It’s Not Looking Good: Multiple Updates On Sasha Banks And Naomi’s WWE Statuses

That’s not a great sign. There have been a lot of changes taking place in WWE as of late and a lot of those changes have involved the roster. The biggest of these changes took place in May, when Sasha Banks and Naomi walked out of the company, vacating the Women’s Tag Team Titles in the process. Neither has appeared on WWE TV since, and now we might have a big update.
According to Fightful Select, both Banks and Naomi have been removed from WWE’s internal rosters and WWE creative is not expecting them back. They are still both listed on the WWE.com roster page. At the same time, according to Wrestlinginc.com, both Banks and Naomi have removed all references to WWE from their Instagram biographies. Instead, the term “professional wrestler’ is now used, though both of their Twitter handles still include WWE.
Opinion: I don’t think there is much of a surprise here, as it was almost hard to fathom the idea of Banks and Naomi returning to WWE after everything that had happened. I’m not su..

That’s Not Good: Tony Khan Offers Injury Update On Adam Cole

That doesn’t sound great. There are all kinds of injuries that can put someone on the shelf for a long time and that is never good to see. One of the worst parts about an injury is waiting to see just how long they are going to be gone. That is the case with a variety of AEW stars at the moment and unfortunately things might be a bit worse for him as he works towards recovery.
During an interview with the New York Post, AEW President Tony Khan spoke about Adam Cole’s injury status following Cole’s injury at Forbidden Door. Khan said that while Cole had no contact between Double Or Nothing and Forbidden Door and was cleared going into his match at the latter, he is needing some time off to recover. As a result, Cole will not be wrestling until he is 100%. There is no word on when he will be back in action, but he has not appeared on AEW television since Forbidden Door.
Opinion: You never want to hear about something like this and unfortunately it seems like Cole is going to be out of ..

Getting Closer: Positive Sign For Bayley’s WWE Return

Homecoming? It is always sad to see a wrestler put on the shelf for a long time as you never know when they are going to be back. That can make for some rather terrible waiting spells and a WWE star is in the middle of one of the longer in recent memory. Fans have been waiting for her to be back for a long time now and that might be a lot sooner than they think.
According to PWInsider.com, Bayley has been at the WWE Performance Center for several days in the past week, though what she is doing there has yet to be confirmed. Bayley has been out of action since June 2021 with a knee injury and it is not clear when she will be able to return to the ring. Over the last few months, Bayley has dropped hints suggesting that she will be back in the ring soon.
Opinion: This is one of those things that sounds great on paper but you don’t know what it is going to mean, as Bayley could be out of action for a long time to come. What matters is the fact that she is at least on the road to recovery..

Over There: WWE Star Officially Moving From Monday Night Raw To SmackDown

She probably should be. With so many wrestlers under one banner, WWE has to split them up into multiple rosters. In theory the rosters are specific for each show, but that is not always the case. That can make for more than a few interesting situations, especially when one wrestler moves to another roster. Sometimes that needs to be the case and it seems to be so again, especially since a title is involved.
According to PWInsider.com, Liv Morgan has been moved from the Monday Night Raw roster to the SmackDown roster. This comes after Morgan defeated Ronda Rousey to become the new SmackDown Women’s Champion last weekend at Money In The Bank. Morgan won the women’s Money In The Bank ladder match earlier in the night and cashed in on Rousey despite being part of the Monday Night Raw roster. Morgan had been on the Monday Night Raw roster since she was drafted to the show in October 2021.
Opinion: This is about as logical of a move as there was to make and WWE didn’t have much of another ..

The Big Twist: Major Title Shakeup At NXT UK TV Tapings *CONTAINS SPOILERS*

That’s a big one. There are all kinds of wrestlers on the WWE roster and some of them are better known than others. With so many stars out there, it is difficult to keep track of everyone out there, as WWE has its roster split up into different groups. Now one of them is going to be on the shelf for the time being, which unfortunately has major title implications.
According to Inside The Ropes, Ilja Dragunov was forced to vacate the NXT United Kingdom Title at this week’s television tapings. Dragunov appeared at the tapings in a walking boot and announced that he was unable to defend the championship. As a result, an eight man tournament to crown a new champion was announced, with the winner being crowned the new champion. There are no details on Dragunov’s injury. The announcement should air on NXT UK TV before the end of the month.
Opinion: While this isn’t good to hear, it does explain a few things. Dragunov has not been around very much lately and has not wrestled in over two mon..

Stick Around: WWE Announces Long Term Contract Extension For Popular Broadcaster

Stick around for a bit. Commentary is one of the most important parts of any wrestling show. The broadcasting team is tasked with telling the fans what they are seeing and why it is important. They help guide the fans in the right direction and give them the stories that the promotion wants to present. Having the correct voices out there is very important, and now WWE has locked up one of its more prominent voices for a good while.
WWE has announced that SmackDown broadcaster Pat McAfee has signed a multi-year extension with WWE that will keep him with the company for the forseeable future. There is no word on how long the extension will last. McAfee has been broadcasting SmackDown since April 2021 and has also wrestled, defeating Theory at WrestleMania 38. He is scheduled to face Happy Corbin at Summerslam.
Opinion: This is the kind of thing that makes all the sense in the world for WWE as you would want to keep someone as good as McAfee around. Ignoring McAfee’s following from his ..

NXT UK Results – July 7, 2022

NXT UK
Date: July 7, 2022
Location: BT Sports Studios, London, England
Commentators: Nigel McGuinness, Andy Shepherd
Things need to pick up a bit around here and unfortunately that has been the case for a little while now. Between the influx of NXT stars and nothing major happening for a few weeks now, it hasn’t been the most exciting place. Maybe that can be changed this week as Kenny Williams faces Tiger Turan. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Kenny Williams vs. Tiger Turan Williams charges at him before the bell but settles for a lockup once we get going. That earns him an armbar from Turan without much effort, followed by a running shoulder for the knockdown. Turan goes back to the arm before dropkicking a frustrated Williams out to the floor. Back in and Turan does a headstand in the corner to avoid another charge before kicking Williams down again.
Williams finally gets smart by taking out the leg and a boot scrape across the eyes makes it worse. The neck crank doesn’t do m..

Triple H’s Return To WWE Performance Center Might Not Mean Much

It might be a little while. There have been all kinds of changes taking place as of late in WWE, with some of those taking place behind the scenes. Those changes have caused various changes to take place in front of the camera as well. Some of the changes might not have taken effect just yet though, and that seems to be the case with one of the more interesting ones.
Last month, reports stated that Triple H had returned to the WWE Performance Center and declared that he was “back”. However, according to PWInsider.com, the NXT leadership team has not changed and there is nothing to indicate that Triple H has any official position. Shawn Michaels is still the brand’s manager, with head writer Johnny Russo, Nick Bonnano and George Caroll as the writers. There is no word on when, or if, Triple H will resume any kind of authority.
Opinion: This is the kind of thing that shouldn’t surprise you in WWE, as the company continues to change one thing after another. I’m not sure where this is go..

WATCH: WWE Broadcasters Are REALLY Happy At Money In The Bank

They seem to be fans. There are certain moments in wrestling that get fans’ emotions going. It can be a lot of fun to see someone getting to do something that makes things interesting but they are pretty rare. You know them when you see them though and that seemed to be the case last weekend. It was so good that even the commentary team got excited.
At WWE Money In The Bank, Liv Morgan won the women’s Money In The Bank briefcase and cashed in on the same night, defeating Ronda Rousey to become the new SmackDown Women’s Champion. WWE has released a video from the announcers’ table, showing Pat McAfee and Michael Cole’s reaction, with the two of them jumping up in excitement over the cash-in and title change.
I’d call it a win. Check out how Cole and McAfee reacted:
[This post contains video, click to play]

Opinion: Other than maybe a few glimpses, you might not have seen these reactions at the pay per view. WWE putting out the video made for a great visual, even if commentary was l..

Group Effort: AEW Roster Reportedly Stood Up For Wrestler To Prevent His Departure

That’s a classy move. AEW has rapidly become one of the biggest wrestling promotions in the world and it has been quite the success so far. A good deal of that has been due to its roster, but at some point some of them need to change in one way or another. That was nearly the case with one of AEW’s wrestlers, but some more of the roster did not care for the plans.
According to Fightful Select, Colt Cabana’s AEW contract was set to expire earlier this year and the company was not going to offer him a new one. However, other members of the roster stood up for Cabana, who is considered extremely popular backstage. As a result, he was allowed to work the Ring Of Honor Supercard Of Honor event, though he has not wrestled an AEW match since the March 8 Dark. There is no word on when Cabana will wrestle again, though it appears he has been signed to a new deal.
Opinion: That is quite the inspiring story and it is great to see that Cabana has made such an impression on the roster that they a..

Guest Stars: Two Big Names Appear After AEW Dynamite To Offer Respect

They’re not done yet. With so many people on the AEW roster, it can be difficult to keep track of everyone. While a bunch of people appear on either TV show at any given time, it isn’t possible to keep everyone around on every show. Sometimes you see someone show up for a special moment, and that was the case again this week with two of the more popular stars in the company.
The main event of this week’s AEW Dynamite saw Jon Moxley defeat Brody King to retain the Interim AEW World Title. According to PWInsider.com, after the show was over, Malakai Black came to the ring to check on King. As the two were leaving, Darby Allin and Sting appeared, with Allin offering King his hand in respect. However, King and Black left without shaking his hand, leaving Sting and Allin to play to the crowd.
Opinion: That is something that could be interesting later on and I am curious to see where it goes in the future. Allin paying respect to the House Of Black could mean quite a few things, though I d..

REVIEW: Great American Bash 2004: A Real Burial

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?
Great American Bash 2004
Date: June 27, 2004
Location: Norfolk Scope, Norfolk, Virginia
Attendance: 6,500
Commentators: Michael Cole, Tazz
We had to get here at some point and that’s not the most appealing thing in the world. The double main event will see JBL challenging Eddie Guerrero for the WWE Title in a Texas Bullrope match (totally different than the Montana bullrope match) and the Undertaker vs. the Dudley Boyz in a Concrete Crypt match (totally different than the good idea match). Let’s get to it.
The op..