Here's your wrestling news for August 1st, 2022.
And we're kicking off with summer slam as in the main
event contested under last man standing rules for
Roman Reigns, undisputed, WWE universal championship.
We saw everything from wild brawling to Lesnar using a
tractor to raise half of the ring off the ground in the end
Reigns with the help of the USOs and Paul Hayman was able
to once again, defeat Lesnar to remain undisputed champion.
Reigns.
And Lessner also had to fight off an attempt by theory to
cash in that money in the bank contract, halfway through the
match, adding one more layer of chaos to the proceedings.
The site of Brock Lessner lifting the ring with a
tractor at WWE summer slam will live on in the minds
of wrestling fans for years, possibly decades to come.
Well, there was a post-match moment that viewers watching on peacock
in the WWE network did not get a glimpse of, but over 48,000 fans
at Nissan stadium paid witness to as seen here, Lesnar crawled back
into the elevated ring and upon walking to the turnbuckle, he put on
his cowboy hat and did a hat tip to thank the lively Nashville crowd.
Lesnar's.
Thank you.
Gesture got many fans wondering if he's taking time off from
the company or retiring altogether from in ring competition.
There was also a feeling on social media that
Vince McMahon's retirement could lead to the
beast following suit and retiring himself.
Lessner has previously referred to McMohan as a
father figure and a person he has learned a lot
from turns out Lessner won't be retiring anytime.
Soon as Atlanta's state farm arena is advertising Lessner
is the marquee name for the January 1st, 2023 premium live.
The inaugural day one event earlier this year was originally
supposed to be headlined by Lessner versus Roman reigns
until the tribal chief was diagnosed with COVID 19.
In a last minute change, WWE would add lesser to a fatal
four way WWE title match pining, then champion big E
against Bobby Lashley, Seth Rollins, and Kevin Owens.
Lessner ended up winning this five way match to capture
the WWE championship, which he eventually lost to
reigns an, a title unification match at WrestleMania 38.
As of this writing Lessner is not being advertised for next month's
clash at the castle premium live event in Wales typically Lessner
is known to work WWE's big stadium shows, so he could be added
to the card for the event at principality stadium in Cardiff.
WWE also has an upcoming show in Saudi
Arabia, crown jewel on November 5th.
And if history is anything to go by,
Lesnar will be in Riyad for the event.
Crown jewel will be the eighth event that WWE will hold in Saudi
Arabia as part of its 10 year partnership with the country.
Lesnar has worked all seven of the
previous WWE in Saudi Arabia events.
Although he didn't wrestle at super showdown 2019
and only teased cashing in his money in the bank
contract against then universal champion, Seth Rollins.
Summer slam 2022 was a night to remember for the WWE universe,
with a finale that will go down in the history books.
As one of the most inspiring spectacles, WWE is delivered.
Rock Lesnar may have lost the last man standing match against
undisputed WWE universal champion, Roman reigns, but the beast
and his tractor created a moment that will live on forever.
When they lifted one corner of the ring, high up into the
air, causing the tribal chief to tumble out the other side.
Fans may be interested in some of the details behind the
scenes during WWE's first premium live event and stadium
show without Vince McMohan in any positions of power.
According to PW insider, one of the most notable changes was
that the office typically designated to Vince is now labeled
as the CEO office, as we've noticed Stephanie McMohan and Nick
Khan have become co CEOs in wake of Vince's exit and look to be
sharing an office to contribute to their new roles in the company.
Similarly a second office backstage featuring signage
for Paul Levesque, triple H signifying that all
signage featuring Vince McMahon is nowhere to be found.
The report ads that Kevin Dunn was indeed at summer
slam in his regular role as lead producer for the show.
He did not serve as a director during the show and is not the person
who typically is when commercial breaks were being seen on television.
People in attendance saw video packages for major
WWE stars that weren't booked at summer slam.
One for Kevin Owens was played early on in the show, followed
by a video package for Charlotte flair, possibly symbolizing, a
return on the horizon, Jerry Jarrett and Karen Jarrett were in
attendance of the show to support WWE hall of Famer and the special
guest referee for the USOs versus the street prophets for the
undisputed WWE tag team titles, Jeff Jarrett, there was no sign
of Rick or Charlotte flair during the event, but several Tennessee
Titans football team members were in attendance at the show.
Last night's WWE summer slam from Nashville, opened up with
Bianca Belair taking on Becky Lynch for the raw women's
championship, an excellent back and forth matchup that the
EST would emerge victorious from and putting a fitting end
to her story with the man at one point Lynch banged up her
shoulder after taking a jaded glam slam from Belair as Lynch's
arm was noticeably weak for the remainder of the contest.
It is not known whether the former women's champion will miss
any time due to the injury as she was able to finish the match.
One photo of Lynch, walking with the WWE medical
staff has surfaced and shows Her throwing it
thumbs up while her, her arm rests to the side.
Let's hope nothing serious happened.
Moving on.
Paige is the latest to the growing roster of wrestlers who
believe triple H taking over as WWE head of talent relations
will signal the imminent return of Sasha banks and Naomi.
Speaking to reporters on Sunday star cast five media scrum, Paige
was asked to elaborate on bank's role in the women's wrestling
revolution, leading her to site banks and Naomi strike from WWE.
Of course, she's a big part of it.
I mean, everyone loves Sasha banks, right?
So the four Amazons in general are such a big
and crucial part of the women's revolution.
So I think she will be back to WWE.
I'm thinking with hunter now being in charge
and kind of like taking the reins and stuff.
Only summer slam showed in general,
how much WWE has changed overnight?
I mean, I don't think anyone has really been 100%
satisfied with the pay per view in a long time.
And people are walking away from summer slam
feeling like, holy shit, this is a turning point.
So I feel like, you know, eventually that Sasha and Naomi will be
back in my opinion as reported last week, WWE is trying to reconcile
with banks and Naomi over a possible comeback with the company.
Both women were reportedly near the expiry of their contracts
prior to their strike on May 16th while Naomi negotiated a new
deal shortly before her departure banks' contract will expire.
Sometime later this year, former WWE writer,
Kazeem Famuyide said Johnny Gargano's what's.
Next panel went down today during the
star cast five event in Nashville.
The former NXT champion is kept quiet regarding his
next moves after departing from WWE back in December.
One person from Gargano's NXT passed,
showed up to pay him a rather notable visit.
Dexter Loomis made a surprise appearance during the Gargano
panel, At star cast as seen in this video, Loomis appeared to
have the same, no emotion, dead pan vibe, as he did in NXT.
When he feuded with Gargano and his stable, the way last year Loomis
was one of several NXT stars released after WrestleMania and returned
to wrestling in July as part of NWAS, always ready event in Knoxville.
Loomis was released at the same time as Dakota, Kai, who made her
return to WWE last night at summer slam, only time will tell if triple
H's interest in, in bringing him back during his latest Twitch stream.
Gargano revealed that he's in good enough shape to show back on
television, whether or not Johnny wrestling will make his anticipated
return to wrestling within the next few months remains to be seen.
What do you make of Dexter lumis crashing Johnny Gargano's
panel at star cast five sound off in the comments below.
Dana warrior has been in the WWE in some capacity throughout the
years, while she initially joined the company in 2014 as the brand
ambassador, she ended up transitioning to the creative team in 2019.
The widow of the late hall of Famer.
The ultimate warrior seems to have left that role
after three years PW insider reports that she
has left her position with the WWE creative team.
However, it doesn't mean that this is the
end of her professional journey with WWE.
Warrior is no longer part of the WWE creative team.
Having departed that position several months back
Warrior had been working remotely from home prior to
her departure and was not on the road for the company.
PW insider also reported that Dana warrior had switched lanes from
the creative side of WWE to the public relations side of things.
She's working in the community relations team and
still continues to perform outreach campaigns.
We're ending today's news with the nature.
Boy, as Ric flair finally rode off into the sunset
with a victory in his final wrestling match.
Sunday evening in Nashville, Tennessee, the match ended with the 73
year old flare applying his signature figure four leg lock on Jeff
Jarrett as referee David Miller counted to three giving flair and
his son-in-law Andrade El Idolo, a win over Jarrett and Jay Leh.
Prior to the finish Flaire's other son-in-law Conrad Thompson threw a
pair of brass knuckles, to Andrade, who proceeded to use the foreign
object to strike Jarret flair was clearly exhausted by the end of his
first match since 2011, but he was healthy enough by the end to walk
out under his own power and do an interview with longtime wrestling
broadcaster, Tony Shivani, after the match flare was helped out of
the ring and he greeted his family in the front row, as well as pro
wrestling luminaries, the undertaker, Brett Hart, and Mick Foley.
Flare said I had one of my best matches
of my career here with Ricky Steamboat.
All of my family is here.
We made jokes about me being married.
Five times all the kids are here, one wife,
but all my granddaughters, my friends are here.
I swear to God if I didn't have enough pressure on me
tonight, fucking kid rock walked into the locker room tonight.
The grueling match was nearly 30 minutes long.
And while it was clear, flair was not the same man who transcended pro
wrestling in the seventies, eighties and nineties, and antra lethal.
And Jarrett did the bulk of the hard hitting moves.
Flair was able to hold his own weight.
He landed chops and punches his donkey kick low blow, and
even took a vertical suplex from lethal with whom he trained
for this match to get ring ready after the match, confetti
flew through the air as flare celebrated with his family.