In a video posted on his social media, Mick Foley announced that his WWE Legends deal has expired and with that out of the way, has no more ties to WWE.
“The message for WWE and specifically for their merchandise and marketing people, the message is: Thank you,” Foley said. “And I mean that sincerely.”
He told WWE fans that he has no problem signing WWE memorabilia in the future and he looks forward to do it.
“I’m proud of everything I did there, but it’s time for a new chapter in my career and in my life, and I’m really looking forward to this adventure with AEW,” Foley continued. “And I’m really looking forward to doing everything I can possibly do to make AEW as great as it can possibly be.”
The Hall of Famer noted that he had just received his largest quarterly WWE royalty check in a decade and thanked everyone at the company who thought he was worthy of merchandise.
Speaking of merchandise, Foley added that he has some merch coming out with AEW and some other companies, which will replace his WWE stuff which cannot be sold anymore with no Legends deal in place.
Foley decided to cut ties with WWE due to their continued association and relationship with President Donald Trump and his administration and it was his decision not to renew his Legends deal. Foley is now under an AEW contract where he made his debut at Double or Nothing.
A new TBS champion was crowned last night on Dynamite, with Hikaru Shida winning the Survival of the Fittest match to win the vacant title.
The match also featured Kris Statlander, Persephone, Harley Cameron, Queen Aminata, and Maika, with Persephone eliminating Cameron first, Shida eliminating Maika second, Persephone eliminating Aminata in third, Statlander eliminating Persephone fourth, and finally Shida pinning Statlander for the decisive victory.
Shida is a former two-time AEW Women’s champion and has not held gold since late 2023.
The TBS title was vacated by Willow Nightingale who was injured several weeks ago. Nightingale is already preparing for a return to the ring.
Eric Young has left TNA Wrestling effective immediately, with TNA issuing a statement announcing that the company has come to terms on his release.
Reacting to the news on social media, Young clarified that he was the one who requested to be released and TNA granted his wish. He also said he was never on a handshake deal and had a contract the entire time he was in TNA.
“I will work where I want how I want and for whom I want,” he continued. “My track record, resume, accolades and reputation are proof of that!”
Rumors are that Young is moving to WWE, although in which role remains to be seen. He worked for WWE between 2016 and 2020 and then returned in late 2022 where he never appeared on television and was released again without doing anything during the time he was there. In mid-2023, Young returned to TNA Wrestling.
Smackdown last Friday night drew 1,206,000 viewers, up 15,000 viewers from the prior week for the taped episode from London. This was their best number in over a month. Smackdown had a 0.22 rating in 18-49, down 0.03 from the prior week and was # on the top 50 cable chart for the night. (Ratings credit: Programming Insider)
After surviving Mark Briscoe last night on Dynamite, MJF has another monster challenge ahead of him in the form of Kenny Omega.
The title match between the two will happen next Wednesday on the Beach Break episode of Dynamite and for Omega, the stakes are even higher.
The match also comes with a stipulation attached to it that is if Omega does not win against MJF, he can never challenge for the title again.
The announcement for the bout took a whole episode of Dynamite to be made, with first MJF declining the challenge and then coming up with the stipulation, which Omega took his time to think about.
MJF has two wins over Omega so far in AEW, both of them defending the title.
There are rumors that the All In pay-per-view main event will feature Will Ospreay going for the title in a match against Kenny Omega, suggesting that Omega will finally get one over MJF.
The Great American Bash 2026 premium live event on The CW, the first PLE on the network, drew just 394,000 viewers on Sunday night. The show went head-to-head with AEW’s Forbidden Door pay-per-view. GAB had a 0.07 rating in 18-49. Both the viewership and the demo rating were down from what the weekly NXT shows usually do on The CW. (Ratings credit: Programming Insider)
It seems like the new AEW ring cage concept, Death’s Door, will be sticking around.
AEW filed an application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to trademark the word Death’s Door for their circular cage which made its debut at Forbidden Door.
The company used the concept for the first time this past Sunday, opting for a round cage with a truss all around it a the top for easier walking, instead of the traditional square cage. The cage diameter was big enough to allow space around the ring for the twelve men who participated in the match.
AEW President Tony Khan credited Mike Mansury, AEW’s Executive Vice President and Head Of Global Production, for coming up with it.
PWInsider.com is reporting that former TNA champion Mike Santana is done with the promotion after fulfilling all his obligations and will not be part of this week’s tapings of Impact.
His last match was this past Sunday, losing the TNA World title to Nic Nemeth at Slammiversary.
Santana is heavily rumored to be joining WWE once he is legally able to do so sometime this month.
He has been working for AEW since 2024 after an almost five-year stint in AEW.
The 35-year-old from New York is a former two-time TNA World champion and four-time TNA Tag Team champion with his former tag team partner Ortiz.
AEW announcer Jim Ross is finally home from the hospital.
Ross spent a month at a hospital in Norman, Oklahoma but he opted not to disclose why he was there.
The WWE Hall of Famer has been battling several health issues over the past few years, including bouts with cancer. He last called a match for AEW at the May Double or Nothing pay-per-view, where his weekend was also plagued with health problems.
Ross received several well-wishes from colleagues on social media.
His one-year contract with AEW will expire in August and Ross said in the past he doesn’t know what the future holds for him.
Impact last Thursday night drew 188,000 viewers for the Slammiversary go-home episode, down 67,000 viewers from the previous show. This was the least-watched episode since May 21. The show had a 0.02 rating in 18-49, down 0.01. (Ratings credit: Programming Insider)
Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Wrestling is reporting through his Select service that Big Bill is departing AEW and moving to WWE.
The man known as Big Cass in WWE is expected to join his former tag team partner, Enzo Amore, who is also returning to the company.
He last wrestled on AEW television in February 2026 although he did appear for Ring of Honor in an episode which aired this past April, teaming up with Bryan Keith.
The 39-year-old joined AEW in 2022 and is a former AEW Tag Team champion with Ricky Starks.
The AEW Redemption 2026 pay-per-view, the newest event on the AEW calendar, will start an hour earlier than usual, news which will certainly be welcomed by everyone considering the length of each AEW pay-per-view.
AEW President Tony Khan announced on X that the Buy In show will start at 6PM ET and the pay-per-view will follow immediately at 7PM ET. Usually, AEW PPVs kick off at 8PM ET and most of the time go over Midnight.
The earlier start time has been called for by many fans who feel that an 8PM start time on a Sunday is too late for AEW pay-per-views.
Redemption will be held on Sunday, July 26 live from Montreal. Tickets are still available at Ticketmaster.ca.
The June 22 episode of Raw had 2,300,000 global viewers on Netflix, down 100,000 from the prior week and the second least-watched episode ever on Netflix. The show aired at 2PM ET in the United States as it was live from London.
With lower viewer numbers overall on Netflix, Raw managed to secure the #4 spot on the global top 10 chart despite the low viewing number, with a total of 4,300,000 global viewing hours based on an episode edited down to 1 hour and 47 minutes.
Raw was in the top 10 charts in only nine countries for the week including Bahamas, Bahrain, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Canada, Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom, and United States.
Nikki Blackheart made her NXT debut last night, attacking Tatum Paxley after losing to Kelani Jordan on the show.
Blackheart was signed to a WWE developmental deal a few months ago but the announcers did not refer to her by any name, suggesting that she will be undergoing a name change. During the few matches she has wrestled, Blackheart used the name Martinez but that is not necessarily what her TV name will be.
The 29-year-old from the Dominican Republic is a former cheerleader for the NHL’s Florida Panthers and has been wrestling since 2024.
The Night of Champions 2026 premium live event only charted in nine different countries after its airing this weekend.
The countries which the show made it in the top 10 chart were Bahrain, Bulgaria, Canada, Egypt, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago, and United Kingdom.
Based on the number of countries it charted in, Night of Champions is on track to be one of the least-watched WWE PLEs so far on Netflix.
U.S. viewers are not counted for WWE premium live events on Netflix as they air on ESPN.
Brian Cage sits down with Chris Van Vliet at West Coast Creative Studio in Los Angeles, California to discuss winning the Mr. Nevada bodybuilding competition, being cast in the new Steven Spielberg movie “Disclosure Day” with Lance Archer, recovering from a knee injury, his AEW return, wanting to become AEW World Champion, giving Sting his first bump in AEW, how close he came to signing with WWE, and more!
So you’re in the new Steven Spielberg film Disclosure Day. How’d you get cast for this?
“So Chavo [Guerrero] hits me up for this TV show… And Chavo is the guy in Hollywood when it comes to any wrestling scene. He’s like the liaison for wrestling in Hollywood. So, he hits me up for this TV show. It doesn’t happen. Well, it was gonna happen. It gets postponed. And then he goes, ‘Hey, I think you would fit really great for this role. Contact this guy and get him everything he wants.’ So I email him. I get everything he requests. Typical kind of like audition situation, where after a few weeks go by, you don’t hear anything, whatever. Easy come, easy go. So I’m in the gym and all of a sudden, I get an email, and it’s, ‘Hey, I just sat down and watched everything with the director. He absolutely loves you, your look, your persona, your charisma, and everything you do. He says you’re exactly perfect, and exactly what he wants.’ Great email to get. And he goes, give me a call immediately. So I call him, and again, I don’t even know what the project is.”
You don’t know who the director is?
“Nothing. [They say] ‘Yeah, I was watching it, and Steven loves you, loves you. He just wants you on the set, blah blah blah.’ He keeps saying, Steven, I go, ‘Who’s Steven?’ He goes, ‘Oh, the director, Steven Spielberg.’ I went, wait, what? Steven Spielberg’s watching my stuff and is like, ‘That’s it, I need Brian Cage in my movie.’ I go, this is amazing. He goes, ‘[Spielberg] likes you so much, we want you to work somebody else, preferably another big guy that looks a different type of big than you. But instead of casting it, we figured he just wants you, so you could just pick whoever you want.’ So I was like, what about my buddy Lance [Archer]? Because he was in some of the photos they sent, my tag partner, and he goes, ‘Oh yeah, we did see him. We thought he looked good.’ I go, I mean, I’m fine with that. They’re okay. So then that’s how Lance got in the movie, too.”
What are the goals now that you’re back in AEW?
“I definitely want to branch out and do more on my own, for sure, because I know we’ve had a couple squash matches. I did stuff with Lance, I just did that one tag match with [Jake] Doyle, I do have a couple of different ideas. I do want to incorporate more of this winning this bodybuilding show. I mean the whole while too, I’ve always wanted to do more like solo stuff, because I feel like that’s how I get my stuff in. I feel like that’s how I stand out more, and there’s a plethora, and I think I said this on the last interview, too. There’s so much I feel like I haven’t done in AEW, especially compared to my time in Lucha Underground and Impact. Anywhere else, I feel like I’ve done so much more.”
So, is the AEW world title something that you want?
“Oh, of course. But I mean, I guess even then, well, we have so many titles there. I mean, I’ll take whatever I can get. You know what I do really want to be part of this year, for sure, is the Continental Classic. Obviously, that’s not until the end of the year, but that’s something definitely I want to. I would love to build up enough repertoire to have an awesome Continental Classic run by the end of the year. ”
You recently re-signed a contract extension with AEW in 2024 and I know you talked about you were going back and forth. Were you going to re-sign with AEW or were you going to go to WWE? How close were you to going to WWE?
“I mean, there was a lot of interest, and it’s funny, because I wanted to go there. I mean, you don’t know what you’re gonna get either place. There’s no guarantees. They could say that, you know, we’re gonna use you this way, that way, whatever. But obviously, you don’t know anything. And after going back and forth, all the different pros and cons, a lot of stuff with AEW just seemed safer, if you will. It’s pretty hard to have some sort of security in this business, but I’m like, I’ve been here for a while; they just randomly release anyone. A lot of the perks, so travel is way [easier]; he [Tony Khan] pays for all the travel, so hotel, ground transportation, and airfare, whereas WWE is just airfare. We’re an actual independent contractor, so I can do anything else outside of AEW, which is a plus too. Then I felt like I don’t have a fear of getting released if I stay here too long. The longer I feel like I can just keep staying to have longevity.”
But ultimately it came down to job security?
“Big time, that’s the main one, and just longevity. It’s so much more chill there. I mean, obviously, I haven’t been in WWE for a long time, was there developmentally years ago, many years ago. But it’s like if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.”
John Cena posted a photo of himself bald, standing next to Dr. Ken Anderson following his second hair transplant procedure.
“Round 2 of FUE Treatement and this time I went all in for best possible results. Thank you @KenAndersonMD and the staff at Anderson Center for Hair for accompanying me on this journey!,” Cena wrote on X.
Dr. Anderson replied, commending Cena for his commitment to the process and long-term hair health.
“I’m grateful for the trust you’ve placed in me and my team, and honored to continue being part of your journey,” the doctor responded.
After his team won the 12-man tag team cage match at Forbidden Door, Mark Briscoe will get his AEW World title shot tomorrow night on Dynamite.
Today, it was announced that the title match will open Dynamite, news that did not sit down well with the reigning champion.
“FIRST MATCH?!? WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON @TonyKhan
?!?” MJF wrote on X after the announcement was made.
Dynamite has suffered against the World Cup these past two weeks even though AEW has presented loaded shows, with last week’s episode even surpassed by NXT in viewership.
Roman Reigns’ challenger for the WWE World Heavyweight title at SummerSlam will be none other than his former Shield partner, Seth Rollins.
In the main event segment of the show, Rollins interrupted the champion and the two went down memory lane, with Rollins reminding Roman over the past wins against him.
Rollins mentioned WrestleMania 31, cashing his Money in the Bank and pinning Roman for the title, sacrificing himself so Cody could win the title at WrestleMania 40, pinning him at WrestleMania 41 and stealing Paul Heyman from him, and not the mention breaking up The Shield.
Reigns told Rollins that at SummerSlam, in front of his family, he will beat him and they will close the door on The Shield forever.
The last match between the two was in 2022 at the Royal Rumble for the WWE Universal title. On that night, Rollins beat Reigns by disqualification.
