News

LOOK: Ronda Rousey Back In The Wrestling Ring

September 12, 2020 • Admin

Blast from the past. There are some people who show up in wrestling and take the place by storm. You don’t see it very often but you know it when you see it. That’s what you saw back in 2018 when Ronda Rousey showed up and tore the house down at WrestleMania 34. A year later she was headlining the event in one of the most surprising milestones in wrestling history. Then a day later she was gone, but maybe not forever. Rousey has not appeared in WWE since WrestleMania 35 but she has teased a return a few times since. I don’t think it is any secret that WWE would love to have her back full time, part time or just for a one off appearance, but it is not going to be the case if Rousey does not want to come back. Rousey has not done much since she left WWE, though she did just get back in the ring. Earlier this week, Roddy Piper’s daughter Teal Piper posted some photos to Instagram showing that she is training to return to the ring after surgery to repair a torn ACL. Rousey appears in the..

Special Edition Of Monday Night Raw Featuring Packed Card

September 12, 2020 • Admin

It’s an idea. There is no secret to the fact that Monday Night Raw is not doing so well with their television ratings and/or audience at the moment. The company has been rocked by the Coronavirus pandemic and need to do something to shake off their problems. It isn’t going to be made any better with Monday Night Football starting up again, but WWE already has a backup plan in mind. If there is one thing that WWE knows how to do, it is stack up a card. It helps a lot when you have a roster with so much talent and so many stories taking place at the same time. With so many resources available to them, WWE can put together a huge card in a hurry and it can give them some muscle of their own to go up against a big ratings draw. That is what they are doing this coming Monday. During this week’s SmackDown, an advertisement ran for In Your Face Raw, which will air next week. The card will feature a variety of matches, including the previously announced Champions vs. Champions match with Sma..

WWE’s Third Party Talent Restrictions To Be Case By Case

September 12, 2020 • Admin

Thanks for the clarification? There have been a lot of changes taking place in WWE as of late and one of the biggest has taken place behind the scenes. Last week, WWE issued an order to its wrestlers, banning them from using most third party platforms, likely including Cameo and Twitch. Things have been clarified a bit since then, but it turns out that it is even more confusing than it might have seemed. One of the biggest issues in the situation was over the ownership of the wrestlers’ real names and likenesses. While the wrestlers were the ones performing under the names and the ones that the fans would be more likely to recognize, WWE owns the character names and may have claimed that they owned the real names as well. That did not set well with some wrestlers, and things may be about to get even worse. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE’s policy is not a new one, but rather the company reinforcing their regular contracts. The wrestlers are allowed to make money o..

VIDEO: New Paul Heyman Inspired Character Debuts In The Firefly Fun House

September 12, 2020 • Admin

Nice to meet you. The Firefly Fun House is one of the more unique ideas that WWE has presented in a very long time. A mixture of a children’s television show and the inner workings of Bray Wyatt’s twisted mind, the series has jumped between a supernatural world, a puppet show, and something going on somewhere at the arena. That is quite the mixture, and now we have a new character on the show. The Firefly Fun House is populated not just by Wyatt, but also a series of puppets, many of whom are references to parts of Wyatt’s past or something that is designed to display an aspect of his personality. These characters often allow for some comedy, but at the same time can be used to advance various storylines involving Wyatt. That was turned up in a big way this week. This was a little different. Check out what we have to look forward to now: During this week’s SmackDown, a new character was introduced to the cast, with Wobbly Walrus being added. The character was introduced by Evil Vin..

REVIEW: Superbrawl 2000: When It Isn’t Needed Anymore

September 12, 2020 • Admin

Welcome to KB’s Old School (and New School) Reviews. I’ve been reviewing wrestling shows for over ten years now and have reviewed over 5,000 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? SuperBrawl 2000 Date: February 20, 2000 Location: Cow Palace, San Francisco, California Attendance: 8,569 Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Mark Madden, Mike Tenay Well the TV shows have been some of the least interesting things I’ve ever had to sit through, so maybe the pay per view will be the complete opposite and be entertaining. I mean, stranger things have happened right? The main events tonight are Sid Vicious defending the World Title against Jeff Jarrett and Scott Hall in a three way, plus Hogan vs. Luger and Fu..

WWE Department “In Shambles” After Several More Cuts

September 12, 2020 • Admin

There they go again. Back in April, WWE released dozens of wrestlers from the company in an effort to cut down costs during the Coronavirus pandemic. The company let several wrestlers go as there was little reason to have them around given how there were no live events for them to wrestle on. There are more than just wrestlers working at a live event though and that’s where we are today. Live events may not be the biggest money makers for WWE, but they offer a big service aside from just financial. The shows are a testing ground for upcoming matches as the wrestlers can get in some practice before they move on to the big stage shows. They also allow for some wrestlers to get in the ring when they would not be doing so otherwise. That might not be the case for a long time, which was even more cemented this week. According to Wrestlinginc.com, WWE cut another 12-15 members of the Live Events staff, leaving the department in shambles. This would suggest that WWE is not likely to bring b..

WWE News: New Title Match Set For Clash Of Champions

September 12, 2020 • Admin

One more for the card. We are just over two weeks away from Clash Of Champions and a lot of the card has yet to be made official. WWE is starting to run out of time to set up a good number of matches as the company has a lot of titles that need to be defended in one night. Both roster will be having titles put on the line and now we have one more checked off the list. Save for a five day reign by Charlotte, Bayley has held the SmackDown Women’s Title for about sixteen months straight. That has left quite the path of destruction throughout the SmackDown women’s division as there are not many people left for her to face. Last week on SmackDown, Bayley destroyed Sasha Banks to put their showdown on hold. This week though, she gained a new challenger for her title. During this week’s SmackDown, Nikki Cross won a four way match to become the new #1 contender for the SmackDown Women’s Title and will face Bayley for the title at Clash Of Champions. The match also included Tamina, Lacey Evan..

SmackDown Live Coverage And Results – September 11, 2020

September 12, 2020 • Admin

Smackdown Date: September 11, 2020 Location: Amway Center, Orlando, Florida Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves Things took a surprising turn last week as Jey Uso of all people became the new #1 contender to the Smackdown World Title. That could set up quite the one sided title defense for Roman Reigns but you never know. As for tonight, Jeff Hardy defends the Intercontinental Title against AJ Styles. Let’s get to it. We open with a Never Forget graphic. We get a long recap of Reigns’ comments last week, plus Uso becoming #1 contender. Here are Reigns and Heyman for a chat. Heyman talks about letting the cat out of the bag two weeks ago. Then at Payback, they took the Universal title. That took us to last week when Jey Uso captured the #1 contendership in the biggest win of his career. Heyman invites Uso to the ring and we see some photos of the Usos and reigns growing up together. Uso thanks Heyman for getting him a spot last week but Heyman says it was Reigns’ idea, with Hey..

Miro Day In AEW: What Happens Next?

September 11, 2020 • Admin

Miro’s arrival in AEW, while surprising, was not wholly unexpected. The former Rusev made his debut on the September 9 edition of Dynamite, where he was revealed as the best man for Kip Sabian’s upcoming wedding with Penelope Ford. Since his departure from WWE, Miro’s pro wrestling fate was the topic of heavy speculation among fans, many of whom predicted his imminent signing with Tony Khan’s company. No one knows how long Miro will be aligned with Sabian, but it’s clear that The Bulgarian Brute is likely headed for big things in his new environment. Miro’s presence in an AEW ring was very surreal for many who watched Dynamite. But he was in great shape and he had a big smile on his face. This was not the same man who last stood in a WWE ring and was following the law of the land in Vince McMahon’s company. For many Superstars, their creative direction is stifled and they typically have very little input. That situation inevitably leads to frustration and ultimately, to separation...

NXT UK Results – September 10, 2020

September 11, 2020 • Admin

NXT UK Date: September 10, 2020 Host: Andy Shepherd It’s the final show before things are back to normal around here and that could make for some interesting changes. This time around we are getting some special announcements which will most likely start off next week. I’m not sure what to expect here but we should be in for a lot of recapping. Let’s get to it. Andy takes us right to the point by sending us to Sid Scala for an announcement. Sid announces the NXT Heritage Cup Tournament with eight men competing to crown the first cup winner. And now, here’s William Regal with the rest of the story. The tournament will take place under the British Rounds System, meaning six three minute rounds with twenty seconds in between rounds. Each match will be 2/3 falls and a pin, submission or countout ends a round. A DQ or Knockout ends the match immediately. If the rounds end, whomever is ahead advances. We get three of the eight entrants, with each getting a quick highlight reel and soun..

WWE RUMOR: Here’s Why Roman Reigns Is Facing Jey Uso At Clash Of Champions

September 11, 2020 • Admin

It’s a family thing. We are coming up on Clash Of Champions, which will naturally feature a lot of title matches. That is the kind of show that can lead to some interesting kinds of matches as some of the challengers might not be the ones you would expect. It can create some ideas that are more well received than others but there is a reason for them taking place. One of the odder matches at this year’s show has a reason behind it. Last week on SmackDown, Jey Uso won a fatal four way match to become the new #1 contender to the Universal Title. Uso was replacing Big E., who had been attacked earlier in the night. The win gave Uso a shot at Roman Reigns, his cousin, at Clash Of Champions. This came out of nowhere as Uso is a tag team wrestler but his brother Jimmy is currently injured. Now we know why the match was set up. According to Tom Colohue on the Dropkick DiSKussions podcast, the match was set up in part due to Reigns requesting to face Uso. Part of the booking of Clash Of Cham..

THIS SmackDown Segment Drew Highest Wrestling Audience In Months

September 11, 2020 • Admin

It got the attention. The Women’s Revolution has been going for over five years on WWE television but it really started years before. Down in NXT, the Four Horsewomen became the cornerstones of the movement and they took those talents up to the main roster. The four of them have feuded with each other in various combinations for years and now one of them has gotten some serious attention. Last week on SmackDown, Bayley and Sasha Banks lost their rematch for the Women’s Tag Team Titles. Banks was injured during the match which ultimately cost them their title shot. After the match was over, Bayley attacked Banks and went after her already injured knee, followed by Pillmanizing Banks’ neck. This was a long time in the making and the fans were rather interested. According to Wrestling Observer Radio, the 9:00 – 9:30 time slot from last week’s SmackDown, which featured the title match and the post match attack on Banks, drew 2.32 million viewers. That number is the highest rated segment ..

Surprising Name Seen As A Top Babyface On Monday Night Raw

September 11, 2020 • Admin

He’s starting fast. There are a lot of people on the main WWE roster at the moment and that is something that offers a variety of options. At the same time though, the top of the roster is rather heel heavy at the moment. For as much of the talent that they have, they do not have many good guys. That means the company needs some new stars, and one of the names the company sees as a top face on Monday Night Raw may surprise you. Back in 2006, Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio had one of the most unique feuds in history as they fought over the custody of Rey’s son Dominick. The feud saw a ladder match for Dominick with Rey winning and Dominick mostly left WWE TV. He is now back though and a full time wrestler, which has included being put into a pretty big spot on Monday Night Raw. It turns out that he is a little bigger of a star than previously thought. According to PWInsider Elite, Dominick is now considered one of the top faces on Monday Night Raw. Dominick is seen as one of the thre..

WWE Releases Three More Names

September 11, 2020 • Admin

There they go too. Things have been changing in WWE in a big way this year and one of the biggest changes has been the releases that took place back in April. Several wrestlers were suddenly let go and sent into the free agent market, which shook things up throughout the wrestling world. There were other people affected by the changes than just the wrestlers though, as several backstage workers were furloughed. Things got even worse today. There are so many people who are helpful to making a wrestling show work besides just the wrestlers themselves. It can help to have someone involved to serve as something like a coach for the match and to help lay things out for the wrestlers involved. That is where a veteran presence and mind can help, but some of the better backstage WWE minds are now gone. Three backstage WWE names were released on Thursday, with two producers and a scout being released. Producers Mike Rotunda and Sarah Stock were both released, according to PWInsider and Fightf..

WATCH: Couple Use AEW In Wedding Vows

September 11, 2020 • Admin

You don’t hear that every day. AEW has not been around all that long in the wrestling world but have still made quite an impact. They have mostly dominated the Wednesday Night Wars against NXT and that is the kind of thing that was quite the surprise in some ways. The company certainly has a lot of fans and their numbers have been going up, but one of them might have topped the rest. Wrestling tends to exist in its own little world. The people involved in wrestling do not exactly seem like people who would exist outside of a wrestling show and it can be interesting to see what happens when they go outside of that bubble. Some of the best promos and segments involve the real world and the wrestling world clashing. That happened again, and it wasn’t in a wrestling angle. This is just great. Check out something you don’t see very often: https://media.wrestlingrumors.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/11012124/Dynamite-Wedding-Vows.mp4 A video posted to Twitter shows a couple getting marrie..

VIDEO: John Cena Announces New Weekly Series

September 11, 2020 • Admin

The rise of Cena continues. Every now and then, a wrestler will break through into the world of mainstream entertainment and get out of the professional wrestling bubble. Not too many of them are able to do this but you can certainly tell when things click. Some of the bigger names in wrestling history have pulled it off and now one of the top WWE names of all time is expanding his Hollywood footprint. Some people might not like him as much as others but John Cena is one of the biggest stars that WWE has ever had. While he has since left the wrestling world for the most part, you will still see him pop up every now and then. Most of his time is spent in the mainstream entertainment world though and now he is going to be on television a lot more than he has been before. TBS has announced, via Deadline.com, that Cena will be co-hosting and executive produce a revival of the obstacle course series Wipeout. Cena released a video of himself announcing the series and the show’s trailer on ..

VIDEO: New NXT UK Tournament Starting Next Week With Unique Rules

September 11, 2020 • Admin

Bring on the gold. Titles are one of the easiest methods of identifying the top stars in a promotion. Any fan can figure this concept out without much effort: whoever has a big title belt is one of the biggest stars around. That isn’t hard to figure out and has worked forever. Some might say that there are too many titles in WWE today though and that number is about to grow. On Thursday September 17, NXT UK will return after more than five months away due to the Coronavirus. The show had been getting some traction going over the previous few months and that is the kind of thing that you need time to build. With the show coming back after such a long hiatus, they needed something to get them started in a hurry and now they have a new idea. This week on NXT UK, the NXT UK Heritage Cup was announced, with the first matches taking place on next week’s return show. The eight man tournament will be held under the British rounds system, with each match being six three minute rounds and 2/3 ..

Injury Update On Ivar, Situation Worse Than Previously Thought

September 10, 2020 • Admin

That’s bad to hear. Injuries can be some of the scariest things in all of wrestling and the neck is one of the worst places that can be damaged. That is the sort of injury that can end a career and they can seemingly come out of nowhere. Like any other injury, it can happen in a flash and that was the case this week on Monday Night Raw. Now we know a bit more about it and the results aren’t great. This week on Monday Night Raw, Ivar of the Viking Raiders dove to the floor during an eight man tag. Upon landing, Ivar immediately made the X sign, signaling that he had been hurt. He was taken away on a stretcher after the match and was later diagnosed with a neck injury. The tentative diagnosis was a stinger but there was no timetable given on his return, though now we have some bad news. According to Wrestling Observer Radio, Ivar’s injury is considered significant though it is currently unknown if he will need surgery. The initial thought of a stinger seems to be incorrect and the inju..

KB’s Review: Unfortunately, They Talk

September 10, 2020 • Admin

A little over a month ago, WWE mentioned that there would be a new stable debuting on Monday Night Raw. That got some interests, including my own, up, as that isn’t the kind of thing that WWE tends to announce in advance. WWE had been having issues with their television ratings and audience for a long time and it was clear that they needed something to help boost them up. I was intrigued, and it has pretty much been all downhill from that point on. The group was a bunch of masked people jumping around in the parking lot and blowing up an electric generator. There was no name for the team, no members announced, and nothing inside the Performance Center. It wasn’t exactly clear why the team was announced in advance, but it wound up being a mistake, as the group wasn’t supposed to be advertised. If that didn’t tell you that we were in trouble, I’m not sure what else was going to. We would soon find out that the team was called Retribution and that they wanted to make things right in WWE..

WWE Seemingly Cracking Down On Superstars’ Outside Ventures

September 10, 2020 • Admin

That’s a big shot. Wrestlers are given quite a few responsibilities, as they have to go in the ring and wrestle but also market themselves at the same time. One of the best ways to do this is through selling their merchandising. Almost every wrestler has their own t-shirt with some of them having several to choose from. It is a lucrative side business for WWE, which is why they seem to have made a big move. Last week, WWE issued a new rule saying that its wrestlers were no longer allowed to work with third parties to make money. This seemed to include services like Cameo and Twitch, which allowed wrestlers to interact with fans in a much more direct manner. However, wrestlers try to make money in other ways, one of which WWE seems to be taking away from them in a hurry. According to Wrestlinginc.com, Mustafa Ali’s Pro Wrestling Tees page has been taken down. A link on his Twitter page has been replaced with a link to his WWE Shop page. This seems to have been done in the last few day..