• Mercedes Mone Says There’s a Night & Day Difference Between WWE & AEW Locker Rooms
During an interview on the Marking Out w/MVP & Dwayne Swayze podcast, Mercedes Mone (Sasha Banks) was asked about the difference between the locker room culture in WWE and AEW. Here’s what the TBS Women’s Champion said:
“It’s night and day. Well first I have my own locker room, so that has helped me a lot. I’m not in it but I like being away from it, I don’t wanna be a part of drama or anything, but when I am around the girls, it just feels like such a community of wanting to make this place grow.
There’s a hunger because I feel like we still feel so… underground, and we want to make it, like, up here. So all these women have so much drive and passion, and I can feel it. They fire me up. I want to be the best because they want to be the best. It feels so different.
I don’t want to say like, ‘oh, WWE was bad’ or people are like, egos, but it just feels like we’re all trying to fight for something. We’re trying to fight to make this the best, and I love people who have passion and hunger. So that’s how I feel.”
• Backstage News On Naomi
Women’s World Champion Naomi’s reign has hit an unexpected roadblock. The titleholder was removed from her advertised match on this week’s RAW, with the company announcing she had not been medically cleared to compete.
PWInsider reported that Naomi was, in fact, backstage in Quebec City before the show began, ruling out any possibility that her absence was tied to travel issues. Whatever the underlying reason, it was kept under wraps – so much so that many within the locker room were left in the dark.
Her planned championship defense against IYO SKY was officially scrapped only hours before the live broadcast. Later, commentary dropped a concerning hint that Naomi might be sidelined for multiple weeks, which would put her scheduled Clash In Paris title match against Stephanie Vaquer on August 31 at serious risk.
• Former WWE Champion Is Returning For AAA Triplemanía
Former WWE Champion JBL is returning to WWE programming for AAA Triplemanía XXXIII on August 16 this Saturday, where he’ll do commentary with Corey Graves. This event will air on WWE’s YouTube channel. Below is the match-card (features 10 WWE wrestlers in action):
– AAA Mega Championship: El Hijo del Vikingo (c) vs. WWE Intercontinental Champion Dominik Mysterio vs. Dragon Lee vs. El Grande Americano
– AAA Reina de Reinas Championship: Flammer (c) vs. Faby Apache vs. Natalya
– AAA Latin American Championship: El Mesías (c) vs. El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr.
– Street Fight for the AAA World Tag Team Championship: Los Garza (Berto and Angel) (c) vs. Pagano and Psycho Clown
– The Judgment Day (Finn Balor, JD McDonagh, and Raquel Rodriguez) vs. Mr. Iguana, Niño Hamburguesa, and NXT’s Lola Vice
• WWE Is Using Brock Lesnar To Hurt AEW
WWE is preparing to shake up the wrestling calendar this fall, as the company is set to run a premium live event head-to-head with one of AEW’s biggest shows of the year. According to multiple sources who spoke with POST Wrestling, WWE has locked in a PLE for Saturday, September 20, in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The timing is notable, as it lands on the same date as AEW’s All Out 2025 pay-per-view, which will emanate from the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. While start times for WWE’s event have yet to be confirmed, All Out is slated to kick off at 8 PM Eastern.
If the schedule holds, it will mark the first time in history that a WWE main roster PLE has gone head-to-head with an AEW pay-per-view. However, WWE has shown a willingness to overlap with AEW before – NXT PLEs have previously shared dates with Double or Nothing, All In Texas, and Forbidden Door earlier this year.
In an update from the Wrestling Observer, Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena will take place at this September 20th PLE:
“The planned main event for WWE’s September 20 PPV, going head-to-head against All Out, is Brock Lesnar vs John Cena. Which is why Brock’s not booked for Paris. Because they wanted him as a method to counterprogram AEW.”
There have been rumors that this September 20th PLE could be Bad Blood.
• “She’s pushing the marriage thing real hard” – Hulk Hogan on Sky Daily
Brooke Hogan has opened up about the final conversation she had with her father, the late 2-time WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan, revealing that it happened under unusual and emotional circumstances just before his 2023 wedding to Sky Daily.
Speaking on The Bubba the Love Sponge Show, Brooke recalled receiving an unexpected phone call from her father. According to her, the tone was unsettling from the start – almost like a step in a recovery process – with Hogan offering a vague apology without explaining exactly what for.
“He said, ‘I just wanted to call and say I’m sorry for whatever I did,’” Brooke recounted, adding that she asked him if he was referring to comments from the leaked $ex tape or something else entirely. “There’s a lot of things that we could go through that you’ve done,” she told him at the time.
Brooke says the conversation quickly set off alarm bells. After hanging up, she told her partner, Steve, that she believed her father was about to marry Sky Daily – despite having recently claimed he had no intention of walking down the aisle again. According to her, Hogan admitted Daily was “pushing the marriage thing real hard,” and she reminded him he didn’t need to go through with it.
She claims this wasn’t the first sign her father had doubts about the relationship. At one point, Brooke says Hogan had even looked into ways of ending things with Daily. Concerned, Brooke hired a former FBI agent to check into Daily’s background and ultimately advised her father, “Just don’t get married… You don’t have to.”
In the same interview, Brooke also touched on a personal regret – not having any memorabilia from her father’s storied career to pass on to future generations. “Can I have something for my children? Anything?” she recalled asking him.
She stressed she would never sell any of it, saying if his possessions were ever displayed, they would belong in the WWE Hall of Fame or behind glass at the Hard Rock Hotel.
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