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Alexa Bliss details her last-minute return at the Rumble on The Nikki & Brie Show

Alexa Bliss was on The Nikki & Brie Show and discussed her last-minute decision to compete in women’s Royal Rumble match in January of this year and reveals the subtle way she pays tribute to Bray Wyatt. She also opens up about her motherhood journey, trusting babysitters and more.

Alexa Bliss details last-minute WWE return (11:00-12:43)

Brie Garcia: So, it was short notice that you were there. When did you get the call?

Alexa Bliss: I got the call at like midnight the night before.

Brie Garcia: Wait, midnight?

Alexa Bliss: Yeah, midnight the night before.

Brie Garcia: Oh my gosh.

Alexa Bliss: Yeah, so I got the call at midnight the night before and it wasn’t fully decided until like 4 a.m. and I get a call at 5. They’re like, “All right, we need you on a plane by 10 a.m.” I flew to, cause it wasn’t in Indianapolis so no one would see me, flew to Cincinnati, got drove in, had to cover up, got snuck into a back room. There was hair and makeup. I didn’t get there till 4. You guys know how this stuff works, right? I didn’t get there till 4. We were first match starting at 6, so I got there at 4. I have someone in there that’s like ready to do my hair. I haven’t slept because this was an all-night process of figuring out and I hadn’t slept. I hadn’t eaten. I was deliriously tired. I’m in my house at 3 a.m. with a phone light, so I’m trying not to wake up the baby because my gear is in like next to her closet and I’m like looking through old gear being like, all right, “What could still fit me?” And I told Ryan, I was like, at 4 a.m., I go, “Hey, I think I’m going to Rumble,” and he was like, “Huh?” and I go, “Do you want to come?” and he’s like, “I’m so tired. What?” And I go, “Nevermind,” and I just get on a plane, go and you know, just kind of, no one knew I was there. Not even, you know, the girls didn’t know I was there until I was in Gorilla. No one knew I was there.

Alexa Bliss reveals the subtle way she honors Bray Wyatt (19:00-19:35)

Alexa Bliss: I actually have a piece of his gear on my skirt. My skirt has a patch of his gear, and then we all have, I’ll grab it one second. We all have these bracelets with his gear on it, and so this is the gear that’s also on my skirt and, you know, it’s how do we, you know, respect Windham’s vision and keep his, you know, memory alive without, you know, making it a tribute, making it more of like, “This is Alexa now and this is part of her past that’s always gonna be with her.”

Alexa Bliss shares her thoughts on motherhood (23:40-25:15)

Alexa Bliss: It is the best. I wasn’t that person that, I think Nikki and I talked about this a long time ago once in the locker room. I wasn’t like one that was like, “Oh my god, I want kids.” Hendrix was very much a surprise and I was so worried. I was like, “What if my motherly instincts don’t kick in?” because I was always just like, I’m so selfish with my time. I’m so career driven. What if like I’m not good at this, and so as soon as I had Hendrix, besides the postpartum anxiety, it just clicks in and it’s crazy and it’s the best thing. It’s the best. I love it. I love it so much. I was like, “Why didn’t I do this sooner?” and this is so just I love that I can go to Smackdown and I love that I can portray a character, but I love even more that I can come home and just be a mom and just watch my daughter who has an opinion now. You know, watch her grow, watch her learn, watch her, you know, just thrive. She wakes up every morning like it’s Christmas. She’s so happy. She hardly, well, I know it didn’t sound like it earlier, but she actually hardly ever cries. That’s why I was like, “What is going on with her?” She hardly cries. She’s so happy. She’s just always dancing and, you know, just learning every day and it’s the best and I mean, you guys know. Watching your kids just grow up, it’s just the best thing ever, but it goes so fast.

Alexa Bliss opens up about struggling to trust babysitters (28:32-29:49)

Alexa Bliss: You don’t understand it. You don’t get it. People are like, “Oh, once you become a mom, it’s so different. It’s so hard, you know, you can’t just go out and do things,” and you’re like, “Just get a sitter,” and I’m like, “No.” You just can’t go out and do things and you know, as much as I would love to just get a sitter, I’m that person. I’m like, “Well, why would I get a sitter when I can just watch my kid?” I’m like, “I can just hang out with her,” and then you get so protective, and I just like, I’m like, “I don’t trust everybody.” I don’t trust anybody. You know what I mean, so like our parents watch her, you know, and then we have one babysitter that will watch her in LA, but that was a whole process of, you know, meeting her a few times and having her interact with Hendrix a little bit, and then our first trip was literally down the street and then back and just, you know, I’m that crazy mother. I’ll admit it.

Nikki Garcia: I have now three girls that I trust and Brie’s the same. I’m just so protective and it takes a lot to trust someone with your child for sure and it’s like, I’ll say no to things just because I’m like, “No, if there’s not the right person watching him, I’m just not gonna do it. He’s staying with me. He’s right here.”

The Nikki & Brie Show hosted by Nikki & Brie Garcia is available anytime on the SiriusXM app. New episodes every Monday and Thursday.

Teddy Long’s son, Antoine, passes away

News broke on social media that Teddy Long’s only son, Antoine, passed away this weekend.

News surrounding his death remain unknown at this time.

A message posted by one of his friends on Facebook said, “Sadly that young man who I witnessed face ups and downs in life…who never stopped moving forward and always found a way to overcome for the decades I’ve known him has left us.”

The WWE Hall of Famer lost his wife of forty years, Tasha, in September 2022 as well.

Becky Lynch cast in comedy pilot for FX titled Movers

Deadline is reporting that FX has greenlit a comedy pilot from the Reno 911 team which also has WWE Women’s Intercontinental champion Becky Lynch as part of the cast.

Titled Movers, the show is an “improvised workplace comedy revolving around the erratic and codependent lives of a crew of movers.”

It comes from creators and executive producers Robert Ben Garant and Cathy Shim.

Garant and Shim will also be part of the cast along with Maz Jobrani, Darius Homayoun, Tanael “TJ” Joachim, Manny Montana, and Lynch in the leading roles.

If the pilot is picked up for a series, it means that Lynch will have to spend time away from the ring during the filming of the show.

A whopping 12 wrestling shows over seven days to air this week

It’s a great week if you’re a wrestling fan as over the next seven days there are a whopping 12 shows from WWE, AEW, and TNA.

The action starts tonight with Monday Night Raw live on Netflix and continues tomorrow with NXT on The CW.

AEW enters the picture on Wednesday with a live Dynamite on TBS and streaming on Max while WWE has an episode of EVOLVE on Tubi.

On Thursday, AEW returns with Collision on TNT and streaming on Max and TNA has Impact on AXS TV.

Another two shows on Friday with WWE hosting Smackdown on USA Network and then ROH’s Supercard of Honor airing on HonorClub, the ROH streaming service.

There are three shows on Saturday, with the huge AEW All In: Texas pay-per-view and NXT’s Great American Bash premium live event on Peacock airing head-to-head, at least for a few hours, while later in the night, WWE returns with Saturday Night’s Main Event on NBC and Peacock.

Then it’s the WWE’s women’s division which will close the week on Sunday night with the Evolution premium live event on Peacock.

Ticket sales update for All In: Texas

All In: Texas

With six days to go, AEW’s All In: Texas stands at almost 21,000 tickets distributed, with the count at around 20,800 according to ticket tracking service @WrestleTix.

This will be officially AEW’s largest audience ever for a show in the United States, surpassing the 2021 Grand Slam event at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York.

The Globe Life Field stadium is currently configured for just under 24,000 seats as more seats were added following an uptick in sales over the past three weeks. It’s still far off from what the stadium holds as there are over 42,000 seats available, so as of now, it’s approximately half capacity.

AEW announced an attendance of 81,035 for the first All In in 2023 and 53,385 in 2024, both shows held at Wembley Stadium in London, England. Later figures showed that actual attendance were 72,265 and 46,476 respectively.

All In returns to Wembley in 2026.

The cheapest tickets available are $38.60 plus taxes. An AEW 5 Plus Pack offer is also available for $43.20 per ticket in a better seating location. Ringside seats are going for $701.35.

NXT episode announced for The Met Philadelphia on August 19

WWE announced that a “special edition” of NXT on The CW will take place on Tuesday, August 19 live from The Met Philadelphia.

The Met Philadelphia is a 3,500-seater opera house which opened in 1908 and it has hosted several concerts over the past several years.

Tickets will go on sale starting Wednesday, July 9 at 10AM ET via Ticketmaster.com. Fans can purchase tickets during an exclusive pre-sale by visiting Ticketmaster.com and using the code NXTLIVE starting Tuesday, July 8 at 10AM ET until 11:59PM ET.

This show comes a week before AEW starts a six-show residency at the 2300 Arena also in Philadelphia.

Triple threat for the WWE Women’s Intercontinental title announced for Evolution

Evolution 2025

Raw General Manager Adam Pearce announced in a video posted on social media that the WWE Women’s Intercontinental title will be defended at the upcoming Evolution premium live event in a triple threat match.

Current champion Becky Lynch will face off her former Four Horsewomen team mate Bayley and former Intercontinental champion herself Lyra Valkyria in the match, a match which has been expected for a while.

Pearce also confirmed that Lynch will be on Raw tomorrow night to discuss this triple threat, just a few days before her title defense.

It’s the seventh match part of the all-women show, with WWE having a lot of work to do to make this a success as there have been reportedly less than 5,000 tickets sold with one week to go.

WWE scheduled this event on the same day and the same time as a Beyonce concert which is taking place across the road at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Two title matches added to All In: Texas card

All In: Texas

Two new title matches were added to the All In: Texas card following last night’s episode of Collision.

The AEW Tag Team titles will be on the line in a three-way match with champions Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin of The Hurt Syndicate defending against Christian Cage and Nick Wayne and JetSpeed.

Also, Adam Cole puts his TNT title up for grabs against Kyle Fletcher. Cole already has one victory over Fletcher from the May 28 Dynamite which came via disqualification.

Plus, popular Mexican luchador Mistico has been announced for the men’s Casino Gauntlet battle royal. He is the third man to join the match with Mark Briscoe and MJF coming in at #1 and #2 respectively.

Wheeler Yuta and Claudio Castagnoli of The Death Riders also challenged The Opps for the AEW Trios title at the show. The match has not been officially confirmed yet.

Scorpio Sky returns on AEW TV after 21-month absence

Scorpio Sky returned to Collision last night, his first AEW televised appearance since a loss to Andrade El Idolo on the September 16, 2023 episode of the same show.

Sky answered Max Caster’s open challenge and was accompanied by Christopher Daniels, Leila Grey, and Top Flight to the ring.

The match lasted less than a minute, 55 seconds to be exact, with Sky winning.

Sky wrestled a couple of times for Ring of Honor but disappeared completely from AEW/ROH in October 2023. At this year’s Double or Nothing post-show media scrum, AEW President Tony Khan said that there were creative ideas for Sky to return but they failed to materialize.

Kelani Jordan and Carmelo Hayes announce engagement

Kelani Jordan and Carmelo Hayes announced their engagement on a post on social media.

“I said yesss! And I’d say yes in every lifetime,” she wrote in the post, accompanied by a picture of Hayes proposing in Maui, Hawaii. The proposal came earlier this week on July 1.

This will be Jordan’s, 26, and Hayes’, 30, first marriage.

Congratulations to the couple!

https://www.instagram.com/p/DLva5d-Bmkd/

100th episode of Collision airs tonight on TNT

Collision will air its 100th episode tonight on TNT and Max, with the episode taped this past Wednesday immediately following the end of Dynamite 300.

Several matches have been taped for the show including Kyle Fletcher vs Daniel Garcia, FTR vs The Outrunners, Shelton Benjamin vs Kevin Knight vs Nick Wayne in a three-way match, Mistico, Hologram and Mark Briscoe vs RPG Vice and Hechicero in a trios match, Thunder Rosa, Queen Aminata, Tay Melo, and Anna Jay vs Athena, Thekla, Megan Bayne, and Julia Hart.

Plus, Willow Nightingale is in action as well and it’s story time with Adam Cole!

Jordynne Grace to make movie debut with indie flick Welcome to Paradise

Variety is reporting that WWE Superstar Jordynne Grace will be making her movie debut in the upcoming indie flick Welcome to Paradise.

In the exclusive story, Variety describes the movie as a surreal fantasy film which blends psychological drama, dark comedy and mythic surrealism, centering on a mysterious carnival where winning may mean survival and losing could trap visitors in an alternate reality forever.

Richard Summers-Calvert wrote and directed with the cast including Bill Nighy, Mathew Horne, Georgina Bennett, Kirk Patterso, Togo Igawa, Tracey Wilkinson, and the late Simon Fisher-Becker.

The movie has been shot already and is currently in post-production, with late 2025 as a probably release.

All In: Texas gate revenue surpasses $2.5 million says Tony Khan

All In: Texas

Speaking to TMZ, AEW President Tony Khan said that the gate revenue from All In: Texas has already surpassed $2.5 million, which will be a record for AEW for a show in the United States.

“We’ve never even done over $2 million before in the US,” Khan said. “So we’re hitting a bunch of cool milestones with this as a business.”

The previous two All In shows hit way over $2.5 million but those were in London, England.

The show has reportedly passed the 20,000 ticket distribution and is on the way of potentially breaking $3 million as well.

With one week to go, expect sales to ramp up a little bit with 25,000 not an unrealistic scenario.

AEW’s biggest attendance in the United States is 20,177 at the first-ever Grand Slam show at Arthur Ashe Stadium in 2021.

No holds barred match added to Evolution 2025

Evolution 2025

A new match was added to the Evolution card last night as two former best friends will go at it in a no holds barred match.

Ms. Money In The Bank Naomi will battle the Queen of the Ring Jade Cargill on Sunday, July 13, becoming the sixth match on the card.

The two had a one-on-one match at WrestleMania which Cargill won but the feud between the two did not stop there as both continued to interfere into each other’s business since then.

Cargill winning the Queen of the Ring presents an interesting scenario because if she wins the title at SummerSlam, Naomi will be waiting lurking in the shadows with that briefcase ready to cash in at any time.

Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair advance to Evolution match for WWE Women’s Tag Team titles

Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair will be getting some action at the Evolution premium live event, but it won’t be any singles matches as they have teamed up to go after the WWE Women’s Tag Team titles.

The two qualified for the match after they beat Michin and B-Fab, and Piper Niven and Alba Fyre in a triple threat tag match.

Champions Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez will defend their gold against one team from each brand on Sunday, with their Raw and NXT opponents to be determined next week.

Alexa Bliss did not wrestle at the first Evolution and accompanied Mickie James and Alicia Fox to their match against Trish Stratus and Lita while Flair lost a last woman standing match against Becky Lynch that same night.

Trish Stratus gets WWE Women’s title match at Evolution

Trish Stratus returned on Smackdown last night and will be getting a WWE title shot at Evolution against champion Tiffany Stratton.

Stratton invited the WWE Hall of Famer to the ring last night and said that Evolution would be nothing without some Stratusfaction, issuing a challenge to Stratus in the meantime.

The two were tag team partners at the Elimination Chamber earlier this year and Stratus thanked Tiffy for letter her kids see her in the ring, but those same kids have never seen their mom as a champion, yet.

Tiffy told Trish that it won’t be easy for her and no matter who it is, be it Trish at Evolution or Jade Cargill at SummerSlam, it will still be Tiffy Time!

The Canadian Hall of Famer is a former seven-time WWE Women’s champion herself.

Drew McIntyre returns on Smackdown

Drew McIntyre returned last night on Smackdown, his first appearance since the last Saturday Night’s Main Event towards the end of May where he lost a steel cage match to Damian Priest.

The Scottish star interrupted the opening segment between Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton and tried to insert some tension between the two friends. McIntyre got an RKO for his effort.

Later in the broadcast, McIntyre confronted Smackdown General Manager Nick Aldis backstage and Aldis booked a match between McIntyre and Orton for next week’s Saturday Night’s Main Event in Atlanta, Georgia.

The match joins Gunther vs Goldberg and LA Knight vs Seth Rollins, with one more at least expected to be added.

Smackdown moves back to two hours starting tonight

Smackdown tonight moves back to two hours and will remain like that moving forward, ending a six-month experiment as a three-hour broadcast on USA Network.

Tonight’s show has been taped earlier this week following Raw and will not be live due to the Independence Day holiday.

Four matches were taped including a triple threat tag team match featuring Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss vs B-Fab and Michin vs The Secret Hervice for a spot in the WWE Women’s Tag Team title match at Evolution, The Wyatt Sicks vs Montez Ford, Johnny Gargano, Chris Sabin, and Berto in an eight-man tag match, Fraxiom vs Andrade and Rey Fenix, and Jacob Fatu and Jimmy Uso vs Solo Sikoa and JC Mateo.

Plus, there will be two surprise returns and the King and Queen of the Ring – Cody Rhodes and Jade Cargill – will be in the house as well.

AJ Styles signs one-year extension deal with WWE

Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful is reporting through his Select service that AJ Styles has signed a one-year contract extension with WWE, keeping him with the company going in the year 2026.

The 48-year-old joined WWE in 2016 after a long career with TNA and New Japan Pro-Wrestling and signed another long-term deal in February 2022 worth over $3 million per year.

It’s not known till when this one-year extension will run through but recent rumors that he was leaving the company proved to be false.

Styles has an Intercontinental title shot coming up and that will happen once champion Dominik Mysterio is cleared to compete.

John Cena confirms final match for mid-December 2025

John Cena said that his final match will be in mid-December, confirming rumors that he will bow out at the proposed Saturday Night’s Main Event in Boston on December 13.

WWE has not announced SNME for that day yet but a previous news report in Boston said that the show will happen at the TD Garden, just 36 miles away from his old stomping grounds of West Newbury, Massachusetts.

“My last match will be in mid-December. We’re still trying to find a place to do it,” Cena said without giving away too much.

He added that they’re halfway through the 36 dates he had with WWE this year.

“And gosh, it’s been a lot of compelling TV. And I don’t want to spoil it for anybody, but I think we’re just getting started,” he continued.

Cena was speaking to New York Posts’ Page Six during the media tour for his latest movie Heads of State.