WWE’s Natalya has spoken highly of a former opponent of hers and wishes that WWE signs her in the future. 

Over the last year, Natalya has featured in promotions outside of WWE, and one of her first non-WWE opponents was TJPW star Miyu Yamashita, whom she faced earlier this year at GCW Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport XIII. In her recent appearance on Cody Rhodes’ “What Do You Wanna Talk About?” podcast, the former WWE Divas Champion put the spotlight on the Japanese star and is eagerly waiting to see her be a part of the WWE umbrella.

“So being able to do that low-key legend character at Bloodsport, it was like an audition. I treated it like an audition. It was trending for two days. It went viral. People loved it, and I think the girl that I wrestled, Miyu Yamashita, she’s one of the best female wrestlers that’s not signed by WWE, she’s one of the best in the world,” she said. 

When Rhodes asked Natalya if Yamashita is going to join WWE, Natalya stated that he hopes it happens.

“She better [join WWE]. She’s a badass, but I still whipped her ass,” Natalya said while laughing.

Yamashita, who has been a part of TJPW since 2013, has won the promotion’s Princess of Princess Championship four times — the most in the title’s history — and is a former DDT Universal Champion and a four-time Ironman Heavymetalweight Champion. She has featured in both AEW and ROH, as well as WWE’s partner promotion, TNA Wrestling. 

Natalaya also revealed on the podcast that her appearance at Bloodsport triggered her desire to work against several stars across various promotions, which led her to wrestle in NWA, AAA — which is now under the WWE umbrella — WWE’s junior brand, EVOLVE, as well as NXT commentator and WWE Hall of Famer Booker T’s Reality of Wrestling promotion.

Even though it’s still several months away, the 2026 WWE Hall of Fame class has been in the news more than usual for this time of year, especially since it was revealed Stephanie McMahon would be the first inductee back in September. Normally, McMahon would seemingly be a lock for the lone headliner for a WWE Hall of Fame class, but it appears she may have to share the honors, or even step aside somewhat, for an even bigger name.

On Tuesday morning’s “Wrestling Observer Radio,” Bryan Alvarez revealed that, while it remains unconfirmed, chatter backstage at last night’s “WWE Raw” suggested a long-time WWE star was being considered for the 2026 Hall of Fame class. And it’s someone that, as Alvarez himself noted, will come as no surprise to fans.

“As of Monday night, the belief is the headliner would be John Cena,” Alvarez said. “I guess that’s probably not a surprise. Maybe it won’t be, but that was certainly the discussion on Monday night, that John Cena was probably headlining the 2026 Hall of Fame. Stephanie McMahon has already been announced, so John Cena [and] Stephanie would be, probably, the two biggest names, if that’s what ends up happening. But that would likely be WrestleMania weekend of 2026. So it’s coming at some point.”

A John Cena Hall of Fame induction was always a matter of “when” as opposed to “if,” given not only Cena’s success as a top star within the WWE over the last twenty years, but the continuation of his good relationship with the promotion. The timing would work out really well for him to headline the 2026 class, however, given that Cena is currently working his final set of wrestling shows before retiring on the December 13 edition of Saturday Night’s Main Event in Washington, DC.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “Wrestling Observer Radio” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription

WWE star Sami Zayn has commented on the marriage of his former opponent, actor and producer Johnny Knoxville, calling him a chump. 

Zayn is one of the most beloved babyfaces on WWE television, thanks to his jovial nature and lovable character, but he brings out his bad side when it comes to one person — Johnny Knoxville. Knoxville recently announced on social media that he had married director Emily Ting, and the news prompted Zayn to renew his rivalry with him.

“I’ve met Emily and can confidently say she is 10,000x too good for this chump,” said Zayn.

I’ve met Emily and can confidently say she is 10,000x too good for this chump. https://t.co/oDupOdWHQX

— Sami Zayn (@SamiZayn) November 18, 2025

Zayn and Knoxville’s rivalry began in 2022 at the Royal Rumble, where the former eliminated the latter in the men’s Royal Rumble match. That eventually led to a feud that culminated at WrestleMania 38 later in the year, in an Anything Goes match, which Zayn has called one of his favorite matches of his career. The actor got the better of the WWE star this time around, but their feud didn’t end there. Both continued to express their utter dislike for each other, with Zayn stating that he’s not sure their rivalry will ever end. That turned out to be true in 2024 when Knoxville interrupted Zayn’s comedy set in costume. Despite Becky Lynch’s attempts to broker peace between them, they continued to argue before Wee Man, a member of Knoxville’s group, slammed Zayn once again.

White being both the AEW World Champion and Cole’s avatar in “The Devil” storyline might have been a great way for White to renew his acquaintance with Kenny Omega. 

At Full Gear 2023, Omega was teaming with Chris Jericho to defeat the Young Bucks and earn a future World Tag Team title shot opportunity – that opportunity never came, with Omega wrestling his last match in December before being sidelined with diverticulitis until this year. That only provides a small window for them to feud, but given Omega had already challenged MJF for the World Championship in the months before it wouldn’t be too farfetched an idea that they have one match and a brief interaction. 

That also puts White and Cole in the picture as potential catalysts for the dissent between Omega and the Bucks at the time. What that would have meant is a mystery but that could have been interesting on account of the respective relationships between Cole, White, and the Bucks stemming back to their time in ROH and NJPW. And when that was all said and done, there would be another member of The Elite waiting in the wings to pick up their saga: “Hangman” Adam Page. 

Page and White actually clashed at Full Gear in 2024, with Page getting his first singles victory over him that night. White had beaten him on “AEW Dynamite: Title Tuesday” in 2023, so perhaps Page would have come calling for vengeance sooner if the title had been at stake. Maybe White could have factored into Page’s feud with Swerve Strickland much in the same way Joe had at Revolution 2024, and perhaps that would have set about an entirely different situation when it came to the World title change at Dynasty 2024.