AEW News Roundup: Masked star announces retirement; Stephanie McMahon recalls slapping ex-champ; Tony Khan stopped top name from joining WWE?

Welcome to the January 5 edition of Sportskeeda's AEW News Roundup. Today, we'll cover some important and trending topics, like a masked wrestler announcing his retirement from in-ring competition and Stephanie McMahon recalling the time when she slapped a former AEW champion.

A veteran duo believes Tony Khan stopped a top name from joining WWE. We'll also discuss Swerve Strickland teasing an alliance with his former rival and a top personality declaring that his in-ring career isn't over yet.

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#1 Masked wrestler Curry Man hangs up his wrestling boots

Curry Man is Christopher Daniels' alternate persona. The AEW Head of Talent Relations recently retired from in-ring competition following his brutal Texas Death match against "Hangman" Adam Page.

Daniels' alter ego, which debuted in 1999, recently made an appearance at Jericho Cruise 2025: Six on The Beach and wrestled a match against The Masked Brother. Curry Man announced his retirement after the match.

"So I take a long time away from wrestling, but Chris Jericho, he invite[d] me to Jericho Cruise. So I think this is where I want to wrestle in front of great wrestling fans. I'm so happy to be wrestling in front of you. I thank you, and my heart is full because tonight, tonight is my last match. Believe me, under this shirt I am very fat, so it’s good I retire tonight. But it's good I get to retire in front of wrestling fans like you. Arigato, thank you very much," Curry Man said.

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#2 Stephanie McMahon recalls slapping Chris Jericho

Stephanie McMahon was one of the top heels in WWE for years. During her run in the company, she had a reputation for slapping anyone or everyone.

In her recent interview on The Pat McAfee Show, Stephanie discussed how much she loved playing a heel in WWE. She also recalled the time when she slapped Chris Jericho while Road Dogg and X-Pac held the former AEW World Champion down.

"Yeah, it was Mick Foley I think, Chris Jericho got it. I remember one time DX was holding Jericho, I forget the storyline but I was going over to slap Chris, and he like, winced (...) [laughs] and all the guys thought it was so funny, and they make me wait and let him wince, then they had me slap him. It was really funny," Stephanie said.

Stephanie appeared at Royal Rumble 2025 this past Saturday and cut a promo for fans.

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#3 Veterans claim Tony Khan re-signed MJF to stop him from joining WWE

MJF had a great run as AEW World Champion before he lost to Samoa Joe at Worlds End 2023. He was featured in many prominent storylines during that period. But since his return last year, The Wolf of Wrestling has seemingly lost momentum.

Veterans Disco Inferno and Konnan recently expressed their disappointment with MJF's recent booking on Keepin' It 100. Konnan said Tony Khan was not managing MJF properly.

Disco added that the AEW CEO retained Friedman's services after his contract expired last year only because he didn't want The Salt of The Earth to end up in WWE.

"I think when MJF was running his mouth about the big thing that he was gonna go to the WWE. Bro, a lot of people were hoping for him to go to WWE. I think Tony signed him just so he wouldn't go to WWE and didn't really have anything planned for the guy going forward." [0:55 - 1:14]

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#4 Swerve Strickland teases an alliance with "Hangman" Adam Page

Swerve Strickland was involved in a bitter year-long rivalry with "Hangman" Adam Page. The Realest recently attended an interview with Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful, where he was asked whether he would team up with his former foe.

Strickland highlighted that they had nothing in common. But he subtly hinted at allying with Page.

"There are very few things I think we have in common at this point that we both would agree with or we both would be in connection or, like I accepted, maybe success. We’re both h*ll bent on success, and now I feel like we are both able and willing to do whatever we have to do to get it. I think that’s like probably the only connection that we would ever have to come together."

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#5 Prince Nana is open to returning to the ring

Prince Nana is the manager of Swerve Strickland in AEW. Before he combined forces with Strickland, Nana used to be an active in-ring competitor. At K&S WrestleFest, the 45-year-old didn't rule out the idea of returning to the ring when asked about it.

"They’re not. But you know, I leave it for the people trying to get into the business now,” said Nana.

The last match the AEW star fought was in October 2019 at Chikara King of Trios. He and his Embassy teammates suffered a loss to FIST (Icarus, Tony Deppen & Travis Huckabee).