Adam Copeland Announces Change To Retirement Plans; May 1st Wrestling News Round-Up

Jeff Jarrett believes Randy Orton vs Joe Hendry at WrestleMania 41 was a disappointment.

Speaking on a recent edition of My World, Jarrett shared his belief that the TNA World Champion answering Orton’s open challenge was a letdown. The AEW executive claims WWE could have much done with the opportunity to tie in to Orton’s history.

A massive, massive letdown … Randy’s got a lot of history, not just in WWE but with that event, so I just kind of feel that as it relates to Randy, did a three minute win help him at all? No. Like none.

For Hendry, are you kidding me? I’m sure a bucket list item, he don’t care at all and I guess you could say seeing a TNA World Champion at Mania, that was kind of interesting, the wins and losses, the positioning, I don’t read into that at all.

Randy was still getting his hand raised so in the grand scheme of things, what did it really matter? I was just really very let down on Randy’s part because I just think there could have been so much more put into that.

h/t to Wrestling Inc

Mayu Iwatani has joined Dream Star Fighting Marigold just days after departing rival promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom.

News of Iwatani’s signing was announced during a press conference at the Tokyo Dome Hotel earlier today. Appearing alongside Marigold owner and former Stardom boss Rossy Ogawa, it was announced she’ll debut this Saturday, May 4th, at Korakuen Hall against Nanae Takahashi.

Iwatani noted that one of the factors in her signing was the opportunity to face former Stardom rivals IYO SKY, Kairi Sane and Giulia through the promotion’s working relationship with WWE. Both SKY and Giulia competed for Marigold last year.

Iwatani’s 14-year Stardom stint came to an end last weekend following her IWGP Women’s Championship loss to Syuri at All-Star Grand Queendom. She had held the title for over two years, defending it across Stardom, New Japan and Ice Ribbon.

The Joshi Puroresu Icon has stepped into the Golden Garden! Join us LIVE on May 4 from Korakuen Hall on Wrestle Universe!
6:30PM JST
5:30AM Eastern
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10:30AM BSThttps://t.co/vDwXf9pjwZ#pw_mg pic.twitter.com/GvGbpvecDn

— Marigold Joshi (@Marigold_Joshi) May 1, 2025

Tonight’s TNA iMPACT will emanate from Brens Events Center in Irvine, California. The next TNA special is Under Siege in three weeks!

Matches and segments announced for the show include:

• Indi Hartwell speaks
• Steve Maclin speaks
• Mike Santana will be in action
• Frankie Kazarian & The Nemeths vs Joe Hendry & The Hardys
• Jody Threat vs Maggie Lee
• KC Navarro vs Leon Slater
• Moose vs Zachary Wentz

What are you most excited to see on tonight’s TNA iMPACT? Let us know your thoughts here!

This week’s AEW Dynamite emanated from the Chartway Arena in Norfolk, Virginia.  The next AEW special is Double or Nothing in three weeks!

The full results from Dynamite were as follows:

• Kazuchika Okada, Ricochet & The Young Bucks defeated Kenny Omega, Mark Briscoe, Speedball Mike Bailey & Kevin Knight
• The Opps defeated Rhett Titus, Myles Hawkins & Nick Commoroto
• Toni Storm defeated Miyu Yamashita in an AEW Women’s World Title Eliminator
• Nick Wayne (c) defeated Jay Lethal to retain the ROH World TV Championship
• Hangman Adam Page defeated Kyle Fletcher to advance to the final of the Men’s Owen Hart Cup

What was your favourite moment of last night’s show? Let us know your thoughts here!

Both WWE and AEW are said to be interested in signing a former World Wonder Ring Stardom champion.

Fightful Select reports that former Goddess of Stardom Champion Thekla has left the promotion and plans to continue her career in the United States. Her departure comes three years after joining Stardom where she was most notably a key member of now-WWE star Giulia‘s faction Donna Del Mondo.

While WWE sources say the company “had their eye on her”, it’s believed Thekla will be heading to AEW. Company sources there claim that Tony Khan‘s promotion expressed heavy interest in the Japanese star late-last year.

Liv Morgan‘s major Hollywood role has been revealed!

This past Monday on Raw, Liv Morgan revealed that she’ll be taking some time off WWE programming to take part in filming for a “big Hollywood movie”. After days of rumour and speculation, the film in question has been revealed.

Deadline reports Morgan is set to star in ‘Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo’. The film is being backed by NEON, the production company behind Academy Award Best Picture winners Parasite (2020) and Anora (2025).

Several other notable names are involved including renowed director Takashi Miike as well as Shun Oguri and Lily James who will star alongside Morgan. James has a history with pro wrestling through her starring role in 2023’s The Iron Claw, based on the Von Erich family.

Adam Copeland has revealed his retirement is not as close as previously believed.

Back in April 2024, then-AEW TNT Champion Adam Copeland stated that he would likely be wrapping up his career in the next 18 months, placing a timeframe for his retirement around October 2025.

However, it seems the former Edge’s plans have changed after a fractured tibia kept him out of action for the latter half of 2024. During a recent appearance on First Up with Korolnek & Colaiacovo, he admitted that he’s now aiming to retire at the end of his current AEW deal when he’ll be 53.

Not much longer. The schedule is far better than what it used to be. If you asked me to try and pull off over 200 days a year that I pulled before, there is absolutely no way because the recovery takes too long now. I’ll have a match and it’ll take me a good week to finally start walking normal.

I’ve realized now, I’m 51 years old, I figure I have until maybe 53, the end of this contract, and then it’s probably time to call it a day and get out while I can still limp away [laughs]. Lick my wounds and do a whole lot of yoga after.

Cope is set to turn 53 in October 2026. The 1st of that month will mark three years since he joined AEW at the inaugural WrestleDream.

h/t to Fightful

Welcome back to the ITRWrestling live blog! I’ll be with you from 12pm to 6pm BST (8am – 2pm ET) covering all the biggest stories from WWE, AEW, NJPW, TNA, and more.

Today’s top stories are:

• Adam Copeland Announces Change To Retirement Plans
• Liv Morgan Set For Starring Role In ‘Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo’
• WWE & AEW Interested In Former Stardom Champion