BodySlam

Author: Rami Afif

  • Paige (Saraya) Reportedly Signs Multi-Year Deal With WWE

    Paige (Saraya) Reportedly Signs Multi-Year Deal With WWE

    The former WWE Divas Champion is reportedly back.

    First reported by PW Insider and confirmed to BodySlam, Paige (Saraya) has reportedly signed a multi-year contract to return to the WWE.

    This is her first contract with the company since her release on June, 2022 where she departed after a decade with the WWE.

    https://x.com/BodyslamNet/status/2045187831765590301?s=20

    Under the name Saraya, she would make her arrival in All Elite Wrestling on September, 2022 where she would go on to win the AEW Women’s World Championship, she took a hiatus in November, 2024 and has been working on different projects during her break from professional wrestling.

    She would announce her departure from AEW in March, 2025 before reportedly signing a multi-year deal to return to the WWE on April 17, 2026.

  • Nick Khan On WrestleMania 43 In Saudi Arabia: No Matter Where WWE Goes, Our Fans Will Tune In

    Nick Khan On WrestleMania 43 In Saudi Arabia: No Matter Where WWE Goes, Our Fans Will Tune In

    Nick Khan gave his first comments on the WWE’s build to WrestleMania 43 in 2027 in Saudi, Arabia.

    While speaking with The Sporting Tribune, Nick Khan, who serves as the President of the WWE discussed the plans for the WWE to travel to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as that will be where the next WrestleMania will be held at in 2027.

    During the conversation, Khan stated that no matter where the WWE goes around the world for a massive event like this, the fans will tune in, and the company decisions are based on ratings, revenue and relevancy.

    “We’re doing WrestleMania next year in Saudi,” Khan said. “First time ever, WrestleMania will be outside the United States or Canada, and we’ve had a big, fruitful partnership with them…

    “When we go, it doesn’t have to be only here. Our fans will tune in… no matter where we go.”

    This past year’s Royal Rumble was also held in Saudi Arabia where Roman Reigns and Liv Morgan won their respective Royal Rumble matches to earn a shot at the main event of WrestleMania 42.

  • Triple H: I Don’t Know What The F*ck Lemon Pepper Steppers Are

    Triple H: I Don’t Know What The F*ck Lemon Pepper Steppers Are

    Triple H understands that sometimes, things won’t make any sense to him, and that’s the best way to look at it.

    During a conversation with Variety. Triple H and Shawn Michaels, both men who oversee WWE talent from the main roster with Paul Levesque to NXT with HBK’s input and advice to lead the next generation of superstars in the WWE spoke about the rise of SmackDown’s Trick Williams and Raw’s Je’Von Evans.

    Here is the full comment from the Variety interview from Triple H below.

    “I certainly can’t write for Trick (Williams). To address it directly, I saw Kev make a mention of Je’Von (Evans) and saying, ‘Well, I wish they treated his character differently. He’s a little too much of this for me.’ Somebody told me about it, I was like, ‘It’s just him…’ That’s just who he is. That’s how he acts, that’s how he talks to me backstage, that’s how he is in the afternoon, and then, we just kind of give him the gist of what he’s gonna say and then he goes and says it but, that’s just who he is, and similar thing for Trick, I don’t even know what the f*ck lemon pepper steppers are. It doesn’t make any sense to me. It shouldn’t. Yeah, it shouldn’t. I can feel it when he says it — the cool stuff — or for the most part because I can feel the crowd react to it or I can feel the things that are clicking for him… If he runs dry on cool sh*t to say, he ain’t getting it from me. The character that you put around it, the emotion that you put around it, your spin on it, all that stuff is really what makes it great.”

    You can see Triple H’s comments below.

    https://x.com/ShootOrWork/status/2044853739802997188?s=20

    Levesque also spoke on the comments made by his friend and Hall of Famer, Kevin Nash, who referred to Evans as being too ‘Mr. Bojangles’.

    Mr. Bonjangles, real name Bill Robinson, was a Black man who was a tap dancer during the segregated eras of Jim Crow and the Great Depression in the United States of America. Robinson had to take on roles that played on racist stereotypes about Black people for him to be accepted and find success in the mainstream.

    Williams is set to battle WWE United States Champion Sami Zayn and Evans is set to be involved in a Ladder match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship, held by Penta, both matches will be held at WrestleMania 42 this weekend.

    You can watch the entire interview with Shawn Michaels and Triple H from Variety below.

    h/t to Fightful for the transcription.

  • Trick Williams And Lil Yachty Drop Diss Track On Sami Zayn

    Trick Williams And Lil Yachty Drop Diss Track On Sami Zayn

    Trick Williams decided to drop a little heat before his big United States Championship match against Sami Zayn at WrestleMania 42.

    The ‘Anointed One’ has a massive match on the horizon as Trick Williams plans to walk out of his first WrestleMania with gold around his waist.

    But before he makes his way to the red carpet for the WWE Hall of Fame on Friday Night, he has dropped a diss track on his opponent with some help from his new friend, Lil Yachty.

    Trick Williams Ft. Lil Yachty – Gingerbread Man

    Sami Zayn won the WWE United States Championship recently from Carmelo Hayes during the build to WrestleMania 42.

    After successfully retaining the title two weeks ago, Williams officially set his sights on Zayn and their rivalry that has been building since his arrival on Friday Night SmackDown.

    The two will have one last confrontation on tonight’s episode of SmackDown, before Zayn is set to defend the gold against Williams on Sunday night at WrestleMania 42.

  • Triple H: I Thought I Killed Marty Garner When I Hit Him With The Spiked Pedigree

    Triple H: I Thought I Killed Marty Garner When I Hit Him With The Spiked Pedigree

    This incident happened 30 years ago.

    In a new interview with Variety, Triple H and Shawn Michaels spoke about a plethora of things, including the time Triple H thought he accidentally killed someone in the ring when he hit a spiked pedigree on an extra (Marty Garner AKA Cham Pain) and the reaction he got backstage following the match.

    “It’s funny, when I first came in here, I had started using a version of the Pedigree in WCW and they wanted me to do — I think they had seen (Diamond) Dallas (Page) do the Diamond Cutter or something and they wanted me to use that so I used it for a couple of matches on TV. I didn’t feel comfortable using it and I felt like somebody else is already doing it and I said, ‘Well, I have this other move that I did before’ and I did the Pedigree and I remember Chief (Jay Strongbow) coming to me like, ‘Well, why didn’t you do that the whole time?’ I was like, ‘Because you guys told me not to.’ But, that kid that took the — I think his name was Cham Pain — was a friend of The Hardys. He came in to do an extra, and he’s a good hand and all that stuff. We just talked about it beforehand — doing the Pedigree — and when I went to do it, he went straight up and down and I tried my hardest to hold ‘em up. Because I was like, oh, I can piledrive him and he landed–I thought I killed him. I was like, ‘Holy sh*t.’ I was like, ‘Are you okay?’ And he said, ‘Yeah, I’m okay.’ When I walked back through Gorilla (Position), everybody was staring at me like, ‘What’d you do?’ I was like, ‘He said he’s fine.’ It’s not like I threw him up there. He just jumped up there and he was totally fine with it so, we got lucky…”

    At the time, Levesque was wrestling under the name Jean-Paul Levesque, he would soon move on from that name before finally discovering himself as Triple H, with his variety of nicknames like the Game or the Cerebral Assassin.

    h/t to Fightful for the transcription.

  • Konosuke Takeshita vs. Kazuchika Okada Officially Set for AEW Double Or Nothing

    Konosuke Takeshita vs. Kazuchika Okada Officially Set for AEW Double Or Nothing

    The Ace will battle the Alpha for the AEW International Championship at AEW’s next big PPV in Queens.

    The plan for the Don Callis Family was that if Konosuke Takeshita could work together with AEW International Champion, Kazuchika Okada, he would earn the next shot at the gold wherever it may be.

    However, that didn’t go according to plan and ended up with Okada watching Takeshita walk out on him before taking the pin at AEW Dynasty against Matt and Nick Jackson of the Young Bucks.

    Despite constant pleas from Don Callis himself, Okada put his money where his mouth is, stating he’s the champion that Takeshita will never be and made the match between the two at AEW Double or Nothing officially official.

    https://x.com/AEW/status/2044949029302227388?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2044949029302227388%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightful.com%2Fwrestling%2Fkazuchika-okada-vs-konosuke-takeshita-official-for-aew-double-or-nothing%2F

    The last time these two fought was in the semi-finals for the AEW Continental Championship where Okada used a screwdriver to cheat his way to the victory, despite that, he still lost in the finals to the current holder, Jon Moxley.

  • Triple H, Nick Hogan, And Jimmy Hart Unveil Hulk Hogan Statue At WWE World

    Triple H, Nick Hogan, And Jimmy Hart Unveil Hulk Hogan Statue At WWE World

     

    Hulk Hogan officially has his own statue at WWE World.

    Last July, Hulk Hogan (Real name Terry Bollea) passed away. Hogan has had a storied history in the world of professional wrestling, from being the WWF’s first face of the company, to being in the first main event of WrestleMania, to his heel run in World Championship Wrestling, and everything else he said and did in his personal life.

    The character of Hulk Hogan doing his signature ear cup, hoisting up the American Flag, all in bronze can be officially seen at WWE World, and it was unveiled by Triple H, Hogan’s son Nick Hogan, and his longtime best friend, Jimmy Hart.

    https://x.com/TripleH/status/2044961296295366925?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2044961296295366925%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightful.com%2Fwrestling%2Fhulk-hogan-statue-unveiled-at-wwe-world%2F

    Fans in attendance can also visit WWE World and see the “Hulkamania Forever” exhibit, which has all of his iconic gear, photos, memorabilia and more.

    Here is a video of Nick getting his first look at the statue of his late father.

    https://x.com/WWE/status/2044871732499304644?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2044871732499304644%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightful.com%2Fwrestling%2Fhulk-hogan-statue-unveiled-at-wwe-world%2F

    A documentary on the life of Hogan, featuring his last-ever interview is set to release on April 22 on Netflix, and the WWE will be honoring Hogan at this year’s Hall of Fame ceremony when his match vs. Andre The Giant gets inducted into this year’s Immortal Moment.

  • Wardlow: You Will See the Biggest, Baddest Version Of Myself When I Come Back

    Wardlow: You Will See the Biggest, Baddest Version Of Myself When I Come Back

    An update on the timeline of recovery for Wardlow.

    Last August, Wardlow made his return to All Elite wrestling after being involved in a car accident that took him out for over a year.

    Upon returning, he aligned himself with the Don Callis Family and feuded briefly with former AEW World Champion, Swerve Strickland until a torn pectoral muscle a couple weeks later took him out of action for the last couple of months.

    Now, there is now an update that has been provided from Wardlow after his recent interview with BCP+.

    Wardlow spoke extensively on the events that unfolded with getting hurt and apologized to the fans with going ghost on social media. Here is the full quote below.

    “I miss him too. I miss Wardlow so bad. Like I said, it’s been over two years since I’ve wrestled. So, it has been a rough two years. Basically everything I have loved and cared about was taken away from me almost all at once. From my friend to my dog to wrestling to the ability to work out. I mean, everything I loved was taken from me, and I miss wrestling so much, I can’t even put it into words, and I do wanna apologize to the fans for my absence, and for completely going ghost on social media. Because I just kind of hid under a rock for a while… So I apologize to the fans. I will never be absent again, and I am so excited to get back to wrestling in front of a live crowd and at this point, I don’t care if they’re cheering me, I don’t care if they’re booing me. I just want to feel that energy. Positive or negative. I just wanna feel that energy and get back to doing what I love, and we’re very, very close to being ready… Obviously, I’m healing up from the torn pec, which most people know about. I also wanna state, because there’s a lot of discourse online about this, about injuries, right? This torn pec is the first injury in my entire life, indies included, that I’ve ever taken time off for wrestling. Any time you saw me absent before the car accident, any time you saw me absent was never because of an injury. It was creative or there just wasn’t anything going on at the time and I was sitting at home. Did I tweak my knee? Yes, and I continued wrestling. Did I tweak my hamstring? Yes. I continued wrestling. Then I got into that car accident, and I’m so dumb I would have continued to wrestle. Most people after that car accident would have been in a hospital bed. I didn’t even go to the hospital. I got in my car, went to the airport, and I flew across the country for work, and I had to stand in the bathroom most of the flight because it hurt so bad to sit down. When I got to work, I had our doctors take a look at me and my hip was actually popped out of place, and I flew there with my hip out of place which is why it hurt so bad to sit down, and they popped my hip right back into place right there, which I don’t think I’ve ever made the noise I made when that happened. I have a pretty high pain tolerance. Boy, did that hurt. So it was the car accident that really messed me up, and I was gonna continue to work, which maybe wouldn’t have been smart but I was gonna continue to work, and then the storyline that was planned got thrown in the garbage for like the second or third time, and that’s when I ultimately decided, okay, I’m gonna go home. The storyline that I was looking forward to for the second time got canned. I can barely walk at this point after the car accident. So I finally decided to take some time off, which was the first time ever in my career, and then it was while I was healing from that, (American) Gladiators came about. So, thank you to AEW and thank you to Tony Khan for giving me the blessing to go do Gladiators, and then yes, obviously a bummer. I come back immediately, tear my pec. But, we are most definitely going to come back the biggest, baddest version of Wardlow that anybody’s ever seen.”

    If you use any of the quotes above please H/T Bodyslam.Net 

  • Rhea Ripley: It’s Hard Going On Twitter, It’s Negative Towards Me Even Though They Don’t Know Who The Hell I Am

    Rhea Ripley: It’s Hard Going On Twitter, It’s Negative Towards Me Even Though They Don’t Know Who The Hell I Am

    Rhea Ripley comments on the online discourse she has faced throughout the course of her career.

    Whether it’s Twitter, Facebook, or any other social media platform, the comments left by “fans” of pro wrestling have been targeted towards Rhea Ripley, whether it’s how she portrays her character on WWE TV or who she is off-screen when she is spending time with her husband, pets, and friends.

    Recently, Ripley made an appearance where she spoke to Danielle Fishel and Will Friedle on Pod Meets World and opened up more about how she developed an eating disorder because of the horrible things said about her.

    “It goes through waves where it’s really difficult and then sometimes really easy. This past year has been really difficult because I find that if my circle at home isn’t at peace, then that’s when I really struggle. That’s why I try to surround myself with people that I know are there for me and care for me. That’s my strong point. My husband [Buddy Matthews] is my strong point. My dogs are my strong point. My friend Tommy, who is always at our house every day, he’s my strong point. We work out together and it’s a positive environment. It’s really hard going onto Twitter. I need to delete that. It’s hard going on and trying to make it a work environment, but then, because it is a work environment, I get all these things coming up on my For You page. As soon as I click on the app, it’s negative towards me. I can’t even escape it or doomscroll like a normal human without seeing things about me, about my body, about my booking, about me as a human, even though they don’t know who the hell I am. It does get really tiring, but that’s also why I like to share what I’m going through.

    “I tried to keep the whole eating disorder quiet for a while because I’m still figuring it out. I try to be as vocal with my struggles as possible because if it’s going to help someone, then why not talk about it? I needed that when I was going through stuff as a kid. If I knew my idols were going through these struggles and they are powering through and being amazing, and I look up to them and think they are strong and larger than life, then I can get through it too. That’s why I’m vocal about what I’m going through. With this whole eating situation, it definitely stems from stress and not being in control. That’s my biggest thing. I’m a very in control person. I like being in control of a lot of things. When I can’t control work and my schedule, and at the time, my home life with one of my now ex-friends just terrorizing my life. Going to Australia and not being able to control how the crowd responds to my peers and pressuring them 24/7 and getting thrown into all this media for that, it was a lot all at once, and it kind of broke me for a little bit, but it wasn’t seen by everyone yet. Now, it’s being seen by everyone. I saw so many things. ‘She had to lose weight because of her back pain.’ ‘She’s off the roids.’ We get tested. I’m not on anything.”

    Ripley is set to challenge Jade Cargill for the WWE Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 42 on Sunday night.

    h/t to Fightful for the transcription.

  • Kevin Knight: I Want To Defend The TNT Championship Against Speedball Mike Bailey

    Kevin Knight: I Want To Defend The TNT Championship Against Speedball Mike Bailey

    Kevin Knight would love to battle his brother for his TNT Championship.

    After the news broke that Kyle Fletcher would have to vacate the TNT Championship, the announcement was made that the now vacated gold would be held in a Casino Gauntlet in Vancouver at AEW Dynasty with Tommaso Ciampa and RUSH being the first two involved.

    In the end, Kevin Knight would capitalize on the opportunity with a splash on Daniel Garcia and the pin to secure the victory and be crowned the new TNT Champion, his first singles title in his pro wrestling career.

    During the media scrum for AEW Dynasty, Knight spoke about the pressure it was going to bring to be the face of the TNT division, but that he was prepared for anyone, including his own tag team partner, Speedball Mike Bailey.

    “Well, this being my first singles (title) ever, whether it’s on the indies, in New Japan and AEW, so for the fact that it happened on the anniversary of my pay-per-view debut here in AEW, a year later, with my tag team partner in the match, it certainly means a lot for me to be the new face of TNT. It’s a lot of pressure but I think The Jet is built for it. This is the moment we’ve all been waiting for. It’s so crazy because me and ‘Speedball’ are a tag team but we’ve won trios, we’ve won singles so, I think this is the next thing between us and being tag champs in the future so, I think it’s a great step in the right direction.”

    “This is a team win for me and ‘Speedball’ (Mike Bailey). I’ve known him before I got here, and we’ve had great chemistry. He only wants the best for me. I only want the best for him, and I would love to defend this against my tag team partner if you (Tony Khan) would allow it. If we can set something up because me and ‘Speedball,’ we bring the best out of each other. Any time we get together, it’s like brothers just going at it, cousins just going at it so, we love to go at it.”

    Before the two can make that happen, Knight will have to get through Claudio Castagnoli at AEW Dynamite’s Spring BreakThru show on Wednesday, April 15.

    h/t to Fightful for the transcription.