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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?
Saturday Night’s Main Event #35
Date: August 18, 2007
Location: Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York
Attendance: 16,827
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield, Jim Ross
It’s time for the annual hour and a half long commercial for Summerslam which makes you want to watch the original run of this series again. This show has nothing advertised outside of an update on who Vince McMahon’s illegitimate child might be. The show doesn’t make a difference anyway but I’m almost worried about what is go..

Impact Wrestling
Date: July 28, 2022
Location: Old Forester’s Paristown Hall, Louisville, Kentucky
Commentators: Tom Hannifan, Matthew Rehwoldt
We are on the way to Emergence and now we have a main event set. This time it is going to be Alex Shelley getting his shot at Josh Alexander and the World Title, but odds are we are going to have more Violent By Design interference on the way there. Kushida is here too and that should help. Let’s get to it.
We open with a recap of Alex Shelley becoming #1 contender but getting beaten down by Violent By Design, with Kushida running in for the save.
Eddie Edwards vs Ace Austin Kenny King and Chris Bey are here too. Austin teases him with the posing to start so Edwards unloads on him in the corner. That earns Eddie a takedown and a playing card cut between the fingers in a spot Austin hasn’t used in a bit. King offers a distraction though and Edwards runs Austin over, setting up the choking on the ropes.
Austin is sat on top for some chops but..

That’s a thing that can happen. Wrestling has changed a lot in recent years and those are not changed that can be reversed. One of the biggest changes has come through social media, as wrestlers are now more accessible than they ever have been before. That has several benefits but also several downsides, one of which was learned firsthand recently by a wrestling legend.
Over the weekend, WWE Hall Of Famer Mick Foley announced via Facebook that his Twitter had been hacked, with the hacker attempting to extort money from him. As a result, Foley asked fans not to interact with his Twitter until he told them via video that the account was back under his control. Foley has since released a video announcing that he was able to regain control without having to pay the hacker.
This is good to hear. Check out Foley’s announcement with some more details about what happened:
[This post contains video, click to play]
Opinion: This is something that unfortunately happens every now and then and ..

NXT UK
Date: July 28, 2022
Location: BT Sports Studios, London, England
Commentators: Nigel McGuinness, Andy Shepherd
It’s title time again this week as Ilja Dragunov remembers that he is the United Kingdom Champion and defends against Wolfgang. Gallus has been doing better in recent weeks with Mark Coffey winning the Heritage Cup so maybe we are in for some more of their momentum. Other than that, I’m sure it will be the usual random assortment around here. Let’s get to it.
The opening video runs down tonight’s card.
Opening sequence.
Tag Team Titles: Josh Briggs/Brooks Jensen vs. Wild Boar/Mark Andrews Boar and Andrews, who commentary says have been friends for years, are challenging. Boar cranks on Jensen’s arm to start and Andrews comes in to work on the knee. A blind tag brings Briggs in though and a double shoulder runs Boar over. It’s back to Andrews, who gets planted with an assisted powerslam and the chinlock goes on.
Briggs comes back in for a chinlock of his own but thr..

Call it a hope spot? WWE has changed quite a bit in recent weeks and those changes are likely to continue for the time being. This has centered around Vince McMahon stepping away from the company with Triple H taking over as head of talent relations and creative. That means some people are going to be getting a chance that they have not received before and that was on display this week.
According to Fightful Select, Ciampa is expected to benefit from Triple H’s rise to power in WWE. Ciampa was a top star in NXT when Triple H was in charge and that is expected to be the case again on the main roster. This week on Monday Night Raw, Ciampa won a pair of matches to become the new #1 contender to the United States Title, with high shot against Bobby Lashley coming next week.
Opinion: This isn’t the biggest surprise but it is certainly welcome news. Ciampa is someone who has yet to get anything resembling a serious chance during this run on the main roster and I have no idea why. He has th..

That’s a big tractor. Summerslam has come and gone and the show certainly saw some changes for WWE. It was the first major show without Vince McMahon in charge of the company and that meant WWE needed to make some kind of an impact. A lot of that came in the main event which featured one of the stranger things that WWE has done in a rather long time. Now we know a bit more about what happened.
The main event of Summerslam was a Last Man Standing match with Roman Reigns defending the WWE Universal Title against Brock Lesnar. During the match, Lesnar drove a tractor to the ring and lifted it up off the ground. According to PWInsider.com, the spot was “rougher and harder” than originally planned. There was a rehearsal for the spot earlier in the night, with a production worker driving the tractor.
From another angle. Check out a different look at the tractor moving the ring:
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Opinion: That is certainly something you do not see every day and it..

Welcome back? There have been a lot of changes to WWE over the course of the year and a lot of them have taken place in front of the camera. Those are the ones that people notice and one of the biggest changes of them all came back in May when Naomi and Sasha Banks walked out. The two have not been seen on WWE TV since, but like so much else, things might be about to change.
Earlier this week, Wrestlingnews.co reported that Banks and Naomi had reached a deal to return to WWE and could have appeared on Monday Night Raw as early as this week. That did not happen, but according to Wrestling Observer Live, at least one source said that a deal had been made for the two to return to the company. It is not clear what this means for the two of them or the Women’s Tag Team Titles, which were vacated when they left back in May.
Opinion: This is something that seems to have been gathering momentum since the regime change in WWE and now it seems like the two should be back soon. I’m not the bigg..

He’s getting there. Injuries are one of the few things that can slow down any wrestler no matter how hot they are. Someone can be just fine one day and then be out for months starting on the next, and that can be absolutely devastating for a wrestler’s career. That was the case earlier this year, and now we have a positive update on their long road to recovery.
Earlier this year at WrestleMania 38, Rick Boogs suffered a torn quadricep muscle that would require surgery and put him on the shelf for several months. Boogs has posted a new video of himself lifting weights in the gym while standing. There is still no word on when Boogs will be back in action, though it has been about four months since he had his surgery.
He is certainly energetic. Check out what Boogs has been up to:
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Opinion: That is quite the impressive feat, as Boogs has only been out of action for a few months and is already starting to get back to his old form. There is somet..

Some people never change. There are a good deal of talented people on the WWE roster and fans know a lot about almost all of them. They know who they like and who they don’t like, which often has quite a bit to do with how the wrestlers act. Some are heroes and some are villains, but at times it might seem to be the opposite. Now we know how things are set up behind the scenes.
WWE presented its annual Summerslam event over the weekend, which featured a pair of Women’s Title matches. Bianca Belair defeated Becky Lynch to retain the Raw Women’s Title, with the two shaking hands after. Later, Ronda Rousey failed to regain the SmackDown Women’s Title from Liv Morgan, causing Rousey to attack a group of referees. According to PWInsider.com, Lynch is currently listed as the #2 babyface woman on the Monday Night Raw roster, behind Belair, while Rousey is listed as the #1 babyface woman on the SmackDown roster.
Opinion: This is one of those things that could regularly change and it is hard ..

Monday Night Raw
Date: August 1, 2022
Location: Toyota Center, Houston, Texas
Commentators: Jimmy Smith, Corey Graves, Byron Saxton
We’re done with Summerslam and things feel like they have been reset around here. We get to see what is going on with the first Raw of the new regime and there is a good chance that there are going to be some changes. That should make for a fun night and that is what the show needs. Let’s get to it.
Here is Becky Lynch, in far more normal clothes and her arm in a sling, to get things going. After a look back at Bianca Belair beating Lynch at Summerslam and the return/debuts of Bayley/Dakota Kai/Iyo Sky (Io Shirai), Becky talks about knowing that she has remembered who she is. Lynch may have separated her shoulder but she knows she gave it her all at Summerslam and knows that no man defines her. She defines the man and now we start a new era, but first she wants Belair out here.
Belair obliges and says that Lynch is the man and respect is shown. Lynch le..

There he is again. There is no one in wrestling history like Brock Lesnar, who is one of the most incredible athletes the industry has ever seen. Lesnar is not only a former NCAA Heavyweight Champion in wrestling, but he is also a powerhouse second to very few. It means a lot to see him in a WWE match and now we know when we might be seeing him next.
Lesnar has been advertised for the upcoming Day One event in Atlanta, Georgia on Sunday January 1, 2023. This is currently the next advertised appearance for Lesnar, who lost to Roman Reigns in the main event of Summerslam in a Last Man Standing match. There is no word on whether Lesnar will be appearing again before Day One and there is always the chance that the appearance could be changed.
Although many thought it could be Lesnar's last WWE match at SummerSlam, turns out it might not be the case.
The Beast is advertised for Day 1, 2023. https://t.co/QRAjPWANPG pic.twitter.com/XuCwRR5cHb
— Anirban Banerjee (@pwanirban) August 1..