An update ahead of Ludwig Kaiser’s pre-trial conference.

On July 16th, there is a pre-trial hearing scheduled for WWE talent Ludwig Kaiser following his arrest for a battery incident in April 2026.

The incident between Kaiser and the alleged victim, Richard Reap, took place in Orlando, Florida at an apartment complex where they both resided. Reap alleges that Kaiser and a female were aggressively kissing, to which he told them to have some manners, and that escalated to Kaiser putting his hands on him.

Kaiser’s version of the events is listed as follows:

“The elevator stopped at the 12th floor where Mr. Reap exited, and as he exited Mr. Reap made loud comments to Mr. Barthel and his girlfriend to the effect of, ‘Have some f***ing respect.’ Apparently, Mr. Reap was offended by Mr. Barthel and his girlfriend hugging while in the elevator. Mr. Barthel leaned out of the elevator to ask Mr. Reap what he said as he was confused by the statement. Mr. Reap then made a statement to the effect of, ‘Have some respect before I call ICE on that bitch’ Mr. Barthel’s girlfriend is of Mexican descent.”

Mr. Barthel exited the elevator and confronted Mr. Reap verbally telling him his statements were offensive and inappropriate. Mr. Barthel did not threaten or touch Mr. Reap at that point. Mr. Reap then came toward Mr. Barthel aggressively raising his hands and getting very close to him. Mr. Barthel, in fear that Mr. Reap was going to batter him, pushed Mr. Reap away.

Mr. Barthel walked back into the elevator, where his girlfriend was standing. Mr. Reap then approached the elevator in a threatening manner. Mr. Barthel stepped out of the elevator and told Mr. Reap to leave them alone. Mr. Reap walked away briefly and came back toward the elevator again in a threatening manner. Mr. Barthel was concerned that Mr. Reap would physically attack him or his girlfriend, so he pushed him away, and returned to the elevator.

Mr. Reap then threw a soft drink bottle at Mr. Barthel. Mr. Barthel did not retaliate. Rather, he remained in the elevator, pushed the button for his floor and left the area.

In this altercation, Mr. Barthel pushed Mr. Reap only after Mr. Reap had approached Mr. Barthel aggressively and threatened him. Mr. Barthel pushed Mr. Reap to stop his continuing approach and attack. Mr. Barthel then entered the elevator where his girlfriend remained and left the area.”

In late June, Kaiser’s defense was granted access to view the surveillance footage of what occurred.

Thekla and the Sisters of Sin made a surprise appearance in Japan today.

The Triangle of Madness crashed a STARDOM broadcast on Wednesday night, showing up more than 30 minutes into what looked like a casual talk show.

The AEW trio immediately caused chaos, shouting and derailing the talk show involving Syuri. Thekla, with a drink in hand, delivered a series of big announcements.

First, it was revealed that the Triangle of Madness will challenge for the Artist of STARDOM trios titles this Saturday. They’ll take on the God’s Eye team of Ami Sourei, Hina, and Lady C as part of a kick-off card for this year’s 5Star Grand Prix from EBARA WAVE Arena.

It was also confirmed that Julia Hart will remain in Japan following that trios match, as she will be entering this year’s 5Star GP. She’ll be joining the Blue Stars A Block, which had a spot open up recently after Bea Priestley withdrew from the tournament due to injury.

The announcement means Hart will be in Japan until mid-to-late August, when the tourney wraps up. Making her debut run in the tournament, Hart is the sole AEW name in the lineup.

With Hart’s participation in the 5Star GP confirmed, the tour’s full lineup has been set. Here’s how it looks:

Red Stars A

• Maika
• Sayaka Kurara
• Rina
• Tomoka Inaba
• Itsuki Aoki
• AZM
• Natsuko Tora
• Akira Kurogane

Red Stars B

• Konami
• Saya Iida
• Lady C
• Azusa Inaba
• Mei Seira
• Rina Yamashita
• Maki Itoh
• Utami Hayashishita

Blue Stars A

• Aya Sakura
• HANAKO
• Rian
• Hina
• Miyu Amasaki
• Ruaka
• ~~Bea Priestley~~ [Julia Hart]
• Suzu Suzuki

Blue Stars B

• Starlight Kid
• Hanan
• Yuna Mizumori
• Koguma
• Ami Sohrei
• Saya Kamitani
• Momo Watanabe
• Kikyo Furusawa

ok, just finished watching this and i was a little emotional at the end for jeff. for the record, if you're looking for tony in it, he's in the last 15 minutes of part 3 during the aew part and there's some really good footage of him in the owen and him backstage interacting with the talent and training them and it's just so wholesome.

i actually liked part 3 as a rise and fall and rise of jeff jarrett episode since the bischoff/hogan stuff has been played out.

part 1 also has some real emotional stuff about jeff and owen too, which i would go out of your way to see it.

i just wasn't a fan of the rewriting by vince russo and bischoff, considering how instrumental they were in destroying both wcw and tna; i think they got to rewrite things a bit and push it all off on dixie (don't get me wrong she does get the blame but eric and russo should have gotten it too).

definitely watch part 1 and the last half of part 3 (although i did like how jeff hardy got to talk about the victory road stuff and kind of get closure there, which was very heartwarming - and i loved that he already got to have the redemption arc with sting in aew too).

i feel torn because i do wish i watched early tna or ring of honor but a lot of the tna ppv era stuff, from watching part one, was definitely not up my alley and i was just too burnt out from wwe destroying wcw - which i had been a fan of for like 13 years - to care about wrestling until aew.

edit: oh yeah also kia stevens/awesome kong is absolutely SO funny i loved her in this <3

It's Wednesday, you know what that means! AEW Dynamite comes to us from MGM Music Hall in Boston, Massachusetts!

Tonight's card includes:

Singles Match: Andrade El Idolo vs. Jake Doyle

Six (Wo)Man Tag Team Match: Hyan, Maya World & Willow Nightingale vs. Divine Dominion (Lena Kross & Megan Bayne) & Mercedes Mone

And most likely more!

Enjoy the show and have fun!

All Elite Wrestling is suing the production company behind Queen of the Ring, alleging that more than $105,000 in sponsorship fees for promoting the film are long overdue.

Ring Productions LLC, the business entity that produced the movie, signed a sponsorship deal in January 2025, agreeing to pay AEW approximately $350,000. In exchange, Queen of the Ring got sponsored matches on AEW programs, members of the film’s cast shown in the front row on AEW broadcasts, in-arena plays of the movie trailer, AEW talent hyping the film on their social media accounts, among other benefits.

Although Ring Productions paid a total of $250,000 by May 23, 2025, it allegedly failed to meet a February 28 deadline to make the later half of that payment. According to the lawsuit, the company still owes a remaining $100,000 in sponsorship fees, plus over $5,000 in contractual talent travel expenses. AEW is also seeking interest on the late payments at a 1.5% monthly interest rate that’s defined in the contract. AEW attached the contract and a related amendment as exhibits to the lawsuit filed in Duval County, Florida.

The film starred Emily Bett Rickards as Mildred Burke, the pioneering female wrestling star of the 1930s to 1950s. AEW wrestlers Toni Storm (as Clara Mortensen), Kamille (as June Byers), and Britt Baker (as Debbie Nichols) also played roles in the movie. Jim Cornette, Mickie James, and Trinity Fatu appeared in the film as well.

Queen of the Ring was released in March 2025, and was not a box office success. It played in theaters for a few weeks and grossed just $657,718, according to Box Office Mojo, which may explain why the film company is behind on its payments to AEW. The $350,000 invested in promoting the movie with AEW alone is more than half of the film’s gross. Ring Productions COO Paul Leighton and Director of Brand Strategy Josh Eldridge did not respond to a request to provide comments for this article.

The sponsorship agreement between AEW and Ring Productions includes a clause requiring any legal disputes to be resolved through arbitration. This mirrors what’s known about AEW’s talent contracts, reflecting the promotion’s general preference for handling legal matters confidentially rather than in public courts. Given the contract’s language, it’s unclear why AEW filed its claims in open court in Duval County instead of through its arbitration provider, JAMS. AEW media relations did not respond to a request to comment on why AEW took this case to court and not arbitration.

According to the filing, AEW followed up with Ring Productions four times by email between September and December 2025, but those messages went unanswered. AEW’s outside counsel, Gunster Yoakley & Stewart, then got involved. Attorneys from the firm sent a formal notice on March 24, 2026, giving Ring seven days to pay up. The lawsuit claims Leighton acknowledged Ring owed $105,262.51, but that there was no further communication.

If Leighton acknowledged his company owed money to AEW, that admission could be especially helpful to AEW’s case. An email record showing the alleged acknowledgment, however, has yet to be included as an exhibit in the case.

The lawsuit was filed on June 26, 2026, with the Fourth Judicial Circuit in Duval County. AEW is headquartered in Jacksonville, which is in Duval County, Florida.

Ring Productions has yet to file a response to the lawsuit. The film company hasn’t been formally served with the lawsuit yet, according to the court docket. After service is completed, Ring will have 20 days to file a response.

Welcome to SquaredCircle’s ‘Meme Monday’!

Have you seen a great wrestling meme this week that just made you crack up? Did you watch a silly moment in a show and just need to craft a meme out of it? Well post ‘em below!

The highest voted meme shall win and be showcased in next week’s thread!

A 46 year old documentary the BBC did about a guy training for his first match, featuring Johnny Saints and Big Daddy.

It looks like WWE’s new membership service is just days away from officially launching.

Club WWE sent an email out to its newsletter subscribers this week, per details obtained by Fightful, explaining that the service will open this Friday for “Founding Members.”

Club WWE has been teased since March, when the company first started flashing the logo on broadcasts. It has since been revealed to be a fan subscription service which offers exclusive opportunities, like discounted live event tickets, merchandise releases, and digital content.

It was specifically teased in Monday’s email that a special ticket offer will become available for next month’s Summerslam card. Furthermore, we know that a special ticket pre-sale will be available to Club WWE members for Survivor Series, which is scheduled to go down this fall.

The email released on Monday showed that annual subscriptions for Founding Members will cost $99.

It's Saturday, you know what that means! AEW Collision comes to us from Berglund Center in Roanoke, Virginia!

Tonight's card includes:

Hangman Adam Page returns to kick off the show!

AEW TBS Title Match: Hikaru Shida (c) vs. Harley Cameron

AEW National Title Match: Mark Davis (c) vs. Mike Bailey

ROH World Title Match: Bandido (c) vs. Katsuyori Shibata

And more...

Enjoy the show and have fun!

COWBOY SHIT COWBOY SHIT COWBOY SHIT

Jim Ross shared a concerning health update citing he is scheduled to undergo brain surgery next week.

Ross revealed on the Grilling JR Podcast that he is scheduled to have brain surgery next week to address a condition that has affected his memory following a lengthy hospital stay.

“I feel pretty good. I think it’s getting, I’m getting better every day, but still got a ways to go. I can’t drive yet. All that stuff. I’m cutting back on my appearances. I got one big one coming up in Minneapolis in a few weeks. So, but I’m just battling, I’m getting ready to have another surgery, brain surgery this time. That’s going to be an adventure, because I don’t think they’re going to find much in my brain.”

“I’ll be in the hospital for a few days. Hopefully nothing will go wrong. I’ve got a great surgeon. I had to go to the cardiologist today, a heart doctor, to talk to him about this upcoming procedure. He had to approve it or they wouldn’t do it. So, he did, and they’re going to do it soon. I don’t have a confirmed date set but it’s going to be in the next week or so, that’s what I’m pushing for.”

“It’s just an illness and I’ve got to get it addressed. I couldn’t live my life the way it was, you know? I’d forget sh*t and I just couldn’t remember things, it was just horrible, I felt horrible.”

“But it all started with me passing out in my house and being discovered there, which began and which began an almost 40 day hospital stay.”

“Anyhow, this procedure that I’m getting ready to have done, I think it’s called a shunt, it’ll go from my brain. I don’t know where all it’s going to go, but it’s it’s going it’s going someplace to get that fluid off my brain that’s making me not not remember stuff. It’s fairly serious. I always thought that anytime they open your skull up and that you it’s a serious piece of business. And this certainly feels that way. So, I’ll get it done, a short hospital stay, then back home to heal up. That’s what I’m going to do, I’m going to heal up.”

The procedure is commonly performed to drain excess cerebrospinal fluid from the brain to prevent memory problems and difficulty in thinking clearly.

The WWE Hall of Famer was hospitalized last month for an undisclosed medical issue. He has dealt with several health setbacks in recent months, causing him to miss multiple AEW appearances.

It's Wdnesday, you know what that means! AEW Dynamite Beach Break comes to us from The BayCare Sound At Coachman Park in Clearwater, Florida!

Tonight's card includes:

Singles Match: Jericho vs. Tommaso Ciampa

AEW Continental Title Eliminator Match: Jon Moxley vs. Ace Austin

AEW International Title Match: Konosuke Takeshita (c) vs. Kyle Fletcher

AEW Women's World Title #1 Contendership Casino Gauntlet Match: Athena vs. Rina vs. Skye Blue vs. Maya World vs. ???

AEW World Title Match: MJF (c) vs. Kenny Omega

And more!

Enjoy the show and have fun!

Jake "The Snake" Roberts has revealed that he is no longer signed with All Elite Wrestling.

In an interview with Bill Apter actually recorded at the 80's Wrestling Con in May, Roberts noted after being asked what it was like working for Tony Khan that he was no longer a part of AEW.

"Love it. Love it. I've just finished up working for him. I'm no longer employed by AEW. He is awesome, really is. A breath of fresh air," Roberts stated.

With his departure, Jake Roberts' run with All Elite Wrestling ended after six years. He made his full-time AEW debut in March 2020 in a segment with Cody Rhodes, with Roberts introducing Lance Archer as his client soon after. Roberts would manage Lance Archer until he sold the former IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion to the Don Callis Family and acquired La Faccion Ingobernable in October 2024. Roberts would only be the manager of LFI for a month, though, and the faction returned to TV without the WWE Hall of Famer in February 2025. Roberts also briefly managed The Righteous in late 2023.

Jake Roberts had suffered from health issues throughout his stint with All Elite Wrestling. As of early 2026, Roberts had undergone a third hip replacement surgery and had a watchman device installed in his heart to reduce the risk of strokes.

Welcome to SquaredCircle’s ‘Meme Monday’!

Have you seen a great wrestling meme this week that just made you crack up? Did you watch a silly moment in a show and just need to craft a meme out of it? Well post ‘em below!

The highest voted meme shall win and be showcased in next week’s thread!

Looks like Sheamus is another victim of TKO's penny pinching. I could see him doing big things outside WWE.

The past two years we've taken part in Canvas, the Fediverse's collaborative pixel art event and this year's is in two weeks. In the last thread about this year's event I pitched the GeekFTW Belt design in memory of our fallen friend and people seemed to like it. For a refresher, here it is big enough to see, and as a 1:1 comparison of our previous design.

This year there is a collaborative template for reserving spots so I just claimed our plot. Granted, we did something simular last year and still got overrun, but hopefully we'll fair better this year.

Also, if anyone can hop on when it first starts to get the outline done, that would be a big help. Everything kicks off on July 18th at 4am UTC, which is midnight for the US East Coast.

It's always a lot of fun and I hope we crush it, for Geek.

Tonight’s Collision is coming to us from the Viejas Arena in San Diego, CA!

Tonight’s card includes:

Eight Man Tag Team Match- Bang Bang Gang (Austin Gunn, Colten Gunn & Jay White) & Adam Copeland vs. Shane Taylor Promotions (Carlie Bravo, Lee Moriarty, Shane Taylor & Shawn Dean)

Tag Team Match- War Dragons (Drilla Moloney & Shingo Takagi) vs. Death Riders (Claudio Castagnoli & PAC)

Singles Match- El Phantasmo vs. Kyle Fletcher

Women’s Casino Gauntlet #1 Spot Match- Athena vs. Rina

Women’s Casino Gauntlet #2 Spot Match- Skye Blue vs. Maya World

Six Man Tag Team Match- Bandido, Mike Bailey & Mistico vs. The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier, Myron Reed & Zachary Wen

Enjoy the show!

I'm combining two stories in one post.

TNA Comes To Terms On Release Of Eric Young

Eric Young is out at TNA.

During the July 1st episode of Fightful’s ‘The Hump’ show, Sean Ross Sapp revealed that TNA Wrestling has come to terms on the release of Eric Young.

Sapp wrote on X:

“TNA has come to terms on the release of Eric Young”

Young was last in action at TNA’s Slammiversary pay-per-view on June 28th, where he fell in defeat to Ricky Sosa in singles competition.

Young’s latest run with TNA started in 2023. He is a two-time TNA World Heavyweight Champion and the fourth Grand Slam Champion in the promotion’s history.

Eric Young Issues Statement On Leaving TNA

On Wednesday, Fightful Select reported that TNA had come to terms with Eric Young on his release.

Later in the evening, Eric Young issued the following statement:

“The internet is FN WILD! 3 things to know about the news today!!!!

1. I asked for my release! They granted it!

2. I was never on a handshake deal. I have had a binding contract the entire time!

3. I will work where I want how I want and for whom I want! My track record, resume , accolades and reputation are proof of that!

See you soon!!!!”

Young competed at TNA Slammiversary, losing to Ricky Sosa. He had been with TNA for the better part of two decades, originally starting in 2004. His latest return happened in 2023 after a brief second stint with WWE where he never appeared on television.

Tonight's Dynamite is coming to us from the Viejas Arena in San Diego, CA!

Tonight's card includes:

AEW World Championship: MJF (c) vs. Mark Briscoe

AEW TBS Championship Survival of the Fittest Match: Maika vs. Harley Cameron vs. Hikaru Shida vs. Persephone vs. Kris Statlander vs. Queen Aminata

AEW TNT Championship: Kevin Knight (c) vs. Lio Rush

And probably more!

Have fun!

Prominent Joshi company STARDOM launched two new Youtube channels on Wednesday, providing more free content for fans.

A new STARDOM GLOBAL channel was introduced this week, a channel focused on English language coverage of the promotion. They’re planning to produce a new video on the channel each Monday.

The channel currently has footage of a 2025 5STAR Grand Prix showdown between Rina and AZM with English commentary from Walker Stewart.

Along with the English-focused channel, the company launched STARDOM WORLD, a page which will dig into the company’s archive and post a new match twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays.

Along with the two new channels, STARDOM will continue to operate its main page, where post-match comments and free pre-show matchups are often shown.