Last night on “WWE NXT,” Tatum Paxley lost the Women’s North American Title to Zaria in the main event of the show, and now that her near 100-day reign has come to an end, it seems like the 29-year-old could be leaving the developmental brand.

Following Paxley’s loss, a fan in attendance at “NXT” took to social media to share that she was saying farewell to the crowd, indicating that it was her last match for the brand. Shortly afterwards, multiple posts emerged online of Paxley hugging fans at ringside, creating further speculation that she’s headed to WWE’s main roster.

“After the defeat, Tatum Paxley was seen interacting with the fans and starring in a moment that sounded like a farewell. Fans are already raising speculations about a possible move up to the Main Roster. Will the next destination be RAW or SmackDown?”

Após a derrota, Tatum Paxley foi vista interagindo com os fãs e protagonizando um momento que soou como uma despedida.

Os fãs já levantam especulações sobre uma possível subida ao Main Roster. Será que o próximo destino é o RAW ou o SmackDown? #WWENXT pic.twitter.com/3UUAjrYZtc

— Women’s Wrestling Brasil (@AcervoWWBR) June 10, 2026

“You will always be the heart and soul of NXT. You will always be our PAX.”

Tatum

You will always be the heart and soul of NXT

you will always be our PAX @TatumPaxley #ThankYouTatum pic.twitter.com/Jp91j5ICkZ

— Esteban Cardenas (@ECBITW) June 10, 2026

Although Paxley’s potential departure from “NXT” feels sudden, she’s earned the opportunity to be called up after wrestling on the show for over four years and winning two of the most prestigious titles in the brand’s women’s division. Before holding the Women’s North American Title, Paxley enjoyed a short reign as NXT Women’s Champion when she defeated Jacy Jayne for the gold last October. However, with Paxley not having much left to accomplish in “NXT,” a transition to the main roster seems appropriate given how long she’s been assigned to the brand, and having dropped the Women’s North American Title to Zaria last night.

If Paxley gets called-up in the near future, she will be the twelfth star from “NXT” that has officially become a member of the main roster this year. 

The June 5 edition of “WWE SmackDown” has had a slight fall in viewership and a marginal gain in the ratings. 

The show, which was held at the Unipol Arena in Bologna, Italy, drew just over a million viewers, averaging 1,089,000 viewers, slightly down from the previous week’s audience of 1,096,000, according to “Programming Insider.” The blue brand has witnessed a drop in viewership over the last two weeks, and last week’s show in Italy was also lower than the four-week average of 1,204,000, as per “Wrestlenomics.”

While viewership saw a dip, the other important metric, the 18-49 key demographic rating, increased from the previous week. The June 5 show rose from 0.23 to 0.24 and was also No. 1 on cable for the night in the 18-49 category.

It should be noted that the show, which was the final show for the Blue brand on its European tour, was taped. “SmackDown” will return to airing live this week, when the Friday night show returns to the United States for an event at the Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence, Rhode Island. The show will feature two first-round matches for the King of the Ring and the Queen of the Ring, with the winner of the King of the Ring match facing off against Je’Von Evans in the semi-finals, while the winner of the women’s match will go up against Liv Morgan.

Matt Hardy is optimistic about the future of Chad Gable in WWE and has outlined what he would do with him following the success of the El Grande Americano storyline.

Hardy began by stating that he has always been a fan of Gable and is proud to see his success. He thinks WWE should allow him to continue this momentum, as he has built a lot of equity since portraying the El Grande Americano character.

“If I was WWE, I would find a way, I would map out some sort of plan that you’re going to utilize this guy in a way that’s going to put him in a position to succeed,” he said on “The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy” podcast. “I would definitely start with making him Intercontinental Champion, no doubt. I would start him in the middle of the pack. I would let him continue to build up momentum. I would try to get him as over as you could possibly get him and see how greatly this momentum is being carried, because I feel like this match was watched by a ton of people.”

Gable, who has yet to win a singles title on the WWE main roster, previously had a chance to win the Intercontinental Championship during his feud with GUNTHER. But, with greater momentum and fan backing, Hardy believes that WWE should put the strap on him and then move him up the card.

“It would start with him with an Intercontinental title run, and then I would try and push him up into that top stratosphere of that world title scene and see if his momentum continues, if he can deliver, if he can live up to it. I would give him a test because he proved himself in this, and he made people believers,” Hardy stated.

The veteran star thinks that Gable emerged as the winner from his feud with the other El Grande Americano, despite losing the match in AAA.

Bully Ray has drawn parallels between the reception Oba Femi and LA Knight received on a recent edition of “WWE Raw,” arguing that the former is connecting with fans better.

Femi has quickly become a fan favorite in WWE, as evidenced on this week’s “Raw” in Paris, France, where he had the crowd bobbing to his music, chanting his name, and hanging on every word he said during his segment with Dominik Mysterio. Ray compared Femi’s reaction to that of LA Knight and first discussed why the former seems to have won over the fans.

“If you compare the Oba Femi segment and the LA Knight segment and how the fans are reacting to these two talents, because there’s lots of fan interaction when these guys are in the middle of the ring,” he began on “Busted Open.” “Oba has everybody on the edge of their seats, listening and hanging on every word he says, and they are responding to what Oba is saying, about the story they are telling in the ring. They’re responding to Oba saying that he’s gonna decimate every man in the King of the Ring. They’re responding to Oba saying he’s gonna go on to win the King of the Ring. They respond to him talking about Paul Heyman. They respond to him talking about Brock Lesnar. They obviously responded to him after the physicality last night with Dom Mysterio and the rest of the guys in the Judgment Day.”

Femi will face Dominik in the semifinals of the King of the Ring tournament, where he could meet LA Knight, the other wrestler mentioned in Ray’s comparison.

LA Knight, too, had a promo segment on “WWE Raw,” where he came face-to-face with Jey Uso, whom he will face as well as Finn Balor and Royce Keys, in their first round match on “WWE SmackDown.” Ray feels that fans react to Knight’s taglines, but beyond that, fans aren’t responding much in comparison to Oba Femi.

“With LA Knight, what are they responding to?” he asked. “So I’m using Oba as my comparison, as to here’s one guy that’s holding the people, here’s another guy that’s not able to hold people, and I think that’s why we’re in the spot that we’re in with LA Knight for so long now. He hasn’t been able to hold the people past his taglines, and there’s always some kind of tiny little thing that goes wrong for him.  Whether it’s him slipping on a rope, whether it’s the microphone being thrown to him and him dropping it. All those little things, every segment there seems to be something that you’re just like, oh man, oh crap, you know, like something always happening.”

Ray feels that fans aren’t emotionally invested in Knight, while he also thinks that he hasn’t progressed on the main roster, which could be a source of frustration for the former WWE United States Champion. 

Former WWE star Alba Fyre, aka Kay Lee Ray, has discussed her switch to being a tag team wrestler in WWE, and whether she was keen to do it. 

Ray, after joining WWE, worked as a singles star, becoming the NXT UK Women’s Champion, before feuding with Isla Dawn and later teaming with her. In an interview with the “Daily Star,” Ray detailed how she enjoyed being a tag team star, as well as alongside Chelsea Green and Piper Niven in the Secret Hervice faction.

“I’d been singles for a long time, so it was good to get into like some tag team stuff with Isla. Like, we had a good feud as well. I think we work really well together. Enjoyed the feud we had together, and then that came into the tag team stuff. And again, it’s just another character for me. I’m always going to try and do that to my best ability. Same with the Secret Hervice stuff. Like, it wouldn’t have been my go-to, but I had a lot of fun doing that,” she said.

Ray exited WWE earlier this year after her deal with the promotion expired. She commended her former stablemate Piper Niven for standing by her after her time with WWE came to an end, despite the serious neck injuries she is dealing with.

“My husband and Piper [supported me after my WWE exit]. She’s doing great. And for someone that’s been through what she’s been through, for her to actually be there still for me is incredible,” added Ray.

Since her WWE exit, Ray has competed in the UK for Pro Wrestling EVE, defeating Molly Spartan in her first match back in the ring.