Kurt Angle Claims Triple H Could Have Had “Five-Star Matches” With Braun Strowman

WWE Hall of Famer has suggested that Triple H and Braun Strowman could have had a series of classic matches if they had been involved in a proper storyline.

Rollins For Wearing “Women’s Clothing” On WWE Raw 

A former WWE writer was less than impressed with what Seth Rollins was wearing when he challenged Austin Theory.

Charlotte Flair Drops Big WWE Comeback Tease 

Charlotte Flair has dropped the biggest hint yet that she could be returning to the ring very soon.

Impact Wrestling
Date: November 24, 2022
Hosts: Tom Hannifan, Matthew Rehwoldt

It’s Thanksgiving and that means we are in for a special Best Of show around here. That’s about as logical as you’re going to get for this time of year as there is no reason to believe that anyone is going to pay attention to a show on such a big holiday. You never know what you’ll see on something like this but let’s get to it.

WWE May Have Already “Verbally Committed” To WrestleMania 43 Location

Despite being a number of years away WWE may have already decided on a location for WrestleMania 43.

Kurt Angle Says Randy Orton’s Recent Procedure Could Be “Saving His Career” 

WWE legend Kurt Angle has claimed that Randy Orto’s recent surgery may have extended his career.

Seth Rollins Says It “Wasn’t Ideal” To Have Kurt Angle Join The Shield 

Seth Rollins has claimed that some of The Shield’s reunions could have been handled better.

“They Didn’t Want Punk There From The Start” – Jim Cornette On The Elite

Following the conclusion of AEW’s All Out investigation, Jim Cornette has declared that The Elite never wanted CM Punk in the company.

Braun Strowman Compares His WWE Crown Jewel Match To Hulk Hogan vs. Andre The Giant

Braun Strowman has made the bold claim that his match against Omos at Crown Jewel will be as monumental as Hulk hogan vs. Andre The Giant.

Kurt Angle Believes Abyss And SCU Should Have Had WWE Careers

Kurt Angle has named Abyss, Christopher Daniels, and Frankie Kazarian as IMPACT alumni he would have loved to have seen enjoy WWE careers.

Barry Windham Potentially Linked To Bray Wyatt’s Uncle Howdy Character

After the mysterious Uncle Howdy arrived on SmackDown, it’s been rumoured that the character could be being portrayed by Barry Windham.

AEW Star Namedropped By Michael Cole During SmackDown 

The WWE commentary revolution continues as Michael Cole referenced a current AEW star on SmackDown.

WWE Legend Hails Seth Rollins As “The Next Shawn Michaels” 

A WWE Hall of Famer believes that Seth Rollins is in perfect position to assume the mantle as the “next Shawn Michaels.”

Kurt Angle’s Multi-Million Dollar AEW Asking Price Revealed

Kurt Angle is out here trying to get paid!

Roman Reigns Reigns Reached Yet Another WWE Milestone

As Roman Reigns continues to stand at the top of the WWE mountain, the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion has reached another impressive milestone.

Ronda Rousey Wants WWE SmackDown Clash With Asuka

Ronda Rousey has hinted that she might pitch to get Asuka moved from raw to SmackDown in order to face her in the ring.

Tony Khan Says The “Real Crown Jewel” Isn’t “Some BS Overseas In Saudi Arabia”

Tony Khan isn’t shy about taking shots at WWE, and his latest barb attempts to settle the score when it comes to the “real Crown Jewel” of wrestling!

Shawn Michaels Strips Solo Sikoa Of Championship, Announces Ladder Match 

NXT opened with the shocking news that Solo Sikoa has been stripped of the NXT North American Championship and announced a ladder match to crown a new champion.

Kurt Angle Hints At WrestleMania 39 Role 

Kurt Angle has revealed that there’s an “idea” for him to appear at WrestleMania 39 in California.

Vince McMahon Explained His First Homosexual Experience To WWE Hall Of Famer

Kevin Nash has recalled the time Vince McMahon recalled his first “homosexual experience” to a fellow WWE Hall of Famer.

MJF Defends Tony Khan Feeling “Personally Attacked” By WWE 

MJF has surprisingly come to the defence of AEW CEO Tony Khan over recent comments he made about WWE’s scheduling over Labor Day weekend.

Kurt Angle Opens Up About His Memory Issues

WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle has discussed how he is starting to struggle with memory issues following a wrestling career that saw him suffer several concussions.

Bad Bunny Meets With Uvalde Survivor After Heart-Warming Gesture

Reggaeton megastar Bad Bunny has made an incredible gesture to Mayah Zamora, a survivor of the Uvalde, Texas school shooting in May.

Malakai Black Gives Heartfelt Address To Fans Before Wrestling Hiatus

Malakai Black has given an emotional speech to fans, promising that he will return to the ring after taking time to “recalibrate” himself.

Kurt Angle Criticises WWE Hall of Famer Asking Fans To Get Their Breasts Out

Kurt Angle has called a segment where a WWE Hall of Famer asked fans to show their breasts, “the worst idea in the world”.

Monday Night Raw
Date: August 29, 2022
Location: PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Corey Graves, Byron Saxton, Jimmy Smith

It’s the go home show for Clash At The Castle but there is a lot to cover tonight as well. This week will see the finals of the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles as Iyo Sky/Dakota Kai face Raquel Rodriguez and Aliyah, plus a special appearance by hometown boy Kurt Angle. Let’s get to it.

Sasha Banks Shows Off Incredible Physique As Return Rumours Continue

Sasha Banks appears to be in the shape of her life as speculation regarding her future continues.

“There Is A Chance That I Might End Up Coming Back” – Kurt Angle 

Kurt Angle has dropped the clearest indication yet that he could eventually get back in the ring despite previously insisting that he will remain retired.

Matt Hardy’s Bizarre Advice From Vince McMahon – “You Want To F*cking Eat Them” 

Matt Hardy has revealed that Vince McMahon once told him that it was only human instinct to want to eat someone in a wheelchair. Yes, really.

Jeff Jarrett Exits WWE

WWE Hall of Famer Jeff Jarrett has departed WWE, mere months after he rejoined the company in an executive role.

Update On A Reason Why WWE Wants TV-14 Programming

There’s a new report explaining yet another reason why WWE is considering moving from a TV-PG rating to TV-14 in the future.

Kurt Angle Recalls Hilarious Incident With The Rock

WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle has told the story of a time he gave The Rock milk after a match and things went downhill quickly.

“There’s No One Better Than Her In The Ring” – Charlotte Flair Praises Top Raw Star

Charlotte Flair has heaped praise on one of WWE Raw’s top stars, claiming there is nobody better than her in the ring.

Andrade El Idolo Teases New Member For La Faccion Ingobernable

AEW Star Andrade El Idolo has hinted that he is looking for a new member of La Faccion Ingobernable following the recent ejection of Dragon Lee.

Kurt Angle Recalls Hilarious Incident With The Rock In The Ring

WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle has told the story of a time he gave The Rock milk after a match and things went downhill quickly.

WWE Trademarks Name For Bayley, IYO SKY & Dakota Kai Group

Bayley, Dakota and IYO SKY made their presence felt at SummerSlam and now it appears that the talented trio has an official name for their group.

Update On Kevin Owens’ WWE Return

https://itrwrestling.com/news/update-kevin-owens-wwe-return-date/

Goldberg Offers Update On WWE Status

https://tjrwrestling.net/news/goldberg-major-update-on-wwe-contract-status/

Kurt Angle Reveals Scrapped Plans For WrestleMania Match With Retired WWE Star

https://itrwrestling.com/news/kurt-angle-plans-to-face-retired-wwe-star/

KING OF THE RING QUALIFYING MATCHES (2001):
* Hey, I finally remembered to do another set of these! Except I’d done a bunch before realizing that it was KOTR *2000* that was next on my list, and so I’ve had to wait a month or two before posting any of these, but oh well! We were still in the “RAW matches are 2 minutes long” era, but most KOTR matches were like that anyhow, so let’s see what the company was like in the early “InVasion” era.

The tournament itself isn’t that notable, but served its purpose well- “Elevate Another Midcarder”. There’s some high-end names in here (Angle, Kane, Big Show), but it’s mostly midcard guys fighting over everything, with a lot of young acts mayyyyyyyyyyyybe on the precipice of stardom, if they’re handled right: Matt & Jeff Hardy, Edge & Christian, Test & Rhyno, plus the newly-debuted ECW alumnus, Tajiri. JTTS guys include Steve Blackman, Perry Saturn, Crash Holly, Tazz & Raven, some of whom are at least kept a LITTLE strong.

MATT HARDY (w/ Lita) vs. JEFF HARDY (w/ Lita):
(RAW, June 4th)
* Oh, magnificent. Throw both Hardy Boyz against each other in the Qualfying round to draw some interest and drama- apparently Commissioner William Regal has set up the brackets this way. Matt’s in a black shirt & Jeff’s in white, both in the same baggy “Hardy pants”, while Lita’s still in the “thong visible outside the jeans” era. Matt is the European Champion at this point.

WWF KING OF THE RING (2000)- SECOND ROUND:
* Continuing the previous review, the second round of the 2000 King of the Ring features some of the more “Okay, come on- is this really a random draw?” matches, as a few guys fight unrelated opposition, but we have Chyna/Eddie, Rikishi/Scotty, and Crash/Hardcore.

Because Early 2000 WWF: BULL BUCHANAN! Whether you want him or not!

PERRY SATURN vs. BULL BUCHANAN:
(June 18th, Heat)
* Saturn beat D-Von Dudley thanks to DX interference, while Bull handily defeated Steve Blackman.

The much larger Bull uses his size to start, shoving Saturn around, but eats a boot in the corner and a dropkick off the middle. He throws punches but eats a clothesline, but a third straight “whip to corner” reversal sees Saturn back on the advantage, tripping Bull into the ropes and hitting a T-bone suplex for two. But Bull comes off the ropes with a boot and hits his Ax Kick finisher for the quick win (1:51)! Jesus christ that was fast. As a match, this was nothing- Bull was so green they just did three “whip to the corner, but the guy who hits it reverses the charging move” spots to switch momentum, then ANOTHER whip-reversal to set up the finish. 2 minutes for a clean win marks Saturn as the “Jobber” of the Radicalz, which is funny as he was one a lot of fans (including me) assumed was gonna be the biggest star.

Rating: 1/2* (very quick and mobile match, but super-short and a glorified squash)

KING OF THE RING (Qualifying Matches) 2000:
* So I finally remembered to do another one of these, though we’re past the point where I can recall most of the angles. The name of the game this tournament is the same as last one- Make A New Star. Hopefully this “Kurt Angle” guy will prove more successful than Billy Gunn. This will be a MONSTER set, so I’ll split it up for today and tomorrow.

This tournament is unusual due to the MASSIVE roster of guys- the jam-packed company and no Russo at the time (therefore his attention span couldn’t wreck it) made for a 32-man tournament! We’ve got a huge assortment, though, as all four Radicalz (then newly-hired by the company), Chyna, Jericho & Rikishi provide serious competition, while the company’s vast tag ranks fill out slots left & right for “easy wins” or upsets- Too Cool, APA, T&A, the Hollies, Dudleys & Edge/Christian. This is a verrrrrrrrry interesting time for the company, as they put the final nail in WCW by hiring away four of their top workers, while Jericho & Rikishi had gotten over and Angle was now a completely miraculous rookie find. And what was a company based around having shitty 2-minute brawling matches now had a ton of great wrestlers all over the place, which was kind of shifting the basic style to longer matches with high spots.

Of course, having looked at all these matches… they’re still mostly super-short (as KOTR matches have been since 1994, to be fair), and OH GOD a ton of guys are still stuck in the “Punch & Kick” mode. Bad agenting was all around at this time, with only a handful of guys avoiding it. But it’d be a long, hard road to hit the point of improvement, and a lot of dudes who couldn’t make that transition saw their careers die. You’ll see a very high level of “the guy who loses the match does most of the offense”, probably in a way to look a bit strong or make him feel better about losing- this goes back a ways (you see mid ’90s joshi do this a bunch, too).

I’ll do the first round in one post, then see what I can find for the second round for next week.

RIKISHI vs. SHANE McMAHON:
(May 29th, RAW)
* Okay, I forget the story behind this. Shane is entered in the KOTR, but has to fight Rikishi, who is in the midst of his biggest year ever before everything went horribly wrong. Shane, in a WWF shirt & regular jogging pants, boasts about “beating the Big Show” and how Undertaker couldn’t beat him, marking him as a smart-mouthed wimpy heel.

ECW on Sci Fi
Date: August 15, 2006
Location: Verizon Center, Washington DC
Attendance: 8,500
Commentators: Joey Styles, Tazz

It’s the go home show for Summerslam and that means we need a title match set. In this case that is likely to mean something involving Sabu, Kurt Angle and Rob Van Dam, the latter of whom returned last week to interfere and break up a #1 contenders match between the others. Other than that, expect the ECW Originals to look really pathetic. Let’s get to it.

ECW on Sci Fi
Date: August 8, 2006
Location: Gaylord Entertainment Center, Nashville, Tennessee
Commentators: Joey Styles, Tazz

We’re back after last week’s sojourn into Vince McMahon’s nightmare of a television main event of Batista vs. Big Show. Sabu seems to be the next challenger for Big Show’s ECW World Title and that sounds at least slightly better than what we’ve been seeing with all of the guest stars. Yeah that’s where we are now: Sabu is the big hope. Let’s get to it.

ECW on Sci Fi
Date: August 1, 2006
Location: Hammerstein Ballroom, New York City, New York
Commentators: Joey Styles, Tazz

ECW is back in their secondary home and that could make for an interesting (ahem) night as the main event is Big Show defending the ECW World Title against Batista. I’m sure this will not go badly in any way shape or form. Other than that, Kurt Angle is back after a few weeks off so maybe he can make up the gap a bit. Let’s get to it.