Matty Breisch Articles - Page 128

Folks, it’s official: AEW has sold 60,000 tickets and counting for All In 2023. Not since the debut of CM Punk has excitement been at such a fever pitch for Tony Khan’s company, and with “The Best in the World” reportedly coming back to AEW in the not-too-distant future, it would appear things are only […]

In the lead-up to Backlash, WWE decided to pull a page from the UFC handbook to have joint interviews with a few of the acts on the card, with Zelina Vega and her “manager” Rey Mysterio sitting opposite Rhea Ripley and her Dom Dom, Dominik Mysterio, in front of a white-hot Puerto Rican crowd who […]

For a time, Damian Priest and Bad Bunny were thick as thieves in WWE; they’re both from Puerto Rico, both have loved wrestling from a young age, and both found unlikely success in America, with the former signing with WWE deep into his 30s at the suggestion of Matt Riddle and the latter largely rapping […]

When Dominik Mysterio took the ring on the go-home edition of RAW before Backlash, he was booed to a degree that would make MJF blush. Standing alongside his best friends The Judgement Day, Damian Priest, Finn Balor, and Rhea Ripley, Mysterio attempted to talk some smack on the lWo ahead of Backlash, but his efforts […]

When Bad Bunny challenged Damian Priest to a Puerto Rican Street Fight at Backlash in his native San Juan, it seemed like a pretty good idea for the international recording superstar; while fans of WWE know Bunny can go, it’s a whole lot easier to go to war against a performer like Priest when you […]

Michael Cole loves working with Pat McAfee. Though their partnership was a marriage of convenience more than anything else, with the veteran Cole serving as the logical partner for an uber-charismatic yet wrestling naive announcer, from there, the bromance blossomed into something truly special, with the duo seemingly enjoying all 120 minutes they shared the […]

Though its proverbial doors have been shuttered since all the way back in September of 2022, the fingerprints of NXT UK have been all over WWE’s on-screen product, with Paul “Triple H” Levesque booking ex-NXT UK Champion Gunther like a god with the Intercontinental Championship, Noam Dar officially bringing the UK Heritage Cup to Orlando, […]

Is there any member of the WWE roster right now, regardless of brand, who uses social media more effectively to put himself over than Xavier Woods? Working solo for the first time in what feels like forever following long-term injuries suffered by Kofi Kingston and Big E, Woods has used his medium of choice to […]

Matt Riddle is a RAW dude; he was drafted onto the brand back in 2020, appeared on multiple Survivor Series teams as a member of the brand, and now, after the 2023 running of the WWE Draft, he’ll call the Red Brand home once more moving forward. Stopping by The Bump to help promote his […]

When Santos Escobar and the rest of Legado Del Fantasma, Joaquin Wilde, and Cruz del Toro, were elevated from NXT to SmackDown, leaving their former valet, Electra Lopez, in developmental for further seasoning, it excited more than a few fans of WWE’s developmental brand. Sure, losing Lopez was unusual, but replacing her with Zelina Vega, […]

When Indi Hartwell was drafted onto RAW with the final pick of the first day of the WWE Draft, it effectively marked the end of an era for NXT. The final member of The Way to work matches on Tuesday nights, Hartwell was part of WWE’s 2019 recruiting class and wrestled 95 matches in developmental, […]

After standing strong in the ring to challenge Bron Breakker to a televised match to fight for the honor of his best friend, Carmelo Hayes, Trick Williams walked to the Performance Center parking lot and was confronted by none other than Apollo Crews, the former NXT star who was drafted on RAW by WWE. Crews […]

With the WWE Draft officially over, fans, pundits, and performers themselves have begun to comment on which Superstars went where, with some questioning why Paul “Triple H” Levesque broke up the feud between The Judgement Day and lWo, while others complimented the decision to bring Imperium over to RAW, as Gunther will now be afforded […]

After wrestling his final match on NXT before being assigned to RAW on May 8th, a match he won against Dragon Lee with a little help from Noam Dar, JD McDonagh sat down in the locker room with a WWE camera to reflect on the journey that brought him the indies in the UK to […]

On this day 51 years ago, Dwayne “The Rock Johnson was born. That’s right before his feuds with “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and Kurt Angle, his time in the Rock and Sock Connection and the Nation of Domination, and even his time playing college ball at the University of Miami, Johnson was born into the […]

By announcing the new World Heavyweight Championship, WWE extensively handed themselves an out; an opportunity to have their Cody Rhodes cake and eat it two. At WrestleMania 39, Paul “Triple H” Levesque had a chance to turn “The American Nightmare” into a certified star; the moment was there, 80,000 fans were cheering “The Grandson of […]

Since returning to WWE following a few months off to begin the year, Shinsuke Nakamura has been dipping his toes back into the WWE Universe. He’s worked a few televised matches, made fun of The Miz’s, get this, manhood, and was drafted onto RAW, where he can wrestle the likes of Gunther, Drew McIntyre, Seth […]

Cody Rhodes is a wrestler who is driven by passion, not cold calculation. When a fan suggested that an indie show couldn’t do 10,000 tickets sold on Twitter, Rhodes took that as a personal challenge and helped to put together All In, the show that eventually launched AEW and effectively flipped the professional wrestling world […]

Though things are currently going swimmingly onscreen for World Wrestling Entertainment, with the WWE Draft widely considered a resounding success for RAW and SmackDown, even if Grayson Waller isn’t stoked on when he was selected, behind the scenes, the company is gearing up for another lawsuit, this time from a former writer, Britney Abrahams, claiming […]

After struggling to find much success in the ring so far in 2023, things turned around seemingly overnight for Bayley and the members of Damage CTRL, Dakota Kai and IYO SKY, as they secured a huge win over the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions on RAW, Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez, in their final RAW […]

After delivering an absolute beatdown on an enhancement talent on RAW, Omos, one of WWE’s free agents who are allowed to travel between either show, and his handler, MVP, stopped by RAW Talk to discuss why they agreed to this match on RAW and why it should make Seth “Freakin’” Rollins very nervous indeed for […]

And in the 2023 WWE Draft, Mr. Irrelevant is… Grayson Waller. That’s right, despite being the most polished prospect in all of NXT, Waller had to watch as a half dozen of his former fellow developmental recruits heard their names called on television, the SmackDown LowDown, or ultimately on RAW Talk before Matt Camp said […]

As improbably as it may sound, Rick Boogs was drafted onto SmackDown despite being largely absent from WWE over the 2023 calendar year… as a solo act. That’s right, despite being connected to Elias since returning from injury, SmackDown decided to bring him in as a solo act, with Elias left to fend for himself […]

After officially being drafted onto SmackDown along with his United States Championship belt, Austin Theory stopped by RAW Talk, potentially for the last time, to discuss his feelings about switching brands with Byron Saxton. “How does it feel for everyone else that’s on SmackDown?” Theory asked. “They’ve go to be excited to have the greatest […]

And last but not least, in the sixth round of Day 2, the 10th overall round if you count the first four rounds and 16 acts picked on Day 1, JBL and Teddy Long announced the final four selections in the 2023 WWE Draft, filling out the RAW and SmackDown rosters before WWE announces the […]

After working through the first four rounds of Day 2 of the WWE Draft, with Trish Stratus, Karrion Kross, Shayna Baszler, Ronda Rousey, and LA Knight all coming off the board in the fourth round, Molly Holly and Road Dogg came to the ramp for the penultimate round of the proceedings, with two picks each […]

After watching the final set of champions hear their names called in the third round of Night 2 of the WWE Draft, with Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez, the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions, coming off the board alongside Asuka, New Day, and The Brawling Brutes, Eric Bischoff and Rob Van Dam, holding his card […]

After having to sit through a minor interruption that featured Brock Lesnar and Cody Rhodes going to war ahead of their forthcoming match at Backlash, the WWE Draft continued on, with four more acts finding their new WWE homes. First came the final champions available in the draft, with Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez, the […]

After watching Paul “Triple H” Levesque announce the first four picks of Day 2 of the WWE Draft, two-time Hall of Famer and NXT color commentator Booker T and his wife, Queen Sharmell, called the next round of picks, and unsurprisingly, it featured even more star power than the round before it. For RAW, Booker […]

After announcing the first 16 picks in the 2023 WWE Draft plus a slew of more selections on the SmackDown LowDown on Saturday morning, Paul “Triple H” Levesque kicked off the show yet again, when Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead strongly encouraged the rowdy RAW crowd to “Bow Down to the King.” But before Trips could […]

Since officially becoming a tag team earlier this year, Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez have rapidly become the premier babyface women’s tag team in all of WWE, a bar that admittedly wasn’t particularly hard to clear, what with there being no named teams on the roster, but remains impressive none the less. They’ve found ways […]

After watching 14 main roster acts hear their names called during the first day of the 2023 WWE draft, Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn sat back in awe with the rest of their NXT class as “The Heartbreak Kid” himself, Shawn Michaels, announced that with their final pick on Day 1, SmackDown was taking the […]

After securing a shockingly clean win on The Usos in a rematch of the main event of Night 1 of WrestleMania 39, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn were in relatively good spirits, or at least as good spirits as a certified curmudgeon like KO can get at this stage in his career. Sitting down for […]

After watching the first four rounds of the 2023 WWE Draft on SmackDown – which, curiously enough, featured four acts selected in each round instead of one per brand – fans tuned in to the SmackDown LowDown on Saturday morning to see where the performers who weren’t selected, about a dozen names, plus a few […]

Heading into WrestleMania 39, fans wanted nothing more than to see “Stone Cold” Steve Austin get in the ring with one of the top stars on RAW or SmackDown in order to provide the fans in SoFi and watching on Peacock an optimized experience filled with fun, cheers, and more than few Broken Skull IPAs […]

After watching Bianca Belair get drafted onto SmackDown despite being the current holder of the RAW Women’s Championship, fans, announcers, and wrestlers alike wondered what that meant for Rhea Ripley, who is the current SmackDown Woman’s Champion following a huge WrestleMania 39 win over Charlotte Flair. Would Ripley and Belair switch belts Becky Lynch-Charlotte Flair […]

To some, landing in WWE is just the next logical step after a successful career doing something else; Top Dolla signed with WWE after his time as a journeyman defensive tackle in the NFL, the Cavinder twins have effectively left their basketball-playing careers in the past in favor of two one-way tickets to Orlando, and […]

When Ricochet and Braun Strowman started tag teaming together on SmackDown, it was unusual. Sure, WWE has thrown tag teams together in the past, and, weirdly enough, Ricochet and Strowman even sort of look similar with their long beards/no hair combos, but stylistically, the former is one of the most physically gifted high flyers in […]

When Roderick Strong made his debut in AEW, it was a pretty big deal. Last seen in the hospital demanding that Ivy Nile and the Creed Brothers, Brutus and Julius, “win” their feud with former Diamond Mine faction member Damon Kemp, Strong’s surprise arrival in AEW made fans pop and got folks very excited about […]