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What about him? The biggest wrestling story of the year, and also perhaps the biggest in several years, has been that of Vince McMahon stepping back from his role as WWE CEO and Chairman of the Board. This comes after McMahon was investigated for an alleged affair with a WWE employee, but McMahon was not the only name mentioned. So what about the other person?
The story on the investigation into McMahon included a statement saying that he passed the employee over to John Laurinaitis “like a toy”. According to Wrestling Observer Radio, Laurinaitis was not present at this week’s SmackDown, but he was never scheduled to be in the first place. Should he not appear as scheduled next week on Monday Night Raw, it would be seen as a very bad sign for his future.
Opinion: Laurinaitis has been a bit of a wild card in this whole thing as McMahon has gotten the attention, as he should have. However, Laurinaitis is likely going to be in some very hot water of his own and I’m really not sure if he..

That’s quite the effort. There have been a lot of stories throughout the year in WWE but one of the most interesting has been that of Sasha Banks and Naomi walking out on the company. The two left in the middle of a Monday Night Raw in May and have not been back, with little to suggest that they will be returning. WWE has not made many references to them, but now they are taking a reference away.
There is a possibility that WWE digitally removed a Banks sign at this week’s SmackDown. As shown on Twitter and according to Fightful, a sign saying “Sasha Krew 4 Life” was edited into a blank white sign at some point during the night. There is no word on how many other times WWE may have done this or if they will do it again in the future. It also comes as rumors have swirled about Banks possibly being released from WWE.
@xTeamZuleta24x Hey man I found a little earlier! It appears that #WWE edited out a #SashaBanks? sign on #SmackDown last night. Now I do personally believe that she done w..

They had an idea. WWE is in a bit of a weird place when it comes to top stars. Roman Reigns has dominated the company for the better part of two years now and there is nothing to suggest that he has more than one or two serious competitors. WWE might have started to remedy that this week, though it turns out that it was not their original choice for the spot.
The big surprise ending to this week’s SmackDown saw the return of Brock Lesnar, who attacked Reigns to end the show, setting up their Summerslam main event. According to Fightful Select, Lesnar was brought in as a replacement for Randy Orton, once it was clear that Orton would not be able to wrestle at Summerslam due to his back injury. Lesnar being brought in had nothing to do with the Vince McMahon investigation this week.
Opinion: This isn’t the most surprising thing, but it does say a lot that WWE is so shallow at the top of the card that their options are either Orton or breaking the Lesnar glass. How can they not have any..

Change the marquee. There are all kinds of wrestling shows from WWE every week and some of them are among the most well know shows in history. Some of them are not so much though, as WWE has a lot of shows that tend to fly under the radar. That is the case with their two weekly recap shows, and now one of them is going to be getting a brand new name.
WWE has officially renamed their weekly SmackDown recap show from Talking Smack to the SmackDown Lowdown. The name change officially took place this week with the first show under the new name taking place on June 18. There is no word on why the name change took place and there is nothing to suggest that the show has changed in any significant way under the new name.
Opinion: That’s one of those decisions that WWE makes that doesn’t mean much of anything but is indeed a change. I still don’t know why the recap shows aren’t used a bit better. Let the wrestlers try their hand at some promos and see who can make them work. It’s one of the s..

We have some sad news to report today as former WWE referee David Hebner passed away at 73.
David’s nephew, Brian, took to Twitter to share his thoughts on the unfortunate news:
I’m so sad. Just don’t really know what to say. Today we lost one of the good ones…….My uncle David. He was one of the best humans in the world. Thank you all for all the outpouring of messages and support. This is a tough one. I Love You Uncle David. God got a good one.
I’m so sad. Just don’t really know what to say. Today we lost one of the good ones…….My uncle David. He was one of the best humans in the world. Thank you all for all the outpouring of messages and support. This is a tough one. I Love You Uncle David. God got a good one. ?
— Brian Hebner (@babyhebner) June 18, 2022
From WWE.com:
Throughout a storied career, Hebner found himself at the center of some of WWE’s most iconic moments. Hebner officiated the classic showdown between Randy Savage and Ricky Steamboat at WrestleMania III, and the cl..

Rampage
Date: June 17, 2022
Location: Chaifetz Arena, St. Louis, Missouri
Commentators: Taz, Excalibur, Chris Jericho
We are less than two weeks away from Forbidden Door and a bunch of matches were added to the card this week on Dynamite. I doubt that we get that much this time, but we do get Jade Cargill vs. Willow Nightingale. That should be a fun match and odds are we get something else on the same level. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Jon Moxley vs. Dante Martin William Regal is on commentary and calls Jericho a Trout Slapper. Moxley powers him into the corner to start as we talk about Zack Sabre Jr.’s comments about Bryan Danielson. They trade wristlocks into a headlock takeover from Moxley but Martin is back up with a dropkick out to the floor. Moxley runs him over again though and we take a break.
Back with Moxley hitting the running knee to the face and a butterfly superplex for two. Martin fights up and hits a quick ax handle, setting up a high crossbody for two of his..

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?
Monday Night Raw
Date: August 6, 2007
Location: HSBC Arena, Buffalo, New York
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler
We have less than a month to go before Summerslam and that means we need to keep going towards John Cena vs. Randy Orton. Other than that, we might be seeing more of King Booker vs. Jerry Lawler, which actually didn’t wrap up after one week. Maybe we get something else set up this week, which might be a good idea. Let’s get to it.
Vince McMahon returned earlier today and wants the roster out in the a..

It’s a way to go. Mainstream athletes have a long history in wrestling and that shouldn’t be a surprise. They are able to bring a different dimension into the wrestling world because fans will want to see what happens when those worlds collide. There have been some instances of stars from other sports coming into wrestling and having quite the success and that might be the case again soon.
This week on SmackDown, Happy Corbin was defeated by Madcap Moss in a Last Laugh match, seemingly ending their feud. Following their match, Corbin yelled at broadcaster Pat McAfee over jokes that McAfee had made at his expense. McAfee then led the fans in a chorus of laughter at Corbin, who walked away without getting physical. Corbin and McAfee have a history together, as they were roommates during their time in the NFL.
Opinion: I could go for more of this, as McAfee has a history of doing well when he gets in a WWE ring. He hasn’t had that many matches, but putting him in there against someone l..

There’s a comeback. AEW has built up its roster with a mixture of veterans and up and coming stars, which allows them to have quite the mixture of wrestlers and matches. As a result, the fans continue to react strongly to almost anything that they do, meaning that a big moment can get quite the reception. That was the case again this week, as a special return took place.
Sting made his return to AEW television this week ok Rampage, helping Darby Allin after Allin’s match against Bobby Fish. Allin won the match but was attacked by Fish and Kyle O’Reilly until Sting returned and made the save. This let Sting and Allin Pillmanize O’Reilly’s leg in a repeat of the same attack that put Sting on the shelf during the May 18 edition of Dynamite.
Welcome back. Check out the big return to end the show:
[This post contains video, click to play]

Opinion: This is the kind of thing that makes AEW feel special. They know how to time this kind of return to maximize the impact, as Sting has been g..

That’s a different one. Next weekend, AEW and New Japan will be presenting its first ever Forbidden Door pay per view. The event will include a series of matches between the two promotions with one dream match after another. The card has already taken shape but there are still some matches that need to be filled in. AEW took care of part of that this week, as another promotion is getting in on the act (kind of).
A new match was added to Forbidden Door this week on AEW Rampage. Announced for the show was a triple threat tag team match between Ring Of Honor Tag Team Champions FTR, IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions the United Empire (Great O’Khan/Jeff Cobb) and Roppongi Vice with both sets of titles on the line. Forbidden Door is set to take place from the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.
Opinion: That is the kind of stacked match that can make for a great addition to the pay per view card. I’m not sure how the companies are going to handle one of their titles changing hands but it..

Keep filling up those spots. We are coming up on WWE’s annual Money In The Bank event, which will be headlined by the show’s namesake matches. These matches are among the biggest that WWE presents all year with some of the more prominent names in the company competing for a guaranteed on-demand shot at the World Title. Now we know some more names who will be getting their shot.
This week’s SmackDown saw three more names added to the Money In The Bank ladder match fields. First, both Sheamus and Drew McIntyre were added to the men’s match. This is the result of a decision by WWE management after last week’s qualifying match ended in a double disqualification. Later in the show, Raquel Rodriguez defeated Shayna Baszler to qualify for the women’s match. This means the men’s match now has three entrants (Sheamus, McIntyre, Seth Rollins) and the women’s match has four (Lacey Evans, Alexa Bliss, Liv Morgan, Raquel Rodriguez) out of eight spots per match.
Opinion: This is the kind of night ..

He didn’t have much to say. The biggest wrestling story of the week has been the issue of an investigation into an alleged affair with McMahon paying $3 million to buy the woman’s silence. As a result, McMahon has stepped back from his role as WWE CEO and Chairman of the Board, but that is just on the business side of things. There was also a storyline issue to deal with, and WWE did that…kind of.
McMahon opened this week’s edition of SmackDown in an appearance that had announced before the show went on the air. During his appearance, McMahon talked about how great it was to be in Minneapolis for the show before talking about how the WWE motto is “Then, Now, Forever, Together.” McMahon then welcomed us to SmackDown without saying anything else. He did not appear again for the rest of the night.
The Boss speaks. Check out what McMahon had to say:
[This post contains video, click to play]

Opinion: Well ok then. McMahon had almost nothing to say here, and that makes me wonder how lon..