WWE: Plans Pitched for The Hardys to Return to NXT for TNA Invasion Storyline, ESPN President on He Tried To Get WWE Programming In Past Years & Always Had An Appreciation For WWE Content, Adriana Rizzo Torn ACL Injury Update

Plans Pitched for The Hardys to Return to NXT for TNA Invasion Storyline

As noted before, this past Tuesday’s WWE NXT show at the Performance Center in Orlando, Florida featured many TNA talents invading NXT and brawling with NXT talents as part of a new TNA invasion storyline for WWE and TNA’s working relationship.

Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that WWE officials have recently pitched plans for The Hardys (Matt & Jeff Hardy) to appear in NXT during the TNA invasion angle.

It was reported that there are some TNA talents that WWE officials have preferred to not be featured in NXT during their current working partnership with TNA.

It was also reported that this past Tuesday’s NXT show was the start of a long-term invasion storyline between TNA and NXT.

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ESPN President Comments on He Tried To Get WWE Programming In Past Years & Always Had An Appreciation For WWE Content

A recent episode of the Sports Media with Richard Deitsch podcast featured ESPN President of Content Burke Magnus as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Magnus’ thoughts about how he had tried to get WWE programming for ESPN in the past and how he always had an appreciation for WWE content.

“When I was over in programming, I got the old WrestleManias during the pandemic to put on ESPN. I took a couple of runs at the Raw and SmackDown packages, and the WWE Network, previously. I’ve had a great appreciation of this content for a long time. This goes all the way back to when I was a kid in New Jersey. I loved it. I’m not too familiar with the storylines today, but I have a full appreciation for what they’ve built over there in terms of a great form of entertainment, and clearly, the results speak for themselves in terms of how many fans they pack in arenas and stadiums. It’s remarkable.”

Magnus also gave his thoughts about how ESPN will continue to incorporate WWE programming and if SportsCenter would cover major happenings in WWE.

“It’s a really active conversation. What we’re seeing today is launch-oriented. We’ve had superstars on our shows. Triple H has been on a variety of shows. Everything, though, has been presented in the context of the new partnership and Wrestlepalooza. When it flips from being (less) about the awareness of the new rights agreements and new partnership, how do we handle coverage of the WWE across our platforms? That is a really active conversation right now. My gut here is that there will be coverage, but we’re figuring out what that looks like in the context of WWE. It’s unequivocally entertainment and part of sports and athletic and what we do in every way, other than the storylines are scripted, and it’s presented that way and everybody knows that. There is a full appreciation at ESPN of how compelling their content is from an entertainment perspective. The answer is ‘Yes, for sure,’ but I’m not really prepared right now to tell you or give you examples of what that might look like.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com 1 & 2

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Adriana Rizzo Torn ACL Injury Update

As noted before, NXT talent Adriana Rizzo has been out of action for WWE since this past August due to a torn ACL and meniscus injury.

In a recent Q&A post on Instagram, Rizzo provided an update on her recovery from her torn ACL injury stating that she is currently expecting to return to the ring by Spring of 2026.

In a separate video on TikTok, Rizzo explained how she suffered her injury.

“How I tore my leg? How I tore my knee? What happened? Why did it happen? I’ve gotten a lot of people speculating, ‘Oh, you were doing this, you were doing that…’ First of all, none of your business. But I’m gonna tell you anyway. I’m gonna tell you anyway because I’m sick of hearing — I’m sick of this speculation so here’s what happened: I had a partial tear. Partial, not fully. Partial tear on my ACL. A year and a half ago, I was doing a throw over my head and somebody pushed my knee in, partially tore my ACL. Whatever. I’m fine. I worked through it for a year and a half. Yes, I knew there was a chance it was gonna fully tear, but I wasn’t about to sit out for a year and a half because I got, you know, a splinter on my ACL. I’m gonna get surgery when the whole kabang goes. So, I’m gonna go as long as I can until that happens. Yes, I knew it was a possibility. Yes, I made the decision. Yes, I’m still happy about my decision. So what happened was I was at practice, I was doing a drill, I’m running over to the corner and boom, my knee just, you know, bada bing, bada boom, explodes. I fall over, I lay on the floor for like four minutes because I knew. I knew my knee exploded and then I was like, well, sh*t, there it goes. There it goes. So, that’s the story of my knee. So everyone can stop making up their little fairytale rumors because that’s what happened. Alright, have a good day.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com