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Meet the new guy. WWE is a rather large wrestling company with all kinds of stars under its umbrella. As a result, the company is able to offer a wide variety of matches and stars, including wrestlers from around the world. It can be interesting to see wrestlers from different countries trying their luck on different stages. That seems to be the case again as NXT has a new star on its hands.
This week’s edition of NXT featured a vignette for a debuting star named JD McDonagh. The video ended with a shot of McDonagh, who was revealed as former NXT UK star Jordan Devlin, who said his “never bet against an Ace” catchphrase. This comes after Devlin lost a Loser Leaves NXT UK match to United Kingdom Champion Ilja Dragunov earlier this year. There is no word on when he will debut in NXT.
You might know the guy. Check out the McDonagh vignette:
[This post contains video, click to play]

Opinion: This is the kind of thing that baffles me about WWE, as it isn’t like Devlin was some no name ..

NXT
Date: June 21, 2022
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Wade Barrett, Vic Joseph
It’s another title week this time around as we have Carmelo Hayes defending the North American Title against Tony D’Angelo in the main event. Other than that we continue the build towards the Great American Bash, where Bron Breakker will defend against Cameron Grimes. Other than that, we get more Lash Legend and Joe Gacy because we’re that lucky. Let’s get to it.
Solo Sikoa vs. Grayson Waller Before the match, Sikoa talks about how he’s tired of Sikoa whining and is ready to uncensor himself. That’s enough for Sikoa to charge at him and the fight is on fast. They head inside with Sikoa hammering away and hitting a belly to back suplex. Back up and Sikoa head fakes him to set up a clothesline as Waller can’t get anything going here. Waller gets smart by kicking at the leg and dropping Sikoa for a change. Sikoa gets sent outside but comes back with an elbow to the face as..

He might not be back. WWE has a lot of people who come together to make the promotion work. This includes the wrestlers in front of the camera, but also several people who stay backstage. There are a lot of names that fans might recognize for their previous or current efforts, but now one of those names very well might not be around any longer after a scandal has taken place.
Earlier this week, John Laurinaitis was placed on administrative leave from his role as heat of talent relations in WWE due to his investigation in a scandal involving an affair with a WWE employee. Bruce Prichard has taken Laurinaitis’ place while still being part of WWE creative. According to Fightful Select, several backstage in WWE believe that Laurinaitis is “as good as gone”, with many of them being happy that Laurinaitis is gone. There is however a worry about Prichard holding both roles, as it could become an issue in regards to working with the two departments.
Opinion: This whole ordeal has turned into..

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?
Money in the Bank 2018
Date: June 17, 2018
Location: Allstate Arena, Rosemont, Illinois
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Tom Phillips, Jonathan Coachman, Byron Saxton
It’s finally time to get to what WWE seems to think is the most important show of the year, at least based on how much they promote it. Tonight we find out who might be cashing in to get a cheap World Title reign at any point in the next year. Other than that we have AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura V in a Last Man Standing match. Let’s get t..

It would be a big one. There are a lot of matches in WWE any given year but only a handful of them hit the big time. It often takes something special to get a match to that level and a lot of that is due to the amount of time that is put into everything. WWE might have another case to do that again, but it could be a long time before we actually see the match take place.
On a recent edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer spoke about how a potential Randy Orton vs. Riddle match could go. Meltzer said that the seeds had been planted to have Orton be annoyed at Riddle for dedicating a major match against Roman Reigns to him and then losing in the ending. The idea would be that Orton would turn on Riddle, though the match would not likely take place until next year due to Orton being out of action with a back injury. Riddle has continued to mention Orton and use his moves while Orton has been out of action.
Opinion: The more I think about it, the more I would like to see Orton..

That’s an important part. WWE has long since taken over the wrestling industry and no other promotion really comes close to what they are doing. That puts them in a unique place, which is helped by the fact that they have more money than any other promotion. Part of that comes from being a publicly traded company, but now the negative side of that could be coming through.
According to Businesswire.com, the Schall Law Firm is asking for WWE investors to contact their office over possible violations of security laws. This comes after WWE announced that they are investigating Vince McMahon allegedly paying a WWE employee $3 million to hide an affair between the two. Schall is looking into whether or not WWE violated security laws by possibly issuing false or misleading statements or failed to disclose pertinent information. WWE has not commented on the announcement.
Opinion: I have no idea where this is going, but there is a very good chance that this winds up being something else WWE h..

They had another idea. Wrestling is quite the unique form of entertainment as while it is based around the in-ring action, there are several other aspects that can be focused on as well. There might be a mixture of action, drama and even romance along with various comedic factors. That was almost the case in a recent segment but a rewrite took care of that possibility.
The final segment of last week’s Monday Night Raw featured Bobby Lashley vs. Theory in a pose down. According to Fightful Select, R-Truth was originally pitched to be part of the segment and several props were even brought to the venue for such an addition. However, R-Truth was never included or mentioned during the segment. There is no word on why WWE changed their minds.
Opinion: This is something that could have added a little bit to the match but for whatever reason, that isn’t what WWE did. There is a good chance that it was a timing issue, as there was only so much time left in the show when the pose down began. ..

Make it bigger for Flair. There have been a lot of wrestlers over the history of the business but only a few of them have reached the top level. Those wrestlers are among the biggest names in the history of the industry and some of them are still top names today. One of them is going to be wrapping up his legendary career soon, but it is going to be in front of even more people.
Ric Flair is scheduled to wrestle his final match on July 31 in Nashville, Tennessee. However, as confirmed by Sports Illustrated, the venue will not be moved from the Nashville Fairgrounds to the larger Nashville Municipal Auditorium. The move comes after a demand for tickets, with the new venue holding about seven thousand seats. Flair’s opponent has yet to be confirmed.
Opinion: I’m still not sure what is going on with the match but I’m still not sure if I want to actually see the thing. There is certainly an audience for the match, though it is going to be one of those things that is a bit hard to watch. ..

There are a few more. With less than two weeks to go before WWE Money in the Bank, WWE still has several slots left to fill for the show. This includes multiple names for the show’s namesake matches but WWE has already gotten some of them covered. They did even more of that this week, as a few more names qualified for the men’s and women’s versions of the matches.
Two more names were added to Money in the Bank ladder matches this week on Monday Night Raw, with one man and one woman qualifying. First up, Omos defeated Riddle to become the fourth entrant (along with Seth Rollins, Sheamus and Drew McIntyre) in the men’s match. Later, in the show’s main event, Asuka defeated Becky Lynch to join Lacey Evans, Alexa Bliss, Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez in the women’s match. Eight entrants are scheduled per match, with the show taking place on July 2.
Opinion: The last few weeks have been full of matches where the fields grow, but then the ladder matches themselves have to actually work. T..

That’s never good to hear. A lot of wrestlers have stepped into the ring over the years and several of them have had quite the success. However, there are only a few who reach the very top levels and become legends. These are names that almost any wrestling fan knows and it can be sad to see them have health issues later in life. Unfortunately that is the case again, and now it is fairly serious.
WWE Hall Of Famer Superstar Billy Graham has announced on Facebook that he will be undergoing surgery that will result in the amputation of some of his toes. The surgery is the result an infection in his toes with the procedure taking place at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Graham has had several health issues in recent years, including multiple issues with his kidneys.
Opinion: This is something that you never want to see as Graham’s health issues continue. Having part of your body taken away is never a good thing and it seems to be another step down a fairly long and downhill slo..

Put it up. With less than two weeks to go before WWE Money in the Bank, it is time for WWE to start hammering down the rest of the card. There are not a ton of wrestlers free due to the ladder matches, but there are enough stories set up to make the show work. Now we have another match set up after several weeks of it being teased before being made official.
This week on Monday Night Raw, a United States Title match was officially added to the Money in the Bank card, with Bobby Lashley earning a title shot against Theory. Lashley and Theory have attacked each other in recent weeks, with Theory saying that Lashley could have a title shot if he won a three man gauntlet match. Lashley went on to defeat Chad Gable, Otis and Theory himself, setting up the title match.
Opinion: I don’t think it was a surprise to see this match added to the show but at least they finally got it on the card. It helps that this is a match that could go either way, as Lashley winning wouldn’t be a surprise, bu..

The saga continues. According to a report from Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful, John Laurinaitis has been placed on administrative leave from WWE. This is due to his potential involvement in the current scandal involving Vince McMahon and an inappropriate relationship with an employee within the company.
The report also states that Bruce Pritchard will serve as the Interim Head of Talent Relations.
Fightful can confirm that talent were informed that Bruce Prichard is now interim Head of Talent Relations. John Laurinaitis was placed on administrative leave.
— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) June 21, 2022
The WWE board presented a report stating that McMahon passed the employee over to John Laurinaitis “like a toy”. It is unknown what that is referring to at this current time.
McMahon is currently being investigated for an alleged $3 million payment to a WWE employee due to a sexual relationship between the two. The investigation also includes a variety of other possible c..