The annual Owen Hart Foundation Cup tournament is well underway, but has had some setbacks on the women’s side. When the brackets were first announced, Persephone was waiting to be cleared from being misted in the eye (in reality, it was due to a legitimate injury). Willow Nightingale announced that she had a shoulder injury and not only had to forfeit the tournament, but also had to vacate the TBS Championship. Meanwhile, Sareee announced that she was having some issues with her neck, and a new interview suggests she may not be cleared to compete.

Sareee is scheduled to face Skye Blue in the final match of the first round on this week’s “AEW Dynamite.” F4W translated an interview with Sareee from Tokyo Sports in which she admits that “I’m not yet in a state where my neck is in perfect shape for my comeback in America.” Her tag team partner, Takumi Iroha, is accompanying her to the U.S. and Sareee revealed she has permission from AEW that if she can’t compete, Iroha will take her place in the tournament. “If anything happens to me, she’ll come in as a pinch hitter.”

Masahiro Chono, who was conducting the interview, said he doesn’t believe Sareee should compete.

“I don’t recommend you step into the ring,” he said. “There’s still more than ten years left to do after this. If things go wrong, you might end up missing a long game or suffering a serious injury…don’t rush, right?”

As of Tuesday, Sareee is still being advertised to face Skye Blue on “Dynamite: Summer Blockbuster”.

Bianca Belair hasn’t wrestled since her iconic Triple Threat match with Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY at WWE WrestleMania 41 after fracturing her ring finger in three places, including the left knuckle joint, which she underwent surgery for earlier this year. Although it was initially rumored that Belair could return to the ring in six months, she was still rehabbing the finger by the new year, and after announcing that she’s pregnant at WWE WrestleMania 42, she’ll be out of action for the remainder of 2026. However, expecting a baby has only aided Belair’s recovery, as she took to her Instagram Stories feature on Monday to share that her finger is improving.

“One thing about being pregnant… it’s really given me the time to get my finger better!!! We are still on therapy and we are bending!” In the video, Belair can be seen in a medical or physical therapy office working on rehabbing the injury.

Since undergoing surgery, Belair has regularly attended physical therapy, and moving the joint has been difficult or impossible for months. The healing process has been frustrating for Belair, as she’s been open about the pain in her finger, and once she recognized how long the recovery process was going to take, she decided to have a baby.

Before it was revealed that Belair was pregnant and that her injury was more severe than expected, many fans believed that the “EST Of WWE” was going to win the Royal Rumble and face her former teammate Jade Cargill at WrestleMania 42, who was WWE Women’s Champion at the time. Instead, Ripley would challenge Cargill at WrestleMania and defeat her for the title to win her fourth world championship.

WWE’s LA Knight has discussed retirement from pro wrestling, noting that he is getting closer to that stage of his career.

Knight, who returned to WWE in 2021, has wrestled for more than two decades across several promotions, including TNA and the NWA. The WWE star recently appeared on “Insight” with Chris Van Vliet, where he hinted that he may be nearing the end of his pro wrestling career. 

“I’m looking at the clock all the time [laughs]. The funny thing is, like, physically, I could do this for a long time. Like, I’m really good physically. Mentally, I’m just like I’m gonna snuggle puppies,” he said. “I also don’t want to do it forever and beat my body up. I’m 23 years deep now at this point.”

A few wrestlers have continued to wrestle well into their 50s, which is something Van Vliet touched upon in his interview with Knight. That, though, isn’t something that the two-time WWE United States Champion wants to do.

“F**k no. What are you nuts?” he said in response to being asked if he would wrestle in his 50s. “Would I like to be able to come in and maybe like do, you know, an occasional appearance or do some ‘Yeah?’ Sure, maybe. But, I don’t think I’ve been built up to the point where I can do like an Undertaker type thing or an Austin thing or something like that. I don’t think that’s in my future either. So, it’s pretty much going to be at some point when I decide to call it, I’m going to disappear into the sunset and you’ll just never see me again.”

Knight said that he was serious about walking away from the pro wrestling business once he hangs up his wrestling boots, although he jokingly suggested he might accept an on-screen General Manager role in WWE.

WWE Hall of Famer Eric Bischoff believes it’s time for Cody Rhodes to turn heel. 

Many have called for Rhodes to turn heel, but the Undisputed WWE Champion does not seem too keen on the idea, as he likely wants to fill the void left by John Cena. However, Bischoff, who discussed a potential Rhodes heel turn on his “83 Weeks” podcast, believes it would be the right move for the WWE star’s future.

“I hate saying this because I really have so much respect for Cody and affection for the entire family, not just Cody. I’m over Cody as a babyface champion. It’s not that I don’t like it. It’s just that I’ve kind of had my fill of it. There’s just not a lot of desire for me to see what the next iteration of Cody as a babyface is going to bring because we’ve been seeing it a lot for the last couple years,” he said.

Bischoff, who seemingly rates Rhodes’ acting skills, believes that “The American Nightmare” will be able to use that a lot more if he were a heel. He reiterated how he’s seen enough of Rhodes as a good guy.

“I personally think that, for me — doesn’t mean I’m right for everybody else — I would get that belt off of him somehow, some way, and that would begin his journey into heeldom because I think there’s a lot of story and a lot of great work there. Cody’s acting and performing ability — because he’s an actor, he is an actor — could bring that heel character to life in a way that not too many people could because not very many people have his acting ability. I mean, he’s really good, and I want to see that. That gets me excited. Babyface Cody? Sorry. Been there, done that, a lot,” added the former WCW executive.

Bischoff thinks WWE should have pulled the trigger on a Rhodes heel turn at Clash in Italy, arguing that such a drastic change would have helped business.

TNA Wrestling’s Matt Hardy has said that rumors surrounding AEW World Champion MJF’s injury could be a blow to the promotion if he is out for a long period of time.

Recent reports revealed that MJF suffered an injury during his match with Rush on “AEW Dynamite,” with him reportedly hyperextending his knee. Hardy addressed the injury news on “The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy” podcast and said that it could be a setback to AEW as MJF is a key player in the promotion. 

“For MJF’s sake and for AEW’s sake, I hope it is not a severe injury because MJF is the heart and soul. He is carrying AEW right now. I think he is the greatest representative of AEW. As a heel, he is the force that is driving goodwill and interest in AEW currently,” he began. “I think he is doing such a phenomenal, amazing job because it takes a person who really knows how to be a heel, who lets go of the consequences of being viewed as an as**ole or whatever else, and he is great at all that. So, I hope he’s not hurt because if he is out for a sustained, longer period of time, then I think that would be detrimental to all of AEW’s momentum that they’ve built recently.”

Following the injury, MJF pulled out of wrestling at an indie show, but he is expected to feature in AEW as the promotion heads towards its next big event, AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door. The co-branded event will be held on June 28, and reports suggest that MJF’s storyline heading into the show remains intact. It has yet to be revealed who MJF will face at the event, which will be held at the SAP Center in San Jose.