Britt Baker is not making any moves, atleast for now.
The recent WWE debut of former AEW Women\’s World Champion Mariah May got people talking about more potential moves between the two companies. Having not wrestled for Tony Khan\’s promotion this year at all, The D.M.D. is a prime candidate for such speculations.
Fuel was added to this fire when former WWE commentator Jonathan Coachman claimed on his Behind the Turnbuckle podcast that Baker was \’gone from AEW\’ and was very close to signing with the rival promotion.
A new report from Fightful disputes these claims, however, revealing that the former champion remains under contract. They report that the female star signed a 5-year contract with AEW in 2021, meaning that she will remain unapproachable for WWE at least until 2026.
On the claims of the Endeavor-owned promotion having plans for Britt Baker, it\’s said that the former AEW champion has been a welcome face when visiting WWE shows. Though there has been no discussion of her coming in recently, and no creative plans in place for her.
This doesn\’t mean Britt can\’t obtain an early release from All Elite Wrestling but so far there has been no report of her doing the same despite creative frustration and past backstage issues.
Rumors began swirling up about the TBS Champion dating fellow AEW star The Beast Mortos earlier this week. This came after the latter posted a social media story with the current champion, captioned \’In your arms, I find peace\’ in Spanish.
Now a new report from TMZ has confirmed that the two wrestling stars are indeed dating. The site confirmed the story directly from Mercedes Mone who told them it was \”A real beauty and the beast situation.\”
It\’s unknown how long the two have been together. The female star filed for divorce, ending her 8-year-long marriage with Sarath Ton last year. However, she had later revealed that the two had been separated for years.
Mercedes Mone has found a lot of success since leaving WWE in 2022. Apart from the TBS title, she also currently holds the RevPro undisputed British Women\’s Championship and the EWA Women\’s Championship.
The CEO will be looking to add yet another title to her collection when she takes on CMLL Women’s World Champion Zeuxis on Dynamite this week.
Her new partner Beast Mortos is also a man of many talents. He is a former veterinarian and nurse who is currently pursuing a law degree, which Mortos is set to obtain very soon.
NXT General Manager Ava had announced last week that the brand\’s Women\’s title will be defended at the upcoming Evolution 2 PPV. She had announced a mini-tournament to determine the challenger for Jacy Jayne, with four qualifying matches and one #1 contender\’s fatal four-way.
One of the qualifying matches on this week\’s episode of the Black & Silver show saw Lola Vice taking on Jordynne Grace. The former Knockouts Champion got a new theme for her entrance tonight.
WWE fans have been unhappy with the current music composer Def Rebel replacing some of the iconic theme songs of the past. Grace\’s new theme also failed to receive a warm welcome from the people in attendance, and \’Fire Def Rebel\’ chants were heard in the arena:
Grace went on to win the match to advance to the Fatal Four-Way. She used a sequence of moves ending with the Beast Mode to pick up the pinfall victory over her opponent.
The other three qualifying matches also took place during the same episode, with Lash Legend, Jaida Parker, and Izzi Dame picking up the victory in their respective bouts. All the winners will square off for the Evolution title shot at next week\’s NXT.
Big E has revealed his dream match that is not possible anymore.
This week\’s episode of Raw saw the WWE return of Goldberg. The WCW veteran interrupted Gunther\’s World Title celebration, setting up the last match of his career for the July 12 Saturday Night\’s Main Event special from Atlanta, Georgia.
The former New Day star talked about Goldberg\’s return on the Raw recap. He first discussed being a fan of the wrestling veteran, saying that seeing the former champion took him back to his youth:
\”Look, it was like I was 13 years old once again. It was like, I hearken back to him winning the title at the Georgia Dome. I met this man at a Walmart signing like 25 years ago.
Like we got to do a Hot Ones together. This man, my wrestling fandom is so deeply connected to this man. My most famous promo of all time has to do with that man.\”
Gunther defeated Jey Uso to win back the World Heavyweight Championship on last week\’s Raw. The title change was inspired partly by the upcoming Goldberg match, as the officials wanted it to feel as big as possible.
Big E discussed how he would have loved to face Goldberg in his retirement match, while also commenting on the fate of Jey Uso:
\”I wanted his retirement match. That\’s obviously off the table. I will say, if this is indeed it, Gunther is so intriguing. I love the clash of eras. I think, and this is, I want to see, obviously, seeing Jey not have the title is disappointing. But I want to see Gunther be in the ring with the biggest fish.
A former WWE champion in his own right, Big E has been out of action since March 2023 after a neck injury. While not officially retired, the former NXT champion currently does not have a return timetable either.
Shotzi Blackheart has told the story of her segment with Baron Corbin.
The former WWE star recently had an interview with Chris Van Vliet. She talked about things such as shaving her head on TV to support her sister, her time in NXT, getting released from the company and more.
During the interview, Shotzi also recalled her one segment with Baron Corbin from 2021. The Lone Wolf was playing the sad Corbin character at the time, and the female star ended up low-blowing him with her tank.
Blackheart noted that Corbin wanted the whole thing to be as perfect as possible. This resulted in them doing more than two dozen takes with the former US Champion getting hit repeatedly:
“It actually took 30 takes. Corbin wanted it to be good. He was on a mission. So I was just like aiming, so ridiculous. It took so long. So he had to do that whole promo, and then boom.
Then if it missed, then do that whole promo again and hit him. But even the last take he was not satisfied with. He just sold it really well. But I really appreciate that he cared so much that we got him in the balls that well.”
MJF will be making a rare indie appearance to support a fellow wrestler.
Former AEW star Joey Janela has announced a benefit show to help independent star Jeff Cannonball, who has been diagnosed with ALS. The event is set for September 14 in the city of New Providence, New Jersey.
On Monday, the Bad Boy made a big announcement about the upcoming show revealing that the former AEW Champion will be making an appearance at the event dubbed Cannonballfest
\”9/14/2025 will be one of the biggest shows in independent history for Jeff Cannonball and I will go to any means necessary to keep that word! I had to reach out to someone I despise with a burning passion to make that a reality! Maxwell Jacob Friedman comes to CANNONBALLFEST!\”
Cannonball has been a fixture of the Northeast independent scene for the last 15 years. He has made appearances for many notable indie promotions, including CZW, MLW, IHB No Holds Barred, H20 Wrestling, and many more.
ALS or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis is a progressive neurodegenerative disease which is typically fatal and most individuals diagnosed with it only live 3 to 5 years. ALS affects nerve cells controlling voluntary muscle movement, and there is currently no cure for it.
A GoFundMe has also been launched for Cannonball which you can donate to here.
Shotzi Blackheart has opened up about one of her most memorable segments in WWE.
The former WWE star recently had an interview with Chris Van Vliet. She discussed things such as knowing that her release was coming even before getting the call, working with Baron Corbin, what\’s next for her and more.
When asked which WWE segment meant the most to her, the former Tough Enough competitor recalled shaving her head during a feud in 2023:
“The first thing that comes to mind is shaving my head on TV for my sister. That was something that just meant a lot to me. I didn’t get a ton of storylines in my time there, but that was the one that was just personal and for my family.”
The female star has been feuding with Damage CTRL at the time of the segment and the whole thing was presented as an act of defiance for her. In reality, the wrestling star wanted to support her sister who had been battling with cancer at the time.
Discussing how the segment came together, Shotzi Blackheart revealed that she spoke directly to WWE CCO Triple H about it, who greenlighted the whole thing:
“So I went to Hunter. I went straight to him, and I was just like, ‘Hey, my sister’s going through this, and I really want to support her in a big way. I just want her to see this and know that I’m connected.\’”
Shotzi was released from WWE last month when her contract with the company expired. She has already returned to the independent circuit since then, making appearances for promotions such as GCW.
An AEW star envisions his retirement to be similar to John Cena.
The Cenation Leader announced his decision to retire from wrestling more than a year in advance. In 2025, he\’s going to different cities to show his gratitude to the audiences there one last time before calling it a career.
MVP expressed interest in a similar tour during the latest episode of his YouTube show. The Hurt Syndicate star once again noted how he does not have a lot of time left in his in-ring career, and explained that at this point he\’s continuing it only for the love of the game:
\”I just still enjoy doing it. When I get to the point that I can’t do it effectively or if I’m taking baseball slide bumps, then it’s time to go. I plan on ending this run here pretty soon anyway. I want to have my last match. I want to have the retirement tour, let me go around, ‘Hey, this is the last time MVP will be wrestling in your city.’\”
When the co-host joked that MVP had another 20 years left as an active performer, the wrestling veteran said that he has a maximum of 2-year window left to end his in-ring run. Though the 51-year-old said that he\’ll continue working as a manager beyond that and be active in the business for maybe next 10 or 15 years.
The former WWE star made his AEW in-ring debut during the January 15 episode of Dynamite this year. He has wrestled several matches in the indies since then.
The current Intercontinental Champion has been engaged in a storyline with AJ Styles recently. This week\’s Raw saw the Phenomenal One taking on Dom\’s Judgment Day teammate JD McDonagh in a singles bout.
Dirty Dom tried to help JD by interfering in the match, but Styles managed to overcome the odds. The former World Champion defeated McDonagh with a Styles Clash. Mysterio tried to hit AJ with the IC title belt after the bell, but he missed.
Finn Balor came out as AJ Styles was setting up for a phenomenal forearm on Dom. Balor pulled the IC Champ out of harm\’s way, but his belt was left in the ring in the process. The former TNA champion then posed with the belt and it was announced that he\’ll be challenging Dominik Mysterio for the title at the upcoming show.
WWE Night of Champions this year takes place on June 28, 2025, from Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Here is the updated match card for the show:
Undisputed WWE Championship Match: John Cena (c) vs. CM Punk
Intercontinental Championship Match: Dominik Mysterio (c) vs. AJ Styles
Queen of The Ring Tournament Final
King of The Ring Tournament Final
Both the Tournaments are cross-branded and it has been announced that the winner of the competitions will receive a title shot at SummerSlam against the top champion of their brand.
One-half of the current Women\’s Tag Team Champions suffered an injury in her match against Kairi Sane at this week\’s Raw. The bout was stopped not long after the opening bell. As Morgan was unable to compete, the Japanese star was declared the winner.
PWinsider has provided some backstage updates on the situation, confirming that the injury was 100% legit. Liv had taken time off from TV recently to film a movie, but this segment was not a way to write her off for any outside project.
Liv Morgan was checked by WWE medical staff as soon as she got to the back, though the severity of her injury is not known. On screen, it was announced that the WWE star suffered a dislocated shoulder. Based on the severity of the injury, this can put her out of action for up to 16 weeks.
There is no heat on Kairi Sane for Morgan\’s injury and behind the scenes, the whole thing is being seen as a freak occurrence that could happen in any match.
The Raw star was poised for a rivalry against Nikki Bella heading into the Evolution 2 PPV set for July 13. A return timetable of more than a few weeks, however, would result in Morgan missing the show.
This tweet comes in light of Ripley\’s arch rival, Liv Morgan, suffering an injury at tonight\’s episode of The Red Branded Show. The women\’s tag champion was facing Kairi Sane in a singles match at the event.
Sane did not waste any time and sent Morgan to the floor almost immediately after the bell rang. Liv, however, seemed to have landed awkwardly, and she was checked out by referee Jessika Carr after the spot.
The program went to commercial break as the doctors assessed Morgan\’s health. When the show came back on, Sane was announced the winner of the bout as Liv was unable to continue the match.
Liv Morgan has a long history with Rhea Ripley. Once a tag team, the WWE duo have become bitter rivals in recent times. Ripley breaking character to support Morgan shows the respect between the two peers.
It was announced on screen that the Raw star has suffered a dislocated shoulder though there is no word on what it means for her future.
Bryan Danielson finds it hard to describe his feelings towards Vince McMahon.
The former WWE owner is facing serious allegations of sexual harassment and sex trafficking by former employee Janel Grant. For Danielson, the situation is tough not only because McMahon is his former employer but his co-accused John Laurinaitis is the ex-husband of Bryan\’s mother-in-law Kathy Colace.
The AEW star expressed the difficulty of the situation when asked about working for Vince in his recent interview with MJ In The Midday. Danielson first said that he\’s not going to say too much about it because there are things that are sensitive to his family. Though when pressed about it, he noted how Mr. McMahon had both good and bad traits as a boss:
\”There\’s the idea of \’career\’ and what he did for my career, and I consider that kind of a separate thing. When I\’m looking at Vince McMahon, the human being, how he was to me when I was backstage, we\’re also talking about a guy who, when my dad passed away, gave me the best hug I had ever gotten.\”
The host mentioned how Vince pushed the wrestling veteran during his time in WWE, even putting him in the main event of WrestleMania 30. The former WWE star admitted that he is greateful for the opportunity.
Bryan Danielson then explained that even in his own mind, he has a hard time dealing with the whole concept of Vince McMahon because how he treated him personally compared to the accusations made against him:
\”I\’m somebody who is not necessarily concerned with career advancement. Being a World Champion was never this thing I aspired to. I loved the fact that I could do this thing that I loved and make a living doing it.
There is his treatment of me as an employee, but there was his treatment of me as a human being, and that\’s the part that is hard to rectify with the things they are accusing him of.
The way he treated me as a human, he treated me very well in a way that is kind of hard to describe to people if they are coming at you from a negative perspective of Vince McMahon. There are also negative aspects about Vince McMahon,\”
Apart from this, Bryan Danielson also discussed his health and revealed his current in ring status. You can check out what he said here.
The Rock says you should take care of your health.
The Great One recently appeared on Dr. Mark Hyman\’s podcast. He discussed the importance of taking care of your health and opened up about a number of health issues Dr. Hyman has helped him through.
During the interview, The Rock also told the story of his grandfather, High Chief Peter Maivia. He noted how the late WWE Hall of Famer had the old school mentality of toughening it up whenever he faced health problems:
\”?My grandfather was a prime example of that, of just toughing through it, and he was a tough guy. He was a Samoan. He was one of the first Samoan professional wrestlers. Wow. And his name was High Chief Peter Maivia. He toughed through it and he had all these aches and pains, refused to go see the doctor.\”
The former World Champion discussed how the habit led to Maivia\’s untimely death, emphasizing the need to get in front of health issues as soon as possible:
\”He was 45 when he died….Cancer, and he refused it for months and months, and then it had metastasized to a point where there was just no going back, and that was it. By the time they caught it, reached a point where \’I gotta go see a doctor and see what\’s happening.\’\”
The Rock later also commented on how there\’s a lot of noise when it comes to health issues on social media, with many gurus and influencers telling you what you\’re doing wrong.
He explained that with actual data about your health, you can cut out the noise and really inform yourself about how to move forward. He told people that \’you want to take control of your life.\’
The IInspiration are open to a potential WWE return.
The duo of Jessie McKay & Cassie Lee made their surprise return to the wrestling world at TNA Against All Odds PPV earlier this month. This was their first TV appearance in three years.
The tag team formerly known as The IIconics in WWE spoke to Sports Illustrated about their comeback. McKay first explained why the Anthem-owned-promotion was the right place for them to make their return:
\”TNA is the right place for us as when we stepped away three years ago, it was from TNA. We really enjoyed our time there and loved the people and performers we were able to grow into. So, it only felt right to make our return to TNA.\”
The IInspiration are former WWE tag team champions. With the recent partnership between TNA and NXT, there is a real possibility of the duo returning to the Black & Silver brand as representatives of the Canada based promotion.
Commenting the potential of the same, Lee mentioned how they got to learn a lot during their time with WWE\’s development brand and returning to it would be a full circle moment for them:
“We learned so much at our time in NXT and the women’s roster there now is so talented so it would definitely be a full circle moment for us.”
The IInspiration confronted the current TNA Knockouts tag team champions The Elegance Bran on their return to the promotion. So it\’s possible we might see them returning to NXT with the titles in coming times.
Rikishi has called for some changes in the creative team of WWE.
The WWE Legend went off about his son Jey Uso\’s title loss on the latest episode of his Off The Top podcast. The Yeet Man dropped the championship back to Gunther on this past Monday\’s Raw, ending his first world title reign at just 51 days.
The WWE Hall of Famer mentioned how Uso has been a top merchandise seller for the company recently. Rikishi said that you\’re supposed to do what\’s best for business and questioned why the same wasn\’t done for Jey Uso:
\”You have a kid that put his heart and soul…to get to that main event spot. And finally, when he gets there, you know what I feel? This is what I feel.
I feel that those that are writing for this kid, his storyline, you didn’t do him justice. You didn’t feed this champion right talent to be able to continue to make this champion. Not a fair shot in my eyes. So you go 51 days.\”
Jey Uso had defended his World title only twice since WrestleMania 41 before dropping the belt back to Gunther. Even in that, he only won the one match against Logan Paul, while the other bout against Seth Rollins ended in a DQ.
Rikishi questioned why his son was not put in the position to succeed as the champion, and called for the people behind the booking to be fired:
\”I say fire. Fire those that are writing for this kid here. If you can’t come up with something simple to promote and push your champion, that you, not me, you decided to put this kid in that position.
And then that’s it. All of a sudden, the brains went just cloudy. You can’t write, you can’t think of an angle for Jey. Well you can’t do your job. I say best endeavors, get the hell out the way. Put somebody in that position.\”
Later in the episode, the wrestling veteran also discussed Uso\’s IC title reign last year which had ended very quickly as well. He questioned if the company had done the same if it was John Cena or Randy Orton.
Latest reports suggest that Gunther is set for a big match in coming times and it was the reason behind this title change. You can check out more about it here.
Cody Rhodes is among the names that advanced to the semi-finals of the ongoing King and Queen of the Ring tournaments at tonight\’s SmackDown from Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky.
WWE held 4 first-round matches for the ongoing tournaments. On the women\’s side, we first saw Jade Cargill defeating “Michin” Mia Yim, Nia Jax, and Piper Niven to advance to the semi-finals of the Queen of the Ring tournament.
Alexa Bliss did the same in the second qualifying match. She defeated Charlotte Flair, Candice LeRae and Alba Fyre to advance to the next stage.
Cargill will now face Roxanne Perez in the semi finals at next week\’s SmackDown, after Perez won her own first round match on Raw. Bliss, on the other hand, will have to wait for the match between Asuka, Stephanie Vaquer, Ivy Nile, and Raquel Rodriguez to know who she will face.
On the men\’s side, Randy Orton was the first to advance during the night. He defeated Aleister Black, Carmelo Hayes and LA Knight for the spot. The Viper will have to overcome the challenge of Sami Zayn to advance to the finals.
Cody Rhodes won his qualifying match in the main event of the show, defeating Andrade, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Damian Priest for the spot. His next opponent will be among Bronson Reed, Jey Uso, Rusev, and Sheamus, all of whom will be fighting in a first-round match of their own.
The 17-time world champion opened tonight\’s episode of SmackDown from Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky, following the Money In the Bank PPV last Saturday. Truth cost John his match at the PPV.
Cena cut a promo before he was interrupted by Cody Rhodes. The American Nightmare was followed by Randy Orton and LA Knight both coming out with words of their own.
The WWE champ finally had enough, and he looked to leave the arena but once again, he got blindsided by Ron \’The Truth\’ Killings. The segment ended with security having to break Killings away from John.
An irate John Cena had an animated argument with General Manager Nick Aldis backstage. Though this wasn\’t the last of Truth he saw during the night.
The Peacemaker star stormed the ring once again later in the night, demanding a fight with Killings. It was CM Punk who came out, however, and the two old rivals exchanged words. Before the end of the segment, Ron Killings attacked Cena out of nowhere, once again having to be pulled away by security.
Nick Aldis confronted the 53-year-old backstage after the second attack. The SmackDown GM asked Truth what he wanted and the wrestling veteran demanded a rematch with Cena. Aldis granted his request, making the match official for next week\’s episode of the Blue Branded Show.
Natalya has revealed that Hall of Famer Nikki Bella turned down a special perk offered by officials upon her most recent WWE return.
The Hart Family member recently spoke to Toronto Sun after being announced as the recipient of the 2025 Lou Thesz Award as part of the Cauliflower Alley Club reunion in August. She discussed things such as the recent situation with R-Truth and more.
While discussing Nikki Bella\’s WWE return on this past Monday\’s Raw, Natalya revealed that the company had offered her a private locker room, which the Total Divas star refused:
\”They wanted to get Nikki her own locker room. They were like, we’re going to get Nikki Bella her own room, she’s going to have her own space, we’ll put a fruit tray in there and all this stuff that she wanted. She goes, ‘No. I don’t want to change in my own locker room.’ This is what I love about Nikki, she goes, ‘I want to change with the rest of the girls.’\”
Natalya also said that the other female talents in the locker room were happy to see her, and it felt like Bella had not missed a beat.
Nikki Bella herself discussed her WWE comeback on her own podcast as well. She talked about the criticism of her appearance and the advice she got from Nattie before the show. You can check out more about it here.
The wrestling Giant has not been seen on WWE programming at all this year. With the company releasing many notable names over the past few months, a lot of people had expected the Nigerian star to depart the promotion when his deal came to an end as well.
During a recent interview with Gambling Industry News however, the former Raw Underground star provided a surprising update on his status. Omos revealed that he has actually signed a new deal with the company, and he expects to remain on the roster for years to come:
“Things are going very well. I can\’t complain. I’m really excited about what is to come. I’ve been training really hard and working on some new things and I think it’s going to be a really fun ride ahead, especially because I just signed a renewal with WWE and will be there for years to come!”
The 33-year-old also discussed the recent release and subsequent return of R-Truth to WWE. The Attitude Era star cut a promo on Raw to tell the fans that they could make a difference. Truth, now going by Ron Killings, also cut his hair, to indicate that he\’d be a more serious performer in the coming times.
The WWE star said that it was a treat to see Truth on Raw. Omos got emotional talking about the promo, saying that as a fellow black performer, he understood what Killings was really trying to say:
“Ron Killings…that guy. It was such a treat to see him on Monday Night Raw. That\’s probably one of the best promos I\’ve seen in my entire life. It was just so raw. To see him have a resurgence and the backing of the people is just a treat to watch.
I don\’t even think the audience was able to grasp the moment. But him and me being a black man, I was able to see beyond just the promo, sorry I\’m getting emotional about it. I was able to see beyond the promo, understand what he was trying to get across. So dude I\’m so beyond elated for him.”
Omos did not provide any more details about his new WWE contract. It\’s hard to say when he\’ll be back on TV but the new deal suggests that the company has atleast some creative plans for him.
AEW will soon be getting a new world title-level championship.
The company unveiled a new title belt on this week\’s Summer Blockbuster special of Dynamite. It was announced that the upcoming All In match between International champion Kenny Omega and Continental champion Kazuchika Okada will be a title unification match with the winner receiving the new belt.
Fightful Select recently provided some backstage updates on this bout. They revealed that the company had been thinking about the same for almost a year. The officials had planned for this match to take place at the Texas PPV going as far back as December 2024, even before Kenny Omega\’s NJPW return.
More than 1400 tickets have been sold for the upcoming PPV since the bout was announced. The dream rematch has been credited internally as the reason behind the accelerated ticket sales.
As for the plans for the unified title, the site reports that it\’s expected to be booked as an additional World title, instead of being another mid-card title for the company. Some have wondered if the officials will do away with the Continental Classic tournament after the unification but the word is that it is here to stay.
\’Intercontinental\’ has not been considered as a name for the new unified title internally, despite popular speculation. WWE filed trademark for the name back in 2020, so AEW will likely use a different name for the new belt.
The Undertaker had to go straight to the ER after WrestleMania 41.
The Dead Man relaunched his Six Feet Under podcast on WWE\’s official channel with his wife, Michelle McCool. The husband & wife duo talked about McCool\’s days in WWE development, their current favorites in WWE, and more.
During the episode, the former Divas Champion also revealed some previously unknown details about the health struggles of The Undertaker around the time of WrestleMania 41. The female star who was inducted into the Hall of Fame during the PPV weekend mentioned how she was distraught the whole time.
Michelle discussed how many people thought it was because of her induction. In reality, she was worried about the Phenom, who ended up in the hospital on the day they returned from the Mania trip:
\”I felt like when people would come up to me and congratulate me and be like \’how you doing,\’ and I am almost in tears. [I would say] I’m okay, but they could tell I wasn’t ok. They thought it was probably just because of the speech.
No, it was because of the heart issues you had been having weeks prior, which by grace of God we found out just by a God thing. But it ended up being terrifying. The day we got home from WrestleMania, the next morning at 6 a.m., we were at the hospital for a little bit of heart surgery.”
Michelle McCool later revealed more details on the situation. Per the former champion, Taker was diagnosed to be living with chronic atrial fibrillation (AFib) for an unknown period after he underwent a heart exam in March. His heart\’s ejection fraction was recorded to be only 30%.
The Attitude Era star was first given some medicines that didn\’t work. Two weeks before Mania, he had to be admitted to the hospital for four nights, where he underwent cardioversion to restore normal heart rhythm. The fix, however, was short-lived, and the AFib was back within days. Taker was dealing with issues like unstable heart rate and low blood pressure over the PPV weekend:
\”We were in the hospital for four nights, two weeks before WrestleMania. Yeah, you weren’t supposed to go [to Vegas]. That’s that old school mentality. I’m not mad at it, because I’d probably be the same patient, but it was terrifying.
I couldn’t focus on anything else. All I wanted to focus on was you, your heart, getting you in with the best cardiologist, which we eventually did, but that took a lot of phone calls, several nights in the hospital, lots of doctor visits, and by the grace of God, yes, you are here, but out of the words of the doctor himself, it could have turned out badly, have we not found it that day.”
Thankfully for the Hall of Famer, the second procedure was a success, and Undertaker noted that he is doing well now.
Nikki Bella has revealed the advice she got before her WWE return.
The Hall of Famer talked about her return to WWE programming on this Monday\’s Raw on the latest episode of the Bella Twins podcast. She discussed things such as mispronouncing Stephanie Vaquer\’s name, why she felt like it was the right time for her return and more.
Speaking about the day itself, Brie asked her sisters about the best advice she got beforehand. Nikki Bella revealed that the advice came from fellow veteran Natalya, who told her to just speak from her heart instead of relying on the script:
\”Nattie was the one who like, because she saw me looking at my script and she goes, \’No, speak from the heart,\’ and she went in on this whole thing about speaking from the heart.
She\’s like, \’You know what you\’re here to say. You don\’t need that. You know what you\’re here to say and you get to that.\’ Nattie\’s always the best in that way. She knows us so well.\”
Nikki Bella also revealed that Kairi Sane helped her out too. On the Japanese star\’s insistence, she prayed to God before going out, asking to be able to connect with fans authentically.
The wrestling veteran\’s return was interrupted by current Women\’s tag team champion Liv Morgan. Reports suggest Brie Bella is not happy about the same and she is planning her own return soon. You can check out more about it here.
The wrestling veteran\’s wife, Katie Forbs, made the announcement on social media late on Thursday. The duo posted a photo together, holding WWE-branded children\’s clothing. Forbs noted that the baby Van Dam would be coming in 2026:
\”You know life is interesting, we lost Sabu recently of course. I feel like a big part of me was lost when we lost Sabu,\” said RVD, \”Because he was part of me. He helped create me, make me who I am. And the universe has a funny way of balancing out.\”
The former ECW champion began dating Katie back in 2016, after separating from his first wife, Sonia Delbeck, in 2015. The couple would initiate divorce proceedings in 2016, and it was finalized in 2018.
RVD, real name Robert Szatkowski then married Forbs, who is also a professional wrestler, in 2021. The wrestling couple has several joint ventures, including OnlyWrestlers, a wrestler exclusive platform similar to OnlyFans.
First gaining popularity through his work with the original incarnation of ECW in 90s, RVD has since worked for almost all major wrestling promotions of his time.
Apart from his long stint with WWE in early 2000, the Hardcore star has had runs with promotions such as TNA wrestling, Pro Wrestling Noah and All Japan Pro Wrestling. Van Dam has been brought in for multiple appearances by AEW since 2023 as well.
The former champion is not officially retired but he only makes sporadic wrestling appearances. He has wrestled only one match in 2025, competing in MLW\’s 40 Man Battle Riot VII back in April.
Tiffany Stratton\’s first pitch did not go as planned.
The current WWE Women\’s World Champion was present for a New York Mets baseball game at Citi Field, wearing the custom WWE Mets championship instead of her world title.
The female star threw the honorary first pitch before the game, though she missed the mark completely. The ball was too far away from the catcher and it almost landed on a cameraperson
Tiffany Stratton is not the first celebrity to botch the ceremonial first pitch. Back in 2014, rapper 50 Cent made a similar mistake, with his pitch going nowhere near the catcher.
Making her SmackDown debut in February 2024, Tiffany quickly secured her position in the main roster. The fan reaction for her at the Elimination Chamber: Perth event, only weeks after her main roster debut, first ensured that the 26-year-old was booked like a top star.
This led to the former NXT Women\’s champion winning the Women\’s Money In The Bank match later that year and aligning herself with the then-champion Nia Jax.
After teasing it for months, she finally turned on Jax during the January 3 episode of SmackDown this year. She cashed in her guaranteed contract on her former best friend and has held the title since then.
James Storm has explained why he never signed a contract with WWE, despite having an offer on the table.
The former Beer Money star is one of the few TNA originals who never made the jump. He made a couple of appearances for the NXT brand back in 2015, defeating names such as Danny Burch and Adam Rose in singles matches.
A number of other top TNA stars, including his former tag team partner Bobby Roode and AJ Styles, ended up joining the company around the same time, but the Cowboy opted to return to TNA instead. Now he has explained the reason why.
The former TNA World Champion had an interview with Chris Van Vliet where he went into details of his talks with the promotion back in the day. James Storm revealed that he was prepared to join the NXT roster full-time and even worked on his fitness on instructions from William Regal. Things started going south, however, when the company changed their initial offer:
\”They gave me a contract; I went home and I got a call from Regal. He goes, ‘Hey, we definitely want to sign you.’ I was like, Oh, great. So I was going to sign the contract and all that stuff, and then he asked me, ‘Can you tighten up a little bit? Lose a little weight?’
I was like, ‘Yeah.’ I busted my ass and I lost 20 pounds. I got in really good shape when I got back down there. Everybody’s like, ‘Oh, my God, you look totally different.’ Because I always tell people, you give a man motivation, he’ll work his ass off if. So I did it, and then when I got down there, the contract had changed. They added 25 more dates, but the money didn’t move.\”
James Storm noted how TNA, at the same time, had offered him a deal to return to the promotion with more money than WWE was offering, and he made NXT officials aware of the same. The wrestling veteran revealed that his wife wanted to have another child at the time, and he ultimately decided to choose his family over the WWE deal:
\”Because my wife, she wanted to have another child at the time, but she had to take the shots and all this stuff, so I was basically kind of giving that up as well, because I was going to be on the road a lot.
We came to an agreement, and she was like, ‘Well, if they can just give you this, then you have my blessing to sign.’ Hunter is like, ‘I just can’t do it.’ I was just like, ‘All right, well, I’m sorry, my wife gave me permission not to sign, so I’m going home.’\”
The 48-year-old later noted that he had one final conversation with Triple H about signing with the brand. The Game told him that Vince McMahon was a fan of characters, and with his experience, he\’d be called up to the main roster sooner than later.
The WWE Executive however, claimed that he did not have the authority to offer him the deal Storm was asking so he declined the proposal. James said it was one of the hardest phone calls of his life, but in hindsight, it was the right decision for him and his family.