To some, CM Punk is a divisive character, resulting in him receiving a lot of abuse on social media. Some trolls even consider it a badge of honor to get blocked by the AEW star. However, now during an interview with Abe Kanan of Rock 95.5 in Chicago, he has revealed he doesn’t care about what “faceless people on the internet” say about him and advises his fellow wrestlers to find inner peace.

As stated by Punk, one of the go-to topics for trolls is his UFC performance. After quitting WWE, he would pursue a career in MMA, and despite having some of the best training money could buy, he looked incredibly out of his depth during his fights. He would later acknowledge he was too old to begin fighting professionally. Nevertheless, he did reportedly earn 20x the pay of his opponents despite losing, so ultimately, you could say he still came out as a winner.

Recently, one of the leading news stories has been the controversy regarding Joe Rogan and his Spotify podcast. This is because of claims of misinformation and multiple musicians pulling their music from the streaming service over his presence. Nevertheless, while considerable numbers oppose Rogan, others have defended the podcaster, citing free speech.

Among his defenders was The Rock, who would publicly give the podcaster his backing. Yet, once a compilation video of Rogan using the N-word was circulated on social media, he would understandably disavow him. This promoted some of Rogan’s most ardent followers digging through The Rock’s past and initially sharing a video from an old episode of SmackDown mocking the Chinese language. While clearly in character, it was attempting to make him look bad by today’s standards.

However, much more damaging to his reputation was the discovery of a tweet from 2011 where the pro wrestler icon used a derogatory term for transexuals. This has subsequently resulted in calls for the cancellation of the Hollywood star, and while he hasn’t yet issued an apology, he, or at least someone from his team, has deleted the offending tweet.

It isn’t known why The Rock hasn’t yet apologized for the tweet, but it could be because he is spacing out his apologies. This is because he only recently apologized to Cheri Jacobus, a political strategist, pundit, and writer that he called out on Twitter regarding the Rogan debate. Whether any of this actually has any effect on The Rock’s career remains to be seen. Still, given how devoted fans of Rogan can be and how many Twitter users relish cancel culture, it’s unlikely to go away anytime soon.

Ring of Honor recently announced that they intended to launch their own Hall of Fame, and since fans have been speculating over who would receive that recognition. The first official names to be confirmed were revealed last week with Jay and Mark Briscoe, who appeared on the promotion’s first-ever show in 2002 being celebrated. Now joining them is another wrestler who appeared on ROH’s debut show, current AEW star Bryan Danielson.

Danielson is considered one of ROH’s founding fathers, so his incursion doesn’t come as a surprise, especially since his home promotion AEW has shown previously they are happy to work with others. The former ROH World Champion wrestled for the promotion over 200 times between 2002 and 2009 before beginning his WWE journey and becoming one of the biggest names in the business. While it is expected Danielson will be delighted to be involved, he has not yet publicly commented on his inclusion.

Two additional wrestlers are scheduled to be announced for the inaugural class with names including CM Punk, Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels, Jay Lethal, and Austin Aries, all being contenders giving their influence in the company’s history. Those who want to watch ROH’s Hall of Fame television special featuring all of the inductees should check their local listings, with it scheduled to air on the weekend of March 5.

Last week news broke that after a heavily criticized men’s Royal Rumble match that Shane McMahon produced, the son of Vince McMahon had been let go. This shocked everyone as while there have been known issues in the McMahon family in the past, nobody thought Vince would ever effectively fire his son. Now, former WWE, WCW, and TNA writer Vince Russo has suggested Shane McMahon launch his own promotion. In addition, he would call both Vince McMahon and Tony Khan “assh*les,” seemingly disgruntled neither have shown any interest in hiring him in recent years.

Russo has previously disclosed he has a positive relationship with Shane, who recently tried to get his father to bring in Russo to be part of WWE’s creative team. However, it’s understood Vince had no interest in this, and Russo remains persona non grata in WWE. Based on this, if Shane were to start his own company, it’s possible he’d look to employ Russo, so it’s certainly understandable why the writer would be encouraging Shane. Whether Shane, though, has any interest in starting his own promotion isn’t known, and with AEW already having locked in the number two position, it seems doubtful it would be competitive without him investing most of his wealth.

Deathmatch wrestling went mainstream last year when as part of Chris Jericho’s storyline with MJF, Nick Gage wrestled on Dynamite. For many fans, it was the first time they’d been exposed to wrestlers being put through panes of glass and cut with pizza cutters. And while certainly not for everyone, overall, the match was well received as a unique attraction. In addition, Matt Cardona has reinvented himself post-WWE thanks to his work in Game Changer Wrestling, which is the most prominent promotion regularly putting on deathmatches.

With the match concept no longer being seen as simply garbage wrestling, there are bound to be more and more wrestlers with established names beginning to participate to capitalize on the popularity. However, a name few people would have thought would be open to wrestling this style would be Buff Bagwell, yet he has revealed on Twitter that he wants to get involved.

52-year-old Bagwell hasn’t wrestled regularly for some time, as in 2020, he was hospitalized with multiple broken bones and a torn right groin muscle after losing control of his Chevrolet Tahoe. At the time, investigators concluded the cause of the accident was that Bagwell was impaired by prescription medication. Since then, the WCW star has been involved in a second car accident and arrested under similar circumstances. He actually claims he requested WWE help him with rehab, but the company surprisingly refused despite him meeting the requirements to receive help.

Whether any indie promotion decides to follow up with Bagwell and book him for this type of match remains to be seen. His name would attract attention simply out of curiosity, and GCW themselves have shown to be open to working with older talent, having recently used Jeff Jarrett. Yet, if he is still suffering from drug and alcohol issues, it may be best for him to avoid a style of wrestling that can lead to painful injuries.

Kurt Angle was in St Louis for Royal Rumble activities last weekend, and while there was no truth to the rumored surprise Rumble match appearance, he was set to return to WWE television. However, during the latest episode of his podcast, he has revealed that those plans have now been canceled. Again proving how quickly things can change in WWE.

It isn’t known what WWE’s plan for Angle was, although there was speculation it was to work with the Alpha Academy pairing of Chad Gable and Otis. Previously Angle has remained loyal to WWE despite them releasing him, and he actually turned down three approaches from AEW to work for them. Given how WWE has now canceled Angle’s return, it will be interesting to see whether he is now open to working elsewhere.

Over the past two years, WWE has been regularly releasing talents, and many of these turn up in AEW, often via tryout on Dark. The latest of these is Danielle Kamela, who wrestled in NXT under the name of Vanessa Borne. Kamela would debut using her real name and would face Marina Shafir, herself a former NXT performer.

33-year-old Kamela broke into the business via Rikishi and Gangrel’s school in 2016, having previously been a professional cheerleader. She would quickly receive a WWE contract, and after four years on the WWE developmental brand, it was reported she was being called up to the main roster in January 2020. However, she wouldn’t appear on television, and after 16 months of inactivity was released by the company in May 2021. 

Santino Marella is one of WWE’s most beloved comedy characters of the past two decades, and now his daughter Bianca Carelli is set to follow in his footsteps. This was revealed by Marella himself on the Stories with Brisco and Bradshaw podcast, and he would put her over as a “beast” and claim she’ll be “an absolute top-tier player.” The 26-year-old had previously tried out for WWE in 2019 but at the time was told she needed more experience.

Carelli still doesn’t have a huge amount of experience but has been training at her father’s Battle Arts Academy gym. Additionally, she appeared at Billy Corgan’s NWA EmPowerrr event in August 2021, sharing a ring with the likes of Kiera Hogan, Chelsea Green, and Debbie Malenko. It remains to be seen how long it will be until she makes her NXT debut. Still, considering how the brand is focused on creating new and young stars, it wouldn’t be surprising to see her on television later this year.

For years fans clamored for Big E to receive a main event push due to his charisma, strength, and in-ring ability. He would finally make it to the top this past September when he cashed in his Money in the Bank contract against Bobby Lashley, and while he lost the title at Day 1 in January, it’s believed that wasn’t the original plan. Now though having moved back to SmackDown, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that he is scheduled to resume tag team wrestling with The New Day, ending his singles push.

This news will undoubtedly disappoint many fans who had invested in Big E, and it shows how quickly plans change in WWE. Just two months ago, internally, WWE was discussing Big E vs. Seth Rollins at WrestleMania for the WWE Championship, and now that is clearly not happening. However, considering WWE barely does long-term booking anymore, Big E may again be heavily featured at the top of the card within a few months.

In 2016, Ken Anderson and Shawn Daivari founded The Academy professional wrestling school, which quickly garnered an excellent reputation. This, though, was when Molly Holly and Arik Cannon worked as coaches, and both since departed. The belief is Anderson now runs the school by himself, and a claim has been made on Reddit that Anderson has been taking students’ money for the past two years without providing a start date or even a location.

The fact their website, theacademyprowrestling.com, is down and social media updates are incredibly sparse has caused unease. Now though, Anderson has addressed the issue on his Facebook account and posted a lengthy statement. To summarise, he says that he decided to close for safety reasons due to worldwide events and is currently working with a realtor to find a new building. He does acknowledge communication should have been better but says nobody has been conned or scammed.

While it’s certainly disappointing that fans have had this experience, it appears former WWE and TNA star fully intends to resume training shortly. Hopefully, though, he has enough students to instruct for him to make the school a success, as it would be understandable if some are uneasy about training under him.

Tyson Kidd has been a very highly regarded producer over recent years; however, it now appears his time with the company could be coming to an end. Precise details haven’t been revealed, but Fightful Select has reported that he hasn’t been producing matches in recent weeks nor seen backstage. Their report states his absence is due to frustration with the company, although it was noted the way his wife Natalya has been booked recently (losing in 3 seconds) isn’t a factor.

Kidd’s in-ring career ended in 2015 in a dark match against Samoa Joe. Joe’s finishing maneuver, the “Muscle Buster,” damaged Kidd’s spinal cord, resulting in him requiring 16 staples, four screws, and having a rod inserted in his neck. Only 5% of people who suffer this injury recover, and the majority of those end up with paraplegia or quadriplegia.

After his miraculous recovery, he would speak to management about a potential wrestling return to the ring, specifically as a surprise Royal Rumble entrant. Vince McMahon would decline, not wanting to risk another tragedy in his ring. Now, if Kidd does depart WWE, it will be fascinating to see whether he attempts to make a comeback.

Within hours of Brian Kendrick’s WWE release being reported, it was advertised by AEW that they’d booked him to wrestle Jon Moxley on Dynamite. However, that appearance was canceled by Tony Khan at the last minute after Twitter users shared conspiracy theory videos from 2011 and 2013 featuring the former WWE Cruiserweight Champion.

In the clips, Kendrick would discuss bizarre and disturbing views regarding the Holocaust, Sandy Hook, and that reptilians were involved in a Haiti earthquake seeking eyeballs. Following the outcry on social media, Kendrick took to Twitter himself and apologized for what he had previously said, and stressed they were not his beliefs.

Some fans have been defending Kendrick due to the comments being old. However, with cancel culture now being such a big part of life, it isn’t unusual for someone to be held accountable for something they’ve said or done in the past. It will now be intriguing to see whether fans accept his apology and if AEW gives him a second chance upon review.