WWE Star Drew McIntrye Shares The Proudest Moment Of His Career

“WWE Raw” star Drew McIntyre has had an impressive career, from WWE to the indies, and back. The former “Chosen One” was released from the company in 2014, and returned to “WWE NXT” after working on himself both professionally and personally in 2017. Recently, McIntyre spoke with “ReviewSTL” about his career and what he’s most proud of. He said it was hard to choose just one moment because he’s proud of everything he’s been able to do both in and out of the ring.

“I guess being champion during the pandemic time just because it was such an unpredictable time, such a scary time,” McIntyre said. “Nobody knew what was going on. Everybody was genuinely worried, and WWE decided to push ahead with our original content when every other sport and entertainment company shut down and some of our top Superstars stepped away … It was up to somebody to step up and I was given the chance to step up and be the leader and be the one who’s trying to do new things to entertain … and connect with the fans at home without a live audience there, which means there’s no playbook.”

McIntyre’s major championship win happened with no fans in attendance. He won the 2020 Royal Rumble match before the world shut down due to the pandemic. He went on to defeat Brock Lesnar in under five minutes to become champion, but posed on the turnbuckle for the cameras at the WWE Performance Center rather than an arena of screaming fans. He held the WWE Championship through the “ThunderDome Era” of WWE, when the company was running shows from Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, to screens of fans watching online. McIntyre retained his championship at Elimination Chamber in the ThunderDome, but The Miz cashed in his Money In The Bank contract to take the title.

Impact’s Deonna Purrazzo Addresses Idea Of Future Cameo In WWE

Following the disappointment of her WWE release, former Impact Knockouts World Champion Deonna Purrazzo went to work rebuilding her value. “The Virtuosa” has since found plenty of success for herself since parting ways with WWE in April of 2020. But could a return be in the works down the road, even in some sort of a cameo appearance?

On the latest episode of “Desert Island Graps,” Purrazzo seemed torn between remembering what was once her dream job and the reality of a less-than-ideal experience during her previous time in WWE.

“I don’t want to say no and I want to say yes,” Purrazzo explained. “It’s kind of the circumstance of it. I think I’m in a place where I’ve done a lot of partial rehabilitation to my career in the last three years. I’ve been able to turn the tide of what people say about me and the conversations I’m in and cement my place in history.”

With three Knockouts Championships to go with a AAA Reina de Reinas Championship and a reign as Ring of Honor Women’s World Championship, Purrazzo is right to be confident about her standing in the wrestling world. And while seeing her good friend Chelsea Green excel since her return to WWE, Purrazzo still recalls the bad taste in her mouth from her first run in the company.

“Unfortunately, my first time in ‘NXT’ and WWE did a lot of damage,” she said, still recognizing the opportunity that would lie ahead if the right situation presented itself. “It’s more being cautious about maybe the situation I would be put in. I don’t want to take it off the table because it is WWE.”

Seth Rollins Credits WWE’s Pandemic Era For Roman Reigns’ Industry-Changing Heel Turn

Seth Rollins, Jon Moxley and Roman Reigns were a dominant force together in WWE as The Shield. But in the years since, Roman Reigns has become the face of the company. In a recent interview, Rollins shared his belief that both Reigns’ storyline and character came from an unexpected place.

“He really found his groove being ‘The Tribal Chief,’ this mob boss character.” Rollins said on Logan Paul’s podcast “Impaulsive.” Rollins said that Reigns was still very much learning during his time in their famed trio. As a result, post-Shield Reigns struggled to find an identity with Rollins citing Reigns’s lack of experience for his initial floundering in his singles career.

“One of the things that 2020 and 2021 gave us as an organization was an opportunity to do things we may not normally do,” Rollins explained, “because no one was watching TV at the time. We were still doing live shows every single week but we had a chance to play with our characters and take a risk.” Rollins said turning Reigns into a villain likely wouldn’t have happened without the experiments that took place in the WWE ThunderDome during the pandemic.

“It turned into one of the best possible outcomes for him and for the industry,” Rollins gushed. “If you look at the story arc of what The Bloodline and Roman Reigns have been over the past few years, it’s virtually unmatched.”

Rollins stated that being able to further a logical storyline in wrestling is often difficult as plans often change due to fan reaction, and also that he thinks he’s one of the few people that can dethrone the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion.

Eva Marie Reveals Vince McMahon’s Key Role In Her Elaborate WWE Entrance

Eva Marie proved to be a genuine heat magnet during her time with WWE, and the entrance she was given during her second stint on the main roster proved to be a big part of that. This was because it started with a lengthy statement praising her endlessly, but that was an idea that came right from the top.

“That one was cool because apparently, Vince McMahon wrote that one, that was awesome,” Marie told “”Paltrocast.” McMahon being personally involved in Marie’s entrance was certainly a positive statement, and he was high on her and what she brought, including her most recent run alongside Doudrop. WWE added the intro to Marie’s entrance following her stint in “WWE NXT,” with the company reinvesting in her as a talent on the main roster. The big, elaborate build-up was something that certainly did work, because fans would boo the entire thing as she made her way to the ring, but getting a new entrance was something Marie didn’t know was coming. 

“It was one of those things where when I was coming back up onto the main roster they said, ‘Oh by the way you know you have a new entrance theme and music,’ I said, ‘Oh, okay.’ So, when they hit it I’m like, ‘Wow, I am going to literally get booed out of the building on this one, every night,'” Marie added. “Just the fact it was so crazy long and over the top, looking back I absolutely loved it.”

Impact Knockouts Champ Deonna Purrazzo Felt ‘Really Miserable’ In WWE NXT

Impact Wrestling’s Deonna Purrazzo is regarded as one of the best women’s wrestlers in the world. But it wasn’t that long ago that Purrazzo was just another girl in WWE, where she worked very little between “NXT” and WWE’s main roster during her two-year stint that started in 2018.

Purrazzo hasn’t been shy about how little fun she had in WWE before her release in 2020, going as far to even say she hated it. But during an appearance on “Paltrocast with Darren Paltrowitz,” Purrazzo went as far as to reveal that her WWE run was such a downer for her, it almost led to her passing on both Impact Wrestling and professional wrestling altogether.

“It took a while for me to kind of even feel confident in the fact that I wanted to continue to wrestle,” Purrazzo explained. “And so I was very unsure when I first came to Impact of ‘Do I sign a contract? ‘Cause I just got out of one that I was really miserable in.’ So I kind of just didn’t know what my next steps were and wanted to feel it out.”

However, it wouldn’t take long for her to realize that she and Impact were made for each other. “But almost immediately, it was like ‘This place feels good. This place feels comfortable. It feels like a place I can thrive in.’ And I was able to obviously. I signed, and it’s almost been 3 ½ years now. I wouldn’t say immediately I knew — because I was in a really weird place personally and professionally — but it was a really great fit right away.”

Purrazzo is now a three-time Impact Knockouts Champion since making the decision to join Impact Wrestling.

Cathy Kelley Explains 2020 WWE Exit

From top to bottom, there have been a ton of changes in WWE this year. One area that received a fairly large shake-up is the broadcast team. Back in October 2022, all three shows and Premium Live Events saw a return to a two-man commentary team after the departure of Jimmy Smith from “Raw” and Pat McAfee’s temporary sabbatical from “Smackdown” in order to work with ESPN. 

In addition to some shuffling around the announce booths, the interviewers were thrown into the mix as well. In Cathy Kelley’s case, she was added to “WWE Raw” after a nearly three-year hiatus from the company. But what exactly was she up to when she was gone? The beloved backstage personality recently shed some light on that topic.

After leaving in early 2020, Kelley had a ton of aspirations for her career. In an interview with Maria Menounos, the backstage correspondent and host shared that she intended to finally tackle a number of projects such as acting, writing a screenplay, executive producing a show, and more. Well, she did get to do some of that during her time away. While speaking to Kristian Harloff on “The Big Thing”, the former “AfterBuzz TV” host revealed that she got to write screenplays for a feature and some pilots, as well as some treatments for other projects. Due to the time-consuming nature of work like that, it would have been difficult to juggle screenwriting on that level with her time on the road for WWE.

Kelley also mentioned that she kept in constant contact with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon after she left. When it seemed like things were winding down for her outside of WWE, they were ready to welcome her back with open arms when the time was right.

McGregor: ‘I want the gold’ at 155, 170 pounds

Conor McGregor wants to do more than just win back the UFC lightweight title.

The former two-division champion, who will meet Donald Cerrone at UFC 246 on Jan. 18, is also gunning for Kamaru Usman’s welterweight belt.

“I like the look of Kamaru Usman, I like the look of Colby (Covington),” McGregor told Oscar Willis of The Mac Life. “I’m open to it all at 170. … I want the gold. I’m after the gold – 155, 170, they’re the belts I am chasing now.”

McGregor said he’s also willing to square off with top welterweight contender Jorge Masvidal, who beat Nate Diaz for the BMF title in November. However, the Irishman isn’t as interested in capturing that belt compared to the actual 170-pound title.

“I wasn’t really that happy with how that bad motherf—– thing ended,” McGregor said. “I think it’s unfinished. In my opinion, that bout is unfinished. It was only getting into a good bout, I believe.”

“The Notorious” hasn’t fought since he was submitted by lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov in October 2018. His last victory came in November 2016.

UFC president Dana White said recently that McGregor will likely challenge the winner of Nurmagomedov versus Tony Ferguson if he beats “Cowboy” later this month.

“Everyone wants it. The boss wants it, Dana wants it, we all want it,” McGregor said of a potential rematch against Nurmagomedov. “He can run, but he cannot hide. So I look forward to it.”

AEW Win-Loss Records To Reset Every Year, More Details

Trying to differentiate itself from WWE, All Elite Wrestling has taken full advantage of a wrestler’s win-loss record to determine contenders. As 2020 approaches, however, there are questions on how the process will work.

The promotion recently announced that starting with the January 1st episode of AEW Dynamite, all records will be reset with the start of the new year. Career records will remain intact, and the annual records will be important when announcing the weekly AEW rankings.

AEW has teased something like this the past few months. Back in November, a fan asked AEW EVP Nick Jackson how AEW will handle things down the road to avoid booking problems in regards to wrestlers’ records, “Do you have a way of booking around the possible problems down the road that you may encounter with the win-loss record?” Jackson retweeted the question and confirmed, “It’ll reset. … Looking like January.” Later in the month, Cody Rhodes went on The Fan Morning Show with Jeff & Big Joe to talk about the records and what Tony Khan’s vision for it would be.

“When the year ends and AEW is in Jacksonville in January, that is when the plan to reset is,” Cody stated. “Tony is obsessed with numbers. He mentioned we’ll do a reset, but we’ll have your overall record on there. I’m thinking that’s a lot of numbers with their Twitter handle and their nickname. He has a point: your overall record will always be intact, but just to keep the top fives for women, tag teams and men’s singles, every year will reset.”

Currently, Jon Moxley is leading the men’s rankings and could be getting an AEW World Title shot soon. Kris Statlander is on the top of the women’s rankings and is set to face AEW Women’s Champion Riho for the title.

Sammy Guevara On 2020 Being His Year, What He Learned From Chris Jericho, Reality Of Wrestling

Sammy Guevara recently did an interview with The Ledger. The AEW star spoke about his 2020 plans, training at WWE Hall of Famer Booker T’s wrestling school, and what he learned from AEW Champion Chris Jericho.

Sammy discussed how his time at Reality of Wrestling was hard, but a great experience.

“It was definitely hard,” Sammy Guevara said. “They’re trying to break you, to weed out the people who shouldn’t be doing this. They wanted to make sure you were tough enough. I understood going into it, that I wasn’t going to go straight to being world champion, but I always kept it in my mind, that I’m not going to be doing these drills forever. It was a great experience overall. It’s a great school, a great program.”

One thing he learned from Chris Jericho was to have patience.

“The dude makes moments almost every single week,” Guevara said about Jericho. “It’s just letting moments sink in, is what I’ve learned just from observing. He doesn’t rush, he takes his time with everything he does.”

Sammy Guevera revealed that 2020 is going to be his year.

“I just feel like this will be when a lot of people wake up on me,” he said. “A lot of people have already, but a lot of people will start to understand. People will say that 2019 was one of the best years of my life, but in the next 10 years, they’re going to look back on it and say,
‘it was pretty good, but that was nothing compared to what he was about to do.’ People told me I had an attitude. I was just confident, and I’m confident 2020 will be the year of Sammy G.”