UFC President Dana White has provided an update on Maya Gebala and the process of paying for her treatment after the Tumbler Ridge mass shooting. 

A 12-year-old girl critically injured in the shooting in British Columbia, Canada, Maya has been confirmed by her family to be in a stable condition an moved out of the Intensive Care Unit. Her family also confirmed that, after much consideration and trepidation, they had accepted White’s offer to help her to recover in the United States in Los Angeles. 

Speaking more on the matter during the UFC Fight Night 273 Post-Event Press Conference in Winnipeg on Saturday, White recalled simply seeing the shooting on the news and subsequently reaching out to the family. 

“I said, ‘I’ll help. I’d like to help in any way I can.’ Obviously the situation that she’s in… When you’re a parent, you want the best possible care and they felt – I don’t want to s*** on anybody, it’s not really my place to talk about this publicly – but they wanted to give their daughter the best chance they could and there’s some great places in LA.”

White continued to name Houston and Seattle as other potentially “great” places to recover, and said they are still working through the details. 

“It’s not as easy as it sounds,” he continued. “Some guy with money jumps in and everything happens. It’s not that easy. You would be f***ing disgusted to know how hard it really is. So, me and my team have been working on it. Lenee [Breckenridge] and Hunter [Campbell] too have both been helping me with this thing. So, yeah, it’s still a work in progress. But I’m gonna do my best.” 

While the Cody Rhodes-Randy Orton-Pat McAfee story may have taken up most of the oxygen heading into WWE WrestleMania 42, many fans agreed that the feud between CM Punk and Roman Reigns was the most personal rivalry. That played out during the half-hour the two shared on Sunday night to close out WrestleMania, with Reigns ultimately proving to be the better man, defeating Punk and winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, the first world title Reigns has held in two years.

After the match, Reigns joined the WrestleMania post-show panel to discuss his big win. For the first time since his rivalry with Punk started, Reigns gave credit to Punk, admitting that while they may never see eye to eye, Punk had earned Reigns’ respect with his performance, believing the former champion left everything he had in the ring to try and defeat Reigns.

Beyond giving credit where credit was due, Reigns mostly focused on himself and his own performance. And it was obvious the moment meant a great deal to Reigns, as he took a minute to soak in the reaction of the crowd watching his interview before finally giving his feelings on the night.

“It feels good,” Reigns said. “It feels as it should. And that’s what’s so pure about our business is we know right away. We know right away! There’s nothing like this here, huh? That’s the beauty of how subjective this is. We go out there and we lay our art on the line. You have two extreme examples of professional wrestlers, of sports entertainers, and me and CM Punk. And somehow, we can go out there and we can find the middle. That’s why I love this business.”

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Although the events that followed the match last night could imply that Lesnar’s entering retirement, there’s a few key factors at play that I believe indicate WrestleMania was not the last time fans will see the 48-year-old.

Firstly, Lesnar’s actions could’ve been a way to turn him babyface going into a retirement run, and considering who is final opponent might be, it would be more fitting for him to close the final chapter of his career as a hero. Two weeks ago, former World Heavyweight Champion GUNTHER informed Paul Heyman that he’s owed a favor after he saved him from an irate Seth Rollins, who had just been medically cleared. The interaction between both characters was brief, but it was enough to tease a potential match with Lesnar, and with GUNTHER having become the “Career Killer” over the past year by putting Goldberg, John Cena and AJ Styles into retirement, “The Conqueror” could be the next name to join the list.

Additionally, this upcoming August, WWE’s second biggest Premium Live Event of the year SummerSlam will take place in Lesnar’s hometown of Minneapolis, Minnesota, which would be the ideal destination for him to hang up his boots. Therefore, with the seeds already being planted for a match against GUNTHER, and one of WWE’s most high profile events occurring in his backyard this summer, I don’t believe that Lesnar has completely called it quits. After all, many other legends in wrestling have returned after teasing retirement, and Lesnar could possibly be no different.

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Some of WWE star CM Punk’s best work on the mic has arguably been while he was a heel, and while he’s comfortable as a babyface, Punk had memorable runs as the villainous leader of both the Straight Edge Society and the New Nexus. During an appearance on “Complex,”  Punk acknowledged that he sees himself as his “GOAT heel” in pro wrestling, but that doesn’t mean he’s ready to bring that side of himself back. 

“What’s so strange about that is everybody loves me now,” he noted. “You’ll be such a great villain that people wind up loving you.” Punk then claimed how fans approach him these days and keep asking him to turn heel, and he isn’t sure he’d be able to do it. “If I turned heel, it would make me an even more enormous babyface; they would still cheer!”

Punk then pointed out how John Cena tried to turn heel last year during his farewell tour, but the move ended up “backfiring” since Cena was still cheered even while antagonizing the audience. “People just wanted the greatest hits,” he explained. Punk then shifted the conversation away from himself, suggesting that there’s a current day heel he likes but refusing to elaborate on who, pivoting to heels of the past instead. “I think an underrated GOAT [heel] is Sgt. Slaughter,” he concluded.

Considering that Punk has now lost the World Heavyweight Championship since WrestleMania 42 this weekend, it might just be time for him to reconsider his stance on turning heel or not.

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

During Night Two of WWE WrestleMania 42, Rhea Ripley defeated Jade Cargill to become the Women’s Champion for the fourth time. Many fans complained about the short match times, particularly for the women’s matches that took place over the weekend. Then something even more bizarre happened during the lone women’s match on Night Two. The CEO of Viridium, a crypto company, joined commentary for the match, except he didn’t say a word the entire time. Adam Weistman sat next to Wade Barrett and Michael Cole at the announce table and wore a headset, which had no microphone. His name even appeared on screen next to Barrett and Cole’s.

Weistman was introduced before taking a seat at the announce table. In the latest episode of Wrestling Observer, Dave Meltzer said, “he must’ve paid for the right to sit there at the desk…he must’ve paid them all kinds of money so he could sit at the desk like those fans that paid money to have their names on the mat.”

Awful Announcing provided more background on Weistman, who also owns a scrap metal processing company in New York. In addition to his two companies, he and his wife have also invested in real estate and purchased a restaurant. He is also well-known as a booster for Syracuse basketball and has contributed millions of dollars to the NIL program. Weistman appears to be connected to celebrities like Tom Brady, Julian Edelman, and Jimmy Fallon, whom he has brought to games. In 2004, Weistman served eight months in prison for check fraud.