Heavy WWE Presence At Josh Barnett's Bloodsport, AEW Name Also Backstage

Amidst the WrestleMania 41 weekend festivities came Josh Barnett's Bloodsport XIII, with representatives from WWE, NJPW, NWA, TJPW, and the independent circuit competing. According to a new report, even more wrestling names were in attendance for the event, which emanated from the Pearl Theater At Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada on Thursday night.

Per Fightful Select, a number of current WWE talent pulled up to watch Bloodsport, including Shotzi, Candice LeRae, Nia Jax, Bayley, Braun Strowman, WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Raquel Rodriguez and Liv Morgan, World Heavyweight Championship GUNTHER, and the recently-returned Tyler Bate. From the "WWE NXT" brand came Roxanne Perez, Cora Jade, and the current NXT Heritage Cup Champion Lexis King. Tyson Kidd and Scarlett also made their expected visits to the show, given that their significant others Natalya and Karrion Kross, respectively, competed on the Bloodsport card.

The report adds that some WWE executives were also at the show, especially to see how the group of WWE talent performed at Bloodsport. In addition to Natalya (who participated under the name Nattie Neidhart) and Kross, the likes of Pete Dunne, Shayna Baszler, Charlie Dempsey, Tavion Heights, and Karmen Petrovic represented WWE in the ring. Baszler was notably accompanied by "WWE SmackDown" star Michin.

Former AEW TBS Champion Willow Nightingale reportedly attended Bloodsport XIII as well. She most recently appeared on Wednesday's episode "AEW Dynamite" in Boston, aiding Samoa Joe, Powerhouse Hobbs, and Katsuyori Shibata to victory over the now former AEW World Trios Champions The Death Riders.