wrestling Page 18 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
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....
Wrestling’s Skirting Of The Rules Hasn’t Gotten It Ratings
While most of the attention has been focused on how WWE and AEW have bent, skirted, and avoided protocols and rules to still run live programming during the pandemic, it doesn’t appear to be netting them results that make it seem worth it. Once again, when Monday Night Raw’s ratings for Monday came ...
WWE's Shad Gaspard Drowns Saving Son From Riptide
The body of former World Wrestling Entertainment star Shad Gaspard was found on Venice Beach early Wednesday morning, police said. He had been caught in a rip current last weekend while saving the life of his 10-year-old son, Aryeh....
AEW Loses Some Of The High Ground
Admittedly, the term “high ground” would rarely find a working relationship with pro wrestling. The point of the whole enterprise, or at least a good portion of it, is that it’s not the high ground. It’s supposed to be ridiculous, silly, edgy, and not cause your brain to breathe all that hard if you...
With WWE Layoffs, Vince McMahon Retains Title As World's Largest Douche
It’s hard to stand out as a shithead billionaire in these times. Whether you’re laying off employees you could easily afford to pay, or you’re influencing the government to turn a deadly crisis into a profitable opportunity, or you’re valuing the economy (i.e. your own bank account) over people’s li...
Two Governors, Two Parties, Same Insanity On Sports
Andrew Cuomo’s seeming competence during the coronavirus pandemic has generated waves of positive press for the New York governor, and has even spurred talk of the possibility of him being Joe Biden’s running mate, even though Biden has said he plans to select a woman. Never mind that his record is ...
Vince McMahon’s Ruthless Aggression Is Aimed Almost Solely At His Employees
There are too many things the Firefly Fun House Match during Wrestlemania nailed about WWE storytelling, specifically Vince McMahon’s view of the world. The answer to Vince, as it is with most billionaires, is that the only thing you need to get what you want is to want it bad enough and be willing ...
Chris Jericho Yelling At A Drone Is Everything I Did And Didn’t Know I Wanted
This is simply the greatest piece of television this year, and quite possibly the past decade:...
Wrestlemania Is Between The Rock And A Turnbuckle
There probably was a time when WWE boss Vince McMahon, and his counterparts at All Elite Wrestling (AEW), dreamed of being the only parties providing new, live television in this era of shelter-at-homes and shutdowns and burning through all of “Schitt’s Creek” and needing something as keenly silly (...