On the latest episode of DDP and Jake Roberts’ DDP Snake Pit podcast, the pair would talk about their legendary finishing moves. This would result in Roberts recalling the DDT he gave Ricky Steamboat on the concrete floor during WWE’s May 3rd, 1986 Saturday Night’s Main Event and how he begged not to do it. This was because he felt it couldn’t be done safely on a  hard surface, which he was ultimately proved right over as Steamboat was legitimately knocked out. Sadly the WWE Hall of Famer would also disclose that Steamboat is currently dealing with health issues and worries that the incident could be responsible.

Steamboat would go on to wrestle for eight more years following the scary bump, with his initial retirement being due to a back injury sustained in WCW. However, he would return to the ring  15 years later at WrestleMania 25 as part of a trios team alongside Jimmy Snuka and Roddy Piper against Chris Jericho. He’d then go on to complete 13 more times, with his official final match being a tag match with his son Richie against Caylen Croft & Trent Barreta in FCW on June 18th, 2010.

While it does seem a stretch to think head trauma from 1986 could be the cause of Steamboat’s health issues 36 years later, it is known old head injuries can linger for decades. Hopefully, though, Steamboat’s don’t seriously affect his standard of living, as at 69 years old, he should still have several years remaining to enjoy his retirement.

Matt and Jeff Hardy recently taped matches for AEW Dark and AEW Dark: Elevation, and since the shows air on YouTube, some fans consider this a demotion. One fan would go as far as to liken the brothers featuring on the show to be similar to that appearing on WWE’s Main Event, seemingly suggesting the duo, and specifically, Jeff was being underutilized. However, after seeing the tweet, Matt would respond and defend Tony Khan’s decision. Revealing they’re happy appearing on the shows and enjoy working with younger talent

Following Jeff’s WWE release Tony Khan worked quickly to bring him into AEW, with him appearing at the earliest opportunity once his non-compete had expired. Since then, the brothers have resumed their legendary tag team five times for Khan’s promotion, with the first three being on Dynamite. While it is understandable why some fans may consider appearing on the YouTube shows is a demotion, the episodes do attract significant viewing figures, and they’ll likely return to Dynamite or Rampage shortly.

Tammy Lynn Sytch, best known to wrestling fans as Sunny, was involved in a three-car crash on March 25, which resulted in the tragic death of 75-year-old Julian Lafrancis Lasseter. Now it has been reported that the family of Lasseter has filed a lawsuit against the former WWE Diva and her boyfriend, James Pente, for causing his death and are asking for more than $30,000. A summary of the lawsuit via PWInsider can be read below.

49-year-old Sytch has not yet been arrested for the incident due to police awaiting toxicology results from the blood sample they took from her at the hospital. However, given she has been arrested at least six times previously for driving while intoxicated, many suspect it will be revealed that she was in no condition to be behind the wheel. Seemingly the Lasseter family feels the same due to including reference to her being intoxicated in their lawsuit. While still remaining active on social media as of writing, Sytch hasn’t referenced the crash or Lasseter. Nevertheless, if eventually arrested and found guilty, she faces up to 15 years behind bars. 

On Monday eagle-eyed fan noted that Kushida had been moved to the alumni section of WWE.com. Subsequently, multiple sources would report his WWE contract had expired, and he had left the company. Now during the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer would discuss his departure and revealed that the 38-year-old is expected to return to New Japan in June.

Kushida made his name in his home country of Japan, competing for Hustle, All Japan, and New Japan while also wrestling. On occasion, he’d also compete in the US for Ring of Honor and in Mexico for CMLL. He would sign with WWE in 2019, just prior to WrestleMania 35, and went on to become an NXT regular, winning the NXT Cruiserweight Championship the following year. Yet once he lost the title to Roderick Strong, he was no longer prominently featured. Instead, he had been wrestling as part of a tag team with Ikemen Jiro.

Ric Flair last wrested in 2011 when he was part of TNA. However, since then, he has suffered various medical issues and, in 2017, was on the verge of passing. Still, he would recover and even managed to get medically cleared to take bumps while in WWE two years ago. His aim at the time was to get involved in the Team Hogan vs. Team Flair match in Saudi Arabia. Still, ultimately Vince McMahon felt this was too risky.

Since then, though, he has gotten physical by chopping Kenny Omega and putting Konnan in a Figure For Leglock when accompanying his son-in-law Andrade at AAA’s Triplemanía XXIX. Nevertheless, many have considered it his last hurrah, as at 73 years of age, it was doubtful he had much left in the tank. Yet, Flair has now silenced d critics by sharing a video of himself sharing a ring with current AEW talent Jay Lethal and even taking bumps.

The video clearly shows Flair can still go in the ring, and it will now be interesting to see whether any promoters are interested in booking him to compete again. The 16-time world champion would undoubtedly attract fans to any event he wrestles on, with many modern-day fans having never seen him wrestle live. Although whether the financial benefit outweighs the likely online backlash of booking him after his Dark Side of the Ring controversy is debatable.

Unfortunately, social media and bullying go hand in hand, and this weekend a photo of Mickie James being embraced by wrestling fan Leonard Linton received scorn on multiple platforms. Fans would call him out for his proximity to the Impact Wrestling star, saying he was inappropriately touching her, and even mocked his appearance.

However, James has now taken to her Instagram account to come to the fan’s defense, revealing she actually asked him for the photo and disclosed he’d donated almost $4000 to charities she is associated with. She’d also add the event they were at was to aid mental health and noted the irony of that, considering how much mental distress that photo has caused.

James and Linton clearly go way back, as there is a video of her wishing him a happy birthday back in 2020 on her Facebook page. Sadly, all the social media harassment has resulted in Linton deactivating his Twitter and making his Instagram private. Hopefully, though, now that James has set the record straight, the mean-spirited comments will stop, as he clearly isn’t the terrible person some trolls were trying to portray him as.

This past Friday, before SmackDown went live, LA Knight would announce the formation of the Knight Model Management along with his first client Mace. However, with fans in attendance being so surprised to see the NXT star appearing as a manager, the fact Mace formally of Retribution seems to have been renamed to Face was overlooked. This would be revealed when a video of the dark segment was shared online, which features Knight referring to him as this name, despite his graphics still saying Mace.

The former football player would win his match against Erik of the Viking Raiders in just under four minutes and could now be set for a push as having been absent from television since November 2021. Previously called Dio Maddin and having appeared as a commentator, the 31-year-old would become a main roster wrestler in September 2020 as part of Retribution. Once the group disbanded, he’d continue under the same gimmick teaming with fellow stable member T-Bar. Nevertheless, despite victories over Braun Strowman and Drew McIntyre, the team never got over with fans and soon slid down the card. Eventually, being separated by the 2021 draft.

If you’ve spent any amount of time on social media, you’ve likely come across people impersonating celebrities, and while for most people, it is blatant, some people are still duped. Sadly, one wrestling fan was conned into selling their home to send money to a fraudster, believing he was talking to Liv Morgan. The WWE star would reveal this herself on social media, urging people to stop using her name and stressing that she’d never ask fans for money.

Hopefully, authorities will be able to assist the fan, but with cryptocurrency now being the preferred way for scammers to receive money, following the money and catching the culprits is now more challenging than ever. While most people realize a celebrity would never contact fans asking for money, especially from a non-verified account, more and more stories of this type are being reported. In fact, only recently, one fan was so convinced he was speaking to Seth Rollins online and had been swindled out of money that he attacked him on Raw and is now facing the legal repercussions.

It’s understood Vince McMahon has implemented a new policy where non-established talents will not be permitted to use any part of their real names or ones used on the indies. This promoted Austin Theory to lose his first name, Raquel González to get a new surname, and Pete Dunne to become Butch. Now it has been reported by PWInsider that two current NXT competitors are set to be renamed, with former American Ninja Warrior star Kacy Catanzaro becoming Katana Chance and Kay Lee Ray to go by the name Alba Fyre.

It isn’t officially known why McMahon has taken this stance. However, the fact former WWE talents like Toni Storm, Keith Lee, and Adam Cole are now in AEW under names he possibly believes he made famous could be a reason. Regardless of the reason, fans seemingly need to prepare for more name changes to come, with Roderick Strong, Joe Gacy, Josh Briggs, James Drake, Zack Gibson, Fabian Aichner, and Kushida all now looking at the prospect of being renamed.

At one point, it looked as though Alberto Del Rio’s career was over after being accused by his now ex-girlfriend of assaulting her over a prolonged period. Yet, she would later retract the allegations, and the charges were ultimately dropped. Now having been trying to rebuild his career wrestling on small-scale shows, a report by FanByte has revealed he is set to return to a major promotion with him booked for AAA’s TripleMania XXX on April 30th. With the former WWE Champion wrestling on the undercard, teaming with Laredo Kid in a three-way tag team match also featuring La Facción Ingobernable and Taurus teaming with John Morrison.

For those unaware, Triplemania is AAA’s biggest show of the year and is regarded by many as their version of WrestleMania and Wrestle Kingdom. Also appearing on the show will be several AEW talents, with Andrade El Ídolo, The Young Bucks, Penta Oscuro, Tay Conti, and Sammy Guevara all announced. This is interesting because previously, Tony Khan has blocked his talents from working on shows with undesirable wrestlers. However, Del Rio has previously stated on the UnSKripted podcast that he’d had talks with AEW, so this booking could now be the beginning of his mainstream return ahead of an AEW appearance.

59-year-old Mike Jones, who is best known for his time in WWE as Virgil, shared the sad news on Friday night that he is currently in poor health. In his Twitter thread, he’d reveal that he had recently suffered two strokes unbeknownst to him and additionally been diagnosed with dementia. He also shared his unease about making a living in the future and encouraged fans to download his Meatsauce Madness mobile game to support him with this.

Jones began wrestling in 1985 as Soul Train Jones before working as an enhancement talent in WWE in 1986. The following year, after impressing WWE management, he’d be given his big break as the bodyguard of Ted DiBiase and was renamed Virgil, which was a shot at Dusty Rhodes, whose real name was Virgil Runnels. Over the next several years, he’d be a heavily featured performer working alongside DiBiase and then feuded with him. Then following his release in the mid-90s and spell on the indies, he would sign WCW to be part of the nWo in 1996, going by the new name Vincent, chosen to mock Vince McMahon.

It was recently reported that WWE planned to call up 39-year-old LA Knight up to the main roster. Yet, rather than be a wrestler, it had been proposed he would instead be a manager. While some fans thought this was foolish given his talent, WWE is following through with this plan, as before Friday night’s SmackDown, he would announce the launch of his new stable called Knight Model Management. Subsequently, former Retribution member, Mace would be confirmed as his first client.

Over the years, Knight’s mic work has always been considered better than his in-ring wrestling ability, so this is possibly why the idea was proposed. And while managers had been phased out of WWE over the years, the success of MVP alongside Bobby Lashley has seemingly changed management’s opinion. It should, though, be noted WWE has in the past tried ideas out prior to live shows and scrapped them, so there is no guarantee Knight Model Management will make it to television.

For fans unfamiliar with Knight, he made a name for himself under the name Eli Drake in Impact Wrestling, where he held their world championship in 2017. Before that, he was signed to WWE between 2013 and 2014 but departed due to clashing with then-head coach Bill Demott. However, with Demott gone and Triple H impressed with his non-WWE work, he’d return in 2021 as part of NXT and had a memorable feud with Cameron Grimes over the Million Dollar Title.