Fightful Scoops Thread: Free Updates, Select Answers, Solo Sikoa Segment, Rusev, TNA-OVW, Heyman-Lesnar, Debunkathon (Patreon)

• We can confirm Lei Ying Lee is still under contract to TNA, as reported by PWInsider. She has been in China handling some personal business

• WrestleVotes Radio reported this week that Dralistico is expected to garner interest from WWE.

• The man backstage with Daria on TNA Impact this week was ROH veteran Brian Johnson. He won a few TNA Xplosion matches from Summer 2025 to Summer 2026 and works backstage in TNA.

• Jordynne Grace is not gone from WWE. WWE stuff has been out of her bio for months. Also, the bodybuilding has nothing to do with her being off TV, she has the ability to do that because she's off TV.

• As reported by Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp this week, there is nothing to the rumors of The Sphere as WWE's backup venue for WrestleMania. It's booked out most of April 2026.

• Fightful also reported that Toni Storm is still not expected for an in-ring return this year. There was an idea of who her attacker would be when they wrote her off, but it could change.

• Fightful Select reported this week Jeff Hardy is off the upcoming TNA tapings because of his previous legal issues preventing him from getting into Canada, as well as to help rest an injury. He is still wrestling on the Jericho Cruise.

• Sources at WWE HQ told Fightful Select they learned about the venue move for Crown Jewel when the Riyadh Season tweet came out.

• Kayla Braxton spoke to Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful for a new interview, which you can see at this link.

• Sean Ross Sapp appeared at Powerbomb Wrestling last weekend, managing Anna Ray against Alexis Littlefoot. He is promoting I AM ALS for this appearance. Please consider donating at this link.

Paid subscribers get access to the full update, exclusive discord, Q&A articles and podcasts, as well as more details on the stories above. Free trials are now available, which get you an ad-free Fightful.com as well.

• For those asking about the Solo Sikoa segment, WWE sources claim that it wasn’t green screened. It was just filmed last week. 

• The rumors of a potential stable reported by False Finish had not been relayed to Rusev, Ethan Page and Big Cass as of this past week.

• A huge congratulations to CJ Perry and Rusev for the announcement of their pregnancy. They’ve known for at least a couple of months, and was an additional reason for Rusev taking a little time off. CJ was scheduled for the PixelFlow event that Fightful attended, but was kept home after learning of the pregnancy. 

• The OVW-TNA Xplosion deal has been in the works for a number of months, dating all the way back to the spring. Several TNA Wrestlers have appeared at OVW shows in recent months.

• As one could deduce, John Cena and CM Punk were added to next week's NXT in order to help it against AEW Blood & Guts.

• We had mentioned a number of times that WWE has aimed to get viral moments or buzzworthy items out of their live events to encourage attendance. The Halloween themed matches, and Chad Gable beating CM Punk were both a part of that. 

• There were a number of people in WWE who reached out regarding Paul Heyman’s comments about Brock Lesnar still being UFC Champion if he didn’t get diverticulitis. Everyone agreed he was just in “promoter mode.” Brock Lesnar is 49 years old, and the oldest champion in UFC history was 44 years old. 

• Anthony Bowens was on the red carpet for a movie this past week, but we've not yet heard an update on his contract status. He's been training at the NJPW dojo.

• Fred Rosser aka Darren Young was at the Performance Center this week, but only as a guest coach.

• Shazza McKenzie won a match on this week’s TNA XPlosion over B3cca. She’s not signed to the company at this point, but has been backstage at a number of TNA events.

Debunkathon

• A lot of these pages are run by the same guy and group. They post something plausible, then at the end post the source as a parody. It's just bait. We still somehow end up getting questions on them

• Ric Flair has discovered AI. Ric has not wrestled 2,400 sixty minute matches. The graphic is not "official." Who would Flair have wrestled? 2,400 different opponents for this list to be accurate? I'm not sure Undertaker had one, much less 8. Almost none of this is accurate.

• As far as Bruce Prichard is concerned, he doesn't believe he's "leaving" the company.

October 26th WWE RAW Writers And Producers

Writers:

- Judgment Day backstage segment: Brian Parise

- Je’Von Evans and Penta trainer’s room segment: Michael Kirshenbaum and Mike Mirabile

- IYO SKY promo: John Trowbridge

- Becky Lynch promo: Kirsten Reardon

- The Vision backstage interview: Michael Kirshenbaum &  Mike Mirabile

Producers:

- Je’Von Evans vs Sami Zayn: Shane Helms and Bobby Roode

- Bayley vs Lyra Valkyria: Petey Williams

- Raquel Rodriguez vs IYO SKY: Jason Jordan

- Chad Gable and Dragon Lee vs Ethan Page and Big Cass: Jamie Noble and Adam Pearce

- Becky Lynch vs Liv Morgan: Michael Hayes and Molly Holly

Other Notes:

- As mentioned on social media, the segment involving Solo Sikoa and The Bloodline was taped during last week’s RAW.

- The show was internally titled ‘The First Step.”

Select Answers:

Welcome to Select Answers, a feature that provides some of the answers to questions that were posed to Sean Ross Sapp in the most recent Fightful Weekly Q&A Podcast. The show drops every week on Fightful Select for subscribers.

When aggregating these posts please refer to it as "Fightful Select Answers Q&A" and tag Fightful, noting that it was in the Q&A format to avoid confusion.

***

MVP responded to claims Hurt Syndicate won't do jobs "Rumor? Nah man. You are absolutely Wrong!!!! None of this is true. But now I know where this whisper campaign is coming from!" What have you heard on that matter?

I can just refer to his own words at this link. I've had this conversation with MVP personally a year and a half ago. He thought we had reported something that came from a different outlet, then thought someone internally had told us something they hadn't. Lashley hasn't taken a pin, numerous angles have been stopped abruptly and other teams have been added to matches to help them. There's no whisper campaign. It's pattern recognition. I greatly respect MVP, Lashley and Shelton Benjamin. I've spoken to them all on numerous occasions. I spoke to Lashley directly when people acted like Kate pissed him off, and he was baffled by that talking point from fans and was willing to speak with her on camera. I've done media with MVP and have broken over a dozen of his career related stories, none that were an issue besides these. Shelton Benjamin is among my favorite performers of all time. They're a special act and should be protected. But there isn't a whisper campaign.

I think it’s time for a good love story in AEW. Do you think we will ever get a real life wedding in the ring on tv that doesn’t get ruined from the outside? And have you heard from any talent who would like to do such an angle?

This was actually a big plan for Ruby Soho and Angelo Parker years ago, and got started on AEW TV. They were actually in a relationship (as we know now), and that's how it was effectively revealed. There were some long term creative plans in order and then they had their child, so obviously things changed. I think enough time had passed for AEW to try a new one.

Sean Dave Meltzer and WON are reporting that people in WWE are still upset about the Rock saying nice things about AEW and Tony Khan. Have you heard any of this and if so what are you hearing?

I can't speak to who Dave Meltzer was in contact with. He has some contacts within WWE that existed since before I was even covering wrestling. This just hasn't been a topic of conversation once since the Rock's video for PAC, in my experience. I have probably had 100 conversations with people in the company since then, and it just hasn't even been brought up at all, and when I brought it up, nobody really cared.