WWE: Rusev Provides Update on Hands Injury & WWE TV Return Plans, Tatum Paxley Appearance Set for NXT Halloween Havoc 2026 Pre-Show, Blake Monroe on Lengthy Delay For Her WWE SmackDown In-Ring Debut Made Her Question Herself

Oct 30, 2026

Rusev Provides Update on Hands Injury & WWE TV Return Plans

As noted before, Rusev has been absent from WWE since this past July due to a hands-related injury. Rusev made his in-ring return from injury at WWE’s Hawaii Tour house show event earlier this month in Honolulu, Hawaii.

A recent episode of TMZ’s Inside The Ring podcast featured Rusev as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Rusev providing an update on his recovery from a hands injury and Him being ready to return to WWE television.

“Good, good. I’ve been out for what — two, three months or whatnot. But yes, I did get kicked in the head, my hands went numb, felt better, finished the match. Then, I got a little sick after that. Not related, I don’t believe it was related. So I was out for that. But then, I’ve been ready. I’ve been good for about two months. I’m just waiting to go back to TV.”

Rusev also gave his thoughts about how he has been training at his school in Nashville and has visited the WWE Performance Center.

Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com

Tatum Paxley Appearance Set for NXT Halloween Havoc 2026 Pre-Show

Tatum Paxley announced earlier today on Twitter that she will be making an appearance at this Saturday’s NXT Halloween Havoc 2026 event at the Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.

Paxley revealed that she will be a panelist for the pre-show of the event.

“Yup yup yup it sure doesn’t seem right to have Tater Paxley NOT be at #halloweenhavoc. SOOOO this year I’m coming to be one of the panelist cause i REFUSE to miss out on the show that gave me one of my best moments of my career!
See you Saturday @WWENXT”

Yup yup yup it sure doesn’t seem right to have Tater Paxley NOT be at #halloweenhavoc …. SOOOO this year I’m coming to be one of the panelist cause i REFUSE to miss out on the show that gave me one of my best moments of my career! See you Saturday @WWENXT 🖤 https://t.co/khyj9tFaqs
— Tater (@TatumPaxley) October 30, 2026

Current card for NXT Halloween Havoc 2026:

NXT Championship – Tony D’Angelo vs. Grayson Waller (c)
NXT Women’s Championship – Wren Sinclair vs. Kelani Jordan (c)
Myles Borne vs. Tavion Heights
Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal match – Zilla Fatu vs. Charlie Dempsey
Izzi Dame vs. Zaria
Naraku vs. Shiloh Hill
Danhausen to host

Blake Monroe Comments on Lengthy Delay For Her WWE SmackDown In-Ring Debut Made Her Question Herself

As noted before, Blake Monroe made her official main roster in-ring debut for the SmackDown brand on the October 2nd episode following a lengthy delay after her official call-up this past June and last televised match for the NXT brand this past April.

A recent episode of the Busted Open Radio podcast featured Monroe as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Monroe’s thoughts about the lengthy delay for her main roster in-ring debut and how she had felt frustrated and had moments where she started to have doubts and questioned herself over it.

“I love to work. I love to be out in front of the crowd. I love to win people over, and I can’t do that if I’m not out there. So I was chomping at the bit for five months dying to get out there, and I know better than anyone else that timing is everything. I’ve achieved things in my career that would not have happened if I didn’t fail 10 times before and that’s so many different things, big and small.
So I knew in my heart, timing is everything, but it does get to a point months in where you’re thinking, ‘Alright, I train, I go to the gym every day, I dress like a million bucks, I have my character, I have ideas. I want to be out there. I see other girls I think I could be better than them. I think if I had the shots they had and the opportunities they had, I would have done more with it.’
There is that natural hunger and desire, and it can get to a point where you question yourself and think, ‘Why is this not happening for me?’ But ultimately, it’s such a huge machine, there’s so many moving parts. There’s unpredictable factors like injuries and other things that shift around. For me, it was just every single week turning up and saying, ‘I’m ready for this. Here’s 20 different things I want to do on the show until one of them sticks,’ and it did. Now I feel like I’m on the show and you can’t ignore me. You cannot keep me in the back for another week. You cannot look at me and my peers and not use me now.
I did have moments where I questioned myself, so let that be a lesson to everyone out there. Even The Glamour questions herself, but I remembered who I am, what I did to get here, and I just kept working harder.”

Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com