WWE: AJ Lee WWE Contract Update, Hank & Tank vs. DarkState for NXT Tag Titles Set for 9/9 WWE NXT Show, Update on John Cena’s Retirement Match Not Taking Place in Boston

AJ Lee WWE Contract Update

As noted before, Friday’s WWE SmackDown show at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois featured AJ Lee making her surprise return to WWE in over 10 years. Following the show, Lee signed a new official contract with WWE.

BodySlam.net reported that their sources stated that Lee’s return was not just for a one-off cameo or nostalgic pop and instead she had signed a new mutli-year contract with WWE.

It was reported that Lee’s new full-time status signals something bigger and WWE will be investing in her as a cornerstone of their Women’s division again.

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Hank & Tank vs. DarkState for NXT Tag Titles Announced for September 9th WWE NXT Show

NXT General Manager Ava announced one new match for the card of next week’s WWE NXT show at the Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.

This new match announced was a NXT Tag Team Championship match of Hank & Tank (Hank Walker & Tank Legder) vs. DarkState (Dion Lennox and Osiris Griffin) (c).

good luck belly boys! @WWENXT #WWENXT pic.twitter.com/yujxwo6Ptf

— A V A (@avawwe_) September 5, 2025

Current card for September 9th WWE NXT show:

• NXT Tag Team Championship – Hank & Tank (Hank Walker & Tank Legder) vs. DarkState (Dion Lennox and Osiris Griffin) (c)
• WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship #1 Contender Triple Threat Eliminator match – Fatal Influence (Jazmyn Nyx & Fallon Henley) vs. ZaRuca (Zaria & Sol Ruca) vs. The Culling (Tatum Paxley & Izzi Dame)
• WWE Women’s Speed Championship #1 Contender Tournament First Round match – Faby Apache vs. Lainey Reid
• Flag match – “All Ego” Ethan Page vs. Tavion Heights
• Je’Von Evans vs. Josh Briggs

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Update on John Cena’s Retirement Match Not Taking Place in Boston

As noted before, Washington, D.C. is currently scheduled to be the location for John Cena’s retirement match at WWE’s Saturday Night’s Main Event show on December 13th. The city of Boston had been long rumored to have been the location until WWE’s recent announcement of Cena’s final appearance in Boston will be on November 10th.

Sports Illustrated’s Jon Alba reported that his sources stated that WWE and TKO had wanted to create a full destiantion style weekend built around Cena’s last match similar to what they have done for major PLE events.

WWE and TKO officials reported want to expand Cena’s retirement match from being just a Saturday Night’s Main Event show and instead include additional attractions such as a new The Undertaker’s One-Man show being planned to make that weekend feel like a larger tourism draw.

Alba reported that he had obtained several bidding documents from WWE that show that the company had outlined this strategy earlier in the year and wanted a bidding war for Cena’s retirement match.

Alba also reported that Boston officials were very eager to secure Cena’s final match but lost out due to them being frustrated over their issues with how WWE communicated during the process. Boston officials reportedly were mostly upset over WWE making more demands that included covering additional new costs compared to what they has asked for previous events hosted in the city.

Alba also reported that the timing of Cena’s retirement match also factored heavily into WWE and TKO’s decision. WWE and TKO officials reportedly did not view December in Boston during peak holiday season as the ideal setting for a major tourism-focused event in the city.