media

Dynamite
Date: June 15, 2022
Location: Chaifetz Arena, St. Louis, Missouri
Commentators: Excalibur, Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone
The road to Forbidden Door continues and as has been the case with AEW in recent weeks, things have gotten a little bit screwy. This time around it is Jeff Hardy getting arrested for driving under the influence, meaning that he will not be around for this week’s Tag Team Title match. Hopefully this doesn’t throw the show into chaos so let’s get to it.
Chris Jericho vs. Ortiz Hair vs. hair, the Jericho Appreciation Society and Eddie Kingston are here, and William Regal is on commentary. Ortiz charges in and knocks Jericho to the floor for some biting of the face. Jericho takes over outside and hammers away inside, only to have Ortiz get in some shots of his own. The suicide dive is broken up though and Jericho hits a suplex off the apron to the floor as we take a break.
Back with Ortiz clotheslining his way out of trouble and hitting a quick cutter. Jericho rol..

That’s a rough one to watch. While he is certainly a very talented wrestler, Jeff Hardy also has some issues outside the ring. Unfortunately some of these are legal issues which have caused him several problems over the years. The problems have flared up again this week, and now we can see just how bad things got, even in a situation that was already bad in the first place.
Earlier this week, Hardy was arrested on charges of driving under the influence and other issues. Since then, TMZ have released the dashboard video from the police car, showing three police officers pulling their guns on Hardy for not obeying their orders to exit his car. The officers then remove Hardy from the car and have him sit down, where they interview him about his driving. Hardy said that he was on his way to the doctor for a “brain scan”, which he could not explain. The video ends with Hardy undergoing field sobriety tests and being handcuffed. Hardy has since been suspended from AEW as a result of the arr..

Stick around for a bit. Wrestlers are a lot like other athletes in that they have to hang up their boots one day. That is a bit trickier for a wrestler though as it is rather easy to be able to stick around for one more match here or there, especially with so many promotions available. It seems that the news of someone no longer wrestling might have been a bit exaggerated.
Earlier this year, Dirty Dango (formerly known as Fandango in WWE) said that he would be stepping away from wrestling in the next few months. The tweet also said “Goodbye forever”, which was taken to mean that Dango was retiring. However, in an interview with the Dropkick Podcast, Dango explained that he was not retiring, but rather not wrestling as much. Dango said that he will be putting more time into his construction business as well as having surgery on his knee. He also wanted to get away from Twitter, which he described as a very negative platform.
Opinion: I can see why there was some confusion and thankful..

Maybe later. AEW has quite the talent roster, comprised of a varying mixture of wrestlers. This includes established veterans, current top stars and young up and coming talent. With so much talent available, it is impossible to keep track of everyone and sometimes a wrestler might not be able to fit in on the roster. That is the case again and you might not be seeing a young star again.
According to Fightful, Jake Atlas is not expected back with AEW in the future. Atlas has not appeared with the company since he tore his ACL in January. Despite being shown in the “Jake Atlas Is All Elite” graphic that normally means that he is signed to a contract, Atlas was on a per appearance deal. Since then, Atlas has been arrested for domestic violence. AEW has not commented on Atlas’ situation.
Opinion: I don’t know how much of a surprise that this is as Atlas has not been seen or mentioned in AEW in months. He also was never a top star and then had the injury as well as the legal issues. What ..

You might want to fix that. Back on August 30, 2020, Roman Reigns won the Universal Title and has held the championship ever since. Reigns is one of the longest reigning World Champions in WWE history and there is nothing to suggest that he is going to be losing the title anytime soon. However, some things have changed in WWE and now things might have to be switched up as a result.
According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, WWE may be considering a title change due to Reigns’ new contract that allows him to appear less frequently. Meltzer speculated that a title change could see Seth Rollins as WWE Undisputed Universal Champion to be champion when Cody Rhodes returns from injury. There is no word on when or where such a title change could occur. Reigns is scheduled to defend against Riddle this week on SmackDown.
Opinion: The more I watch of WWE these days, the nicer such an idea sounds. Reigns not being around almost at all does WWE no favors and it would be nice to have..

There’s the big one. NXT has come a long way in its history but it still has a lot of things that it needs to do. The most important of these things is to continue to develop stars for the future of WWE, which is where the main event scene comes into play. The promotion has quite the talent roster, and now some of those stars are going to be meeting in a pretty high profile match.
This week on NXT, Cameron Grimes challenged Bron Breakker for an NXT Title shot at the Great American Bash on July 5, with Breakker accepting. Grimes spoke about how Breakker got where he is based on his name, while Grimes had no family legacy to get him started. The match will be the first between the two and is the first match officially set for the special television show.
Opinion: This is one of the bigger matches that NXT has available at the moment, as Grimes is a former North American Champion and established as a challenger. Grimes vs. Breakker should be a good match and I could go for seeing the tw..

NXT
Date: June 14, 2022
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Vic Joseph, Wade Barrett
We’re taped this week and rapidly on the way to the Great American Bash in three weeks. That means it is time to start getting the show ready and odds are some of those things are going to be done this week. One of the bigger matches this week will see the Creed Brothers defending the Tag Team Titles so let’s get to it.
Tag Team Titles: Edris Enofe/Malik Blade vs. Creed Brothers The Creeds are defending. Brutus takes Blade into the corner to start and then shoulders him into it again, only to have Blade come back with a headlock on Julius. It’s off to Enofe for the 619 in the corner, followed by a weird slow motion sunset flip for two. Enofe ties up the arms and pulls on Julius’ neck but some power gets Julius out of trouble. Brutus gets slammed onto Enofe for two and we hit the front facelock.
A northern lights suplex is enough for the escape and it’s back to Blade to..

That could be worse. There are a lot of ways for a wrestler to miss time from the ring and an injury is one of the worst. It can cut off someone’s career in a hurry and the question becomes how long they are going to miss action. That can make for some serious issues and unfortunately there is little that can be done other than waiting. Now though, the wait might not be long.
Last weekend, Tony D’Angelo injured his shoulder during a match at an NXT live event. D’Angelo’s match against Cameron Grimes was stopped, with D’Angelo not wrestling again since. However, according to F4WOnline.com, D’Angelo’s injury is not serious and he should be able to return to the ring soon. The next two weeks of NXT have been taped in advance so D’Angelo will be appearing on the shows with no issue. It is not clear when he will be allowed to wrestle again.
Opinion: That is a good thing to hear and maybe D’Angelo was only somewhat injured. Hopefully he is able to get back in the ring sooner than later and..

It had been previously reported that Jeff Hardy was recently arrested in Volusia County, Florida, on charges of driving on a suspended license, violating restrictions placed on a driver’s license, and driving under the influence.
Tony Khan has released the following statement regarding Hardy’s status with AEW:
“We were able to resume contact with Jeff Hardy this afternoon. AEW does not condone Jeff’s alleged behavior. We’ve made it clear to Jeff that we’ll assist him in getting treatment for substance abuse issues, which he has indicated that he’s open to receiving. In the interim, he is suspended without pay, and he can only return to AEW upon successfully completing treatment and maintaining his sobriety,” Khan’s statement said.
“If you or a loved one needs help, please reach out to SAMHSA’s National Helpline: 1-800-662-HELP (4357).”
pic.twitter.com/pDJA55cyaN
— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) June 14, 2022
Unfortunately, this is not the first time this type of offense has occurred; Hard..

What could have been. There are a lot of storylines taking place on any given edition of Monday Night Raw week to week. Some of them get a lot more attention than others, but the smaller stories are still going to get some kind of time. That being said, not every story is going to be able to go all the way to the end and that seems to be the case again with a dropped WWE story.
Over the last few weeks, WWE has presented a storyline involving Doudrop attempting to make Nikki Ash into a more serious wrestler. However, according to Wrestling Observer Radio, the story is now done, as the two of them were beaten in a Money in the Bank qualifying match this week on Monday Night Raw by Liv Morgan and Alexa Bliss. There is no word on if the two will continue to team together going forward.
Opinion: I’m not overly surprised that the story is done, as there was no reason for it to continue. It was pretty clear that the story was over, or at least not going to go anywhere of note, so I can go f..

Welcome back. Injuries are one of the worst things that you can see take place in wrestling as you never know how bad things can be. That is never a good thing to see and the question becomes when someone can get back in the ring. It can be quite the relief to see someone return from an injury and now we are seeing that take place again after a bit of a hiatus.
As shown on Twitter, Shelton Benjamin made his return to the ring this week at the Main Event taping before Monday Night Raw. This was Benjamin’s first match since April 25, as he has been out of action with an undisclosed injury. During his injury, Benjamin mentioned that this was only the second time in his twenty plus year career that he had missed time due to being hurt.
Shelton Benjamin has returned doing a main event March! #raw #WWERaw pic.twitter.com/3psbsVWJqf
— FMZ BTZ (@FMZBTZ) June 13, 2022
Opinion: This is always great to see and Benjamin is someone who can still get in the ring and work well with just about any..

It gets bigger. There are very few modern wrestling stars on the level of Jeff Hardy. After one of the most successful tag team careers in history, Hardy went on to become a top singles star and multiple time World Champion. However, personal issues have taken their toll on him, including another DUI arrest earlier this week. Now things have gotten even worse for Hardy.
According to F4WOnline.com, following Hardy’s DUI arrest, WarnerMedia issued a decree that Hardy was not to be used in any more promotion for AEW programming. A ladder match scheduled for this week’s AEW Dynamite between the Hardys, the Young Bucks and the Jurassic Express is no longer being advertised in AEW’s official preview. In addition, according to PWInsider.com, Hardy has paid his bond and will appear in court on Tuesday at 1:30 PM.
Opinion: This is the kind of thing that almost has to happen, and I’m not sure when Hardy is going to be back on AEW TV. If WarnerMedia doesn’t want Hardy on the show, he isn’t goin..