Interviewed by Sports Illustrated, Nikki Bella said that her hope is that her twin sister Brie joins in her in WWE for her latest run.
Nikki returned on Raw this past Monday and got wiped out by Liv Morgan and will be back for another round tomorrow as the build towards Evolution continues.
“That’s definitely what I’m hoping to see,” Nikki said about potentially her sister joining her. “I’m not going to lie…I mean, I like having my own time but also I can’t do it without my tag partner. And so you never know.”
Nikki said that we have to “stay tuned” as you never know what’s going to happen in WWE.
Earlier this week, TMZ revealed that Brie is in negotiations with WWE to return. Her last appearance was at the 2022 Royal Rumble.
WWE and TNA stars will be participating at the AAA Triplemania Regia event today at the Arena Monterrey in Monterrey, Mexico.
Angel and Berto of Legado del Fantasma will be in action in a four-way tag match for the AAA Tag Team titles against champions Forastero and Sanson and opponents Psycho Clown and Pagano, and current TNA Tag Team champions The Nemeth Brothers.
Also, the TNA X Division title will be on the line as champion Moose defends in another four-way match including El Mesias, Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr., and fellow TNA star Joe Hendry.
The event will be headlined by a AAA Mega championship steel cage match between champion El Hijo del Vikingo defending against Alberto El Patron.
Ric Flair posted that he’s “on the mend” after starting treatment for his skin cancer, the second one identified in three years.
The Nature Boy uploaded a selfie showing small round bandaids on his forehead and a puffed left side of his face, presumably some side effects from the treatment he started this week.
Flair originally denied that he was suffering from skin cancer after his son-in-law Conrad Thompson said so. But weeks later, he told PEOPLE.COM that he was indeed having another bout with cancer.
In an interview with GamblingIndustryNews.com, the Nigerian giant Omos revealed that he signed a new WWE deal despite not appearing on television for months.
Asked how things are going in WWE, Omos said that he cannot complain and he’s really excited about what is coming next.
“I’ve been training really hard and working on some new things and I think it’s going to be a really fun ride ahead, especially because I just signed a renewal with WWE and will be there for years to come,” the 33-year-old said.
Omos started with WWE in 2019 and last wrestled a match for WWE at the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal on Smackdown in April 2024. After nine months of no matches, he was sent to Japan where he wrestled for NOAH, winning the GHC Tag Team titles. He only spent a month in Japan and was recalled back but has still not appeared on TV.
AEW will also tape ROH/CMLL Global Wars: Mexico on Wednesday night prior to Grand Slam: Mexico.
This is similar to what they did back in February when AEW held Grand Slam in Brisbane, Australia and produced an ROH Global Wars Australia on the same day.
Two matches have been confirmed so far, with Lee Moriarty vs Blue Panther and ROH Women’s champion Athena and Billie Starkz vs Thunder Rosa and Persephone.
ROH/CMLL Global Wars: Mexico will air on ROH’s HonorClub streaming service. A subscription is required.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., posted a photo posing with WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque and his wife Stephanie McMahon.
The meeting between the three took place yesterday, with Secretary Kennedy writing that he met with Triple H and Stephanie to “strategize about the upcoming President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition.”
“Thank you for having us, @SecKennedy,” Triple H responded. “Always striving to do whatever we can to help make our nation’s youth as healthy as they can be.”
WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus has been cast in the new movie Karate Ghost, which is currently filming in Toronto.
Stratus, joins David Koechner and Steve Howey as the latest three stars to the movie, which already has a cast featuring Tim Rozon, Colton Gobbo, Jim Belushi, Natalie Zea, Michael Jai White, and WWE’s own Cathy Kelley.
Trish Stratus stars as Susan Fanshawe, an overenthusiastic pageant-queen-turned-karate-mom whose obsession with martial arts puts her daughter’s dreams in a chokehold.
Set in a town ruled by absurd karate law, Karate Ghost follows Bobby Brody, a grieving teen who forms an unlikely bond with the ghost of his late father’s favorite action hero. What begins as a haunted mentorship spirals into a fight for identity, legacy, and redemption.
A festival premiere and theatrical release is slated for early 2026.
Ron Killings appeared on Smackdown last night and took out WWE champion John Cena twice.
Killings attacked Cena the first time following the end of the opening segment where Cena was confronted by Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton, and LA Knight. After Cena finished his bit and was walking to the back, Killings showed up and hit him from behind, followed by a ground and pound. Several WWE officials then came out to separate the two.
Later in the show, Cena’s second in-ring segment was interrupted by CM Punk. Killings once again came out and took Cena from behind. Killings locked Cena in the STF and Punk, from ringside, told him that “the truth hurts.” Once again, several officials came out to pull Killings off of Cena and Cena bolted.
In a backstage segment afterward, Smackdown GM Nick Aldis wasn’t happy with Killings and asked him what he wanted. Truth said he wanted a rematch against the champion and Aldis accepted, making the match official for next week.
After a year signed to the company, Hikuleo made his WWE debut last night…in a taping of Main Event prior to Smackdown.
The former IWGP Tag Team champion wrestled Kit Wilson of Pretty Deadly in his first match and at least for that match, he kept his name from New Japan Pro-Wrestling.
Hikuleo, the brother of Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa, was wildly rumored to be joining The Bloodline but that angle has taken a back seat for the time being with everyone doing their own thing.
His brothers are both out of action, with Tama Tonga out since April and Tonga Loa out since November of last year.
The King and Queen of the Ring tournaments semi finals are almost complete, with four advancing last night on Smackdown.
In the King of the Ring, Randy Orton advanced in a match which also had Carmelo Hayes, LA Knight, and Aleister Black while Cody Rhodes beat Andrade, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Damian Priest in the main event to punch his semi final ticket.
Randy Orton now takes on Sami Zayn next Friday and Cody Rhodes will face the winner of Bronson Reed vs Rusev vs Sheamus vs Jey Uso which will take place on Monday.
The Queen of the Ring saw Jade Cargill move on after beating Michin, Nia Jax, and Piper Niven and then Alexa Bliss also secured her spot after a win over Alba Fyre, Charlotte Flair, and Candice LeRae.
Cargill goes on to battle Roxanne Perez in the semi final and Alexa Bliss faces the winner of Raquel Rodriguez vs Ivy Nile vs Stephanie Vaquer vs Asuka which takes place on Monday.
The last participant in the King of the Ring tournament is none other than former WWE World Heavyweight champion himself Jey Uso.
Uso is taking the final spot in the tournament and will be involved in the fatal four-way match with Sheamus, Rusev, and Bronson Reed this coming Monday on Raw live on Netflix.
It was Raw General Manager Adam Pearce who made the announcement of Uso being in the tournament via a video posted on social media.
The winner of the King of the Ring tournament will receive a title shot at SummerSlam at either the WWE World Heavyweight title or the WWE title.
The King and Queen of the Ring tournament matches will continue tonight on Friday Night Smackdown live on USA Network.
Three fatal four-way matches will take place, with Cody Rhodes vs Damian Priest vs Andrade vs Shinsuke Nakamura and Randy Orton vs LA Knight vs Aleister Black vs Carmelo Hayes in the King of the Ring and Charlotte Flair vs Chelsea Green vs Candice LeRae vs Alexa Bliss in the Queen of the Ring.
Plus, WWE champion John Cena, United States champion Jacob Fatu, and Ms. Money In The Bank Naomi will also all appear on the broadcast.
Rob Van Dam and his wife Katie Forbes announced that they are expecting a baby via a post on Instagram.
“Baby Van Dam coming 2026” Forbes wrote, along with a photo of the two holding a tiny shirt which says “The next WWE Superstar.”
This will be Van Dam’s – who is 54 – and Forbes’ – who is 34 – first child.
“You know life is interesting, we lost Sabu recently of course. I feel like a big part of me was lost when we lost Sabu. Because he was part of me,” RVD said. “He helped create me, make me who I am. And the universe has a funny way of balancing out.”
Jade Cargill will make her acting debut in the upcoming movie True Threat, alongside Jonathan Majors, according to an exclusive story by Deadline.com.
The action thriller based in Harlem will be directed by Gerard McMurray and produced by Alexis Garcia, Charlamagne Tha God, Basil Iwanyk, and Karen Kinney.
The plot of the movie follows a Special Forces operative, played by Majors, who returns home seeking justice after his teenage son is murdered by Harlem’s Apollo Kids gang.
Cargill will play the role of Meeka, described as a key lieutenant in the Apollo Kids and one of the movie’s biggest villains.
“I am excited to have Jade join us on True Threat,” McMurray shared in a statement to Deadline. “She is a unique talent with a rare blend of athleticism, charisma, and control on camera. The role of Meeka requires presence and precision, and Jade brings both. I believe audiences will see a completely new side of her in this film.”
The producing team added, “Our mission here is to champion new faces and new voices in action storytelling. Jade is exactly the type of dynamic talent we want to introduce to the global film audience. She is already a force in the sports and entertainment world, and we believe this is just the beginning for her on the big screen.”
The four-hour Summer Blockbuster on TBS this past Wednesday drew an average of 497,000 viewers, down 20,000 viewers from last week’s other four-hour broadcast, Fyter Fest.
The first two hours as Dynamite from 8PM to 10PM had 597,000 viewers, down 58,000 viewers from last week and a 0.17 rating in 18-49, down 0.01. It placed #3 on the top 50 cable chart for the night.
The other two hours billed as Collision from 10PM to Midnight drew 397,000 viewers, up 17,000 from last week. It did a 0.09 rating in 18-49, down 0.01 as well.
Unlike last week, the show had heavy competition from the NBA Finals. (Ratings credit: Programming Insider)
The Undertaker’s podcast Six Feet Under has been relaunched under the WWE/Fanatics brand with one big change: a new co-host.
Undertaker’s previous co-host was Matthew Lyda from the Nine Line Apparel company, but this time around, he will have an even more familiar face…his wife and fellow WWE Hall of Famer Michelle McCool.
Taker’s podcast now joins Stephanie McMahon’s, Cody Rhodes’, and the Raw Recap under the new partnership between WWE and Fanatics.
The first episode – which the husband and wife team talk about The Deadman’s in-laws, McCool’s in-ring career, how they met, Undertaker’s WrestleMania health scare and more – is available now.
An episode of NXT on CW will hit the road next month as the July 22 broadcast will take place from Houston, Texas.
Shawn Michaels announced in a post on X that the show will be held at the 713 Music Hall, with tickets already available at Ticketmaster.com.
The cheapest tickets are $70 general admission standing, with seated seats starting from $97. A me+3 4-pack offer is also available in certain sections. Ringside tickets are going for a whopping $594.70.
WWE will be touring the state of Texas around those days, with Smackdown on July 18 from San Antonio, two non-televised live events in the weekend from Corpus Christi and Edinburg, and then Raw on July 21 from Houston as well.
Five wrestlers, including two still under contract to AEW, have been cast in the newest version of American Gladiators which will air on Amazon’s Prime Video.
Wardlow, Kamille, former WWE Superstar Rick Boogs, as well as Jessie Godderz and J-Rod from OVW, will be part of the new American Gladiators cast according to a story on The Hollywood Reporter.
There will be a total of 16 gladiators, eight men and eight women, picked from across the United States including bodybuilders, pro wrestlers, former Division I athletes, CrossFit champions and military veterans.
“The original Gladiators were iconic, so our search for the new Gladiators had to be exhaustive. Our team went cross country, meeting with thousands of fitness influencers and professional athletes to find the highest caliber of competitors,” Barry Poznick, general manager MGM Alternative, Evolution Media and Big Fish Entertainment, told THR. “Every Gladiator in this lineup embodies what it means to be a modern warrior — relentless, inspiring, and ready for the challenge of a lifetime. They are real-life superheroes.”
WWE Superstar The Miz will be hosting the show while Rocsi Diaz will be the sideline reporter and Chris Rose will handle play-by-play.
On today’s episode of SiriusXM’s The Nikki and Brie Show, Nikki Garcia gives the inside scoop on her return to WWE Monday Night RAW.
Nikki Garcia details how she felt when she found out she had a promo with Liv Morgan, reveals why the time was right to return to WWE and shares who gave her the best advice before walking out.
The Nikki & Brie Show hosted by Nikki & Brie Garcia is available anytime on the SiriusXM app. New episodes every Monday and Thursday. Listen to the full episode here.
Nikki Garcia shares how she felt when she found out she had a promo with Liv Morgan & addresses mispronouncing Stephanie Vaquer’s name (5:55-8:00)
Brie Garcia: Okay, so when you found out that you were doing a promo segment with Liv, were you really nervous?
Nikki Garcia: I mean, of course. You know, this is my thing is, I haven’t been on that kind of stage in so long, but I think what was helping me feel like relaxed the nerves a little bit is like the fact that we’ve done, you know, quite a few live podcast shows, as well as hosting shows that that helps, so that relaxed the nerves a bit, but of course, it’s because I really wanted to deliver. I wanted to be great. I wanted, you know, the crowd to really feel it. I wanted everyone in TV land to really feel it and it went off great and I mean, you know me. I was shocked when Liv came out like a fireball. It was like incredible. I was like, “Oh shoot. Whoa.” You felt that. I mean, she came to the ring so fast. It was insane.
Brie Garcia: So, Buddy goes, cause we were watching and Buddy’s like, “Rude, she just interrupted Dodo.” He wanted to hear what you want, like he wanted you to finish your thought, and so it was like really funny.
Nikki Garcia: Oh my gosh, and then even though it’s only a few people that have said stuff, but I can’t tell you how many times I went over Stephanie Vaquer. I feel like I’m still saying it wrong. Her last name. I even was asking her, but she says that of course in a beautiful Latina accent.
Brie Garcia: Girl, you’re half Mexican.
Nikki Garcia: Well, when I would repeat it after her, she’s like, “Perfect.” I was saying it amazing, but then you get in your head and then I’m like, “Wait, I can’t let myself be hooked on just one last name or then I’m going to mess everything up,” because you know, I wanted to say a bunch of people’s names, and so I didn’t want to get too hooked on hers. But then I was asking people like, they’re like, “No, you just say it like Vaquer,” like think care at the end. You know, and then I’m like, “Okay,” but then I wanted to say it with some spice, so I got to work on that. I’m so bad, like pronouncing, you and I with our pronunciation at times.
Nikki Garcia discusses why it was the right time to return to WWE (23:54-26:33)
Nikki Garcia: I’ve been getting asked this question a lot. Like, why? Like, why now? Why are you back? What’s the why and how is it different? And, you know, I said this when I was talking to Us Weekly earlier, because before this, I was talking to Us Weekly and People, and after this, I’m going to talk to Sports Illustrated and with Us Weekly, I just, you know, I said back in the day, because we had approved so much and we were fighting for women’s wrestling and we wanted the world to have eyes on it and have the respect and appreciation, and so back in the day, I was trying to prove stuff to everyone. It was proving everything to everyone of what we can do, what I can do, you know, being the champ, being a tag team, whatever it was. It was all about proving everything to everyone else and I told everyone, I go, “This time around, it’s about proving something to myself,” and that is truly what this comeback and this run is for me and this new era is like proving things to myself, and also, because I was thinking about this, because people are like, especially since I got my hair.
Brie Garcia: Oh, girl, and the hair looks good.
Nikki Garcia: Told you. You were doubting me, and I kept feeling and having dreams like, “But no, I know this is just who I am.”
Brie Garcia: But I will say why I doubt is because sometimes we look at pictures of us from 10 years ago and I was nervous you were expecting it to come out like that and I didn’t know if it was going to, so I didn’t want it to be like-
Nikki Garcia: And just, you know, people have been doing side by sides of me from 10 years ago and they’re like, “It’s like you’re in the same era.” I’m like, “Yeah, with a few wrinkles,” but you know. But you weren’t the only one. After I did my hair, even everyone at the salon goes, “Oh my, I didn’t know it was going to look this good. This your hair. This is your good look.”
Brie Garcia: It’s, I mean, not that I want to say even better.
Nikki Garcia: They all said that to me.
Brie Garcia: But you did go to the best.
Nikki Garcia: The best. Seriously. It came out the best. What it made me feel too is like, what this run is for all the women when they’re like, “Oh, when you were in your prime, when you were,” no, no, no. We can be in our prime at any age. We can be in a prime in our 20s and our 30s and in our 40s and 50s and so on, and so this is also for the women to show you that we can dream whatever we want to dream. We can go do whatever we want to do, and we get to decide when our prime is and this is my new prime.
Nikki Garcia reveals the best advice she received before walking out (30:29-31:30)
Brie Garcia: Who gave you the best advice before walking out?
Nikki Garcia: Nattie.
Brie Garcia: Oh, what’d she say?
Nikki Garcia: Well, she’s told me a lot, but Nattie was the one who like, because she saw me looking at my script and she goes, “No, speak from the heart,” and she went in on this whole thing about speaking from the heart. She’s like, “You know what you’re here to say. You don’t need that. You know what you’re here to say and you get to that.” Nattie’s always the best in that way. She knows us so well.
Brie Garcia: She does.
Nikki Garcia: She’s our day one girl.
Brie Garcia: She is our day one girl. What pep talk did you give yourself right before your music hit?
Nikki Garcia: So, it was what Kairi said to me. I literally prayed to everyone, and I just said, and this is the first time I’ve ever done it in this way, but I just said, “God, I’m your best soul and just please let the words come and let me do it in a way where I can connect authentically.”
Former TNA star James Storm sat down with Chris Van Vliet at West Coast Creative Studio in Los Angeles for the latest episode of Insight.
Storm discusses his legendary TNA career, his partnerships with Chris Harris and Bobby Roode, becoming World Champion, being a part of the infamous blindfold steel cage match and reverse battle royal, the train track segment with Mickie James, why his time in WWE didn’t turn into more, making the transition to acting, when he plans on retiring and more!
On why he never signed with WWE:
“Man, it was a lot. Mostly had to do with my family. Had a little bit to do with money, which is not like ‘They didn’t pay him a lot of money, so he’s not coming.’ It wasn’t like that at all. They gave me a contract, I went home and I got a call from Regal. He goes, ‘Hey, we definitely want to sign you.’ I was like, Oh, great. So I was going to sign the contract and all that stuff, and then he asked me, ‘Can you tighten up a little bit? Lose a little weight?’ I was like, Yeah. I busted my ass and I lost 20 pounds. I got in really good shape when I got back down there, everybody’s like, Oh my God, you look totally different. Because I always tell people, you give a man motivation, he’ll work his ass off if. So I did it, and then when I got down there, the contract had changed. They added 25 more dates, but the money didn’t move.
I even told them TNA had offered me another contract to come back because they heard about me wanting to sign with WWE. I said, ‘Look, this is what TNA is offering me. I’m not trying to hold this over your head at all, because you don’t have to match this at all. I’m just saying this is what I’m willing to give up to come and work for this, but it has to be right.’ Because my wife, she wanted to have another child at the time, but she had to take the [IVF] shots and all this stuff, so I was basically kind of giving that up as well, because I was going to be on the road a lot. We came to an agreement, and she was like, ‘Well, if they can just give you this, then you have my blessing to sign.’ Hunter is like, ‘I just can’t do it.’ I was just like, ‘All right, well, I’m sorry, my wife gave me permission not to sign, so I’m going home.’
Three days later, Canon Ceman called me. He goes, ‘Hey, man. Paul wants to know if he can call you.’ I was like, ‘What? Hunter?’ He goes yeah. I go, ‘He has my phone number. I just talked to him not too long ago.’ He goes, ‘Well, since you’re not signed, we had to go through the proper channels, and I had to make sure. You’re on a recorded line.’ I was like whatever, yeah, he can call me. So he called me and I talked and he’s like, ‘Look, you’re not gonna be here long, because Vince loves characters and you know how to work, so you’ll probably be shipped off real quick.’ I was like, ‘Well, can you give what I was asking?’ And like I said, it was not much at all, and he’s like, ‘No, I just don’t have the authority to do that.’ I was like, ‘I’m sorry, man. I’m gonna have to say no.’”
Was that a tough decision?
“That was the hardest phone call I think I’ve ever had to get off the phone with a man. Usually I just hang up the phone. I was like, oh, man. Am I making the right decision? But in hindsight, I didn’t know at the time, but it was the right decision for me and my family at that time, because I was able to have my son that’s eight years old now, and everything. So I can’t imagine what if if I would have taken that.”
On the blindfold steel cage match:
“Oh man. Me and Chris were in this big feud. I was supposed to have put his eye out and everything. So they’re like to even the field, you should have to see like he does, and be in a blindfold match. I was like this isn’t the 80s no more. That match is so hard to pull off, especially in those times, even today. I was just like all right, well if that’s what you want to do. Then I was like wait, this is inside of an electrified cage too? There’s so many gimmicks going on in here. But thank God the cage wasn’t on when we did it. But it wasn’t until like 30 minutes before our match started that they realized that they didn’t have the blindfolds, so they ran to somewhere and just got two black bags and just put them over our heads that didn’t have draw strings or anything, so they keep falling off. There’s a point in the match when I look at Chris and I said, ‘No, to hell with this, we’re taking it home.’ He’s like, really? I was like, yep. I think it was the beer bottle and for the finish or whatever. I was like, we’re going home. I got to the back, and to his credit, Vince Russo, he was standing right there, he knew it too, and I just lit into him. He goes, ‘I am so sorry, blah, blah, blah. I understand if you want to punch me.’ I said, ‘Oh, I’m not going to punch you. I want to.’ He goes, ‘To make it up, I’ll let you do any match that you want to do.’ And then that’s when we did the Texas death match.”
On the Mickie James train angle:
“The funny thing was, a lot of people don’t know it, I actually had cops come to my house to make sure, they thought it was legit. My brother, who was a detective at the time, he called me. He goes, ‘Hey man, did you kill somebody on TV?’ I was like, bro, it’s wrestling. He goes, ‘That’s what I try to tell him.’ But there was this cop that had just started on the beat with him, so he was messing with him. He had that guy come to my door and ring the doorbell and ask me about all this stuff, and my brother sitting in a car just laughing his butt off. So I had to bring the cop in and put the episode on and show him it’s part of a wrestling angle. Me and Mickie and Nick, all three of us are trying to tell John this is not a good idea to murder somebody on TV. I came up with a plan of having a flash of me, this is what would happen if she wouldn’t agree with me, like, I would push her off and she would die, you know, but they didn’t like that idea. I was like, All right, well, I guess I’m pushing her.”
