WWE

Janel Grant Lawsuit

By H. Katch

If you have seen recent episode of “Raw”, you will be forgiven for thinking that Brock Lesnar and, by extension, WWE, are no longer involved in a long standing sordid lawsuit relating to trafficking, rape, and sexual assault. The company is begging audiences to engage and buy their product in the lead up to “WrestleMania”, WWE’s flagship two night PLE. A major factor in this push has been Brock Lesnar as a regular fixture in the show’s build. His presentation has been immaculate, with Paul Heyman in tow, to act as his mouthpiece. Given the lackluster world title build, one could even argue that Brock Lesnar vs Oba Femi has been the best presented lead-in to next week’s show. But there is a longstanding lawsuit, and Brock Lesnar is very much a central character in it.

On April 1, 2026, Janel Grant submitted an additional 40-page affidavit to the US District Court in Connecticut with case jurisdiction for her lawsuit against WWE and Vince McMahon in response to WWE and McMahon looking to send the matter to arbitration. The hearing to decide the matter will begin in June. This addendum further details the previously explosive allegations made against the company. In the filing, Ms. Grant elaborates on her experiences with a full timeline of events and the negative effects these occurrences had on her health. It also further elaborates on her interactions with Mr. Lesnar; although, while it is clear the alleged activities were abhorrent, it is less clear that he was aware that they were not consensual. Amongst details included in the new filing were explicit descriptions of her relationships with Vince McMahon and the WWE Executive Suite, as well as directions given to her by those men to please men like Lesnar.

Despite the original lawsuit documentation and this further testimony, it is notable that several players in Janel Grant’s abuse and non-consensual sexual encounters remain anonymous in these filings. Brock Lesnar is repeatedly mentioned by name, however, in passing; multiple “WWE talents” are mentioned, including McMahon directing her to reach out to a talent at an explicitly recorded date and time to congratulate them. It is unclear whether this intentional protection of these other men is due to their explicit lack of knowledge of her travails, or for some other legal reason; but in an extensive filing that spared no other details, this exclusion was made all the more noticeable.

Per her testimony, Ms. Grant was repeatedly manipulated and controlled via power dynamics, emotional and physical abuse. She was repeatedly isolated into positions where she had no outlet or means to seek any sort of protection. She reported repeated black outs from the abuse she suffered and was repeatedly threatened with loss of reputation and livelihood to ensure her compliance and secrecy, and she was placed in the care of one of her abusers to ensure her continued compliance while providing maximal protection for the company.

Further, she detailed in depth how her non-disclosure agreement was created and weaponized to silence her and protect the company and men that had harmed her. Of the many revelations in this new document, a key aspect made was related to the trauma caused to her mental health. It is telling that, per the documents, the plaintiff is unsure which non disclosure document she signed at the outset of this process. The executives and company she has filed against acted in their best interests and actively fought to ensure that, even at the end of their interactions, they would be the only actors with agency. If the events documented in this affidavit are accurate, Ms. Grant has been bullied into a one sided agreement by McMahon and the WWE executives that was, at best, one sided, and likely non-enforceable as having already been breached at the time of signature.

Janel Grant is a living, breathing, woman, who has survived horrific abuses and loss of agency yet she soldiers onward. Her fight to be seen, and to earn back her own ability to impact and effect the outcomes in her life are laudable. So this Wrestlemania season, as WWE continues to beg for attention and financing in their endeavors, it’s important to read Ms. Grant’s testimony, and to acknowledge her story. One that is more riveting and more inspiring in her fight to protect herself and others, than anything you might see during the PLE.

Round-up by David Hayter

Randy Orton’s Mystery Caller Has Been Revealed

It’s just our luck that WWE decided to reveal the identity of Randy Orton’s mystery caller – the voice in his head that has driven him towards a sardonic heel turn on his protégé Cody Rhodes – immediately before Social Suplex’s publishing deadline, allowing time to answer the big question: has the grand reveal caused us to re-evaluate Paul Levesque’s lacklustre, last-minute creative for the grandest show of them all?

In short, no: not remotely.

Let’s cut right to the heart of the matter: who has been puppeteering Randy Orton’s heel turn over the last month? There was, after all, a long list of contenders for the role who would have made perfect sense, while adding depth and nuance to the storytelling.
There was the answer hiding in plain sight: Aleister Black. He certainly wouldn’t have moved tickets for “Wrestlemania”, but he would have been the logical endpoint for two months of probing and nudging in backstage skits on SmackDown. Black has been the devil on Randy’s shoulder, reminding him of his former glories in angles, while beating Orton in the middle of the ring to visibly demonstrate that the former Legend Killer had lost his edge. But logic be damned, Aleister Black is too small fry and predictable for Mania; he’s the helpful agent and red herring.

So who were the real big-name contenders? Well, fan theories quickly circled around Ric Flair, Triple H and (less credibly) Batista’s name. Randy had been alluding to his past, his Legacy, and linking Orton’s heel revival back to his Evolution in earlier years would make a certain degree of sense. After all, it was Flair and Hunter who took the clean-cut Randy Orton and turned him into a slimly besuited heel.However, Flair is a liability and Triple H is unlikely to want to play heel given his role in creative.

Some even suggested Shane McMahon, but like Batista, he never felt plausible. That left three other options: the safe option, his father Cowboy Bob Orton; the crazy option, that no one was on the other end of the phone and Randy was literally hearing voices; and the tickets-are-not-moving safety blanket, The Rock. Any of these options would have likely worked and there is a strong suggestion that WWE may still be heading, or at least hinting, towards the direction of TKO/The Rock pulling the strings.

However, this time the fan theories were completely out to lunch. On the 3 April edition of SmackDown, with Cody Rhodes beating down Randy Orton in the opening segment, the mystery caller revealed himself to be… Pat McAfee. Yes, that’s right, the former Indianapolis Colts punter, podcast mogul and WWE’s cheerleading babyface commentator punted Cody Rhodes directly in the balls and turned heel.

© WWE

From Bad To Worse: McAfee Opens His Mouth

Make no mistake, this was a bad reveal, but it was about to get so much worse. Randy Orton had actually cut a strong promo to start the show, reasserting his mission statement to win a 15th World Championship and warning Cody – like “Succession’s” Logan Roy speaking down to his hapless son Kendall Roy – that he wasn’t a killer. Cody had responded by storming down to the ring to kick Orton’s arse and, when McAfee appeared to cut him off, it felt like a letdown, but a rationalisable one. Pat is a horrifically annoying babyface who rubs many fans up the wrong way with his commentary; as he showed in his feud with Adam Cole, he’s actually tremendous in the slimy chud heel sports-bro role. As an evil, cocky Pat McAfee, he would be a disappointing reveal, but he could still be an effective character.

Unfortunately, any hope of McAfee being a compelling character died the second he opened his mouth. Pat explained that WWE had passed him by: it was no longer a product for fans of the Attitude Era, rather it was now a product full of “5 foot 5 guys wrestling Iron Man matches”, instead of being a show built around studs like Randy Orton. Then, in an unbelievably moronic rush of blood to the head, he actively praised and encouraged the “What?” chant. Yes, that’s right, Pat willingly called for the repugnant call-and-repeat cry that has been a blight on wrestling fandom since 2001.

McAfee was positioning himself as the older male reactionary podcast host: a hybrid of The Jim Cornette Experience and Busted Open Radio. In this persona, he went to bury corporate Cody Rhodes for driving the company to record-low TV ratings and blamed him for the slow “Wrestlemania” ticket sales – all the while maintaining that Randy Orton is the solution.

This is horrific for several reasons. Let’s start with the obvious: it makes no sense whatsoever. Pat McAfee, as WWE fans know him, is a cheerleading babyface commentator who loves to Yeet and be goofy; when he wrestles, he does Canadian Destroyers and shooting star presses – he is the little guy doing flips. He might be well suited to being a heel, but he is not the right man to deliver this message.

Then there’s the absolute absurdity of saying that Attitude Era fans want to watch wrestlers like Randy Orton. Anyone, like me, who lived through the Attitude Era will know that the older male fans who left wrestling in droves between 2001 and 2010 absolutely loathed John Cena and Randy Orton. They were two equally objectionable forces. Cena was a PG nightmare of goofy, childish nonsense, and Randy Orton was too clean-cut, too generic, too safe, too corporate, and, frankly, too boring. These aren’t necessarily my own views; despite being a fan raised in the Attitude Era, I find much of that product to be low-rent and puerile, but I can assure you that Stone Cold Steve Austin fans did not embrace the good-looking, cookie-cut young Randy.

McAfee Buries Current Creative As WWE Abandon’s Long Term Planning

The final and most damaging aspect of the McAfee diatribe was the decision to publicly bash the current WWE product and to actively acknowledge their recent failures. This is a strategy that many bookers, from Vince Russo to Tony Khan, have tried, and it never works. Telling people that your creative is bad, that your product is not cool and that the stars of today are lesser than those who came before is never a good idea. There are ways to signal to fans that you understand their frustration, but actively advertising your incompetence doesn’t win the hearts and minds of deserters; it only makes your current fanbase question a product they are otherwise enjoying. There is no upside to this approach. The only solution is to book better storylines. As I cover later in this piece, make Oba Femi and Trick Williams into big-time stars (which they are actually doing a brilliant job of at the moment) and have some patience.

The most worrying aspect of the McAfee tirade – if early reporting is to be believed – is that the call came from Ari Emanuel (with possible input also coming from ESPN) and not from Triple H. If this is true, it suggests a worrying trend: TKO will not tolerate wobbles or slowdowns in business metrics. This might sound sensible in a world driven by generating ever-greater returns for shareholders, but it will likely lead to terrible decision-making within WWE creative. Sometimes hot products have to cool off, old stars have to wane, and new top draws have to be given time to find their feet. In other words, you have to suffer a little dip in fortune to transition into your next golden age. If TKO truly did interfere and inject Pat McAfee to heat up “Wrestlemania”, then it is terrifyingly reminiscent of when Vince McMahon grabbed back control of Raw from Paul Heyman. McMahon was frustrated at declining ratings as Heyman tried to elevate a new generation of stars (then Andrade and Black); his decision didn’t snap WWE out of a funk, instead it hastened their descent.

The biggest question remains unanswered: if TKO are this focused on the short term, how on earth will Triple H survive? At his best, Paul Levesque is famed for his slow, steady and, at times, slightly boring approach. The last year has shown that whether it’s the injection of Cena’s heel turn or cramming the schedule full of unwanted Saturday Night’s Main Events to counter programme AEW, Triple H isn’t good at thinking on his feet. TKO’s revenue goals and Triple H’s slow-burn booking ideas may well go together like oil and water.

Perhaps the best and most accurate overall review of Pat McAfee’s heel turn was given by one Cody Rhodes. In a rather brilliant and righteously indignant promo later on SmackDown, Cody compared Pat McAfee’s reveal to the idea of Hall and Nash unveiling the third man at Bash at the Beach 1997 to be, not Hulk Hogan, but Disco Inferno.

Damn, Cody, I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Editorial Note: the rest of the Mania Preview was written before the bizarre events covered above.

Whether By Accident Or Design Hesitation and Second Guessing Defines The 2026 Mania Build

This year’s “Wrestlemania” season has been defined by both uncertainty and a complete lack of imagination. WWE has carefully cultivated a myth that “Wrestlemania” is wrestling’s ultimate season finale, where long-term storylines culminate, legends retire, and new stars are anointed, setting the direction of travel for the next 12 months; but this has never really been the case. Like most things in wrestling, it’s a sneaky half-remembered, half-truth. “Wrestlemania” has often had key main events planned out years in advance, but much of the card is always a grab bag of filler, formed from feuds based off shampoo endorsements, last-second injury replacements, and whichever friendly celebrities have a new movie or record to promote.

Nevertheless, WWE has always tried to ensure that certain A-tier stars are kept apart to deliver main events that seem larger than life, be it dream matches like Cena–Rock, crowning moments like Austin–Michaels, absurd spectacles like Hogan and Andre, or boyhood dream culminations where the likes of Eddie Guerrero and, more recently, Cody Rhodes “finished their story”. In WWE’s imperious phase, along with the pomp and circumstance of the “Royal Rumble” winner challenging for the World Title in the main event, WWE had two trump cards that carried a decade’s worth of stadium shows: the jeopardy of Undertaker’s streak and the guaranteed brilliance of a Shawn Michaels dream match.

With Taker now working behind the scenes and Shawn Michaels booking NXT, “Wrestlemania” now has to stand on its own two feet. Without the old faithful, the emphasis falls squarely on Triple H and the booking team to garner excitement, and that has been an almighty struggle in 2026. Part of the issue is the inbuilt inertia of the long gaps between the “Royal Rumble”, “Elimination Chamber” and “”Wrestlemania”” (as discussed in our Chamber review), which leaves storylines on hold as they have to pay lip service to the idea that Trick Williams or Tiffany Stratton might win the Chamber matches. But the bigger problem this year has been a lack of conviction and confidence in the creative direction that seeps through the screen.

Triple H’s associates will no doubt feed out the idea that this card was fully planned in advance, but even if that were the case, that’s not how it feels to anyone watching “Raw” and “SmackDown” each week. The WWE title picture has felt like a mess since January, with Drew McIntyre’s shock title win breathing fresh life into “SmackDown” as a television programme, but robbing the Mania build of any sense of gravitas. Drew would spend two months interfering in the matches of Cody Rhodes, Sami Zayn and Jacob Fatu, seemingly building to an amorphous multi-man match, only for Cody to decisively defeat McIntyre, reclaiming his title on the first SmackDown after the “Elimination Chamber”. Fans were briefly furious, not because they wanted to see Drew vs Cody at Mania, but because it felt impossible to invest in any character, title reign or storyline when the decision-making felt so knee-jerk, choppy and lacking in conviction.

Similarly, the decision to run with Randy Orton as the challenger for his former protégé Cody Rhodes makes perfect sense on paper. This is a storyline WWE have spent two years planting the seeds for, playing up their friendship, but always hinting that one day Randy would turn on Cody. Back in February 2025, it felt almost guaranteed that Rhodes and Orton would square off at “SummerSlam”, but that was before the uncertainty, multiple rewrites and direction changes of the Cena heel turn had truly wreaked havoc on WWE’s creative.

Given it has been teased extensively, shouldn’t Orton vs Rhodes feel satisfying? Well, not really. WWE seemingly dropped any hint of a grand showdown between the pair over six months ago and instead of making fans anticipate the match-up, it was thrust upon them out of the blue, when both Orton and Rhodes’ characters appear to be in transition. Orton was being slowly turned heel by Aleister Black, a story that was seemingly dropped as Orton magically re-found his killer instinct on his own and then proceeded to turn heel with Rhodes’ permission after Cody asked for the “best version” of Randy Orton.

Cody, on the other hand, had been shading more heelish, proudly demonstrating a ruthless streak which WWE specifically contrasted with the hapless Sami Zayn, who has seen his career suffer because he always chooses the righteous path. Well, that concept was dropped completely. The central story arc of 2025 has been retconned. Cast your minds back and remember Cody not having the killer instinct to beat heel Cena at “Wrestlemania”, failing to pull the trigger and swing a chair, but then, at “SummerSlam”, he’d overcome his weakness and, when the moment came, he didn’t hesitate: he waffled his hero in the head with a metal turnbuckle to regain his title. Well, that’s all been scrapped. Cody is back to being naïve and nice, literally thanking Stephanie McMahon for lecturing him on the fact that he’s not tough or gritty enough to face up to Randy Orton.

All that being said, the issue isn’t the creative itself. Most of the Rhodes–Orton build has been compelling; it just feels rushed, unearned and unrewarding. It’s a storyline WWE fans desperately wanted, but at the wrong time, under the wrong conditions, with both characters in the wrong place. Orton is being forced into the heel role, but it simply isn’t working. The older, more relaxed, more carefree Orton is beloved by fans. The stiffness and forced nature of the young Orton is gone, and a more relatable elder statesman stands in his place. Fans like this version of Randy; he’s a better promo and more fun personality than he’s been at any point in the previous 20 years. Combine that with his desire to win his 15th World Title (which WWE fans want to see happen) and the fact he’s bringing back the best aspects of his heel persona, and of course he’s been heartily cheered.

Beyond the WWE title scene, the last-second switching is endemic up and down the “Wrestlemania” card. Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky were easily the highlight of both Raw and SmackDown, with their loving friendship anchoring WWE programming with both long-term storytelling backstage and killer action in the ring. Well, sadly, RhIyo is no more. In a rather beautiful and surprisingly tasteful (for WWE) promo segment, Rhea and Iyo got to say how much they loved each other, with Rhea explaining how much Iyo’s friendship meant to her as they parted ways. Bianca Belair could not make it back for “Wrestlemania”, so, break glass in case of emergency, Rhea Ripley is going to “Wrestlemania”. RhIyo lost the tag team titles on SmackDown and the next night Rhea Ripley won the women’s “Elimination Chamber” match, setting up a showdown with Jade Cargill. The storyline, that Jade is a bodybuilder built for “show” and Rhea is an athlete built for “go”, is simple but effective. Unfortunately, it is not, however, the culmination of a two-year storyline of betrayal and redemption that Bianca would have provided.

Naturally, as a result, Iyo Sky (arguably the best wrestler in WWE) is all at sea. She has revived her storyline with the Kabuki Warriors, which does have years of build in its own right, but it is missing the key element of Rhea Ripley. Rhea’s friendship is the reason for Asuka’s jealousy and bitterness, and the motivation for Warriors turn on Iyo in the first place. Asuka was using Rhea’s presence to gaslight Kairi Sane into tolerating Asuka’s bullying. Unfortunately, Bianca’s injury not only held up Jade Cargill’s plans, but Asuka’s too. The Kabuki Warriors have had to teeter on the edge of implosion for three straight months as WWE creative decided what to do with Rhea Ripley. The result was a massive cooling-off of a compelling long-term story as entire characters were stuck on pause. Last week, Iyo finally began reaching out to Kairi, offering her an escape route from Asuka and trying to shake her Stockholm Syndrome, but it feels entirely rushed. Rhea and Iyo should have been hitting these character notes back in January, not two weeks before “Wrestlemania”. Fittingly, at the time of writing, it is still yet to be confirmed whether Iyo Sky vs Asuka will be the 14th and final match on the “Wrestlemania” card or whether two of the best workers in the company will miss out entirely.

Speaking of leaving it until the last minute, let’s turn our attention to the Intercontinental and United States Championships. On “Raw”, Penta has been chasing Dominik Mysterio for the best part of a year, building momentum but always falling at the final hurdle. In the meantime, Finn Bálor has been moving towards a babyface turn as CM Punk slowly helped him see the light and uncover his old self. Both storylines are, in isolation, really rather good. The problem is one of timing. Dominik Mysterio has been injured, and as soon as he returned, he lost his title to Penta, with Finn Bálor refusing to help him cheat to win, which set the stage for Finn’s babyface turn and ejection from The Judgment Day the very next week. Unfortunately, had Penta’s win happened in January, it would have been a huge moment and given him time to find a worthy opponent. Instead, Penta is cutting great promos and having strong matches, but has had to put his title on the line in a truly random ladder match with a completely cold build. Finn and Dom’s match doesn’t need the IC title, but after going on three years of build, the actual drama between the two is being crammed into three weeks of TV time and their programme, quite frankly, feels like an afterthought.

© WWE

Well, don’t worry, if the IC title is a mess, we know that the US title is not only doing great, it is by leaps and bounds the best single aspect of WWE programming. First Sami Zayn, then Ilja Dragunov, and now Carmelo Hayes have been stealing the show week after week with dazzling wrestling matches. They’ve been building feuds and rivalries based on genuine competition and pure in-ring storytelling, providing great drama without the dodgy scripting and dodgier acting. Best of all, they’ve been building up Ilja vs Melo III, while keeping Tama Tonga and Shinsuke Nakamura on the back burner. Even if they do a multi-man match, it’s destined to be great, right? Oh, hang on, what’s that? They threw out Ilja vs Melo III on a random “SmackDown”, Ilja just dropped his multi-week crisis of confidence storyline entirely and decided he was ready to challenge. Oh, and he just lost. Sure, okay, I guess he had already had his turn, it wasn’t his year.

Oh, there’s more… now I’m getting worried. So what happened next? Sami Zayn won the United States title when Trick Williams accidentally punched Melo. Right, so are we getting Melo vs Trick, bringing back their legendary rivalry and friendship from NXT? No. Huh. But hang on, I thought Sami was already in a programme with Trick based around Sami suffering for always doing the right thing and being the bigger man, while Trick was rewarded for being a cocky, cheating showboat? Right, I see. So the programme that was already built and didn’t need a title has been given the US championship just for the sake of it; killing Melo’s momentum and “Wrestlemania” plans dead, while simultaneously ramping up the resentment among WWE fans towards Sami Zayn. Okay then. (For those of you who don’t keep up with WWE’s online superfans, they actually strongly dislike Sami Zayn for “stealing” Chad Gable’s moment two years ago by beating Gunther at “Wrestlemania”.)

Truth be told, this is getting exhausting. There can’t possibly be more “Wrestlemania” plans where a combination of injury and uncertainty have resulted in lukewarm last-minute builds… oh God, I nearly forgot, we need to talk about Gunther. The man who made John Cena tap out at Saturday Night’s Main Event and ended the career of AJ Styles at the Royal Rumble has been largely absent from the “Wrestlemania” build. This has partly been as a result of a change of plans (the entirely justifiable decision to go with Oba Femi as Brock Lesnar’s Mania opponent) and bad luck (Rey Mysterio’s injury). Gunther was in the middle of a really rather excellent feud with Dragon Lee, which was designed to be the launchpad for Gunther to crush another babyface legend in Rey Mysterio at “Wrestlemania”. However, due to injury, plans changed. Except they didn’t so much change, as evaporate, as Gunther, “Raw’s main antagonist, simply disappeared from TV for a month.

The disappearance of Gunther, of course, brings us to the great disaster of 2025/26 that has almost single-handedly derailed all of WWE’s creative from the World Heavyweight Title on down: The Vision. Make no mistake, The Vision were an abomination before the injury bug ripped through the unit. Seth Rollins’ droning, monotonous heel promos would eat up 20 minutes at the start of every other edition of “Raw” as he and Paul Heyman simply introduced themselves over and over again. The story never really went anywhere. It was the same heels, cutting the same promo, running the same interference in every main event to set up the same beatdown of CM Punk or LA Knight or Jey Uso on loop, ad nauseum for half a year (it was honestly a relief whenever RhIyo would open and close “Raw” in their place). Then, having previously faked an injury, Seth Rollins went down with a real one. In a brilliant shake-up in response to this injury crisis, Bron Breakker finally and decisively turned on Rollins, kicking him out of the group, forcing Bronson Reed and Paul Heyman to follow his lead through sheer intimidation. It was a great moment, but it went nowhere. Triple H got nervous and backed off. Bron Breakker did not win the vacant World Heavyweight Championship; instead, he was sidelined as CM Punk was trusted with the role. The Vision then spiralled into the midcard despite the addition of Logan Paul.

Then, with “Elimination Chamber” on the horizon, Bron Breakker injured himself lifting a table and Bronson Reed suffered an injury in the middle of a triple threat match he was supposed to win. Disaster had truly struck. Seth Rollins was ready to return from injury ahead of schedule, but rather than the two men who’d betrayed him being there, they were nowhere to be seen. Instead, he had to make a triumphant return to thwart Logan Paul and to take revenge on Austin Theory for—well, I’m not kidding—dressing up in a balaclava to surprise people because that’s Seth’s gimmick (apparently). In a truly lamentable storyline, Seth would be flanked by a twirling, swirling troupe of masked dorks who’d disguise his presence, allowing him to sneak up and attack The Vision and lay out Paul Heyman. Suffice to say, the only good thing to come out of this entire masked man detour was the moment Brock Lesnar arrived at Paul Heyman’s request to gloriously murder each and every one of them.

So what does all this have to do with “Wrestlemania”? Well, when it became apparent that Bron Breakker would not be ready in time to face Seth Rollins, Triple H had the bright idea to have Gunther return to choke out Seth Rollins on Raw for… no apparent reason. The storyline will likely be that Paul Heyman recruited Gunther to take out Seth, but of course this will beg the logical question: why did Gunther save Heyman after Seth had laid him out with a steel chair? The end result is a match that is certain to be great in the ring, but one with a completely ice-cold and largely illogical build.

But wait, there is more—I promise this is the last one. The Usos had been rather excellently injected into the Roman Reigns–CM Punk build. Punk had been playing on Roman’s insecurities as a prideful leader incapable of apologising to his family and Jey Uso’s imposter syndrome as a hot-headed wannabe Tribal Chief, to splinter their bond and rekindle some of the old Bloodline magic. It was genuinely intriguing stuff, with Jimmy Uso stuck in the voice-of-reason role, both standing up for his family while slighted that his brother was paying such little mind to their role as tag team champions. It should have built to a hubristic moment where Jey lost his cool, took his eye off the ball and cost the pair the tag team titles, but instead, three weeks before Mania, The Usos dropped the titles to The Vision when the influencer IShowSpeed got into an altercation with LA Knight, leading to a distraction that allowed Logan Paul to cheat to win. The result was that yet another title had been changed right before Mania, and The Vision found themselves at the centre of yet another murky, muddy and lifeless build.

The Shining Light: Oba Femi and Brock Lesnar Feels Like A Dream Match

For all the false starts and half-hearted rinse-and-repeat angles that have defined much of the 2026 “Wrestlemania” card, there has been no lack of clarity or confidence in the build to Brock Lesnar vs Oba Femi. Starting at the Rumble, the pair deliciously teased a major encounter, providing just enough physicality as Femi overpowered Lesnar before Oba was sneakily eliminated by Brock when he turned his back to fight other competitors. Then there was the quiet before the storm: Oba was busy trying to decide whether to sign with Raw or SmackDown, while Heyman and Lesnar were putting out an open challenge for Mania. The speculation online pointed in one of two directions: either Gunther or Oba.

Then, in probably the best WWE television angle of the year so far, Paul Heyman set Brock Lesnar on Seth Rollins. Brock brutally maimed dozens of Seth’s masked goons, recklessly throwing them through the air and not caring where, how or on what they landed. It was glorious. It was also a rather brilliant misdirection. Brock was set up as the logical opponent for Seth Rollins. Rollins had a clear path to Heyman with Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed injured, so of course Heyman turned to The Beast for protection. However, at the very moment Rollins and Lesnar faced off, the lights went black and Oba Femi made his iconic entrance to the ring. For the first time in the entire Mania build, there was a genuine sense of electricity—you could feel the energy and anticipation in the crowd as the pair faced off and, in a stroke of genius, they had Lesnar get destroyed with a gargantuan Fall From Grace. Lesnar leapt incredibly high for the move and sold tremendously (as he always does), even going so far as to tell Oba Femi to put his foot on his chest.

© WWE

Remarkably, all the subsequent angles have maintained this initial magic. The crowd are ravenous for Oba Femi. The entire energy of the room shifts when Lesnar and Femi face off. It is a match-up and a rivalry that truly feels “Wrestlemania”-worthy, and the booking team is not getting in the way. Much of the credit goes to Lesnar; he is one of the greatest sellers of all time (especially for a man his size), and his combination of bumping, physical selling and acting (portraying confidence laced with frustration and fear) has been immaculate. He is doing everything in his power to get Oba Femi over to main event attraction level. All that’s left now is for Oba to win—and win decisively.

In Oba Femi on “Raw” and Trick Williams on “SmackDown”, WWE has its two top stars of the future. Anyone who watches NXT will have known this for a very long time and, in all honesty, they could have called up both men—certainly Oba Femi—a year ago. (Trick did benefit from more reps in the ring and the opportunity to develop a heel persona.) The story of WWE in 2026 will be whether they can successfully deliver on the potential of these two absolute sure things. If Triple H fumbles the bag on Oba and Trick, there will be no injuries or underlings to blame; the responsibility will fall squarely on his shoulders. Triple H has got the initial calls right—he picked Oba over Gunther and instantly inserted Trick Williams into the main event scene on “SmackDown”—but he must now follow through with meaningful victories and (most importantly of all) clear and undiluted narrative focus for both men.

© WWE

WWE “Elimination Chamber” 2026

28th February 2026
Company Announced Attendance: 18,295
United Center, Chicago, USA

Review By David Hayter

With every passing year, the “Elimination Chamber” show feels less like a blessing and more like a curse. At one point, the decision to insert the gruelling Chamber match in between the “Royal Rumble” and “Wrestlemania” seemed to have solved one of the great plot holes of the post-brand split era: namely, that one championship contender had to win a marathon 30-man (or woman) Rumble to earn a championship match on the grandest stage of them all, while the other challenger really didn’t have to do much of anything out of the ordinary. The imposition of the Chamber brought balance; surviving five top contenders inside a punishing cage in order to make it to the main event felt logically and thematically satisfying.

There’s just one catch: it kills the storyline development for the entire WWE main event scene stone dead. In the Rumble and Chamber era of the “Road to Wrestlemania”, in order to maintain the pretence that wrestling is a sporting contest on the up-and-up, all the top male and female talent have to at least notionally pretend they have a hope of winning either the Rumble or the Chamber. This has a natural chilling effect on storylines across the promotion. This was always an issue with the Rumble, but because the match was over by the end of January, feuds could naturally bubble up during January and boil over during the Rumble itself. The minute the winner was declared, all the repressed rivalries could explode into life.

Unfortunately, now that the Chamber is positioned as the final roadblock on the way to “Wrestlemania”, the chilling effect of the Rumble has extended into a veritable ice age that stalls storyline development from January through to the beginning of March. TV is given over to qualifying matches, personal issues either don’t form at all, or are placed on pause (see Kairi and Asuka). Part of these failings fall at the feet of Triple H; a more inventive booker would interlace the Chamber matches with conflicting personal issues (and, to be fair, there were some), but no amount of creativity can overcome the sheer inertia of the Chamber. It’s a great match concept that routinely delivers compelling action and clever eliminations, but it’s also a chore: a tick-box exercise that desperately needs freshening up.

This issue is not helped, of course, by the fact that WWE are insistent on booking four-match cards. CM Punk and Finn Bálor have developed a heated rivalry that has had meaningful and lasting ramifications for Bálor’s character going forward, but it is also a foregone conclusion, entirely devoid of suspense. Finn simply could not win in a world where the “Wrestlemania” main event of Roman Reigns and CM Punk is set in stone. The result is a PLE made up of two long Chamber matches that feel more like internal administration than dynamic forks in the road, a title match with only one winner, and a highly anticipated clash between Becky Lynch and AJ Lee, which, due to the latter’s presence, could only really be an average match at best.

Truth be told, that might not be so bad were it not for the hour or so of commercials, sponsorship tie-ins, needless padding and literal holding screens (for international viewers) that make watching WWE PLEs live a largely pointless exercise in 2026.

Randy Orton Surprise Win Sets Course For Legacy Showdown

WWE’s booking of its main event scene has been so hesitant since John Cena turned heel at last year’s “Elimination Chamber” that the long-awaited and heavily teased Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes match has arrived at a moment when fans’ appetite is at an all-time low. This time last year, when Randy Orton was teasing challenging the winner of John Cena vs Cody Rhodes, it felt like WWE had its next white-hot programme on its hands. I was a part of a London crowd who got feverishly excited at the mere mention of the pair’s legacy, but the match never came. “SummerSlam” came and went. Jacob Fatu had his teeth punted out of his mouth, but Randy was never even positioned as a suspect. Instead, Randy and Rhodes remained the best of buddies as Aleister Black spent the best part of two months trying to coax Orton towards the dark side.

When the moment arrived and Randy Orton surprised his protégé with a sudden RKO, the crowd in Chicago erupted. Randy’s victory was a pleasant surprise for WWE’s core fanbase, but rather than being the culmination of a three-year-old storyline, the Orton–Rhodes feud has been left to wither on the vine. Make no mistake, WWE have plenty of time to reheat the rivalry and they have already made an excellent start by having Orton bloody Cody following a brutal heel turn, but “Wrestlemania” should not be built on last-minute pivots and uncertain plans. The decision to go with Rhodes and Orton at the exclusion of McIntyre and Fatu does appear to be the correct business decision, but it’s a worrying sign of Triple H’s lack of confidence that the main event of Night One was still up in the air in early March.

The finish itself was tremendously well booked and played off several ongoing storylines. Sami Zayn has been brooding in recent weeks following his crushing defeat to Drew McIntyre in Saudi Arabia. He’s reached out to both Cody and Randy for guidance following his defeats, but time and time again the story has been the same: Sami hesitates, questions himself and does what he perceives to be the right thing, allowing more selfish wrestlers to strike. Cody would secure his spot in the Chamber by taking advantage of Sami’s choice to attack an interfering McIntyre by hitting a flash Cross Rhodes on his friend without a second thought. Tonight, with Rhodes distracted by an interfering Drew McIntyre (who has interjected himself into every recent Rhodes or Fatu match), Randy hit Rhodes with a sudden RKO out of nowhere to upset the odds-on favourite. The story is simple: Rhodes may not have learnt to display a killer instinct in his feud with John Cena, but Randy Orton is the cold-blooded real deal.

Becky Works Extremely Hard For Little Reward As AJ Lee Triumphs

There’s no hiding from the fact that AJ Lee is a pretty terrible wrestler. Thankfully, she is at least incredibly over (for the time being), but despite being paired with Becky at the Chamber and Bayley on Monday Night Raw, she’s only managed to deliver passable-at-best matches. Against Lynch, she seemed genuinely confused. Becky gamely tried to engage her in some chain wrestling early, but AJ was effectively a broomstick as Becky spun around her before taking her down in an effort to create movement. Despite laying out a clever and idiot-proof match, AJ Lee failed to flourish. Becky would get the heat and bump like a bumbling coward for AJ, but there’s only so much that could be done.

It’s hard to decide what was worse: AJ’s laughably light strikes or her Black Widow finisher. The latter was particularly embarrassing because, rather uniquely, AJ had neither the momentum nor the hops to execute the move, so Becky was forced to physically spin AJ around her while desperately trying to maintain her own balance. Suffice to say it looked awful, yet somehow AJ’s strikes are worse. In what I believe is supposed to be some kind of “Rheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee” flailing nerd attack meme, AJ loosely windmills her hands and gently patty-cakes Becky’s shoulders with a “flurry” of limp-wristed slaps. It’s a spot so horrific that time stands still and you feel simultaneously embarrassed for both the performers and yourself – and poor Becky had to turtle up and sell it. (Bizarrely, the excellent Roxanne Perez who was inspired by AJ Lee has borrowed this horrible striking spot)

Despite the above, the match told a simple and well-structured story and Becky may have led AJ to the best match of her career (make no mistake, that is not high praise or even praise at all). To add drama, Becky continued her feud with referee Jessica Carr (who is an Evolve wrestler). Becky, in a parody of Donald Trump, is a pathetic cry-baby loser who cannot accept defeat and claims the officials (namely Jessica) rig the results against her in a grand conspiracy. Naturally, after giving AJ Lee a visual submission victory and priming the fans for a Becky win, Jessica Carr stepped in to stop Becky from ramming AJ Lee into the exposed turnbuckle. Becky flipped out, allowing AJ to turn the tables and win with the Black Widow. The only problem with this build is that fans seem far more interested in Becky Lynch vs Jessica Carr than a rematch with AJ Lee (and honestly, who can blame them!).

Punk and Bálor Fail To Recreate The Magic Of Belfast

The Chicago crowd were certainly into their hometown hero CM Punk, especially after he was given the classic Jordan Bulls introduction before making his entrance at the United Center, but the American crowd could not remotely rival the feral intensity of the Belfast faithful. The crowd was engaged, but never truly hot, likely because the result was a foregone conclusion. That didn’t stop the veteran pair from putting together a really rather excellent WWE main-event-style match that tragically lacked a dramatic final act. Finn Bálor was absolutely tremendous on this night. He was not only creating movement for the perpetually exhausted Punk, but also putting on a slick, snug and ultimately safe performance.

© WWE

Everything Bálor did looked immaculate as he channelled an intent to maim his opponent into believable babyface fire. WWE has been telling a compelling slow-burn storyline with Bálor. Punk has been getting in his head and trying to awaken his old fire and move him away from the cheap-heat antics of The Judgment Day. Finn has been taking note and subtly changing his ways, most notably by refusing assistance from his stablemates and wanting to prove to himself and the world that he still has what it takes to be a champion. This has resulted in Bálor still occupying the heel role, but wrestling with an intensity that makes fans yearn for the babyface turn to happen. It’s a fiendishly difficult tightrope to walk, but Finn has pulled it off perfectly: not only was he not cheered in Chicago, but crucially, when Dominik, JD, Liv and Raquel all turned on him on Raw, the fans did not cheer. This is a testament to his performance, as American fans almost inevitably cheer for a happening; seeing a turn is cool, so heels such as Charlotte Flair or Randy Orton often get cheered. Remarkably, despite Dom and Liv’s inherent popularity, when they rounded on Finn on Raw they were booed out of the building.

The only thing this match needed then (other than a white-hot Belfast crowd) was a satisfying ending – and unfortunately, I have some bad news. Finn was rolling; he’d hit his Coup de Grâce, but Punk survived. Surely the time had come for a killer sequence of back-and-forth near falls and intricate counters? Well, actually, no. CM Punk trapped Finn’s arms, gave him a couple of stomps to the face, hoisted him up for the GTS and won the match clean as a whistle. The finish was very ’90s, a throwback to an older time when matches were well wrestled but ended abruptly whenever the babyface hit their finish. Given that this was the crucial match from a drawing perspective, why did they opt for a TV main-event finish?

The answer lies partly in the future direction for “Wrestlemania” and partially in a failure of execution. Firstly, Punk is destined to face Roman Reigns at “Wrestlemania”; he was always going to win and, in many ways, it makes sense to make him look strong as champion. On the other hand, Punk has been telling a story that he is an older champion who endures punishment to cling on and win in the end, so it wouldn’t necessarily have undermined the storyline vs Roman to have Bálor push him to the limit here. The second point may be the clincher: Punk’s execution wasn’t good enough. When he trapped Finn’s arms and stomped on his face, that was supposed to be a killer moment. Punk was looking Finn dead in the eyes and was supposed to be the moment of cold hearted execution. However, while the stomps didn’t look bad, they did seem a bit janky – more like an old man unsteady on his feet desperately kicking back his opponent, as opposed to a killer final boss cracking skulls. Had Punk had the precision to deliver some Bryan Danielson-style brutality, this finish would have felt far more satisfying.

Break Glass In Case Of Emergency: RhIyo Is Sidelined So Ripley Can Carry Cargill

The seemingly never-ending saga of Bianca Belair’s finger and/or knuckle injury continues to throw WWE’s creative plans into disarray. Disappearing after last year’s “Wrestlemania”, Bianca’s injury, along with Naomi’s pregnancy, ensured that an ominous curse fell upon the SmackDown women’s division. Under Tiffany Stratton’s stewardship, the title picture stagnated and declined, with bad matches and worse promos. Tiffany’s eventual feud with Jade Cargill was bowling-shoe ugly, but it had the benefit of finally turning Cargill heel. Jade has flourished in her new, more bad-arse role. In fact, she’s routinely cheered for exuding an imposing alpha demeanour. Sadly, she’s had little in the way of opponents; aside from one good match with Jordynne Grace, Jade has effectively had no opponents after she injured both Michin and B-Fab on house shows.

With “Wrestlemania” ticket sales flatlining and Jade without a worthy rivalry, rather than rehashing the Stratton feud, WWE decided to opt for the only sensible option: Rhea Ripley. The tragedy is that Rhea’s tag team and engaging on-screen friendship with Iyo Sky had to come to an end. WWE gave the game away when RhIyo dropped the tag titles the night before the Chamber in a thrilling, chaotic match with The Irresistible Forces, where Rhea took the pinfall. Triple H seems keenly aware of how beloved RhIyo were as a team and how much fans had been anticipating their title defence at Mania, because the promotion dedicated a big chunk of TV to RhIyo’s farewell address. In an oddly sweet and respectful moment, Rhea Ripley was allowed to talk at length about how much Iyo’s friendship meant to her before the pair hugged and parted ways. There was no attack, no angle, just a heartfelt farewell.

But what of the match itself? Despite having an entirely predictable finish, the match was largely well worked, despite the odd hiccup (Rhea and Alexa got lost on a Sister Abigail counter). Asuka was the star of the show in the early going, getting a largely sleepy crowd to chant for her (despite being a heel) as she unleashed some crisp strikes. The first half of the match was dedicated to getting Raquel Rodriguez over as a major threat. It’s still unknown what role she will play at “Wrestlemania”, but tonight they had her pin Asuka and Kiana James simultaneously by Tijana-bombing one onto the other (and she has subsequently defeated Iyo Sky).

© WWE

Tiffany Stratton seemed rejuvenated without the pressure of carrying the world title. Sporting cooler and more credible black gear, she impressively nailed all her athletic and power sequences and had fewer of the sloppy moments and hesitations that defined her near year-long title reign. She had looked rusty in her comeback match against the capable Alba Fyre on SmackDown, but she was carried to an entertaining match by Kairi Sane the following week (with the Pirate Princess taking wild bumps to get Stratton over).

The match naturally built to a showdown between Ripley and Stratton, the only believable winners once Raquel Rodriguez had been eliminated. After a few neat sequences, Tiffany attempted her Prettiest Moonsault Ever, only for Rhea to pop up and shove her off the top rope through a plexiglass pod. It was a gnarly-looking, but safe spot that set up Rhea to quickly capitalise and secure victory with the Riptide. As a Chamber match, it was satisfying, but nothing to write home about, consisting largely of safe and steady action.

DanHausen’s Debut Was Giving Gobbledegooker, But Has Worked Well In The Long Run

In a farcical turn of events, WWE’s biggest storyline heading into “Elimination Chamber” could be summed up with a single question: WHAT’S IN THE CRATE? That question was answered on Saturday night when Nick Aldis and Adam Pearce opened it live on stage to reveal Danhausen. Well, technically it revealed a wave of female Danhausen dancers and then the man himself. Following a brief dance routine, the lights went out and Danhausen and his dancers disappeared, and the boos rang out.

In the moment, there was heated debate. Were the fans rejecting Danhausen, or were they angry that they didn’t get a promo or any kind of angle? Were they expecting a bigger name, or was there no reveal that could realistically have satisfied the fans? Ultimately, it doesn’t matter. Danhausen has not been rejected; he’s quickly become a comedy character who appears in backstage skits for two minutes at a time and only really appears in front of the fans to give out free T-shirts. His catchphrase is over, his “curses” have been oddly protected in storyline (causing Dominik to lose the IC title and The Miz to get laid out by Jelly Roll), and he appears to be selling plenty of merchandise. In short, his arrival in WWE is not the disaster it seemed on day one.

© WWE

WWE NXT “Vengeance Day” 2026

7th March 2026
Company Announced Attendance: approx. 300
WWE Performance Center, Florida, USA

Review By David Hayter

NXT finds itself in a strange place in early 2026. The promotion has recovered from the high-profile departures of Oba Femi, Trick Williams and Je’Von Evans by refocusing around the snarky veteran heel pairing of Ethan Page and Ricky Saints, who are natural foils for new white-meat babyface champion Joe Hendry. They have also flooded the zone with promising call-ups from Evolve, including Kendal Gray, The Vanity Project, Shiloh Hill, Keanu Carver, Sean Legacy and Eli Knight, while recalling Tony D’Angelo for a second run on the brand. The men’s scene is certainly light on star power, but it at long last appears to have something resembling a promising future.

The women’s side of the equation is far brighter and has routinely carried the weekly television with the strength of its characters and the pace at which new talent is developing. There are weaknesses, of course, most notably the interminable scripting of Izzi Dame’s promos (she does her best as a performer handed some truly godforsaken material) and Blake Monroe’s hideously contrived character. Unlike Izzi, Blake has no excuse; she seems to be inhabiting a character of her own creation and delivering poorly written dialogue in a tone so insincere she actually does WWE’s writer team a disservice (and believe me, I never thought I’d be saying that.) Thankfully, for every Blake Monroe, there’s a Jaida Parker and the future of the division seems assured.

Nevertheless, the women do have a problem of their own, namely a logjam at the top. Jacy Jayne and Fallon Henley are inexplicably still in NXT despite having main roster-ready acts. The result is that Sol Ruca and Lola Vice are having to wait so long for their run on top that their characters are getting colder and fans are losing patience to the point where they are turning on them as babyfaces. Having a long list of championship-calibre acts is hardly a major issue, but if Triple H continues to be this conservative in his call-ups, we might be waiting until 2028 or later before we see top prospects Kendal Gray and Lainey Reid holding gold. (Editor’s Note: keep reading for the “Stand and Deliver” review for an update on this logjam.)

Against this backdrop, NXT enters “Vengeance Day” treading water. They are no longer sinking, but it feels like the entire brand is simply waiting for something to happen -hoping for a signal from on high that they can kick-start the next phase of developmental in earnest. The result of this strange halfway house is a really rather enjoyable PLE that is both incredibly easy to watch, but utterly mediocre and wholly forgettable. Wheels are spinning, storylines are inching forward, but without blowaway action in the ring, the entire brand feels skippable. Everyone who sits down to watch this show (particularly on replay, with the ability to skip the adverts and recaps) will likely have a good time, and yet, I can’t in good faith recommend this show to anyone who missed it.

Joe Hendry and Ricky Saints Are Perfectly Cromulent, But Cromulent Doesn’t Cut It In 2026

No offence to Joe Hendry and Ricky Saints; they are both compelling characters who work hard and almost never put a foot wrong in the ring. They always deliver good, solid, by-the-numbers wrestling matches that tell satisfying stories and deliver just enough hard-hitting action to ensure fans feel like they’ve got their money’s worth – but that’s it and no more. At “Vengeance Day” they produced a perfectly acceptable main event match; the problem is, in 2026, perfectly acceptable isn’t good enough. We now operate in a world where Mike Bailey and Kyle Fletcher tear the house down on free TV, Místico gracefully glides to ****+ matches every Friday night, and where Gunther and Dragon Lee or, hell, CM Punk and Finn Bálor, deliver great action on Monday Night Raw. In other words, there is nothing premium about a solid three-star match. Joe Hendry is over and unbelievably likeable, but he needs to up his game considerably.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the best aspects of this meat-and-potatoes main event came courtesy of Ethan Page. Having lost his NXT North American title to Myles Borne the previous Wednesday, he’d entered a brief depression but snapped out of it when Ricky Saints suggested he become a two-time champion. The catch, of course, is that Ethan wants to be a two-time NXT Champion rather than a two-time mid-card champion. This led to a ridiculously entertaining spot where Ethan “accidentally” overthrew the title belt, sliding it so fast that it slipped under Ricky’s hands and landed next to Hendry. The match was then cleverly structured to play off WWE’s usual rota of heel interference finishes, only for Hendry to stand tall and hit the Standing Ovation to retain his title.

Make no mistake, this was a good match. It just wasn’t good enough.

Tatum Paxley Steals The Show, Righting The Wrongs Of Her Mishandled NXT Title Win

Izzi Dame is developing rapidly, but like many green workers she’s finding it a lot easier to improve her offence while struggling to sell and bump convincingly. This deficiency was painfully obvious in the early going as she moved with the rigidity of an oak tree while flailing her arms like Olive Oyl in an attempt to sell disorientation. This might sound horrific, but thankfully Tatum Paxley was wrestling like a woman possessed and Izzi’s awkwardness played into the story of the match. The North American title match had the feel of a classic 90s clash between Shawn Michaels and a lumbering oaf like Psycho Sid or Diesel. Tatum was a blur as she out-thought and outmanoeuvred her larger opponent in the early going.

Izzi would eventually cut her off with more heavy-handed offence that Tatum bumped brilliantly for. They then set about foreshadowing a crafty internal storyline. Tatum (because she’s kooky) would get distracted attacking Izzi on the outside and nearly forget to roll into the ring before the count of 10. On two occasions while on offence she nearly made this fatal mistake. Naturally, towards the end of the match, with Tatum running wild, she was again cut off and laid out on the outside. This time, however, Shawn Spears was distracting Tatum and she nearly got counted out again as she dived into the ring at the last moment. Having rolled into the ring, she was immediately hit with the Dame Over for an incredibly effective near fall. WWE routinely uses the bait-and-switch of having the babyface bravely avoid a count-out only to instantly lose on Raw, and on this occasion Tatum’s kick-out really caught the crowd off guard. From there on in, they simply couldn’t fail. There were 450 near falls, more interference teases and a brilliant final counter sequence before Tatum single-handedly foiled The Culling’s antics to win the North American title.

Tatum is ungodly over and absolutely beloved by the NXT crowd. Shawn Michaels foolishly cut the legs out from underneath her when she won the NXT title last year; hopefully he’s learnt from his past mistakes and will give Tatum the title run she’s so thoroughly earned. No one has overcome worse booking, more moronic dialogue or as farcical a character as Tatum. Through it all, her rapid development in the ring, combined with her strong instincts as a babyface promo, has overcome every hurdle creative have thrown in her path.

© WWE

Lola Vice Knocks Out Kelani Jordan In Cleverly Crafted, But Horribly Filmed Underground Match

You can only sympathise with Kelani Jordan and Lola Vice, who have worked hard within the wacky and over-the-top world of NXT to build a heated feud. Kelani turned heel after she was shunned by the women’s locker room for representing TNA as their champion during last year’s short-lived inter-promotional rivalry (yes, of course Team TNA was captained by WWE talent.) Lola literally threw Kelani’s clothes out of the locker room, leading the gymnast to spiral and eventually snap. This built to a really rather great angle where Kelani cost Lola a potential title match by slamming her hand in a ladder. When the two met, the injured Lola was out-grappled by the gymnast, who chose to forgo her usual flips in favour of rock-solid technical wrestling. The result was a humiliation for Vice, as the former MMA fighter was forced to submit to the “girly” gymnast.

Seeking to redeem her credibility, Lola demanded Kelani face her in an Underground match (WWE’s equivalent of an MMA pit fight), and the now overconfident Kelani agreed. The story took a farcical turn on the go-home show, where Kelani attempted to train MMA techniques with Shayna Baszler. Kelani didn’t take the training seriously, filming the segment like an influencer and refusing to listen to Shayna, who told her to ditch the gymnastics and not to use cartwheels as part of her grappling.

The reason for telling you all this is that both Kelani and Lola laid out an intense Underground match where Kelani countered Lola’s superior MMA grappling skills by targeting the injured hand. Lola’s father, who is an incredibly over-the-top, made-for-pro-wrestling individual, was living and dying at ringside and seemed to legitimately want to fight Kelani as she taunted him. Best of all, the match built to a great finish. Kelani had been dominating, but in a hubristic moment the heel ignored Shayna’s advice, did a pointless back handspring and BOOM! The minute she landed, Lola flash KO’d her with the spinning backfist before throwing in a bit of ground and pound for good measure as the referee rushed to call for the bell.

So what’s the problem? Well, the match was almost impossible to see. Underground matches are always darkly lit at ringside to create the vibe of an unlicensed street fight, but normally they have the good sense to properly light the ring. Instead, a match that was carefully crafted to pay off three months’ worth of storylines was almost impossible to follow, as shadowy, near-imperceptible figures grunted in the darkness. In truth, it brought back traumatic memories of the Battle of Winterfell in the final series of Game of Thrones.

Blake Bests Parker in Fun But Throwaway PG Street Fight

Blake Monroe has been an unmitigated disaster in NXT. Despite joining WWE developmental, she has been by far and away the promotion’s worst and most tiresome promo. It didn’t help that she engaged in one of the worst feuds of the year with Jordynne Grace. It’s one thing to have bad angles with Jordynne, but how on earth do you have bad matches with the Juggernaut? Blake has now transitioned into a feud with Jaida Parker, who has now returned from purgatory after being punished for being “too over” as a heel. NXT has now corrected their mistake and is no longer swimming upstream: Jaida has been repositioned as a babyface and she is absolutely cooking Blake on the microphone each and every week. Her authentic charisma and cocksure delivery manage to shine no matter how many overwritten monologues the writers decide to prepare for her. Her organic ease only highlights the artificiality of Blake’s overacting.

Blake is the better wrestler. Jaida is still very green, with her work often showing plenty of daylight despite her intensity. This Street Fight was designed, therefore, to hide both women’s weaknesses while allowing Blake to put over her “Woman From Hell” persona. Truth be told, the match wasn’t very hellish, but it did have some creative spots. Kendo sticks were attached to the ropes, allowing Jaida to go headfirst through a cane (ouch) on one side of the ring, while on the other a chair was held open on the middle rope using a cane, allowing Jaida to slam Blake into it hard in a particularly gnarly spot. The highlight of the match, however, came when Blake was laid out on a table at ringside and Jaida hit her high-stepping hip drop from the second rope to the floor through the table. Jaida flew backwards at speed in a wildly out-of-control moment.

Despite these more brutal moments, most of the match was made up of more standard fare. It was your typical PG-era WWE street fight, with the kind of plunder-based antics long-term fans will have seen a thousand times or more before. The action was neither good nor bad; it was simply entertaining enough to open the show and whet the appetite for what was to come. The finish came when Blake threw diamonds (yes, diamonds) in Jaida’s eyes before hitting the Glamour Shot onto a pile of diamonds for the easy 1-2-3.

Blake Monroe remains a talented performer and prospect overall, but until she gets a better handle on her character, this feels like a poor decision on the part of NXT management to job out yet another beloved babyface in favour of an overwrought, monologuing heel.

Tony D’s Wild Hair Highlights An Enjoyable Brawl

Tony D’Angelo’s victory over Dion Lennox and, in effect, the entirety of Dark State will likely be an afterthought by the time this edition of the newsletter is published, but if the match is remembered, it will likely be for three odd quirks.

Firstly, Tony D’Angelo’s hair. The former mobster’s man bun came loose during this intense, arena-spanning brawl to reveal a wild array of curly locks. With his hair down, the normally controlled and restrained D’Angelo looked like a sardonic Bruiser Brody-type brawler. Tony should certainly lean into this more unhinged aesthetic if he wants to escape the confines of his overly scripted character.

Secondly, the match started with a preposterous brawl beginning in the NXT parking lot before spilling into the arena. It was the kind of wackily overdramatic brawling, with bodies flying in from off-camera, that brought back memories of pandemic-era cinematic matches. The zaniness only ended when OTM arrived to fight off the other three members of Dark State.

The final point of note is the improvement of Dion Lennox. It’s clear to see why Dion is popular within WWE. He has an incredible build and has the look of a true all-American athlete. Unfortunately, he also looks too clean-cut for his own good; he’s cookie-cutter, bland and has the air of a nice guy playing tough. Tonight, however, against Tony D, he unlocked a level of intensity that has been absent from his previous work. He likely cannot exude this level of aggression at all times lest he risk becoming a parody of himself, but in small doses, this level of unadulterated rage may be Lennox’s route out of one-dimensional purgatory.

© WWE

WWE NXT “Stand And Deliver” 2026

4th April 2026
Company Announced Attendance: 1,767
The Factory, St Louis, Missouri, USA

Review By David Hayter

After one of the worst, most horrifically written and ungodly overacted months of television WWE has produced since the departure of Vince McMahon, it felt like NXT was in something of, if not a death spiral, then a zone of total irrelevance. Ratings, even under the new Nielsen system, refused to budge from their lows and despite being host to some incredible talents (Kendal Gray, Tatum Paxley, Ethan Page, Eli Knight, etc.), the show seemed to be dying a slow death in the popular consciousness.

The blame for the decline falls squarely on the shoulders of the booking team as hot babyfaces were buried, talent who were long overdue a call-up atrophied in front of our eyes, and some of the worst sub-high-school-level scripting took the edge off golden prospects like Sol Ruca and Zaria. And yet, in spite of all that, “Stand and Deliver 2026” was an absolute roaring success and is, at the time of writing, easily WWE’s best show of the year.

Don’t get too carried away, “Stand and Deliver” doesn’t rival the classic “TakeOvers” of yesteryear, but it is a clear example of what can happen when NXT’s doolally creative team gets out of the way and just lets their talent wrestle. Overbooking would inject itself here and there, but this show was a model for what NXT on CW should be. Fittingly, it is the second good show in a row for the brand as – and perhaps you’ll see a pattern here – on Tuesday the promotion got out of the Performance Center and put on a show at a theatre at MSG built around letting the likes of Kendal Grey and Lola Vice go out there and rip it up in the ring. Hopefully, HBK will learn from the success of these two road shows and change his ways, but I wouldn’t count on it. They are back in Florida for their next show, so don’t be surprised if the melodrama and monologues are back with a vengeance.

Jacy Jayne Bids Farewell To NXT With Star-Making Triple Threat

WWE has an unbearable tendency to narrativise everything. This isn’t necessarily a bad trait; wrestling is a storytelling artform after all, but the problem lies in the promotion’s insistence on rewriting history (“smoke-filled arenas”) and distorting reality (Daniel Bryan’s burial-level booking designed to make him a star all along). However, every once in a while, WWE’s heavy-handed storytelling perfectly aligns with reality and they actually end up ahead of the curve. In hindsight, WWE were right on the money when they had Jacy Jayne legitimately shock the wrestling world by defeating Stephanie Vaquer to become the NXT Women’s Champion back in 2025. Over the next year, NXT creative set about telling the story that Jayne was underrated, overlooked and ultimately underappreciated, that she was better than anyone seemed to know and had earned the opportunity to dominate the division and carry NXT as a brand.

The initial decision raised eyebrows. Toxic Attraction had largely been a disaster as reams of talented young wrestlers were sacrificed at the altar of Mandy Rose, while Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne struggled with injury and bumbled through tag team matches. However, by the time Jayne defeated Vaquer in 2025, something had clicked within her after five long years trapped in developmental. It’s clear that the staff and trainers in NXT were seeing a level of development behind the scenes that had been hidden from the wrestling audience at large. The second Jayne landed the Roaring Encore and claimed the title, her confidence both on the microphone and in the ring surged. Seemingly overnight she developed an ultra-tight, hard-hitting ring style, where she would flourish by always being in the right place for her flashier, but greener opponents. As star after star left the brand and Shawn Michaels’ booking descended into farce, Jacy was the steadying influence, delivering high-quality title matches and consistent character work.

It is long since time that Jacy Jayne (and if we’re being honest, Fallon Henley) were called up to the main roster; however the delay may have been worth it to allow Jacy one final moment in the spotlight. Alongside the prodigy that is Kendal Grey and crossover MMA star Lola Vice, Jacy bowed out with a classic and, arguably, the best match of either of her title reigns. Facing two of the promotion’s top babyfaces, both of whom were denied title wins at the height of their popularity, tonight’s triple threat match had genuine stakes and tension. Sure, no one believed Jacy would retain, but equally no one knew whether Lola or Kendal would be the one to walk away with the gold, and the match was beautifully structured to wring every ounce of drama out of that uncertainty.

Let’s get the one down note out of the way to start with. This was an NXT triple threat match and highly contrived, ultra-choreographed sequences come with the territory. For 80% of the match, these sequences were crisp, dynamic and dramatic, but there were definitely some nerves and hesitations in the opening moments as the three women found their feet and settled into a rhythm. There were no botches or missteps, but you could see the workers thinking and co-operating as Kendal ducked Jacy, Lola slipped a strike, Kendal rolled with a reversal, Jacy ran the ropes, and Kendal redirected Lola before entering into a cradle count sequence (are you feeling dizzy yet?). Mercifully, while the pace and ambition of the match never relented, the quality of execution radically increased around the five-minute mark as the women began blasting each other with brilliant suplexes and strikes.

It’s hard to pick an MVM (most valuable move), but if I had to it would either be Kendal’s sumptuous amateur wrestling-level switches (seriously can she wrestle Chihiro Hashimoto, like, tomorrow), Jacy Jayne’s knockout knee or Lola Vice’s spinning back fist. The reason it’s impossible to pick one over the others is because they were so often used at high speed to set up each other. For example, in a brilliant sequence, Kendal would rampage around the ring switching levels, throwing her opponents, dodging Lola’s back fist only to run at full speed into Jacy’s knee for a brilliant and brutal nearfall. This kind of frenetic, can’t-take-your-eyes-off-the-ring action was the perfect misdirection to set up someone running head first into a knee strike, head kick or back fist. So much of the match was defined by ramping up the pace, only to crash into a brick wall with a gruesome thud.

This internal logic ultimately built to the turning-point spot in the match where each of the three women landed their biggest offence, with a dazed Lola hitting her spinning back fist last on Kendal Grey and collapsing out of the ring. Jacy would then crawl over and try to steal the pin, only for Vice to reach up and place Kendal’s foot on the bottom rope at the last second. From there on in, the women hurtled into the final stretch. Fatal Influence sought to interfere, but were wiped out by a flying crossbody from the top rope to the floor by Wren Sinclair (Kendal’s best friend and manager). Wren, who had been a highlight of the match working the crowd and reacting to every nearfall at ringside, then fought with the heels to the back. This set up the final sequence. Kendal Grey would hit a spectacular top-rope moonsault to the floor (landing ungodly hard on her knees) and dragging her opponents back in the ring to settle the match mano a mano.

After some brilliant exchanges built around Kendal’s ankle-lock counters and Lola’s rear-naked choke, the finish came when Kendal fought her way to her feet while still locked in Lola’s clutches. Jacy would take her opportunity to uncork her Roaring Encore, only for Lola to release the hold and slip away just as Jacy wiped out the already loopy Kendal Gray. As Grey collapsed through the ropes, Jayne turned around and was absolutely murdered by Lola’s spinning back fist and the crowd roared along with the referee as he counted 1, 2, 3. This was an excellent match, a great babyface win and grand farewell all in one.

Tony D Claims Gold In A Fun and Frantic Four Way Between Stars Who Remain Tragically Trapped In NXT

As Tony D’Angelo, Ethan Page, Ricky Saints and Joe Hendry stood across from one another it felt frankly absurd that these four men remain trapped in developmental purgatory. Ethan Page has taken to WWE like a duck to water, being both tremendously entertaining as a character and a surprise MVP in the ring, often stealing the show with match-of-the-night performances in both NXT and AAA. Ricky Saints is perhaps less polished than Ethan, but he has years of experience and is already a two-time NXT champion who seems to have found his ideal role as a smarmy undersized heel. Joe Hendry is never going to be a world-beating worker, but he’s a solid professional who has wrestled in main events across Europe and the United States and has a fully realised and carefully honed gimmick. In other words, he’s more than ready. Tony D’Angelo is a prodigy, a young man who developed at a rapid pace, so much so that six months ago he was called up to the main roster, but never actually debuted. Of the four men, he is the only one who it could reasonably be argued still needs developmental. His cartoonish Mafioso character wasn’t suited to the main roster and he needed a fresh coat of paint. The problem, of course, is that Tony feels like he’s done everything there is to do in NXT; he’s like a university graduate who is still desperately hanging around his old campus refusing to move on with his life.

Nevertheless, the four men are stuck and they had to put together a compelling main event. They managed to achieve it by relying heavily on the smug heel dynamic between “friends” Ethan Page and Ricky Saints. The pair worked together in the early going, but their egos and innate snark eventually caused them to bicker, with Ethan, who has routinely been overlooked and patronised by Ricky, snapping first. In a clever sequence after arguing over a pin, Ethan suplexed Ricky into Tony D as he tried to enter the ring. It was a creative idea and it gave Ethan enough plausible deniability to keep Ricky on side. Of course, a few moments later, when Ricky and Ethan went for Power & Glory on Tony D, rather than hitting the flying splash onto Tony, Ethan chose to squish Ricky instead.

© WWE

From there on in it was Joe Hendry and Tony D’s time to shine, with each man running wild with a parade of spears, fall-away slams and German suplexes. Hendry’s best spot came when he hopped the top rope to crash land on the bickering pair of Starks and Page. Not to be outdone, as it appeared Ethan was preparing to Ego’s Edge Starks through the announce table, Tony D leapt up to spear both men through it instead. That left only Tony and Joe standing and, after a brief back-and-forth, Tony D emerged victorious with a spear and Deadfall combination. This all-action match was an improvement on last month’s main event, but it’s hard to shake the feeling that NXT’s men’s division is stuck on a treadmill until all four of these men are called up to the main roster.

Horrid Storytelling and Abysmal Announcing Blight Overwise Enjoyable ZaRuca Implosion

The break-up of the beloved ZaRuca tag team has been a disaster from day one. Firstly, the split was forced down the fans’ throats. Despite every indication that the NXT audience loved the pairing, NXT creative spent six months killing the vibe by having Zaria sulk and brood for no particular reason. In a cycle that led both characters to become pissy and unlikeable, the dissension started to boil over when, in a truly ridiculous booking decision, Sol Ruca was forced to relinquish her Speed and North American titles due to a worked injury. In her absence, at Zaria’s request, Sol allowed her partner to defend her North American title on her behalf. Therefore, Zaria was gifted a title without earning it and promptly lost it to Blake Monroe. Then, when Sol made her return (ironically before the tournament to crown a new Speed title had even ended), Zaria threw in the towel for Sol against Blake in a hideously overbooked match at “Gold Rush” to kickstart an abysmal show that saw HBK cut the legs out from underneath all his top babyfaces.

From there on in, it’s only gone from bad to worse. Zaria is portrayed as an incompetent loser who is gifted chance after chance only to rack up defeat after defeat, while Sol is a winner who wins matches, earns her opportunities and impresses on the main roster. On paper this might sound like a logical build for a bitter and jealous Zaria to turn heel – and in any logical world you would be right. The problem is, we are living in the post-Daniel Bryan, “you deserve it” era of pro wrestling. The fans don’t view Zaria as a bitter loser who has ruined six months of television with moody and melodramatic overacting; instead they (correctly) see her as a great talent who is booked to be a loser. She is considered sympathetic, whereas Sol, who was beloved, has been effectively turned heel by this horrifically mishandled angle because a portion of fans now view her as the chosen one. Matters ultimately came to a head in a truly horrible angle on NXT two weeks ago, when Sol was given a painfully long speech to read while crying (naturally drawing boos) while Zaria was given short, badass replies (drawing hearty cheers). Anyone with half a brain would have known that a screeching, overwrought and overwritten speech would see the crowd turn on Sol, but apparently the reaction took NXT creative entirely by surprise.

Thankfully, as bad as the creative has been, Zaria is a promising young powerhouse and Sol is an athletic marvel. The crowd reaction to the match was muddied and muted in the early going, with the crowd split into pockets cheering and booing each woman respectively. They would, however, routinely pop for the action as Zaria dodged a moonsault to the floor to land a beautiful pump kick, or Sol countered a flying axe handle into a neat superkick. Unfortunately, just as it was really getting going the action would be broken up by Roman Reigns-style monologuing from Zaria as she got the heat.

The match quickly became a tough viewing experience with Booker T and Vic Joseph incessantly babbling about the underlying storyline and completely ignoring the action in the ring. In one sequence, Sol front-flipped out of a back body drop, hit a wheelbarrow double stomp before running into a killer knee in the corner which allowed Zaria to hit a devastating release German suplex that Sol beautifully rag-doll bumped for. Remarkably, the commentators did not even acknowledge that this had happened as they were too busy relitigating month-old angles. Thankfully, when Sol ran up the top rope to hit a Frankensteiner, Vic Joseph was finally forced to pay attention.

Not everything went according to plan, but for every awkward suplex over the top rope, there was a brilliant Sol Snatcher on the rampway or spear through the ring ropes. The bigger issue was that in the final stretch, the match became a metaphor for the storyline writ large, as overacting and an insistence on forcing overwrought moments got in the way of the action. If I could handle a comically dramatic pose from Zaria before a big spear, the sight of Sol looking plaintively into Zaria’s eyes in an attempt to quell her rage was simply too preposterous. Neither woman is a particularly good actress, but they are very promising wrestlers and they did return to exchanging Sol Snatchers and F-5s. Eventually, after a barrage of headbutts, Zaria attempted a second-rope F-5, Sol countered into a flying X-Factor and instantly followed up with a Sol Snatcher to claim victory.

Frustratingly, Zaria and Sol Ruca are a good match and a compelling clash of characters; hopefully they’ve gotten the storytelling out of their system and we can run this one back without all the unnecessary gaga.

Shocking News: Blow Off Match To Contrived and Overbook Paxley-Monroe Feud, Ends With A Contrived And Overbooked Finish

The feud between Tatum Paxley and Blake Monroe has been a crime against humanity, but it has been revealing in many ways. Both Blake and Tatum have horrifically contrived and totally unbelievable characters on paper. Blake is a 1950’s pin up, a glamorous movie star of a bygone era living in a “Bewitched” style fantasy landed cribbed from a concept that Sabrina Carpenter ditched two tours ago. The character manifests itself as a stilted, delusional and completely unbelievable mean girl who painfully chews the scenery. Tatum is a lonely psychopath, who plays with dolls, is ridiculously over-excited and, despite her desperate desire to make friends, is always falling in with the wrong crowd. Suffice to say, NXT creative have handicapped Tatum with a farcical character while Blake has invented her own equally awful persona.

What’s remarkable about their rivalry is that, through a series of atrociously overwritten segments, we’ve seen that, while Tatum’s innate charisma and likeability can’t save NXT’s dire scripting, it can and does make the audience like her as a person and performer. Whereas Blake’s wooden caricature of “The Glamour” only makes the dialogue more unbearable, cooling her off with every segment. The feud has truly highlighted the fact that the wacky world of “Timeless” Toni Storm created a reality distortion field so effective that it rendered Blake Monroe’s acting and persona as acceptable, entertaining even; but in NXT she’s been exposed as a paper thin caricature who is routinely outshined by green as grass rookies.

This match, therefore, was a make or break moment for Blake. No matter how bad the plot or how contrived the angle, everyone has good and heated matches with Tatum Paxley. Tatum is a genuine diamond in the rough. If Blake couldn’t deliver with her after failing with Jordynne Grace in the ring and against Jaida Parke on the mic, then what hope was there for “The Glamour” as concept?

Well there’s good news and bad news. Firstly, this wasn’t a bad match whatsoever, both women worked hard and Tatum pulled out some pretty stunning offence during her comeback including a wild superplex, which she rolled through into a snap suplex and then rolled through again to land a sitout suplex bomb. The issue lay more in the heat. Blake cut Tatum off with a neat Stratusphere from the apron that sent Tatum crashing hard shoulder first onto the ramp way. This bump set the story in place for the match, with Tatum having to spam enzuigiris to avoid using her arm. However, the glaring weakness in the match was the heat. Blake settled into the dull, nothing happening, slow working over of Tatum with corner chokes and generic stomping. There was nothing wrong with it per se, except that it felt like the kind of work you’d put in on a non-televised house show rather than on NXT’s biggest show of the year.

© WWE

To give Blake credit where it is due, after some bouts of overacting (which Tatum returned in kind), she nailed a gorgeous sunset flip bomb off the apron to the floor and followed up with a good knee strike for a nearfall to kickstart the finishing sequence. Unfortunately, the finishing stretch was completely overbooked. Tatum would kick out a belt shot and an AA. Then she would do a 450 flip to land on her feet to counter a Stratusphere, only to (after a wacky pose) eat a headbutt, that sent her flying head first into an exposed turnbuckle, to then get hit with the Glamour Shot DDT for another nearfall. These nearfalls were so ridiculously over-the-top they weren’t heating up the crowd, they were cooling them off, the kicks outs were simply too preposterous to be believed.

Truth be told, NXT creative are lucky that Tatum is so ungodly popular that after a ridiculous wicked witch of the west scream by Blake, Tatum simply countered the Glamour Shot to win with a single Cemetery Drive with the crowd gleefully jumping to the feet to count along with the ref. Worryingly, this overbooked but solid little match was easily the best of Blake Monroe’s run in NXT to date, despite it being on the lower end of what Tatum has achieved.

Johnny Gargano Awakes From His Slumber For Clash With Myles Borne

There was an early scare in the clash between Johnny Gargano and Myles Borne for the North American championship. After a slick exchange of arm drags, Johnny Gargano dropped down to the mat and… planked. In a horrible nod to his irredeemably goofy depression gimmick, it appeared that Johnny Wrestling’s return had been cut short and the torturous comedy was set to ensues. Thankfully, it was all a rouse, Johnny was playing possum and he immediately sprung to his feet to surprise Myles Borne with a flash arm drag. From there on in, the pair engaged in a classic back and forth babyface-babyface match, with Borne not exactly taking the heel role, but opting to slow the match down at points to allow Gargano to take big bumps and sell before launching heroic comebacks.

Not to be out done, Myles took the opportunity to demonstrate that he is updating the Randy Orton template to fit within the modern more athletic and innovative style. He hit Orton’s signature powerslam, but by running to the top rope to intercept Gargano, snatching and slamming him to the mate. Likewise, to cut off Gargano in full flow in the early going, Borne would Olympic Slam Johnny into the ringpost. With both men impressing, they’d engage in a strong even steven battle, with Borne surviving Willow’s Bell, a slingshot DDT, the Garga-No-escape and interference from Candice, before eventually winning with a combo of a slingshot Borne-Again and a regular version. This was a very well worked and thoroughly entertaining professional wrestling match.

Post-match: Dion Lennox laid out Myles Borne hitting his finisher on a steel chair revealing the future direction of the North American title.

Vanity Project Retain The Tag Titles In A Wildly Entertaining Encounter With Los Americanos

Pete Dunne and, particularly, Tyler Bate are having the absolute time of their lives playing Rayo and Bravo, aka Los Americanos. Tyle Bate in particularly has tapped into an incredible depth of preposterously over the top, salsa dancing and finger wagging charisma as he plays mischievous luchadore. Better yet, Dunne and Bate have perfectly merged their technical British wrestling and power wrestling style, with Americanised lucha libre sequences, allowing the pair to show off the depth and breadth of their talents. Not to be outdone, the Vanity Project are simply fantastic. Ricky Smokes and Brad Baylor are a perfectly cast as a pair of moronic, bumbling, frat boy twinks. They play up their innate smugness like they are God’s gift to women, but they wrestle like perfect 1980s heels, constantly showing arse, while stumbling and bumbling like true cowards. There greatest skill, like the Midnight Express before them, is their ability to be genuinely spectacular in the ring with great offence and dives, while retaining such an obnoxious and pathetic aura that there is no possibility of them ever being cheered.

Suffice to say the work in this match was absolutely phenomenal with Tyle Bate showcasing his entire repertoire of power based offence, and all four men uncorking a seemingly never ending array of flashy dives and intricate double team offence. The action came so thick and fast that it’s almost impossible to recap, but it did build brilliantly to two nail biting nearfalls that completely hoodwinked the crowd. First Los Americanos hit a superplex into a double splash combination for the nearest of nearfalls on Baylor. Then, after some farcical hijinks with Vanity Project, as well as El Grande Americano and Jackson Drake, stealing Bravo’s steel plate, Ricky Smokes walked straight into the Bitter End from Rayo for an incredibly tight nearfall. From there on in, Vanity Project would recover. El Grande Americano would hit Jackson Drake at ringside with a flying headbutt which Drake sold with a gnarly inverted corkscrew bump, however, as Grande got to his feet, Baylor was already in midair to wipe him out with Tope Con Hilo. After a few slick exchanges in the ring, Drake recovered to blast Bravo with a forearm while the referee was distracted allowing Vanity Project to steal the win with a Scorpion Death Drop / Flying Double Foot Stomp combination.

AEW

News Round-up

By Trish Speirs

A full review of AEW’s “Revolution” PPV and all the news surrounding the “Dynasty” show can be found on our front page.

AEW’s deal with Triller, who have been a partner since the company’s inception, is over. The platform is no longer accepting sign ups for its AEW subscription service, directing customers to the “MyAEW” service instead. This past week’s “Dynasty” PPV was also not available live on the platform, instead it was available solely as a replay at a higher price than on services such as Amazon in International markets. Triller faces an uncertain future as it continues to struggle financially, and had previously reported that AEW were responsible for a large percentage of annual income for the streamer.

There were two other additional media deals to affect AEW over the past month, with the major one being Paramount succeeding in the battle for WBD against Netflix. The media behemoth is now looking to close on the deal over the summer, but there are expected to be challenges to the closure on the state level in the US and by the European Union. If it is completed, it will put AEW within the same umbrella as TKO property UFC.

The approach to programming between Paramount and WBD is very different, with WBD putting their focus on mid level sports properties over the past couple of years with the departure of the NBA, compared to Paramount who have focused on top level sports deals for the aforementioned UFC, the NFL and acquiring the global rights for the UEFA Champions League. The deal is being funded heavily through the Gulf, with $24 billion of the $111 billion acquisition price coming from Middle Eastern investment programs. AEW’s current deal with WBD is up for option at the end of 2027. If the option is evoked it would take the relationship up until the beginning of 2028.

The WBD mid tier property approach is continuing to be illustrated with new sports deals announced in the interim, with the latest being a deal with DAZN for a new monthly boxing live event on TNT, entitled “The Fight”. These shows are aimed at showing global boxing talent from a number of the leading promoters on Saturday nights, with the first event being on July 4th, meaning it goes up against UFC’s White House card. It is unknown at this point whether this will act as a lead in or lead out for AEW, or whether it will preempt “Collision” for one episode per month.

AEW’s “Forbidden Door” show, which will also feature talent from New Japan Pro Wrestling, CMLL and STARDOM has been announced for the SAP Center in San Jose, California for June 28th. The PPV has moved back to its traditional slot of the last weekend of June with no July “All In” show this year, which will put it head to head on PPV with TNA’s “Slammiversary” show in Boston on the same night. This date was prevented from being announced until the completion of WWE’s show in the venue last Friday night. In regards to the participation of talent based in other promotions who are not dual contracted, STARDOM have a house show on the day of the show and New Japan currently have no dates announced within the immediate few days before and after the show.

AEW announced the signing of former New Japan trio Gabe Kidd, Clark Connors and David Finlay. Kidd is currently dual contracted with New Japan whilst Finlay and Connors are now only contracted to AEW. Finlay had received an offer from WWE to go to NXT, as we have reported in previous issues, with the monetary value of it described as “insulting”. We reported that AEW was expected to make an offer for the former Global Champion in our last issue and that was indeed the case, with Finlay taking the time between the Osaka and New Jersey “New Beginning” shows to weigh up his options before signing with AEW and making his debut in the promotion the week after.

Also announced were a series of AEW-CMLL dual contracts, with top CMLL wrestlers given the graphic during the “”Revolution” PPV, whilst current CMLL Heavyweight Champion Claudio Castagnoli and Thunder Rosa were announced for CMLL dual deals. The CMLL deals are more about illustration of a working relationship than they are about money. At the current time, it is unknown whether there is a date commitment involved in the way there is with someone like Konosuke Takeshita in New Japan.

Fightful has reported that Marc Quen of Private Party has suffered a muscle tear injury, putting him back on the sidelines just two months after Private Party had returned to AEW TV. Another long term absentee, Kamille, returned at “Dynasty” as part of Willow Nightingale’s current TBS storyline, which has also seen Hikaru Shida return from the wilderness. According to our sources, Tony Khan has been in talks with another former AEW Women’s Champion to return in recent weeks, who has also been a long term absentee.

© TNA

TNA

News Round-up

By Trish Speirs

TNA made a series of controversial decisions this past week over who their talent can face on the independents as well as pulling one talent completely from an event. It was the news that Moose was being removed from Maple Leaf Pro’s “Multiverse” show that sparked off a run of match cancellations, as well as reports of other matches which were pulled prior to announcement. The biggest casualty was the Leon Slater vs Ricochet match that was due to take place on Wrestlecon’s “Mark Hitchcock Memorial Show” in Las Vegas on April 16th. This match had been cleared by both AEW and TNA, with a finish agreed, before it was advertised. Slater was pulled from the match with only a week to go, with the show now being headlined by The Demand vs Michael Oku and Jetspeed.

The pulling of matches is centered around bouts which would see TNA talent face AEW talent but does not mean they cannot appear on the same show. Nic Nemeth’s match with current AEW Men’s World Champion MJF for Create A Pro was also pulled, but both wrestlers are able to wrestle other talents on the same show. Fightful later reported that a Bear Bronson vs MJF match was also pulled by the promotion before it could be announced. What makes things look even more suspicious is that these cancellations did not begin to take place until TNA talent Jody Threat had defeated Mercedes Mone last weekend.

There was an early suggestion that TNA had made the move because of an episode of “Collision” airing on Thursday night two weeks ago due to college basketball coverage on TNT, which gained an angry reaction from MJF, but TNA were not massively hurt by the move, especially in regards to the rating. This also ignores that AEW have avoided putting “Collision” on Thursday nights during WWE PLE weeks so far this year; a practice which was consistent for the majority of last year. TNA management also had no issue with the possibility of being head to head with AEW on a Wednesday night when that was a distinct possibility last summer.

It comes across as a cheap excuse because it pretty much is, and avoids any fingers being pointed at WWE, despite Carlos Silva telling Fightful the decisions were down to “partner issues” and Dave Meltzer being told by a person in WWE that these cancellations were going to occur the day before they occurred and that the source “insinuated” that their company was behind it.

The Slater vs Ricochet cancellation has rightfully received the most attention as it was not only the most high profile match but the top billed one for the Memorial show. It would have seen Slater go over the former AEW National Champion, according to Highspots owner (thus Wrestlecon promoter) Michael Bochicchio. Bochicchio also noted that he was not informed of the cancellation by Carlos Silva, and instead found out via social media. Slater was set to be presented as the star of this “WrestleMania Weekend”’ and this is the last year of his current TNA deal. His appearance on the show for John Cena’s last match, as well as multiple NXT appearances, would suggest that his most likely destination come October would be WWE, and that should be considered a factor here as well.

For Slater, and for other TNA talent, this has to be seen as a detriment to being contracted to the promotion in the fact it could hurt their independent bookings in larger matchups (of which there are not many available) and therefore their overall income. If TNA were increasing their deals or compensating talent for being pulled from these bookings then you could view this as solely wrestling politics, the likes of which we have seen from a number of generations, that is not having a direct affect on the talent. But they aren’t. Not only that, but their recent TV deal with AMC does not appear to have changed anything in regards to substantially increasing the level of deals they offer to their performers. Furthermore, there is also not a TNA show of its own in Las Vegas this year to provide a paying alternative for their talent in this situation. It continues to raise questions over making wrestlers independent contractors across the industry; where they control their bookings without having to deem them employees.

TNA had pulled Lei Ying Lee (formerly known as Xia Li in WWE) from Tokyo Joshi Pro’s “Grand Princess ‘26” show on March 29th so that she could appear on their “Sacrifice” PPV. The change happened after the now AEW signed The IInspiration team were announced for the show, but this one appears to be more about poor organisation than politics.

Steph De Lander, Mance Warner and Dani Luna have all departed TNA over the past month. De Lander, 29, had been informed by TNA doctors that she would not be cleared to compete for the promotion despite her own doctors giving her the all clear. In an interview with TMZ, she also stated that she had never been evaluated after her neck surgeries and recovery by anyone in TNA but when she informed TNA President Carlos Silva about her clean billing he replied that they did not want to risk putting her back in the ring. This was after, she claims, the promotion played no role in supporting her through surgery or rehab, and because she was on a per appearance deal she was not being paid during her absence either. Husband Mance Warner then notified the company that he would also be heading to the exit.

Also departing is Dani Luna, whose request to be released was granted by the promotion, as first reported by Fightful. The 27-year-old English wrestler had joined TNA in 2023 and wrestled her last match for the company on their “Sacrifice” PPV on March 27th.
One person who has arrived in the promotion is Ricky Sosa. The 21 year old Dutch-born wrestler had caught the eye whilst working across Europe for promotions such as APC Catch, BZW and wXw. His signing led to him being pulled from wXw’s 16 Carat Gold tournament in early March. He made his debut for TNA on March 12th. Also joining on the staffing side is Candice Beckham, who worked for WWE under the name Candice Michelle. The 47-year-old has been brought in as a producer and agent for TNA’s Knockout division.

TNA have announced an agreement with iHeartMedia that will see the company promoted by iHeart ahead of all major events and full sponsorship of their remaining PPVs in 2026 in return for promotion on graphics, in arenas and on TNA’s TV and digital programming. The promotion has also extended their TV deal with Eurosport India, which has housed TNA in the country since 2020. The new deal is described as “multi year” and will cover all the surrounding territories that Eurosport India is also broadcast in as well. The channel is also home to AEW programming in the country.

Referee Alice Lane stepped in to stop the main event of the “Sacrifice” show after Steve Maclin showed signs of being completely unfit to continue after being knocked out following a superkick from Mike Santana. Maclin, when speaking recently about the match, described how his body felt like it was only his “head from the neck up that felt normal”. Lane, seeing the condition Maclin was in after the accident, stopped the TNA World Title match immediately in order to allow for Maclin to be treated, with Maclin referring to her as his “saviour” on that night. Maclin was taken to a local medical facility for scans but was given the all clear and also deemed not to have a concussion.

TNA’s “Rebellion” PPV took place on April 11th, with Mike Santana defeating Eddie Edwards for the TNA World Championship in the main event. EC3 also returned on this show. We will have a full review in our next issue.

© MLW

MLW

News Round-up

By Trish Speirs

MLW have continued to sign additional talent to their roster, with Trevor Lee, Lady Frost, the Gallus trio of Wolfgang, Joe Coffey and Mark Coffey, and LaBron Kozone all confirmed to have signed deals with the promotion. Frost was picked up immediately after her contract with AEW expired, with all parties having the understanding that she was not being renewed. Kozone comes from the independents, with the 33 year old from Greensboro, North Carolina, having been highlighted during the early part of the year as a potential pick up for the full time promotions in the US. Kozone defeated Alan Angels during the tapings at Center Stage in Atlanta, Georgia, on March 14th. Trevor Lee celebrated his contracted return by winning a ten man “Bunkhouse Stampede” match to win the MLW Southern Title, whilst Alexander Hammerstone suffered an undisclosed injury during his victory over Matt Riddle.This was the second set of full tapings which were marketed as being for a relaunch of weekly television program “Fusion”. There are still no further details in regards to where this will be hosted in the US and globally, as well as the first air date for the series.

This weekend’s “Fantastica Mania USA” show in Charleston, South Carolina, appears to have much of a regular MLW roster lineup, with DOUKI, Taiji Ishimori and El Desperado the only irregular additions. Místico has also been announced this week for the show, as well as their event in Chattanooga on May 9th, post working the later stage of New Japan’s “Wrestling Dontaku” tour the previous weekend. MLW’s follow up date for Cicero Stadium, on the outskirts of Chicago, will be on November 9th.

MLW will also repeat the joint show with CMLL at Arena Mexico this year on May 1st. At the moment, there are no MLW championships held by CMLL wrestlers, leaving open the opportunity for changes to be made on the show in Mexico City.

A strange story emerged last week around former MLW World Champion Mads Krule Krügger after an appearance for independent promotion Ruthless Pro Wrestling in Berwyn, Illinois, on March 28th. First reports on the night of the show claimed that Krügger had been stabbed during an altercation with a fan who had visited his merchandise table prior to the beginning of the show. Lou Nixon, another wrestler on the card, posted a video of the altercation to social media alongside an explanation of events. Nixon stated that “he apparently went up to Krule and asked him how much his [merch] was and stuff. Krule was nice to him, and then he turned around to Krule and went, ‘I’m not fucking paying, man.’ The guy walked away and Krule was like, ‘Who the fuck is this guy?’” Nixon went on to note that the same patron had allegedly been knocked over during Krule’s match with SHLAK after a melee on the outside of the ring and that this had led to the fan getting into Krügger’s face after the show, challenging the wrestler to a fight, whilst brandishing a weapon. Nixon claims that the wrestler suffered an “impaling” after being tackled by the aggressive fan, leading to the scenes of multiple people fighting which are depicted in his accompanying video.

Nixon’s description of Krügger being “shanked” was supported by another wrestler booked on the event, Mickie Knuckles; he described the stabbing as being to the “lower right quadrant of his abdomen” and that he believed the weapon to be a knife. Both wrestlers claimed that Krügger appeared to be “no worse for wear” post incident and had flown home on his booked schedule after the event. Krule’s only comment on the incident in the aftermath was to state that he was “fine” through his social media channels. He wrestled the very next day in Pennsylvania without issue.

The accounts of Nixon and Knuckles are disputed, however, with an anonymous source claiming to Cultaholic that they “never saw a knife, never saw a stabbing, and I don’t believe that any of the wrestlers saw a knife. I really genuinely think that they wanted to help their friend.” Whilst independent wrestler Gregory Iron recorded a podcast on events, of which he states he also witnessed. Iron claimed that the incident took place in the merchandise area of the venue around fifteen to twenty minutes after the show and that saw Krule appear to be pushed/tackled into a table before wrestlers began attacking the tackler. Iron also noted that the fan appeared to be drunk and that he had heard nothing about a knife or a stabbing during the course or aftermath of events.

Further video of the incident emerged on April 1st which appears to show the post show confrontation. In this footage, it is Krule that initiates the physicality. There is again no indication of a bladed weapon being used or brandished. Berwyn Police Department stated that they are currently investigating the matter when approached for a statement by Post Wrestling.

On April 10th it was announced that the venue where the incident occurred would cease to hold wrestling events in the next few months. The Berwyn Eagles Club has been a home for independent wrestling in the Chicago area for the past two decades but risks to its liquor licence following the fallout from this incident are said to be the primary reason behind this decision being made.

AAW announced that their show on April 24th will be their final date at the location. The show sold out on the same day this announcement was made.

GCW promoter Brett Lauderdale was more blunt than most when it came to the reasons why his promotion would no longer be running there by posting the following comments on Twitter:

© WWE

US Independents

“WrestleMania” Week Preview

By Chris Whitehead

For reasons that defy logic, common sense and surely cannot make fiscal sense for a dozen or (likely) fewer shows, we are on track to have even more shows in Las Vegas for “WrestleMania” Week(end) than we did last year with at least 80 shows booked across at least 6 days. I couldn’t possibly preview all of them, even if I wanted to (and I do not want to). Instead, let me take you through my personal “Path of Glory” (shows I have tickets for) as well as some notes on some of the other most interesting looking shows.

Mark my words: where in the past, a lucha tag or a deathmatch has broken out as the “must see” match, this week(end) in Vegas feels like it is going to see a lot of joshi wrestlers showing out, and likely one of their matches will wind up taking that mantle this year.

Note: All times listed below are Pacific Daylight Time, the local timezone of the venues the shows are happening in.

Wednesday April 15th, 3pm – Pandemonium Pro: “Whatever, Forever”

Pandemonium returns to Vegas and this show looks to be like a great way to kick off the Shooting Star Fest festivities at the Bizarre Bar, with quality wrestlers across the card. After losing their announced booking of CMLL standout Soberano Jr (through no fault of their own), Pandemonium pivoted and announced two STARDOM wrestlers – Natsupoi and Saya Iida – as replacements, and booked a personal dream match of mine: Johnnie Robbie vs Natsupoi. If they are given enough time, this has match of the week(end) potential. I have also circled Daisuke Sasaki vs Jiah Jewell as a match to see.

Potential Best Match: Johnnie Robbie vs. Natsupoi

Wednesday April 15th, 8pm – Dragongate USA: “The Gate Of Sin City”

DGUSA returns to the Wednesday evening slot after standing out there last year, and will surely be a great vibes show again. They are still working with GCW’s collective so the show will emanate from that group’s home base of the Horseshoe. Sadly this year there is no Shun Skywalker, but a solid mix of their roster members will be on the show, mixed with some US indie workers, some of whom have ties to Dragongate. HoHo Lun previewed their US tour with our Dragongate columnist Taylor in this recent interview.

Potential Best Match: Alec Price & Jordan Oliver vs. Hyo & Ben-K vs. Fight Panther Jr. & Aero Panther

Also on Wednesday:

• Unapologetic Pro “Sinner’s Paradise” (7pm) at the Bizarre Bar features some solid US indie wrestlers, including Johnnie Robbie and Adrian Quest.
• Hybrid Wrestling & Pro Wrestling Unplugged “Midnight Xpress” (11pm) at the Horseshoe with some deathmatches, the traditional indie show scramble match and my one-time Lucha Underground SLG Jack Evans
• Sean Henderson Presents: “High Stakes” (midnight) at The Nerd with Masato Tanaka on the card against the titular Sean Henderson and another thicket of US indie workers, and my man Jack Evans again.

Thursday April 16th, 11am – New Texas Pro: “Sin City Stampede”

New Texas returns not just to Vegas, but to the same room as last year (the newly renamed Bizarre Bar), and kicks off Thursday for The New Initiative’s Shooting Star Fest. Long time regulars Bryan Keith and Maya World are scheduled, and a company that is reliably well booked is sure to get the vibes up for what will be a long and potentially incredible day of wrestling on Thursday.

Potential Best Match: Starboy Charlie, Cosmo Orion, Epydemius Jr. vs. Shimbashi, Dragon Kid, Andrew Cass

Thursday April 16th, 3pm – St Louis Anarchy: “Let Anarchy Be Anarchy”

In what could prove to be a sleeper hit show, SLA represents the Shooting Star Fest in one of the most competitive slots of the week(end). While I am largely unfamiliar with SLA’s on-screen product, knowing a little about who is involved with running it, I am expecting a quality show from a well drilled company.

Potential Best Match: Gary Jay & Aaron Williams vs. Cowboy Way

Thursday April 16th, 7pm – West Coast Pro Wrestling: “West Coast vs The World”

WCP is the driving force behind the Shooting Star Fest and this is one of a couple of shows with the chance to steal the week(end). West Coast is digging deep into its collaboration with Marvelous for this show, and booking multiple matches that have me somewhere between intrigued and highly anticipating: Dani Luna vs. Senka Akatsuki, Aja Kong vs. Miko Alana and potential match of the weekend contender Johnnie Robbie vs. Mio Momono. Keep an eye out for this show, whether it airs live or on delay.

Potential Best Match: Johnnie Robbie vs. Mio Momono

Thursday April 16th, 10.30pm – Marvelous Women’s Pro Wrestling

Another show with the chance to steal the week(end) sees Marvelous return to Vegas after being the breakout show of last year, thanks to the magic of Senka Akatsuki and Aja Kong. So magical was that match, that they are running it back this year. I already know the crowd at this show is going to be more behind Senka more than any crowd is behind anyone else all week(end). If that wasn’t enough, Marvelous and WCP have also gone balls to the wall and arranged to fly Sareee out overnight after her match in Tokyo earlier on the 16th. Thanks to their willingness to sink a fortune into that flight, and Sareee being willing to make the trip, this show’s main event will present Mio Momono & Johnnie Robbie vs. Spark Rush, another potential match of the week(end). If you only watch one show from Vegas this year, make sure it’s this one – and yes that includes “WrestleMania” itself.

Potential Best Match: Mio Momono & Johnnie Robbie vs. Sareee & Takumi Iroha

Also on Thursday:

• TJPW (11am) returns to the Pearl Theatre after its successful show there last year and its successful shows in Texas in 2025 and 2026. This year they moved their participation from GCW’s Collective to Maple Leaf Pro’s “Slam Fest”.
• Progress (11am) makes its annual US appearance with Chapter 193 at the Horseshoe.
• CMLL (3pm) runs its first US show in many, many years at the Pearl Theatre, coming in hot off their award winning year in 2025, and with top stars Místico, Soberano Jr and Máscara Dorada all on the card.
• The one time cornerstone of “Mania” Week, the “WrestleCon Mark Hitchcock Memorial Supershow” (3pm) looks to recover from their show last year that featured two of the worst matches of all time. The card advertised to date suggests they may just steer out of the skid, with multiple matches having week(end) stealing potential. They may just make me regret my heartfelt commitment to skip them as punishment for nearly killing my wrestling fandom last year.
• Future Stars of Wrestling (7pm) presents a WWE ID Showcase. Who is this for? If you attend this show, instead of any of the 4 shows listed here in the 7/8pm slot, please contact me and use at least 500 words to explain why on earth you did that.
• House of Glory (8pm) runs the Pearl Theatre, with Bandido vs Amazing Red a potential sleeper match of the weekend.
• El Desperado presents the “Death Vegas Invitacional” (8pm), bringing Despe’s deathmatch produce show to the US, with a sure to be unhinged main event of El Desperado & Jun Kasai vs. Nick Gage & Matt Tremont vs. Masashi Takeda & Rina Yamashita.
• GCW presents the “MDK Fight Club” (midnight). In case the “Death Vegas Invitacional” wasn’t going to be enough ultra violence for you, GCW will bring you some more right after.

In the Friday Morning Slot

I’m leaving my Friday morning schedule open (for recovery and silence) but the following are the most notable shows run in this time:

• ACTION Wrestling (11am) kicks off the Shooting Star fest for the day, with Ryan Clancy vs. Adam Priest looking to be the best match announced so far..
• GCW presents “Gringo Loco’s The WRLD on Lucha” (11am), which has some good looking matches booked, including Team Dragon Gate (Hyo, Kzy, Yuki Yoshioka) vs. Team Gringo (Gringo Loco, Arez, Vengador). If I summon the energy to head to either of these shows, it would likely be this one.

Friday April 17th, 3pm – STARDOM: “American Dream 2026” in Las Vegas

As teased in our last issue, STARDOM returns to Vegas and is running a much bigger room than last year. They did at least announce a stronger list of roster members this year, with quality and high card wrestlers scheduled to appear. That said, they misread what their Western fans want (again) and have also stacked the card with members of the AEW roster, and will present only one match in six that features an “all STARDOM” lineup, and only two singles matches. While they are obviously constrained by their need to protect their biggest show of the year that is happening 10 days later, this is a second year in a row with an under-expectation card.

Potential Best Match: Alex Windsor vs. Saya Iida for the NJPW Strong Women’s Title

Friday April 17th, 6pm – PrideStyle Pro Wrestling: “Out Of This World”

Las Vegas’ own Pridestyle has a show featuring many of their regulars but has what I think is the only outside booking announced today for any of the TJPW wrestlers with the 9th place wrestler in the Social Suplex Women’s 50 Miu Watanabe scheduled to appear.

Potential Best Match: Miu Watanabe vs Taniya

Also in the Friday night slot:

• GCW presents “Bloodsport” (3pm), the annual “the less fake kind of fake fighting” show. This is the definition of “not for me” but if it’s your bag, perhaps Josh Barnett vs. Yuji Nagata excites you?
• GCW presents “Joey Janela’s Spring Break” (7pm), somehow now in its tenth year, and this year’s installment will feature the retirement of The Sandman, part of the debut US tour of the new Hayabusa, and Brodie Lee Jr taking on Joey Janela.
• Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling (8pm) has its “Multiverse” show, surely a show that will under deliver compared to the level of wrestlers it ends up booking.
• Juggalo Championship Wrestling (midnight) presents the latest retirement match in Vampiro’s never ending retirement tour.

I’m leaving on Saturday morning, so my path of glory ends there but – even besides “WrestleMania” – there are still more shows on both Saturday and Sunday.

As noted last issue, for a full rundown of every show, every match, all the talent announcements, links to buy tickets and even a map of venues, I recommend checking out the dedicated page on the Voices of Wrestling website.

© Chris Whitehead

“West Coast Pro: Evil Empire”

27th February 2026
The Compound, Commerce, CA

Review By Chris Whitehead

West Coast Pro returned to Dirt Dog’s Compound for its quarterly-ish trip to the Los Angeles area. The Compound is an event space attached to a local hot dog chain’s flagship location, in the middle of a square mile or so of warehouses. (The name of the city of Commerce, CA is very literal.) It’s a pretty cool room, well sized for these shows. On this night there was also a rave happening next door, which makes sense in this area devoid of residential property. Before we get to the wrestling, I would be remiss to not provide a hotdog review: I had the Patty Melt Dog, a bacon wrapped dog topped with french fries, cheese sauce and chipotle aioli, which was solid, if unspectacular. The bun was a little dry. The cheese sauce was a little too thick. The dog and the fries were on point. Friend of the newsletter, Ariel, told me to order the Elote Dog next time.

Much like the hot dog, “Evil Empire” was a solid, if unspectacular, show. It highlighted many WCP regulars and continued WCP’s approach of planting a flag in the LA market, which remains desperately in need of high quality indie wrestling. The top three matches delivered the best match quality, as one would expect from them, but the undercard was peppered with notable performances for a variety of wrestlers, both regulars and guests. The show appeared to be affected by timing issues, with the card order changed mid-show, presumably to allow some of the guests to leave early to catch red-eye flights back home. Most notably, this shifted the planned main event of Johnnie Robbie and Laynie Luck to third from the top (and this match was also besmirched by the ring announcer making references to Lane’s WWEID title in a match that was only for the West Coast Pro Women’s title).

In the opener, Aaron Solo continued a long tradition of being a hated heel within the confines of Los Angeles County, and used that heat to shine up Gabe Roka. I generally like Solo and think he is underrated and this match was going swimmingly to plan, and then Solo won, which slightly undermined the match flow for me (but made sense in the grand scheme of things, with Solo winning the WCP Tag Titles a month or so later).

Rookie sensation and WCP trainee, Andrew Cass, regained the Golden Gate title in a threeway with G-Sharpe and Alan Angels in a match that went a little too long, but was effective in making Cass look really good. G-Sharpe also looked good. Angels is Angels. Cass was the star of the match, and if it wasn’t clear from my Epic Pro review last issue, buy stocks in Cass now before you are priced out of the market.

Royce Isaacs, who I also put over last issue, wrestled Stephen Wolf next, but with apologies to both of them, I was at the bar during this one. Up next, Gary Jay and Jiah Jewell had an ‘effort match’ that rocked, and in which they loudly chopped the piss out of each other. I enquired with Jiah how his chest was feeling during intermission and he pulled up his shirt to show me how red it was. I thanked him for his service to my entertainment. This was very fun and I hope to see more of both of them out here in the West.

Alpha Zo and Bret The Threat wrestled a good, physical match that was objectively good but didn’t grab me, for whatever reason. I am intrigued to see more of both guys, however. In the last match before intermission, Billie Starkz wrestled Miko Alana in a match that also didn’t grab me. It was a little strange to see Billie wrestle as the bully heel in a match where Miko had the size advantage on her but I guess as the outsider wrestling super-babyface Miko, it made some sense. Miko got the win, which was an upset. You should already have Miko stocks, and if you don’t, they are already increasing in price after her big weekend in Europe in early March and will do so more after her upcoming big weekend in Vegas in April.

Post intermission, Adrian Quest and Lee Moriarty had a “grapplefuck” style match, which is perfectly suited to Lee’s style but also showed a new side of Quest (to me, at least) as he looked good in there, smoothly doing that style and never once looking outmatched by Moriarty.

The Women’s Title match was – like my hotdog and the show – solid, if unspectacular, with Laynie not at the same working level as local hero Johnnie Robbie. Laynie was also outmatched in the charisma game too, but there’s less shame in that, with Johnnie truly having the kind of rizz you can’t teach. It feels like the Johnnie Robbie indie era is surely drawing to a close, with this show coming hot on the heels of a couple RoH shots during AEW’s SoCal loop in February. Very big matches loom for Johnnie in Vegas in April, which could/should truly be the end of this era? Guess we’ll see.

In the semi-main event, The Crush Boyz successfully defended their WCP Tag Team Titles (for what would prove to be the final time) against Shimabashi and Danny Orion. This match was a hoot, and I for one am sad to see the end(?) of the Crush Boyz act, which has gotten very good in the last year or so. It was also my first time seeing both Orion and Shimabashi, and this was a great first impression for both of them.

Finally, in the main event Vinnie Massaro successfully defended the WCP World Title against LaBron Kozone. If you picture what you think this match would look like in your mind’s eye, you would almost certainly picture the match they had. It was a good time with the two big men hitting each other hard and exchanging power moves. A worthy end to an enjoyable show.

West Coast Pro will return to the Compound on Friday June 12th for “Doggy Style.” I shall follow Ariel’s advice and review the Elote Dog next time. (I’ll review the show as well.)

© Chris Whitehead

US Independents News

Ohio Valley Wrestling staff drew criticism following a medical emergency with referee Dallas Edwards at a show on 12th March. After a spot that went wrong, Edwards was convulsing and needed immediate medical attention. However, the match continued and one of the performers moved Edwards out of the way. Eventually the match was stopped and the show went off the air. Edwards’ girlfriend shared an update with Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful saying that Edwards suffered a brain injury and was being monitored. OVW owner Al Snow was posting through the controversy until finally OVW released a statement:

The statement was criticised for not addressing the lack of first aid training among their staff at the show. Dallas Edwards released his own statement which directly addressed this issue, as well as reassuring everyone about his health:

DEFY Wrestling News

DEFY held a crossover show with Dragongate, with a large number of the roster over in the US for “WrestleMania Weekend”. In the main event, Bryan Keith defended his DEFY World Title against Susumu Yokosuka, while Marina Shafir remained the DEFY Women’s Champion, fending off a challenge from Amira. Dragongate’s top heel unit Gajadokuro sent out trio ISHIN, KAI and Madoka Kikuta, who is also Dragongate’s top champion, against Cody Chhun, Guillermo Rosas and Steven Borden in his fourteenth match and 3rd at DEFY. The show has not yet made tape.

House of Glory News

House of Glory will be in Las Vegas on 16th April with Charles Mason defending the HOG Heavyweight Title against Micheal Oku, Amazing Red continuing his dream match era against Bandido, Brody King against Zilla Fatu and Shotzi Blackheart will defend her HOG Women’s Title against Charlie in her second match back since her return at “Wrestle Queendom” on 8th March. HOG also managed to get a hold of The Hardys as they will finally defend their HOG Tag Team Title against The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson). Circle your “WrestleMania Week(end)” schedule for that one!

TNA talent Ricky Sosa will be making an appearance at “Waging War 2026” on 22nd May at NYC Arena. Sosa blew up very quickly on the European independent scene and seems as though he is excited to do as many dates in the US as possible. Let’s hope he avoids the AEW talent and can wrestle to his heart’s delight.

New Texas Pro Wrestling News

Timur The Great lost his LoneStar Title in the final of the TX8 Tournament, won by Jesse Funaki in the main event of “TX8 2026”, streamed for free on YouTube. It was a night to remember for challengers as on the same show Danny Orion toppled 1 Called Manders to become the New Texas Pro Champion.

St. Louis Anarchy Wrestling News

Anakin Murphy defeated Mat Fitchett and Everett Connors to become the new Gateway Heritage Champion heading into St. Louis Anarcy’s “WrestleMania Weekend” show at the Bizarre Bar covered in our preview. With no time to rest, Anarchy will be back in Illinois on 24th April with a special singles match between AEW’s Eddie Kingston and Charli Evans. Heartthrob boyband superstar Everett Connors will take part in his final match, teaming with Buddy Shepherd against Evan Gelistico and Pierre Abernathy, returning together as a team for the first time in almost a decade just to send Connors off.

Beyond Wrestling News

Ryan Clancy reclaimed gold in Beyond, although this time it was the Wrestling Open Title he snatched from the hands of Bobby Orlando on 5th March at a “Wrestling Open” show, which is also run by Beyond.

On 23rd March, Starboy Charlie became the new WWE ID Men’s Champion, defeating the inaugural champion Cappuccino Jones in the main event of “Wrestling Open RI #44: One Of These Nights”, a special version of the weekly show that Beyond runs in Cranston, Rhode Island. Starboy Charlie renamed to Chazz Hall. No, really. It is likely he is leaving the independent scene. You don’t change names like that for no reason. While Beyond is one of the ID-affiliated promotions in the independent scene, it has still managed to book AEW Men’s World Champion MJF at the aptly-named “Break The Walls Down” on 5th June in Rhode Island.

Limitless Wrestling News

At “Bissell Brothers Bash 2026” at Brick South in Portland, Maine, on 27th March, Aaron Rourke became the new #1 Contender for Donovan Dijak’s Limitless World Title, which Dijak retained in the main event against Krule.

Limitless will be debuting at Portland’s newest independent concert hall, Live At Madrid’s, on 20th June.

Wrestling REVOLVER News

REVOLVER return to Dayton, Ohio, after an almost three-month break on 25th April, which will involve Gringo Loco, Jake Cris, Rich Swan, signed matches including Krule against Mance Warner and Trey Miguel against Alan Angels, the REVOLVER debuts of Troy Parker and The Outbreak, as well as the retirement of local Dayton wrestling legend Jeremy Ganger.

Blitzkrieg! Pro News

There were several title changes on “The Meaning Of Times” on 14th March at Thompson Hall in Enfield, Connecticut. The Ancestral City Shooters (Joseph Alexander & Kwesi Asante) became the new B!P Tag Team Champions, Azure became the B!P Jensen Scramble Champion and Charles Mason defended his B!P Bedlam Title against Sammy Diaz in the main event. Mason will defend next against the new #1 Contender Javi.

Pro Wrestling Revolution (PWR) News

PWR were back at Mt. Pleasant High School Gym with another show on 14th March, as Mistico won the PWR Heavyweight Title from Misterioso Jr. PWR regularly books CMLL talent on its shows, and Esdinge, Captain Suicida, Mascara Dorada and Sanely were all also on the show. Considering Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer gave the Mistico match 3.25* and he resides in San Jose, I’m going to assume he was there live and enjoyed it very much (duh, it’s Mistico).

Absolute Intense Wrestling (AIW) News

Chuck Stone won AIW’s annual “Gauntlet For The Gold” match on 20th March following his victory in the same event in 2025 which led to him challenging at “Absolution XVIII” and winning the AIW Absolute Title.

AIW’s next show is in Cleveland on 15th May, with an AIW return for Mance Warner and an AIW debut for Lady Frost. If that doesn’t entice you, then Road Dogg will be available for a special meet and greet.

ACTION Wrestling News

On 28th February, ACTION held “Death Valley Days: Road Report” which was a great show with three standout matches. The first of which was Slim J taking on former ACTION Champion Tim Bosby, 22. There were some crazy bumps in this match as the crowd rallied behind Slim J to defeat the ‘blue-chip prospect’. After showing some fighting spirit and absorbing the pain from a crazy German suplex, Slim J hit the dragon cutter for the win. Matt Mako took on the returning Carl Malenko, in a match contested under Battle Arts rules (three rope breaks and standing eight-count). As someone who loves that style of wrestling, I was excited for this match. Carl competed in the original Battlarts promotion in Japan in the late 90s, having matches with all time greats such as Daisuke Ikeda and Yuki Ishikawa. For years and years out of action (12, according to Cagematch) and at 56 years of age, Carl looked to be in great shape. This was a very fun mat-grappling match with some awesome submission transitions and Carl did not look his age at all. Carl won with the kneebar he had been looking for the whole match. Finally, in the main event, SLADE faced Mad Dog Connelly. Well, this match definitely was out of the Battlarts era. They shoot headbutted each other in the head so hard that they were opened up the hard way. Luckily, they were smart enough to not do a 25-minute match on top of that. It was a short and sweet under 10-minute banger. Well worth going out of your way to watch and probably one of the better matches from the US independent scene by the time the end of the year rolls around.

Darian Bengston has been on a tear defending his ACTION Title against anyone and everyone since our last issue, racking up defences against Nicole Matthews, Channing Thomas, Ryan Mooney, Kasey Owens in TWE Chattanooga, Jamesen Shook, Moses, Damon Stryker, Effy and Erron Wade in TWE. This is within the past two months.

Black Label Pro News

Kevin Ku defended his BLP Heavyweight Title against Taka Michinoku, yes that one, on 27th March at “Squared Circle Expo IV”. The annual event was held at The Wyndham Hotel in Indianapolis.

AAW Pro News

Berwyn Eagles Club, a popular venue for AAW Pro that the promotion had been running since 2004, informed organisers that it would be closing its doors. According to unconfirmed comments from Brett Lauderdale, it was related to an altercation between a fan and wrestlers which led to the venue having its licenses and permits revoked. “Crush & Destroy” on 24th April will be AAW’s final show at the venue.

In their penultimate event at the venue on 20th March, Trevor Lee defended his AAW Heavyweight Title against Isaiah Moore, The Hellhounds (Russ Jones & Schaff) retained the AAW Tag Team Title against The Wrong Ones (Aaron Roberts & Joey Avalon) and Heather Reckless remained the Women’s Champion following a challenge from Sierra.

ICW NHB News

Deathmatch promotion ICW NHB toured Japan once again, with shows on 24th, 25th, 28th and 29th March at TOKYOSQUARE in Itabashi on the first two days, then 176BOX in Osaka and finally Sportiva Arena in Nagoya. Following that, ICW NHB held “Volume 97” on 11th April which ICW NHB social media was advertising as one of their best shows ever.

© CMLL

CMLL

Round-up by David Hayter

A Rare Must-See Tuesday Night at Arena México Cements Capitán Suicida and Yutani’s Ascent

The Tuesday night “Martes” cards at Arena México are always entertaining, but tend to be sleepier, more low-key affairs in front of smaller (by CMLL standards) crowds on a work night. However, on 31 March 2026, CMLL decided to pull out all the stops with a must-see card that featured not only title matches up and down the card, but great undercard action, too.

The opening trios matches were all a breezy joy, but the pick of the bunch saw the rudo team of Cerebro Negro Jr., Feroz and King Rex taking down the stars of the 2025 Escuelas tournament: Alexius, Fury Boy and Péndulo. Fury Boy in particular showed incredible promise and was starting to get over with the Arena México crowd, but had his ascent up the card halted by a scary injury on a top-rope dive. It’s great to see him not only back in the swing of things, but dazzling the fans with beautifully synchronised triple-dive spots alongside his teammates. King Rex was the one put over on this occasion; CMLL clearly senses the opportunity to sell his ridiculous dinosaur mask to young fans.

The next trios match saw El Coyote, Pólvora and Vaquero Jr. officially join forces under the “Los Forajidos” name, presenting themselves as rudo gunslingers. Their match with Max Star, Futuro and Valiente Jr. was entertaining, although its three falls felt almost comically condensed into 12 minutes. The match itself was a showcase for the técnicos, who are dazzling fliers. Valiente Jr., who is off to Japan to represent CMLL in the Best of the Super Juniors tournament, picked up the win with his sit-out Burning Hammer.

The biggest news coming out of the show was the triumph of Capitán Suicida over Magia Blanca. The Capitán is now the 80th Mexican Welterweight Champion and, while CMLL titles often mean very little, this victory is a fitting reward for one of the promotion’s most dazzling fliers. Regular readers will know how strongly I’ve backed Capitán Suicida. He struggled in his early days in CMLL, but has absolutely worked his arse off to get over with the crowd and improve in the ring. He is now one of the promotion’s workhorses, capable of stealing the show in match one or two. With this victory, in an excellent all-action battle with Magia Blanca, he is set to move up the card. It’s time he was added to the rotation of técnico teammates for Místico in the main event scene.

Both men deserve credit for this match. Blanca was a brilliant base who was happy to play heel in this técnico vs técnico contest. The crowd were a little hesitant at the start, but were absolutely losing their minds once Capitán Suicida started unleashing his rolling cutters and rope-walk trust fall. The pair worked hard to deliver compelling near falls based around Magia Blanca’s Splash Mountain bomb before embarking on a bonkers finishing stretch. After a sick corkscrew superplex from Magia Blanca, both men attempted and missed spiral taps. Magia Blanca bravely survived an inverted senton bomb, but was ultimately forced to submit to the rolling Rings of Saturn. This was a great, star-making match.

Believe it or not, that wasn’t even the best match on the card – that honour belongs to Máscara Dorada vs Yutani. Regular readers will know that we at Social Suplex have been banging the drum for Yutani, who is talented beyond his years, combining good looks and great size with excellent main-event-level composure and impressive, if not blow-away, ring work. Ever since CMLL had Yutani take a clean fall to Místico in Puebla last year, it’s been clear that he is being positioned as the promotion’s top foreigner.

Here, Yutani was brilliantly smug as he repeatedly foiled Máscara Dorada. The cut-off spot in this match has to be seen to be believed. With both men standing on the barricade, Dorada attempted a flash tijeras, but Yutani simply held firm and stood his ground. The result was Dorada violently flipping round and taking a face-first bump on the barricade as Yutani cockily played to the crowd. What makes Yutani special is that he marries a flair for winding the crowd up with rock-solid strikes and ligament work that sets him apart from some of the softer-style bases in the promotion. He also has genuine speed and can hold his own as a flier.

There were a couple of slips in this match, but it didn’t matter. Dorada and Yutani were on a mission, and if a spot went awry they simply charged into the next flying tijeras or spinning dominator. The match was structured to position them as equals, with every springboard plancha by Dorada matched by an overhead release German suplex by Yutani. Dorada gained the edge with incredible aerial displays (a plancha from the stage and countering a top-rope rana with a front flip to land on his feet), but Yutani maintained constant pressure, giving Dorada no time to recover. The finishing sequence, which saw Dorada retain with a Shooting Star Press, is so fantastic and unexpected that I won’t spoil it here: go out of your way to watch this match.

The other two title matches are also worth watching. Flip Gordon retained his NWA Middleweight Title in an extremely well-worked, if unspectacular, match with Volador Jr. The most noteworthy aspect was the reaction to Flip—his every move and taunt was met with screams from the women and deep boos from the men. This is interesting, as Flip is a técnico that CMLL has heavily invested in. It’s clear they see value in a Western star who is beloved by Mexican women. Whether loved or hated, the crowd was fully engaged in the near falls. Flip survived a Mexican Destroyer before winning with a springboard stunner followed by a 450 splash.
Averno rounded off an excellent night with a solid, hard-hitting defence of his NWA Light Heavyweight Title against Atlantis Jr. It’s not must-see, but if you’ve made it this far into the card, you’ll enjoy it.

© CMLL

CMLL Sells Out Arena México with just Soberano Jr. on Top

The 16,000-capacity sell-out for the 27 March edition of “Viernes Espectacular” has to be considered a feather in the cap of Soberano Jr. The young rudo is already a sensation with the women of Mexico, and he appears to have pulled off the rare feat of being a genuine heartthrob who is not only tolerated, but genuinely embraced by the promotion’s male fanbase. The sell-out for one of the thinnest and least newsworthy cards is also testament to how popular Friday nights at Arena México have become among both foreign and domestic tourists, as well as locals who just want a night out. CMLL is a great time whether you’re a family of five or a bunch of drunken lads on a bender.

The show itself was highlighted by two extremely well-worked main events, the highlight of which saw the team of Averno and Black Tiger defeat Flip Gordon and Templario. Black Tiger is the new Magnus, repackaged with a classic gimmick with history on both sides of the Pacific. The tag match was worked at a tremendous pace and had the crowd on the edge of their seats with intricate cross-up sequences, including clever springboard spots that saw Black Tiger (on one team) and Templario (on the other) going for simultaneous pinfalls. Ultimately, this match was a showcase for Black Tiger, and he won with the Tiger Driver (what else).

The main event saw Soberano Jr. make an absolutely rockstar entrance in his neon pink fetish rave wear. He teamed with Los Hermanos Chávez against Esfinge, Atlantis Jr. and Neón. Pairing Soberano with Chávez seems like a smart move. The Chávez Brothers are a phenomenal act, but they’ve always lacked elite-level charisma to match their well-rounded skills – Soberano gives them the dickhead machismo their act was missing. The biggest news from the match came from Neón nailing his double springboard moonsault for the first time since his horrifying injury. He had been building up to this moment. In previous weeks he’d started doing a double jump tope, but this week he pushed the boat out and nailed the blind double jump. In-ring, Neón was the unquestioned star of this match, showing incredible grace as he flipped and skipped around his foes with remarkable ease.

Pair of Bizarrely Rotten Coliseo Shows Slow CMLL’s Momentum

Saturday night at Arena Coliseo is for the hardcore fans. It’s where things get a little rowdier, as young stars like the Calaveras and Xelhua make their name and established acts like Místico and Máscara Dorada get heartily booed. The in-ring action isn’t always the greatest, as there can be a tendency to take your time and work slowly on the undercard, but it’s never normally bad—in fact, it’s usually excellent, with unexpected matches stealing the show. Unfortunately, in the last two weeks the quality at the Coliseo has fallen off a cliff. The 28 March edition looked promising on paper, but ended up underdelivering with a series of decent-to-good matches, while the 21 March edition, which followed “Homenaje a Dos Leyendas”, was a disaster. The card was sloppy and full of botches, with stars who shone on Friday, like Max Star, struggling to get through their Saturday matches. The rematch of the Copa Infernal Cibernético was the biggest disappointment; it had some good action and flashy moments, but constantly fell apart and never really captured the imagination.

The one highlight on an otherwise unremarkable pair of shows was the Mexican debut of former young lion Shoma Kato. Now donned in golden gear, he looks like he has star potential, and pairing him with Yutani feels like a clever move on CMLL’s part. Yutani shone in the match, despite a defeat to Explosivo and Xelhua, and hopefully Kato sticks close to Yutani so some of his stardust rubs off on his young protégé.

Los Villanos Appear To Be Stuck In Purgatory

The influx of AEW talent on CMLL’s Friday and Saturday night cards has seen a raft of young Mexican talent stuck working the midweek shows. Most notable on that list are young tag team stars like Los Calaveras and Los Villanos. Unfortunately, while Los Calaveras appear to have made their way to the big show, for the second straight year the incredibly over young Villanos team appear trapped on Tuesday nights. This seemed to be cemented when they went hell for leather with the tag team champions Los Hermanos Chávez in a really rather excellent tag match on 17 March. Normally, having a great match with CMLL’s top tag team would be a positive sign for a young team, but for experienced Mexican wrestling fans, the sight of Los Villanos busting out all their big dives and best near falls on a Tuesday night show before losing clean meant that this was their big moment, and it would not be rematched on Friday night. In other words, there was no angle.

© CMLL

Claudio Castagnoli Signs Dual Contract and Delivers Classic with Último Guerrero

There’s no hiding the nervousness among the CMLL faithful as Místico followed Persephone and Máscara Dorada in signing joint contracts with AEW. On the one hand, there is safety in the knowledge that their top stars won’t be signing with AAA (not that WWE seems inclined to pay competitive wages), but there is also the worry that they’ll be seeing less of their biggest money-drawing acts going forward. Místico has certainly been noticeably absent from the CMLL circuit since returning from the “Fantasticamania” tour. The workhorse of 2025 has become the hobby horse of 2026.

Nevertheless, the signing of Claudio Castagnoli to a dual contract, while bizarre (CMLL can’t realistically pay him anything approaching his value), is at least a sign that CMLL might get something tangible out of the relationship. Claudio has been a delight at Arena México, where other workers feel like midcarders enjoying lucha libre fantasy camp while adding next to nothing in-ring or in terms of drawing power (see Gates of Agony or Daniel Garcia). Claudio brings both star power and undeniable quality. He has always been remarkably adroit at adapting his style to any opponent, and in Mexico he can be both a powerhouse bruiser and a rock-solid base. There’s no denying that the Heavyweight title was a rarely defended non-entity gathering dust on Gran Guerrero’s mantelpiece—and Claudio has, in just a matter of months, breathed fresh life into the title and its lineage.

When picking the highlight of his reign, it’s a straight shoot-out between the wonderfully heated match where he won the title from a genuinely inspired Gran Guerrero, or his fantastic defence against Último Guerrero on 13 March. Último is always beloved in Arena México, and he was a perfect foil for Claudio – the rare opponent who can shock the Swiss with his power and poise. The match had the crowd losing their minds and peaked perfectly when Claudio just got his hand on the ropes at 2.9 after Último landed his avalanche reverse suplex. Then, just as the crowd were coming down from that high, Claudio hit the Neutraliser to silence them.

Johnny Consejo Loses His Hair as Ángel de Oro Finally Basks in the Spotlight He So Richly Deserves

One of the major benefits of the AEW/CMLL partnership, aside from the wacky inter-promotional joy of it all, is that slowly but surely the best Mexican wrestlers are being exposed to an English speaking audience. Johnny Consejo is unlikely to bring as many eyeballs as, say, Jon Moxley or Mercedes Moné, but word that he had arguably the best singles match of his career with Ángel de Oro spread far and wide. Truth be told, as a CMLL regular I was lower on this match than many. It had incredible near falls, some staggeringly athletic and creative sequences, brilliant fake-outs down the stretch and earth-shattering heat – so make no mistake, it was excellent – but it did have stretches of awkwardness and imprecision.

Nevertheless, it showed just how great Ángel de Oro is as an all-round performer. He’s a good flier, an incredible technical wrestler, he can brawl, he can play a cowardly heel, and he is a fantastic base for a man of his size. Like a meatier Titán, he really can do it all and work with any opponent. Tag team wrestling isn’t truly the focus of CMLL, so despite his long run on top with Los Hermanos Chávez, he’s rarely mixing it up with the very top tier. The highest-drawing wrestlers are often in trios main events, while he’s stuck in the middle on Friday nights and often starring on Saturdays.

Johnny deserves praise too. Ángel may have been calling the action, but Johnny brought fantastic athleticism for a man of his age. Both men showed incredible fire as they fought to preserve their luscious, albeit slightly thinning, barnets. De Oro ultimately came out on top after an absolutely demented finishing sequence that saw Johnny counter a super back suplex by backflipping onto the ropes and grabbing them like a koala (stage one). Then, in stage two, Ángel hit a rope-walk Mexican Destroyer, which Johnny sold by bouncing up and collapsing on the ropes like a boxer who had just been knocked out, before Ángel went to the top to hit a big splash for the three-count. Spectacular stuff.

© CMLL

CMLL “La Noche De Las Amazonas”

6th March 2026
Company Announced Attendance: 8,000
Arena Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico

Review By David Hayter

Your enjoyment of “La Noche de las Amazonas” will almost entirely depend on whether you are a regular viewer of CMLL or not, and whether you choose to watch the show in its entirety or simply parachute in for certain key matches. From the perspective of a regular CMLL viewer, this show was pretty rotten – easily the worst Friday night Arena México show of the year and certainly the weakest card the promotion has put on since “Sin Salida” in early January.

Regular readers of Social Suplex will know that I am a big supporter of women’s wrestling. I contributed to our recent International Women’s Day special and routinely write articles and reviews delving into the backstory, characters and motivations behind the world’s best women’s wrestlers. However, despite being a big fan of women’s wrestling the world over, I cannot abide the kind of cheerleading and overcompensating that leads to genuinely subpar work being praised to a patronising degree. In my mind, it does a disservice to those women who have worked so hard to reach a level where, in the ring, on the microphone or in terms of overall presentation, they are as good as or better than their male counterparts.

Were New Japan Pro-Wrestling to lend their sister promotion STARDOM one of their big dates to put on an all-women’s show, sure, some of the matches would be slightly better, some slightly worse, but the overall quality of the shows would be comparable (think “Dream Queendom” vs “Wrestle Kingdom” back in December/January). The gulf in quality and professionalism between “La Noche de las Amazonas” and even the weakest Tuesday night CMLL show is bewildering. The athleticism, precision, speed, creativity and quality that Capitán Suicida, Valiente Jr., Futuro, Yutani, Los Calaveras and a hundred others bring to the CMLL undercards is staggering. Sadly, tonight’s undercard featured matches where there were rife with substantial and fundamental issues, including basic rope running and ring positioning.

CMLL is marketed as a public service, a living connection to distinctly Mexican tradition and, as such, it is admirable that they are committed to transforming the image of women’s wrestling in Mexico. The show had a good atmosphere and certain acts are improving, but progress is slow. The real changes need to be made at the training school level, as it is clear that some of the most athletically promising luchadoras are not receiving the same level of training that the male stars are receiving (simply compare the work on this show to the recent Escuelas tournament).

Nevertheless, the show does appear to have been well received, largely by American fans dipping into the product who, based on the reviews, appear to have primarily watched the matches featuring AEW talent. If CMLL are to persist with all-women’s shows, hopefully they will put more thought into developing their homegrown roster, giving them, not only more ring time with higher-level talent, but more meaningful feuds and programmes within CMLL’s weekly rotation of shows.

Persephone Dethrones Mercedes Moné In Sloppy But Still Enjoyable Sequel

The main event wasn’t good enough to save the show, but it certainly provided one of the feel-good moments of the year. Persephone and Mercedes Moné could not rival their strong and heated encounter from late 2025; there was an awkwardness to this evening’s action. The early technical grappling was slow and forced and, as the action heated up, there were the kind of nagging slips and botches that you don’t normally see in Mercedes matches (including Persephone losing her footing on the Splash Mountain finish).

Still, if the execution was lacking, the heat was absolutely tremendous. The undoubted highlight of the match came when Persephone electric-chair dropped Mercedes off the barricade with pleasing brutality. Mercedes would quickly turn the tables and, in a wild moment, a fan either spat or threw his drink at her. Without missing a beat, Moné soaked in the moment and began taunting the Arena México faithful. With a riotous atmosphere now taking hold, they returned to the ring and, after surviving the odd submission attempt, Persephone proceeded to absolutely batter Mercedes with a barrage of offence.

Mercedes put Persephone over clean as a whistle. Persephone landed big move after big move and pinned Mercedes with relative ease with the Splash Mountain bomb. Unfortunately, she fell on the first attempt and had to quickly hoist Mercedes up a second time to secure the victory. The match was certainly a good main event, albeit nothing to write home about. The moment, however, was sublime. The babyface locker room cleared out and everyone celebrated Persephone’s win as a truly emotional crowning moment. There is, of course, the strange reality that Persephone is in fact a ruda, but in defeating a loud-mouthed American usurper and bringing the belt home, she was established as the face of women’s wrestling in Mexico.

Starlight Kid & Mei Seira Do The Impossible

Anyone who has watched CMLL with any regularity will know that Lluvia and La Jarochita are chaotic and charismatic tag team champions. They aren’t bad wrestlers per se; in fact, they are capable of hitting hard and pulling off some tremendous dives, but almost invariably their matches fall apart, ending in sloppiness and confusion. It’s remarkable, then, that the Neo Genesis tandem of Mei Seira and Starlight Kid decided they were going to make the luchadoras run through a full-paced and tightly structured Stardom-style match.

Kid and Seira were incredible in their execution. Whenever the match threatened to go off the rails, they re-centred things and kept their opponents moving in the right direction. With Kid and Mei hitting planchas, criss-cross rope-running sequences and dropkicks galore, the luchadoras simply had to stand still and hit hard – and that they certainly did, creaming the joshi tandem with sliding low kicks and corner dropkicks. In easily the most crisply worked, if not most exciting, match on the card, even Neo Genesis seemed to get carried away with the atmosphere as Mei Seira joined Starlight Kid on the top rope to hit stereo moonsaults. Mei is not known for her moonsaults and I wouldn’t be shocked if it’s the first one she’s ever landed, because you could almost see her thought process as she awkwardly crouched, bent backwards and flipped in nervous installments. Nevertheless, it was a great spot and a strong final near fall before the luchadoras turned the tables and picked up the victory.

Make no mistake, this was no better than a standard post-intermission tag on a STARDOM tour show, but it might have been the smoothest and most slickly executed match of Lluvia and La Jarochita’s careers to date.

© CMLL

Megan Bayne & Olympia Steal The Show With In Meaty Hoss Fight

“La Noche de las Amazonas” finally turned a corner when Megan Bayne and Olympia took to the ring. Both women are fresh from stints in STARDOM and they launched headlong into a war. In many ways this was a dream match, as Olympia is one of the few women who can stand across the ring from Megan and look genuinely imposing, thanks to her carved bodybuilder’s physique. Despite her inexperience, Olympia is already a top-five luchadora within CMLL thanks to her blend of raw power and surprising athleticism (similar to Bayne).

Unlike Bayne, Olympia is still noticeably green, particularly when it comes to selling and timing what to do when. It’s a good thing, then, that neither Bayne nor Olympia bothered with creating a dynamic narrative structure for their match and instead seemed content taking turns hurling one another around.

The match really picked up in the closing moments as, after Olympia had pressed Bayne into the crowd (a spot that could land her in hot water given CMLL’s family-friendly policy), the pair returned to the ring to exchange German suplexes. Olympia eventually succumbed to Megan’s power and was F-5’d into oblivion.

Mina Shirakawa’s Charisma Distracts From Zeuxis’ Shoddy Work

Following one of the dullest and most dreary matches imaginable (see below), someone needed to wake the crowd up and, thankfully, Mina Shirakawa was on hand. Despite being booed, like every foreigner, during her entrance, Mina has made a name for herself in Arena México and she intuitively understands how to get the crowd going, with shimmies, shakes and plenty of taunts. Whenever anything went wrong – and believe me, plenty went wrong, this was a Zeuxis match after all – Mina understood that she had to rally the crowd and not let the groans take hold.

The opening and closing stretches of this match were quite poor; Zeuxis is sloppy and struggles with pacing, but Mina worked her magic in the midsection to whip the crowd into a frenzy.

It’s a testament to Mina that what was supposed to be the heat was easily the most entertaining portion of the match. The crowd were roaring so loudly and having such a great time that it hardly mattered that Zeuxis slipped on a Spanish Fly and could easily have dropped Mina on her head. It didn’t even dent the crowd’s enthusiasm to see the finishing sequence fall apart at the seams. When Mina eventually locked in something that, if you squint, loosely resembled the Glamorous Clutch to pick up the win, the crowd had been thoroughly entertained. Hopefully, CMLL will learn their lesson and pair Mina with La Catalina next time out; their interactions in the International Grand Prix generated by far and away the most heat of any native vs outsider clash and it’s time CMLL capitalised on their obvious character-driven chemistry.

Unspeakably Bad Undercard Raises Questions About Fundamental Training

One minute into the opening contest that pitted Metálica & Candela against Kira & Skadi, a strange thought popped into my head: why haven’t we seen Metálica on the Friday night shows more often? She started the match with a stunning slingshot tornillo. It was perfectly executed and is the type of dive Kira and Sanely routinely botch. Then, as the match unfolded, it became abundantly clear why we’ve seen so little of Metálica, as she struggled to run the ropes, got lost during basic sequences and the match rapidly fell apart. Skadi, ever the professional and the best base in the division, tried to hold things together, but she was facing an uphill struggle. Kira would eventually pick up the win for her team and, as this was a big show, the teams did pull off some impressive dives, but the fundamentals underlying the match were frankly embarrassing.

It was impossible to avoid the comparison to the Divas era in North America, where young stars were taught flashy, often gymnastic spots before they had a handle on the building blocks of wrestling. We know from watching wave after wave of mind-blowing luchadores in Mexico and the incredible pace of joshi in-ring development that something is fundamentally off with the training of luchadoras. Too many acts are improving too slowly and many only manage to elevate their game when they leave Mexico and tour Japan or the United States. It’s hard to escape the conclusion that CMLL is superficially committed to women’s wrestling with all-women’s supershows, while neglecting equality when it comes to training, development and opportunity on a day-to-day basis.

Unfortunately, it would get worse. Poor Maika (a former World of STARDOM Champion) was lumped with Dark Silueta and, while the match was better structured, there’s little the former World of STARDOM Champion could do with such a limited opponent. Maika bumped hard, but she was unfortunately forced to sell and play victim as Dark got the heat in the softest and most hideously dull fashion imaginable. Seriously, even heel John Cena felt second hand embarrassed on her behalf. Mercifully, right around the 10-minute mark, they went to a cringeworthy fighting spirit spot and Dark ran straight into the Michinoku Driver II, putting her out of her misery.

La Catalina always gets the Arena México crowd going and Sanely is wildly hit-and-miss but can dazzle with the right opponent. Unfortunately, Garra Negra & Keyra were not the right opponents. Again, if you want flashy spots, there were probably enough dives and stiff strikes to enjoy this 12-minute clash, but you may have to watch through your fingers as Garra Negra gets lost and the match falls apart every two minutes. Suffice it to say, it wasn’t boring, but it certainly wasn’t pretty.

Speaking of boring, the less said about La Magnífica’s victory over Marcela and Princesa Sugehit, the better. This was nine minutes that felt like 90. The match didn’t have the botches or breakdowns of those that preceded it, but it had none of the excitement either. Soft, slow and uninspired, this match had no business on the Arena México stage in 2026.

© CMLL

CMLL “Homenaje a Dos Leyendas”

20th March 2026
Company Announced Attendance: 16,000
Arena Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico

Review By David Hayter

This year’s “Homenaje a Dos Leyendas” paid tribute to the legendary El Satánico, one of the greatest (and he’d certainly argue the greatest) rudos in lucha libre history, a rowdy, blood-soaked brawler with a knack for a rabble-rousing promo. The card would play host to the 76-year-old’s final match, although one wonders whether he actually wants to retire; he is surprisingly active for a man his age. One of the joys of the “Leyendas” event is that all the posters and promotion are themed around the legend who is being honoured. So, fittingly for the great Satan, Arena México was bathed in flame and multiple stars would pay homage to the legendary trio of El Satánico, MS-1 and Espectro Jr., aka Los Infernales, with their ring gear.

The result is an oddly split card. The undercard, culminating in the hotly anticipated reverse elimination cibernético with the loser’s hair or mask on the line, is classic CMLL, but the two main events are given over to the promotion’s lucrative ongoing relationship with AEW. Claudio Castagnoli will main event, defending his Heavyweight Championship in a singles match (something that would almost never happen on a show of this scale), while the Death Riders, led by Jon Moxley, will take on El Sky Team in the semi-main. The added star power is always welcome, but resentment has been taking root in recent months.

CMLL has moved away from two-out-of-three falls matches; they have largely ditched the captain’s falls, and AEW midcarders have been taking top spots on multiple Arena México cards. Mexican fans and long-time international viewers have been expressing their displeasure, not at AEW as an ally, but at the idea that the promotion that has always stood for heritage, culture and tradition against AAA’s wanton Americana, trash TV and deathmatch gore is now bending over backwards to Americanise. It’s not necessarily bad, but it is a little uncomfortable.

The bigger issue is that, as much fun as MxM or Gates of Agony are clearly having playing lucha libre fantasy camp, their TV time comes at the expense of native acts with incredible momentum and potential. Los Calaveras, Los Villanos, Max Star, Valiente Jr., Futuro, Capitán Suicida and a hundred others appear trapped in opening matches or stuck on Saturday nights, waiting for their less over American counterparts to clear off and make way.

In this light, the “Leyendas” is an uneasy compromise: enough legitimate big-name AEW talent up top to attract the streaming audience and their US dollars, paired with an array of heated Mexican talent busting their arse on the undercard to get Arena México rocking.

Claudio’s One-Man Revival of the Heavyweight Championship Ends in Defeat to Hechicero

The World Heavyweight Championship is not the top prize in CMLL and, truth be told, title belts don’t really matter in Arena México. Championship gold is not a central focus of the ongoing storylines or rivalries; they are more a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency option to help draw a house or a way of signalling to fans that a worker is on the ascent. During Gran Guerrero’s forever reign, we would be lucky (or unlucky, depending on your perspective) to see him defend the title twice a year. To put this into perspective, Claudio defended the title seven times in 112 days, while Gran Guerrero defended the title only eight times in 1,117 days.
It’s hard to deny the creeping Americanisation of the CMLL product, as the influx of AEW talent has brought an increased focus on both singles matches and the move towards the one-fall-to-a-finish formula. There are major downsides to the traditional Mexican product bending over backwards to accommodate an American promotion, but no one can question Claudio’s commitment to the cause. He has been a warrior and workhorse. He was the last man in the 2024 International Grand Prix and his heavyweight title reign has been a revelation, particularly his clashes with both Gran and Último Guerrero.
His main event match with Hechicero was, by way of comparison, something of a disappointment. No one can fault the work; everything looked great and there was a satisfying meatiness to Claudio’s flying, but the match never had anything resembling a rhythm. Hechicero wasn’t putting on a technical masterclass and Claudio wasn’t really running riot; the match was stuck in an awkward stylistic middle ground. The biggest issue, of course, was that the crowd did not view this match as a legitimate main event. The Satánico and Infernales matches were on another level in terms of heat and, as well liked as Hechicero is in Mexico, he’s not a star on Místico’s level. The result was a respectful, engaged, but unenthused crowd.
Faced with a tired crowd, Hechicero and Claudio did not relent. Claudio kept taking bigger and bigger bumps, Hechicero racked up a series of great near falls and, by the end of the match, the crowd were heartily chanting for their native hero. Aubrey Edwards was tremendous in working the crowd as she thwarted Claudio when he hit a straightjacket powerbomb and tried to pin Hechicero with his feet on the ropes. Unfortunately, just as they’d started to get the crowd back on side, Claudio submitted to one of the dullest and least creative submissions in Hechicero’s arsenal: the crucifix neck crank. Make no mistake, this was a good main event, but it wasn’t remotely great.

The Death Riders Are An Awkward Fit In CMLL, But Cannot Fail Opposite The Sky Team

There’s something surreal about seeing Jon Moxley walk through the Arena México crowd. Mox no doubt envisioned a Bruiser Brody-like moment, but rather than inciting a riot, he received a pleasant and polite reaction. He is a star and rudo on account of his style and nationality, but the Death Riders never felt like an ominous threat in CMLL; instead, they felt oddly drab in their black trunks. It didn’t help matters that neither Daniel Garcia nor Wheeler Yuta could time their bumps for Dorada or Neón’s flying offence in the early going.

It didn’t take Moxley’s young wards too long to figure things out as the trio ditched running spots and instead proceeded to play to the crowd. The trio’s frustrating, pedestrian attempts to work over Neón drew little or no reaction, but their obnoxiousness did manage to engage an audience who were clearly burned out from the previous match. Similar to the Gates of Agony’s struggles back in February, it quickly became clear that the Death Riders don’t really get Arena México or the lucha libre rhythm. They tried their best and had fun here and there, but the bulk of this match was simply killing time waiting for the inevitable hot tag in a disappointingly American style.

When Místico did tag in, his comeback was glorious, albeit not as slick as usual as neither Wheeler nor Garcia based correctly (each man overbalanced forward) and Místico was unable to get the full rotation on his springboard tijeras. What’s more, Mox was allowed to cut off Místico during his comeback, but the Death Riders’ days were numbered. El Sky Team hit a trio of dives, including a ramp-running double-jump tope con hilo from Neón (a safer variant of his signature spot). Místico would then swiftly submit Wheeler Yuta with La Mística.
This was far below a usual Sky Team main event, but it was still tremendous fun.

© CMLL

Pólvora Loses His Mask in Crazy, Show-Stealing Reverse Elimination Lucha de Apuestas

Regular CMLL watchers were licking their lips at the prospect of witnessing this wild eight-way reverse elimination hair/mask match precisely because it was chock-full of the promotion’s youngest and hungriest stars. Most notably, Las Calaveras, who have already made a big name for themselves as cool rudos with show-stealing undercard performances at the Coliseo, alongside Calavera Jr I’s dramatic unmasking of Robin at the conclusion of January’s “Sin Salida”. There has been a growing resentment among the hardcore CMLL faithful as the influx of American midcarders has made it increasingly difficult for native up-and-comers to shine on the Friday night stage.

With that in mind, the Calaveras wasted no time, jump-starting the match with a tope con hilo from the ramp on one side of the ring and a beautiful running, springboard moonsault press on the other. Not to be outdone, Hombre Bala Jr. and Max Star were hitting springboard rolling arm drags before all eight men had even made their entrance and, when their opponents did make it to the ring, they blasted them with flying double dropkicks and stereo tope suicidas.

It’s a testament to the workers’ ability to plot out and pace a match with this many moving parts that, despite springboard moonsaults bleeding into giant pounces on the apron, the action was never difficult to follow. The lucha tradition of working regular trios matches ensures that even lower-card acts know how to perfectly pull focus, ensuring that the biggest and best spots always make an impression.

The action wasn’t always perfect. After a fast start, Hombre Bala Jr. seemed to lack the requisite hops to execute his flying headscissors with anything resembling ease. Thankfully, El Coyote and Cancerbero were on hand not only to base, but to hoist him in the air and help him rotate. Despite their best efforts, there’s no denying that the roughest sequences in this wildly entertaining match all involved Bala struggling to recreate his former glories. At one point, he struggled to jump for a reverse half-and-half suplex and found himself brutally deposited on his own head.

Despite being 23 years Bala’s senior, Virus fared far better, largely because he stuck to throwing hard palm strikes and getting wiped out by dives. He was no doubt conserving his energy, because when it was time to shine, Virus made a tremendous one-man comeback on both Calaveras to secure a submission and escape the match. Given their limitations, it is perhaps unsurprising that Bala and Virus were the first men to secure their exits and leave the ring with their hair and masks intact.

The true magic of the match came from the combination of La Calaveras and Max Star. In one of the funniest and most heated spots in the match, Max Star was popped up into the air by one Calavera only to hit a sunset flip on the other and cleverly use his momentum to roll one brother towards the other. Calavera Jr. II, playing the bumbling heel, of course proceeded to dropkick his own partner without looking. With Arena México screaming, the brothers squared up to one another, only to tenderly embrace one another—at this exact moment, the six other competitors charged the ring to put the boots to the charming rudos.

There is always an inherent flaw in reverse elimination matches in that, while it is most prestigious to last until the very end and earn your shot at mask-snatching immortality, it also means the biggest stars have to be the biggest losers. The Calaveras might have been hitting moonsaults galore, but they also had to drop a fall to the ageing Virus simply to get him out of the match. Similarly, while the dazzling Max Star was wowing fans with his step-up springboard saluting tope, he also had to watch as a parade of midcarders kicked out of his moves as he was fated to last until the end. Calavera Jr. I had it the worst because they were protecting Pólvora from taking falls until the very end of the match; that meant the elder Calavera didn’t even get to eliminate anyone. Instead, he escaped the match after he was punted in the balls and “won” his safety via DQ. His younger brother at least got the opportunity to secure some flashy near falls before being submitted by the ageing Cancerbero.

With the match now down to the final four of Max Star, El Coyote, Calavera Jr. II and Pólvora, the writing was on the wall. El Coyote would be safe and the veteran midcarder Cancerbero would be losing his mask to either of the future moneymakers, Max Star or Calavera. Unfortunately, while Coyote’s mask was safe, his body was not. In a genuinely terrifying moment, with Coyote sitting on the top rope, Max Star went for his signature double-jump inverted headscissors. He pulled it off immaculately; there was just one problem: Coyote’s feet were stuck on the second rope. Rather than gracefully flipping and rolling, Coyote was brutally driven head-first into the mat in a gruesome spot. I’m pleased to report that Coyote not only survived, but kicked out and immediately returned fire with a beautiful top-rope butterfly suplex to secure a victory over Max Star.

Calavera Jr. II had better luck than Coyote when he too slipped on the ropes. Max Star had just suplexed Pólvora when, in a botch that somehow ended up better than the planned sequence, Calavera slipped on the springboard and plummeted down on top of Pólvora in perfect pinning position. The rudo not only secured the pin, but took the opportunity to rile up the crowd, acting as if the ugly but impactful splash had been his intention all along.

It all came down to a mano a mano showdown between Max Star and Pólvora; the result was never in doubt—but no one told the 16,000-strong crowd. Arena México was absolutely losing its mind as Max Star put on a dazzling show, including taking a brutal splatting bump to the floor when Pólvora simply dodged his tope con hilo. Star lived up to his name as he uncorked an effortless springboard rana and followed it up with a tightly coiled rope-walk tornillo. In a truly giving performance, Star not only caught Pólvora perfectly when the veteran attempted a shaky flying cross body to the floor, but willingly sacrificed his body as he bumped on the apron and was blasted out of mid-air, before finally claiming Pólvora’s mask with an inverted 450.

© CMLL

Princesa Sugehit Sacrifices Her Hair for the Benefit of a Feud That’s Well Past Its Sell-By Date

“La Noche de las Amazonas” was not short on awful wrestling, but even on a card full of sloppiness and flawed fundamentals, the three-way between Princesa Sugehit, La Magnífica and Marcela was the lowest of the lows. They weren’t the worst workers, but they were by far the dullest and least dynamic performers on the card. The good news is that their rematch here was both more exciting and somehow considerably worse in terms of execution. There were some big but ugly dives in the early going and La Magnífica hit an impressive superplex and La Magistral cradle in the first fall to escape the match and save her hair.

The ultimate showdown between Princesa Sugehit and Marcela was, frankly, terrible. Slow-paced and awkward action ensued as the pair struggled to get through a series of near falls as safely as possible. Unfortunately, the match did fall apart when Marcela took a phantom bump to the outside and Sugehit clumsily positioned herself on the second rope to allow Marcela to trip her in slow motion. When the pair returned to the ring, there were some signs of life, most notably a neat second-rope arm drag from Marcela for a convincing near fall, but it felt like a relief when Sugehit submitted to La Cavernaria.

Fittingly, even the head shaving was stilted and unsatisfying as the scissors stuck in Sugehit’s thick locks, delaying the presentation. Nevertheless, when the clippers came out, the sight of Princesa Sugehit shorn of her hair was dramatic.

El Satánico Puts the 60-Year-Old Whippersnappers in Their Place

In all honesty, if you have limited time and are considering skipping a triple threat where the combined age of the talent involved totalled 204 years, I would implore you to at least watch the glorious and ferociously passionate pre-match promo El Satánico cut with his family at his side. Despite being the rudo to end all rudos, El Satánico was so heartfelt and earnest in his delivery that it was hard not to be moved. This might be his final match, but his fire still burns brightly.

In the ring, El Satánico was doing everything in his power to get around the ring despite his sore and stiff 76-year-old body. Shockingly, he started the match by taking a flip bump for an arm drag (a decision he is no doubt regretting this morning). From there on in, he settled down, focusing on classic heel antics, cutting off dives with cheeky kicks and ripping at his opponents’ masks. Atlantis and Blue Panther deserve tremendous credit as, despite their age, they worked and bumped hard, allowing El Satánico to rest and recover. In a wonderfully fun spot, Blue Panther laid out Atlantis with a jumping clothesline and began leading Arena México in “Blue” chants, but while he was busy posing, El Satánico snuck in to steal the pin and eliminate Atlantis.

The final fall was certainly the craziest of them all, as El Satánico climbed to the fifth set of the stage to hit a diving senton onto the apron. Mercifully, his head cleared the edge of the steps, but his arse came crashing down on the wrong side of Blue Panther, which resulted in the 76-year-old Satánico taking a flat-back bump on the stage—ouch. You could see the pain etched on Satánico’s face as he stumbled back to the ring. Two more brutally ugly sentons were good for a near fall and remarkably the match continued, but not for much longer. Blue hit his signature flying cross body from the ramp to the floor and, with the crowd peaking, El Satánico survived another cross body and won with a trapped-arm figure-four pin.

Hips Creak as Toscano and Último Guerrero Star in Nostalgic Cibernético

Suffice it to say, the future of CMLL was not on display in the Copa Infernal Cibernético, but part of the joy of watching lucha libre is seeing how well they integrate the stars of yesteryear into the hyper-modern product.

At 52 years of age, we don’t get to see much of Toscano at Arena México these days, and he was determined to make the most of every second of screen time he was granted. The former Tarzan Boy has been persona non grata since 2011 when he jumped ship to AAA and immediately began parodying his former promotion. Thankfully, there were no signs that the Arena México faithful remembered his misdeeds, as he was heartily cheered throughout the match. Último may have been the fan favourite playing the underdog as Averno, Rey Bucanero and Mephisto ganged up to stomp him down, but Toscano was the one running the ropes like his life depended on it.

The cibernético was an undeniably fun trip down memory lane, but there were giant gulfs in mobility and competence. Rey Bucanero was the first man to be eliminated via a triple powerbomb and, truth be told, it was less an elimination and more of a mercy killing. Toscano, on the other hand, was the star of the early portion of the match, running wild with tope con hilos and flying headscissors on his way to eliminating Mephisto. Sadly, he would be punished for coming to Último Guerrero’s aid. Toscano would scramble to the top rope only for Euforia to halt his momentum and top-rope powerbomb him into oblivion for the elimination, leaving Último to fend for himself.

Último would put up a hell of a fight against Averno and Euforia, eliminating the latter with a neat wheelbarrow reversal into a flash pin. Guerrero had Arena México shaking as he and Averno ran through their greatest hits, but the excitement would be cut short when a spiteful Euforia tripped Último, distracting the referee just long enough for Averno to kick Último low and secure the victory.

Persephone’s Overness Elevates an Action-Packed, Albeit Sloppy, Multi-Woman Opener

The most interesting thing to note from the frenetic eight-woman tag that kicked off the evening’s proceedings was the positioning of Persephone on the técnico team. On paper, she is still a ruda, but her brassy, bad-girl antics are wildly over with the crowd and paired nicely with La Catalina’s swaggering sass. Whether we’ll be seeing Persephone wearing the white hat in future remains to be seen, as this match was rather carelessly thrown together, with Valkyria joining Las Infernales and Skadi filling in for the injured Reyna Isis.

There appears to be some controversy surrounding the latter point. CMLL announced on “Informa” that Reyna Isis was injured and had to be replaced, but Isis took to Instagram to push back and deny this claim. She said that her knee is 100% recovered, but it’s CMLL’s doctors who are holding up her return by refusing to sign the paperwork. When she was informed that the “fake news” of her injury stemmed from CMLL’s “Informa” programme, she abruptly stopped commenting on the issue.

By CMLL women’s match standards, this was better than the norm and an improvement on much of what featured on the wretched “Noche de las Amazonas” undercard. However, there were points where the match badly fell apart, with (surprisingly) the usually reliable Persephone and Skadi both involved in some sloppy sequences. Thankfully, just as it seemed they’d lost the crowd, La Catalina whipped them into a frenzy with a missile dropkick and Valkyria followed with a wild tope suicida. The match ended when Zeuxis survived Skadi’s pop-up powerbomb and returned fire with a Frankensteiner to secure the victory.

© AAA

AAA

News Round-up

By Trish Speirs

AAA returns to Mexico City on April 11th for Penta against El Hijo del Vikingo for the WWE Intercontinental Title and will then tape in Querétaro on May 2nd. Penta and the Intercontinental Championship have already been announced for a ladder match at WWE’s “WrestleMania” show in Las Vegas, so it feels extremely unlikely the belt will change hands, but the Vikingo match has been mentioned several times on WWE TV in recent weeks, so the more likely outcome is that Vikingo is added to the ladder match next weekend. Lucha Blog reported late last month that Vikingo remains the only AAA based talent who is now signed to WWE, although the ambition is to increase that number.

Also scheduled is a celebration for Flammer becoming the longest Reina de Reinas Champion in company history that is expected to be interrupted by La Catalina, who CMLL announced in an irregular talent press release that she was leaving their promotion this past Wednesday. This will mark the first CMLL to AAA hump since the WWE/Fillip takeover was announced a year ago.

Former booker Konnan has been away from the promotion due to serious health issues and has spent a significant period receiving hospital care. Rey Mysterio has stepped into the English commentary booth to cover the onscreen gap. Konnan had remained involved with the creative side after the WWE takeover, but has had much less control than previously, with Mark Callaway and Jeremy Borash the leading influences behind each show.

Ivan Flores, who wrestled in AAA under Niño Hamburguesa and received a main event level push last spring when he was feuding with Alberto El Patrón, has been fired from AAA after an incident with a fan on March 3rd in Pachuca. The 30 year old appeared to sit on a fan who had laughed at a slip and threw back elbows. Whilst being physical with fans in Mexico is a genuine no-go, he may have escaped such a heavy punishment if there had not been video of the incident that then went viral. Unfortunately for Flores, that was very much the case, and the 30 year old was made an example of by WWE with his firing. AAA contracted talents are also not allowed to work indies he is booked on either, which makes it a particularly brutal punishment from a future earnings point of view.

“Noche de Los Grandes” (translation: ‘Night of The Greats’) will be held on May 30th at Arena Monterrey and will host the mask match between the Grande Americanos.

Fightful has reported that Mattel will begin work on their first set of AAA action figures, with a Mr. Iguana figure as a priority.

© AAA

“Rey De Reyes 2026”

14th March 2026
Auditorio GNP Seguros, Puebla, Mexico

Night 1 (Aired March 14th)

Review By Trish Speirs

In a change-up from previous years, “Rey De Reyes” was presented as a three week event on FOX Mexico, as opposed to one longer broadcast for the event, followed by the lower card matches being interspersed within the TV broadcasts in the weeks thereafter. The change made it feel, therefore, much more like a TV special than a first big show for AAA this year; this was also reinforced by the format, which had just as many promos involved as it did wrestling matches.

Indeed, the broadcast opened with a promo after the run of ‘walking into the building’ clips, as Rey Fénix was out first in front of an announced sold out Puebla crowd in order to welcome his brother Penta to the ring. The pair teased them teaming again for “Triplemanía” in what soon became a long and wandering promo, which was made all the more amusing by Rey Mysterio seemingly adopting his best Konnan voice whilst translating then it was its content. By the time it had ended, the show was twenty minutes in and sorely in need of in-ring action.

And first up would be Reina de Reinas Champion Lady Flammer, who needed to survive her open challenge for the night in order to become the longest Reina de Reinas Champion in AAA history. Her challenge was answered by Bayley, who received a big ovation from the crowd and seemed genuinely thrilled to be there. There used to be a saying that Bryan Danielson could have a great match with a broom (or the idea that he would do everything he could to wrestle around someone’s limitations in order to make something great), and this match quickly fell into a similar vein, as Bayley did everything she could to drag out something from Flammer during the opening technical exchanges. She overcame what seemed to be a bit of a struggle at times to keep things well paced, and highlighted the difference in their styles in the match structure, with Flammer trying to drive the contest into a brawl whenever she could.

The end of the match was built into things much earlier on, with Flammer ripping off the middle turnbuckle cover whilst desperately trying to escape a Bayley to Belly suplex. As Flammer found herself moving closer and closer to defeat, and looking legitimately shattered (on one count Bayley pretty much kicked out for her), her Las Tóxicas stablemates came down to assist the champion. Bayley saw off the potential interference, but the distraction was costly, as she was thrown face first into the exposed middle turnbuckle. There was no recovery from there, as Flammer followed up with a codebreaker and a nasty looking dropkick to pick up the win. This might be, quite easily, the longest Flammer singles match I have ever seen as well as probably the best, with Bayley really making her work for the duration – and yet, still nothing to write home about.

This led straight into the “Rey de Reyes” four way to decide who would wield the sword given to this year’s ‘king of kings’. You will probably have seen clips of this, even if you haven’t seen the match, due to the, let’s call it, lethargic performance of Santos Escobar, who was diagnosed with a tricep injury in the aftermath of the show and can be clearly seen grabbing the affected arm just before the finish. Escobar had been off his mark for the duration of the match, failing to help catch a La Parka dive to the outside before struggling to execute his parts in the run up to the finish. It became so noticeable that even the English commentary team made efforts to cover for it as the match went on, knowing that he would be involved in the finish.

La Parka was highlighted in the first part of the match, with this current variation being dubbed “the skeletal superstar”(shudder) has inherited the record of his predecessors in the gimmick, making this his eighteenth entry in the match. His ropewalk moonsault was the highlight of the early goings.

The main story of the match, though, was the battle between the Americanos, whose in ring brawling eventually spilled out into the crowd. The Kaiser version managed to return to the ring, whilst the Gable Americano found himself handcuffed to a skybox thanks to the Los Americanos team, mirroring how Kaiser had lost his original qualifying match for this bout before a late reprieve saw him added. Gable could only look on as Kaiser Americano hit Santos Escobar with two loaded headbutts and claimed the victory, after Escobar had been prevented from bringing a chair back into the ring by someone wearing his former mask. There was to be no ceremony right after, though, or a forced embrace with Marisela Peña in the front row, as they quickly cut away to a video for the main event of this week’s TV.

El Hijo del Vikingo would once more challenge for the AAA Mega Championship, but this time with the stipulation that if he lost to current champion Dominik Mystero then it would be his last challenge as long as the younger Mysterio is champion. This, perhaps ironically (or not, you pick), was the night before Adam Page’s ‘never challenge for the AEW World Championship’ stipulation played out on AEW PPV. In return, if Vikingo won, then Dominik would be forced to leave AAA. This would also be a ‘No DQ’ match, meaning Dorian Roldán and Omos were to play a part in proceedings and keep the heel with some sort of advantage going in. Vikingo could have used that sort of sound psychology in his match ups a number of times last year.

He came out of the blocks in this one fast as well, throwing a series of kicks at Mysterio before literally throwing a chair at his head. The contact of the chair made an almighty noise, with Mysterio seemingly busted open hard-way and appearing to be fully rocked. He continued working the match, but it was no real surprise that he entered concussion protocol right after, and his match with Dragon Lee for the following week’s “Raw” broadcast was pulled.

Vikingo was in control for a while after that, taking out Mysterio with a tope to the outside as he sat on a chair, before shoving a garbage can over the champion’s head and battering it with kendo sticks. Mysterio eventually made his comeback, narrowly missing out on completing all three amigos suplexes, before having his next pin broken up by Dorian Roldán. This began the much expected interference part of the match. Mysterio’s first attempt at a 619 was blocked by Omos, who chokeslammed Dominik on the apron, and then again in the ring. This brought out Mini Vikingo, who gave his larger counterpart a chair to the back before distracting Omos enough for Dominik to hit him with a low blow. Mini Vikingo had been a victim of the Ojo stable in recent weeks, having been attacked by them on a show before enduring a second attack in hospital.

The chaos was ended by Mysterio getting some sort of revenge for the earlier chair throw by launching one at Vikingo, who fell kindly into position for a 619, before a five star frog splash got the pin to a big pop from the crowd, who were not deterred by Vikingo being from the area.

© AAA

Night 2 (Aired March 21st)

The second night of the “Rey de Reyes” broadcast opened in the ring with an intergender six man that saw Rey Fénix team with the AAA World Mixed Title holders Mr. Iguana and Lola Vice against La Hiedra and Money Machine. It often feels a little chastising to see how Fénix is presented in AAA by WWE compared to brother Penta, especially in regards of the match choices for both, but this one was very much used to give Fénix a pin victory ahead of him issuing a challenge to Laredo Kid on the next show over the AAA Cruiserweight belt. Most of the athletic exploits in this match came from Fénix, with a few strong spots from Lola Vice, mixed in with some ass based offense from her and La Hiedra. Mr. Iguana and his puppet iguana covered the comedy spots (although being whipped by the toy looks bloody painful to be honest). This was a fun affair, and at least stayed on track better than other recent six man matches on AAA TV.

Next up were Pagano and Psycho Clown defending the AAA Tag Team Championships against a WWE main roster team in the form of the War Raiders. Pagano arrived to the ring wearing a pretty cool Psychosis mask. This was the first match on any part of the card where the full time AAA talents were more popular than the WWE wrestlers who had come in for the show, and that played well into the format, with the War Raiders able to control much of the match to get the right reactions by showing their extensive power advantage over the AAA pair. It still feels rather odd to see Pagano wrestling more straightforward wrestling matches than plunder matches, but you can’t say he isn’t trying, even bringing out the Emerald Flowsion for this one.

Pagano and Psycho Clown were surviving for much of this match, but the other undercurrent was the classic WWE trope of ‘can they co-exist?’ after recent examples of dissension between the pair in previous matches. This came to a head later on when Psycho Clown became his half faced version, and it looked like things were about to get ugly between them. Cooler heads prevailed here, though, and the match continued. Unfortunately, this one ended with the same sort of finish I think I have seen no less than half a dozen times in MLW over the past year, where they don’t want to beat either team so they brawl continuously to the point they are disqualified and then continue brawling until the camera cuts away from the ring.

The main event of the show was the sword ceremony that we felt was missing after the “Rey de Reyes” finals match at the end of the first night airing. The presentation for this one, you guessed it, has also been adapted to a much more WWE style. Gone are the banner, the ashes and the obligatory awkward hug of Marisela Peña. Instead we have a ceremony where everyone stands in a long line at the back of the ring, which on this occasion included Peña, Dorian Roldán shoved into a suit, as well as other former sword winners. It ended up being quite a funny line-up, as this did not include La Parka but did have Chessman (who looked thoroughly bemused), Texano Jr (who looked ecstatic to be on a WWE produced show) and Cibernético, who received a big crowd pop on entrance but couldn’t hide how silly he thought the whole thing was.

Then it was time for sword winner Grande Americano (Kaiser version), to make his way to the ring to accept his ceremonial prize. Americano really is one of the most, perhaps even the most, over person on this entire show, and it has only been helped by his ability to cut promos in Spanish. He spent the early part of his speech thanking AAA and talking about his respect for lucha libre and the fans, before concluding with how the ‘pride of Mexico’ is not about where you were born, but about having pride in the culture. The commentary was obsessed over whether he was crying or not, but it did feel like a generally nice moment between Americano and the fans (be it within the restraints of the WWE segment structure). In WWE no nice moment can go uninterrupted, though, so out came Dominik Mysterio. Mysterio suggested to Grande that they could have their AAA Mega Title match right now, before the Chad Gable version of Americano jumped Kaiser from behind. This was a full-on beat down thereafter, with Gable throwing Kaiser into everything he could on the outside before ripping at his mask. Los Americanos made the save on the outside but no one had moved at the sword from the centre of the ring, which Gable ran away with to close out night two.

© AAA

Night 3 (Aired March 28th)

The final airing of the “Rey de Reyes” show on March 28th opened with Laredo Kid successfully defending his AAA Cruiserweight Title against TJ Perkins, Dragon Lee and Jack Cartwheel. This was the athletic affair that you would have expected going in, with Cartwheel once again showcased throughout and receiving the loudest reactions from the crowd. TJ Perkins, whose half-Aswang/half-gamer entrance left spots of red food colouring all over his face at the start of the match and all over his wrist tape throughout, played the role of the singular heel in the match, leading to him eventually taking the pin after Laredo Kid hit him with a Poison Rana followed by a god awful looking curb stomp. It had plenty of good action whilst also feeling very similar to a number of other matches in this division as of late.

Before I say this I have to disclose that I truly have enjoyed watching Penta wrestle for over a decade, and one of his match worn masks is a prized possession of mine. With that out of the way: after enduring the second long, meandering promo from Penta at these tapings, I am pretty sure I never need to see a long Penta promo ever again. This one set up the IC Title match with Vikingo at least.

The last of this trio of shows closed out with a supposed grudge match between El Fiscal and Abismo Negro Jr. This one was presented as somewhat of a feud ender between the former partners in Los Vipers but saw them work a regular, WWE style wrestling match. It was never going to work here. It was too slow, the crowd thought nothing of it, and it was a complete de-escalation of their last match on February 21st, where Negro Jr. was disqualified for excessive violence. El Fiscal won, to a timid reaction, before being hit with the banned tombstone piledriver on the announce table in the post match. It remains unclear whether this match not being an actual feud ender is a good thing or not.

One thing that came through to me after watching these shows is just how much AAA fulfills the role in the WWE ecosystem that used to be held by NXT – with WWE main roster talent opting to work extra curricular matches there, storylines and wrestlers appearing on main roster television and talents like Cartwheel being highlighted there in a way they once would at Full Sail. The difference in attention that these shows got compared to NXT’s “Stand and Deliver” show last weekend has only heightened my feelings around this.

Mexican Independents

Mexican Independents News

Alberto del Rio was arrested following a 911 call on 6th April in his hometown of San Luis Potosi. According to William Beltrán of Super Luchas, Del Rio’s wife reported physical and verbal assault on the call. When the officers arrived, they found that the victim had visible injuries to her face and arms and then detained Del Rio. He was subsequently transferred to La Pila prison and in an initial hearing on 9th April, he was remanded in pre-trial detention on justified grounds for the offence of domestic violence (aggravated assault in a family context). According to local media, Del Rio was forgiven by his wife and he paid one million pesos in damages, which granted Del Rio conditional suspension of a sentence. He was immediately released from prison but must comply with conditions set by the judge, which are not public.

The Crash News

Following the news about Alberto Del Rio, The Crash released a statement that it has suspended Del Rio from all their programming.

On 20th March, Demonio Infernal became the next contender for The Crash Heavyweight Title, defeating Alberto El Patron and D’Luxe.

Six masks will be on the line for The Crash’s 15th anniversary show, with Extreme Tiger, El Hijo de Fishman, El Hijo de Rey Misterio, El Hijo de Máscara Sagrada, Trauma II and Rey Horuz announced as participants in a Mask vs. Mask six-way.

International Wrestling Revolution Group (IWRG) News

As per the very knowledgeable Rob Viper, in March 2026 IWRG announced that their head booker Coy Alvarez had left the promotion.

On 15th March, IWRG held their most recent big show “Encadenados”. Bombero Infernal lost his hair in the main event, with Chessman and Hell Boy the other participants in the match.

RIOT Lucha Libre News

Vengador will face Galeno del Mal in a singles match on 2nd May at “La Chamba”.

© Jason Barker / C*4 Wrestling

Canada

C*4 “Bring It On”

19th February 2026
Algonquin Commons Theatre, Ottawa, Canada

Review By Alice V. Bell

Capital City Championship Combat (C*4) brought back their all-women show for a second year, once again partnering with the Algonquin College Students’ Association, to run the Algonquin Commons Theatre (ATC) instead of their usual home of the Preston Events Centre.

C4 announced it was the highest pre-sale for any ATC show, surpassing the four previous shows they held at the venue (no official attendance was announced, but some back of the envelope math would have it over 350 at a minimum). This was a fun show with a hot crowd and solid-to-great in-ring action, ending with the crowning of the first ever Women’s C4 Champion.

The opener featured a matchup between two wrestlers who could not be more different. Tiara James had a fun little hand mirror and Toni Storm style fluffy sheer cape gimmick in her entrance, meanwhile Tara Zep skittered out onto the stage in white and black clown makeup and ripped jorts while her theme song referenced Hereditary. In a fantastic bit of heel work from James she managed to get the Ottawa, Ontario, Canada crowd to cheer for a wrestler billed from Toronto. We live in strange times. James had some great power spots, hefting Zep onto her shoulders more than once, and doing some squats while carrying her just for the hell of it. Her control segments worked perfectly to complement Zep’s babyface comeback, with the crowd getting behind Zep as she took the win with a turnbuckle elbow drop.

Order was restored to the universe in the second match as the crowd hated the Montreal based Dani Leo with a passion and she gleefully soaked up the boos as she worked over Laurel Cassidy and Layla Wilde. Wilde is from Ottawa, and the first woman trainee out of The Keep, Evil Uno and Stu Grayson’s wrestling school. She’s a self proclaimed gym girl and during her introduction she did a backflip in the middle of the ring. I love her already. Commentary hyped up her strength as she hefted up her opponents and chucked them around the ring. She’s done standing moonsaults in other matches though, so she’s got more in her arsenal than what we saw in that match. Eventually Leo’s heelish ways got the better of her as she was rolled up by Wilde while focusing on throwing Cassidy out of the ring.

Next up was Azaelle vs Wanda Delrey, a match that I thought would be a standard big hoss throws around a smaller and more agile opponent style affair but Delrey is from Toronto and so she was playing up the arrogance while Azaelle got the crowd behind her in a delightful spot where she asked the crowd to count her ten hip attacks against Delrey in the corner. (Waka Tsukiyama girl, you gotta take notes, there’s a better way to do it). Delrey got the pin after eye poking the ref while over Azaelle’s shoulders. C4 refs are not making an argument for not being booed here I gotta say.

The next two matches were elimination matches leading up to crowning the first ever C4 Women’s Champion. The first of them was a three way between Seleziya Sparx, Kristara, and Gabby Forza, with Loue O’Farrell having to drop out due to illness. Kristara was the first Montrealer of the night to be cheered, but she’s so delightful you can’t not love her. She teamed up with Forza against Sparx, who tried to work heel but I think she fell victim to being too cool and the crowd cheered her stomping on the two babyfaces, before a double crossface broken by Forza powering the other two up onto her back got the crowd back onside. Sparx’s reign of terror was put to an end when she was the first to be eliminated. Forza was by far the most over person in the match, but adopted a more aggressive and heelish attitude towards The Sweetest Pea as the two remaining wrestlers battled to move on for a chance at the title. Kristara picked up the win with a Shining Wizard.

Kristara’s opponent for the inaugural C4 Women’s Championship was determined in the next elimination match. This one was a four way between Vanessa Kraven, Alexia Nicole, Ava Lawless, and Leah Sparks. The match kicked off with a brief meeting between Nicole, Lawless, and Sparks about possibly teaming up against Kraven, who was over a foot taller than the rest of them. They didn’t reach a consensus before Lawless rushed Kraven and was promptly flattened, leading the other two to join forces and work to throw Kraven out of the ring. There was a funny bit where one of them suggested friendship which the crowd booed, and then Nicole and Sparks teamed up against Lawless, as Lawless declared there is no friendship in wrestling. Lawless eliminated Sparks, then Kraven and Nicole had a duel where they teased the sub 5 foot tall Nicole attempting a vertical suplex on 6 ft tall Kraven (who is also twice Nicole’s weight), and actually lifting Kraven onto her shoulders before Kraven escaped for a brutal German suplex. Nicole eventually eliminated Kraven, leaving only her and Lawless in the ring. They exchanged forearms on the apron before Nicole hit a brutal piledriver on Lawless, and rolled her into the ring for a second piledriver to finish her off.

If you’re keeping track of Montrealers who got booed for being from Montreal, add Dreya Mitchell to that list, as someone in the crowd audibly yelled “fuck off!” when that fact was announced. Her opponent was Billy Starkz, making her C4 debut. Mitchell proceeded to bully Starkz and give her a rather uncharitable first impression of Ottawa, so the boos and crowd jeers were pretty deserved. Starkz would later successfully pull off the most dangerous move in professional wrestling: a diving crossbody, onto the stage (seriously so many people get hurt doing these) only to have Mitchell send her through the mat with a spinebuster. They traded offense until Mitchell caught Starkz out of the air on another diving crossbody, and a kick/lariat sequence sent both to the mat. There was a fantastic finishing sequence with some bumps that looked real gnarly, ending with Starkz hitting a Swanton Bomb for the win.

© Jason Barker / C*4 Wrestling

Next we got to experience some extremely powerful Aussie and Quebecois energy from Kingsley and Kacey Diamond with an entrance that included a duet that was really something that should be witnessed rather than described. They faced off against the Punk Rock Pussycats (Allie Katch and Jody Threat). There was so much shouted Quebecois, the ref was miserably begging everyone to stop yelling, it was perfect. As a cool down comedy match before the main event it’s gonna be hit or miss with people, but I thought it was hilarious. It did go a bit long though. Punk Rock Pussycats picked up the win.

For the main event, and to crown the first ever C4 women’s champion, we had Kristara vs Alexia Nicole. The last C4 show saw these two teaming, only for miscommunication to result in a loss. Now they meet in a C4 ring once again as opponents. They were evenly matched until Nicole got the upper hand with two meteoras, followed by a pretty dominant string of offense, getting more and more impatient with every kickout by Kristara. Kristara briefly fought back with a sunset flip for a series of traded pin attempts, but Nicole took over again with a Muta Lock that had Kristara struggling for the ropes. Finally this gave Kristara an opening for a submission of her own as she tried for a leg lock. After yet another kickout by Kristara, Nicole went under the ring to find something new and innovative: a door. Now it makes sense why the ring announcer clarified twice before the start of the match that there were no DQs or count outs. Since this is wrestling we can all guess what happens next, Kristara speared Nicole through the door, and tried a Shining Wizard for a near count. When that failed Kristara got Nicole up on the turnbuckle for a superplex that Nicole reversed into an electric chair backslam, followed by a piledriver for the win.

© Jason Barker / C*4 Wrestling

Alexia Nicole would go on to successfully defend the inaugural C4 women’s championship at C4’s next show “A Blade In The Dark” on March 13th. Also on the same show, just before heading to Japan with ChocoPro, Junior Benito lost his C4 Title to Sheldon Jean in the main event and The Rogues (Casey Ferreira & Elliot Tyler) became the new C4 Tag Team Champions.

© Winnipeg Pro Wrestling

Winnipeg Pro Wrestling (WPG) News

“Fight at the Museum”, held on 31st March with Mercedes Mone defending her WPW Women’s Title, sold out weeks in advance. You can see why WPW were one of the most outspoken proponents of Mercedes’ independent run that received some criticism (from mostly unserious commentators).

The annual Voyageur Cup was held over two nights on 13th and 14th March, won by Jody Threat and Devon Monroe. Threat went on to defeat Mercedes Mone for the Women’s Title. BRAX, who lost in the final to Monroe, became the new 92.1 CITI Champion at “Fight at the Museum”.

Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling (MLP) News

MLP teamed up with AEW (ROH) for “Global Wars Canada”. The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson) became the new MLP Canadian Tag Team Champion after winning the vacant titles in a four way in the main event, overcoming Bishop Dyer & Kaito Kiyomiya, Gates of Agony and Bryan Hansen & Sheldon Jean. Jean then teamed with Brent Banks to win the titles off of the Good Brothers the next night on the “Uprising” show. In the main event, Stu Grayson won the Interim MLP Canadian Title following Josh Alexander’s injury.

During Global Wars, MLP announced that it had secured a TV deal in Canada with a new weekly programme titled “MLP Mayhem” set to debut on TSN in July 2026. TSN has been the home of AEW in Canada since 2019. The first tapings will take place on 12th and 13th June, with further tapings on 7th and 8th August.

Mystery Wrestling News

“Mystery Wrestling 23” was held at Midway Music Hall in Edmonton, Alberta. There was one major name announced for the show: AEW World Champion MJF. His appearance ended up getting cancelled. As a make-good, he recorded lines for a promo and AEW allowed “MJS” (Sasquatch as Sasquatch Jacob Friedman) to use his theme music on the show while also carrying a plastic toy AEW World Title belt. Psycho Mike faced MJS in the main event, with both deciding to pour water over a fan and the crowd chanting “You deserve it!” at the fan. That happened twice.

“Mystery Wrestling 24” was held in Vancouver the night before AEW Dynasty which included Mike Bailey on commentary, TJPW’s HIMAWARI (as they were on tour in Vancouver at the same time), Daisuke Sasaki (former DDT Universal Champion on excursion in the US before returning for New Japan’s Best of the Super Juniors 33) and Dragongate wrestlers Dragon Kid, Kzy & YAMATO. Dragongate had just been in Washington state for a DEFY show. The main event was KENTA defeating Stu Grayson. Of course, the magic in Mystery Wrestling is not the results or appearances themselves, so check it out!

Alpha-1 Wrestling News

To kick off A1’s 2026 at “Buck Wild 2026”, Channing Thomas defeated Kody Lane to become the new Alpha Male Champion while Bryce Hansen defeated twelve other competitors to go home with Sam Holloway’s Outer Limits Title.

© Brazilian Wrestling Federation / cintiasiqueirafotografa

Rest of the Americas

Brazilian Wrestling Federation (BWF) News

At “In Your House 31”, the “Spartan” Dillos retained his Sobrevivente Title against Victor Boer and the man from Greece, Pano Sereti. BWF is very active on social media, both Twitter and YouTube, so check them out!

Xplosion Lucha Libre News

Xplosion has finally announced a date for their biggest show of the year “XPLOSIONMANIA 3”. It will take place on 3rd May at their usual venue of Teatro Municipal de San Miguel. The show will be main evented by South American independent veteran Gaston Mateo defending his Undisputed World Title against Joel, who represents the new generation of wrestlers coming through the ranks. It is being billed as “Experience vs. Youth” and “a generational clash that will define an era.” Javistar will defend her National Women’s Title against Casey in a No Escape match. The stipulations will change during the match, and the wrestler that ends the match with the most victories will work away with the title. Javistar is the standout star of the division. Andres Rojas and Castigador will battle it out in a deathmatch while La Onda Expansiva will defend their tag team title in a ladder match.

Xplosion have also announced a new recruitment round, wanting more trainees, both men and women, to join their academy in Santiago, Chile.

Guerra de Titanes News

Guerra de Titanes, another popular Chilean promotion, held “AMBICIÓN DE PODER 2026” on 26th March. There are some clips on its social media, including a crazy moonsault where Coyote almost seemed to have buckled his leg but badly damaged his left leg but finished the match which was for the Campeonato Máximo de Legión Lucha Libre. Brian Kendrick was in the match and initially won by cheating, but legendary Latin America commentator Hugo Savinovich pointed it out on commentary so the referee restarted the match which then Alexios Myth won. At the end of the show, Brian Kendrick came back out and choked out Hugo. Leah defeated Azumi (a Chilean wrestler, not a typo of Stardom’s AZM) and Indi Hartweel to become the new Women’s World Champion, while Nic Nemeth beat Dylan Fabrizio in the main event to become the new Revolución Lucha Libre World Champion. Unfortunately for Nic, Matias Campbell immediately cashed in his briefcase to win the title.

Guerra de Titanes ran “Inquebrantables” on 12th April which saw the fallout of “AMBICIÓN DE PODER 2026” as well as the debut of Sebastian Caceres, who is being billed as an Olympic-level wrestler who has helped train wrestlers already.

Guerra de Titanes has a big show on 14th June at Estadio Municipal de San Joaquin with both Chris Masters and Carlito making an appearance.

Legión Pro Wrestling News

Following their recent re-branding, Legion Pro Wrestling returned with a second show in Buenos Aires on 15th March, with Matt Del Mul winning the Legion Maximum Title, defeating Gint Giovanna in the main event. There were also new Tag Team Champions as Chenen Club (Adriano & Fackzilla) beat CLS (Hunter & Pandemia). Unfortunately, they are immediately going on hiatus again for the foreseeable future. The statement said that it was due to circumstances beyond their control and that it was not a goodbye but a “see you soon.” Apparently they are still running the dojo though if you’d like to learn how to wrestle. The school based in Lanús has returned with around ten classes a month and they charge $15,000 (Argentinian pesos) for the month or $5,000 (Argentinian pesos) for the day.