Matty Breisch Articles - Page 100

While Hulk Hogan may be considered one of the greatest performers in WWE history, one area where few will go to bat for the “Hulkster” is as an actor, as despite having appeared in 15 movies and dozens more television shows as a performer, he is still regarded as one of the worst to ever […]

As you may or may not know, WWE wasn’t the number one goal for Gunther when he started out his professional wrestling career. Sure, the man known affectionately as the “Ring General” wanted to make a living as a professional wrestler and did everything in his power to make that happen, but after coming up […]

Booker T has accomplished a lot during his 23-year professional wrestling career. He’s been a part of part of a Hall of Fame-caliber tag team alongside Stevie Ray as part of Harlem Heat, joined arguably the greatest faction in TNA history alongside Kurt Angle in the Main Event Mafia, and had a singles reign as […]

In case you’re somehow living under a rock, you’ve probably heard that Ronda Rousey made her surprise debut for Ring of Honor at the “Fabulous” Kia Forum in Inglewood, California, last Friday, even if the show won’t officially drop until Thursday on Honor Club. While Tony Khan admitted that the “Baddest Woman on the Planet” […]

When Dave Meltzer let it be known that WWE had heavy interest in Stardom superstar Giulia, the current holder of the NJPW Strong Women’s Championship, it turned heads around the industry. While few fans in America were particularly familiar with what the “Glorious Warrior” brings to the table, as she’s only wrestled a single match […]

When Gunther began his professional wrestling journey all the way back in 2005, there wasn’t a clear pathway to WWE. Granted, there were plenty of European performers who worked for WWE or WCW during the time when Gunther was growing up, with performers like William Regal and Nikolai Volkoff coming up through the European scene […]

After losing out on signing Will Ospreay to AEW – which, as the “Commonwealth Kingpin” noted during the Full Gear media scrum, was never really an option on the table – another one of the top stars in TNA, “Speedball” Mike Bailey is approaching a free agent period of his own in 2024, as the […]

As the world prepares for the debut of The Iron Claw, a movie that has the potential to be the best film about wrestling since Darron Aronofsky tackled the sport with Mickey Rourke in his cinematic masterpiece The Wrestler, fans of the squared circle have begun to wonder how the story of the legendary Von […]

Since officially being traded from SmackDown to RAW, Jey Uso has largely remained a tag team specialist, trading the brotherly love of The Usos to his unnamed pairing with the “American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes; a union that placed him one tag team title reign ahead of Jimmy on the all-time WWE championship ledger. And yet, […]

When Cody Rhodes requested and was granted his release from WWE in 2016, the “Grandson of a Plumber” took it upon himself to borrow a page from his father’s playbook and blatantly promote himself from a makeup-wearing caricature into an undeniable force with enough star power to headline a brand new promotion on national television. […]

On a card loaded up with title bouts and grudge matches, the bout that rose above the rest at AEW Full Gear was none other than the Texas Death battle between “Hangman” Adam Page and Swerve Strickland. Fighting more so than feuding in an increasingly contentious contest of will that saw Strickland literally break into […]

When Barmageddon announced that it was returning for season two following the exit of The Bellas from WWE, fans wondered how the USA Network show would handle a new, Nikki Garcia world, including what name they would call her by, how much of her past would be acknowledged, and if she was even allowed to […]

When Tony Schiavone helped to announce that Will Ospreay was set to leave New Japan Pro Wrestling to become a full-time member of AEW in February of 2024 at Full Gear, it got fans hyped. Suddenly, after adding plenty of new talent to the roster in 2023 but no unquestioned superstars, Tony Khan secured a […]

When Adam Copeland made the jump from WWE to AEW back in October, it left more than a few fans with hurt feelings. Granted, it felt pretty obvious that the pairing had run its course, as WWE gave Edge one final match on SmackDown against Sheamus that was presented like a massive deal, but behind […]

Now, as some fans may or may not know, there was a time in the late 1990s when Kurt Angle landing in WWE following the end of his amateur wrestling career was far from a guarantee. Sure, Angle still loved to grapple and had a solid head start when it came to transitioning into the […]

After 18 months away, it officially happened: Randy Orton made his shocking return to the WWE Universe on Monday Night RAW to be the fifth member of Team Cody Rhodes at WarGames. Contacted earlier in the show by the “American Nightmare,” Orton got on the phone with Rhodes, Jey Uso, and the management duo of […]

When Drew McIntyre threw his proverbial hat into the ring with Rhea Ripley, Dominik Mysterio, JD McDonagh, and the rest of Judgment Day at the end of Finn Balor and Damian Priest’s Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship match against Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso, it sent ripples through the WWE Universe ahead of Survivor Series. […]

After making his semi-surprising debut at AEW Full Gear as Tony Khan’s game-changing big signing, Will Ospreay stopped by the media scrum to discuss leaving New Japan Pro Wrestling, coming to America to become a fixture of weekly television, and who he would like to wrestle when he becomes a full-time member of the promotion […]

Gunther is one of the biggest, baddest champions in the entire WWE Universe. Since defeating Ricochet for the International Championship last summer, the Ring General has defeated just about everyone on both RAW and SmackDown, with no signs of slowing down after a record-breaking 528-day -and counting – run with the “Workman’s Title.” Discussing the […]

After thoroughly dispatching John Cena at Crown Jewel, with Solo Sikoa hitting him in the throat about a half-dozen times with his signature Samoan Spikes on the way to a decisive victory, Paul Heyman and the rest of The Bloodline were feeling good, so much so that they requested a segment on SmackDown before Jimmy […]

At Crown Jewel, Logan Paul did something no other celebrity has done in WWE history: Win the United States Championship. That’s right, since the belt was first won by the late, great Eddie Guerrero in 2003, all 48 of the 48 performers who held the belt were, you know, full-time professional wrestlers, as opposed to […]

When Adam Copeland took the ring at AEW Full Gear, he experienced a whole lot of firsts. It was Copeland’s first time working a Pay-Per-View for AEW, his first time wrestling in the Kia Forum, and, if you can believe it, his first time working a “Premium Live Event” under his real name, with his […]

When Will Ospreay exploded onto the entrance ramp to the thundering tune of “Elevated” at Full Gear, it got AEW fans hyped. Sure, technically Ospreay remains a member of New Japan Pro Wrestling, at least for now, but Tony Khan won out one of the hottest free agents in the game today, secured the rights […]

When news broke that Ronda Rousey, the UFC legend, WWE Superstar, and Southern California native, made a surprise appearance at the Ring of Honor taping at the Kia Forum following the conclusion of AEW Collision and Rampage, it turned heads around the industry. Now sure, Rousey had been working matches around the Southern California area […]

After much anticipation, rumors galore, and a nasty Goldberg rumor, Tony Khan made it official at AEW Full Gear: Will Ospreay is All Elite. But who, you may ask, is Will Ospreay? Well he just so happens to be one of the greatest professional wrestlers in the world today, with more five star matches from […]

When AEW signed Ric Flair, the reaction was mixed to put it mildly. Some loved the addition, wooing along with the “Nature Boy,” while others questioned the call, siting his age, past behavior, and general lack of connection with the audience AEW had cultivated. Though his appearances on television were limited from that point on, […]

For the first time in AEW’s history, Full Gear is not the final Pay-Per-View of the calendar year, with Worlds End set to shut things down on Staten Island just before the New Year. And yet, as one of the Big 4 shows of the promotion, there’s little reason to expect anything other than a […]

After weeks and weeks of anticipation, AEW Full Gear live from beautiful Los Angeles, California, is mere hours away, and needless to say, fans are hyped as all get out to see what Tony Khan has cooking up his sleeve. In a few short hours, fans will get to see a blistering eight-match card with […]

After officially betraying Rey Mysterio on the previous edition of SmackDown, fans waited with bated breath to see how Santos Escobar, the “Emperor of Lucha Libre,” would justify his actions. Would he explain that there was a reason for his decisions, maybe that Mysterio had hurt him in some way, shape, or form fans weren’t […]

Did you know that in 1997, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson almost left WWE in order to become a shoot fighter for Japanese MMA brand PRIDE? That’s right, fans almost never got to hear what Johnson had cooking, listened to his musical stylings on the acoustic guitar, or got to meet “The Rock” period, as at […]

Adam Copeland has been a member of the AEW Galaxy for just under eight weeks following his massive debut at the end of WrestleDream in Seattle, Washington. Since that fateful Sunday, Copeland has wrestled exactly two matches, a slight uptick from his “wrestle rate” in WWE, provided support to the thrown-together faction of Darby Allin, […]

At some point in the next six or so months, give or take, Will Ospreay will be making his debut for a new promotion as a contracted performer. It could happen tomorrow – literally- at AEW Full Gear, it could happen when Impact Wrestling officially becomes TNA once more in January at Hard To Kill, […]

When Kris Statlander and Jade Cargill took the ring for a TBS Championship rematch on Rampage, few fans in the arena knew it would be the last time they would see the latter in an AEW ring. Now sure, by the time the match actually aired on television, that perception had changed pretty considerably, as […]

Nick Aldis has been the general manager of SmackDown for roughly a month, when he was introduced in the role by Paul “Triple H” Levesque on October 12th and promptly ruffled a few feathers by stealing away Kevin Owens from the Red Brand. On paper, that’s a pretty weird way to introduce oneself to a […]

In professional wrestling, some characters are so good, they capture the hearts and imaginations of fans outside of the “wrestling bubble.” From Hulk Hogan, to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, and even Darby Allin‘s tag team partner in AEW, Sting, some gimmicks, for one reason or another, connect with the general public […]

What in the you-know-what is going on with CM Punk? Is he about to return to AEW as the Devil? Will he instead be sticking around Chicago to make a special appearance at Survivor Series? Or could this all be a bunch of smoke, with all parties leaning into a spectacle when they know there […]

After coming up just short of his ultimate goal in an impromptu WWE World Heavyweight Championship match with Seth Rollins on Monday Night RAW, Sami Zayn found himself in the awkward position of having to set any animosity aside in order to work with the Cody Rhodes’ babyface faction against the Judgment Day, a bit […]

In professional wrestling, be it AEW, WWE, NJPW, or otherwise, only so many performers get to be on top. Sure, winners come and go, and promotions make secondary belts and even brands to allow more performers to hold titles, but in a sport where shelflives end in the blink of an eye, if there are […]

When it comes to celebrity wrestling, there’s Logan Paul – and then there’s Bad Bunny – and then there’s everyone else. Despite having less than two years of in-ring experience and fewer matches on his resume than any other member of the WWE active roster by a pretty wide margin, Paul has found a way […]