AEW: Bobby Lashley on Xavier Woods & Kofi Kingston Leaving WWE and Potential AEW Arrival, Tony Schiavone on Fallout of Him Saying Nigal McGuinness Being Best Color Analyst He’s Ever Worked With, Thekla on Mio Shirai’s Influence on Her Wrestling Career

May 5, 2026

Bobby Lashley Comments on Xavier Woods & Kofi Kingston Leaving WWE and Potential Arrival to AEW

As noted before, New Day’s Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston departed from WWE this past Saturday following a mutual decision from both sides over New Day not accepting a new restructured deal offer to stay in the company.

A recent episode of the Good Karma Wrestling podcast featured Bobby Lashley as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Lashley’s thoughts about Woods and Kingston’s recent departures from WWE and AEW’s tag division might become really strong and interesting.

“Oh man. It’s one of those things where it’s like, that was a fumble. That was a fumble. You retire those guys. You take those guys to the end and give them whatever they want, because they’ve given the business everything. I don’t think there’s a person in the business that says, ‘Aye man, I don’t like those guys,’ or, ‘Those guys treated me wrong,’ or, ‘Those guys weren’t good to me.’ There’s no one, and we saw that one time before when somebody else got released. When somebody else got released, they had to bring him back because they were like, oh! This is a bad move. Well, this is a horrible move also. But it can be a great move for someone else. So at the end of the day, we might see some different mix-ups and the tag team division might (become) really, really, really strong and interesting in AEW and if so, a tremendous amount of fans will go over there because they’ll start kind of saying, what’s going on? Isn’t this business built on respect? And if you have respect for the business, you have respect for the people in the business, and these guys should have a lot of respect in the business. So what’s going on?”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

Tony Schiavone Comments on Fallout of Him Saying Nigal McGuinness Being Best Color Analyst He’s Ever Worked With

As noted before, AEW commentator Tony Schiavone had mentioned during a recent episode of his What Happened When podcast that Nigel McGuinness has been the best color commentator he has ever worked with in his wrestling commentary career.

A recent episode of the What Happened When with Tony Schiavone podcast featured co-host Schiavone giving his thoughts about the fallout from fans online about his recent comments about McGuinness.

“I think we’re very fortunate in AEW. As a two-man team, I really like working with Nigel and people say, ‘well, what about Jesse or what about Heenan? You worked with Dusty Rhodes in a two-man booth. What about those guys you worked with? You say Nigel’s better than [them]?’ Well, Nigel is the most prepared I’ve ever worked with.”

Schiavone also gave his thoughts about Aleister Black’s recent release from WWE and his friendship with Black.

“I was surprised, really, that they [WWE] released Malakai [Black] because he and I are friends. I haven’t really had a chance to talk to him since that time”

Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com

Thekla Comments on Mio Shirai’s Influence on Her Wrestling Career

Forbes held a recent interview with AEW Women’s World Champion Thekla. One of the topics discussed included Thekla’s thoughts about the influence Mio Shirai, sister of WWE’s IYO SKY, has had on her wrestling career.

“I think who shaped me most is one of my teachers when I was wrestling with Ice Ribbon in Tokyo. Her name is Mio Shirai. She is actually the sister of IYO SKY in WWE. She used to be my coach during the pandemic time where most of the students decided to stay at home, so I had a lot of time dedicated to me, and she gave me some of the moves that I’m still using to this day, and she really lit a fire under my pro wrestling green ass.”