• AEW May Never Bring Top Star Back
The situation surrounding Britt Baker appears far more settled than fans may have hoped. Baker has been absent from AEW television since late 2024, and while theories ranging from injury to an outside move have circulated for months, the reality seems far simpler: AEW has not had plans for her return, and that hasn’t changed.
Sean Ross Sapp addressed Baker’s status again during a Fightful Select Q&A, offering a blunt assessment of where things stand. According to Sapp, Baker remains under contract well into 2026, but her absence has stretched so long that a comeback no longer appears to be on the table.
Sapp noted that the last time he spoke directly with Baker, she indicated she was healthy – a conversation that took place quite some time ago. Despite that, there has been no creative movement internally, and no recent discussions about reintroducing her to AEW programming.
When asked whether anything had shifted behind the scenes, Sapp said he had not heard of any internal talks regarding Baker’s return beyond routine media inquiries. Based on what he’s been told, he does not expect her to be brought back.
• NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 20 Results – Hiroshi Tanahashi Retires, AEW Star Loses World Title
Below are the complete results from today’s NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 20 event, featuring the retirement of Hiroshi Tanahashi, AEW star Konosuke Takeshita losing the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, two double champions being crowned, Andrade in action & more.
– Katsuya Murashima and Masatora Yasuda def. Shoma Kato and Tatsuya Matsumoto [Pre-Show]
– NJPW World Television Championship: El Phantasmo (c) (with Jado) def. Chris Brookes to retain the title [Pre-Show]
– Ranbo for the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship: TMDK (Zack Sabre Jr., Ryohei Oiwa, and Hartley Jackson) won last eliminating Boltin Oleg and Bishamon (Hirooki Goto and Yoshi-Hashi)
– Winner Takes All match for the IWGP Women’s Championship and Strong Women’s Championship: Syuri (IWGP) def. Saya Kamitani (Strong) to become double champion
– United Empire (Andrade El Ídolo, Callum Newman, Great-O-Khan, Henare, and Jake Lee) def. Bullet Club War Dogs (David Finlay, Gabe Kidd, and Drilla Moloney), Shingo Takagi, and Hiromu Takahashi
This was Andrade’s first match in New Japan Pro-Wrestling after 11 years.
– Fatal 4-Way match to determine the #1 contender for IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: El Desperado def. Kosei Fujita, Taiji Ishimori, and Sho
– NEVER Openweight Championship: Aaron Wolf def. Evil (c) via technical submission to win the title in his debut match
– Winner Takes All match for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship and IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship: Yota Tsuji (Global) def. Konosuke Takeshita (World) via submission to become double champion
Jake Lee attacked Tsuji after the match.
– Hiroshi Tanahashi’s Retirement Match: Kazuchika Okada def. Hiroshi Tanahashi
After the match, several wrestlers came out to congratulate Tanahashi, including Will Ospreay, Jay White, Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi, Katsuyori Shibata, and Tetsuya Naito.
In the end, NJPW did a 10-bell salute to mark the end of Tanahashi’s legendary career.
