Rangers chairman Andrew Cavenagh spoke last Sunday about the club’s need for leaders, ideally Scottish leaders and gnarled professionals.

He never mentioned Lawrence Shankland but almost didn’t need to. The striker is everything he was describing. Rangers are not particularly lacking for goals – they outscored Celtic and Hearts in the Premiership in the season just gone – but they need steel and presence and Shankland provides that.

It was evident on Friday that things were moving quickly. It’s still not definite – as of now he has not signed and there’s still a medical to complete – but everything is heading rapidly in the right direction from a Rangers’ perspective, if not from a Hearts point of view.

Shankland is returning from holiday and final agreement would appear to be imminent. Pending any departures he would join Youssef Chermiti, Ryan Naderi, Bojan Miovski and Danilo as Danny Rohl’s options up front. It’s unlikely that all of those will be Rangers players come the start of the season. Shankland, if it gets done, would be the main man.

People with knowledge of the negotiations are being coy about what Rangers are paying Hearts for Shankland. Both sides are not comfortable talking about a supposed break clause in Shankland’s Hearts contract that would allow him to leave for nothing, a scenario that would, no doubt, infuriate Hearts fans even further.

Losing their captain and principal scorer is bad enough but losing him for little or no money might be deemed insult added to injury. Right now, the phrases being used are ‘undisclosed fee’ and ‘Rangers paid the required amount’.

Shankland has a prolific record for Hearts against Rangers, scoring both in a 2-0 win at Ibrox in September, getting what turned out to be the winner against them in December and in May, both times at Tynecastle.

He scored against Rangers in a 3-3 draw in May, 2024 and scored in a 3-1 loss and a 2-1 loss in November and October 2023. He’s the most prolific scorer Hearts have had since the great John Robertson.

Shankland netted 20 goals for Derek McInnes’ team in their near-glory season, part of which he missed through injury. He’s pushing hard to start for Scotland against Haiti in the opening game of the World Cup.

For McInnes, this will come as a bitter blow. Shankland and Hearts were at a bit of a stand-off at the end of season 2024-25, a long-running dispute over salary between the club and the player’s representatives threatening to see an end of him at Tynecastle.

When McInnes was appointed manager, one of the main items on his list was to keep Shankland. He was insistent he needed the striker and a deal was done. McInnes and Shankland have worked excellently together. Those days would appear to be over. Shankland to Rangers will take a lot of beating as the signing of the summer.

Vasiliy Lomachenko could land an immediate world title shot, but only if he chooses to campaign at 130lbs.

Either way, the 38-year-old is set to return to action later this year, having allowed his deal with Top Rank to expire earlier this month.

As a promotional free agent, ‘Loma’ is now expected to fight for the first time since May 2024, back when he scored an 11th-round stoppage victory over George Kambosos Jr.

In doing so, Lomachenko claimed the IBF lightweight title after having previously become a three-division world champion, with his last 10 professional outings all being fought at 135lbs.

But while many are expecting him to return to lightweight, perhaps in pursuit of an eventual clash with Gervonta Davis, the Ukrainian could potentially be tempted by an opportunity at 130lbs.

In other words, he is set to be offered an immediate world title shot against unified champion Emanuel Navarrete, who comes off a dominant 11th-round finish over Eduardo ‘Sugar’ Nunez.

This, in turn, saw him unify the WBO and IBF titles, though it remains unclear what options the Mexican is exploring for his next outing.

One of them, however, could be a showdown against Lomachenko, with WBO president Gustavo Olivieri sharing his thoughts on the matter via social media.

“Lomachenko is back, and if he wants to fight at 130lbs against Navarrete, I’m sure that the WBO Executive Committee [will approve their fight].

“In light of his professional merits – [two-time] Olympic [gold] medallist, champion in multiple divisions, WBO super champion, a future Hall of Famer – I’m sure the approval will be unanimous.”

WBO President Gustavo Olivieri reiterated that, should Team Loma formally seek a direct shot at Emanuel “Vaquero” Navarrete, the matter would receive serious consideration from the Executive Committee given Lomachenko’s legacy as a 3-Division WBO World Champion and one of the… pic.twitter.com/ZJy3qTcU3P

— WBO (@WorldBoxingOrg) May 21, 2026

While the Lomachenko fight could make sense for both parties, super-featherweight contender Charly Suarez will be demanding a mandatory shot at Navarrete if he comes through his next outing, against Manuel Avila, on July 11.

One-half of the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions, Paige, has finally shut all doubters who, upon her return at WrestleMania 42, thought she would also go for a part-time run similar to AJ Lee’s. But the Anti-Diva and Brie Bella have proved everyone wrong, as they have already completed multiple title defenses so far and have been on a full-time schedule.

Bella and Paige once again defended their titles successfully at 2026 Saturday Night’s Main Event, beating former title holders The Irresistible Forces (Lash Legend and Nia Jax).

Before their match, the Anti-Diva and Brie Mode were interviewed in their locker room by Cathy Kelley. A fan took a screenshot of Paige staring at the camera and posted it on X/Twitter, writing that the star was “mugging” for the camera. The post caught The Diva of Tomorrow’s attention, and she quoted it with a cheeky comment.

“That’s me flirting,” Paige wrote.

Check out her official tweet below:

WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions tease a heel turn

While fans are happy about Paige and Brie Bella retaining their Women’s Tag Team Championship after beating Nia Jax and Lash Legend at the 2026 Saturday Night’s Main Event, experts and critics cannot unsee what the Stamford-based promotion has been teasing.

The ending sequence of the match saw Brie Bella pressing her legs against her tag team partner’s back to even put her entire weight on her, who was pinning Nia Jax, and the two retained their straps. The antics that Daniel Bryan’s wife used are generally pulled by a heel character, and as of now, two are babyface tag team champions.

However, their pinning of Jax using heel tactics could be a subtle hint by World Wrestling Entertainment, prepping fans for The Anti-Diva and Brie Mode’s heel turn in the near future. The veteran team turning bad guys would indeed be a thrilling move and a great change in the WWE women’s tag team division.

That being said, it will be interesting to see what plans Triple H and his WWE creative team have in store for the Women’s Tag Team Champions in the coming weeks.