Vince McMahon was once synonymous with WWE, as both its chairman and an onscreen character that was a part of the biggest storylines of the “Attitude Era” and beyond. Today, WWE is a subsidiary of TKO, instead led by Paul “Triple H” Levesque and the TKO Board of Directors, and continues to further distance itself from McMahon in the wake of a sexual assault and trafficking scandal.

As John Cena does his rounds on the press circuit to promote the end of his career, he has been asked about his relationship with McMahon and what his WWE departure taught him. “Of all the things he did, and of all the things he taught me, one piece that was very important is that no one is irreplaceable,” Cena expressed during an interview with Bill Simmons. “I think what’s happened is unfortunate, because you have this individual with so much depth of field who can still offer things, and we no longer can pull from that well.”

Cena noted that WWE can still function without McMahon, but he admitted that he never wanted his former boss to leave the promotion. “I love him, and I know how much he loves the business, but he taught me [that] we’re all going to go. All of us,” he added. The wrestler first began learning this lesson decades ago, when McMahon fired “Stone Cold” Steve Austin when he no-showed an event. This was surprising because Austin had been one of the company’s biggest draws, but Cena believes McMahon felt he had to make an example of him.

“His biggest attraction! ‘I gotta let people know this isn’t okay.’ So, things happen, ‘We got to let people know this isn’t okay. It’s time for you to go.’ Everybody goes, man. Everybody goes.”

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

Earlier this year, wrestler Jeff Cobb made the move from New Japan Pro-Wrestling to WWE, where he changed his ring name to JC Mateo and joined The Bloodline (now known as MFT) under Solo Sikoa. A recent report from Fightful Select presented some new details on Mateo’s contract status, with the outlet revealing that he signed a three-year deal in the spring. This would keep Mateo under contract with WWE until April or May of 2028.

Mateo is a former amateur wrestler who competed in the 2004 Summer Olympics. He entered pro wrestling in 2009 and later appeared on “Lucha Underground” as Matanza Cueto before later joining NJPW. There, he eventually became a member of United Empire, the faction founded by Will Ospreay in 2020.

As rumors circulated for months that Cobb was leaving NJPW in favor of WWE earlier this year, the wrestler captured the IWGP Tag Team Championship alongside Callum Turner on April 4, 2025. Just 10 days later, the promotion announced Cobb’s departure and stated that the titles would be vacated. He wrestled his final NJPW match on April 19 before debuting in WWE just under a month later.

After joining WWE, Mateo started by wrestling a series of singles matches, including a victory against LA Knight. He’s been largely moved to the tag division in recent months, stepping in for the injured Tanga Loa to team up with stablemate Tama Tonga and other members of MFT on “WWE SmackDown.” His most recent match took place on November 21, when he and the other members of the group defeated the team of Sami Zayn, Shinsuke Nakamura, Rey Fenix, and the Motor City Machine Guns.

For the second straight year, AEW’s Continental Classic tournament has been forced to make some changes in the early going. This past Saturday on “AEW Collision,” it was revealed that Gold League participant Darby Allin wasn’t cleared to compete after his opening round match with Kevin Knight led to him going to the hospital. He would instead be replaced by Allin’s rival, and former AEW TNT and Tag Team Champion Jack Perry, making this Perry’s first ever Continental Classic.

Just a day before the announcement, Dave Meltzer reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Allin had suffered a head injury against Knight, suggesting a concussion. While reviewing the promo Allin cut on “Collision” during Monday’s “Wrestling Observer Radio,” Meltzer added a few more tidbits about Allin’s situation, though he again implied that Allin’s injury was related to the head.

“Darby did an interview, so I think he was there [at ‘Collision’],” Meltzer said. “He can travel. He said that his leg stopped working. I know it’s a head injury, obviously, but…and with head injuries, you just never know. But he was there, which I consider a good sign. He was kind of going ‘Well, the doctors won’t let me wrestle. That’s fine.’ But he did say that he was really scared, and had to go to the hospital. So, you know, that’s never a good thing.”

No timetable has been given for when Allin can return to the ring, adding to the uncertainty of the situation. Given Allin’s penchant for risk taking and huge bumps, it will amazingly be only the second time Allin has been out of action for injury concerns in the six years he’s wrestled for AEW, though he was out for seven months earlier this year as he prepared to, and later climbed, Mt. Everest.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “Wrestling Observer Radio” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription

With the announcement that they had agreed to a new TV rights deal with AMC last week, TNA finds itself in a position of strength, at least in terms of visibility, for the first time in over a decade. They also find themselves with a new source of income, something that is rather important given 2025 is about to turn into 2026, and the promotion reportedly has many of their contracted wrestlers set to hit the free agent market soon, and some talents even reportedly wrestling without deals.

Unfortunately, that TV money may have come too late for TNA to retain some of their talent. In the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported that WWE had already begun engaging in talks with certain unnamed WWE talent, in a situation Meltzer described as similar to that of WWE stars Jordynne Grace and Joe Hendry. Both Grace and Hendry had been TNA stars that began working with WWE as part of the TNA/”NXT” talent exchange, with WWE later signing them once their TNA deals expired.

One TNA talent confirmed that TNA had been slow in offering new extensions to existing talent, which was attributed to the promotion waiting to finalize the AMC deal. Talents now expect that TNA will be making formal extension offers in the immediate future, and talents believed to be waiting for offers from TNA are Mustafa Ali, Jake Something, AJ Francis, Steve Maclin, Zachary Wentz, and former TNA World Heavyweight Champion Mike Santana.

It wasn’t confirmed whether those TNA stars were the names that WWE had engaged with in contract talks. Of the group, Ali, Francis, Maclin, and Wentz all previously wrestled for WWE, and a recent report on Ali’s contractual status suggested the door could be open for a WWE return. Some speculated that Santana could be WWE bound himself after he unexpectedly dropped the TNA Championship to Frankie Kazarian, though such rumors were later disputed.

Wrestling fans and film aficionados are waiting with bated breath to find out the future of Warner Bros., one of the longest-running movie studios still operating. WBD, the parent company of Warner Bros, came to an agreement with Netflix to sell the film, TV studio, and the HBO Max platform to the streaming giant, leaving WBD free to find buyers for the other parts of its business, like the Turner Networks, home to All Elite Wrestling programming. However, Paramount has not given up its hopes of purchasing WBD in its entirety.

According to the Associated Press, Paramount is bringing an offer of approximately $74.4 billion, or roughly $30 per share, to WBD shareholders directly, attempting a hostile takeover of WBD in total. The offer is roughly $18 billion more than Netflix’s current offer. Warner management had rejected a similar offer from Paramount in favor of the Netflix offer. A representative for Paramount said the Netflix deal would expose WBD shareholders to “a protracted multi-jurisdictional regulatory clearance process with an uncertain outcome along with a complex and volatile mix of equity and cash.”

The threat of a hostile takeover puts the future of Turner Networks back into disarray, as the initial Netflix deal would’ve allowed WBD management to seek offers on the television networks. The situation puts AEW in the crossfire between the various parties, as Netflix currently has a broadcasting deal with WWE, while Paramount has a relationship with WWE’s sibling company UFC. While neither company has indicated that AEW programming would be affected, the anxieties are a symptom of the dwindling media market. AEW’s new media rights deal with WBD has “AEW Dynamite” and “Collision” on Turner Networks for the next several years, though it is not known if there is any kind of clause about potential sales. Netflix reportedly plans to keep HBO Max, which just became a streaming platform for AEW PPVs, as is, though it is speculated that it will change.