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Sharing knowledge is always good. AEW issued a press release earlier today, announcing expanded backstage roles for several of its current talent. The company also announced they are bringing in Madison Rayne to assist and coach their women’s division.
From the press release:
AEW CEO, GM and Head of Creative Tony Khan announced an expansion to AEW’s talent relations team with the promotions of key staff members including Sonjay Dutt, QT Marshall, Pat Buck and Tony Schiavone. In addition, Madison Rayne will join AEW as a coach in the women’s division.
As AEW continues its meteoric rise, the expanded talent relations team will strengthen the infrastructure required to facilitate the development, health and safety of AEW’s outstanding roster. The following promotions and additions are effective immediately:
Sonjay Dutt (Retesh Bhalla) has been promoted to Vice President of Production and Creative Coordination. In this role, he will coordinate communication of AEW storylines, liaise ..

It might not all be great. WWE has been shaken up by the departure of Vince McMahon after decades of him running the company. That is something that was not expected for a long time and it is now time to make changes at a faster than thought pace. Some of them have already gone well, but there are a few wrestlers who are not so happy that things are being changed.
According to Wrestling Observer Radio, while the majority of the WWE roster is happy with the changes that are being made. These wrestlers are worried about losing their spots, as Triple H’s new regime has already started moving some wrestlers into new roles. It will also take several weeks for Triple H’s creative vision to be presented in full on WWE television. There is no word on any other major changes Triple H is hoping to make.
Opinion: I can understand why some of the wrestlers are worried but at the end of the day, as William Regal once said, nobody owes you a living. If these wrestlers aren’t impressing the new bos..

The more things change. WWE has a lot of things going on at once, which is made even more complicated as the roster is split into two different groups. While there is some crossover between Monday Night Raw and SmackDown, there are some wrestlers who almost never move over to the other show. Now it seems that one of the newest top SmackDown stars was almost in a very different spot.
According to Wrestling Observer Radio, the original plans for Judgment Day involved Liv Morgan being the foil for Rhea Ripley. The two faced off multiple times with Ripley often getting the better of things, but the story was to continue. However, Morgan would eventually move to SmackDown when she won the SmackDown Women’s Title at Money In The Bank. Since then, the story has changed to Edge and the Mysterios attempting to take out Judgment Day instead. It is not clear who will be dealing with Ripley.
Opinion: This is a bit of a confusing story, as Ripley and Morgan had already had their matches and they ..

Welcome to the new age. WWE is changing a lot in recent weeks and that is likely going to be the case for a long time to come. With so many different things taking place, the company is starting to shift away from what they have been doing for so many years. Some of those changes are things that fans have been wanting to see for a good while and one of those changes is already taking place.
According to PWInsider.com, WWE has been allowing wrestlers to have a bit more freedom in their promos, including allowing them to improvise more. This has allowed them to be more creative than they have had in recent years. The freedom is also taking place in the ring, such as with Sheamus vs. Drew McIntyre from last week’s SmackDown. The match was called in the ring rather than being laid out in advance, which is said to have helped make it great. There is no word on if everyone will be given the same freedom.
Opinion: That is some of the best WWE news that you will hear for a long time. A big p..

It’s a different audience. AEW has come a very long way in less than three and a half years and a lot of that is due to the variety that you are going to see on any one of their shows. The company has figured out how to put together a bunch of different pieces to make events more enjoyable. This often means not focusing on just one thing, but that might be changing in the future.
According to PWInsider.com, AEW has trademarked the term “All Elite Women” for a variety of uses, including streaming pay per view events over the internet. While not confirmed, this could mean that AEW is planning for either some kind of a show focused on women or featuring women. There is no word on what the specific show would be or when AEW might make an announcement about it.
Opinion: This is an interesting one as AEW has long since focused on their women’s division. It would not surprise me to see the division get its own stand alone show, or perhaps some kind of a YouTube streaming show. Replacing eit..

It’s not entirely the same. There are a lot of ways to present a feud in wrestling and some of them have been used in a variety of different forms. One of the most common is to have a wrestler injure someone they are feuding with and that is something still being used today. The latest instance took place last week on Monday Night Raw, but you wouldn’t know that at other events.
Last week on Monday Night Raw, Seth Rollins attacked Riddle, resulting in Riddle suffering a storyline neck injury. Their scheduled match at Summerslam was indefinitely postponed, though Riddle attacked Rollins at Summerslam. According to PWInsider.com, even though Riddle is not wrestling on television, he is still expected to appear at upcoming WWE live events. There is no word on when he is expected to wrestle on television again.
Opinion: That’s a bit of a strange way to go as you might not want to let everyone know that what they are seeing on television is completely separate from what is happening on li..

NXT
Date: August 2, 2022
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Wade Barrett, Vic Joseph
It’s a big title night this week as there are three championships on the line. The mot interesting one might be the Women’s Tag Tam Titles, which are guaranteed to see new champions crowned as the titles are vacant coming in. In addition to all that, there is a Falls Count Anywhere match between Solo Sikoa and Von Wagner. Let’s get to it.
Women’s Tag Team Titles: Tatum Paxley/Ivy Nile vs. Toxic Attraction vs. Yulisa Leon/Valentina Feroz vs. Katana Chance/Kayden Carter For the vacant titles under elimination rules. Paxley takes Leon down to start and it’s a rapid string of tags until Leon is gorilla pressed onto the pile at ringside. Feroz hits a big flip dive and it’s Paxley getting suplex/high crossbodied inside for two. Nile isn’t having that and runs Feroz over for the first elimination in short order. Jayne knees Nile in the head for two but Paxley suplexes Chance ..

It’s what you want to hear. According to a report from Fightful Select, there is a renewed sense of optimism backstage now that Triple H is in charge of creative for WWE. This is in the aftermath of The Game being in charge of producing both Summerslam and Raw this past week.
The report states that even superstars who were not on the show seemed excited about the future with Triple H in charge. One NXT star said that bringing Dakota Kai back to be part of Bayley’s new faction was a great sign and made them hopeful for their future.
In addition, two top stars said they were excited not to wrestle the same person every week and are hopeful that will continue going forward. There was a lot of positivity coming out of the show regarding Ciampa and Mustafa Ali having competitive matches with top performers, so they could shine on the show.
Triple H will have the opportunity to be in charge of his first Smackdown this week, so we will see how that goes.
Editor’s Opinion:
Does this reall..

Update your schedules. WWE has a lot of major shows on its calendar and some of them are among the biggest of the year. That is going to be the case in September as WWE will be presenting its first stadium show in the United Kingdom in over thirty years. Such a show is going to need some top stars and that is going to be the case with a star currently missing from WWE TV.
Earlier this week, WWE announced that Ronda Rousey was indefinitely suspended and fined due to attacking referees at Summerslam. According to Wrestling Observer Radio, Rousey is currently scheduled to wrestle at Clash At The Castle on September 3, meaning that she is likely to be back on television before them. It is not known when Rousey will be back from her suspension, but it is likely to last less than a month.
Opinion: Rousey has a tendency to be taken off of television for fairly long stretches at a time and that is probably due to her contract having a limited number of dates. Having her at one of the biggest..

He’s back. There are a lot of wrestlers on the NXT roster today and it can be difficult to find something for everyone to do. As a result, it can be fairly easy for someone to slip away without being noticed. That can make for a big return later and a nice moment for the fans as they might not know it is coming. NXT did just that this week and a major showdown has been set as a result.
This week’s NXT featured the return of Santos Escobar, who cost Tony D’Angelo and the D’Angelo Family the Tag Team Titles. D’Angelo was attempting to use a crowbar but Escobar interfered and attacked D’Angelo instead. Later in the show, D’Angelo challenged Escobar to a final showdown, which will take place next week. This was Escobar’s first appearance since June as he has been out of action with an undisclosed injury.
Opinion: The Escobar return was a very well done moment as you only saw his hand and did not know who it was at first. Escobar returning to set up the big showdown with D’Angelo is a goo..

History has been made! There are a lot of titles in the wrestling world and a lot of them are open for most wrestlers to win. However, there are some championships that are only available for a specific group of wrestlers, which means that the divisions can be a bit more compact. That was the case this week, as some new champions were crowned in a very specific division.
This week’s NXT featured a fatal four way elimination match for the vacant NXT Women’s Tag Team Titles. Katana Chance and Kayden Carter defeated Toxic Attraction, Ivy Nile/Tatum Paxley and Valentina Feroz/Yulisa Leon to win the vacant titles. The match was announced last week after Cora Jade had vacated her half of the titles following her turning on partner Roxanne Perez.
Opinion: This is the kind of match that you need to have in this situation. The idea here was take a bunch of teams, throw them in the ring at the same time, and see who comes out on top. That isn’t a bad way to go and Chance/Carter coming out with..

That’s a long time. There are all kinds of injuries that a wrestler can suffer and some of them are a lot more serious than others. You never know how long someone is going to be out of action, but you can have a good guess of just how bad something might be. Unfortunately that is the case again, as a top WWE star is injured and could be out for a long time.
Over the weekend, Becky Lynch suffered a shoulder injury during her Summerslam match with Bianca Belair. The injury was later announced as a separated shoulder, which Lynch confirmed this week on Monday Night Raw. During the same show, Bayley, Iyo Sky and Dakota Kai attacked Lynch with a chair to the shoulder. WWE has sent since out a tweet, announcing that as a result of the initial injury and attack, Lynch will be out for “several months”. There is no word on when she will return to the ring.
After suffering a separated shoulder at #SummerSlam, @BeckyLynchWWE’s injury was further exacerbated after an attack from @itsBayleyWWE, ..