The latest WWE and AEW News and Results
On a new Wrestling Weekly, Les Thatcher and Vic Sosa go over a ton of items this week including WWE’s decision to do a U.S. house show tour this summer.
We also discuss Kevin Nash’s thoughts on TKO affecting WWE’s booking process, AEW’s busy week outside the ring and how not to make it obvious that something has gone wrong in the middle of a match.
Thanks for listening and have a great weekend~!
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Whether WWE will change anything remains to be seen, but the promotion has been made directly aware of how much fans dislike the increase in advertisements during the TKO era.
Actor O’Shea Jackson Jr. — a WWE superfan and the son of rap icon Ice Cube — appeared on The Ariel Helwani Show today and revealed a conversation he had with Paul “Triple H” Levesque and Stephanie McMahon about the oversaturation of ads on WWE programming. The conversation took place around the start of 2026, so there have not been any changes yet, but Levesque and McMahon didn’t push back on what Jackson was saying. He was told that WWE is working on potentially having better placement for the ads.
“I told this to Triple H and Stephanie when I did Stephanie’s show,” Jackson said. “I told them, the ads and the timing of them are horrendous. This was like five, six months ago or something crazy like that when I went to do Stephanie McMahon’s pod. Afterwards, because I did it at WWE headquarters, Triple H comes down, we’re all talking, and I brought up my transgressions. And I was like, ‘Dude, the ads are crazy. Like, it’s almost unwatchable.’ And, like, they know. It’s just about, they’re working on placement of them maybe.
“I get it, Roman Reigns’ entrance is seven minutes long, but that doesn’t mean that’s the time to throw the ads in. I should not — there should never be a moment where I miss IYO SKY’s entrance because ‘we are back from commercial break.’ It’s a level of respect for them. It’s fine in the middle of a match, but at least picture-in-picture me.”
Fan complaints about the ads peaked during WrestleMania 42. WWE touted that it set a new record with 32 marketing partners for the event, including Snickers, 2K, Riyadh Season, Ram, DoorDash, Wingstop, Wheatley American Vodka, Minute Maid, The General Insurance, MUG Root Beer, and Chumba Casino.
McMahon’s podcast episode with Jackson was released in January 2026. He co-hosts his own podcast “No-Contest Wrestling” that is produced by ESPN/The Rich Eisen Show.
O'Shea Jackson Jr. recently told Triple H that the amount of ads makes WWE programming “almost unwatchable”:
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) May 13, 2026
“I went to do Stephanie McMahon’s podcast, and afterwards Triple H came down and we were talking. I brought up my transgressions, and I was like, ‘Dude, the ads are… pic.twitter.com/39OHJh7pCP
On the latest episode of his Marking Out podcast, MVP took a jab at Paul “Triple H” Levesque while comparing him to The Undertaker.
MVP and co-host Dwayne Swayze debated whether Undertaker or Triple H were more valuable to WWE during their in-ring careers. Comparing the two, MVP said Undertaker was far more willing to get other talent over. MVP, while poking fun at the size of Triple H’s nose, said Randy Orton and Batista are the only two stars he can recall Triple H getting over.
“Undertaker had the Giant Gonzalez that he had to try to make something out of. Look what Undertaker did with Mr. Kennedy. You can go down the list and you can think of talents that Taker worked with that he elevated and got them over,” MVP said. “How many people you remember ‘The Nose’ getting over? Triple H, in his career, how many people can you associate with him? And I’ll give you two: I’ll give you Randy, I’ll give you Batista. Take them away, who else can you remember the ‘Triple Nose’ getting over?”
MVP said that, even when Triple H would lose to someone like Jeff Hardy, he would not truly put them over. Instead, Triple H would sell the loss like Hardy was lucky to get one over on him.
While outright admitting that he does not like Triple H, MVP did credit him for being a top guy who was able to draw a lot of money.
“Triple H, top guy, drew a lot of money, was a player. Undertaker, top guy, drew a lot of money, was a player,” MVP said. “If Undertaker made — let’s just say for the sake of our conversation, through the course of his career, 10 other guys. And ‘The Nose’ got two or three other guys over that he elevated them. In the big scheme of things, the big picture, who was more valuable for the company?”
In the past, MVP has said that he has “zero respect” for Triple H due to the personal interactions they’ve had. And while MVP has questioned some of Triple H’s booking of Black talent, that is not the reason why he does not like Triple H.
MVP departed WWE in 2024 due to frustration over the promotion’s refusal to relaunch The Hurt Business. The faction are now known as The Hurt Syndicate in AEW with MVP, Bobby Lashley, and Shelton Benjamin.
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— Bryan and I will be back tonight to talk about Raw, Hulk Hogan, today’s WWE meeting and other pro wrestling news.
— There was a WWE Town Hall meeting today, first reported on by Post Wrestling. They announced Paul Levesque’s contract as head of creative has been extended. This was to quell a lot of speculation going around regarding his future in that position. I didn’t think there was much to that speculation as I didn’t see anyone who would replace him, and he’s popular with the talent. It was pretty clear that they are bothered by criticism of the current product and/or WrestleMania, pushing to employees by Nick Khan at the behest of Mark Shapiro, that the complaints are from a vocal minority and not to listen to social media criticism. He brought up criticism of the 2015 WrestleMania to show that it is always this way.
— Some quotes from a tape of the event Post Wrestling received:
“A number of us [TKO President] Mark [Shapiro], [TKO CFO] Andrew [Schleimer], others, were able to get Paul Levesque to extend with us in a multi-year deal,” Khan said. “We’re excited about that. He’s the head of creative amongst other things and has been doing a great job for and with us.”
Shapiro asked how WWE is addressing “concerns about over-commercialization and creative direction.”
“To me, if you make business decisions based on online sentiment, just know that you’re going to be making said decisions on a minority percentage of voices, a vocal minority,” Khan said. “Allow me to give you an example,” he said as he seemed to read online criticisms of years’ past. The comment was about Roman Reigns saying, “I can’t remember the last time the WWE Universe hated a wrestler this much. He will never work.”
The WWE President went on to recount the negative fan reaction to Reigns after his Royal Rumble 2015 win.
“When Roman Reigns won the Royal Rumble in 2015, fans went to Twitter with the hashtag, #CancelWWENetwork. It trended for two days.”
Khan also read, “Why does WWE insult fans like this with a bum like Roman Reigns?”
And another, “I’m losing my mind. Why is Bad Bunny in the WWE? Bad Bunny single-handedly ruined the Royal Rumble,” a comment that seems to refer to Bad Bunny’s involvement in the 2022 Rumble.
And another, “On The Rock’s return to WWE: ‘The people don’t want the People’s Champion. The Rock came back one too many times, and now people are sick of him.’”
Next, Khan cited criticism of John Cena, continuing to frame these criticisms as unrelated to business results.
And another, “On John Cena’s retirement tour: ‘Who needs a John Cena retirement tour? Haven’t we seen enough of him? … John Cena’s retirement year was so random.”
And another on CM Punk: ‘Why would they ever return this bum to the WWE? He will never main event again.’”
“I said CM Punk, Roman Reigns, as anyone who watched it [knows], stole the show,” Khan said. “Pretty good re-signing CM Punk, who’s been a model citizen here.”
While discounting online reactions from fans, Khan also encouraged internal dialogue.
“So the most important thing is to have open dialogue. Myself, Paul, the creative team, what’s working, what’s not working, who to push, who not to push.”
— Raw tonight is from Laredo, TX. The only matches announced were Bayley & Lyra Valkyria vs. Raquel Rodriguez & Roxanne Perez and Penta vs. Rusev for the IC title. Joe Hendry will be in concert. Roman Reigns will give his answer to Jacob Fatu regarding a main event title match at Backlash. Seth Rollins also appears. They had 8,246 tickets out at last word, which is like 200 shy of capacity so it’s going to be sold out.
— We’re looking for your thoughts on yesterday’s Stardom show at the Yokohama Arena, thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]
— Mighty John Cox, a British heavyweight from the 1960s, who wrestled the likes of Andre the Giant (when he was Jean Ferre) and had famous television matches with Billy Robinson and Kendo Nagasaki, passed away yesterday in Scotland at the age of 86.
— UFC has announced an 8/1 Fight Night show in Serbia, the first time UFC has ever run in that market.
— There is a lot of talk today that Tyson Fury will box Anthony Joshua during the fourth quarter of this year. This came from a report from Ring Magazine, Turki Alalshikh’s publication. But first, Joshua will face Kristian Prenga on 7/25 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
— Was told last night’s Mistico & Neon & Mascara Dorada vs. Barbaro Cavernario & Difunto & El Clon match at Arena Mexico was great. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so behind in watching great matches that have been recommended.
— Mistico is leaving for Japan where he’ll be until 5/4. Puebla tonight airs live on the CMLL YouTube page for subscribers which is the second week in a row for that. Also Tuesday night’s Arena Mexico has Dorada & Titan (back in action) Atlantis Jr. vs. Ultimo Guerrero & Gran Guerrero & Stuka Jr.
— Salvador Lutteroth confirmed running five nights a week in Mexico City during World Cup soccer season. It had already been reported they were adding Wednesday nights during that period at Arena Mexico.
— Luca Crusifino announced he was retiring after being cut Friday by WWE.
— Rey Mysterio and Rey Fenix represented WWE at the major league baseball game in Mexico City.
— Merab Dvalishvili will face Frankie Edgar on the 5/30 RAF show in Dallas.
— 39 years ago today, a very famous match took place, with Austin Idol vs Jerry Lawler hair vs. hair in a cage. This is probably the feud that put Paul Heyman on the map as a manager as well.
— Jeanine Mjoseth/Mad Maxine turns 67 today. Oleg Prudius/Vladimir Kozlov turned 57. Johnny Devine turned 52. Frank Gotch was born on this day in 1877. Kay Noble was 65 when she passed away 20 years ago today. Verne Gagne was 89 when he passed away 11 years ago today.
Paul “Triple H” Levesque didn’t offer much clarity while addressing Brock Lesnar’s apparent retirement at WWE WrestleMania 42.
After losing to Oba Femi on Sunday night, Lesnar left his boots and gloves in the ring before becoming visibly emotional as he seemed to bid farewell to the crowd. There has been no official confirmation of a retirement yet — and Levesque claimed during an appearance on ESPN’s SportsCenter that he did not have a conversation with Lesnar backstage after the match.
“Well, it certainly seemed that way,” Levesque responded when asked if this was the end for Lesnar. “Brock is not a walk back through the curtain and have a long conversation guy. Brock is a walk back through the curtain very angry and go to his bus and that is the end of it. So there was not a discussion had after. I will say this — [Lesnar is] probably the most famous combat sport athlete of our generation. One of a kind, nobody like Brock Lesnar.”
It was expected that Lesnar would be retiring soon, with him admitting recently that he was only back in WWE for a short time. Most rumors suggested that Lesnar would retire at SummerSlam this August given that the PLE is being held in his former home state of Minnesota.
Levesque, keeping kayfabe, suggested to SportsCenter that the retirement decision was one Lesnar made in the moment after losing to Femi. Praising Femi, Levesque called this result a changing of the guard.
“The one thing that nobody gives him credit for is the intelligence of a fighter. They see Brock as this hulking brute. ‘The Beast,’ right? They see him as all that,” Levesque said. “There comes a point in time when somebody comes along that’s bigger and badder and just pushes you to a place that you can’t come back from. The smart ones know when that happens, and they call it a day.
“I don’t think that was a planned thing. I think Brock went to the ring, he walked into a wall called Oba Femi. Brock walked up to the next big thing and ran into a brick wall. And the intelligence in him said, ‘Maybe I should call it a day.’ And he took his boots off and he put his gloves down and he walked away. That is not a statement of Brock being afraid of it. That is an intelligent man meeting something that cannot be stopped. It is as much of a statement of Oba Femi as it is Brock Lesnar. You witnessed a changing of the guard at the apex of our business.”
Femi vs. Lesnar aired on the ESPN TV simulcast portion of the WrestleMania night two broadcast, with WWE clearly pushing Femi as one of the company’s biggest stars for both the present and future. It was Femi’s first-ever WrestleMania match after being called up from NXT at the start of 2026.
Appearing on ESPN after the conclusion of WrestleMania 42, Paul “Triple H” Levesque had very high praise for the show’s main event.
Night two of Mania concluded with Roman Reigns defeating CM Punk to become the new World Heavyweight Champion. Levesque told SportsCenter that it was among the greatest wrestling matches he’s ever seen.
“Just epic,” WWE’s Chief Content Officer said. “You can see the passion and the pride of two guys that absolutely to the very core of their soul believe that they are the best in the world. And they’re out there to prove it to each other, they’re out there to prove it to the 55,000+ fans that were here tonight. Everything about them screamed, ‘I have to show I am the best.’
“And you see it all the way down to the end. Knock-down, drag-out fight that just someone won’t give. And you finally get to the end of it, no one really loses. But Roman Reigns comes out the winner. Roman Reigns is the new World Heavyweight Champion. To me, one of the greatest matches I’ve ever seen, doesn’t get bigger.”
The match went nearly 34 minutes before Reigns got the win, beginning his first title reign since dropping the WWE Championship to Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 40. Reigns said after the show that he will not be a part-time champion and plans to be around all summer.
While appearing on a new episode of Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Becky Lynch revealed the truth about her WWE contract status during the year she was away from the company.
Lynch was gone from WWE between May 2024-April 2025. At the time, she didn’t feel like her babyface run was working and was “kind of tired” from wrestling so often, raising her daughter on the road, and writing her book. Lynch didn’t intend on going anywhere else, but Paul “Triple H” Levesque insisted on extending her contract so she would still get paid.
“I told Hunter, I said, ‘Look, I’m stepping away. I’m not going anywhere else, but I just need some time.’ And he was great about it,” Lynch said. “He was like, ‘Hey, okay, all right, look, but let’s just extend your contract so you can at least get paid.’ Which was just so nice of him.
“So I was like, ‘I’m not going anywhere. I promise, pinky promise.’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, but you might as well get paid while you’re doing it.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, all right.’ So that was very nice. And I thought it would be like three months. It ended up being a little bit longer than three months. 10 months, I think it ended up being.”
Spending more time at home was the biggest benefit of the hiatus for Lynch. She also took time to focus more on acting opportunities, including a role on the short-lived Paramount Plus series “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.”
At WrestleMania 42 night one, Lynch is challenging AJ Lee for the WWE Women’s Intercontinental title. The Saturday card also includes a match with Lynch’s husband Seth Rollins facing Gunther.
WWE has defined so much of Stephanie McMahon’s life — and she’s grateful to be taking her place in the company’s Hall of Fame.
A new episode of McMahon’s “What’s Your Story?” podcast debuted today with her husband Paul “Triple H” Levesque interviewing her about her upcoming Hall of Fame induction. He asked McMahon how it feels to be going into the Hall of Fame.
“My God, it feels — it’s such an honor,” she responded. “And I’m so grateful. It’s the biggest, I never, ever imagined it. And it’s just the biggest thing ever in my career. And, you know, I’m really proud.”
Levesque feels McMahon is one of the most deserving people who could ever join the Hall of Fame. But when she was surprised with the news, Levesque could tell that McMahon couldn’t understand why she was being inducted. McMahon addressed whether she’s come to accept that she’s worthy.
“Well, I don’t know that worthy is a word I would use. But like I definitely am accepting and I’m in such a great place and I’m so excited and I’m just so grateful,” she said. “You know, that’s the thing. It’s like, no matter what happens in WWE moving forward, this has been my life. And I’m so grateful to have had this remarkable, incredible life surrounded by these characters and people who are probably the most honest sort of truthful versions of themselves, right? Because when you’re on the road with people and I don’t know, I love our community.”
McMahon said she’s gone through several iterations of the draft for her speech and has written it in pieces, remembering new things throughout the process. People within WWE have told McMahon that they were struggling to put together the video package for her induction because it has to encapsulate nearly 50 years of history into such a short video.
For McMahon, WWE is the only place she’s ever wanted to work, calling it the “best business in the world.” She loves that she’s gotten to do so many things over the years both on-screen and behind the scenes.
“So to have had all of this, you know, this is my world,” McMahon said. “WWE is my actual world and always has been.”
Levesque became emotional toward the end of the podcast while discussing how deserving McMahon is of her induction. He credited McMahon for making WWE a family instead of a cutthroat, Wild West-type business.
“There’s very few people that I could look at and say deserve it more. Like, truly. I don’t say that because you’re my wife. I don’t say that because it’s you. I say that because of your accomplishments and what we’ve done and, you know, the things you’ve accomplished and especially the stuff that you’ve accomplished that people don’t even see,” he said.
“People come along and participate in the business. People come along and add to the business. Very few people change the business… You put the culture in what we do. It didn’t exist before that. It was just the f***ing Wild West. It’s just what the business was. And then you came in and sort of changed it.”
The 2026 WWE Hall of Fame ceremony is taking place in Las Vegas at midnight Eastern/9 p.m. Pacific this Friday night, streaming live on the ESPN app in the United States and on YouTube internationally.
Paul “Triple H” Levesque believes WWE’s top-tier stars like Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton, Roman Reigns, and CM Punk are irreplaceable.
Ahead of WrestleMania 42, Levesque sat down with SmackDown commentator Joe Tessitore for a long-form interview posted by WWE. Levesque said there have been “a lot” of surprises on the road to WrestleMania. As a booker, factors like injuries disrupt your plans and change the original vision you had. Levesque feels that injuries in WWE have an even greater impact than they do in other sports, where there is always a backup ready to take over.
“Oh, there’s a lot of them [surprises]. Because sometimes it’s surprises of the way that you think a crowd is going to react to something and they react different,” Levesque said. “Sometimes it’s — when you’re putting stuff together in your mind, Dusty Rhodes used to say this all the time to me, ‘In your mind, you see things 100 percent. If you can get 70 percent of that to come out on the screen, that’s a grand slam.’ In your mind, you picture it perfect. In execution, it’s different. There’s a million variables that can change it that bring it down a notch, or two, or three, or 20, or whatever it is, right? So things turn out differently. Fans begin to react to things differently. What you thought you had locked in four months ago is not the path anymore. The path has changed.
“The other thing about our business is, unlike a sport, and as bad as it is, if you lose your quarterback, if you lose your first-string offensive lineman, if you lose your star center or star guard in the NBA, you have a second-string guy to back them up. And you hope that those second-string guys are pretty good. There is no backup Cody Rhodes. There is no backup Randy Orton. There is no backup Roman Reigns. There’s no backup CM Punk. It’s different because it’s the individual attraction.”
Seth Rollins, Bron Breakker, and Rey Mysterio were some of the names who suffered injuries prior to WrestleMania 42. Rollins and Mysterio have returned in time for the event.
All four of Rhodes, Orton, Reigns, and Punk are available and will be headlining this Saturday and Sunday. Rhodes vs. Orton is the night one main event, while Punk vs. Reigns will close things out on night two.
In WWE, a wrestler’s in-ring ability outweighs the importance of physique adhering to a standard mold.
Paul “Triple H” Levesque believes wrestling should showcase a variety of physiques, emphasizing that ultimately the performer’s in-ring capabilities matter the most. Speaking with Cody Rhodes on “What Do You Wanna Talk About?”, he expressed, using examples from the past on the mix of different body types rather than a single ideal look.
“I feel like it’s mixed, depending on who you are as a performer, and what you’re bringing to the table. Would Brock Lesnar be as frightening if he didn’t look like Brock Lesnar? But I don’t think you have to have it, I don’t think it has to, I’m a bigger believer in the variety of things. There needs to be some semblance of believability to what we do, right? But I don’t think that means you have to be a bodybuilder, I don’t think it means you have to be lean where you can see your abs. I think that works for some folks, but there’s also room for the Gunther’s.”
“I’d love to see the Kamala shape and size. There’s something for everybody across what we do. You know I talk about history a lot cause we’re both history buffs in the business and stuff but Abdullah the Butcher, Kamala, people like that were just as frightening to me as the Road Warriors were, or anybody else who was jacked up and on a different level.”
“So, I’m a big believer that variety makes everything better. When you get fed one thing for a while, after a while you get tired of eating the same thing, so you want that variety.”
Levesque took over as Chief Content Officer in September 2022. In the interview, he explained taking over WWE creative was a gradual process and not an instant transition.
With Paul “Triple H” Levesque joining Cody Rhodes on his podcast this week, there was one topic in particular that the two had to address.
There was a moment at AEW’s inaugural show in 2019 where Rhodes, while making his entrance, took a sledgehammer and smashed a throne that was clearly supposed to look like Levesque’s. They cleared the air on “What Do You Wanna Talk About?” with Levesque saying he knew there was no serious malice in what Rhodes did. Instead of viewing it as a shot, Levesque saw it as Rhodes trying to make a name for himself by doing cool stuff.
Levesque and Rhodes’ conversation about the moment is transcribed below:
Rhodes: You never once, when I came back, asked me about clearly taking your throne, making it imagery in my entrance away from here, starting my own thing, and taking your hammer to it.
Levesque: I saw it as your hammer because it was smaller than mine [laughs]. No, look, that kind of sh*t to me is like, I remember when people brought it to me and were showing it to me and I was like, ‘F**k yeah, all right, good for him.’ You know what I mean? That’s the kind of sh*t you do, you’re trying to make a name for yourself, you’re trying to get out there, you’re trying to do some cool sh*t, trying to do some different stuff.
Believe me, if I would have thought there was malice in it, and maybe indirectly there was some at the time, I don’t know. But if I would have thought there was any serious malice in it, I would have called you and said, ‘Hey, dude, like, are we okay?’ Because I was so close to your dad, but then I always felt like a connection to you. And when you were here, and it was difficult for me when you left, because I couldn’t say like, I couldn’t over the top go like, ‘Dude, get the f**k out of here and go out there and make a name for yourself and make yourself, what you said, desirable and we’ll f**ing come chasing after you and bring you back.’ Sometimes you got to get out of the rut you’re in. You just got to bite it off and go in a different direction. Make the left turn, right? And it was so difficult, but during that time, I remember thinking like, all right, that’s getting out there. That’s being bold and making a statement.
Rhodes: You did tell me, because you said, ‘Go rattle the cages.’ And you kind of made yourself the target for me to rattle in terms of the optics of wrestling. And there was no malice for sure because this is after I won the Ring of Honor title. One of the first texts I got back to was yours: ‘Congrats.’ As I was walking to the hospital in Lowell because my lip was busted open holding my first World title.
Levesque: You know, it’s one of those things where you see somebody going off, doing their own thing, and having success. And I’m like, ‘F**k yeah, Cody. Come on.’ Like, get yourself in that spot where we’re like, ‘Hey, we should go like, I don’t know what he did different, but let’s go get him.’ You know what I mean?
Rhodes: I’m glad the feeling is good on it versus — because I’m thinking, man, if he’s mad about it, it’s a long road to whatever the payoff is.
Levesque: He’s waiting on that receipt [laughs].
Rhodes: Oh, now it’s happening [laughs].
Levesque: No, man, I never even — I never thought about anything other than, ‘F**k yeah, good for him. Go get it.’
After departing AEW in 2022, Rhodes returned to WWE and has been one of the company’s top stars since. Levesque said it’s been a “dream” to work with Rhodes in his second run.
Rhodes is currently on his third Undisputed WWE Championship reign and will defend the title against Randy Orton in the main event of WrestleMania 42 night one on April 18.
It won’t be long until we find out how WWE is dividing up the cards for each night of WrestleMania 42.
Paul “Triple H” Levesque sent out a tweet this morning announcing that WWE commentator Joe Tessitore will be on ESPN’s Get Up this Tuesday at 9:35 a.m. Eastern time. During the appearance, Tessitore will break down the WrestleMania card and reveal which night each match will be happening on.
“Every match on this year’s #WrestleMania card has the opportunity to steal the show and both nights are STACKED,” Levesque wrote. “SmackDown’s @JoeTessESPN will be on @GetUpESPN tomorrow at 9:35am ET to break down which matches will be featured on Saturday and Sunday.”
It’s expected that Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton will be the night one main event, with World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk vs. Roman Reigns closing out the weekend in the headlining spot on night two. The show is being held at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas for the second straight year.
Heading into tonight’s Raw, there are 12 matches officially announced for WrestleMania. Two more bouts are likely to be added to the April 18-19 event, giving each night a seven-match card.
These are the bouts that have been confirmed so far:
On a new Wrestling Weekly, Les Thatcher and Vic Sosa look at the fallout from last weekend’s WWE Elimination Chamber and some creative team shakeups this week in the company.
The guys also talk about the newest members of the WWE Hall of Fame and a rough night for Kevin Knight and Jet Set Rodeo this past Wednesday in AEW.
Thanks for listening and have a great weekend~!
Two hometown stars are featured on the poster for WWE Elimination Chamber 2026.
Paul “Triple H” Levesque unveiled the poster on social media today, with it showcasing Chicago native CM Punk and his wife AJ Lee. The PLE is taking place at the United Center in Chicago on February 28. Punk and Lee’s plans for the show are already confirmed. Punk has a World Heavyweight Championship defense against Finn Balor, while Lee is challenging Becky Lynch for the Women’s Intercontinental title.
For the first time in over 30 years, @WWE takes over @UnitedCenter. #WWEChamber live Feb. 28 on @espn & @netflix. pic.twitter.com/qrfCxPTYqy
— Triple H (@TripleH) February 12, 2026
Lynch vs. Lee being announced for Elimination Chamber was a surprise given that it was expected to be part of the WrestleMania 42 card. But a WrestleMania matchup between Lynch and Lee is likely still in the cards. This will just build on their story in advance of WrestleMania.
WWE has already announced Punk vs. Roman Reigns as one of the main events for Mania, so it would be a surprise if he were to lose to Balor in Chicago.
SummerSlam 1994 was the last time WWE held a PLE/PPV at the United Center. The Allstate Arena in nearby Rosemont, Illinois has traditionally been the location for WWE’s major events in the Chicago area.
Elimination Chamber, with a start time of 7 p.m. Eastern, will stream live on the ESPN app in the United States and on Netflix elsewhere.
When Nia Jax returned to WWE in 2023, the company felt like a different place than it was during her first run.
Jax was released from WWE during a round of roster cuts in 2021 but was brought back in 2023, returning after Paul “Triple H” Levesque gained power as head of creative. On a new episode of Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Jax opened up about how she benefitted from that two-year absence.
“I feel like I changed in a better way. Like, I got better and I elevated my game a little bit more,” she said. “Not that I didn’t think I had the opportunity in my first part, but I think because it was a different schedule and — I wasn’t really, like, locked in as I could have been. When I had the break and I was able to see what I could improve on, I was able to change it coming back.”
Jax’s first stint with WWE happened while Vince McMahon was still in charge of the company. During that time, she felt like WWE had to be her entire life and everything else needed to take a backseat. Now, there is a healthier balance where she is still passionate about her job without it becoming her entire existence.
“Some of the girls that I came up with, we all kind of made WWE our whole lives. Like, morning, noon, and night, storylines, talking about it all the time and worried about our bookings,” Jax said. “Back in the day, if you got hurt, you were forgotten about. It was hard to get back in the rhythm, so we pushed through things. Like, ‘I’m not hurt, I’m fine, I’m going to stay and I want to skip on all my friends’ weddings and baby showers.’ And then coming back, it felt different to where it’s like, no, WWE is my passion and I love it and I want to be a part of it, but it’s not going to be my entire life. I’m not going to make it like the focal point.”
When McMahon ran WWE, Jax felt like she was working for an audience of one and had to wrestle in the way that McMahon wanted her to. There is now more freedom with Levesque encouraging Jax to show the audience what she can do in the ring.
“I was taught a certain way, like, ‘You’re a certain size, you can’t do these things. Stay away from this. Don’t let them do this to you.’ So I was kind of pigeonholed into a little bit of — and I was afraid to get out of it because, you know, the person telling me is somebody who runs the show and you work for an audience of one. And so this time around, Hunter was more like, ‘Be you. Be you, do you, show them what you can do.’ Because he’s like, ‘I know what you’re capable of.’ So I feel like the difference is just me kind of being myself a little bit more. I’m more adding who I am into my character instead of, like, I’ve got to stay here and make sure that, you know, somebody’s happy.”
Jax was a Women’s Champion under both the McMahon and Levesque regimes, most recently holding the WWE Women’s Championship on SmackDown from August 2024-January 2025. She also won the WWE Queen of the Ring tournament in 2024.
On Insight, Jax noted that she has lost 100 pounds from her highest weight. She participated in the women’s Royal Rumble last weekend but was eliminated by Charlotte Flair.
