pro-wrestling Page 2 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Should WWE Actually Be Worried About AEW?
There’s panic in the streets of Stamford, Connecticut. Or, anyway, there’s a sense that change is coming for the famously change-averse WWE after a ten-day period that could signal the start of a new era in professional wrestling. All it took to rattle WWE was for a new promotion—in this case, All E...
WWE Is Getting Back At The Revival for Wanting Out, And It Isn't Working
On this week’s edition of WWE’s flagship television program, Monday Night Raw, viewers were treated to a segment in which the tag team The Usos, theoretically the good guys, revealed that they had invented “Ucy Hot,” their own sweat-activated version of Icy Hot, and secretly deployed it to the trunk...
Dean Ambrose Is Going To Be Bleeding As Jon Moxley Again
When we last discussed Dean Ambrose in this space a few months ago, news had just broken that he had given WWE his 90-day notice and would not be renewing his contract. That Ambrose was parting with WWE was, at bottom, a sound business decision; with All Elite Wrestling and other promotions bidding ...
Jushin Thunder Liger, Japan's Greatest Wrestling Export, Is Set For One Last Ride
On Thursday, Jushin Thunder Liger, inarguably one of the most influential figures in the history of the global wrestling business, announced his retirement at a press conference in Japan. The 54-year-old masked wrestler, whose real name is Keichi Yamada, will travel the world on a farewell tour slat...
“Mean” Gene Okerlund Dead At 76
Longtime pro wrestling interviewer “Mean” Gene Okerlund died today, WWE announced. He was 76....
How Did $5 Million Of Vince McMahon's Money Wind Up In The Trump Foundation?
On Tuesday, the New York State Attorney General’s Office announced that they had reached a settlement in their suit against the Donald J. Trump Foundation over its (prolific) self-dealing and other assorted misdeeds. Beyond the usual Trump-scented malfeasance in which the foundation engaged, one de...
Crown Jewel, WWE's Return To Saudi Arabia, Had Less Propaganda But More Irony<em></em>
Once the call was made to go on with WWE Crown Jewel, the second event of WWE’s 10-year contract with Saudi Arabia, one question loomed larger than any other going: What would this thing look like? The promotion’s first Saudi show, April’s Greatest Royal Rumble, was unvarnished pro-Saudi propaganda,...
Yes, WWE Wrote John Cena And Daniel Bryan Off Friday's Saudi Arabia Card
After a week of unconfirmed reports that both John Cena and Daniel Bryan were refusing to work this Friday’s WWE Crown Jewel event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, we have our answer. It wasn’t a straight one from the promotion itself, unsurprisingly—WWE had repeatedly refused to address whether Cena and Br...
"Evolution" Was The Night WWE's Women Deserved. It Also Kicked Ass.
WWE Evolution started with a bang and ended in a torrent of cheers on the same Sunday night, but the promotion’s first-ever all-women’s pay-per-view event began in earnest some time before that. At a match in Abu Dhabi’s Zayed Sports City Tennis Stadium last December, Alexa Bliss and Sasha Banks, bo...
After Roman Reigns's "Raw" Moment, Where Is The Line In WWE?
This has been a weird week....
WWE Is Officially Going Ahead With Its Creepy Saudi Propaganda Spectacular
After days of rumors and weeks of faintly nauseated speculation, World Wrestling Entertainment announced on Thursday that the next show in their partnership with Saudi Arabia, next Friday’s Crown Jewel event in Riyadh, will take place as scheduled. The announcement came as part of guidance for their...
WWE Is Not Handling The Backlash To Its Saudi Deal Very Well
Six days ago, WWE was in an uncomfortable position regarding its upcoming Crown Jewel event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the second card in a 10-year contract with the kingdom believed to be worth $20–$50 million per show. Saudi Arabia’s brutal war of attrition in Yemen and, more recently, Turkey’s insi...
WWE Taking Tens Of Millions In Saudi Money Sure Looks Awful
This week’s edition of WWE’s Monday Night Raw flagship made official a major development that had been expected for weeks: After eight and a half years of retirement, Shawn Michaels really is returning to the ring in a few weeks, at WWE’s Crown Jewel event in Saudi Arabia. Michaels had been steadfas...
Let's Remember Some Guys: WrestleMania Vol. V
Wrestlers had jobs in the 1990s....
Wrestling Magazines Were Bloody, Dumb, And Sleazy, And I Loved Them
A couple weeks ago at an independent wrestling show in New York City, the promoter, Jac Sabboth, arrived with a treasure trove of old magazines. Sabboth also owns a pro wrestling memorabilia store, but even bearing that in mind the selection was startlingly eclectic, from the most popular magazines ...
If Matt Hardy's Career Is Over, It's Been A Hell Of A Ride
Last weekend, longtime WWE star Matt Hardy might have taken off his boots for the last time. He also might not have, but he at the very least appeared to announce his retirement in a YouTube video. Explaining that he had worked out a way to fulfill his previously advertised commitments to WWE, Hardy...
How WWE Cheapened Hell In A Cell
On Sunday, WWE hyped up its now annual Hell in a Cell pay-per-view event as the 20th anniversary of Mick Foley’s famous match with The Undertaker, where the former was thrown off of the top of the titular cage in one of the wildest stunts in wrestling history. This is not exactly true—the actual ann...
WWE’s Cage Matches Have Way Too Much Interference
It had been a long PPV—WWE’s Hell in a Cell 2018 clocked in at 3 hours, 40 minutes and 48 seconds plus a pre-show with a match—and by the time the main event was over, what should have been a thrilling match was bogged down by an exhausting parade of interference. ...
Regardless Of Who You Cheer Or Boo, WWE Usually Isn't Listening
One of the most striking things about last Saturday’s All In pay-per-view, the independent wrestling event that sold out over 11,000 seats in suburban Chicago, was where the show differed from WWE. When it came to the in-ring wrestling style and the creative influence of Cody Rhodes and The Young Bu...
Let's See If The Indie Wrestling Supershow Can Deliver On The Hype
Several months after it first made history, the indie wrestling supershow “All In” is here. On Saturday night, the much-hyped, self-funded brainchild of Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks will, after months upon months of speculation and buzz and promotion and noise, finally become real in front of ove...