Posted By: Ben Kerin on Apr 19, 2026 
WWE’s crossover with Kill Tony went off the rails fast, turning a comedy set into pure chaos once The Undertaker showed up.
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Posted By: Ben Kerin on Apr 19, 2026 
Pat McAfee took a brutal beating at WrestleMania 42 and it may have marked the end of his wrestling run.
If you reference any quotes from this piece, please attribute them to the original source, and kindly credit WrestlingNewsSource.com (h/t) for the transcription.
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A chaotic WrestleMania 42 night one main event resulted in Cody Rhodes walking out with the Undisputed WWE Championship still in his grasp. “The American Nightmare” didn’t walk out unscathed, however.
Per Jackie Redmond on the WrestleMania 42 night two pre-show, Rhodes has not been medically cleared following his title defense against Randy Orton in last night’s main event. Furthermore, after emerging from the bout with smears of blood, Rhodes required three stitches to his face and four staples to the back of his head. BodySlam+ has backed the latter in a report stating that its sources indicated that Rhodes’ busted open head necessitated multiple staples afterward.
As for Rhodes’ glaringly swollen eye, WWE is attributing that to the punt kick that Orton unleashed on Rhodes after the title match. Redmond noted that the damage to Rhodes’ orbital socket was so severe that it is still completely swollen shut, even almost a day later. The timetable for Rhodes’ in-ring return is now “up in the air.”
According to PWInsider, Rhodes’ orbital injury resulted from a punch delivered by Orton, just moments before “The Viper” also RKOed referee Charles Robinson. The swelling to Rhodes’ eye was said to have followed.
Due to the aforementioned injuries, Rhodes’ Sunday appearance at WWE World was cancelled. Whether that will snowball into additional absences on WWE programming has yet to be seen.
Rhodes regained the Undisputed WWE Championship by dethroning Drew McIntyre on the March 6 edition of “WWE SmackDown.” Orton earned the right to challenge him at WrestleMania 42 by winning the 2026 Men’s Elimination Chamber.
Former WCW star Van Hammer, whose real name was Mark Hildreth, died at age 66, according to his friend, Marc Mero, who announced the news on Sunday. Mero posted to X (formerly Twitter) about the passing of his friend, and wrote that Hammer’s family and friends are still waiting for answers about his cause of death.
“Mark was a fighter in every sense of the word,” Mero wrote. “Life threw its share of challenges his way, but he had a resilience about him… he always found a way to rise, to push forward, to keep going.”
Mero shared memories of his friend, including when Hammer drove him eight hours to sign his first WCW contract. The pair went through wrestling school together and lived together, all before they were chosen to team up to promote WCW on the road. Mero said his heart went out to Hammer’s fans, friends, and family.
It is with a heavy heart that I share the passing of our dear friend, Mark Hildreth, known to so many as Van Hammer. At this time, we are still awaiting answers regarding the cause, pending an autopsy.
Mark was a fighter in every sense of the word. Life threw its share of… pic.twitter.com/Tb7d0zQtJr
— Marc Mero (@MarcMero) April 19, 2026
Hammer and Mero were signed to WCW by Dusty Rhodes in 1991, and Hammer debuted as a rock star known as “Heavy Metal” Van Hammer and worked for the company through February 1995. After a hiatus from wrestling, he returned as a member of Raven’s Flock in November 1997. After winning a “loser leaves the Flock” match against Perry Saturn in May, he was kicked out of the stable anyway and went on to briefly adopt a hippie gimmick. Throughout his years in WCW, he would challenge for the United States Heavyweight Championship, but would never win gold in his career.
After his departure from WCW in July 2000, Hammer worked in Maryland Championship Wrestling. In 2001, he did a tour for Big Japan Pro Wrestling. His final match took place in MCW in April 2009, where he defeated Champ Champagne.
![[Left] Gilbert Burns and [Right] Mike Malott](https://www.wrestlinginc.com/img/gallery/ufc-fight-night-273-winnipeg-preliminary-main-card-results/intro-1776628781.webp)
UFC Fight Night 273 aired from Winnipeg, Canada, with a headliner pitting Mike Malott against Gilbert Burns at welterweight.
The preliminary card kicked off with a first-round knockout for John Yannis over Jamie Siraj at bantamweight, followed by another bantamweight bout that saw John Castenada and Mark Vologdin fight to a Majority Draw (29-27, 28-28, 28-28).
JJ Aldrich defeated Jamey-Lyn Horth at flyweight via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) and Melissa Croden similarly scored a UD over Daria Zhelszniakova with the same scores at bantamweight. Gokhan Saricam scored a second-round knockout over Tanner Boser via round-two knockout at heavyweight, Robert Valentin submitted Julien Leblanc with a first-round submission via rear choke at middleweight, and Marcio Barbosa knocked Dennis Buzukja via TKO in round one at featherweight.
The main card opened with a Split Decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) win for Gauge Young over Thiago Moises at lightweight, and then Jasmine Jusdavicius defeated Karine Silva via UD (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) at flyweight.
Jai Herbert scored the first TKO of the main card over Mandel Nallo at lightweight, followed by another UD victory with the same score splits as before for Charles Jourdan over Kyler Phillips at bantamweight.
In the main event, Malott defeated Burns in the Performance of the Night via TKO in Round Three, with Burns calling it quits in the post-fight interview after 14 years. Two more weeks of Fight Night events separate now from UFC 328, due to be headlined by Khamzat Chimaev’s defense of the UFC Middleweight Championship against Sean Strickland, on May 9.
