JBL Reveals He Texted Released WWE Stars, Matt Hardy Addresses Jey Uso Controversy, Joe Hendry/MMA Fight Negotiations

– JBL addressed the 11 WWE releases that were reported over the past two days during the latest installment of the Something to Wrestle podcast.

“I texted with The Good Brothers last night, according to when this show’s being taped,” JBL said. “I text those guys all the time. Love those boys, man,” he said. “Two good dudes and two good workers? They’re going to be fine. I know they know they’re going to be fine. There’s so no sense in saying, ‘Hey, you guys are going to be fine.’ They know that. You know, I just texted them, telling them I love them and can’t wait to see what they’re doing next, and that, to me, is the key,” he said. You can do one of two things when you get released. I feel sorry for anybody, by the way, who’s lost a job. I’ve done it. I’ve had it happen to me many times for 30 or 40-plus years, from football and wrestling to everything else. Believe me, I’ve been fired, released. I would never dream of making light of it or do anything except my sympathies, and I’m sorry that it happened to you. But this is an opportunity, and you have two choices here.”

He continued, “You can sit around and hope that Tony Khan picks you up, or that you get picked up by a different group, or you can go out there and make a name for yourself,” JBL continued. “I’ve never seen an opportunity better in wrestling since I’ve been in it for 30-plus years. I’ve been a fan my entire life, 58 years, and I’ve never seen an opportunity better for guys going out and making a name for themselves. That’s what I feel like The Good Brothers are going to do. That’s what I hope all these guys do. You know, there’s two different mindsets… I hope these guys go out there and make a hell of a name for themselves because I believe there’s no time in wrestling history where it’s easier to go out and do something big outside of the big one, which is WWE.”

– On the latest episode of his official podcast, The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, Matt Hardy spoke about criticism that “Main Event” Jey Uso has been receiving surrounding his shocking victory in the 2025 Men’s Royal Rumble match at the WWE Royal Rumble 2025 premium live event, setting the stage for him to challenge for one of the two men’s world titles at WrestleMania 41.

“It’s a big deal,” Hardy said of Uso’s win. “It elevates him and it makes him seem like a legitimate singles superstar. It makes him look like someone who’s deserving of going into WrestleMania and being in a main event match. Once again, looking back at it, if it comes down to John Cena and Jey Uso — If John Cena wins the Royal Rumble, he’s already John Cena, he doesn’t really gain anything from it. It is his last [Rumble], no doubt, but in the big scheme of things, it doesn’t do anything and he’s not going to be at the next year’s Royal Rumble. Jey Uso, it takes him from here to here and he is going to be in next year’s Royal Rumble and the following year’s Royal Rumble. He’s got Royal Rumbles to come down the road and you just elevated someone to a top tier position and if they can continue to deliver, if they can go to WrestleMania and deliver in a world title match and become the world champion, you got another big ticket seller who’s a main eventer. That’s what WWE has been doing a good job of, building these main eventers. Jey Uso winning this does so much for him and elevates him so much.”

Hardy continued, “I commend them for doing such, kudos to WWE for pulling the trigger and giving Jey Uso this opportunity. He’s deserving of it, the crowd is into what he’s doing, he’s over. The criticism that he wasn’t a great wrestler, bro, you don’t have to be a five star wrestler to be over and go main event WrestleMania. You have to be over and you have to be a good quality wrestler and Jey Uso is all of those things.”

– Joe Hendry spoke on The Ariel Helwani Show podcast about how he met with BAMMA officials about possibly doing an MMA fight before fully committing to a pro wrestling career.

“I met with a MMA company in Ireland, it wasn’t Cage Warriors, it was BAMMA,” Hendry said. “I think I met with BAMMA to discuss potentially having a MMA fight. I was very open to it at one point. Pro wrestling started to pay off and as I got a little bit older, it felt right to move on. The last thing I did in amateur wrestling was win a British title and I thought, ‘that’s a good time to hang up the boots and focus on pro wrestling.’ I only did it to further my pro wrestling. Honestly, I wasn’t happy with how I was being booked or used at the time and I thought I needed to add legitimacy.”

(H/T to Fightful.com for transcribing the above quotes.)