Blake Monroe may still be relatively new to “WWE NXT,” but the real-life Mariah May Mead has plenty of in-ring experience throughout multiple promotions, most notably AEW, where she had an epic feud with “Timeless” Toni Storm, both in the ring, and outside of it. Recently, on ReviewSTL ahead of Stand & Deliver, Monroe talked about the storytelling aspect of professional wrestling, something she seemed to master against Storm, over the athleticism of the sport, mainly the high-flying abilities of some stars who also captivate audiences. She said the stories are what fans remember most.

“I think you can steal the show with a story,” she explained. “If you look at my career and my career highlights, I think all of them have come from a story. I think I’m a fantastic wrestler in the ring. I don’t do 25 moonsaults or death-defying stunts, but when I go out there, I give 110 percent of what I do. I feel like my in-ring marries my character perfectly.”

Monroe said that if you think about the stars on top right now, you think about their stories. She explained that goes for recent WrestleMania main events, like Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns’ years-long feud, that culminated in Rhodes “finishing the story” and winning the Undisputed WWE Championship at WrestleMania 40.

“When I grew up, too, like the stories I would watch, like when Jeff Hardy finally won the world title,” she said. “I mean, those are the moments you remember. It’s the stories. Nobody cares if you can’t do some gymnastics. At least I don’t.”

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Last month, former ECW star Raven made his return to television, appearing in a vignette during “TNA Impact” alongside the supernatural Rosemary. It’s not yet clear if Raven will appear again. Speaking on the podcast “Counted Out,” Rosemary seemed keen on having him around.

“When you’ve got an overbearing father, such as the dark lord of the undead realm, such as we do, it’s very difficult,” Rosemary said, referring to herself in the second-person. “You have a lot of – um, what is it you humans call it? Daddy issues? Something along those lines. Raven has become a mentor to us, someone we can go to where we don’t have that father figure to go to. We wish he was our father.”

Rosemary then suggested that her “dark lord” may want to possess Raven after his previous host passed away.

If Raven does make another appearance in TNA, it will likely continue to be in a limited role. The wrestler has been open about battling Parkinson’s Disease, stating last year that at its current stage, the ailment results in a tremor whenever he feels anxious and makes it difficult to sleep.

Raven’s recent TNA appearance marked his return to the promotion, as he previously spent the better part of the 2000s wrestling for the company, along with various returns in the years since. He was inducted into the TNA Hall of Fame in 2022, becoming just the eighth wrestler to receive that honor.

As of today, Raven’s last match took place in 2024, when he participated in MLW’s War Chamber match.

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The rabbit hole continues to deepen more and more, ever since Pat McAfee joined Randy Orton’s current crusade on becoming the next and new Undisputed WWE Champion at WrestleMania 42 in less than two weeks. From McAfee’s impassioned remarks during the opening angle of this past Friday’s “WWE SmackDown” to Cody Rhodes’ impromptu promo later that evening, there are a lot of vehement emotions backstage, in the ring, and beyond. Fightful Select provided a recap on this entire sequence, with hopes that it cleared up any misconstructions ahead of “The Super Bowl of Professional Wrestling” on April 18 and 19th.

As many witnessed this past Friday, verbal bullets ricocheted off the tongues of McAfee and Rhodes, with McAfee opening the floodgates with his remarks on how this business is unwatchable, and that stars like the current Undisputed Champion is hindering the experiences this new era could create. Fightful Select noted that yes, what previous reports have said are true, and that is having McAfee return to WWE was a call made by TKO’s CEO and Executive Chairman, Ari Emanuel. The move for the former commentator’s appearance is to create “corporate synergy” between WWE and ESPN. WrestleVotes on Fightful Select also mentioned that sources in WWE told the publication that McAfee has been figured into plans recently, with the goal of having him work through WrestleMania.

As far as Triple H’s role in all of this, Fightful clarified that the chief content officer still has a very strong say in how these programs are operated creatively, noting that he still leads the week-to-week creative and the vast majority of the program. However, BodySlam+ mentioned in its recent reports that Rhodes coming out to address the matters of McAfee and TKO were similar to the thoughts and feelings that the Undisputed Champion and some of WWE’s creative team have backstage, as they’re frustrated with TKO “sticking their nose in storylines close to WrestleMania” for some time now.

Regarding the most important population of this entire thing, the fans, and their responses to this – with 57,000 to 70,000 downvotes within 24 hours after McAfee’s appearance was uploaded to WWE’s YouTube channel – the Stamford-based promotion is well aware of these negative reactions. The feeling backstage is a mixed bag. While some are chalking this up as “heat,” others have said that this wasn’t the kind of heat the company needed leading up to its biggest event of the year.

In addition to his role as Undisputed WWE Champion, Cody Rhodes hosts a podcast, titled “What Do You Wanna Talk About,” in which chatter and alcoholic beverages are highly encouraged. As Rhodes admits, though, the latter can actually sometimes negatively impact his series.

Appearing on “The Nikki & Brie Show,” Rhodes revealed that three episodes of “What Do You Wanna Talk About” will remain locked up due to the over-consumption of alcohol done while filming them. “It is [presented by] Wheatley American Vodka. The pours are a bit heavy,” Rhodes said. “I will apologize now. I’ve said this, so I’ll make no secret of it. I will apologize to Alexa Bliss, Big E, and I’m not gonna name the other one because she’ll go ham with it. But three of these episodes will never make it because of how deep those pours were.

“It’s never their fault, it’s always my fault,” he continued. “I already have a lisp, so if you’re starting out [slurring], when you’re starting out that way and then you watch it, you’re like, ‘I thought it was okay.’ It’s rough. It’s rough, so I wanted those to be better for them.”

In a now-deleted tweet, former WWE Women’s United States Champion Chelsea Green identified herself as the third guest whose podcast appearance is barred from being released. “Me, I’m the other one,” Green wrote alongside a smiling devil emoji. Green’s husband and fellow “WWE SmackDown” star Matt Cardona emerged as Rhodes’ latest guest, with both Cardona and Rhodes sipping on their drinks throughout the show. Together, they also discussed Cardona’s reinvention journey on the indies and their famous championship photo from 2011, amongst other topics.

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Last year, WWE officials made the decision to begin adding specific matches to the company’s Hall of Fame, and the first choice to go in was the bout between “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and Bret Hart at WWE WrestleMania 13. The match is a favorite of many, including the two men who wrestled it. Speaking to Studio 1 Sports Channel in a recent interview, Hart recalled the process of putting the match together, taking most of the credit himself.

“I just kind of sat with him … looking at an empty ring. ‘This is what I think we should do,'” Hart said. “Very few wrestlers that I knew had this ability, or at least the way I did. I could just put myself right in the ring – I could look at a square on a piece of paper and go, ‘This is how the whole match is going to go.'”

Hart wasn’t claiming to be a genius, but instead shared his belief that he was specifically attuned to pro wrestling in a way that many others are not. He recalled knowing his way around the ring so well that he could always tell how close he was to the ring ropes without having to look around.

While putting together the match with Austin, Hart recalled a schoolyard fight from his childhood that inspired the idea of a double-turn. Once that concept was in place, the two started fleshing out the details.

“That was one of my best stories ever,” Hart continued. “I don’t want to … take anything away from Steve, because I love Steve and I owe a lot to Steve and vice versa, but that match is my match. … Steve delivered two or three things in that match and that was it.”

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