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VIDEO: Behind The Scenes Of CM Punk’s AEW Debut And More

August 24, 2021 • Admin

It’s worth a closer look. There are very few moments in recent memory that have been as well received as CM Punk’s AEW debut. After seven and a half years away from professional wrestling, Punk made his grand return in his hometown of Chicago to a thunderous reception. It was an amazing moment and now we get to see it from a different point of view. The latest edition of Being The Elite includes footage of Punk backstage at the United Center on his way to the ring. Punk is seen backstage with the Elite and listening to the crowd chanting his name before going out. The video also includes the usual Being The Elite antics, including the team going shopping for new shoes in Chicago. The footage of Punk is at the beginning. It was a big night. Check out Being The Elite plus Punk’s debut: [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video, click to play] Opinion: The more I see from Punk’s debut, the more impressed I am. It..

WATCH: Baron Corbin’s Luck Is Turning Around

August 24, 2021 • Admin

That’s a new direction. There are all kinds of ways to present a wrestling storyline and some of them are a lot more successful than others. The sign of a good one though is that it makes you want to keep watching and see what happens. Every now and then, you see one of these take place and that is the case again. Now we might be seeing a new direction for the storyline. Over the last few months, Baron Corbin has come across some hard times on WWE SmackDown. After losing his King’s Crown to Shinsuke Nakamura on June 18, Corbin has had one horrible stroke of luck after another. Corbin has lost his money, his car, his family and his home. There is very little left for him to lose, but things might be turning around a bit. This is a near saga. Check out what happened to Corbin in Las Vegas: [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video, click to play] Corbin has posted a series..

WWE Has Changed Plans For Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar

August 24, 2021 • Admin

That’s the next one. This year’s Summerslam has come and gone and the show was certainly eventful. There were a lot of surprises taking place on the show and perhaps the biggest one came at the end of the show when Brock Lesnar made his return after a nearly year and a half away. Lesnar seemed to be setting his sights on Roman Reigns, and now we know where this might be going. According to Wrestling Observer Radio, WWE has changed their plans on the Lesnar vs. Reigns match. The original plans for the match would have seen it take place in 2023 at WrestleMania 39 but the plans are now up in the air. There is a chance that the match could take place in October at Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia, though this is not confirmed. There is no word on how this could change potential plans for the Rock vs. Reigns down the line. These two do have a history. Check out what we might be seeing sooner than later: [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video, click to play] [..

Update On John Cena’s Current And Future WWE Status

August 24, 2021 • Admin

See you later. There are very few stars in wrestling history on the same level as John Cena. While he might not have always been the most popular star in the world, Cena certainly had his audience and WWE knew how to market him to those people. Cena is now seen as a living legend and is going to get some extra attention every time he is around. That just might not be taking place anytime soon. According to PWInsider.com, Cena is done with WWE for the time being, save for an already announced appearance at the September 10 SmackDown in Madison Square Garden in New York City. It is not clear when Cena will be back, as he will be filming Argylle for at least the next several months. Cena finished up with WWE at Summerslam, losing to Roman Reigns in a Universal Title match. Following the match, Cena posted a message to Twitter, thanking the fans and everyone involved for his latest run with WWE. Words cannot describe how appreciative I am that the @WWEUniverse allowed me the opportunity ..

REVIEW: Monday Night Raw – November 13, 2006: Randy Orton’s Wacky Partner

August 24, 2021 • 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? Monday Night Raw Date: November 13, 2006 Location: Manchester Evening News Arena, Manchester, England Attendance: 15,266 Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler We are on one of the foreign excursion shows as Raw is over in England on the way to Survivor Series. Some of the Survivor Series matches have already been set and that should make for a few different paths while the show is on vacation. Now just get us there in a few interesting pieces. Let’s get to it. Opening sequence. Here’s DX to get things going, comp..

Really Cool Detail On CM Punk’s AEW Debut

August 24, 2021 • Admin

That’s very him. We are officially done with one of the biggest wrestling weekends of the year and arguably the biggest story of the weekend was CM Punk making his AEW debut. It was a very emotional moment and included one of the greatest reactions that you will ever see. Part of that was due to a special bonus that Punk threw in, and now we know a pretty cool detail about what happened. At the end of Punk’s speech, he announced that everyone in the United Center was going to get a free ice cream bar on the way out of the arena. Ice cream was indeed provided for everyone in the arena, with over 15,000 fans in attendance. The ice cream came in a special wrapper and were provided by Pretty Cool Ice Cream. The company has now offered a little more information about the whole thing. In a post on Instagram, Pretty Cool Ice Cream has revealed a few details about the ice cream. Punk did in fact pay for the ice cream himself, personally writing the check to the ice cream company. This has be..

Roman Reigns Wants More Of THIS WWE Superstar On TV

August 24, 2021 • Admin

He wants more. There are a lot of stars on the WWE roster today but very few of them are near the top of the card. It takes something special to be the top star in WWE and the company has only had a handful of them. Roman Reigns currently fills in that spot and he has been doing some rather impressive things on SmackDown. Now though, he has a bit of a request. During a new interview with Ariel Helwani of BT Sports, Reigns mentioned that he would like to see more Sami Zayn on WWE television. Reigns praised Zayn, calling him someone who is talented in whatever he does. Reigns mentioned that Zayn may not look like a superstar but feels like your neighbor and is always good for a short conversation. Zayn not wrestled on WWE television in over a month, last wrestling on the July 23 SmackDown. Zayn certainly is talented. Check out what Reigns wants to see on television: [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video, click..

Another WWE Star Not Cleared To Compete, Originally Planned For Summerslam

August 24, 2021 • Admin

You might have noticed. We are now done with one of the busiest weekends of the WWE year, which was focused around Summerslam. The show ran four hours, plus an hour long Kickoff Show, which featured a variety of matches and big moments. Not everyone was able to make it onto the card though, and now we know why that was the case with one name in particular. According to PWInsider.com, Kofi Kingston missed both Summerslam and this week’s edition of Monday Night Raw as he is not currently cleared. There is no word on what is specifically wrong with him. Kingston was scheduled to take part in a segment with Xavier Woods at Summerslam where Woods sprayed Miz and Morrison with the Drip Stick 2000. There is no word on when Kingston will be back on television. Kingston is going to boost things up a bit. Check out what WWE is waiting on: [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video, click to play] Opinion: I’m not sure wh..

WATCH: Long Time Tag Team Splits On Monday Night Raw, To Fight Next Week

August 24, 2021 • Admin

So much for that. Tag team wrestling has been a part of wrestling for a very long time now and that is the case in WWE as well. However, WWE does not exactly have the best history when it comes to tag wrestling, as the company seems to like building teams up only to split them apart. That seems to be the case again, as another long term tag team broke up after a long time together. This week on Monday Night Raw, the Miz and John Morrison split up, officially ending their team. The split came after Morrison distracted the referee during Miz’s match against Xavier Woods, costing Miz the match. Miz attacked Morrison after the match and laid him out. Later in the night, Morrison said that the team was done and a match between the two of them was announced for next week’s show. Miz and Morrison have been a team since Morrison returned to WWE in 2020 after originally teaming together from 2007-2009. They are three time Tag Team Champions. It was a bad night. Check out what happened and how..

Monday Night Raw Live Coverage – August 23, 2021

August 24, 2021 • Admin

Monday Night Raw Date: August 23, 2021 Location: Pechanga Arena, San Diego, California Commentators: Jimmy Smith, Byron Saxton, Corey Graves It’s the night after Summerslam and we are going to be dealing with a lot of the fallout. We have a long road to Extreme Rules and there were a lot of things at Summerslam worth talking about. The problem is that most of them had to do with Smackdown so we might not be in for much going on. Let’s get to it. We open with a long recap of Summerslam. Here are MVP and Bobby Lashley to get things going. After another recap of Goldberg vs. Lashley, MVP says he’d like to explain what happened on Sunday at Summerslam. We all know about Goldberg’s extraordinary history but not so much about his recently unextraordinary history. What we didn’t know was that his son would be at Summerslam. Maybe he needed a good luck charm or something but Goldberg did score a couple of two counts. Either way, Lashley beat up Goldberg and won by referee stoppage. Goldber..

Change It Up: Details On The Upcoming NXT Revamp

August 23, 2021 • Admin

You knew it was coming. We are in the middle of a transitional period in WWE as all kinds of changes are taking place. That is the kind of situation that can change a lot about the wrestling world and it seems to be the case again. A lot of these changes are taking place in NXT, but nothing has been officially announced. That has since changed, as a pretty high ranking WWE official has cleared up a few things. During an interview with BT Sports, WWE President Nick Khan confirmed that NXT will be undergoing a complete overhaul, albeit with Triple H still at the helm. The idea is to make it easier for wrestlers to become WWE superstars while looking from other sources besides independent wrestling. The changes will involve everything, including the look of the show and the production and will start in a few weeks. There is a lot to this. Check out the full interview plus some of NXT’s greatest moments: [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video, click to pla..

Top Star Finishes Up With NXT At Takeover, Officially A Free Agent

August 23, 2021 • Admin

So much for that. The wrestling world has been changing in a big way all over the place and that is probably going to be the case for a long time to come. We are seeing wrestlers move from one promotion to another and some of the moves have been quite surprising. This time though, it seems like something you probably have been expecting for a little while. According to PWInsider.com, Adam Cole finished up with NXT on Sunday night at Takeover 36. There is no word on where he is going at the moment, but it was made clear that Cole was done with NXT rather than WWE as a whole. Cole had a meeting with Vince McMahon earlier this month but it was not clear if he had come to terms on a new deal. As his contract has expired, Cole is a free agent and able to appear anywhere he likes at any time. Cole is a heck of a free agent. Check out what might be coming to another promotion: [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video,..

Historic Title Changes Take Place At NXT Takeover 36

August 23, 2021 • Admin

Things are shifting a bit. We are in the middle of a very transitional period for NXT and that could make for quite the different future. That means things are going to be moving around in a bunch of new directions. Some of those changes could be made with a big match, perhaps in the form of some title changes, which is what happened during this weekend’s Takeover. There were four title matches during NXT Takeover 36 and three of the titles changed hands. First up, Cameron Grimes defeated LA Knight to win the Million Dollar Title. Had Knight won, he would have gained Ted DiBiase as his manager. Next, Ilja Dragunov defeated Walter, ending Walter’s record 870 day reign. Finally, Samoa Joe defeated Karrion Kross to win the NXT Title for a record third time in the main event. One champion retained their title, with Raquel Gonzalez retaining the Women’s Title over Dakota Kai. It was a busy night. Check out the new champions: [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains..

Summerslam Set A Pretty Impressive Record

August 23, 2021 • Admin

That’s impressive. There are a lot of problems in WWE at the moment but one of their most successful, as well as most impressive, areas is their financial status. The company is bringing in money hand over fist, mainly due to their rather impressive television deals. That isn’t the only place where they are making money though and another area just had a rather good night. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, this weekend’s Summerslam set a new record for the largest gate revenue for any non-Wrestlemania event in North America. The event had an announced attendance of 51,236, though it is not clear how legitimate of a number that is. This year’s edition was the first ever Summerslam held in an NFL stadium and only the second ever held in a stadium of any kind. There were a lot of people there. Check out some of the show’s best moments: [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video, click to play] Opinio..

Top WWE Star Turning Heel In Surprise Move

August 23, 2021 • Admin

That’s the plan? Summerslam 2021 has come and gone and the show has been receiving some mixed reviews. There were some good and bad parts to the show, as is the case with most shows that WWE produces. The event had its share of surprise moments which could inject some life into the promotion. One of them might lead to another surprise of its own though. Becky Lynch made her return to WWE television at Summerslam, replacing Carmella as the challenger for Bianca Belair’s SmackDown Women’s Title. Lynch would go on to win the title in less than thirty seconds. According to PWInsider.com, Lynch will be the top heel in the SmackDown women’s division going forward. Lynch has been a heel before, briefly working as one in 2018 before being turned back again. Lynch is back. Check out her return and what is coming back to WWE: [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video, click to play] Opinion: I’m sorry what now? Why in t..

VIDEO: Another Former Champion Makes NXT Debut

August 23, 2021 • Admin

The next step. There are several different levels to the WWE structure and you can see the path that a wrestler takes up through the ranks. You can often figure out how this is going to go, though NXT UK has added a new level to the ladder. Sometimes you will see a wrestler come from the United Kingdom and move up the ranks, which was the case again this weekend. Sunday at NXT Takeover 36, Raquel Gonzalez defeated Dakota Kai to retain the NXT Women’s Title. After the match, former NXT UK Women’s Champion Kay Lee Ray appeared on the stage for a staredown with Gonzalez. While not confirmed, this would suggest that Ray has been moved to the NXT roster. Ray holds the record for the longest reign in the history of the NXT UK Women’s Title, having held the title for 649 days. This could be a big one. Check out the title match, plus what might be coming for Gonzalez and the title: [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains vi..

NXT Takeover: 36 Live Coverage And Results

August 22, 2021 • Admin

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 Pete Dunne is here with Holland. Baxter charges straight at him to start and gets tossed with a suplex. Holland drops a knee and hits him in the face but Baxter is back up with a running knee to the face. A Tajiri handspring elbow is countered with a headbutt to the back of the head though and Northern Grit finishes for Holland at 1:45. Result: Ridge Holland b. Trey Baxter – Northern Grit (1:45) Post match Holland says that is a direct look into Timothy Thatcher’s future. ..

Roman Reigns And Mick Foley Argue Over CM Punk

August 22, 2021 • Admin

Two sides of it. This Friday night on AEW Rampage, CM Punk returned to the wrestling world in one of the most emotional moments that you will see in a long time in the industry. The fans lost their minds over Punk’s return and it seems that things are going to be changing in a big way. It turns out that it wasn’t the only Punk moment of the week, though some people see him rather differently. Earlier this week, before Punk made his return on Rampage, Roman Reigns was asked about Punk in an interview with BT Sports and said that Punk was not as “good or over” as John Cena or the Rock. Reigns also criticized Punk’s issues with part time wrestlers taking main event spots. WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley responded, saying that “CM PUNK WAS DAMN GOOD, AND DAMN OVER.” Foley also praised Punk’s in-ring and taking abilities, while saying that if/when Punk returns to wrestling, he would be over again. Neither Reigns nor Punk have responded to Foley’s comments. CM PUNK WAS DAMN GOOD, AND DAMN OVE..

WATCH: WWE Announces Two Major Events With Special Settings

August 22, 2021 • Admin

Mark your calendars. WWE holds a lot of events every year and some of them are a lot bigger than others. You have your live events and your television tapings, but then there are the pay per view events, which tend to be the biggest of the year. Sometimes though you get the extra special pay per views, and now we know when another one of each is coming. During this weekend’s Summerslam, WWE announced two major events within the next year. First up, WWE will be returning to Saudi Arabia for Crown Jewel at some point in October, with no specific date announced. This will be the first WWE event in Saudi Arabia since February 2020. Second, Money in the Bank will be heading to Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, the same location as Summerslam, over the 4th of July weekend in 2022. This will be the first time the event has been held in a stadium. This could be big. Check out the announcements plus a look at what to expect from both: [This post contains video, click to play] [This p..

NXT Takeover 36 Preview, Predictions And Thoughts

August 22, 2021 • Admin

It’s weird to see NXT as the big closer for the weekend, as Rampage was big enough and then we had Summerslam for one of the most important shows of the year. That leaves us with Takeover: 36 and I’m really not feeling the card this time. It seems pretty clear that NXT as we know it is going to be going away, so this very well may be the big farewell for the current NXT. I’m not sure if that is the worst thing in the world either. Let’s get to it. Kickoff Show: Ridge Holland vs. Trey Baxter This was added over the weekend and it can serve as the appetizer for the show. That is an appropriate description too, as Holland is likely to devour Baxter. The limited stuff I’ve seen from Baxter has been pretty good, but Holland seems ready to be elevated into a bigger star around here, meaning I’m pretty sure you can already figure out how the match is likely to go. The monster is back: [This post contains video, click to play] This should be a nearly complete squash for Holland, who needs ..