SquaredCircle

Rhea Ripley recently revealed she was dealing with an eating disorder after “fans” online commented on her body and weight.

For better and worse, Ripley is one of the most discussed superstars online with “fans” weighing in positively and negatively on everything from her on-screen persona to her looks to who they believe she is as a person.

Speaking to Danielle Fishel and Will Friedle on Pod Meets World, Ripley was asked how she balances online commentary with her own mental health.

“It goes through waves where it’s really difficult and then sometimes really easy. This past year has been really difficult because I find that if my circle at home isn’t at peace, then that’s when I really struggle. That’s why I try to surround myself with people that I know are there for me and care for me. That’s my strong point. My husband [Buddy Matthews] is my strong point. My dogs are my strong point. My friend Tommy, who is always at our house every day, he’s my strong point. We work out together and it’s a positive environment. It’s really hard going onto Twitter. I need to delete that. It’s hard going on and trying to make it a work environment, but then, because it is a work environment, I get all these things coming up on my For You page. As soon as I click on the app, it’s negative towards me. I can’t even escape it or doomscroll like a normal human without seeing things about me, about my body, about my booking, about me as a human, even though they don’t know who the hell I am. It does get really tiring, but that’s also why I like to share what I’m going through.

“I tried to keep the whole eating disorder quiet for a while because I’m still figuring it out. I try to be as vocal with my struggles as possible because if it’s going to help someone, then why not talk about it? I needed that when I was going through stuff as a kid. If I knew my idols were going through these struggles and they are powering through and being amazing, and I look up to them and think they are strong and larger than life, then I can get through it too. That’s why I’m vocal about what I’m going through. With this whole eating situation, it definitely stems from stress and not being in control. That’s my biggest thing. I’m a very in control person. I like being in control of a lot of things. When I can’t control work and my schedule, and at the time, my home life with one of my now ex-friends just terrorizing my life. Going to Australia and not being able to control how the crowd responds to my peers and pressuring them 24/7 and getting thrown into all this media for that, it was a lot all at once, and it kind of broke me for a little bit, but it wasn’t seen by everyone yet. Now, it’s being seen by everyone. I saw so many things. ‘She had to lose weight because of her back pain.’ ‘She’s off the roids.’ We get tested. I’m not on anything.”

Elsewhere during the interview, Ripley commented on using real issues in a feud, and where the line is. You can find her full comments here.

Ripley will challenge Jade Cargill for the WWE Women’s Title at WrestleMania 42.

Nick Offerman has come to the defense of professional wrestling after training for his new Apple TV series, saying it is “not remotely like fake” and calling the way performers protect each other in the ring “really beautiful.”

In a clip shared by @TVMoments on Instagram, Offerman spoke about what he learned while preparing for his role as a retired pro wrestler in Margo’s Got Money Troubles.

“Most importantly, what I learned is it’s not remotely like fake. It’s incredibly athletic and really dangerous and really violent, but with all credit to them, they’re taking care of each other. They’re really hitting each other, but just so that they can do it again tomorrow and they can stay friends.”

Offerman said he was struck by how wrestlers communicate in the ring, explaining that matches are not fully choreographed move-for-move the way most outsiders assume.

“They have a shared vocabulary so they can say, ‘punch me twice and throw me over the ropes and then I’ll come back around.’ And so it’s not planned and rehearsed, they just are good enough to know, okay, and they do that and they’re able to pull it off.”

He said the biggest revelation for him was learning who is actually responsible for safety during a match.

“The most beautiful thing I learned was that usually the person taking the punch or being punished, they’re the ones secretly keeping everyone safe. Even while they’re like, ‘I’m gonna rip your head off,’ and they are really testing the limits of the human body, they’re also making sure that they take care of each other. It’s really beautiful.”

Offerman was trained by Chavo Guerrero for the role and did all of his own wrestling at age 54. He plays Jinx, a former pro wrestler recovering from addiction who re-enters his daughter’s life after getting out of rehab. His daughter Margo, played by Elle Fanning, eventually starts an OnlyFans account using lessons learned from her father’s pro wrestling career to build an audience.

The series also stars Michelle Pfeiffer as Margo’s mother and Nicole Kidman in a supporting role. It is written by David E. Kelley and based on the novel by Rufi Thorpe, who is a well-known wrestling fan and turned Offerman on to Bret Hart’s and Mick Foley’s memoirs during production.

Margo’s Got Money Troubles is an eight-episode series now streaming on Apple TV.

This one picture has made me want to watch Mania more than everything else WWE's been doing.

On April 15, Jericho filed to trademark “The Guy Who Gets His Ass Beat By The Demand Every Week That He Shows Up.”

Honestly, I approve.

A new collaboration series from AEW and Adult Swim will launch this Thursday on YouTube.

Called Tales from the Top Rope: AEW Origins, the animated series begins at noon eastern this Thursday on AEW’s on TV channel that features highlights from Dynamite and Collision in addition to series like Renee Paquette’s Meal & A Match series that also aired on the TBS YouTube channel. Adult Swim is a WBD property.

The description is a bit light, but the series appears to be focused on strange stories from AEW wrestlers like the Young Bucks, Toni Storm and Darby Allin who are all seen in the brief promo, seen below.

The project was first revealed in late-January via writer/producer Nick Collins who shared an update on his official LinkedIn page. The show is based on a story by Collins himself and Micah Stahl.

AEW has collaborated with Adult Swim before when Rick & Morty sponsored an episode of Dynamite. Previously, an AEW x Adult Swim Battle For The Booty match also took place at San Diego Comic Con on July 25, 2024.

It was announced a few months ago, but figured it would be handy to post it again.

Here's the all the match cards I can find too.

The Berwyn Police Department confirms that no stabbing occurred at the Ruthless Pro Wrestling event last month in Illinois.

An incident report was released to POST Wrestling after seeking records of the investigation by filing a Freedom of Information request.

The criminal investigations unit of the Berwyn Police Department investigated the March 28 incident at the Berwyn Eagles Club during a Ruthless Pro Wrestling show.

The day after, it was reported that a stabbing occurred with an allegation that a fan attacked and stabbed wrestler Krule / Mads Krule Krugger. The first video to emerge saw wrestlers and fans attacking the fan and removing him from the building. Subsequent clips revealed the fan approaching Krule at his merchandise table after the show, and Krule throwing the first punches before the fan was swarmed. The video did not show any sign of a weapon.

Wrestlers Mickie Knuckles and Lou Nixon told the Cultaholic site that the stabbing occurred, but an anonymous source in the same story denied the stabbing. Since then, wrestler Gregory Iron also shared his firsthand account, and he didn’t see a stabbing, nor did anyone mention that after the fan was ejected.

Promoter Brett Lauderdale, who booked Krule on a GCW event last weekend, called it a “fake stabbing” as well.

Detective William Massuci of the Berwyn PD was tasked with the investigation after being alerted to the Cultaholic article.

Massuci contacted a person referred to as the manager of Ruthless Pro Wrestling, whose name is redacted. The March 28 event was the last show under previous manager Chris Kohlenberg, as the promotion is now being run by Rickey Shane Page, SHLAK, and Dred.

The unnamed manager stated the fan was “causing problems early in the night” and was intoxicated and warned by management to calm down or would be removed.

The fan agreed to calm down but approached Krule after the show and started causing more issues. The manager states that “the fan ended up attacking his wrestler and tackled him to the ground. The fan continued to punch the wrestler several times. Then the rest of the wrestlers/employees came in to help and got the fan off of him and escorted the fan out of the business.”

This account differs from one video clip (embedded above), where it shows Krule throwing the first punches, followed by the fan tackling Krule by another set of tables across the hall.

The manager states that “[Redacted] was not stabbed” in reference to Krule, who isn’t listed by his real name or alias in the redacted version of the report released to us.

The manager said he observed “two or three police officers there and assumed he did not need to call 911”.

The wrestler (Krule) was contacted at the airport on his way home and told the detective that “Some guy was causing problems all night and came up to him at the end of the night and struck him several times and tackled him to the ground. His peers then got the fan off of him and took matters into their own hands.”

The Berwyn Police Department has closed the case, stating there was no stabbing and that the wrestler doesn’t want to pursue any criminal complaints.

The Berwyn Eagles Club has stated it will not host pro wrestling events after its April 24 show with AAW, citing issues with its license to promote shows. A GoFundMe campaign has been launched by Jon Craft to raise $3,000 for “essential operating costs” to keep the Berwyn Eagle Club alive.

AEW CEO Tony Khan provided the first official AEW update on Gabe Kidd’s injury status at the AEW Dynasty post-show press conference in Vancouver on Sunday night, and the news is not great for The Dogs.

Kidd was injured during The Dogs’ AEW World Trios Championship defense against The Conglomeration (Orange Cassidy, Roderick Strong, and surprise returnee Kyle O’Reilly), and was escorted to the back by AEW medical personnel midway through the match. The Conglomeration went on to win the titles with O’Reilly, making his first appearance back from a months long neck injury, submitting Clark Connors for the finish.

Tony Khan’s update

Speaking at the press conference alongside the new AEW World Trios Champions, Khan was asked by David Portman of the Poison Rana Podcast about Kidd’s status. The AEW CEO’s response:

“Gabe is out indefinitely. He’s injured. It’s a shoulder injury. We’ll be evaluating him. So I can’t say for sure what the injury is, but the doctors are evaluating Gabe for an injury.”

How The Conglomeration handled the spot

Kyle O’Reilly addressed the mid-match change at the press conference, acknowledging that his team had to adjust on the fly.

“Then I was thinking in my head, all right, there’s only two of them. Now, if we don’t do this, Roddy’s gonna beat me up and never let me hear the end of it, like this was the perfect opportunity.”

Orange Cassidy added, “But we did it, right? We did it.”

AEW Dynamite this Wednesday April 15 comes from the Angel of the Winds Arena in Everett, Washington at 8 PM ET on TBS and HBO Max as part of the Spring BreakThru anniversary celebration. Tony Khan has already announced MJF defending the AEW World Championship against Darby Allin and Kevin Knight defending the TNT Championship against Claudio Castagnoli for the show.

Welcome to SquaredCircle’s ‘Meme Monday’!

Have you seen a great wrestling meme this week that just made you crack up? Did you watch a silly moment in a show and just need to craft a meme out of it? Well post ‘em below!

The highest voted meme shall win and be showcased in next week’s thread!

Last week’s winner’s attached!

One of the most sought-after pieces of lost wrestling media has finally been made public. On April 10, Richard Land’s History Of WWF YouTube channel uploaded the complete October 16, 1993 episode of Radio WWF, which contains Randy Savage’s infamous in-studio interview where he openly accused Hulk Hogan and Hogan’s then-wife Linda of orchestrating the breakup of his marriage to Miss Elizabeth.

For wrestling historians, this is a significant find. The Savage interview was first reported by Dave Meltzer in the October 25, 1993 edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, and a partial transcript has circulated for years (originally published in John Clark’s Wrestling Flyer newsletter), but the actual audio had never been released to the public until now. It is also unusual for the era because Savage, unlike almost anything said on wrestling television in 1993, was speaking about his real life and shooting on a genuine business and personal rival.

The article then has a bunch of quotes from Savage pretty much saying 'Fuck Hogan, he's a lair and ruined my marriage.'

Here's a link that should take you to the start of the Savage interview, but the whole show is there if you want to listen to it.

Dynasty comes to us from Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada!

The card includes:

(Zero Hour) Singles Match: Alex Windsor vs. Marina Shafir

Singles Match: Chris Jericho vs. Ricochet

Tag Team Match: The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) vs. Don Callis Family (Kazuchika Okada & Konosuke Takeshita)

AEW TNT Title Casino Gauntlet Match: Tommaso Ciampa vs. (Rush or Anthony Bowens) vs. ??? vs. ??? vs. ??? vs. ???

AEW Women's World Title Match: Thekla (c) vs. Jamie Hayter

Singles Match: Andrade El Idolo vs. Darby Allin

AEW Continental Title Match: Jon Moxley (c) vs. Will Ospreay

AEW World Tag Team Title Match: FTR (Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood) (w/Stokely) (c) vs. Cage And Cope (Adam Copeland & Christian Cage)

AEW World Title Match: MJF (c) vs. Kenny Omega

And perhaps more?

Enjoy the show and have fun!

Tonight's Collision comes to us from Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada!

Tonight's card includes:

AEW International Title Match: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Myron Reed

Tag Team Match: Andy Anderson & Mo Jabari vs. The Hurt Syndicate (Bobby Lashley & Shelton Benjamin) (w/MVP)

Casino Gauntlet #2 Spot Match: Rush vs. Anthony Bowens

Tag Team Match: Hikaru Shida & Kris Statlander vs. Ava Lawless & Gigi Rey

Tag Team Match: Marina Shafir & Thekla vs. The Brawling Birds (Alex Windsor & Jamie Hayter)

Tag Team Match: The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) vs. Don Callis Family (El Clon & Hechicero)

AEW World Trios Title Match: JetSpeed (Kevin Knight & Mike Bailey) & Mistico (c) vs. The Dogs (Clark Connors, David Finlay & Gabe Kidd)

Enjoy the show and have fun!

Jim Ross will not be in Vancouver for this Sunday’s AEW Dynasty pay-per-view, but the WWE Hall of Famer said on the latest episode of Grilling JR that he is feeling better than he has in a long time and is targeting Double or Nothing next month for his return to AEW television.

Ross addressed his status on the show with co-host Conrad Thompson, saying the long flight to Vancouver is too much for him right now but that everything else in his life is in a good place.

“I’m doing good. I feel good. I’m feeling better every day. It’s just a process. I didn’t know how sick I was. So here we are, two old buddies talking again about wrestling and nothing I really like doing better, so let’s have a nice show, and we thank everybody for joining us. It’s really appreciated.”

Thompson asked Ross directly whether fans would see him at Dynasty this Sunday or if they should expect him back for Double or Nothing on May 25 at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens. Ross said Queens is the more likely target.

“Probably next month, because I don’t think I’m going to go to Vancouver. It’s just a hard trip, and that’s the only thing that I have issues with in my life, is traveling, cramping and my legs hurting and all that. So I’m up for anything, but flying that far is daunting, shall we say. But I feel good. I feel really good. I feel better than I have in a long time, and I should be back at a more normal schedule sooner than later.”

Ross has worked a reduced AEW schedule in recent years as he deals with various health issues. His most recent televised AEW appearances have been spot duty on major pay-per-views, where he has joined the broadcast booth for select matches rather than working full shows.

AEW Dynasty takes place Sunday April 12 from Rogers Arena in Vancouver, headlined by MJF defending the AEW World Championship against Kenny Omega.

The article is long, so I'm not going to copy it all here. The link goes to archive.ph because fuck ICE and fuck paywalls too.

On Wednesday, it was announced that Nic Nemeth had been pulled from his upcoming CAP Wrestling match against AEW World Champion MJF on May 1.

Carlos Silva cited “partner conflicts” as to why the bout wasn’t happening.

Speaking on Youngstown Radio, Nemeth gave more insight into what he was told.

“A lot of things happened at once. I was out of the country doing a couple of UK dates and I found out that a couple of different things were happening. Our President, Carlos Silva, is very open when it comes to a lot of things. Behind the scenes deals, some things that people don’t always know about, ‘we’re trying to make this work.’ He’s very open to constantly ‘if this work, this doesn’t work, here’s why I can’t do this thing.’ We got a phone call and he said because of certain deep into contractual obligations, certain companies might have crossover with certain other companies that we are with their rival or streaming service or cable company. He goes, ‘because of the situation, and it’s debatable, and there are a few of them, we have to do the right thing now. It’s going to be a hard choice, but long-term, it covers their butts legally for everything.’ I’m crushed. You can have the business aspect, ‘You’re right, you explained to me and showed me the legal basis why we can’t do this rght now,’ but also, the part where I was like, ‘This is such a cool thing that is going to happen.’ Rarely do you get these special and cool moments with dudes from other companies and generations, in this case both, where you know it’s going to be good and big, and you just can’t get it done. I’m absolutely crushed,” he said.

Nemeth said that he was going to make the match happen at some point down the road.

Nemeth wasn’t the only TNA talent pulled from an upcoming match against an AEW wrestler as Leon Slate was pulled from his scheduled bout against Ricochet at the Wrestlecon Supershow.

It's just a post of the audio transcript, and a twitter video of same, for the Busted Open SiriusXM broadcast.

Earlier today, AEW Champion MJF called into SiriusXM's Busted Open and ripped TNA for pulling their talent from scheduled appearances against AEW talents.

On the show, MJF commented, " I'm in a rotten mood, okay. Matter of fact, I'm in one of the worst moods I've ever been in my entire life, and I feel horrible because I've got a living legend here in Natalia who's gonna have to listen to me rant and rave. Nattie, I apologize to start off to you, you're a wonderful woman. The only Canadian I've ever, gotten to, I'm not met you in person, but the only Canadian that I've gotten to know. Outside looking in that I don't think's a complete idiot and a talentless loser. Now I'm about to talk about Dynasty, but before I do that, I wanna just say one more thing. Nattie, what you and TJ [Wilson] are doing right now for wrestling in general is incredible and I think it's awesome how much you guys are helping young talent, and now I would actually like to speak on young talent a little bit. Let's talk about TNA and the fact that they are pulling young talent off of shows. When they're barely paying them any money, what so fucking ever and telling them, 'Hey, you can't wrestle because there's a guy from another promotion that's wrestling on this show.' Does that help young talent grow? Does that help? Does that help young talent become better inside the squared circle? Moreover, does that help young talent put food on their plate and on their table so they can eat? What Carlos Silva's doing is disgusting, and if anybody supports him. Or that company at this point, it is very hard for me to wrap my head around. Now let's also talk about the fact that Nick Nemeth is completely terrified of me and all of this, in my opinion, is just some blatant weird conspiracy and excuse. 'cause he knows if he gets inside that squared circle with me. He's done for now."

Tonight's Dynamite comes to us live from Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB.

Six Man Tag Team Match- Bandido, Darby Allin & Jack Perry vs. Don Callis Family (Andrade El Idolo, Konosuke Takeshita & Mark Davis)

AEW TBS Title Match- Willow Nightingale (c) vs. Queen Aminata

And hopefully more!

Kyle Fletcher and Marq Quen are on the sideline, and it could be for a while before the performers return to the ring.

Fletcher last wrestled on the March 28 edition of Collision, teaming with Mark Davis against Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz. The injury was referenced on this past Saturday’s episode when Don Callis was on commentary without any specifics.

On Monday, Fightful Select reported that Fletcher has sustained a meniscus injury that would “sideline him for quite some time”.

The injury will need addressing as Fletcher is the current TNT champion, winning the belt for the second time on the February 11 episode of Dynamite from Tommaso Ciampa. Fletcher also had a short reign with the Trios Championship with Kazuchika Okada & Mark Davis, which the unit held for eleven days last month.

Fightful also reports that Marq Quen of Private Party will also miss “some significant time” with an undisclosed injury. Private Party just returned to AEW programming after a year of inactivity. They returned on the March 7 edition of Collision and won a $200,000 Four-Way Match, and also wrestled on the March 28 show, where Fletcher was hurt.

Kyle Fletcher and Marq Quen are on the sideline, and it could be for a while before the performers return to the ring.

Fletcher last wrestled on the March 28 edition of Collision, teaming with Mark Davis against Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz. The injury was referenced on this past Saturday’s episode when Don Callis was on commentary without any specifics.

On Monday, Fightful Select reported that Fletcher has sustained a meniscus injury that would “sideline him for quite some time”.

The injury will need addressing as Fletcher is the current TNT champion, winning the belt for the second time on the February 11 episode of Dynamite from Tommaso Ciampa. Fletcher also had a short reign with the Trios Championship with Kazuchika Okada & Mark Davis, which the unit held for eleven days last month.

Fightful also reports that Marq Quen of Private Party will also miss “some significant time” with an undisclosed injury. Private Party just returned to AEW programming after a year of inactivity. They returned on the March 7 edition of Collision and won a $200,000 Four-Way Match, and also wrestled on the March 28 show, where Fletcher was hurt.

Alberto El Patron (Alberto Del Rio in WWE) has been arrested on an alleged domestic violence charge.

According to Milenio, Patron was arrested on April 6 for allegedly physically and verbally assaulting his girlfriend.

The report states, “the woman, who suffered injuries to her face and arms, called 911 to request police assistance. State Civil Guard officers arrived at the scene just as she was being assaulted and found the victim showing signs of violence, so they arrested the assailant.”

The suspect was handed over to San Luis Potosí State Attorney General’s Office to face the relevant charges.

A mugshot of Patron is online.

Alberto El Patron is still active in the ring, largely competing in Mexico and was set to open a new promotion. In May 2020 he was arrested for allegedly battering and sexually assaulting his girlfriend. He was charged with one count of sexual assault and one count of assault causing bodily harm and later indicted by a grand jury and formally charged with aggravated kidnapping and sexual assault.

The charges were dropped in December 2021.

From Becky's IG