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Word has come through that Brock Lesnar has went on to say another Hall of Fame honor to his résumé just two months after bringing his professional wrestling ca...
The roster grows. WWE has a roster with enough talent to fill up three weekly television shows, but those wrestlers have to be kept moving. At some point the roster is going to get a bit stale and needs some fresh blood, which is why WWE also brings in fresh talent every so often. Now they are doing that again, this time from other sports outside of professional wrestling. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Vince McMahon Agrees To Multi-Million Dollar Settlement, Ends 30+ Year Rape Allegation Ordeal PWInsider.com is reporting that WWE has signed two new stars to NXT. First is Alexis Gray, who was a track and field star at Texas Southern University, where she earned a degree in biology. Second is Ezekiel Balogun, a 6’6 former basketball player from the University of North Florida. There is no word on when either of them will officially start training at the Performance Center. The two of them will have good training facilities. Check out the Performance Center: [This post contains video, click ..
Monday Night Raw Date: January 9, 2023 Location: Legacy Arena, Birmingham, Alabama Commentators: Kevin Patrick, Corey Graves We’re back to the red show and closing in on the Royal Rumble. There are only three names announced for the Royal Rumbles so far and that means some spots need to be filled. Odds are some of that is done tonight but there is the chance that they’re leaving some surprises this year. Let’s get to it. Opening sequence. Here is Kevin Owens to get things going and the fans seem to like him. Before he can say much though, here is JBL to interrupt. After insulting the crowd, JBL says no one is buying Owens having a chance against Roman Reigns. JBL brings out Baron Corbin to insult the fans even more, including some University of Alabama insults. Owens buries his face in the turnbuckle as Corbin gets in every standard insult you can imagine. He says he was in a “JBL and Baron Corbin were talking for three minutes but didn’t say anything” coma but for now he’s willing ..
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, starting today. 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? NXT Takeover: R-Evolution Date: December 11, 2014 Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida Attendance: 400 Commentators: Rich Brennan, Alex Riley, Corey Graves This should be a big one as we have a huge showdown in the main event for the NXT Title with Sami Zayn getting his rematch against champion Adrian Neville after a screwy finish to their last match. Other than that we have the long awaited debut of Kevin Owens and Hideo Itami teaming with Finn Balor to face the Ascension. Let’s get t..
Crown Jewel Date: November 2, 2018 Location: King Saud University, Stadium, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Renee Young We’re back on the other side of the world this time and things aren’t exactly going well. The focal point of the show is D-Generation X vs. the Brothers of Destruction with Shawn Michaels coming out of retirement in a detail that has been forgotten in the whole ordeal. Other than that we’re going to have a new Universal Champion today as Braun Strowman and Brock Lesnar face off for the title vacated by Roman Reigns. Let’s get to it. The video screen is in the shape of a crown for a nice touch. Kickoff Show: United States Title: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Rusev Nakamura is defending. Rusev throws him into the corner for some right hands and a shoulder to the ribs, followed by a suplex for one. A kick to the knee cuts Rusev down and we hit the front facelock. That stays on for a good while until Rusev pops up with a spinwheel kick. The Mach..
The EST is expanding her sports knowledge. Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair appeared on ESPN’s “College GameDay” yesterday, where she appeared as the celebrity guest picker for the slate of college football games for the day. You can watch a couple of clips of her appearance below: [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video, click to play] The show emulated from the University of Tennessee, where Belair ended her collegiate career. Originally from Knoxville, she attended Austin-East Magnet High School and was both All-SEC and All-American in track. Belair was also named to the SEC’s academic honor roll in 2011 and 2012. Belair is scheduled to face Bayley for the Raw Women’s Championship at the upcoming Extreme Rules premium live event. Editor’s Opinion: I love stuff like this! I’m a huge college football fan, so to see two of my favorite sports come together is always a lot of fun for me. Plus I love when wrestling superstars get to show their love a..
That’s a serious situation. Back in 2021, WWE announced the Next In Line program, which was designed to find non-wrestling athletes and bring them into the WWE system, with the chance of eventually becoming WWE stars. The program has brought in several prospects, but now one of them is facing some very serious legal issues that could change his career path in a huge way. According to the Oklahoman, WWE NIL signee and former Oklahoma State University wrestler AJ Ferrari is facing a charge of felony sexual battery with a warrant being issued for his arrest. Ferrari was accused of holding a woman down in Stillwater, Oklahoma on July 2 and performing unwanted sexual acts on her. The woman filed an emergency protective order against Ferrari three days later. WWE has not commented on the situation or on Ferrari’s future with the NIL program. Opinion: That is a very serious charge and if the accusations against him are true, I cannot imagine he is going to have much of a future with WWE. Fe..
Maybe not? Wrestling has a bit of a shaky reputation when it comes to being a real spot. There are a lot of people who will instantly point out that the endings are scripted and that is going to cause some people to look at it skeptically. It can help to have more mainstream athletes participating for the sake of offering credibility, but one such star might be taking his time getting there. Back in 2021, NCAA and Olympic wrestling champion Gable Steveson signed a contract with WWE and was officially drafted to Monday Night Raw. Steveson made an appearance at Summerslam 2021 and at WrestleMania 38, but he has yet to wrestle a match. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Steveson is considering a return to the University of Minnesota for an attempt at a third NCAA Heavyweight Championship and possibly another Olympic gold medal in 2024, though he has yet to make up his mind. There is no word on when he would appear for WWE again. Opinion: While I think that ultimately Steves..
That’s not good. WWE has been trying to bring in a variety of new stars to bolster its roster, both for the present and the future. A lot of this has been through the Next In Line (NIL) program, as WWE has been able to sign college athletes to name, image and likeness deals. Those names have not appeared on WWE programming to date, though one of them seems less likely to appear ever. Accord to the O’Colly (Oklahoma State University’s student newspaper), WWE NIL signee AJ Ferrari has been removed from the Oklahoma State wrestling team amid an investigation of sexual assault. Ferrari, who has currently not been charged with any crime, was part of the initial NIL class in 2021 and has not wrestled for WWE. The company has not responded to the investigation. Opinion: That is a very serious allegation and it would not surprise me at all to see Ferrari dropped by WWE as a result. Such a change might come immediately or after the investigation is over, but either way, Ferrari is going to be..
That would be a different kind of reunion. WWE has a lot of resources available to it but one of the most important is NXT. The company’s own in-house developmental territory allows it to build up stars as it sees fit, which makes things a lot less complicated. Now though, WWE might be making a change to how the developmental territory is set up, or at least where it is set up. According to the Wrestling Observer, WWE is considering bringing back NXT to Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida. According to Wrestlinginc.com, one of the reasons for the move was due to the Coronavirus pandemic leaving no students on campus to help put together the production. NXT was produced from the school from 2012-2020, when it was moved to the Capitol Wrestling Center. The two sides split amicably, with a future relationship always a possibility. Opinion: This is certainly something that could work, as Full Sail is a bigger venue and something that can offer a better atmosphere than the Capito..
Making that money. WWE has announced that they have signed a number of collegiate athletes to NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) deals in order to create a potential pathway for them to be signed to developmental contracts in the future. This new venture, named “Next In Line”, is the company’s latest endeavor to find the next generation of superstars. The athletes signed are as follows: Carlos Aviles, of Ventura, Calif., a 6-foot-6, 305-pound track & field athlete from Ohio State University Haley Cavinder, of Gilbert, Ariz., a 5-foot-6 basketball player from Fresno State University Hanna Cavinder, of Gilbert, Ariz., a 5-foot-6 basketball player from Fresno State University A.J. Ferrari of Dallas, Texas, a 6-foot, 200-pound wrestler from Oklahoma State University Lexi Gordon of Fort Worth, Texas, a 6-foot basketball player from Duke University Aleeya Hutchins of Toronto, Canada, a 5-foot-5 track & field athlete from Wake Forest University John Krahn of Riverside, Calif., a 7-foot, 400-po..
It comes with the title. Being the WWE Champion is one of the top honors in all of the wrestling world. A good chunk of past champions are all time great names and some of the biggest stars in the history of wrestling. It means a lot to be champion but it also brings a lot of new opportunities. That was on display this week, as the reigning champion was allowed to do something pretty cool. WWE Champion Big E. appeared before the Big 10 Championship game, appearing in a flag battle against University of Michigan legend Charles Woodson. Both men held up flags for their respective schools and dueled with the flag poles. Big E. is a former defensive back for the University of Iowa, who sent on to lose the game 42-3. Over the season, Big E. has appeared as a hype man for Iowa. It was a pretty cool moment. Check out the duel, Big E.’s comments and Big E. at his day job: [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video, click t..
205 Live Date: November 12, 2021 Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, Florida Commentators: Nigel McGuinness, Vic Joseph Since this is basically NXT Main Event, I’m running out of ways to say nice things about it. The show is much better than what we had for so long before, but you can only have so many positive things to say about a show that usually features a lower card match, a squash and two midcarders. It’s still fun and short though so let’s get to it. Andre Chase vs. Malik Blade The fans are behind Malik and seem happy when he takes Chase down in a hurry. Back up and Andre elbows him in the face as you can see the Chase University Student Section (complete with a flag). The chinlock keeps Blade down and some elbows to the head make it worse. Now the fans are behind Malik but Chase wants a C-H-A-S-E, with a stomp between each letter. A neckbreaker gives Chase two and he kicks Blade in the face for daring to try a small package. The chinlock goes on again but Blade fig..
That’s a heck of an accomplishment. Wrestlers have a lot of things to do in their industry, including several championships. Some of them are more prestigious than others, but it means something to be able to put a title belt around your waist. At the same time though, there are other accomplishments that mean even more and have nothing to do with wrestling. A WWE star achieved one of them this week. Monday Night Raw star Chad Gable has announced that he has graduated from Full Sail University with a Masters of Fine Arts with a focus on Media Design. Gable graduated with a 4.0 GPA as the valedictorian and earned the Advanced Achievement Award for student most likely to succeed in their field. During the Coronavirus pandemic, Gable felt that he wanted to use some of the resources available to him, including a partnership between WWE and Full Sail University. Gable is currently part of the Alpha Academy with Otis on Monday Night Raw. Graduated… time to play Earthbound. Anyone else st..
There’s your game changer. The WWE Draft has the potential to shake up a lot of things in the company in a hurry and sometimes it happens more than others. You never know when you might see a move that can change everything at once and occasionally it comes from the least likely location. That might be the case this year with a huge Draft pick being made this week. In the final round of the 2021 WWE Draft, Monday Night Raw selected Olympic Gold Medalist Gable Steveson with its final pick. Steveson won a gold medal in freestyle wrestling earlier this year at the Tokyo games and signed with WWE soon thereafter. It is not clear when Steveson will make his in-ring debut, as he is under a special contract with WWE which allows him to continue his college career at the University of Minnesota. He will begin full time with WWE when he graduates next spring. WWE has a history with Olympians. Check out some of their time in WWE: [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains..
A very special honor. There are some amazing athletes in the wrestling world today and several of them are in WWE. You are going to see wrestlers from all kinds of sports backgrounds and some of them are outstanding in all kinds of sports. Now one of the best athletes that WWE has ever seen is receiving an incredible honor for what she has accomplished. SmackDown’s Bianca Belair was honored by the state of Tennessee with a special proclamation of her success in WWE. Belair sent out a tweet showing an image of the proclamation, which was given to her as WWE is returning to her hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee for this week’s SmackDown. Belair was a track star at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and is a former SmackDown Women’s Champion. WOW. What a day! ??#Knoxville#Tennessee pic.twitter.com/ILzpRUYlOC — Bianca Belair (@BiancaBelairWWE) September 17, 2021 Belair has certainly been a success in WWE. Check out some of her time in the company: [This post contains video, click..
It would be a generational match. WWE is in a weird place at the moment as they are having to try and figure out a way to restock their shelves but continue to rely on their old guard in big spots. At some point WWE has to bring in someone new and those older stars could help elevate them in a hurry. That might be the case with a recent signing to the company. Last week, WWE officially signed Gable Steveson, an Olympic Gold Medal winning wrestler, to a contract with the company. According to F4WOnline.com, WWE is planning to have Steveson face Brock Lesnar in a special match at WrestleMania in a passing of the torch style moment. It is not clear when this will happen or when Steveson will be making his debut for the company. Steveson is scheduled to return to the University of Minnesota to defend his NCAA Heavyweight Championship next season. This has potential. Check out the two in action, plus Lesnar at WrestleMania: [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains ..
He’s a special one. Back in 1999, a wrestler named Kurt Angle debuted for the WWF. This was one of the most important signings the company has ever seen, as he was the first ever Olympic Gold Medal winner in professional wrestling history. That is not something that comes around every day and it did not come around again for twenty years. Now things have changed. According to ESPN.com, Olympic Gold Medal winning wrestler Gable Steveson has signed an NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) contract with WWE. This comes after rumors of such a signing and after Steveson made an appearance at Summerslam last month. Steveson’s contract is unique as he is allowed to defend his NCAA championship at the University of Minnesota. WWE will set up a special training facility near the university so Steveson can train with the company’s coaching staff. Once Steveson graduates in May, he will begin his regular WWE contract. WWE has a history with amateur wrestling stars. Check out some of their history: [T..
There it goes. The recent changes to the WWE roster have shaken up all kinds of things around the company and it does not seem like they will be changing anytime soon. Some of the biggest changes have been taking place in NXT, mainly due to the insistence of Vince McMahon. It turns out that there is another major change coming and McMahon himself will be involved. According to Wrestling Observer Live, McMahon and Bruce Prichard will produce NXT when it relaunches on September 14. The show will be shifting back to how it was in the original era of the Full Sail University shows with a new logo and new theme song. There will also be a focus on younger talent and homegrown stars with less attention paid to independent wrestling names. Call it a flashback. Check out what NXT is heading back to: [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video, click to play] Opinion: Just in case Monday Night Raw wasn’t long enough you s..
We have some sad news to report today, as WWE Hall of Famer “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff has passed away at the age of 71. From WWE.com: Orndorff was a standout running back at the University of Tampa and joined Mid-Southern Wrestling after a brief stint in the World Football League. Early rivalries with Jerry Lawler, Ted Dibiase and Jake “The Snake” Roberts gave way to NWA North American Heavyweight and National Heavyweight Championship reigns. Orndorff joined WWE in 1983 and was tabbed with the “Mr. Wonderful” nickname by his then-manager “Rowdy” Roddy Piper. With his awe-insipring in-ring style and umatched swagger, “Mr. Wonderful” turned his talent into a prototype for the modern-day Superstar. He made a memorable debut on January 23, 1984, with a win over Salvatore Bellomo at Madison Square Garden and launched right into the main event picture with matches against World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan. Mr. Wonderful achieved sports-entertainment immortality by competing alongs..