WWE has undergone many changes over the last few years, beginning when Vince McMahon first stepped down from the company in June 2022, to his return the following January to reportedly help orchestrate a sale of the company, to when WWE merged with UFC to create TKO Group Holdings. WWE President Nick Khan, who joined the company in August 2020, sat down on the “Bill Simmons Podcast” ahead of WrestleMania 42 and spoke about some of the changes between the regimes, including how they schedule their own big events around other major things going on in the sports world.

“Coming out of COVID, we looked at our premium live events calendar and we had one… This is in 2021, and I asked [McMahon], ‘Why are we going up against Tom Brady’s return with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at New England?'” Khan said. “He was like, ‘I don’t know. What should we do?’ I said, ‘Just move to Saturday night. I rather go up against Alabama at LSU in its prime than Tom Brady’s return to New England with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.’ ‘Great, do it.’ It was very easy to sort of make those changes, which we did.”

Khan said that they made sure to book WWE WrestleMania 42 around the NCAA’s Final Four weekend, after WrestleMania 40 in Philadelphia fell on the weekend. He said the event was the last deal they “inherited,” presumably from McMahon. He explained that the Royal Rumble has been moved to run the weekend between the NFL conference finals and the Super Bowl, rather than running conference championship weekend itself. Since the move, Khan said “ratings skyrocketed” for the event.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit “The Bill Simmons Podcast” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

Following WrestleMania 42, WWE kickstarted its annual releases, with many surprising names announced to have parted ways with the promotion like Bo Dallas and the entire Wyatt Sicks, Aleister Black and Zelina Vega, and Kairi Sane, amongst many others.

Naturally, many fans are up in arms about the releases online, especially with the Wyatt Sicks, who had a high-profile debut, and Aleister Black, who was released almost a year to the date from his return to WWE. However, not only are fans upset about the announcements, but Rhea Ripley briefly shared her thoughts on all her former colleagues’ parting with WWE. 

“Today’s been a very sad day… Absolutely guttered (sic) for my friends and comrades Worst time of the year. Go prove them all wrong,” Ripley posted on X.

Amidst the releases, the newly crowned WWE Women’s Champion returned to “SmackDown” to celebrate her victory, cutting a promo on her defeated rival Jade Cargill before calling for an open challenge. At the same time as the many WWE releases, there were several “NXT” callups, like the Fatal Influence stable, who answered Ripley’s challenge. Jacy Jayne then got a shot at the title, in a heated match that ended in a Disqualification, as the rest of Fatal Influence attacked her.

Ripley, having parted ways with Iyo Sky, has few allies left in WWE and will likely have to take on the entire Fatal Influence in the coming weeks to get her win back in after the beatdown. If anything, Ripley’s post and interaction on screen with the new call-ups show the brutal reality of WWE and how the show must absolutely go on.

While six years removed from his in-ring retirement, WWE Hall of Famer The Undertaker is still quite in tune with today’s pro wrestling landscape thanks to his creative work in AAA and coaching for “WWE LFG.” During an interview with “Nightcap,” The Undertaker revealed which modern-era wrestler has particularly impressed him.

“Oh man, I tell you because he’s such an old school guy, probably won’t be received real well, but I love GUNTHER. I do. I absolutely do,” Undertaker said. “There’s no flash. There’s no flash. What you get is somebody going in there and he’s going to stomp your guts out. He’s going to chop you up. He’s going to beat you up. He ain’t flying around, doing a bunch of silly stuff. He’s in there and he’s just a serious character. He’s a throwback. He’s a throwback to a different generation. It just lets you know that what is old can be new again.”

Throughout his WWE career, GUNTHER has prided himself on presenting himself in an “old-school” manner, with his in-ring aggressiveness and seriousness as nods to the mentality of previous wrestling eras, such as The Undertaker’s. Interestingly, GUNTHER has even tangled up with some of the figures from The Undertaker’s past, such as Goldberg and John Cena. 

Most recently, “The Ring General” defeated Seth Rollins, a fellow former World Heavyweight Champion, on night one of WWE WrestleMania 42. The Undertaker last competed in a Boneyard Match against AJ Styles — whom GUNTHER retired earlier this year — at WrestleMania 36.

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

Former WWE Women’s United States Champion Zelina Vega was amongst the pro wrestlers who parted ways with the promotion yesterday, along with her husband, Aleister Black. The highest point of her career with WWE was arguably while she held the title, but according to Vega during a Twitch livestream, it wasn’t something she enjoyed.

“I didn’t like it,” she stated after reading a fan’s question about how WWE handled her run with the title. “Because I wanted to do so much more with that. I asked, and begged, and pleaded, and screamed; I wanted that title to be the workhorse title.” 

Vega further added that she even wanted to defend the title in Japan and Mexico as well as defend it more on WWE in order to build the legitimacy of the championship, but met too much resistance from management.

Vega’s Women’s US Championship run notably coincided with Aleister Black’s return to the promotion, and in an interview with “Busted Open Radio” the night after his return, Vega still gleefully looked toward the future. At the time, she described feeling like she had just experienced a “fairytale ending,” and that things had finally become more stable for the two of them, as they could focus on the chapter ahead instead.

Unfortunately for the couple, the dream didn’t go as planned. Now that they’re both released from WWE, they have an opportunity to go elsewhere and reestablish themselves, especially for Vega, who has been with WWE since 2017, outside of a brief release in 2020.