It’s no secret that Roxanne Perez has spent the last few months of her WWE career working hurt. The former Women’s Tag Team Champion was reportedly “banged up” throughout WWE’s Holiday tour in late December/early January, and was recently forced to miss an episode of “WWE Raw” due to what seemed to be an illness. As it turns out, it was something a bit more significant than thought.

In a TikTok video posted on Wednesday, Perez revealed that her absence from WWE wasn’t because of illness, but because she had been forced to go under the knife. 

“I recently underwent surgery to remove a benign mass that was in my back, that was causing me a lot of pain for a couple of months,” Perez said. “But I just didn’t want to have time out. I honestly love what I do so, so much. It’s been a dream of mine to become a WWE superstar since I was ten years old. But our health is very important, so we need to put that first.”

Overall, Perez appeared to be optimistic about the situation, revealing she had spent a lot of downtime relaxing at home while no longer having to deal with much pain. However, while Perez tried to assure fans that it wouldn’t be too long before she returned to wrestling she was unable to provide an exact timetable for when she’d be cleared.

“Recovery is going well,” Perez said. “I don’t have too much pain anymore. It kind of comes and goes. I’m going to be back in the ring in no time, Pop Rocksing everybody’s ass.”

Former NFL kicker Pat McAfee has conquered the world of sport media, tested his skills in a WWE ring as well as the broadcast table, and now he’s adding another feather to his cap by entering the film industry.

According to Bloomberg, Ari Emanuel, who co-founded TKO Group Holdings (the organization that owns WWE and UFC), is looking to book McAfee for several acting roles. Emanuel no longer runs Endeavor, the company that owns TKO, as its since rebranded to WME Group, where the 64-year-old is the executive chairman and manages many notable clients such as Larry David and Seth MacFarlane. Emanuel reportedly has McAfee on his latest talent list and has started to land him roles in film and TV, including a major Paramount+ show.

Later this year, “Tulsa King” starring Sylvester Stallone is set to release its fourth season, where McAfee will appear in a four-episode arc. The WWE commentator is also scheduled to play a part in Peter Berg’s upcoming film “The Mosquito Bowl,” which is a sports drama inspired by the author Buzz Bissinger, who wrote “Friday Night Lights.”

McAfee has been part of WWE’s announce team for the past four years, but hasn’t been seen on the company’s programming since June, as he chose to focus on his commitments to “The Pat McAfee Show” and college football coverage after experiencing burnout from his various responsibilities. That said, McAfee has been featured at the last four editions of WrestleMania, and with the event on the horizon, it’s possible that he could return to his commentary duties for WWE’s biggest show of the year.

Maybe I’m biased as the person who wrote an entire essay on SKY vs. Ripley vs. Belair, but CM Punk is absolutely, 100% correct that his match was outshone by the women last year. I would give kudos to Punk for being clear-eyed enough to see it, but wrestling is his job and he should be able to see when it rises to the level of true greatness, so instead I’ll just give him kudos for saying it out loud and pushing back on Nick Kostos’ blatantly untrue claim. Even Dave Meltzer, who is infamous for not giving American women’s matches the ratings they deserve, gave the women’s triple threat five stars (he gave Punk vs. Reigns vs. Rollins four and three-quarters, for the record).

I’m happy that Punk is proud of himself for where he is in his career heading into WrestleMania 42. He has every reason to be happy with his current position. But he could have just sat back and let Kostos say he had the best match at WrestleMania last year, and I’m glad he was honest enough to make the correction.

If there’s one thing CMLL hasn’t been shy about in recent years, it’s forming partnerships with international promotions. The lucha libre powerhouse has long been in business with New Japan Pro Wrestling, and over the last few years has formed strong alliances with American promotions MLW and AEW. Now they’ve added another promotion to their alliance, one all the way in the Great White North.

On “CMLL Informa” Wednesday night, Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling promoter Scott D’Amore appeared to announce a new partnership between CMLL and MLP. The announcement was further solidified in a press release on Thursday featured on MLP’s website.

“This partnership represents a meaningful step forward in building a truly international wrestling ecosystem,” D’Amore said in a statement. “CMLL is one of the most respected organizations in the sport, and together we intend to create compelling matchups, unforgettable events, and new opportunities for talent to perform on a global stage.”

“This alliance reflects our shared vision of growing professional wrestling beyond traditional borders,” CMLL President Salvador Lutteroth III said. “By bringing our athletes to new audiences and embracing cooperative promotion, we are creating fresh experiences for fans in both countries. Only in Arena México, one of four different arenas owned by CMLL in Mexico, we managed to bring in over 1 Million fans into the Cathedral of Lucha Libre, and we are excited to have those fans witness the matches and action that the pairing of CMLL and MLP will bring to audiences.”

The CMLL/MLP partnership was strongly hinted at on Tuesday’s Arena Mexico show, when MLP Women’s Canadian Champion Gisele Shaw defended her championship against Sanely. The first formal match of the partnership will occur this Friday, however, when AEW star and MLP Canadian Champion Josh Alexander puts the championship on the line against CMLL luchador Esfinge.

When AEW first descended upon Australia for “Grand Slam: Australia” last year, it was a tremendous success, drawing one of AEW’s highest Saturday ratings of the year, in large part thanks to a lead-in by NBA All-Star Weekend. Despite that, questions loomed over how “Grand Slam: Australia” would do one year later; while the show was now airing in its normal time, in contrast to its late start in 2025, it not only didn’t have the All-Star Weekend lead-in, but in fact had to go against some of the competitions, as well as the 2026 Winter Olympic Games.

And yet, even with the stiff competition, “Grand Slam: Australia” was a ratings success for the second year in a row. Wrestlenomics and Programming Insider report that the show drew 561K total viewers and 0.10 in the coveted 18-49 demographic. Both numbers were well up from the previous week’s “AEW Collision” episode, with total viewers rising 45% from 388K, while 18-49 was up 43% with 0.07. The news was even better against the four week average, with total viewership up 66% from 337K, while the 18-49 demo rose 100% from 0.05.

Compared to the first edition of “Grand Slam: Australia,” the 2026 show matched up better in some categories than others. In total viewership, 2026 proved to be better than 2025, which drew 502K total viewers. However, most of those 2025 viewers were younger, with the 18-49 number of 0.21 comfortably defeating 2026’s 0.10.

“Grand Slam: Australia 2026” was headlined by one of the most talked about AEW World Championship matches in recent memory, as MJF put the belt on the line against rising star Brody King. In the end, despite support from Bandido and the Australian crowd, King was unable to wrest the title away from MJF, who defeated King with a Heatseeker.