John Cena & Cody Rhodes “Missed The Mark”, Claims WWE HOF’er; April 23rd Wrestling News Round-Up

A former WWE star has admitted they hold no bad feelings toward the company after they were recently released.

Speaking during a recent Twitch livestream, former WWE star Blair Davenport (now-Bea Priestley) broke silence on her release back in February.

Davenport admitted she has a positive outlook on the situation, holding no bad feelings towards the company, and sees this as an opportunity to return to her independent routes in the UK, Japan and US where she found great success.

I think it was just budget cuts to make up their contracts. I don’t have any negative feelings or anything like that. It’s just the job and the business. That’s the way it goes, really.

I’m excited for what’s coming in the future, I’m excited to kind of get back to my roots a little bit, and do my own thing again. I did love doing stuff in Japan and the UK. I’m excited to do the Indies in America because I’ve never actually done the indies here at all. Yes, I’m excited for the future.

Don’t be upset for me, it’s fine. It’s the job, it’s the way it goes. I’m happy for all my friends who are still there; Lyra [Valkyria], she is one of my best friends and just had a massive WrestleMania moment. Same with Tiffany [Stratton], really happy she’s getting a spotlight.

I’m excited for people like Roxanne [Perez], Cora [Jade], those up-and-coming girls who are obviously going to get called up any day now. Giulia, my drinking buddy. Piper [Niven], my road trip buddy. Excited for the future. You guys will definitely see me wrestling somewhere or another. Don’t worry, I’m not going to disappear forever.

h/t to Fightful

Booker T has denied falling asleep during this year’s WWE Hall of Fame Ceremony.

The 2025 WWE Hall of Fame was taxing for both fans and wrestlers alike, finishing at almost 1:30am local time. The fact was made most evident after the show when images of various WWE stars seemingly falling asleep during the ceremony went viral on social media.

One star who was particularly subject to the memes was Booker T, so much so that the NXT commentator even took to his X account to claim that he was actually praying.

On the latest edition of his Hall of Fame Podcast, he reiterated as much, stating that he was taking in the serious and sombre nature of the speech and categorically denied that he was asleep.

I want to let everybody know that the photo that’s circulating around — I was not asleep. I mean, you could tell my head was straight up. It wasn’t tilted to the left or right.

It was down because it was a somber moment, and I was praying and really thinking about being in the moment. It’s one thing about situations like that, having that Hall of Fame speech and that Hall of Fame moment.

Certain times it’s going to be laughter, but certain times you gotta really take it seriously about what’s being said. And at that point, I was definitely in tune. Let’s just say that I was in tune, but sleeping? No, I was not sleeping.

However, Booker claims that there were several WWE stars who did actually fall asleep during the ceremony – namely Logan Paul, who was sat next to him.

h/t to 411Mania

Tonight’s AEW Dynamite will emanate from Lakefront Arena in New Orleans, Louisana. The next AEW pay-per-view is Double or Nothing in four weeks!

Matches and segments announced for the show include:

• FTR return from suspension
• The Young Bucks vs Speedball Mike Bailey & Kevin Knight
• Kris Statlander vs Jamie Hayter – Women’s Owen Hart Cup Semifinal match

What are you most excited to see on this week’s NXT? Let us know your thoughts here!

Last night’s WWE NXT emanated from the Fontainebleau in Las Vegas, Nevada. The next NXT special is Battleground in four weeks!

The full results from NXT were as follows:

• Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez (c) defeated Gigi Dolin & Tatum Paxley to retain the Women’s Tag Team Championship
• Noam Dar defeated Lexis King (c) to win the NXT Heritage Cup
• Thea Hail defeated Fallon Henley
• DarkState defeated Je’Von Evans & Myles Borne
• Stephanie Vaquer (c) defeated Roxanne Perez to retain the NXT Women’s Championship

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

The Bloodline‘s Tama Tonga is set for some time on the sidelines due to injury.

Bodyslam and PWN report that Tama Tonga is currently dealing with an undisclosed injury that may require surgery. LA Knight injuring his hand on last Friday’s SmackDown is believed to have been done to write him off TV.

At the time of writing, there’s no details on how long he’ll be out of action for, though it’s undoubtedly be a lengthy period if he ends up needing surgery. He last competed on the April 11th SmackDown alongside Solo Sikoa where they lost to Randy Orton and Knight.

Everyone here at Inside The Ropes wishes Tama Tonga all the best in his recovery.

Lex Luger has opened up on the reason he missed appearing at WrestleMania 41 alongside the rest of this year’s WWE Hall of Famers.

The Total Package was noticeably absent during the WWE Hall of Fame segment on WrestleMania 41 Night 1, leading to all kinds of speculation on his status. Now the man himself has confirmed the reason.

During an appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show, Luger admitted that he was simply in too much pain from all his activity the day before and could not physically make it to Allegiant Stadium.

It’s wild how that stuff catches fire. With all that happened, the next day on Saturday, I could hardly get out of bed. I called the guys and they were cool about it. They said, ‘Look, we’d love to have you down there. Let’s see how you feel later in the day,’ but it was obvious by later in the afternoon that I wasn’t going to be able to get out there,

h/t to Fightful

A WWE Hall of Famer believes John Cena and Cody Rhodes “missed the mark” at WrestleMania 41.

During a special edition of 83 Weeks following WrestleMania 41 Night 2, Eric Bischoff admitted he wasn’t a fan of the main event between John Cena and Cody Rhodes and believes the two men will feel the same way.

I have to believe when both those guys watch this match back, they’re going to go, ‘We missed it. We missed the mark.’ Because that match just didn’t create emotion.

The former WCW President later shot down the idea that the match’s issues may have been due to Cena’s ring rust, claiming it was on Rhodes to step up if that was the case.

Instead, he attributed his feelings on the bout to the story leading into it, which he feels was lacklustre and underwhelming following Cena’s heel turn.

I don’t think the story was there to begin with… The heel turn was soft. I didn’t say it’s bad, but it was soft. It wasn’t compelling. There was nothing there that felt different than a million other turns we’ve seen before.

Yes, for all of you people who say I never criticize WWE, please pay attention. That story missed the mark from the get-go, and we talked about it here. And it just hasn’t gotten any better. I blame it on lack of heat, just lack of a good story.

h/t to 411Mania

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

Today’s top stories are:

• John Cena & Cody Rhodes “Missed The Mark”, Claims WWE HOF’er
• Lex Luger Reveals Why He Missed WrestleMania 41 Appearance
• Tama Tonga Out Of Action, Injury Could Require Surgery