Despite Cody Rhodes failing to become world champion at WrestleMania 39 and The Rock versus Roman Reigns originally being slated for the main event of WrestleMania 40, WWE President Nick Khan stated earlier this week that the plan for “The American Nightmare” to become Undisputed WWE Champion at WrestleMania 40 “never changed.” Some have questioned Khan’s remarks about his statement given that the road to WrestleMania seemed to have many different destinations, and there’s now been an update regarding the company President’s comments.

During a recent edition of the “Wrestling Observer Newsletter,” Dave Meltzer claimed that Rhodes over Reigns for the championship was truly always the plan, but when the title win was going to happen is what changed. At first, WrestleMania 40 was earmarked for Rhodes to become champion, but when The Rock signed on to wrestle for the show, WWE pushed their plans to a later date. However, after WWE received online backlash for booking Rhodes to give up his title opportunity following his Royal Rumble win, the promotion decided to go with its original plan at WrestleMania 40.

Although WWE chose to revert to Rhodes over Reigns at “The Show of Shows,” Meltzer also noted that the perception that the company never changed their creative plans in the lead up to the event is “ridiculous.” Additionally, WWE also released its own documentary, “WrestleMania XL: Behind the Curtain,” that details plans being altered for the main event, despite shying away from some of the real story. Meltzer also wrote that many close to the situation felt that Khan’s comments on WrestleMania 40 were misinterpreted and that the story played out the way it was intended.

At the age of 22, Je’Von Evans is currently the youngest member of WWE’s main roster. Nevertheless, he’s managed to form solid friendships with the roster’s more experienced names, including former WWE Women’s World Champion Becky Lynch.

According to Lynch, Evans has even gone as far as referring to her as his honorary mother.

“Around the business, we’ve got Je’Von Evans, who’s 21. He’s younger than my wrestling career. He calls me mom,” Lynch said on What’s Your Story?” “‘Mom, mama.’ Because I’m old enough to be his mom. I’m so proud of him. I’m like ‘Oh, son! Look at you. Look at you out there main eventing Elimination Chamber.’ I just think he’s the coolest. He’s so awesome. The confidence that he has, the ability that he has, and his promo, everything. I’m like this kid’s a star.”

When podcast host and former WWE executive Stephanie McMahon suggested that Evans was unaware of his star power, Lynch doubled down on her belief that he actually was aware. “I think he knows,” she said. “He’s gotta know, man. You can’t be that cool without knowing.”

Evans officially joined WWE’s main roster in January 2026 as a part of the “WWE Raw” brand, where Lynch herself has resided for several years. In addition to “The Man” Evans has cited the likes of Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Randy Orton, and CM Punk as mentor figures to him amongst the “Raw” and “WWE SmackDown” brands. John Cena also remains a source of guidance for the young star, even in retirement.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “What’s Your Story?” with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

From being a marquee tag team star in The Acclaimed to the “5-Tool Player,” and now one of Samoa Joe’s boys in The Opps, Anthony Bowens has had quite the character transformation in the singles division. When speaking with “Studio 1 Sports,” the former AEW World Tag Team and Trios Champion described how he’s weathered the storms of these character changes, and what led for them to never take off the way he envisioned them to.

“If you were actually watching the show, and not just, like, picking things up randomly, we were moving in a specific direction, where my character was starting to…it was losing a lot of matches and he was getting frustrated…The love was going to Max Caster and not to me. And then slowly, people weren’t buying into this ‘corny’ ‘Five-Tool Player’ thing, which was by design,” he said. “You know, think Rocky Maivia [in] 1996, where it’s like this hokey version of him slowly descends into The Rock, slowly descending into this character, this ‘Pride of Pro Wrestling’ guy, who goes, ‘do all of this stuff for the industry and for the company. You should love me. You shouldn’t love Max Caster…’ How do I descend and fall off a cliff, and where do I get that adulation from? Never got to get to that point, creative changed.”

Keeping realism in the forefront of his newly chosen path, Bowens is excited to sink his teeth into this new opportunity with the Opps. Since joining the stable, he has gained one victory with Joe against The Lethal Twist (Jay Lethal and Lee Johnson), and one loss at the hands of The Death Riders. Since his return last April, Bowens has had his eye on the TNT Championship, currently held by Kevin Knight.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “Studio 1 Sports Channel” with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

Before WWE WrestleMania 40, Seth Rollins didn’t have many opportunities to interact with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson both inside the ring and behind the scenes, with “The Great One” having shifted most of his focus to Hollywood by the time Rollins joined the promotion. However, since the night one main event between Rollins and Cody Rhodes against The Rock and Roman Reigns at WrestleMania, “The Architect” has grown closer to the WWE Hall Of Famer, and during a recent interview with “Prince St. Pizza,” he praised Johnson for his mentorship. 

“I got to know him on a bit of a personal level as well, and that was extremely beneficial for me. He’s just such a good guy. I consider him a bit of a mentor now. He was kind enough to have my family and I to his Moana 2 premiere out in Hawaii. Brought us to the resort there and we were able to hang out and see the thing on the lawn. My daughter, she’s five, she loved it,” he explained. “He doesn’t have to come back to WWE and wrestle. He doesn’t have to offer these types of things to you and your family, but he does … people in his position get a bad rap sometimes and he himself gets a bad rap. It’s all bulls**t. He’s a good dude.”

Rollins also explained that the most fascinating part about getting to know The Rock was understanding his process, as he watched his rise to being the biggest movie star in the world and becoming one of the most recognizable public figures today, but still had the passion to return to professional wrestling.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “Prince St. Pizza” with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

As previously confirmed, “WWE SmackDown” will continue to air for three hours through the end of this month, with the final three-hour show of the year on June 26. From July until December, it will revert to a two-hour format, and it seems that will become a familiar pattern, according to Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

“The current plan is to be three hours every year from January until the end of June, and two hours from July to the end of the year,” Meltzer wrote. That would mean WWE would follow the same schedule in 2027 that it did this year, though it’s not clear how long this will continue, or if it’s part of WWE’s current agreement with USA Network parent company NBCUniversal.

It was previously speculated that the three-hour “SmackDown” run could end sooner, as Braun Strowman’s “Everything on the Menu” has returned for its second season. For now, “SmackDown” will end at 11 p.m. ET and Strowman’s show will air immediately after. When “SmackDown’s” schedule changes in July, Strowman’s show will move to 10 p.m. ET.