Steph De Lander set for in-ring return this weekend

After a couple of chaotic weeks for Steph De Lander, she’s apparently going to get back to where she always wanted to be: inside a pro wrestling ring.

De Lander shared a post from Awesome Championship Wrestling earlier this week promoting her match at Aftershock on Saturday night. Earlier today, she made her own post, sharing her excitement about returning to the ring. 

“Five years ago yesterday I moved to the USA from Australia,” she wrote. “On the same day five years later, I closed on my big, beautiful dream house that Mance Warner and I got to watch build from the ground up. Tomorrow I wrestle for the first time in almost two years after recovering from a serious injury.

“Fight for your dreams, and your dreams will fight for you!” she added. “Never forget the grass is greener wherever you water it.”

De Lander has not wrestled since participating in a mixed trios match for TNA Wrestling in March of 2024. She underwent spinal fusion surgery in October of that year. She says she is now cleared to wrestle, but TNA refused to put her in the ring. 

On March 4, news broke that De Lander and her husband Warner were quitting TNA. Three days later, they made an appearance at a GCW show. 

ACW has booked De Lander in a triple threat match against Indi Hartwell and J-Rod, with Hartwell’s ACW Women’s Championship on the line. 

ACW Aftershock takes place at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 14, at the MJ Nesheiwat Convention Center in Poughkeepsie, New York. Other wrestlers appearing include the Hardy Boys, the Righteous, Mike Santana, and Killer Kross. Event and meet & greet tickets are available here. The event will also stream on TrillerTV. 

Matt Cardona vacates independent title after re-signing with WWE

Matt Cardona has vacated one of his independent titles after re-signing with WWE.

At an ACW event on Saturday, Cardona appeared via video and said that due to re-signing with WWE, he would no longer be able to defend the ACW World Championship and vacated the title. The promotion will instead crown a new champion on tonight’s show.

Appearing as a surprise on Friday’s SmackDown, Cardona defeated Kit Wilson after hitting the Rough Ryder. It was emphasized that Ryder was the newest member of the SmackDown roster and had re-signed with the company under his real name.

Since being released from WWE in 2020, Cardona reinvented himself as a fixture on the independent scene, making appearances in GCW, AEW, and TNA. He had made several appearances in NXT in the months leading to his return and wrestled LA Knight under his old Zack Ryder name as part of The Last Time is Now tournament.

Cardona still holds three independent wrestling titles, the most significant of which is the JCW Lunacy World Championship. The other two titles are the WSW World Heavyweight Championship and the QPW Middle East Championship.