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John Cena has spent decades entertaining millions, but even someone with his legacy still seeks approval from one special person. As he inches closer to retirem...
It worked. There are all kinds of different ways to present a wrestler and some of them are more serious than others. Occasionally you will see a wrestler find something that just works for them, even if it might not be the most serious situation in the world. That is the case at the moment on Monday Night Raw, and now we know some more about how it came together in the first place. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: For Real: NXT Star Written Off Television Due To Legitimate Injury For most of the year, Dominik Mysterio has spoken extensively about his time in prison, following his arrest on Christmas Eve for invading his father Rey’s home. Since then, it has been revealed that Dominik only spent a few hours in prison, though he has continued to talk about his time there. In an interview with Inside The Ropes, Dominik said that the idea came about as part of a joke about a character called Prison Mike on the Office. WWE then ran with the idea and it became what it is today. It was an interesti..
That would have been different. The rise of AEW has changed the way the wrestling world works, as the company allows wrestlers to have a new place to go. After so many years of WWE dominating the landscape, it is a change of pace to have another large scale company around. It has given several wrestlers another place to go and that might have kept a popular wrestler’s career going. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: A Good Sign: How Cody Rhodes Has Been An “Outstanding” Success Since WWE Return Samoa Joe appeared on a recent episode of the Sessions and revealed that he was considering retirement from wrestling after his second release from WWE. Joe had suffered two concussions in short order and was dealing with health issues related to them. He then spent a year and a half doing commentary for WWE, allowing him to heal up and recover before being released for the second time. Joe also praised Michael Cole for the work that he does under such pressure. Joe wrestled for WWE from May 2015 until Ap..
That’s not good. WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle recently told a story on his podcast on AdFreeShows.com, about how he almost drowned on a recent vacation to Florida. Angle said the following: “We went to Miami, Florida,” Angle said. “The temperature was 80 degrees. We spent so much time on the beach. They had a wonderful pool at the hotel. It was a blast. I actually took my kids jet skiing. My first kid that I put on the back for me to ride them because they’re too young to drive themselves, I put her on the back and we went out, and when I went to make a turn, I slowed down and stopped, I wanted to make a turn and I didn’t put the accelerator on when I was turning and we flipped over. We went into the ocean.” “Now, Thank God my daughter is like an Olympic-caliber swimmer. I even had the safety vest on me, but it wasn’t working. I was still sinking. I can’t swim. So I’m in trouble. I couldn’t get above water. I was going under. My daughter kept her composure. The jet ski got away from..
That’s a lot. There have been so many matches throughout the history of WWE that standing out is a difficult task. While there are several matches that are great enough to stand above the rest, there are some matches that are much more infamous than famous. Now we know a rather important detail about a match that took place nearly nineteen years ago. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: LOOK: 61 Year Old WWE Hall Of Famer Undergoes Major Surgery Back at WrestleMania 20, Goldberg faced Brock Lesnar in a special showdown match. Both men were leaving the company though, resulting in fans taunting both of them throughout. The two also spent several minutes of the match not making contact or using only basic moves. Jim Ross discussed the match during a recent episode of his Grilling JR podcast, revealing that both of them were paid $250,000 for the match, which ran about 13 minutes. Goldberg and Lesnar would both return to WWE in later years, with Lesnar defeating Goldberg in a rematch at WrestleMania ..
They want to make some adjustments. WWE is a major wrestling promotion and that is partially due to the kinds of adjustments they occasionally make. Sometimes something is not going right and a change is needed. That can make some of their ideas better, which is what they seem to be doing again, as WWE has debuted a new match type and already thinks it needs some tweaking. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Well Who Hasn’t: How Vince McMahon Spent $30,000 On Worms Last weekend, WWE presented its first ever WarGames match at Survivor Series, with a men’s and women’s edition taking place on the same show. During an interview with Kevin Owens on After The Bell, WWE broadcaster Corey Graves revealed that WWE was already discussing how to improve WarGames. The weekly pre-Monday Night Raw meeting focused on how great the matches were, but also on how to improve them. There is no word on any changes that might be made or when the match will be held again. WarGames was a big deal. Check out what we saw..
That’s a lot of money. WWE has long since been the world’s biggest and most dominant wrestling promotion. The company has more money than it knows what to do with, which has led to some questionable spending choices before. Some of these are absolutely bizarre but now we might have the most out there decision that wound up costing WWE tens of thousands of dollars. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: HIM? WWE Discusses Possible Men’s Royal Rumble Winner (And It’s A Big One) During a new interview with the Wrestling Perspective Podcast, former WWE creative team member and MLW owner Court Bauer told a story about the Boogeyman. At the time, Boogeyman was feuding with John Bradshaw Layfield, who was in the ring when Boogeyman caused worms to rain from the ceiling. Layfield wound up rolling around in worms and Bauer says Vince McMahon found the visual hilarious. McMahon then asked how much the worms cost and a writer’s assistant said that due to the worms being organic, the stunt cost $30,000. Bauer a..
The right impression. While he might not be everyone’s favorite and while he might not be around anymore, there is no one in the history of wrestling as powerful as Vince McMahon. As owner of WWE, McMahon was able to change almost anything he wanted in the company, including which stars received a push. It seems that someone was able to impress McMahon right before he left. During an appearance on the Cheap Heat podcast, WWE’s Finn Balor revealed that McMahon was impressed with his heel work as part of the Judgment Day stable. McMahon reportedly did not think that Balor had that kind of performance in him, which Balor said was nice to hear. Balor went on to say that while he had spent more time working with Triple H, McMahon had always been great to him. Opinion: There is something to be said about impressing McMahon, as he is the ultimate force in wrestling and someone who is always worth listening to. Balor has done well in the role that he has been in and plays a great villain whe..
Who says professional athletes can’t talk? Yesterday at WWE’s tryouts as a part of SummerSlam weekend, NBA star Dwight Howard made an appearance and cut a promo, showing off his skills on the microphone. You can see the promo below: View this post on Instagram A post shared by WWE Recruit (@wwerecruit) In the promo, Howard refers to himself as “Sho’nuff,” referencing the villain from the 1985 film “The Last Dragon.” Arash Markazi who is covering the event, had the following to say: “Dwight Howard was a surprise participant at the WWE Tryout in Nashville today. He told me he legit wants to join the WWE one day.” “Dwight Howard spent about five hours at the WWE Tryout in Nashville today. He told me he’s going to be ringside at SummerSlam on Saturday. He said he’s serious about joining the WWE. He was asking coaches and attendees how to properly take a bump in the ring and do other moves.” Dwight Howard didn’t just cut this one promo and leave. He’s been here for hours. He’s now cut..
That isn’t good. The biggest wrestling story of the year has been Vince McMahon leaving WWE as he announced his retirement from the company last week. This comes amid an internal investigation into McMahon allegedly paying women to stay silent about relationships with him, with millions of dollars being spent. Now things might be getting even worse as a new detail has emerged. WWE has made a new 8K filing with the SEC, announcing that $14.6 million in payments from Vince McMahon were not recorded as company expenses. According to PWInsider.com, if this means that McMahon used company money to pay the women, which could lead to legal actions against him from shareholders in the company. In addition, WWE is planning to release revised financial statements from 2006- 2022, the years the payments were made, by August 9. Opinion: The more you look at something like this, the more clear it is that this was a lot more than McMahon retiring. It is hard to imagine that he would have been allo..
It’s something else to do. Back in March, Big E. suffered a broken neck during a botched spot in a match on WWE SmackDown. Big E. has since spent months recovering and likely has several more months before he is close to being ready to returning to the ring, assuming he ever does. While he is still recovering, WWE has something else for him to do for the company. Big E. was interviewed by ESPN and revealed that he will be helping scout talent evaluations at the upcoming tryout camps in Nashville, Tennessee over Summerslam weekend. This will include working with Triple H, who will be helping to run the tryout. This will be Big E.’s first official appearance with WWE since his injury and it is not clear if he will continue in the role after Summerslam weekend. Opinion: That is very good to see as Big E. was injured through a freak accident and could have been in a much worse situation. It is great to see him getting to do something else in WWE, as it might be great for his mental state..
So much for that. There are a lot of powerful and influential people in the wrestling world and then there is Vince McMahon. No one in the history of wrestling has come close to his level of authority and it is likely no one will ever get close again. That is the kind of status that can change the industry and now something McMahon has been accused of doing is changing something in another company. According to Denise Salcedo of Instinct Culture, the McMahon Netflix documentary series has been pulled and will not be airing. The documentary was in post production with interviews filmed several months ago and millions of dollars spent. This comes after new allegations of hush payments made by McMahon to various female WWE employees over affairs with McMahon over the years. Sources tell me that the Vince McMahon Netflix documentary has been pulled & is off the programming spreadsheet at Netflix. A source at Netflix confirmed it no longer being listed on their spreadsheet, another source..
Everyone has to start somewhere. There have been a lot of wrestlers to come through the WWE locker room over the years but only a few have stood out at the highest level. Those are the names that are remembered in a fond way for a long time to come, but even they might not have had the best time in the company. One such legend is talking about how badly things went for her at first. During an interview with NBC Sports Boston, WWE legend Victoria spoke about her beginnings with the company. Victoria began with WWE as one of Godfather’s Ho’s, despite having signed a full time contract with the company. When she started, she dressed in the women’s locker room but was thrown out by one of the other WWE stars, forcing her to dress in the janitor’s closet. This was due to the majority of the Godfather’s Ho’s being local strippers rather than full time wrestlers. Victoria went on to become a two time WWE Women’s Champion and spent over twenty years in the industry. Opinion: This is one of t..
There is a history there. Wrestling has a history of bringing in athletes from other sports and seeing how much success they can have. It is something that has worked well for decades and will continue to do the same for years to come. One of the sports with a solid track record is mixed martial arts, and now WWE is trying their hand with another fighter coming over to wrestling. According to Fightful Select, WWE is expected to sign Bellator fighter Valerie Loureda. This comes after Loureda, a fighter with a 3-1 career record, spent a week at the WWE Performance Center and impressed the company. WWE is hoping to have Loueda start her official training at the Performance Center in July. There is no word on when she could start regularly appearing in WWE. Opinion: It makes sense for WWE to try signing another mixed martial artist as they certainly have a history of success with them. Why not see what you can find out there? WWE has found stars such as Riddle, Brock Lesnar, Shayna Baszl..
Welcome to the club. Stables are a great idea in wrestling as you can do all kinds of things with them. A bunch of wrestlers can be put into a team with a common idea and that is usually enough to make things more interesting. WWE has spent years using stables for just such a reason and now they are doing it again, as a new member has joined the company’s latest group. This weekend at WrestleMania Backlash, Edge faced AJ Styles in a WrestleMania 38 rematch. Late in the match, a masked person distracted Styles, allowing Edge to get the win. After the match, the person knelt to Edge and unmasked as Rhea Ripley, making her the newest member of the Judgment Day stable. Ripley was named as a potential member of the stable before it first formed. Opinion: This is something that could work out well, as Ripley feels like someone who could fit in well with the team. If nothing else, it is nice to see Ripley getting to do something else, as she is someone who has all kinds of talent but has no..
Maybe next time? With so many wrestlers on the WWE roster, it is impossible for everyone to be a success. Sometimes someone is just not going to work out and it can be a bit difficult to see. You can often tell when it isn’t working for a star and that seems to be the case again. After this week, WWE might be thinking about pulling the plug, if they have not done so already. This week on NXT, Tiffany Stratton defeated Sarray after the two had spent several weeks feuding. According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, Sarray is unlikely to go to the main roster. Meltzer cited her size and how she has been used during her time in NXT so far. Sarray debuted on the April 20, 2021 edition of NXT but was taken off television in October. She would return in February, saying that 2021 had not gone as planned and she had made a new start. Opinion: I can’t exactly argue with this, as Sarray has not quite felt like a huge success in NXT so far. While she has had her moments, the fact th..
Fare thee well. There have been a lot of departures from WWE over the last several months and the majority of them have not been against the wrestlers’ wishes. WWE has released so many wrestlers that it has been hard to keep up with all of them, but not everyone has been let go. Now it seems that another wrestler has left, but this time it was their own decision to depart. According to Fightful, Kushida has left WWE. This comes after Kushida was attacked by Von Wagner last week on NXT, though there was no indication that Kushida was leaving. Kushida officially signed with WWE in April 2019 and spent his time with the company in NXT and on 205 Live. He won the Cruiserweight Title in April 2021 and held it for a little over five months before losing the title to Roderick Strong in September of the same year. There is no word on where Kushida plans to sign next. Fightful has confirmed that Kushida has left WWE We'll have details as we learn them on https://t.co/jy8u4a7WDa. pic.twi..
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 ..
That’s an interesting explanation. WrestleMania 38 has come and gone and there were a lot of major moments throughout the show. The event took over the course of two nights and that meant several memorable events were able to take place. Some of these involved surprises and betrayals, and now we know the thinking behind one of those changes, even if it is a bit odd. One of the surprises at WrestleMania 38 saw the Miz turn on Logan Paul after the two of them defeated the Mysterios. According to Wrestling Observer Radio, part of Paul’s deal was that he would wind up being a babyface when he his time in WWE was up. Miz attacking Paul was designed to cause the turn. There is no word on if Paul will be returning to WWE in the future. Opinion: I’m not sure how well this plan is going to work but at least there was an idea in place. Paul is not known for being a likable guy and he spent the entire match mocking the beloved Eddie Guerrero. It is going to take something bigger than Miz beatin..
He’s really good at that. WrestleMania 38 is this weekend and one of the biggest stories of the two days will be Steve Austin returning as a guest on the Kevin Owens Show. This comes after Owens has spent weeks talking trash about Austin, as well as impersonating him on Monday Night Raw. It turns out that once wasn’t enough and Owens had another trick up his sleeve. WWE has released a video from before this week’s Monday Night Raw showing Owens putting his own spin on a classic Austin promo. The original promo, which is spliced in with Owens’ version, features Austin coming to Dallas, Texas and listing off a variety of things that he is going to do. Owens’ version talks about how he too is coming to Dallas, but he will not be doing those things. The Kevin Owens Show with Austin as his guest is expected to close out WrestleMania Saturday. This was pretty awesome. Check out Owens’ version, plus the original: [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video, click t..