Just when it seemed like Kota Ibushi was poised for a comeback in 2025, it came to an abrupt halt after a spot gone wrong in a match against Josh Alexander led to Ibushi breaking his femur. Despite quickly getting surgery, Ibushi appeared to be in notable pain as he hobbled to the ring for Hiroshi Tanahashi’s retirement ceremony at Wrestle Kingdom, and it was revealed soon after that he had another procedure done.

This recent surgery seems to have gone much better than the first. Taking to Instagram one week ago, Ibushi posted an update following the second surgery, and not only appeared to be in better spirits, but in much better shape. The former IWGP Heavyweight Champion posted four slides with his post; the first showed him flexing, the second showed Ibushi doing squats with very little difficulty, while the third and fourth showed him walking up and down a flight of stairs, showing very little sign of a limp.

Ibushi provided no update on the timetable for his return to the ring. After initially suffering the injury, it was believed that Ibushi would miss nearly two years of ring-time while recovering, though Ibushi expressed optimism he could return before the end of 2026 shortly after his Tokyo Dome appearance. After having his second surgery, Ibushi revealed in a March interview that he was aiming to recover in six months, despite doctors telling him it would take a year.

At the time, Ibushi admitted that he was still limited in his mobility, being able to walk with no difficulty, but not being able to run. Despite his optimism about returning ahead of schedule, Ibushi admitted that his return would be predicated on him doing matches that were “easy,” suggesting it would still take time before he could wrestle at 100% again.

Jade Cargill might not be champion anymore, but she’s come a long way from being the greenest AEW prospect anyone has ever seen.

I’m not sure what I was expecting from Cargill’s WrestleMania outing with Ripley. I figured Ripley would win, but I didn’t think that Cargill would -for lack of a better term- make me into such a believer. She’s often been compared to Lex Luger, since he was also a superathlete who spent a lot of his early days in over his head in wrestling, but like Luger, she is growing into a confident powerhouse, who is aware of her own limitations.

Strong women in WWE can be very hit or miss, but Cargill is proving that she comes from the Chyna/Jazz ass-kicker vein of powerhouse, and as her confidence grows, so to do her abilities. There were numerous times I was prepared for Cargill to get the win, and maybe someday down the road she will. She’s a perfect foil for Ripley, as many women can’t stand toe-to-toe with her the way that Cargill can, and there were glimmers in her match on Sunday that showed she could be sticking around the business a lot longer than her critics predicted.

With Stand & Deliver moved away from WrestleMania weekend this year, “WWE NXT” didn’t have much of a WrestleMania weekend presence, outside of some talents competing at WWE World. Instead, “NXT’ was kept to their usual Tuesday timeslot, airing the first episode of their two week “Revenge” event. And viewership wise, it seems the special event produced mixed results for WWE’s third brand.

Wrestlenomics and Programming Insider report that “NXT Revenge” drew 584K total viewers and 0.09 in the coveted 18-49 demographic. Despite being billed as a bigger than usual episode of “NXT,” the show dipped slightly in total viewership, falling 3% from 605K on April 7. The news was slightly better in 18-49, which was up slightly from 0.08. Against the four week average, total viewership held firm, while 18-49 was up 8%.

Perhaps the most troubling news for “NXT” is the year over year declines the brand has suffered. Total viewership was down from both 2025’s Q1 and April 2025 numbers, though the dips were only 12% and 11% respectively. The real drops were in 18-49, with Q1 2026 down 47% from Q1 2025’s 0.15, while April 2026 was down 50% from April 2025’s 0.16. It’s unclear how much these numbers have been affected by the various changes to Nielsen’s rating system since mid-2025.

Week one of “NXT Revenge” featured two major championship matches coming off Stand & Deliver one week earlier. In the middle of the show, Tony D’Angelo defeated Ethan Page to retain the NXT Championship, while the main event saw Lola Vice make her first successful defense of the NXT Women’s Champion by besting former champion Jacy Jayne.

Popular streamer IShowSpeed, who has amassed nearly 52 million subscribers to his YouTube channel, has gone from the Prime bottle mascot alongside Logan Paul during one of his WWE matches, to getting his very own WrestleMania moment at WWE WrestleMania 42. Speed teamed with Paul and Austin Theory in a loss to The Usos and LA Knight, but emerged a babyface after Paul turned on him after the match.

Speed hit a huge splash from top of the ring post to Paul on the commentary desk below, earning himself and WWE a viral moment for the weekend. One WWE star who was greatly impressed with Speed was former Undisputed WWE Champion Drew McIntyre, who shared a video of himself commending Speed on his Instagram stories.

“The hardest thing you can learn is just be yourself on screen and you just know who you are,” McIntyre told Speed. “Everyone can learn the moves… The personality, knowing who are you between the moves s***, that’s the important stuff… You know who you are, you’re always present out there. I’d say yourself, Logan just got it instantly. Fans know who you all are, the fact they can connect with you, because you know who the f*** you are. Plus, you can do the moves.”

He called Speed’s splash to Paul “unbelievable,” though he was concerned the 21-year-old had broken his ribs. “The Scottish Psychopath” joked in the caption to the story that he left out the part where he had given the influencer social media advice.

McIntyre took on Jacob Fatu in the match following Speed’s night one-opening bout, in an unsanctioned match against Jacob Fatu. He fared about as well as Speed’s team, however, and also took the loss on the “Grandest Stage of Them All.”