Raw rolls into Omaha, Nebraska tonight live from the CHI Health Center for the Backlash go-home episode.
Three matches and a couple of segments have been announced for the show so far, with the matches including:
Je’Von Evans and Penta vs Rusev and Ethan Page
JD McDonagh vs Finn Balor
Oba Femi in the open challenge
Plus, WWE World Heavyweight champion Roman Reigns and his challenger Jacob Fatu will sign their contract for Backlash, Sol Ruca signs her Raw contract, and Asuka and Iyo Sky will also be face-to-face days before their Backlash match.
While Backlash has sold relatively well, there are still hundreds of floor tickets available as well as in other sections with a few more days to go for the show.
If you’re interested in going, you can use the discount code CLUBWWE to unlock cheaper prices, starting from $99.10 in the 300 level of the arena.
Floor seats start with $627.80 but if you want to sit at ringside, it will still cost $4,489.60 to be front row.
The code was distributed to all those who signed up to be on the waiting list for the Club WWE program.
Three-time Emmy Award nominee Hunter Selby announced that he has joined WWE as the new Director of Show Production and Design.
“I’m excited to share that I’ve accepted a new position as Director of Show Production and Design at WWE,” Selby wrote. “I’m looking forward to this new chapter, and to working on some designs that will hopefully be debuting on screens soon!”
Selby was nominated Outstanding Lighting Design/Lighting Direction for American Idol in 2023, for SNL50: The Homecoming Concert in 2025, and for American Idol in 2025 as well.
As a Lighting Director and Associate Lighting Director, Selby has a ton of shows under his belt, including the first-ever concert broadcasted live from Vatican City’s St. Peter’s Square, the F1 Las Vegas GP opening ceremony, The Disney Parks Magical Christmas Day Parade, and others, including concerts with Luke Bryan, Nicki Minaj, Cyndi Lauper, Keith Urban, and more.
WWE Hall of Famer Rikishi announced that he is leaving the KnokX Pro wrestling school, a school he helped establish in 2009.
Located in Sun Valley, California, the school is headed by Reno “Black Pearl” Anoa’i, with Rikishi also involved in running of the operations of the school and promotion.
“Love and respect KnokX Pro Entertainment & Academy. As I take my leave, I appreciate your understanding and respect for my decision to rest now,” Rikishi wrote.
During WrestleMania 42 weekend in Las Vegas, the school set up a ring outside the Treasure Island hotel on the strip and hosted free meet and greets.
The school was affiliated with WWE ID but its credentials were revoked following Raja Jackson’s attack on Syko Stu which made headlines for all the wrong reasons last year.
John Cena will be appearing at Backlash this weekend and will deliver “history-making” news.
In a post on X, the 17-time world champion wrote, “After months of planning and effort, I am SO excited to break some history-making news! I can’t promise it’ll be perfect but I can promise it will change the WWE experience for Superstars and fans,” he wrote.
Cena was the host of WrestleMania 42 and seems to be getting more and more involved with the company since his retirement in December.
The former champ signed a new, long-term WWE deal which will see him become a WWE ambassador among other things.
Backlash takes place live from the Benchmark International Arena in Tampa, Florida on Saturday, May 9.
WWE announced its return to Canada with three new dates in August.
The first is a rare non-televised live event as part of the WWE Summer Tour 2026 and will take place on Thursday, August 20 in London, Ontario at the Canada Life Place.
Friday Night Smackdown will follow the next day on August 21 at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto and Raw will finish off the weekend on Monday, August 24 in Ottawa, Ontario at the Canadian Tire Center.
Tickets for each show go on sale Friday, May 8 at 10AM ET via Ticketmaster.ca. A pre-sale will start on Thursday, May 7 at 10AM ET.
The announcement was made by Kevin Owens, sitting in a car, in a video posted on his social media.
Andrade El Idolo won the IWGP Global Heavyweight title yesterday on night 1 of Wrestling Dontaku in Fukuoka, Japan, defeating Yota Tsuji in the main event of the show.
El Idolo secured the victory after a DDT on the ring post and then hitting his finisher in the ring, winning a title that he wasn’t even supposed to be wrestling for in the first place.
The Mexican star replaced Gabe Kidd in the match, who suffered a shoulder injury at the Dynasty pay-per-view.
This is his first title in New Japan Pro-Wrestling in 13 years, with his last one coming in 2013 under his La Sombra gimmick, winning the IWGP Intercontinental title.
Roman Reigns, who was advertised for the Raw shows in May and June, has been pulled from all advertising surrounding the Raw June episodes and looks like he is no longer going to be there for those.
Reigns is advertised for the May 4, May 11, May 18, and May 25 episodes leading up to the Clash In Italy premium live event. But now he is absent from digital advertising for the June 1, June 8, June 15, and June 22 episodes, three of which are set to be in overseas markets.
Those episodes are the build for the Clash of Champions premium live event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia which takes place on June 27.
During the WrestleMania 42 Sunday post-show, Reigns told fans that he will be taking care of the “part-timer” crap and we would see him all Summer long.
It is currently unclear why Reigns was pulled from these shows at time of this writing.
While he did not write anything public, Big E reacted to the news of his former tag team partners Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods departing WWE with an illustration posted on his Instagram Stories.
The drawing shows Kofi and Xavier walking out towards a bright light outside, leaving their New Day gear behind, including Woods’ King of the Ring crown.
Big E was “kicked out” of The New Day in 2024 when Kingston and Woods turned heel on him. Big E has been unable to compete since suffering a neck injury on an episode of Smackdown in March 2022.
Several wrestlers continued to pay tribute to the legendary tag team on social media as well. Both Kingston and Woods were very well liked by their peers behind the scenes and their departure has obviously affected a lot of people.
Kingston and Woods decided it was time to go after they were asked to restructure their years-long deal to conform with new TKO contracts. The duo had signed a new deal last year and refused to do so.
Big E continues to work for WWE as a panelist during WWE premium live events.
Gavin O’Shea, a 25-year veteran working for WWE in television production, announced on his LinkedIn that he was also fired from his job.
He held the role of Senior Associate Producer, International TV, and Coordinating Producer, along with Director.
“After 25 years, losing my job wasn’t part of the plan,” he wrote. “For those memorable 25 years at WWE, I’ve seen, heard and experienced it all. After all, I grew up there, made friends and learned by doing. Like many people, I tied a piece of my identity to what I do every day. So when that suddenly changed, it felt unsettling, humbling… and honestly, a little scary.”
He added that he’s grateful for the people he’s worked with and the lessons learned along the way.
“I’m taking this time to reflect, reset, and refocus on what I truly want in my next chapter,” he continued.
WWE will be opening a Backlash Superstore in Tampa next weekend.
The store will be located at The Vault on 611 N Franklin St. and will feature the largest collection of Backlash merchandise and exclusive merch, including replica titles, collectibles, etc.
Opening hours will be Thursday from 1PM to 9PM, Friday from 10AM to 9PM, Saturday from 10AM to 11PM, and Sunday from 10AM to 2PM.
The Creed Brothers showed up on the AAA on FOX show last night, coming to the aid of the Original El Grande Americano.
The two have been associated with Chad Gable for a long time on WWE television.
There was a contract signing for the mask vs mask match yesterday and the Original wanted new terms put in the contract, which stated that if the other El Grande Americano attacks any time before their match later this month, he would automatically lose.
He also asked that interviewer Andrea Bazarte be removed from her role. Bazarte is dating the other El Grande Americano, Ludwig Kaiser.
Kaiser’s Americano eventually agreed to the new terms and signed the contract and that’s when Julius and Brutus Creed hit the ring to attack. Rayo and Bravo Americano then made the save.
It will be a while before we see Persephone back on television as AEW President Tony Khan announced before yesterday’s Collision that the CMLL Women’s champion has suffered an injury and would be out indefinitely.
Khan also pulled Persephone from the Survival of the Fittest match for the ROH Women’s title at the upcoming Supercard of Honor show on May 15.
It is likely that she has to also vacate the CMLL Women’s title, but that is a decision that CMLL will have to take.
Persephone last wrestled a week ago, teaming up with Alex Windsor and losing to the Triangle of Madness, with the ending coming when Julia Hart misted her.
The New Day’s legendary tag team run in WWE came to an abrupt end today following the news of their surprise release from the company.
Kofi Kingston, who has worked for WWE since 2006, and Xavier Woods, who has been there since 2010, have tag teamed together since 2014.
Together with Big E, the trio had some incredible feuds and title reigns, winning the WWE Tag Team titles 12 times and NXT Tag Team titles once.
For Kofi, his time as WWE champion also came when KofiMania swept WWE in 2019, winning the title from Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 35.
Several WWE Superstars paid tribute to the duo after the news of their release became public. Even AEW’s MJF proclaimed on Instagram that it’s a new day.
The two reportedly refused to restructure their deals to conform with the TKO structure according to Bryan Alvarez of F4W and their departure came after a mutual agreement. It was stressed that it was them who decided to leave WWE. Fightful also adds that their peers were quite shocked at the news as the two were considered to be WWE “lifers.”
The June 9 episode of NXT live from the Lowell Memorial Auditorium in Lowell, Massachusetts has been canceled and will now take place at the Performance Center.
The event was canceled due to “unforseen circumstances” according to an e-mail sent to all ticket holders. Refunds will be automatically issued to everyone and no action is required from those who bought tickets.
The event had almost 2,000 tickets distributed so it’s unclear why it was called off.
Former WWE star Maven sats down with Chris Van Vliet at INSIGHT Live in Las Vegas to discuss the success of his YouTube channel, getting ribbed by Fit Finlay, if there are any plans for a 1 million subscribers celebration, whether he is still in the 2002 Royal Rumble, taking a bump on thumbtacks, who was the worst guest on his YouTube channel, possibly coming out of retirement to wrestle Chris Sharp, answering questions from the audience, and more!
Can you put into words how much YouTube has changed your life and your career?
“I promise, not more than you love you guys. Here’s why. I get emotional about this. Years ago, five years ago, I was getting up every morning at 6 am, rushing to take my dogs out, getting on a 6:36 train, two hours to work, working all day, two hours to get home, getting home at 7:30. I knew I had something, but I just didn’t know how to get that something out. When we started the YouTube channel, there were no promises. Zach didn’t tell me, ‘Yeah, this is going to be X amount and we’re going to make X amount of dollars, or this is going to get this many views.’ He just said, ‘Let’s take a chance.’ And now man, I don’t do a damn thing during the day I don’t want to do now, and that is because of you guys. Thank you. I don’t know if I deserve it, but I’ll damn take it.”
Do you feel like because of the way you came in? You’re the guy on the MTV show. You win Tough Enough. Is it just ribs for the first six months? Is it ribs for the first year? You have to win over the boys?
“Here’s what I think it was. I think it was, we’re going to see if we can run you out. We’re going to find out do you love the business, do you respect the business, or are you going to easily be ran out of the business? Because wrestling is tough. It’s hard to be on the road, it’s hard to be in pain, it’s hard to be away from your family, and if you don’t have just something on the inside that makes you be able to be okay with living uncomfortable, be okay with pain, you’re not gonna last. It’s just the WWE’s way and wrestlers’ way of just mixing out the people that think they want to be there, as opposed to the people who truly want to make a go of it. There were countless, muscled-up guys that would come in, roided-out freaks, look phenomenal, that thought they wanted to wrestle, and they would put them in the ring. You find out really quickly, when someone’s in there for six minutes, you’re making them just move, then they’re gasping for air, you find out really quickly who wants to wrestle and who doesn’t.”
So after winning Tough Enough, what’s the match where you felt like, I finally feel like a wrestler.
“It was years. It wasn’t immediate. I did a couple of house shows, a couple of weeks of house shows with Bob Holly. I did three weeks, Orton did eight, and after every match with Bob, he’s back behind the curtain waiting for me to bitch, and every time I went back there, [I said] ‘Thank you. Is there anything I can do better?’ That’s the way to get the respect of the boys. Because I have no doubt in my mind, they sent him out, ‘See what the kid’s got.’ And if you complain, that’s not the job for you. If you can get through Bob Holly, okay, that’s one rung of the ladder that you’ve climbed. That’s one step of just not being the Tough Enough kid. Okay, maybe that was when I saw okay, I belong.”
You taking the thumbtacks is your most viewed video. It has almost 6 million views. I gotta ask you, you took the thumbtack bump at the end of the video. Why’d you do it with a shirt on?
“You want the honest answer? Because I’m about 15 years too old to be going on a bunch of cycles to be taking my shirt off for anybody anymore. But I knew, and when we were talking about the thumbtacks, Zach said it kind of as a joke. He was like, ‘Yeah, the video would just do better if you took the thumbtack bump.’ I said, ‘Well, if you can find a ring, I’ll do it.’ I’m thinking there’s no way he’s gonna find a ring. 30 minutes later, text me, ‘I got a ring. I got people that are gonna let us do it.’ And at that point, I’m like, sh*t. But that’s another one that it wasn’t as bad as I [thought]. I built it up into my head. I mean, it wasn’t great, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was gonna be.”
How did the thumbtacks compare to the staple in the head? You took a staple gun right to the forehead:
“The thumbtacks hurt worse in the shower later that night, because I went back to our Airbnb, I took a thing of alcohol in my shower, and I dumped it down my back, and I felt every thumbtack. Whereas the staple was just [once]. So the thumbtacks hurt worse later.”
Two new matches were announced for Backlash 2026, with the card now featuring five matches. Typical WWE PLEs which are not part of the big five are usually five matches so the card could be complete.
The United States title will be on the line as Trick Williams defends against former champion Sami Zayn, plus The Miz and Kit Wilson team up to take on Danhausen and a partner he has to find.
These two matches join Seth Rollins vs Bron Breakker, Iyo Sky vs Asuka, and Roman Reigns vs Jacob Fatu for the WWE title.
Another round of releases is taking place at WWE and follows the Friday after WrestleMania firings which saw the end of employment for 22 Superstars.
Perhaps the biggest names in this round are Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods of The New Day, who Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful reported that the two departing was a mutual decision from all parties.
So far the list of names released are:
Kofi Kingston
Xavier Woods
Tanga Loa
JC Mateo
The list will be updated as more names become known.
NBA and NHL playoffs continued to wreak havoc on wrestling viewership with Wednesday’s Dynamite drawing 596,000 viewers, down 21,000 viewers from the prior week. This was the lowest audience since January 21. Dynamite had a 0.08 rating in 18-49, down 0.02 and placed #9 on the top 50 cable chart for the night. (Ratings credit: Programming Insider)
