Professional Wrestling

Colorado State defensive lineman Hidetora Hanada announced Monday that WWE offered him an NIL deal under its "Next In Line" initiative.

I honored to announce that I have received an NIL offer from WWE 🔥

I look forward to learning from this valuable experience and applying it to my future!

— 花田 秀虎　Hidetora Hanada (@hnd_hdtr) February 3, 2025

Hanada said in an Instagram post he got to witness the production side of WWE firsthand by attending the Royal Rumble on Saturday in Indianapolis.

"I experienced a level of intensity and thrill that was completely different from football or sumo wrestling—something truly unique to WWE," he wrote

"WWE is not just about the matches; they manage everything in-house, from camera crews and production staff to sound, set design, and props, creating a seamless entertainment spectacle."

Hanada's athletic endeavors outside of football were likely a bigger draw for WWE than what he did on the gridiron with the Rams. Prior to joining Colorado State, he was an amateur sumo wrestler in Japan and the heavyweight champion at the 2022 World Games.

Hanada said on Instagram his NIL deal with WWE includes an internship that will be part of his coursework as the senior continues his studies at Colorado State.

WWE first launched its "Next In Line" program in 2021 as states across the U.S. opened the door for college athletes to be compensated for their name, image and likeness. College sports have long been fertile ground for professional wrestling to find future stars, so the project further solidified an existing pipeline.

Former Minnesota wrestler Gable Steveson was one of the first big names signed under the WWE NIL banner. Former North American champion Oba Femi and NXT's Kendal Grey are among the others who used the opportunity to kick-start their pro wrestling careers.

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Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe.

Drew McIntyre Reportedly Upset After Rumble Elimination

Even though the Royal Rumble show overall was a huge success, there was something that went wrong in the men's match that didn't sit well with Drew McIntyre.

Per Mike Johnson of PW Insider (h/t Steve Carrier of Ringside News), McIntyre was "screaming and cursing" when he made it backstage after being eliminated because he frustrated that "someone had to get their moves in" at the expense of other planned storyline angles in the match.

The report also notes that McIntyre "stormed out of the building" before the Rumble match ended.

Per Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio, this particular situation with McIntyre isn't an angle but didn't rule out the possibility of WWE turning it into an angle going forward.

"Even before it (the Drew McIntyre storming out story) came out, I had heard it and somebody goes, 'Don't worry, it's a work.'

And then that same person came back later and just goes, 'Oh God, I just figured he was doing that because it was in front of everybody', and just said… pic.twitter.com/YoCcilF4uB

— WrestlePurists (@WrestlePurists) February 2, 2025

Given the lack of information about who might have screwed up, it's hard to speculate about any potential repercussions for the person.

It's unclear at this point who the person was. Logan Paul and LA Knight were the only other wrestlers engaged in action when McIntyre was thrown over the top rope by Damian Priest. Priest inadvertently bumped into Knight as he was running up behind McIntyre to toss him out.

#DrewMcIntyre shoots. pic.twitter.com/Cedf9BQ48e

— Makaveli (@MakaveliDTA) February 3, 2025

This isn't first time McIntyre has taken exception to something that happened on a major show. He reportedly stormed out of the arena after the WarGames match at Survivor Series 2023 on the show when CM Punk returned to WWE, though there was speculation that was part of an angle.

Alexa Bliss Contract Update

After rumors came out last week that Alexa Bliss and WWE were struggling to come to terms on a new contract, she made her long-awaited return as a surprise entrant in the women's Royal Rumble match on Saturday night.

Per Meltzer (h/t Carrier), WWE has confirmed Bliss signed a new deal but his "belief" is the company exaggerated any issues with the negotiations to swerve the audience.

Alexa Bliss signed a new long-term deal with WWE on Saturday morning and was flown into Indianapolis, @FightfulSelect has confirmed with sources in WWE and close to Bliss.

The two sides had been negotiating weeks ago and WWE had prepared merch for her, but the two sides had… pic.twitter.com/mvRtEeCWWN

— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) February 3, 2025

There could be some validity to that theory since Michael Cole's first comment after Bliss' music hit was to say, "The internet said she wasn't coming back."

BLISS is BACK! 😲#RoyalRumble pic.twitter.com/ICEdNpcJH4

— WWE (@WWE) February 1, 2025

Johnson previously reported the creative team was told not to factor Bliss into any forthcoming plans due to a "contractual issue."

In Friday's edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Colin Tessier of WrestleZone.com), Meltzer wrote Bliss and WWE were far apart on a new contract.

One reason for WWE to leak that Bliss was having a standoff with the company was to add another surprise entrant in the women's Rumble match. There weren't many after Trish Stratus and Nikki Bella, though the latter was probably expected given the rumors about her negotiating a return.

Bliss had been out of action since the 2023 Royal Rumble when she lost to Bianca Belair in a Raw women's title match. She gave birth to her first child with husband Ryan Cabrera in November 2023.

More Reported Royal Rumble Frustration

The frustration with how things played out in the men's Rumble weren't limited to just McIntyre.

Per Meltzer (h/t Subhojeet Mukherjee of Ringside News), there were multiple people who were "pissed" off at an unnamed superstar for trying to get himself over instead of the match:

"There's a guy that a lot of people were pissed at in that match, with the idea that he was trying to get himself over and not the match over, and he was doing things. I don't wanna mention his name, it'll probably come out tomorrow, because it's only one person telling me the name, but it's multiple people telling me that the Drew thing… he wasn't happy. It's not an angle. If they end up doing an angle with the person later–which there's no hints of anything. But I heard that Drew was not the only one unhappy about the situation."

The first tell that someone made other wrestlers upset is seeing if they have an extended absence from television. All of the featured players are going to get a lot of visibility for the next two months leading up to WrestleMania, but there might be a notable star who isn't around.

Another way to tell, barring any leaks to the media, is if a notable star ends up getting squashed in a match with someone like McIntyre. This could also just be something that blows over because it was a mistake in the moment.

Once the men's Rumble match settled down and the ring cleared out, it turned into a terrific main event. The bout ended with Jey Uso securing his spot at WrestleMania by eliminating John Cena to win.

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How wild would it be if 2025 finally gives pro wrestling fans the endlessly requested John Cena heel turn?

Try not to laugh off the idea, as outlandish as it might seem. Sure, on first pass, Cena spending his retirement tour over the next year as a heel seems impossible.

There's a big but to tack on here, though—Cena's post-Royal Rumble press conference was interesting, to say the least.

In the wake of being one of the final two wrestlers in the men's Royal Rumble match and getting eliminated by Jey Uso, Cena hit his presser and threw out some interesting tidbits.

Tidbits, such as simply declaring himself as having earned an elimination Chamber spot already, which he swears he'll win so that he can go on to win his 17th title.

BREAKING: @JohnCena just announced that he will be competing in this year's Elimination Chamber Match to secure a path towards an opportunity to become a 17-time champ at #WrestleMania 41!

🇨🇦 TORONTO
🎟️ https://t.co/8JsTRSVCW1 pic.twitter.com/MUR7PGqMv3

— WWE (@WWE) February 2, 2025

Seriously—just listen to the rant. It's probably one of the best things on the mic Cena has done over the last decade. And beyond that, there sure are a lot of heel-aligned things going on there.

For one, he's simply taking a spot in the chamber, unearned. He's unabashedly running off to film a movie until then. He utters the infamous Triple H/Stephanie/Authority-isim "best for business" more than three times.

There are little good-guy Cena things in there, like looking forward to eventually raising the arm of the guy in the future who wins No. 18, surpassing him. But the whole thing is laced with toeing-the-line heel work that simply doesn't fit with his usual "my time is now" Cena stuff.

The overarching outlook of WWE adds weight to this idea tenfold. After the silly retcons from The Rock at the oddly corporate Raw on Netflix debut, it's clear Dwayne Johnson won't be the Final Boss heel at 'Mania. While recent events have flirted with heelish Cody Rhodes, that doesn't seem to be happening, either—especially if Cena is his WrestleMania opponent.

So who is the big bad? Cena just raised the arm of Jey after the rumble. Raised the arm of, in fact, a younger version of himself—Jey is the guy moving stunning merchandise sales right now who is super, super over with children. He's the new guy who simply won't be permitted to turn heel for the foreseeable future, no matter how badly older fans might want to see that complex character development.

Cena is, in a word, free. Some of those obligations to the industry he talks about in the presser, he's free of those now. Jey has his old spot. Cody is a Cena-lite. Roman Reigns is going face. CM Punk will get cheered no matter how bad his actions become.

No doubt there's a super-compelling story to tell here, too. One angle? Cena indeed wins the Elimination Chamber and goes after Rhodes at 'Mania. He could cut some fantastic promos, taking an entire stance about how he's coming for what's rightfully his in the house he built.

Perhaps even more engrossing? Cena loses at Elimination Chamber and just spirals. He's not the franchise player anymore. That Ruthless Aggression era he created? He doesn't have that anymore. And while the locker room obviously respects him, they don't need him. Losing, plus one snide comment from a Seth Rollins about running off to film movies like Dwayne, and buddy, away the story goes.

Cena put a big emphasis on Saturday being his last Royal Rumble and this 'Mania also being his last. That could end up being true. But this is pro wrestling and those statements could easily be a swerve, too. This is the era of long-form storytelling and frankly, Cena deserves that type of treatment, too.

The alternative just feels too obvious and mediocre. He wins the chamber, beats Rhodes at 'Mania, drops it at SummerSlam and leaves for good?

That's just too easy.

What's refreshing is that when we say heel turn, in modern WWE under Triple H, it can be a sensible heel and not outright evil to the point of goofiness. An angry, motivated Cena who just realized this really is the end of the line and the happy-go-lucky grandpa who shows up to have fun just ain't gonna cut it. Stuff can work. He won't cheat, but getting uber-violent and any means necessary while destroying the locker room on the mic like their name was Austin Theory? It sounds fantastic.

Many probably didn't envision and can't imagine Cena playing the role of a heel as he says goodbye. But fans also know Cena—if it's going to do the best job of putting over the next generation as he goes out on his back, so be it.

If all the signs so far are Cena just evolving to match the times, the fact he just organically feels like a heel just makes him that much more organic as he bows out, too.

After a surprise—and brief—appearance in the 2025 Royal Rumble, IShowSpeed is setting his ambitions high for whenever he gets in the Rumble match again.

Speaking to Cathy Kelley backstage and wearing a neck brace, IShowSpeed said he would be back in 2026 and called out "everybody," including Roman Reigns.

The YouTube star was added to the match by Triple H as a replacement for Akira Tozawa, who was making his way to the ring as the eighth entrant when he was attacked by Carmelo Hayes.

IShowSpeed worked with Bron Breakker to score an elimination by tossing Otis over the top, but the intercontinental champion proceeded to break Speed in half with a spear.

no more WWE💔 pic.twitter.com/iOb9xDGKGs

— Speed⭐️ (@ishowspeedsui) February 2, 2025

Hope you good ❤️@ishowspeedsui @PrimeHydrate pic.twitter.com/aSszRWWDN8

— Logan Paul (@LoganPaul) February 2, 2025

It's interesting that Speed's post on X says "no more WWE" then he followed it up by calling out superstars and vowing to take part in the 2026 Rumble, though he doesn't seem to be paying close attention because after Reigns he mentioned eliminating Mark Henry.

Henry hasn't worked for WWE since 2021, though he's at least no longer under contract to AEW. It was also odd Speed didn't call out Breakker, though it's hard to blame him for not wanting to make him mad given how vicious that spear looked.

If nothing else, WWE got exactly what it wanted from IShowSpeed's appearance. Steve Carrier of Ringside News noted the clip of Breakker's spear generated 49.6 million views on social media in the first 12 hours after the event.

This marked IShowSpeed's second appearance at a WWE premium live event. He took an RKO from Randy Orton in a triple-threat match that included Paul and Kevin Owens at WrestleMania 40.

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After coming up short in the Royal Rumble, John Cena wasted no time in declaring for the Elimination Chamber.

Cena said during the Royal Rumble post-show press conference he will take part in the men's Chamber match, vowing to win and go on to WrestleMania where he intends to win his record-setting 17th world title.

The Rumble marked Cena's first match since the Raw after WrestleMania 40 on April 8. He returned to television on the Jan. 6 episode of Raw to kickoff his 2025 retirement tour.

On that show, Cena talked about how his last victory in a televised singles match was over Triple H at the Greatest Royal Rumble in April 2018 and his only path to competing for a title was by winning the men's Rumble match.

Cena made it to the final two, along with Jey Uso, but he was unable to get the win when Main Event Jey slipped behind after being lifted up for an Attitude Adjustment and kicked Cena off the apron.

This continues the long-term story of Cena not being able to win on his own. It also allows WWE to build toward his first WrestleMania match in two years when he lost to Austin Theory.

If the rumored plan of Cena challenging Cody Rhodes for the undisputed WWE title at WrestleMania is still on, it makes sense to immediately start the build for Cena at the Elimination Chamber.

Cena's 16 career world title wins are tied with Flair for the most recognized reigns in WWE history. His last title victory was over A.J. Styles at the 2017 Royal Rumble.

There will be six competitors in the men's Chamber match, including Cena. The Elimination Chamber premium live event will take place on March 1 from the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

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