wrestling Page 17 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Jonnu Smith is a solid, Gronk-esque addition for the Patriots
The Patriots were lost in the dark in the first year of their post-Brady era. The Cam Newton experiment didn’t work, in part because of his battle with COVID, and the roster proved to have incredibly uninspiring weapons to work with. In atypical fashion, Bill Belichick has stormed into the free agen...
College athletes: NCAA must act swiftly against states passing transgender discrimination laws
College athletes are challenging the NCAA to stand up for the rights of transgender athletes....
The Exploding Barbed Wire Death Match was the worst thing I’ve ever seen, in all the best ways
They actually went through with it....
Joey Ryan might be the worst person in the world
That’s a highly contested honor these days, so I acknowledge the enormity of the statement. Still, you have to recognize when someone is putting in the effort to take that mantle, as disturbing as it may be....
Is WWE putting a title on Matt Riddle ignorance, direct retaliation, or something in between?
WWE isn’t known for its sensitivity, and at times is quite proud of that, and that was clearly evident on Sunday night during the company’s “Elimination Chamber” pay-per-view event. Matt Riddle won the United States Championship, and to say the timing is odd would be scaling a mountain of a euphemis...
The wall between AEW and NJPW has come down, maybe, but what’s next?
Ever since AEW formed, wrestling fans have been wondering, hoping, praying for some kind of relationship between AEW and New Japan Pro Wrestling. Most of that was based on a swath of AEW stars who made their name in NJPW. Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks are first on the list, as they became global s...
WWE nailed the Damian Priest & Bad Bunny pairing, which is off to a great start
Maybe it was luck, perhaps it was smart booking, or just recognizing how important it is to effectively develop NXT call-ups instead of letting them linger on Raw or Smackdown without a purpose. ...
However you feel about pro wrestling, Bianca Belair’s Royal Rumble win matters on many levels
People who watch wrestling often argue over the legitimacy of the art form with friends who don’t watch. The skeptic will often point to the staged punches and kicks, ignoring the very real table bumps, glass spots, and other physical demands that most human beings aren’t cut out for. The wrestling ...
Deadspin’s surprises, wishlist & predictions for a WWE Royal Rumble rife with possibilities
Wrestlemania season kicks off for real this Sunday, in the strangest Royal Rumble WWE has ever had. At least it will be, with only manufactured crowd noise, no live audience, and the possibility of any kind of theatrical goofiness they can think of possible. The rumors of a prerecorded finish or fin...
Peacock conscripts WWE in ongoing battle for your soul
Last week, it was the announcement that NBC would be shutting down NBCSN by the end of 2021. That meant that the network’s NHL and Premier League coverage, as well as various other sports, would be spread between NBC Universal’s other entities, like USA Network. But the real goal seemed to be to get...
Gardner-Webb wrestles with the concept of negative numbers
What we’re learning so far in 2021 is that when you think things are as bad as they possibly could be, you’re wrong, because there’s always a way that it could be worse....
Wrestle Kingdom will be the pandemic’s first big wrestling show, whatever that might mean
While WWE loves to tell you the turn of the year signals “Wrestlemania Season,” which kicks into high gear with the Royal Rumble at the end of January, but for a lot of wrestling fans the turn of the year kicks the wrestling schedule into high gear immediately. That’s because every January 4th (and ...
The sports figures we've lost in 2021
Here’s a look at the athletes and sports figures we’ve lost in 2021....
Did AEW 'Sting' its biggest night by shoving viewers off to Impact?
Only when “The Wednesday Night Wars” end, if they’re even a thing, will we know which were the seminal moments, the turning points. It’s the kind of thing you need hindsight for. And with wrestling, any decision one week can be explained or reversed or changed the following week (or, if you’re Vince...
One year in, don’t be fooled by AEW’s WWE alumni
AEW and TNT have both always said they’re in it for the long haul. But if you had told them before they started their weekly cable show a year ago that they’d have to hit pause on the promotion just six months in, they might have hedged their bets a bit. But, with some secret locations, a pretty ful...
AEW Has Run Out Of Excuses for Its Women’s Division
When AEW came onto the scene about a year ago, it promised a lot of things. It promised a lot of things that would be different than the other wrestling/TV company, WWE. It would feature a bigger variety of styles and performers, it would have an actual tag-team division, it wouldn’t be afraid to be...
Orange Cassidy Is the Wednesday Night Wars
It’s been a week where Triple H has admitted that the WWE is directly counter-programming AEW with their NXT shows, essentially an official acknowledgement of the “Wednesday Night Wars” between the companies. Last night seemed the most distinct illustration of the difference between the two. While b...
![#MeToo Comes to Pro Wrestling [UPDATED]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/fwaw21ulolfyxayfs729.jpg)
#MeToo Comes to Pro Wrestling [UPDATED]
Considering where professional wrestling has come from, what it used to be, and what it still is much of the time, it’s no surprise that there is a wave of accusations of sexual assault and domestic abuse levied at wrestlers at all levels. And yet the sheer scope of what took place this past weekend...
Crisp Visual Metaphor Of The Week: Jaguars' Mascot Beaten To Pulp In Empty Stadium
In what could only be described as a Jason Mendoza fever dream, AEW held a 10-man main event Saturday night inside the Jacksonville Jaguars’ stadium with the Jaguars cheerleaders and the team mascot, Jaxson de Ville. Perhaps if Mr. Mendoza had known about this, he wouldn’t have thought a perfect Mad...
Death of Japanese Wrestler Hana Kimura Returns Attention To The Reality Of Cyberbullying
Hana Kimura, a rising phenom in Japan’s World Wonder Ring Stardom (known simply as “Stardom”) died on Saturday at the age of 22. While no official cause of death has been released at this time, it has been widely reported that she took her own life....