Matty Breisch Articles - Page 97

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 […]

While Kurt Angle‘s professional wrestling career in WWE and, eventually, TNA, has largely been remembered for his incredible in-ring work – even if Dave Meltzer never gave him a 5-star match for his efforts – and his exceptional comedic timing, his story can’t be told without touching on his addiction to painkillers, as you don’t […]

The second the referee hit the mat 1-2-3 and Roman Reigns’ song “Head of the Table” hit the PA at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, it effectively marked the start of Cody Rhodes‘ next Road to WrestleMania – a trip 364 days in the making. But what, you may ask, can a performer do to […]

When Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson made an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show mere hours away from where SmackDown was being held in Denver, Colorado, it got fans talking. Would “The Great One” make his return to television for no other reason than proximity? Would he, much like John Cena, use his newfound free time […]

For 21 years, there was no greater tradition in professional wrestling than The Undertaker‘s WrestleMania streak, a mark that rose all the way to 21-0 thanks to wins over everyone from Jake Roberts, to Shawn Michaels, and eventually CM Punk, who he defeated at WrestleMania 29. Ever since fans became aware of the record, which […]

When Brian Pillman Jr. officially debuted in NXT under the moniker Lexis King, it created more questions than it answered. Now sure, technically, Pillman attempted to preempt any issues with the name before they could arise, explaining online that the moniker was a combination of his Stepfather’s last name and his late sister Alexis Pillman’s […]

When Chris Hero signed with WWE in 2011, he was ready to take the next step in his professional wrestling journey. After spending over a decade honing his craft on the indies, working matches alongside future television stalwarts like Claudio Castagnoli, Orange Cassidy, Drew Gulak, and Eddie Kingston for promotions like Chikara and CZW, finally […]

While the most impressive moment of Logan Paul‘s Crown Jewel weekend probably should have been winning the United States Championship in a fun, fast-paced match with Lucha legend and WWE Hall of Famer Rey Mysterio, there was a curious spot in the match that rose above the rest and established the “Maverick” as something far […]

When Bobby Lashley and the Street Profits officially linked up earlier this year, it was far from a universally appreciated move. Sure, there were some who really liked the idea, suggesting that it could usher in a Hurt Buisness-esque renaissance for Lashley and, as a result, the dynamic duo of Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins […]

Cody Rhodes has been a professional wrestler since all the way back in 2006, when he made his debut in a ten-man tag team match for then-WWE developmental territory OVW, and yet, despite having wrestled almost 2,000 matches over 65 different promotions, he’s never taken part in a WarGames match or, as it’s known in […]

When Chris Hero, known to the WWE Universe as Kassius Ohno, was released from his NXT contract during the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, fans assumed he’d be back in the ring sooner than later. Sure, at 40, Hero was no spring chicken, especially for someone who was working exclusively in WWE’s developmental system, but […]

When Bobby Lashley first linked up with the Street Profits, Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford, on SmackDown, it felt like only a matter of time before a new and improved version of the Hurt Business would return to the WWE Universe. I mean, think about it; Omos and MVP had just worked a match at […]

When Adam Pearce ran into the middle of the ring on RAW to announce that Judgment Day, Damian Priest, Finn Balor, Dominik Mysterio, and JD McDonagh, and the makeshift babyface set of Finn Balor, Cody Rhodes, Sami Zayn, and the WWE World Heavyweight Champion, Seth Rollins, would be participating in WarGames, it turned heads around […]

After watching Cody Rhodes open up the latest edition of RAW, reintroducing fans in Washington, DC, and around the world to his WarGames team ahead of Survivor Series, the members of the Judgment Day, Damian Priest, Finn Balor, Dominik Mysterio, and (quasi-member) JD McDonagh – but crucially enough, not Rhea Ripley – walked down to […]

Ever since Ric Flair made his debut in AEW, fans, pundits, and professional wrestlers alike have been asking the very same question: Will the “Nature Boy” actually get in the ring and wrestle? Now granted, technically, Flair has already very publically retired, and he even had an entire event dedicated to his exit from the […]

Bianca Belair has accomplished a lot as a member of the WWE Universe. Since transitioning into professional wrestling after a half-decade in college on the track and field circuit, Belair became a star in NXT, started a WrestleMania win-streak, and officially became the longest-reigning female belt holder in WWE history, a mark that is all […]