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Internal reactions to Karrion Kross promo

Karrion Kross has been making waves this year, as he heads toward his contract expiration date.

Kross has shown huge progress with fans from his social media work, in addition to his on-screen character that has maximized minutes. Among that included a WrestleMania appearance in his home town of Las Vegas, but not a match. This was something that Kross brought up during a WrestleMania after-show with Sam Roberts and Megan Morant. During the segment, Kross weaved in and out of his story...

Select Answers: Bayley, Lucha Bros, AAA

Welcome to Select Answers, a short feature that provides some of the answers to questions that were posed to Sean Ross Sapp in the most recent Fightful Weekly Q&A Podcast. The show drops every week on Fightful Select for subscribers.

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Did Bayley really sign a new contract recently?

Based on the most recent information we have, Bayley signed a new deal towards the back half of 2023 or start of 2024. WWE typically tries to lock people down into five yea...

WWE talent reactions to The Rock's Pat McAfee interview, IG comment

The Rock appeared on Pat McAfee’s show, and posted an Instagram comment to Dave LaGreca that caused a stir this week. Fightful Select reached out to a bunch of WWE talent and staff about their thoughts. 

A number of talent took note of the fact that The Rock was not at tv, on tv, or at WrestleMania, didn’t do any promotion leading up to the event, or even tweet about the show coming up. Another talent pointed out that he didn’t tweet about the show, but quickly appeared on a ...

Details on recent AEW return

Stokely Hathaway is back after a nearly six month absence.

Hathaway appeared on the April 24 episode of AEW Dynamite alongside Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler as their new manager for their heel run. Hathaway hadn’t been on the road in a while, but this wasn’t necessarily new creative.

We’re told this idea was pitched and possibly close to coming to fruition last year. Before his absence, Hathaway was seen scouting tag teams, which included him watching an FTR match in the back...

Ask Grapsody! 4/24 Over 2 Hours!

Phil and Reg are back for a new edition of Ask Grapsody!

YOUTUBE LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOugiHJ2zpw

FREE Post: Michael Oku in PROGRESS tourney

The final entrant into the PROGRESS Super Strong Style 16 tournament this year is MICHAEL OKU.

Fresh off arguably the match of the weekend in Las Vegas against Luke Jacobs, he looks to earn the right for another shot at the champion.

🎟️ progresswrestling.com/tickets

TNA departure confirmed

A former TNA and AEW talent is now a free agent.

A reader this weekend inquired about the status of Alan Angels within TNA. The former Dark Order member hasn’t been on TNA television for almost six months, but is still listed on the company’s roster page. 

Fightful Select has confirmed that Alan Angels was one of many talent that left the company in December, as his contract expired. He is and has been effectively a free agent since that point.

Angels has been worki...

Fightful Weekender (4/22): GCW COLLECTIVE 2025 REVIEW

STEPHEN JENSEN is back to recap the 2025 GCW Collective!

- WWE ID CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT

- DRAGON GATE USA

- DEFY

- WRESTLECON

- JOSH BARNETT'S BLOODSPORT 13

- PROGRESS

- TJPW

- DDT

- JOEY JANELA'S SPRING BREAK 9

- HEELS HAVE EYES: FOUR THE CULTURE

- EFFY'S BIG GAY BRUNCH

- TJPW vs. DDT vs. GCW

- JJSB: CLUSTERF*CK FOREVER

Details On How WrestleMania Matches Changed, And How Some Were Just Revealed

The Rock’s recent interview on Pat McAfee’s show, and trailers for WWE’s  Unreal series have shed light on many potential matches for WrestleMania.

Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp and Self Made PW’s Ibou had discussed a number of the matches back in December and January that ended up appearing on a white board in a trailer for the upcoming WWE Unreal series. 

During the Rock’s interview, he confirmed Fightful’s reporting that there had been no plan as of WWE Bad ...

Alex & Kate's SOUR GRAPS: Raw After Mania 4/21 | The Year of Alliance-ing Dangerously

One of the worst WrestleManias ever leads to one of the worst Raws after Mania ever. Go figure.

At least they're consistent.

From a Cena promo that told us nothing, to the 3 matches in 3 hours, to two women's title scenes that now make no sense, to a heel turn nobody asked for, to a major return with obviously no creative plans, to 18 minutes of Yeeting, to a Gunther storyline that will inevitably lead to him tapping out to Pat McAfee, literally EVERYTHING sucks.

I wish it ...

How to join Fightful Select's discord!

We won't have a traditional pre-show Raw After Mania scoops thread, but will have some potential spoilers in the Raw Live Chat area of the Discord.

For those having trouble, our friend Mike Staw helped us out with this tutorial.

To join the Fightful Select Discord, members need to do the following:

-- Go to your settings
-- Click More and choose "Connected Apps"
-- There will be an option to link your discord account.
-- It can't be done via the app. Has to be via...

More on Joe Hendry, WrestleMania, TNA, WWE

Joe Hendry appeared at WrestleMania as TNA Champion.

Fightful Select reported in our WrestleMania scoops thread that by the time Kevin Owens publicly announced his injury, WWE had the wheels in motion to inquire about Hendry's availability and have him work the match. Many in TNA found out the news for sure on Saturday. It was kept quiet within WWE, with Hendry not listed internally on run sheets.

In regards to Hendry's status within TNA, he's still under contract, but it expires...

WrestleMania Week News: Luger, Bianca,

Las Vegas News

• We're told Tommy Rich and Doug Gilbert wanted double their usual rate, which is why they were pulled from the Senior Scramble.

• Warlord was pulled from the Senior Scramble to attend the WWE Hall of Fame with Barbarian. We're told they were supposed to speak with WWE officials as well.

• Wrestlers such as Shazza McKenzie, Laynie Luck and others took in WrestleMania at the Circa Las Vegas Stadium Swim. Circa was the offic...

  2025-04-21 16:58:32 +0000 UTC View Post

NEW TIME: 1:45 PM ET! LIVE SRS Q&A!

Monday Q&A!!

Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klb6VbAI-Ew

Select Answers: Ilja, Swann, WWE-Peacock

Welcome to Select Answers, a short feature that provides some of the answers to questions that were posed to Sean Ross Sapp in the most recent Fightful Weekly Q&A Podcast. The show drops every week on Fightful Select for subscribers.

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When is ilja dragunov expected to be back. Pwn said it was in september this year.

September or October is a good, safe assumption. ACL injuries almost always have about a one year or more recovery time. He's been rehabb...

Alex & Kate's SOUR GRAPS: WrestleMania 41 Night 2 | Triumph Of The Unseeable Son

Did John Cena beat Cody to set the all time title record?

Was Iyo able to break out of the shadow of Bianca & Rhea and retain her championship?

Who was Lyra's mystery partner and why was it so obvious?

Who was Randy's mystery opponent and why was it an absolute joke?

How much of the Logan Paul match did Alex watch? (None. The answer is none.)

Everything sucks.
Let's talk about WrestleMania Night 2 and all the implications moving forward.

Watch here:...

WrestleMania Night 2 SCOOPS THREAD

The Fightful Select scoops thread for night 2 of WrestleMania. This will be constantly added to, so make sure to come check for updates.

Fightful

• SRS went live each of the last two days on Select, and plans to Monday as well.

• Our Fightful post show with SRS and Jeff Hawkins is at this link.

• Our night two post show will 2025-04-20 20:37:02 +0000 UTC View Post

Select Answers: Su Yung, Hair/Makeup, WWE Boom Period

Welcome to Select Answers, a short feature that provides some of the answers to questions that were posed to Sean Ross Sapp in the most recent Fightful Weekly Q&A Podcast. The show drops every week on Fightful Select for subscribers.

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Is the WWE boom period over?

As far as ticket sales by number, it seems as if that's peaked, as they're doing less year over year and in the same towns. However, they're grossing more than ever before. If the price of ti...

LIVE 1:30 PM ET: SRS LIVE Q&A!

SRS Q&A ahead of day 2 of Mania!

Alex & Kate's SOUR GRAPS: WrestleMania 41 Night One 4/19 | Let It Play Out

Gunther vs Mid-Event Jey Uso. Or at least Curtain Jerker Jey Uso.
Tiffany vs Charlotte. Let's see if they make the right call.
THE MOST IMPORTANT TRIPLE THREAT MATCH IN THE HISTORY OF THE BUSINESS.™

All these and more matches will be discussed and analyzed very seriously, and also there will be a lot of silliness.

Everything sucks. Except the SGS.

Let's talk about WrestleMania Night 1.

Watch here: 2025-04-20 01:44:17 +0000 UTC View Post

More on WWE-AAA

WWE announced they have acquired Lucha Libre AAA.

WWE announced the move at WrestleMania, with the reveal of Worlds Collide happening in June. Fightful reached out to talent who said that there have been conversations about AAA having new partners, equipment and the like for years. However, once the WWE-TKO merger happened, there was a lot of discussion about that partnership being with WWE. There had been conversations between the two sides for quite some time.

Those that we spo...

SCOOPS THREAD for night 1 of WrestleMania

Welcome to our night one WrestleMania scoops thread! The article will be added to throughout the day.

SRS and Jeff Hawkins will be LIVE after WrestleMania at this link.

Check out our Youtube for tons of shorts, clips and more from the week.

MIsc. Notes

• Cody Rhodes' "paler than Sting ...

  2025-04-19 18:55:43 +0000 UTC View Post

WWE's comp situation tight for talent ahead of WrestleMania

WWE hasn’t sold out WrestleMania yet, but they’re very close and seem pretty confident about it. 

As of Saturday, WrestleMania had just over 1,200 tickets available for their current setup night one, with about 1,300 remaining for night two. Th Sources within WWE tell Fightful Select they’re expecting a complete sellout for both nights. WrestleTix has shown healthy movement this week.

A few months ago, Fightful reported about WWE not offering comps to talent any longer,...

LIVE 12:30 PM ET: SRS MANIA WEEKEND Q&A!

Sean Ross Sapp hangs out with you LIVE until NXT!!!

Alex's SOUR GRAPS: SmackDown Before Mania 4/18 | Go Home SmackDown, You're Drunk

WrestleMania starts tomorrow.

Tonight, we had the Tag Title match ruined by a run-in DQ and they responded by announcing a 3-Way TLC Title Match ... For Next Week's SmackDown.

This is a good example of the kind of crackshot decision making we're getting in WWE right now.

Carmelo Hayes won the Andre Battle Royal, in a bit of booking with real "THAT oughta shut 'em up" energy.

Zelina pinned Chelsea, actually winning a match FOR REAL this week. But it was non-title so not...

Loaded WWE Smackdown Before Mania SCOOPS THREAD

Fightful Select's Sean Ross Sapp has learned the following plans for tonight's WWE Smackdown, subject to change.

Please be cognizant of those who wish to avoid spoilers. Copying and pasting the entirety of this is against our terms of service. Please credit Fightful Select and link to our twitter when using news from this.

• SPOILER SEGMENT

• Jey Uso-GUNTHER package

• Andre Memorial video package

• Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Roya...

  2025-04-18 22:16:31 +0000 UTC View Post

WRESTLEMANIA WEEK SCOOPS: Trump, Natalya, Rusev, Media Day, Smackdown

• Sources we spoke to in WWE said that they were impressed with Natalya at Bloodsport, and that Natalya was extremely happy and felt vindicated after the performance.

• Natalya is expected to face Kenzie Paige in NWA at Crockett Cup next month after their post-match fight.

• There were a number of higher ups from WWE at Bloodsport with all of the talent there.

• WWE is heavily scouting the indies this week in Las Vegas.

• Buddy Matthew...

  2025-04-18 20:03:57 +0000 UTC View Post

Bands rumored to play at WrestleMania

It's WrestleMania season, and bands have become a part of the show more than ever.

Living Colour is in town, and many expect that they'll play CM Punk to the ring for his night one main event against Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins. This isn't as much of a surprise as Living Colour has been planned for WrestleMania week for months.

There are rumors within WWE that another major band could appear. Fightful Select has heard word that legendary metal band Slayer was considered for Wres...

Select Answers: SRS Opinion Edition

Welcome to Select Answers, a short feature that provides some of the answers to questions that were posed to Sean Ross Sapp in the most recent Fightful Weekly Q&A Podcast. The show drops every week on Fightful Select for subscribers.

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Does you think AEW moving collision to Thursday with be a permanent thing?

I think it will be something that is heavily considered when the WBD NBA rights are up. AEW seems to like weekends, and the crossover opportuniti...

WWE and AEW Names Backstage At Bloodsport

The wrestling stars came out for Bloodsport.

Bloodsport hosted a ton of talent in and out of the ring Thursday.

Fightful is told Tyler Bate, Scarlett, Shotzi, Candice LeRae, Roxanne Perez, Tyson Kidd, Nia Jax, Raquel Rodriguez, Liv Morgan, Braun Strowman, Bayley, Cora Jade, Gunther, Willow Nightingale, Lexis King are all at the show.

We're told some WWE higher ups are also around to see how the WWE talent performs as well.