Matty Breisch Articles - Page 144

On the one-week anniversary of his Dynamite debut and what would have been his brother’s 39th birthday, Mark Briscoe took to social media to issue his first official public statement on the passing of Jay Briscoe in a touching memorial video posted on AEW and Ring of Honor’s social media accounts. “Life is gonna be […]

When AEW announced that Samoa Joe’s rematch with Darby Allin for the TNT Championship was going to be a No Holds Barred match instead of a traditional one-on-one contest, it rubbed the “King of Television” the wrong way. Now sure, Joe’s one of the most dominant performers in the pro wrestling game, and he can […]

Folks, it’s official: Kota Ibushi, the former multi-time IWGP Champion inside New Japan Pro Wrestling and long-time tag team partner of AEW World Trios Champion Kenny Omega, is a free agent. After years of negative back-and-forth banter between the “Golden Star” and NJPW management, and a string of injuries that kept him out of the […]

After weeks of anticipation, NXT UK standout/streamer Stevie Turner made her way to Orlando for a match on NXT proper after declaring her intentions to wrestle for the promotion on the previous edition of the show. Sporting a long silver duster, “gamer glasses,” fingerless gloves, and slicked-back hair – an outfit that screamed Gen Z […]

On the go-home edition of NXT television before Vengeance Day, Jacy Jayne, Gigi Dolin, and Roxanne Perez were all booked for a joint interview segment to discuss their three-way match for the NXT Women’s Championship On paper, this should have been a pretty standard segment, as companies do this sort of thing all of the […]

Though the 2023 WWE Royal Rumble won’t go down as having the most intrigue or mystery in the event’s history, it did see the surprising return of Booker T, who is technically still an active wrestler but mostly spends his time doing commentary for NXT alongside Vic Joseph. After mentioning that he hadn’t been invited […]

Though he’s currently down one of his two television titles, Samoa Joe, the “Contested King of Television” finds himself in a very interesting spot heading in the first AEW Dynamite of the month of February. After being unseated by Darby on the first Dynamite after New Year’s Day, Joe has another shot at the TNT […]

Heading into the go-home edition of NXT, there was one spot left in New Days’ Vengeance Day Tag Team Invitational, with two other teams, Pretty Deadly and Gallus, having already secured their spots on the “Premium Live Event” card. Three teams entered the main event of the show, Jagger Reid and Rip Fowler of The […]

Though the ultimate announcement shouldn’t come as too big of a surprise, as he’s been on the outs with the company for years now, it still feels weird to write that Kota Ibushi, one of the most decorated Japanese wrestlers of the last decade, is no longer employed by New Japan Pro Wrestling. Initially signed […]

As Sami Zayn learned all too well at the 2023 WWE Royal Rumble, dreams don’t last forever. Sometimes a dream opportunity comes along for a day, sometimes you luck into an unrepeatable result, heck, sometimes you get added to the most popular act in all of professional wrestling and become the most over man in […]

Though his insertion into the Royal Rumble at spot 29 didn’t provide the same excitement, as, say, the debut of “Switchblade” Jay White – which curiously didn’t happen but would have been wild – fans still popped pretty darn hard when Logan Paul, arguably WWE’s Rookie of the Year, returned to the ring, eliminated Seth […]

Kofi Kingston and New Day have wrestled just about everyone there is to wrestle in the WWE Universe. The current NXT Tag Team Champions have worked matches against The Usos, wrestled The Bar, worked against the Wyatt Family, and even have a match against The Shield at Survivor Series 2017 that is incredibly interesting in […]

Though his best days in the ring have long since past, there’s something truly special about seeing “Stone Cold” Steve Austin in a professional wrestling ring, especially when he’s actually working a match a la his bout against Kevin Owens on the first night of WrestleMania 38. Sure, he needs to wear massive knee braces […]

Michael Cole really loves Pat McAfee. A long-time WWE commentator who once called matches for “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and The Rock, Cole has been open about his admiration for his second-most recent SmackDown commentary partner, including a fond farewell when to the former Indianapolis Colts punter decided to take off the fall in order […]

Though she didn’t make an appearance on the first edition of RAW post-Royal Rumble, Bianca Belair sent in a video package to the fine folks at WWE to let the rest of the women in the locker room know that she’s ready to take on any challenger who’s willing to put in the work. “Now, […]

After five months away from the ring, Carmella is officially back in WWE, having been booked in a fatal four-way match to decide on one of the two final spots in the Elimination Chamber “Premium Live Event” in February. While it’s impossible to know how ready to rumble the now-brunette grappler is to go toe-to-toe-to-toe-to-toe […]

If there’s one member of the RAW roster who never seems to have an issue finding his words, it’s former WWE Champion Seth Rollins. A performer with a literal call-and-response theme, Rollins likes to talk to the crowd, talk to his in-ring foes, and talk on the mic to backstage interviewers too, discussing his goals, […]

Rick Boogs is a certified WWE superstar; he’s big, he’s strong, and most importantly of all, he’s darn entertaining, with a near-limitless reserve of energy to draw from and enough charisma to fill out his own roster. So naturally, when Boogs saw his knee buckle in an attempted feat of strength against The Usos at […]

Despite entering the Royal Rumble at spot number one after taking a beating at the hands of Beth Phoenix before the match even began, Rhea Ripley went the distance, set a new record for the longest time alive in the match’s history, and ultimately won the whole darn thing with a one-two elimination of Asuka […]

When news broke that Cody Rhodes, the winner of the 2023 Royal Rumble, was going to be featured in the opening segment on RAW – thanks for the scoop, Byron Saxton – fans strapped into their seats, knowing that something very interesting was coming their way. Popping up from the Cody-vator to the tune of […]

Though he hasn’t called a Royal Rumble match – or any match, really – for WWE in quite some time, AEW commentator Jim Ross still tunes into his former employer’s programming from time to time to see how things are going, especially when one of his long-time friends, Cody Rhodes, was slated to return to […]

After eight by-the-books entrants into the Women’s Royal Rumble, with the biggest surprise probably being the return of Shayna Baszler, who was absent from television for much of January, spot number nine featured the first true bit of intrigue in the sixth-ever running of the female version of the show’s titular match, as Roxanne Perez, […]

Heading into the 2023 WWE Royal Rumble, there were two performers that fans wanted to see win the show’s namesake match: Cody Rhodes and Sami Zayn. On paper, the duo couldn’t be any more different, as Rhodes is a second-generation star who built up enough goodwill to help launch WWE’s first true competitor in 20 […]

Jey Uso has long been the alpha dog of The Usos tag team. Sure, there have been stories where Jimmy took center stage, like his angle with Mandy Rose and Naomi that aged particularly poorly considering why WWE decided to fire the leader of Toxic Attraction but ever since The Bloodline came into being, Jey […]

While Extreme Rules was supposed to be the Bray Wyatt-themed WWE “Premium Live Event,” what with the months of build-up via the White Rabbit Project AR experience, the Royal Rumble served as a serious real coming out party for all things Windam6, as it not only featured the former Fiend’s first televised match since returning […]

Folks, it’s official: Cody Rhodes is the winner of the 2023 Royal Rumble and has secured himself a main event spot at WrestleMania 39. After beginning the 2022 calendar year as an EVP for AEW, Rhodes made his triumphant return at WrestleMania 38, tore his pec in the lead-up to Hell in a Cell, and […]

While it shouldn’t have been too much of a surprise that Paul “Triple H” Levesque didn’t book Dwayne Johnson to appear at the 2023 Royal Rumble, as it was reported weeks out that the first-ballot WWE Hall of Famer didn’t feel he could get in the physical shape needed to fully commit himself to the […]

When Rey Mysterio’s music hit at spot 17, fans were over the moon to see one of the best luchadors in the history of the sport pull off his usual high-flying antics in one of his signature events. After going the distance from spot two to set the record for the longest time in a […]

Roman Reigns is the top performer in WWE for a reason; he’s got a million-dollar body, a personality built for television, and the sort of in-ring abilities that hold up against darn near every single performer across the promotion’s history. So naturally, when Reigns was booked to face off against Kevin Owens at the Royal […]

Heading into the first “Premium Live Event” of the calendar year, Rhea Ripley made a bold prediction that regardless of where she was picked to enter the 2023 Women’s Royal Rumble, “The Nightmare” would run the table and secure the win and a spot main eventing one of the two nights of WrestleMania 39. Unfortunately […]

The final surprise entrant of the 2023 WWE Royal Rumble has arrived in the last possible spot, number 30 in the Women’s Royal Rumble, and it was none other than Nia Jax. That’s right; in a Rumble that also featured multiple NXT talent, the surprise in-ring return of Michelle McCool, Doudrop Piper Niven, and even […]

Chelsea Green signing with WWE was one of the worst-kept secrets in professional wrestling. Initially fired by the company during the pandemic roster-trimming alongside her husband Matt Cardona, known to the WWE Universe as Zack Ryder, Green spent her time off working in Impact Wrestling alongside Deonna Purrazzo and the rest of “The Cardona Family” […]

Bianca Belair found herself in an interesting spot heading into the 2023 WWE Royal Rumble. Set to face off against her friend-turned-foe Alexa Bliss, Belair had a glass vase smashed over her head in a joint interview with Byron Saxton, had her body brutalized outside of the ring by Bliss in their first championship match, […]

After an incredible build-up spanning WWE television, social media advertisements, and multiple YouTube commercials, fans were finally treated to the first-ever Mtn Dew Pitch Black match at the 2023 Royal Rumble between Bray Wyatt and LA Knight, and the results were… interesting. Entering into the ring for their introduction, things changed up as soon as […]

And just like that, it became official: Cody Rhodes will main event WrestleMania 39 after running the table at the WWE Royal Rumble. Entering the match at entrant 30, Rhodes entered a contest loaded to the brim with interesting opponents, from long-time rival Seth Rollins to entrant number one, GUNTHER, and even Logan Paul, who […]

After suffering a series of injuries in his main event match against Roman Reigns at Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia, Logan Paul has officially returned to the WWE Universe just in time for WrestleMania 39, entering the Royal Rumble at spot 29 just before Cody Rhodes rounded out the event at spot 30. While some […]

The Royal Rumble is all about career-defining moments and massive returns, and at the 2023 running of the event, WWE got two birds with one stone via the return of Edge, who emerged from the back three spots after Booker T at pick 24. Making his first in-ring appearance since Extreme Rules in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, […]

After hanging up his wrestling boots in WWE all the way back in 2012, turning his attention to podcasting, his wrestling school/promotion, and his newest gig as NXT’s color commentator, Booker T has officially made his return to the WWE ring as the 21st entrant at the Royal Rumble. Wrestling his return at the Alamodome […]

After a season away, Pat McAfee has officially returned to WWE, landing a spot at the commentary booth for the Royal Rumble. That’s right, after taking a leave of absence from WWE to work for ESPN’s College GameDay, McAfee is back, earning a chance to pick up where he left off on a commentary team […]