It’s been nearly a week since last week’s “WWE SmackDown” saw Pat McAfee reveal himself as Randy Orton’s mystery caller by helping Orton attack his WrestleMania 42 opponent Cody Rhodes, and it remains arguably wrestling’s biggest talking point. So far, very few have leapt to the defense of the angle, which also saw McAfee cut a promo bashing WWE’s current product and WrestleMania ticket sales, followed by Rhodes himself cutting a retort promo that referenced the NWO, Disco Inferno, TKO executive Ari Emanuel, and other worked shoot elements.

But there is at least one person defending Rhodes’ aspect of the angle: Bully Ray. On Monday’s “Busted Open Radio,” Bully presented his case as to why Rhodes’ promo mostly worked, aside from the line about Disco Inferno. For Bully, it was the authenticity of Rhodes’ performance, with Bully suggesting that Rhodes was legitimately ticked off at what happened, based on Bully’s previous experience seeing Rhodes upset in the locker room.

“What’s the one word that I said I need my pro wrestling to be? Real,” Bully said. “Everything that Cody said was very real. … The words don’t matter to me. It’s the tone. That was Cody’s genuine angry voice. That’s not pro wrestling mad, that’s real-life mad. The whole front end of that promo is, ‘F you … whoever thought that Pat McAfee would be a good idea for this.'”

“It was actually F you to anybody who thought including anybody in this was a good idea. How do I know that’s an eff you to anybody that thought this was a good idea to include anybody? Because at the end he said, ‘This is about two guys with 20 years of history and a pro wrestling match. You should’ve left it alone.’ That’s why that’s your favorite Cody promo, because it’s real. It’s genuine. It’s from the heart. It’s passionate. There’s nothing canned about it.”

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Part of the reason why Jiri Prochazka and Carlos Ulberg are fighting over the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship at UFC 327 is because of Alex Pereira. “Poatan” vacated the title in order to move up to heavyweight, a decision that Prochazka claims he actually saw coming for a long time.

“I saw that coming. We spoke with UFC about this a long time before it happened. We knew that with my team a long time before it happened. I prepared myself one and a half months before it was announced to everyone that I will have to fight with Carlos Ulberg. First month was just I believed that will happen. Then we transferred to Mexico City for high altitude training, we trained there for one month and we came back and then UFC told me ‘you will have the title fight.’ We just believed for this option and it happened. I’m glad for that. Really glad.”

While he isn’t focusing on avenging the two losses to Pereira right now, Prochazka did note that a trilogy fight will likely happen at some point. It’s just the case of getting past Ulberg before he shifts his focus. “I believe that we will meet in the future with Alex, also, but right now I’m fully focused for my next opponent. That’s all.” Prochazka has experience of fighting at heavyweight if he needs to move up a weight class to fight Pereira again, but if Pereira’s journey to becoming the first-ever three-divisional UFC Champion doesn’t go according to plan, the fight can always happen at 205.

Please credit the original source when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to MMAFighting.com for the transcription.

Historically, the only thing WWE has loved more that celebrity appearances at WrestleMania is musical performances at WrestleMania, with the likes of Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Kid Rock, Flo Rida, and Machine Gun Kelly all performing at past Mania events. WrestleMania 42 will be no different, with WWE acquiring a familiar face for a performance, one who is also looking to mend a broken father and son relationship between two WWE stars.

Taking to X on Tuesday afternoon, DJ Valentino Khan revealed that he would be DJing throughout WrestleMania 42 weekend, and during both nights of WrestleMania 42. But DJing isn’t his only goal for the weekend, as Khan’s tweet, and an accompanying video, revealed that he was trying to get Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio to reconcile after years of the two feuding with each other. The video revealed things didn’t go as Khan planned, though he noted he is not ready to give up on getting the Mysterios back together.

I’m back again DJing @wwe Wrestlemania in Vegas.  Tried to get Dom & Rey Mysterio to hash it out.  It didn’t go so well.

Pull up for my sets April 18 & 19 at Allegiant Stadium + all weekend long at WWE World!

(still working on the Rey & Dom situation) pic.twitter.com/eL6ykwB4qL

— VALENTINO KHAN (@ValentinoKhan) April 7, 2026

Khan is no stranger to WrestleMania weekends, or just WWE PLE weekends in general. The DJ and long-time wrestling fan first performed during SummerSlam weekend back in 2021, and was then on hand for WrestleMania 38 weekend several months later. Khan was also on hand for last year’s WrestleMania 41 in Las Vegas, performing at both nights of the event, as well as select events throughout the week. Neither of Khan’s previous WWE appearances had him trying to broker peace between family members, however, making his upcoming WrestleMania 42 appearances the most unique of the bunch.

For the first time in over five years, “Platinum” Mike Perry will be stepping back into the cage for an MMA fight. He will face fellow former UFC fighter Nate Diaz on May 16 at the first-ever all-MMA fight card produced by Jake Paul’s MVP promotion, which will be headlined by Ronda Rousey’s fight with Gina Carano. In those five years, Perry has established himself as one of the best bare-knuckle fighters in the world, currently reigning as the BKFC King of Violence Champion, but during a recent interview with TMZ Sports, Perry is over the moon to get back into the world of Mixed Martial Arts, and wants to steal the show on May 16.

“I’m so ecstatic, bro. I’m doing incredible in training. I’m in fantastic shape. Training has been incredible. I’m ready for this opportunity. I’m the most active athlete, probably, on this fight card. We’ve got a lot of star power on the card, and me and Nate looking to steal the show. I am.” Perry explained that he’s enjoyed getting back in touch with his old martial arts roots in preparing for the Diaz fight. “I’m training for it. I’m consistently working. I’m very inspired by from like the going back to MMA aspect and training my body fully, you know, with everything and all the moves, all the martial arts I did when I was younger before I got into the success of bare-knuckle fighting.”

With that said, if people are expecting Perry to abandon the bare-knuckle fighting experience his gained over the past five years, they would be wrong as he’s ready to stand and bang with Diaz. “I’m looking to go in and give the people the bloody people’s fight, people’s main event show that they’re looking for, the real BMF-style altercation. Meet Nate in the middle and, you know, spread some blood.”

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Jake Paul and his brother Logan Paul have carved out quite the careers for themselves in the worlds of combat sports and sports entertainment. Jake is now a legitimate professional boxer and one of the biggest drawing fighters in the world, while Logan is a regular member of the WWE roster, and will be competing at his fifth WrestleMania event on April 18. Logan has also dabbled in the world of boxing with fights against the likes of Dillon Danis, fellow content creator KSI, and even Floyd Mayweather Jr., but Jake revealed during a recent appearance on CryptoMikli’s podcast that Logan would be lucky to last three rounds with him in a boxing ring.

“In boxing, I would beat him pretty easily. It wouldn’t be close,” Jake said. “I think he would agree but I think he would think it would be closer. He would last like two rounds with me in boxing, maybe three.” However, Jake did admit that if they were to meet in a sanctioned MMA contest, Logan would have the advantage thanks to his wrestling, both professional and freestyle, and his flexibility. “In MMA I think he would actually have the advantage because he’s really good at wrestling, and he can do like the splits, so I’m pretty sure he could kick me in the head. Like he can kick high.”

Jake has been slated to compete in an MMA contest for some time, having signed a multi-year deal with the PFL that expired earlier this year without Paul ever having a single fight. With all that said, the possibility of the Paul brothers actually facing off is very slim as Jake confirmed that his parents have always said no to seeing their sons fight, regardless of what setting it would be in.

Please credit the original source when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.