News of Andy Williams' passing has hit the wrestling world, with many superstars across the business paying homage to "The Butcher." CM Punk and many AEW alumni reached out to pay their respects to the musician and wrestler, who passed away following an indie wrestling event.

The Butcher and his tag-team partner "The Blade" were competing in an Enjoy Wrestling event on Saturday when TMZ reported that the former suffered a medical emergency. The 48-year-old collapsed after his match and was taken to a hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. CM Punk kicked off the tributes with a post on his Instagram Stories, sharing a humorous photo of them

The Butcher and The Blade were regularly touted as one of AEW's best tag teams, with the former being included in feuds with MJF and other notables. Dustin Rhodes also paid tribute on X, responding with a post that mentioned a tag-team title match he had against him in 2020:

Even Danhausen, who is known for sticking to his off-the-wall persona more often than not online, softened his bizarre personality just a bit to give a heartwarming send-off to his former coworker in AEW:

Malakai Black, who has been in and out of AEW over the years, dropped a big message about Andy Williams. He talked about what he was feeling in the moment and how painful it was to say goodbye to a friend:

Matt Hardy, who had legendary runs in every pro wrestling organization he's competed in, also talked about The Butcher's death. He paid respects to the former tag-team competitor as a colleague who respected his work both in and out of the wrestling ring:

Andy Williams was a case of someone who was previously famous for something else, making a transition into professional wrestling. Before he joined the pro wrestling world, he was known as the rhythm guitarist for the metalcore band Every Time I Die. He was featured on every album release for the band up until they broke up in 2022.

CinemaBlend offers condolences to the family and friends of Andy Williams and wishes them well during this difficult time. Here's hoping more wrestlers speak out with tributes, and we see some fun in-ring tributes when AEW airs next.

The conversation around Netflix’s censorship of WWE content has gotten particularly loud recently, and this latest example of sanitizing certainly isn’t going to quiet the frustration. For the second time in a month, the streaming service changed the edit to completely remove a reference a wrestler made to another’s sexual past. This time, the joke involved John Cena and was particularly noticeable because USA Network aired the segment unedited at the same time.

The specifics of WWE broadcasting can be a little complicated; so, let me explain how exactly it all works. Monday Night Raw streams on Netflix for basically everyone, regardless of where they live. Friday Night Smackdown streams on Netflix for most of the world but airs on USA Network in the United States. Because wrestling fans post clips from WWE programming all the time, it’s really easy to tell when something was changed, and lately, there have been a lot of changes.

Last night is a perfect example. In the version I watched in the United States, Nikki Bella and Paige got into a scripted argument backstage. Bella seemingly referenced explicit sexual materials that were stolen off Paige’s phone and leaked some years ago by saying we all know she has “more passion” behind closed doors. Paige fired back and said she built her career on Hustle, Loyalty and Respect, while Nikki just slept with it. That’s, of course, a reference to John Cena’s longtime catchphrase and a sick burn since Bella was previously engaged to Cena.

Unfortunately, that sick burn was nowhere to be found in Netflix’s version. The streamer kept in Paige’s reference to Hustle, Loyalty and Respect but removed the part where she said you just slept with it. Instead, the segment cut to the crowd and then cut back after the line was delivered, leaving everyone watching internationally unaware of what was actually said.

You can check out this side-by-side of the two versions that wrestling fans are passing around Twitter…

The specifics of what happened here are quite similar to a separate censorship decision that happened in early August. In that instance, Becky Lynch and Liv Morgan were in an argument, and Lynch fired off a series of insults. She said Becky wasn’t the best WWE Champion in her own stable (a reference to Raquel Rodriguez) and then said she wasn’t even the best WWE Champion that slept with Dominik Mysterio (a reference to Rhea Ripley). The line went over huge with the in-person crowd and viewers watching the show live, but by the next morning, Netflix had gone back and re-cut the episode to replace the Dominik Mysterio joke with footage of the crowd.

It’s not just PG-level sex jokes that Netflix seems to have a problem with either. On the last episode of Monday Night Raw, the streamer heavily edited multiple segments of the show to pixelate the faces of a few wrestlers who were bleeding. The footage looked almost comical with all the blurring. It also reportedly caused so much frustration within WWE that the company released an uncensored version on social media because once again, the version that aired looked so stupid.

I watched wrestling as a child and am supportive of WWE and Netflix keeping the show family-friendly, but the line over the past month or so has gotten absolutely ridiculous. Entertainment for all ages means you’re going to get the occasional non-graphic reference to sex, and it means you’re sometimes going to see a little blood. That’s just a representation of real life, and ten year olds can handle that level of adult entertainment.

Whether everyone got to see the line or not, I’m excited for Nikki and Paige’s feud. The two are good friends in real life, and judging by the fact that they decided to tap into each other’s pasts, they’re very willing to go there to sell the storyline. I can’t wait to see how the rest of this plays out. It should be a ton of fun, at least provided we get to actually see all the best zingers.

WWE opened Monday Night Raw this week with a chaotic and vicious parking lot attack. Royce Keys, who recently turned heel, and his new backup band OTM jumped Jimmy and Jey Uso and delivered a beatdown that left both brothers bloody and their car smashed up. The ambush was clearly meant to signal to the audience that the trio should be taken very seriously. Unfortunately, the segment didn’t exactly have the desired effect thanks to some heavy-handed censorship that was equal parts goofy and uncomfortable.

If you watch WWE programming on a regular basis, you may have noticed that either WWE, Netflix or some combination of the two have started going back and editing certain segments after Monday Night Raw airs. Sometimes if a joke is a tiny bit raunchy, they’ll just quietly delete it later and pretend like it never happened. Sometimes if a performer gets cut during a match and starts to bleed, they’ll add some blurring. It’s been annoying but this week went from annoying to infuriating.

Because the show was pre-taped rather than live, the edits that would normally happen later were implemented prior to the broadcast. That meant everyone watching the show was subjected to the censorship, and it was not exactly subtle. Check out this clip to get a sense of what I’m talking about…

That’s the short version of the full segment which ran for three minutes and included so many censored shots. At one point the camera zoomed in on a pool of blood on the ground, except we couldn’t see any of it because it was all just blurred out. As a viewer, it was disconcerting and also, impossible to take seriously. It was like the show was telling us to simultaneously be horrified by what we were seeing while simultaneously not trusting us to actually see it.

The creative team at WWE clearly wasn’t happy with how the segment came out either because Triple H tweeted an uncensored version from his personal account. Whoever is running the company’s YouTube channel also created their own version without most of the censorship that only contains a couple of blurred shots that were difficult to cut around. To the surprise of no one, both alternate versions feel a lot more intense and close to what everyone was actually going for.

I’m not going to sit here and say WWE needs to feature characters bleeding from head wounds every week. I watched wrestling as a kid, and I want the next generation of kids to be able to watch wrestling. We don’t need to go back to the Attitude Era (or even what we had when Raw launched on Netflix), but also, what happened last night cannot keep happening. It’s demeaning to viewers and embarrassing to try and defend as a wrestling fan. If WWE or Netflix isn’t comfortable showing something on television, then it shouldn’t be written that way. Censoring it out is way more awkward and embarrassing than not showing it at all.

I’m not employed by WWE, but if I were, I’d use this nonsense as an opportunity to meet with Netflix and get on the same page about all the censorship, not just the blood. I would say we want this to be entertainment for all ages, which means we’re not going to use certain words but every now and again, we are going to include a bawdy joke or a mid-level swear, and when that happens, we need you to leave it in. PG movies contain the occasional reference to sex and the occasional surprise swear word because real life isn’t censored.

I would say we’re going to stop intentionally using any blood, except for every once in a while as a surprise during a premium live event. Now and again, performers may accidentally bleed because a spot went wrong. When that happens, we’ll do our best to clean them up and not focus on it, but we need you to trust the audience and let them see it, exactly as happens with other sporting events when someone unexpectedly gets injured and starts bleeding.

Wrestling is meant to be entertainment for all ages. That means WWE should be thoughtful about its subject matter, but the current way it’s doing censorship is not working. Something needs to change because right now, it's really frustrating as a viewer.

The son of WWE legend Scott Steiner could be making his way to the WWE after a setback in her journey to joining the NFL. Brock Rechsteiner was recently released by the New Orleans Saints, and it has me thinking the chances are better that he'll be in the company soon.

Rechsteiner's release was first reported by Nick Underhill on X, as NFL teams solidify their rosters ahead of the NFL's latest season kicking off on the 2026 TV schedule. Bleacher Report wrote that the wide receiver went undrafted and joined the team via a mini-camp back in May.

While the reasons for his release were not publicly disclosed, fans suspected underperformance in training camp paired with a violation of the NFL-NFLPA performance-enhancing substances policy played a factor. He may find another team to take a chance on him, but if not, the WWE might welcome him with open arms.

Why Brock Rechsteiner May Join The WWE After Being Cut By The Saints

If it wasn't evident by the constant appearances by sports stars in the WWE, there's some pretty heavy crossover between the two. This is especially true when it comes to pro football, as some of the biggest superstars of the brand started as NFL players before turning to the WWE. Dwayne "The Rock Johnson, Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar, and countless other legends and current superstars have the NFL on their resume, so Brock Rechsteiner would be right at home.

Not to mention if there's one thing the WWE loves more than NFL stars, it's nepotism. I say that in jest, but think of all the top superstars in the industry who had a parent previously wrestle in the brand? Two of them are the faces of the company (Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns), and are appearing in the upcoming Street Fighter movie. All this to say, having a famous parent in WWE can open a lot of doors.

It's also worth noting that Brock Rechsteiner already has an NIL deal with the WWE as of February of 2025 (via POST Wrestling), so getting him in to begin training, presumably, wouldn't take that long. Assuming he's ready to leave the NFL, he could be there soon!

Teaming Up With Bron Breakker Would Give Him A Huge Leg Up

It's no secret there's already one Steiner dominating in the WWE, to the point he didn't even need his family name to get over. Bron Breakker does pay homage to his father Rick and uncle Scott, however, in other ways, and it's clear the company values him as a top young talent in the company.

The WWE has experimented with pairing Bron Breakker with others in recent years, and you'd have to think they'd do it again with Brock Rechsteiner if he joined. After all, their dads first made a splash in the WWE as a sibling tag team and were a pretty fearsome duo. Imagine seeing this young duo hitting the Frankensteiner with that nasty spear Breakker does!

I'm officially hype for this to happen, but it's worth noting we have no way of knowing if Brock Rechsteiner is done with pursuing an NFL career. He could always find his way onto the practice squad of another pro team, or could try out for one of the Canadian Football teams. He doesn't need to go straight to the WWE just yet, but if that's where it all leads eventually, I'd certainly consider joining sooner rather than later.

We'll keep an eye out to see if another Steiner is on their way to the WWE. The wrestling company, in the meantime, is building toward Sunday Night's Main Event and Money In The Bank, so now is as good a time as ever to hop back in if you haven't watched in a bit.

When the Vince McMahon docuseries came out in 2024, which you can watch with a Netflix subscription, it's safe to say I had mixed feelings. Granted, I definitely think Vince McMahon deserved a docuseries (though it came out amidst a pretty heinous lawsuit), but I also thought it could have been a lot more interesting.

After watching it again recently, I realized something. Sure, Vince has led a pretty interesting life, but his son, Shane McMahon, who speaks during the docuseries, seems WAY more fascinating. That's why I think we need a docuseries about Shane McMahon as well. So, here are just a few things that I would like to see in a hypothetical Shane-O-Mac docuseries.

I Would Love To Know Why Shane Wanted To Be A Hardcore Wrestler In Particular

What's interesting about the McMahon family is that all of them - Vince, Stephanie, Shane, and yes, even Linda - had roles both in and outside of the ring. Who could forget when Vince McMahon clashed with Stone Cold? Or what about Stephanie McMahon’s lengthy title run (though she rarely defended her title)? Hell, even Linda McMahon engaged in one of the most bizarre storylines ever when she was confined to a wheelchair while her husband had affairs right in front of her.

However, the only member of the family who felt like a legitimate wrestler was Shane McMahon, who had honest-to-God classic matches with the likes of Kurt Angle (the best to ever do it), The Big Show, Kane, and even his own father at WrestleMania 17. That said, Shane wasn’t just your typical wrestler. No, he was usually hardcore and even won the Hardcore title back in 2000.

My question is, why? Yes, it’s KIND of touched upon in the Vince docuseries, as it goes into how Shane was always trying to prove himself, but I want more depth into this. Like, why did Shane put himself through such pain when he could have just taken safer bumps and still gotten over with the fans? Why did he decide to be one of the toughest wrestlers that the WWE has ever produced? That’s what I want to know.

I'd Also Love To See His Role In Trying to Inherit The Family Business

Triple H is in charge of creative right now at WWE, and Nick Khan is the President. However, why isn’t the heir apparent, Shane McMahon, running things now at WWE? Yes, it always seemed like his sister, Stephanie, had more business acumen, but why didn’t Shane push to take over the family business? That’s something that I’ve always wondered as well.

Shane has discussed in the past, saying that he wanted to spend more time with his family, and he also hasn’t always had the best relationship with his father (He was even fired back in 2022 following an incident at the Royal Rumble), but I want to know more about this. You know, for a time, it looked like Shane was going to make the leap to AEW, and even though it never happened, it didn’t seem outside the realm of possibility, which you would NEVER suspect of Stephanie.

I want to know more about Shane’s feelings about not being next in line. Does it really not bother him that he never took over the business? I think a docuseries could get to the heart of the matter.

In The End, Shane Seems A Lot More Interesting Than His Father

I think what makes Shane more interesting than Vince is that he’s more of an enigma. Like, I get Stephanie’s ambition and drive, and I understand Vince’s rigid feelings on the business, but I don’t understand Shane’s feelings.

We got to see how Vince treated Shane in the docuseries, but I don’t really know how Shane truly felt himself. It’s like, we see Shane from other people’s perspectives, but not from his own, and that’s why I feel like Shane deserves his own docuseries.

I think that would be much more interesting. Don’t you?

It took a lot of work, but Coyote vs. Acme is finally coming to theaters. After being shelved and many speaking out on its behalf, the world will finally get to see Wile E. Coyote take his fight to the Acme Corporation. John Cena is happy to see it finally coming out, as someone who advocated for it, but he still maintains a very professional mindset about the situation that feels informed by his time in WWE.

Ahead of the movie's release on the 2026 schedule, Cena spoke to EW about the situation and whether his perspective on the movie business was altered by everything Coyote vs. Acme went through. Surprisingly, his view of Hollywood is unchanged, and he explained why:

As a longtime fan of the WWE, it's easy to imagine John Cena saying the exact same thing about working in professional wrestling. He was a master of consistency, which ultimately led to him being the face of the company for decades. Now, he's retired, but it seems as though his "Never Give Up" mindset translates quite well to acting.

Will John Cena become the face of acting? Who knows what the future will bring, though his performance was celebrated when Comic-Con audiences saw him in Coyote vs. Acme. It'd be a shame if people didn't get to see him play Buddy Crane, but as Cena explained, that's just the nature of the beast:

It's diplomatic responses like that that helped John Cena become the winningest champion the WWE has ever seen. He ended 23 years of professional wrestling in the record books for many reasons. Not just for his title wins, but for his philanthropic work as well. To this day, Cena holds the world record for most wishes granted through the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which certainly feels like his biggest accomplishment in a long list of achievements.

As mentioned, Cena plays Buddy Crane in Coyote vs. Acme, the head attorney representing the Acme Corporation. He has a history with Wile E. Coyote's lawyer Kevin Avery (Will Forte), who used to work at his firm. Forte is well-known for his comedic work on Saturday Night Live, so I'm eager to see how Cena can match his energy. Although, while Forte can be very high energy, we know the WWE superstar has the comedic chops to keep up just fine.

In addition to that, we'll see a ton of Looney Tunes characters in the mix. Voice actor Eric Bauza is lending his voice to a big chunk of them, as the modern flag-bearer for the franchise in more recent projects. It's been a long wait to see this movie, and I'm really hoping that audiences turn out to watch it!

Coyote vs. Acme is in theaters on August 28th. After waiting all this time, I can't wait to see it and see the Looney Tunes back on the big screen.

WWE is currently heating up a feud between Oba Femi and Bron Breakker that’s about who the future of the wrestling business is. I’m loving the program so far, but to be honest, it’s also making me think a lot about Dominik Mysterio. He’s certainly not playing in the same lane as those two, but based on crowd reactions and natural charisma, Mysterio has just as much potential as the other two. In fact, you could argue he was the most over act in the entire business a year ago, and yet, here we are, watching him lose televised matches to Danhausen and Dragon Lee.

What is going on? Seriously, what is going on? After defeating John Cena to win back the Intercontinental Championship in a huge match with a very invested crowd at Survivor Series back in November, he’s basically done nothing but lose. Even worse, his only real storyline has essentially been as the antagonist in a program over stolen money against Danhausen in which he was repeatedly shown to be a hapless idiot.

Now, you might be saying, but isn’t that Dominik Mysterio’s character? Hasn’t he been playing the hapless idiot for three years? Yes and no. He’s a hapless idiot, but when he’s been at his most over with the crowd, it’s been as a hapless idiot who cheats, steals and lies to ultimately get his way. He’s then been able to use those victories to brag about himself in a way that feels really cheap and inauthentic, which builds up his heat with the crowd. That doesn’t work if he’s getting his comeuppance every week on television. He’s not The Miz and shouldn’t be booked that way.

He needs something to do, and he needs it as soon as possible. Mysterio’s best ever program in WWE, the one that turned him into a heat magnet, was the plotline where he went to jail and then talked about how tough he was to survive it for the next year. He needs a 2026 version of that. Film some non-wrestling content to build his character’s aura back up and give him something to talk about.

Maybe he decides to get revenge on his enemies by showing up in people’s personal lives, slapping them in the face and then running away. Maybe he gets harassed by a teenager on the street and beats him up to show dominance. Maybe he punches someone in catering because they ran out of chicken tenders. There are a ton of options that would get people booing him everywhere he goes again.

I know he’s booked differently when he appears on AAA. He’s the World Champion and gets a level of respect he’s not afforded on the main roster, but WWE needs to accept that most fans are not watching AAA. They’re only watching the main roster, and all those people watching the main roster see are Dominik losing matches and being a side character without any agency.

Judgment Day is one of my favorite stables in the history of wrestling. I loved the OG version with Dominik, JD McDonagh, Rhea Ripley, Damian Priest and Finn Bálor, and I love the new version with Dom, JD, Liv Morgan, Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez. I even love the programs we got with R-Truth and Carlito at various points.

Between Roxanne being the only woman in the stable who is not a champion and Dominik being desperate to prove himself, there’s a ton of character development sitting right there. WWE needs to mine that, and they need to do it with backstage segments and even the occasional storyline that moves outside the arena.

I believe in Dominik Mysterio. I think he has the potential to be one of the biggest stars in the entire business, but in order to get there, WWE needs to start treating him like a star. That doesn’t mean squashing people. That doesn’t even necessarily mean winning every match, but it does mean giving him real storylines and program wins that allow him to lean into being the successful, arrogant heel we all fell in love with.

With the possible exception of Kevin Owens returning and maybe Chad Gable’s long-awaited Intercontinental Championship win, no moment during SummerSlam popped the crowd harder than Chelsea Green winning the ladder match for the WWE Women’s Championship. The popular midcard performer has been doing the most with whatever screentime she’s gotten for years, and it was an absolute joy to see her get paid back with an unexpected World Championship. Unfortunately, the run we’ve all been waiting to see is now in serious jeopardy.

Green partnered with BFF Tiffany Stratton on SmackDown for an impromptu tag team match against Fatal Influence on Friday, less than a week after her big win, but not everything went to plan. During one of the sequences, Green broke her orbital bone. Rumors started swirling on Saturday that something was wrong, and she later got on Instagram to confirm the sad news herself. Here’s a portion of her quote…

Ordinarily, you’d assume WWE would strip her of the title and crown someone new, as they recently did with Rhea Ripley who had to have surgery on her knee, but the case of Chelsea Green is a little more complicated. She’s just as much of a personality and a comedic character than she is an in-ring performer. She’s been injured in the past and continued to appear on television, often leaning into whatever is going on for comedic effect with elaborate costumes and even a mask.

A broken orbital bone usually takes one to two months to heal but sometimes takes up to three months for a performer to be back and ready to take full contact. I would certainly expect WWE to work around the injury for a month, maybe even for six weeks, but if she’s not going to be able to wrestle for the full three months, Triple H, Bruce Prichard and the other writers are going to have to make a big decision. Do you strip her of the title and put the belt on someone else, or do you allow her to work through the injury and carry a storyline forward that doesn’t involve major physical contact?

I think a lot of it depends on what WWE was originally planning to do with her championship reign. There’s a world in which they were planning to do something along the lines of what we got from The Miz a few years ago, where he humorously ran from Bobby Lashley for a few weeks before he was ultimately forced to face him and lost the title. He was basically just a transitional champion that provided a few weeks of hilarious storylines.

Then again, there’s another world in which WWE was planning to use Green’s win to elevate her character and try to get the audience to take her more seriously. To use The Miz as an example, he had another title run earlier in his career that we were meant to take much more seriously; so, he was booked differently and held the belt for a longer period of time (and even beat John Cena at WrestleMania). Maybe that was the plan for Chelsea?

Only the key WWE decision-makers know what the plan actually was; so, it’ll be interesting to see how they choose to pivot. Personally, I’d love to see them find creative ways to keep the belt on Chelsea for awhile. She doesn’t need to be dropping in-ring bangers to be entertaining, but if the plan was always for her to drop it in the coming weeks to Nia Jax (who confronted her after Friday’s match) or someone else, then I have to think they’ll just strip her of the title.

WWE fans have collectively been frustrated with the lack of buzzy storylines for the last year or so, but in defense of Triple H and the writing staff, the number of injuries has been crazy. Huge stars like Seth Rollins, Rhea Ripley, Kevin Owens, Stephanie Vaquer, Randy Orton, both Bella Twins, Logan Paul, Bronson Reed and more have spent months or longer on the sidelines. That’s obviously led to so many long-term stories getting changed. Who knows how we would all feel about creative if some of those plans had come to fruition and delivered?

Now Chelsea Green is joining the list. It’s really sad to see as a proud PatriHot, but at least she got her moment at SummerSlam. When wrestling fans look back on people’s careers, it’s often those big, splashy moments that stand out, and unexpectedly winning a World Championship at SummerSlam is about as good as it gets.

We’ve been looking forward to the new Highlander movie with Henry Cavill for quite some time. But the latest update makes me think the supporting cast could very well steal the show from the Man of Steel actor. To that point, Gladiator’s Russell Crowe and WWE’s Drew McIntyre are training together, and their gun show is very impressive.

Russell Crowe And Drew McIntyre Show Off Their Guns

The Highlander reboot has been shooting across Scotland, England, Poland and Hong Kong since filming started back in January. As the production continues, Drew McIntyre shared this post on Instagram:

The new photo sees 62-year-old Russell Crowe and 41-year-old McIntyre showing off their big arm muscles in the same gym mirror, and wow! He also captioned it as “Gladiator x Warrior”.

They’ve both got long beards, black tank tops and big biceps, and they don’t care who sees it. It shows that Highlander is going to be loaded with muscled-up actors, and we can’t wait. What’s their routine? We don’t know, but whatever it is, I’m sure it’s quite intense.

What’s Going On With The Highlander Movie?

The Highlander movie, of course, follows the beloved 1986 original, which starred Christopher Lambert as Connor MacLeod. The titular character is a 16th-century Scottish warrior who discovers he’s one of a few immortals empowered by an energy called the Quickening. The movie spawned four sequels and multiple TV series, but it’s been almost 20 years since there’s been a new installment.

Hollywood has been trying to bring back the franchise since 2008. John Wick director Chad Stahelski has been involved since 2016, with Cavill earning the main role in 2021.

While the movie was initially going to start production in 2025, Cavill got injured while preparing to film, and it was pushed to this year. Thankfully, we know the Highlander movie is well on its way now. Between Karen Gillan sharing set pictures and Cavill giving us our first look at the movie when filming kicked off, we've been getting more hyped. Check it:

Cavill will play Connor MacLeod, and Russell Crowe will play Sean Connery’s role of Juan Sánchez-Villalobos Ramírez. Meanwhile, McIntyre will play Connor’s brother Angus MacLeod. Karen Gillan will play Connor’s wife Heather, Dave Bautista is The Kurgan and Djimon Hounsou will portray an African Immortal named Sunda Kastagir. Jeremy Irons was also cast to play the leader of The Watchers, which is a group of non-immortal humans that observe immortals like the Highlander.

Other actors in the new Highlander movie without confirmed roles are Marisa Abela, Max Zhang, Siobhán Cullen, Jeon Jong-seo, Nassim Lyes and Kevin McKidd. We don’t have a release date yet for the new Highlander movie, but it’s possible it could join the 2027 movie schedule! And in the meantime, it looks like the cast will continue working hard and staying in remarkably good shape.

When Monday Night Raw first moved to Netflix, most fans celebrated the move, as they felt it would allow WWE to at least occasionally explore some more mature storylines or have some more intense matches. More than a year into the partnership, however, it’s increasingly obvious that’s not happening. In fact, the opposite might be true. This week’s Raw, as an example, saw the best line from the live show edited out of the broadcast, and I still don’t fully understand why.

The line in question was delivered by the returning Becky Lynch. She’s been off television for awhile, but she made a surprise appearance on Monday to confront Women’s World Champion Liv Morgan and set up a potential feud. During their verbal confrontation on the microphone, she hit Liv with a series of insults. She criticized her for only defending her title once in a hundred days. She told her she wasn’t even the best women’s champion in Judgment Day since Raquel Rodriguez won the Intercontinental Championship, and as she was walking away, she hit her with the coldest line of all…

That little crack obviously refers to the fact that prior to being Morgan’s on-screen boyfriend and valet, Mysterio was Rhea Ripley’s on-screen boyfriend and valet. The crowd ate the line up like it was a CM Punk Pipebomb insult, and to be honest, I ate it up while sitting on my couch at home too. I let out an audible gasp and sat up in my chair and pointed at the TV like I was doing the Leonardo DiCaprio meme. I wasn’t the only one either. Video of the segment trended widely on social media, and a bunch of tweets featuring the quote got thousands of likes.

Apparently WWE or Netflix or both didn’t like it though because now, if you stream the episode, that last little zinger is completely cut out. It’s not even censored. It’s just been removed from the broadcast in some weird attempt to pretend it didn’t happen. But why? WWE dropped an unedited version on social media after it happened, which is still available, and it's at almost a million views.

WWE has also gone a lot further than this and kept the material in the broadcasts. Cody Rhodes and The Rock have both dropped F-Bombs over the last few years, and they've just been bleeped. Other performers have made thousands of jokes in the history of the company that were way more graphic, and yet, this little zinger about a character’s sexuality history that you could get away with in a PG movie is suddenly too much?

I’m not one of those people who think WWE should go back to the Attitude Era or start gearing its programming exclusively to adults. I loved wrestling as a little kid, and I love it as a dude who is almost forty. I don’t want to shut out kids by having characters swear every two seconds, but neutering the product of every adult reference and joke isn’t the way forward either. The goal should be to produce programming that works on multiple levels. That means you need Danhausen-type stories that work for little kids, and you need segments that throw in the occasional off-color joke.

Maybe Becky Lynch didn’t get permission to use the line before she went out there. Maybe she went off script, and Triple H and company weren’t happy about it. Even if that’s the case though, it went over extremely well with fans. The wrestling business is a conversation between the booker, the performer and the fans, and if the fans are responding to something, it’s the booker’s job to deliver more of whatever that is, not pretend it didn't happen.

Triple H, Bruce Prichard and company have been around long enough to understand that if something works, it works, and given the negative buzz right now and sluggish ticket sales at SummerSlam, they should be particularly focused on rolling with anything that works. I don’t know who made the decision to cut this line, but as a fan, it doesn’t sit right with me. Everyone watching the product should be mature enough to handle that joke, and WWE should be mature enough to accept the consequences and not pretend like it didn’t happen.

WWE wrestlers pretend they're wealthier than they actually are all the time, as a guy like Ted DiBiase built his personas on being the "Million Dollar Man" despite bringing home way less. Roman Reigns, apparently, is not one of those people, as he flaunted his wealth recently with a wildly expensive watch on Monday Night Raw. And the price is enough to make my eyes water.

Roman Reigns Watch On Monday Night Raw Is Worth A Ton Of Money

The OTC rolled up to Monday Night Raw to cut a promo on L.A. Knight and to flex on all those watching at home with a Netflix subscription. I only say that because he deliberately called out Knight's timepiece, alleging it came from Walmart, but that was only to set up showcase his own watch. Roman Reigns talked about authenticity on Monday Night Raw and, if spending money means he believes he'll be at the top of the WWE for the rest of his career, that watch proves he walks the walk.

After he shouted out his Skeleton Tourbillon watch, a piece one can only reserve to purchase or buy secondhand, the eye-watering price for this watch started making rounds. It seems the floor for what Reigns might've paid was $100k, but his specific model was spotted online by some going for around $500k. @RingsideChasers reported the watch trades for somewhere in the middle, around the $350k range.

I Couldn't Leave The House Wearing That Watch, Let Alone Get In A Wrestling Ring

If I were Roman Reigns, I'd be looking over my shoulder after publicly drawing attention to the price of that watch. Seriously, I'd be watching myself amid every appearance he ha left on the 2026 TV schedule. Also, I don't think it's a secret that he's one of the highest-paid stars of the WWE but, after seeing him rock that watch, I have to wonder just how well he's doing.

It's also possible the watch is a gift from one of the many billionaires who are higher up the ranks in TKO. Back in the day, Vince McMahon used to help Ted DiBiase sell his millionaire big-baller lifestyle, funding some of the more expensive scenes we saw with the wrestler.

All I know is if I only planned to wrestle for another couple of years, I wouldn't be buying expensive watches on my own dime. I'd gladly accept one as a gift but would not be wearing that in the wrestling ring, given all the ways it could be dented, cracked or straight up broken.

I did notice that there was no scuffle between him and Knight in the ring, so maybe Roman Reigns slowly made his way to the back and put that thing in a protective case as soon as possible. I just know that, personally, I'd be denting that thing on door handles and every other thing I bump into daily. Reigns was careful enough to have one of the longest title reigns in WWE history, so maybe it's a non-issue for him.

Monday Night Raw airs on Netflix on Mondays at 8:00 p.m. ET. Summerslam has come and gone and, as WWE looks for fresh storytelling after the PLE, maybe there's a new angle in Roman Reigns wearing progressively more expensive accessories?

SummerSlam in Minneapolis is in the books, and the 2026 TV schedule can move on from two nights of highs and lows in the WWE. Perhaps nothing encapsulates the massive nature of that wrestling event than Chad Gable securing his first singles title in his WWE career, only for it to be used for a Mug Root Beer commercial during the celebration. With that, fans are now sounding off with some less-than-positive opinions.

After a long road of paying his dues, reinventing himself as El Grande Americano and dealing with injury issues, Gable is officially the Intercontinental Champion. Unfortunately, his celebration in the ring with his wife, children and parents was interrupted by a Mug Root Beer mascot, who had to hop in and do some necessary ad placement with the WWE superstar. Check it out:

For some time now, many have argued that the WWE is doing way too much ad placement, and this was a prime example. An emotional payoff for wrestling fans, years in the making, was immediately diluted by a reminder that this is a business. And, yes, Gable is contractually obligated to be hype about Mug Root Beer just as much as he is about this major title victory. Suffice it to say, fans were not pleased and said as much on X:

• It's getting out of hand. - @Itz_Mickie_
• You used gables heartfelt victory to promote root beer -@RyanKlimaszews5
• I know whenever I've achieved a life goal in front of my family, the first thing I do is reach for a cold MUG Root Beer. Get that DAWG in you. - @JackTheJobber
• TKO just can’t help themselves can they… -@TitansForever
• What is wrong with WWE and the goofy ass endorsements..... Let the man celebrate in peace with his family.. - @LexiOrtizz

I agree with a lot of these takes, and they reminded me why Daniel Bryan said WrestleMania 30 wasn't as big of a moment for him as it was for fans (via SI.com). On a human level, I have to think it meant more for Chad Gable to have his family in the ring with him, at least compared to the Mug Root Beer mascot.

It feels a bit soul-crushing, and unlike anything we've seen in the past decades of wrestling. After all, the Slim Jim mascot wasn't trotting down the aisle alongside Macho Man when his "Pomp and Circumstance" intro music was playing. Yet the WWE seems to use moments that are relevant for wrestling fans for ad space, as evidenced when Bray Wyatt's big return match involved a stipulation sponsored by Mountain Dew.

Whether it's TKO or WWE's doing, the advertising continues to be quite extensive. I'm not saying that the company needs to stop all advertising, or even limit it, given I understand how the business works. Yet I do grow weary of ads invading literally every inch of the product. When a wrestler can't even have a heartwarming moment in the ring with his family without an anthropomorphic dog shoving a soda in his hands, we need to have some conversations about limits.

Catch Monday Night Raw with a Netflix subscription on Mondays at 8:00 p.m. ET, and see if Gable makes a habit of chugging root beer like he's Stone Cold Steve Austin with beers. (I could imagine that being a gimmick the people at Mug would love to see, but I'm still on the fence about it.)

Just over a year has passed since pro wrestling legend Hulk Hogan suddenly passed away at the age of 71, amidst plans to get a new wrestling promotion going. But while the athlete had rekindled many of his connections that were soured after racist comments made in 2015 about his daughter Brooke Hogan’s then-boyfriend — and was reinstated into the WWE Hall of Fame just three years later — his relationship with his daughter seemingly never returned to full-strength, and fans continue to share judgmental opinions about them, much to Brooke’s disgust.

The musician and former reality star took to TikTok to share a lengthy and highly pointed message directed at anyone out in the world who continues to speak with presumed authority about the father-daughter duo. She is not welcoming any such unsolicited and indirect criticisms from those who have only experienced the Hogan families trials and tribulations from afar, kicking it off with this very telling statement: “I can't believe I even have to make a post reminding human beings how to be human.” She continued:

While Hulk Hogan's death amassed tons of heartfelt messages from fellow wrestlers and others in the biz, Brooke Hogan initially stayed private with her thoughts, and opted not to attend his funeral, and instead spent the day honoring his memory at the beach with her family. (Including the twins born in January 2025 that never had a chance to meet their grandfather.)

The wife and mother explained that she was previously very close with her dad, and that their relationship was even stronger than what others perceived it to be from Hogan Knows Best and other TV appearances. She continued:

In her video, Hogan claims to have been the dependable glue that held the family together, but that she was unable to continue forward in that role without any additional support, and that starting her own family made it even less possible.

To that end, Brooke Hogan says the onus was on her dad to make the effort to meet his grandchildren, and that he didn't step up. And now she's done trying to defend herself against online commenters who only want to start messes. In her words:

Hulk Hogan's complicated story was set to be brought to the big screen with Chris Hemsworth portraying the Hulkamania founder, but the athlete backed out of the biopic partially due to worries over how the film would depict his more negative career moments. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon were also teaming on a film centering on the massive Gawker lawsuit, but that project has seemingly also been in limbo.

It's unclear if Brooke Hogan would have been written into either of those films, nor whether she would have allowed it in the first place. But hopefully she gets some relief from the online grief that she's dealt with.

The build to SummerSlam this year hasn’t exactly been the best in WWE history. There’s a serious lack of hot storylines going into one of the biggest shows of the year, and the sluggish ticket sales are reflecting that. In a perfect world, you’d expect a lot more buzz and speculation about the matches less than a week out from the multi-night event. That being said, what we do have are a lot of matches that could overdeliver on quality, and if they do, we could remember this SummerSlam as the moment in which Triple H and company righted the ship.

Some of that potential upside is about the star power. CM Punk and Cody Rhodes’ WWE Championship storyline hasn’t been one for the ages so far, but ultimately, the two are still huge characters the fanbase cares about. The same can be said for Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins, who are fighting over the World Heavyweight Championship. There’s enough history between these opponents and enough skill to tell a story that fans buy into and maybe even a story that creates repercussions that can drive storytelling for the next few months.

There’s also a lot of in-ring talent that’s been thoughtfully paired together. Chad Gable and Penta could easily give us a match of the year candidate. Liv Morgan and Iyo Sky could easily give us a match we remember for years. Nick Aldis hasn’t wrestled in a long time, but those of us who know ball know he can really go, and opposite Gunther, there’s really high upside there. Some of this might end up being really good.

Regardless, I’ve got some predictions to get to. Before I get into what I think is going to happen in each match though, you can check out my history below. Spoiler alert: I’ve been right a lot more often than I’ve been wrong. Here's a look at the individual events in 2026, as well as my overall record.

Liv Morgan (Champion) vs Iyo Sky For The Women’s World Championship

If this match sounds familiar, it’s because Morgan and Sky just faced each other in the finals of the Queen Of The Ring tournament at Night Of Champions at the end of June. Sky won and earned the right to challenge the champion of her choice. She picked Liv Morgan, and now we’re running it back at SummerSlam.

By all accounts, WWE views Morgan as a major star and one of the faces of the women’s division. Unfortunately, she’s basically been treading water for the past few months. The assumption is that Triple H and company want to get back to her program with Stephanie Vaquer, but since she’s still out with an injury, that’s left Morgan essentially acting as a glorified supporting player in Judgment Day’s ongoing feud with Danhausen.

WWE heavily implied she lost the match to Sky at Night Of Champions because she was cursed. I can’t imagine they’ll go with that excuse again, and I also can’t imagine they’ll end Morgan’s title reign having not successfully defended it once on television. I think she has to go over here, though where that leaves Iyo Sky to go next is unclear.

Predicted Winner: Liv Morgan

Brock Lesnar vs Oba Femi In Hell In A Cell

People have lost a lot of money betting against Brock Lesnar over the years. He squashed John Cena during his retirement tour when everyone assumed he was going to lose as a recent example, but I still think it’s the lock of the night that he’s going to lose here. WWE clearly sees Femi as the next big star, and this is the culmination of their trilogy. Femi needs to pull ahead 2 to 1, and he needs to use it as a springboard to the top of the card. I wouldn’t be surprised, as an example, to see him win the Royal Rumble next year.

As for Lesnar, this might be the end of the road. The speculation heading into the year was that he would likely retire at SummerSlam, given his connections to Minnesota as a NCAA Heavyweight Champion in wrestling and former Vikings player. He’s been open about not having much time left in his career and tricked everyone into thinking he was retiring at WrestleMania. I think more than likely he does take off the boots for real this time.

If this is really the end, what a fantastic and completely original career Lesnar has had. From acclaimed amateur wrestler to virtuoso professional wrestler to nearly making an NFL team to UFC Champion and back to professional wrestler. He has been can’t miss entertainment everywhere he’s gone, and he’ll be missed.

Predicted Winner: Oba Femi

LA Knight, Royce Keys And Solo Sikoa vs Jey Uso, Jimmy Uso And Jacob Fatu

These six man tag team matches are almost always more about advancing some type of storyline than who actually wins. That’s why they’re notoriously hard to predict. Maybe the story Triple H wants to tell is about dissension within the Bloodline and we would get that if Jimmy Uso got pinned and Jacob Fatu wasn’t a happy camper about that. Maybe the story is that LA Knight and Solo Sikoa, despite trying to work together, are never going to be able to work together, and a loss will spin them off into a singles program.

Too many things can happen here to make a prediction with any kind of certainty, but I will say, having done this for several years now, that I’ve had a lot more success betting on the Bloodline than against the Bloodline. So, I’m going to take Jimmy, Jey and Jacob.

Predicted Winner: The Bloodline

Gunther vs Nick Aldis

This might be the match I’m most excited about. Nick Aldis can really go, and his mic work has obviously been tremendous since he took over as SmackDown General Manager. A good performance here could really open up a lot of options for WWE, whether they want to turn him into a full-time in-ring competitor or whether they just want to make him be a more physically imposing authority figure. He’s actually younger than Cody, Roman, CM Punk and Seth Rollins; so, he’s got some more bumps in him if the company wants him to take them.

All that said, Gunther really needs a win here. He came out on the wrong side of that program with Cody Rhodes and Sami Zayn, and he needs to show people that he’s still the most dominant monster heel on the roster. That doesn’t mean he needs to squash Aldis, but we need to see him systematically take control of the match and ultimately tap him out.

Predicted Winner: Gunther

Nikki Bella, Brie Bella And Paige vs Fatal Influence (Jacy Jayne, Fallon Henley And Lainey Reid)

Let me make the case for Fatal Influence here first. They’re a rising faction in WWE that has been getting good crowd reactions. They just won the Women’s Tag Team Championships, and there are rumors that Triple H was considering Jacy Jayne as a possible opponent for Rhea Ripley at SummerSlam before she got hurt. The best way to keep that momentum up would be to have them win big matches, and this is, by far, the biggest stage they’ve ever had a match on.

That being said, there’s also a case here for the Bellas and Paige. Clearly they’re far more popular with casual fans, and Nikki just returned from an injury that kept her out for months. If WWE wants to carry this feud past SummerSlam, the best way to do that would be having the faces win here. That would give them a good reason for getting another title shot, and it would also have the added benefit of giving the crowd a victory to get excited about.

I think WWE really believes in Fatal Influence, and I think they’re going to want them to pick up a big win here, but of all the matches on the card, this is one of the most up in the air.

Predicted Winner: Fatal Influence

CM Punk (Champion) vs Cody Rhodes For The WWE Championship

Roman Reigns won the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 38. He held onto the belt until Cody Rhodes finished his story at WrestleMania 40. Cody then held the belt for an entire year until he lost to John Cena during his retirement tour at WrestleMania 41. That’s three total champions in three years, and yet, in the last eighteen months, we saw Cena lose it to Rhodes, then Rhodes lose it to Drew McIntyre, then McIntyre lose it to Rhodes, then Rhodes lose it to Sami Zayn and then Zayn lose it to current champion CM Punk.

Triple H has repeatedly shown he prefers extended title reigns, and yet, the last year and change has more closely resembled the Attitude Era where the title hopscotched back and forth between Steve Austin, The Rock, Triple H, Mankind, The Undertaker, Kane, The Big Show and Kurt Angle on like a monthly basis. Maybe that’s the new plan moving forward, but I just don’t believe it, especially with CM Punk at the top of the card. The Best In The World went fifteen years between title reigns, and I have a hard time believing this one is only going to last about a month.

Besides, Punk has done the job at the last two WrestleManias. He is due for a high profile win at a big show, and I think he gets his moment here over Cody Rhodes. But what would that mean for Rhodes’ character? Well, I think this might be where we finally get his long-awaited heel turn. He’s still getting good crowd reactions, but I don’t think anyone would refer to his character as hot. In fact, I think he feels pretty safe right now, and a bold new direction could be a way to instill some fresh momentum. I’m thinking that’ll happen after he loses and then unexpectedly attacks Punk in a cowardly way as the show goes off the air.

Predicted Winner: CM Punk

Penta (Champion) vs Chad Gable For The Intercontinental Championship

This has to be Chad Gable’s moment, right? WWE fans were convinced the likeable former tag team star, who may be the best in-ring technician in the industry, was going to be the one to defeat Gunther and win the Intercontinental Championship back at WrestleMania 40. That didn’t happen. Triple H gave that moment to Sami Zayn. Months later, Gable got hot again amidst a heel turn and a feud with longtime friend Otis, but once again, WWE didn’t capitalize on the moment and it went nowhere. More recently, Gable refashioned himself as El Grande Americano and got super over in Mexico on the back of a program with his rival El Grande Americano.

On the back of all that good will and the years of missed opportunities, it feels like WWE needs to strike now. It feels like if they’re ever going to pull the trigger on Chad Gable, it needs to be at this SummerSlam in his hometown. Despite Penta’s continued popularity, I have to think they’re going to put Gable over and see how far he can run with the title.

Penta will be fine though. There are plenty of options. WWE can keep him at the top of the midcard and have some rematches with Chad Gable, maybe let the two swap the title back-and-forth for the rest of the year. That would be fun. They can also push him to the main event scene and let him go after one of the World Championships. He’s popular enough to do that. Or they can reunite him with his brother Rey Fenix and have the Lucha Bros dominate the tag scene. The future is very bright, even if he takes this L.

Predicted Winner: Chad Gable

Danhausen vs Dominik Mysterio

I don’t know what WWE is doing here. In my opinion, they’ve backed themselves into a cornerhausen. On the one hand, it seems weird to have Danhausen lose his most high profile match, given he’s hot right now and really breaking out into the mainstream of popular culture thanks to his affiliation with the Knicks. On the other hand, Judgment Day is supposed to be a respected stable that we take seriously. Should they really be losing a feud to a midcard comedy act?

No, they shouldn't be losing a feud to Danhausen. If I were booking the show, I'd actually play the long game and have Danhausen lose via some kind of shenanigans. Maybe he accidentally curses himself. Maybe he falls into his cloning machine and can't escape. Regardless, I'd have him take the L and then disappear from TV for a bit.

That would actually be a blessing in disguise. His most recent segment on Raw was, by far, the worst received since his debut, and he's starting to feel a little overexposed. Having him disappear for a month and then come back as a new and outrageous version of himself just as everyone starts missing him would be a masterstroke.

Is that going to happen though? No. WWE is going to have Danhausen win this match via some kind of comedic shenanigans, likely involving The Miz and Kit Wilson.

Predicted Winner: Danhausen

Finn Bálor vs Sami Zayn To Become #1 Contender To The WWE Championship

It’s been a rough few years for those of us in the Bálor Club. He’s done a lot of losing in big matches, but once again, we’ve found ourselves in a position where WWE has the option to take him to the next level. Sami Zayn’s heel character is mid crashout, and a loss here, especially under shady circumstances, could lead to additional character growth for both men, as it would make Sami crazier and give Bálor a signature win at a big event and continue his momentum.

I bet there have been four or five instances in these predictions where i’ve said, ‘I know Finn always loses matches like this, but…’ I'm not going to do that again. There's also a case for Zayn winning, and that's a program with CM Punk makes a lot of sense. The two have at least partly connected in the recent storyline that led to Punk winning the belt, and it would make logical sense for Zayn to get his chance to earn the belt back.

Predicted Winner: Finn Bálor

Trick Williams (Champion) vs Baron Corbin For The United States Championship

I’m stoked Baron Corbin is back in WWE. I loved how hard he committed to the Sad Corbin character arc back in the day, and I think the midcard could use someone with his personality. Big thumbs up on Triple H and company signing him again after he was surprisingly released a few years ago.

That being said, Trick Williams is almost certainly going to retain here. He’s still really over with the crowd, and there just hasn’t been enough of a real build here to be taking the title off of him. Plus, we haven’t gotten a proper Carmelo Hayes feud yet over the title. That’s what WWE has been teasing, and that’s what we all want to see.

Predicted Winner: Trick Williams

Tiffany Stratton vs Charlotte Flair vs Jade Cargill vs Chelsea Green vs Lash Legend/ Giulia For The Interim WWE Women’s Championship

With Rhea Ripley injured and out for an unknown period of time, WWE has decided to crown an interim champion, rather than make her vacate the belt. Not all of the participants have been locked in yet, but in my opinion, there are really only two worth discussing as viable winners.

Tiffy Time will be the hometown crowd favorite, but she’s already the United States Champion and not over enough to be simultaneously holding two championships. Chelsea Green is mega over with the crowd and still crushing the midcard, but I don’t think WWE sees her on this level. Nothing about the booking of either Lash or Giulia indicates they would get consideration here; so, I'll rule them out too.

That leaves Charlotte Flair and Jade Cargill, who have mostly been feuding with each other. Cargill’s presentation has really clicked in since WWE added B-Fab and Michin to her entourage, and I think she’s doing the best in-ring work of her career. Rewarding her with a championship would acknowledge the improvement and put the belt around someone who looks and feels like a star.

Charlotte, however, is Charlotte Flair, and WWE has never had a problem giving her gold in the past. She’s more over right now, thanks to her work with Alexa Bliss, than she has been in a long time, and it would also make sense to pay that off by letting her win this match.

My guess is WWE goes with Charlotte, specifically because the winner of the title is going to face Rhea when she gets back, and we’ve gotten a lot of Jade and Rhea over the past few months. We’ll see though.

Predicted Winner: Charlotte Flair

Roman Reigns (Champion) vs Seth Rollins For The World Heavyweight Championship

Roman Reigns’ Tribal Chief run as WWE Champion is typically thought of as the best and most popular era of WWE programming since probably the late 90s and early 00s. It’s not a surprise that WWE has reassembled the Bloodline and installed Reigns as champion again, and at this point, it’s hard to imagine them bailing on the run so quickly.

It also feels unlikely Seth Rollins would be the person to overthrow him. Yes, the two have an incredible amount of history together. Yes, they’ve done some nice promo work ahead of this match, but it’s not like they’re in the middle of some generational program we’ll remember for decades. If anything, it’s been a bit underwhelming, and it feels like when Roman finally loses the strap, it’s going to be because Jacob Fatu turned on him or it’s going to be to a rising megastar like Oba Femi.

My personal hope here is that Reigns finally, after many failed attempts, beats Rollins in clean and dominating fashion and uses that to springboard into being a cockier and even more dangerous version of the Tribal Chief.

Predicted Winner: Roman Reigns

If you needed another reminder of why WWE fans love Paige so much, the superstar offered it on social media last night. A fan reached out to talk about how good the recently returned former champion looked in her official render, but instead of just meekly accepting the praise, she hilariously roasted herself for going too hard on the lip filler.

Paige, of course, returned from a nine year absence earlier this year at WrestleMania to a thunderous ovation from the WWE faithful. She immediately won the Women’s Tag Team Championships alongside longtime friend Brie Bella, and the two just finished a roughly three month run with the straps.

Along the way, WWE updated their official website with a picture of the returning superstar, but according to Paige, it’s not one she would have chosen. It was taken awhile ago, and she can apparently tell because of how her face looks. Check out her hilarious response to the fan on X…

Paige definitely does not look goofy as hell in the render, but you can make up your own mind as to whether she was a little too aggressive with the lip filler. You can check out the official picture she’s referring to below…

During Paige’s first run in WWE, she was way ahead of most of the other women in the ring and really helped push the division forward. That’s part of why fans really fell in love with her, but the other part was because of how honest, direct and relatable she has always been. She opens her mouth and tells you exactly what she’s thinking, regardless of whether that involves dunking on herself. That openness is a really likeable quality in her, and it makes fans want to root for her.

We’ll all get another chance to root for Paige this coming weekend at SummerSlam. She’s teaming with Nikki and Brie Bella to take on Fatal Influence in the next round of the ongoing feud between the trios. The spot on the card has been well-deserved, as fans have gotten behind the program in a way that has benefitted both the legends and Jacy Jayne, Lainey Reid and Fallon Henley, who were all recently promoted from NXT and are finding their place as heels on the main roster.

Given how hard fans have been rooting for her, I have to imagine WWE will push Paige into a major singles program at some point, but until then, it’ll be fun to continue watching her team with the Bellas and quite clearly enjoy being in front of WWE crowds for the first time in nearly a decade.

You can check out SummerSlam on Saturday and Sunday this weekend. The show will stream for free with an ESPN Unlimited subscription in the States or a Netflix subscription worldwide.

What could have been. That’s what a lot of WWE fans are saying amidst rumors of what the original SummerSlam card was allegedly supposed to look like before Rhea Ripley got injured. The WWE Women’s Champion is officially missing what’s considered either the second or third biggest show of the year, and her absence apparently created a ripple effect that may have altered as many as three matches, one of which has people particularly worked up.

Let’s back up real quick and make sure we’re all on the same page. Rhea Ripley suffered a partially torn meniscus during her Clash In Italy match against Jade Cargill at the end of May. Because it wasn’t a full tear, WWE reportedly took a wait and see approach to figure out if the biggest star in the women’s division would be back for SummerSlam. If she healed up, the initial plan was allegedly for her to face either Alexa Bliss or rising star Jacy Jayne. Recently, however, they decided not to risk it and announced she would miss SummerSlam.

With Ripley unable to defend her title, WWE announced qualifying matches for a five-way ladder match to crown an Interim WWE Women’s Champion. We’re partially through those qualifiers right now, but we do know Tiffany Stratton and Jade Cargill are both in the match with three more slots left to be decided this week in the lead-up to the show. The thing is, if the rumors from Wrestlevotes and Fightful Select are to be believed, both Stratton and Cargill were scheduled for different matches at SummerSlam.

The first one is obvious. Cargill has been feuding pretty consistently with Charlotte Flair for quite a while. WWE has been teasing the two finally settling their differences, and it would have made all the sense in the world for them to have an official match at SummerSlam. It’s a shame we’re not going to see that, but fans aren’t super worked up about it because we’ll almost certainly get it at a big event in the future. Flair will likely be in the ladder match as well before it’s all said and done, and whatever happens there will only add more flavor to their clash whenever it happens.

Stratton’s match, however, feels like a much bigger loss. The plan was apparently for her to face incoming star Blake Monroe, who has only been seen in backstage segments and microphone work so far. Because Stratton is from the Minneapolis area and because there’s so much fan excitement to see Monroe actually get in the ring, the match would have been an opportunity to elevate the United States Women’s Championship, which Stratton currently holds and has been woefully underbooked. The belt wasn’t defended at WrestleMania, and there are a lot of fans who want to see it treated as a more important prize.

Many have taken to social media to complain about what’s going on with the United States Championship, and many have also expressed confusion as to why Stratton needed to be included in the ladder match at all. Obviously, given her popularity and roots in Minnesota, she was always going to appear on the card, but a lot of people, myself included, are confused about why WWE didn’t just keep her separated from the ladder match and move forward with the Blake Monroe stuff. Maybe they’re planning to let her win? Or maybe they just thought the hometown fans would be a little more invested in that match if she were in it?

Either way, it’s not a guarantee we’ll get back to the Stratton and Monroe stuff, and it’s very likely even if we do eventually get the tilt, fans won’t be as invested because it almost certainly won’t happen at a show as big as SummerSlam. That’s a missed opportunity, and it’ll go down as a big what-if, especially if Monroe ends up being as big of a star as we all hope.

WWE superstar Natalya got real about the time she ended up giving a naked wrestling lesson to Eve Torres, much to the latter's dismay. The longtime wrestler, and probably one of the most impactful women in wrestling still on the active roster, opened up about training her colleague, in what turned out to be a hilarious story.

As we wait to see what other stories the WWE cooks up for the 2026 TV schedule, Nattie was a guest on Brandi Rhodes' A Shot Of Brandi video. Rhodes, who worked as a WWE ring announcer years ago, brought up how Natalya often sat in the women's locker room completely naked. Nattie confirmed this was true and how it led to an awkward moment once when she was trying to teach a skill to Eve Torres:

It seems Nattie, the daughter of the late Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, had forgotten or wasn't thinking about how training another wrestler completely naked was a problem. It's a pretty goofy sight to imagine, and maybe an indication of just how comfortable people on the WWsE roster get with each other.

Natalya did comment on why she felt so comfortable being naked around her coworkers, rather than hanging out in street clothes or her wrestling gear. Ultimately, it just came down to confidence, and based on this comment, she has a lot of it:

Natalya, who has spent recent months in NXT after appearing in some Monday Night Raw feuds earlier in the year, might find herself back in front of audiences watching with a Netflix subscription soon enough. Nattie always seems to work her way into a title shot, but as one of the most veteran women on the roster, she's earned that.

I would love to see Nattie back on the main roster, as cool as it is that she can pop up and down from the developmentals and help work with the new generation of stars. I think there are stars like Jordynne Grace who could definitely use her guidance to improve their in-ring work, even if they're great from a technical standpoint.

The WWE is ripe for a shakeup, as it seems fans are beginning to complain about constantly seeing the same faces at the top of the company holding titles. Even with word that longtime veterans will be released, the roster remains far too strong to run the same matches month after month. Here's hoping the WWE is listening, and superstars like Nattie have more to do in the future here soon.

Monday Night Raw airs on Netflix on Mondays at 8:00 p.m. ET. As mentioned, Nattie is spending some time as of late appearing on NXT, which airs on The CW at 8:00 p.m. ET.

WWE fans have a lot of opinions about the product right now, and many of those are about who is being used and who is not being used. One of those not being used is Jordynne Grace. She was widely perceived to be a future star when she left TNA and signed with the Fed in early 2025, but a little more than a year later, she’s now consistently a healthy scratch from WWE programming. So, what’s going on? Fans on social media certainly want to know.

The outrage about Grace’s absence has steadily grown over the past few months. She was widely rumored to be earmarked for a triple threat match at WrestleMania with Giulia and Tiffany Stratton but then she suffered an ankle injury during a match on Main Event (which airs on YouTube in the US) back in March.

She recovered in time for the Showcase Of The Immortals, but the company decided not to use her or the other two women that were part of the planned triple threat on the final card. In the time since, both Giulia and Tiffany Stratton have been regular fixture on WWE programming, but Grace has, well, not been.

Here’s what the last few months have looked like. Grace returned from injury to wrestle a Main Event match on April 10th and defeated Zelina Vega. She then wrestled and lost to Tiffany Stratton in a SmackDown match that actually aired on TV on April 17th. She then lost a Main Event match to Lash Legend on April 24th. She wasn’t used in any official capacity for over a month until she returned on May 29th and won a Main Event match against Kiana James. That’s it. It’s now the middle of July, and it’s still crickets for someone who was considered a major free agent signing less than two years ago.

Reporter Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful has been asked about what’s going on pretty consistently, and over the last few months, he’s given some version of the same answer. She’s sometimes at TV tapings, but the creative team is just choosing not to use her right now. It’s allegedly not an injury. It’s allegedly not backstage heat. She’s just not currently factored into what they’re doing.

Now, obviously this sounds horrible on paper. It’s certainly a good sign any way you want to look at it, but not currently factored into creative plans doesn’t mean she’s not going to be factored into plans in the future. Sometimes the writing staff would rather sideline a character before they properly push them than feature them on television in boring segments or have them put over other people. Alexa Bliss, as an example, was repeatedly pushed aside for years before this most recent run where she’s caught lightning in a bottle opposite Charlotte Flair.

I still believe in Jordynne Grace, and to me, it would be crazy for Triple H, Bruce Prichard and the creative team to give up on her. My assumption is they’re waiting to reintroduce her in a moment where they can push her harder, but I think it’s also fair to acknowledge that something needs to change about her presentation.

She’s had glimmers of a crowd connection. She’s looked great in multiple Royal Rumbles, but she’s not getting as strong of crowd reactions as you’d hope. Maybe she needs a manager. Maybe she needs a more story-driven plot. I don’t know exactly what it is, but she needs to be re-introduced in a fresh way when she does return.

Fingers crossed that return happens sooner rather than later. The midcard is desperate for some hot storylines, and there’s every reason to think she could be a part of one. Then, if that goes over well, we can start working toward Grace fulfilling that World Championship potential we all know she has.

Amidst news that Sheamus is on his way out of the WWE, his longtime friend and former tag team partner Claudio Castagnoli is speaking out. The wrestler, formerly known as "Cesaro," weighed in on his buddy joining AEW and ultimately balked at sharing what he knows about the situation.

The "Swiss Superman" spoke to the Daily Star about a litany of things related to AEW, and of course, was asked whether we'll see Sheamus make his debut in Tony Khan's company at some point in the 2026 TV schedule. As mentioned, he shied away from a direct response, but explained why he didn't want to answer:

Castagnoli would sooner let Sheamus answer questions about his future, but made it clear he's all about working with friends in AEW. No doubt there are wrestling fans who want to see their five-time championship winning tag-team The Bar reunite, and light the pro wrestling world on fire once again.

I'm not surprised to hear that Claudio Castagnoli would like to work with Sheamus again, as they've been publicly seen together at events outside of wrestling over the years. The wrestler added that they've joked about their retirement plan being to attend referee classes for soccer and ultimately join the VAR team for big matches.

For those who don't remember The Bar, part of the tag-team's appeal was how it took two superstars who already thrived as singles competitors and made them a competent pair in the ring. Sheamus and Cesaro's style as singles competitors clashed a great deal, but they found a way to make it gel in The Bar that got over with fans in a big way.

All this to say, we don't know where Sheamus is leaning, and if he's interested in joining AEW after spending the bulk of his career in the WWE. The wrestling over there is a lot more extreme, and may be a bit of a culture shock for a guy who's spent the bulk of his development on the more sanitized WWE product.

I can't imagine Sheamus doing daring moves and cutting other wrestlers open, but I think that's what makes me so excited about the prospect of him jumping to AEW. We can always revisit his litany of "bangers" with a Netflix subscription, but what a rare opportunity it'd be to see a legend in the game reinvent himself in a more daring federation.

We'll see what Sheamus ultimately decides to do. Who knows, he may return to acting, lest we forget his role way back in the day in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2.

The WWE has been big on pursuing moments for a while, but nothing was more egregious than what wrestling fans just witnessed these past couple of weeks. Sami Zayn won his first WWE championship in Saudi Arabia, which made for a truly unexpected and exciting twist for the company. Not long after, he almost immediately dropped it to CM Punk in his first Monday Night Raw back in a while in front of his hometown crowd in Chicago.

I should've been thrilled for both, as a longtime Zayn fan and someone who feels Punk is having one of the best runs of his career. Instead, however, I felt empty, and like I noticed the WWE jingling car keys in my face. They gave Sami the belt in Saudi Arabia because of the pop, and they did the same to Punk because, again, the pop would create a big viral moment. To me, it seems the company is more than happy to chase the easiest pop to achieve, rather than work toward long and sustained storytelling, and that's a problem.

The WWE Is Way More Concerned With Chasing Moments Than Storytelling

While some wrestling fans assumed Sami Zayn would always be the sacrificial lamb to one of the main event stars, I don't think anyone predicted his title reign would last under two weeks. Unfortunately, I feel conditioned to that more than ever, as it seems like the wrestling company is all over the place here lately and throwing twist after twist at the wall with what feels like zero plan for what comes next.

Creating memorable moments is important, but the level and length in which the WWE has gone in the past couple of years to create them is excessive. It seems the goal is to send the fans home happy and feeling like they witnessed something spectacular. It also shows the people who didn't go what they missed out on, and maybe a prod to encourage them to buy a ticket next time around.

Ok, so what's the big deal? Why would I demonize the WWE for wanting to make fans happy and like they got value out of their tickets? Truthfully, I had to think about that myself over the past year and why it bugged me, and then it hit me after I saw Zayn drop the title with my Netflix subscription.

Creating Moments Is Fun, But It Doesn't Sustain Fans For Long

The WWE has these great ideas or pitches for moments that create a spectacle, but the idea is almost always half-baked. Take Seth Rollins with the masked men, and how increasingly stupid that bit got, to where it became Rollins in the ring with several masked men? It made zero sense, and that's largely because the idea probably came about because someone pitched how wild it would be to see multiple masked men in a ring.

Perhaps worse than half-baked, the WWE is sometimes outright deceptive with its moments, allowing fans to believe something like The Rock showing up at an event means he'll be at an upcoming PLE on the 2026 TV schedule. Remember that, and then after people were gobsmacked that The Rock didn't show up at WrestleMania, he was forced to admit he did it as a personal favor to TKO to help boost ticket sales?

I don't fault the WWE for trying to boost ticket sales. It is, after all, their job. I do fault the WWE for going about it in what feels like the laziest way possible, chasing viral moments and pops in exchange for competent storytelling and feuds that will stand the test of time and be remembered longer than the end of the year. Will people remember Sami Zayn's championship at the end of this year? Probably, but not because of how special it was.

I'm hoping to see some better long-term storytelling out of the WWE as this year continues, and ultimately hoping I eat crow and Sami and Punk have some mega feud that rivals what we saw with him and Drew McIntyre back in 2024.

It seems that Nia Jax has a good sense of humor when it comes to one aspect of her personal life. Just recently, a tweet hit the web and went viral for showing just how far Jax has come in regard to her weight loss journey. As the WWE superstar continues to try to find her way back to the top of the roster in her latest run, she's joking about how she looked in her earlier years with the company.

As the WWE continues its programming through the 2026 TV schedule, Jax took the time to directly respond to the viral X post. Said post showed a before-and-after photo of her weight loss journey. Here's what she had to say about her before photo, and all the weight she's since dropped:

That sense of humor has always been a part of Jax's personality but maybe something the WWE fans didn't appreciate outside that one butt joke she made. Fortunately, this second run has been so much better for the wrestler, and she should be applauded for all the hard work she's putting in.

Nia Jax has become a solid player in the women's main event scene, and who could've seen that coming when she made her big return after some time away? The plus-size model-turned-professional wrestler faced a ton of scrutiny in her first stint. She even earned a reputation for being an "unsafe worker" and not being trained well enough for professional wrestling.

Fortunately, the women of the locker room were quick to defend Jax and didn't seem to buy into the social media-birthed narrative about her abilities. Of course, Jax also deserves some credit in this return, as she talked about the amount of training she did to become a better wrestler in addition to her dietary changes. She's transformed into someone who may eventually be seen as one of modern wrestling's most impactful women.

Nia Jax and Lash Legend's return to SmackDown seemingly marks the start of another big storyline that'll possibly pit them against Tiffany Stratton and Chelsea Green. I loved when Stratton and Jax had their big feud a while back and would love to see some of that energy again as they go after tag titles and the United States Championship. The sky's the limit for what's on the table for the rest of this year as far as I'm concerned. I just hope the WWE knows what they have in this feud and gets some memorable moments out of it.

All in all, though, I love seeing Jax back in the WWE, and I'm glad she's feeling good and able to laugh off any comments about her physical transformation. For the time being, it seems like readers will be able to catch her on SmackDown on USA on Fridays at 8:00 p.m. ET. SmackDown is slowly becoming the superior show to Monday Night Raw in my book, but we'll see if that continues to be the case as the year goes on.

John Cena may be retired from professional wrestling, but his WWE career will forever stick with him due to one ongoing joke. It's come up while making Peacemaker and now, even during the press tour for his latest movie, Little Brother, which is available with a Netflix subscription. A number of fans like to pretend Cena is invisible and think they're oh so clever riffing on his classic line, "You can't see me." Now, Cena is sharing just how often he still hears the joke.

John Cena Tried To Approximate How Many Times He's Read Jokes About Being Invisible

That line was Cena's signature phrase in the WWE, with the implication that Cena was so good at professional wrestling, his opponents just weren't on the same level. Eric Andre, Cena's Little Brother co-star, brought up the topic during an interview with Esquire, and was curious just how many times his faux sibling had to hear a joke tied to "You can't see me." Cena balked at giving a daily amount but said he'd done the math before and thinks he landed at a number at how often he'd hear it on a yearly basis:

That number may feel low but, if someone were to break that down into a daily number, that's in the ballpark of 274 jokes a day. Honestly, if you factor in the people he meets on a daily basis and all the comments left on his various social media accounts, Cena might be pretty on the nose with that guess!

I can imagine that Eric Andre can relate on some level, as he's someone who's associated with chaos and wild stunts. While he embraces that in Little Brother and his other work, I totally get how it would wear someone down to constantly deal with that.

John Cena's Comment Became A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy In The Comment Section

In fairness, John Cena poked the bear by acknowledging the comment section ahead of the video's release. That opened the door for users to troll him, and they did just that with plenty of takes:

• Why are there three people sitting around a table talking about John Cena? - brandondemchak
• Lmaoooo @ only three glasses of water on the table 🤣 🥛🥛🥛 - lourestudios
• Could have at least invited John Cena to the show 🤷🏻‍♂️ - phrygian
• Weird format. Everyone talking to an empty chair? I don’t understand. -jpolicastro81
• I don’t get it. Why do a podcast on camera with a voiceover? 🤔 - dadlifejason
• Can someone explain why the camera keeps cutting to a bookcase - javedlendlsterritt
• Why is Eric Andre asking a chair questions? - danielappelman

There are over 4,800 comments on the post, and many of them are making more or less the same joke. We're only halfway through the 2026 TV schedule, so there's still ample opportunity for people to make more jokes related to John Cena being invisible.

Cena is a master of social media, for what it's worth, and knows how to stir the masses and get engagement rolling. His cryptic Instagram page always has people speculating about what he's trying to say or convey by sharing a given post. Plus, it's not like people actually believe he's invisible, or I'm one of the treasured few in this world who can see "The Champ" with my own eyes.

Little Brother is available to stream on Netflix right now. Check it out and laugh a bit. And, while you're at it, maybe lay off the jokes at John Cena's expense just to give the poor guy a break.

It's being widely reported that Sheamus' days in the WWE are coming to an end. The Celtic Warrior, who's been part of the pro wrestling organization for nearly twenty years, may not be set to return to the 2026 TV schedule after all, as his contract is set to expire with no extention agreements in place.

For WWE fans not religiously watching Monday Night Raw with their Netflix subscription, Sheamus has been off television with an injury since November of 2026. Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com reported the organization approached him with a restructured contract, which has reportedly been happening to many veteran superstars. It looks like he'll join The New Day in opting out of whatever was offered, and will reportedly depart the company once his time is up. As a longtime fan of his, I have to wonder what his next move will be.

Will Sheamus Head To A Rival Pro Wrestling Organization, Or Retire?

Sheamus is another top name in WWE, and while he's stayed in the midcard in recent years, he's proven many times over to be a capable main-event talent. Despite this latest injury, he's managed to be a pretty consistent performer throughout the years, and if there's interest from any other organization in the wrestling world, he can still go as well as any other veteran in the industry.

It has me thinking back to Edge's retirement match, which ended up just being the last match Adam Copeland did in WWE before hopping over to AEW. Now, his final WWE opponent and close friend, Sheamus, is set to leave the company, and I think there's a chance Tony Khan and company might bite and offer him an opportunity to make a splash in their company. If not them, I'm sure many other federations would love to have The Celtic Warrior in their lineup, assuming he's willing to join.

The million-dollar question is whether Sheamus is thinking about continuing his wrestling career, or the 48-year-old is thinking of hanging up his boots. While we've seen wrestlers have their final match long after that age, more modern superstars like John Cena, AJ Styles, and even current superstars like Randy Orton and CM Punk seem to think the late 40s to age 50 is the perfect retirement age in pro wrestling. Sheamus signaled on X last year that he had no plans of retiring, but was he speaking as his actual self, or his character?

I'd Love To See Sheamus Wrestle Elsewhere

Personally, I'd prefer to see Sheamus wrestle in another organization. He's been putting on "Banger after banger" in recent years, and I don't see him stopping anytime soon. Also, he has one of those rare attributes as a character wrestler in which he seems to gel with just about any angle he's given, making him flexible for any wrestling roster looking to shake things up.

I think Sheamus could retire and still be remembered as one of the greats of professional wrestling, but I think it'd be a missed opportunity. We've been blessed with close to two decades of seeing what he's like under the WWE umbrella, and now we have a rare opportunity to see what he could do without.

Of course, there are no guarantees Sheamus is gone for good. It's possible he could be back with the WWE after some time away, or maybe the company will come back to him with a better contract offer he'll accept. We've seen Sheamus struggle with WWE over these issues in the past, and last time it worked out in his favor. Could it work out again for him this time around, and he'll get to stay?

I guess we'll see and wait for more updates on what's to become of Sheamus in the WWE. Monday Night Raw airs on Netflix on Mondays at 8:00 p.m. ET, though I wouldn't tune in expecting an update on Sheamus.

Sami Zayn may have turned heel prior to his first WWE Championship win, but the outpouring of support from fans and fellow wrestlers feels a lot closer to that of a babyface. The beloved midcarder who has consistently done great work, no matter how much time he’s been given, has gotten a steady stream of tributes and positive social posts since the moment he finally won a world championship. Apparently, he got a couple of fun surprises backstage too.

WWE dropped a behind the scenes video yesterday of his longtime friend Becky Lynch surprising Zayn with a visit from his BFF Kevin Owens. Owens has, of course, been off WWE television and mostly absent from the lockerroom for more than a year after he sustained a potentially career-threatening neck injury, but no one was going to keep him from an opportunity to celebrate with his friend. Check out the video…

That video has gotten more than three hundred thousand likes on Instagram alone, and it’s also blowing up on other social media accounts. It’s not difficult to understand why either. Zayn is one of the most well-liked and respected guys in the entire business. He’s a selfless worker who has continually gotten other people over and sometimes lessened himself within storylines for the benefit of other people. He lost world championship matches over and over again, and it was widely assumed WWE would never reward him with the big belt.

I’m definitely not of the opinion that everyone deserves a moment with the big title. It needs to mean something to hold the WWE Championship, and because of that, not everyone should have the chance to hold it. The exclusivity is why it matters, but the entire point of wrestling, at least from my vantage point, is to get over and make a connection with the crowd. The goal is to make people care and generate intense crowd reactions, and Zayn has been making crowds pop for more than a decade. He earned this moment, and from a storyline perspective, his surprise win has made WWE feel more unpredictable and more interesting than it has in months.

I have no idea how long Zayn is actually going to hold the belt. The initial rumors that he was going to be a brief transition champion and drop the strap to Brock Lesnar ahead of his match with Obi Femi proved unfounded. It seems like he is going to go into SummerSlam with the title, and he may even walk out of it with the title. Personally, I hope he does. He doesn’t need a Roman Reigns type run at the top of the card, but if he’s at least given time to do something interesting with his run, it should be a lot of fun.

Sami Zayn finally won his world championship. After more than a decade of consistently being one of the best side characters on WWE programming, Triple H and the writers unexpectedly gave him his moment. The former indie darling turned NXT favorite turned midcard standout turned Bloodline comedic relief turned last real good guy pinned Cody Rhodes last night in Saudi Arabia to become the WWE Champion. The moment received a raucous ovation from the Night Of Champions crowd, but if fans on social are to be believed, his reign probably isn’t going to last long.

To be clear, that’s not to say fans weren’t celebrating loudly. They were. Those of us who have followed his career for a long time were hammering the like button on so many celebratory tweets and fun career montages, as well as tribute posts from current and former wrestlers. It was a triumphant night for someone who deserved his flowers, but at the same time, people were also fantasy casting his demise.

It’s both a problem of timing and circumstance. We’re a little more than a month away from SummerSlam, which is (arguably) WWE’s second most important premium live event of the year after WrestleMania. Typically, whoever holds the WWE Championship wrestles in the main event of one of the two nights of the show, but fans are skeptical that WWE has enough confidence in Zayn to have him main event. He’s very popular amongst hardcore wrestling fans, but he’s not historically been someone the company has put on billboards to try and sell tickets, at least apart from his Elimination Chamber match against Roman Reigns when he left the Bloodline.

Consequently, one of two things is happening. Either WWE has reevaluated and decided they want to push Zayn as a proper main event guy heading into one of their biggest shows of the year, or there’s a larger plan that’s going to see him lose the belt before SummerSlam. I could honestly see either scenario playing out, but many fans are convinced it’s going to be option two, which will likely involve Brock Lesnar.

This is about to get really complicated, but I promise this theory makes logical sense. Oba Femi, who WWE is treating like the company’s next big star, just won the King Of The Ring tournament. That gives him the right to face a world champion of his choice at SummerSlam. Right now, his options are World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns or the recently anointed WWE Champion Sami Zayn. He’s been talking a little smack about Roman Reigns in recent weeks, but he’s been talking a lot more smack about Brock Lesnar, who he has been locked into a separate feud with for months.

Most fans wanted to see Femi win the King Of The Ring tournament, but many were skeptical he actually would because rumors have been swirling that WWE’s plan was to have him wrestle Lesnar at SummerSlam to finally put an end to their feud. If he were to face one of the World Champions and Lesnar, that would mean he would need to wrestle twice, unless, of course, Lesnar was one of those World Champions. That didn’t seem like a real possibility when the title holders were Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns, but now that the belt is on Sami Zayn, some fans think it’s likely. Here’s an example of what I’m seeing on social media…

It’s definitely not just the above tweet either. Many plugged-in fans are being pretty vocal about the same exact theory. WWE has a Saturday Night’s Main Event coming up at Madison Square Garden, and the prevailing theory going around is that Lesnar will likely end up wrestling Zayn for the WWE Championship at that event. None of that has been announced, of course, but no one loves predicting the future like wrestling fans.

So, is it going to happen like that? I don’t know. I think there’s definitely a strong chance it will. If this were another time of the year, I’d expect Zayn to get a few months of run with the WWE Championship so he could properly celebrate, but I’m not convinced they’re going to let him carry it into SummerSlam for the same reason I didn't think he had a realistic chance of winning last night. He would be a huge underdog against Oba Femi if that’s the route they went, and I’m not sure fans are really clamoring to see him wrestle another match against Cody Rhodes, given we’ve been down that road plenty over the past few months.

Regardless, winning the WWE Championship is a huge deal, whether you hold the belt for five years or five minutes. Hall of Famers like Kane and Rey Mysterio only had one run each with the WWE Championship, and neither one even last two days. I’m sure they would have preferred longer runs, but what’s more important is they got a chance to be part of that exclusive club of WWE Champions. Now Sami Zayn is forever a member, and I couldn’t be happier for him, whether he’s about to lose the belt to Lesnar or not.

WWE is giving us six matches this weekend at Night Of Champions, and upon first glance, the card seems pretty good. Roman Reigns isn’t working the event, nor is CM Punk or Rhea Ripley, but plenty of other big names are involved including Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins, Bron Breakker, Gunther, Oba Femi, Liv Morgan, Iyo Sky, Jade Cargill and Yeet Man Jey Uso. There’s enough here for a really fun second tier premium live event. That being said, something feels off.

If six matches sounds like a lot, it’s probably because it is, at least for Triple H. Vince McMahon loved getting a high volume of wrestlers on the card. He’d think nothing of booking seven or eight matches at a random Backlash. Thanks to an increase in commercials and changes in booking philosophy, however, we almost always get five matches now. In fact, you have to go all the way back to Evolution in July of 2025 to find a non-Mania, non-SummerSlam card with more than five matches, and the Evolution thing was clearly because Triple H wanted to get as many women on the card as possible since it was a special event.

So, what does that mean from a practical standpoint? There are a few options. It could mean one of these matches is going to be a squash or some kind of double DQ or goofy ending that’s over quickly. It could mean a couple of these matches are just going to have a few minutes shaved off to accommodate adding another one. Or it could mean we’re going to get a longer premium live event that we’re normally used to seeing. I’m not really sure, but it’s something to look out for.

Regardless, there’s a lot to talk about here. I expect we’ll see at least one title change, maybe two, and I have some big thoughts about what WWE should do with rising mega-star Oba Femi, who is in the King Of The Ring finals. Before we get to that though, here’s a quick look at how my predictions have been going. I’ve made guesses for every PLE since WrestleMania 38, and let’s just say my winning percentage is a little higher than Bayley and Lyra Valkyria as a tag team…

Jey Uso vs Oba Femi In The Finals Of The King Of The Ring Tournament

Oba Femi is not going to lose a straight up match to Jey Uso. As hard as WWE might want to push the Yeet Man, he’s not beating Oba straight up. They let him kick out of about six Brock Lesnar finishing moves and a sneak attack before his last defeat. He’s not losing clean to Jey Uso, but it’s unclear whether we’re actually going to get a clean match here.

WWE is being really obvious that we’re going to get Brock Lesnar vs Oba Femi III at some point, probably as Lesnar’s retirement match, and rumors have been claiming for months that it’s going to happen at SummerSlam. The winner of the King Of The Ring tournament is going to face one of the WWE World Champions at SummerSlam. So, if Oba wins, that means the Lesnar match either isn’t happening at SummerSlam or he’s wrestling twice.

I don’t know. If it were me, I’d push Oba to the moon. He has the potential to be the biggest new WWE star in a long time, but I just have this feeling that Lesnar is going to show up and cost Oba, paving the way for Uso and Cody Rhodes at SummerSlam. This could really go either way, but because I’m so confident that the right storyline move here is to push Oba as hard as possible, I’m going to choose him. And not only am I going to choose him, I’m going to make a bold prediction. I think he wins King Of The Ring, retires Brock Lesnar and beats Roman Reigns to win the World Heavyweight Championship.

Predicted Winner: Oba Femi

Iyo Sky vs Liv Morgan In The Finals Of The Queen Of The Ring Tournament

What is WWE doing here? They’ve left themselves with two bad options. If Liv Morgan wins, it’ll set up a match to unify the Women’s World Championships at SummerSlam, presumably with Rhea Ripley if she’s not hurt. That sounds appealing, but I don’t really get why WWE would want to unify the championships when there’s a ton of main event level women right now who need big prizes to wrestle for. Besides, as much as I love Liv Morgan, she’s not exactly the sort of Roman Reigns or Hulk Hogan-type generational talent who would ordinarily do something so massive. Maybe Rhea Ripley is, but if she was going to be the one to unify the belts, it should probably be her quest, not something Liv does all the work to set up.

Then again, if Iyo Sky wins, we’re probably just going to turn around and run Liv and Iyo back at SummerSlam. That’s a great match, but it’s odd to make one of your marquee matchups at SummerSlam a rematch we just saw. Iyo could, of course, always win Queen Of The Ring and then challenge Rhea Ripley, but it feels like the breakdown of their friendship would warrant a much longer storybuild than that.

I don’t know. It’s been kind of fun watching Morgan brag about how she’s going to unify the belts, but I still don’t understand how this entire pitch got approved to start with.

Predicted Winner: Iyo Sky

Trick Williams (Champ) Vs Ricky Saints For The United States Championship

Unlike those first two matches, this one is really simple. Ricky Saints has a ton of potential and his crowd reactions are improving. He’s not, however, particularly over with the crowd. He’s certainly not over enough to be winning championships, and he’s nowhere even close to over enough to be beating Trick Williams, who is one of the most popular superstars in the company.

The goal here for Saints is to work a good match and continue to endear himself to the fans. The more he shines in the ring and perfects his character work, the more likely it is that he’ll become over enough to be a real threat to Trick Williams or whoever else down the road. Until then, he can, to paraphrase Trick, step aside while grown folks are talking.

Predicted Winner: Trick Williams

Seth Rollins vs Bron Breakker In A Steel Cage

I was kind of leaning toward Seth Rollins winning this match until Monday Night Raw this week. During the episode, Rollins interfered in Breakker and Austin Theory’s tag team title match against the Street Profits and cost the team their belts. Since I think this collective feud is going to continue long-term, that makes it more likely Breakker is going to win this match so the score stays relatively close.

I also think there’s a chance we’re finally going to see the return of Bronson Reed, who has been out for months with an injury. He could tip the scales back in the Vision’s favor after Logan Paul’s unfortunate injury and maybe set up a six man tag between Rollins and the Street Profits and Breakker, Theory and Reed.

Predicted Winner: Bron Breakker

Cody Rhodes (Champion) vs Gunther vs Sami Zayn for the WWE Championship

After Gunther retired AJ Styles and John Cena, I thought there was a legitimate chance he might not lose a single match in 2026. I thought he would just mow down every single person put in front of him. Instead, he just keeps losing. He lost to Cody Rhodes. Then he lost to Cody Rhodes again. Most people think he’s about to lose to Rhodes and Zayn for the third time at Night Of Champions.

Personally, I just can’t believe that. I can’t believe WWE would take the dude who has been the most unstoppable monster for the last several years and give him three straight Ls to Cody Rhodes (even if each one has been heavily protected). The long-term damage to Gunther’s aura would take way too long to recover.

Unfortunately, WWE isn’t making the most logical choices right now. I’m confident Sami Zayn is not going to win so he can continue his heel turn, but Cody Rhodes is certainly in play here. He’s already beaten Gunther twice, and WWE has repeatedly shown that it prefers to keep its main belts on its biggest stars. They may just keep the belt on Cody again and make us all wonder what the entire point of this feud with Gunther was.

Whenever I'm stuck between two outcomes, I always go with the one I think helps the characters most in the long run. For me, that's Gunther winning here.

Predicted Winner: Gunther

Tiffany Stratton (Champ) vs Jade Cargill For The Women’s United States Championship

I’m a big believer that more often than not, if you want to keep someone’s momentum going, you need to support that progress with wins. I’d argue Jade Cargill is doing the best work of her WWE career right now. Her faction with B-Fab and Michin allows a bit of the mic pressure to be taken off her, and the visual of the three together just fits. It lets Jade focus on being a monster.

With questions lingering about Rhea Ripley’s injury status, I think Triple H and company need to pull the trigger here and just let Jade run with the United States Championship for awhile. I’d like to see her stack up victories for awhile and remind everyone that she’s Jade Cargill. Sometimes it’s better to see someone dominate the midcard than continually take losses in the main event. Just ask LA Knight.

I wouldn’t write off Stratton off though. She’s been stuck in the mud for awhile, but she’s still pretty over with the crowd. She won’t beat Cargill clean, but there’s definitely a chance that Charlotte Flair could get involved, as she’s been feuding with Cargill’s faction. That might set up a match between the two at SummerSlam, but if it were me, I’d just have that match be for the United States Championship.

Predicted Winner: Jade Cargill

At this point, the Mysterio family has a solid presence within the world of professional wrestling and, now, it looks like that's going to expand. Rey's daughter may be the next member of the brood to join the WWE. The news comes from the masked legend himself, as he revealed that Aalyah Mysterio is now working out at the WWE Performance Center to become a professional wrestler, which makes me excited

Rey was recently a guest on The Undertaker's Six Feet Under podcast, where he broke the news that we may soon have another Mysterio to hiss at while they're in the ring. Right now, it doesn't seem like Aalyah will be making her main roster debut during the 2026 TV schedule, but she's committed to training, based on the sentiments shared by her famous father:

The luchador, who's feuded with his own son in recent years, may now have some backup or an added enemy depending on which direction Aalyah goes. She may have less of an ax to grind with her dad, given he never had to have a paternity match with her custody on the line.

WrestleMania 41 served as the backdrop for that aforementioned event and, while Aalyah seemed committed, Rey didn't want her going all-in until she completed her schooling. She graduated from the University of California San Diego last July with a degree in Human Biology, and she presented her diploma to her father. Rey continued the story below:

I'm excited to see what becomes of Aalyah in the WWE, as the children of wrestling legends have performed to mixed results in the wrestling business. Some of the WWE's biggest names like The Rock, Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton, and Charlotte Flair are kids of pro wrestlers who've found immense success in the wrestling profession.

Nothing is guaranteed in this business, of course. Dwayne Johnson's daughter, Simone, joined NXT as Ava Raine and ended up exiting before ever making a splash on the main roster. Other notable examples include Richie Steamboat, Noelle Foley, and David Flair, just to name a few.

If Aalyah makes her debut in NXT, I wonder if she'll go for the luchador persona or something more like Dominik's look. The WWE has struggled with luchadors in the past, though I think Penta's immense popularity and other notables like Axiom and Dragon Lee now may be the time to add another.

Then again, Judgment Day is always looking for new members. Depending on how quickly Aalyah is progressing, she could always join the faction and have the perfect mentors in Liv Morgan, Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez. Not to mention her older brother is there so, provided she doesn't have a chip on her shoulder about getting help from family, it'd be a perfect fit!

For now, we'll just keep an ear out for how Aalyah is doing at the WWE Performance Center and, if she is getting close to a TV debut sometime in the near future. I'm hoping the answer is yes, considering her dad just put the spotlight on her during a podcast, but we'll see!

Logan Paul is feeling humbled following his injury on Saturday Night's Main Event, which left him with a torn tricep and out of action in the WWE for the foreseeable future. The WWE superstar revealed recently that it reminded him that he roasted CM Punk for the same injury in a promo, and now that he understands what it's like, he regrets it.

CM Punk was out of commission in the WWE for a while in 2024 when he tore his tricep, and it ultimately kept him out of WrestleMania that year. It was a heartbreaking moment for the superstar, who has since gotten his dream of main eventing the biggest wrestling show on Earth. Logan Paul cut a promo mocking the superstar while he was out, but on Impaulsive, he admitted he didn't realize just how painful a tricep injury was:

Paul's injury, which occurred during his tag-team title match against the Street Profits on Saturday Night's Main Event, could take up to six months to fully heal. I guess after he and Austin Theory kept The Vision on television once Seth Rollins, Bronson Reed, and Bron Breakker were out with injuries, it was only a matter of time before this happened.

If he's out for the entire six months, Logan Paul will almost certainly miss SummerSlam and the rest of the events planned for 2026. It'll set him up for a big return at the Royal Rumble, though, which puts him right back in the mix for a big moment come WrestleMania 43 in Saudi Arabia.

Despite that, Logan Paul assured listeners during Impaulsive that he wanted to return as quickly as possible, which sounds on brand for the internet celebrity-turned WWE superstar. While there were doubts from some about how seriously he'd take his bid as a pro wrestler when he signed a full-time contract, he's lived up to the moment every time his number was called for a big moment. It used to feel wild to even speculate he'd be in contention for a WWE Championship reign, but as he continues to climb the ranks, I do wonder if creatives backstage want him to hold the top title for a bit.

As for CM Punk, he's been on an indefinite hiatus from WWE following his loss to Roman Reigns at WrestleMania. The wrestling world continues to wait for his big return, however, and whatever time the company needs to fill with Paul's injury, we know Punk can cut a promo or two to help fill it.

Here's hoping the rest of 2026 is injury-free for WWE superstars, and we can get through the rest of the year without any more big names sidelined as more PLEs approach on the horizon.

Earlier this month, I did my predictions for Backlash and got every single match correct. Ordinarily, that’s the sort of thing I’d jump on here and brag about Ethan Page style, but to be honest, it didn’t exactly take a Paul Heyman spoiler alert to make that happen. The Backlash card featured five matches with pretty obvious outcomes. There was no world in which red hot characters like Trick Williams and Danhausen were losing. The same cannot be said for Clash In Italy.

There is not a single match on the Clash In Italy card that I’m one hundred percent certain on, and four of the five feel like they could legitimately go either way. There’s real intrigue here, and that’s particularly exciting because it’s not exactly like we’re getting a bunch of midcard clashes. We’ve got three World Championships on the line, and the other two matches are Brock Lesnar vs Oba Femi and Becky Lynch vs Sol Ruca. We’re all gonna need to use the bathroom during those prolonged ESPN commercials because it’ll be a risk missing any of the in-ring action.

I also think there’s a chance we see at least one of those World Championships change hands, which is not something we often see outside of the major PLEs. From where I’m sitting, you could make a strong case that both Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns are in big danger, and I’m actually going to predict one of them is going to lose the title. I also think we’re going to see a big return. It should be an epic night.

Before I get into specifics though, you can take a look at my predictions record. My big 5-0 at Backlash helped push my win total even higher, but I’m a little nervous about how this is going to go. I’ve done predictions for every PLE since WrestleMania 38, and I can’t remember many with this many outcomes in doubt.

Rhea Ripley (Champion) Vs Jade Cargill For The WWE Women’s Championship

This is definitely the match I’m the most confident about. I think Rhea Ripley is going to retain here, but I want to shoutout Jade Cargill for a minute. She gave us her best match in WWE at WrestleMania, and the six woman tag she was a part of at Saturday Night’s Main Event was also terrific. She’s really coming into her own, and I really like the pairing with Michin and B Fab. For the first time in a long time, her character is really making sense to me. I’m back in and buying as much Jade Cargill stock as I can.

The problem for her right now is WWE is clearly working toward Rhea Ripley and Charlotte Flair. They’ve been giving us a lot of story around their shaky friendship, and it feels like the two are going to finally settle things at SummerSlam. That inevitable match makes a lot more sense if Rhea has the title and Charlotte is chasing after it. So, I think it’s very likely Rhea is going to retain.

If and when that happens, however, WWE needs to figure out something compelling for Jade to do. Maybe it’s worth moving her to Raw and having her go after Liv Morgan and her title. Jade and her backup dancers (positive comment) would be a perfect foil for Judgment Day

Predicted Winner: Rhea Ripley

Becky Lynch (Champion) vs Sol Ruca For The Intercontinental Championship

I don’t really think Sol Ruca is ready to win The Intercontinental Championship. Her in-ring potential is enormous. She’s put together some dynamic matches and appearances on the main roster, but she’s also still only middling on the mic and has had a few shaky moves in big moments. It seems odd to put a midcard belt on her already. I would definitely wait if I was booking the show.

But then again, I’m also not really sure I’d have her lose her first big program on the main roster.

I’m not saying Triple H and company have every new call-up immediately go undefeated en route to championships, but they normally slow build them using wins over lower card performers. Instead, Ruca was very quickly thrust into this program with Lynch where she’s looked, at times, like a future World Champion and, at times, like someone who has only been on the main roster for a month.

I think Lynch is probably going to retain in a way that continues their feud, but it’s also possible WWE gives Ruca a shock win and then tries to make her an immediate star.

Predicted Winner: Becky Lynch

Oba Femi vs Brock Lesnar

I’m definitely on team Brock Lesnar should have stayed retired. I thought his send-off at WrestleMania was absolutely perfect, both as a goodbye and as an announcement that Oba Femi has arrived and is the future of the entire business. Unfortunately, that alleged retirement didn’t last a month and here we are.

From where I’m sitting in the crowd, I don’t really get how bringing Lesnar back to lose again helps anyone. He already put Femi over. Putting him over a second time doesn’t multiply the impact of what happened at ‘Mania. So, to me, none of this makes sense unless Lesnar wins. I think he’s going to give Femi his first major loss on the main roster and then he’s going to officially retire Lesnar at SummerSlam. That’s the path that makes the most logical sense to me.

To be clear, I was hoping Femi was going to be an unstoppable juggernaut for years, sorta like Lesnar was decades ago when he first made the main roster. That's how I would have booked this, but now that Lesnar is back in the picture, I think it makes the most sense to give this match to the Beast and give Femi his first bit of adversity.

Predicted Winner: Brock Lesnar

Cody Rhodes (Champion) vs Gunther for The WWE Championship

Randy Orton hasn’t been seen since WrestleMania, which is weird because it certainly felt like this feud with Cody Rhodes was going to continue. So, what’s going on? There are really only three possibilities. Maybe WWE got spooked after all the backlash to the Pat McAfee stuff and decided to just pretend like this storyline never happened. Maybe the back injury Orton is dealing with really is significant enough that WWE decided to just move on without him. Or maybe they’re just biding their time so the inevitable rematch can come at SummerSlam.

The thing is, if that rematch is going to happen anytime soon, specifically at SummerSlam, it needs to be for the WWE Championship. Orton’s entire motivation for trying to beat Rhodes was to win another Championship. He was very specifically chasing number fifteen; so, if Cody no longer has the belt, it would make sense he’d return and go after that person, which would be a less intriguing story.

Whether Orton comes back at Clash In Italy or not, I think WWE is going to keep the belt on Rhodes because sooner rather than later, they’re going to get back to Orton and Rhodes. I’d love to see Gunther win The WWE Championship for the first time, but I think the higher upside possibility is to keep the belt on Cody, at least for now. I say WWE does that, and I predict we get a surprise appearance from Orton who is instrumental to the finish.

Predicted Winner: Cody Rhodes

Roman Reigns (Champion) vs Jacob Fatu For The World Heavyweight Championship

It’s not exactly a hot take to say fan excitement is down right now in WWE. There are some fun storylines and hot characters here or there, but the product feels a little safe and gasp, maybe even a bit boring. It could use an injection of surprise momentum… like say Jacob Fatu beating Roman Reigns’ ass and taking the Bloodline away from him.

We’ve already watched an all powerful Reigns build up his family, win every championship, get too cocky and get turned on by his own allies. We’ve also watched him feud with Solo’s rival Bloodline and put them down. I’d love to see Triple H and company take the story in another direction by having Reigns lose to Fatu and then disappear from television for a bit.

Fatu can play out weekly stories with Jimmy and Jey Uso, as well as Solo, Tama Tonga and company, and take everyone in a more unhinged and dangerous direction. Reigns could then return later in the summer to try and win everyone back.

I have no idea if WWE is going to let Reigns lose. He hasn’t taken many Ls in the last half decade, and WWE tends to prefer its major champions to have long title reigns. A loss here would go against pretty much everything we’ve seen Triple H do, but I really feel like it’s the right move for fans. We’ll see.

Predicted Winner: Jacob Fatu

The NBA playoffs are underway, and as the New York Knicks continue their campaign to win their first championship in decades, they have an unlikely source to thank for their latest win. WWE's Danhausen is taking a victory lap after he successfully "cursed" the Cleveland Cavaliers, and he wants a seat next to Timothée Chalamet if fans want the curse to continue.

Whether fans are watching him on Monday Night Raw via Netflix subscription or seeing the athlete's talents on ESPN, Danhausen and his "curses" are incredibly popular with the wrestling community. It turns out his cursing ability hasn't just been the bane of his enemies in the WWE, but he might've been the "X factor" in what led the Knicks to overcome a 22-point deficit and get their first win in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Cavaliers. The wrestler cursed the team on ESPN's NBA Today ahead of the matchup, and now that the win is set in stone, he has some demands he shared on X:

The Knicks haven't won an NBA Championship since 1973, and with the greatest challenge yet to come should they face the San Antonio Spurs or Oklahoma City Thunder in the Finals, they're gonna need all the help they can get to close out the Cleveland Cavaliers as quickly as possible. If I were on the team, I'd be arranging Danhausen's seat immediately.

For sports fans out of the loop, Danhausen's gimmick is self-described as "Conan O'Brien possessed by a demon." Personally, he reminds me of late-night creature feature hosts, using low-budget effects and vaudevillian gimmicks to give the illusion he has supernatural powers. Of course, the twist is that many of his curses in professional wrestling, and now real life, end up causing bad luck for the victims, so is he really powerful?

It may sound wild, but I actually think Timothée Chalamet would gladly allow Danhausen to sit between him and Kylie Jenner. He's a huge WWE fan, having previously talked to superstar Cody Rhodes about greatness, and I'd like to think he's also pretty superstitious as a sports fan. He skipped the Met Gala, unlike Ben Stiller, to be at the playoffs this year, so he's committed to seeing this run through.

Would Jenner be ok with it? As someone who was formerly seen as a good luck charm to the New York Knicks fandom, I'd like to think she'd understand the need to keep fans happy. Plus, there's a rumor right now that the Knicks winning an NBA Championship may encourage Chalamet to propose to her, which is wild, but not any wilder than a ghoulish pro wrestler cursing an NBA team.

We'll see if Danhausen somehow ends up courtside for Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals, which airs on ESPN May 21st at 8:00 p.m. ET. With all the synergy happening between the network and WWE, I wouldn't be surprised to see him there, and I am hoping we see it happen.

Randy Orton played rumor-killer on social media after a report made the rounds claiming he was sidelined with a significant injury. The athlete, who hasn't been around since he lost to Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 42, provided some supposed clarity on why he's been out of the WWE since then.

This all started after a report from Wrestling Observer Radio alleged that Orton was sidelined with a significant back injury (via Sports Illustrated), and that the assumed injury is why he didn't win his 15th championship title at WrestleMania. However, the Viper seemed to dispute the news after replying to a since-deleted post sharing the news on X:

Hilarious response from Randy Orton, who makes it sound like he's taking time off from chasing a fifteenth championship so he can play more Elden Ring. I guess there's no better way to kill a rumor than to directly respond to it, even if he confirmed he had an injury.

WWE fans may be relieved to hear Randy Orton joke about the injury, given the issues he had with his back not that long ago. He was sidelined for a year from 2022 to late 2023 after getting back surgery, with some, including his own father, having doubts about his ability to return.

He's continued to perform in the WWE since, delivering RKO's to big names despite the popular finisher likely contributing to his back issues. It seems like a risky move for a living legend who hopes to continue wrestling until he turns fifty, which is still four years out.

Of course, wrestling fans are rooting for him to hit that milestone and remain in healthy enough shape to have another title run or two. Personally, I would love to see him surpass John Cena's record-breaking sixteenth championship, provided he has the health to do so.

Back injuries are no joke, and wrestling fans know how much they've impacted the quality of life of many former wrestlers. The late Hulk Hogan even said in his docuseries that if he could change one thing about his career, he'd opt out of doing the leg drop, due to how it slowly injured his back.

I understand that the RKO is a crowd-pleaser and possibly one of the most popular finishers in wrestling. That said, I'd sooner see Orton finish out his career on top and not miss significant chunks of time dealing with his back. Of course, it's not really up to anyone but Randy Orton to make that decision, so we'll see what he does once he bounces back from milking this injury.

Monday Night Raw streams live on Netflix on Mondays at 8:00 p.m. ET. I'm hype for Orton to eventually get back in action, whenever that may be, and finally get back to pursuing that 15th title.

I was recently thinking about how, out of all the celebrities to host Monday Night Raw, Conan O'Brien never had the opportunity. However, while he's interviewed several notable WWE superstars over the years, he also had another significant contribution to the Attitude Era, having been responsible for one of The Rock's insults.

The talk show host recalled the story during an episode of Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend, where he and guest Zach Galifianakis discussed one of his former writers, Tommy Blacha. This led to O'Brien mentioning this bit he used to do back when he was hearing pitches, and how Blacha worked it into one of The Rock's promos:

Well, that's pretty cool, and the fun didn't stop there either, as Conan recalled:

What's funny is that Blacha admitted in an interview with Tales From The Attitude Era that he contacted Conan O'Brien because he felt like he stole the bit, and wanted to give him a heads-up before it aired. Fortunately, he confirmed that Conan was flattered, and now it's a story he's told a couple of times over the years whenever Tommy Blacha or wrestling gets brought up. Now all we need is a clip of Conan saying it like The Rock did in his promo, and my day would be made.

The whole thing has me wondering if the WWE needs to work with Conan O'Brien and have him freshen up some of its storytelling. Granted, I'm not sure either party is interested in that, but it would be great to see a character like Danhausen flourish even further, having a funny man like that back in the writers' room guiding his promos. Hell, with someone like O'Brien writing for him, it wouldn't be wild to believe he'd one day hold the Universal title.

Conan O'Brien has long been credited for his work on other shows, and while his work on The Simpsons may not be as big as what others hype it up to be, those three episodes he wrote were dynamite. Still, his years in television and ability to make the world laugh prove that WWE would be grateful to have his creative input, if they were willing to pay the money for him.

It's probably not something we'll see happen on the 2026 TV schedule, considering the number of cuts the WWE has made as of late. It seems TKO is trying to make various cuts for one reason or another.

Plus, Conan O'Brien is plenty busy with his podcast and other projects. However, based on his enthusiasm about his joke being used by The Rock, I'd assume he'd at least entertain the idea of working with the WWE.

Catch WWE Backlash with an ESPN Unlimited subscription on Saturday, May 9th. I'm excited to see what comes of this big PLE, as we look for some positivity out of the past couple of weeks of bad news when it comes to everything happening with the company.

This is normally the part of the article where I talk about the build-up to the premium live event and how fans are feeling, but the sad truth is wrestling fans haven’t really been talking about Backlash. Between the good and bad of WrestleMania 42 and the more than two dozen subsequent talent releases, some of which were shocking, no one has had much emotional bandwidth to fully invest in Seth Rollins vs Bron Breakker.

That being said, for a yearly event that’s sometimes been a blowoff card filled with rematches and secondary feuds, Backlash looks like it’s going to be a fun little event. I’m not saying people are going to confuse it with SummerSlam, but I’m genuinely excited to watch this. We should get four really high level matches and whatever glorious trainwreck Danhausen, The Miz and Kit Wilson are gonna haunt us with.

Roman Reigns is also on the card too, which hasn't happened since 2022. That’s right. The last time Roman Reigns had a match at Backlash, the event also featured Baron Corbin vs Madcap Moss and Omos vs Bobby Lashley. The unexpected appearance has caused many fans to draw big conclusions about his schedule and what it could mean. We'll talk all of that out.

Before we get into it though, let’s talk about my history with predictions. I’ve predicted the outcome for every WWE event since WrestleMania 38. Not to brag, but at least week’s WrestleMania 42, I went 11 and 2, which is main event territory if I do say so myself. Here’s a quick look at the results from some of the recent major PPVs, as well as my' overall record…

Trick Williams (Champion) vs Sami Zayn For The United States Championship

After months of teasing a heel turn, WWE has finally turned Sami Zayn into the bad guy. He was absolutely phenomenal in his role as the desperate, likeable underdog of the Bloodline and then later as the desperate, likable underdog trying to get to the world championship level on his own. During that epic babyface run, he got some huge wins against Gunther, The Usos and others, but for better or for worse, WWE never let do more than flirt with the main event level. He always lost the big one, and we all got sick of watching that story on loop.

Ordinarily, I want to see guys capitalize off the momentum of an earned heel turn, but in this case, Sami isn’t the only one that made a character change recently. When Trick Williams debuted on the main roster back in January, he was very much a heel. He very quickly got over with the crowd, however, and it went from scattered members of the audience chanting “Whoop That Trick” to entire arenas belting his catchphrase out like he was the biggest star on the roster. He’s still the same guy, but he’s clearly being positioned more as a babyface now.

I just don’t see how you take the title off Trick Williams just a few weeks after he won it at ‘Mania. He’s too over with the crowd, and there’s too much potential here. WWE needs to ride the hot hand for longer, and besides, a second consecutive loss here could be a good opportunity for Zayn to go even darker.

Predicted Winner: Trick Williams

Asuka vs Iyo Sky

I don’t even know what to say about this match. The whole point of the feud here seemed like it was going to be Asuka’s former protege Iyo Sky eventually convincing Kairi Sane to turn on her senpai Asuka. The writers literally teased us with the turn for months. Most fans were convinced the storyline would finally pay off at WrestleMania. When the match didn’t make the card, the assumption changed to it happening at Backlash, but then Kairi Sane was, out of nowhere, released from the company.

Rumors have swirled that the release was related to Kairi maybe wanting to return to Japan. Rumors have swirled she just got caught up in budget cuts. Some have speculated it’s all a big work and that we’ll see Kairi at Backlash as a big surprise. I don’t know. I have no idea what to believe. Nothing about this makes any sense.

I think the most likely scenario is that, for whatever reason, she was released from her contract, but since WWE put too much effort into this storyline to not pay it off in some capacity, they are going to give us a match to officially end the feud. If that’s the case, Iyo Sky is obviously going to win because WWE is going to want to push her back to the top of the card, and that’s not going to happen if she loses a feud to Asuka.

Predicted Winner: Iyo Sky

Seth Rollins vs Bron Breakker

Bron Breakker looked like WWE’s next big star late last year, but things have not gone as planned since. He lost his World Heavyweight Championship match to CM Punk during Netflix’s first Raw of the year. Bronson Reed, his primary partner in The Vision, got injured, and then he himself got injured, to the point where he was kept off the WrestleMania match card and instead only put in an appearance. Throw in the incredible popularity of a few NXT stars who were recently called up to the main roster, specifically Oba Femi and Trick Williams, and it suddenly feels like Bron isn’t necessarily the future face of the company.

To be clear, I’m not trying to be too negative here. Breakker is a generational talent with all the tools he needs to main event WrestleManias. He’s still getting good crowd reactions, and his future is still incredibly bright. Don’t sell your stock! But we also need to be honest that the last several months have not been the rapid ascent many of us were expecting. He needs to make a statement and remind everyone of his capabilities.

That’s why I think he needs to win here. Rollins will be fine taking an L. He’s one of the most popular guys on the roster. Breakker is the one who really needs an injection of momentum. If I were WWE, I’d put him over really strong here and then I’d figure out a new angle to try and get The Vision over as more than just a generic heel stable. The Bloodline had personality. Judgment Day has personality.

Predicted Winner: Bron Breakker

Danhausen & A Mystery Partner vs The Miz and Kit Wilson

I’m so happy this made a PLE card. Danhausen has been one of the most over guys on the entire roster since his debut, and as always, The Miz has found a way to help elevate another talent new to WWE. All the fun SmackDown segments were too well received and went too viral not to get a big match payoff. Plus, it’s always fun to speculate on who a mystery tag partner might be.

I’ve heard more than a dozen theories over the past few days. Let me go over the ones that make the most sense, at least to me. It could be CM Punk because he’s reportedly close to Danhausen in real life and is reportedly very friendly with The Miz again behind the scenes, as they were when they were both much younger and coming up together. It could be Shane McMahon, as there have been several teases about his partner being someone who loves money. That would certainly generate headlines. It could be Jelly Roll, as the singer was heavily rumored to have a match at Backlash with Cody Rhodes against Randy Orton and Pat McAfee before that all imploded amidst the bad fan response. It could be Royce Keys, as WWE is really pushing to try and get him over. Or it could be a fun little spot for a surprise returning legend.

Regardless, Danhausen is going to win this match. This is an easy way to earn some goodwill with the crowd, and it’s important for Danhausen to elevate the perception that he’s able to curse people/ make spooky things happen. Even if the outcome is obvious though, I expect to be entertained by some fun shenanigans.

Predicted Winner: Danhausen and Mysteryhausen.

Roman Reigns (Champion) vs Jacob Fatu For The World Heavyweight Championship

WWE fans have gone from assuming Roman Reigns was going to win this to asking big questions after the Tribal Chief was allegedly pulled from all of his scheduled WWE appearances in June. The move was unexpected, given he was previously advertised for the dates and said after WrestleMania that he was going to be full-time throughout the summer. Some have taken that as a sign that he’s going to drop the title here, but not so fast…

Reigns is still scheduled to make appearances throughout May, which means he’ll be around for several weeks after this Fatu match. He’s not getting written off television. Maybe there’s a case that he loses here and has a rematch with Fatu at Clash In Turin at the end of May, but would WWE really have Roman lose two consecutive matches and then be written off TV? They just put the belt back on him. He’s the biggest star in the entire company. Why would they do that?

My guess is Reigns has a certain number of PLEs he’s scheduled to work as part of his contract. Maybe the original plan was for him to do the event in Saudi Arabia at the end of June, but perhaps they decided to pivot to another event instead. Or perhaps Roman himself decided he didn’t want to work a date in the Middle East with all the conflict going on right now.

Regardless, I see Roman winning here, but I also think WWE is going to want to keep Jacob Fatu looking very strong. Expect the Samoan Werewolf to have the upperhand for much of the match or maybe even to get disqualified when he refuses to let go of the Tongan Death Grip.

Predicted Winner: Roman Reigns

WrestleMania 42 really delivered in its second night, and part of that was thanks to what seemed to be a surprise retirement by WWE legend Brock Lesnar. "The Beast Incarnate" laid his gloves down in the ring and said his goodbyes, flying in the face of prior rumors stating he'd retire at SummerSlam in Minnesota.

It felt like a full-circle moment to have Lesnar retire in the city, given he was a successful collegiate wrestler at the University of Minnesota. While recent t-shirt releases had me thinking his retirement is legit, I'm now a bit wary after seeing Oba Femi, the up-and-comer who retired him, in the latest poster for SummerSlam. Take a look:

Oba Femi is positioned right alongside a lot of WWE's biggest names, but there's no obvious indication of who his opponent could be. Obviously, we could get that answer in the coming months as we watch his new "open challenge" segment, but is it possible Brock Lesnar is still planning a surprise return for a send-off in Minnesota? I'm pretty sure he's retired, but to play devil's advocate, here's what I'm theorizing.

Was Brock Lesnar's Retirement At WrestleMania 42 A Fake Out?

The line is always blurred when it comes to what's real and what's scripted in the WWE, and the company is not afraid to outright lie to people if it sells a better story. We saw this with Seth Rollins' recent "injury" and surprise return, with WWE: Unreal showing Triple H and company even bragging about how they sold it as an authentic incident.

There are also instances in the WWE's past where wrestlers faked their retirements. Mark Henry's iconic promo comes to mind, and more recent examples include AJ Styles faking his retirement in 2024. The narrative so far is that Brock Lesnar made a spontaneous decision in the ring to retire, and that went against the WWE's plans, but what if that's just what the company wants us to believe?

I find it strange that a week and a half after this supposed retirement, we haven't seen Lesnar break character and make some sort of public statement to the fans, or even make another appearance on The Pat McAfee Show to discuss it. We've learned over the years that he's a guy who likes his privacy, and he generally avoids the spotlight, but I'm sure he also likes to honor contractual obligations that get him paid. While we don't know the specifics of that, I just have to wonder if the WWE was really so willing to let one of its biggest stars walk and potentially derail a fresh star like Oba Femi and his planned storyline if there was more to come at SummerSlam.

It's all feasible, but still feels suspicious and leaves me wondering if we won't see Lesnar return at SummerSlam later this year after all.

Who Might Oba Femi Face At SummerSlam 2026 If Not Brock Lesnar?

If Brock Lesnar isn't returning for SummerSlam, which I think is more likely than not, I'm left to think about who Oba Femi may take on at the event. With Lesnar gone, the WWE has a shortage of big men to stand up to his massive frame.

An obvious option is Gunther, who also seems to be someone creeping around the main event scene as of late, with a big match vs. Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 42. Oba Femi vs. Gunther is a marquee match, but is that something the WWE wants to pull the trigger on with WrestleMania season only months away?

Drew McIntyre is another big guy who could throw down with Oba Femi, but presents the same downside I would guess you'd have with putting Gunther up against Femi. I'm sure the WWE does not want to feed either of those men to Femi to boost his profile, but maybe a quality match that sets up a trilogy is a possibility.

The third option I see is Oba Femi squashing some smaller superstar, but I think with Monday Night Raw already kicking off weekly open challenges, fans may be burnt out on that gimmick come SummerSlam. At some point, he'll have to face some adversity, and I think there's a chance Brock Lesnar returns for that reason.

I think back to John Cena and Brock Lesnar's feud back in 2014, which started with Lesnar absolutely destroying Cena at SummerSlam. "The Champ" bounced back and had much more competitive showings in successive matches, and if Lesnar is coming back, I think there's a chance that story can be told. Again, no guarantees we'll see Lesnar again, but don't count him out just because Femi handled him easily the first time.

We'll have a clearer picture of what's ahead for Oba Femi when SummerSlam arrives on August 1st and 2nd. As for The Beast, who knows when we'll hear from him next, but I'm not ruling out that it won't happen in the WWE just yet.

The WWE recently made waves for reports where the company's use of AI for storytelling was openly admitted, and I'll cop to being one of those fans who were outraged in the moment. At a time where the WWE is in desperate need of fresh storytelling, it shocked me that the company seemed to be leaving the fate of its creativity in the hands of a computer, so to speak. Thankfully, one big boss man, TKO COO Mark Shapiro, clarified things with an explanation that calmed me down a bit.

A recent WWE town hall was held, in which company president Nick Khan and several other executives commented on several topics concerning the wrestling organization. POST Wrestling shared a comment from TKO's Mark Shapiro speaking to the fact that AI isn't being used to write story arcs so much as figuring out what fans in different parts of the country (and world) are looking for. As he put it:

This is to say, AI can't be blamed directly for Pat McAfee being injected into WrestleMania 42's main event. Mark Shapiro makes it sound as though Triple H and others are still calling the biggest shots, but are using AI as a supplemental tool to help inform them on the popularity of certain superstars, and seeing what will "maximize revenue," otherwise known as bilking fans for money. I'm sure AI has lots of great ideas for that.

I did suspect this would be the case when I saw the initial posts on social about the WWE using AI. It seemed very off-brand for WWE brass to trust a third-party AI to craft its product when, for better or worse, the decades have shown the writers have never been afraid to throw every idea at the wall to see what sticks. (I ask, what AI could've come up with Bray Wyatt, or Danhausen?) Plus, would all of the egos involved so willingly give credit to AI for narrative choices?

Of course, I can't help but think that if WWE creatives are using AI to guide its storytelling paths, that sets up a slippery slope. The temptation is always going to be there for someone to prompt the AI for how an audience would respond to El Grande Americano Original hiding in a piñata to sabotage the other one.

I'm being facetious, of course, but if AI is already in the room when creative decisions are being discussed, it isn't hard to believe the technology will eventually be utilized to ideate the storylines themselves. Obviously, there are a lot of opinions out there about the quality of AI and what it can do, but for those with no problem with a hypothetical future in which WWE storytelling was created with AI, at what point do you just prompt your own AI to make your own wrestling federation?

Just something to think about as we wait for SmackDown on USA on Friday at 8:00 p.m. ET. Monday Night Raw is on Netflix on Mondays at 8:00 p.m. ET, and they're both live. Neither is AI-generated as far as we know, but perhaps that reality is on the way.

Though she was present at WrestleMania 42, Nikki Bella remains sidelined with her ankle injury. While she's already plotting her return as an in-ring performer for later on in the 2026 TV schedule, she's also talking about her eventual retirement and how she wants to step it up and become a General Manager.

The topic came up during the latest episode of The Nikki & Brie Show, and was sparked by fans on X suggesting a GM shakeup within the organization. The Bella twin said she's seen this situation come up before, and it's a role she thinks she could thrive in. As she put it:

It should be noted that Nikki Bella said later in the podcast she was already shooting to return to the ring by June, so Adam Pearce and his hype videos are safe from being usurped from Monday Night Raw duties anytime soon. That said, I have to say I'm not as on board with this idea as she is, and think she'd be much better suited for another authoritative role.

Why Nikki Bella Might Be A Bad Fit For Raw/SmackDown GM

Adam Pearce and Nick Aldis are great General Managers, and I think it's because of that some wrestling fans have forgotten what it takes to play that role in the WWE. It's all about charisma, providing entertaining backstage moments to keep the show moving, and playing the straight man to the more eccentric superstars of the WWE.

Pearce and Aldis are great GMs, and let's not forget some of the more memorable ones of the past, like Vicky Guerrero, Teddy Long, and Stephanie McMahon. Then many other former superstars played the role, and it was a largely forgettable experience. We don't look fondly on Stone Cold Steve Austin's time as GM, or even Paige's tenure, as a big success.

When I envision watching Nikki Bella as a GM on Monday Night Raw with my Netflix subscription, I imagine she'd fall in the latter category of GMs as opposed to the elite examples. I think she's better served working closer to talent, or at least one specific talent if she wants to stay involved.

Nikki Bella Would Make A Great Manager For A Young Star

Nikki Bella is a legend in women's wrestling, with a massive platform and a dedicated following of wrestling fans. Sticking her behind an up-and-coming WWE superstar would give them an immense push in popularity, and I think that's what she should consider when thinking about the WWE post-retirement.

While she may not make the shortlist of most impactful women in wrestling, at least yet, her impact as an influencer cannot be denied. Any young WWE performer would be grateful to have her as a manager, without even mentioning the amount of guidance she'd be able to provide in terms of training, cutting promos, and other parts of the business.

If she were to be a General Manager, she would lose the ability to do that. While a GM role could give her more television time than we've seen in recent years, I think the benefits of her working as a manager are undeniable, and she should consider that as she begins to think about the end of her wrestling career.

For now, Nikki Bella is still planning to wrestle this year, and I can't wait to see her back in action. In the meantime, I'll be on the lookout for her future appearances in the WWE and see if she may be angling for that GM role.

The WWE let go of a slew of talent recently, largely on the women's side, and just weeks after WrestleMania 42 went down in Las Vegas. Former United States Champion Zelina Vega was one of the more shocking releases, and now that she's gone, she's sharing how disappointed she was during and after her brief as Women's United States Champion.

Vega became the second-ever superstar to hold the women's U.S. Championship after defeating Chelsea Green in a title match on SmackDown. She held the title for sixty-three days, with only one successful title defense against Green before she lost to Giulia. Following her release, Vega shared on Twitch how she felt about the run when prompted by a fan question in the chat (via @WrestleMovement):

Like most athletes who take hold of a WWE championship belt, Vega expected she'd get more television time and title defenses while in the spotlight. Instead, she was more of a transitional champion to make way for rising star Giulia to hold the glory. Though Tiffany Stratton is the current champion, Giulia still holds the longest streak for days with the title.

The 2026 TV schedule wasn't great for Zelina Vega, who, outside of appearing in the Royal Rumble alongside 29 other women, only had one other televised match on SmackDown. Vega continued to talk about what she pitched for WWE, seemingly hoping to emulate what Dominik Mysterio did with the Intercontinental title:

Clearly, the WWE never saw Vega as a long-term champion, but she doesn't seem to have been let in on that knowledge at the time. Now, on the other side of being released, she may better understand why creatives weren't receptive to seeing her go jet-setting across the world to pump up the United States Championship.

I once talked about how the WWE had the most talented roster its had in years, so much so that it couldn't justify giving them all television time. It seems the solution for that was to cull its talent, as Vega was not the only superstar who was released from the company. Check out the full list:

• Zelina Vega
• Aleister Black
• Kairi Sane
• Santos Escobar
• Uncle Howdy (Bo Dallas)
• Joe Gacy
• Dexter Lumis
• Nikki Cross
• Erick Rowan
• Motor City Machine Guns
• Apollo Crews
• Zoey Stark
• Alba Fyre
• Andre Chase
• Dante Chen

It's a staggering amount of cuts, especially on the heels of AJ Styles' retirement and Brock Lesnar's alleged retirement. One would think the company letting go of those two legends would open up the purse to retain more talent, rather than release more people.

WWE's latest string of releases comes after the company struggled to sell tickets for WrestleMania 42, to the point it became a part of the creative storytelling. Fans only became more concerned when it was alleged that TKO CEO Ari Emmanuel made the executive decision to insert Pat McAfee into the main event, in an attempt to draw additional interest. Zelina Vega alleged the call to terminate her came from TKO's offices, rather than the WWE home office (via The Ring Report).

It raises interesting questions about who is truly running WWE right now, and I'm eager to see more on what's happening between the wrestling organization and its parent company. That starts with checking out Monday Night Raw with my Netflix subscription and seeing if any superstars have much to say about the recent releases.

WrestleMania 42 came and went in Las Vegas, and as the wrestling world discusses everything from Brock Lesnar's surprise retirement to the amount of ads between matches, something has largely slipped under the radar. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was in Las Vegas, all throughout WrestleMania week, and made zero mention of professional wrestling the entire time.

When I saw The Rock was in Las Vegas for CinemaCon, I felt all but certain we'd at least see The Final Boss appear on SmackDown. That didn't happen, and now we're days removed from the event, and zero acknowledgement on social media that WWE's biggest show even happened? Something feels off, especially when looking at how he's operated with the WWE in recent years.

Did The Rock Intentionally Snub WrestleMania 42, And If So, Why?

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson wasn't the only former WWE superstar who didn't acknowledge WrestleMania 42 before, during, or after the event. He is, however, one of the only former superstars who is also part of the TKO Holdings board of directors. He has a vested interest in the WWE's success, and yet, when he was in the city it was hosted in for days, he talked about every project he's involved in, but not the WWE.

Perhaps The Rock was paranoid that talking about the WWE would stir up rumors about him making an appearance, and seeing as he made a point to say he was going to be celebrating his daughter's birthday, he wanted it to be absolutely clear he wasn't going to show up. I could buy that he didn't want to create a situation where people are mad at him again after last year, when Travis Scott showed up in his place.

Another theory is that there was some falling out between a combination of The Rock, WWE, and TKO. I can only speculate as to what happened, but it would also explain why Dwayne Johnson, whose social media is rife with promotion of all things he has a hand in, failed to and still hasn't even offered congratulations to WWE for Mania.

Did The WWE Sink Its Chance To Do The Rock Vs. Roman?

If The Rock had a falling out with the WWE, the timing couldn't be any worse. Roman Reigns is champion once again, and he's committed to working full-time. Given his status in the company, I imagine the plan is for him to hold the title all the way to WrestleMania 43 in Saudi Arabia, a country that routinely requests performances from past icons.

Ever since the location was announced, I was convinced the WWE was finally ready to pull the trigger on Roman Reigns finally taking on his cousin, The Rock, at WrestleMania. The duo has teased this happening for years, and now, the company has a captive audience invested in seeing it, and may not have the key piece in The Rock on board to make it happen.

Of course, I'm deep in speculative territory here, and even if Dwayne Johnson was at odds with the WWE, there's still a long time until WrestleMania 43 is set in stone. If there is beef between the two parties, let's hope they can squash it, because I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to see The Rock main event one more WrestleMania and have it all go down against one of the best to ever do it.

We'll see if The Rock has anything to say about the WWE in the coming months, and if we'll see rumors of his involvement in WrestleMania 43 as it draws near. In the meantime, there are many PLEs for the company to get through, and lots of opportunities for other talents to rise through the ranks!

Hulk Hogan: Real American is available to stream via Netflix subscription, and the docuseries pulls back the curtain (or ring apron) on the man who embodied that larger-than-life wrestler persona for so many years. While many of the big events covered from the Hulkster's life are already publicly known, the docuseries lets the late WWE superstar speak on all of it from a more recent headspace, including the regrets he has tied to his most iconic move, the leg drop.

While discussing the litany of surgeries and procedures he's had over the years, Hulk Hogan was asked if he would change anything he did in his career or do the same thing all over again. After a beat, I was surprised the wrestler said he would've chosen a different finisher than the leg drop, and discussed the origins of the move as well as how it slowly changed his life:

As far as finishing moves go, the leg drop hasn't ever really looked all that devastating for those who fall victim to it. But now it's quite clear that the real damage was done to Hogan himself. The long-term impact of landing on his tailbone with the full weight of his body for decades on end altered his spine to the point where he required a variety of surgeries and rehabs to try to alleviate the pain.

Wrestling fans have heard a lot of rumors about Hulk Hogan's back and neck issues, with reports noting that he had zero feeling in his lower body following the more recent surgeries. It all goes back to the leg drop, and the wrestler opined about what his golden years might've been like had he not embraced the move long term:

I totally understand the health reasons Hulk wishes he could take it all back, and his vulnerability in admitting it surprised me. It felt like he was outwardly saying he made a huge mistake in making the leg drop his signature move, which may speak to how greatly his surgeries impacted his quality of life.

Those surgeries followed the wrestler up to his death, after it was revealed that the family was investigating a potential medical malpractice lawsuit. Fox13 reported the family said Hulk's phrenic nerve was severed during a recent surgery. Hogan's official cause of death was ruled to be a heart attack, which he suffered while in his home in Clearwater, Florida.

Though he remained a controversial figure in his last decade, Hulk Hogan's death was mourned by many. The WWE recently paid homage to him with a statue on display at WrestleMania 42, acknowledging the big business he did for the organization during his prime. One has to imagine how things might've been different, had he used a sleeper hold instead of a leg drop all those years ago.

Watch Hulk Hogan: Real American on Netflix, and WWE programming and PLEs as the 2026 TV schedule rolls on. After WrestleMania 42, it seems like the field is wide open for a lot of exciting things to happen, so let's see what the company cooks up.

WrestleMania 42 is over, and I don't think I need to repeat what fans were saying about Night One. The ads and match times were bad enough, and if that weren't upsetting enough, I think they got the main event result wrong. Randy Orton fell short of defeating Cody Rhodes, but there is still time for WWE to correct course going forward in the 2026 TV schedule.

I love Cody Rhodes, but what a waste to put Randy Orton back on the sidelines when he's doing some of the best character work of his career? Fortunately, I'm confident that this can be made right, and more importantly, be done the right way with the WWE seemingly having a better hold on the situation.

Now With The Storyline Reset, Randy Needs To Win At Backlash

Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes already had the perfect storyline, but it was negatively impacted by alleged interference by TKO CEO Ari Emmanuel, who requested Pat McAfee and Jelly Roll be worked into the main event. It only got worse when McAfee appeared on the show and declared that he and Randy would usher back in the Attitude Era if they won at WrestleMania 42. He also said that if Randy lost, he would exit the WWE "forever." Keep in mind, McAfee already said a month prior to that promo that he was done in the WWE.

Now, McAfee is out of the picture, and the WWE can reset and tell the story of Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton that it originally wanted to. Plus, we get the added perk of Orton embracing his heel persona once more, and even bringing back the iconic "Punt Kick" finisher he hasn't used in over a decade. Let's have them run it back, but make it about their decades in the business and less about celebrities.

Randy Could Get The Title Sooner, If Cody's Injury Leaves Him Unable To Wrestle

There's even a chance Randy could get the title sooner, as Cody Rhodes may potentially need to vacate the title after news circulated that he sustained a serious injury to his orbital bone. If that were the case, it's possible Orton could win the title in a tournament, or maybe he gets a rematch and "punts" Rhodes in his injured eye and takes the title so Rhodes can take some time off.

I'm more skeptical of the latter scenario, considering we're talking about Cody Rhodes. Let's not forget he wrestled Seth Rollins with a torn pec muscle, so unless he's medically barred from competing, he's probably going to be at Backlash.

The only scenario I wouldn't want is for Rhodes to be sidelined and take the title with him. No one wins in that scenario, and when even Roman Reigns committed to appearing full-time on television again, I can't imagine the WWE will be happy with Rhodes going part-time. At least, not when he has the title in hand, so let's do the right thing and put it on Randy. He still needs a few wins to reach my ultimate dream of shattering John Cena's championship record, and I need to see that.

We'll see what happens as the month continues, and what plans are in place for Backlash. I'm rooting for Randy to win a title once again, if only to see The Viper get some more time at the top before ultimately being dethroned by someone else.

WrestleMania 42 is over, and while there's still a lot of discussion about the WWE's problems regarding match times and ads, it wasn't all bad. Many agree that Night 2 was a good deal better than Saturday's output, and Brock Lesnar's supposed retirement was certainly an unexpected highlight.

I say supposed retirement, because all signs prior to that moment pointed toward Lesnar leaning into retirement mode later this year. It also didn't seem like WWE execs were prepared for the legend to walk away, though the org seems to have caught up. Fans noticed "Thank You Lesnar" t-shirts popping up on the official shop, in reference to the chants fans shouted in Lesnar's honor as he exited the ring. Here's what the description reads on one of the shirts being sold:

The shirts don't mean much to me as far as "official" confirmations go, seeing as it's entirely possible the marketing team already had Lesnar's farewell merchandise on standby for later this year. What does grab my attention is the description, which seems to stop just short of saying he retired in the ring. I guess avoiding the use of the word leaves the door open if he changes his mind, but then why make a big deal about it at the live event if there's a chance he might waffle on it?

While there was never any confirmation that Brock Lesnar intended to retire at this year's SummerSlam, which is being held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, there's a tangible connection. A South Dakota native, Lesnar transferred from Bismarck State College to the University of Minnesota, where he competed and won out in wrestling competitions. (He also briefly signed with the Vikings in 2004, but to no avail.)

Also, his match with Oba Femi seemed like a stepping stone on his way to ultimately being retired by the WWE's new "legend killer," Gunther. It seems those plans changed, or maybe never existed, but it doesn't appear likely we'll see Brock Lesnar again in the company until he's nominated to the Hall of Fame.

Of course, this is the WWE, and it'll probably be months or years before fans get the real story of what happened. Right now, there's a working theory that Brock Lesnar's retirement in the ring was an unplanned event, but I have trouble believing that, considering the PLE is a timed show. His prolonged time saying farewell could've impacted someone else's match time, or impacted the number of commercials that could be run. Perhaps it wasn't the plan for Lesnar to retire, but someone on the production team had to have some sort of heads-up not to cut the cameras before he exited the ring.

I'm still not 100% sure that Brock Lesnar is done performing in the WWE, though I'd say the recent shirt sales have me 90% sure. I can't imagine him wanting to return to lose to Gunther after already having the perfect sendoff in the ring following a loss to rising star Oba Femi. Sorry, Gunther, it looks like Femi will always be known as the person who slayed The Beast Incarnate.

Monday Night Raw airs live on Netflix on Mondays at 8:00 p.m. ET. We'll see how this fresh cycle of WWE programming kicks off, and how things may change now that The Beast is gone, and other superstars are on top.

The first night of WrestleMania 42 did not go as planned. The show was widely criticized on social media for how short the matches were, how long the commercials were and how prominently the celebrities were featured. Fortunately for WWE, the response to night two has been significantly more positive. That tracked with my own personal viewing experience too. I was disappointed with Saturday, and I absolutely loved Sunday.

Here’s the thing though. All those main criticisms of night one, in theory, could have applied to night two also. Most of the matches weren’t exactly forty-five minute masterclasses. There were, once again, too many commercials, and a celebrity played a very prominent role in one of the finishes. On paper, it has the same problems, but thanks to some key tweaks and strong individual performances, the second night felt so much better. Let’s talk about why.

The Matches Got The Right Length Of Time, Which Made A Big Difference

Night one featured seven matches, and four of them ended in less than nine minutes. Not every match needs twenty minutes, but each one needs to be long enough to tell a coherent story and build up anticipation and momentum. The problem with those four matches on night one is that they all felt like they could have been more with a little additional breathing room. Liv Morgan and Stephanie Vaquer especially seemed like they were just getting warmed up when it ended.

Night two featured six matches, and two of them went less than ten minutes. The first, Brock Lesnar and Oba Femi, was a car crash, big man style match that went just under five minutes and was exactly the length it should have been to make Oba look like the next big thing. The second short match, Trick Williams and Sami Zayn, maybe could have been better with a little more time, but it told a character-building story that elevated Williams and will allow Zayn to fully turn heel. It was right for what it was.

That’s the difference. There’s not some one size fits all formula to spreading out the WrestleMania time. It’s about treating each match as an individual entity and figuring out how long it needs to tell the story you’re trying to tell. Morgan and Vaquer got seven minutes, and it felt like something we would have seen on Raw. Rhea Ripley and Jade Cargill got ten minutes, and it felt like they delivered in a really meaningful way. The first match didn't get enough time. The second match got just the right amount of time.

The Celebrity Involvement Was An Enhancement, Not A Distraction

I want to be clear about something. Every celebrity that appeared at WrestleMania took their job seriously and performed as well as can be expected. IShowSpeed, Jelly Roll, Pat McAfee and Lil Yachty all hit their spots and delivered. Because of factors outside of their control, however, their involvements hit very differently with fans.

The first night featured IShowSpeed, Pat McAfee and Jelly Roll. Speed pulled off a wild ringpost frog splash onto the announcer’s table and had some clean in-ring moves, but his actual match, which was part of a six man tag, only went seven minutes. It also featured some sloppy in-ring work from the actual wrestlers and had a screwy finish that felt disjointed and overly goofy. I was impressed with him, but that match itself was poorly executed and awkward.

McAfee and Jelly Roll did their jobs too, but they faced an unhill battle because everyone was already frustrated with the Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes storyline they were a part of heading into ‘Mania. The two wrestlers have decades of history together, and fans wanted to see that explored in the lead-up. Instead, the build was mostly about McAfee’s return to wrestling, which would have been great as a midcard angle but felt desperate and off-tone for a WrestleMania main event. WWE smartly used Jelly Roll and McAfee to (mostly) cancel each other out at the beginning of the match, but there was just too much negative momentum.

On the other hand, Lil Yachty appeared on the second night, and he was a definite value add. He’s been coming out as Trick Williams’ hype man, and his presence feels very natural for a wrestler that’s positioning himself as a pop culture star. Yachty added something to the entrance, and he had a few confrontations outside the ring with Zayn that will help the latter continue his journey to being a full-blown heel.

The Midcard Got A Few Great Moments

Night one technically featured the Women’s Intercontinental Championship, but let’s be honest, Becky Lynch and AJ Lee are not mid-carders. The Women’s Tag Team Championship was also fought for, but once again, most of the women in the match (Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss, Brie Bella, Paige, Bayley, Nia Jax) don’t feel like mid-carders. They’re current or former main eventers who are currently in the tag team division.

Night two, however, gave moments to people who aren’t exactly in the main event scene, and they delivered the tone changes the show needed. First, we got an insane ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship that featured some of the craziest and most dangerous spots we’ll see on the main roster this year. Penta, JD McDonagh, Rusev, Dragon Lee, Je’Von Evans and even Rey Mysterio all bumped their asses off and got crazy in one of the best high spot matches I’ve ever seen. They all knew the assignment and delivered.

Second, we got a ridiculous segment between The Miz, Kit Wilson, Danhausen and John Cena that included little people, nut pouches and a cloud of smoke that didn’t work as intended. It was a mess in a really fun way and a good reminder that professional wrestling is supposed to hit different emotional beats. When WWE is at its best, it’s not just delivering great matches. It’s delivering comedy and weirdness too.

To Sum Up

The two nights of WrestleMania 42 sound a lot alike on paper. One will be remembered pretty negatively and one will be remembered very positively. It’s not because the talent on one night was better or because the basic structure was meaningfully different. It’s because the second night was put together much more thoughtfully. Matches were given the amount of time they needed to tell the story, which for many was just an extra two or three minutes. The celebrity that was used was integrated thoughtfully in a way that didn’t overshadow what happened. There was real balance with a midcard presence that included both goofy comedy and high-flying acrobatics.

In retrospect, this could have been a two night banger. If Liv and Stephanie had gotten a few more minutes... If the Usos and LA Knight vs The Vision and IShowSpeed was put together like a real match and not an excuse to generate a big moment… If some of the great midcard characters left off the card had been. included… If Jelly Roll and Pat McAfee had been incorporated more thoughtfully into a midcard program and Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes were allowed to tell the story we wanted to see… If only everything would have been treated a little more thoughtfully like it was on night 2, we could just be celebrating a fantastic ‘Mania instead of talking about the stark contrast.

I’m not the guy who is normally out here telling WWE or any other wrestling promotion to make booking decisions or run the business based on feedback from social media. Now and again, however, the feedback is so loud and so unanimous from hardcore and casual fans alike that it’s important to stop and listen. This is one of those moments where WWE needs to stop and listen. There was not enough actual wrestling on the first night of WrestleMania 42.

The problem wasn’t the number of matches. Seven is a perfectly reasonable number for the first night of a two night ‘Mania. The problem is most of the matches were not given enough in-ring time. Four of the seven lasted under nine minutes, which caused two different problems. First, those matches never achieved their full potential because they couldn’t properly tell a story and build momentum, and second, their abbreviated lengths caused the commercials that came after them to feel less like appropriate breaks and more like out of touch cash grabs.

Let’s talk about the in-ring quality problem first. The best three matches during ‘Mania last night were, in some order, Gunther vs Seth Rollins, Cody Rhodes vs Randy Orton and Drew McIntyre vs Jacob Fatu. They went approximately 16 minutes, 23 minutes and 14 minutes respectively. Each match had enough time to change pace and allow each person to have sequences of being in control and sequences of being controlled. Each match had enough time to create false finishes that felt believable, and the actual ending of each one, to say nothing of the booking decisions, felt earned.

The other four matches, unfortunately, didn’t get that same luxury. The Usos and LA Knight vs The Vision and IShowSpeed, Becky Lynch vs AJ Lee, Liv Morgan vs Stephanie Vaquer and the four way Women’s Tag Team Championship match all got between 7 and 9 minutes. There were some nice sequences in each of them. I’m not trying to say they were bad matches, but none of them had a chance to build anticipation, do any meaningful callbacks or show off what the wrestlers are really capable of because there just wasn’t enough time. Fans are starting to notice a pattern too...

Anyone who watches a lot of wrestling can tell you that there’s a gigantic difference between 8 minutes and 12 minutes. The latter allows you to slow it down and tell a fuller story. It allows each performer to show off their move set and look strong. It allows the match to start hitting different gears; so, when you get into the ending sequence, there’s an expectation that any attempted pin could be the actual finish. At some point, every kick out starts to feel like a surprise.

It’s really hard to achieve the same level of surprise in under 10 minutes, and it’s really hard to make it feel like a proper WrestleMania match without more time. In theory, ‘Mania is supposed to be a showcase for these performers to bust out new movies and build upon what we see on Raw and SmackDown every week. It’s supposed to be a moment for them to rise to the occasion and show what they can do, but that’s nearly impossible when they’re getting less time than they normally get during run of the mill television matches that mean nothing in the grand scheme of things.

I’m not Triple H or Bruce Prichard or anyone in the writers room. I have no idea why these matches were given such abbreviated times, but it’s hard not to come to the conclusion that it was because they didn't want the show to go too long and they had a certain number of commercials they needed to fit in. The break between every single match had a timer that counted down approximately four minutes in commercials, and after the broadcast came back on, there were other commercials that were seemingly injected into the actual broadcast. I wasn’t sitting there with a stopwatch (although some fans were), but it felt like a lot.

And it especially felt like a lot because of how short the matches were. I had no problem peeing, raiding my fridge and taking a quick mental break after Gunther and Seth Rollins because it felt like I had just watched a proper WrestleMania match. It felt like that break was earned. Getting a five or six minute timeout after Liv Morgan and Stephanie Vaquer were only given nine minutes for their World Championship match, however, felt a lot less earned. That one felt a lot more like WWE’s parent company TKO exploiting WrestleMania and everyone watching it to make a few extra bucks from Ram Trucks or The General or any of the other sponsors.

I’m not a guy who is bothered by monetization. I’m willing to tolerate a few commercials here or there. I’m even OK with ads in the ring. It’s 2026 and that’s just how business works, but last night and the overwhelming backlash on social media needs to be a wakeup call for those running WWE. There was approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes of actual wrestling during night one of WrestleMania 42. Four of the seven matches weren’t even given 10 minutes. As a comparison, night one of WrestleMania 40, widely considered the high point of the TKO era, contained more than 2 hours of wrestling and only one match (not counting Damian Priest's epic cash-in) went less than ten minutes.

Moving forward, WWE either needs to give fans an experience that’s much lighter on the ads, especially since we’re all paying to subscribe to a streaming service to even get ‘Mania, or it needs to give us longer matches that make those breaks feel earned. Last night was a frustrating combination of short matches and long commercials, and as a result, a really high percentage of fans did not enjoy what’s supposed to be the most exciting yearly event in wrestling. For a company that's so obsessed with monetization, it's weird that TKO doesn't seem to realize how bad that is for business long-term.

With just days to go until WrestleMania 42, superstars are getting set for another two nights in Las Vegas for the biggest wrestling show on Earth. CinemaBlend has made our picks for who will win each match, and while it may surprise some, we have Randy Orton winning in the Night 2 Main Event.

It's a title change I'd welcome, even if I could've done without Pat McAfee being inserted into the whole thing. Regardless of that, I think we're past due for a new era for Randy Orton, and if I'm being honest, I think I'd like to see him ultimately go on to topple John Cena's record with the most championships in WWE history.

How Close Is Randy Orton To John Cena's Record?

Should Randy Orton win at WrestleMania 42, he'll be a fifteen-time champion. That only puts him two title wins away from defeating John Cena's record of seventeen. Orton is currently 46-years-old, and while he was sidelined and needed back surgery a couple of years ago, he's recovered and said he'd love to wrestle until he was 50.

That's plenty of time for him to win three more titles, and considering Orton is having one of the best runs of his pro wrestling career in WWE at the moment, I think there's an argument to make for pushing him to that number. The only real hurdle in his way is the WWE, which would probably rather keep John Cena's record intact for as long as possible, especially considering he just recently set it before retiring from pro wrestling.

Why I'm More Invested In Randy Orton Being WWE's Record-Setting Champion Compared To John Cena

I love John Cena and all he's done for the WWE in his career. That said, he's successfully transitioned out of the industry into Hollywood and has many accolades to hang his hat on. He'll continue to be a big name in movies and television beyond his WWE career.

Can the same be said for Randy Orton? A guy who has been in the WWE as long, and now longer than Cena? Not only that, he's maintained a relatively high position on the roster throughout the decades because he's Mr. consistent. Whether it's Monday Night Raw or Night of Champions, you're going to get the best Orton has.

And yet, memories and legacies tend to fade when talents finally hang up their boots, and Randy Orton is just too good to be forgotten. I think he needs the record more than Cena, and in truth, is representative of a life in WWE, having joined at 22. He's been a company workhorse for years and thrived in just about every situation he's been placed in. For that, shouldn't he be given the honor of being remembered as the best champion the WWE has ever seen?

That's just my opinion, and food for thought as the WWE heads into WrestleMania on Saturday, April 18th, and Sunday, April 19th on ESPN Unlimited. Fingers crossed this event overdelivers, and we get to see the beginning of what would be a great era celebrating Randy Orton.

WrestleMania 42 is taking over Las Vegas this weekend, and it wouldn't be WrestleMania season without some speculation about Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's potential involvement. After little to no chatter about "The Great One" in the weeks leading up to the annual event, fan chatter has spread regarding the athlete's appearance at another big-ticket event in Sin City.

Dwayne Johnson was spotted onstage at CinemaCon, helping to promote the upcoming release of his third Jumanji movie. So no direct connection to the WWE, but the timing certainly opens the door to atone for his no-show at last year's WrestleMania. Either way, there's a lot to unpack with this development.

Will The Rock Stick Around For WrestleMania 42?

With CinemaCon ending on April 16th, the stage is set for Dwayne Johnson to have a significant role in WrestleMania 42. He's presumably free to show up on SmackDown, which is the show he's most associated with, and possibly inject himself in the main event alongside Pat McAfee.

Considering a chunk of fans are upset with McAfee's involvement in the main event, adding The Rock in the mix could be a way to take the heat off the ESPN host and further excite people about this weekend. A surprise appearance from "The Brahma Bull" would almost certainly move ticket sales a bit as the weekend nears, but what are the odds of it actually happening?

Why I'm Doubtful The Rock Will Have Any Significant Role In WrestleMania 42

While I wouldn't rule out Dwayne Johnson appearing on SmackDown ahead of WrestleMania 42, I can't help but think back to why he randomly appeared during WrestleMania season last year. The Rock showed up after Elimination Chamber, seemingly hinting he would target Cody Rhodes when WrestleMania 41 rolled around. As mentioned, Travis Scott showed up in his place, and The Rock was nowhere to be seen.

Johnson later revealed that his appearance at Elimination Chamber came after a call from TKO CEO Ari Emmanuel, who wanted help moving tickets for the event (via Sportskeeda). Flash forward a year, and the WWE is having the same issues with poor ticket sales being used in the main event storyline. We've already seen rumors that Emmanuel made the call to put Pat McAfee in the mix. Could he call in another favor for The Rock for a SmackDown appearance?

I think it's possible, but I don't see The Rock having any significant role in WrestleMania 42 beyond that. In the past, we've known he's wanted to be in good ring shape before committing to any form of match in the WWE. Now, he could just show up and deliver a low blow to Cody, but I'm not sure wrestling fans want that at this point.

Really, adding The Rock to WrestleMania 42 would further exacerbate the problem created when Pat McAfee was added to the main event. This angle went from being about the decades of history between Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes to a sideshow act with celebrity cameos. If The Rock is also thrown into the mix, I think it greatly overshadows Orton in the match entirely, so now I'm almost hoping The Rock isn't planning to appear at WrestleMania.

We won't have long to wait to find out what's going to happen either way, and see if The Rock heads over to the WWE after he wraps things up at CinemaCon. Tune in to WrestleMania 42 on Saturday April 18th and Sunday April 19th, and get ready for two jam-packed evenings of wrestling!

Let’s just be honest. The Road To WrestleMania 42 hasn’t been as well-paved as planned this year. Injuries have piled up. There’s been a few questionable booking decisions, and fans are really in their feelings about the Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton and Pat McAfee situation. With the exception of Oba Femi and Brock Lesnar, you could make a case that not a single storyline has had a home run build, and yet, despite all that, there’s a chance WrestleMania 42 could still be a banger.

The dirty little secret about WrestleManias is that pre-show hype doesn’t necessarily translate to a well-reviewed show. Yes, you need hot characters paying off hot builds to get to that all-time great WrestleMania 17 level. I don’t think there’s anything WrestleMania 42 could be to get on that level at this point, but to please fans and be fondly remembered, you just need most of your matches to be fun to watch. Three or four bangers, a half dozen or so really good matches and most of the rest being pretty fun puts you in the top half pretty easily.

The good news for WWE is that there’s enough talent on this card to do that. In fact, if everyone performs even close to the level they’re capable of, this ‘Mania should be good. Problems with the build aside, a lot of wrestlers have been put in matches that, in theory, showcase their strengths, and I have a hard time believing Gunther and Seth Rollins or Stephanie Vaquer and Liv Morgan won’t over-deliver, whether I personally would have built them differently. Plus, throw in John Cena as host, and there's a lot to work with.

Before we get into the specifics though, let’s take a quick look at my track record on predictions from the most recent Big 4 PPVs, as well as my overall record dating back to WrestleMania 38...

Logan Paul, Austin Theory and IShowSpeed vs The Usos and LA Knight

Six man tag team matches with basically no stakes are notoriously hard to predict. I felt strongly that Paul and Theory needed to win the tag team titles to keep The Vision relevant, but now that they’ve done that, all possible outcomes are in play here. On the one hand, it’s appealing to pick IShowSpeed because, despite recent history, celebrities have a strong track record of winning at WrestleMania. On the other hand, it’s appealing to pick The Usos and LA Knight because the whole story here is how IShowSpeed doesn’t really seem to want to be aligned with Paul and Theory, who have kinda sorta forced him into this.

I think the most likely scenario is probably IShowSpeed turning on Theory and Paul and helping the babyfaces to a win, but you could tell me pretty much anything about this match and I’d believe it. You could tell me iShowSpeed is gonna stick around WWE and feud with Logan Paul, and I’d believe it. You could tell me Bron Breakker is going to return and help his stablemates win, and I’d believe it. You could tell me Danhausen is going to get involved and double down on his IShowSpeed curse to help the babyfaces win. No scenario is too outlandish here.

Predicted Winner: The Usos and LA Knight

Jacob Fatu vs Drew McIntyre

What a weird run it has been for Drew McIntyre. He’s the only person not named Cody Rhodes, John Cena or Roman Reigns in the last four years to hold the WWE Championship. His work with CM Punk is probably the best non-Bloodline feud WWE has given us in at least a half decade. He’s been a constant presence in key storylines, and yet, you could make the case that he really deserved more. In my opinion, he was the hottest character on the roster for almost a year, and many fans still have a sour taste in their mouth that he’s not walking into this ‘Mania as champion.

That being said, I think he’s probably going to lose here. Rumors are swirling that he’s going to take a break from programming for a bit to film the new Highlander movie, but even if he wasn’t, I’d have a hard time predicting him because of how mean he’s been to Jacob Fatu during this story. He’s repeatedly talked about Fatu’s past run-ins with the law in a way that’s felt demeaning and mean-spirited. That may not have mattered under Vince McMahon, but I think Triple H and company want to tell uplifting stories with broad messages like you can overcome your past.

Plus, WWE needs to heat Jacob Fatu back up again. I’m not saying he’s cold, but he’s been hotter and has more potential. I think fans would get behind him if WWE truly pushed him to the top of the card. This could be the time when that starts.

Predicted Winner: Jacob Fatu

Stephanie Vaquer (Champion) vs Liv Morgan For The Women’s World Championship

I really wish WWE would have devoted more time to this build because what we have gotten has been really good. Vaquer and Morgan have exchanged some fiery promos and gone at each other backstage in a way that’s felt personal and a little dangerous. Fans like both of the characters, and it sucks that one of them is going to lose and take a step back momentum wise.

To me, this all comes down to what Triple H and the writers want to do with Judgment Day. I love Vaquer and think she has an incredibly bright future in WWE, but to me, the most exciting long-term storyline WWE can tell involves Morgan and her Judgment Day stablemate Raquel Rodriguez. Putting the belt on Morgan and giving us an extended storyline of teases and an eventual turn on each other would be a fantastic program leading into SummerSlam.

The other possibility, of course, is that Rodriguez or her stablemate Roxanne Perez accidentally cost Morgan her chance at the title here and that leads into a storyline about Judgment Day fully imploding. That’s definitely on the table and would keep the belt on Vaquer, but that’s not the route I would take.

Predicted Winner: Liv Morgan

AJ Lee (Champion) vs Becky Lynch For The Women’s Intercontinental Championship

WWE has shown an openness to part-time champions in the past. Much has been made about Roman Reigns and his inconsistent schedule over the last few years, but even before him, the company has also gone down that same road with Brock Lesnar. AJ Lee, as beloved as she may be, however, doesn’t have that same level of cultural relevance or ability to move tickets.

I also think the Intercontinental Championship is fundamentally different than the World Titles. The whole point of the championship is it’s supposed to be defended on a regular basis, both on television and on premium live events. I don’t think having a part-time champion serves the division, and given what we’ve seen since her big return, there’s no reason to think AJ Lee is going to be around on a weekly basis post-Mania.

Because of that, I think this has to be Becky Lynch. She’s one of the biggest stars in the women’s division and has really helped elevate the Intercontinental Championship to a different level after it was introduced. I think there are a lot of fun stories she can tell if she gets the belt back, and I think giving her a second loss to AJ after she dropped the title to her initially does long-term damage to her character.

Predicted Winner: Becky Lynch

The Irresistible Forces (Nia Jax And Lash Legend) vs Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss vs Bayley and Lyra Valkyria vs The Bella Twins

I think there’s a title run at some point in the Bella Twins’ future, but I’m going to rule them out here because of how little they’ve been on TV in recent weeks. Nikki is rehabbing an injury that left her ‘Mania status in question for awhile, and it just feels like they haven’t been built enough to get their big moment. If I were WWE, I’d definitely save that for later.

I’m also less high on Bayley and Lyra Valkyria than most of the more vocal fans on social media. Yes, Bayley got a nice reaction in San Jose recently where she’s from, but Alexa and Charlotte are significantly more over with the average fan. I think their storyline needs to take priority. If WWE is going to keep them in the tag team division, they should put the belts on them. If they’re going to break them up and implode their relationship, they should put the belts on them first and give them another run of success so they can tease a will they or won’t they for awhile.

That being said, it’s also possible WWE could just be planning to move Charlotte and Alexa back to the singles division without breaking them up, saving that plotline for later. If that’s the case, then I would just keep the titles on Nia and Lash. They work well together as a pair of monster heels, and I think you could tell a fun story by turning them into an unbeatable duo with an extended title run.

Predicted Winner: Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss

Seth Rollins vs Gunther

This has match of the night written all over it. Rollins and Gunther are probably the two best in-ring performers WWE has, at least amongst those at the very top of the card, and the lack of a storyline here shouldn’t stop them from cooking in the ring. I expect a twenty minute war that plays into their size difference and allows both men to show off why they’re among the best in the world.

The original plan was reportedly for Gunther to retire Rey Mysterio and Rollins to feud with Bron Breakker, but injury concerns forced the last minute switch to working with each other. I don’t think WWE is going to want either of these guys to take a clean loss; so, my guess is we’re going to get a Gunther victory that’s related to some kind of interference from Bron Breakker. That would allow Rollins to move into an extended feud with the new leader of The Vision, and it would allow Gunther to continue looking like an unstoppable monster.

Predicted Winner: Gunther

Cody Rhodes (Champion) vs Randy Orton For The WWE Championship

No WrestleMania match has been talked about more than this one. Unfortunately, it’s mostly been for pretty negative reasons. The early build to the story was very underwhelming and suffered from a serious lack of depth and creativity. Seemingly in a panic, Pat McAfee (possibly on the orders of WWE’s parent company TKO) was introduced into the story, and his inclusion has not gone over well with wrestling fans, particularly those on social media. He’s felt to many like a distraction, given Rhodes and Orton have decades of shared storylines and personal history, and McAfee has none of that.

I don’t really know how WWE can get out of this cleanly. McAfee announced he would never participate in WWE programming again if Orton loses. I’m not sure that’s a promise WWE wants to make, given he’s got a long history of working commentary and TKO really wants to push WWE’s partnership with ESPN, a network McAfee has a morning show on. Then again, I’m also not sure WWE wants to double down on a storyline that’s clearly not working with a huge segment of fans. If Orton wins, it’s going to be weird if McAfee just disappears from television immediately, though I suppose that’s exactly what happened last year with Travis Scott.

This whole thing is a mess. There was a way to do this, with better planning and a more coherent storyline, that could have worked. That didn’t happen; so, now, WWE needs to choose the less bad of the options in front of them. I think that’s keeping the belt on Cody, but I think WWE is just gonna keep digging the whole deeper.

Predicted Winner: Randy Orton

Oba Femi vs Brock Lesnar

This has been the best build by a gigantic margin, and the story is as straight ahead as can be. Brock is the biggest, baddest dude on the playground and has been for decades. He called out everyone in the locker room, and Oba Femi stepped up and answered the call. In the time since, we’ve gotten a few brief physical exchanges, but in general, it’s just been two dudes using their natural charisma and connection with the fans to create hype.

Lesnar is widely expected to retire later this year, probably at SummerSlam in August. I hear the argument that you should keep him strong before his final match, which will probably be against Gunther, but personally, I think he needs to put Oba Femi over. WWE desperately needs to make some new stars. All four of the WrestleMania main eventers this year are 40 or older. Femi is 27 and looks to have near unlimited potential. In just a few short months, he’s gotten over with both hardcore and casual fans, and it’s not unreasonable to think he may be the favorite to win The Royal Rumble next year. Sometimes you need to do things for the future of the business.

Predicted Winner: Oba Femi

Penta (Champion) vs Je’Von Evans, Rey Mysterio, Dragon Lee, JD McDonagh and Rusev for The Intercontinental Championship in a Ladder Match

Just like Gunther and Seth Rollins from night one, this match is the odds on favorite to be the standout of night two. There’s so much in-ring talent here, and when you throw in the ladder match stipulation, there’s the potential for some truly insane high spots and choreographed sequences. Evans, Lee and McDonagh are also likely going to go all-out, as this’ll be the first time each has made the ‘Mania card.

Matches with this many people are always panic attack city for predictions, but I actually feel pretty good about Penta. There’s some buzz around Je’Von Evans online, but he’s still really nice to the roster and could use some more seasoning on his promos. Penta has maintained his white hot popularity for more than a year, and to me, there’s just no reason why you’d want to take the title off him. Plus, TKO is invested in growing AAA, and Penta is a legend over there, as well.

Predicted Winner: Penta

Jade Cargill (Champion) vs Rhea Ripley for The WWE Women’s Championship

This match is clearly the product of the original creative not working out. Cargill was almost certainly being positioned to work with Bianca Belair, but unfortunately, she’s had setbacks in her recovery from a severely broken finger. Ripley was likely going to work with Iyo Sky, either as a tag team or against each other, but at some point, the decision was made to put Cargill and Ripley together to essentially make the biggest available title match possible amongst the women who didn’t have a locked in match.

I think who wins, once again, likely comes down to Bianca Belair. If WWE is confident Belair is going to be back shortly, I think they’re going to keep the title on Cargill so we can finally get that long-anticipated program with as high of stakes as possible. If her future is uncertain, at least in the short-term, I think WWE is going to pivot and put the belt on Rhea Ripley. She’s the biggest star in the entire business, and while Cargill has been coming along in both her promos and in-ring work, I think the company is not going to want to keep its biggest female star title-less for much longer.

Predicted Winner: Rhea Ripley

Sami Zayn (Champion) vs Trick Williams for The United States Championship

This might be the easiest match to predict on the entire card. Trick Williams is a rising star. He’s getting main event level reactions from the crowd, and it feels like apart from The Miz, he’s doing more media appearances than anyone on the roster. Sami Zayn, on the other hand, seems to be in the middle of a slow heel turn. He’s getting booed out of the building and borderline cheating to win matches.

A win here would push Trick to the next level, and it would allow Zayn to disappear and return as the full-fledged heel many fans have been wanting for the better part of a year. It just makes so much business sense, and also, it would suck all of the energy out of WrestleMania if Zayn held onto the title. This would be such an easy way to give the crowd a win they’re clamoring for, which is desperately needed right now given how sour fans have been on creative lately.

Predicted Winner: Trick Williams

The Demon Finn Bálor vs Dominik Mysterio

A lot of predictors have gone broke over the last few years betting on Finn Bálor to win matches. Every time it feels like the fans are ready and the storyline is there for him to have a big moment, he somehow finds a way to lose again. It’s obvious the creatives just don’t see as much potential in him as the rest of us do. That being said, Finn has to win this match, right?

I feel like a broken record continuing to ride for him, but if he gets kicked out of Judgment Day, brings back his Demon persona and loses as the babyface to a Dominik Mysterio who has been crushed on screen by Danhausen, we probably need to have some hard conversations about his future at that point.

So, yeah, I’m going to ride with Finn Bálor one more time. It makes me really nervous given everything we’ve seen recently, but that right play is obviously for him to win this match. That gives WWE maximum options. He can continue to work against Judgment Day and try to dismantle the group from the outside. He can go out on his own and chase a midcard title. The path is there for something fun. Besides, a loss is not going to hurt Mysterio long-term.

Predicted Winner: Finn Bálor

CM Punk (Champion) Vs Roman Reigns For The World Heavyweight Championship

WWE is in a bit of a slump right now. Even the fans who aren’t vocally complaining about the product are definitely not at a passionate high point in their fandom. Something needs to change, and my guess is those involved are going to rewind the clock to try and do that. The high point during the TKO era has definitely been WrestleMania 40, which is the last moment Reigns was champion. I’m not saying it was all downhill from there, but clearly, the run up to that ‘Mania is what fans look back at the most fondly.

Reigns is the biggest star in the business, and while he’s definitely a part-timer these days, he certainly ramped up his appearances in the lead-up to this ‘Mania. My guess is WWE puts the title back on him, and he agrees to increase the number of times a month he’s on the show. I’m not saying he’s going to be around every week, but he might do 2/3rds of the time in exchange for another title run, which is enough for WWE to create stories around.

Plus, as much as I love CM Punk, he’s better when he’s fired up and chasing something. He’s been a fine champion, but it might give him a little extra jolt of something to lose the belt and be able to reposition himself in the coming months.

Predicted Winner: Roman Reigns

WrestleMania 42 is just around the corner, and as Pat McAfee and others are brought in to try and do all they can to get ticket sales moving for the two-day event in Las Vegas, there is widespread criticism from fans about the build to it thus far. I'm certainly one of them, and with a week left, I can't help but wonder why two major...or should I say Grande WWE superstars aren't in the mix

While I'll be watching WrestleMania with my ESPN Unlimited subscription, I can't help but be a bit frustrated about the card thus far. While celebrities like Jelly Roll are involved, many key WWE superstars are watching from the sidelines. This includes two stars who went viral over the weekend, and should certainly be included while there's still time.

The El Grande Americanos Went Viral For Their Explosive Fight On AAA

Both El Grande Americano and El Grande Americano Original have been splitting time between WWE and Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide, the Mexican wrestling organization acquired by WWE in a joint partnership with Mexican company Fillip in 2025. When the athletes aren't duking it out on Monday Night Raw, they're still putting on banger segments over there, as evidenced by this viral clip that had sports insider Ariel Helwani hyped:

Helwani wasn't the only wrestling fan psyched about the moment. The comments were littered with people psyched about both Americanos (formerly Chad Gable and Ludwig Kaiser) going to war out of nowhere during the show:

• I might have watched this 10 times today. It’s brilliant - @oldmanfut
• Kaiser came out like 97 Stone Cold Steve Austin. All gas! - @Yogstus
• Incredible. Kaiser cut an incredible promo in Spanish. Guy is the real deal - @bquinn622
• Some of the loudest pops ive heard in months - @Chris_from_NJ
• That impromptu belly-to-belly suplex during the brawl was just 👌 -@MaxWrestling1

I also thought the moment was great, and quite frankly, I've been a huge supporter of everything they've done since Gable's return at the 2026 Royal Rumble. Given that, it seemed obvious they'd be a part of WrestleMania 42 by now, but apparently, that's not the case.

So Why Is This Year's Best Wrestling Feud Not A Part Of WrestleMania 42?

I understand that this whole storyline was created as a result of Chad Gable getting injured while playing El Grande Americano, evolving organically through fan hype without originally being in the WWE creatives' plans when they came up with the angle. That said, it's baffling to me that we still haven't heard yet abouta match between the duo being added to the card for WrestleMania 42, especially given how the fans are responding.

All this to say, I suppose there's a possibility an official match could still be added to the card, to be announced during the last Monday Night Raw or SmackDown before the big PLE arrives. An official announcement of the entire match card has already been publicized, but I would imagine the WWE is down to try anything and everything at this point to garner maximum fan enthusiasm before the big day. It's too late to bring in some fresh storytelling, so why not add a 20-minute match between the El Grande Americanos to bring the house down?

WrestleMania 42 is live on ESPN Unlimited on Saturday, April 18th, and Sunday, April 19th. Tune in to see some of the best pro wrestlers in the world duke it out on the world's biggest stage for wrestling, while others watch from the sidelines.

We’re less than two weeks away from WrestleMania, and things are not going as planned over at WWE. Thanks to lukewarm creative, soaring ticket prices and the curious decision to hold ‘Mania for a second consecutive year in Las Vegas, the annual mega-event is tracking well behind expectations. In an apparent effort to generate some mainstream press, ESPN talking head Pat McAfee was recently inserted as a key character in the main event storyline, and two of WWE’s biggest stars are so unhappy they seemingly went off script to bash the decision on live television.

WrestleMania is a two night event, and the main event of the first night is heavily rumored to be Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton. Rhodes has essentially been the main character of WWE programming for the last three years or so, and he’s had a close real life and onscreen storyline relationship with Orton for the better part of two decades. Fans have been pleading to see them work together for years, and while WWE has hinted at it periodically, they didn’t pull the trigger until several weeks ago, when they were announced as WrestleMania opponents.

Unfortunately, the initial few interactions between Orton and Rhodes were widely criticized for being underwhelming, and they seemingly did little to improve ticket sales for ‘Mania. Fans on social media widely called for WWE to lean harder into the long storyline history between the two, but instead, we got the exact opposite.

On SmackDown this past Friday, former NFL player turned media superstar Pat McAfee, who has also served as a WWE commentator, showed up and attacked Rhodes. He then gave a rambling promo alongside Randy Orton criticizing the product for not being as good as the late 90s, early 00s Attitude Era with The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin and accused Rhodes of being the reason why fans were down on everything.

The promo received a very confused and uneven reaction from the attendees in the arena (I was there), and the response from wrestling fans on social media was almost universally negative. There was widespread confusion about why McAfee was being inserted into the story and even more confusion about why, two weeks out from WrestleMania, the whole storyline seemingly shifted to be about wrestling being worse than it was thirty years ago.

In recent days, reports from wrestling media have swirled that McAfee’s inclusion was an order from WWE’s parent company TKO, whose CEO, Ari Emanuel, just so happens to be the sports commentator’s agent. Rumors followed that he may have gone off script with his promo, and it’s quite clear based on the reaction that not everyone was a fan of what happened in the dressing room. Rhodes, in fact, went to the ring later that night and gave what is being described as an impromptu promo that was not on the original rundown. He criticized McAfee’s inclusion and heavily hinted that TKO was responsible. Here’s a portion of what he said…

Possible bad blood between those running WWE and those running TKO was a major topic of conversation amongst wrestling fans over the weekend, but there was still some doubt as to how much was real and how much was trying to manufacture intrigue for ‘Mania. The wrestling business is a huge fan of blurring the lines between fiction and reality, and it’s not exactly like Rhodes went out there and called out by people by name, apart from McAfee who is fair game because he’s the onscreen adversary in the storyline.

Last night on Monday Night Raw, however, CM Punk, who is likely main eventing the other night of WrestleMania alongside Roman Reigns, got a segment with a live microphone, and he threw gasoline all over the fire. He called The Rock, who sits on the Board Of Directors for TKO, washed up. He called Pat McAfee a “hillbilly” and “Pat MAGAfee” and absolutely went off in a scathing promo that once again referred to his agent aka TKO CEO Ari Emanuel.

Once again, exactly what was in the script here and what was not is a big question mark. WWE posted a video of most of CM Punk’s promo on its social media pages, but it’s worth noting that they cut it off before he called TKO out about the ticket prices. My guess would be that the company isn’t too happy about him going there, but considering this is probably the most invested fans have been in the product in months, that might be okay with it.

I’m certainly okay with it. After the McAfee program, which once again I was in the building for, I was probably at my lowest point as a wrestling fan in years. Now, I’m very emotionally invested and ready to see where this mess is going.

TKO has seemingly meedled in WWE affairs in a big way on two previous occasions. The first time (The Rock’s return) led to fan backlash, which then produced the absolutely epic Final Boss storyline with The Rock, Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 40 that everyone loved. The second time (the John Cena/ The Rock/ Travis Scott stuff) led to fan backlash, which then produced maybe the worst ‘Mania main event in history at WrestleMania 41. I’m nervous and fascinated and can't look away.

WrestleMania 42 is fast approaching, and with the biggest two nights in wrestling happening in Las Vegas this year, WWE is doing all it can to go all in and raise the stakes. After adding John Cena as host, Jelly Roll, and maybe even Tom Brady, Pat McAfee is in the mix as Randy Orton's mystery guest ahead of his big match with Cody Rhodes.

There was a "wtf" vibe on the internet after McAfee's unexpected appearance on SmackDown. The commentator wasn't on the short list of popular guesses for who would support Orton, and some questioned why two wrestlers with decades of history between them needed one of the biggest sports pundits in the world in the mix to push along storytelling. As debate continues on that, McAfee spoke out and made a promise to fans tied to the match.

Pat McAfee Added Another Stipulation To Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes' WrestleMania 42 Match

Pat McAfee hopped on X to try and generate hype, something he's usually good at. The ESPN pundit continued to shower Randy Orton with praise, and is so confident he'll win at WrestleMania 42, he added this stipulation:

This proclamation came about a month after McAfee publicly said he was likely done as a commentator in the WWE. A month later, he's playing a central role in the main event of WrestleMania. While speculation mounts as to why this is the case, the one thing we know is that not everyone is a fan of his return.

McAfee Got A Lot Of Negative Comments From Fans On The Post

It seems as though the online wrestling community hasn't lost its fire since Friday night, and McAfee's comment was littered with people who were upset. Not so much as McAfee, but the fact that this whole angle is happening with him unnecessarily inserted:

• “Save the Business” says the podcaster punter who should be nowhere near a World Title feud. - @Nick_Hagelgans
• Nobody asked for this, nor does anyone want this. 20 years of history and the stakes are "if randy looses pat macafee goes away." Wow, great writing TKO. - @FiresOfTruth
• This is so corny dude. TKO ruining your image and legacy in the WWE - @AllMikedUp
• Is this the WWE’s plan to aggressively keep Cody as a babyface? - @DartsWithMatt
• Might as well take the Wrestle out of Wrestlemania. Guess where Ari's right hand is since he clearly controls you like a puppet - @ExConDom1238

The last comment is a reference to TKO CEO Ari Emanuel, who is rumored to have a hand in Pat McAfee's inclusion into this WrestleMania 42 feud. Insider site Bodyslam.net alleged that Emanuel made the call to have McAfee inserted into the feud, and believed he'd bring energy to the feud between Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes.

It would seem Emanuel has hopes that bringing in Pat McAfee will bring more eyes on WrestleMania 42, as the WWE struggles to sell tickets to the two-night event in Vegas. McAfee can, of course, promote the show further on The Pat McAfee Show, and I'm sure ESPN will have no problem with that as it also has a vested interest in seeing people use their ESPN Unlimited subscription to watch Mania.

Whether it'll work or not remains to be seen. Personally, I've written about how the creative dip in storytelling may be a factor in low ticket sales, with this latest appearance by Pat McAfee being an example. I think people would've sooner liked to see an experienced absent veteran like Kevin Owens team up with Randy Orton, but it seems so much in the WWE is centered around creating viral moments rather than anything else.

All this being said, McAfee has surprised WWE fans in the past, so I'm not completely ruling out him doing it yet again at WrestleMania 42. We'll see if he can sway some angry fans in these final weeks leading up to April 18th and 19th.

When I first got back into wrestling after a multi-year break in 2009, I couldn’t get enough of the unhinged menace that was Randy Orton. This era of the “Viper,” which saw the third-generation wrestler evolve from a man with a great legacy to one of the most intense and dastardly heels, was unlike anything he’d done before. Then came WrestleMania 25, when it all came crashing down as Orton went into the unstoppable meat-grinder that was late 2000s Triple H in one of the most underwhelming main events of all time.

Randy Orton, who doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon, is currently in a similar situation: he’s wrestling a former stablemate for the WWE Championship at the two-night WrestleMania 42 and he’s in the middle of an outstanding heel run. In fact, this is the best he’s been since that 2009 feud. I just hope WWE doesn’t make the same old mistake… again.

Randy Orton Is Just So Natural As An Unhinged Heel

Nothing against babyface Randy Orton, but the Viper has always been at his best (and having the most fun) as a heel. From his days in Evolution to leading Legacy to even being the Authority’s chosen champion in the Daniel Bryan feud, he’s just natural as a heel. This is especially true when he lets those voices in his head get the best of him and cause him to be unhinged.

We’re in that right now with his feud with WWE Champion Cody Rhodes, whom he turned heel against in March 2026 upon signing the contract for their big WrestleMania main event match. Mercilessly beating Rhodes to a bloody pulp, Orton was in rare form and looked like the silent killer that he was nearly 20 years ago. One of the best and bloodiest beatdowns in recent memory, Orton showed Rhodes and the wrestling world that he was back and crazier than ever…

I Just Hope They Don’t Waste It Like It’s WrestleMania 25 All Over Again

I’ve been loving this version of Randy Orton the past few weeks, but it has got me thinking about the Viper’s underwhelming match against Triple H at WrestleMania 25 all those years ago. The match, which had one of the most captivating and unbelievable builds that year, ultimately fell short of greatness (it was actually boring and unremarkable). It was another example of “LOL Triple H wins a long, uninspired, and formulaic match” that didn’t do anything for anyone and ended the show with a “meh.” Triple H kept the title, and Orton's punt-kicking of the McMahon family in the lead-up to the match was for nothing.

I hope this year is different. Ideally, I would love a situation where Orton wins the belt off his former protege and has one final run with the WWE Championship. However, I would be okay with Rhodes retaining if it led to a major change in his character and forced him to go all out to take down his former mentor. Both of those options are captivating and could lead to some cool programs in the short term and in the long term. I just don’t want a situation where Orton looks like a monster in the build, gets beaten clean by Rhodes, and we end the show with the American Nightmare hamming it up for the camera as fireworks shoot off behind him.

Maybe WWE learned its lesson from the forgettable WrestleMania 25 match. I really hope they did…