It’s time for Ringside Logic to bestow our “Best of the Year” honors. 2021 will go down as an unforgettable year in professional wrestling for both good and bad reasons. Let’s focus on the good aspects of the industry, which consisted of action-packed matches, wild angles, and paradigm-shifting events in and out of the ring.
Continue reading “2021 Year-End Awards: Women’s Match of the Year”
Wrestling fans have been dreaming of a match between Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashley from the moment Lashley made his WWE debut on September 23, 2005. Now, the dream is a reality. Lesnar will defend the WWE Championship against Lashley at the Royal Rumble on January 29 in St. Louis, Missouri.
Continue reading “Looking Under the Hood at Lesnar vs. Lashley”
On Saturday night, Brock Lesnar won the WWE Championship at WWE’s first premier live event (no longer called pay-per-views) of the year, Day 1. Confused? Let’s go down the rabbit of events that led to this unexpected occurrence.
Continue reading “Brock Lesnar Captures WWE Title at Day 1”
WWE ends the year with one more talent departure as Toni Storm is no longer with the company. Fightful.com broke the news yesterday afternoon, and Wrestling Observer reported that Storm quit due to burnout.
Continue reading “Toni Storm Leaves WWE: Burnout and Talent Mismanagement”
WWE fired Jeff Hardy last Thursday after being sent home following a house show four days earlier. After tagging out, Hardy inexplicably left the match and hung out in the crowd. Video of the incident spread quickly on social media. Allegedly, he was impaired and under the influence.
Continue reading “Thought’s on Jeff Hardy’s Release”
Fair or unfair, NXT specials going forward will always be compared to the TakeOver events of the past. WarGames, the first pay-per-view of the 2.0 era, was essentially a tale of two cities. The two cages matches and the tag title bout were reminiscent of the Black and Gold regime. Everything else felt like something from an episode of the brand’s contemporary offerings.
Continue reading “NXT WarGames Review: Breakker Pins Ciampa”
Former WWE star Nia Jax noted on Twitter she changed her handle to Lina (Savelina) Fanene. That’s not a new ring name but her real name. She also said it is highly unlikely that she will ever wrestle again, and it’s not hard to understand why.
Continue reading “Nia Jax is ‘Highly Unlikely’ to Wrestle Again”
Another Survivor Series has come and gone, and after Raw the following night, we finally know who stole Vince McMahon’s 100 million dollars golden egg. Yep, that’s right. Paid promotion disguised as a “Whodunit” was the big takeaway from one of WWE’s big four events.
It’s not surprising that Survivor Series laid an egg (Pun intended). The build leading up to the show was the laziest and uninspired for a major pay-per-view, perhaps ever. Typically, the finished product ends up quite good with poorly built WWE shows…Not this time.
The thinning of the WWE roster continues as the company released 8 wrestlers last night after releasing 18 wrestlers two weeks ago. The newest group of releases are all from the main roster. Some of the talents haven’t been used in any meaningful capacity for months, while others were called up to the main roster last month.
The complete list includes John Morrison, Top Dolla, Ashante “Thee” Adonis, Isaiah “Swerve” Scott, Tegan Nox, Drake Maverick, Shane Thorne, and Jaxson Ryker.
Let’s break it all down.
Continue reading “WWE Releases John Morrison, Hit Row, and More”
Ring of Honor (ROH) announced two weeks ago that their parent company, Sinclair Broadcasting, is shutting down the promotion after December’s Final Battle pay-per-view and will take the first quarter of 2022 to reimagine ROH. All talent will be released from the contracts at the end of the year but can work wherever they want immediately.
As a result, over 50 wrestlers are on the open market. Then, last Friday, WWE released 18 wrestlers, thus making the realm free agency a more competitive place. With approximately 70 talents vying for contracted work, the belief that ROH’s hiatus is a permanent vacation, and AEW and Impact signing many of WWE’s prior releases, there are not enough spots to go around.
Worse, for an elect few, their careers are irrevocably altered or over.
Continue reading “What WWE/ROH Releases Mean for The Industry”
