CM Punk Reacts To AEW Return; June 1st Live Wrestling News Round-Up

internet is a wonderful and strange place, more so strange but wonderful none the less.

WWE has been utilising the internet for several decades now with WWE.com launching over 20 years ago, after WWE bough the domain/acquired the domain from the World Wide Express who utilised the domain back at the turn of the millennia.

You can check out an early version of WWE.com, here.

Since then WWE has launched a number of internet based business including most famously the WWE Network and, most infamously, Tout.

New data has been revealed that shows WWE’s long standing on the internet as the companies Wikipedia listing for ‘current WWE personnel’ has been revealed to be the most edited Wikipedia page of all time with 56,914 revisions (at the time of writing) more than any other page on the site including the listings for The United States, Donald Trump, The Catholic Church and, much to Vince McMahon’s delight, Jesus.

You can check out the full rankings, here.

Last night Saraya teamed with Chris Jericho to take on the team of Adam Cole and Britt Baker during the main event of AEW Dynamite.

During the match Saraya would achieve a historic first by becoming the first woman to main event both WWE & AEW.

The leader of ‘The Outcasts’ would take to Twitter to celebrate the achievement, stating:

“Learned something yesterday. This is f*cking awesome!! Appreciate the opportunities, extremely grateful.”

Congratulations to Saraya on this incredible achievement. 

Speaking in a new interview with The Independent, The Undertaker has revealed which of WWE’s current stars he would most like to work with if he wasn’t retired.

‘The Deadman’ would name Roman Reigns’ as the first WWE Superstar he would love to take on, stating that he would like to right the wrongs of their WrestleMania clash, noting that Roman was nowhere near the performer he is now and he himself was “on his last legs.”

“I would love to be healthy enough to have a match now with Roman Reigns… When we worked at WrestleMania 33, I was on my last legs. And he wasn’t he wasn’t nearly the performer that he is now.”

‘The Phenom’ would then name WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins as the second WWE Superstar he would love to have a match with, noting that the contract between ‘The Messiah’s over the top character and presentation and his ‘doom and gloom’ approach would be something to see.

“And then another guy that I would love to have worked with would be Seth Rollins. He’s just an incredible in-ring talent. And now he’s got this really flamboyant character, which would have been a really interesting contrast between the doom and gloom of The Undertaker and his over-the-top character.”

Which current WWE Superstars would you have loved to see The Undertaker face off against? Let us know by using the thumbs below!

Speaking with The Metro, former WWE Intercontinental Champion, Santino Marella has revealed that he once pitched a storyline within WWE that would see him hypnotised and turned into a killer, helping him move away from his established comedy role.

” I pitched one story where I wanted to have a hypnotist hypnotise Santino. When he was under the hypnosis, he was this killer and then the hypnosis was removed and he started losing again.

‘And then he had that moment where someone talked to him, that speech in the movie like, “Even though you were under hypnosis that was you, you did that stuff,” and then we can transition to a little more legitimate fighter.”

Marella would reveal that the storyline never gained any traction or support backstage, revealing that he believes it was to ‘highbrow’ for the WWE at the time, comparing the company to a bologna sandwich.

“But you know, you can make the best steak in the world but if it’s a bologna sandwich market, well, you better make bologna sandwich, right?”

Would you like to see Santino Marella have one last run in the WWE? Let us know by hitting the thumbs below!

Speaking on ‘Stories with Briscoe and Bradshaw‘, WWE Hall of Famer Abdullah the Butcher has teased a in-ring return, stating that, outside of his hip, his body is in tip top shape.

Abdullah the Butcher last competed back in 2010 and is widely regarded as one of the key pioneers of hardcore wrestling.

Despite facing a legal battles, Abdullah seems keen to follow in Ric Flair’s footsteps and have one final match before he truly calls it a day.

Speaking with fellow Hall of Famers JBL & Gerald Briscoe, Abdullah would discuss these plans alongside highlighting the one thing that is currently stopping him getting in the ring.

“The people still want to see me. The only thing I need is my hip replacement…My body is in tip-top shape, so the only thing I can do is autograph sessions, that’s all I can do. But, when I go have my operation, maybe…I might step in the ring at 84.” [h/t WrestlingInc]

Would you like to see The Butcher get back in the ring on last time? Let us know by hitting the thumbs below!

Pat McAfee has opened up about what it was like to interview Vince McMahon.

Speaking to Jimmy Traina for the SI Media Podcast, McAfee reflected on his interview and his relationship with McMahon. The star denied he was nervous ahead of the interview, and said that he saw McMahon was a teacher.

McAfee also explained that he didn’t get confirmation that the interview would be taking place until half an hour before the show.

The former NFL Punter would also reveal that he believe he gained McMahon’s respect by not being afraid to ask question backstage about how and why things were done in a certain way in the wrestling business.

You can check out McAfee’s full comments, here.

Carmella and Corey Graves revealed the gender of their baby to the world on the latest episode of Tamron Hall!

On the latest episode of Tamron Hall, the happy couple revealed they that they’re expecting a baby boy. The revelation came after Graves quipped that he wanted the child to be a boy as he was “severely outnumbered” in his home as he has one son and two daughters from a previous marriage.

You can watch Carmella & Graves full gender reveal below and you can read more about the duo’s appearance on Tamron Hall, here.

During a recent ITR Live show, Kurt Angle spoke to Kenny McIntosh about Brock Lesnar quitting WWE, the surprising conversation Brock had with Vince McMahon and Kurt’s assessment of Brock Lesnar’s talent in WWE, UFC and even the NFL.

Check out this never before seen interview clip below ⬇️

WWE is in full swing ahead of Money in the Bank next month on July 1st 2023.

Taking to YouTube WWE has revealed the ten best Money in the Bank ladder cashes of all time, featuring insane spots from the likes of Sheamus, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Drew McIntyre and more!

You can check out the full video below ⬇️

Adam Page hinted that there could be more to Kenny Omega’s AEW Dynamite absence than meets the eye.

On the most recent episode of Dynamite, Hangman Adam Page was questioned about his upcoming match and Omega’s absence from the show.

During the segment, Alex Marvez said that Omega had gone back to Canada to rest and recuperate while planning his next move. Interestingly, Page confirmed Omega wasn’t in the States, but he also wasn’t in Canada.

This has sparked speculation that he could be in Japan recruiting former rival Kazuchika Okada or his old tag team partner, and free agent Kota Ibushi. Some fans have also wondered whether Omega could appear at NJPW Dominion on June 4th.

This comes after Kenny Omega addressed the AEW audience following his loss as Double or Nothing and stated that backup was on it’s way.

You can read more about this, here.

Following last night’s blockbuster episode of AEW Dynamite came the tapings for this Friday’s episode of AEW Rampage.

Thanks to F4WOnline, we can now provide you with a full breakdown of results from the June 2nd 2023 episode of AEW Rampage.

Spoiler warning, obviously.

AEW Rampage Spoilers – June 2nd 2023

• El Hijo del Vikingo defeated Dralistico and Komander in a three-way match to retain the AAA Mega Heavyweight title.
• Katsuyori Shibata defeated Lee Moriarty to retain the ROH Pure Championship. After the match, Daniel Garcia came to the ring and confronted Shibata.
• Willow Nightingale defeated Emi Sakura to retain the NJPW Strong Women’s Championship
• Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Action Andretti to retain the New Japan World Television title

Do you still check out AEW Rampage on a weekly basis or do you think the show has lost it’s shine in recent months? Let us know by hitting the thumbs below!

In 2023 even WWE’s most casual of fans like to think they know a thing or two about how the business works but a new report has revealed that WWE matches are being built around a “secret rule” that fans might have missed.

Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Bryan Alvarez revealed that Roman Reigns & Solo Sikola’s defeat at WWE Night of Champions revealed a long standing secret rule that WWE matches are built around.

Fans with a keen ear may have picked up on the referee shouting “that’s your one save” when a pin was broken up during Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens’ title defence against Reigns & Sikola last weekend, Alvarez has lifted the lid on this rule and what it means for talent when putting together matches for TV and PPV.

“Speaking of rules, we didn’t mention it when we were reviewing the Saudi show, but there was a moment, I think it was in the main event where somebody made the save and the referee screamed, ‘That’s your one save!’ The secret rule that they still, after all of these years, they’ve never told us about but it is in fact a real rule and only the wrestlers know about it and they build their matches around this secret rule that we don’t know about.”

The rule restricts WWE talent from breaking up multiple pinfalls during tag team matches, something that has become somewhat of an overworked trend in recent years, this has led to WWE talent getting more creative about how they are forcing pin escapes when they don’t necessarily wanted a move kicked out of but also don’t want the match to end.

You can read more about this secret rule, here.

Seth Rollins is in full celebration mode following his recent World Championship win, but he made sure to throw a little jab at Roman Reigns.

During a recent appearance on WWE’s The Bump, new WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins would send a message to former best friend and teammate Roman Reigns, blasting the Unified WWE Champion for disappearing and having a part-timers schedule.

“This title doesn’t exist if our industry and our company isn’t so healthy across the board,” Rollins said. “There was a need for a title on Monday nights. There was a need because everybody is so good.”

“We needed a prize to fight for since our Universal Champion wants to keep his part-time schedule. We gotta have a title. I was more than thrilled to have it and to usher in this era of change.” [H/t to Wrestling Inc]

During the same appearance on The Bump, Rollins would apologise to AEW Superstar Buddy Matthews for a recent spot involving Matthews’ real-life partner, Rhea Ripley.

You can check out Rollins’ appearance on the bump, below ⬇️

Former WWE Superstar Lana has teased her retirement from professional wrestling over two years after being released by the WWE.

Lana, now known as CJ Perry, was released from the WWE on June 2nd 2021 as part of a mass WWE release that included Malakai Black, Braun Strowman, Ruby Soho and Buddy Matthews.

Since then Perry has not stepped foot inside a wrestling ring instead focusing on her acting career and her exclusive fan content site.

Perry has now seemingly questioned whether she’ll return to wrestling at all. Posting on social media singing along to the Miley Cyrus track Jaded, the star said that it might be time for her to let wrestling go.

You can read Perry’s full comments, here.

Would you like to see Perry join her husband Miro in AEW? Let us know using the thumbs below!

Kurt Angle has opened up about one of the most shocking incidents that he ever saw in WWE.

Speaking on his podcast The Kurt Angle Show, WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle would reveal the worst both he has ever seen in his career naming Eddie Guerrero’s botched blade job at Judgement Day 2004 as the most shocking incident he ever saw.

“It was the worst gimmick I had ever seen. The worst cut ever,” Angle recalled. “He hit an artery, and it would not stop bleeding. I mean, it was pulsating out, it was horrible. There was so much blood in the ring, and all over Eddie and Bradshaw — it was ridiculous. It was like half the blood from Eddie’s body came out of his body. It was crazy.” [H/t to Wrestling Inc]

The botched blade job has gone down in infamy as one of the most gruesome uses of blood in all of wrestling history, even managing to break The Muta Scale with a ranking of 3.0, the joint highest score of all time.

You can read Angle’s full recollection of the match, here.

What is the worst botch you have ever seen in wrestling? Let us know by using the ‘get involved’ feature at the top of the page!

Bret Hart has named his favourite match, declaring that the bout was a “masterpiece.”

In a recent interview on the Johnny I Pro Show, Bret Hart was asked which of his many iconic bouts was his favourite match of all time.

‘The Excellence of Execution’ did not disappoint revealing that although he has had many incredible matches throughout his career, his WrestleMania 13 clash with ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin stands head and shoulders above the rest.

While WrestleMania 13 stands atop of his list, Hart did dive into other matches that hold a special place in his “Hitman” heart, including his Iron Man match against Shawn Michaels just a year before at WrestleMania XII.

Hart also went on to note that his match at Wembley over 31 years ago with his late brother-in-law, Davey Boy Smith was a battle that created ‘beautiful art’ and gave nods to his opponents like Undertaker, Curt Henning, and his brother Owen, pointing out the opener the two had at WrestleMania X at Madison Square Garden, but the Austin fight is the one that really stands out to him.

You can read Hart’s full comments, here.

Is Bret Hart the greatest wrestler of all time? Let us know by hitting the thumbs below!

While The Undertaker has so far resisted the temptation to get back in the ring for one more match, that doesn’t mean his transition into becoming ‘retired WWE Hall of Famer’ has been plain sailing.

During an interview with the Independent to promote his upcoming 1 deadMAN Show UK tour, The Undertaker would reveal that during WrestleMania 39 FOMO really started to get to him as he watched fully from the side-lines for the first time.

‘The Deadman’ would reveal that every time he is backstage at a show, he feels like he should be getting ready, putting on his gear and getting out there, but so far he has managed to resist the temptation.

The Undertaker hasn’t wrestled since defeating AJ Styles at WrestleMania 36 and made his most recent appearance on WWE television at Raw XXX interacting with Bray Wyatt and LA Knight.

You can read The Undertaker’s full comments, here.

Alexa Bliss has revealed that she was working towards a return to the ring when she discovered she was pregnant.

Speaking to The Messenger, the former Raw Women’s Champion said that she found out she was expecting just days before WrestleMania 39. She added that she was actually preparing to get back in the ring at the time and that the news came as a complete surprise.

You can read Bliss’ full comments including a rough timeline for her WWE return, here.

During the June 29th edition of Monday Night Raw, Seth Rollins would pay tribute to WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels, imitating an iconic spot pioneered by Michaels first in 1996 and then a full decade later in 2006.

Rollins teamed with AJ Styles in the main event of Monday Night Raw to defeat Finn Balor and Damian Priest and managed to raise some eyebrows along the way.

During the match, he found himself outside the ring and put his arm around Rhea Ripley who initially didn’t realise who it was, before being in for a shock when she noticed it was The Visionary.

Long-time fans were quick to notice that the spot was a nod to Shawn Michaels who did something similar on two occasions, first with Sunny and then with Melina over a decade later.

During an appearance on The Bump, Rollins said that the opportunity was too good to miss, describing it as “a lot of fun.” He went on to extend an apology to AEW Superstar Buddy Matthews — Ripley’s real-life partner — commenting that he hoped he wasn’t too offended.

You can read Rollins’ full apology, here.

WWE Hall of Famer, and former World Champion, Kevin Nash has blasted WWE’s recent creative direction involving Cody Rhodes, stating that the booking of his feud with Brock Lesnar is exposing him and even going as far as to call one particular aspect of the feud “the worst”.

Speaking on the ‘Kliq This’ podcast, Nash would criticise WWE’s recent booking of Cody Rhodes, particularly the May 22nd edition of Raw during which ‘The Beast’ would attack and injure Rhodes’ left arm.

Nash would criticise the believability of the feud, stating that Lesnar would be able to destroy Rhodes if he wanted to and Rhodes shouldn’t be getting presented as Lesnar’s equal when it comes to wrestling ability.

“They continue to expose Cody in these situations where, I’m sorry man, he was a good high school wrestler. It’s not f*cking, [he’s] not an NCAA Champion, and [he’s] not a UFC Champion.”

The former nWo member would continue questioning the logic in Rhodes being cleared to compete at WWE Night of Champions with a kayfabe broken arm, even going as far as to call the storyline ‘the worst thing.’

“Who the f*ck is medically clearing these guys? [For the angle] It’s the worst. [Nobody thinks about that] That’s what is wrong with it.” [h/t Sportskeeda]

Do you agree with Nash? What have you though of Rhodes’ feud with ‘The Beast’ Brock Lesnar? Let us know by hitting the thumbs below!

Alexa Bliss hasn’t appeared on WWE television since losing out to Bianca Belair at the 2023 Royal Rumble, and she won’t be back any time soon.

The multi-time Women’s Champion recently announced the incredible news that she, and partner Ryan Cabrera, are expecting their first child.

Following the announcement Bliss would reveal in an interview with The Messenger that WWE has extended her contract and she plans to return once she has gone through her pregnancy and childbirth journey.

‘Little Miss Bliss’ would also give fans a rough time line on her return, revealing that she plans to be back in the gym and training for her return on month after the birth of her child.

You can read Bliss’ full comments, here.

Tony Khan shocked the world last night when he announced that CM Punk would be returning to AEW during the debut episode of AEW Collision on June 17th 2023.

What followed was a mixture of extreme joy and audible anger as the announcement was met by both audible cheers and booing live on Dynamite as well as on social media immediately following the announcement.

CM Punk would take to Instagram to react to the announcement of his return in hilarious fashion.

The former AEW World Champion would share a link to a mysterious YouTube video that turns out to be a clip from Adam Sandler’s iconic comedy Billy Maddison. The clip in question features Sandler attacking school children during a game of Dodgeball whilst stating “now you are all in, big, big trouble.”

This appears to be an obvious throwback to Punk’s infamous press conference during which he would respond to a question from Inside The Ropes own Nick Hausman stating:

“I appreciate it Nick, I’m sorry if I’m a little f*ck*ng snippy. I’m hurt and I’m old and I’m tired and I work with f*ck*ng children.”

You can check out Punk’s Instagram Story, here.

Do you think Tony Khan will be able to keep CM Punk under control during his AEW return or do you think it is destined to end in heartbreak? Let us know by using the ‘get involved’ feature at the top of the page!

After months of reports and speculation over CM Punk’s AEW status and his role in the launch of AEW’s new Saturday show, it is finally official.

On June 17th CM Punk will return to AEW for the debut episode of AEW Collision live from the United Center in Chigaco!

Early into the May 31 episode of Dynamite, Tony Khan appeared in the backstage area with a microphone in hand. After a few words about their new show Collision, premiering on June 17, Khan revealed that CM Punk would be featured on the new “tentpole” show they’re producing. Interestingly enough, the live crowd in San Diego, California, gave a very audible mixture of boos and cheers, showing how polarizing Punk has become since his previous run in AEW.

You can check out the full announcement from Tony Khan below and read more about plans for CM Punk’s AEW return, here.

Will you be checking out AEW Collision when it launches on June 17th? Let us know by hitting the thumbs below!

Good Afternoon!

I hope you all have had a lovely week so far and are almost ready for the weekend, just two days to go!

I will be with you from 12pm to 6pm BST [7am to 12pm EST] this fine Thursday and we will have all of the biggest news coming out of AEW, WWE and NJPW for you first thing, including:

• CM Punk’s AEW return confirmed.
• CM Punk comments on his upcoming AEW return.
• Alexa Bliss’ WWE contract status revealed following pregnancy announcement.
• Kevin Nash blasts recent WWE angle for “exposing” talent.
• Tony Khan comments on AEW’s “changing landscape.”

As always if you have any questions or any stories you would like us to try provide you an update on, let us know by hitting the ‘get involved’ button at the top of the page!