Table of contents for August 2021 in Pro Wrestling Illustrated

FRIENDS, THE ICONIC sitcom about a group of buds living, working, and dating in New York City, has found new popularity two decades after it aired. In addition to a planned HBO reunion, a Friends-themed museum is set to open this summer in Manhattan. That means New Yorkers will have a better chance of seeing up close the leather pants that Ross once wore before they can see the ones that Seth Rollins still dons. I’m not sure what they’re feeding the smelly cat, but I do know what I’m feeding you: this Friends-inspired edition of Quick Count. HOW YOU DOIN’? I attended WrestleMania this year because I really missed seeing live wrestling. What I didn’t realize until I got there was how much I missed seeing live wrestling fans.…

What if Destiny’s Child had flopped, and Beyonce started wrestling instead? Introducing Maki Itoh: the jilted pop singer who leaned into her failures … and became a surprise hit with grappling fans worldwide. IN THE WACKY and wonderful world of professional wrestling, there are colorful characters, there are eccentric characters, and then there is a 25-year-old woman from Fukuoka, Japan, who is pushing the boundaries of what it means to be both of those things. If your introduction to Maki Itoh came during her appearances for AEW earlier this year, you could be forgiven for wondering just what on earth you were watching. After singing her own entrance music and dancing to the ring, Itoh showcased her unusual brand of offense (and offensive finger gestures) to a large-scale American audience…

RJ CITY HAS been blocked on Twitter by President Donald Trump, become frenemies with David Arquette, and secured a non-wrestling role on WWE’s digital platforms. All because he was the “victim of supportive parents.” “Home video footage suggests that I have been doing wrestling promos since before I could really talk,” said City, age 32. His goal to be unlike everyone else has yielded a character people either love or hate. “Companies will have an opening for it or they won’t,” City said. “And that’s kind of the hill you have to die on, in a sense.” And still, opportunities have managed to present themselves for the self-deprecating, Golden Girls-loving wrestler who found a place in the WWE Universe—or, at least, on its Network. City was Arquette’s “uninvited guest” on…

BODY POSITIVITY IN pro wrestling may seem like an abstract concept, especially as wrestlers and fans alike have had it drilled into their heads since its inception that this is an “aesthetic” business. But after being told to look a certain way, be a certain height, be a certain weight, be more muscular, be “larger than life,” many wrestlers have struggled with mental health issues, developed eating disorders, and suffered the effects of steroid abuse. Athletes, in general, are prone to struggle with body image issues, and pro wrestling is an “all eyes on you” business, resulting in even more scrutiny. What exactly does body positivity mean? Isn’t it just an excuse for people to celebrate being out of shape? The answer is a resounding “No.” Body positivity is an…

AEW WINS THE WAR All Elite Wrestling needed to win the expectations game and garner at least one million viewers on Wednesday, April 14, the night after its chief competition—WWE’s NXT—had moved to Tuesdays. AEW presented a blockbuster show, with Mike Tyson as the last-minute ringside enforcer for Chris Jericho’s bout against Dax Harwood, and, in a subtle attempt to grab some WWE/NXT viewers, Matt Hardy challenged TNT champion Darby Allin in the main event. AEW met its goal, as Dynamite scored an average of 1,219,000 viewers. Pro Wrestling Torch estimated that Dynamite drew 84 percent of NXT’s former viewers. Dynamite ranked number two in all of cable television among the 18- to 49-year-old demographic that night, with a rating of .44, behind MTV’s reality competition show, The Challenge. Dynamite’s…

"I CAN HONESTLY say wrestling has saved my life,” said Dakarai Barnes, a wrestling fan and vocal advocate for accessibility within the industry. “I started watching wrestling around the age of 10, flipping through channels a few months after my mother passed away. I discovered these high-flying, non-stop, absolutely incredible athletes doing things I never imagined, called TNA, and, from then, I was hooked.” For Barnes and many other fans with disabilities, pro wrestling is not only entertainment, but also a needed catharsis. However, it’s not always easy for these fans to attend shows. While larger venues—the kind that host WWE and AEW events—usually have accessible entry and seating accommodations, disabled wrestling enthusiasts sometimes find themselves sitting alone, away from their friends and family. With independent promotions, the situation is…

MEDIA REVIEWS WWE ON PEACOCK We were all so much younger and idealistic way back in 2014. Those were the days when Bitcoin traded at under a grand, “pandemic” was just a word in the dictionary, and we believed that the fledgling WWE Network would deliver programming via their independent platform until that fateful hour when CNN finally cued up “Nearer, My God, To Thee.” But it turns out that creating and managing an entire network is pretty complicated. Thank goodness NBC stepped up to ensure the continued existence of the WWE Network by folding the whole shebang into their own streaming service, Peacock TV. Granted, it’s different. Some of the changes are cosmetic, including the main user interface. It’s not better, and it’s not worse. It’s more like a…

WRESTLING PROMOTERS ARE generally not a cooperative lot. In fact, the history of the business is strewn with the casualties of promotional wars, petty infighting, and general antipathy. Perhaps that’s why wrestling fans tend to cherish times when competing companies actually play nice with each other—especially because it’s so very rare. And yet, over the past couple of years, All Elite Wrestling has not only been cooperating and cross-promoting, they’ve been making it a major part of their entire strategy—leading to an exciting era of interpromotional activity that fans of major league American pro wrestling almost never get to see. In fact, one could argue it’s pretty unprecedented. This strategy has been the talk of the industry in recent months, but it’s actually nothing new for Tony Khan’s company. Shortly…

DATA SOURCED FROM CAGEMATCH.NET & PROFIGHTDB.COM When we compiled our August 2020 edition—the first PWI issue to include the term "COVID-19"—we had precious little idea what wrestling might look like today. Now, as the industry inches closer to "normal," a look at the numbers offers a few pleasant surprises. COVID-19 CHANGED THE lives of every person on this planet, undoubtedly. The stress that the pandemic placed on all of us could only be countered by self-care and by focusing on what we love, like professional wrestling. Though wrestling also took a hit, the industry thrived in a number of ways that comforted fans when they needed it the most. The COVID-19 pandemic arrived so swiftly and suddenly—literally in a matter of weeks—leaving us unprepared for the chaos it would create.…

CAPSULE PROFILE #375 BORN MARCH 12, 1981 in Soka, Japan … Trained by the legendary Kenta Kobashi and Yoshihiro Takayama … Made his in-ring debut for All Japan Pro Wrestling in the spring of 2000 under his real name, Kenta Kobayashi … As part of the Mitsuharu Misawa-led exodus of talent, left AJPW and debuted for Misawa’s new Pro Wrestling NOAH promotion that summer … In July 2001, adopted the new name of KENTA and began to solidify his position as one of NOAH’s top junior heavyweights … Reached the final of the tournament for NOAH’s vacant GHC junior heavyweight title before falling to Yoshinobu Kanemaru … Forged a successful alliance with Naomichi Marufuji that resulted in the duo becoming the inaugural GHC junior heavyweight tag champs, defeating Takehiro Murahama…

WRESTLEMANIA WEEKEND HAS become the weekend to showcase not only “The Immortals,” but some of the best independent wrestling talent around. April 10 and 11 were set for the two-day WrestleMania 37, which would present some pretty historic matches and moments. But, starting April 8 at 11:59 p.m., I witnessed the best live wrestling show I have ever been to—For The Culture, presented by Game Changer Wrestling’s The Collective. For The Culture is a show featuring wrestlers of color, especially Black wrestlers. It’s a card that I dreamed about watching when I first created the #BW500, my annual list of the top 500 Black wrestlers in the world. I talked a little about the first For The Culture event in my article on AJ Gray [“Doing It For The Culture,”…

"HAVE WE USHERED a brand-new era in the world of pro wrestling, or have we just opened Pandora’s box?!” Guest commentator Mauro Ranallo posed that pointed question at the end of a very consequential pay-per-view, Rebellion, as Kenny Omega—the champion of AEW, AAA, and now Impact Wrestling—celebrated in the ring with AEW President Tony Khan, Impact Executive Vice President Don Callis, and former Bullet Club running buddies Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows. Meanwhile, an obviously shaken Impact VP Scott D’Amore, like the rest of the industry, absorbed the new reality and tried to process the ramifications. Perhaps Khan and Callis have an idea where this compelling storyline full of real-life interpromotional intrigue is going, but the rest of us aren’t clued in yet. The main event of the April 25…

FOR A HISTORY assignment during my senior year in high school, I had to research newspaper archives at the local university to find out what happened on the day of my birth: June 22, 1971. In those pre-internet days, I had to feed rolls of microfilm into a PC-looking reader (basically a box with a translucent screen) and advance the dial to find headlines from that particular date. Richard Nixon was the U.S. president, and he met with Frank Fitzsimmons of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, two days after Jimmy Hoffa officially resigned his leadership position while serving time in prison. Both The New York Times and The Washington Post were in a legal dispute with the U.S.government regarding publication of the top-secret “Pentagon Papers,” detailing misdeeds at the highest…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMhN4aJvnHU From the beginning, Bobby Lashley seemed to have all the makings of a great champion. Now that’s he firmly established himself as a main-event level star, he’s determined to stay right where he is … BOBBY LASHLEY IS the third Black WWE champion, holding the same championship worn first by The Rock, and then Kofi Kingston. He worked 16 years to get to this moment. And the “Chief Hurt Officer” of The Hurt Business says it will be this way for a long time, because there is no one in the WWE locker room who can outwork him. “It feels incredible. I think it’s just a huge achievement to win that title,” Lashley told PWI. “There’s not very many people across the board who have won that title, so,…

AS THE CO-FOUNDER of the women’s wrestling website Bell to Belles, my role is to advocate, always looking for ways to empower women in wrestling. I developed “The W Column” for PWI for that reason: a recurring women’s wrestling column with the mission to spotlight topics, wrestlers, and events that empower and embolden women’s wrestling. The Resistance Gallery is a well-known venue in London known to host a slew of different events. Wrestling fans would know it best as ResGal: a place where boundaries were far and few between, and women’s wrestling had a place to call home. In March 2021, ResGal announced it would close its doors permanently, leaving women’s wrestling no choice but to move forward with nostalgia and remorse. Garry Vanderhone, with the help of Greg Burridge,…

LAST FEBRUARY, RICKEY Shane Page used the numbers to his advantage, leveraging his 440H faction to defeat Nick Gage and hold onto the Game Changer Wrestling championship. In the months that followed, Page ducked Gage at every turn, effectively choosing when and against whom he’d defend his title. The COVID-19 pandemic then put indie wrestling, GCW included, on a degree of pause. But, by summer, outdoor shows were a common workaround. It seemed like in short order, Gage would be afforded the revenge he was seeking. However, a calf injury that subsequently required surgery halted Gage’s pursuit last July. Though a matter of “when” and not “if” he’d get his shot at Page and a chance to recapture his gold, the date itself was pushed into some unknown night into…