Brian Damage
This Week in Wrestling: Week 16 of 2026
First off, I want to apologize for missing last week’s ‘This Week in Wrestling.’ It has been a chaotic couple of weeks to say the least. With that out of the way, let’s discuss Wrestlemania 42 and the fallout from that event. Overall, it was a decent two night event. Nothing too earth shattering or horrendous, but serviceable.
I will admit that Night 2 was head and shoulders better than night 1. The main event that I was looking forward to the most, was Cody Rhodes defending his title against Randy Orton in a teacher versus student encounter. The match was okay, but a bit slow and clunky at times for my taste. Orton seemed to reaggravate his old back injury that kept him on the shelf for over a year. Rhodes and Orton both bled which added something positive to the match.
The Pat McAfee stuff was nothing more than a distraction from the actual storyline. It felt it was more about McAfee than the actual two wrestlers competing. Regardless, the match had a lot of bells and whistles that weren’t really needed. This was the second Wrestlemania main event that Cody was involved in that wasn’t up to the billing. Last year’s Mania against John Cena was also hampered by “outside forces” ala Travis Scott.
While Night 1 was just eh to me, Night 2 was really a classic evening. Jade Cargill vs Rhea Ripley was much better than I thought it would be. The Intercontinental ladder match was as advertised and really entertaining. Oba Femi defeating Brock Lesnar was fantastic for the simple reason that it made Femi into an instant superstar in WWE. The Brock retiring in the middle of the ring was a nice touch, but in my humble opinion will not be the last we see Lesnar in a wrestling ring. My guess is that Gunther will challenge Lesnar to a match and retire him at Summer Slam in Lesnar’s hometown of Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The main event between CM Punk and Roman Reigns was better than expected. Punk really proved he still has it inside the ring and despite Reigns being off for months really delivered in ring. The match to me was fantastic and one of the best in Wrestlemania history. Again, just my opinion…but that match really had me invested from start to finish. What made it even better, was the fact there was no crazy outside interference or anything to distract the story being told in the ring. A clean finish which was refreshing to see.
The second night really saved this show from being bad to average into something much more special. I do have to add that the crowd for the two nights and the Raw after mania were not great. Very low key and not as wild as in years past. I assume that has something to do with the price of tickets and how the more rabid fans are being priced out. I could be wrong about that, but I did notice the lack of energy from those crowds.
Another After Wrestlemania Tradition
Of course, now with Wrestlemania 42 in the rear view mirror, I expect the other Wrestlemania tradition to commence…the WWE releases. It happens every year. I have no idea who might be on this year’s chopping block as I write this on Wednesday, but I assume it’ll be a bunch of talent not currently being utilized by the company. It always sucks to see wrestlers get the pink slip, but it may open up new opportunities for them down the line.
Photo Gallery
Nick (Hulk Hogan’s son) and Robin (Andre the Giant’s daughter)
Shane O’Mac recently spotted at a Yankee game.
Recent pic of Bob Holly
Lacey Evans
Karissa Rivera
Mick Foley, the Sandman and Kendra Lust
Rhea Ripley
Thunder Rosa
Elayna Black
Thekla
Leila Grey
Cassie Lee
Chelsea Green
Video Gallery
The weather is heating up. Time to treat yourself to a WWF ice cream bar!
dunnwell 77
Well, it looks like I got one of the two retirements I was hoping for, even though I do actually hope Brock comes back for a send off in Minnesota. The other I was actually hoping that if Pepsi man had to lose, Bron Brekker would come out at the start of the raw before mania, and destroy anybody, staff or wrestlers, that tried getting in the ring, and keep telling Adam Pierce that until Reigns comes out and puts the mania shot on the line, he’d keep doing it. Brekker then to destroy Reigns and send him shooting into retirement. I’m sorry Roman fans, but having a champ that sucks the lifeblood out of the business by showing up every three months and wrestling only on the a list PPVs (sorry,PLEs), is sooooo played out for me. Compared to Reigns as champ, having Pepsi man and Rhodes has been a breath of fresh air, being on every week and telling convincing stories because of it. Reign’s relevancy ended with the bloodline story line.
Luke
For years, my favorite part of Mania were the HoF speeches. Or at least the most entertaining ones. There were always two or three great ones, sometimes more. There wasn’t a single even remotely passable one this year. One more thing that’s gonna suck now.
Fucking Steph. SIX. SIX speeches. SIX insanely boring speeches by five insanely boring women who are completely clueless about real life. Yeah, involving AI in finding a cure for cancer, that’s a fucking wonderful idea… They knew what they were doing having her open instead of closing.
Kyle Prescott
The releases came as you predicted. Some big names on there but none come off as totally shocking based on how they were used other than maybe Kairi Sane.
It does fire up the corporate haters that are complaining about “mean” TKO. You can’t have new talent coming up and getting TV without it coming at the expense of others and no business is a charity that should just pay people to sit at home or in catering.
Also we don’t see the outrage when the NFL cuts 1200 players every August.
177613735
If anybody blames TKO, they are being ridiculous. WWE has been doing these post Wrestlemania cuts for years and years. It sucks for some of the talent, but honestly most of the talent cut were hardly used or just simply not getting over. Your points are dead on.