Various: Update on Konnan’s Hospitalization & Leg Amputation Surgery, Steph De Lander on Misconceptions About Her Neck Injury & Hopes TNA Provides Better Support To Injured Wrestlers In Future, Indies/Misc.

Mar 14, 2026

Update on Konnan’s Hospitalization & Leg Amputation Surgery

As noted before, former WCW and lucha wrestler and AAA creative member Konnan, real name Carlos Santiago Espada, was recently hospitalized in San Diego, California and was believed to have had one of his legs amputated due to medical complications.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the news in Mexico this past week was that Konnan had one of his legs amputated and the other leg is in serious danger of the same happening due to health problems.

Meltzer reported that Konnan is still hospitalized and this has been the case for him for about the past six weeks. Konnan’s current health problems reportedly was the reason why Rey Mysterio recently replaced Konnan for the English commentary team for AAA’s shows.

Meltzer also reported that Konnan’s leg amputation situation has yet to be officially confirmed by Konnan, WWE, or AAA but those spoken to did not deny the rumors of it.

Steph De Lander Comments on Misconceptions About Her Neck Injury & Hoping TNA Provides Better Support To Injured Wrestlers In Future

As noted before, Mance Warner and Steph De Lander departed from TNA Wrestling earlier this month over issues related to TNA refusing to clear De Lander to return from her neck injury and telling her that she would never be able to wrestle for the promotion again. De Lander had stated in a recent interview with Fightful that she believes that TNA does not have the budget for a proper medical team and did not cover her medical costs for her neck surgery and rehab.

In the same recent interview with Fightful, De Lander clarified the misconceptions regarding her neck injury and how she did not suffer a broken neck.

“I think the thing I want people to know is, first and foremost, I didn’t break my neck. I had a bulging disc of my C5, C6, which is like the most common level. I had a one level spinal fusion, which is again, a very routine surgery that so many wrestlers have had and returned from. My surgeon operated on Tommaso Ciampa, Braun Strowman, [Maurice], like a lot of names that then went on and continued wrestling. So I just want to set that record straight of this situation makes it seem like I’ve had this like career ending, career threatening injury. Reality, I’ve actually had the most basic neck injury you could have. So I just wanted to make sure that was clear.”

De Lander also gave her thoughts about her being hopeful that TNA provide better support to injured wrestlers in the future.

“Another reason why I wanted to come out and be open about this situation is I wanted to bring up the conversation around the injury protocol and hopefully for the next person that has a serious injury while they work for TNA, I hope that there’s better support in place so they don’t have to go through the same stuff that I did.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

Saturday’s NJPW New Japan Cup 2026 Night 8 event in Nagoya, Japan featured Shota Umino defeating Yujiro Takahashi and Zack Sabre Jr. defeating Ryohei Oiwa in Second Round matches in this year’s New Japan Cup tournament. As a result of their victories, Umino will be facing off against Sabre Jr. in the Quarterfinal Round of this year’s New Japan Cup tournament.

NJPW reportedly drew a paid attendance of 2,949 for their March 6th 54th Anniversary Event in Tokyo, 2,511 for their March 8th New Japan Cup 2026 event in Amagasaki and 1,233 for their March 9th New Japan Cup 2026 event in Okayama, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Gringo Loco recently announced that NJPW talent El Desperado will be making an appearance for Game Changer Wrestling for their Gringo Loco’s The WRLD On Lucha 2026 event on April 17th in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Capcom’s official Street Fighter Twitter account recently released a new teaser trailer for their upcoming new live action Street Fighter film. This upcoming film features WWE’s Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns and NJPW’s Hirooki Goto among the film’s cast.

TNA Wrestling reportedly drew an attendance of 1,496 for their March 5th live TNA Impact! show in Atlanta and 1,623 for their March 6th Impact! taping in Atlanta, Georgia, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

CMLL reportedly drew an attendance of around 8,000 for their March 6th La Noche De La Amazonas event at the Arena Mexico in Mexico City, Mexico, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Westside Xtreme Wrestling reportedly drew an attendance of 929 for their March 6th 16 Carat Gold 2026 event in Oberhausen and 1,062 for their March 7th 16 Carat Gold 2026 event in Oberhausen, Germany, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Stardom reportedly drew a paid attendance of 560 for their March 6th Cinderella Tournament 2026 event in Aichi, 1,097 for their March 8th Cinderella Tournament 2026 event in Tokyo, and 1,164 for their Match 11th Cinderella Tournament 2026 event in Tokyo, Japan, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

As noted before, former MMA fighter and WWE wrestler Ronda Rousey will be making her official MMA return at Netflix and Most Valuable Promotions co-promoted Superfight MMA event on May 16th in Los Angeles, California. Rousey will be facing off against Gina Carano at the event. In a recent interview with the Busted Open Radio podcast, Marina Shafir gave her thoughts about her longtime friend Rousey’s upcoming MMA return fight and revealed that she will be in attendance at the event to support Rousey. Shafir stated “Oh my God, I’m so excited for her. This is visceral for her. In a non-gay way, I have gotten really hard nipples for her. I’m just very excited for her because she has — you guys just have no f*****g idea what people go through, and for her to be doing the thing that she loves, so wholeheartedly and so passionately, I’m just so excited. I’m really f*****g excited to see what happens, what’s to come. I’m really excited to be there actually, too so.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)