— WWE is gearing up for a “huge announcement” on Friday, according to Triple H. The WWE Chief Content Officer shared the news on Twitter Thursday afternoon, stating,
“We’ll be making a huge announcement on @WWE’s YouTube channel. Friday at 3:00pm ET/12:00pm PT. I told you we’d change the game. And we’re just getting started.”
The announcement will take place in Las Vegas, where numerous WWE talent and staff are already present. Triple H, The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Seth Rollins, Logan Paul, Bianca Belair, Liv Morgan, Stephanie Vaquer, and Charlotte Flair are all listed as part of the event.
The timing aligns with reports that WWE is set to announce WrestleMania 43 in Saudi Arabia. The news comes as TKO promotes the Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford fight in Las Vegas this weekend, an event sponsored by Riyadh Season.
— WWE Superstar Ivar, one-half of The Viking Raiders, is set to make his long-awaited return to Chaotic Wrestling. The promotion confirmed that Ivar will be stepping back into the Chaotic ring for the first time in over seven years, since his last appearance in January 2018. He will challenge for the Chaotic Heavyweight Championship, facing either MORTAR or Richard Holliday, depending on who emerges victorious in their Summer of Chaos showdown.
The Chaotic Wrestling 25-Year Celebration takes place on Saturday, September 13, in Lowell, Massachusetts.
— Konnan recently spoke with Denise Salcedo of “Instinct Culture,” highlighting how WWE’s acquisition of AAA has helped elevate the Mexican wrestling scene. According to him, WWE has been providing significant opportunities and exposure for Mexican wrestling talent.
You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
On how WWE has boosted the scene: “Rob Viper recommended Komander to me years ago. I saw him and he was very green and raw. I brought him to AAA and we started to cultivate him. Now he’s in AEW making more money than he’s ever made, and he was crying. He was crying because if you saw where he came from, it would make you cry. He comes from poverty. All these guys come from poverty. Maybe second-generation guys don’t, but all these guys, [WWE] gives them a different lifestyle, better hotels, better transportation. Mexico is rough. That ain’t for the weak stomach. That is a rough place to wrestle. The rings are hard. Security concerns. A lot of people who aren’t professional. A lot of times the transportation is not the best. To see them be able to help their family and live a better lifestyle makes me really happy.”
On there being better pay across the board: “100%.”
On how the better lifestyle will change the landscape of lucha libre: “I think the main thing it’s going to change is that a lot of the Mexican wrestlers, they’re not motivated because they’re not getting paid that much. Alberto Del Rio was motivated because this was his last chance, and he came through with flying colors, to tell you the truth. A lot of these guys are not in shape, not professional, not media savvy. Once they find out what these guys are making, they’ll get in shape, they’ll learn to be professional, and they’ll become media savvy. You don’t have any idea how many times digital or media has to call me and tell me, ‘Can you tell this person to send in a video for this show we’re having?’ or ‘Can you tell the local promoter?’ I have to tell them, ‘This promotion is for you, not for me.’ You don’t have to get in your car, get gas, and park somewhere. It’s from your phone. How lazy can you be? WWE, all those wrestlers are media savvy. It’ll be more competition across the board because everybody wants to go there and make money and get merch money.”
— Laredo Kid is now set to compete in the eight-man tag team match at WWE x AAA Worlds Collide: Las Vegas, taking the place of La Parka. Initially, La Parka was featured in promotional graphics for the match but later confirmed he would not be appearing at the event.
WWE has updated the official lineup on WWE.com, confirming Laredo Kid will fill La Parka’s spot. He will team with Niño Hamburguesa, Octagón Jr., and Mascarita Sagrada to face Cruz Del Toro, Joaquin Wilde, Lince Dorado, and Mini Abismo Negro.
You can check out the updated WWE x AAA Worlds Collide: Las Vegas lineup below:
* AAA Mega Championship Match: El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Dominik Mysterio
* AAA Latin American Championship Fatal 4-Way Match: El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. vs. Dragon Lee vs. Ethan Page vs. JD McDonagh
* AAA World Tag Team Championship Match: Psycho Clown & Pagano vs. The New Day
* AAA Reina de Reinas Championship #1 Contender’s Match: Natalya vs. Faby Apache
* Mr. Iguana & Lola Vice vs. Finn Bálor & Roxanne Perez
* Niño Hamburguesa, Octagón Jr., Laredo Kid & Mascarita Sagrada vs. Cruz Del Toro, Joaquin Wilde, Lince Dorado & Mini Abismo Negro
* Penta appearance.
— During a recent appearance on the “Busted Open Radio” podcast, former WWE Superstar Saraya spoke about AJ Lee’s return to WWE. She also expressed her desire to step back into the ring and reclaim the in-ring persona she had as Paige during her WWE NXT days.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On AJ Lee making her WWE return: “You know, I’m always gonna have that feeling because WWE is doing amazing things right now and you’re just like, man, I miss being in the locker room, I miss being around people like Nattie (Neidhart), I miss being around my sisters and I miss being a part of these things, and then then I watched A.J. (Lee), I’ve watched that over and over again, because she’s my fairy godmother dude. I love her so much. She’s the one that kind of took me under her wing when I first came up on the roster too, and we traveled together, we had the frenemies thing and my social media has not stopped. It has blown up.”
On the positive messages she’s received since AJ Lee returned: “I cannot go on there without hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people doing videos being like, ‘Please bring Saraya back, please bring Paige back,’ and I get excited because I keep forgetting — I feel like people don’t like me anymore, and it feels pretty insecure and I’m not trying to get sympathy, but, it made me really emotional for the past couple of days and I have shed some tears about it because I’m like, ‘Oh my God, people still like me and they still want me to be around’ and that’s probably the best feeling in the world for me. I get insecure about these things… With A.J., I would love to be her tag partner again or run it back eventually. I’m not saying right away. She needs her moment; people are excited for her to come back. Maybe one day. We’ll see.”
On wanting to back to being NXT Paige: “I know my career has been really great. It was kind of cut short with the neck and stuff like that but, now she’s healthy. Now my neck is healthy, now I’m in full 100 percent health, and I wanna start training again. I want to get in the ring and bring back the Paige that I was in NXT…”
— Josh Barnett has featured several WWE Superstars on his GCW Bloodsport events, a topic he recently discussed in an interview.
Appearing on a recent edition of the “Not Sam Wrestling” podcast, Barnett detailed how he managed to get WWE’s approval to have their talent participate in his events, along with other behind-the-scenes insights.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On booking WWE talent on his shows: “The thing that’s completely overlooked is that every athlete that is on their roster comes with a contract that has a certain value to it. That value is important, not only to the valuation of company at large, but that’s an investment that they’re paying into that person. Allowing that investment, and the costs with it to be on my show is no small feat.”
On making sure he books talent, WWE or not, properly: “If I put together a match and it doesn’t elevate the people within it, regardless of who won or lost? I failed. I’m there to help them to make sure the match goes a certain way…to be as prepared as possible.”
On managing to make those connections in WWE to eventually get talent on his shows: “I had Shayna Baszler. I’ve had a lot of athletes that were attached to me in WWE through the years… I just was always consistent about it…As things have changed, Nick and [Triple H] were just receptive to it.”
— WWE is gearing up for another round of talent tryouts next week in Orlando, Florida.
According to a report from Pwinsider, the company has begun reaching out to prospective participants, though no specific names have been disclosed.
This round follows the tryouts held last month in New Jersey during SummerSlam 2025 weekend, which included notable indie names such as Daga, Vert Vixen, Meghan Walker, Mike Cunningham, Rayne Leverkusen, and AJ Cleary. Leverkusen was ultimately named MVP of the session.
Those selected from the upcoming Orlando tryouts are expected to officially begin training at the WWE Performance Center in January 2026.
WWE frequently hosts multiple tryout camps throughout the year, scouting athletes, entertainers, and influencers to build its next generation of Superstars.
— WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton hit a major milestone yesterday, celebrating 251 days as champion in her first reign.
Stratton captured the title back on the January 3rd episode of SmackDown, successfully cashing in her Money in the Bank contract on Nia Jax.
Since becoming champion, Stratton has racked up seven televised title defenses against some of WWE’s biggest names, including Bayley, Jax (three times), Charlotte Flair, Trish Stratus, and Jade Cargill.
Her next defense is set for tomorrow night’s SmackDown, where she’ll once again put the gold on the line against Cargill.
— During a recent episode of his “Hall of Fame” podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Booker T weighed in on AJ Lee’s highly anticipated WWE return earlier this month.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On AJ Lee going back to wrestling: “You know what? I didn’t think we’d ever see AJ Lee again inside of a wrestling ring. It seemed like she was so far detached from the wrestling thing; seemed like that time away from totally put her in a total different headspace. And I get it, man, I get it. The wrestling business, it can chew you up and spit you out.”
On AJ leaving at her peak: “AJ chose to step away from the business, you know what I mean? And step away from the business at her highest peak. AJ was as hot as she ever could be when she stepped away from it.”
On AJ Lee returning to WWE and finishing her career: “I give her a lot of credit for that. As well, as I give AJ Lee a lot of credit for coming back and finishing this thing and finishing in the WWE, it’s so cool, actually. It’s cool for the fans, because the fans — like I say, they’ve been waiting on this, man. And and I’m sure the fans just like myself was wondering if they were ever going to see AJ Lee in the ring again.
“And for me, what I take away from it is, someone like Roxane Perez getting a chance to have that moment perhaps with an AJ Lee, someone that I’m sure she looked up to coming up, getting into the business at such a young age. So there’s so many variables that’s going to play out with AJ coming back.”
(h/t – Fightful)
