A pro wrestling great paid tribute to a pro wrestling icon on Friday.

Pro wrestling legend Hulk Hogan – real name Terry Bollea – died on Thursday, July 24, leaving behind an indelible mark on the world of professional wrestling. In the 1980s, Hogan became one of wrestling’s biggest superstars, helping propel the American wrestling scene to greater heights.

Dwayne Johnson, known in professional wrestling as The Rock, has a history with Hogan that goes beyond the squared circle. Johnson spent time in wrestling locker rooms during his childhood as his father Rocky Johnson traveled the country with the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE).

On Friday, July 25, Johnson posted a lengthy tribute to Hogan on X, thanking him for the path he set as a professional wrestler when he was a young boy:

He wrote:

‘To millions of little kids you were a childhood hero – myself included. In 1984, I gave you your ‘HULKSTER’ headband back, in the locker room in Madison Square Garden – I was the lucky kid caught it when you threw it in the crowd.

‘You were wrestling ‘Mr Wonderful’, Paul Orndorff that night in the main event. You were shocked and so happy after the match because you told me that was your very last headband and if it weren’t for me, you’d have no way of getting that exact one made again.

‘You promised me that you would get more made and give me a Hulkster headband of my own as a thank you gift. A month later in Madison Square Garden, you did just that. You kept your word, with a handshake and a ‘thanks kid’. And that meant the world to that little 12 year old boy.

‘Just 17 years later, and still a kid at the age of 29 years old – I’m standing in the middle of the ring and facing you – one of my wrestling heroes in the main event of WRESTLEMANIA. The match was to decide who would go down in history, as The Greatest of All Time.

‘When you kick out of my Rock Bottom finisher – just listen and FEEL that crowd go ELECTRIC… all for you. I’ve never felt anything like that in my entire wrestling career. It takes two to tango, but that historic crowd reaction was all for you.

‘You may have ‘passed the torch’ to me that night, but you, my friend…. … you ‘drew the house’ meaning you sold out every arena and stadium across the country in your prime as Hulk Hogan, on your way of becoming the greatest of all time.

‘From deep in my bones, and on behalf of this wild and crazy world of professional wrestling that we love, I say to you now, and forever… Thank you for the house, brother… Thank you, for the house. RIP Terry Bollea aka Hulk Hogan.’

While the Rock and Hogan didn’t actually main event WrestleMania 18 – that was an honor reserved for Triple H and Chris Jericho in a championship fight – their match is widely considered the biggest on that card and one of the biggest WrestleMania bouts in the event’s history.

Johnson, now a Hollywood star while sitting on the board of TKO (WWE’s parent company) has made sporadic appearances for WWE in recent years.

Hogan was 71.

There is probably little good that can come from President Trump’s executive order on college sports given that it’s legally questionable, vaguely written in terms of enforcement and an unpredictable stick of dynamite thrown into the middle of legislative movement on the current SCORE Act making its way through the House of Representatives.

But rather than trying to limit by presidential edict how and what college athletes get paid, there is something Trump could do that would address one of the major concerns for his administration. 

Much of the executive order focuses on protecting opportunities for Olympic sport athletes. With athletic budgets getting squeezed by up to $20.5 million going directly to athletes thanks to the House vs. NCAA settlement, there’s widespread fear that non-revenue programs across the country will be on the chopping block. 

And given the NCAA’s role as the de facto development system for much of America’s success at the Olympics every four years, a significantly smaller allotment of scholarships could mean both fewer educational opportunities for young people and an erosion of America’s standing on the medal table. 

So here’s a suggestion for the Trump Administration: Want to leave a legacy for Olympic sports? Use government money to fund them. 

In nearly every country around the world except the United States of America, federal dollars are funding Olympic sports programs. But here, it’s the responsibility of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and college athletic departments. The former is funded by corporate sponsorships and private donations. The latter is funded by college football. 

That system, imperfect as it may be, has worked for a long time. If it doesn’t work anymore because the economics of college sports have changed, then we need to tweak the system.

And if international domination of swimming, track and field and gymnastics is a priority for America, then what’s the problem with taxpayers having a little skin in the game? It’s not as if public dollars paying for sports is a new concept in this country. You can find the evidence by driving past nearly any pro stadium or arena if you live in a major city.

Surely there are some smart people who can figure out how to build a federally funded joint partnership between the USOPC, various National Governing Bodies and the NCAA that coordinates and supports elite athlete development in a handful of Olympic sports that matter most, allowing schools to focus on providing opportunities and educating those who need athletic scholarships to attend college. 

Admittedly, this idea is a little radical, potentially impractical and rife with unintended consequences. 

But one way it could work, at least in theory, is that a certain percentage of the top American recruits in the key Olympic pipeline sports would go into a recruiting pool. When they choose a school, this government-funded organization would pay for the four-year scholarship, attach an NIL payment for the athlete to represent the organization and provide a grant to the school as reimbursement for the development cost.

To make it more equitable, schools would be limited to a certain number of recruits every year from that elite pool of athletes. The rest of the roster would be filled with either foreign athletes or non-elite American recruits that they must pay for themselves. 

One obvious criticism of this plan is that smaller schools would get squeezed out even further, given that they’re more likely to have a budget crisis than a Texas or an Ohio State and less likely to recruit elite athletes. 

This might require the NCAA to rethink how it stratifies schools into three divisions and instead move toward a two-tiered model where you either meet certain scholarship and funding standards to be in the Olympic development division or compete in the non-Olympic division, which would functionally be more like intramural or club sports. 

And maybe none of this is workable. But the point is, it’s time to come up with some creative, bold solutions rather than just whining about how schools can’t afford to pay for their non-revenue sports anymore. 

For many, many years, the USOPC has gotten a free ride on the back of the NCAA system, which has only been possible because universities illegally colluded not to share revenues with the athletes that played a significant role in generating them. 

But the good news is, all the systems are in place to keep Team USA’s supremacy intact. There has to be a way for more formal collaboration between the USOPC and the NCAA that can save scholarships, development opportunities and teams from being cut. 

It just needs the funding. And the federal government can make that happen. Trump can make that happen. 

If he wants a real and lasting legacy as a president who kept the Olympic movement stable at a time of necessary change in college sports, that’s how he can do it. Not an executive order destined to be picked apart and ultimately made irrelevant.

LAS VEGAS — He could’ve changed it all, pulled back the curtain on the underbelly of college football and revealed its sordid secrets.

And he punted.

There was new UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava, ground zero for all that is wrong in the new age of player empowerment in college football, taking the fifth at Big Ten media days on Thursday, July 24 when he could’ve been transcendent. 

Shutting it down when he should’ve lit it up.

New team, new goals, but no new answers from the one player with intimate knowledge of – and in a unique position to explain – how the nation’s second-most popular sport has driven its spotless reputation into the ditch with a never-ending money grab by players and universities.

“I don’t speak on money matters,” Iamaleava said over and over. “I’m just here for ball and school.”

And away we go.

Iamaleava, whose $8 million dollar deal with Tennessee three years ago started NIL money madness, could’ve stood long and strong in his first public comments about his controversial departure. Stretch his 6-feet-6 frame to expand beyond his orbit, and proudly explain his controversial leverage move to UCLA and everything that came with it.

He could’ve detailed how the player procurement sausage is made – recruiting, contract negotiations, predatory sports agents and their bloated fees, prove-it or lose it rosters spots, player retention and player run-off – and how, despite what Joe Sixpack thinks, players aren’t the boogeyman.

Instead he talked about “false (media) reports” and the “noise” outside his inner circle that he ignores by playing video games. He said he loved his time at Tennessee, and he just wanted to go home to Los Angeles.

“It’s not about the money,” he said. “I did what was best for me.”

If you want to blame someone for this convoluted and multiplying mess, for the constant state of flux and turnover among 265 Bowl and Championship Subdivision football playing schools, don’t blame the players.

They’re simply working within the rules laid out by those in power. Or lack of rules. 

The real villain in the process are universities presidents. Not players, not coaches, not conference commissioners. 

Presidents run college football, and frankly, a majority have no idea what they’re doing.  

The same university presidents who five years ago saw the get yours, shared revenue train barreling down the tracks and ignored it — then said, screw it, let’s allow players to negotiate NIL deals with free player movement. 

What could go wrong?

The same university presidents who time after time watched their dysfunctional NCAA lose spectacularly in major legal cases, but kept doubling down on stupid. 

It doesn’t really matter why Iamaleava left Tennessee, or how or why he used leverage days before the opening of the spring portal. Or how it failed. 

Doesn’t matter if he tried to push Tennessee to put more pieces from the portal around him so he could further develop his NFL bonafides, or if it were just a money play. Or both.

What matters is an unguarded system has been set up, and players are taking advantage of the system. Why wouldn’t they?

Iamaleava isn’t the first to use leverage, and won’t be the last. He was simply the most high profile because of his position and the leverage moment — and because Tennessee called his bluff. 

These things happen all the time across all of college football, and they’re not going to end. In fact, they’ll get worse. 

Because no matter how hard university presidents try to protect their media rights money by refusing to collectively bargain with players (and therefore pay significantly more to players), they haven’t been able to legally pull it off. 

Even the recent groundbreaking House settlement is beginning to fall apart, with its critical management provision of private NIL deals already facing significant legal hurdles.

The moment was there for Iamaleava to seize, to grab the wheel of a sport careening into the unknown and level a shock to the system. Expose the underbelly, force change. 

Instead of punting.

“I’ll let my business reps and agent take care of that,” Iamaleava said.

What could go wrong? 

Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.

In a move that signifies a deeper teardown in Baltimore and a desire in Queens to backfill a roster still fighting for the National League East title, the New York Mets acquired left-handed reliever Gregory Soto from the Orioles on Friday, July 25 in exchange for two minor league relief pitchers, according to multiple reports.

Soto, 30, moves back to the NL East almost exactly a year after the Philadelphia Phillies traded him to Baltimore in a swap among contenders. He’s been largely effective and occasionally dominant, striking out 44 in 36 innings and holding left-handed batters to a .138/.271/.276 line. Soto backfills a role in the Mets bullpen missing since top lefty A.J. Minter suffered a season-ending lat injury in May.

In exchange, the Orioles receive Class AAA right-hander Cameron Foster and Class A righty Wellington Aracena.

A breakdown of the deal:

Gregory Soto trade grades

New York Mets: B-

Not a bad pickup given the Mets’ relatively urgent need for a lefty amid a market that will only tighten leading up to the July 31 trade deadline. Soto is a veteran situational guy who was recently tabbed to fill in closer duties after Orioles fireballer Felix Bautista went on the injured list; Soto saved Thursday’s game at Cleveland in his last appearance for Baltimore.

Yet in this three-batter minimum era, Soto may be exposed against the deep lineups among NL contenders. Opposing right-handers are getting on base at a .371 clip against him, with a .726 OPS, although he’s yet to yield a homer to a right-handed batter. He pitches largely off a 96 mph fastball and excels at eliciting weak contact, with an elite 4.3% barrel percentage.

It’s a totally OK pickup.

Baltimore Orioles: B

The distress sale continues at Camden Yards, as Soto joins righty Bryan Baker (traded to Tampa Bay) in a parade of exiting players likely to include All-Star slugger Ryan O’Hearn and right-handed starters Charlie Morton and Zach Eflin. In Foster, 26, they get a right-hander who likely will join Baltimore’s bullpen almost immediately, as he pitched to a 0.83 WHIP at Class AA and recently earned a promotion to AAA. He’s struck out 9.4 batters per nine innings since getting selected in the 2022 14th round out of McNeese State.

Aracena, 20, is a bit more of a lottery ticket, having spent the entire season at the Mets’ Florida complex league affiliate in Port St. Lucie. He’s shown well, however, striking out 84 in 64 innings (nine starts and eight relief appearances) on the strength of fastball that’s touched 99 mph. He should land on an Orioles full-season affiliate club. Neither pitcher was ranked among the Mets’ top 30 prospects by Baseball America.

Gregory Soto trade details

New York Mets receive

LHP Gregory Soto

Baltimore Orioles receive

RHP Cameron Foster
RHP Wellington Aracena

Gregory Soto contract

Gregory Soto is making $5.35 million this season and is eligible for free agency at year’s end.

Twelve months ago, the Las Vegas Raiders made defensive tackle Christian Wilkins one of the highest-paid defenders in the league with a huge deal in free agency.

One year later, the two have parted ways. The Raiders have released Wilkins, they announced Thursday night on social media, one year into the five-year, $110 million deal they signed him to last offseason.

Wilkins suffered a Jones fracture in his foot in Week 5 against the Denver Broncos last season and missed the rest of the year. He had surgery to repair the fracture and was placed on the reserve/PUP list on July 18.

Less than a week later, the franchise released him.

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that Wilkins and the Raiders disagreed on another surgery to repair his foot. Las Vegas reportedly wanted him to have that done while Wilkins declined.

‘We have decided that it is in the best interests of the organization to move on from Christian Wilkins and he has been informed of his release from the team,’ the Raiders said in a statement. ‘The franchise has a commitment to excellence on and off the field. With no clear path or plan for future return to play from Christian, this transaction is necessary for the entire organization to move forward and prepare for the new season.’

Las Vegas has already paid Wilkins nearly $22 million of the $57 million in guaranteed money included in his contract signed last offseason. The Raiders voided the remaining $35.2 million of his contract in June, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, but Wilkins has filed a grievance with the NFL Players’ Association over that.

Raiders DT depth chart

With Wilkins now out, here’s a look at the rest of the depth chart at defensive tackle for Las Vegas:

Adam Butler
Leki Fotu
Zach Carter
Tonka Hemingway
JJ Pegues
Jonah Laulu
Tank Booker
Treven Ma’ae

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FORT LAUDERDALE, FL – Lionel Messi and Jordi Alba practiced with Inter Miami for the first time this week, coach Javier Mascherano said, before their highly anticipated match against first-place FC Cincinnati on Saturday, July 26.

Inter Miami is still awaiting whether Messi and Alba could face a one-game suspension for skipping the MLS All-Star Game in Austin, Texas earlier this week.

Alba, who suffered a knock and was a late substitution in Inter Miami’s 5-1 win against the New York Red Bulls on July 19, may have a better excuse to avoid suspension than Messi, who Mascherano said has felt the fatigue from an overworked schedule in recent weeks.

“He showed normal fatigue from the number of games and minutes he’s been playing,” Mascherano said. “Look, players always have [minor injuries], especially when they play every three days. But luckily, he’ll be back [Friday].

“Let’s hope he can train with the group so we can count on both of them for [Saturday’s] game. We haven’t received any notification so far.”

Messi has played every minute in 22 of 23 matches since April 2, with his lone absence in a 4-3 loss at home to FC Dallas on April 27.

Since Inter Miami’s first match in the FIFA Club World Cup on June 14, Messi has played nine matches in a 35-day span without missing a minute.

“Miami has had a schedule that is unlike any other team. Most of our teams had a 10-day break. Miami hasn’t. We had Leo playing 90 minutes in almost all the games that he’s played. We have to manage through that as a league. [At] the same time, we do have rules, and we have to manage through that as well,” MLS commissioner Don Garber said during his midseason press conference before the All-Star Game.

“So, we would have loved to have Leo here. We’d have loved to have every player that was selected for the All-Star team here. And after this All-Star Game, we’ll figure out what needs to happen this weekend.”

Inter Miami’s match against FC Cincinnati, which beat them 3-0 on July 16, could again pit Messi, the 2024 MLS MVP, against Evander, a leading candidate along with Messi for 2025 MVP award.

Cincinnati sits atop the MLS Supporters’ Shield standings with 48 points, while Inter Miami is fifth place in the Eastern Conference with 41 points. Inter Miami has three games in hand to play this season due to their congested schedule.

How to watch Messi, Inter Miami vs. FC Cincinnati match?

The match on Saturday, July 26 will be played at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. It will be available to live stream on MLS Season Pass via Apple TV.

Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban said that the new executive order signed by President Donald Trump, which seeks to clarify the employment status of collegiate athletes, is a ‘huge step’ in the creation of more opportunities for players.

Saban appeared on ‘Fox & Friends’ the day after the order to give his take. Trump’s order mandates the U.S. Secretary of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board come up with a plan in the next 30 days to stop athletes from becoming professionals amid the chaos that has reigned in college sports since the implementation of players being able to monetize off their own name, image, and likeness.

‘The executive order provides a huge step in providing the educational model that has always been what we’ve sort of tried to promote to create opportunities for players, male and female alike, revenue and non-revenue, so that they can have development as people, students and develop careers and develop professionally if that’s what they choose to do,’ Saban said.

“It is common sense that college sports are not, and should not be, professional sports, and my administration will take action accordingly,’ the order said.

Saban agreed with the line of thinking and also said that clearing houses and companies are there to authenticate name, image, and likeness.

‘I think we need to make a decision here relative to do we want to have an education-based model, which I think the president made a huge step towards doing that, or do we want to have universities sponsor professional teams,’ Saban continued.

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