NXT’s Brinley Reece announced her departure from WWE after three years. Reece said she decided to leave because of health issues and a serious injury which required surgery last year.
“It wasn’t an easy choice, but it was a necessary one — choosing my health, my body, and my future first,” she wrote in a long post on social media. “That choice alone has been one of the most powerful lessons this journey gave me.
She described her last three years as “truly life-changing” and she was pushed in ways she never imagined, learning resilience, discipline, and belief in the process and grow not just as a wrestler, but as a person as well.
“This isn’t an ending — it’s a redirection. I’m proud of everything I gave to this chapter, and even more excited for what’s ahead. Thank you for being part of my journey. The best is still to come,” she concluded.
The 25-year-old California native was a tumbler and acrobat before she was recruited by WWE. She suffered a shoulder injury in May of last year and appeared multiple times on NXT and EVOLVE.
Raw General Manager Adam Pearce dropped a big Chris Jericho hint while hyping up tomorrow’s Raw on Netflix.
There are a lot of rumors that Jericho could show up on Raw tomorrow as he is now supposedly a free agent, with his AEW contract expiring at Midnight on January 1.
After announcing that Liv Morgan will return to the ring against Lyra Valkyria, Pearce said there are three huge championship matches and wondered “who can break down the walls and claim the gold.”
Breaking down the walls is obviously a reference to Chris Jericho and his iconic WWE theme song.
Raw tomorrow is the one year anniversary episode on Netflix and it will be a crossover with the streaming service’s most popular TV series, Stranger Things.
WWE is asking fans who will be attending the show at the Barclays Center tomorrow to wear Stranger Things-related costumes and merch.
Iyo Sky and Shinsuke Nakamura sent flowers to Hiroshi Tanahashi for his retirement match. The flowers were displayed in several social media posts during the day.
Tanahashi actually posted the flower arrangement by Nakamura, which had the words, “26 years of hard work, thank you!!” on his X account. Tanahashi replied by also writing “Thank you” in the post.
Sky wrote on X that he gave wonderful influence to a tremendous number of pro wrestlers, and she is one of those.
“The title of “Etsujo” (逸女) bestowed upon me by Issai during our discussion 11 years ago is a treasure for my lifetime,” Sky said, adding that she would be cheering on The Ace from America.
Nakamura is a previous opponent of Tanahashi and the two even had a match at Wrestle Kingdom back in 2014.
Several WWE Superstars who worked with Tanahashi in the past also paid tribute to him on socials.
AEW kicked off its second Esports Stadium residency in Arlington, Texas last night.
The company had yesterday’s episode of Collision as well as the January 10, January 24, and January 31 episodes of the show all taking place from the same location. The January 14 episode will be taped with Dynamite in Phoenix, Arizona.
All ROH television tapings for the next few weeks will also be held at the Esports Stadium prior to the start of Collision.
AEW did a similar residency in Arlington in July/August 2024 marketed as the AEW Path To All In Summer Series.
Hirsohi Tanahashi paid tribute to WWE’s Shinsuke Nakamura during his final match against Kazuchika Okada today at the Tokyo Dome.
After leveling Okada with a Bomaye, a move regularly performed by Nakamura, Tanahashi started doing Nakamura’s hand motion and the crowed popped big. He then went to the corner, held on to the top rope and did Nakamura’s signature drop with the fans chanting along. Tanahashi then hit Okada with the Kinshasa.
Nakamura, who at one point was considered for the coveted spot to face Tanahashi in the Wrestle Kingdom 20 main event, was not present at the show, but was watching the event live, and posted “I’m watching you” during the match.
NJPW’s close relationship with AEW complicated matters to have Nakamura wrestle Tanahashi, or even appear at the show.
Several former NJPW stars who are now part of the AEW roster, like Kenny Omega, Katsuyori Shibata, Will Ospreay, and Jay White, were part of the retirement ceremony following the match.
AEW star Kazuchika Okada defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi in the main event of today’s Wrestle Kingdom 20, with Tanahashi taking a clean pinfall in his retirement match.
Okada retired Tanahashi after he hit the Rainmaker and then a lariat, ending the NJPW President’s illustrious 26-year wrestling career, with New Japan Pro-Wrestling always present in his path.
AEW’s Konosuke Takeshita and Kazuchika Okada are participating in today’s Wrestle Kingdom 20 pay-per-view in Tokyo, Japan.
Takeshita, who is currently the IWGP World Heavyweight champion, will face Yota Tsuji, who is the IWGP Global Heavyweight champion, in a winner-takes-all match.
Meanwhile, Okada will have the honor of facing Hiroshi Tanahashi, the President of NJPW, in his retirement match, a coveted spot which had a long list of people aiming for.
Thekla was also involved in the first match of the evening, accompanying War Dogs to the ring.
Former NJPW stars Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay are also in attendance, but not in action, as they will be part of Tanahashi’s retirement ceremony which will follow the main event.
In a statement released on social media, Matt Cardona thanked all the promoters who for the past five years, booked him on their shows, as well as all his opponents and fans who supported him leading to achieving his goal of returning to WWE.
Cardona said that in 2020, his release had to happen after he traveled the world, won championships, and experienced the highest of highs and lowest of lows.
He said he had three options after he got released: he could feel sorry for himself and become bitter, he could coast off his WWE name and make money for the rest of his life, or he could reinvent himself and work his ass off.
“I chose option 3,” Cardona wrote. “These past 5 years on the indies have been the greatest time of my career…so far.”
He added that from the moment he got released, he wanted to prove himself and all his fans right.
“I’m often asked for advice. My advice is don’t quit. You might make it if you don’t,” he added. “You definitely won’t make it if you do. I took my own advice. I never quit.”
He concluded saying that his goal was to get back to WWE and as of January 2, he is back in WWE as Matt Cardona.
“I am Alwayz Ready and I’M NOT FINISHED,” Cardona concluded, along with a plug to buy his new t-shirt.
John Cena also welcomed Cardona back to WWE with a post on X of his own.
“Persistence and preparation tend to help manufacture luck. I couldn’t be more proud of both @TheMattCardona and @ImChelseaGreen,” Cena wrote. “They stand as a tremendous example of making luck through effort. Welcome home Matt.”
Nikki and Brie Bella will be featured in an upcoming Mr. Beast video on YouTube.
The popular YouTuber announced that to celebrate the release of Beast Games 2 premiering this coming week, he and Kevin Hart gathered 30 celebrities to compete for $1 million for charity.
The video is expected to go live on Mr. Beast’s YouTube channel on Wednesday.
Joining the Bellas are Selma Blair, Steve-O, Cedric The Entertainer, Josh Peck, Sal Vulcano, Eugenio Derbez, Alessia Cara, Howie Mandel, and more.
NXT’s Jordynne Grace appeared on Smackdown last night and is looking like she is also joining the blue brand roster.
The former TNA Knockouts champion showed up in a backstage segment with General Manager Nick Aldis as Aldis tried to sell her the idea of joining Smackdown. Grace was noncommittal to the plan.
Later in the broadcast, Grace somewhat interrupted Jade Cargill’s interview time with Cathy Kelly. Cargill asked Grace what she wanted, and Grace responded by saying that she wanted to get a good look at all the options before deciding if she’s moving to Smackdown.
“I suggest you sign somewhere else because this is my show and I’m that bitch,” Cargill responded.
“Well, I’m Jordynne Grace, but you’re definitely one of those,” Grace fired back.
Bodyslam.net is reporting through the Bodyslam+ Patreon service that Tommaso Ciampa is departing WWE when his contract ends soon.
The website states that the former NXT champion is opting not to sign a new WWE deal, with his future remaining unclear at this point. If his contract expires, Ciampa could technically show up anywhere immediately.
Ciampa has been with WWE since 2015 and moved to the main roster in 2022. He is a former two-time NXT champion, one-time NXT Tag Team champion, and two-time WWE Tag Team champion.
His DIY tag team partner, Johnny Gargano, also left WWE in 2021 and returned nine months later.
Former two-time NXT champion Trick Williams has joined Smackdown as the blue brand gets some additional bodies now that it’s also a three-hour broadcast moving forward.
Williams interrupted the returning Sami Zayn, who said that SmackDown GM Nick Aldis called the “1-800-WHOOP-THAT” number for some extra ammo.
Trick insulted Zayn, saying that unlike him, he gets the job done and Zayn responded that Williams still needs to be humbled.
Williams appeared on last week’s episode of Smackdown, hinting that he would be joining the roster.
It’s a dream real-life scenario for him as his fiancé, Lash Legend, is also part of the Smackdown roster.
Williams has been with WWE since 2021 and is a former NXT champion, NXT North American champion, Iron Survivor Challenge winner, and also a former TNA champion.
The Boxing Day episode of Smackdown last week drew 1,138,000 viewers, up 183,000 viewers from the prior week. The show had a 0.27 rating in 18-49, up 0.06 from the previous show and was the #1 top rated show on cable television for the night and #2 in all of television including networks. (Ratings credit: Programming Insider)
The Three Stages of Hell stipulations were revealed by Drew McIntyre yesterday on Smackdown, just a week before the WWE Championship is defended in Berlin, Germany.
The first fall will be a traditional wrestling match while the second fall will be a falls count anywhere match. If there’s a need for a third fall, the match will be decided inside a steel cage.
The match will headline Smackdown next week as WWE goes to a tour of Europe for the next two weeks. Raw on January 12 will be from Dusseldorf, Germany, Smackdown on January 16 will be from London, England, and Raw on January 19 will be from Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Japanese star Giulia has regained the WWE Women’s United States title after she defeated Chelsea Green on last night’s episode of Smackdown.
Giulia won the title after she hit the Northern Lights Bomb finisher on the champ following some interference from Kiana James and also Alba Fyre.
This ends Green’s second stint with the title after 56 days. Giulia’s first reign lasted 133 days but was super underwhelming, with limited TV time given during that time.
Giulia, who is considered one of the best female wrestlers on the planet and a huge star in Japan, has yet to click with the audience on the main roster, a stark contrast from her NXT days.
Randy Orton returned to Smackdown last night after an absence of three months from WWE television.
The Viper interrupted The Miz’s opening segment of the show and was serenaded by the fans who sang his popular Voices theme song.
The Miz was airing his 2025 grievances when Orton interrupted. The Miz welcomed back Orton and fist bumped him and suggested they team up as MizKO. Orton tried to gauge the fans’ interest in this new tag team but then out of nowhere hit the RKO on The Miz.
Fans chanted “one more time” but Orton went to shake Miz’s hand while he still was flat on his back. He had a change of heart, helped Miz up, wished him a happy new year, and hit another RKO to delight of the fans.
Matt Cardona has re-signed with WWE and will be using his real name moving forward instead of the Zack Ryder name which the company owns.
Cardona was the surprise opponent of Kit Wilson on last night’s Smackdown and first entered to his Ryder theme song before it switched, with the video screen showing Matt Cardona and the ring announcer introducing him under his real name.
Cardona, as Ryder, appeared in The Last Time Is Now tournament last year also as a surprise entry and through his TNA deal appeared a couple of times on NXT as well.
“A lesson to learn for everyone going into 2026: Stay Ready,” wrote Triple H on X. “Congrats and welcome back home @TheMattCardona.”
The 40-year-old, who is married to Chelsea Green, had a 15-year stint with WWE between 2005 and 2020 and then went on to become the self-proclaimed king of the indies, reinventing himself in the process. He spent the last year working with TNA Wrestling.
The first Smackdown of 2026 takes place live tonight from the KeyBank Arena in Buffalo, New York and it will be a three hour affair, with the show adding an extra hour moving forward.
Three matches have been announced for tonight, including Jade Cargill vs Michin in a non-title match, Chelsea Green defends the WWE Women’s U.S. title against Giulia, an eight-woman tag match with Rhea Ripley, Iyo Sky, Charlotte Flair, and Alexa Bliss vs Nia Jax, Lash Legend, Asuka, and Kairi Sane, and the main event featuring Damian Priest vs Aleister Black in an ambulance match.
Plus, WWE champion Cody Rhodes also appears ahead of the Three Stages of Hell match and his opponent Drew McIntyre reveals the match stipulations.
All this plus more on USA Network starting at 8PM ET. The show airs on Netflix live for international viewers.
Madison Rayne announced her retirement yesterday after losing in a tag match with Deonna Purrazzo on the weekly ROH TV show.
“Tonight was exceptionally emotional because this is the end of an era for Madison Rayne,” she said in a backstage segment afterward. “I knew it was coming. This time comes for everyone in their career.”
The duo lost to Billie Starkz and Diamante, with Rayne taking the pin by Starkz.
Rayne has been signed to AEW as a coach and producer since 2022.
The 39-year-old had a long career and multiple stints with TNA where she is a former five-time Knockouts champion and three-time Knockouts Tag Team champion.
Reigning TNA champion Frankie Kazarian sat down with Chris Van Vliet at West Coast Creative Studio in Hollywood, California to discuss the controversial way he won the World title, why he left AEW to return to TNA, how close he came to signing with WWE and why his first run didn’t lead to more, being a part of the first Ultimate X match, his wife Traci Brooks possibly returning to wrestling, and more!
You became TNA World Champion at 48 years old. Did you think at one point it wouldn’t happen?
“Absolutely. I mean, there was a time early on, like 2007-ish, where I was kind of on the come-up as a singles babyface, getting some good matches, and had a lot of good momentum. But just seeing who was above me on the ladder was like, just don’t think it’s going to happen for me. I will say, at the time, from an in-ring standpoint, I think I was a very good wrestler. I don’t think I had developed my personality and promo skills to what you need to be a World Champion. Then years went by and kind of became a fleeting thought, it’s just not going to ever happen. But I always like to say this, dreams do not have an expiration date. So, 48 years old or 28 years old, doesn’t matter. I got the job done.”
People hate how you won this championship:
“Good. You know, it’s show business. Sometimes the Joker beats Batman, sometimes the bad guy wins. What matters to me is that they’re angry, and that tells me that they care, tells me that they’re paying attention.”
You picked your moment perfectly:
“From a character standpoint, why would I not go after a wounded animal when I see one? That’s kind of bad guy 101. We’re still in the storytelling business, and the business has evolved and gotten rather complex, but at the end of the day, it’s still kind of black hat versus white hat. At least that’s the way I approach it.”
What made you return to TNA?
“So I was with AEW before AEW was a thing, essentially. There was the group of us from Ring of Honor, we all, coincidentally enough, had contracts expiring at the end of that year. The Bucks and Cody, Hangman Page, myself, Scorpio Sky, and Christopher Daniels, we had been privy to some information about this guy, Tony Khan, and he’s a huge wrestling fan, his father’s a billionaire. You know how many times I’ve heard that story? ‘This guy has money. He’s gonna start a wrestling company.’ I’m like, Okay, I believe it when I see it. But ended up meeting Tony and he told us, kind of his vision and everything, asked if we were interested, and it’s like, yeah. All of us kind of collectively are like, we’re doing this. And bam, AEW was born, it burst onto the scene and exploded. It kind of changed wrestling for a while, at least. So I was there, 2019.”
You won their first-ever tag team championships?
“First ever there. Yep, me and Scorpio Sky. They switch it up and put us as the team, we had teamed in Ring of Honor as well. So another one of my best, dear friends and guy have amazing chemistry with. One of my best buds, still to this day. Had that first initial tag run, then that stopped, and then kind of just bounced around, did a pretty cool storyline with myself and CD [Christopher Daniels], where he had a match against The Young Bucks, where I put the stipulation out where if we don’t win this match, if we can’t win these titles, we’re done as a tag team and lost that. That story, if anyone hasn’t seen that story, I recommend go back and looking, because it’s really good, some of our best work, and The Young Bucks as well. Then kind of was starting to do my own singles thing, and then just kind of being used as a utility player. For example, when Christian came into the company, who’s another friend and wonderful wrestler, one of the most underrated dudes on Earth, I had his first match because he trusted me and he hadn’t wrestled in seven years. So they put me in there with him, and we had a great match. When Adam Cole comes, [I’m] his first match. So I was kind of the guy, I could have great matches with anybody, but that was it. That was kind of my role. A lot of times I was kind of relegated to sitting on the bench, and I don’t do well like that. I’m not wired like that. I cannot stand complacency. There came a point where I was thinking to myself, in my opinion, the most valuable thing you can give me, or that I can give you, is time, because that’s the one thing we’re all running out of. Money, possessions, all this stuff, fine, whatever. But for you to give me some of your time, I appreciate that. And so I just thought to myself, with the time I have left in pro wrestling, and this was the end of 2022, I needed to give that time to somebody that valued it and appreciated it. I don’t know if I have five years, ten years left, but I know there’s more years behind me than they’re in front of me. But with the time I have left, I want to give that time to somebody that is going to value and appreciate it more so than I felt it was being valued and appreciated at the end of AEW.”
So your contract came to an end?
“No, I just re-signed the year before. I just re-signed for another three years. And then December of 2022, I get a call from a representative in the office, and they’re like, ‘Hey, just wanna let you know we’re gonna roll you over and we’ll just see.’ I go, ‘Whoa, wait about that. I don’t want that to happen.’ They’re kind of taken aback, and had a long conversation. I said, ‘Look, honestly, I would like you if I could just get my release.’ Everything I just explained to you, I explained to the people at AEW. They were, I don’t want to say shocked, because it’s not like I’m such a giant star, but they were like, just taken aback, because nobody had left AEW at this point. Cody did. Cody had left a few months before. So it was like, wow. ‘Well, what if we do like a per-show? What if we do this?’ I go, thank you, but I need to bet on myself. I need to just sever ties and go. A little bit of back and forth, and eventually the message came down to go, ‘Okay, well TK respects you as a man and as a wrestler, and if this is what you want, we can do your release.’ I said, ‘Can you please have it to me in writing by today?’ Because I hadn’t talked to anybody, WWE, TNA, I just needed out. I needed that safety net pulled away.”
Why do you think they let you go?
“Obviously, they probably didn’t see anything long-term in me, you know, which was astonishing, because I was like, why would you re-sign me for very good money, for another three years, if they didn’t see anything? I get it, of course, that’s how it is. I could probably still be there today doing what I was doing, but I’m much, much, much happier where I am now.”
Do you remember how they pitched Ultimate X to you?
“They pulled us aside, us being myself, Chris Sabin and Michael Shane, and said, ‘We have this idea for a match, like a ladder match without ladders.’ So the original concept was chains going in the form of an X, and the belt is going to hang in the center, and it’s just like this new, innovative match. We’re like, okay. So they’re like, we’re going to fly you in a day early so you can see the structure and kind of get used to it, because they had never been done. So we all got flown into Nashville, and we go down The Asylum, the National Fairgrounds, and they’re still figuring out how to even build it. The original concept they had steel poles inside the ring posts. And they nixed the chain idea, and it was just cable. They finally got it to where, structurally, it looked good. It’s getting late at night now, and they’re like, ‘Alright, who wants to try it?’ I go, ‘I do, I’ll try it.’ I just jump up, grab and start shimmying. I start shimmying, and all four of the posts just go, then all of a sudden, I’m standing on the ground. So now you got a bunch of these engineers, construction guys, scratching their head like crap, and the pay-per-view is the next day. So, you know, uh oh. So they try to do something else. It doesn’t work. Now it’s like, midnight, one o’clock. So it’s like guys, we’ll figure it out. So we get there the next day. Still don’t really have it figured out. Eventually they did the lighting trusses, the four lighting trusses on the corners and that could support the weight and the cable and all that. But they didn’t have it set up until 10 minutes before doors opened. So we had all these ideas, but had no clue if we could pull them off. We did not get to practice, rehearse, nothing, all that stuff that happened was just in our head.”
So you didn’t get a chance to climb up?
“Nothing. So we went out there on a live pay-per-view, we knew it would support our weight, and that’s all we knew. But we had these ideas, and it’s not a regular match. You have ideas. One guy’s climbing, the other guy power bombs him, or this guy spears him. Thank God I was in there with two guys that were very, very capable wrestlers, Chris Sabin and Michael Shane. But we somehow pulled it off, man. It’s become an iconic novelty match in TNA, and in wrestling really.”
