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Keep it in the family. There are a lot of titles in wrestling and that is not much of a surprise. It makes sense to have people fighting over belts, but when a promotion has a lot of championships, something needs to be included to make it stand out. That is the case with an unofficial AEW title, and now that championship has changed had in one of the most unique ways imaginable.
This week on AEW Dynamite, Ricky Starks successfully defended the FTW Title against Danhausen. Following the scheduled match, Starks issued an open challenge for another title shot, with Hook answering and defeating him to become champion. Hook happens to be both Starks’ student as well as the son of Taz, who invented the FTW Title in ECW and owns the title itself.
Opinion: That is one of the most unique as well as special moments that you are going to see. The title is literally Taz’s property and he got to see his son win the title on national television. You never see something like that happen and I can’..

That’s a unique situation. Wrestling is a very visual medium and it takes a lot to find a way to stand out. One of the best ways is to do something that is either very unique or strikingly visual, and in some cases a wrestler does both at once. That is the case with a current Monday Night Raw star, but one time his unique look and entrance went a bit too far.
During an appearance on the OutKick 360 podcast, WWE star Riddle told a story of a time where his entrance broke an elderly woman’s glasses. Riddle was wrestling in NXT at the time and did his signature entrance of jumping in the air and kicking off his flip flops. However, one of the shoes went straight through the ropes rather than over and hit the woman in the face, breaking her glasses. Riddle apologized to the woman and gave her the flip flops, plus made sure to take the match outside in front of her to try and make up for the accident.
Opinion: This is one of those unique situations that you do not see happen very often an..

The card is subject to change. We are less than a week away from Summerslam and that means the card is mostly set up. There is not much time left to change things around but every now and then, WWE will wait for the last minute to switch things up, and that is the case again this time. Unfortunately, it seems to be that it is due to an injury to one of the wrestlers.
This week on the Bump, it was announced that Seth Rollins vs. Riddle has been pulled from the Summerslam card. Riddle was injured during an attack from Rollins on Monday Night Raw, resulting in Riddle suffering a stinger. The match has officially been postponed, but according to Fightful Select, is scheduled to take place at Clash At The Castle. Riddle’s injury is storyline only and he is cleared to compete.
BREAKING: @WWERollins injured @SuperKingofBros with a vicious attack on #WWERaw that resulted in a brachial plexus injury (a stinger). Riddle is medically disqualified until full strength returns.
Due to this injury..

Let the planning begin. Today WWE announced that Wrestlemania 40 will take place on April 6 and 7, 2024 at Lincoln Field in Philadelphia. The announcement was made by Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney, the Philadelphia Eagles, the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau and PHL Sports.
From WWE.com:
“We are proud to welcome WWE fans from around the world to Philadelphia to be a part of the historic 40th WrestleMania in 2024,” said Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney. “The week-long series of events will help put a global spotlight on our great city while also generating a major impact for our local economy.”
“Philadelphia is excited to host WrestleMania for the first time in 25 years,” said Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau President & CEO Gregg Caren. “The combination of Philadelphia’s passionate fans joining forces with WWE’s worldwide fan base will create an incredible electricity throughout the city for the events at Lincoln Financial Field, Wells Fargo Center, and the Penns..

Get the mute button ready. Last week, Vince McMahon officially retired from WWE after the better part of forty years running the company. That is the kind of thing that is going to change the wrestling industry for a very long time to come and now we get to see where things are going. We also know where they were, and some of those things were a bit less than optimal.
According to Fightful Select, McMahon would regularly have to be “filtered” during creative meetings. This included editing the statements that McMahon would make in the meetings’ minutes, including inappropriate or offensive terms, calling wrestlers by the wrong name, or using terms that would not be allowed to air on television. In addition, McMahon would insist on running stories and matches that had already been done as he would forget about them, even if he was told about them.
Opinion: I’ve long since been a fan of McMahon, but my goodness it can be difficult to defend some of the things he was saying or doing dur..

This happens far too often. Wrestling is a weird business, as the wrestlers have little in the way of a guarantee. They will often bounce from one promotion to the other and pick up work where they can. In addition, they have nothing in the way of benefits and that can create a problem after their careers are over. As sad as it is, that is the case again for another former star.
Former WWE star Mo, of Men On A Mission fame, has announced that he is undergoing health issues and is starting a GoFundMe to help pay for medical expenses. Mo’s issues stem from contracting the Coronavirus while being immunocompromised due to a previous kidney transplant. This resulted in a three week stint in the ICW as well as being on an oxygen machine since his release. Mo also had complications due to a hernia and is being fed through a feeding tube due to an emergency surgery. The fund is seeking to raise $50,000 and has reached just over $4,000 so far.
Opinion: This is one of those things that you see..

Please come back? AEW has done a lot of impressive things during its few years as a wrestling promotion and a lot of that has been due to its roster. The company has put together a mixture of current, upcoming and past stars to make a rather diverse roster. They have also brought in several international stars, but now one of them will not be around much longer.
AEW’s Konosuke Takeshita has announced that he will be returning to Japan for a big DDT-Pro show and does not have much time left in the United States. He also said that he hopes to come back soon and that fans feel the same way. Takeshita has been appearing for AEW since April, facing such names as Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston. It is not clear when he will return to the company.
Your support really encouraged me!!
I have to go back to Japan at the DDT big show on August 20. I don't have much time left in the US. I hope to come back to here soon and I hope you all feel the same way.#AEWDarkElevation https://t.co/0yy1Ri..

It’s good to have him back. There are a lot of wrestlers in the world today but there are also a lot of ways to slow them down. Sometimes a wrestler is going to have something happen to them that puts them on the shelf for one reason or another and they are rarely good things. That was the case with an NXT star but now a little time has passed and he is back.
NXT’s Nathan Frazer made his return to television this week, following about a month away. Frazer sent out a tweet on June 28 announcing that he was dealing with a bit of an injury but would be back “before you know it”. He made his return this week, appearing with Chase U and saving Andre Chase from a post match attack at the hands of Giovanni Vinci. Frazer has not wrestled on television since June 7.
Opinion: It’s always good to see someone return from an injury as the wait times can be rather long for anyone who gets hurt. Thankfully Frazer wasn’t gone for that long and seems to be ready to return to the ring. He is a rather ..

Call it a scheduling conflict? There are a lot of wrestling promotions in the world today but only a handful are at the top level. WWE and AEW are at the top of the list and the two are in combat for dominance in the United States. They went head to head for a good while under the Wednesday Night Wars, and now they might be going at it again for one day only later this year.
AEW has announced that its next pay per view, All Out, will be taking place on Sunday September 4. According to Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston, the next NXT special will take place on the same day and air on Peacock. It is not clear if the shows will take place at the same time. This is one day after WWE presents Clash At The Castle in Cardiff, Wales, though it is not clear where the NXT event would take place.
Opinion: It would not surprise me whatsoever to see these shows overlap because both companies seem to like to try something like this. It’s rather annoying for fans who want to watch both, but why go wit..

She’s a star. There have been a lot of wrestlers throughout WWE’s history but only a few of them have reached legendary status. These are wrestlers that are remembered for a long time to come, though sometimes they are more remembered for something a little less positive. That was the case with a legend who appeared on WWE TV this week with a reference to her more infamous moment.
WWE Hall of Famer Alundra Blayze appeared on this week’s edition of NXT, where she accepted Roxanne Perez’s half of the NXT Tag Team Titles, leaving them officially vacant. Blayze announced a fatal four way for the vacant titles next week, with Valentina Feroz/Yulisa Leon vs. Ivy Nile/Tatum Paxley vs. Katana Chance/Kayden Carter vs. Toxic Attraction. Blayze’s appearance was in reference to Cora Jade dropping her title in the trash last week, ala Blayze with the WWF Women’s Title in 1995.
Opinion: It was quite the random cameo, but at least it does have something of a history. There were not many other optio..

NXT
Date: July 26, 2022
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Wade Barrett, Vic Joseph
It’s the first show of the new regime and I’m not sure how much of a difference that is going to make. NXT seems a bit more planned out that Raw and Smackdown so it might be a little while before the impact takes hold. Maybe they have a few surprises or at least ideas this week though so let’s get to it.
Here is the recently returned Zoey Stark for a chat. She is REALLY happy to be back and talks about being on the shelf since October after tearing her ACL and MCL. The doctors told her it would be over a year before she could return, but she worked in that trainer’s room so hard and beat the expectations by four months. Now she is the #1 contender for the Women’s Title and only has Toxic Attraction standing in her way. Cue Cora Jade on the platform to say she is already sick of Stark.
Jade was ready to be champion but Stark had to take HER MOMENT, just like Roxanne Per..

Call it a leftover? The biggest wrestling story in quite a log time took place last week as Vince McMahon retired from WWE after forty plus years running the company. That is going to be one of those shakeups that will have repercussions for years to come and the question now is to find out where things are going from here. There are some things that still needed to be updated and that was the case this week.
According to Wrestling Observer Radio, this week’s edition of Monday Night Raw was mostly written before McMahon retired and was not a reflection of the new direction of the show. Most of the show was written by Thursday, with McMahon leaving on Friday. There were a few minor changes made, though it is not clear what they were. It is likely that this week’s SmackDown was written following McMahon’s departure.
Opinion: I don’t think this is much of a surprise as there was little room to make a bunch of changes after McMahon left the company. Let them have the time to set things u..