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Call it an eye for talent. WWE has a lot of resources available to it and one of their biggest is the talent roster. The company is able to stockpile wrestlers in NXT and call them up when necessary. That can lead to some interesting moments when someone gets to make their main roster debut. That was to be the case recently, but a last minute change shook things up.
Last month, WWE released a group of NXT wrestlers due to feeling that they were not progressing fast enough. One of the names released was Harland, who had been serving as Joe Gacy’s enforcer. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Edge had picked Harland to be the fourth member of the Judgment Day stable but the company let him go instead. While not specified, it is said that this is due to WWE finding out something about Harland that warranted the release.
Opinion: I’m not sure what happened here, but Harland being called up to the main roster so fast after his debut would certainly have been a change. Harland ..

Can we get a warning next time? There is a lot going on at any given point in WWE and sometimes the company builds on the idea of wondering what they are going to do next. In theory, this is going to draw interest in what is going on and there can be some great drama as a result. WWE was trying to do that this week but they might have accidentally spoiled it in advance.
The main event of this week’s SmackDown was a Tag Team Title unification match between the Usos and RKBro. The Usos would win the match to unify the titles, becoming the first sole WWE Tag Team Champions since 2016. However, WWE’s United Kingdom Facebook page may have accidentally spoiled the result. An image has appeared on Twitter, showing a since deleted post from the account with the Usos holding both sets of titles before SmackDown began. The post was since restored, though no such photo of RKBro was ever posted.
WWE UK Facebook Page accidentally posted this and deleted it immediately.
Oh Boyy ? pic.twitter.com..

That sounds connected. There have been all kinds of people leaving WWE over the last few years, with several of the names leaving the company without making the decision themselves. While many of them have been on the active roster, there have been a lot of names who have been let go that do not appear on camera. It turns out that some were related to a prominent name who left as well.
Earlier this week, Stephanie McMahon announced that she is taking a hiatus from her work in WWE. According to Fightful Select, much of McMahon’s team was let go in the recent round of releases. There is no word if this played a role in McMahon leaving or if the people were let go as a result of McMahon leaving. It is not clear when McMahon will be returning to work.
Opinion: I’m not sure what happened that caused McMahon to leave, but there is a logic to the idea that if she is gone, there is no need to have her team around. Assuming their major responsibilities are working for McMahon, it makes some s..

Note the change. Factions have been a concept in wrestling for a very long time and they still are to this day. Putting a group of wrestlers together is something that has been done for years and there are certain aspects that you see pop up over and over. One of them is a good name, and now WWE has given another group their own, though it might not be what was expected.
This week on SmackDown, the team of Sheamus, Butch and Ridge Holland were officially named the Brawling Brutes, including a graphic showing their new name. This is a slight change of plans, as WWE had trademarked the name Bloody Brutes earlier in the week. There is no word on why WWE made the change or if anyone else will be added to the team going forward.
Opinion: This is a bit of a surprise, though I do get why a company that tries to downplay its violence may not want the term “bloody” to be regularly used. The team does deserve a name and it is nice to see them being treated as something a bit more official. Eit..

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?
AAW Epic 2017: The 13th Anniversary Show
Date: April 8, 2017
Location: Joe’s Live, Rosemont, Illinois
Commentators: Phil Colvin, Tyler Volz
As the name might suggest, this is AAW, a pretty nice independent promotion from around Chicago. There are a lot of names you are going to recognize on here and that should make for a pretty nice card. Making it to thirteen years is impressive enough and in theory the show should work out as a result. Let’s get to it.
The commentators are in the ring to welcome us to the show..

That’s quite the step. The biggest WWE story of the week has been Sasha Banks and Naomi walking out on WWE this week at Monday Night Raw. The two left over issues with the creative direction of the show’s main event and there is no indication of when they will be back, assuming they ever are. WWE has addressed the issue, and now they have taken a pretty big step.
This week on SmackDown, Michael Cole addressed Banks and Naomi’s walkout and said that the two were suspended indefinitely with the Women’s Tag Team Titles being vacated. According to PWInsider.com, all Banks and Naomi merchandise has been removed from WWE’s official online store. There is nothing to suggest that Banks and Naomi will be returning in the near future.
Opinion: I’m not sure what to make of this whole thing, but it is pretty clear that WWE is trying to make an example out of Banks and Naomi. In addition to not being around in person, they are not going to be receiving any money from merchandise sales either. Thi..

They have options. WWE’s women’s division has come a very long way over the years and there is a good reason to believe that things could continue to improve. A lot of this is due tot he amount of talent that the division has, but things are in a bit of a bad spot at the moment. The division is down a few names, and that could create some issues for one of the titles in the near future.
Earlier this week, Naomi and Sasha Banks walked out on WWE over issues with their creative directions. The original plans called for Banks to move on to challenge SmackDown Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey at Hell In A Cell, but now Rousey will be needing a new challenger. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the most likely choices are Shayna Baszler and Natalya, as it is believed that the two could give Rousey her best match. Rousey and Baszler are also close friends and it would be a dream match for the two of them.
Opinion: Natalya was the first name that came to mind, as she is good for a..

That is some great news. Wrestlers are larger than life characters, but there are things about them that are quite normal. Unfortunately some of these things are negative, and you do not know when someone is going to have some serious problems. That was the case with a wrestling legend last year, but now things seem to have taken a turn for the positive for once.
Last August, WWE COO Triple H suffered a cardiac event which took him out of his backstage role in WWE. Triple H has made very few appearances since, though he did appear at NXT Stand & Deliver and WrestleMania 38 last month. According to Fightful Select, Triple H has returned to working in the WWE offices full time. However, his role in the company has changed completely. It is not clear what Triple H is doing now or if he will be appearing more often. This comes in the same week as Stephanie McMahon announced that she will be taking a leave from her responsibilities in WWE.
Opinion: That is absolutely great to hear as Trip..

They have a plan. Back on August 30, 2020, Roman Reigns won the WWE Universal Title at Payback and has held the title for the better part of two years since. This puts Reigns in some fairly elite company when it comes to World Champions and WWE has been rather protective of him since. That means giving Reigns some top level opponents, and now we might know who is coming after him next.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE has selected Reigns’ next three challengers. This will include Riddle at Money in the Bank (July 2), Randy Orton at Summerslam (July 30) and Drew McIntyre at Clash At The Castle (September 3). Reigns is expected to appear at fewer events going forward, but he will be at television to promote all of the upcoming title defenses.
Opinion: I don’t know if any of these are surprises but at least WWE does seem to have a plan. It often seems like WWE is coming up with these ideas on the fly and it is nice to see them plan something out this far in advance. T..

Ouch. Injuries are some of the worst things that can happen to a wrestler as you never know how long they are going to keep someone out. In addition, there is always the chance that someone is going to come back and then get hurt all over again. Unfortunately that seems to be the case again, as a recently returned AEW wrestler is now going to be missing even more time.
It was revealed during this week’s edition of AEW Rampage that Anthony Bowens has been attacked and suffered a knee injury. Bowens has sent out a tweet showing himself in the hospital and revealing that he will be undergoing a procedure on his knee to repair an injury. This comes after Bowens returned from a two month hiatus earlier this week due to a knee injury. It is not clear how long he will be out of action.
Without getting into too much detail..bc of the attack after Elevation on Monday, I had to undergo a procedure this week to fix my knee. Story of my life..1 step forward, 2 steps back. #AEWRampage pic.twitter..

That’s a lot of new stuff. We are just over a week away from AEW’s Double Or Nothing pay per view and that means the majority of the card is set. The key word there is majority though, as there is always time to add something else to the show. AEW did just that this week, as three more matches were announced for the show within the span of an hour of television.
AEW announced three new matches for Double Or Nothing during this week’s edition of Rampage. First, the Young Bucks challenged the Hardys to a tag match, which was made official later in the show. Next, the Death Triangle unveiled a tombstone with HOUSE OF BLACK and the Double Or Nothing logo, confirming that their match will take place as well. Finally, Jade Cargill challenged Anna Jay to a TBS Title match after Jay chased Cargill off earlier in the night.
Opinion: This is the kind of night that can make a show get a lot bigger in a hurry and that is what happened here. Granted that might not be the best thing, as Double Or ..

Whoever you are. With so many wrestlers on the WWE roster, it can be difficult to make someone stand out. There are ways to make someone more of a success than others, but it is quite the trick to get everything working. WWE knows what it is doing a lot of the time though and hopefully that is the case again, as a new name has joined the main roster as of this week.
This week’s edition of SmackDown saw the debut of Max Dupri, who described himself as the head of a male modeling agency. Sonya Deville signed Dupri before she was relieved of her position, meaning Adam Pearce did not know Dupri was coming. Dupri is better known as LA Knight, who had been appearing in dark segments before recent editions of SmackDown, where he debuted various clients, such as Mansoor and T-Bar. There is no word on why WWE made the name change.
This is a different way to go. Check out the debut:
[This post contains video, click to play]

Opinion: One of these days, I would love a full on explanation for ..