Month: May 2021

Main Event
Date: May 20, 2021
Location: Yuengling Center, Tampa, Florida
Commentators: Byron Saxton, Kevin Patrick
I’m glad to get to say this but I have almost no idea what to expect from Main Event these days. They have had a feud (with a VIGNETTE) from Ricochet and Mustafa Ali, plus a few returns in recent weeks. It’s almost like they realized they had another show that they could use for a variety of things and are actually doing it for a change. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Mandy Rose/Dana Brooke vs. Lana/Naomi Patrick calls Mandy and Dana one of the fastest rising teams in the women’s division. Lana and Dana start with some tumbling to little avail. Now commentary would have you believe that this is a completely different Lana than the one we saw a year ago. Naomi comes in for a chinlock but gets taken into the corner for the tag off to Mandy. A flapjack gets two on Naomi and it’s a pair of basement kicks to the face for two. Mandy waistlocks her back down and we hit the..

Impact Wrestling
Date: May 20, 2021
Location: Skyway Studios, Nashville, Tennessee
Commentators: D’Lo Brown, Josh Matthews
We’re done with Under Siege and that means it is time to start getting ready for Moose vs. Kenny Omega at Against All Odds. Other than that, we need to fill out the rest of the card, which is a nice feeling as these regular big shows have done a lot of good things for the way Impact works month to month. Let’s get to it.
In Memory Of New Jack.
Opening recap.
Opening sequence.
Rohit Raju vs. Jake Something Shera is here too. Something forearms Raju outside in a hurry but the Shera showdown lets Raju get in a few cheap shots. Back in and Jake hits a hard shoulder and shouts a lot as Raju rolls outside. This time the referee checks on Raju, allowing Shera to get in a big clothesline of his own. Jake’s missed charge sends his shoulder into the chest, setting up Raju’s flying armbar for two.
A kick to the face gives Raju two more and it’s time for a standing armba..

They aren’t happy. Every now and then, a wrestler becomes the biggest star in the industry and can change quite a few things at once. That is not something you get to see very often, but it can be rather special when it takes place. WWE has had a few of these over the years, but now the company does not seem thrilled with something that one of their biggest stars ever has said.
Earlier this week, John Cena referred to Taiwan as a country during an interview to promote the F9 movie. This comment was not well received in China, which disputs Taiwan’s status as an independent country. As a result, Cena issued an apology to Chinese fans in Mandarin, apologizing for his unspecified mistake. Cena apologized several times, citing doing several interviews in a day as the reason for the statement. Now WWE has a reaction of its own.
According to Andrew Zarian of the Mat Men podcast, Cena’s apology is not going over well backstage in WWE. There is no word on what this could mean for Cena’s WWE ..

That doesn’t sound great. There are a lot of ways a wrestler can get injured and put them out of action. These injuries can put someone on the shelf for a short or long time or anywhere in between. That can make for a scary situation and unfortunately that was the case for one of the biggest stars in the world earlier this month. Now we know a bit more about the situation.
Former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay tweeted out an update on his condition after suffering a neck injury earlier this month. According to the update, Ospreay spoke to his physio and will be undergoing another MRI on his lower back. There is a chance that his back has suffered the same sort of injury as his neck, though Ospreay did not specify what is wrong.
Ospreay injured his neck during a match against Shingo Tagaki on May 4 and was forced to vacate the title as a result. There is no word on what New Japan will be doing to crown a new champion. Despite the injury, Ospreay mentioned that his goal i..

That’s a career goal. Wrestlers can have a hard time finding their next step after their wrestling career is over. Sometimes the wrestlers have very little to do outside of the wrestling world but on occasion they can figure out something to do to make things work out. The latter is the case for a current WWE star, who has a pretty interesting idea for once he finishes wrestling.
In a new interview with Chris Van Vliet, Monday Night Raw’s Xavier Woods mentioned that he is learning to play bass guitar in the hopes of becoming a studio session musician once he is done wrestling. Woods hopes that will be the plan at some point in the next five to seven years, suggesting that he will be retiring at some point in that time frame, though he did not give a specific date.
Woods, 34 years old, has been wrestling since 2005 and has been wrestling on the WWE main roster since 2013. He has been part of the New Day since 2014 and has won eleven Tag Team Titles. Woods has also wrestled for Impact ..

Clean it up a little. One of the biggest wrestling stories so far this year has been all of the releases and cuts from WWE. This has been the case both in front of and behind the camera, with several executives being let go from the company earlier this week. This was quite the shake up and it turns out that there is a rather simple reason for a lot of the releases.
According to PWInsider.com, one of the main reasons for the cuts was an attempt to consolidate some of the departments behind the scenes. The feeling was that there were too many departments doing similar work, such as a graphics department for television and digital each. With the cuts, WWE will be able to do the same work with less people on the payroll. There is no word if there will be more cuts coming.
There have been some firings in WWE before. Check out some of the more infamous ones:
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In something I feel like I have to say a lot as of late, Monday Night Raw is terrible at the moment. We aren’t going to go through every reason why as that could take weeks, but it is clear that there are a lot of problems which need to be fixed. Some of those are a lot more complicated than others, but there are still some good things about the show. They are very few and far between, though I can assure you they are there. This week, we are going to look at one of the better ones.
I know some people might not be big on them, but RKBro has become one of the most entertaining and fun tag teams that I have seen on Monday Night Raw in a long time. The latest oddball team has been together for a little over a month now and while we have not quite gotten the matching snake skin Speedos, they have come a long way in a short time. For one reason or another, the team just works and today we are going to take a bit of a closer look at them.
So back in April, Riddle beat Randy Orton in a rath..

Ring of Honor
Date: May 19, 2021
Location: UMBC Events Center, Baltimore, Maryland
Commentators: Ian Riccaboni, Caprice Coleman
Last week’s main event was a bit of a bizarre booking decision with Angelina Love and Mandy Leon cutting off the Cinderella story of Quinn McKay, which didn’t exactly leave a lot of good feelings. We’re coming up on I believe Best In The World though so it’s time to start setting some things up. Let’s get to it.
Ian Riccaboni welcomes us to the show and runs down the card. Quinn is back next week.
Battle Royal PCO, Mike Bennett, Bateman, LSG, Danhausen, O’Shay Edwards, Brian Mooney, Joe Keys, Dante Caballero, Ken Dixon, Mark Briscoe, Eric Martin, World Famous CB, Sledge
This is between everyone who is currently unranked. The final two will have a singles match later, with the winner getting to choose to be ranked in the Pure or TV Title division. Dalton Castle is on commentary and only a handful get entrances. The factoids about PCO say that he last wrestl..

Come on back! There are certain names in wrestling who feel like they have been around forever and could go just about anywhere. That can make for some interesting moments as you don’t know when someone is going to pop back up every now and then. That is the case with a certain former executive, who is going to be making another special appearance this week.
AEW’s Chris Jericho appeared on Busted Open Radio and announced that former WCW and Impact wrestling executive will be appearing on this week’s edition of AEW Dynamite. Bischoff will be hosting the celebration of the Inner Circle, which may be coming up on its final match at Double Or Nothing. Should the Inner Circle lose at the show, they will be forced to split up. This week’s AEW Dynamite will air on Friday at 10pm EST due to the NBA Playoffs taking their usual spot.
Bischoff has appeared on AEW programming before, including moderating the Jericho vs. Orange Cassidy debate in 2020 and asking a question at an AEW town hall. The..

On the road again. The Coronavirus pandemic has changed the world in a huge way with the wrestling industry being shaken up as well. The biggest change has been the lack of fans being in the arenas. Having no fans around is quite a jarring change, though that is going to be corrected in July as WWE is going back on the road. Now we know a few more stops.
WWE has announced three more cities on their 25 city summer tour. These shows will include the July 23 SmackDown, the July 26 Monday Night Raw and the July 30 SmackDown.
* Friday, July 23: SmackDown – Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland
* Monday, July 26: Raw – T-Mobile Center in Kansas City
* Friday, July 30: SmackDown – Target Center in Minneapolis
These shows follow the original three announced, with fans officially returning on July 16 with SmackDown in Houston, Texas. Tickets will go on sale on June 4 in local markets at 10AM EST.
There have been some moments in each of these cities. Check out what has gone down in each be..

You may have heard of him. A commentator is one of the most important parts of a wrestling show. They are responsible for sending the show in the right direction, as they are the lone constant throughout the night. Above all else, commentators can tell the fans what they need to hear and know, which is rather important on a show like Monday Night Raw. Now a new name is going to get the chance to lead the charge.
WWE has announced that Jimmy Smith will be the new lead broadcaster for Monday Night Raw starting on the May 31 show. Smith is a former host of American Ninja Warrior and has appeared on NXT Kick-Off Show panels in the past, along with various other special projects for NXT. The rest of the broadcast team, including Corey Graves and Byron Saxton, will remain the same.
The move comes after Adnan Virk announced his departure from WWE earlier this week, citing issues with travel causing an impact on his family. Virk had only started calling the show the night after WrestleMania ..

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?
In Your House #7: Good Friends, Better Enemies
Date: April 26, 1997
Location: Omaha Civic Auditorium, Omaha, Nebraska
Attendance: 9,563
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler
This one is all about the main event of WWF Champion Shawn Michaels defending against Diesel in a No Holds Barred match. Diesel turned on him and it was time to fight, as Michaels needed a first big time title defense. Other than the world title match, there really isn’t much to talk about on this show. There are some Wrestlemania rematches a..