Ricochet has made some interesting changes to his gear recently. The One and Only has ditched his wrestling trunks in favor of a pair of jeans.

The former NXT star talked about a number of things during his recent interview on Table Talk and explained the reasoning behind the change in his ring gear.

Ricochet mentioned how the tradition in Japan calls for young wrestlers to start with black trunks and work their way up to a gear. This change helps him get in a mental state to fight:

“I just stripped away all the….not flash, I don’t want to say flash. I just set a goal. In Japan, all the new kids start with black boots and black trunks. You have to work your way up to get gear.

It’s a mental thing. In the ring, I’m more direct and will come at you straight.” said Ricochet, “I’m more in a mental state of; I’m in the ring for business. I’m here to fight,”

• Ricochet Receives Fan Backlash After Tweet About Io Shirai

The former NXT North American champion also talked about a potential match with Sheamus. He wondered if the company will let the US champion compete at the upcoming PPV after his recent gruesome injury.

A match between Ricochet and Sheamus has not been announced for the upcoming Hell In A Cell PPV as of this writing but the company could add the bout before the show this Sunday.

Top WWE officials including Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, Triple H, and others have been named in a new lawsuit filed against the company for allegedly selling shares at inflated prices. The lawsuit claims that the company executives sold more than $300 million worth of stock while keeping the public in the dark about the collapse of their broadcasting deal in the Middle East.

McMahon and others are accused of telling investors that the promotion was set to renew their broadcasting agreement with Orbit Showcase Network in Riyadh.

OSN shut down all their sports channels back in March 2019 and left sports broadcasting. The lawsuit alleges that the company knew about this change and they also misled investors about the chances of finding a replacement deal once the network was out.

Vince McMahon sold a total of 3.5 million shares worth more than $280 million and other exes sold stock worth more than $30 million allegedly based on “non-public information regarding the company’s key contracts, business metrics, and financial prospects” in the middle eastern region.

The complaint mentions that WWE’s stock prices fell down from $62 to $44.50 a share when the truth about the company’s ‘rapidly deteriorating’ business in the Middle East emerged.

• WWE Planning Next Saudi Arabia Show For Later This Year

The plaintiff is seeking ‘punitive and actual damages, costs, and fees’ in this lawsuit filed against the top company officials. The cause of action is listed as “breach of fiduciary duty; unjust enrichment; aiding and abetting.”

This isn’t the first instance of the company being sued over their dealings in the country. They previously settled a lawsuit for $39 million regarding their relationship with Saudi Arabia in November 2020.

You can check out the new lawsuit here.

Drew McIntyre originally made his debut with ‘The Chosen One’ character in WWE but the gimmick that was pitched before that was very different.

The former WWE champion recently had an interview with Ryan Satin on the Out of Character podcast where he talked about a number of different things.

During the interview, Drew revealed that the company wanted him to play the role of a male model when he was originally brought to the main roster:

“When I was about to come out of FCW, I remember the character, and some people have heard of this but many haven’t,

But my character pitch was gonna be The Runway Man where I was gonna be a male model. I think this is what became of Fandango eventually.”

McIntyre thankfully didn’t debut as a male model on WWE. Explaining how the plans changed, Drew McIntyre mentioned that he had a sit down with Vince McMahon who decided to let him be himself:

“I was getting ready to be a male model and then I went to TV, I had my sit down with Vince, and I made it clear that I didn’t love it but I’ll make it work.

Whatever he thinks is best but thankfully he did not feel it was best and just kinda let me be myself.”

Vince McMahon cut a promo about the Scottish star a month after his WWE debut in August 2009. He claimed that he had personally signed Drew McIntyre, marking the beginning of his chosen one character.

The Dark Order had to go through some tough times before they became one of the most beloved stables in wrestling. There were times when they had to face harsh criticism from fans for some spots. Evil Uno recently talked about one such moment which he thought would be the end of the faction.

The AEW star was talking about the infamous segment where The Dark Order beat up The Elite and SCU to end an episode of Dynamite back in December 2019. Not only did the segment didn’t go over with the fans but it later got criticized for a very bad botch. Videos of a creeper delivering punches to Dustin Rhodes went viral where the unnamed wrestler was seen throwing punches that didn’t even come close to connecting to the wrestling veteran.

Evil Uno and Stu Grayson both recently appeared on the latest episode of Talk Is Jericho where they talked about this segment and revealed their reaction to it. Uno admitted that they thought the group would be done after that. However this didn’t turn out to be the case and the Dark Order member gave credit to Tony Khan for coming up with the idea to revive the faction:

“We thought we were done after that to be honest, I mean, even on the lead up, we were a little nervous because originally, that wasn’t what was planned. We didn’t know we were going to end the last Dynamite of the year on this big beat down on all the faces

We thought we were done because we were supposed to have a follow up to that, which was on the first show of January, and they had cut us entirely from it, and then they cut us from the next couple of weeks too. We’ve had a lot of uncertainty throughout the year of AEW, and that was one of those moments where I was like, well, we’re done. I don’t think we can come back, but to Tony’s credit, he thought of The Exalted One hook right away.”

• Cody Rhodes Confirms “Negative One is the Leader of the Dark Order”

Thankfully for the Dark Order, Brodie Lee was revealed as the leader of the group in March 2020. The former WWE star helped them in becoming a fan favorite and took the group to new heights before his unfortunate passing in December 2020. Since then, Lee’s son dubbed as Negative 1 has been named their new leader.

Former NXT star Vanessa Borne recently had an interview with PWInsider where she revealed how she came close to making her main roster debut multiple times but the plans never materialized.

The former WWE star first discussed how Paul Heyman had shown interest in her during his time as the in charge of Raw. She had been backstage for multiple Raw and SmackDown episodes in early 2020 but never used.

Borne then moved back to Arizona and stayed there through the COVID-19 pandemic. WWE brought her back with the idea for a stable when the restrictions eased up but these plans were also nixed:

“When COVID calmed down, they brought me back with Chelsea [Green] and Santana [Garrett], and told us we were going to be in a trio, which I was super excited about. Any time you’re working with others that closely, it’s fun. Being able to bounce ideas off each other and everyone thinks differently.

We were excited and we all got main roster contracts, which was exciting.” said Vanessa Borne, “Things just never worked out and the idea got scratched. I feel like that happens a lot.”

• Vanessa Borne Says She Expressed Concerns About Retribution Angle To WWE

This wasn’t the last time the company discussed a main roster run for the female star. She revealed that there were also plans for her to be part of the Retribution stable but she was dropped when she asked too many questions.

Vanessa Borne was originally signed by WWE back in April 2016 and she had a run in NXT. The female star unfortunately never made it to the main roster despite coming close to it so many times. She was finally released from her contract as part of budget cuts last month in May.

There has been a lot of discussion on the future of the recently released WWE stars and which companies they should join next. Impact star Rosemary recently revealed her picks for the stars she wants to see in their promotion.

Impact Wrestling has been teasing the signing of at least one of the released WWE stars from the latest wave of budget cuts and there has been some speculation on who it could be.

While appearing on The Angle Podcast, Rosemary named The IIconics and former Knockouts champion Laurel Van Ness as stars she would like to see in Impact:

“The IIconics in particular tingles in the back of our minds with the reformed Knockouts Tag Team Championships, bringing in a seasoned tag team and one that’s quite clever and unexpectedly successful. So their addition to the Knockout’s division would be very intriguing indeed.

You called her Chelsea Green, but she’s our Laurel Van Ness” said Rosemary, “And we do have unfinished business with her so to have her return to the IMPACT realm would be something sweet indeed.”

• Rosemary On Why She Still Believes In IMPACT Wrestling

The debate of whether or not WWE should hold another all-women’s PPV after Evolution in 2018 has picked up in recent times and Triple H’s comments have added a spark to this discussion.

Rosemary talked about how Impact used to do their own version of an all-female show called Knockouts Knockdown and hoped that it will return in future.

WWE brought back the King Of Ring tournament in 2019, which was won by Baron Corbin. Now a recent exchange between King Corbin, Xavier Woods, and Adam Pearce has fans wondering if the royal competition will be revived again in the near future.

The Lone Wolf is set to defend his crown against Shinsuke Nakamura on this week’s SmackDown. Corbin appeared on the latest episode of The Bump to discuss the challenge. Host Kayla Braxton mentioned the fact that Xavier Woods has repeatedly expressed his desire to become King of the Ring. Corbin was asked if he’s feeling the ‘heat’ as WWE’s reigning king.

Corbin says everybody has their eye on his crown, which he believes is on par with WWE’s championship titles. He appreciates Xavier Woods’ interest and would love the chance to for wanting to earn an opportunity at the crown. He welcomes the opportunity to defeat Woods in hypothetical KOTR tournament.

• Baron Corbin Says Spite Motivated Him To Win King of the Ring

With live events returning in just a matter of weeks, WrestleVotes says there has been talk of WWE holding ‘theme events’ such as King of the Ring, Old School nights, etc. on these non-televised shows to encourage fan interest.

King of the Ring Returning?

Corbin’s comments on The Bump elicited responses from Woods and WWE official Adam Pearce. The former NWA Champion says he’s had many conversations with Corbin about the possibility of holding another tournament.

Rampage will be the fourth weekly show in AEW’s repertoire. With an already packed production schedule, the company will have to make some major adjustments to make sure things run smoothly. Tony Khan recently explained how they are planning to ensure that this expansion is seamless.

The AEW president recently had an interview with PWInsider. He talked about a number of things and went into details of what changes the company is planning to make and how Rampage will fit into their plans. Khan first revealed that Rampage will not be live every week. They will instead choose between a taped show some weeks and live special on some specific markets:

“With Rampage, there’s going to be some weeks Rampage will be live and there’ll be weeks where we plan to tape Rampage after Dynamite, including here at Arthur Ashe Stadium [in NYC], where we will be filming also after. We’ll do Dynamite live and we’ll also film Rampage. And in some of the markets where we have these amazing crowds, I think it’s okay.”

Though Tony Khan confirmed that the premiere episode of their new show will be airing live and future Rampage episodes will also serve as the go-home shows for their PPVs. Regarding their non televised shows in Dark and Dark: Elevation, the AEW official revealed that they will tape Elevation before Dynamite and find a new venue for Dark:

“Before Dynamite, we used to tape Dark. That’s going to change. I’m going to tape Elevation before Dynamite now,” Khan said. “So it’s going to be a shorter Elevation and I may add matches that I’ll explain where I’ll add them from. I’m going to procure a venue for use to tape Dark and other content that’ll be great. And I’m really looking forward to this”

Tony Khan also explained that Dark will continue being their developmental show. AEW announced their expansion plans earlier this year, confirming that they will be launching their second TV show Rampage on August 13. The company confirmed that both their premiere shows will be moving to TBS in 2022.

• Tony Khan On WarnerMedia Wanting To Add Third Hour To Dynamite, If Rampage Will Be A Secondary Show

After years of hard work and rebuilding himself from the bottom following his WWE release, Drew McIntyre finally got his opportunity last year. The Scottish Psychopath got a chance to challenge for the WWE championship after winning the 2020 Royal Rumble. He then defeated Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 36 and went on to have an impressive run with the world title.

However, the former champion has continued his involvement with the title even after dropping the belt to Bobby Lashley earlier this year. His continuous presence in the title picture has started attracting some criticism from fans and McIntyre himself recently addressed the fan backlash.

Drew recently had an interview with Ryan Satin of Fox Sports. Discussing the recent negative reaction to his involvement in the world title scene, the former champion said that he doesn’t think anyone questions the work he puts in. The fans instead are just looking for some fresh stories:

“I understand some fans may be like, ‘Ugh, I’d like a new fresh face in the picture,’ I have been fighting for the title, or been champion, for over a year now – which is a pretty significant time – but I don’t think anyone is saying, ‘Oh my goodness, Drew’s not working as hard as he can to give us the best matches possible and do the best he can with every interview possible.’ I think it’s more, ‘I would like to see something different here and see Drew do something different over here.’”

• Drew McIntyre Wants to Fight Imperium Leader WALTER

Apart from this, the former NXT champion talked about things such as his incredible title reign, his feud with Randy Orton, and more. Drew McIntyre will get a final opportunity to challenge Bobby Lashley for the WWE championship at Hell In A Cell this Sunday. If he loses the bout, he will not be able to challenge for the title as long as the All-Mighty is holding the belt.

After operating with minimal staff for more than a year, WWE is looking to refill its roster before its return to the road and they have been hiring a lot of people to fill key backstage positions.

Just recently it was revealed that the company has brought back veteran wrestling producer Shawn Daivari. Now a new report from PWInsider reveals two more additions to the staff.

According to the site, the company has brought back longtime WWE employee John D’Amico. He has taken back his previous role of director and production manager for live events.

D’Amico originally started with WWE back in 1989. He had been with the company for over 31 years before being released back in September 2020. Following a ten-month hiatus, he is now back with the promotion.

Wrestling personality George Carroll has also been hired by the company. Carroll who has previously worked in various roles for NJPW in United States and MLW has joined the NXT writing team.

• WWE Hires 3 New Executives To Senior Leadership Team

WWE announced their return to touring last month. The company confirmed that they will be holding a 25 city tour starting with the July 16 episode of SmackDown from Houston.

A number of big names are expected to make their return to the company for these shows. Among the talents rumored to make their return include big names such as John Cena and Brock Lesnar.

United States Champion Sheamus appears to have been one of the victims of the recent Thunderdome theft. He lost an item that was an integral part of his entrance gear for a long time.

The University of South Florida Police Department had made a tweet earlier this month asking people to help identify the suspect who was caught on video while stealing some items from Thunderdome.

Sheamus recently replied to that post from the police. He revealed that his Celtic Cross pendant was one of the items taken by the unidentified man:

“A lovely fella stole my cross (on camera below). I’d appreciate it if you internet sleuths could track it down & return it via details below.. ringside seats reward when we return to your town & many beers”

Based on the released photos from the police department, fans speculate that the thief also managed to get away with an original championship belt from the company, possibly one of the Raw tag team title belts.

The incident originally took place on May 22. It came to light earlier this month when the police department posted photos of the suspect. They noted that the person removed several items “belonging to WWE” from the premises.

• Sheamus Discusses WWE Morale After Talent Releases

The original Wyatt Family consisting of Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, and Erick Rowan was one of the most unique factions ever seen in WWE. One of the former members of the faction Erick Rowan was recently interviewed by SportsKeeda where he revealed how the group was originally put together.

The former champion explained that the original Wyatt character was put together by Bray and Dusty Rhodes. Brodie Lee, known as Luke Harper during his WWE days was always going to be a part of the faction:

“It started with the characters that Bray Wyatt had with the white shirts, stuff like that. Then he did some sort of vignettes with Dusty, and it was completely kind of a different thing,

And then, when they finally decided to kind of go with it, I know Brodie was going to be like the first son of, you know, Bray. He was just called the first son.”

Revealing how he was chosen to be part of this group, Rowan explained that he was trying to build a character for himself with different promos and outfits. Then just two days before a taping, he was told that he will be a part of the group:

“It was like two days before one of the NXT tapings; they were like, ‘Okay, you are going to be the second son of Bray, which was funny because we were older than him. But it’s funny, and it just kind of evolved from there with the rocking chairs and all that stuff,”

• Erick Rowan Offers Advice to Braun Strowman Following His Release

Many believe that former NXT champion Bo Dallas should have also been included in the Wyatt Family. Though when asked about it, Erick replied negatively: “No. Because it’s a character, not real life,”

The former WWE star signed with the company in 2011 and he stayed with the promotion for 9 years before being released in April 2020. Bray Wyatt introduced Erick Rowan as his ‘second son’ during an NXT episode in December 2012. You can check out his debut in the video below:

AEW President Tony Khan was recently profiled by Forbs for their Daily Cover feature which includes an interview with the wrestling promoter and a photoshoot with several wrestlers from the company.

The AEW owner talked about their competition with WWE and he said that he doesn’t want his promotion to be the next wrestling company of the past:

“I don’t want to be the next ‘blank’ wrestling company of the past—fill in the blank, We love wrestling of the past, wrestling of the present and wrestling of the future…” said Tony Khan, “That’s what gives us a great chance to retain and gain audience share.”

The co-owner of the Jacksonville Jaguar then also discussed the rise and fall of WCW and he interestingly claimed that he is glad that WCW failed:

“I’m glad that WCW failed because it created a vacancy for us to come in and succeed, but it made it a fairly bleak period for the wrestling business.”

• Tony Khan Reacts To Triple H Saying ‘Everybody Wants To Work For WWE’

Reiterating their commitment of providing an alternative, Tony Khan then said that the business is hotter than it’s been in a long time.He explained there is no reason why there needs to be only one wrestling company.

The interview also featured comments from the AEW president’s father Shahid Khan who revealed that he didn’t believe in the idea of the promotion at first. You can check out his remarks at this link.

Becky Lynch is one of the big names people want to see back in WWE as the company returns to the road next month and Sheamus recently commented on the possibility.

The current United States champion recently had an interview with Vibe Wrestling where he talked about things like possibly winning the IC title and becoming a grand slam champion in WWE and more.

When asked about The Man possibly making her return alongside fans, Sheamus said that he doesn’t know if it will happen but he will be excited if Lynch does come back because everybody misses her:

“I don’t know when she’s gonna come back. I am not gonna ask her, it’s not of my business to ask for that or what are her plans for the future. But I think that going into the live events with the fans we’d love to have her back.

I miss her, everybody else misses her too. I’m excited if she does come back.” said Sheamus, “That question can only be answered by her.”

• Seth Rollins Talks Becky Lynch’s WWE Status and Return

The former WWE champion also praised Becky Lynch for making herself a star. He said that despite the bookings and not being on people’s radar, Lynch went there and made herself.

Apart from this, Sheamus talked about the latest WWE releases and commented on the locker room morale after it. You can check out his comments on the matter at this link.

John Cena learned a lot from Vince McMahon during his 15 years long run as the top star and face of WWE but the most important lesson he learned from the boss is very simple.

The 16-time world champion recently had an interview with Chris Van Vliet to promote Fast & Furious 9 where he talked about a number of things.

He was asked about the biggest lesson he has learned from Vince McMahon. Replying to the question, Cena first said that he continues to learn from the boss, before revealing the most valuable thing he has learned from Mr McMahon:

“I think the most valuable of all the lessons is just show up and deliver. And that’s something he doesn’t say, it’s something he does. All the time. He’s always there. He’s always invested. People can question his creative motives or whatever they want. It’s creativity, there’s always going to be opinionated.

He’s always boots on the ground. He’s always invested” said John Cena, “And he always believes and is passionate about the product and I think just showing up and delivering, that’s a huge takeaway.” (Quotes: SEScoops)

The former world champion was also asked if he feels excited about returning to WWE in front of the fans. He said that he is excited for the WWE performers.

John claimed that he thinks he wouldn’t have done very well in the environment without an audience. He is happy for WWE to have crowds again and happy that all the talents can enjoy that feeling once again.

• John Cena Avoids Question About Appearing At SummerSlam

The coronavirus pandemic had forced WWE to put a pause to their relationship with Saudi Arabia but they might be looking to resume it later this year.

PWinsider recently provided some updates on the company’s return to the country. It notes that the expectation is that the promotion will run their next Saudi show in fall.

While a date for WWE’s next PPV in Saudi Arabia has not been locked yet, the officials expect to run one event there before the end of the year.

WWE first started holding live events in Saudi Arabia in 2014. The company held one live event each year from 2014 to 2016 in the Middle Eastern country.

The two parties then began an official partnership in 2018 when the Saudi General Sports Authority started advertising the Greatest Royal Rumble event.

The Greatest Royal Rumble, held in April 2018 was the company’s first televised show produced from the country. It marked the start of a 10-year partnership between WWE and the Kingdom.

• Natalya Talks Vince McMahon ‘Pushing Hard’ for Saudi Arabia Match

WWE has since produced 4 more shows in the country. Their last show was the Super ShowDown event in February 2020 before the coronavirus pandemic halted this partnership.

Now that the world is opening back up, the company is looking to resume its normal business operations and it appears that their expected return to Saudi Arabia is a part of the plans.

Current Impact X Division champion Josh Alexander will be making his debut for NJPW as part of the partnership between the two companies this week.

The champion will be making his debut for the Japanese promotion in a singles match against Alex Coughlin. The two will face off on this Friday’s ignition episode of NJPW Strong. This will be the beginning of Coughlin’s open challenge series.

The partnership among AEW, Impact and NJPW has been growing in the past few months. Stars from all three companies have been making more and more cross-promotional appearances in recent times.

The Walking Weapon of Impact has been one of the stars who previously competed against talents from other companies. Alexander defended his title against NJPW’s El Phantasmo during the May 15 episode of Impact.

• Impact Wrestling Reportedly Has Big Plans For X Division Championship

NJPW announced a special ignition event for their weekly NJPW Strong show. The two-night special will begin this week and conclude on June 25.

Apart from the match between Josh Alexander and Alex Coughlin, the episode will also feature bouts such as Satoshi Kojima vs. NWA World Tag Team Champion JR Kratos, and Fred Rosser & Adrian Quest vs. Bateman & Barrett Brown.

WWE announced a new match for the upcoming Hell In A Cell PPV during this week’s episode of Raw confirming that Alexa Bliss will be taking on Shayna Baszler on the show.

Last week’s episode the Red Brand featured an Alexa’s playground segment in the main event. It included Baszler as well and Bliss asked the former NXT women’s champion to apologize to her doll Lilly.

Shayna took the doll from Bliss but she stomped her instead. The lights then started to flicker and Baszler got caught up in the pyro on the stage when she tried to run to backstage.

The Queen of Spades went to the locker room and locked herself inside. However, Lily showed up on the mirror and the segment, and the show ended with Baszler screaming as the lights went out.

The opening segment of this week’s Hell In A Cell go home episode of Raw saw Nia Jax confronting Bliss backstage. Jax said that her partner will see Bliss at the PPV, making the match official.

Updated Hell In A Cell Match Card

This is the fifth match officially announced for the show this Sunday with one or two more bouts expected to be added on SmackDown. Below you can check out the updated card for the show so far:

• WWE Championship Hell In a Cell Match: Drew McIntyre vs. Bobby Lashley, If Lashley wins McIntyre will not be able to challenge the All Mighty for the title again
• Universal Championship Hell In a Cell Match: Rey Mysterio vs. Roman Reigns
• Raw Women’s Championship Match: Charlotte Flair vs. Rhea Ripley
• SmackDown Women’s Championship Match: Bayley vs. Bianca Belair
• Singles Match: Shayna Baszler vs. Alexa Bliss

Hell In A Cell this year will take place on June 20 from the WWE ThunderDome at the Yuengling Center in Tampa, Florida

LA Knight picked up a big win during the latest NXT Takeover: In Your House event this past Sunday when he won the Million Dollar championship originally created by Ted DiBiase.

The new champion appeared on Busted Open Radio after his big win on the show. He talked about his journey from being a kid and watching the million-dollar title on WWE TV to holding the belt himself.

Knight then discussed DiBiase’s future in the brand saying that the WWE Hall Of Famer is still going to be around. The NXT star also claimed that he has a big surprise coming for him:

“Ted’s still going to be around, I need him, I want him to be there. I think I have a pretty big surprise coming for him, because I owe him, big time at this point. So I definitely want to make sure that he’s around for sure.”

Ted DiBiase has been making regular appearances for NXT since April and he had been feuding with Cameron Grimes. He recently reintroduced the Million Dollar championship on WWE TV.

The company then announced a ladder match between Grimes and LA Knight to determine the new Million Dollar champion. This match was won by Knight during the latest NXT Takeover: In Your House event.

• NXT TakeOver In Your House Results: Fatal 5-Way For NXT Championship, Ladder Match

Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated was one of the names invited to be part of the pre-show panel for this past Sunday’s NXT TakeOver: In Your House event.

The wrestling journalist wrote about his experience at the show after the event and he provided some interesting tidbits from the latest NXT PPV.

He mentioned that people like Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Matt Bloom, and Sara Amato were present throughout the day and they all were very hands-on with the latest TakeOver event.

WWE executive vice president Triple H congratulated the participants of the five-way main event on the success of their bout after they returned backstage.

Per Barrasso, it was easy to see how passionate all five of the stars in the main event were and all of them were trying to create something memorable.

Cesaro and Reginald were two non-NXT names who were backstage for the show at the Capitol Wrestling Center to watch the event and support their coworkers.

There was a conference room where WWE Hall of Famer Ted DiBiase was telling stories about working with Vince McMahon Sr. The famed catering of the company included salmon and vegetables, grilled chicken, and crab.

Apart from this, the wrestling journalist noted how the space to eat was limited and Xia Li spent almost 2 hours in the makeup, getting ready for her match against Mercedes Martinez on the show.

• NXT TakeOver In Your House Results: Fatal 5-Way For NXT Championship, Ladder Match

Former WWE star Lana has a lot to say about her time in the company. She is promising to ‘spill the tea’ on everything she had to endure before her release.

The female star recently made some intriguing promises to the wrestling universe while speaking to the fans on a recent live session on her Instagram.

The wife of former WWE star Rusev aka Miro said that she can’t wait to spill the tea. Lana claimed that she is looking forward to standing up and speaking about things she has been silent about:

“I can’t wait to spill the tea, because it’s hot and delicious. I look forward to standing up and speaking out on things that for years I have been silent about,”

The 36 year old mentioned how she cried upon her WWE release while her husband did ‘cartwheels’ when he was let go by the company. Lana then claimed that she can finally speak up for things people exploited:

“It’s a little bit of freedom that I can be the face that I want to be. I can stand up for freedom, I can stand up for truth, I can speak up for things that people exploited and a lot of things,”

Lana was one of the many names released during the latest round of budget cuts. She was released from her contract on 2 June and the female star is currently under a 90 days non-compete clause.

• Lana & Miro Comment On Her WWE Release

Meiko Satomura just picked up a big win, defeating Kay Lee Ray for the NXT UK Women’s championship but she already has her sight set on some even bigger opponents in WWE for her future.

The new champion recently had an interview with Metro just before her title win where she talked about a number of things and revealed a few other WWE names she wants to compete against.

Satomura first praised her last opponent in Kay Lee Ray. She then revealed which talents she wants to have a match against, discussing some big names such as Sasha Banks and Charlotte Flair as potential future opponents:

“First, I want to beat Kay Lee Ray, But next, Io Shirai, Sasha Banks and Charlotte [Flair].”

– Meiko Satomura

The female star is a Japanese wrestling veteran who has been wrestling since the age of 15. She made her debut for the all-women promotion Gaea Japan in 1995.

• Meiko Satomura Taking On New Role With WWE

Meiko Satomura has also competed in promotions such as Sendai Girls’ Pro Wrestling and Chikara in her long career. She made some WCW appearances in 1996 thanks to Gaea Japan’s working relationship with the company at the time.

She made her WWE debut in 2018 as part of the second Mae Young Classic and was signed to a full-time deal in October 2020. She defeated Kay Lee Ray on the June 10 episode of NXT UK, ending Ray’s 649 days long run with the title.

The Zombie lumberjack match at WrestleMania: Backlash between The Miz and Damien Priest received some harsh criticism from fans after the show.

The former WWE champion and his wife recently had an interview with ComicBook.com where they talked about a number of things including a potential return for Maryse and more.

The Miz was also asked about his initial reaction to the idea of a zombie match during the interview. Replying to the question, he explained that he is the type of person who gets his creative juices flowing with any such opportunity:

“So a lot of people would be like, “What is this? Oh, my God.” I’m the type of person that goes, this allows my creative juices to do whatever the hell we kind of want. So let’s make a movie out of it.

Let’s make a meal out of it. I mean, there was a part in that match where Damian and I worked together to beat up all the zombies.”

• The Miz On His WWE Championship Reign Ending In Two Weeks

The Miz then discussed the fan reaction to the bout. The Raw star said that it’s very easy to go online and critique something:

“And some people give us flack for going outside the box.” said The Miz, “And the problem with, I feel like, today’s world is that it’s so easy to just literally go on the Internet and just critique and say, “This is terrible. This is horrible.”

The former champion gave the example of his storyline with Bad Bunny. He explained that nobody wanted to see it until it unfolded and said that nobody wants to let things develop and get fun.

Apart from this, The Miz discussed things such as starring as Johnny Cage in the next Mortal Kombat film and more. You can check out his full interview here.

Sasha Banks made history when she defended the SmackDown women’s championship against Bianca Belair in the main event of WrestleMania 37 night 1. During her recent appearance on the Just Women’s Sports podcast, the former champion opened up about the spot.

The former women’s champion also revealed how she felt when she found out about the position of their match on the card. Banks first mentioned that she didn’t know about her spot on the card even a week before the show. The legit boss only found out about it on the Wednesday before the big event:

“It was legit the Wednesday before WrestleMania I found out that we were the main event. And I was again so nervous because I was asking around ‘did you get the card? Did anyone tell you?’ And they’re like ‘you’re not the main event.’ And I’m like ‘nobody told me that!’”

Sasha Banks finally believed the news when the producer of their match TJ Wilson confirmed it to them. She then discussed her reaction to finally believing in the news. Banks said that she started crying instantly because it was the biggest thing one can ever do in wrestling:

“I just instantly started crying and was just like ‘wow. No way!’ Like I knew it, it’s something that I wanted. Just to finally to hear the words that ‘you’re the main event.’ It was so overwhelming, it’s bringing back tears. It’s crazy; it’s crazy, because it’s the biggest thing you can ever do in wrestling.”

• Bianca Belair Talks About Her Emotional Experience at WrestleMania

The former champion mentioned how even some of her heroes haven’t gotten this chance. She explained that being an African American woman and getting the chance to live her biggest dream was a great moment.

Former WWE star Samoa Joe was seen at the Performance Center this week, following recent reports about the officials being interested in bringing him back.

The rumors about the heavyweight star’s return stemmed from a recent report. It said that the NXT talents have heard about the officials being interested in bringing the former NXT champion back to the brand.

In an update to the story, Fightful select is reporting that Samoa Joe was actually seen at the Performance Center this week. His visit was brief and there is no word on why the former champion was in the building.

The former TNA star is one of the names that were released from his WWE contract in mid-April earlier this year, as part of the company’s coronavirus budget cuts.

Joe hadn’t been wrestling for WWE for a while before his release. The former NXT star had been working on the Raw announce team instead.

The former WWE star is under the standard 90 days non-compete clause. This means that he cannot sign a contract with a different company until mid-July.

With the reported talks about his return and now his visit, it would be interesting to see if the company actually re-signs Samoa Joe before his non compete clause expires.