Aleister Black recently revealed that there were discussions at one point about him facing Randy Orton at WrestleMania 41. With Orton issuing an open challenge for the event following Kevin Owens’ injury, speculation swirled that Black — set to return to WWE — might be the one to answer it. While Joe Hendry ultimately filled that spot, Black confirmed in an interview with Le10Sport that his name had been floated internally. He said,
“From what I’m told, there was a discussion about it. But for obvious reasons, it didn’t go any further because they had another plan. But the option was considered. It was one of those, ‘What if we do it? Well, maybe not. Okay.’ That’s all I heard.”
He added, “The fact that they even considered it is pretty cool. I would have jumped at the opportunity with open arms. Anytime I get to wrestle Randy, it’s a great experience — he’s Randy Orton. And to do it at WrestleMania? How could I say no? I’d be scared shitless, but I’d do it. It would be insane.”
Black ultimately returned the Friday after WrestleMania 41 on WWE SmackDown. He most recently faced Orton in a King of the Ring Tournament Fatal Four-Way match, which also featured Carmelo Hayes and LA Knight. Orton picked up the win in that bout.
Zelina Vega wanted to go all out for her recent Bakersfield Brawl match on WWE SmackDown against Piper Niven.
During an appearance on the “Lightweights” podcast, Vega revealed that she pitched several creative ideas for the match — but they were ultimately turned down.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On the match being her first hardcore bout: “My first hardcore match ever. So funny to say, cause I’ve been doing this since I was 17, I’m 34 now. Yeah, never did a hardcore match ever. It just wasn’t presented to me like, ‘Oh, this is what we’re doing today’ until like this week. I was like, ‘Oh, can I jump off the tron?’ They’re just like, ‘No, no you can’t. We still need to save some oohs and aahs for Money In The Bank tomorrow and you need to just live, you know?’”
On wanting to do a Tron dive: “I’m like, ‘Eventually, I’m going to do it.’ I was a huge Jeff Hardy mark when I was a kid, like ridiculous. So, anything that he’s done, I just want to do that at some point. I don’t care what it takes or what it looks like, I want to do that. I even asked — they set up some of the ladders and I was like, ‘Can I use the ladders? Can I jump off the ladders?’ They were like, ‘No, we need to save some of it for tomorrow, like we can’t just give everything away the day before.’ Which makes sense, but I was also like — it was like a playground for me. I was just like, what can I do, what can I do? Everyone thinks I’m crazy, but I was just like, ‘No, I want to make this really good and just see how we can make it different.’ They called it a Bakersfield Brawl, so I was like, there’s no specifics so what could we really do here?”
On her barbed wire chancla pitch: “I was like, ‘Can we put barbwire on a chancla?’ They’re like, ‘No.’ They’re like, ‘No blood, no guts, just take it easy.’”
Tyrese Haliburton says he’s been avoiding social media lately — unless it involves WWE.
Following the Indiana Pacers’ Game 6 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Finals, Haliburton spoke to reporters and shared that he’s been off social media since early June, with one notable exception. He said,
“I don’t have the apps. I’ll be honest, sometimes I gotta log on to Twitter to see what’s going on with like WWE… I try to stay off as much as I can and just not pay attention to the outside noise.”
A longtime WWE fan, Haliburton has made appearances on WWE programming in the past, including episodes of NXT and SmackDown.
Tyrese Haliburton: “I don’t have the apps… I’ll be honest, sometimes I gotta log on to Twitter to see what’s going on with like WWE… I try to stay off as much as I can and just not pay attention to the outside noise…” 🏀🎙️#NBA #NBAFinals #WWE pic.twitter.com/WcxXkE7a8J
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 20, 2025
Nick Khan recently revealed that he contacted PENTA to discourage him from riding a bull for Professional Bull Riders (PBR), which is owned by TKO Group Holdings — the parent company of WWE and UFC.
Speaking on the “What’s Your Story?” podcast, Khan recalled watching a TikTok clip where PENTA was asked what sport he’d pursue if not wrestling. He said,
“PENTA was asked, ‘If you weren’t a wrestler, what would you do?’ And he goes, ‘Do you know PBR? That’s what I’d want to do. I’d want to ride bulls.’ “I said, ‘Please, no bull-riding. We love the enthusiasm and it’s great for the PBR brand, but we need you safe.’”
(h/t – Fightful)
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