Biggest Winners And Losers Of The Week — 5/11/2026

We've gotten through another week in the world of professional wrestling, and this one was action-packed, as our regular weekly programming was super-charged by the inclusion of WWE Backlash! It should be noted that we've already presented winners and losers for Backlash itself, so if you want to know who those were, check out that column. This column will certainly include Backlash, but also widens its scope to everything else that happened over the course of the past seven days!

How does the WINC crew feel about Darby Allin spamming world title defenses since he became champion? How are we feeling about the John Cena Classic, 48 hours or so after it was announced? And speaking of Cena, has he already endorsed "WWE NXT's" next big thing? Here are your WINC winners and losers for the week of 5/11/26!

Look, maybe she's just taking some time off; Fightful Select is even reporting that she'll be on "Raw" tonight, which is something. But if the rumors are true and Asuka is even "semi-retired," that's a huge loss for everyone who enjoys watching wrestling, and people who enjoy watching Asuka in particular. Combine that with the fact that WWE did not, in fact, bring back Kairi Sane at WWE Backlash despite the online support for her return, and it's a big loss for anyone who enjoys watching joshi stars wrestle in WWE.

Of course, we still have IYO SKY, and the match between SKY and Asuka at Backlash was good (though not necessarily great), so it's not like those who fall into the Venn diagram of joshi lovers and WWE watchers have nothing left to live for. That said, it's still a blow; Asuka is one of the women's division's most reliable performers and has been for a decade now, while Sane's story remains one of untapped potential. They missed out on the WrestleMania match they should have gotten (though admittedly, wrestling on Backlash likely got SKY and Asuka more time), Sane's firing killed the angle they had been developing for months, and now it seems we're about to be deprived of not one but both Kabuki Warriors for some period of time, at least. That leaves joshi/WWE fans with SKY and Giulia, both of whom have received less than stellar booking of late. It's not the end of the world, but this week, it's enough to earn a spot in the losers column.

Written by Miles Schneiderman

Everybody is talking about the former Will Kroos. Former PROGRESS Atlas Champion Mason Rook has been laying out WWE NXT Champion Tony D'Angelo over the last couple weeks. Essentially coming out of nowhere, the young star has already earned a wealth of momentum, and has people debating his look, his moveset, his name, you name it, people are talking about it, and I am hard pressed to find an equally splashy debut in the last few years.

The popularity of Mason Rook is refreshing, since he seemed to forgo the usual pipeline, just arriving on "WWE NXT" to kick ass and take names. I'm used to hearing people tell me "This guy was getting good in EVOLVE," or "This girl was an NCAA star," yadda yadda yadda. Rook is simply a blue chip indie wrestler who has been shoved into the spotlight in what can only be described as AEW-esque fashion.

It's WWE, and wrestling in general, so a good debut cannot assure a good career, but it certainly seems that Rook will not be lacking for attention or scrutiny in his early days, and that's a healthy thing for a young prospect. Trial by fire, if you will.

Written by Ross Berman

It almost seems like WWE jumped the gun and came up with something more interesting for John Cena to announce at WWE Backlash, other than just more Club WWE stuff, as was originally reported, and thus, we got the John Cena Classic. While interesting, this initially felt extremely rushed when Cena was trying to describe it, and now that I've thought about it more, that really appears to be the case. We have no information about just when this will take place, where it will happen, or if the "classic" means a tournament or just a showcase of matches, and there are many other aspects of this that puts the John Cena Classic overall in the "L" category.

The tournament feels like it could be set up to put a belt, albeit meaningless, on Oba Femi before he hopefully wins the World Heavyweight Championship from Roman Reigns. With Cena's involved, we could see Mason Rook vs. Femi, despite "The Ruler" not being all that far removed from "WWE NXT" himself. But, as I thought about that part of things more, WWE could easily keep Femi out of the tournament, fully knowing that he'd be the star fans would vote to win it all. Even with a "fan vote," it's hard to trust WWE to not game the system in the favor of the star they want to build. With as big of a company guy Cena is, it doesn't seem like he'd have much to say against that.

While mostly everything about the John Cena Classic makes sense in theory, as the matches at Saturday Night's Main Event in December were excellent, the aspect of fans being able to vote for their favorite, even if that star loses their match, leaves a lot to be desired. Sure, it's the "hustle" aspect of "Hustle, Loyalty, Respect," but I don't know if I ever thought WWE would be so blatant in the "winners don't matter!" category of sports entertainment.

Cena really didn't provide a lot of information about anything, really, but it feels like an easy assumption that only Club WWE fans will be able to vote for their favorites. At best, members could get more votes for being a part of the club, while those who don't want to pay the extra money to get involved only get one vote per X account, or something like that.

Fans were left with more questions than answers at Backlash regarding the John Cena Classic. We got the basics, but while we don't need to know who will be competing from "NXT" and the main roster just yet, it would have been nice to at least know just when to expect this event.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Whether you love Darby Allin or you don't, you have to admit he's been on a tear with the AEW World Championship. Many fans believe that he won't have the gold for long, possibly losing it back to MJF at Double or Nothing in less than two weeks to set up whatever Tony Khan has planned for AEW All In, but he's making his time with title count with numerous main event matches.

This week, Allin defended the title twice, first on "AEW Dynamite" against Kevin Knight in a great showcase for both men, and again against the Death Riders' PAC at AEW's "Fairway to Hell" special during "AEW Collision" on Saturday. The match against Knight also led to a confrontation with MJF, which saw Allin challenge the former AEW World Champion to put his hair on the line at Double or Nothing. While the title vs. hair stipulation has been debated by fans online, at least Allin's next big defense has been set, and he's earned himself a spot in the main event of one of the company's biggest shows of the year.

During his match against PAC, the men had a viral spot where Allin was sent crashing from the balcony of the set through two tables below. Prior to that, the pair battled all over the golf course, including the sand bunkers, making for a unique highlight reel at one of AEW's more unique events in recent memory.

Even after two title defenses, Allin doesn't get a break. He'll be taking on the Don Callis Family's Konosuke Takeshita on "Dynamite" this week. Allin was initially set to face Kazuchika Okada, but the International Champion was pulled for the match due to "family business." Takeshita is yet another big name in the slew of big names Allin has faced, which also includes Brody King and Tommaso Ciampa in recent weeks.

It doesn't seem like Allin is going to lift his foot off the gas until he possibly loses the gold at Double or Nothing, and even if he does, there's no doubt it will be an exciting match. There's also the good chance that he retains the title and keeps the crazy train going a little longer. While some may not be huge fans of Allin's style, he's stacking up the wins with the gold, whether he's crashing through tables or hitting coffin drops from the top rope to his opponent below. He could have between six and eight successful, consecutive defenses by Double or Nothing, which is certainly something for the history books. All in all, he's a worthy choice for our first-ever two-time winner.

Written by Daisy Ruth