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It doesn’t seem to be popular. The biggest wrestling story of the week so far has been Vince McMahon announcing that he is attempting to return to WWE after five months away. McMahon is planning to try to return to the Board of Directors and is threatening to block any media rights deal or sale of the company if he is not allowed. This is going to cause some backlash and it seems to have already begun.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: It Didn’t Work: Bryan Danielson Reveals How He Tried To Get Fired From WWE Job
Fightful Select has spoken to several people in WWE about the situation, with everyone being described as “floored” by the announcement. No WWE department was given a heads up about McMahon’s statement and the main concern is about McMahon possibly returning to WWE creative. Everyone asked felt that the announcement was negative but it was something they would not worry about until they had to. There is no word on when McMahon will be attempting to return to WWE.
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He’s next. With so many wrestlers on the AEW roster, it can be difficult to find a way to stand out. The best way tends to be by showcasing yourself in the ring, but even then it takes something very special. There are enough stars in AEW to make it happen though, and now it seems we know the next star to be getting a major chance. It just might take another bit of time.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Keep Them? Top AEW Stars Reportedly Set To Negotiate New Deals
According to Wrestling Observer Radio, AEW is expeced to give Konosuke Takeshita a big push in the near future. The push will not likely start within the next week though, as Takeshita is scheduled to face Bryan Danielson next week in a match that Danielson must win to earn a World Title shot at Revolution. Takeshita returned to AEW and the United States after a brief hiatus late last year and is signed to the company.
Takeshita has done rather well in AEW so far. Check out some of his best moments:
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Stick around? The AEW roster has done the company a lot of good over the years and a lot of its success has been built around the collection of wrestlers. There are several who have been added over the years but some of them have been around since the beginning. At some point, AEW has to figure out who they want to keep around though and now they are needing to do just that with two originals.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: LOOK: WWE, AEW And New Japan Stars Recreate Classic Photo This Week
According to Fightful Select, the Young Bucks’ contracts with AEW are coming up and the two sides have yet to come to a new deal. According to Wrestling Observer Radio, negotiations between the two sides have not yet begun but AEW wants to “lock them in” with multi year deals as soon as possible. Negotiations between the two are expected to begin soon.
The Bucks have been around for a bit. Check out their time together in AEW:
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That’s a long time. We are entering a new year and that causes a lot of people to look back at other things, both short and long times ago. This can be the case in wrestling as well, as you will see some stars celebrating milestones in their careers. You might see someone being happy with how long it has been since they first did something, and that was the case again this week in a surprising place.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: He’s Back? Vince McMahon Planning Return To WWE, Threatens To Block Huge Deals
This week on WWE Main Event, Shelton Benjamin defeated Rip Fowler. Following the match, Benjamin mentioned that he recently celebrated the twenty year anniversary of his WWE debut. Benjamin thanked the fans and said that he was still the Gold Standard and there was no stopping him now. Benjamin debuted on the December 26, 2002 SmackDown and he is a former United States, Intercontinental and Tag Team Champion.
That was a special moment. Check out Benjamin’s address, plus some of his bett..

He wants back in. The biggest wrestling story in a busy 2022 was the retirement of Vince McMahon from WWE. After nearly forty years in charge of the company, McMahon retired amid an internal investigation over a series of payments but still remained the company’s majority owner. However, now something else has chanced and we could be in for something very different.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Over There: WWE Taking Annual Event To London Later This Year
Last month, a report stated that McMahon was planning a comeback to WWE. According to the Wall Street Journal, McMahon is attempting to have himself and former co-WWE Presidents Michelle Wilson and George Barrios elected to the WWE Board of Directors. This would require three current Board members to vacate their positions. McMahon has also said he will not support any media rights deal (with negotiations expected to begin before the current deals expire in 2024) or sale of the company. McMahon has issued a press release:
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Across the sea. WWE is the biggest wrestling company in the world and is truly an international promotion. You will regularly see WWE going around the world to showcase their talents wherever they can, which leads to a variety of interesting shows. Now one of the bigger shows of the year is going overseas for the first time ever to really give the fans a treat.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: LOOK: WWE, AEW And New Japan Stars Recreate Classic Photo This Week
WWE has announced that Money In The Bank 2023 will take place on July 1 at the 02 Arena in London, England. This will be the first time that a traditional WWE premium live event will be held in England since Insurrextion 2002. This comes after WWE presented the Clash At The Castle premium live event in Cardiff, Wales, the first such event in Europe in over thirty years.
BREAKING: WWE Money in the Bank will take place at @TheO2 Arena in London on Saturday, July 1, as first reported by @MailSport! #MITB
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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?
Day One 2022
Date: January 1, 2022
Location: State Farm Arena, Atlanta, Georgia
Commentators: Michael Cole, Pat McAfee, Jimmy Smith, Corey Graves, Byron Saxton
It’s the first show of the year and as interesting as that is, everything has changed at the very last minute. Universal Champion Roman Reigns has announced that he has tested positive for Coronavirus, meaning that he is out of his title defense against Brock Lesnar. Worry not though, as Lesnar is now in a five way for the WWE Title. Let’s get to it.
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The best of several worlds. There are all kinds of wrestling promotions throughout the world, from the biggest companies around to some rather small independents and all points in between. Every now and then you get to see these promotions doing something together and now that is the case again, albeit this time there were three major companies recreating something from the past.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: WRESTLING RUMORS: More Evidence WWE Is Teasing A Hurt Business Reunion
Earlier this week, New Japan Pro Wrestling held its annual Wrestle Kingdom event, featuring wrestlers from AEW. The event also included the debut of former WWE star Sasha Banks, now known as Mercedes Mone. Current WWE star Bayley accompanied her for the debut, though she did not appear on television. Dax Harwood posted a photo of the four together this week, as compared to the four together at some point in their WWE/NXT career. Harwood captioned the two photos with the phrase “What a life.”
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The important piece. There have been a lot of stables throughout WWE’s history but most of them follow a fairly standard formula. Most WWE stables are focused around one major star, with other smaller stars supporting them. Without the right balance, the stable is rarely going to work, meaning it has to be put together correctly. It seems a possibly returning stable is working to get the right centerpiece.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: International Incident: WWE Star Loses Title At Major International Event
Earlier this week on Monday Night Raw, a backstage segment showed MVP talking to former Hurt Business members Shelton Benjamin and Cedric Alexander. According to Wrestlingnews.co, MVP recently asked Adam Pearce (also in the segment with Benjamin and Alexander) about fellow Hurt Business member Bobby Lashley. There is no word on when or if the Hurt Business could reform.
That could make for a heck of a team. Check out the Hurt Business in action:
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It had to happen eventually. There are all kinds of titles in wrestling and some of the most well known are in WWE. Those are not all of the titles around the world though as other promotions have championships and honors of their own. You will occasionally see those paths cross though, and now one of the crossings that led to some interesting questions have been closed.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: He’s Back: Former Champion Officially Returns To WWE After Leaving AEW
New Japan Pro Wrestling held its annual Wrestle Kingdom show earlier this week, featuring several title matches. One such match saw Tama Tonga defeat Karl Anderson to win the NEVER Openweight Title. Anderson currently works for WWE as part of the Monday Night Raw roster and was the reigning champion when he returned to WWE in November. The title reign was referenced on WWE programming but the title never appeared.
He has some better times. Check out what Anderson has done since returning to WWE:
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Welcome home. There were a lot of changes to the WWE landscape in 2022 and there is nothing to suggest that those changes will be ending in the new year. Several of the changes involved names moving to or from the company with a bunch of wrestlers coming back. That was not just the case with wrestlers though and now we have a new name returning behind the scenes.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Reunion: WWE Legend Backstage At This Week’s Monday Night Raw
According to PWInsider.com, William Regal has officially returned to WWE, starting back with the company on January 4. There is no word on his official job title or duties. Regal left AEW last month to return to WWE, reportedly to help with his son Charlie Dempsey. As part of his release from AEW, Regal cannot appear on WWE television for one year in any capacity.
Regal is a big return for WWE. Check out what he did while he was around:
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