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WWE star makes Raw after Mania return with 'amazing body transformation'

WWE star makes Raw after Mania return with 'amazing body transformation'

Metro22-04-2025

Rusev made his WWE return in emphatic fashion 24 hours after a historic WrestleMania 41.
The Raw After Mania is well known for its surprises, and fans were treated to the former United States Champion making a comeback five years after he was released early in the pandemic.
He came out and laid out Akira Tozawa and Otis during their match against new World Tag Team Champions The New Day.
Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods escaped but left their opponents to the wrath of Rusev.
The Bulgarian Brute hadn't been seen on WWE TV since 2020, and looked a world away from past iterations of himself after a ridiculous transformation, with fans quick to heap praise on him.
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'Rusev looks MONSTROUS 😮‍💨 just destroyed Otis and Tozawa! #WWERaw,' wrote @Elliottt93, as @McArles7 said: 'Rusev looks the best he's ever looked, amazing body transformation #RawAfterMania'
'Holy crap, Rusev looks phenomenal! #RawAfterMania,' added @AJKirsch, while @1ndecipherable1 pointed out: 'Rusev cut weight and looks monstrous… And he was already huge.'
'I'll admit, I wasn't moved when I heard Rusev re signed with WWE but he looks in the best shape of his life! #WWERaw,' admitted @heel_enthusiast.
A few months after his WWE exit, Rusev – a former three-time United States Champion – joined AEW as Miro, but featured less and less as the years went on.
He's followed the likes of Ethan Page, NXT North American Champion Ricky Saints and Lucha Bros' Penta and Rey Fenix by jumping ship to WWE.
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As well as Rusev's return, the show also saw Bron Breakker lay out both Roman Reigns and CM Punk at the end of the show.
The son of Hall of Famer Rick Steiner has now aligned himself with Seth Rollins and Paul Heyman, bouncing right back after losing the Intercontinental Title at WrestleMania.
New champion Dominik Mysterio had a successful first defence against Penta thanks to a returning JD McDonagh, while World Heavyweight Champion Jey Uso had a wholesome celebration with twin Jimmy Uso and friend Sami Zayn.
At the start of the night, Undisputed WWE Champion John Cena tore into the fans for being fickle in their reactions to Cody Rhodes.
He ended up getting dropped with an RKO as longtime rival Randy Orton stood tall, hinting at a match between the two legends at Backlash.
Just 24 hours after losing the Women's Tag Team Titles to Lyra Valkyria and a returning Becky Lynch, Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez regained the gold.
The Man was furious and turned on Lyra after the bell, laying her out with multiple Man-handle Slams.
There was also an NXT presence, as the brand's Women's Champion Stephanie Vaquer had an impromptu match against Women's World Champion Iyo Sky.
The bout ended in controversy when Roxanne Perez and Giulia attacked both women, while Rhea Ripley came down to save the day, making it clear she's still gunning for Iyo's title in the near future.
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Netflix is the home of WWE in the UK. WWE 2K25 is available now.
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I tried out every Londoner's worst nightmare and spoke to other commuters
I tried out every Londoner's worst nightmare and spoke to other commuters

Metro

timean hour ago

  • Metro

I tried out every Londoner's worst nightmare and spoke to other commuters

Trapped in a cable car with strangers. Nope, this isn't a new horror film. But that is what came to my mind when I heard about the TfL's chatty cabin initiative in North Greenwich. Running for the second time, the chatty cabins initiative on the IFS Cloud Cable Car allows people to talk to each other while taking in the unobstructed view of London. It's been set up to help tackle loneliness in London, which, according to the campaign to end loneliness, which estimates 8% of Londoners experience severe loneliness. Interested in the real-life psychological experiment, I wanted to try every Londoner's worst nightmare – eye contact and conversation in public transport – while dangling 295ft over the River Thames with nowhere to escape. But I discovered that curiosity is not dead – and Londoners are a warm bunch when one person dares to break the ice. While the Tube air hangs heavy with stressed commuters trying to avoid eye contact, the cable car I jumped into with five other passengers invited conversation. Facing each other on the ski lift-style cabin, conversation began to flow as we took in the sights and introduced ourselves. Any shred of anxiety was gone as the cable car whizzed on, making the journey ahead with strangers feel more like an opportunity to be present rather than a torture chamber (although the mostly see-through cabin was very warm). With only a 20-minute ride ahead of us, it was clear we all wanted to make it count and use the rare opportunity where talking to strangers is not considered too nosy. William Bolding was the first to admit that 'I'm afraid of heights' as he clutched the handrail and braced for the journey ahead. As the wind picked up, he asked whether it was normal for the cable car to swing so much. He had booked a slot on the chatty cabin – which sold out last time the initiative ran – to challenge his fear, he admitted. Jackie Hufford had ridden the cable car with her children years ago when it launched for the 2012 London Olympics, and she wanted to relive the memory after reading about the chatty cabins in Metro. 'I love talking to new people and travelling,' the south east Londoner said. Caroline McLeary joked that 'everyone thinks we know each other already, but Jackie and I have just met,' and the pair, both from the Lewisham area, shared numbers at the end of the ride. Caroline said she wanted to come try the chatty cabin to 'do something for myself' although she had to catch two buses to get there. 'Everyone experiences loneliness,' she said. Naturally, the conversation turned to travel as the City Airport loomed in the background. While we couldn't agree on which London airport is the handiest to get to, one thing we agreed on was how expensive travel in the capital is. Despite the heavy and personal theme of loneliness, which brought us for the ride in the first place, my face hurt from smiling by the time we touched back down on the Greenwich Peninsula terminal. I could have easily gone for a pint with our chatty cabin gang. Despite the sold-out success of the first chatty cabin, there are no plans to bring it on the Tube. 'It would be difficult on the Tube,' Josh Crompton, the head of IFS Cloud Cable Car for TfL, said. More Trending 'The Cable Car is different because it's a closed environment. But we certainly encourage people to have conversations.' Josh said the range of people who have tried the chatty cabins includes people 'who struggle with bereavement to tourists coming to London on their own and wanting to engage with people, single parents who are in with their children all day and are looking to get out.' 'I'm one of those people who struggles opening conversations as much as people do, and that's why we create that environment. It's quite refreshing to have a conversation with people, and I don't generally do that, and I find it quite hard, and this was easy and quite refreshing,' he said. The chatty cabins initiative runs this week until Friday and aims to help tackle loneliness in London as part of the Loneliness Awareness Week. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Cap on bus fares to stay in place until 2027, Rachel Reeves announces MORE: Beyoncé giving away free concert tickets to London shows after 'poor sales' MORE: Map reveals the most up-and-coming sex positions in major UK cities

A year ago Hawk Tuah girl went viral - but what happened to Haliey Welch next?
A year ago Hawk Tuah girl went viral - but what happened to Haliey Welch next?

Metro

timean hour ago

  • Metro

A year ago Hawk Tuah girl went viral - but what happened to Haliey Welch next?

It's been reported that Haliey Welch has made $500,000 – not bad for a 21-year-old just looking to get drunk one summer evening (Picture: Tim & Dee TV/YouTube) As they roamed the vibrant Broadway thoroughfare in Nashville, Tennessee, it was only ever meant to be a fun night out for Haliey Welch and Chelsea Bradford. But then the best friends encountered a pair of YouTubers and, in an instant, Haliey became immortalised as 'Hawk Tuah Girl'. Within weeks, her throwaway comment spiralled way beyond a meme; 'hawk tuah' was emblazoned on merch, became the foundations of a podcast, and even the name of a (regrettable) cryptocurrency. Today, her infamous phrase has helped Haliey earn around $500,000 (though when asked if this is true, her response is sketchy). Not bad for a 21-year-old just looking to get drunk one summer evening. 'When I saw how big it had become, I was a nervous wreck,' she tells Metro over Zoom, in her prominent Southern drawl. 'It felt like a train had done hit me. Before all this, I always kept to myself.' Tim Dickerson and DeArius Marlow, from popular YouTube series Tim & Dee TV, are the people who 'discovered' Haliey. The pair were college roommates turned content creators, who made relatively tame, vox-pop style videos of people on nights out. After stopping the girls, Haliey asked the pair to 'spice up' the questions. When asked what makes her 'wifey material', she responded with the now legendary: 'You gotta hawk tuah and spit on that thang' – the onomatopoeic cry of lubricating a penis before oral sex. Hailey was asked what makes her 'wifey material' (Picture: Tim & Dee TV/YouTube) 'I've said it before, but in a different context,' she laughs. 'Me and my cousins have always said it – if someone makes us mad, we'd say we were going to 'hawk tuah, spit on that bitch' as an insult. 'I guess I kind of phrased it up a little and used it in a different way. But I wasn't being serious when I said it, and I didn't think anything twice about it after I already done the interview.' Tim and DeArius, who were no slouches when it came to content creation, knew such a response would go viral – they just didn't expect how viral. While the original video has 4.1 million views, Haliey's moment was uploaded hundreds and hundreds of times (without the watermark, leaving the YouTubers effectively forgotten. While they haven't shown her any ill will, the pair have claimed in interviews that they should have had more credit). When she went viral, Haliey didn't have social media (Picture: Krystle Lina) For Hawk Tuah Girl, it was a particularly surreal moment. At the time, she was living with her grandmother and working a minimum wage job in a factory nearby. It was her family who spotted just how famous she was online, after seeing her video plastered all over Facebook – Haliey, at the time, did not have any social media. 'I knew I had to tell my granny before anyone else did. I sat her down and had to explain what hawk tuah was,' she recalls. 'She just giggled about it. Next thing I know, she starts showing up wearing a hawk tuah hat everywhere.' The sudden obsessive popularity led to fast-acting merchandisers creating gear emblazoned with the phrase – and making serious cash from it. Within weeks, one brand had sold over 2,000 'Hawk Tuah' hats, earning around £50,000, according to Rolling Stone magazine. Seeing people profiting off her popularity was like a 'smack in the face' says Haliey – and believing she was about to get fired from her factory job for missing too much work, she decided to make a go of a life of memeing. Last August, Haliey was invited to throw the first pitch during the game between the Oakland Athletics and the New York Mets (Picture: Mary DeCicco/MLB Photos via Getty Images) Going viral Hawk tuah is in no way the first meme that has beguiled the internet – those well-versed in the web's lingua franca will remember memes such as 'damn, Daniel' and 'peanut butter jelly time', but hawk tuah has remained sticky even a year after it was first uttered. 'The typical lifecycle of a viral internet moment is short – usually peaking within a few days or weeks as people react, remix, and share the content, then fading as attention shifts to the next big thing,' explains Megan Boyle, Head of PR at TAL Agency. 'Hawk tuah stuck around as it was the perfect combination of shock value, humour, and authenticity. It was easily remixable, with TikTok duets, reaction videos or captions, which kept it circulating. 'Welch herself leaned into the moment – something many viral stars don't do, but helps keep the brand alive.' 'I met up with a family friend, who recommended a lawyer to me. That led to me getting an agent and having representation,' she explains. As a star on the rise, she recruited The Penthouse agency – whose clientele includes 'a dynamic range of artists and influencers' – and began to court the world of celebrity, as she capatalised on her fame. Not only did she party alongside country singer Zach Bryan at his concert in Nashville, she was also invited to make the first pitch at a baseball game with the New York Mets, while appearing on a series of internet-versed podcasts. Haliey's next move was to launch a podcast of her own, Talk Tuah, alongside best friend Chelsea Bradford, who was by her side when she first went viral. When it peaked at a respectable number five on the global Spotify podcast chats, Haliey looked set to be on a pretty unstoppable run. Haliey turned her hand to podcasting (Picture: Instagram/hay_welch) But then came the introduction of the Hawk Tuah memecoin $HAWK in December. As a spokesperson (and therefore, the de facto face), she was inextricably tied to the currency, and while it hit the $490m market cap shortly after it launched, the coin suddenly lost more than 95% of its value within hours. Some fans blamed Haliey, particularly those who invested a significant amount of money into the memecoin. 'It was the most horrific experience I've ever been through. I had no earthly idea what it was,' she admits. 'It was a gut-wrenching feeling, like you just feel sorry for everybody that supported you through it, and they lost their money putting it in because they trusted you to guide them with something good, and you didn't. You failed.' While the Hawk Tuah memecoin hit the $490m market cap shortly after it launched, it lost more than 95% of its value within hours (Picture: OverHere) Haliey, perhaps infamously, did a crypto Q&A on X soon after, and when she asked difficult questions by investors, she responded: 'Anyhoo, I'm going to bed' – only for her to effectively go into hiding for several months. 'It's something I had to sit there and deal with for three and four months,' she explains. 'I thought about it every day when I woke up. And of course, my social media was flooded with it too, but [cryptocurrency] is something I will not ever touch again.' Although Haliey was cleared by authorities of any wrongdoing with the coin, it didn't stop her mental health from free-falling at this time. Haliey is still good friends with Chelsea Bradford(Photo by) 'I was overwhelmed. I had moved in with my boyfriend and I just looked after my dog. I tried to keep off social media,' she says. 'There were talks of therapy, but I'm not one to talk about my problems with people, so I decided not to do that. I just tried to cope the best I could.' Even now, after being exposed to international levels of fame, Haliey insists she continues to struggle with being recognised. 'I still find it uncomfortable. I can't even go to the grocery store, as people will say stuff to me,' Haliey admits. 'I come home and barricade myself in the house for a few days. That's really the only time I get away from it.' Thankfully, she has support from her close-knit group of friends that have helped her adapt to her strange and uncanny new life. Haliey makes a brief cameo in Glen Powell's upcoming Hulu series, 'Chad Powers' (Picture: Krystle Lina) 'A few people I haven't talked to in years that I went to school with, tried to talk to me and be my friend, which I didn't let slide,' she adds. 'But really, the only major difference is that I don't need to worry about buying groceries.' After some brief time away from the spotlight, Haliey relaunched her podcast this April and now hopes to have fellow Southern country girl Britney Spears on the show one day. Her future career may be on the big screen, too – not only has she got an upcoming documentary about her instant rise to fame, she also makes a brief cameo in Glen Powell's upcoming Hulu series, 'Chad Powers'. Haliey has no plans to head to Hollywood (Picture: Instagram/hay_welch) 'I had so much fun doing it, it was just such a whirlwind. I am trying to be known as more than the Hawk Tuah Girl – but I know it's part of me now. I've accepted it, but I want to be known as Haliey Welch,' she says. Even so, Haliey won't be heading to LA to chase the glittering lights of Hollywood, as she's still, at heart, a Tennessee girl. 'I like being out in the country, nobody around me except deer. I just love being out here – I could be out in the yard with my ducks or my dogs or my bunny. I have all sorts of creatures that can keep me entertained,' she adds with a smile. While the future may be uncertain, there is one thing that Haliey is sure of. 'The most important thing is that I stay true to myself,' she says defiantly. 'I won't change for nobody.' Arrow MORE: How four children survived a plane crash that killed every adult on board Arrow MORE: Devastated and broken, I headed to the Himalayas to heal my heartbreak

Charity in Emmerdale receives life-changing news about a loved one
Charity in Emmerdale receives life-changing news about a loved one

Metro

timean hour ago

  • Metro

Charity in Emmerdale receives life-changing news about a loved one

Charity Dingle finally learns the truth (Picture: ITV) Charity Dingle (Emma Atkins) is finally set to learn the truth about Sarah Sugden's (Katie Hill) new health condition in Emmerdale, and it'll leave the family rocked. Charity's only recently found out that Sarah (Katie Hill) has been making solid plans to have a baby via IVF, having visited Manpreet (Rebecca Sarker) for advice and referrals to specialists. Charity has made it clear that she does not approve, largely because of the stress carrying a baby could put Sarah's body under. Currently, Charity thinks that's as bad as it gets. What Charity doesn't yet know is that while Sarah was being examined to see how likely it would be for IVF to work, Sarah learned her cervix was inflamed. After a further investigation, she was dealt the blow that she had full blown cervical cancer. Jacob is the only person who knows about Sarah's cancer (Picture: ITV) In a tense meeting with her doctor, she learned that her cervix would need to be removed, but that her womb and ovaries would be left behind and she could still potentially carry a baby – this was all Sarah needed to hear to keep her dream alive. Jacob found out about her health and begged her to tell Charity what she was facing, but Sarah felt her gran would not understand. With Charity still in the dark, Sarah goes in for her procedure and is thrilled when Dr Knapp reveals they managed to retrieve a good number of eggs to test for viability. Her dream of motherhood is feeling closer than ever. Charity expressed her concerns when she found out about the IVF plan (Picture: ITV) But her fragile world is set to crash down once again. Charity is snooping and answers a call on Sarah's phone – it's from the hospital and she learns that her granddaughter has the Big C. Charity is dumbfounded by the news. Desperate for answers she later corners Sarah and catches her off guard by revealing what she knows and from what Emma Atkins has told Metro, it looks like there are dark times ahead for the family. Emma revealed that for Charity: 'It's going to be huge towards the middle and end of the year, with her connections with Sarah [Sugden], basically.' Is Sarah's cancer going to become too advanced to survive? Arrow MORE: Jacob furious in Emmerdale as he makes unexpected discovery about Sarah Arrow MORE: Emmerdale's Charity makes huge breakthrough with Sarah – but more sadness will follow Arrow MORE: All 25 Emmerdale pictures for next week as a gruesome discovery is made

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