Earlier today, the official Twitter account of Buff Bagwell’s podcast tweeted out the news that the former WCW star’s mother had passed away. Not much information was provided other than she was 78 years old and had been suffering from dementia. Our thoughts are with Buff and the rest of his family at this sad time.

Judy is best remembered by wrestling fans for her time in WCW when she would get involved in angles that included her son. Most famously, she’d appear in the comical-sounding Judy Bagwell On A Pole match between him and Kanyon. Additionally, she would temporarily hold the physical WCW Tag Team Championship belt when Rick Steiner (who was feuding with Buff) picked her to be his tag partner. Due to this, some believe she is a former WCW Tag Team Team Champion. However, there is some uncertainty whether her reign was officially recognized as the belts would be vacated due to injury before being defended.

She does, though, have two official wrestling matches on her record, having first faced Kanyon in a singles bout that ended in a no-contest and later teaming with Buff to take on Kanyon and Pamela Paulshock in a tag match. It was around this period that many fans and critics considered led to the downfall of WCW. However, none of this criticism was explicitly focused on Judy as she was supporting her son’s career and just going along with bad creative.

Not long after it was advertised that there was going to be an episode of Dark Side of the Ring focusing on his defunct XPW promotion, former adult content producer Rob Black would announce he was resurrecting the company. Surprisingly, though, rather than running in the promotions former home state of California, he would instead intend to run in New York, where he now resides and runs a restaurant.

Titled “XPW Rebirth,” the show would be built around a tournament to crown a new XPW CHampion, and the final would see Willie Mack take on Brian Cage. It had appeared that Mack had won the title as with multiple referees down, Black would himself take over refereeing duties reminiscent of his idol Paul Heyman at One Night Stand and counted the pinfall with Mack announced as XPW Champion. However, in confusing scenes, Cage would lay out Mack with the belt, and Black would seemingly restart the match, and following a fast count, Cage was declared Champion. The finish and show as a whole didn’t go down well, and fans who watched would express their displeasure on Twitter.

XPW’s next show is scheduled for Jan 22, 2022, in Los Angeles. Although whether this takes place seems questionable given the poor reception and lack of ticket sales of this show which was evident by all the empty seats. In fact, the lack of fans was so obvious the lights had to be kept low to try and disguise this. Ultimately how it does on FITE will likely determine the promotion’s fate. Still, with no adult stars performing and with a match being stopped due to blood, this certainly isn’t the XPW that controversially took the wrestling world by storm two decades ago.

Over the past year, AEW has signed several former WWE talents that Vince McMahon deemed surplus to requirements. With another 18 wrestlers released this past Thursday, fans have begun speculating whether any will be All Elite once their non-compete clauses expire. Now AEW head honcho Tony Khan has addressed this topic during an interview with the Pro Wrestling Torch and confirmed he is interested in a few of the wrestlers WWE just cut.

WWE released a total of 18 wrestlers last Thursday, and while it’s impossible to know who Khan will offer contracts to, the obvious names would be Karrion Kross and Keith Lee. Both men were underutilized after being called up from NXT and could make an immediate Impact in AEW. While neither of them was pushed well after debuting on RAW, fans nowadays realize that their booking in WWE was not related to their ability, but instead bad creative.

To say Paul Wight switched between heel and face and back to heel again regularly would be an understatement. While he was more than capable in either role, it did become comical at times, with fans just waiting for his next turn. In fact, someone even attempted to log how many times he turned, and calculated it to be 36 times which is likely a record among wrestlers. Now in an interview with Inside The Ropes, Wight has revealed that he was frustrated with this and noted it really affected his merchandise sales.

Wight is currently on one of his longest runs without a turn, having joined AEW as a babyface in February 2021. While Wight was signed by AEW mainly to be a commentator, and so they could capitalize on his fame, he has stepped into the ring to compete on occasion, having wrestled QT Marshall at All Out and a couple of 3-1 handicap matches for Dark Elevation. Whether Tony Khan intends to turn Wight heel in the future remains to be seen. Still, seemingly Wight is just happy having some consistency.

Taya Valkyrie departed Impact Wrestling with her goal of joining her husband, John Morrison, in WWE. She would achieve this and went on to wrestle on their NXT brand as Franky Monet, a name she has picked herself. All seemed to be going well in her WWE career, but unfortunately for her, the company wanted to revamp the brand and is now focusing on more youthful talent. This decision put her at risk, and despite not looking 38 years old and having her spouse employed by them, WWE would release her along with numerous others last week.

Now Valkyrie has taken to social media to issue a statement thanking Triple H and Shawn Michaels. However, she would follow up with a tweet saying she was struggling to process how many people lied to her.

Taya Valkyrie held the record for the longest-reigning Impact Knockouts Championship at 377 days but failed to recapture the title at Impact Wrestling’s January pay-per-view. It would later come out that her contract had expired, and she was leaving the promotion. What comes next for her is unclear, as with so many wrestlers now current free agents, there will be a lot of competition for contracts. Nevertheless, the belief is that her run with Impact Wrestling came to an end on good terms, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see her return to the company when her non-compete expires on December 4th.

WWE let go 18 talents on Thursday, and amongst them was Nia Jax. Her departure came as a great surprise due to her being related to The Rock and believed to have a job for as long as she wanted. However, not long after the news broke of her release, the New York Post would report that WWE made the decision because she was unvaccinated.

Now, the former WWE talent has issued a statement addressing her release, revealing that she was on a mental health break at the time. She would note that she had been told to return for the November 15th episode of Raw but had requested additional time off and received no response. She would also add that her vaccination status was not addressed when she was informed of her release.

Jax signed with WWE in early 2014 and trained at the WWE Performance Center before making her in-ring debut in 2015 on an NXT house show. By mid-2016, she would be drafted to Raw and became a prominent part of the women’s division holding the Raw Women’s Championship on one occasion. Her final WWE appearance would come on the September 20 episode of Raw, when Shayna Baszler, who she twice held the Women’s Tag Team Championship, attacked her after their match and broke her arm in kayfabe. It had been thought it would result in Jax returning as a babyface and feuding with Baszler, but obviously, that is no longer happening.

WWE released Karrion Kross along with his fiancée Scarlett on Thursday, which would have been considered unthinkable just a year ago. Kross had been one of the top stars in NXT, but the creative behind his main roster call-up was bafflingly bad with his winning streak ending, having Scarlett taken away, and being dressed like a gladiator with a Lord Humungus helmet.

Now a fan on Twitter has asked about taking possession of the unloved helmet as Kross no longer requires it, and the former NXT wouldn’t hold back in his response by hilariously calling it “piece of sh*t.“

Kross was a late starter in the wrestling industry debuted at the age of 29 back in 2014. He would compete in Global Force Wrestling, Lucha Libra Underground, and AAA before making his name in Impact Wrestling. Unfortunately, his time in Impact Wrestling would end on a sour note. This was because he was unhappy with his contract and angry at there being no blood testing or an on-site doctor for his First Blood match with Eddie Edwards. Once Impact Wrestling granted him his release, he would work for high-profile indies and AAA before being hired by WWE and receiving his huge push in NXT

Sabu was a true innovator and pioneer of hardcore wrestling in the 90s and deserved a lot more credit than he gets. Sadly he never got to perform in front in front of mainstream wrestling audiences during his prime years. Still, he certainly left a last impression on all those who witnessed his daredevil style.

Unfortunately, his body isn’t in the best shape nowadays due to his 36-year career, which resulted in hip surgery, and it appears that his time in the ring may have come to an end. This was revealed during a recent interview with podcaster James Romero who he explained to that he’s struggling to work out and might not wrestle going forward. He would, though, add that if a match with Brock Lesnar were a possibility, he would definitely step back in the ring.

Sabu’s life hasn’t been great this past year as apart from his injuries, he also lost his girlfriend Melissa Coates, who tragically died in June, not long after her leg was amputated. He was booked to compete on the inaugural Battle Championship Wrestling September show put on by Rob Feinstein at the ECW Arena but would cancel, with it understood he was struggling to cope with her passing.

Perhaps an extended break will allow Sabu’s body to heal up somewhat, and he can reconsider potential retirement. He certainly deserves to have at least one high-profile final match, and while Brock Lesnar isn’t going to happen, it would be great to see him share a ring one last time with long-time friend and tag partner Rob Van Dam.

On Thursday, following WWE’s latest earnings call, John Laurinaitis began informing talent that the company was releasing them. In total, 18 wrestlers were let go, and among them were Nia Jax, Karrion Kross, Scarlett, Keith Lee, Eva Marie, Mia Yim, Ember Moon, Franky Monet, and Gran Metalik. While the official reason is budget cuts, the New York Post has reported that Nia Jax was specifically let go due to not being vaccinated. Subsequently, other media outlets have said the total number of talents let go for this reason was actually four. However, other names have not been made public as of writing.

Jax’s release was the most surprising of all because she is a relative of The Rock as her father is a cousin of Peter Maivia. It had been thought she was untouchable, as despite having a terrible reputation for injuring her fellow wrestlers, no action was ever taken against her, and she continued to be pushed. Her final WWE appearance would come during the September 20 episode of Raw, when tag partner Shayna Baszler attacked her after their match. It had been thought it would lead to a babyface turn and feud between the pair, but obviously, that is no longer happening.

While it is no longer shocking given how often it happens, it is sad to report that WWE has commenced another mass firing spree with several talents being released. As of writing, Nia Jax, Karrion Kross, Scarlett, Keith Lee, Eva Marie, Mia Yim, Ember Moon, Franky Monet, Gran Metalik, Lince Dorado, Oney Lorcan, Harry Smith, Trey Baxter, Jessi Kamea, Jeet Rama, Zayda Ramier, Katrina Cortez, and B-Fab of Hit Row have been confirmed. It hasn’t been revealed why WWE has chosen to release them, but most recent releases have been related to budget cuts.

Of the releases so far, the most unexpected is Nia Jax’s, who appeared to be a WWE lifer due to being a relative of The Rock as her father is a cousin of Peter Maivia. However, with fans, she has a lousy reputation for injuring her opponents, which may have planned a factor. For example, she famously injured Becky Lynch when she busted her open on Raw, leaving her bloodied and concussed. In addition, she has also seemingly hurt Ember Moon, Bayley, Zelina Vega, Charlotte Flair, Kairi Sane, and possibly others.

Another release catching fans by surprise is Karrion Kross, who was a dominant force in NXT with real-life fiancée Scarlett by his side. Despite this, his Raw debut would be a flop when he quickly lost to Jeff Hardy and then traded wins with Keith Lee. He’d later begin wearing a bizarre helmet, somewhat reminiscent of Lord Humungus from Mad Max 2, as well as 80s tag-team Demolition. While some fans would complement the look, saying it made him look less generic, the general consensus was that he looked absurd and no longer threatening.

The Inner Circle’s feud with American Top Team is coming to a head with a match between the groups booked for Full Gear. Wednesday night’s Dynamite would see which members of Dan Lambert’s team would be competing, and during this segment, Paige VanZant and Chris Jericho would steal the show with their mic work. At one point, VanZant would put forward her case for being involved in the match by saying she could simultaneously take on all five members of the Inner Circle. This would open the door for Jericho to mockingly claim the MMA star could use it for content on her Only Fans account.

For those unaware Only Fans is a subscription service, which isn’t solely for adult content, but is best known for it. The mention of VanZant and the website clearly caught the attention of AEW fans since the search term “paige vanzant only fans” would see a massive surge on Google shortly afterward. A graph detailing this is below, and the spike coincides with the segment airing.

Unfortunately, for those excited fans looking to find VanZant’s Only Fans account would have been met with disappointment due to her not having one. However, she does have her own subscription site PaigeFanZant.com powered by FanTime, which allows those interested in seeing her exclusive content to do so for $9.99 a month.

Kyle O’Reilly is one of the top babyfaces in NXT and much loved by fans. However, his future has been recently questioned, as he was not drafted to the main roster and, at 34 years of age, is considered old by NXT2.0 standards. Now it has been reported by PWInsider that his contract is set to expire in December. Of course, he could re-sign with WWE before then. Although it isn’t even known if he has even revived a new offer, and it seems ominous WWE would let his deal run down if they wanted to retain him.

If O’Reilly were to depart WWE, there will obviously be speculation that he could join his former Undisputed Era stablemates Adam Cole and Bobby Fish in AEW with whom he teamed in both ROH and NXT. That, though, isn’t guaranteed, as AEW already has more talent than they can feature every week. If AEW isn’t interested, then both New Japan and Impact Wrestling would also be possible destinations.

O’Reilly became known to most wrestling fans when he began working for Ring of Honor in 2009, and during his 8-year tenure, he would hold their World Championship and Tag Team Championships. During this period, he would also wrestle for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla and New Japan, which helped to capture WWE’s attention and earned him a contract in 2017. As part of Undisputed Era, he would achieve great success in tag team wrestling before becoming a singles talent in 2020 and since had high-profile programs with Finn Bálor and former stablemate Adam Cole.