Daily News Update – April 6, 2021

I write news articles for Wrestlingrumors.net (please check us out, plus at our Facebook) and I keep meaning to put more news on here. Now some of you who are smarter than I am might have been able to piece this idea together, but for some reason I never figured out the easy way to do this. Every day, hopefully at 10am EST, I’ll be posting the links to the articles I wrote the previous day. Note that we do not make up stories, but rather gather them from other sites you’ve probably heard of. Some of them will be rumors rather than news and they will be labeled as such. Outside of a rare instance, anything written will be entirely from me, but on occasion the site’s other writer will be included.

One other note: some of these are a bit more wordy than I usually go and there is a certain format that you will see in almost every single article. This is done by design/at the request of the site’s owner and I’m not about to tell her no. The opinions are 100% mine, though as always of course don’t hesitate to talk to me more about them in the comments here. Also, please click on the videos (also picked by me) if you can as someone sticking around and watching them brings up the revenue. We would certainly appreciate anything in that area.

And now, the first set (as always, listed in the order I wrote them):

Steve Austin Names Two WWE Stars Of The Future. March 29, 2021.

https://wrestlingrumors.net/tommyhall/steve-austin-names-two-wwe-stars-future/

WWE Talent Officially Gone From Company, Moving Elsewhere. March 29, 2021.

https://wrestlingrumors.net/tommyhall/wwe-talent-officially-gone-company-moving-elsewhere/

The Hurt Business Breaks Up On Monday Night Raw. March 29, 2021.

https://wrestlingrumors.net/tommyhall/hurt-business-breaks-monday-night-raw/

Huge Stipulation Added To WrestleMania 37 Match. March 29, 2021.

https://wrestlingrumors.net/tommyhall/huge-stipulation-added-wrestlemania-37-match/

New Title Match Confirmed For WrestleMania 37. March 29, 2021.

https://wrestlingrumors.net/tommyhall/new-title-match-confirmed-wrestlemania-37/

Top Impact Wrestling Star Tears ACL, Out For Months. March 29, 2021.

https://wrestlingrumors.net/tommyhall/top-impact-wrestling-star-tears-acl-months/

Current WWE Star Receiving Warrior Award At Hall Of Fame Ceremony. March 29, 2021.

https://wrestlingrumors.net/tommyhall/current-wwe-star-receiving-warrior-award-hall-fame-ceremony/

WWE Incorrectly Told Charlotte She Was Pregnant. March 30, 2021.

https://wrestlingrumors.net/tommyhall/confusing-story-on-wwe-incorrectly-telling-charlotte-she-was-pregnant/

Hidden Gems #16: Wrap It Up

Hidden Gems #16
Date: 1997, 2001, 1986, 1980, 1995

I’m finally doing something outside of the full shows and that’s quite the relief at the moment. This time around I’m going to be looking at some completely random matches/segments instead of one big show. I’m not sure what is going to be coming here but that’s what a random number generator is for. Let’s get to it.

Undertaker/Steve Austin vs. Shawn Michaels/HHH
Date: November 15, 1997
Location: Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York
Attendance: 15,479

This is six days after Montreal so Shawn has about as much heat as you can imagine. It’s also handheld footage so no commentary of course. Austin is Intercontinental Champion so he throws the belt in, as was his custom. They seem to be clipping things a bit too, as Undertaker’s entrance only takes about a minute. Indeed it is as we go from Undertaker dropping the coat to the floor to circling with Michaels. And then the bell rings so I’m even more confused.

Undertaker misses a right hand in the corner so Shawn slugs away, only to get LAUNCHED into the corner (one of my favorite Undertaker spots) so the real beating can begin. The upside down bump in the corner lets Undertaker choke away and he does it again to HHH as well. Austin comes in to work on the arm and hits an atomic drop to make HHH bounce. A poke to the eye gets HHH out of trouble so it’s back to Shawn as the fans get WAY into this all over again.

Austin hits a backdrops and brings Undertaker back in to clean house. They go outside where Undertaker seems to post Shawn but the camera is on the other side of the ring and rather shaky so it’s hard to tell. Back in and Shawn hits the ropes to break up Old School and it’s time to stomp away. HHH gets in a whip to the steps on the floor (as opposed to the steps in the ring) and the choking is on back inside.

The knee drop gives HHH two but Undertaker slugs away at Shawn without much trouble. Shawn knocks him down and there’s the sit up, followed by the double clothesline. The hot tag brings in Austin and it’s time for the big comeback. HHH gets Stunned but Shawn makes the save and kicks Austin low. Austin’s leg is wrapped around the post and we look at the crowd as HHH pulls Austin’s trunks down a bit too far.

We hit the chinlock on Austin and look at the crowd again for no apparent reason. We’re clipped to the hold being broken but Shawn pulls Austin back into the corner. Austin crawls over to the ropes for the tag anyway though and NOW it’s time to clean house. A chokeslam each drops DX and Undertaker Tombstones Shawn for the pin at 12:48 shown.

Rating: B-. It wasn’t a great match or anything but for a big time house show man event, this worked very well. The interesting thing is how Austin looked fine despite being dropped on his head at Summerslam about three months earlier. He looked horrible at Survivor Series but looked normal here, which should tell you everything you need to know about the benefit of hiding weaknesses in a tag match.

Post match Road Dogg (I think) comes in and gets chokeslammed as well. Chyna comes in to get in Austin’s face but backs into Undertaker. The distraction lets Austin hit the Stunner for the big reaction.

Randy Orton vs. Brock Lesnar
Date: November 29, 2001
Location: Kansas Coliseum, Wichita, Kansas

This is a dark match from a Smackdown taping and while the show took place on November 27, I’m assuming they’re putting the TV air date because….well probably because it wasn’t that well researched. Orton is suddenly from Wichita because wrestling likes to lie about things (as they should in cases like this). It’s always weird seeing Lesnar with the lightning bolts or wings or whatever they were on his trunks instead of the straight black.

Lesnar drives him into the corner to start but Orton kicks him away and hits a dropkick. Orton tries to start in on the arm and is suplexes across the ring for his efforts. A cross armbreaker works a bit better for Orton until Brock powerbombs the heck out of him. Some backbreakers into a powerslam into the corner rock Orton and Brock stomps away in the Tree of Woe.

Brock switches to the shoulders to the back for a change and hits a spinning belly to back suplex for two. We hit the camel clutch, with Brock leaning forward towards Randy’s head for a weird look. Now it’s a regular chinlock but Orton fights up with a swinging neckbreaker. The high crossbody (Orton’s old finisher) gets two and a sunset flip out of the corner gets the same. Back up and Brock powerslams him for the fast pin at 5:53.

Rating: C. I always like seeing matches like this because there are no reputations and the guys just have to go out and make the fans care on their own. It was a fine enough match with Orton trying to take away a limb and getting overwhelmed by the power. Imagine that: OVW students being well trained at in-ring work. These two worked well together, which isn’t surprising given how many times they probably fought in both training and on OVW TV.

Universal Wrestling Federation Heavyweight Title: Jim Duggan vs. Terry Gordy
Date: May 30, 1986
Location: Sam Houston Coliseum, Houston, Texas
Commentators: Jim Ross, Bill Watts

Ah the magic of a random button. This is a tournament final for the inaugural title and the UWF is the rechristened Mid-South Wrestling. Hold on though as One Man Gang is here to say he would have won this tournament if he had been invited so this match isn’t happening. Gang says he wants a shot at the winner immediately after so Duggan says make your move.

The fight is on with Duggan taking him to the floor to trade postings. Duggan is busted open badly and seems to have a concussion but why would that stop him? The also busted Gang is knocked outside but comes back in, only to miss the splash. A running shoulder (called a spear) sends Gang outside and we take a break.

Jim Ross runs down the rest of the show (as in Power Pro Wrestling) before throwing it to Duggan for a chat. Duggan talks about how he was given five minutes to get ready to face Gordy and how dizzy he was.

We’re clipped to a taped up Duggan slugging away at Gordy and hitting the three point shoulder. A second attempt is sent outside though and Michael Hayes posts Duggan again. Duggan talks about how Gordy finished him off after that but we don’t actually see it. Well that was rather lame as the Gordy vs. Duggan stuff was less than two minutes long.

US Title: Ric Flair vs. Greg Valentine
Date: July 17, 1980
Location: Norfolk Scope, Norfolk, Virginia

Flair is defending and this is from Mid-Atlantic. This is raw footage so no commentary and again, not the complete match. Valentine bails to the floor to start (shocking I know) so Flair grabs the mic and tells him to have some guts and get in here. Valentine gets in and begs off as this is HEAVILY clipped, with about five seconds between jumps (though you can still tell the general idea). Flair takes him down and works the arm in a variety of ways, including an armbar (with WOO).

Valentine gets up and hammers (hey now) away but Flair gets in what might have been a low blow. The slugout goes to Flair but a knee to the ribs cuts him off in a hurry. Valentine hammers away in the corner and Flair is busted open (of course). Some elbows to the back of the head get some near falls, with Valentine covering vertical instead of horizontally for a weird look. Flair fights up and hits a right hand but falls down due to exhaustion.

Valentine misses a charge into the corner and the comeback is on with Valentine going head first into the corner over and over. A bunch of right hands let Flair hit the WOO and there’s the suplex into the….elbow. Dang it’s weird seeing something other than the big knee that he used forever. Flair wraps the leg around the post and puts on the Figure Four but Valentine makes the rope.

They go outside where Valentine can win the brawl before taking it back inside. A shinbreaker cuts Valentine off again but the Figure Four is broken up. Valentine forearms away on the apron and tries a belly to back suplex but Flair spins onto him for the pin to retain. This was more a collection of clips than a match so no rating, though it looked like a heck of a match.

Post match, Valentine is livid. He would win the title before the end of the month.

And one more to wrap it up.

Women’s Title: Alundra Blayze vs. Lioness Asuka
Date: November 21, 1995
Location: Wicomico Youth & Civic Center, Salisbury, Maryland

Blayze is defending at this is a dark match from a Superstars/Raw taping. Asuka’s (no not that Asuka) entrance isn’t shown but the camera feed is the same as you would see on any regular TV show. Asuka kicks her down to start and hits a shot to the ribs, followed by a suplex for two (Blayze’s bridging escape is always cool). Some kicks put Blayze down into a reverse chinlock but she’s out in a hurry. Blayze kicks her to the floor but she misses a dive off the top.

Back in and Asuka grabs a Sharpshooter (without looking at the camera because she doesn’t know how to work). That makes Blayze scream a lot so it’s off to some choking on the ropes. Blayze fights up with a hair takedown and some legdrops for two, with Asuka rolling outside. This time Blayze follows her out and kicks away but the powerbomb is countered. Asuka goes up so Blayze hits what would become the Stratusphere (with her hands on the mat instead of the rope). Back to back missile dropkicks get two and the German suplex retains the title at 7:37.

Rating: C. This was so many miles ahead of anything most of the American women were doing in the 90s and it’s kind of refreshing to see. It wasn’t a great match or anything but it was an actual match instead of Lawler shouting about various things over and over. You could tell Blayze wasn’t quite into this though and this would be her last match before she trashed the title the next month.

Blayze looks so miserable and gets out of there with almost no emotion on her face at all. If you didn’t know better, you would still know something was very wrong at this point.

Overall Rating: C. Not a bad set but there is only so much you can get out of these random assortments. I like these one off matches but with no theme or anything, it can be kind of hard to pick up on anything. The Flair vs. Valentine match (or at least what you could see of it) was the best, though I can’t exactly imagine that is very surprising. Pretty average in ring stuff here, but the surprises you can find in here are at least worth a look.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

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The Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards Are Out

And…..yeah I can’t say I’m surprised.

It’s that time of year again. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards have been released and that means it is time to hear about how bad WWE is, how great AEW is and how no one really knows any other promotions aside from those two and New Japan. As usual, some of these are going to be good, some of these are going to be in the middle, and some of these are going to either make you laugh or need an aspirin. Let’s get to it.

As usual, I’ll be skipping the MMA awards because they’re still not wrestling.

Wrestler Of The Year – Jon Moxley

I can get this, but the garbage brawls in the main events were starting to grate on me. It was almost always going to be him or Drew McIntyre though and that’s fine. Roman Reigns was great, but he was gone for about half of the year so it’s kind of hard to go with an amazing four months over a very good twelve months.

Most Outstanding Wrestler – Kenny Omega

Are you really surprised by this in any way, shape or form? It’s pretty clear that Meltzer thinks Omega is the greatest thing ever so him winning this is hardly a shock whatsoever.

Tag Team Of The Year – Young Bucks

They don’t hold the Tag Team Titles for most of the year but they’ve won the award five times before so…..yeah of course they win here, despite maybe not being in the top three teams in AEW.

Best Interviews – Eddie Kingston

Yep.

Promotion Of The Year – All Elite Wrestling

Some of you may be noticing a pattern emerging here and while this is far from some ridiculous pick, I think you might be starting to see how these awards are going to go. If you’re talking just WWE vs. AEW then yeah I can see it, but I’d take NXT overall if that’s an option (and fair enough if it wasn’t).

Best Weekly TV Series – AEW Dynamite

It’s a toss up between this and NXT, though Ring of Honor’s Pure Tournament stuff was quite good. Again though: with a six month hiatus, how much praise can you really give them? Same with NXT UK, though the hour being chopped off is a helpful tool.

Match Of The Year – Kenny Omega/Hangman Page vs. Young Bucks

That’s what I had too.

MVP Awards

USA – Kenny Omega

Japan – Tetsuya Naito

Mexico – Rey Fenix

Europe – Walter

Non-Heavyweight – Hiromu Takahashi

Women’s Wrestling – Bayley

These continue to be the most pointless awards of the year, but given that Fenix wrestled in Mexico FIVE TIMES in 2020 (and not at all from March 7 – December 12), I think there might be some better candidates.

Box Office Draw Of The Year – Conor McGregor

The guy fought once for 40 seconds in January. This is a totally realistic comparison to wrestlers appearing for free on television 52 weeks a year.

Feud Of The Year – Jon Moxley vs. Eddie Kingston

I had it on my list of options but went with Bayley vs. Sasha Banks instead. Part of the problem is they only had two matches, one of which was thrown onto TV because of Lance Archer being held off the show. The promos were great, but I could go with a bit more than something that lasted about five weeks, started out of necessity more than a plan, and had some pretty obvious results.

By the way: that is now eight awards (not counting ones including MMA or the regional MVPs) and AEW has swept the year. WWE’s lone win: their international developmental champion who didn’t appear for six months and wrestles elsewhere.

Most Improved – Britt Baker

I could see this one, but I’m really not sure I can go with it. Bobby Lashley had a banner year and seemed primed to FINALLY move into the main event. Roman Reigns is the best heel in years (again: time issue). Bayley found every groove you could want as a heel. But then there’s Main Event Jey Uso, who may I remind you is JEY USO IN THE MAIN EVENT. Baker was very good and I don’t see it as some horrible choice, but Uso blows this away for me, just due to the surprise factor alone.

Most Charismatic – Maxwell Jacob Friedman

If you go with the stuff before the Inner Circle, it’s hard to argue. Sidenote: Orange Cassidy got second place. Isn’t his thing that he doesn’t have charisma or energy or anything close to it 90% of the time?

Best Technical Wrestler – Zach Sabre Jr.

That guy is so good with this stuff that he scares me, mainly because I don’t know how he is doing what I’m watching. I’d say that qualifies (and it has for seven years in a row now).

Best Brawler – Jon Moxley

His brawls aren’t even that great. I’m not sure who I would give this to, but I don’t think it’s Moxley. Lance Archer maybe? His are a bit more entertaining a good chunk of the time.

Best Flying Wrestler – Rey Fenix

I mean, he misses a lot of stuff but there are times where I can’t believe what I’m seeing from him so yeah I’m good with this too.

Most Overrated – Bray Wyatt

One day I’m going to need to get a definition of overrated, because it seems to be a lot closer to overpushed than anything else. And hey: WWE won something! Sure it’s a negative award but the streak is broken!

Most Underrated – Ricochet

Again: who thinks Ricochet is underrated? People are begging for him to be more regularly pushed. That’s not what underrated means, at least anywhere else. By the way: this is now 24 years in a row (and 27/28) that a WWE wrestler has won this award.

Rookie Of The Year – Pat McAfee

I would have been actually mad if this had been ANYONE else.

Best Non-Wrestler – Taz

I had Pat McAfee as he barely wrestled, but Taz is a fine choice as he has revitalized his career.

Best Television Announcer – Excalibur

Not until he learns how to properly say “combination”. Excalibur isn’t the best commentator on either show he appears on, nor is he anywhere close to the best in the business today. That goes to the criminally underrated Ian Riccaboni, who makes wrestling sound like a sport, makes Nickelodeon and TGIF references and seems like the nicest guy in the world. This is the most wrong of all the choices, but I guess commentary stopped being about telling stories etc. and becoming more about knowing who invented an armbar in Japan thirty years ago while wearing a mask and insulting JR for suggesting that Mid-South was good.

Worst Television Announcer – Michael Cole

Is that who is under Excalibur’s mask?

Best Major Wrestling Show – Revolution

I didn’t even have to look it up. I’m going to assume that Takeovers don’t count as major shows because I need to keep my blood pressure low and move on.

Worst Major Wrestling Show – Super Showdown

It’s the only show where I felt guilty for watching it so I think that qualifies.

Best Wrestling Maneuver – One Winged Angel

You knew this was coming as that’s 4/5 years in a row. I can’t wait for someone to kick out of that thing so we can stop acting like it’s the legdrop or Stunner.

Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic – WWE Releases Wrestlers While Making Record Profits

And no. Back in April, WWE released a few dozen wrestlers. Some of the names included:

Eric Young

EC3

Mike/Maria Kanellis

Aiden English

Heath Slater

Curt Hawkins

Sarah Logan

Primo/Epico

No Way Jose

Curtis Axel

There were other names and yeah some of them (Rusev/Good Brothers) felt pretty ridiculous. But look at that list of 12 names and tell me who had any serious value in WWE. Not who COULD have had value, but which of them was more than house show filler at the time of/within let’s say six months of their release.

Yeah it sounds harsh that they were released, but WWE isn’t a charity and as William Regal once said, no one owes you a living. The same is true of the agents who were furloughed: there aren’t as many shows taking place, so what are they supposed to get paid to do? I get the knee jerk reaction to this (and I had one as well because it was so shocking), but WWE has done this kind of spring cleaning for YEARS (not as much recently, but it’s hardly some unheard of idea) and it wasn’t a big deal. Low level wrestlers got released. That’s not disgusting.

You know what is? Matt Hardy flying off of a lift, slamming his head onto the concrete and being cleared about three minutes later so he could climb the set to do a stunt to end a match with Sammy Guevara at All Out. What WWE did was business (not nice business, but business). What AEW did with Hardy was disgusting.

Worst Television Show – Raw

At least it didn’t have Tommy Dreamer as a featured star, a still going feud over a wad of money, a portal to another dimension so the wrestlers could have a reality show, Eric Young as World Champion and a whodunit over a manager getting shot at a wedding by someone who was changed into another personality by cologne. Oh or another promotion coming in to constantly point out how pathetic the show is. I can’t imagine how badly that show would be seen. The more I read these things, the more convince I am that I’m the only person who watches ROH and Impact.

Worst Match Of The Year – Bray Wyatt vs. Braun Strowman (Swamp Fight)

I went with that too, though if you want to go with an actual match, that time where Matt Hardy’s head bounced off of some concrete and he continued the match in a few minutes because AEW’s concussion protocol can be done faster than defrosting a frozen General Tso’s chicken might qualify.

Worst Feud Of The Year – Braun Strowman vs. Bray Wyatt

That’s kind of hard to argue.

Worst Promotion Of The Year – WWE

AEW’S OWNER IS COMING TO IMPACT WRESTLING EVERY WEEK TO TELL THEM HOW MUCH THEY SUCK AND IMPACT’S OWNERS ARE COMPLETELY OK WITH THIS!!! As usual, fans think that Raw is all WWE does and as usual, those people are wrong.

Also, the Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic Award was related to WWE’s business practices. Those practices are making them millions upon millions upon millions of dollars a year, not counting the latest (yes latest) BILLION dollar deal that they announced early in 2021. Yeah they have one bad TV show, but they probably make more in a month than most promotions do in a year. Now what’s worse: a bad TV show from a company making no money or a bad TV show from a company making more money than we could ever hope to spend in a lifetime?

Best Booker – Tony Khan (AEW)

You knew (wait for it)

Best Promoter – Tony Khan (AEW)

It was coming (there you go)

Best Gimmick – Orange Cassidy

When your gimmick is being lazy, I’m not sure how much praise it is worth. At least he’s back down in the midcard where he belongs.

Worst Gimmick – The Fiend

It won Best Gimmick in the year of a DQ inside the Cell and wins Worst Gimmick here. What a fickle bunch. I’d probably go with Dexter Lumis, but I get that he has an audience.

Best Pro Wrestling Book – Killing The Business (The Young Bucks)

I have a wrestling bookshelf across the room from me, plus a pile next to me at the moment. Between those we have:

The Eighth Wonder Of The World (Bertrand Herbert/Pat Laparde)

Under The Black Hat (Jim Ross)

Rowdy (Ariel/Colton Tombs)

Master Of The Ring (Tim Hornbaker, which I don’t own but want to pick up)

Take any 320 pages out of those (it can be from any book in any order) and I have a feeling it’s going to be better written/more interesting than the Bucks’ story.

Documentary Of The Year – Owen Hart (Dark Side Of The Ring)

That wasn’t even the best episode of the season, but I can go with it for the emotional impact.

Final tally (ignoring awards for things other than wrestling/regional MVPs and one off wins from outside the big two):

AEW – 19

WWE – 10 (8 negative, with Underrated being kind of a negative as well)

I have no issue buying that AEW was better than Raw, Smackdown and NXT, but come on with some of these. Raw for Worst TV Show? Cole as Worst Announcer? Excalibur as Best Announcer? WWE as Worst Promotion (again: IMPACT IS HAPPY WITH AEW COMING OVER AND INSULTING THEM!)? The Bucks get book of the year?

I’ve said many times before that there is no such thing as being unbiased in reviewing (it’s literally impossible). That’s all well and good, but there is a difference between being somewhat biased and just picking what you like and going against what you don’t like. These awards have felt like they are more the anti-WWE awards for years and if that’s what the people voting think then rock on, but good grief with some of these.

WWE wasn’t great in 2020, but it’s not like AEW was that much better. These would have you believe that 2000 WCW was laughing at WWE and it just wasn’t that bad. I’m not upset about any of them (save for the Promotional Tactic deal, which was just dumb) but I’m also not surprised by some of the most ridiculous ones.