When Nikki Cross debuted a superhero gimmick on the 21st June episode of Raw, many fans were outraged that a talented performer like her would be given such a role. However, their opinion changed when it was revealed she actually came up with the character herself and had been working on it for some time.

Now, in an interview with El Brunch de WWE, she has spoken about her inspiration, saying that it came from using superhero cartoons and movies as a form of escapism during childhood.

While it’s unlikely a gimmick such as this will see Cross headline many pay-per-views, it has the potential to become very successful, especially with children, and create additional merchandise opportunities. Additionally, much like Shane Helms, who became The Hurricane in the 2000s, she will now stand out in the mid-card, which will likely add to her WWE career longevity.

AJ Styles put over The Undertaker in what would end up being The Deadman’s final match. The pair would wrestle in the main event of the first night of WrestleMania 36, and The Undertaker would turn back the clock appearing in his American Badass gimmick and ride in on a motorcycle while Metallica’s Now That We’re Dead played.

The Boneyard match was filmed cinematically and was more like an extended action movie fight scene than a traditional wrestling match. Doing it this way greatly aided The Undertaker’s performance as several of his later career matches had fallen flat.

Now, in an interview with the Out of Character podcast, Styles has shared with fans that he reached out to The Undertaker’s wife Michelle McCool following the match. He did this because he wanted to send The Undertaker a gift, and he would end receiving one in return along with a thank you letter.

The Undertaker is and will forever be one of the most respected wrestlers in history, both in front and behind the curtain, so Styles will likely value the letter he received forever. At the time of WrestleMania 36, it wasn’t known that it would be The Undertaker’s final match. Still, given it’s highly doubtful The Undertaker could top the match, especially with time against him, it made sense for him to end his legendary career with fans speaking positively about his final hurrah.

Jon Moxley is currently taking leave from AEW due to the birth of his daughter Nora. On television, his absence has been explained by him needing time to recover after taking for BTE Triggers from the Young Bucks during his tag match alongside Eddie Kingston at AEW Double Or Nothing 2021.

Now the former AEW World Champion has shocked fans by revealing that he has shaved his head during his time away. He would briefly show the dramatic change when at an autograph signing on Saturday afternoon, and Twitter user @Soawax_ would share a short video of Moxley briefly displaying his new bald look.

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This will only further bring comparisons to “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, with AEW commentator Jim Ross, previously likening the pair due to their intensity and bad*ss personas.

It isn’t known when Moxley will return to AEW, but he has a feud set with the Young Bucks waiting for him when he returns if that is the storyline AEW wants to progress. Additionally, due to his AEW contract allowing him to work outside dates, he will also resume his feud with Nick Gage in GCW.

Raw commentator Corey Graves is currently one of the featured voices of WWE and has been since 2014. Additionally, he hosts two podcasts, WWE After the Bell and a personal one alongside his girlfriend and fellow WWE talent Carmella called Bare with Us. Apparently, though, he isn’t satisfied with just that, as he has posted a tweet calling into question his current path in life.

The tweet could have a deeper meaning or just be a throwaway comment. Still, it could possibly indicate he is contemplating resuming his in-ring career, which came to an end in 2014 due to concussion issues. Thanks to advances in medical knowledge and treatment, both Daniel Bryan and Christian have resumed their careers after lengthy spells out, so it is possible Graves is musing being reevaluated. Alternatively, he may simply be pondering what could have been had he not been forced to give up wrestling.

Graves wrestled for 14 years before moving behind the announce desk. He initially used Sterling James Keenan as his ring name based on the football player Sterling Sharpe and Maynard James Keenan of the band Tool. He’d compete across the US and shared a ring with names like CM Punk, Chris Hero, and AJ Styles on the independents.

Ultimately he would impress WWE enough for them to offer him a developmental contract in 2011. He’d wrestle for Florida Championship Wrestling and NXT, and his career highlight would come when he won the NXT Tag Team Championship with Adrian Neville (PAC) in 2013 by defeating Erick Rowan and Luke Harper.

Zelina Vega was fired by WWE on November 13th, 2020, due to her refusing to follow the companies controversial policy of not working with third parties. This would prompt her to tweet out her support for pro wrestling unionization, which she has since deleted. Two months ago, it was reported she had been seen back at WWE’s Performance Center. However, any rumors of a potential return went quiet when her husband Aleister Black was released from the company.

Now though, Vega has made her WWE return during Friday night’s SmackDownwhen she was introduced by Sonya Deville to be a participant in the upcoming women’s Money in the Bank ladder match against Asuka, Naomi, Alexa Bliss, Nikki Cross, and Carmella. This resulted in Liv Morgan coming out and arguing that she had a better claim to be in the match, and this led to a two-minute match between Morgan and Vega, which Morgan won with a rollup.

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Vega’s dream had always been to wrestle for WWE, and except for when she was signed with TNA, she would try out for the company every year after becoming a wrestler in 2010. She eventually got her opportunity to wrestle in a WWE ring in 2016, facing then NXT Women’s Champion Asuka on a 2016 episode of NXT. Nine months later, she was offered a WWE contract and took the name, Zelina Vega.

Alberto Del Rio and Paige began dating in 2016 but would separate in 2017. The pair had a turbulent relationship, and she has previously alleged that Del Rio kept her confined for hours during their time together. Since then, Del Rio has stated that the pair signed a confidentiality agreement, and he would take legal action if she spoke out against him again.

Now in an interview with Sportskeeda, he has opened up their relationship, saying they could have built an empire together but instead did stupid stuff with bad people.

The former WWE Champion is currently looking to rebuild his career and reputation following assault and kidnapping allegations that were made against him by another ex-girlfriend. She has rescinded these allegations, and Del Rio claims she made them due to wanting revenge for him cheating on her before their wedding. However, he still has a court date scheduled for later this year, which could be him spending significant time in prison if found guilty due to the state seemingly still proceeding.

The Post and Courier have sadly reported that Del Wilkes, know best to wrestling fans as “The Patriot,” has passed away. The former WWE and WCW wrestler’s cause of death was reportedly a massive heart attack aged just 59.

Wilkes had a relatively short wrestling career, having been a college football player that failed to make it to the NFL. He initially wrestled for the AWA under his real name and then ring name “The Trooper.” He’d go on to compete in Global, All Japan, and WCW, where he twice held the WCW World Tag Team Championship with Marcus Bagwell.

He’d surprisingly sign with WWE in 1997 despite his masked All-American gimmick not fitting into the company’s new and edgier product. He was immediately programmed with Canadian babyface/American heel Bret Hart who needed a fresh opponent and would wrestle him on house shows and two In Your House pay-per-views.

Wilkes retired from the wrestling business in 1998 due to suffering a torn triceps before the Survivor Series in 1997. His final match was against Jim Neidhart on Shotgun Saturday Night. Since then, he revealed he had used drugs throughout his career and had developed a pain killer addiction. Eventually, this resulted in him serving nine months in prison in 2002 for forging prescriptions. After that, he was able to get clean, and for the past 14 years, he had been working as a car salesman.

Mercedes Martinez was legitimately knocked out on this last Tuesday’s NXT. She was teaming with Jake Atlas facing Li and Boa in a tag team match and would take a roundhouse kick to the head resulting in her crashing face-first to the mat. She would instinctively kickout of the pin attempt, but the referee rightly stopped the contest as she was in no condition to continue.

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It had been confirmed that following a trip to the hospital, she had been told she would be OK. However, it’s now been reported by Dave Meltzer on his Wrestling Observer Radio show that while she is expected to recover, she was diagnosed with a concussion. Concussions are unpredictable, and some wrestlers can wrestle days afterward, while in the case of Samo Joe, they are out long-term. Hopefully, for both Martinez and NXT, it is the former.

Martinez was called up to the main roster last year as part of Retribution. Although, seeing the group was doomed to fail, she would ask to be removed from the group shortly after debuting. It was a risky move on her part, but it has paid off for her. While she is now a regular performer on NXT, the other members of the now-disbanded faction are either not used or rarely featured.

Rebel had been using crutches in storyline recently, feigning injury, but now it appears she will require them legitimately following Wednesday night’s Dynamite. The former Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader teamed with Dr. Britt Baker wrestling Nyla Rose and Vickie Guerrero and would hurt herself when breaking up a pin attempt. Clearly, in discomfort, she would slowly drag herself out of the way so the match could finish, and then off-camera was helped to the back to be medically evaluated.

It’s now been confirmed by Bryan Alvarez of F4Wonline.com on Twitter that she was legitimately hurt as suspected and suffered a dislocated kneecap. It’s known as a painful injury, but thankfully surgery isn’t usually required, and the usual recovery time is around six weeks, although a course of physiotherapy will likely be necessary before she can return to the ring.

AEW initially recruited Rebel for a backstage hair and makeup role but would end up being used on screen. This was only the fifth match she had participated in for the company. However, she does have several years of experience, having begun wrestling for OVW in 2014 before debuting for TNA as part of the Menagerie faction alongside Mike Knox, Crazzy Steve, and Rob Terry. In 2019 she’d wrestle on NXT teaming with Amber Nova in a tag team loss to Kairi Sane and Io Shirai, but it didn’t result in a contract offer from WWE.

Baron Corbin became known as King Corbin after he won the 2019 King of the Ring tournament. However, on the June 18th episode of SmackDown, he would lose his crown to Shinsuke Nakamura in a Battle for the Crown match seeing his King gimmick come to an end. Subsequently, WWE has removed the name from their website.

What is next for Corbin long-term remains to be seen. However, a recent trademark application made by WWE may have revealed his next gimmick could see him play a jovial character. That is because WWE has filed for “Happy Corbin.” Nothing more is known about the trademark and potential gimmick at present, but it certainly would be a significant departure from Corbin’s previous television personas.

Corbin has been signed with WWE since 2012 after he failed to make it in the NFL. Following four years in NXT, he would make his main roster debut at WrestleMania 32, winning the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. Since then, he has become a favorite of management and received a solid push, including winning the Money In The Bank match in 2017. He has regularly been featured towards the top of the card, and his most high-profile feuds have been with Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns, with the latter featuring a Loser Eats Dog Food match.

During Tuesday night’s episode of NXT, Mercedes Martinez and Jake Atlas were taking on Li and Boa in a tag team match. Unfortunately, the contest would come to an abrupt finish when Li hit Martinez with a roundhouse kick, and she landed head first on the mat. After Martinez struggled to kick out, the referee stopped the match due to Martinez seemingly being legitimately hurt. It was a scary moment, and you can see the kick for yourself below.

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It has now been confirmed that Martinez has since been fully medically evaluated at a hospital, and the belief is she will be OK. It hasn’t been confirmed if she suffered a concussion, but it certainly appeared possible. If that is the case, she will be off NXT television for the foreseeable future, which will come as a blow to the WWE as she had become a regular performer.

Martinez returned to NXT at the end of 2020 after being called up to the main roster as part of Retribution earlier in the year. However, she wisely asked to be taken out of the group shortly after debuting. At the time, moving back to NXT after a main roster call-up appeared like a significant career setback, especially aged 40. However, it ended up being a wise career decision as the rest of Retribution are either in career limbo or hardly featured since disbanding.

WWE released Samoa Joe in April after he lost his spot behind the announce desk. With him unable to wrestle, the decision was made to cut him for budgetary reasons. However, at Triple H’s behest, he would return to NXT due to the fear he’d sign with a competitor despite not being medically cleared to wrestle.

Now during an interview, the Samoan Submission Machine has been asked about whether he is working towards a return to the ring. He would simply reply saying, “Absolutely. We’ll just say yes and leave it at that.“

Clearly, Joe didn’t want to go into the specific details. Still, it sounds like his current concussion issues won’t be career-ending. His current role in NXT as an enforcer for General Manager William Regal allows him to remain a television character. At the same time, WWE can slowly build up the anticipation for when he can return to the ring with a match against possibly Karrion Kross or Adam Cole.