Hikaru Shida is set to take on the ROH Women’s World Champion Athena at the upcoming SuperCard of Honor event. She will be speaking on this Thursday’s episode.
Shida is no stranger to championships as she is a three-time AEW Women’s World Champion where she is tied with Toni Storm for most reigns. Howevever, Athena just may be Shida’s biggest challenge yet. Athena has held the ROH gold for 473 days and counting. Will she make it to 500 and through Shida?
Becky Lynch has made comments in recent memory that she will be remaining with WWE for the rest of her in-ring career, but is that still the case?
Lynch is in her last two months of her current contract with the company. In a recent interview with Ariel Helwani on the MMA hour, Lynch discusses her current contract heading into this year’s WrestleMania. She has said nobody has talked about her renewal yet.
Below is the conversation between the two.
Ariel Helwani: Is this the final year of your contract?
Becky Lynch: It’s the final two months. [laughs]
Ariel Helwani: This is fun, I like this.
Becky Lynch: You wanted me to be honest.
Ariel Helwani: Yes, I do. I love honesty. Any talks of the renewal?
Becky Lynch: Nobody’s said nothing to me.
Ariel Helwani: Are you interested in renewing?
Becky Lynch: We’ll see.
Ariel Helwani: What do you mean, ‘We’ll see?’
Becky Lynch: We’ll see [laughs].
Ariel Helwani: What happens after two months if you don’t have a deal? Can you talk to others?
Becky Lynch: I’m WWE.
Ariel Helwani: Okay, so it’s WWE or bust?
Becky Lynch: Yeah, I just don’t know.
Ariel Helwani: Is there a chance this is your last WrestleMania?
Becky Lynch: I doubt that.
Ariel Helwani: Is this common that it would be two months out and no deal?
Becky Lynch: nuh-uh.
Ariel Helwani: Maybe that’s the difference in the Endeavor era and this old era. Interesting. Are you nervous about this? Are you anxious about it? Do you feel disrespected that there isn’t a new deal in front of you?
Becky Lynch: At this stage in the game, contrary to a lot of the thoughts in this book [from] when I was coming up, I am so confident in my ability and my worth. I’m not worried.
Ariel Helwani: Do you think this gets settled before WrestleMania?
Becky Lynch: I don’t know. There’s a lot coming up before WrestleMania. I just gave you my schedule for the next month. I don’t know when I’m going to get to play a zombie again for my three-year-old.
Transcription credit: Fightful
As AEW continues to add big names to its roster, Willow Nightingale wants to see more match types and set more milestones. For example, a women’s Blood & Guts and a Continental Classic. Tag Team Championships would be another hope.
While talking with Lyric Swinton, Nightingale was asked what milestones would she like to see the women of AEW achieve.
“There’s a lot of things that come to mind. A Blood & Guts is definitely on there. I do love the idea of having our own Continental Classic, but kind of branching off of that, I’m not sure how many other women on our roster, aside from myself, have had the opportunity to wrestle internationally and represent AEW.
I know Toni Storm has done a few things with New Japan, in terms of being with Juice over there. But from a wrestling perspective, I may have been the only so far representing AEW [while] wrestling in Japan. This coming week, I’m also gonna be representing AEW over at CMLL, so I’m really grateful for these opportunities. I’m excited about them, and I hope I continue to do so in the future, but I know we’ve had STARDOM come over recently. I think when there are moments where maybe someone on the roster isn’t on TV every single week or they’re not directly tied into a storyline, it would be really cool to see some girls go over to STARDOM for a few weeks, get to train there. Even if you’re not training there, just doing the matches and working with all these other international wrestlers, you think about wrestling a different way.
You adapt to a different audience, and you kind of understand more about yourself because the way I think when I go and I do all these different things is like, how do I make this audience believe that I have a value outside of what is already going on here. How do I also blend in to what’s going on without disrupting the flow too much, but how do I also give them the personal Willow Nightingale experience? How do I show them me? I think you learn a lot about yourself doing that, and there’s so many girls on the roster who could do the same, so more sending our girls over to other places and learning more about themselves would be very cool. Tag team championships would also be really awesome to have [laughs],” Nightingale said. (Fightful)
The full interview can be watched below.
Natalya was the surprise response to Lola Vice’s open challenge on the March 26 episode of NXT.
Vice, who hadn’t wrestled on NXT since early February, issued an open challenge to anyone in the locker room. Most expected Karmen Petrovic to answer as she has been having some discourse with Vice lately. Instead, the veteran Natalya answered. Petrovic did show up late in the match to cheer on Natalya from ringside.
The final moments had Natalya go for the Sharpshooter but couldn’t get it locked in. She then applied an arm bar but Vice was able to escape after getting a near fall of her own. Finally, after a missed round house kick by Vice, Natalya rolled her up for the win.
Natalya and Petrovic celebrated post match.
Elsewhere on NXT, Jazmyn Nyx finally made her in-ring debut. Interesting to note, Nyx has had many matches at house shows but never has appeared on Level Up. Nyx made her way to the ring with Jacy Jayne to face Thea Hail. Solid first showing by Nyx, but in the end, Hail would emerge the victor.
Jayne first had the rest of Chase U banned from ringside. She stole the towel from Andre Chase and tossed it into the ring to signal Hail giving up. But Riley Osborne jumped in the ring and caught the towel before it landed, this prompted the referee to send Chase U to the back.
While the official wasn’t looking, Jayne hopped on the ring apron and came face to face with Hail. Hail emotional said she thought they were friends in which Jayne replied they never were before slapping her. Nyx tried to take advantage with a roll up but Hail kicked out and transferred directly into the Kimura which caused Nyx to tap out. Hail purposefully bent back the arm of Nyx in a way to snap it before letting go.
Jayne enters the ring and went after Hail. Kiana James and Izzi Dame joined Jayne and it was a three on one attack. This is until Fallon Henley and Kelani Jordan entered to make the save. At one point they were playing tug of war with Jayne before she regrouped with James and Dame.
Roxanne Perez will be challenging Lyra Valkyria for the NXT Women’s Championship at Stand & Deliver on day one of WrestleMania XL. Really good video promos were aired for both women.
Tonight’s NXT has two matches confirmed:
Less than 2 weeks until Stand & Deliver where Lyra Valkyria will defend against Roxanne Perez.
A four-way number one contender match will take place on the March 27 episode of AEW Dynamite. The winner will go on to face the TBS Champion Julia Hart at AEW Dynasty. On commentary during this match will be Mercedes Moné.
The participants will be former TBS Champion Kris Statlander, Skye Blue, Anna Jay, and Willow Nightingale. Moné being on commentary should be interesting because since her arrival she has had the back of both Statlander and Nightingale….but, has unfinished business with Nightingale.
Diva Dirt will have a Dynamite discussion post on Wednesday, so feel free to drop by and chat!
Lola Vice will be on tonight’s episode of NXT and is issuing an open challenge. Other than an appearance on NXT Level Up, Vice has not had an on screen match since Feb. 13 where she defeated Tatum Paxley.
She says that anyone who wants to fight her can answer the challenge.
Also schedule for tonight is Thea Hail taking on Jazmyn Nyx.
Ever want to know what ice cream flavor your favorite NXT Superstars would be? You can watch below.
*Please note this article contains spoilers*
Main Event tapings were done prior to Raw as always. On the March 25 tapings to air on March 28, the following are the results per PWInsider.
Jade Cargill is officially making her debut this Friday as a member of the SmackDown roster. Cargill, who signed last September with WWE, has made many appearances for the company including entering the Royal Rumble. However, her brand placement wasn’t known until now.
Following the hype of her debut for this Friday, Cargill was at a recent basketball game where she interacted with fans.
All smiles, Cargill stated, “Just keep watching, just keep watching. I need y’all to watch this Friday, just watch. Some big shit is about to happen. We making money around here, you feel me?”
It is rumored by fan speculation that with WresteMania rapidly approaching, Cargill may team with Naomi and Bianca Belair to face Damage CTRL.
Join the SmackDown Discussion Post this Friday here on Diva Dirt to talk about Jade’s official debut.
On the March 25 episode of Raw, just two weeks before WrestleMania XL and we received just under two minutes worth of women’s wrestling. And in Women’s History Month no less!
Candice LeRae took on Ivy Nile as the two have butted heads since LeRae has made Maxxine Dupri a target of her heel turn. The match had LeRae fake an injury which landed Nile in a roll up for LeRae to win. Very diva-esque. Indi Hartwell on the outside still left unsettled by LeRae’s new approach to gather wins.
In a WWE Exclusive, because you know they couldn’t fit this on a three how show, Hartwell tells LeRae she doesn’t like what she has been doing and how she has been winning matches. LeRae then gives her an ultimatum, either Hartwell does things LeRae’s way or she can find a new partner.
They were able to remember that WrestleMania is two weeks away and the women should get some time for time. The Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley cut a promo with Dominik Mysterio by her side. She faces Becky Lynch on the biggest stage but feels that leading up to now that Becky has been dodging her and not giving her the attention she deserves.
As Dominik was about to speak, Lynch made her way out. She commented how she has been having matches for weeks but Ripley doesn’t even wrestle on Raw anymore. Ripley responded saying that Lynch’s daughter will wind up calling her Mami. This set Lynch completely off and the two eventually brawled after Lynch punched Dominik in the face.
So that’s what you “missed” from this week’s Raw.
WWE has announced a new Roku Original Series that will be available for free on the platform starting April 1 titled WWE:Next Gen.
The series is set to chronicle the journey of uo-and-coming talents in the Next In Line (NIL) program as they aspire to become WWE stars. The show is executive produced by John Cena and will feature trainers such as Matt Bloom, Shawn Michaels, and Big E. Also Bianca Belair will make an appearance.
Triple H will be featured as he talks to the potential stars seen in the trailer below.
We are down to two more weeks before WrestleMania.
Tonight, it has been advertised that Candice LeRae will take on Ivy Nile.
Becky Lynch, who is challenging Rhea Ripley for the Women’s World Title at WrestleMania XL, would love to open the event.
“I would love to open the show. I would love that. I’ve never opened WrestleMania before,” Becky told ClutchPoints after saying she isn’t worried with the card order. “To open this one, as big as it is in Philadelphia, I’m just putting that out there,” she manifested with a laugh. “It would be pretty cool because if it’s not the main event, I always want to be the opening spot — it’s always a great place on the card because people are so excited.”
She continues, “Ooh, night one. I would love to open the whole of WrestleMania, you know what I’m saying? Just [to] be that first match for that whole event. [Opening the show will] give me enough time that I can relax and really enjoy Colby [Rollins] main eventing WrestleMania and getting to watch him do that because that will be so special,” she said.
With the constant struggle of who will main event WrestleMania, would you like the women to open the show instead?
Bayley should absolutely main event WrestleMania XL regardless of the night. She won the 2024 Royal Rumble match and has earned that spot. However, as we saw last year, Rhea Ripley, who won the 2023 Royal Rumble, did not get to main event against Charlotte Flair.
In fact, we have not had a main event for the women since Bianca Belair won in 2021 where she faced Sasha Banks in the main event of night one.
While speaking with Alex McCarthy and The Daily Mail, Bayley says that Ripley is still young and that her time will come. Or if she wants to main event, why not have the women main evenr both nights?
“I would never say that the women shouldn’t be main-eventing a WrestleMania, especially at the calibre of Rhea and Becky. Becky has had an insane career already and Rhea, her rise has been so quick. Fans love her. But she’s still so young. Rhea, you got time to main event WrestleMania some other time, because this year is mine and IYO’s year.
This year has been the role model’s year, starting at Royal Rumble, OK? And I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I’ve been fighting for this for a long time. Becky’s had her main event spot, so it’s time for the role model, ding dong hello Bayley, to take this main event spot. You guys can have the first night and I’ll take the second night. You know, we can do that. You never had two women main event both shows at WrestleMania. Why can’t it be this year? It’s the biggest WrestleMania of the year. With all due respect, I would like to take that spot. Rhea, you’re very young.”
Bayley also speaks on Mercedes Moné’s AEW debut which you can watch below.
Bianca Belair came out to make the save for Naomi on this past Friday’s SmackDown episode. The numbers game continued to be too much from Damage CTRL, but Belair did what she could to help Naomi.
During SmackDown LowDown, Belair explained why she helped Naomi who she was so against for sticking her neck out for Bayley the week before.
“You know, after talking to Naomi, I realized I just gotta let that hurt go. Let’s make one thing very clear, I did not run out there for Bayley. I ran out there for Naomi because she led with her heart, she led with her feelings, and she ended up in that mess,” said Bianca. “Watching her out there getting beat up by Damage CTRL, getting misted, trying to fight Damage CTRL all by herself, I saw myself in her. I remembered how I felt for 2 years trying to fight Damage CTRL by myself and wishing there was somebody there to help me. So here I am, I couldn’t leave my sis hanging, and we’re back in it with Damage CTRL.”
Further explanation from Belair on an Instagram shows that she will stick by Naomi’s side because she knows what it felt like being alone the past two years.
“I’ve been here fighting for my life for 2 years against them ALONE. Consistently… Constantly ALONE and anyone who tried to help is gone now,”she wrote in her story. “Charlotte gone w/ injury. Shotzi gone w/ injury. Becky gone off fighting her own battle. Just felt like I was constantly getting left to do it on my own and it gets exhausting and overwhelming.
“Then, Bayley gets jumped out of her own group that she created and now everyone feels sorry for her and wants to help take down Damage CTRL,” continues Bianca. “Can’t lie, I was hesitant to trust this process again… but I couldn’t leave Naomi hanging or blame her for trying to do what I myself did for 2+ years.”
Asuka’s injury turns out to not be serious as she has returned to the ring.
As a recap, Asuka tweaked her knee two weeks ago on SmackDown during a post match attack against Bayley and Naomi. She was removed from that weekend’s live events due to caution to get more tests done on her knee.
Asuka was still on screen this past Friday during another attack on Naomi and then Bianca Belair. She primarily used the mist to take down Naomi before joining the attack.
On Saturday’s house show for the Road to WrestleMania Asuka joined IYO SKY and Kairi Sane and took on Becky Lynch, Bianca Belair, and Naomi in a losing effort. Asuka would not be on the Sunday show and was replaced by Dakota Kai.
Rhea Ripley was in action as well and defeated both Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax to retain the Women’s World Title. Ripley had some fun giving Jax the stink face and so much so that Baszler wanted it done to her.
Fightful clears up a report from earlier that Killer Kelly had wrapped up her time with TNA. The original report was made by both PWInsider and Fightful agreeing at the time.
Now, Sean Ross Sapp clears up the confusion. Sources state that Kelly is taking time off. That led to a mix message of her having “finished up.” Her contract is good until Summer 2025.
The original report can be read here.
*Please note that this article contains spoilers*
TNA had their second night of tapings on Saturday. For night one you can click here.
Results below are courtesy of Cagematch.
It is being reported by both PWInsider and Fightful that the former two-time Knockouts World Tag Team Champion Killer Kelly has departed TNA.
Kelly finished up at the Sacrifice event. She had worked for the company over the last two years. She held the tag team gold on two occasions with her tag team partner Masha Slamovich known together as MK Ultra.
PWInsider is told that TNA will begin teasing a new potential partner for Slamovich in the weeks ahead.
*Please note that this article contains spoilers*
Full spoilers (courtesy of Bodyslam.net via Billy and Dobby) are below.
TNA iMPACT! Spoilers From Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Matches announced for tapings Saturday, March 23rd:
Ash by Elegance vs. Xia Brookside
Jordynne Grace /Josh Alexander vs Alex Hammerstone/Tasha Steelz
Bianca Belair has no love lost for Bayley, despite Naomi having Bayley’s back.
On the March 22 episode of SmackDown we first see Naomi getting ready for her match against IYO SKY backstage. Bayley enters and thanks Naomi for having her back last week and says she appreciates her as she doesn’t have too many friends anymore.
Bianca Belair interrupted and once again tried to convince Naomi that believing in Bayley is a bad idea. She says for the past two years Bayley along with Damage CTRL have done nothing but attack her. Naomi tries to diffuse the situation after Bayley admits she has to live with her past mistakes.
Naomi takes Belair aside and speaks with her. She explains where she is coming from but Belair understandably feels apprehensive of Bayley.
Later on, as Naomi was waiting in the ring for SKY to enter, the rest of Damage CTRL was on stage as SKY’s music was playing. However, the champion was backstage attacking Bayley. SKY eventually made her way out for the match. Damage CTRL did not come down to ringside.
The match was fun and refreshing as both women really made each other shine. Naomi almost put the champion away at one point with a massive superplex. However, when Naomi went for the split legged moonsault, Damage CTRL came rushing down with the distraction. This had SKY take advantage and hit Over the Moonsault for the win.
Post match, to no surprise, came the numbers game with a four on one attack on Naomi. Asuka even misted her in the face to add more insult to the situation. Belair’s music would hit and she came down to make the save. Naomi would also protect Belair as she climbed on top of her preventing the full attack from Damage CTRL.
Belair will be taking on Dakota Kai next week.
Backstage as Belair was trying to help wash out the mist from Naomi’s eyes, Tiffany Stratton walked by and said the mist was a good look for Naomi as Belair showed her frustration from that comment.
Also on this week’s show, Michin joined The OC as they faced Austin Theory and Grayson Waller. Michin did all she could to help The OC including an arm drag to Waller on the outside. However, The OC lost with Waller’s feet on the ropes during the pin.
The WWE Slammy Awards are returning on WrestleMania weekend, April 7. The last Slammy’s were digital in 2020 and 2015 before that.
The voting is done by fans and can be made from March 22 through March 27. Below are the categories and nominees. So VOTE!
Breakout Superstar of the Year
A storm is coming to SmackDown!
Jade Cargill has picked a brand and she has signed with SmackDown. On the March 22 episode, a vignette aired about Cargill’s arrival.
In the vignette, Cargill says she doesn’t even have to speak and she is the trending topic and headline. She adds that they are going to build statues of her and you don’t have to like it, but you can’t deny it.
We have seen Cargill in many backstage segments on all three brands since her signing last year. We have only seen her in a WWE ring at the Royal Rumble where she impressively eliminated Nia Jax and had a stare down with Bianca Belair.
With Cargill arriving just one week before WrestleMania XL, what will be her impact?
Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair are two of the Four Horsewomen who many consider the pillars of the women’s evolution. Unfortunately over time, Lynch and Flair particularly haven’t kept the strongest bond.
In October 2021, the two decorated Superstars had a fall out backstage and it showed on screen their rough friendship from a title exchange segment. They would not work on screen together again until WarGames in November 2023.
In an interview on Peter Rosenberg’s podcast Cheap Heat, Lynch was asked about her current relationship with Flair.
She spoke as follows:
“Yeah, I think [they’re] good. Look, I think, in writing this book, at no point and certainly not that I…I certainly did not intend to in any way be disparaging against her, and I don’t think I am. I think I’m fair in trying to give her perspective in things. Because I don’t think it’s fair to completely bury somebody in a book, especially in a world that is so subjective. Because they don’t have the opportunity to defend themselves. So I talk about our fallouts, but I at least try to paint it from her perspective as well as from my own. Working together, yeah, it was easy because I think the undercurrent of all of it, fallouts and all, is love.
You get more upset by somebody hurting you if you’ve loved them, or you do love them than from somebody that you had no relationship with at all. That is the thing with Charlotte. We were best friends, we were like sisters, then we fell out, wrestling came between us. Then we came back together, then the notorious fallout with the titles, but I think throughout all of that, if she ever needed anything, I’d be there for her, and I think if I ever needed anything, she’d be there for me. I think that trumps all. I think life is too short to hold these animosities for too long. I think if you hold them too long, they weigh down on you. There’s just no point in that. We’ve lost some people in the last year, in the last few years, and it just reminds you how precious this life, and how special this thing that we’re doing is, and we can have those disagreements, we can have those conflicts, and rivalries, and we can not always see eye to eye in business, and that’s what makes business better, when people feel like it’s real. But at the end of the day, you gotta remind yourself what’s important,” Lynch said. (Fightful)
Since working together again, Lynch is on her way to challenge Rhea Ripley at WrestleMania while unfortunately Flair is sidelined with an ACL injury.
The March 21 episode of TNA IMPACT was headlined by Jordynne Grace defending her Knockouts World Championship against Tasha Steelz.
Grace initially took control, but when they spilled to the outside, Steelz neutralized the champ with a pump kick and neckbreaker. After the break, Grace fought back with a wicked spinebuster and attempted a Muscle Buster, but Steelz escaped.
The two then went counter for counter until Steelz landed Sliced Bread. Steelz managed to launch Grace from the top rope to the mat for a nearfall. After another round of trading counters, Grace hit the spinning backfist followed by the Juggernaut Driver to retain.
Elsewhere in the show, Ash By Elegance had her third match, this time against Seleziya Sparx. Sparx refused to kiss Ash’s hand, which resulted in punishment for most of the bout. In the end, a suplex followed by Rarified Air finished the bout for Ash.
After, Ash prepared to hit Rarified Air again, but this time with a chair on top of Sparx. That was until Xia Brookside ran down and stood between them. Ash ultimately backed down and signaled that she’s watching Brookside.
We also heard from Decay and MK Ultra, who look to be clashing again soon as both teams have their eyes on Spitfire’s tag titles.
Next week, the first Knockouts 8-4-1 match will take place to determine who will challenge Jordynne Grace at Rebellion. Participants were not revealed, but the bout will start as an 8-woman tag. The winning team with then face off in a four-way to determine the new number one contender.
What did you think of this week’s IMPACT? Sound off below!
