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Mix N Match: Another Company’s Title Changes Hands On AEW Dynamite

April 14, 2022 • Admin

More history has been made! Titles are the simplest concept in wrestling, as any fan of any experience level can understand the concept. A champion is the best around and someone else wants to take their spot. It has worked forever in wrestling and it still does today, as a title change can shake up any promotion in the blink of an eye. That seems to be the case again this week. The main event of this week’s AEW Dynamite saw Samoa Joe defeat Minoru Suzuki to win the Ring of Honor Television Title for the first time in his career. Suzuki won the title from Rhett Titus at the Ring of Honor Supercard of Honor event on April 1. There is no word on when Ring of Honor will return to running regular events or if Samoa Joe will defend the title on AEW television going forward. Opinion: That’s not exactly a shocking result as Suzuki felt like someone there to hold the title for a few weeks before someone else won the thing. I can go with the transitional title reign as Joe holding the title i..

WWE Name Working With AEW Two Weeks After Working At WrestleMania

April 14, 2022 • Admin

Welcome to your new home. The rise of AEW has done a lot of things for the wrestling world. One of the most important is allowing wrestlers and people in the wrestling industry a new place to work outside of WWE. AEW is going to need to bring in some people to work in front of and behind the camera and now they have done just that, including someone who has been with WWE very recently. According to PWInsider.com, former WWE producer Pat Buck has begun working for AEW. Buck was backstage at both this week and last week’s AEW Dynamite, though it is not clear when he officially started. This comes less than two weeks after Buck left WWE, where he produced matches for this year’s WrestleMania. Buck reportedly wanted more free time to spend with his family. Opinion: That is a very fast turnaround but if this is what Buck wants to do then good for him. He is obviously talented at what he does and if AEW is interested in bringing him in and he was interested, it makes all the sense in the w..

I Need Name Tags: WWE Changes Another Superstar’s Name

April 14, 2022 • Admin

Who are you again? WWE has an odd history of changing wrestlers’ names out of nowhere. Sometimes it means that a wrestler is going to another roster, but other times it means that WWE has just changed their minds about something. Neither of them are exactly great reasons, but WWE loves to make the moves. That is what they have done again with a bit of a surprising name. According to his WWE.com profile, Raul Menoza’s name is now Cruz del Toro. The name was used this week on NXT during del Toro’s appearance in a tag match, though there was no formal announcement was made. There is no word on why the name change was made and nothing to suggest that del Toro is on his way to the main roster. His Legado del Fantasma’s teammates names have not been changed. Opinion: I’m not sure why WWE made this change and I would actually be surprised if they had a concrete reason either. The name changes have been coming rather quickly as of late and I don’t know how much good they are going to do for ..

REVIEW: Backlash 2007: That’s Some Fast Finishing

April 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? Backlash 2007 Date: April 29, 2007 Location: Phillips Arena, Atlanta, Georgia Attendance: 14,500 Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole, Taz, John Bradshaw Layfield, Joey Styles It’s the Wrestlemania followup show and the company is still on something of a hot streak. We have a big double main event as Batista challenges Undertaker for the Smackdown World Title in a Last Man Standing match and John Cena defends against Edge, Shawn Michaels and Randy Orton. That’s enough star power, plus Vince McMahon g..

You Might Not Be Seeing Brock Lesnar In WWE Anytime Soon

April 14, 2022 • Admin

Maybe not? There are certain wrestlers who are going to get your attention no matter what they do. There is something about them that catches your attention and does not let it go, which makes for a rather special appearance. WWE has some of those wrestlers today but they are few and far between. One such wrestler’s appearances might be even fewer and further between for the time being. The official WWE.com page for WrestleMania Backlash is no longer advertising Brock Lesnar for an appearance, as he had been previously listed for an appearance. At the moment, Lesnar’s next scheduled appearance is at Money in the Bank on July 2 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Lesnar was defeated by Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 38 as Reigns won the WWE Championship and retained the Universal Championship. Opinion: This isn’t the biggest surprise as Lesnar is hardly a full time star. He has been around more this year than he has been in a very long time and it makes sense for him to be away for the time being. Le..

Sign It Up: New Title Match Confirmed For WWE WrestleMania Backlash

April 14, 2022 • Admin

Put it on the list. We are done with WrestleMania but WWE is not done with using the show’s name. In addition to two nights of WrestleMania, there is also WrestleMania Monday Night Raw and WrestleMania SmackDown. That is four nights of the WrestleMania banner, but now there is another show called WrestleMania Backlash. Now we know something else to expect on the show. This week on Monday Night Raw, Sonya Deville announced that she would be the next challenger for Bianca Belair and the Raw Women’s Title. This week on the Bump, the match was officially confirmed for WrestleMania Backlash on May 8. Deville has only wrestled five televised matches since August 2020 due to dealing with an ongoing legal case. She has since returned to wrestling on WWE live events. Opinion: After Monday, this was more a matter of time than anything else and that isn’t a bad thing. Deville as the first challenger to Belair is a little weird, but at least it is a fresh match and something that could work out ..

AEW Dynamite Live Coverage And Results – April 13, 2022

April 14, 2022 • Admin

Dynamite Date: April 13, 2022 Location: UNO Lakefront Arena, New Orleans, Louisiana Commentators: Excalibur, Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone It’s the start of a big week around here as we are on the third of five shows. There are some important matches set up for this card and there is a good chance that we could be in for a fun one. If nothing else, they are coming in off a white hot main event last week so hopefully they can keep up the momentum. Let’s get to it. Opening sequence. CM Punk vs. Penta Obscuro Alex Abrahantes is here with Penta. Punk isn’t overly intimidated by Obscuro’s entrance and they stare each other down to start. That goes into the big chop off, with the fans getting right into this as soon as they get going. A superkick staggers Punk but he kicks Penta in the ribs to cut him off. Punk strikes away as commentary runs down tonight’s card, including Samoa Joe vs. Minoru Suzuki. The GTS is countered into an ankle lock and Punk gets sent to the floor. Some suicide dives t..

KB’s Review: Less Is More

April 13, 2022 • Admin

We are still in the big news period of the WWE year as WrestleMania season is finally wrapping up. That means WWE is going to be doing a lot of things as we enter what should be the start of the company’s new season. WWE is actually trying to do a few things differently and one of the last announcements has me rather interested, as it is something that took is LONG overdue. Back around 2009 (the year isn’t important), WWE held its annual No Way Out/Elimination Chamber event. As usual, the show featured a pair of Elimination Chamber events, with one serving as the show’s main event. During the second of the two matches, Michael Cole said something to the effect of “when have you ever seen this kind of carnage?” Watching at home, I said out loud “about an hour and a half ago.” One of the most common complaints about WWE is that there is too much. Too much of what? Everything pretty much. There are too many shows, too much content, too much talking, too much bad and too much….everything..

WATCH: The Rock And Roman Reigns Separately Tease WrestleMania Match

April 13, 2022 • Admin

Who else is left? WrestleMania is the biggest and highest profile wrestling event in the world. The main event of WrestleMania is, by definition, often the most important wrestling match of the year. Some of them have been among the most well known matches in wrestling history. WWE is hoping to do it again next year, and now a possible match is being teased on other programs. The Rock vs. Roman Reigns has been rumored as a possible WrestleMania 39 main event. This week on Young Rock, a child version of Reigns jumped on a teenage version of Rock’s back and asked to wrestle, but Rock said something like that could only happen at WrestleMania. Last month, an episode of WWE Evil on Reigns featured a clip of Reigns saying he would fight the Rock. The teases are strong. Check out the two shows hinting at the match: [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video, click to play] Opinion: I don’t know if the match is going to happen but WWE is certainly teasing that we..

Mic Time: WWE Star Set For Standup Comedy Gig

April 13, 2022 • Admin

That’s a different way to go. Wrestlers are very talented people but they do not always get to show what they can do out of the ring. That can make for some very entertaining moments and sometimes it can be as good if not better than what they do on a wrestling show. Another wrestling personality is trying his hand at something outside of the ring and it could be worth a look. NXT’s Malcolm Bivens has announced that he will be trying his hand at stand up comedy at The Stand Comedy Club in New York City on May 5. Bivens tweeted out a poster advertising the event, which features quotes from Kevin Owens and Shayna Baszler, though there is nothing to suggest that the two will also be appearing. Bivens captioned the photo saying “if you’ve been praying for my downfall, now’s your chance.” If you’ve been praying on my downfall, now’s your chance. May 5 // Tix: https://t.co/BVgJDvxSUb pic.twitter.com/n9InMkw39Y — MALCOLM (@Malcolmvelli) April 13, 2022 Opinion: I know Bivens is a great te..

Backstage Look At WWE’s Internal Roster Rankings

April 13, 2022 • Admin

They have a plan. WWE has a lot of wrestlers on its roster but they are not exactly on the same levels. The company is going to want to have some names that are presented more than others and it is not hard to figure out who they are. That list does change every now and then though and now we know a bit more about what WWE sees as their current hierarchy of the roster. According to PWInsider.com, Cody Rhodes is listed as the #2 babyface on the Monday Night Raw roster after only Bobby Lashley. In addition, Drew McIntyre is listed as the top babyface on SmackDown. On the other hand, Roman Reigns is viewed as the top heel on SmackDown and is not listed on Monday Night Raw. The top heels on Monday Night Raw are Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Edge and Damian Priest. Opinion: There is something fascinating when you get to see how WWE views its own lineup. At the same time, it can be interesting to see how fast things change, or at least how WWE treats the wrestlers it views as top stars on eit..

Longtime WWE Star Makes Surprise Return To NXT

April 13, 2022 • Admin

Welcome to the new place. With so many people on their active roster, it can be easy for WWE to run out of places for everyone to go. That has been a problem of theirs for a long time, but there are certain moves that WWE can make to fix things up a bit. It seems that WWE has done it again, as a longstanding main roster star is now heading back to NXT, where she has spent some time. Natalya made her return to NXT this week, confronting Cora Jade and putting her in the Sharpshooter. Later in the show, Natalya told the women’s locker room to be on notice. Tatum Paxley challenged her to a match, which was made official for next week’s show. The match will Natalya’s first on NXT TV since December 2014. There is no word on how long Natalya will be appearing in NXT. Opinion: This is one of those things that WWE has been doing as of late and it is rather smart on all sides. Natalya has not been doing anything of note in WWE for a long time now and can be used to help boost up some of NXT’s ..

WATCH: Team Splits Up After Another Loss On NXT

April 13, 2022 • Admin

It was nice while it lasted. WWE has an interesting history when it comes to tag teams. While there have been several teams throughout the years, WWE has an odd fascination with splitting them up. Usually this leads to a feud between the two and that might be the case again this time, as another team has split up after having things go badly during a match. This week’s edition of NXT was headlined by a five team gauntlet match to crown new NXT Tag Team Champions. Grayson Waller and Sanga took part in the match but were eliminated by the Creed Brothers. After the show, Waller said that he was finished with Sanga, both professionally and personally. Waller also revealed that he had been faking his arm injury from Stand & Deliver. Waller’s announcement to end his three month association with Sanga, which has seen Sanga serve as Waller’s bodyguard. I guess he wasn’t pleased. Check out the match and Waller’s response: [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video,..

WATCH: New Star Announces Surprise NXT Debut

April 13, 2022 • Admin

Welcome to the team. NXT has come a long way since its relaunch as NXT 2.0 last fall. The show has gone from little more than a bunch of thrown together wrestlers to a show that feels like it has some upward potential. That is not everything that needs to be done though, as sometimes you need to bring in some fresh wrestlers. Now NXT has done that with a promising star. A vignette aired this week on NXT, advertising the debut of NXT UK star Nathan Frazier. There is no word on when Frazier will debut or who he will be facing. Frazier debuted with NXT UK last year, following a short run in AEW as Ben Carter. He has wrestled in NXT UK since, including a match with Gunther. Frazier is from the United Kingdom and was trained by Monday Night Raw star Seth Rollins. This has potential. Check out what is coming to NXT: [This post contains video, click to play] Opinion: This is the kind of debut that makes me interested as Frazer is a star in the making but hasn’t had that many major matche..

New Champions Crowned On NXT As New Team Debuts

April 13, 2022 • Admin

New and new champions. Titles are one of the most important things in wrestling and that has been the case in NXT since its inception. NXT has managed to make its titles feel as important as anything else and that is something that has done a lot of good for the promotion. A title change is a big deal and that is the case again, as some new champions have been crowned. This week’s NXT featured a gauntlet match to crown new NXT Tag Team Champions. Pretty Deadly, in their NXT debut match, won the five team match, last eliminating the Creed Brothers. The other teams involved were Legado del Fantasma, Josh Briggs/Brooks Jensen and Grayson Waller/Sanga. The titles were vacated after MSK were stripped of the titles due to Nash Carter being released. Opinion: NXT had to put the titles on someone and this is one of the best calls that they could have made. Pretty Deadly did well during their NXT UK Tag Team Title reign and it makes sense to put the NXT titles on them as well. I like what we ..

NXT Results – April 12, 2022

April 13, 2022 • Admin

NXT Date: April 12, 2022 Location: Capitol Sports Center, Orlando, Florida Commentators Vic Joseph, Wade Barrett It’s another huge week around here as we have a series of title matches. This includes a guaranteed new champion as the vacant Tag Team Titles are on the line in a gauntlet match. Other than that, there are two title matches as the North American and Women’s Titles are on the line as well. Let’s get to it. The opening recap looks at Bron Breakker retaining the NXT Title over Gunther to send him to Smackdown, only to have Joe Gacy and Harland kidnap Breakker’s father Rick Steiner. North American Title: Cameron Grimes vs. Solo Sikoa Grimes is defending and misses a running kick to the face to start. Sikoa’s waistlock is countered into an armbar and Sikoa can’t do much to get out of it. The hold is finally broken up so they shake hands, though Grimes says Sikoa’s Bloodline can kiss his grits. An enziguri knocks Sikoa to the floor and the apron flip dive takes us to a break. ..

WRESTLING RUMORS: Monday Night Raw Star Possibly Written Off Television

April 12, 2022 • Admin

It might be a bit. With so many wrestlers on the WWE roster, it can be a little bit difficult to keep track of everyone. WWE does what they can, but eventually there are going to be some wrestlers without much to do. That is the case with several people on the active roster as they might not have much to do. This time though, WWE might have found a way to get rid of one wrestler. This week on Monday Night Raw, Dominik Mysterio faced Veer Mahaan in a losing effort as Mahaan won the match by submission. After the match was over, Mahaan continued attacking Mysterio, who was taken out of the ring on a stretcher. According to Wrestlingnews.co, this could be used as a way to write Mysterio off of television for the time being, though this is considered speculation. Opinion: Assuming this is a way to get Mysterio off of television, I have heard of worse ideas. Mysterio has been around for a fairly long time now but still hasn’t exactly clicked. Having him go away for a bit lets him get a bi..

WATCH: Injured WWE Star Shows Impressive Progress

April 12, 2022 • Admin

That’s downright inspiring. An injury is one of the worst things that you can see in wrestling as you never know when someone is going to be put on the shelf for a long time. Someone could be taken out in the blink of an eye and have their career completely changed. That was the case earlier this month at WrestleMania, but it seems that there might be some good hope. On the first night of WrestleMania 38, Rick Boogs injured his knee during a tag team match, suffering a torn quadricep patella. Boogs underwent surgery later in the week, but has already posted a video on Instagram showing him walking on crutches, set to There’s No Easy Way Out from Rocky IV. The expected recovery time for the injury is 4-6 months, though there is no word on when Boogs is expected back in the ring. That is a strong man. Check out Boogs’ progress: [This post contains video, click to play] Opinion: What kind of a person is able to get back on his foot less than two weeks after such major surgery? That is..

NXT Locker Room Reportedly Unhappy Over Nash Carter’s Firing

April 12, 2022 • Admin

It might not go well. While a lot of wrestling is a regular day to day operation, there are some occasions where things do not go as usual. That may often be for a bad situation, and it can cause some issues for the other people in the promotion. That is the case at the moment in WWE, as a recent release is not going well for the people who are still with the company. Earlier this month, WWE released Nash Carter over allegations of domestic violence from his wife, Kimber Lee, and a photo of Carter with a Hitler mustache. According to Wrestling Observer Radio, the NXT locker room is not happy with the decision to release Carter, as he was well liked backstage. The photo is said to be from when Carter, now 27, was 19 years old. WWE is said to have been aware of the situation before the story went public. There is no word on where or when Carter may wrestle next. Opinion: I’m not sure how well this is going to go, but I don’t think we’re going to be seeing Carter wrestle again in WWE, o..

BREAKING: WWE Returning To United Kingdom This Year In 78,000 Seat Stadium

April 12, 2022 • Admin

They’re going international. WWE is the largest and most powerful wrestling company in the world, though the last part is not something they explore very often. The company has its regular events in Saudi Arabia, but there are several other places in the world that do not get to see a large scale WWE event. One of those areas will see a change of status later on this year. WWE has announced that it will be holding a major stadium event in Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales on September 3, 2022. This will be the first major stadium event held in the United Kingdom since Summerslam 1992. There are no details on what the show will be called or anything involving the card. Principality Stadium holds approximately 78,000 people for a wrestling event. BREAKING: For the first time in 30 years, WWE will bring a major stadium event to the United Kingdom at @principalitysta in Cardiff, Wales this September! Details ? https://t.co/3X2yykZ328 Exclusive pre-sale registration ? https://t.co/..