WWE: More on Mariah May’s Ring Name Change to “Blake Monroe”, Backstage Update on CM Punk Competing at Night of Champions 2025 & If Punk Objected to Going to Saudi Arabia, More News

More on Mariah May’s Ring Name Change to “Blake Monroe”

As noted before, Tuesday’s WWE NXT show featured former AEW talent Mariah May being given a new ring name of “Blake Monroe” going forward in WWE.

Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that May’s new ring name is meant to carry both personal meaning and pop culture relevance.

It was reported that the “Blake” portion is in nod to May’s niece while the “Monroe” portion is meant to be as a tribute to the iconic Marilyn Monroe and the influence for her elegant starlet inspired presentation for her new character.

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Backstage Update on CM Punk Competing at Night of Champions 2025 & If Punk Objected to Going to Saudi Arabia

As noted before, CM Punk is currently scheduled to be facing off against John Cena for the Undisputed WWE Championship at WWE’s Night of Champions 2025 event on June 28th at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Punk’s current involvement is notable for his past history of being outspoken against WWE holding events in Saudi Arabia and his online feud with The Miz over it.

Dave Meltzer reported in a recent episode of the Wrestling Observer Radio that his sources stated that WWE officials had been working on plans for months for Punk to compete at their Night of Champions 2025 event. Meltzer reported that if Punk did not really wanted to go, then he could have voiced his objections and the reason why he was removed from the original promo package for the event was not due to this and instead he was still scheduled for the event.

Meltzer reported that it is currently not known if Punk has ever actually voiced any issue with going to Saudi Arabia for a show at any point within WWE since he returned to the company.

Meltzer also reported that Punk refusing to go to Saudi Arabia would not have him facing any consequences from WWE due to his status as one of the company’s top stars and something that wouldn’t be the case for a mid-card talent. Meltzer reported that while WWE doesn’t force their talents to go to their Saudi events, they do warn those that would want to refuse that they risk not ever getting a big push again.

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WWE News & Notes

Tuesday’s WWE NXT show at the Performance Center in Orlando, Florida featured Lucha Libre AAA talents Psycho Clown, Octagon Jr., Mr. Iguana, and El Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. making an appearance. All four were shown seated at ringside during the show.

Besides AAA talent, Tuesday’s WWE NXT show also featured TNA talents FIR$T CLA$$ (KC Navarro & AJ Francis) & Elijah making surprise appearances.

PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that WWE officials are currently working on plans for a WrestleMania 41 rematch between Naomi and Jade Cargill to take place at their Evolution 2 event this July in Atlanta, Georgia. Johnson reported that WWE officials currently have plans to give Cargill a big push to help sell tickets for their upcoming all-women’s event.

WWE recently released two new videos to their WCW Vault channel on YouTube. The first new video was the full September 23, 1996 episode of WCW Nitro. The second new video was a tag team match of Lex Luger & The Giant vs. Hollywood Hogan & Dennis Rodman from the June 16, 1997 episode of WCW Nitro.

WWE also recently released four new videos to their WWE Vault channel on YouTube. The first new video was a Six-Man Tag Team match of The Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, & Braun Strowman) vs. Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, & Chris Jericho from WWE Night of Champions 2015. The second new video was a “Every Furface appearance we could find: From the WWE Vault.” The third new video was a “Quick Bangers: Must-see matches under 10 minutes: From the WWE Vault.” The fourth new video was a 2-on-1 Handicap match of CM Punk vs. Paul Heyman & Curtis Axel from WWE Night of Champions 2013.

WWE also recently released two new videos to their NXT Vault channel on YouTube. The first new video was a NXT UK Women’s Battle Royal match from the June 19, 2019 episode of WWE NXT UK. The second new video was the full November 4, 2015 episode of WWE NXT.

In response to a recent tweet from music producer Metro Boomin, Ron Killings turned down an offer from Boomin to produce a new entrance theme song for him following his return to WWE. Boomin stated “Please let’s do the new @RonKillings theme @WWE@TripleH I beg.” Killings responded stating “🙌🏾🙏🏾 I appreciate you my dawg!! Huge fan! What’s up ain’t broken, I wanna keep it, Fans and people know it soon as it hits!! Check out my music with @JTRX44 Under Ron Killings… R-Truth ain’t drivin now… I am.“

In a recent interview with Carlos Posada Deportes, AAA talent Nino Hamburguesa stated that he recently signed an official contract with WWE and was not able to go to WWE’s Worlds Collide 2025 event due to visa-related issues. Hamburguesa stated “I already signed with them. I was not able to go (to Worlds Collide) due to my Visa, but expect the best from the Dale Fuego Boy of wrestling. I am very excited and I will plant my flag in WWE.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

In a recent interview with The Ariel Helwani Show, former WWE talent Shotzi Blackheart gave her thoughts about her release from WWE this past May and not being given an actual reason for it. Shotzi stated “I probably will never know why they released me, but WWE doesn’t owe me anything. That’s showbiz, right? They just didn’t think that I was money and that’s OK. I can take that.” Shotzi also gave her thoughts about her interest in a potential return to WWE in the future. Shotzi stated “I would love to be back at WWE. I loved working there. I didn’t love not working there, you know what I’m saying? It was only when I wasn’t being used that I was unhappy. But anytime I was being used, good time. Loved the locker room, loved everyone I was working for.” (Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com)

In a recent interview with the Insight with Chris Van Vliet podcast, former WWE wrestler Gene Snitsky gave his thoughts about the origin of his infamous baby doll punt segment in an episode of WWE RAW in 2004. Snitsky stated “Well, here’s the thing, going back to like I was saying about football and all that, I was actually an all area punter my junior year of high school. I averaged like 37 yards as a junior in high school, so I had always had the leg to do it. And ironically, all these years later, that’s one of the things I’m known for. It’s kind of funny.” Snitsky also gave his thoughts about how WWE was not aware of his past history as a punter beforehand. Snitsky stated “No, like I said, I sat in catering and just waited for somebody to come and get me. Dean Malenko came and got me and said, they need you to ring for the first shot. But when we were doing a baby thing, Vince was there as well with that. A little bit of a funny story, we’re walking through it, Vince was like, ‘Then you’re going to kick the baby into the crowd.’ I’m like, Cool. I’m thinking to myself, I’m going to try to kick it as high as I could to hit the Tron thing up top. Then they give me the baby. I’m like, man, it’s gonna be kind of hard to do. Have you ever tried to kick a baby? It’s not easy. You think it shouldn’t be that hard, but it’s actually pretty hard to kick a baby, though. But anyways, so in my head, I’m thinking I’m gonna whack this sh*t out of this thing. I’m gonna kick it as high as I can. And then Vince is like, ‘Whatever you do, don’t miss the baby. Make sure you kick it.’ I’m like, ‘Listen, Mr. McMahon, I was already a punter in high school. This is gonna be f*cking amazing.’ And he just looked at me and just left it at that. Then we went out. We did it in the whole spiel, and then back through the curtain, he gives me a big hug, he’s like, that was great. I’m like, I told you. I don’t have a confidence issue. I’m pretty confident in my ability, so I knew it was gonna be great.” Snitsky also gave his thoughts about his wrestling legacy being related to babies kicking. Snitsky stated “I don’t really know how to respond to that. When I got into wrestling, I never in a million years would have thought that whole storyline, just being thrown into it, because I had never done a dark match. Nobody knew I was. I was just there, and then all of a sudden I’m the biggest heel on the show. It’s crazy, literally that quick.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com 1 & 2)