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Another one down. It can be interesting to see a wrestling storyline change out of nowhere but it is not always for the best reason. A wrestler can be taken out of action for a variety of reasons and some of the worst are health issues. That seems to be the case again with a current WWE star who was scheduled for action this week, but there might be a bit of a silver lining to the whole thing.
Lacey Evans was scheduled to face Aliyah this week on SmackDown but did not appear. Commentary said that Evans was not medically cleared to compete, with Shotzi taking her place and defeating Aliyah instead. It is not clear if Evans’ medical issue is a storyline or not, as was the case with Riddle earlier this week. There is no word on why Evans did not appear on the show.
Opinion: This is a situation where we’ll need to see what is going on, because you never can tell why someone is out of action on a WWE show. If nothing else, considering that Riddle’s absence from Summerslam was confirmed as..

Smackdown
Date: July 29, 2022
Location: State Farm Arena, Atlanta, Georgia
Commentators: Michael Cole, Pat McAfee
This is going to be a weird one as it’s the go home show for Summerslam so there won’t be much in the way of moving forward to the show, but there is a #1 contenders match for the next major show. At the same time, this is the first television show with no influence from Vince McMahon following his departure from the company. Let’s get to it.
Sheamus vs. Drew McIntyre Donnybrook match, meaning street fight, and the winner gets a World Title shot at Clash At The Castle. Sheamus jumps McIntyre during his entrance and they start fast with McIntyre being thrown inside for the opening bell. A Michinoku Driver gets McIntyre out of trouble and it’s time for the Shillelagh. That doesn’t work yet so McIntyre grabs a table, only to be sent into the steps (near the makeshift bar).
They get back inside with Sheamus whipping out the cut Shillelagh from last week to beat on McIntyre e..

Not so fast? While anyone who can make it to WWE television has at leas some talent, there has to be something that makes them stand out. It might be anything from their size to their look to the way they are presented, but something needs to be there. Occasionally you will see someone appear and have what makes them work best taken away, but this time it seems to have been returned.
This week’s SmackDown featured a segment from Maximum Male Models, featuring Max Dupri. During his appearance, Dupri’s tone was changed from previous weeks, with more of a serious sound to his voice and less talking. This comes a week after Dupri was missing from the team’s segment, with his sister Maxxine taking his place. Max’s role in the angle reportedly did not go over well with Vince McMahon, who wanted him to sound as little like his LA Knight character from NXT as possible.
Opinion: I could go for something like this, as Max is quite the talker when he is allowed to be more like his old self. Tha..

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?
Summerslam 2021
Date: August 21, 2021
Location: Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas, Nevada
Attendance: 51,326
Commentators: Pat McAfee, Michael Cole, Jimmy Smith, Byron Saxton, Corey Graves

It’s time for one of the biggest Summerslams ever, as this is the first major event after the attendance restrictions were lifted after the Coronavirus pandemic. They need a major main event to make that work and that is what they have with John Cena challenging Roman Reigns for the Universal Title. Other than that, we have Bobby La..

They’re looking to the future. Summerslam is less than a day away and that means WWE has almost everything set up for one of the biggest shows of the year. That does not mean they are done with everything though, as there are other shows that have to be covered as well. This time, WWE is starting early on the next show, which is going to be one of the most unique events in a long time.
This week on SmackDown, Drew McIntyre defeated Sheamus in a Good Old Fashioned Donnybrook Match to become the new #1 contender to the WWE Universal Champion. McIntyre will receive his shot at Clash At The Castle on September 3 in the first stadium show in the United Kingdom in over thirty years. McIntyre will challenge the winner of Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar, who face off at Summerslam in a Last Man Standing match.
Opinion: I don’t think there was much doubt over McIntyre winning the title shot, but this puts WWE in a bit of a dilemma. McIntyre almost can’t lose in the main event of such an importa..

WWE legend Kurt Angle was recently interviewed by Bleacher Report to promote his upcoming episode of A&E’s Biography: WWE Legends this Sunday night. He discussed several topics, including the documentary, managing Chad Gable, the future of WWE, and more.
Below are some highlights from the interview:
On the biography:
“I really hit on a lot of things I had to overcome,” he said. “The documentary is about overcoming. Overcoming my addiction, my injuries, deaths of close family members. It’s really about redemption and turning my life around and being a good husband, father and role model.
“Good things happen in your life, bad things happen in your life, but it’s all about how you respond to them and how you overcome them,” he added. “When you’re high on your horse and doing really well, there’s no complaints, but when you’re down in the gutter, it’s really hard to get out of it, and I know that personally.”
On managing Chad Gable:
“I would love to manage Chad Gable and Otis,” he re..

Who says professional athletes can’t talk? Yesterday at WWE’s tryouts as a part of SummerSlam weekend, NBA star Dwight Howard made an appearance and cut a promo, showing off his skills on the microphone.
You can see the promo below:
View this post on Instagram A post shared by WWE Recruit (@wwerecruit)
In the promo, Howard refers to himself as “Sho’nuff,” referencing the villain from the 1985 film “The Last Dragon.” Arash Markazi who is covering the event, had the following to say:
“Dwight Howard was a surprise participant at the WWE Tryout in Nashville today. He told me he legit wants to join the WWE one day.”
“Dwight Howard spent about five hours at the WWE Tryout in Nashville today. He told me he’s going to be ringside at SummerSlam on Saturday. He said he’s serious about joining the WWE. He was asking coaches and attendees how to properly take a bump in the ring and do other moves.”
Dwight Howard didn’t just cut this one promo and leave. He’s been here for hours. He’s now cut..

He’s good at the talking. While wrestling is built around people getting in the ring and having a match, it means a lot more to be someone the fans care about. Being able to do moves and have a match is one thing, but the wrestlers need some kind of a connection. There is an art to making fans care about you and some potential wrestlers were given a lesson in how to do that.
WWE has been holding tryouts for potential new stars in conjunction with Summerslam. The WWE Recruit Twitter account has released a video of Paul Heyman giving a talk to the potential recruits. Heyman talks about selling your name, because otherwise the recruits are just a number on a list. Heyman told them to sell themselves to their audience and give them something to remember. WWE has reportedly signed several new names out of the tryouts, though there is no word on when they might debut.
There is some knowledge here. Check out what Heyman had to say:
[This post contains video, click to play]
Opinion: This i..

There’s nothing good about that. The Women’s Revolution has brought the WWE women’s division a very long way and that is a good thing. After years of women’s wrestling being little more than a side show in WWE, the women are now treated as stars and have accomplished almost everything imaginable. However, it is still not that easy, and now we have a better idea of some of the obstacles they had to face.
During a recent edition of his Wrestling With Freddie podcast, Freddie Prinze Jr. talked about his time on the WWE creative team. Prinze talked about pitching ideas about women’s wrestling to Kevin Dunn, who would regularly shoot them down because he did not find some of the women involved to be pretty. Dunn would be told how many male stars would not be seen as attractive but he still stopped stories because the WWE Women’s Champion would have to be “pretty”. Dunn is considered gone from WWE following Vince McMahon’s departure.
Opinion: As rather pathetic as this is, it also isn’t sl..

A hope spot? There have been all kinds of changes throughout WWE over the last few months and one of the biggest on-screen changes took place when Naomi and Sasha Banks walked out. The two left the company despite being the reigning Women’s Tag Team Champions, which shook things up in multiple ways. However, the shakeup might be about to be unshook.
According to Dave Meltzer on the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast, WWE is working to bring Banks and Naomi back to the company. This comes after Vince McMahon retired earlier this month and the new regime wants to bring them back. There is no word on if Naomi and/or Banks are interested in returning to the company. Banks and Naomi walked out on the May 16 Monday Night Raw.
Opinion: This is something that shouldn’t be a major surprise as Belair and Naomi are both rather talented, but there are going to be some changes needed. I’m not sure if this is actually going to work in the end, but at least there is an effort being made. That being s..

They have a plan. Titles can be a tricky concept in wrestling, as while they are supposed to be held by the top star or stars in a division, there can be some problems with keeping things in order. This might be the case if a title has to be vacated, meaning a new champion never beat the old one. That is the case again in NXT, but it seems they have a plan for it.
Earlier this month, Cora Jade turned on Roxanne Perez before vacating her half of the NXT Women’s Tag Team Titles. Perez forfeited her title the next week, meaning new champions are needed. A four way match for the titles has been announced and according to Wrestling Observer Radio, Ivy Nile and Tatum Paxley are being discussed as possible winners, though this is not set in stone. The other teams involved in the match are Toxic Attraction, Katana Chance/Kayden Carter and Yulisa Leon/Valentina Feroz. The title match is set for August 2.
Opinion: That would be a new way to go and I think I like the idea. Toxic Attraction has ..

WOOOOOOOO! Earlier today, Ric Flair made an appearance at the NFL’s Tennessee Titans training camp as they are preparing to begin the NFL season.
You can see the video of the appearance below, in which dismisses the team after the end of their practice:
.@RicFlairNatrBoy breaks down the @Titans after practice. “Woooooo!” pic.twitter.com/JtmdRKlQnd
— Jim Wyatt (@jwyattsports) July 28, 2022
Flair is in Tennessee in preparation for Starrcast V, which takes place on July 31. The event is being billed as his “last match” and will see him team with Andrade El Idolo to take on the team of Jeff Jarrett and Jay Lethal.
Other matches on the card include:
Jonathan Gresham and Nick Wayne vs. Alan Angels and Konosuke Takeshita The Bunkhouse Battle Royal Kerry and Rocky Morton vs. Brian Pillman Jr. and Brock Anderson The Wolves (Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards) vs. The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) Rey Fenix & Taurus vs. Laredo Kid and Bandido Josh Alexander vs. Jacob F..