’s superiority in striking was evident throughout the bout. Cannonier landed nothing of real significance, with Adesanya keeping him at a distance and picking his opponent apart with jabs and kicks to the body and legs. The crowd grew restless with the lack of thrilling action, especially in the fourth round, which was marked by boos and fans raising lit-up smartphones. But Cannonier did nothing to push Adesanya, a f..

NEWS

NXT Results – April 19, 2022

April 20, 2022

NXT Date: April 19, 2022 Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, Florida Commentators: Wade Barrett, Vic Joseph Things are both picking up and being let down around here. While Pretty Deadly and some other imports are a nice upgrade, the NXT Title picture is leaning more into B movie territory as Joe Gacy becomes more of a Bond villain parody. Hopefully the things in the middle can make it better so let’s get to it. The opening recap looks at Pretty Deadly winning the Tag Team Titles and Joe Gacy telling Bron Brakker he needs to make a sacrifice. Here is Pretty Deadly for a chat. They have dominated England and decided it was time to come to America and dominate here as well. And it wasn’t even that hard! Cue the Grizzled Young Veterans (with the graphic ignoring their first names, which has me worried). Drake says Pretty Deadly wouldn’t have won had they been here and it is time for the Veterans to win the titles. Cue Legado del Fantasma to brawl with the Veterans though and a..

NEWS

REVIEW: More Than Just WrestleMania

March 30, 2022

As you might have heard, WrestleMania 38 is this weekend and that means things are picking up in a big way. WWE has its work cut out for them as they try to sell out AT&T Stadium two nights in a row, but there are some more things going on over the course of the weekend as well. That is what we are going to be looking at today, as WrestleMania Weekend is about a lot more than WrestleMania. Next weekend will be called the biggest wrestling weekend of the year and that is the case for a lot of wrestling promotions that have nothing to do with WWE. In addition, several other promotions will be running events in and around Dallas, which is what we will be looking at this week. I’ll be avoiding WrestleMania and other major WWE shows (save for NXT, which is kind of its own thing) and non-wrestling events, which should leave us with more than enough material. These are in no particular order. WrestleCon SuperShow In short, it’s the biggest independent wrestling show of the weekend with a s..

NEWS

You May Be Seeing Brandi Rhodes Back On TV (But Not On A Wrestling Show)

March 22, 2022

Guess who’s back? Wrestlers are very talented people as they have to try to do a lot of things at the same time. That can include having a match, but they also must convince you that what you are seeing is real. It becomes harder and harder to do that with each passing year, but sometimes a wrestler gets to show you something else. That might be the case again soon on a bigger scale. According to Deadline.com, former AEW star Brandi Rhodes has reached a deal with DIGA Studios to help bring her YouTube series A Shot Of Brandi to television. The show features Rhodes in her kitchen talking to celebrities or wrestlers while cooking something. DIGA is planning on shopping the series around to various television networks in a thirty minute format, though there is no word on any network picking up the series so far. Rhodes began the series on her own YouTube channel in 2018. Opinion: If this is something that works out for Rhodes and is something that she wants to do, good for her. You don’..

NEWS

VIDEO: Surprise Return Takes Place On AEW Rampage

March 5, 2022

Welcome back. There are a lot of wrestlers on the AEW roster and some of them have carved out quite the niche for themselves. The roster has a wide variety of styles and experience which can be combined to make some very interesting feuds. That has been the case over recent months and now one of the stars has returned, meaning that things are picking up again. This week’s AEW Rampage featured the return of Hikaru Shida, who ran to the ring to save Leila Grey from an attack at the hands of Serena Deeb. After Deeb defeated Grey, she applied the Serenity Lock, causing Shida to return for the save. This is Shida’s first appearance since January when Deeb injured her during a match. The two have been feuding since October, splitting four matches in the process. It was a cool return. Check out what happened on Rampage: [This post contains video, click to play] Opinion: I’m a bit disappointed in this as there is little reason for the feud to continue. Deeb has been on a roll in recent we..

NEWS

Monday Night Raw And SmackDown Could Be Changing Online Homes

February 14, 2022

The new home? WWE is a huge wrestling company that pumps out more content than they know what to do with most of the time. That makes them a rather valuable property for a lot of platforms, as WWE fans will come and watch almost anything the company presents. That has made WWE a lot of money over the years and now they might be ready to do just that again with a possible change up. The online rebroadcast rights of WWE’s weekly television shows currently belong to Hulu. According to Wrestling Observer Radio, the Hulu contract is expiring soon and Peacock is interested in picking up the rights to Monday Night Raw and NXT. Peacock currently airs Monday Night Raw and SmackDown thirty days later, though it is not clear if SmackDown would be allowed to air so soon due to the show airing on FOX. Peacock is reported to have one billion dollars to spend on acquiring new content this year. Opinion: This would be a big move for Peacock and WWE as Peacock certainly has the money and needs the co..

NEWS

SmackDown Results – February 11, 2022

February 12, 2022

Smackdown Date: February 11, 2022 Location: Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, Louisiana Commentators: Corey Graves, Michael Cole We have less than ten days before Elimination Chamber and the only big thing on the Smackdown side is Goldberg vs. Roman Reigns. That might not sound too appealing, but that’s what the people paying for Elimination Chamber want to see. Other than that, we have the fallout from Ronda Rousey destroying Sonya Deville and choosing to face Charlotte at Wrestlemania. Let’s get to it. We open with a recap of Ronda Rousey picking Charlotte for Wrestlemania and also taking out Sonya Deville for a bonus. Here is Sonya Deville, with her arm in a sling, to say she is tired of people disrespecting her. There will be consequences for the actions of people like Ronda Rousey and Naomi. Therefore, she has requested that Rousey be fined $100,000 and suspended indefinitely. Cue Adam Pearce to say Vince McMahon has responded to her request via email. Said email says that Vi..

NEWS

KB’s Review: Rumble Rabble

February 5, 2022

With the Royal Rumble out of the way and the path to Elimination Chamber cleared, we are officially on the Road To WrestleMania 38. It is the biggest time of the year and that means we are on the way to those two nights in Texas and that means WWE is supposed to start picking things up. This is the important stretch of the calendar….and it just isn’t working this year. I was in the house for this year’s Royal Rumble and I have had tickets to WrestleMania for months. I’m flying down to the show and I have a nearly full schedule ready for the weekend, but the whole thing is not clicking. The Rumble had me very fired up, but after seeing what WWE has done, it doesn’t exactly leave me excited about what we are going to be seeing in the coming months (assuming they don’t make any last minute changes to the expected card). The biggest problem is still the main event scene, which as of Monday Night Raw, will be featuring Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns. Again. For the third time at WrestleMan..

NEWS

Huge Feud Teased On AEW Rampage After Surprise Return

January 22, 2022

That might be next. One of the most exciting things to see in wrestling is a return, as someone coming back to a company can be quite the game changer. Someone might have to leave for one reason or another but then their comeback can allow for something fresh to start up. This time around, it wasn’t so much something fresh as much as it was picking up where they left off. This week’s AEW Rampage featured the in-ring return of Jon Moxley, following his return to television on this week’s Dynamite. Moxley defeated Ethan Page and then left the ring, where he ran into Bryan Danielson, who was also making his return to television. Danielson mockingly applauded Moxley, who left without incident. The two had been possibly set to meet in the finals of the #1 contenders tournament at Full Gear 2021 before Moxley took a hiatus to attend rehab. Opinion: This is a good example of picking up where you left off, as these two seemed all but destined for a showdown at Full Gear. That would have been..

NEWS

WWE Once Had Some Different Plans For The Intercontinental TItle

December 17, 2021

What could have been. Winning a title is one of the most important things that a wrestler can do in their career. It is a symbol that you have arrived and that the promotion you are working for sees something in you. There are a lot of titles floating around WWE these days but picking up some gold still means a lot no matter what it may be. One recently released wrestlers was ready to win something, but then plans changed in a sad way. Dirty Dango, formerly known as Fandango in WWE, was a guest on Insights with Chris Van Vliet and revealed that he was scheduled to win the Intercontinental Title. Dango was scheduled to win the title but was then suffered a concussion during a match with Great Khali. Rather than explaining this to WWE, Dango continued to wrestle and was concussed again during a match with Zack Ryder. WWE then found out that he was injured and pulled him off the road. Dango said he believed Curtis Axel went on to win the title, which took place on June 16, 2013, less tha..

NEWS

NXT UK Results – November 25, 2021

November 30, 2021

NXT UK Date: November 25, 2021 Location: BT Sports Studios, London, England Commentators: Nigel McGuinness, Andy Shepherd Things might be picking up a bit this week as we have another title match. This time around, the Heritage Cup is on the line as Sam Gradwell is challenging new champion Noam Dar. Other than that, we are well on our way to next week’s NXT UK Title match between Ilja Dragunov and Rampage Brown. Let’s get to it. Opening sequence. Jordan Devlin vs. Mark Andrews In the back, Flash Morgan Webster tells Andrews to not worry about the missing Dani Luna. Devlin takes him down to start and slaps the back of Andrews’ head for a bit. That’s enough to send Andrews into a frenzy and a bunch of strikes to the face put Devlin down for a change. A hurricanrana gets two on Devlin but he’s right back with a slingshot hilo. Devlin kicks him in the back of the head and stomps away at the back, setting up a backbreaker. A hard clothesline gets two and we hit the chinlock with a knee i..

NEWS

KB’s Review: Long Term Success

November 18, 2021

Wrestling can be a lot of things, ranging from action to athleticism to drama to comedy to suspense to romance and probably even more things that I’m forgetting. What it all boils down to though is telling a story, and that’s where the real interest comes from. The matches themselves really are secondary to the stories that are being told to make them interesting, and that is where we’re picking things up today. Last weekend, AEW held its latest great pay per view with Full Gear, which was headlined by Hangman Page finally ending Kenny Omega’s World Title reign after the better part of a year. These two have a very long and detailed history which goes all the way back to before AEW even came into existence. That is a lot of history and this particular story had all kinds of details included. The title change was the grand culmination, but is that the best way to go? One of the things that both AEW and its fans pride themselves on it its long term storytelling. The company goes out of..

NEWS

REVIEW: Cyber Sunday 2006: There Can Be Only On

September 16, 2021

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? Cyber Sunday 2006 Date: November 5, 2006 Location: US Bank Arena, Cincinnati, Ohio Attendance: 7,000 Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler It’s time for the interactive show as we have the fans picking a lot of the specifics about the card. This can range from stipulations to titles on the line to participants, though hopefully we don’t have more of the two joke options and one real one. The main event is the Champion of Champions match, which certainly sounds big. Let’s get to it. The opening video talks about ho..

NEWS

WATCH: Second Generation Star Makes In-Ring Debut And A Splash

September 15, 2021

That’s how you get started. Every now and then you see someone debut and make an impact as soon as they start up. It does not happen often, but on the rare occasions when it does, you know that you are in for something special. Things can be made even better if someone has an extra boost upon their arrival, and that was the case again this week with a special debut. This week’s debut edition of NXT 2.0 began with Bron Breakker making his debut backstage by confronting LA Knight. The two had a match, with Breakker picking up the surprise win. At the end of the show, Breakker congratulated new NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa, suggesting that he wanted a shot at the title. Breakker is better known as Bronson Rechsteiner, the son of Rick Steiner and nephew of Scott Steiner. Breakker’s family history was not mentioned. While he has not wrestled before, he has made some appearances in NXT as an extra. I’d say he had a good night. Check out how the debut night went down, plus some of the family..

NEWS

Two WWE Stars Undergo Name Changes

July 13, 2021

You might remember them. The right name is one of the most important factors of a wrestler’s career. If someone is not called by the right hand, their career very well may hit an early rut with little way around it. WWE has a bad habit of picking some questionable names for their wrestlers but now it seems that they have figured out a solution to some of them. According to PWInsider.com, WWE is changing the names of two wrestlers. Former Retribution stars Reckoning and Slapjack will be returning to their former ring names of Mia Yim and Shane Thorne respectively. There is always the chance that either could be turned back to their Retribution names when they return to the ring. Yim has not wrestled since December 2020 while Thorne has not wrestled since the April 9, 2021 SmackDown. Retribution debuted in WWE in August 2020 as a large group with several unnamed members. Eventually the team was cut down to only a handful of members, with Reckoning and Slapjack being joined by Mace, T-B..

NEWS

SmackDown Live Coverage And Results – July 2, 2021

July 3, 2021

Smackdown Date: July 2, 2021 Location: Yuengling Center, Tampa, Florida Commentators: Michael Cole, Pat McAfee We are two weeks away from the return of fans and that means things might be picking up around here. The big story coming out last week’s show saw the return of Edge as he attacked Roman Reigns. The Money in the Bank title match has since been set so it is time for some heavy talking. Let’s get to it. We open with a recap of Roman Reigns having no one left to challenge him, leading to the return of Edge. Here is Edge to get things going. Edge talks about how Wrestlemania was supposed to be the big culmination to his story. Winning the Universal Title ten years to the day of vacating the World Title would be a heck of a story, but then it didn’t happen. That rocked him so he took some time away. Edge has thought about the match since and even watched it back, which he never does. He could complain about a lot of things from that match, just like 2006 Edge would. Now it’s 20..