Top Free Agent Reveals WWE Talks

One of the hottest free agents in the wrestling industry right now, former NWA Women’s World Champion Kamille has revealed that she’s had talks with WWE. To be specific, those talks were actually with Shawn Michaels.

Previously, there have been reports that both WWE and AEW have strong interest in Kamille, with WWE at one point viewed as the favourite to land the powerhouse, while more recent rumblings suggest Kamille is now likely to be heading to AEW.

While it’s yet to be confirmed where exactly Kamille will land next, the talent revealed that, in addition to those talks with the Heartbreak Kid and also receiving public praise from Tony Khan, she’s now made a decision on where her in-ring future lies.

Speaking to Steve Fall at WrestlingNews.co about that decision process, Kamille explained:

“When January 1 hit, things got crazy. And in the best of ways, right? I was just excited, you know, if people were interested, and then I found that lots of people were interested. I like to really, really think about things and weigh out pros and cons. So, I was like, okay, I’m gonna give myself all of January to really make the best decision for, not only myself, I’m a married woman, right? I have, like, my family, and so just make the right decision for everything. And yeah, then when February came, I said, ‘Alright, time to make a decision’.”

On receiving public praise from Tony Khan and speaking to Shawn Michaels, the North Carolina native added:

“Once again, I just appreciated so much that [Tony Khan’s] even taking the time out to look at my work, to enjoy my matches, watch my promos, stuff like that. I mean, you know, I had conversations with Shawn Michaels, and I had no clue that Shawn Michaels had any idea who in the world Kamille was, and found out he was a big fan. Stuff like that blew my mind, and it was super humbling and amazing.”

Having made her in-ring debut back in 2017, Kamille came to prominence in the NWA the following year, brought in as the insurance policy of Nick Aldis and becoming part of his Strictly Business faction. June 2020 saw Kamille defeat Serena Deeb to win the NWA Women’s World Championship, embarking on an 812-day reign with that prize. Along the way, the 31-year-old had successful title defences against notable names such as Chelsea Green, Melina, Taryn Terrell, Taya Valkyrie, Lelya Hirsch, and Allysin Kay, before dropping the gold to Kenzie Page at NWA 75 last August.

As for free agency, Kamille’s deal with the NWA expired at the turn of the year, and she’s opted to explore her options.

Stamkos ‘disappointed’ by lack of extension talks

Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos is frustrated that he still doesn’t have a contract extension as training camp begins.

Stamkos, who’s entering the last season of an eight-year contract with an $8.5-million cap hit, said that the lack of communication from the front office is upsetting.

“To be honest, I’ve been disappointed in the lack of talk in that regard,” Stamkos told reporters, per ABC’s Kyle Burger. “It was something that I expressed at the end of last year that I wanted get something done before training camp started. There haven’t been any conversations.”

Stamkos added that he’s surprised the team hasn’t shared the same eagerness to work out a new deal.

“I’m ready whenever,” he said. “That was something I didn’t see coming, but it is what it is.”

Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois said keeping Stamkos in Tampa Bay for his entire career is “in everyone’s best interest,” but he acknowledged there’s more to the situation than that.

“It’s not just about Steven playing out his career in Tampa,” the executive said, per team beat reporter Chris Krenn. “It’s about Steven staying in Tampa and the Lightning remaining a legitimate Stanley Cup contender year in and year out for the remainder of his tenure as a player on the club.

“Steven and I share the common goal of bringing the Cup back to Tampa. That’s our objective. In order for us to do that in future years, we’re going to need to spend our cap dollars as wisely as possible.”

The Lightning have not been shy about handing out extensions this offseason. They signed forward Brandon Hagel to an eight-year, $52-million extension in August. What’s more, the team projects to have over $12 million in cap space for next season with no key pending free agents outside of Stamkos.

Stamkos, 33, is still a highly productive player: He tallied 34 goals and 50 assists in 81 games last season.

The Markham, Ontario, native has spent his entire 15-year career with the Lightning after the club selected him first overall in 2008. He was named the team’s captain in 2014 and helped lead the franchise to three straight Stanley Cup Final appearances from 2020-22, winning in 2020 and 2021.

Harden torn between re-signing with 76ers, Rockets reunion

Free agent James Harden is torn between signing with the Philadelphia 76ers and the Houston Rockets, The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported on FanDuel TV’s “Run It Back.”

The 33-year-old has spent time with both franchises, playing two seasons with the 76ers and nine with the Rockets.

Harden reportedly plans to decline his $35.6-million player option to pursue a long-term contract as a free agent.

The veteran guard averaged 21 points, a league-leading 10.7 assists, 6.1 rebounds, and 1.2 steals in 58 games this season.

Philadelphia acquired the former MVP last campaign, trading Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond, and two first-round picks to the Brooklyn Nets. Harden and the Sixers were eliminated in the second round in back-to-back playoff runs. The organization hired Nick Nurse as head coach at the end of May.

Prior to playing with Brooklyn, Harden spent the majority of his career with the Rockets, leading Houston to the conference finals in 2015 and 2018. The 10-time All-Star has the most assists in Rockets franchise history with 4,796 and the most 3-point field goals with 2,029.

Houston currently has $48 million in cap space, according to Spotrac. The Rockets swapped out Stephen Silas for Ime Udoka as head coach and were awarded the fourth overall pick in the draft.

Free agency opens on June 30.

WWE Is In “Constant Talks” With THIS Former Talent

Could an Eva Marie return to WWE be on the cards? The star herself is certainly not ruling out the possibility.

Speaking to WrestleZone (via Fightful), the Red Queen detailed how she’s “in constant talks” with WWE and that she’s open to once again returning to the company at some point.

When asked about a potential WWE return, Marie explained:

“Of course. That door is always open. I mean, we’re in constant talks. When I had originally left, I was filming my first lead action movie, so that door is definitely one of those things that is always, always open and I’m definitely down to always cause some trouble and stir up some things, that’s for sure.”

As it stands, Eva Marie has had two different stints with WWE.

The real-life Natalia Eva Marie Nelson first signed with the market leader back in 2013, becoming a part of the new Total Divas reality show and immediately becoming a part of the WWE main roster. By the middle of 2015, the California native found herself switched to the NXT brand, where she would remain until a move back to Raw the following year ahead of WrestleMania 32. She would depart the promotion in 2017, though would return in May 2021, promising an Eva-lution and taking Piper Niven under her wing and rebranding the Scot as Doudrop.

That return saw Eva compete in just seven matches – the last of which was against Doudrop – before being released in November 2021 as part of the numerous “budget cuts” releases made by WWE at that point.

Seahawks GM confident of working out deal with Geno Smith

Seattle Seahawks general manager John Schneider is confident contract talks with quarterback Geno Smith are progressing well.

“Good talks so far,” Schneider said, according to Brent Stecker of Seattle Sports. “We’re in it. We’re just trying to figure out what’s best, and we’ll do what’s right.”

Smith resurrected his career in Seattle last season, winning Comeback Player of the Year and leading the Seahawks to a playoff spot. He’s scheduled to hit free agency this offseason.

Schneider doesn’t believe quarterbacks coach Dave Canales’ departure Thursday will affect Smith’s appetite to return to Seattle.

“Free agency doesn’t start until the middle of March, so there’s a huge period here where we have time to work through things,” Schneider said.

Schneider added: “Obviously, Dave has a great relationship with Drew (Lock) and Geno. Shoot, he did a great job working with Geno (and) staying after practice with Drew. … Those guys would work their tails off for a good hour, hour and a half after practice. They’d be out there in the dark throwing the ball, working on footwork and ball carriage and everything.”

Assistant wide receivers coach Brad Idzik followed Canales to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Cavs, Love finalizing buyout; Heat interested

The Cleveland Cavaliers and five-time All-Star Kevin Love are finalizing a contract buyout, sources told The Athletic’s Shams Charania and Jason Lloyd.

The Miami Heat are expected to emerge as a suitor for the veteran forward once he becomes a free agent, Charania and Lloyd added.

Love is in the final season of a four-year, $120-million contract he signed in 2018.

The 34-year-old was removed from the Cavaliers’ rotation in January and hasn’t played in their last 11 games. Love is averaging 8.5 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 1.9 assists in 41 games this season.

The Heat, meanwhile, have an open roster spot after trading Dewayne Dedmon to the San Antonio Spurs last week and have recently looked around for a big man, Charania and Lloyd report.

The Cavs acquired Love during the 2014 offseason after LeBron James returned to Cleveland as a free agent. They traded Andrew Wiggins, the No. 1 pick in the draft that year, to the Minnesota Timberwolves to get Love.

Over nine seasons with Cleveland, Love made two All-Star games. He contributed to the franchise’s title run in 2016 as the third-leading scorer behind James and Kyrie Irving.

Bulls, Clippers, Wizards, Heat have spoken with Westbrook

The Utah Jazz have given Russell Westbrook and his agent permission to discuss a potential role with other teams in the event the former MVP is bought out, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports.

The Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Clippers, Washington Wizards, and Miami Heat are among the clubs Westbrook and his representatives have been in contact with, according to Wojnarowski.

Utah acquired Westbrook from the Los Angeles Lakers in a three-team deal on the eve of last week’s NBA trade deadline. While the nine-time All-Star has yet to suit up for the Jazz, he has expressed a willingness to stay with the club for the duration of the campaign.

Westbrook primarily came off the bench this season for the first time in his 15-year career, averaging 15.9 points, 7.5 assists, 6.2 boards, and one steal over 52 appearances. However, he went just 29.6% from deep and 41.7% overall.

Chicago has been without Lonzo Ball for the entire season and their 24th-ranked offense could benefit from Westbrook’s presence.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles was in the market for a point guard ahead of the deadline and former teammate Paul George has openly campaigned to bring the nine-time All-NBA selection aboard.

Westbrook averaged a triple-double during his lone season in the nation’s capital.

Lastly, Miami could use some backcourt depth with Kyle Lowry and Victor Oladipo struggling to remain healthy.

Panthers owner talked to Jim Harbaugh about coaching vacancy

Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper spoke with Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh about his team’s head coaching vacancy, a source told Joe Person of The Athletic.

Harbaugh will seemingly be in demand for an NFL return this offseason, with the Denver Broncos reportedly also reaching out to him about their job opening.

The 59-year-old is expected to leave the Wolverines if an NFL club offers him a job, sources close to Harbaugh told The Athletic. His buyout is reportedly $3 million.

Carolina fired Matt Rhule in mid-October after a 1-4 start to the season. He left with an 11-27 overall record and zero playoff appearances in two-plus campaigns.

Steve Wilks took over as interim head coach, but after leading the Panthers to five victories over the next 10 games, hopes of winning the NFC South ended with Sunday’s loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The team had already been eliminated from wild-card contention.

After returning to Michigan last offseason following an interview with the Minnesota Vikings, Harbaugh said was done seeking a return to the NFL. He coached the San Francisco 49ers from 2011-14.

The Wolverines were upset by TCU on Saturday to fall short in the CFP semifinals for the straight second season.

Would Tony Khan Talk With Maria Kanellis About ROH Women’s Division?

New AEW signing Samoa Joe and AEW owner Tony Khan recently spoke with the media following Ring Of Honor’s Supercard Of Honor about the AEW women’s division.

Khan made it clear he’s interested in speaking with Maria Kanellis, who was previously working with the ROH women.

“I would be interested in talking to Maria, I think she’s a great wrestler and I’ve heard great things about what she did here. I do have staff and a direction in mind when I re-launch the show, I have a lot of talent in mind,” he said. “Including some people that have wrestled here before, and some people that haven’t wrestled here before. I was really excited to bring AQA in tonight, I was excited about bringing AQA in, in general.

“Ironically, I scouted AQA in a Toni Storm match. She wrestled Toni Storm on TV last year, and actually, I called Sonjay and I was looking for somebody to wrestle Jade. I called Sonjay, and I said, ‘I really like this Toni Storm vs. AQA match, and I like this AQA. She did really well, and Toni was great, do you remember this match?’ He said, ‘yeah, I coached this match.’ I said, ‘okay, great. Tell me about AQA,’ because she’d recently got released. She’s been excellent working with her. She’s worked on Dynamite, also on Dark and Elevation, now she’s working here in ROH.”

When it comes to other wrestlers on the card, Tony Khan discussed those that he worked with. He also discussed Deonna Purrazzo, stating that her situation is interesting at the moment.

“And there are more talents that have wrestled here in ROH before, and some that, like Willow is a great example, have recently been wrestling here in ROH. Mercedes is a legendary wrestler for ROH, and a legendary wrestler for the division, and now a great interim champion. Deonna is a little bit of an interesting situation because she is the lineal champion, but she also has other contractual obligations with other companies, so I don’t know when we will get to decide on the undisputed title. But there’s a lot of exciting stuff happening in the division.

Tony Khan also spoke in more detail about Maria Kanellis and what she could potentially offer. He wants to talk with her at some point, as he doesn’t know what she is like behind the scenes entirely.

“I would be excited to talk to Maria, and depending on what she did backstage, I don’t know exactly. For example, during the matches, was she on the headset? I don’t know exactly, is she a note-taking producer? I am not sure, it’s stuff I will maybe learn from her,” he claimed. “As far as the creative and stuff, I do have a plan which I think unfolded throughout the night, and played out pretty well. So, I had a lot of ideas, and I am always down to take ideas from other people.”

Wrestlers often like to pitch their own ideas, and Tony Khan revealed he gets around 100 per week. However, he turns down 80% of them, because everybody is pushing him to work with similar people, so he has to be organized.

“A lot of the ideas I eventually do, do come from other people, and I try and organize them and make them work with what I already have. But I do get pitched over 100 ideas a week, and most of them, I don’t do. So, who am I kidding, 80% of them I usually don’t do,” he said. “Because you get asked too many things, and how can you possibly do something when like five different people are asking to work with the same person?

“Everyone’s like, ‘oh he never listens to my idea.’ Well, okay, but the person you’re asking to work with, there’s like five different people that came to me with an idea this week, ‘I want to wrestle this person.’ You can’t do it. So, that’s why being able to keep things organized, that’s why we have got a good flow of the shows. So as far as coaching, I am probably more interested in coaching right now than I am with booking.”

Tony Khan also talked about Trisha Adora, as another wrestler that he likes. The AEW President even considered using her for the interim title match at one point. He believes she did a great job when there were no fans in the arena.

“I like Trisha. She was on a shortlist of people for that interim match that I would have considered. I do like her, and the women we used I think are great. I brought in AQA from AEW, and Alize has been in Ring Of Honor before, I think she’s great. Obviously, I know Willow, and Mercedes very well,” he pointed out. “But I like Trish, and yeah, she was one of the people I considered for one of the spots. I’ve seen her on Ring Of Honor, mostly on the empty arena shows, and it’s hard to sometimes tell.

“But a lot of people learned from that and became better wrestlers. I know that when the fans came back at 25% capacity, on a bad night it was 6-700 people. And a good night it was 1200 people. It felt like anywhere from 5,000 to 25,00, because we were so used to not having them. So, I watched her and I really like her. I thought she was impressive that she was doing it in matches with no fans, connecting through the camera, which is a really good sign.

“Because that’s what a lot of the people, to your point, connected like her on Dark. She was good on there. But I probably saw her more and saw her connect more this past year in Ring Of Honor in some of the TV matches that they did with her. That’s one of the reasons that I did consider her for a spot here.”

Rams in contact with Gilmore

Don’t underestimate the Rams‘ ability to bring another star to Los Angeles.

The Rams have been in contact with free-agent cornerback Stephon Gilmore this offseason, a source told The Athletic’s Jourdan Rodrigue.

Gilmore, 31, has been linked to multiple teams since becoming a free agent, but he’s been quiet about his future. The New England Patriots traded the 2019 Defensive Player of the Year to the Carolina Panthers midway through last season. Injuries limited him to just 16 tackles, two pass breakups, and two interceptions through eight games with the Panthers.

Cornerback became a need for L.A. after losing Darious Williams to the Jacksonville Jaguars in free agency. Gilmore would replace Williams and start outside opposite Jalen Ramsey, filling a big hole in the Rams’ secondary. The team expects David Long to remain in the slot.

Gilmore isn’t as dominant as he once was, but he hasn’t allowed a passer rating over 80 when targeted over the last two campaigns, according to Pro Football Reference. He also earned consecutive first-team All-Pro nods in 2018 and 2019.

The reigning Super Bowl champions have added several high-profile players in recent years. L.A. acquired linebacker Von Miller and wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. last season en route to lifting the Lombardi Trophy for the first time in 22 years.

The Rams saw Miller sign with the Buffalo Bills this year, and they have yet to re-sign Beckham. The team also recently added eight-time Pro Bowl linebacker Bobby Wagner.