TMZ has published details of the Nikki Garcia and Artem Chigvintsev divorce settlement which sees the former WWE Superstar paying a lot of money to her ex-husband.
The agreement says that Nikki has to pay Artem $3,500 every month for child support and also had to pay $100,000 now and $100,000 by the end of the year.
Nikki is also paying in full the cost of their son’s speech therapist but the two will split the costs on any future extracurricular activities involving their son.
The former WWE Divas champion got all the trusts in her name, including Stephanie Nicole Garcia Entertainment and Bonita Bonita.
The GoFundMe campaign for Sabu to cover the funeral expenses has not only reached its $25,000 goal but almost doubled it at time of this writing.
As of this writing, the campaign is at $45,973, spearheaded by Scott D’Amore who donated $15,932, followed by a $10,000 donation by an anonymous donor, and $5,000 from Chris Jericho. The OneHourTees.com founder Ryan Barkan also donated $2,000.
His funeral service will be held on May 30.
Sabu passed away unexpectedly on May 11. No cause of death has been published.
Business Insider is reporting that Real American Beer, the company partially owned by Hulk Hogan with WWE as a minority owner as well, is looking into submitting a bid to take over the Hooters intellectual property rights.
Hooters of America filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Texas in March as it looked to address its $376 million debt by selling all of its company restaurants to a franchise group backed by the company’s founders.
This doesn’t mean that Real American Beer is after the restaurants of Hooters, but it would potentially give them the ability to license the name back to the group.
Hooters is one of the restaurants which serves Real American Beer.
Real American Beer is owned by Terri Francis, Chad Bronstein, Adam Arviv, and Hogan and is contract brewed by a number of breweries across the country.
Smackdown got its Beautiful Madness as Giulia was announced as the newest member of the blue brand.
The former NXT Women’s champion was introduced last night by Smackdown General Manager Nick Aldis and follows Fraxiom to Smackdown after their NXT call-up after WrestleMania.
“Giulia of SmackDown! Remember the name. SmackDown just got dangerous,” the Japanese star wrote on X later.
Giulia joined WWE in September of last year and was moved to the NXT roster where she won the NXT Women’s title after a very short time.
Two more matches were announced for the Saturday Night’s Main Event show set for next week in Tampa, Florida.
R-Truth will get a chance to knock some sense into his hero, John Cena, as they go one-on-one. Cena hit the AA on Truth through a table at the post-Backlash press conference, setting up this match. It was not announced if this was for the WWE championship.
The second match will be another Drew McIntyre vs Damian Priest bout, but this time it will be inside a steel cage. McIntyre told Priest that one man will walk out of the cage, and the other will leave on a stretcher.
Saturday Night’s Main Event is on May 24 at the Yuengling Center and airs on NBC at 8PM ET and also streams on Peacock.
The first two Money In The Bank participants were revealed last night on Smackdown after they each won a triple threat match to advance to the June premium live event.
Alexa Bliss was the first one to get her ticket to the Intuit Dome when she beat Michin and Chelsea Green and then Solo Sikoa earned his spot following a victory over Jimmy Uso and Rey Fenix.
Next week, two more qualifying matches will take place on Smackdown, with Aleister Black vs LA Knight vs Shinsuke Nakamura and Charlotte Flair vs Giulia vs Zelina Vega.
Money In The Bank takes place on Saturday, June 7 live from the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, just a few hours after the NXT/AAA Worlds Collide show at the neighboring Kia Forum.
Tickets for the Road to WWE Clash in Paris tour went on sale today with eight live events including three televised shows.
The shows on sale are the Smackdown on Friday, August 22 in Dublin, house shows on Saturday, August 23 in Liverpool and Sunday, August 24 in Newcastle, Raw on Monday, August 25 from Birmingham, house shows on Tuesday, August 26 from Manchester, Wednesday, August 27 from Leeds, and Thursday, August 28 from Cardiff, as well as the Smackdown on Friday, August 29 from Lyon.
European fans are once again subjected to some extraordinary prices, with the cheapest ticket in Dublin for Smackdown at €316, approximately $350, the cheapest for Raw in Birmingham at £342, around $400, and €166 for Smackdown in Lyon, around $185.
The 2025 Money In The Bank qualifying matches will kick off tonight on Friday Night Smackdown.
Two triple threat matches will determine the first two competitors in the men’s and women’s ladder matches.
The women’s match will feature Chelsea Green vs Michin vs Alexa Bliss while the men’s match will have Jimmy Uso vs Rey Fenix vs Solo Sikoa.
Qualifying matches will continue on Raw and Smackdown over the next couple of weeks as Money In The Bank is just three weeks away, set to take place on Saturday, June 7 live from the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California.
Also announced for Smackdown are Aleister Black vs Carmelo Hayes, Fraxiom vs DIY, and Tiffany Stratton vs Nia Jax for the WWE Women’s title.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson had three Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards nominations for the 2025 event which were announced yesterday.
Johnson got the nominations for Favorite Movie Actor for Red One, Favorite Male Animated Voice From A Movie for Moana 2, and Favorite Song From A Movie for Can I get a Chee Hoo? from Moana 2.
The 38th Annual Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards ceremony will be held on June 21, 2025 at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California. It will be hosted by Grammy Award-winning singer Tyla and airs live on Nickelodeon.
Cody Rhodes is advertised to appear on tonight’s episode of Friday Night Smackdown on USA Network.
Rhodes has not appeared on WWE television since WrestleMania 41 Sunday, where he lost the WWE championship to John Cena in the main event of the show.
It remains unclear which direction Rhodes will go now with no WWE title around his waist but with Money In The Bank around the corner, it was inevitable that the American Nightmare was returning.
Over 11,000 fans have already purchased tickets for Smackdown at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina. Tickets are available starting from $53.85 including taxes and fees from Ticketmaster.com.
WWE champion John Cena is not scheduled to be on the broadcast.
A GoFundMe campaign has been launched to cover Sabu’s funeral expenses with a goal of $25,000.
Sabu died unexpectedly on May 11, with every major wrestling promotion paying tribute to the former ECW champion. No cause of death has been published yet.
The GoFundMe is currently around $6,000, with AEW star Chris Jericho donating $5,000 of them.
The funeral service for Sabu will be held on May 30.
KATU News in Portland is reporting that former wrestling star Billy Jack Haynes is unfit to stand trial after he murdered his 85-year-old wife, Janette Becraft, in February 2024.
Haynes is facing charges of second degree murder and the unlawful use of a weapon.
A Multnomah County Judge declared that Haynes is mentally unfit and sent him to Oregon State Hospital for treatment. He was ordered to stay in hospital until he is fit for trial.
The judge, Angela Lucero, reached the conclusion after evaluating Haynes’ behavior and recommendations from both the defense and prosecution, who both deemed him unfit.
Haynes wrestled for WWF between 1986 and 1988 with his most prominent match coming at WrestleMania III against Hercules Hernandez. He also had a stint with WCW but was a staple in the Oregon wrestling for a long time.
He fatally shot his wife, who was suffering from dementia, and had a standoff with police while locked in his home after the murder.
Mark Briscoe has challenged Ricochet for a stretcher match at next week’s Double or Nothing pay-per-view.
In a video uploaded on social media, Briscoe said that Ricochet has been a perpetual thorn in his ass for the better part of two months and it’s about time they end this.
Briscoe slammed Ricochet for bullying Zach Gowen and promised that come May 25, he will send his ass to the hospital on a stretcher.
Ricochet has yet to respond to Briscoe’s challenge but obviously this will be added to the card, becoming the sixth match on the show.
Dynamite this week drew 682,000 viewers for their Beach Break episode, up 53,000 viewers from the prior week and the best number of 2025 so far. This was also the most-watched since September 18, 2024 and the first time since November 27, 2024 that they beat NXT in overall viewership. The show had a 0.17 rating in 18-49, up 0.01 from last week and was #3 on the top 50 cable chart for the night. (Ratings credit: Programming Insider)
Chris Chavis, better known to wrestling fans as Tatanka, announced on his social media that he will be at the WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event next weekend in Tampa, Florida.
Chavis said that he will be joined by his wife Michelle and their two sons, Joseph and Jeremiah, ringside for the show. WWE has been inviting several Legends to make on-camera appearances at SNME since it relaunched in December of last year.
The 63-year-old worked with WWE between 1991 and 1996 and then again between 2005 and 2007.
SNME airs next Saturday, May 24, live from the Yuengling Center as part of a four-day WWE takeover of the city.
TMZ.COM is reporting that Hulk Hogan underwent neck surgery on Wednesday, which one of his representatives described as a “little fusion procedure.”
Hogan needed the surgery to make him feel more comfortable and eliminate some pain, with the 71-year-old WWE Hall of Famer already back on his feet and “at work.”
The Hulkster underwent around 25 surgical operations over the past 10 years or so, with back, knees, hips, and shoulders taking most of those procedures. Hogan still walks around using the assistance of a cane.
Hogan is currently busy with his Real American Freestyle Wrestling promotion launch in the Summer and his Real American Beer which continues to expand in the United States.
Matt Cardona stopped by Insight with Chris Van Vliet for an 80-minute interview which covered a wide-variety of subjects including about a possible WWE return, being open to returning as Zack Ryder, his wife Chelsea Green, the possibility of accepting an AEW contract and more.
On possibly finding a way back to WWE or AEW:
“I’ve said this a million times. When I got released, it wasn’t like, ‘What can I do to get back to WWE or get to AEW?’ It was what can I do to prove myself right? And, oh my God, even saying that again and again and again. For five years, I’ve been saying that I don’t want to prove people wrong, I want to prove myself right and my fans right. It makes me sick to say because I feel like I’ve said it so many times, but it’s the truth. I feel like I have. But man, like, what else do we need to do to get back there?”
On whether he is surprised that he hasn’t returned:
“Honestly? Yeah. But obviously I’m missing something, I don’t know what it is. Listen, people say to me all the time, especially since we just had WrestleMania, WrestleCon. Thousands of people, probably every other fan, if not every fan, ‘When are you coming back?’ Well, it’s not up to me. Or at the WrestleMania Hotel. Thanks Chelsea for letting me stay in a hotel room for free. Saved me some money. Great hotel. Great Steakhouse, too. But so many people from the office or other wrestlers, ‘Hey, man, when are you coming back?’ It’s like, I don’t know. I’ve reached out many times. I shouldn’t say many, a few times, every couple of months when something cool happens or I have something to say, hey, look what I’m doing. There’s been no offer. [Do they write you back?] Of course. Everything’s very nice, professional, but there’s no offer. And you know what? It is what it is, I’m gonna keep working my ass off.”
On a possible Royal Rumble return as Zack Ryder:
“I’ve had gear ready every single year. So this is the truth. I always have gear. I’m always ready. I always have gear where the trunks are the same, but the knee pads are interchangeable, the ZR or an MC.”
On not being opposed to returning as Zack Ryder:
“It’s not my first choice. I think Zack Ryder is dead, and I don’t mean that in a negative way. Zack Ryder set me up for Matt Cardona. But I mean, obviously WWE thought Zack Ryder was dead. They fired me five years ago. My Matt Cardona name, I feel like I’ve done these interviews for five years. And again, this is like how many times have I said this? But I don’t care how you define success, money, accolades, happiness, this is the most successful I’ve ever been in my career as Matt Cardona, but it’s because Zack Ryder and WWE set me up for that.”
On whether he would accept an AEW contract:
“If it made sense. I don’t want to be anywhere just to be a guy on the roster. I know there’s no guarantees in pro wrestling, but I need intent like, ‘We see you doing this, or we envision you being here.’ I don’t want to just collect a check. Been there, done that.”
The Steve “Mongo” McMichael tribute was taped yesterday for this weekend’s Collision and was not part of the Dynamite program last night as originally thought.
Tony Schiavone hosted the tribute in the ring, where former fellow Four Horsemen members Dean Malenko and Ric Flair were brought out. McMichael’s wife, Misty, was also present for the tribute and joined them in the ring.
This was Flair’s first appearance on AEW television since the Sting retirement match at Revolution last year.
McMichael, who played for the Chicago Bears between 1981 and 1993, passed away last month at age 67 after a bout with ALS.
Last Sunday’s WWE Superstar Sunday on A&E had one episode of LFG and two episode of WWE’s Greatest Moments.
LFG started at 8PM with episode 14 and drew 149,000 viewers, up 78,000 viewers from the prior week. It had a 0.03 rating in 18-49, up 0.01 from the last episode.
Episode 10 of Greatest Moments featured Cody Rhodes at 9:30PM and had 89,000 viewers with a 0.02 rating in 18-49. That was down 47,000 viewers but up 0.01 in the demo.
Episode 11 followed, featuring The Bloodline, and it did 88,000 viewers with a 0.03 rating in 18-49. (Ratings credit: Programming Insider)
Popular AEW star Swerve Strickland is getting his own custom Reebok Answer 3 collaboration according to Sole Retriever.
The design of the sneakers, based on Allen Iverson’s signature shoe, features inspiration from his AEW Dynasty 2024 gear, with the same color palette and design. His Dynasty gear, inspired by Killmonger, had black and gold suite with faux cheetah print details.
The sneakers will have a base layer adopting the exotic print and gold accents lining parts of the leather eyelets and mid foot overlay.
It will be available on May 28 for a retail price of $160 and you can see it at SoleRetriever.com.
