News

WWE Backstage Producer Seems To Receive A Promotion

May 15, 2022 • Admin

It’s an upgrade. There are a lot of people who make a wrestling show work and several of them are not even in the ring. While the wrestlers themselves are the people who put on the matches, there are others who work with them to get everything ready. In WWE, these people are called producers and now another former wrestler has received a promotion backstage. According to Fightful Select, Ariya Daivari worked on his own as a producer at this week’s Main Event taping. Daivari produced the Apollo Crews vs. Akira Tozawa match on his own, marking the first time he has done so. This comes after Daivari and Curtis Axel received tryout as producers in WWE, with Axel working on this week’s SmackDown. There is no word on if the two are now full time producers. Opinion: It is nice to see WWE bringing in some fresh blood to the producers’ ranks, as you are only going to get so far with the same people doing the same matches over and over. Daivari and Axel can offer a fresh perspective on the mat..

WATCH: Fan Attacks Wrestler At Independent Event And A Brawl Breaks Out

May 15, 2022 • Admin

You’re not supposed to do that. Wrestlers have a difficult job to do every single night. Aside from having their match and keeping everyone involved safe, they are also required to make the fans believe in whatever it is that they are doing. This is the hardest part of wrestling but when it works, it can be quite the success. Over the weekend, it went a little too well. This weekend, IWE ran an event in Georgia, featuring a wrestler named Joe Black. Following Black’s match, a fan headbutted him at ringside. Black started swinging at the fan, who was then ejected by security, referees and other wrestlers as Black had to be held back by other referees. There is nothing to suggest that this was an angle or anything other than legitimate. This got intense very quickly. Check out the whole incident: [This post contains video, click to play] Opinion: You see this happen every so often but that doesn’t mean it is ok. The fan went too far and Black defended himself, as he would be expected..

WWE Issues New Rule Over Wrestlers Getting Haircuts

May 15, 2022 • Admin

That’s a specific list. Wrestling is a visual medium, as stars are going to need to look a certain way to make fans want to see what they are doing. This can come in a variety of ways and WWE is known for caring about appearance more than a lot of other things. That can create some issues, and now WWE has made a rule about a specific change of appearance for some wrestlers. According to Fightful Select, WWE has issued a list of wrestlers allowed to get haircuts, which has leaked online. This list is wrestlers whose haircuts have been approved in advance, though there is nothing to suggest that wrestlers not listed are not allowed to have their hair cut in general. There are no female wrestlers included on the list. Here is the list of names: RAW: AJ Styles, Bobby Lashley, Cody Rhodes, Damien Priest, Dolph Ziggler, Edge, Finn Balor, Kevin Owens, Miz, Randy Orton, Riddle, Seth Rollins Smackdown: Drew McIntyre, Happy Corbin, Jey Uso, Jimmy Uso, Kofi Kingston, Madcap Moss, Paul Heyman, ..

Ouch: WWE Star Announces He Is Out Of Action With An Injury

May 15, 2022 • Admin

It can happen to anyone. Injuries are one of the worst things that can happen to any wrestler as you never know when someone is going to be put on the shelf. They can be long or short term but they always happen to someone at some point. The question then becomes just how long someone is going to be on the shelf and now that is the case with a current WWE star. Monday Night Raw’s Shelton Benjamin has revealed that he has been out of action with an injury. Benjamin did not specify the nature of his injury but said he would be back in a little while. He has not wrestled a match since April 25, when he wrestled a match taped for Main Event. Benjamin also revealed that this is only the second time in his career that he has been out with an injury. For only the second time In my career An injury has put me on the shelf. I’ll be back soon. In the meantime I will be putting in the work to come back better than I was before my little setback. See you guys soon! — Shelton J. Benjamin (@Shelt..

Wrestling Legend Reveals Cancer Diagnosis

May 15, 2022 • Admin

That’s even worse. Wrestlers are larger than life characters who can inspire fans to do a lot of things, many of which are fairly over the top. They do not do things that make a lot of sense but can often pull you into their own world. At the same time though, they have real world problems that can be very serious, especially when it comes to health issues. That is the case again with a former wrestling star. Virgil has announced that he has been diagnosed with Stage 2 colon cancer, but he cannot afford any of the medical treatment necessary. He has set up a PayPal account asking for help with his expenses, which you can donate to right here. This comes about a month after Virgil announced that he is battling dementia as well as recovering from a series of strokes. It’s really shitty right now. Too make things worse I know have stage 2 colon cancer. I am a fighter but need your help. I cannot afford any of the medical bills and would love your support. https://t.co/PG7VkpQWxP love yo..

New Career: AEW Star Lands Debut Acting Role

May 15, 2022 • Admin

It’s something new for him. Wrestlers have a weird relationship with acting, as while they are acting on a wrestling show, they are always seen as wrestlers instead of actors. There are some wrestlers who are very talented at acting though and occasionally you will see someone trying their hand at acting in a bigger way. That seems to be the case again with an AEW star. AEW’s Brian Pillman Jr. has announced that he will be appearing in the upcoming movie the Charisma Killers, joking that he has graduated from Varsity Blond to Hollywood Blond. This is Pillman’s first acting role, though there is no word on when or where the film will debut. Former WWE and Impact Wrestling star Jesse McKay will also appear in the film, which is directed by Michael Matteo Rossi. The news that I was excited to share with you all today! Just landed my first acting role! I guess you could say I graduated from Varsity Blond to Hollywood Blond!!! ???? https://t.co/l4OxUHyVGB — Brian Pillman Jr. (@FlyinBrian..

Hikaru Shida Unware That She Wasn’t In Owen Hart Tournament

May 15, 2022 • Admin

Well, that could be a problem. According to a report from Cageside Seats, AEW superstar Hikaru Shida may not have been aware that she was pulled from the Owen Hart Memorial Tournament. Shida, who was written out of the tournament due to injury, simply tweeted, “what?” with regards to the announcement: What? https://t.co/rTZp7pi0pb — HIKARU SHIDA ?? ? (@shidahikaru) May 13, 2022 She would go on to say that she has competed in four matches after her street fight with Serena Deeb and had just finished the most fantastic fighting musical show. She then said that somehow she was injured, according to AEW, and that she was sorry that she wasn’t in the tournament. Well…. I already had 4 matches after the street fight and just finished the greatest fighting musical show. But I seem to have been injured… Japanese wrestling is nothing for them. I’m so sorry. And sorry couldn’t be in the tournament too. — HIKARU SHIDA ?? ? (@shidahikaru) May 13, 2022 Shida has been wrestling in Japan since..

Ric Flair Reported Coming Out Of Retirement To Wrestle Again, Possible Opponents

May 14, 2022 • Admin

One more time (again). There are certain wrestlers who seem like they cannot completely get out of the ring. While some of them will stay away for a long time and then come back one more time, there are some who seem like they cannot get away for good. That is the case with one certain all time legend, and now it seems that he will be getting back in the ring one more time. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Ric Flair is planning to come out of retirement and wrestle again. This comes after Flair has released videos showing himself working in the ring with AEW’s Jay Lethal. While not confirmed, the match would possibly be Flair teaming with FTR against the Rock N Roll Express and someone else. There is no word on when or where the match will take place. Flair, 73, last wrestled in 2011 on an episode of Impact Wrestling in a loss to Sting. He still has something. Check out Flair’s latest training session with Lethal: [This post contains video, click to play] Opinion: I ..

Two More Former WWE Stars May Be AEW Bound

May 14, 2022 • Admin

They might have a place to go. With so many wrestlers in the world, the rise of AEW has been a huge change of pace as there are now so many more spots available for top stars to hone their craft. It has made a huge difference with all kinds of wrestlers, including some who do not fit in with WWE. Now it might be the case again, albeit with one wrestler and a manager. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, there is a chance that both Malcolm Bivens and Candice LeRae could be going to AEW. Bivens was let go from WWE last month when he declined to sign a new deal, with the thought being that he wanted to go to AEW. Should he sign, he is allowed to appear there on May 29. In LeRae’s case, there is reportedly interest from Tony Khan in signing her, but it is not clear if LeRae is interested. LeRae’s WWE deal expired, meaning she could show up at any time if the two sides come to terms. Opinion: Neither of these moves would surprise me, and I almost fully expect at least Bivens to..

Charlotte May Be Gone From WWE For Longer Than Expected

May 14, 2022 • Admin

That’s quite the hiatus. As talented as some wrestlers can be, there does come a time when they could use some time off of television. It might be due to overexposure or just needing to come up with a fresh presentation. Sometimes that time away can do some good and that might be the case again with a WWE star. It just might be a big longer than expected before she is back. Last weekend at Wrestlemania Backlash, Ronda Rousey defeated Charlotte to win the SmackDown Women’s Title. Rousey won the match with an armbar, which resulted in Charlotte’s arm being broken, which will put her on the shelf. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Charlotte will be out of action for months before she comes back in the summer to get revenge on Rousey. It is not clear how long exactly she will be out. Opinion: As great as Charlotte is, it might be better to have her away from WWE for a little while. Part of the problem with pushing someone as hard as WWE pushes Charlotte is that there is ver..

One Of The Big Ones: WWE Has A Very Special View Of MJF

May 14, 2022 • Admin

That’s what they like. WWE is the biggest and most powerful wrestling promotion in the world but that does not mean they are invincible. At some point, they are going to need to find the new generation to take the reigns from the current stars, some of whom have been around for a very long time. That means a young star could be a priority, and now WWE has someone in their sights. Earlier this week, a story emerged about Maxwell Jacob Friedman reportedly not being happy with his AEW contract status. There is a chance that Friedman could move over to WWE in 2024 when his current contract expires. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE may consider Friedman, 26 years old, as a “savior superstar” as the company needs young top stars for the future. The way WWE has treated Cody Rhodes upon his return to the company may be a factor as well, as he and Friedman are friends. Opinion: This is something that very well may wind up happening, but 2024 is an eternity away in wrestling..

REVIEW: WrestleCon Supershow 2022: Featuring A Lot

May 14, 2022 • Admin

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? WrestleCon Supershow 2022 Date: March 31, 2022 Location: Fairmont Hotel, Dallas, Texas Commentators: Ian Riccaboni, Veda Scott This is one of the biggest and most interesting shows of Wrestlemania Weekend as you do not know what you are going to get on any given show. Some of the matches are going to be announced in advance, but sometimes you are just going to get some wrestlers without opponents. This is the non-WWE ticket I make sure to get every year and this was no exception. Let’s get to it. I was in the are..

Bad News On Big E.’s Recovery From His Broken Neck

May 14, 2022 • Admin

That is some bad news. There are all kinds of injuries in wrestling and some of them can be very serious. You can tell when someone is seriously hurt and the fear comes in right away, which was the case earlier this year on SmackDown when Big E. suffered a serious neck injury during a match. Things have not sounded great so far and unfortunately that seems to be the case again. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Big E.’s C-1 vertebrae is not healing as fast as he was hoping. As a result, Big E. will be in a neck brace for an additional four to six weeks in an effort to avoid neck fusion surgery. Should he require the surgery, the recovery time is anywhere from nine to fifteen months, with the time usually being more than a year at least. Opinion: That is terrible to hear and unfortunately it does not seem like we will be seeing Big E. anytime soon. What matters most though is the fact that he is walking and has the use of his limbs, because as bad as what happened to him..

WWE May Have Written A Surprising Name Off Of Television This Week

May 14, 2022 • Admin

Catch you later? With so many people on the WWE roster, it can be hard to find something for everyone to do. At the same time, there are wrestlers who WWE will want to use on a regular basis because they have plans for them. That seems to be the case with a wrestler who might not be around much in the near future, as WWE seems to have written him off television for the time being. This week on SmackDown, Happy Corbin attacked Madcap Moss during Moss’ in-ring promo. Corbin jumped Moss from behind with a chair and laid him out before wrapping the chair around Moss’ neck. He then used the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal trophy to Pillmanize Moss’ neck, which caused Moss to be stretchered out of the arena. It is not clear when Moss will return to television. Opinion: I’m not sure what is going on here, as WWE has pushed Moss as a pretty big deal in recent weeks and even had him beat Corbin at WrestleMania Backlash. I can’t imagine this is the kind of match that will go to the Cell ..

AEW Rampage Results – May 13, 2022

May 14, 2022 • Admin

Rampage Date: May 13, 2022 Location: UBS Arena, Belmont Park, New York Commentators: Excalibur, Taz, Chris Jericho We’re still in the weird time slot due to some kind of playoffs (basketpuck or hockball I believe) and that means a grand total of nothing on this show. Granted it means very few people are going to watch it, but it isn’t like that is AEW’s fault in this case. This week is going to have some Owen Hart Foundation tournament action so let’s get to it. Opening sequence. Death Triangle vs. Butcher/Blade/Marq Quen Penta does the CERO MIEDO to Blade to start and then kicks him in the ribs. Pac comes in to hold Blade in place for the top rope double stomp What’s Up. Jericho’s voice sounds more than a bit off as Butcher comes in to take over on Pac. That doesn’t last long as Butcher is sent outside, allowing Fenix and Quen to come in. A pop up dropkick puts Fenix down and he gets sent outside for a whip into the barricade as we take a break. Back with Fenix fighting out of a f..

WWE Tag Team Title Unification Match Set

May 14, 2022 • Admin

When 4 become 2. On tonight’s episode of SmackDown, the much anticipated Tag Team Championship unification match between RK-Bro and The Usos was finally set. The match will be taking place on next week’s edition of Smackdown. You can see the match being accepted below: [This post contains video, click to play] From WWE.com: The Winner Take All Tag Team Title Unification Match between RK-Bro and The Usos is back on and set for Friday Night SmackDown on May 20. Originally slated for WrestleMania Backlash, the budding rivalry between Roman Reigns and Drew McIntyre converted the clash into a Six-Man Tag Team showdown. The Bloodline got the best of the newly-formed trio, but Riddle, Randy Orgon & McIntyre showed they could push the blue brand champions to the absolute limit. So will The Bloodline be leaving SmackDown next week with all the gold, or can RK-Bro make those dreams go up in smoke? Editor’s Opinion: We reported earlier today that it was a rumor that the unification of th..

SmackDown Results – May 13, 2022

May 14, 2022 • Admin

Smackdown Date: May 13, 2022 Location: Mohegan Sun Arena, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania Commentators: Michael Cole, Pat McAfee We’re fresh off of Wrestlemania Backlash and the biggest story coming out of the show is Ronda Rousey breaking Charlotte’s arm to become the new Smackdown Women’s Champion. Other than that, Roman Reigns continued to dominate and has pretty much no one left in front of him. That isn’t good with the Cell in less than a month. Let’s get to it. We open with a recap of the six man main event at Wrestlemania Backlash, with Roman Reigns spearing Riddle for the pin. Here is RKBro to get things going. Riddle takes the blame for the loss on Sunday but they want Roman Reigns out here right now to let the Usos make the Tag Team Title unification match. Instead, here is Sami Zayn, in a Bloodline shirt, to answer. As the locker room fleader and representing the Bloodline, no one wants this unification match. Zayn thinks the Raw Tag Team Champions need to go back to Raw, but..

RUMOR: WWE Not Unifying Tag Team Titles

May 13, 2022 • Admin

This is a rumor so take it for what it’s worth. According to a report from Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, WWE is now changing its current storyline and is not planning to unify the tag team championships. Before Wrestlemania Backlash, the company was planning to have a tag team championship unification match between RK-Bro and The Usos. However, those plans were changed, and a 6-man match between RK-Bro & Drew McIntyre and The Bloodline took place. The plan is still for the two teams to have a match, perhaps as early as Hell in a Cell in June, but for each team to continue holding its tag team championship. Editor’s Opinion: As with everything that involves the future, I will believe it when I see it. However, I can see why WWE would not want to unify the Tag Team titles, as there are a lot of superstars on both raw and SmackDown who are not doing a lot right now. Having multiple tag team championships allows more storylines and more competitors to be featured on televis..

Jimmy Uso Reveals Possible Plans For Naomi And The Bloodline

May 13, 2022 • Admin

Let the team grow. There are a lot of famous wrestling families throughout history and some of them are among the most prominent names the business has ever seen. This can make for some very fun on screen moments, especially when more members of the family are brought together. That seems like it might be the case again, even in a somewhat surprising way. During an appearance on After The Bell with Corey Graves, Jimmy Uso said that his wife Naomi was likely to join the Bloodline stable. Uso said that Naomi talks about wanting to join the team and how she wants to try something new after ten years with the company. There is no word on WWE considering Naomi joining the team, which consists of Jimmy’s brother Jey and their cousin Roman Reigns, with Paul Heyman as Special Council. Opinion: This is something that has been mentioned more than once before and I could go for seeing it, but it would need to be a bit more of a serious Naomi. The Bloodline is one of the more serious stables in ..

There They Go? WWE May Be Splitting Up The Mysterios

May 13, 2022 • Admin

Split them up? Tag teams have an interesting history in WWE as the company has pushed them as a priority before, but there are times when they seem to be the least important thing around. It often seems that teams are put together for the sole purpose of being split up, though sometimes a team does get a nice run together first. We might be seeing that again this time. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE is considering splitting up the Mysterios by having Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio going their separate ways. There is no word on if this will mean the two of them having a feud or if they will part peacefully. Neither have been on TV in several weeks after being attacked by Veer Mahaan. WWE has discussed splitting the two of them before but nothing came of it. Opinion: It wouldn’t surprise me whatsoever to see this take place as the Mysterios have kind of run their course as a team. They are fine to keep around, but at the same time, Dominik is about where he was ..