Indian Pro Wrestling Base

That’s a fast turnaround. We are less than five weeks away from WrestleMania 38 and that means the show should be starting to come together. While we only know a few of the bigger matches on the card, we do know the show’s main event. WrestleMania 38 will be headlined by a winner take all unification match between Universal Champion Roman Reigns and WWE Champion Brock Lesnar. However, things might not be as simple as they seem.
According to Wrestling Observer Radio, WWE will continue to have two World Champions after WrestleMania 38. At some time after WrestleMania, a new WWE World Title will be introduced to bring the number of titles back to two. This is seen as similar to Triple H being named the inaugural World Heavyweight Champion in 2002 after the WWF and WCW World Titles were unified at Vengeance 2001. There is no word on what the new title will be or when it will be introduced.
Opinion: I can’t even pretend to be surprised at this, as WWE has a tendency to make up stipulation..

Ring of Honor
Date: February 23, 2022
It’s another Hall of Fame show and this time around we are looking at Samoa Joe. That is another case where there are all kinds of matches to pick from, many of which are among the ones that helped put Ring of Honor on the map. These shows have been excellent so far and there is a chance that this one will be too. Let’s get to it.
We open with Samoa Joe’s Hall of Fame video, talking about how he helped put the company on the map and his still record World Title reign. We also hear about his time in Impact Wrestling and WWE, though not much is said about the latter.
From Night of Champions, March 22, 2003.
Ring of Honor Title: Samoa Joe vs. Xavier Xavier is defending and the rest of the Prophecy, Xavier’s friends, are at ringside but CW Anderson and Michael Shane come in to take them out. That leaves Joe to chop Xavier into the corner, where Xavier’s chops have no effect. Joe knocks him outside and puts Xavier in a chair for a running boot to se..

He’s a new one. The rise of AEW has allowed for a lot of new things, but one of the most important is a new high level platform for wrestlers to work on. After about twenty years of WWE being the only place to go, AEW has allowed for things to be shaken up. Several wrestlers get a new place to go and that was the case again last week. Now we know a little more about him.
Last week’s edition of AEW Dynamite saw the debut of Buddy Matthews, formerly known as Buddy Murphy in WWE, who joined the House of Black. According to Fightful Select, AEW began talks with Matthews back in the fall, though it is not clear when the two sides came to an agreement. Impact Wrestling also made a play for Matthews but were unable to land him. Matthews is said to have made a good first impression, which was made even better when he declined to use a spot because it involved using another wrestler’s finishing move.
Opinion: It’s cool to see Matthews showing up again because he really was one of the more int..

It could have worked. With so many wrestlers on the WWE roster, it can be a little bit tricky to find something for everyone to do. That can create quite a few problems and some of them seem to involve WWE just not having any kind of an idea to give to a wrestler. Unfortunately that seems to be the case again and has been the case for the last several months now.
According to Ringsidenews.com, Elias is currently in “creative purgatory” as WWE has nothing for him to do. Elias has reportedly not been mentioned by WWE Creative in several months as he has not been seen since August. His last appearance saw Elias burying his guitar and ring gear, though he has yet to return to WWE television since. There is no word on if or when Elias will return to WWE TV.
Opinion: This isn’t exactly surprising and that is not the best thing to see. At the end of the day, Elias was not someone who had the most detailed character, as his whole thing was just about playing his guitar and writing songs abou..

It took some time. One of the most exciting things you can see in wrestling is the debut of a new wrestler. It means that you are going to be getting to see some fresh matches with the new star meeting the established veterans, along with some kind of a new story. However, sometimes it does not exactly go as well as it should have, and that seems to be the case again for a WWE star.
This week’s SmackDown featured the in-ring debut with Xia Li, who defeated Natalya with a kick to the face. Li had appeared on SmackDown multiple times while being billed as The Protector, but had not actually wrestled despite being drafted to SmackDown from NXT in the 2021 WWE Draft back in October. According to Fightful Select, Li did not have any creative plans for her debut, despite several animated vignettes airing hyping her move to SmackDown. Li was never injured and was simply waiting on something from WWE.
Opinion: That really is one of the most WWE things I have heard in a long time, as the comp..

They have a plan for that. WWE does a lot of things throughout their television shows and some of them are more than a bit strange to see. It seems that occasionally you will see something come out of nowhere, even if it does not make the most sense. Most of the time there is at least some kind of an explanation though, and that is the case again with a new WWE arrival.
This week on SmackDown, Kofi Kingston and Big E. came to the ring on an ATV, which Kingston had given to Big E. as an early birthday present. According to Fightful Select, the two rode the ATV as a way to promote an upcoming Mattel toy which will feature the ATV and at least one of them in some way. There is no word on how long the two will use the ATV as part of their entrance.
Opinion: That doesn’t surprise me in the slightest, even if it might not be the most interesting idea. Big E. riding an ATV is hardly some terrible idea, but at least there is something to tie it into later on. I can’t imagine this turns into ..

They have a point to make. We are less than five weeks away from WrestleMania 38, which will be one of the biggest events in wrestling history. The show will take place over the course of two days in the 100,000+ seat AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. That is going to make it difficult to sell the place out so WWE is going to be having to work extra hard. They seem to have a plan in mind.
Earlier this week, WWE announced that the main event of WrestleMania 38 will see Universal Champion Roman Reigns vs. WWE Champion Brock Lesnar in a title unification match. According to Fightful Select, WWE production and commentary “hammered home” the idea of the match being the biggest in the history of WrestleMania this week on SmackDown, with the term being used multiple times during the show.
Opinion: This is one of those things where your viewing habits will determine how this goes. If you are a regular watcher of WWE television, you are going to get a bit sick of the term. That being said, if..

So much for that. WWE does a lot of different things with its wrestlers from one week to another and some of them are more interesting than others. At times it will seem like WWE has almost no idea what they are doing and that can make for some rather confusing moments. This time around, WWE seems to have already dropped an idea that they might not have used in the first place.
Earlier this month, Vince McMahon reportedly ordered that the team of Big E. and Kofi Kingston, who have reunited as a tag team on SmackDown, should not be known as New Day. According to Fightful Select, the edict has been dropped, as the team came to the ring on this week’s SmackDown with New Day graphics and the signature New Day entrance, though the team was still billed as Kingston and Big E. with no New Day name. However, the name may return when Xavier Woods is with the team. There is no word on why McMahon changed his mind on the edict.
Opinion: That is about as McMahon as you can get, as the idea was d..

You need to plan ahead. AEW has only been around for a few years now but they already have a great record on pay per view. The company has put together an exceptional pay per view catalog with some absolute classics. This includes an impressive midcard, and we might be about to see another example with Revolution 2022. However, the card might not be what was originally planned.
One of the matches currently set for Revolution is a six man tornado tag team match between Sting, Darby Allin and Sammy Guevara vs. the AHFO team of Matt Hardy, Andrade and Isiah Kassidy. According to Fightful Select, the original plans for the match did not feature Guevara and Kassidy. There is no word on why the change was made or what was originally planned for Guevara and Kassidy on the show.
Opinion: That’s an interesting change and I’m a bit surprised that Guevara, the reigning TNT Champion, has been added into a six man match rather than defending the title. That being said, Guevara is someone who can ..

Hopefully it isn’t too bad. Wrestlers can get hurt at any time and it is never a good thing to see. There are so many different things that can happen in a match, but some injuries are the kind that are built up over time. Some of them are more serious than others but there are a lot that take their time to heal. Unfortunately the latter is the case this time with a current WWE star.
SmackDown star Shotzi is in a new video on the Mondragon Chiropractic YouTube channel, where she talks about dealing with lower back pain. The problem is due to her pelvic bone being tilted forward, which has been treated with a variety of rehab exercises. Shotzi has only wrestled twice this year, including a Royal Rumble appearance that lasted less than three minutes and a match on this week’s SmackDown that lasted just over two minutes.
Opinion: That is never good to hear but at least Shotzi was already back in the ring this week. I’m not sure how bad things are for her, but she certainly seems to be h..

He’s a good Head of the Table. Over the last year and a half, no one has dominated WWE like Roman Reigns. Since winning the Universal Title in August 2020, Reigns has been virtually unstoppable with one big win after another. A lot of that has been due to his association with Paul Heyman, and now Reigns got to thank him a bit after something happened to Heyman this week.
A clip from after this week’s SmackDown has made its way online, showing Reigns hugging Heyman after the fans called Heyman a walrus. After the hug, Reigns led Heyman away so he could watch the rest of the six man tag dark match. Reigns and Heyman had both been on the television show earlier in the night, with Heyman speaking to Brock Lesnar during his contract signing with Reigns to end the show.
This was great. Check out what happened after SmackDown:
[This post contains video, click to play]
Opinion: This is one of those things that you get to see after the show is over and it makes things that much better. Reig..

He knows his stuff. There are very few people in the history of wrestling as controversial as Vince McMahon. While he is the most successful and influential names in the industry, McMahon is certainly not without his faults. There have been several instances where he makes some questionable decisions, but he still does know what he is talking about at times. That was on display with one of his biggest stars.
Ronda Rousey made her WWE return at the 2022 Royal Rumble, winning the women’s edition of the show’s namesake match. Rousey has released a video on her YouTube page talking about her return, which comes after her first run with the company was not well received by fans. During her return, McMahon told her to smile more, because even if she had not forgiven the fans, they had forgiven her, and the show is ultimately about the fans. Rousey said that it was a great point, as she had forgotten that the point of the show was to entertain the fans.
There is a lot here. Check out the fu..