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Shake it up. WWE is in a strange period at the moment as they company has put almost everything they have behind one wrestler. That would be Roman Reigns, who is closing in on two years as WWE Universal Champion. That is the kind of thing you do not see happen very often and WWE is pushing the length of Reigns’ time as champion as a once in a generation deal. Now it seems that they have found a new way to extend it even further.
As announced by Fightful on twitter, Reigns is no longer advertised for Hell In A Cell on June 5. The show’s original poster featured Reigns, but he has now been replaced by Cody Rhodes. This comes as Reigns has recently signed a new contract with WWE, which will allow him to work several fewer dates. Reigns is expected to be working on some television shows, where he will be heavily advertised in advance.
Original WWE Hell in a Cell poster and updated WWE Hell in a Cell poster. Roman Reigns is no longer advertised on the poster or WWE's website. pic.twi..

So I’ve been sitting around trying to come up with something to talk about this week. It’s a few days after WrestleMania Backlash and the show was quite good, including a title change that was probably long overdue. Then we have had Monday Night Raw, NXT, Dynamite and some news here and there. After all that, I have come to a conclusion: nothing is worth a full column this week.
Therefore, it is time to break the glass and go into the slightly off inner workings of my head, as I’m going to do a stream of consciousness deal this time. That means starting with any given topic in wrestling and talking about it until I move on, with a grand total of nothing connecting these things whatsoever. Don’t bother trying to find some theme or anything close to it, as these are going to be things that just come to my mind one after another.
I really miss Coliseum Video. There were some terrible entries in its series, but the idea of getting a new WWF tape every so often (normally once a month or s..

It’s a different world. While there are a lot of people watching a wrestling event on television, there are also a good number of people who are watching the show in the arena. That can make for a difficult balance, as the promotion has to find a way to appeal to the fans at home but they also have to keep the people in the arena happy or the atmosphere will be ruined. That was the case again this week in a unique way.
This week’s AEW Dynamite took place in Long Island, New York, the hometown of Maxwell Jacob Friedman. The company’s debut in the area last year took place when Friedman was feuding with CM Punk, causing the venue to not like Punk. After Dynamite went off the air, Friedman came to the ring but Punk came out to confront him. As a result, Friedman left and sent Hook to the ring instead. Punk left, but ran into Danhausen, who cursed Punk back to the ring. Hook then t-bone suplexed Punk and choked him out, leaving Punk laying.
This is a special one. Check out Punk meeting H..

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?
Takeover 36
Date: August 22, 2021
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Beth Phoenix, Vic Joseph, Wade Barrett
This might be the last version of the classic Takeover that we see and that is rather saddening. Takeover has been so special for such a long time but things in NXT are going to be shaken up in the near future. If this is it, they’re going out with a pretty big card, with three matches you could call the main event. Let’s get to it.
Kickoff Show: Ridge Holland vs. Trey Baxter..

It worked before. Titles are a simple concept in wrestling, but they are perhaps the most important thing a company can have. A wrestler holding a title will instantly be seen as more important and it can be their first step up the ladder. Some titles are seen as less valuable than others, but now a top WWE star wants to bring back one of the less important ones for a simple purpose.
During a new interview with Talk Sport, Drew McIntyre said that he wanted to bring back the WWE European Title. McIntyre said that he wanted to bring the title back because he wanted to win it as a child but can’t now that it has been retired. He made it clear that he only wants to bring it back so he can win it and then instantly retire it again. There is nothing to suggest that WWE is planning to bring the title, which existed from February 26, 1997 until July 22, 2002.
Opinion: This is the kind of thing that could be rather fun if WWE actually went through with it. There is no reason to make it into a..

They have rankings. The WWE roster has changed quite a bit over the last few months and it has left things looking more than a little different. That is not a bad thing and the changes are often needed to keep things fresh. At the same time though, it can be a bit difficult to figure out how the new roster is ranked. Now we know at least about at least a specific division.
According to PWInsider.com, WWE has updated the internal roster of the Monday Night Raw women’s division. This includes the rankings of the wrestlers and whether they are considered to be either a babyface or a heel. This comes after the returns of Asuka and Alexa Bliss, plus Lacey Evans being moved from Monday Night Raw from SmackDown. Here is the list:
Babyfaces
Bianca Belair
Alexa Bliss
Liv Morgan
Asuka
Dana Brooke
Heels
Becky Lynch
Rhea Ripley
Lacey Evans
Carmella
Zelina Vega
Doudrop
Nikki Ash
Tamina
Opinion: There are a few surprises on this list, with Evans being third on the villains’ side and Asuka being ..

That explains a bit. There are a lot of changes taking place in WWE but a few things have stayed the same. That can be a good or a bad thing, but what matters is keeping the good things as strong as possible. WWE knows how to present some of its top stars rather well, though it might not be able to present one of them nearly as often in the future as they have been as of late.
One of the bigger recent WWE stories has been Roman Reigns signing a new deal with WWE, which will allow him to appear less frequently. According to PWInsider.com, Reigns’ new deal will be similar to Randy Orton, who only works selective live events in bigger cities. Reigns is only expected to appear at major events with no television appearances for July and August.
Opinion: This is a big better for WWE, as it seems that Reigns will be more of a featured attraction rather than just someone who will not be around at all. I can see WWE wanting to keep Reigns around as much as possible, but what matters is keepin..

That doesn’t sound good. There are certain wrestlers throughout the history of the sport who have become such legends that fans follow what happen to them once they have left the ring. Unfortunately that is not always the best news as sometimes you hear about someone who is not doing so well and that seems to be the case again, as a legend is not in great shape.
During a recent edition of his Grilling JR podcast, Jim Ross revealed that WWE Hall of Famer Jake Roberts has been dealing with serious health issues. Without specifying, Ross mentioned that Roberts was having issues breathing but is trying to deal with it. This includes some upcoming surgeries. The health issues are the reason why Roberts has not been appearing on AEW television as frequently in recent weeks.
Opinion: This is one of those things that might not be the biggest surprise, as Roberts has had a long history of health issues over the years. It does explain why he has not been around as of late, as Roberts has only ..

It might be a bit. Even though WWE and AEW get most of the attention, there are a lot of wrestling promotions throughout the world. Just because a wrestler is not appearing for one of those promotions does not mean that they have no value, as there are several wrestlers who can work for multiple promotions at once. That is the case with one prominent name, but at the moment he does not seem interested in appearing anywhere.
Fightful Select has more information about former WWE star Cesaro’s status. According to the report, Cesaro has been contacted by several promotions about coming in he has not accepted any bookings. Cesaro’s asking price is said to be higher than most promotions can afford, which may be by design, as he may be waiting for the right offer to come along. Cesaro is currently a free agent and allowed to appear anywhere he wants at any time.
Opinion: If Cesaro is happy and able to stay at home without a need to work, good for him. There is no requirement for him to get..

This is only a rumor, so take it for its worth. According to Brian Alvarez of Wrestling Observer Radio, some further drama is taking place between Kota Ibushi and New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Apparently, Ibushi is not happy with NJPW as he feels the company is trying to get him back in the ring before he is fully healed. Ibushi suffered a shoulder injury after taking a hard landing during his G1 Climax finals match against Kazuchika Okada in October 2021. Ibushi was initially planned to participate in this year’s New Japan Cup. He was pulled from the tournament as he wasn’t ready to return to action.
This adds to the potentially current drama, as he recently posted a series of cryptic tweets in Japanese. This left many foreign fans confused, due to mistranslations, as some shocking terms were seen through the translation tool on Twitter, such as “sexually harassing bosses.”
Ibushi signed a “lifetime contract” with NJPW back in 2019.
[h/t to SEScoops]
Editor’s Opinion:
While rushing h..

The card continues to grow. AEW has an interesting pay per view schedule, in that they run quarterly events rather than a pay per view every month. That allows their events to feel a bit more special, as the fans are asked to wait longer between each event. We are less than a month away from their next offering and now we know a little bit more about what to expect from the show.
On Sunday May 29, AEW will present its spring pay per view event on Sunday May 29 over Memorial Day weekend. This week on AEW Dynamite, a match was announced for the Double Or Nothing Buy In Show and another match might have been announced for the card itself. On the Buy In Show, the team of Hookhausen (Hook and Danhausen) will face Mark Sterling and Tony Nese.
On the proper Double Or Nothing card, Wardlow is expected to face Maxwell Jacob Friedman. However, Friedman listed some stipulations that Wardlow has to achieve to make the match happen, including taking ten lashes and defeating Shawn Spears in a cage..

Dynamite
Date: May 11, 2022
Location: UBS Arena, Belmont Park, New York
Commentators: Excalibur, Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone
We’re back on Long Island this week and that means it’s going to be a bit of a Bizarro World situation. CM Punk is getting to face Long Island’s own John Silver, but the big story is MJF getting to name the stipulations for his match against Wardlow with Wardlow’s freedom on the line. If nothing else, it should be fun to hear MJF get that kind of a hero’s welcome. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Owen Hart Foundation First Round: Adam Cole vs. Dax Harwood Harwood starts fast with some shots to the face but gets kneed in the ribs to cut him down. That means Cole can start to pose a bit as he stomps Harwood down even more. Harwood gets sent ribs first into the post and it’s time to go outside. Cole sends him into various other things, including HARD into the post as we take a break.
Back with Harwood getting sent chest first into the buckle. Harwood is fine enou..