Paul Heyman took Cesaro under his wing as the Swiss Cyborg revealed himself to be a Paul Heyman guy on Raw in April the night after WrestleMania 30 in 2014. It lasted only briefly, as by July of the same year Cesaro declared that he’s no longer a Paul Heyman guy.

Paul Heyman recently reflected on their short-lived stint and said that it ultimately did no favors to Cesaro. He also discussed why he thinks Cesaro is a main event level talent in the WWE.

WrestleMania 30 saw The Undertaker’s streak being broken by Brock Lesnar, and Cesaro winning the inaugural André The Giant Memorial Battle Royal. Since Lesnar wasn’t going to be available every week on Raw, Cesaro was coming in hot after winning the battle royal. And this is why Cesaro was made a Paul Heyman guy, explained Heyman while speaking to Inside the Ropes.

“I’ve always thought Cesaro was a main event player in WWE. Cesaro was paired with Paul Heyman because Paul Heyman needed an excuse to be on television to say the words, ‘My client, Brock Lesnar, conquered The Undertaker’s undefeated streak at WrestleMania.’ That was an elevation in terms of exposure for Cesaro, but it did him no favours in terms of showcasing his talents.”

The pairing really didn’t do much for Cesaro, and the two were soon split up without any significant big break up scene. Cesaro spent most of his career as a midcard talent after that, until recently when he got in the main event picture at WrestleMania Backlash where he faced Roman Reigns for the WWE Universal Championship in a losing attempt. He then got into a brief feud with Seth Rollins which saw a match in the Hell in a Cell PPV event. He hasn’t been up to much since then on SmackDown and only time will tell if Cesaro will be able to break through the mid-card and stay in the main event picture.

Charlotte Flair won the WWE Raw Women’s Championship for the 12th time in front of 51,000 people at SummerSlam this past week. She defeated the previous champion Nikki A.S.H. and Rhea Ripley in a Triple Threat match to regain her title.

Another star in the company who has more than a dozen reigns under their belt is John Cena. With his joint-record, he has the world championship 16 times under his name. Charlotte Flair said that she wants to be like John Cena and embody him, and have a work ethic that’s similar to him.

Charlotte stated that she believes that there will never be another John Cena. He means a lot to the industry and he is irreplaceable. But Charlotte said she knows that since the day she started and even to this day, she wants to mold herself after Cena and be like him.

“Unfortunately, I am a bad guy on camera, and Cena is the ultimate good guy. But I never lose that density or passion of wanting to embody WWE, wanting to do as much on the outside, for instance, media and the Special Olympics. There’s so many community events that we take part in,” Charlotte told DAZN News.

Charlotte continued saying that she wants to be considered to be in the same class as John Cena, in terms of in-ring success as well as the work they do outside the ring as well.

“I hope to be mentioned in the same sentence as him. He’s John Cena. I’m a talent in the same company as him. Not even a peer but as a co-worker, and I still say it like that. He’s John Cena. Yes, I want to be the female John Cena. And if people say that, then I’m going to continue, even if I don’t feel like I’ve gotten there yet, but I’m going to continue to work as hard and feel that I want to be that way with everything I do.”

Sheamus has done quite a bit over the past year after making his return from injury. He went back to his old hairstyle, won the United States Championship at WrestleMania 37 and had some great matches. He recently talked about his current run in the WWE and said that it’s the best one he’s had so far.

Sheamus also revealed that The Undertaker recently told him that Sheamus is “one of the old crew now.” Sheamus told ComicBook that it took him a second to process that he’s now considered one of the “seniors” in WWE, because the last 12 years have been like a blur to him.

Sheamus was asked if he thinks this has been the best run of his career. He absolutely agreed that he’s done his best in all aspects, whether it’s on the mic, or inside the ring. He’s finally able to be himself and not have second thoughts about what he’s doing.

“I guess sometimes it was in my interest to emulate this persona that wasn’t me. So for the last year and a half, I’ve really been able to just throw all that aside and just be me, and go out there and do what I do best. I’ve always been a physical competitor in the ring, and for me it’s never been the ‘Oh, you just want to take liberties’. You hear all that stuff in the past. It’s always about bringing the best out of my opponent, bringing the fight out of my opponent, because I know at the end of it all, whoever I’m in there with when the match is over, I’ve had that physical encounter,” Sheamus said.

Sheamus considers this year and a half his best. He stated that he loves working with the younger talent and others including Matt Riddle, Damien Priest, Keith lee, Humberto Carrillo, Drew McIntyre, etc. Sheamus said that it feels like he has started his career right all over again.

The upcoming AEW Full Gear pay-per-view is set for November 6 from the Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis, Missouri. However, the company could possibly move the date for the event as it will face some huge competition if it takes place on the scheduled date as another company has just announced a stack card for their combat sports event.

While AEW is set to hold All Out 2021 as scheduled this Sunday on September 5, the clashes with boxing and UFC events on the same night as Full Gear could be a problem for the pro-wrestling company.

UFC 268: Usman vs. Covington 2 will take place on November 6 at the Madison Square Garden. The card will feature the rematch between Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington which is much awaited amongst fans.

In addition to this UFC MSG card, Canelo Álvarez vs. Caleb Plant, billed as “On the Road to Undisputed” is a unification boxing match in the super middleweight class that’s also going to take place on November 6, from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Paradise, Nevada. The match is important because the winner will become the first undisputed super middleweight champion in boxing history as multiple titles are on the line.

AEW would probably not want to clash with events of such calibre, so it’s likely that we’d see a date change announcement for Full Gear soon.

This wouldn’t be the first time the company would do something like this either, as they previously moved AEW Revolution 2021’s date from February 27 to March 7. This was also because of a Canelo Alvarez match, which took place on February 27. So, AEW had to reschedule the event to avoid clashes with the match and we could see the same thing happening here with Full Gear.

Roman Reigns has hit a milestone in his career today. He officially completed one year as WWE Universal Champion after he won it from Bray Wyatt in a No Holds Barred Triple Threat match, in which he pinned the other participant, Braun Strowman. This match took place at Payback on August 30, 2020, marking 365 days officially since Reigns became champion.

This is Reigns’ second run with the Universal Championship, with a total of 429+ combined days as champion. It is also the second longest reign, ranking after Brock Lesnar’s combined reigns of 680+ days with a total number of 3 reigns.

Roman Reigns took to Twitter this morning to celebrate his career milestone. He asked fans to celebrate him as their Universal Heavyweight Champion. “365 days as Your Universal Heavyweight Champion… #CelebrateMe,” he posted.

Reigns recently was confronted by John Cena who made his return to the WWE at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view event on July 18 where Reigns had just gotten done successfully defending his title against Edge. Cena challenged Reigns for a title match at Summerslam, but Reigns initially rejected it. It was later made official and the two squared off in the ring again, and Reigns was able to defeat Cena to retain the title. However, Brock Lesnar’s entrance music played and he came out in a mohawk ponytail getup. He confronted him as the two stared down each other and traded some words. The special counsel for Reigns, Paul Heyman, also took to Twitter to mark one year of their partnership. Heyman said that he’s been “rescued” by Reigns. “EXACTLY 1 YEAR AGO, I was rescued by Roman Reigns. In the 52 weeks that have transpired since then, the #TribalChief has redefined the medium, disrupted the status quo and titled the axis of what it means to be THEE top superstar in WWE … and we’ve only just begun!”

At NWA’s 73rd Anniversary Show last night, new tag champs were crowned. La Rebelión, the team of Bestia 666 and Mecha Wolf 450, defeated the defending champions Aron Stevens and Kratos to successfully capture the NWA World Tag Team Championships.

La Rebelión ended Aron Stevens and JR Kratos’ ten-month reign when Bestia 666 got Kratos out of the way with a moonsault from the top rope, following which Bestia and Mecha Wolf hit Stevens with Mark of the Beast and won by pinfall. La Rebelión have become the first wrestlers born in Mexico and Puerto Rico to hold the NWA tag titles.

Konnan, who was at their corner, took the mic after their victory and said that he’s proud of the winners who became the new NWA World Tag Team Champions as well as the fact that they’re the first champs who are born in Mexico and Puerto Rico. He also gave a shout-out to the women wrestlers from the night prior at NWA EmPowerrr. Allysin Kay and Marti Belle (aka The Hex) became NWA’s first Women’s Tag Team Champions by defeating KiLynn King and Red Velvet in the finals of the tag title tournament.

This is not the first time that La Rebelión has captured tag title gold. In 2019, they won The Crash Tag Team Championships from AEW’s The Lucha Brothers. They would hold on to the titles until dropping it in February 2020 to the freelance tag team Los Traumas.

In the main event of the show, Trevor Murdoch defeated Nick Aldis to capture the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship for himself. The important week for NWA has ended with two back-to-back pay-per-view events, starting with the first-ever all-female event NWA Empowerr and then the 73rd Anniversary Show. Ric Flair also made an appearance on the anniversary show where he thanked many in the wrestling industry including WWE and Vince McMahon.

Kevin Owens won the WWE Universal Championship on the August 29, 2016 edition of Raw, marking five years since his run as champion. The title was introduced in July of that year with Finn Balor becoming the inaugural champion. He had to relinquish the title the next night after becoming the champion though.

A fatal four-way elimination match was set involving Kevin Owens, Big Cass, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins with Owens winning the title when Triple H interrupted the match and turned on Rollins. Owens would go on to keep the title on his waist for 6 months until he would lose to Goldberg at Fastlane 2017.

Kevin Owens Remembers His Universal Title Win

To mark the fifth anniversary of his Universal title reign, Owens posted a video on Twitter this Sunday where he talked about this career milestone and also thanked his fans.

“Hey guys, my wife reminded me today that five years ago something really cool happened. I saw on Twitter that a lot of people were also reminding me what happened. Man, the last five years have been a roller coaster… Lots of highs, lots of lows. The highs are great, but the lows, sometimes, they’re really hard to take for somebody who cares a lot, and who is very passionate about this, like I am.”

“But I’ve been so lucky because I’ve had a really great career. I’ve had my wife, my kids, and my parents who are all fantastic at helping me navigate through this. It’s not just them, I have really great friends, really great colleagues to go on this ride with. And I have everybody watching this right now,” Owens stated.

“I’ve been lucky to have a loyal following along me for that ride. And that’s you guys, today, reminding me of what happened five years ago when I won the Universal Title. So I figured this was a good time to say thank you to all of you. For being there for the highs, for being there for the lows, just for being there for the whole ride.”

Kevin Owens has been in involved in title match programs as recently as early this year, however, he hasn’t been successful in capturing any championship. It would be interesting to when Owens will be able to break this dry spell and capture gold once again.

Related: Kevin Owens: WWE Crew Helped Me During ThunderDome Era

Ric Flair made his appearance at the NWA’s 73rd Anniversary Show where he heaped praise for a bunch of wrestling personalities with Billy Corgan included. The Nature Boy thanked Billy Corgan for inviting him to the event and for contributing to the industry.

Billy Corgan is excited to work with Ric Flair and called him the biggest legend in wrestling. “Ric Flair, I don’t know if there’s a bigger legend in wrestling, right? You could say Vince McMahon but Vince McMahon, although he has wrestled, he’s an owner and a personality first and a professional wrestler second, and I think he would agree with that,” Corgan told Metro.

“Ric is the most decorated story and probably most mainstream thing, to this date, in professional wrestling which is pretty incredible considering how long he’s been in the business.”

Corgan said that Flair did a lot to promote the show, even beyond his contractual obligations. He also noted that Flair has a lot of opportunities now and he should explore all of them. Corgan added that he would love to have Flair on board to work with him.

“He has so many opportunities and I think he should explore all these opportunities. I’m glad to be in business with him on this, of course I would love to have him back.”

Corgan also told a story from his childhood when he would watch wrestling and wonder why Ric Flair’s on-screen persona made him care feel anger. “I remember watching RIc Flair on television and thinking, “Who is this guy?” Ten years old, you’re watching going, “Who is this guy? What’s he talking about, and why does he make me angry when he talks? Why do I care that he’s riding around in a jet?”

Corgan said that these attributes of Flair have stuck with him ever since he was a child, and he sees the same qualities in Trevor Murdoch, who just became the new NWA World Heavyweight Champion.

Ric Flair appeared on National Wrestling Alliance’s 73rd Anniversary Show on Sunday night where he cut an emotional promo and thanked Triple H, Vince McMahon, among others on the show. The 10-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion also thanked his wife, NWA president Billy Corgan, AEW president Tony Khan on the show among other WWE stars like Randy Orton, The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho.

Ric Flair first thanked his wife Wendy and said that whenever he fell down, she was there to pick him up. Just like Triple H, Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker, Steve Austin, and everybody else were there to pick him up.

The Nature Boy thanked Vince McMahon by stating that he loves him, and McMahon is the reason why he’s here. Flair also added that McMahon is not going to watch this but he’s going to hear about it. Flair added that Vince would say, “Ric Flair’s back where he belongs, with anybody he wants to be with on a given night.”

Flair also thanked Billy Corgan for inviting him to the event and then also mentioned Tony Khan for changing the wrestling scene.

Flair continued, by thanking Hunter for reminding him every time that he’s Ric Flair and for not giving up on him. He also thanked Shawn Michaels for carrying him to a great retirement match at WrestleMania XXIV. The NWA Hall of Famer also added that he wanted Randy Orton to break hi record of capturing the World Title 16 times, though he thinks Charlotte Flair would be able to catch up eventually soon. He mentioned names like Hulk Hogan and Stone Cold who grew up on the NWA.

Related: Trevor Murdoch is the New NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion

Paige hasn’t been seen in WWE for some time now, even though she is in contract with the company. Fans hope they could see her make an appearance in some capacity on WWE programming, however it looks like she does not much time left with the company. In a recent Twitch stream, Paige revealed that the current deal she is signed up with expires in less than a year.

Paige said that her contract is going to be up in June of next year, and she doesn’t know if WWE would even want her back. She did, however, add that if they wanted her back she would love to be able to continue Twitch as part of her new deal.

“My contract is up in June of next year. Who knows if they would want to give me a new contract? Who’s to say they would want to? If they did, I’d love to have Twitch as a part of the contract,” Paige said.

On Sunday, the former WWE Divas Champion assured fans that she’s motivated to get back in the ring one way or another .

Paige’s Future

Paige was last seen as part of WWE Backstage, which stopped being a weekly show as FS1 announced the suspension of the production of the show in June last year.

Paige hasn’t been seen in the ring for a long time. She made her debut as a 21-year-old when the women’s division was beginning a revolution and Paige was one of the women at the front of it. Unfortunately, she suffered a neck injury which sidelined her for 18 months. She retired from WWE in 2018 after she suffered a second injury.

She’s still hopeful she could make a comeback to wrestling like Daniel Bryan and Edge did. “I’d come back tomorrow if I could, but I’m always going to have in the back of my head, what if?” she said. “I might not be mentally ready to come back, but when I am, watch out world, you’re going to be in trouble.”

Paige also provided an update of her health recently, revealing she’s getting stronger. “You guys I’m getting stronger, squatting 185lbs again.” wrote Paige on Twitter, “I know it’s not a ton but it’s a big accomplishment for me who was worried to do any gym stuff because of my neck. But my neck is feeling so awesome. I’m so proud of myself.”

You can follow Paige (Saraya) on Twitch and on her new TikTok account.

Mickie James was released on April 15 from WWE along with several other talent. Prior to her release, she worked with the company in a backstage capacity and also did some commentary work on shows such as Main Event and NXT. James talked about her behind-the-scenes role in the company prior to her departure and gave some details on how it was like.

Mickie James said that she doesn’t know if she had a “seat at the table,” but she used to attend creative meetings in the WWE and would sometimes give her input if it was applicable. “I don’t know if I had a seat at the table. I was more in a position where I was able to sit in on some of those [creative] meetings and perhaps give my opinion — but it was very rare where I spoke up unless it was pertaining to me,” James told TVInsider.

James added that she was feeling it out for a producer or agent role, but it was mainly a learning process for her. “I was feeling it out for a producer or agent role. I would honestly express my opinion to someone I loved and trusted, if it was something I felt like I should speak up about, but I was more in the learning phase of how it operates,” she explained.

Recently, Mickie James served as an executive producer for NWA’s all-women EmPowerrr pay-per-view event. According to NWA president Billy Corgan, James is still a free agent. James has said that she wants to help build the next generation of female NWA stars, and that is why she worked in a backstage capacity on the show instead of wrestling on the show because she wanted to give the other women a chance to shine.

Xavier Woods says he would like to see a video game in Telltale Games style — where wrestling characters would be put into different scenarios which doesn’t necessarily have to do much with wrestling. WWE’s games have mostly been limited to either arcade style wrestling or wrestling simulation games, with the exception of mobile games like WWE Immortals and WWE Racing Showdown and in the past with 2002’s WWE Crush Hour. Xavier Woods says he would like for things to go even crazier, with wrestlers put into a fantasy setting, for example.

“I love when they take wrestling characters and put them in different scenarios. I don’t understand why we don’t have a Final Fantasy-esque video game that has nothing to do with wrestling, but Samoa Joe is in it as one of the big bads and he’s just being Samoa Joe, but he’s in a fantasy and medieval world,” Woods told the Ringer Wrestling Show. “I want to be able to use those ideas, thoughts, and personalities in different worlds. How do we not have our version of The Notebook? Let people branch out and create. Rising tides raise all ships.”

He further continued that his dream WWE wrestling game would be a WWE Telltale game. “My dream for a WWE wrestling game is WWE Telltale games. You play out someone’s story, just like you would in the 2K games; let’s say it’s Shelton Benjamin’s story and you get to the match with Shawn Michaels and the superkick. You can either input the button combination correctly, he eats the superkick, gets knocked out, and life happens as it did.

Or, we get the story from like, ‘What would have happened had Shelton won that match?’ So you put the (input) in wrong and now you have a fully, brand new, fresh ‘What would have happened to Shelton Benjamin in that time?'”

Telltale Games were known for giving the players the ability to make choices that affects how future events in their games play out. They have worked on properties such as The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Minecraft, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Batman. Such a game would certainly be a really interesting addition to the large list of WWE games. Do you think WWE would ever make a game which focuses more on the narrative than wrestling?

Related: Kenny Omega Reveals Timetable For AEW Video Game Release

Chelsea Green came out as the winner from the NWA EmPowerrr’s main event last night. The NWA Women’s Invitational Cup featured a gauntlet-style match with ten other competitors where the winner would earn an NWA World Women’s Championship match against Kamille at the NWA 73rd Anniversary Show. Besides Green, the other competitors of the match included names such as Lady Frost, Tootie Lynn, Jamie Senegal, Debbie Malenko, Bianca Carelli, Jennacide, Masha Slamovich, Thunder Kitty and Kiera Hogan.

Chelsea Green and Kiera Hogan started the match and then the other competitors entered in two minute intervals. Green won the match after eliminating Tootie Lynn at last by using a ripcord elbow and going for the pinfall with the unprettier, earning herself a Women’s World Championship opportunity at the upcoming 73rd NWA Anniversary event on Sunday, where she will challenge Kamille. After the match, Green hugged Lynn and raised her arm. The other women’s wrestlers came to ringside too and celebrated with each other, congratulating the winner.

Related: NWA EmPowerrr Quick Results: Kamile vs. Leyla Hirsch

NWA 73rd Anniversary Show

Here is the card for the NWA 73rd Anniversary Show, which takes place from Chase’s Khorassan Ballroom in St. Louis, Missouri:

• NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis vs. Trevor Murdoch
• NWA National Champion Chris Adonis vs. James Storm
• NWA Tag Team Champions Aron Stevens & Kratos vs. La Rebelion (Mecha Wolf & Bestia 666)
• Mickie James vs. Kylie Rae
• NWA Women’s Championship: Kamille vs. Chelsea Green
• Thom Latimer vs. Crimson vs. Tim Storm
• Tyrus, Masked Man, & Jordan Clearwater vs. Da Pope, Odison, & Parrow
• 12-Man Battle Royal to determine NWA National Title number one contender: Competitors TBA

The show will be available to stream on Fite.

Read more: Chelsea Green: AEW Would Benefit From Signing Female Free Agents

Samoa Joe came face-to-face in the ring with then-WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar at the Great Balls of Fire pay-per-view event in 2017. Lesnar was able to successfully defend his title against Joe but he was able to land in a few blows. Before the match had even started, Joe attacked Lesnar with a Uranage Slam through the announce table and then a Coquina Clutch after the match had officially started. Joe tried the move two more times in the match but Lesnar was able to counter every time and won with an F-5.

Speaking about this match, Samoa Joe said that Brock Lesnar likes his matches to be intense and they both had a gentlemen’s agreement that they were both going to smash each other in the face.

“I think it really comes down to the simple fact that, when Brock shows up for fight night, he wants to be in a scrap,” Joe told The Daily Star. “He wants to go out there and he wants someone who is going to smash someone in the face, and he wants to smash somebody back!

Samoa Joe explained that they had this understanding with each other that whenever they’d meet in the ring they would not hold back. “It’s an attitude. He wants people to go in there and go after him. It is all of those things.”

Samoa Joe added that the reason him and Lesnar have such chemistry in the ring is because they are both stepping in the ring for causing mayhem and nothing else. He joked that they both had this unspoken agreement about it. “I think that was the simplistic but major reason that we click the way we do; we step in the ring and we’re stepping in there for chaos and destruction to happen, and nothing less than that. I guess it’s some weird, unspoken gentlemen’s agreement we have!”

Read more: Samoa Joe Doesn’t See the Benefit of the Forbidden Door

Mark Henry, WWE Hall of Famer and pro wrestling legend signed with All Elite Wrestling in May this year as coach, broadcaster and talent scout, shocking the wrestling world. Aside from performing his broadcasting duties in the company, Henry’s behind-the-scenes duties as a coach include mentoring and guiding AEW’s up-and-coming stars. He is also responsible for scouting talent for AEW, which is nothing new for Henry as over the years working with WWE he brought several talented athletes to the company.

Jim Ross, who is a senior advisor at AEW, took notice of Mark Henry’s impact on the AEW locker room and spoke about it on a recent episode of his Grilling JR podcast. Ross said that Henry does a great job for AEW by talking to the young stars. One of the things he does is sit together with them during the shows and points out things and lets them ask him questions. “He’s a very valuable asset to AEW. A lot of folks may not realize it because he’s not on TV all the time, he will be in some role on Rampage. But in any event, Mark was a long term investment [during his early years with WWE]. He was a project, but you can’t replace Mark Henry. Over time he’s evolved into one of the most beloved characters in the business,” Ross said. (H/T Wrestling Inc.)

Mark Henry has said that when the expiry of his WWE contract neared, he felt like he wanted to do more and be in an executive position. “I felt like I wanted to do more. I always wanted to do more. You know me, I’m a busybody. If I’m not doing what I know I can do, especially if I feel I can do it better than somebody else. If I can’t get that opportunity, I have to start looking for that somewhere else. And I did.”

Henry has also said he wants to wrestle again and that his retirement match is “definitely going to happen in AEW.” He also wants to bring Braun Strowman to AEW. “I talked to him, I mentored him but I tell him all the time, I can’t talk business,” Henry said regarding Strowman. “When your contract expires, you call and let me know and then we’ll have a talk.”

Ilja Dragunov wants to be the face of NXT UK after defeating WALTER at NXT TakeOver 36 and becoming the new NXT UK Champion. In what was a rematch of one of 2020’s best matches and a potential contender for match of the year in its own right, Dragunov ended WALTER’s 870-day reign as NXT UK Champion in Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center.

After his win, Ilja Dragunov wants fans to pay attention to the UK brand as according to the new champion, it is better than all the other brands in WWE. Speaking to Lucha Libre Online, Dragunov said that he knows that he now has the responsibility to represent NXT UK and in his opinion, it is the greatest brand in WWE. The reasoning he gave behind his statement is that no other brand comes close to NXT UK when it comes to the in-ring style and physicality, and the ability to connect fans to the performance. Dragunov said that NXT UK is untouchable and he urged fans to stop sleeping on it.

Previously in an interview, Dragunov said that the work ethic of the NXT UK locker room inspires him to do better and reiterated that fans should be paying attention to he brand. “Just when I step into the locker room, I see the people, day by day getting better. The work mentality inspires me and makes me proud to be the champion of this brand and represent. I see so much talent on this brand that people will pay attention to as soon as they get a chance. One chance can change the world. I’m sure the people who sleep on NXT UK will not sleep on NXT UK in the future because the talent is rising.”

Meanwhile, after his loss to Dragunov, WALTER was reportedly in a lot of talks among WWE officials that he should become a regular fixture on NXT. It is not known however if he would actually appear on the regular version of NXT as WALTER is not too keen on relocating to America. So much so that didn’t even consider signing with WWE before NXT UK was created. “I was never too keen about leaving Germany or Europe to live in the United States. It’s a big step. Most of the other wrestlers are willing to do it because it’s their goal from day one or early in their career.”

Adam Cole, the former NXT Champion will become a free agent later today as his contract with WWE has expired. As noted earlier, WWE scrambled to tie him up for a short-term extension so he could compete at NXT TakeOver 36 as advertised against Kyle O’Reilly. It was also reported that Cole’s short-term WWE contract extension has no non-compete clause, meaning that he would be free to sign with a different company as he becomes a free agent. It was also believed that WWE could re-sign Cole in the days since then, but the company seems to consider him done with the WWE as of now.

According to a new report by PWInsider, WWE considers Adam Cole “done internally” unless they have a new offer for him. Cole is still advertised as part of a livestream this evening on Amazon which is for the promotion of upcoming WWE Mattel action figures. The livestream isn’t really live however, as it was reportedly taped a few weeks ago, so Cole isn’t actually making an appearance in any capacity for WWE today.

Adam Cole’s girlfriend, AEW Women’s Champion Britt Baker, discussed in an interview recently about the possibility of a mixed tag team match taking place in AEW featuring Baker & Cole against CM Punk & AJ Lee. “I could think of a mixed tag that I would like to see. One involving her (AJ Lee), him (CM Punk), me and… somebody else.”

The reason why Cole’s contract had to be extended short-term was because WWE officials were erroneously under the assumption that his contract was not expiring until December. There’s a chance that WWE could strike up a new deal for him but if not, then Cole has good options to choose from to further his career in wrestling.

R-Truth has called out CM Punk seemingly out of nowhere and taken massive shots at him, calling the recently-returned wrestler unimpressive and entitled. CM Punk has taken the wrestling world by storm recently by making his All Elite Wrestling debut last week on Rampage: The First Dance. While wrestling fans were delighted, both AEW and WWE stars too welcomed Punk back in the industry with open arms and many wrestling personalities chimed in to congratulate Punk on his comeback. R-Truth, however, is not really a fan of CM Punk according to a recent comment he posted online.

A video of CM Punk’s appearance on Colt Cabana’s podcast from back in 2014 resurfaced on Tiktok, in which Punk discussed his time in the WWE and how he was unsatisfied with management and his overall position in the company. Punk brought up WWE’s decision to book him to lose to Triple H even though he was hot and had momentum, as well as the company’s decision to make him and Triple H lose to The Miz and R-Truth (aka Awesome Truth) back in Vengeance 2011. Punk said that these decisions didn’t make any sense business-wise. R-Truth didn’t take a liking to Punk’s comments, and sounded off in the comments of the Tiktok video with the following:

“CM Punk you lost to me an Miz cause we were HOTTER than you sorry, and I neva thought you were impressive at all, just typical entitlement (sic)”

Online, fans have been surprised by Truth’s comments with many saying that they have never seen him talk trash before about anyone else from the industry. It would be interesting to note that CM Punk helped R-Truth win against John Cena in a Tables match on Raw back in 2011, before cutting his legendary “Pipebomb” promo. It would be interesting to see if Punk has anything to say in response to Truth’s comments.

Related: CM Punk Addresses Live Crowd After Dynamite & Rampage Taping (Video)

Kurt Angle’s WWE entrance music is iconic among wrestling fans. The accompanying “you suck!” chants have become a fan-favorite ritual to participate in, which evolved to being used affectionately for Angle as opposed to showing hatred for his character.

On a recent episode of The Kurt Angle Show, Angle gave his opinion about his theme song and revealed what he initially thought of it. He said it took him some time for him to warm up to his theme when it was first introduced, and once he started using it, the song became part of his identity as a wrestler.

“I listened to it beforehand but I didn’t like it so much at first. The more I listened to it, the catchier it got. I love my theme song. I love how catchy it is. It’s a really cool song, it definitely represents who I was and I wouldn’t change it. It’s the best entrance theme that I could ever imagine possible (for me),” Angle said.

Fans are always fascinated about musical side of wrestling. Angle was asked if WWE shows wrestlers a few songs and asks them to pick which one they liked the best, or if they even have any say at all regarding their themes. Angle revealed that the company would make a song for a wrestler on their own and show it to them when the wrestler is present at the arena. The music is not going to change drastically even if the wrestler doesn’t like it, as according to Angle once the track is made they would barely change it much.

“Well they make a song for you, and then you’ll show up at the arena and they’ll play it out loud in the arena. And you decide if you like it or if you don’t. But for the most part, they’re basically saying, ‘Hey, this is the music we made for you, this is the music you’re gonna have to use.’ You can say you don’t like it, they’ll go back and re-edit it, but for the most part it’s gonna be identical to the first one they made.”

Read more: Kurt Angle Wanted a Retirement Match Against John Cena

Bianca Belair, who is the current WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion is known for using her hair as a “whip” as her iconic braid helps her stand out in the roster. Belair explained why she decided to use her hair as part of her in-ring style in an interview with Metro.

Belair said that she’s always wanted to incorporate her hair as part of her moveset in the ring, and she thinks it makes her unique. “That’s something that I’ve always wanted to – when people look at me and look at my braid, that’s my superpower, that’s my weapon,” she said.

Belair added that she wanted to make it clear that her braid is her weapon and if anyone tries to go for it, it’s gonna end up backfiring on them. It’s something that cannot be used against her like a regular weapon, and that’s one of her strong suits. “I don’t want that being used against me. I definitely wanted to put out there that it’s my weapon, and if you touch it, it’s gonna backfire on you. You can’t use it against me, and that’s the way it’s been since I started wearing in 2017, 16?”

Back in June, Bianca Belair faced Bayley inside Hell In A Cell to defend her SmackDown Women’s Championship. In the match, Bayley tried to use Belair’s hair against her in an unsuccessful attempt by tying it to the bottom rope. Speaking about it, the ‘EST of WWE’ said that Bayley and her were on the same page with that and wanted to tell a story in the ring.

“I think we were on the same page with that. We wanted to be innovative and use the cell to our advantage and disadvantage but also just make it unique. I think we did that with the story that was told, the whole hair thing,” said Belair about the match. “Every time she tried to use my hair I had something to come back with and it actually ended up backfiring on her. Just putting the message out there to not use my hair!”

Bianca Belair will defend her women’s title against Sasha Banks at SummerSlam on August 21 in what would be a WrestleMania 37 re-match where Belair defeated Banks to win the title.

Read More: Bianca Belair Wants Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair Matches

The Rock started out in WWE with the ring name “Rocky Maivia” back in the 1996 Survivor Series, and the name was given to him by Vince McMahon as a homage to The Rock’s father Rocky Johnson, and grandfather Peter Maivia. The Rock, along with Emily Blunt, did an interview with WIRED where he stated that he hated the Rocky Maivia nickname and wanted it changed.

One of the questions that was asked to The Rock was “Why Dwayne Johnson is called The Rock?” He responded to the question by saying, “Birth story of ‘The Rock’, is before I do what I do now, many moons ago, I used to throw around 300 pound men for a living, and get my ass kicked. And then my original wrestling name was ‘Rocky Maivia’, which was a combination of my dad’s first name and my grandfather’s last name, because both of them were pro-wrestlers. So my name became ‘Rocky Maivia’, and when it was first pitched to me from Vince McMahon, he said, ‘I got your name and I want it to be Rocky Maivia. Now, what do you think?'”

The Rock reiterated that he hated the name he was given but he had to accept it and do his job. The reason he stated behind his dislike for Rocky Maivia is that he wanted his own identity and didn’t want to have a career just based on his lineage. He, however, did acknowledge that it’s the same name that got him a knock at the door of the industry.

“And as we, he knows me now, and it’s how I speak. I say, I hate it. And I hated the name. I hated it,” The Rock continued. “I hated it because the lineage I had, gave me the opportunity to at least knock on the door. I wanted my own identity, I wanted my own space. So while I was very proud to come from who I came from, with my dad and grandfather. And my whole family’s in wrestling. I still wanted my own space. And so I said, I hate it. And he said, ‘Okay. Great, well that’s your name.’ And I went, okay. So I embraced it, and I did it.”

The Rock continued the story behind his name and said that Rocky Maivia didn’t stick and when he turned heel his present ring name, “The Rock” was suggested to him by his father figure Pat Patterson and when it was pitched to him he loved it.

“And that name did not stick. And eventually, when I became a bad guy, it got truncated down to ‘The Rock’. And a guy who was my father figure, and I’ve talk to you (Emily Blunt) many times about him, Pat Patterson. Was a mentor of mine in pro-wrestling. I lost him last year when I lost my dad at the same time – I lost my father and my father figure in the same year. And he said, ‘What if we call you The Rock?’ He’s a French guy, he had a tough French accent. I said, I love it! And he goes, okay, you’re ‘The Rock’. And that was it.”

Related: The Rock Praises Bret Hart, The Hitman Responds

Quotes used in this article are transcribed by the author.

Dakota Kai turned on her friend Raquel Gonzalez in a shocking twist last week on NXT. She threw away the friendship and attacked Gonzalez with a kick to her face while she was celebrating, and took her NXT Women’s Championship and raised it. This clearly signified that we’re going to see a rivalry between the two now-ex-best friends, and on this week’s episode of NXT Kai explained her actions in a video package aired during the episode.

Dakota Kai explained that 18 months ago she needed someone that she could trust in the beginning, and that’s when she found Raquel Gonzalez. Kai said that if she hadn’t picked Gonzalez, she would have stayed stuck in the shadows. Describing her early partnership, Kai said that Gonzalez’s task was simple, it was to stand behind her and protect her whenever she needed. When Gonzalez became a star on her own, Kai was okay with it as long as it was clear who the leader was.

Kai, however, started to get envious when Io Shirai chose Gonzalez for the title match instead of her. She felt it was disrespectful but she still chose to help Gonzalez with the title, still adding that she should have been the one standing in the ring with Bianca Belair and Rhea Ripley. She wanted a title of her own so that’s why she seeked help from Gonzalez in winning the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championships, however, she accused Gonzalez of not giving her 100% ever since she became the NXT Women’s Champion. They went on to lose to Shotzi Blackheart and Ember Moon, sealing the deal for Kai’s friendship with Gonzalez.

Kai said that Gonzalez was so caught up in her own world that she didn’t even see the betrayal coming. Kai clarified that she doesn’t want to be anyone’s sidekick and will take Gonzalez down.

Jon Moxley and wife Renee Paquette announced on Twitter earlier this week that they became proud parents of their baby girl Nora. In the announcement, Paquette also stated that she would not be hosting her podcast Oral Sessions for the next few weeks. “Baby girl is officially here, so I’m checking out and becoming a mom. (She’s absolutely incredible!!)” Paquette tweeted. She added that her husband Jon Moxley would be among the first of many guest hosts for the show. “I have a bunch of guest hosts lined up for you guys and I started with none other than my baby daddy, cool dude husband.”

Jon Moxley starred as the guest host of the podcast and answered a variety of questions from fans. One of the questions asked was about what Moxley would feel if Nora decided to become a professional wrestler too. The former AEW World Champion was very positive of the notion and said he would absolutely support her.

“If she was really passionate about it, then, yeah, go for it. If not, if she was just like playing around, then go play around with it,” Jon Moxley said.

Jon Moxley also talked about his passion about wrestling, stating that he was absolutely “gung-ho” about it, calling wrestling his life. “Sometimes you get into some stuff and you play around. sometimes you’re gung-ho about something, I was gung-ho about this, this was all I’ve ever wanted to do. I was not playing around having fun.” Moxley added, “This was not, let’s try this out, see if it works out, you know, some people come into wrestling with that attitude and then go on to make millions of dollars, then they get really good at it, you know? So it can work. But [with] me, this was my life. This was it. There’s no other anything.”

He continued, saying that he would assess her mindset about it but he would still support her even if she wants to be something else like a “circus performer, or a math teacher, or join the Peace Corps, or be a pro wrestler or a hockey player, or ringette.” Moxley said that he would want his daughter to do whatever she wants to do and he’ll support her.

Jon Moxley was also asked if he would still be so supportive if his daughter wanted to compete in deathmatches. While he first admitted that his initial instinct would be to say no, he clarified that it’s hard to say because he doesn’t know his daughter yet. “I would say if you’re gonna do something, here’s how we do it safely… So, if she ever wanted to get into wrestling, in theory, I would rather guide it and make sure it was done correctly and safely and right and for the right reasons and so forth like that. But I don’t know this person yet.”

Jon Moxley also talked about told the ridiculous story behind the origins of his “Titty Master” nickname on the same episode which you can read about here.

Credit to Fightful for the transcriptions used in this article.

Charlotte Flair says that she’s “motivated and inspired” by her fiancé Andrade’s decision to leave WWE for AEW. Under the ring name Andrade El Idolo, the AEW debutant appeared on Dynamite on the June 4 episode roughly two months after his release from WWE, where he aligned himself with Vickie Guerrero on the show. Charlotte — who is getting ready to meet Rhea Ripley in the ring for the Raw Women’s Championship match at this Sunday’s Hell in a Cell event — spoke about Andrade’s departure and gave her thoughts on his transition to the rival company.

“I’m just so motivated and inspired by his decision,” Flair told Bleacher Report. “It was his dream to be in WWE, but I think he knew and felt he wanted more. He could get more and maybe going and showing his worth and working on things that he needed to like his English, that’s what it was going to take to be where he wants to be. To do that on his own accord and not be scared of the future but to know that he’ll succeed and one day come back… I don’t know if that’s what he’d want to do. But he wants success.”

Related: Details Emerge On Andrade’s Creative Control at AEW

Charlotte added that Andrade wants to be in the spotlight and wishes to headline shows. “He wants to get better. He wants to main-event shows. To see him come out the other night when he debuted, full-blown star. You can’t deny him, he is a star.” According to her, Andrade is currently working on his English and she’s sure that things are going to get “bigger and better” for El Idolo. Charlotte says it’s inspiring to watch him and do what he wants and she fully supports him.

Charlotte, who has never wrestled anywhere else but WWE, says she can’t imagine leaving for any other promotion. She said that WWE is like home to her so it would be scary for her to leave, but at the same time she’s excited for Andrade to travel around the world and perform elsewhere. “I’m WWE homegrown,” she said. “I think that’s what people forget. I’m a product of the PC. That would be so scary to me to leave my home, which is WWE. To know that he has traveled the world and that he’ll continue to travel the world and make a bigger name for himself, I’m so excited for him.”

Beth Phoenix made her singles debut in WWE on the June 5, 2006 episode of Raw in a match against Victoria which would prove to be unfortunate for her as she would suffer a broken jaw from a slap by Victoria which would send her back to developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling from the main roster. Recalling the incident on “WWE Icons”, Phoenix highlighted how bad it really was. “I’m finally gonna have my debut as a singles wrestler, and I’m facing Victoria, and we had something planned where I was supposed to slap and then slap back,” “The Glamazon” harked back.

“When Victoria hit me, I had had my mouth open ever so slightly. I knew something was wrong. I stuck my tongue between my teeth and I was like ‘Oh there’s a gap there.’ So I thought something had happened and I’d lost a tooth,” Beth Phoenix continued. She was able to continue the match and emerged victorious despite suffering the injury. Trish Stratus, who was ringside (as Phoenix served as Stratus’ ally against Mickie James during her debut), got in the ring and saw Phoenix bleeding from her mouth. “Trish took one look at me and saw that I had a little bit of blood on my mouth. She just told me ‘Smile, look up. It’ll be okay, it’ll be okay.'” Stratus walked her up to the ramp and took her to the medical.

“I’m sitting there and I’m kinda like ‘Guys, I just lost a tooth, I’m sure it’s okay.’ And I’m sitting on the thing and then they opened my mouth like this and I saw everyone in the room recoil like that and I was like, that’s when I knew it was probably bad.” Beth Phoenix suffered a fractured mandible, with the slap leaving her jaw entirely severed. The subsequent surgeries that she had to get for it left a portion of her face permanently numb. She had to get a titanium plate and nine screws placed in her jaw.

“They take me to the hospital, I get X-rayed. They said your jaw is shattered, dislocated, displaced. One mandible’s up, one’s down. You have to have full plastic surgery to put everything back. You have to have steel plates in your face and screws, and it was a lot to take in,” Beth Phoenix remembered. “I just cried. I didn’t know what else to do. I just processed everything. I was like, ‘I just had a singles match on Monday Night Raw, and… it’s over. All of it. I just didn’t understand why after so many years things were gonna end like this and set me back.”

Even though she spent a year going through surgeries and recovering from the injury, Beth Phoenix was only out of action for two months. She returned to OVW and perform there until mid-2007 when she would return back to Raw as a heel this time as opposed to the face that she was the first time around. She would then go on to become a four-time Women’s Champion and a one-time Divas Champion. Phoenix would also be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in the Class of 2017.