Matty Breisch Articles - Page 173

In wrestling, one match can change everything. One match secured Eddie Kingston a contract, suspended “The Summer of Punk” until probably Halloween, and one match played a part in convincing Tony Khan that another big-time wrestling promotion like AEW could run in the United States with the likes of Chris Jericho and Kenny Omega serving […]

When Taz arrived in AEW, it was for one reason and one reason alone: To do commentary for AEW Dark. I know, in hindsight, that seems a little hard to believe, as Taz has since gone on to earn a gig on AEW Rampage, AEW Dynamite, and an in-ring management role first with Brian Cage, […]

Max Caster might just have the sharpest tongue in all of AEW. Sure, occasionally, it gets him into trouble, as the one-two punch of talking smack on the Duke Lacrosse scandal and Simon Biles’ mental health in the Olympics resulted in a suspension and a required trek through sensitivity training, but when Caster gets going […]

Welp, AEW fans, the women’s division just got a whole lot more experienced. On Wednesday afternoon, mere hours before AEW Dynamite hit the tubes from Columbus, Ohio, Tony Khan and company announced a slew of new back-of-house changes coming to the promotion, with QT Marshall, Sanjay Dutt, Tony Schiavone, and Pat Buck all elevated to […]

Adam Cole joined AEW because of the Young Bucks. He could have stayed in NXT, could have remained atop the card of the black and gold brand, or even jumped up to the main roster for a “managerial role” that may now look a good bit different with Triple H running the show. Cole didn’t […]

When the man formerly known to the professional wrestling world as Alexander Rusev made his debut in AEW, it was largely met with negative reactions from new and old fans alike. Now granted, the initial pop of seeing the “Bulgarian Brute” in an AEW ring was very much there, as fans loved to see now-named […]

As AEW fans the world over already know, Orange Cassidy can go. Though he may present himself as aloof, with a style that is equal parts suave as it is maddening for older fans who like their wrestlers to look and act a certain way, OC has crafted a unique spot in the professional wrestling […]

What do WWE‘s Natalya and Will Ospreay of NJPW have in common? On paper, the answer is a clear nothing; Natalya has never stepped foot in a New Japan ring, and Ospreay has, to the internet’s best knowledge, never even worked out for Vince McMahon’s former company. And yet, in quite possibly the weirdest story […]

When Karl Fredericks had a very public falling out with New Japan Pro Wrestling over not being booked for the Best of the Super Juniors, it felt like the end of an era for the first-ever class of NJPW Strong. Smack dab right in the middle of a compelling Strong storyline where Fredericks was working […]

Since leaving NXT, Swerve Scott, the leader of Hit Row who now goes by Swerve Strickland, has been killing it. He signed with, and is currently the tag team champion of AEW alongside fellow former NXT standout Keith Lee as part of Swerve in our Glory, holds the DEFY Tag Team Championship with SCU alumni […]

Keith Lee is a lot of things; he’s Limitless, the husband of Mia Yim, and… oh yeah, the AEW World Tag Team Champion alongside his fellow former NXT standout Swerve Strickland. His in-ring work, when booked correctly, can dazzle even the most casual of wrestling fans thanks to incredible moves like his “Bradley Beal” or […]

Tommaso Ciampa‘s run in WWE has been weird. For one thing, he’s lost his name, with Tommaso being cut for a new, more streamlined title, and while he hasn’t been asked to shave his beard or, like, wear a gladiator costume, many of the elements of Ciampa’s NXT presentation, from being a wise babyface, to […]

Dakota Kai‘s return to the WWE Universe has been a resounding success. A long-time NXT fan favorite who had some great matches with Raquel Rodriguez, against the performer then-known as Io Shirai, and even as a member of WWE NXT TakeOver: WarGames III, where her team of Candice LeRae, Rhea Ripley, and Tegan Nox lost […]

After months of trying to make an ill-fated heel turn work, Becky Lynch officially returned to her babyface ways at SummerSlam, where she shook hands with Bianca Belair after losing the WWE RAW Women’s Championship to the “Est of WWE” and then came to her former rival’s aid when the trio of Bayley, Dakota Kai, […]

There’s no doubt about it; Ric Flair’s Last Match will live on forever in the hearts, minds, and memories of wrestling fans the world over, even if the match clearly didn’t live up to expectations set by his initial retirement match at WrestleMania 24 versus Shawn Michaels. … then again, if you really expected to […]

There was a time when it seemed like Sasha Banks and Naomi would never, ever, ever, ever, ever return to the WWE. They disliked the immediate plans to push the duo as singles performers in the lead-up to Money in the Bank, took issue with the creative direction of the company’s women’s tag team division – […]

While training camp is still relatively young, the Las Vegas Raiders received some less-than-ideal news on the first day of August, as, according to Field Yates, the team has placed linebacker Micah Kiser on season-ending IR with an as-of-yet unspecified leg injury. Raiders LB Micah Kiser has been placed on IR and is out for […]

When Ryan Pace was relieved of his duties in January along with head coach Matt Nagy, it felt like a pretty major changing of the guard for the Chicago Bears. Justin Fields would be afforded a fresh start, the roster could finally be rejuvenated with fresh talent from a fresh roster-building perspective, and maybe, just […]

Five weeks removed from suffering a broken thumb in the Philadelphia Phillies in a 4-2 win over the San Diego Padres and almost a month to the day after undergoing a successful surgery to insert three pins into the break to help it’s healing, Bryce Harper has successfully undergone a second procedure on the way […]

Calling WWE‘s Michael Cole divisive might just be generous. Since taking over for Jim Ross back in 2008 as the lead voice of RAW and eventually becoming the lead commentator of WWE regardless of brand, fans have come to despise more than a few of Cole’s mannerisms, his lack of charisma, and for generally serving […]

When Dakota Kai triumphantly made her way out of the SummerSlam tunnel and back into the WWE Universe, it generated one heck of a pop among the fans assembled both at the Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee, and watching from home. Now granted, Kai wasn’t exactly the most popular performer in NXT during her tenure […]

When Ric Flair announced that he was going to take part in one more professional wrestling match, 14 years removed from his WWE retirement match at WrestleMania 24, it left a bad impression among more than a few fans of the sport. Sure, “older” wrestlers are working matches with increasing frequency, with 63-year-old Sting wrestling […]

It’s been just a week since Ring of Honor‘s Death Before Dishonor, and the wrestling world is still reeling with the ramifications of the Pay-Per-View spectacular. Though FTR pulled out a win in Tony Khan’s ring in a fantastic Two out of Three Falls bout against The Briscoes, Dax Harwood further injured his shoulder in […]

If you spent your Sunday night watching Ric Flair’s Last Match, you certainly heard the term “celebrities” thrown around by Tony Schiavone, David Crockett, and company about a dozen times, and for good reason – people really love Ric Flair. The show, booked by Conrad Thompson and assisted by seemingly every major indie promotor in […]

When Paul “Triple H” Levesque officially took over creative control of the WWE from his father-in-law Vince McMahon following the latter’s retirement, it changed the history of wrestling forever. In less than a week, the WWE Universe watched the amount of time budgeted to actually wrestling in the ring jump from under 30 minutes to […]

In case you haven’t heard, 73-year-old Ric Flair having one final wrestling match before he calls it a career, and, in a fun twist of fate, he’s throwing a massive party in Nashville featuring many of the best wrestlers, new and old, the independent scene has to offer. From a Bunkhouse Brawl that rapidly turned […]

When Saraya, the performer formerly known in the WWE Universe as Paige, fired off the following quote Tweet about a month ago, it set the wrestling world, from AEW down to her family’s World Association of Wrestling, ablaze. https://twitter.com/RealPaigeWWE/status/1486032672044593152?s=20&t=EWz67uZcBUaILYz6SyYsEA Yeah, there’s no way that would be misconstrued by the *checks notes* 4.6 thousand people who […]

In VM Era of the WWE Universe – aka the Vince McMahon Era – there wasn’t a hotter name that Theory. The prized pupil of Mr. McMahon who rose to prominence as a butt-kissing heel gimmick that was meant to – and ultimately succeeded in – drive fans crazy, Theory became the youngest WWE Superstar […]

The WWE are certainly no strangers to name changes when it comes to their expansive roster. Sure, sometimes a name change is necessary in repackaging a wrestler to get them over with a new crowd – just ask X-Pac if he still wanted to be known as The 1-2-3 Kid when he returned from WCW […]

Some matches are just supposed to mean something. Sure, occasionally, a match will rise above the rest and become a sleeper hit or even steal the show in a major way that changes a promotion’s booking indefinitely – think Daniel Bryan in the WWE – but as a general rule, companies typically want the main […]

Booking a big-time performer to lose a match is hard. Make them look too weak, and they’ll lose their mystique, book them too well, and it can make the WWE Universe lose confidence in the match’s winner; for a producer to make it work, they need to ride that fine line and perfectly split the […]

In this writer’s humble opinion, the WWE Undisputed Tag Team Championship match at Money in the Bank between the Street Profits and The Usos was the match of the night. Sure, there were fun matches elsewhere on the card, like both involving Liv Morgan and both MitB Ladder Matches, but no one put on a […]

When news broke via a SmackDown vignette that Max Dupri wasn’t being replaced by his sister in the Maximum Male Models, it left many a conflicted fan in the WWE Universe. On one hand, folks were happy to see the man formerly known as LA Knight still being employed by the WWE Universe, as keeping […]

When a certain vignette started airing on WWE television, first at Money in the Bank and then on basically every single media channel the Billion Dollar Brand has at their disposal, it felt like only a matter of time before Edge made his way back into the ring. Though the video didn’t explicitly announce the […]

Logan Paul is a relic of a bygone era of the WWE Universe. Now granted, that era was about 10 days ago, as Vince McMahon just retired due to his infidelities one Friday before last but still, Triple H has turned the promotion’s gaze into the future, with NXT stars new and old like Io […]

Folks, after over a year away, Bayley is officially back in the WWE Universe, and it looks like she’s brought some friends. Yup, you read that correctly; after suffering a torn ACL in the leadup to Money in the Bank 2021, Bayley has returned to the WWE Universe with a new, all-white outfit – including […]

Bianca Belair has been champion of the WWE Universe for roughly four months. She rose through the ranks of NXT, wrestled on both the RAW and SmackDown brands, and after a successful title reign on the latter brand back in 2021, she finally became an undisputed champion with a win over Becky Lynch at WrestleMania […]

SummerSlam is here; the WWE Universe has descended onto Nashville for a night of grudge matches, tests of strength, and a test to see who will be the Last Man Standing. Surely the eyes of the WWE Universe are on the Premium Live Event, but one person has very different eyes on the prize: NXT’s […]

Did you happen to notice that WWE’s Friday night edition of SmackDown looked sort of… different? Not worse necessarily; it was actually quite good if we’re being honest, just… different? Well, there’s a reason for that: There was a lot more wrestling on the show (read more about that here). Yes, you didn’t just imagine […]