In this interview Bret Hart talks about his famous WrestleMania 13 match with Steve Austin: “With all respect to all the young wrestlers today, I’ve never seen anyone that told a better story than the one I had with Steve. And I hope there’s wrestlers out there that will take the initiative to say, ‘I’m gonna have a better match than what Bret Hart and Steve Austin had. I’m gonna top it.’ And I wish them all the best. I cheer them on and I’m looking forward to watching that. And I know somebody, somewhere is gonna do it. Maybe it’s just my ego, but nobody’s ever topped that match yet.”
Via social media Bear Bronson vented about his current AEW status. “Trying my best. I’m forgotten & ignored, just being honest. Almost feels like I’m paying for someone else’s crimes. But whatever, I’m doing everything I can. My wife, family, fans, wrestlers & many others have been there for me lifting me up & pushing me to succeed on my own.” If you don’t know what he’s referencing, his former tag team partner Bear Boulder was fired by AEW due to domestic violence charges.
Josh Barnett says you won’t see WWE vs. AEW in Bloodsport: “I don’t think at the moment that is something that will work for either company. They’re very much in a heated rivalry and I mean, to me, I could take, regardless of being an AEW or WWE person, and I could put together a match that will serve everybody. But, I do also respect that these two companies have their own stances towards each other and towards the market itself and their talent and their concerns. That’s fine by me. These are not my companies and technically, these are not my wrestlers. I cannot see anyway at which I can approach this and be like, ‘Oh well, you owe me for this’ or ‘You should do it because… if they were ever interested to have my opinion on this and how this could be done and whether or not that they would agree with it, awesome. At this moment, I don’t see that being something that either would be comfortable with. It wouldn’t be something, in regards to the wrestlers specifically themselves, but it’s just the politics I suppose you could say of competition. That won’t stop a DDT wrestler from wrestling a WWE wrestler or a New Japan wrestler from wrestling an AEW or a WWE wrestler or a STARDOM wrestler wrestling an AEW wrestler or whatever or NWA or MLW or whoever. We put the matches together and we always try to make sure that everybody represented comes out better than when they stepped in that ring.”
Mercedes Mone talks about Athena ahead of their match on Dynamite: “I’m going to be performing and wrestling against Athena, who is the longest reigning Ring of Honor champion of all time, she’s held this title for over 800 days. Insane. She is one of the greatest women’s wrestlers of all time, so I have goosebumps for tomorrow. It’s been one of my dream matches. Before I even made it to WWE, I had my eyes on Athena, so this is something I’m really excited for.”
Brett Lauderdale talks about The Collective in Las Vegas: “It’s certainly been the busiest and most stressful year. For some reason, we made the silly decision to add an extra day and two more events this year. I don’t know whose idea that was… There’s a formula now. We’ve been doing this for several years. We’re usually prepared to put out fires if they appear. We’ve got great partners. These are professionals running professional operations. That makes all the difference. Las Vegas 2025 is not the Las Vegas of years past. It’s expensive. There’s taxes on everything – and taxes on the taxes. WWE’s events are all high-priced. Fans just don’t have the same disposable income this year. I’ve told Triller a dozen times they should raise the price. $7.99 is a steal. It’s beyond a good deal at this point. But they’re committed to growing their base, and I respect that.”
Speaking of The Collective, the WWE ID Tournament on Wednesday at the Pearl Theater has a start time of 8 PM ET, 5 PM local time.
- WWE Women’s ID Championship Tournament: Kylie Rae vs. Zayda Steel
- WWE Men’s ID Championship Tournament (No DQ): Marcus Mathers vs. Sam Holloway
- WWE Men’s ID Championship Tournament: Aaron Rourke vs. It’s Gal vs. Atticus Cogar (GCW)
- WWE Men’s ID Championship Tournament: Ice Williams vs. Aaron Roberts
- Swipe Right & Jackson Drake vs. Cappuccino Jones & Jack Cartwright & Sean Legacy
- Izzy Moreno vs. Zara Zakher (non-tournament)
Dragon Gate USA will start at midnight ET, 9 PM local after WWE ID.
- YAMATO & Dragon Kid & Susumu Yokosuka vs. Shun Skywalker & Kota Minoura & ISHIN
- Starlight Kid and AZM vs. Natsuko and Tora Konami
- Ho Ho Lun vs. Rhys Maddox
- Ultimo Dragon & La Estrella & El Cucuy vs. Evan Rivers & Judas Icarus & Travis Williams
- Ben-K and Hyo vs. Willie Mack and Rich Swann vs. Jimmy Lloyd and Alec Price
- Kzy vs. Marcus Mathers
Both of these start times are one hour later than previously announced.
Austin Theory talks about his WWE journey: “For me, it was an interesting experience because I was on NXT and then I went to Raw but this was during the COVID-19 pandemic and both shows were without fans. Then I went back to NXT and then back to Raw, again. It was a big change because you go from working in the performance center and working NXT television. Now, I’m not just based in Florida, where the performance center and NXT arena are. I’m traveling around the world and doing more events such as meet and greets. It has more of a superstar feel on the main roster. I’d love to win the World Tag Team Championships over on Raw with Grayson but man, the WWE Undisputed Championship has always been where it’s at. I’ve been dreaming of that moment since I was a kid. Cody Rhodes has the championship right now, but after WrestleMania 41, it could be John Cena.”
Last week’s Raw on Netflix did 2.8 million viewers, down from 2.9 the week before. (Netflix)
Shawn Michaels talks about protecting a finisher: “Everybody, especially my finisher, the super kick, I’m now understanding that a super kick is one thing, but Sweet Chin Music, that’s a finisher. When you get into those types of things, you want to keep the integrity of the move, we obviously want that to be noteworthy. You have to call those as you see them and hopefully the fanbase appreciates and understands that.”
In addition Michaels talks about his WrestleMania 23 match with John Cena: “I always tried to make sure that I was 100% prepared for any WrestleMania match that I had. At that time I was working with John, I had no idea what the years ahead had in store for me. You can’t call yourself Mr. WrestleMania and not get a reputation of having to perform at that level at that show. I had every intention of making sure John and I were going to work our butts off. I mean this lovingly, I don’t care whatever level he was at. I needed him to reach a higher level that night – hopefully the highest level he’d ever met at that time – because that’s what I certainly expect for myself, and that’s what I expect from the guys that are in the ring with me. I think John knew that, and that’s something I’ve always appreciated about him. I believe it is something that John took very seriously at the time; he wanted to be at his absolute best as well.”
Here’s a new poster for WWE Backlash in St. Louis on May 10th.
The updated card for Dynamite tonight can be found below. (AEW)
- AEW World Trios Championship Match: Death Riders vs. Samoa Joe, Katsuyori Shibata & HOOK
- Men’s Owen Hart Cup Tournament Quarterfinal Match: Hangman Page vs. Wild Card Entrant
- Men’s Owen Hart Cup Tournament Semifinal Match: Will Ospreay vs. Konosuke Takeshita
- Women’s Owen Hart Cup Tournament Semifinal Match: Athena vs. Mercedes Mone
- AEW World Tag Team Championship Match: The Hurt Syndicate vs. The Gates of Agony
Kurt Angle talks about WrestleMania being two nights: “It used to be really tough to get it all done in one night. I’m glad they changed it to two nights. It’s more money for the company, and even though I know the fans love it, it’s asking a lot with seven hours in one sitting for the fans. It’s much more tolerable for the fans to watch in a 3.5 hour sitting. Doing it in a seven-hour stint, that’s a lot. When I wrestled Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 19, don’t get me the wrong, the fans were great, but they were tired by the time we made the ring! They weren’t as excited as they perhaps should have been, it was like ‘and here’s the next one!’ Overall, I think the WWE made the right call splitting it into two nights.”
Here’s the updated card for Stand & Deliver on April 19th. (WWE)
- NXT Championship Match: Oba Femi vs. Trick Williams vs. Je’Von Evans
- NXT Women’s Championship Match: Stephanie Vaquer vs. Giulia vs. Jaida Parker vs. Jordynne Grace
- NXT Women’s North American Championship Ladder Match: ZARIA vs. Kelani Jordan vs. Izzi Dame vs. Sol Ruca vs. Lola Vice vs. The Hail
- NXT North American Championship: Ricky Saints vs. Ethan Page
- NXT Tag Team Championship: Fraxiom vs. Hank & Tank
- WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship #1 Contenders Match: Roxanne Perez & Cora Jade vs. Meta-Four vs. Fatal Influence vs. Gigi Dolin & Tatum Paxley
- The D’Angelo Family vs. DarkState
Here’s the card for Boca Raton Championship Wrestling on May 18th.
- BRCW Cruiserweight Championship Match: Jonny Fairplay vs. Tyler Breeze
- Winner Take All Tag Team Championship Unification Match: BRCW Tag Team Champions Matt Riddle & Stallion Rogers Vs. CCW Tag Team Champions Ricky Martinez & ERA
- Jericho Cruise Oceanic Championship Match: MO Jabari vs. Kerry Morton
- Steve Maclin & Lakay vs. Noah Kekoa & Monster Fulton
- Harley Cameron vs. Renee Michelle
- Oddyssey vs. JACK Talos
And here’s the updated card for Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling’s “Northern Rising.”
- NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship Match: Thom Latimer vs. Stu Grayson
- MLP Women’s Canadian Championship Match: Gisele Shaw vs. Kylie Rae
- MLP Canadian Championship 20 Man Gauntlet Match: PCO vs. Rhino vs. Johnny Parisi vs. Billy Gunn vs. El Phantasmo vs. Josh Alexander vs. Raj Dhesi vs. QT Marshall vs. Rich Swann vs. Psycho Mike vs. Bishop Dyer vs. Michael Allen Richard Clark vs. Sheldon Jean vs. Alex Zayne vs. Bhupinder Gujjar
- Serena Deeb vs. Miyu Yamashita
According to MLW, Satoshi Kojima had a brain tumor removed but he’s “just fine.”
Here’s the updated Unbreakable card for this Thursday. (TNA)
- Barbed Wire Massacre: Sami Callihan vs. Mance Warner
- TNA International Title Tournament First Round Match:: Eddie Edwards vs. Steve Maclin vs. Ace Austin
- TNA International Title Tournament First Round Match:: Eric Young vs. JDC vs. Zachary Wentz
- TNA International Title Tournament Finals: AJ Francis vs. TBD vs. TBD
- Open Challenge: Moose vs. TBA
- Mike Santana & The Hardys vs. Mustafa Ali & The Nemeths
- Frankie Kazarian & Tessa Blanchard vs. Joe Hendry & Masha Slamovich
