media

You have to cover it. The biggest wrestling story of the year has been the investigation into Vince McMahon’s alleged affair and the resulting payment to cover it up. McMahon has stepped back from his role as WWE CEO and Chairman of the Board, with his daughter Stephanie taking his place. That puts Stephanie in charge and now she has had to cover a big part of her new job.
According to PWInsider.com, WWE held an all hands on deck meeting earlier this week to address the Vince ordeal. Stephanie talked about the investigation, saying she loved Vince and would be doing everything she could for WWE going forward. This is one of several meetings that Stephanie has been a part of in Vince’s place since she took over his role with the company.
Opinion: This is something that Stephanie was going to have to do but it still feels so strange. While I don’t entirely buy the idea that Vince is no longer in charge of everything behind the scenes, having Stephanie as the official voice backstage is..

It’s a gig. Wrestlers have a rather unique career path, but at the end of the day, everyone has to move on from the ring at some point. That is easier said than done for a lot of people though as some of them do not have another place to go. That can be the case for some top stars, some of whom try more than a few odd directions. That seems to be the case again.
As part of the festivities around his final match, Ric Flair and Kitchen Data Systems have announced the opening of a virtual restaurant called WOOOOO! Wings. The restaurant will open for deliveries in Nashville, Tennessee, the location of Flair’s last match, on July 28 before launching nationwide the next day. Flair’s final match will take place on July 31 against an opponent to be named.
Here is the press release:
Ric Flair Launches Wooooo! Wings Virtual Restaurant with Kitchen Data Systems
16-time World Champion and 2-time WWE Hall of Famer partners with technology and services company Kitchen Data Systems to roll out Wo..

Twice as nice. Injuries are a terrible thing to see in wrestling as they can keep someone on the shelf for a long time, but they can also lead to some nice returns. Having someone come back from an injury is great to see as they can return refreshed and able to do something they have not done in a long time. That might be the case again soon in NXT, times two.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, both Io Shirai and Zoey Stark are expected to return to the ring relatively soon, though no specific date was given for either. Shirai has not wrestled since the April 2 Stand & Deliver when she hit the announcers’ table on a moonsault to the floor. Stark has been out of action since October as she is recovering from surgery for a torn ACL.
Opinion: That is a great thing to see as the two of them have both been out of action for a long time. The women’s division has some depth to it, but adding in two more stars is going to be a good thing. You can put them into either title pictu..

Try again later. Injuries are one of the few things that can impact any wrestler at any time and hurt them all in the same way. You never know when someone is going to get hurt and be taken out of the ring and that is never a good thing to see. Such an injury can change how a story or match is going and that seems to be the case again, as a change had to be made this week.
This week’s edition of SmackDown featured a Money in the Bank qualifying match between Tamina and Shotzi, with the latter advancing. The original plan for the match called for Aliyah to face Shotzi but the change was made before the show. Pat McAfee explained the change on commentary, announcing that Aliyah was injured, though he did not say how long she would be out of action.
Opinion: This isn’t something that makes the most difference, but it is a change that WWE had to make. Aliyah being out of action further thins an already weak women’s division and her being gone long term could cause issues for others. I do..

Talent doesn’t relate well to him. WWE has been shaken up in a lot of ways in recent weeks and there is a chance that several of those changes are going to continue. This includes several backstage moves related to the Vince McMahon affair scandal. One of the moves involved a new boss in charge of a pretty important department and some wrestlers are not happy about the change.
As a result of his involvement in the McMahon investigation, John Laurinaitis has been placed on administrative leave from his role as Head of Talent Relations and Bruce Prichard has taken the position According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the backstage reaction to the change has been mostly negative, as Prichard is seen as a quiet person who does not interact with the wrestlers. Laurinaitis was seen as more approachable and willing to talk.
Opinion: The more I hear about all of these changes, the more worried I am about how the whole thing is going to do. At the end of the day, it seems there are peo..

Rampage
Date: June 24, 2022
Location: UW Panther Arena, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Commentators: Excalibur, Chris Jericho, Taz
It’s the go home show for Forbidden Door and I have no idea what that is going to mean here. This week’s Dynamite was a huge push towards the show, including several New Japan stars being added. That could mean more than a few things for this show and I’m curious to see where it going. Now to find out if that is a good thing. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Andrade El Idolo vs. Rey Fenix Jose and Alex Abrahantes are here as the seconds. They don’t bother with the feeling out process to start until it’s Fenix hitting a quick springboard hurricanrana to stagger Andrade. A boot in the corner staggers Fenix but he is right back with a kick to the ribs.
Something out of a fireman’s carry is countered into Andrade’s Three Amigos, which Fenix reverses into his own Three Amigos. That’s enough to send Andrade outside so Fenix hits a heck of a flip dive to drop him agai..

Welcome back? With so many wrestlers on its roster, it can be a little difficult for WWE stars to stand out. Over time, some wrestlers are going to get stale or just need something new to make them feel like they matter again. This is easier said than done, but there are certain tricks that can make it better. That was on display again this week with a surprise twist on a return.
This week on SmackDown, the Viking Raiders made their scheduled return, where they attacked the New Day from behind. This led to a beatdown of the New Day, as the Raiders turned heel in the process. Later in the show, they said that they were afraid of no one and no one was safe. The team has not wrestled on WWE television since the March 28 edition of Monday Night Raw.
That’s quite the change. Check out the Raiders’ return and attack:
[This post contains video, click to play]

Opinion: This is the kind of move that the Raiders need and it does sort of fit them better. The team is a pair of bruisers who ca..

Keep them coming. We are less than two days away from AEW’s Forbidden Door event. The show will see AEW and New Japan Pro Wrestling stars face off in a series of matches, most of which have never been seen more. The card is stacked up and down and some of the bigger matches are looking quite interesting. There is a lot before the show starts though and that was expanded this week.
Two more matches were added to the Forbidden Door Buy-In show this week on AEW Rampage. First up, Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland will face off against Suzuki-Gun’s El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru. In addition, the Factor’s QT Marshall and Aaron Solo will meet Chaos’s Hirooki Goto and Yoshi-Hashi. The Buy-In show airs Sunday at 7pm EST before the show officially begins at 8pm.
Opinion: This show is going in all kinds of directions and I think that might be a good thing. There are going to be a lot of different matches that fans have never seen before and it is nice to have that kind of variety on a show..

Smackdown
Date: June 24, 2022
Location: Moody Center, Austin, Texas
Commentators: Michael Cole, Pat McAfee
We are eight days away from Money In The Bank and the ladder matches need to be filled in. This includes a women’s qualifying match tonight, but odds are some of the focus is going to be on what Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar. You know, because we need to build towards Summerslam before Money In The Bank. Let’s get to it.
We open with a long recap of Roman Reigns retaining the World Title over Riddle last week. After the match, Brock Lesnar returned and took Reigns out, setting up their Summerslam rematch.
Here is Drew McIntyre to get things going. He’s looking forward to Money In The Bank but he’s looking even more forward to Summerslam, because he is going to cash in on whoever wins between Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar. Cue the Brawling Brutes to interrupt, with Sheamus saying Drew is off his bleeding rocker if he thinks he is going to be the one to cash in at Summerslam. She..

That’s some rare company. There are a lot of wrestlers in the world today and it takes something special to make them stand out in the crowd. That is something that can be hard to figure out, though there are ways to do it without involving anything that is done in the ring. Now another star has taken a rather bold step that makes her all the rarer kind of wrestler today.
During an interview with Breakfast Television In Canada, Impact Wrestling star Gisele Shaw revealed that she is a transgender woman. Shaw said that she made the announcement to be true to herself and wanting to love herself. Impact Wrestling has put out a statement praising Shaw, including a quote from Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace praising Shaw for being a role model. Shaw made her full time debut in Impact Wrestling in January.
IMPACT Wrestling Supports Gisele Shaw
IMPACT Wrestling Knockout competitor Gisele Shaw has disclosed she is a transgender woman to the wider public. Shaw, who joined IMPACT’s roster in ..

I picked a heck of a week to do a column in advance last week because everything went haywire. Ignoring the whole Jeff Hardy fiasco (which seems like something that is far from over), there was the crazy shakeup at WWE. There were changed made in the last week or so that would have seemed unthinkable not so long ago but now have come to be a reality. That’s what we are going to be looking at this week (shocking I know), plus one bit of fallout that might make things all the worse, at least for fans.
So as you probably know, WWE is officially investigating Vince McMahon and John Laurinaitis for an affair with a WWE employee. McMahon reportedly paid to keep her quiet, as well as raised her salary when the affair began before passing her to Laurinaitis “like a toy”. I’ll let your skin crawl for a bit after that thought before moving on to what this has already meant.
The initial fallout from these shenanigans has already started, with McMahon taking a step back from his roles as CEO and..

That’s an upgrade. WWE has been undergoing a lot of backstage changes throughout the last year. People have been moved in and out of positions and several of those roles are key to helping the company be as successful as it can. Some of the biggest changes have taken place in recent weeks and now we have another one, which may stabilize things in an important area for a long time.
Earlier this week, a rumor broke that Triple H was returning to the WWE Performance Center, saying that he was “back”. Wrestling Observer Radio has more details on the return, saying that Triple H said that some things are happening but he can’t talk about them at the moment. It is not clear if Triple H is running NXT again, but he is said to be back with more power.
Opinion: As a long time NXT fan, this is a very exciting time. At the end of the day, NXT 2.0 has been a very different direction for the show, though I’m not sure how interesting it has been. The show has been watching a developmental promotio..