The Hogan’s Hangout bar and restaurant in Clearwater, Florida, will have an all-day celebration of life honoring the late Hulk Hogan today on what would have been his 72nd birthday.
“Come share your stories, relive the memories, and celebrate the incredible legacy he leaves behind,” the restaurant’s Facebook page says. There will be no cover charge and offers include $3 Real American Beer drafts and $13 cheeseburger and fries.
The “main event” of the day will be a karaoke session held between 8PM and 11PM, something which Hogan loved and it’s a staple at Hogan’s Hangout every Monday.
Management is encouraging visitors to wear red and yellow.
“Bring your best Hogan energy, and let’s send him off the way he would’ve wanted — with love, laughter, and a whole lot of volume,” the post says.
Karrion Kross and Scarlett are now accepting independent bookings following their departure from WWE effective yesterday.
The duo uploaded a documentary on YouTube and Kross said that he told WWE higher-ups that he was interested in renegotiating a new deal back in January.
“I think it’s crazy…preposterous that anyone would think that I wouldn’t want to be here or like go somewhere else,” he said, adding that the frustration was that while he expressed interest to stay, he was not going to beg.
He noted that he never heard back on contract negotiations until very recently and the conversation he had with WWE felt like it was not serious.
“The conversation made me really angry because I just didn’t feel like it was a real conversation…there really wasn’t anything that was discussed of real substance,” Kross said. “Actually, it didn’t make me angry and it didn’t make me upset, it just profoundly disappointed me because I think about this business probably differently than the person I was speaking to because of the nature of what I do.”
In a post on social media, Scarlett said that she had an incredible ride in WWE and was in the best locker room she’s ever been a part of.
“These people aren’t just coworkers, they’re family. I love you all, and I’ll deeply miss seeing you every week,” Scarlett wrote, adding another thanks to the incredible fans who have been behind them for months.
NXT’s Ashante “Thee” Adonis announced in a post on social media that he is departing WWE.
He wrote that after six unforgettable years under the WWE lights, it’s time to close that chapter.
“I’m filled with nothing but gratitude for every opportunity, the experiences, lessons, and incredible talent I’ve had the chance to work with,” he wrote. “I’m truly excited to show the world what I can really do.”
He noted that sometimes you have to get off that “multiplayer” and progress your “story mode” to advance and he believes he’s the face of the future.
“This is a brand new beginning. I am becoming the best version of myself,” he continued. “You have only seen a glimpse of my true potential, and I’m just scratching the surface. I know that to some this can be a dark time, but stars can’t shine without darkness.”
The 32-year-old last wrestled on the June 24 episode of NXT, losing to Ricky Saints and only wrestled on the show four times this year.
Next week’s AAA Triplemania XXXIII event will have a Spanish and English commentary team, with the event airing on the WWE YouTube channel in both languages.
PWInsider.com is now reporting that Corey Graves will lead the English commentary team following his fantastic job at the WWE/AAA Worlds Collide Event. He teamed up with Konnan on that night for commentary but it’s unclear who will be by his side this time around.
This will be the first AAA standalone event to air on WWE’s YouTube channel. WWE will officially take over the AAA business sometime by the end of next month when their transaction closes.
The Triplemania XXXIII event had sold out and more tickets were made available after adjustments to the set to make it smaller.
It will be held on Saturday, August 16 at Arena CDMX in Mexico City.
Karrion Kross and Scarlett have both been moved to the WWE.COM alumni section after their contract has reportedly expired.
Kross was coy about his future days before it expired but said soon the whole world will know where he stands. There is a possibility that this is a work as WWE has went to great lengths to promote his book and Paul Heyman even put him over big time during the Ariel Helwani Show this past Monday.
Kross’ merchandise has been a constant bestseller on the WWE Shop site and fans have been chanting his name every week, making it seem unlikely that WWE would let go of the duo now.
It was reported that both stars were offered a new WWE deal although it’s unclear what happened after that.
Kross’ last match was at SummerSlam, losing to Sami Zayn, with the stipulation being that if he lost he had to say he was wrong to Zayn. That never played out on television…yet!
Kyle Fletcher is putting up his TNT title on the line at the Forbidden Door pay-per-view.
Fletcher, who successfully defended the title yesterday on Collision against Tomohiro Ishii, issued an open challenge to anyone on the NJPW roster to go one-on-one with him in London later this month.
His manager Don Callis then said that whoever this challenger might be, has to show up next Wednesday night on Dynamite in Cincinnati for a face-to-face.
This is the seventh match on the Forbidden Card so far with a few more still to be announced.
Eight-belt Mone showed up at an all-women indie event in Texas yesterday, a promotion ran by current ROH Women’s champion Athena.
Metroplex Wrestling held the Who Runs The World show in Bedford, Texas and during the event, Athena came out to reveal that a new title belt will be introduced to the promotion soon.
That brought out serial belt collector Mercedes Mone to the ring much to the surprise of fans, because you know, if you mention a title belt, the CEO is going to be looking for it!
Mone only carried her TBS title and she danced down to the ring. There were no punches traded but Mone wanted Athena do move those hips as the two did the CEO dance.
The IWGP Heavyweight title will be defended at the upcoming AEWxNJPW: Forbidden Door pay-per-view and reigning champion Zack Sabre Jr will find out his opponent on next week’s Collision.
A four-way match between Hechicero, Lee Moriarty, Daniel Garcia, and Nigel McGuinness will determine who will go on to face Sabre in his home country of England.
The IWGP title is defended every year at Forbidden Door. Last year, Tetsuya Naito retained the title after he defeated Jon Moxley. In 2023, Sanada defeated “Jungle Boy” Jack Perry to retain, and in 2022 champion Jay White retained in a four-way match that also included Adam Page, Kazuchika Okada, and Adam Cole.
In comments given to TMZ, the District Six Medical Examiner in Largo, Florida said that it will be up to Hulk Hogan’s wife Sky to decide if there will be an autopsy on Hogan despite his daughter Brooke offering to pay for one herself.
Sky has not requested one, they said, and there are no indications that she will request one either. However, Hogan has not been cremated yet as there are questions stemming from his medical care that might have played a role in his untimely death. The cremation go-ahead also has to come from his wife, which so far has not given the order.
The District Six Medical Examiner also added that Sky could report anything suspicions regarding Hulk’s death to the police and only after an investigation starts, the office of the medical examiner gets involved. A spokesperson for the Clearwater Police Department has repeated the claims that there was nothing suspicious and no foul play is suspected in Hulk’s death.
She could, however, ask for a private autopsy and the costs for that would have to be carried by the family.
TNA has already moved over 3,000 tickets in the first week since Bound For Glory 2025 tickets went on sale according to @WrestleTix.
The show, to be held at the Tsongas Center, is at 3,092 tickets for a configuration of 4,093, leaving 1,000 tickets available. But that will obviously increase over the next couple of months as the arena can hold just over 7,000 seats.
Bound For Glory is typically TNA’s biggest pay-per-view of the year and this year it will also have the last match between The Hardys and Team 3D.
WWE, through NXT, is also set to have a significant part on the show which should help move a few thousand more tickets in the process.
TNA President Carlos Silva wants to break the North American attendance record for his promotion at Bound For Glory but if they manage to do that it will only be by a couple of hundred as the arena is not much bigger than their current record set at Slammiversary.
Bound For Glory will take place on Sunday, October 12. Tickets are available here.
John Ourand of Puck News is reporting that Peacock had a right of first refusal in their WWE deal and had the opportunity to match ESPN’s $1.6 billion offer to keep the WWE premium live events on their streaming service.
While NBCU did bid to keep the rights, it was a few hundred million less than what ESPN offered and eventually decided to pass it on and not match it.
WWE will still be airing Saturday Night’s Main Event on Peacock – and NBC – for the duration of their current Smackdown contract and Smackdown replays will also be staying on Peacock.
Peacock’s WWE PLE deal expires in March of next year and WrestleMania 42 will be the first major show on the new ESPN DTC service.
Jim Ross revealed on the latest episode of Grilling JR that his AEW contract expires this month but is not worried about it.
Ross said he would be traveling to London, England for the Forbidden Door pay-per-view later this month, which is around a week or so before he’s out of a deal.
“I’m not planning on going anywhere. I like my part-time schedule. It lets me keep my batteries charged,” Ross said. “I like working for Tony Khan because he’s always been fair and civil to me…and that I appreciate.”
JR did not say that he was offered a new contract but talked like he was assuming he would. Ross is on one-year deals at the moment. He has been working for AEW since its inception in 2019 and stepped back from most of his commentary duties due to his health issues.
He now only does a couple of pay-per-view matches every month and the occasional Dynamite appearance during special shows.
John Cena is coming to Paris and he’s coming for a fight!
On Smackdown last night, John Cena’s opponent for Clash in Paris was revealed and it was none other than Logan Paul.
Paul interrupted Cena’s opening promo on Smackdown in Montreal and said that if Cena is in a giving mood, then he should face him in a “beautiful French-speaking country,” which is Paris, of course.
Before Cena could reply, Drew McIntyre came from behind and took out Cena but WWE champion Cody Rhodes came out for the save. Cena eventually recovered and accepted Paul’s invitation for France.
WWE is loading up the show with the big names, with Cena and Reigns also wrestling on the show as thousands of floor tickets remain unsold due to the incredible high prices which rival any WrestleMania.
The Hollywood Reporter gave a sneak peak of the WWE Presents: The Horrors of the Wyatt Sicks House which will be part of Universal Orlando Resort and Universal Studios Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights.
The idea was led by Michael Aiello, the Senior Director of Entertainment and Creative Development division at Universal Orlando Resort, who said it was conceived when the Wyatt Sicks made its debut on Raw.
“It looked like one of our haunted houses on live television, so I placed a call as soon as RAW ended,” Aiello said.
He talked to WWE Director of Character Development Rob Fee, and the two came up with the idea of a haunted house experience that recreates the entrance as if you’re walking in the footsteps of the cameraman.
The two haunted houses will differ from each other, so the Orlando one won’t be the same as the Hollywood one.
“In Orlando, you’ll venture through the derelict and abandoned Firefly Funhouse featuring remnants of The Fiend’s influence, before being surrounded by imagery of WWE media taken over by Uncle Howdy before you dive into the minds of the Wyatt Six,” the description of the Florida resort says.
For Universal Hollywood, guests will be greeted by Uncle Howdy at the Wyatt compound, a Bayou in the middle of a swamp that will feature music as part of the entry.
“Throughout the house, there will be inspirations, set pieces, or more tied to Bray’s rocking chair, the cave Uncle Howdy said he brought the Wyatt Sicks from, the Uncle Howdy sessions, and Bray’s lantern,” the description reads.
Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Orlando are from August 29 to November 2 while Universal Hollywood are from September 4 to November 2.
Brooke Hogan revealed in a post on Instagram that Hulk Hogan has not been cremated yet and his wife Sky is waiting after family concerns.
Hogan’s death has shocked many although he had been stuck to a hospital bed since he underwent surgery.
Now, Brooke has offered to pay for an autopsy herself to make sure there was no foul play in his death.
“With all the speculation and uncertainty of my dad’s death, I want to personally offer to pay for an autopsy if that’s what it takes to get it done,” Brooke wrote on Instagram. “My dad’s dignity and legacy deserves it.”
There are rumors that the surgery to remove some discs from his neck left Hulk unable to speak. There are also rumors that he underwent a second surgery to repair whatever doctors broke the first time around but that left him hooked up to a ventilator.
Hogan passed away following a cardiac arrest on Thursday, July 24.
Karrion Kross, who along with his wife Scarlett is rumored to be out of a WWE contract this weekend, addressed his contract status while appearing on the The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling Podcast.
Kross said that as of Thursday (yesterday when this was taped), he was still under a WWE contract and so was his wife.
“I don’t know where it’s coming from and I don’t care to speak to any of it,” Kross said regarding the rumors. “All I can tell you is the only way you’re going to get the real story is when you get it from me. That’s all I can tell you.”
Dave Meltzer of the Observer reported that WWE offered him and Scarlett a new deal and last weekend they were promoting his new book while Paul Heyman put him over really big during his appearance on the Ariel Helwani Show on Monday, suggesting that Kross is staying.
“I can’t really speak to any of the legitimacy of anything that is being recently reported, but I’ll tell you right now, everyone’s going to know exactly what’s going on very soon,” Kross continued.
Fans keep chanting his name at WWE events and his merchandise has skyrocketed to the top of the charts as Kross had an organic rise with fans similar to that of Steve Austin, Daniel Bryan, and Kofi Kingston, Paul Heyman said.
This whole thing started when Kross did a profanity-filled interview during an official WrestleMania stream online, becoming the talk of town – and online – that weekend.
Ivy Nile sat down with Chris Van Vliet in New Jersey to discuss how competing on The Rock’s Titan Games led to her being signed by WWE, how she was paired with The Creed Brothers and Chad Gable, her insane workout videos with Julius Creed and Jordynne Grace, her match with Rhea Ripley shortly after her main roster call-up, who El Grande Americano could be and more!
On becoming a part of Titan Games:
“For a little bit after I got out of Taekwondo, I got involved in Jiu Jitsu, and I fell in love with it. It’s awesome to fight these big dudes, because if anything, if anyone’s ever going to attack me, it’s going to be a big dude, not like a small whatever. So loved rolling around with bigger guys. Got into MMA for a little bit, boxing, all that stuff. I got my hands on everything because I just wanted to be someone who was well-rounded. So when I did my first MMA fight, and I lost. At the time, I was a massage therapist, and I was like this is a crazy life, because I was massaging during the day, and MMA at night, totally different world. I’d show up to my massage job with busted lips and people thought I got lip injections or something. I was like, No, I got punched in the face. This is nuts. Anyway, so after that first MMA fight, it was rough. Fight camps are rough. Cutting weight is rough; it was a rough time. So shortly after that, I was watching Jimmy Fallon or something, and my sister and I were watching it, and The Rock was on there talking about his new competitive show, the Titan Games. That was like, six, seven years ago. That’s crazy to think it was that long ago. My sister was like ‘You should try out for it.’ I was like, ‘What do you mean? Just fill out a form or whatever?’ She’s like, ‘Yeah, do it.’ I was like, ‘No, that’s ridiculous, that’s absolutely ridiculous.’ So at the time, I filled out the form online, and then I just put it down, I didn’t finish it, this is never gonna happen. This is silly. So a couple of days later she asked me, ‘Did you fill it out?’ [I said] ‘No, this is crazy, they already are picking people or whatever.’ So a couple of days later, I finished filling out the form, and not even a day later, LA called me, and I half assed it. I sent in pictures and videos I already had on my phone, it wasn’t anything crazy. And they called me and said they loved my story. They loved the stuff that I sent, and I thought it was a prank. I really thought someone just got my number from the website, and they were just pranking me, like this is mean, whatever. They said, let’s set up a Skype call. So went to my gym, I did a Skype call, and I still thought it was a prank. I was like, whoever this is, this is so mean, but I’m going with it.”
“So then the interview was weird, because the lady was outside. It looked like she was on a roof or something. I was like, this is a prank, this is silly. Next thing you know, I was getting legit emails from the Titan Games. And I was like, Oh, this is actually [happening], someone living in a tiny town in Tennessee, you’re going to pick me? This is crazy! So they had a big combine thing, sent me out to California. Never been to California. I was like a Beverly hillbilly walking up to California. I was like cool, no one knows my story. No one knows me. No one knows I’ve barely been on a plane, barely been to California. I don’t think I’ve ever been to California at this point, and I was there competing on a show with Dwayne Johnson. I was like, what is happening right now? I went out there, there’s over 100 people, and I made it through to the actual show. Then once I was on the show, I did really well. I didn’t win the whole thing, but I was crowned one of Dwayne Johnson’s Titans. Went on the show, and it was the best life-changing experience I ever had.”
On learning from Chad Gable:
“Chad has been in this business for so, so long. When I first started with the company, I kind of started unlike anyone else. I started three months before COVID hit, and then I was in the COVID era as one of those people in the audience behind the hockey windows, or whatever. So I was one of those people always there cheering and whatever. And at the time, you know, he was Shorty G at the time. It was crazy to see his growth from there, because I’ve always admired him since then, because it’s crazy no matter what you give him, he kills it. So I think once you get to that level of whatever they throw at you, they know that you can kill it and run with it. It’s such an amazing skill to have that. I aspire to be that.”
On her match with Rhea Ripley:
“We got moved up, and my first match on Raw was Rhea. Because sometimes when you get to main roster, it’s like, Who are you? Can you hang? It’s a whole different playing field. The crowds are bigger, the stars are bigger. So on main roster, it’s almost like, can you hang? I kind of felt like I was treading water a little bit. But once I got that Rhea match. I was like, I deserve to be here.”
On future dream matches:
“Absolutely Asuka, she’s incredible. Haven’t had Bianca one on one, Tennessee girl from Knoxville. I’ve had Rhea. I love Liv, I would love to have the singles with her. Stephanie [Vaquer] was amazing. Loved working with Stephanie. Lash Legend and I have had amazing matches in NXT. She’s one of my favorite people to work with ever so Lash is definitely one of my I would love to work with her on main roster.”
Buddy Matthews will be out of action for a while longer as the Australian star revealed that he underwent ankle surgery yesterday.
Matthews suffered the freak injury at the Grand Slam: Australia show as he entered the ring. Despite the injury, he soldiered on and still had a match against Kazuchika Okada.
The former AEW Trios champ was hoping that the ligament and cartilage damage would heal without going under the knife but six months later he found himself where he didn’t want to be.
Matthews uploaded a photo from a hospital bed on Instagram last night along with his wife Rhea Ripley. “Update: heading into surgery to repair my ankle,” the post said.
Five new matches were added to the TNA Emergence 2025 streaming special, which is set to take place next Friday.
These matches, including three for titles, were announced on last night’s episode of Impact Wrestling on AXS TV.
A four-way tag team match for the TNA Knockouts Tag Team titles will see champions Heather and M by Elegance defending against Lei Ying and Xia Brookside, The IInspiration, and NXT’s Fallon Henley and Jazmyn Nyx, The Hardys put up their newly-won TNA Tag Team titles up for grabs against The Rascalz, Steve Maclin and Jake Something battle for the TNA International title in a no countout, no DQ match, Mike Santana faces Sami Callihan, and Ryan Nemeth takes on The Home Town Man.
These matches are in addition to the already-announced Leon Slater vs Cedric Alexander for the TNA X Division title and Trick Williams vs Moose for the TNA World title.
Emergence will be held at the Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena in Baltimore, Maryland.
On the latest Grilling JR podcast, Hall of Fame broadcast Jim Ross said that he will be traveling to London, England to call some matches at the upcoming AEWxNJPW: Forbidden Door pay-per-view.
He said it was Tony Khan who extended the invitation to fly across the Atlantic and join the crew for the show at the O2 Arena, which is expected to be close to a complete sell out, if not sold out.
JR returned to commentary at All In: Texas last month, weeks after he underwent surgery to remove colon cancer.
