Author: Bryan Rose

MMA rules match explained for WWE SummerSlam

Posted on by Bryan Rose

The rules of the upcoming MMA rules match between Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler have been announced.

On SmackDown Friday, announcer Micheal Cole explained the rules of the MMA rules between Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler for Saturday’s SummerSlam match. The stipulation are that whoever passes out, submits, or is knocked out first will be declared the winner of the match.

Two weeks ago on Raw, Shayna Baszler issued the challenge to Rousey for SummerSlam, saying she didn’t want a match but a fight. Rousey accepted the stipulations. Their feud officially began at Money in the Bank last month when Baszler attacked Rousey, costing them the WWE Women’s Tag Team titles.

More participants for the Slim Jim SummerSlam Battle Royal were announced on Friday’s show as well. The list now includes Santos Escobar, Butch, Ridge Holland, Grayson Waller, The Miz, AJ Styles, Karrion Kross, Luke Gallows, and Matt Riddle.

Here is the updated lineup for Saturday’s SummerSlam:

WWE SummerSlam, Saturday, August 5, 8 p.m. Eastern time on Peacock & WWE Network —

  • Tribal Combat match for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship and title of Tribal Chief: Roman Reigns defends against Jey Uso
  • Cody Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar
  • World Heavyweight Championship: Seth Rollins defends against Finn Balor
  • WWE Intercontinental title match: Gunther defends against Drew McIntyre
  • Triple threat match for the WWE Women’s Championship: Asuka defends against Charlotte Flair & Bianca Belair
  • Logan Paul vs. Ricochet
  • MMA rules: Ronda Rousey vs. Shayna Baszler
  • Slim Jim SummerSlam Battle Royal

Rey Mysterio injury update given on WWE SmackDown

Posted on by Bryan Rose

WWE gave an update on Rey Mysterio’s status on SmackDown.

During Friday’s show, announcer Michael Cole said that Mysterio had suffered from “severe whiplash” during last Friday’s show, where a match between Mysterio and Santos Escobar had to be stopped due to Mysterio getting injured during the course of the match. Cole additionally mentioned that Mysterio’s status currently remains “day-to-day”.

Mysterio and Santos had a match on last week’s show that was the finals of the United States title Invitational tournament. WWE had shown footage of Escobar hitting a suicide dive to Mysterio on the outside as the source of the injury. However, according to this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the injury went down after a cross body block earlier in the match. The match was ended after the dive spot, with Escboar being awarded the victory. As a result, he will face Austin Theory for the United States title on next week’s SmackDown.

On Friday’s show, Theory said he would dedicate next week’s match against Escobar to Mysterio. Escobar is also set to take part in the SummerSlam Battle Royal that will take place on Saturday.

Big E on WWE in-ring return: ‘Right now, I have no answers’

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Big E isn’t sure he’ll return to in-ring action.

The former WWE Champion took questions during a SummerSlam media press conference event (via Sportskeeda). When asked about his health, Big E said that some of the doctors who had worked on other neck fusions for WWE stars advised him that he shouldn’t wrestle again.

“We did the year checkup and all that stuff looked great. But on the other side, I talked to spine specialists, people who have worked on other people in the company and done their fusions and they said like hey, I would not wrestle again if I were you,” he said.

He further stated that there was no timetable for an in-ring return, and doesn’t have any answers.

“I don’t really have a timeline right now,” he said. I’m just really grateful to not have any nerve pain. My strength is great, legit no issues whatsoever. So it’s just something I want to be smart about and make the very best decision for my life, hopefully I’d like to have have a lot of healthy life ahead of me. Unfortunately, right now, I have no answers. I feel great, but yeah, I have nothing.”

Big E has been out of action since the March 11, 2022 episode of SmackDown where he took a belly-to-belly suplex from Ridge Holland, landing on his neck. He is in Detroit this weekend for SummerSlam media, as well as appearing at WWE’s tryouts.

MJF vs. Adam Cole set for AEW All In at Wembley Stadium, to air on PPV

Posted on by Bryan Rose

The AEW World Championship match for All In is set.

Adam Cole will challenge MJF for the title at Wembley Stadium on August 27. The match was confirmed on Wednesday’s Dynamite after MJF decided to give Cole a championship match, offering a contract. Cole signed the contract, hugging MJF as the segment ended and the two celebrated.

AEW also confirmed that All In will air live on pay-per-view and Bleacher Report starting at 1 pm ET, with the Zero Hour pre-show starting at noon ET.

MJF came out on Dynamite Wednesday talking about how he has battled both ADD and Rejection Sensitive Disorder, and how as a result of that often rejected and stabbed people in the back before they could do it to him. He said he used to do that because he was scared, but is no longer scared and thanked the fans for showing they cared. He then asked Adam Cole to come out. Cole came to the ring and thanked MJF for sharing his story, saying he was not alone as for years he was a jerk as well because he was scared. MJF then said he would give Cole a title match at All In as he promised earlier, and offered him the contract.

Here is the current lineup for All In in London:

  • AEW World Championship: MJF defends against Adam Cole 

RVD makes AEW debut, will face Jack Perry on next Dynamite

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Rob Van Dam has made his AEW debut and already has his first match booked.

On Wednesday’s Dynamite, Jack Perry came out and demanded Jerry Lynn confront him. Lynn came out, but said he wouldn’t fight Perry because no doctor would clear him. He did say, however, that he had a friend who was in ECW that still wrestles. 

Van Dam then came out to his old ECW music (‘Walk’ by Pantera). Perry first retreated to the back, but as RVD was in the ring with Lynn, Perry snuck back in and attempted a sneak attack with a steel chair. RVD went for the Van Daminator, but Perry fled before it could happen.

Later in an interview, RVD challenged Perry to a match for the FTW title on next week’s Dynamite that was later confirmed.

Since defeating Hook for the FTW title several weeks ago on Dynamite, Perry has been running down the title and the company it originated from (ECW). On last week’s Dynamite, Lynn came out and defended ECW. Just as it seemed they were ready to fight, Perry backed down, telling Lynn to show up next week.

Van Dam has continued to wrestle across the independent scene in recent years. His most recent high-profile match took place at NOAH’s Destination 2022 event at Budokan Hall last year, where he teamed with Masato Tanaka to defeat NOSAWA and Super Crazy.

Rey Mysterio to appear on next week’s WWE NXT

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Rey Mysterio is set to appear on next week’s NXT.

Mysterio will be in the corner of Dragon Lee, who challenged Dominik Mysterio for the North American title on Tuesday’s show. Rhea Ripley agreed to the match, saying she will be in Dominik’s corner. Lee replied by saying he wouldn’t be coming alone either, showing a video of Mysterio saying he’ll be in Lee’s corner.

Ilja Dragunov will take on Trick Williams. Tuesday’s show had Williams telling Carmelo Hayes that he needed to challenge Dragunov on his own. The show on Tuesday ended with a Dragunov vignette saying he wasn’t done with Williams either, and they would meet next week.

Other matches set for next week include Bron Breakker taking on Von Wagner after Breakker speared Wagner on last week’s show, Noam Dar vs. Tyler Bate for Dar’s imposter Heritage Cup trophy, and Mustafa Ali vs. Axiom after the two argued with one another as they attempted to confront Dominik Mysterio as he was leaving.

Tiffany Stratton also announced she would be returning next week, one week after retaining the NXT Women’s Championship against Thea Hail at the Great American Bash.

Here’s the lineup for next week’s NXT:

  • NXT North American title: Dominik Mysterio (with Rhea Ripley) defends against Dragon Lee (with Rey Mysterio)
  • Noam Dar’s “Heritage Cup” trophy: Noam Dar “defends” against Tyler Bate
  • Bron Breakker vs. Von Wagner
  • Mustafa Ali vs. Axiom
  • Ilja Dragunov vs. Trick Williams
  • Tiffany Stratton returns

Santos Escobar teams with Tony D’Angelo & Stacks on WWE NXT

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Santos Escobar made a surprise appearance on Tuesday’s NXT, wrestling in the main event.

Escobar teamed with Tony D’Angleo and Stacks to take on all three members of Gallus. With Escobar’s help, Stacks & D’Angelo won the match. All three men celebrated as NXT went off the air.

Tuesday’s show opened with Stacks and D’Angelo pulling up in the Performance Center’s parking lot when all three Gallus members attacked Stacks & D’Angelo, furious over their Tag Team title loss at Great American Bash on Sunday. D’Angelo said they would take them all on later, and would bring in a third person. Later, as D’Angelo and Stacks made their way to the ring, D’Angleo revealed he had called an old friend, that friend being Escobar.

Last year, Tony D’Angelo and Stacks were embroiled in a feud with Santos Escobar, Joaquin Wilde, and Cruz Del Toro. The feud came to a head last August, when D’Angelo defeated Escobar in a match where Escobar would have to leave NXT if he lost.

WOR Video: What was that Cody Rhodes/Brock Lesnar segment?

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Brock Lesnar and Cody Rhodes had quite the segment on Monday’s Raw.

Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer discussed a segment from Monday on Wrestling Observer Radio where Lesnar came to the ring and demanded Rhodes shake his hand. Rhodes came to the ring and obliged. However, after Lesnar shoulder checked him on the way out, Rhodes attacked Lesnar with a dive to the outside. Lesnar got the advantage and beat up Rhodes not once, but three times before eventually leaving the area.

“I was flabbergasted watching this segment right here,” Alvarez said. “The idea is I’m supposed to go into the show more interested in this match than I was before Raw, and this did not do that. I was like, man, they killed Cody dead, they just made him look like a geek, he couldn’t do anything with this guy.”

Alvarez then admitted it was likely going to lead to a Rhodes victory against Lesnar on Saturday. Meltzer agreed.

“I think that’s the idea, they give fans credit…the fans, they kinda figure out because of the surprise booking that has been going on for all these years is the way to book is to destroy the babyface over and over and over again so people know the babyface is going to win, as opposed to the other way around,” he said.

Both agreed that the segment to build heat last week was effective, but doing it again even more so this week wasn’t nessecary.

Daily Update: WWE SummerSlam media, AEW Games, Tammy Sytch

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Daily Update

Latest News

Latest Audio

Latest Free YouTube Video

See Dave & Bryan in London

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

In this issue:

  • Match of the week and performer of the week
  • SummerSlam preview, records that will be set, records that are in jeopardy and more
  • Update on the card including notes about matches not yet announced
  • Update on ticket sales
  • Preview of Great American Bash and next NXT major event
  • Gable Steveson’s decision, his debut, what his decision really is and what wasn’t true in his angle
  • Preview to AEW in Wembley Stadium
  • What angles are being done and what is amazing about the build
  • Ticket sales and will they outsell Hogan vs. Andre at WrestleMania III before announcing the first match
  • Lots of AEW booking updates
  • Full coverage of the G-1 tournament, standings, matches left, Okada vs. Ospreay, what young guys are doing well and what aren’t
  • How business is doing so far
  • Ring of Honor Death Before Dishonor coverage, business notes, PPV
  • Coverage of UFC at the O2 Arena in London, update on the heavyweight division
  • DDT runs biggest show of the year
  • A look at the carer of Tommy Siegler
  • The most detailed look at ratings for the past week
  • How wrestling shows did in the weekly standings and each night
  • Segment-by-segment numbers and comparisons with one year ago
  • Robbery of the box office at a major promotion show
  • CMLL Anniversary show update
  • World Gran Prix participants announced
  • Konnan talks TripleMania Mexico City main event
  • Day one of the Five-Star Grand Prix
  • Stardom upcoming shows including a multi-title show featuring New Japan belt and a legends show
  • King of Gate update
  • NOAH match with fastest fan club advance in history
  • Hogan getting married
  • Senate honors legendary wrestlers and how this differs from the U.S.
  • Lots of news on the Mildred Burke movie including pro wrestling personalities involved
  • Lio Rush injury update
  • Indie show has tickets sold to people from 32 countries
  • Impact does surprisingly well on PPV
  • Notes on Rush signing with AEW
  • Update on AEW injuries
  • Ticket sales for upcoming WWE and AEW shows including WWE PPV shows, AEW PPVs shows and Grand Slam at Arthur Ashe Stadium
  • International TV ratings
  • A look in detail at the largest MMA show rating of the year and it wasn’t from UFC, and how many of its viewers watch UFC
  • Peacock bleeding money and its future
  • WWE injury updates
  • WWE Royal Rumble news
  • WWE signings talk
  • Big match being teased
  • New names for WWE talent
  • Rundown of all the WWE weekend house shows

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter

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If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.

Monday Update

WWE

AEW

  • AEW Games thanked fans on X following its one-month launch anniversary. “AEW: Fight Forever celebrated its one-month launch anniversary last Saturday! On behalf of the teams at @AEW and @THQNordic, we wanted to extend a THANK YOU FOR PLAYING to our passionate community. Your FUN is our TOP priority and we’re listening to all of the feedback you’ve provided! The dev team at YUKE’s Co. Ltd. is working tirelessly to continuously improve the Fight Forever experience with future updates and new content releases. Stay tuned to @AEWGames for all OFFICIAL announcements regarding updates and content in the coming weeks! Stay tuned!”
  • Screenrant has an interview with Danhausen and Brody King from this year’s San Diego Comic-Con.
  • AEW has a video package of all of the debuts and title changes on AEW Dynamite in 2019 and 2020 ahead of the show’s 200th episode on Wednesday.
  • Samoa Joe spoke to PopCulture about his role in Peacock’s Twisted Metal series.
  • Ruby Soho did a virtual autograph signing.

Other Wrestling

  • PWInsider reported that Tammy Sytch will face trial for her DUI manslaughter charge on August 21. It had originally been set for September 18, but was moved up several weeks.
  • Schon! has a photoshoot and interview with Trinity Fatu.
  • Stephen Amell clarified comments regarding his opposition to the SAG-AFTRA strike on his Facebook page.
  • Heels brought in 48,000 overnight viewers for its second season debut on July 28. That is significantly down from season 1’s finale, which did 81,000.
  • Francesco Akira will be making his debut for GCW on September 1 in Chicago.
  • Nick Gage and the Second Gear Crew are heading to GCW’s events in Germany in September.
  • Maki Itoh vs. B33CA has been added to GCW’s August 20 event in Atlantic City.

Minoru Suzuki & Sanshiro Takagi to wrestle inside a bullet train for DDT

Posted on by Bryan Rose

A match between Minoru Suzuki and Sanshiro Takagi will take place inside a bullet train.

DDT announced Monday evening that Suzuki and Takagi will wrestle in a Shinkansen, a Japanese high-speed bullet train. When the match takes place has not been announced. However, a press conference will be held at 4 am ET on Tuesday on their YouTube channel with further details.

“A wrestling event inside the Shinkansen, the world’s first high speed rail every Japanese person knows!,” Takagi wrote on X, the former platform known as Twitter. “Wrestling isn’t wrestling without dreams and romanticism! Watch today’s PressCon at 17:00 JST on YouTube for more information!”

Suzuki has spent most of the year wrestling for other promotions outside of New Japan Pro Wrestling, including AJPW and AEW. On this past Saturday’s Collision event, Suzuki made a surprise appearance losing to Darby Allin after Allin issued an open challenge at the start of the show. A week prior, he participated in the Royal Rampage battle royal, which Allin ended up winning.

Suzuki and Takagi previously wrestled in an empty Tokyo Dome arena match back in June of 2017, with Suzuki winning.

WWE announces Superstar Spectacle house show in India

Posted on by Bryan Rose

WWE has announced a house show in India for September.

The company announced Monday evening that they will make their debut at the GMC Balayogi Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad, India on September 8. It will be the first house show in India for WWE since 2017, when a show in New Delhi was headlined by Triple H defeating Jinder Mahal.

Tickets will go on sale for the event starting at noon IST this Friday, August 4 at bookmyshow.com. An early presale will also take place on bookmyshow.com a day prior, also at noon IST, with fans being able to pre-register now.

WWE talents announced for the show in the press release include Seth Rollins, Rhea Ripley, Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, GUNTHER, Jinder Mahal, Veer, Sanga, Drew McIntyre, Becky Lynch, Natalya, Matt Riddle, Ludwig Kaiser, and “many more”.

The company previously taped a Superstar Spectacle event back in 2021 at the Thunderdome in Tampa, Florida, celebrating India’s Republic Day. The WWE Network special featured Drew McIntyre and Indus Sher (Veer & Sanga) defeating Jinder Mahal and The Bollywood Boyz (Sunil & Samir Singh) in the main event.

Tag team match added to WWE NXT

Posted on by Bryan Rose

A new tag team match has been added to Tuesday’s NXT.

Yulisa Leon & Valentina Feroz will take on Lola Vice & Elektra Lopez this coming Tuesday. It will be the first show following this past Sunday’s Great American Bash event.

In the pre-show of the Great American Bash, Leon & Feroz teamed together with Nathan Frazer and Dragon Lee to defeat the Meta-Four (Noam Dar, Oro Mensah, Jakara Jackson, and Lash Legend). All eight had been feuding with one another in the weeks prior to the Great American Bash.

An association between Lopez and Vice has been seen in recent weeks on NXT television. Vice was in Lola’s corner when she lost a match to Thea Hail on the July 18 edition of NXT. This will be Vice’s second match on NXT, the first being a battle royal back in June.

The announced lineup for this week’s Great American Bash follow-up episode of NXT:

  • Lyra Valkyria vs. Jacy Jayne
  • Dijak vs. Eddy Thorpe
  • The Schism interrogation segment
  • Yulisa Leon & Valentina Feroz vs. Lola Vice & Elektra Lopez

New stipulation added to Rousey vs. Baszler match at WWE SummerSlam

Posted on by Bryan Rose

A new stipulation has been added to the Shayna Baszler vs. Ronda Rousey bout for WWE SummerSlam this coming Saturday in Detroit.

After two video packages aired on Monday’s Raw detailing the feud between Rousey and Baszler, it was announced that the match would be held under MMA rules. What exactly that entails isn’t currently known. Baszler has emphasized since issuing the challenge to Rousey that she didn’t want a match, she wanted a fight.

The video packages that aired detailed the story between Rousey and Baszler, dating back to when Rousey selected Baszler for her team during their season of UFC’s The Ultimate Fighter reality show. Baszler said she gave everything to Rousey while Rousey gave nothing back. Rousey said she gave everything to Baszler to the point where Baszler now hated her. Baszler ended the promo saying that the worst thing is that Rousey’s daughter is her goddaughter, and her goddaughter will never forgive her for what she will do to her mother.

Here is the updated lineup for SummerSlam this Saturday:

WWE SummerSlam, Saturday, August 5, 8 p.m. Eastern time on Peacock & WWE Network —

  • Tribal Combat match for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship and title of Tribal Chief: Roman Reigns defends against Jey Uso
  • Cody Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar
  • World Heavyweight Championship: Seth Rollins defends against Finn Balor
  • WWE Intercontinental title match: Gunther defends against Drew McIntyre
  • Triple threat match for the WWE Women’s Championship: Asuka defends against Charlotte Flair & Bianca Belair
  • Logan Paul vs. Ricochet
  • MMA rules: Ronda Rousey vs. Shayna Baszler
  • SummerSlam Battle Royal

Tony D’Angelo & Stacks win Tag Team titles at WWE NXT Great American Bash

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Tony D’Angelo and Stacks are the new NXT Tag Team Champions.

D’Angleo and Stacks defeated Gallus on Sunday’s Great American Bash to win the titles for the first time. The finish had Gallus attempt to distract the referee so Wolfgang could use a weapon on Stacks. However, D’Angleo made the save when Wolfgang made the cover. Eventually, D’Angleo used a crowbar to knock out Joe Koffey and together they hit their finish on Wolfgang to win the match.

D’Angelo, Stacks, and Gallus have been involved in a months-long storyline where D’Angelo was thrown in jail on unspecified charges. Both Stacks and D’Angleo assumed that it was Gallus that ratted D’Angelo out. They then concocted a plan where Stacks pretended to be disloyal to D’Angelo in order to fool Gallus into giving Stacks a match where if he won, they would get a tag title match and D’Angelo would be freed from jail. If they lost D’Angleo would remain in jail until his trial. Stacks ended up winning the match, freeing D’Angelo from jail.

Gallus had been champions since February when they defeated champions The New Day, Pretty Deadly, and Chase U to win the titles for the first time.

ROH spoilers from Hartford, Connecticut: TV title eliminator tournament

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Here are spoilers from Saturday night’s ROH spoilers held in Hartford, Connecticut, taped before and after Saturday’s live edition of AEW Collision. Results courtesy of PWInsider.

  • The Infantry defeated Nick Comoroto & Jora Johl
  • Robyn Renegade defeated Christina Marie
  • Gates of Agony (Bishop Kaun & Toa Liona) (w/ Prince Nana) defeated The Boys (Brandon & Brent Tate)
  • Shane Taylor defeated Christopher Daniels in a semifinal match in the ROH TV Title Eliminator tournament
  • Powerhouse Hobbs defeated Mike Magnum
  • ROH Pure Champion Katsuyori Shibata defeated Josh Woods
  • Cole Karter defeated LSG. Maria Kanellis-Bennett was scouting during the match.
  • Leyla Hirsch defeated Miranda Vionette. Kanellis-Bennett was also scouting this match.
  • ROH Tag Team Champions Aussie Open defeated The Iron Savages
  • ROH Women’s Champion Athena defeated Diamante
  • Dalton Castle defeated Zack Clayton
  • Gravity defeated Tony Nese in a ROH TV Title Eliminator semifinal
  • Komander & El Hijo del Vikingo defeated The WorkHorsemen (JD Drake & Anthony Henry). Aussie Open attacked Komander and Vikingo after the match ahead of their title match Wednesday.

AEW Collision next week will take place at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina. CM Punk will defend what he is calling the Real World Championship against Ricky Starks. Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat will serve as a special outside enforcer.