There are various paths to becoming a wrestler from growing up a fan and joining a wrestling school, being born into the business, or becoming an athlete in another sport and finding your way to the squared circle. WWE created its NIL (Name, Image, & Likeness) program in 2021 to recruit high school and collegiate athletes.

Brand new “NXT” Superstar, Kali Armstrong is a former track and field star at the University of Southern California. During an appearance on Rosenberg Wrestling, Armstrong revealed that a surprising name inspired her wrestling path: Wale. After her track and field career ended, she was working a 9-5, but missed sports. She’s good friends with rapper Wale and he was doing “WaleMania” at the time. He kept contacting her and saying, “you’re beautiful, you have this charisma, the physique. I think you’d be a really good WWE wrestler.” When she first heard it, she thought, “that’s not something you could be” and she laughed it off. Armstrong wasn’t even watching wrestling at the time, although she watched when she was younger. After Wale mentioned it a couple more times, she decided to look into it. She was impressed that they were working with athletes, so she connected with a recruiter. That led to a tryout and “that was all she wrote.”

Armstrong signed with WWE in 2023 and became the inaugural Evolve Women’s Champion in 2025. Earlier this month, she debuted in “NXT” during  Week One of “NXT Revenge” and picked up a victory over Skylar Raye.

Former WWE World Heavyweight Champion GUNTHER has wrestled some of the biggest names in the wrestling business over the past few years, and has become something of a “career killer” having retired Goldberg, John Cena, and AJ Styles over the past year. However, there is one man who helped elevate GUNTHER’s career to the next level in one of the most brutal matches in WWE’s recent history, that being Sheamus in their WWE Intercontinental Championship match at WWE Clash at the Castle 2022. 

“The Ring General” was a recent guest on “WWE Retrospective” where he gave some insight into some of his biggest WWE matches, and when it came to talking about Sheamus, GUNTHER feels like he is a great gatekeeper for younger talent.

“For a while, Sheamus was like a little bit–like the gatekeeper to wrestle a lot of the newer guys, and I think he was perfect. You should match that guy when it comes to the bell rings, and how you do you approach the match? What kind of performance you want to put on? Stuff like that, and I think Sheamus is a good example for everybody where it doesn’t matter how long you do this, or how popular you are, once you get out there, you just leave it all in the ring. He’s a very pale guy I’ve got to be honest, so with a skin type like that, I would say they bruise quite easy, which is good, it’s a great visual.”

GUNTHER rounded off by saying that Clash at the Castle 2022 was a great weekend for him as he not only defeated Sheamus, but Imperium also reunited, and he got to have a nice dinner with his wife over the weekend as well.

Please credit “WWE Retrospective” when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

Jade Cargill burst onto the wrestling scene in 2020 when she arrived in AEW to tease the arrival of NBA legend, Shaquille O’Neal. Cargill would sign with AEW and go on to be the inaugural TBS Champion, a title she held for a then-record of 508 days. When her reign ended, she was 61-1. Cargill left AEW in 2023 and made her WWE in-ring debut at the following year’s Royal Rumble.

Picking the right name in wrestling carries a lot of weight and can convey so much. You want the name to be memorable for fans. You want it to match your persona and want it to look good in lights. Some wrestlers put a lot of thought into their ring name. On a recent episode of Open Thoughts, Cargill discussed the process. “I’m one of the rare ones who has my real name.” She explained that she originally wanted to use another name for an alter ego. “I stayed up until like, 4 A.M. with Chris Jericho and a couple of other wrestlers. He said ‘I’m great at giving people names. I can give you a name.’ It took me a year to settle on the fact that we should use my name. So, we sat up until 4 A.M. and he said, ‘no, maybe you should use Jade’.” She said using her real name flows.

Cargill defended her Women’s Championship against Rhea Ripley on Night Two of WrestleMania 42. Her title reign came to an end after 169 days and two title defenses.

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

Former AEW Women’s World Champions Kris Statlander and Hikaru Shida are on their way at another title shot. But this time, it’s for the AEW Women’s World Tag Team Championships later this week on “AEW Dynamite.”

Earlier on “AEW Collision” this past Saturday, in a backstage interview, Shida mentioned her sights are set on becoming the new women’s tag team champions against Divine Dominion (Megan Bayne and Lena Cross). However, the real reason she was called in for the interview was to acknowledge the past comments she made about Harley Cameron, and to apologize for them. Rather than express an old fashioned sorry, Shida bragged that Cameron is not on her level nor on any level, period. Statlander, who stood alongside Shida during this confrontation, remained silent and immediately left after Shida, Cameron, and Mina Shirakawa exchanged verbal jabs in Japanese.

No common ground could be found!@callmekrisstat and @shidahikaru have their sights on the #AEW Women’s World Tag Team Titles, while Harley Cameron and @MinaShirakawa aren’t leaving without answers!

Watch #AEWCollision on TNT & HBO Max pic.twitter.com/yqn1xp2tzM

— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) April 26, 2026

Later in the show, the champions, cool, calm, and collected, said they aren’t worried about this “thrown together tag team.” Bayne then tried to plant doubt in the minds of Statlander and Shida by asking, “This isn’t a challenge. It’s fate. Do you accept it?”

Divine Dominion initially won the tag team titles at Revolution this past March against the former and inaugural champs, The Babes of Wrath (Willow Nightingale and Cameron). So far, Divine Dominion have defended against Babes of Wrath in a rematch, and Maya World and Hyan. Wednesday will mark their third title defense.

A wrestling fan from the UK, Marc Izard, has been missing since April 17 after traveling to Las Vegas for WWE WrestleMania 42. 

His family has been appealing for any and all information that could help locate him or plot his path after leaving the “WWE SmackDown” arena on April 17, his last known sighting. 

WWE star Nattie Neidhart has since boosted the appeal for Izard.

“A member of our wrestling family, Marc Izard, is currently missing after WrestleMania weekend in Las Vegas. His last known sighting was leaving the arena after SmackDown on April 17, his last photo taken was with me at my signing,” she wrote to X. 

“Marc traveled from the UK and has not made it home or been in contact since. If you have any information at all, please reach out to the email listed in the poster [Cravedetest@hotmail.com] as well as [Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department]. Let’s come together and help bring Marc home safely.”

A member of our wrestling family, Marc Izard, is currently missing after WrestleMania weekend in Las Vegas. His last known sighting was leaving the arena after SmackDown on April 17, his last photo taken was with me at my signing.

Marc traveled from the UK and has not made it… https://t.co/2gx3t2faQ5 pic.twitter.com/uXuoFrk7M4

— Nattie (@NatbyNature) April 25, 2026

His sister posted in an update: “I’ve had someone contact me who feels they possibly saw him in the Excalibur Hotel and Casino entrance on 19th after ‘Mania around 7:50 PM. They think he was standing in the lobby to let the crowds [leave] ‘Mania before leaving and he was talking to someone. If anyone else feels they may have seem him here for sure, so we can confirm this would be his last known sighting, please do message me.”

A US case reference number has been provided for anyone who has credible information that could help locate Izard – 02388845 – to communicate to Las Vegas Police. 

As of 11 AM ET, his family is still searching for him.