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Last fall, the family went down to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina (I didn’t have much of a choice so spare me the “why there” questions) for a vacation. It wasn’t my thing, but at one point I did head out and find a bookstore to pass some time. The store was adjacent to a local mall where I thought they might sell playing cards (one of my other passions, with a current collection of 923 decks (27 wrestling) and counting).
Inside the mall I found….very little, as the place was mostly dead. One thing I did find though was an old school arcade inside a comic book store, with a ton of arcade cabinets and a row of pinball machines, including the old WWF Royal Rumble game. Each play was a quarter each so I ran through at least five bucks and had one of the best days of the entire trip there on my own.
So what does this have to do with wrestling? Heck if I know, but what does pinball have to do with Summerslam?
That’s something that has been bothering me about the build to this year’s Summer..

It may be time for a change. There is more wrestling content on television today than there ever has been before and that can cause some issues. Above all else, it means that wrestlers are going to be seen more often than any other time and things can get stale rather quickly. That means a change might be needed and now WWE seems to be teasing another one.
This week on Monday Night Raw, Alexa Bliss and Asuka teamed up to defeat Nikki Ash and Doudrop. During the match, commentary suggested that Bliss was not as good as she was before her hiatus. According to Wrestling Observer Radio, this is likely a WWE decision, as there was no reason to suggest that Bliss is not as good as she was before. This could mean that Bliss is in for a change of some kind in the near future.
Opinion: I could see this leading to a Bliss heel turn, though can we please have it be something other than the Lily doll period? It is bad enough that she keeps carrying the thing around with her as it is enough of a ..

Flash from the past. WWE has been around for a very long time now and the company has a rather incredible history. Over time, there have been a lot of different periods and eras, some of which are a lot more famous than others. There have been some very famous ones though, and WWE seemed to be interested in bringing back something that likely would have only fit in one era.
In a new interview with NBC Sports’ Boston Steve, former WWE star Killer Kross talked about an idea he had pitched to revive the Corporate Ministry. Kross felt that the idea would work due to nostalgia and said that there was a group of writers on board with the concept. The idea would have been to fictionalize the idea of cults and evil businesses and put them on television with nostalgia thrown in. There is nothing to suggest that the idea ever went past the planning stage.
Opinion: I’m not sure I could imagine this working, as the Corporate Ministry is about as Attitude Era as you could get. While I get the ide..

That’s the reason. Wrestling is a lot of things, but it is supposed to be presented as a sport. That means following various rules and regulations, with most matches following the same ones. On occasion there will be a match with something changed for a special situation, but this time around things were even more out there, as a match ended due to a rule that few know about.
This week on Monday Night Raw, AJ Styles and Ezekiel defeated the Miz and Ciampa via disqualification when the illegal Ciampa attacked AJ Styles. According to Wrestling Observer Radio, this was due to a secret rule in WWE. In a tag match, a wrestler is allowed to make one illegal save, with the second drawing a disqualification. Ciampa was making his second save and was disqualified as a result.
Opinion: I’m not sure I get why this is a secret rule. If someone is making an illegal save, isn’t that breaking a rule by definition? This doesn’t sound so much like a secret as much as it sounds like being a bit tediou..

It worked while it lasted. With so many wrestlers on the WWE roster, the company has to mix up its roster by putting the wrestlers on different brands. That is something that can keep the wrestlers apart for a rather long time, though it does allow for some interesting matches when people move around. This time though, someone seems to be moving away from WWE as a whole.
NXT’s Io Shirai has not wrestled a match since April 1 amid reports that she was injured during that match. There have also been rumors that she is not interested in signing a new deal with WWE and would rather return to Japan to be closer to her family. According to Wrestling Observer Radio, Shirai is already mostly out of the company and is not likely to return. There is nothing to suggest that there is any heat between the two sides.
Opinion: This is something that seems to have been in the works for a long time now and that is not the worst thing. Shirai does not so much seem to be unhappy in NXT but rather wants..

They might not be back. There are a variety of titles in the wrestling world and some of them are featured on a regular basis. A few of those titles are designated for specific groups or classes of wrestlers, meaning the competition for them is a bit more narrow. Now though, it seems that you might not be seeing some of them again, as WWE doesn’t exactly seem interested.
Back in May, Sasha Banks and Naomi walked out of WWE, vacating their Women’s Tag Team Titles in the process. Shortly thereafter, WWE announced that a tournament would be held for the titles, though nothing else has been mentioned. According to Fightful Select, there has been no backstage discussion of the tournament or the titles. It is not clear if anything will be done with them or if the titles are gone for good.
Opinion: I can’t say I’m surprised by any of this, as the titles were barely noteworthy for most of their existence. WWE just does not have the depth in its women’s division to make them viable at the mom..

They have a plan for that. NXT has been around for a rather long time now and it continues to occupy one of the most unique places in all of wrestling. While it serves as the official WWE developmental territory and its main purpose is to get wrestlers ready for the main roster, it also serves as its own promotion, meaning things need to happen to keep up the interest. Now we might know what WWE has in mind.
According to Wrestling Observer Radio, there has been talk of having Nikkita Lyons win the NXT Women’s Title. However, this is not expected to take place in the near future but rather a long time down the road. Lyons recently returned from an injury and has been talking about the title in recent weeks. Mandy Rose is the reigning NXT Women’s Champion and successfully defended the title against Roxanne Perez this week.
Opinion: I can absolutely see why WWE would want to make such a move as Lyons is one of the most unique stars that they have in NXT. That kind of status is something..

That was definitely a moment. The idea of wrestling is that people are in the ring having a match/fight and it is all about seeing who wins. The trick is that the people are having to put together a performance by convincing the fans that what they are seeing is real. At the same time though, sometimes you see something happen that isn’t exactly planned, which was the case over the weekend. Now we know a bit more about what happened.
Over the weekend, Liv Morgan defeated Natalya at a live event with Oblivion. As soon as the match ended, Natalya popped up and yelled at Morgan before leaving. According to Wrestling Observer Radio, there was some kind of an incident backstage involving Natalya, though Morgan was not involved whatsoever. The incident was said to be cleared up that night and is considered “over and done with”. It is still not clear what happened to start the situation.
Opinion: That’s still quite the messy situation but at least it seems to be taken care of already. The v..

There’s the twist. There are a lot of ways to set up a feud in wrestling and some of them have been used for years. Those stories are often some of the most interesting and have a tendency to work almost every time. It makes sense for promotions to use them over and over again and we saw another classic dusted off this week. As a bonus, multiple titles were involved.
The main event of this week’s NXT featured Roxanne Perez challenging Mandy Rose for the NXT Women’s Title. At the start of the show, someone attacked Perez in the parking lot, leaving the match in doubt. Perez did make the match, but her partner Cora Jade turned on her, allowing Rose to retain the title. Jade attacked Perez again after the match to end the show. Perez and Jade are the reigning NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions, having wont he titles last week.
Opinion: It’s a story you have probably heard before and that is not a bad thing. What matters most is having something interesting and even though Jade’s turn was a ..

NXT
Date: July 12, 2022
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Vic Joseph, Wade Barrett
It’s the week after the Great American Bash and we still have a title on the line this week. This time around, we have the Women’s Title on the line as Roxanne Perez is going to be challenging Mandy Rose for the NXT Women’s Title in an attempt to become a double champ. In addition, we have the fallout from JD McDonagh attacking NXT Champion Bron Breakker last week. Let’s get to it.
We open with a recap of the Great American Bash.
Roxanne Perez has been attacked in the parking lot, with Cora Jade and medics checking on her.
Giovanni Vinci vs. Apollo Crews They fight over a lockup to start and neither gets very far. Crews slips out of a slam but gets shouldered down. Some forearms from Crews rattle Vinci though and Crews is up with AJ Styles’ drop down into a dropkick. They head outside with Crews being dropped onto the barricade and we take a break.
Back with Crews ma..

The battle continues. WWE has posted a new video to its YouTube channel in which they show the full match between John Cena and Kevin Owens for the United States Championship from Battleground 2015.
You can see the video in its entirety below:
[This post contains video, click to play]

From WWE.com:
After absorbing some serious punishment from K.O. in the early goings of this anticipated rubber match, Cena caught Owens with an Attitude Adjustment, a maneuver that somehow only garnered a two-count. With frustration beginning to set in, Cena attempted to go high-risk, taking the challenger to the top rope for a superplex. Anticipating Cena’s next move, Owens reversed the maneuver, sending The Champ crashing down hard on his left shoulder. Cena reeled following that sickening impact, but this fight was far from finished.
Dazed and visibly pained, Cena evaded a Pop-up Powerbomb from his opportunistic foe and again went for the Attitude Adjustment. However, Owens quickly countered with..

Welcome back. There have been a lot of wrestlers throughout WWE’s history and some of them have been quite the successes. While it might not be an exact science, one of the best ways to gauge a wrestler’s success is through the championships they have won, particularly World Titles. This week saw the return of a former World Champion in a surprising moment.
The main event of this week’s Monday Night Raw saw Theory and Seth Rollins team up to face Bobby Lashley and Riddle. During the match, former World Heavyweight Champion Dolph Ziggler came to the ring to watch. Later, Theory rolled Riddle up and put his feet on the ropes, only to have Ziggler break it up, allowing Riddle to get the pin. Following the match, Ziggler superkicked Theory to end the show. There is no word on any match between Ziggler and Theory.
Opinion: This is quite the surprise and I’m not sure where it is going. I don’t mind having Ziggler back, but what matters is giving Theory something to do on the way up to the ..