After defeating CM Punk to become the new World Heavyweight Champion at WrestleMania 42, Roman Reigns announced that he is done with being a part-time star and will be featured on WWE’s weekly television all summer. So far, the “OTC” has continued to show up on “WWE Raw” in the lead up to Backlash and was scheduled to appear on several dates in May and June, but shortly after those dates were made public, he was pulled from all events next month.

Reigns being absent in June quickly led to speculation about the sudden change, with it being reported that WWE had decided to not use the world champion at next month’s Premium Live Event, Night of Champions in Saudi Arabia. Additionally, rumors began to circulate about Reigns being asked to take a pay cut, especially with recent news about WWE requesting that some of its talent agree to a reduced salary, or that he could possibly lose his championship in his title defense tomorrow night at Backlash against Jacob Fatu. However, according to Dave Meltzer in the “Wrestling Observer Newsletter,” the plan is for Reigns to return in July to build towards SummerSlam after fulfilling his May schedule on “Raw,” which includes wrestling at Clash in Italy on the last day of the month.

Meltzer claimed his sources indicated that Reigns shouldn’t have originally been advertised for the dates in June with those plans not being officially confirmed. Additionally, he noted that WWE often doesn’t have its creative plans mapped out when advertising specific talent two months in advance unless it’s an event like WrestleMania. Meltzer also shut down rumors about Reigns being asked to take less money, saying he would be the last star on the roster to accept a pay cut.

UFC Hall of Famer Chael Sonnen continued his war of words with Jorge Masvidal. 

Sonnen drew the ire of Masvidal after claiming he would never be fighting in the UFC again, despite what Masvidal himself had been claiming, and the pair have been going back-and-forth whenever the other’s name has been brought up in interviews. 

That continued earlier this week as Ariel Helwani asked Sonnen about his ongoing issues with Masvidal, and the Hall of Famer reiterated his belief that Masvidal will never fight for UFC again. Though he did have to offer some backhanded respect for one thing in particular.

“Jorge Masvidal did not respect his own career enough to stick a needle in his a** every now and then,” he said. “That’s a little bit of a let down. ‘I’ll do anything to win,’ well you didn’t do that Jorge.”

Helwani pushed back on that, asking how Sonnen knows that to be the case. But Sonnen continued to defend Masvidal as a clean fighter, even if he is a part of one of the ‘dirtiest gyms in sport.’ 

“Jorge is clean. Jorge is a really good fighter, I don’t love the heat with Jorge. Jorge is a really good fighter and I enjoyed all of Jorge’s career. But, no, he did it clean. He’s at one of the most dirty gyms in the history of sport. But he did it the right way, I’ve got to give him that. He never cheated.” 

In case one was under the illusion they were burying the hatchet, Sonnen still took the chance during the interview to rail on Masvidal as done with the UFC and greatly out of shape. 

“I don’t take Jorge as an equal,” he said of a potential fight with him. “He is claiming he is going to fight in the Octagon, and I don’t come to hurt his dreams, I come to him to get his life on track… I would never turn down a fight with Jorge Masvidal, but I would never seek a fight with Jorge Masvidal.”

JBL has discussed a recent WWE release, Aleister Black, and how he sees main event potential in him.

Black, who returned to WWE just last year after spending a few years in AEW following his initial WWE release, was let go by the TKO-owned promotion as part of its post-WrestleMania cuts. When he returned to WWE, many believed Black would be used more effectively due to his relationship with Triple H, but that wasn’t the case. Speaking on ” Something to Wrestle,” JBL said he still believes Black can be a success, pointing to one key issue with his character: a lack of depth.

“I think there’s some type of innate aura or charisma with him, that there’s something that draws you to him. He’s got something there that is very appealing, and I think he’s very talented,” he explained. “The depth is what gets you. Once you’re one-dimensional … you know, it’s the old thing. Once you’ve got the monster and you beat him, the monster’s dead. You got a giant and you beat him, the giant’s dead.”

The WWE Hall of Famer praised Black, calling him someone who can be a main event player, but said that it can happen only after the former WWE star changes himself a bit.

“I think Aleister is a main event guy, and I think Aleister has to change,” he began. “Think about the guys who’ve gone away and have come back. Something has changed in them. They’ve done something to modify their character. They’ve done something to get over whatever that is.”

He feels Black needs to figure out something different, as whatever he has done hasn’t quite worked, which could be down to creative or himself. JBL thinks Black has to experiment and try different things to see what could work for him. 

Next month the shareholders lawsuit against WWE is scheduled to begin. Several key members in WWE/TKO have been deposed including Vince McMahon, Nick Khan, Mark Shapiro, Ari Emmanuel, Stephanie McMahon in relation to the lawsuit.

Khan was deposed in December 2025. During testimony, he was aware that Vince was being investigated for sex trafficking by the DOJ. According to POST Wrestling, Khan stated that he was aware that sex trafficking was in the subpoena that was served to WWE sometime after September 2, 2022. At first, Khan claimed he didn’t recall anything about “sex crimes” in the search warrants, but when attorney Edward Tomlin told Khan that the grand jury subpoena contained statutes regarding sex trafficking, Khan replied, “in hearing you say it, I do recall when I read the grand jury subpoena that it said something about trafficking in there.”

The search warrants that Vince’s lawyers received were sent to WWE’s lawyers, according to Khan’s testimony. “When the search warrants for the devices were served upon Vince, Brad Blum, and Vince’s personal assistant and when those warrants were sent from Vince’s lawyers to WWE’s lawyers, and they were read to me and it included sex trafficking is when I was aware of it.” POST Wrestling points out that this means that Vince’s law firm had government documents several years prior to a statement that Vince made in 2025 stating that the DOJ was only looking into accounting matters.

In January 2024, Janel Grant filed a civil lawsuit against Vince and WWE in which she alleges she was sexually assaulted by Vince, sex trafficked to John Laurinaitis, and forced to sign an NDA under duress. She was also directed by Vince to send explicit photos and videos to Brock Lesnar. Last month, Grant submitted a declaration on why the lawsuit should not go to arbitration. Vince and WWE have until May 13 to submit any arguments in relation to Grant’s declaration.

Paul Heyman has lost a huge client in Brock Lesnar following Lesnar’s retirement, but seems to be eyeing someone else from the WWE roster. 

Heyman, who has a history of managing some of the biggest names in the business, including Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns, and CM Punk, was recently asked by “ESPN” if he sees potential in any young stars to manage. While he answered in the affirmative, he didn’t reveal the name of the star that he wants to manage.

“Yes,” he replied when asked if there’s a young talent he wants to manage. “Well, [I won’t tell you then name] then I’m giving away my secrets, right? I mean a direct question, as Stephen A. [Smith] will attest, it’s like testifying in front of Congress. You only answer the question that you’re asked. Names just off the top of my head? All of them.”

Heyman was then asked by Stephen A. Smith what he looks for in a wrestler before considering managing them. The WWE Hall of Famer had a very simple but sophisticated answer to the question.

“The willingness to be subservient to the cause of pure greatness,” Heyman replied when asked what he looks for in a wrestler he manages.

The legendary manager is currently serving as the counsel for The Vision, which consists of Bron Breakker — viewed by many as a future world champion — Logan Paul, and Austin Theory. Heyman also managed Lesnar while leading the group, so he may not necessarily need to bring the unnamed star he wants to manage into the faction. One name that has been linked with Heyman is GUNTHER, whom Heyman still owes a favor after GUNTHER saved him from an attack by another former Heyman client, Seth Rollins.