Indian Pro Wrestling Base

That’s what friends are for. Tonight’s episode of Smackdown emulated from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which Pat McAfee was fired up about. However, he was also excited about getting to do something special and hilarious for his friend and broadcast colleague, Michael Cole.
During a commercial break, McAfee got on a table and shared with the crowd how excited he was to be in the great state of Wisconsin. He then proceeded to let everybody know that it was Cole’s birthday and got the whole crowd to serenade him in a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday! You can see the video on McAfee’s Twitter account below:
It's an absolute HONOR to be in the GREAT state of Wisconsin #SmackDAHN #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/wjAd7Gfo3p
— WrestleMania Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) April 9, 2022
The funny thing about this is that it is NOT Cole’s Birthday! According to Wikipedia, Cole was born on December 8, 1968, which makes this even more hilarious.
Editor’s Opinion:
I absolutely love stuff like this. It..

She’s back. After being away for over a year, Lacey Evans made her return to WWE programming on this week’s edition of SmackDown. She appeared backstage in a vignette with a unique twist.
Evans began to share her story about her upbringing and how the challenges she faced throughout her life made her the woman she is today. You can see the vignette below:
[This post contains video, click to play]

Evans was last seen on the February 15, 2021 episode of RAW, where she announced that she was pregnant. She had been flirting with Ric Flair during this time, and it was implied that he might be the father. However, this was a way to write her off of television as she was pregnant in real life.
Editor’s Opinion:
This was an awesome promo, and it’s a great way to bring her back into the company over the next several weeks. I’ve always thought that she had the potential to be one of the top stars in WWE, as she had been working with the top talent before she was taken off of television. Al..

The callups continue. This week’s episode of Smackdown featured a number of returns and call-ups from NXT, including Gunther and Marcel Barthel, now known as Ludwig Kaiser. Raquel Gonzalez also made her debut this week, but this is not the name that she will be going by.
Introduced in a backstage segment with Los Lotharios, Gonzalez will now be known as Raquel Rodriguez on the blue brand. You can see her debut below:
[This post contains video, click to play]

Dakota Kai recently reunited with Gonzalez on NXT 2.0 and recently defeated Toxic Attraction members Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne for the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championship during the Kickoff pre-show of NXT Stand & Deliver. However, in their first title defense on the following episode of NXT 2.0, Kai and Gonzalez lost the titles back to Toxic Attraction due to Mandy Rose’s interference.
Editor’s Opinion:
This is awesome. I’ve always thought that she was one of the top female competitors in all of WWE and now gets her opportunit..

Rampage
Date: April 8, 2022
Location: Agganis Arena, Boston, Massachusetts
Commentators: Excalibur, Tazz, Ricky Starks, Chris Jericho
I don’t know why, but something tells me they are going to have a hard time following FTR vs. the Bucks from Dynamite. That being said, they are certainly amping up Rampage this week, as Bryan Danielson and Jon Moxley will both be in action on the show. I’m thinking that’s enough to carry things so let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Trent Beretta vs. Bryan Danielson William Regal is on commentary and it’s a feeling out process to start and they go to the mat. A shot to the face drops Danielson, who seems to get how things are going to go here. Danielson gets a boot up in the corner and grabs a guillotine choke, with Beretta suplexing his way to freedom. Beretta sends him outside but the switch places, only to have Danielson’s suicide dive pulled out of the air. Danielson sends him into the steps and we take a break.
Back with Danielson suplexing him ..

Smackdown
Date: April 8, 2022
Location: Fiserv Forum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Commentators: Michael Cole, Pat McAfee
It’s the first Smackdown after Wrestlemania and maybe something can go a bit better than this week’s Raw. If nothing else, there is always the chance to see who might show up from NXT or elsewhere and that can make for some exciting times. If nothing else, the fans have now had a chance to rest a bit and aren’t likely to get burned out an hour into the show. Let’s get to it.
We open with the long recap of Wrestlemania.
Kayla Braxton brings out Ronda Rousey for a chat. We look at Charlotte tapping out at Wrestlemania but winning anyway thanks to a downed referee. Rousey says that her mom taught her that things won’t always work out, but she had Charlotte beaten. Now Rousey wants a rematch, but with no way out. Instead, she wants it in an I Quit match. Charlotte pops up on screen to laugh and say Charlie Sheen’s WINNING. She thinks the Baddest Woman On The Planet deal is a..

Wedding bells are ringing. Corey Graves and Carmella officially tied the knot as the couple was wed in a ceremony last evening.
Carmella posted a picture on her Instagram page, which you can see below:
View this post on Instagram A post shared by Leah Van Dale (@carmellawwe)
From WWE.com:
After reminding the world for weeks about their pending nuptials and giving WWE fans a preview with a steamy make-out session on Raw, Graves and Carmella shared a tender first moment of marriage.
[This post contains video, click to play]

The two have been dating since October of 2019 and got engaged in October 2021. They also recently launched a new YouTube reality show, Corey and Carmella, which details the most intimate details of their life.
While away on their honeymoon, Jerry “The King” Lawler will fill in for Graves on the Raw commentary team, beginning on this coming week’s episode.
We wish the happy couple nothing but the best!
Editor’s Opinion:
Do you love to see stuff like this, a..

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: April 4, 2022
Location: American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas
Commentators: Jimmy Smith, Corey Graves, Byron Saxton
It is the night after Wrestlemania and I’m not even sure if that means anything these days. This show has a long history of being something special but since that isn’t WWE’s deal a lot of the time, we might be in for a show that is closer to normal. That isn’t exactly inspiring but let’s get to it.
Note that I was in the arena for this show, sitting in the upper deck and lo..

AEW President Tony Khan was recently interviewed on an episode of Barstool Rasslin’, where he discussed a number of topics. Among them was Cody Rhodes’ departure from the company, signing Samoa Joe, and more.
Below are some highlights from the interview:
On Cody Rhodes leaving AEW for WWE:
“Yeah, I think it’s just one of those things where, you know, we couldn’t reach an agreement on going forward. I think he has found a situation that’s good for him, and we’re in a great position right now. There’s no ill will either way,” Khan said.
“We’re still friends, and I wish him the best. I think he wished us the best publicly and privately. So it’s all good.”
“Any buzz for professional wrestling is great for professional wrestling as long as it’s positive stuff, positive stories. I hope [Rhodes] keeps doing positive stuff and wish him the best,” said Khan.
On signing Samoa Joe, others:
“Just in recent weeks, Samoa Joe, Toni Storm, Jeff Hardy, Swerve Strickland have all come in, Keith L..

That’s a theory. The rise of AEW has done a lot of great things for the wrestling industry, but it has also brought back some nostalgia. For the first time in a very good while, there is another major wrestling promotion to compete with WWE. This has caused many fans to take sides between the two, but now some of them are being accused of being a bit less than genuine in their fandom.
AEW President Tony Khan has sent out a series of tweets, stating that an independent study has found that “much” of the anti-AEW online community is made up of bots rather than actual people. Khan said that someone is running a fleet of accounts which do nothing but retweet negative statements about AEW. Khan did not cite any data or say who conducted the study.
An independent study has confirmed that much of the staunch anti-AEW online community aren’t real individuals, it’s a staff running thousands of accounts + an army of bots to signal boost them. Look closely, these aren’t real people. Who’d pay f..

We need someone new. Champions are some of the most important people in all of wrestling. Holding a title means something in the industry as it shows fans who the most important wrestlers are, as those shiny belts are easy to spot. Someone losing a title means a lot, and now that has taken place again, though this time it wasn’t inside of a wrestling ring.
Last weekend, MSK (Nash Carter and Wes Lee) won the NXT Tag Team Titles for the second time, defeating the Creed Brothers and reigning champions Imperium. Earlier this week, Carter was released from the company following domestic violence allegations and the release of a photo of him impersonating Hitler. WWE has announced that the titles have officially been vacated, with new champions being crowned next week on NXT. No teams have been announced for the title match and MSK is not listed in the article. There is no word on Lee’s future in NXT.
Opinion: You had to know this was coming and WWE didn’t have much of a choice. Either the..

That’s a twist. Wrestling is a weird industry, as it is known that the wrestlers are acting and playing characters, but at the same time, it is their job to make you believe that what they are doing is real. That can make it more interesting when someone does something outside of the ring, which seems to be the case again. This time though, it isn’t entirely clear what has WWE more upset.
Earlier this week, WWE released NXT Tag Team Champion Nash Carter after his wife Kimber Lee accused him of domestic violence as well as wearing a Hitler mustache and doing a Nazi salute. According to Wrestling Observer Live, WWE released Carter due to the photo and not the violence allegations, as Lee’s statement was seen as unreliable. There is no word on what this means for the NXT Tag Team Titles.
Opinion: I’m not sure what happened in this whole situation, but I’m curious to know why WWE does not think Lee is credible. While Carter is a star in NXT, he doesn’t seem like the kind of star that WWE..

She has something to do. Wrestlers come and go from WWE at a fairly brisk pace, as you don’t know who you might not see again for a long time. That can make for some surprising changes, including a wrestling making their return. This time, a wrestler was gone, then came back and is now gone again. We might know a bit more about what is going on.
Back in February, Alexa Bliss made her in-ring return at Elimination Chamber, marking her first match since September 2021. However, she has yet to return to the ring since, with reports saying that she would not be back on television until after WrestleMania. According to PWInsider.com, Bliss is scheduled to be married this weekend, meaning she will not be back on television anytime within the next week. It is not clear when she will be returning to the ring.
Opinion: That is a pretty unique and important reason to not be back on television after WrestleMania. At the same time though, I’m nos sure what exactly WWE has planned for Bliss, as t..