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Card subject to change. We are well on the way to Money in the Bank and that means things are getting more interesting. The card will be centered around the show’s namesake ladder matches, which will take up a good chunk of the company’s roster. However, there are other matches on the show and now one of them is going to need someone new to fill in a gap.
This week’s edition of Monday Night Raw opened with Raw Women’s Champions Bianca Belair announcing that her title defense against Rhea Ripley at Money in the Bank is off. While specifics were not announced, Ripley was said to not be medically cleared to compete. As a result, a fatal five way was held for the title shot, with Carmella defeating Asuka, Liv Morgan, Becky Lynch and Alexa Bliss to earn the match against Belair.
Opinion: I’m not sure what is wrong with Ripley but it is quite the change of pace to have her dropped from a scheduled title match with almost two weeks’ notice. Hopefully Ripley is ok, as medical issues could fi..

Monday Night Raw
Date: June 20, 2022
Location: Pinnacle Bank Arena, Lincoln, Nebraska
Commentators: Jimmy Smith, Corey Graves, Byron Saxton
We are less than two weeks away from Money in the Bank and that means we are probably in for some qualifying matches. Those can make for some interesting showdowns, though I’m not sure I would get my hopes up for that around here. On top of that, Riddle gets to deal with the fallout of losing to Roman Reigns on Smackdown. Let’s get to it.
In Memory Of Tim White.
Here is Bianca Belair for a chat. After getting in her catchphrases, she says that the match with Rhea Ripley isn’t happening….for now. So who gets the title shot at Money in the Bank instead? Tonight we have five women competing, in the form of Alexa Bliss, Liv Morgan, Carmella, Asuka and Becky Lynch, in a fatal five way match to see who gets the shot. All five competitors come out one by one to say they should get the title shot while also taking shots at each other. Belair says she is..

They have a reason for that. Monday Night Raw and SmackDown are the biggest wrestling shows in modern times, with both being on the air for well over twenty years. They are institutions of WWE, but that does not mean things are always perfect. Both shows have some weird quirks at times and now we know both why one of them takes place, plus what some wrestlers think of it.
Over the last few weeks, WWE has had wrestlers make their entrances on television but not have their matches start for sometimes over twenty minutes. Fightful Select has spoken to several WWE stars about the situation, with the wrestlers saying they found it annoying. They have complained to WWE officials, who told them that the delays improve the flow of the show. One wrestler said that they would spend the delay talking to the crowd and getting annoyed at having to wait around for so long.
Opinion: I would love an explanation of how this helps the show flow, because all it does is make me forget that a wrestler is..

That could have been worse. Injuries are a part of wrestling that are never going to be completely eradicated no matter what. The amount of experience and training a wrestler has can only make them so safe as someone always has the chance to get hurt. There are some things that are inherently dangerous no matter what and that was the case this weekend.
This weekend’s Impact Wrestling Slammiversary event featured the first ever Queen Of The Mountain match. During the match, Chelsea Green and Deonna Purrazzo were shoved off a ladder and out of the ring, sending them through a table. According to PWInsider.com, both Green and Purrazzo are ok after their crash and are not expected to miss any time from the ring. Jordynne Grace won the match to regain the Knockouts Title.
Opinion: That could have been so much worse as you never can tell how something like that is going to go. What matters most is that Green and Purrazzo are both ok after such a crash and can stay in the ring. The Queen Of..

With special guest stars! Wrestling companies come and go all the time and some of them take their leave without much fanfare. It can be quite impressive when a company manages to survive for a long time but even longer when they do so with some success. One major company was celebrating a milestone this weekend and they had some guest stars to help.
Impact Wrestling held its Slammiversary pay per view this weekend in honor of the company celebrating twenty years since its debut. Several guest stars and surprises appeared on the show, including videos from Sting, AJ Styles and Kurt Angle. Also appearing were past company names such as David Young, Slash, Chase Stevens and Shark Boy, all of whom appeared in the Reverse Battle Royal on the Countdown show. Other previous stars appearing were Dixie Carter, Davey Richards, America’s Most Wanted and Christy Hemme.
This is a lot of talent here. Check out the company legends talking about the company:
[This post contains video, click to pla..

NXT LVL Up
Date: June 17, 2022
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Sudu Shah, Nigel McGuinness
Things are starting to take form around here and it makes for some more interesting shows. You can tell which names are going to put on a good match and which ones are going to be there as either cannon fodder or to get in some reps. That can make the show easier to predict, but not necessarily good, as tends to be the case. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Thea Hail vs. Arianna Grace Hail has the rest of Chase U with her and Grace now wears a feather boa to the ring. Grace powers her around to start before they fight over a wristlock. Hail’s arm is snapped across the top to cut her off though and it’s time to kick away in the corner. A DDT on the arm gives Grace two and we hit the hammerlock, with Grace slamming Hail into the mat for a bonus. That’s broken up as Hail fights up and hits a running flip neckbreaker, followed by an arm trap cradle for the pin ..

It was a busy night. Titles are the easiest concept in wrestling because anyone gets the idea of someone wearing a shiny belt. You can easily figure out the idea and it is a simple match to set up: someone has a title and someone else wants it. That makes title changes some of the most important parts of a wrestling promotion and there were quite a few of them this weekend.
Impact Wrestling held their Slammiversary pay per view over the weekend, marking the company’s twentieth anniversary. There were five title matches on the show with four titles changing hands. Here are the title changes:
Mike Bailey won the X-Division Title in a six man Ultimate X match Rosemary/Taya Valkyrie defeated the Influence to win the Knockouts Tag Team Titles The Good Brothers defeated the Briscoes to regain the Tag Team Titles Jordynne Grace won the Knockouts Title in the first ever Queen of the Mountain match Impact Wrestling World Champion Josh Alexander retained his title over Eric Young in the main e..

He might not be around as often. There are a lot of wrestlers in the world today but they all have one thing in common: at some point they have to step out of the ring. That can be harder for some than others and it can make for some interesting exits. Some people do it in a different way, and a current WWE star might have a bit of a unique plan for how to wind things down.
During an interview on The Five Count, WWE’s Sheamus said that he would like to change his schedule to acting for a few months and then wrestling for a few months. The idea behind the switch would be to keep things fresh, though Sheamus says he still loves being in front of the camera in one way or another. Sheamus, 44, has been wrestling on the WWE main roster since 2009 and has dabbled in acting since 2008.
Opinion: This is one of those things that could work, but it does seem that Sheamus is starting to think about life after wrestling. You wouldn’t know that he was in his mid 40s, but it is nice to see that he..

Not so fast? To say that WWE is in a state of flux backstage would be a huge understatement. There have been all kinds of changes with a lot of people, including those who help run the company. As usual, a lot of those changes involve the McMahons, including Stephanie McMahon and her husband Triple H. It turns out that those things might not be as bad as they seem.
In recent days, rumors have started to appear online suggesting that McMahon and Triple H are separating. This was due to McMahon appearing without her wedding ring and stepping away from her role in WWE. According to Wade Keller on PWTorch VIP Audio, there is no truth to the rumors and the two are not separated. The two have been reducing their hours in WWE due to a combination of the age of their daughters, Triple H’s health and wanting to be at work less often. Earlier this week, McMahon took over as temporary CEO and Chairman of WWE while her father Vince is under investigation for an alleged affair with an employee.
O..

We have some sad news to report today as former WWE referee Tim White passed away at the age of 68. This is just one day after another former referee, David Hebner, died at age 73.
From WWE.com:
For more than two decades, Tim White was a dedicated WWE referee and official. He began his illustrious career in 1985 working with Andre the Giant and as a part-time referee.
During his tenure, he was the referee for some of WWE’s biggest matches, including the infamous Hell in a Cell Match between Undertaker and Mankind at King of the Ring 1998.
A shoulder injury effectively ended White’s in-ring career, but he still remained a major part of WWE, working behind the scenes as an official and talent agent until 2009.
We at Wrestling Rumors extend our deepest condolences to the White family during this difficult time.
“GET EXCLUSIVE UPDATES! Click here to sign up for the exclusive Wrestling Rumors daily newsletter, delivered right to your inbox.”
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Congratulations! Wrestling is a complicated industry as you have no idea when the wrestlers are going to be able to find free time for anything outside of the ring. The wrestlers are on the road almost constantly and romantic relationships can be even more complicated than anything else. Some wrestlers have figured it out though, even while working for different promotions.
During a recent appearance on the Sessions podcast with Renee Paquette, AEW’s Toni Storm revealed that she and New Japan’s Juice Robinson have been married. The two had previously announced their engagement, with Storm saying that they had been planning a wedding before just deciding to get married one morning. There is nothing to indicate that the two will be wrestling together anytime soon.
Opinion: This is one of those things that you do not see happen very often but it is always special no matter what happens. Storm and Robinson work for different companies but seem to have found a way to pull this off. Good f..

It was a big week. There have been a lot of changes in WWE in recent weeks but nothing has come close to the Vince McMahon situation. Earlier this week, news broke of an investigation into an alleged affair McMahon had with a WWE employee. McMahon has since stepped back from his role as WWE CEO and Chairman of the Board, but he was still on SmackDown this week. It was a bit of a surprising night.
Fightful Select has several more details on the show, which started with a short McMahon speech about the WWE “Then, Now, Forever, Together” slogan. The segment was not included in the format of the show that Fightful saw at 7:50pm, ten minutes before the show aired. The backstage atmosphere during the show was said to be looser than usual, with McMahon said to be more hands on than usual.
Opinion: This is a situation where the details make things all the more interesting and that is the case again here. McMahon does not seem to be acting like this is that big of a deal and I’m not sure how ..