This year’s WrestleMania will see Roman Reigns and CM Punk main eventing Night 2, while Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes headline Night 1. While many fans are invested in the Reigns vs. Punk clash, AEW broadcaster Jim Ross is looking forward to the match between Orton and Rhodes just a little bit more.
“I think Cody and Randy, with [Pat] McAfee’s presence, is probably more intriguing than the other one,” JR noted during an episode of his “Grilling JR” podcast. Ross was careful to note that the Night 2 main event doesn’t stink either, saying that WWE has “ended up with a hell of a two-night show!”
Ross maintained that Punk’s match will likely still be great and that he believes the World Heavyweight Champion always delivers, but Orton vs. Rhodes is his preferred main event.
“We’ll see how that works out, but I’m looking forward to Orton and Cody. I think they’ll have a seamless, hard-hitting [match], and they’ll tell a great story,” he said. “The card has got better in the last few days, in my opinion.”
While Ross seems very positive about the bout, other veterans like Bully Ray have lost faith in the big match status of the clash. According to Bully during an episode of “Busted Open Radio,” the inclusion of Pat McAfee and Jelly Roll has diminished the legitimacy of the match.
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit “Grilling JR” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Eddie Hearn has revealed UFC President Dana White tried to sign two-time World Heavyweight Champion boxer Anthony Joshua away from him.
Hearn has promoted Joshua since the Olympic gold medalist turned professional in 2013, with Joshua having since gone on to become British, Commonwealth, and then Unified World Heavyweight Champion. He signed a career-long deal with the Matchroom boxing promoter in 2021, signaling his intent to remain with Hearn for as long as he continues.
But Hearn revealed during “Cigar Talk” that the UFC President had opened negotiations with Joshua two contracts ago.
“I’ll tell you a story because Dana White’s relevant. About two contracts ago, the media run a story: AJ in talks with Dana White. And I’m like, “the f***?” So I go and see AJ and we got a media thing and I went, ‘Yo, what the f***?” And he’s like, ‘Yeah he called me out of the blue.'”
“He went, ‘I told him straight away. I said, I’m with Eddie. But we had a good chat. Like we talked for like half an hour,’ ’cause AJ likes to listen and talk,” Hearn explained.
Hearn said that six months later, he and White had a meeting where he brought up the Joshua talks. He said that White said that Joshua had immediately said he would not be leaving Matchroom. And it’s one of the reasons he maintains that he is indebted to the fighter.
“I was like, ‘Wow,’ and he’s been offered deals along the way when our contract had come to an end that were much better short-term money options for him,” he said. “There ain’t a lot of people like that. Especially in a game like boxing. So I will always be indebted to him.”
White signed former Matchroom boxer Conor Benn to Zuffa Boxing for $15 million earlier this year, while Hearn signed UFC Heavyweight Champion Tom Aspinall as the inaugural talent under Matchroom Talent Agency.
CM Punk isn’t letting things cool off when it comes to Pat McAfee. If anything, he’s turning up the intensity, calling McAfee a “tourist” in the wrestling world and making it clear he’s ready to “get checked” if the situation escalates.
Speaking on the All The Smoke podcast on April 14, 2026, Punk doubled down on the comments he made during RAW, addressing McAfee’s response and explaining why he takes issue with outsiders stepping into the business without fully respecting it.
Punk began by taking a broader look at wrestling’s history of bringing in celebrities and mainstream figures for attention, suggesting that visibility does not always translate into real investment from fans.
“Wrestling, I think, has always sometimes to a fault embraced people that we believe can get eyeballs on our product. And eyeballs on our product and people actually investing and buying tickets are two wildly different things.”
From there, he zeroed in on McAfee’s role, acknowledging his success but questioning how he carries himself within the wrestling space.
“I think Pat was a wrestling fan who became famous outside the bubble and was afforded an opportunity to be invited in. And somewhere along the line, he forgot that he’s a tourist. And to me, the invite can be easily rescinded, you know. Pat’s great at what he does. Pat is not great at what we do when he disrespects the business and says some things out of pocket. He’s going to get checked and he’s going to get checked by me.”
Punk also took aim at McAfee’s recent remarks about ticket sales, arguing that without firsthand experience, those comments carry little weight.
“You can’t be running your mouth about ticket sales and all this other stuff when you’ve never sold a ticket in your life. It’d be like me trying to tell an NBA champion how to shoot a free throw that s*** ain’t going to happen.”
Even with the heated tone, Punk hinted that this may not immediately turn into something bigger, noting that his current focus lies elsewhere.
“I would prefer to not have to deal with Pat. Like I said, it’s Cody’s thing, but we’ll see what happens. We’ll see what happens.”
Punk also shed light on what fueled his recent “Pipe Bomb 2.0” promo, explaining it came from a deeper sense of frustration across WWE rather than just storyline buildup.
“What prompted this was an overall feeling from not just me or not just the boys, but hair and makeup, production, management, the crew. A lot of people were feeling a little bit disrespected and pissed off. So, I had a job to do in my mind. Um, I have to go out there and promote my WrestleMania match with Roman, who’s not in the building. It’s not an easy thing to do. I was out there trying to sell WrestleMania, sell some tickets, make it exciting, make it real, and also like stick up for the business.”
The reference to a “Pipe Bomb” naturally carries weight. Punk’s original 2011 promo changed the course of his career, blurring the line between fiction and reality and leading into his iconic WWE Championship clash with John Cena at Money in the Bank. Because of that history, any similar moment immediately draws comparisons, and Punk acknowledged that this latest version was rooted in real emotion as much as promotion.
He also opened up about his time away from wrestling following his WWE exit in 2014, revealing just how disconnected he became from the industry.
“I was out of sight, out of mind with it. I didn’t watch wrestling. I didn’t pay attention to wrestling. I didn’t really have an itch or anything like that. The first time I really paid attention to wrestling again was when my wife was wrestling at WrestleMania, and I wanted to watch her match. That was probably the first time I tuned back in after I left.”
That period saw Punk step away entirely before eventually returning to wrestling years later, first with AEW and then making his high-profile WWE comeback in 2023. His return has since led him to one of the biggest matches of his career.
When asked where his WrestleMania 42 showdown with Roman Reigns ranks, Punk didn’t hesitate to put it at the very top.
“I’d say it’s the biggest. And it’s not hard to say that. I think every match I’m going to have is going to be the biggest match, but this one especially, it’s WrestleMania, it’s Roman Reigns. You tune in to Monday Night Raw, you’ll be hard pressed to find me saying anything nice about him, but I think in this setting, you can’t deny who he is and what he’s done and the levels that he has helped bring this company to a huge superstar. And anytime you get two people who can arguably be called like the best of their generations colliding you’re going to see two of the best.”
New viewership figures have been revealed for the April 6, 2026 episode of WWE Raw, with performance remaining largely consistent compared to the previous week.
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Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn said his agency deal with UFC Heavyweight Champion Tom Aspinall had given him new insight into contracts the promotion holds with its fighters.
Hearn announced Aspinall as the inaugural signing of his Matchroom Talent Agency in March, inking a multi-year deal to represent the UFC star moving forward. It stirred up media speculation at the time given Hearn and Dana White’s back-and-forth over Zuffa Boxing’s entry into the market; Zuffa signed Matchroom boxer Conor Benn for $15 million to stamp the first marked shift in the jibes.
Speaking during “Cigar Talk,” Hearn said that the Aspinall deal came together after his dad reached out and asked about representation. He said it allowed him to look at UFC’s business, contracts, and generate noise in a public profile perspective. But he also believes he could do a good job of representing Aspinall, and feels he has been doing so already.
“It’s frightening what I see when I open up those contracts,” he continued. “I mean we live in a world in boxing where, and good luck to them, but fighters are drastically overpaid in terms of the revenue in the pot. In UFC, they’re drastically underpaid in terms of the revenue in the pot.”
Hearn said that in the case of Aspinall, he is “one of the biggest names in UFC” and the reigning Heavyweight Champion, yet there are fighters that have never been heard of opening broadcasts on more money.
![[Left] Dana White and [Right] Anthony Joshua and Eddie Hearn](https://www.wrestlinginc.com/img/gallery/eddie-hearn-ufcs-dana-white-tried-to-poach-anthony-joshua/intro-1776195049.webp)
