Richard Holliday – the “most marketable” man in pro wrestling – will take his talents to the Battle for the Brave: Wrestling Showcase for Heroes on June 6 in Rahway, New Jersey.

The event, hosted by TNA Wrestling star and U.S. Marine veteran Steve Maclin and Ring of Honor pure champion Deonna Purrazzo, will benefit the Tunnel to Towers Foundation.

Holliday talked to Fox News Digital about why he decided to take part in the event.

PRO WRESTLING STARS LEADING SHOWCASE TO BENEFIT TUNNEL TO TOWERS, SHARE WHAT BEING AN AMERICAN MEANS TO THEM

Richard Holliday nails his opponent in Awesome Championship Wrestling. (Smoothlenz photography)

“It’s a tremendous cause,” Holliday said. “How could I say no to that? I’m very proud of what Steve and Deonna are doing and to include me as part of that, that’s tremendous. How could I possibly say no to that? So, I’m really looking forward to that event.

“Actually, both of them were part of the event that I threw, Narcissistic Behavior in August 2025, which was really renowned as the top independent show of that year and I have no doubt that Steve and Deonna are going to have maybe the top singular independent event of 2026. It’s going to be a huge event. I believe they have the Hardy Boyz announced for that. But man, what an event this is going to be.”

Holliday will be a part of the Battle for the Brave Cup – a 12-person gauntlet match that will start as a battle royal and turn into a match when there are two competitors left.

Richard Holliday plays to the crowd at an Awesome Championship Wrestling event. (Smoothlenz photography)

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Maclin, Megan Bayne, BDE and other stars will perform in the match.

Maclin revealed his participation exclusively to Fox News Digital earlier in the week.

“Everybody’s been asking me, ‘Why would you not want to wrestle on your own show, especially for such a great cause?’ So, as of now, officially, I am entering as the No. 1 entrant in the Battle for the Brave Memorial Cup,” he said. “I’ll be taking on 12 other competitors. It’s an over-the-top battle royal and the final two competitors turns into a match.

“I’m going to take the tough road and the hard road of going No. 1 and trying to make my way all the way through to be the (last) one.”

Matt and Jeff Hardy are in the event as well and provided a joint statement on their participation.

Pro wrestling stars Steve Maclin and Deonna Purrazzo were champions at TNA. (Provided to Fox News Digital)

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“My brother and I are both very excited to be headlining Steve Maclin and Deonna Purrazzo’s very special Tunnel to Towers event. Tunnel to Towers is a very special organization that helps take care of people who have been injured on the job protecting us – people like the military, first responders and police,” the Hardys said. “We are very grateful for all of these people’s services and efforts in keeping us all safe and healthy. We look forward to raising as much money as we possibly can.”

With PSG on the brink of history, following a very tight semi-final match against German powerhouse Bayern-Munich, Oliver Farry is pleased to welcome Victor Bolorunduro, Reporter for The Peninsula Qatar. The reigning European champions will now face Arsenal. According to Bolorunduro, PSG has discovered a “cohesiveness” and developed “a remarkable improvement from one match to another.” He places PSG’s current form within a broader narrative of European football evolution, once criticized for inconsistency, now “on the verge of retaining the title” for another year. 

The discussion surrounding a 24-team playoff continues as the AFCA recently expressed its support.

Would it be a boon for more G6 teams to make the Playoff?

On today’s episode of Locked On College Football, Spencer McLaughlin reacts to South Carolina and Tennessee being in Joel Klatt’s latest Top 25 rankings.

Are they the only overrated teams?

Fran Brown will once again seek to recapture the magic of his 10-win first season with the Orange in 2024.

Will they have the chance to be a surprise ACC team in spite of injuries?

00:00 Group of Six playoff chances
03:41 Playoff eligibility scenarios
07:06 College Football Playoff chances
10:35 Discussing Joel Klatt’s top 25 teams
14:49 Quarterback injury concerns
16:49 Discussing college football rankings
22:33 Steve Angeli’s injury recovery update
28:55 Syracuse football season outlook

/ @lockedoncollegefootball  

The team at Lindsay Park faced various decisions regarding Plymouth this week, however, the intention to hold him steady at 2000 metres guides him to Caulfield.

The four-year-old son of The Autumn Sun featured entries for Thursday’s 2350m Warrnambool Cup and acceptance in Saturday’s 2100m Gosford Gold Cup, but he is set to appear in Caulfield’s Lamaro’s Ater The Last, a benchmark 100 race worth $150,000.

Plymouth lacks a win from five 2000m efforts, but achieved second in the Albury Cup and third place at Flemington around his failure in the Group 3 Easter Cup (2000m), while Ben Hayes holds firm that 2000m is ideal alongside one crucial change in gear.

For the gelding, blinkers come back on since runner-up spot in the Group 2 Herbert Power Stakes (2400m) last spring.

“His last run was good, we just thought he maybe presented a bit early in the straight. He got rolling early and peaked on his run a bit,” Hayes said.

“Now he’s had that good run at 2000, we’ll keep him at 2000 and put blinkers on.

“He’s been knocking on the door. He’s building to another win.”

This campaign sees Plymouth without a victory in five starts, following his win in the Benalla Cup (2100m) ahead of the Herbert Power Stakes, and Hayes views the Saturday race as a potential path to continue racing out of state.

“If he runs well we’ll consider going up to Brisbane with him,” Hayes, who trains in partnership with brothers Will and JD, said.

“There are all those races up there that we can head towards, but he needs to run well. If not, we’ll put him away and get him ready for the spring.”

Plymouth starts from gate seven at Caulfield, improving to six post the withdrawal of Sayedaty Sadaty, with Jamie Mott, in good form, aboard for his debut ride.

Discover racing betting markets offering great value for the Lamaro’s Ater The Last at Caulfield.

(COMBO) This combination of pictures created on May 7, 2026 shows (L) the Olympic flag during a practice session at Eiffel Tower Stadium in Paris on July 24, 2024, ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and (R) a Belarus flag during an air show in the capital Minsk, on June 21, 2014. (Photo by Odd ANDERSEN and SERGEI GAPON / AFP)

The IOC on Thursday lifted its ban on Belarusian athletes competing in the Olympics, although restrictions on Russian athletes remain in place.

Competitors from Russia and their allies Belarus had been banned from international competition following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, although some were permitted to compete as neutrals.

READ: Olympics cannot exclude and divide says IOC amid Russian athletes row

Russians will still only be able to compete in Olympic competition under the neutral banner, on an individual basis, and only if they have not actively supported the conflict.

The IOC executive board released a statement saying that it “no longer recommends any restrictions on the participation of Belarusian athletes, including teams”.

“The IOC reaffirms that athletes’ participation in international competition should not be limited by the actions of their governments, including involvement in a war or conflict,” it said.

This new policy should allow for a Belarusian delegation to compete at the Los Angeles Summer Olympics in 2028, when they will be present at the opening ceremony and included in the medals table.

The IOC said that the timing of the statement recognised that the qualification period for the 2028 Games begins this (northern hemisphere) summer.

“On behalf of the entire Belarusian sporting public, we express our gratitude to IOC President Kirsty Coventry for her balanced and principled stance,” said the Belarusian Olympic Committee.

“We are firmly convinced that sport is called to serve as a unifying force and must remain an arena free from political influence,” said the statement adding that Belarus hoped the decision “will become a defining benchmark for international sports federations, which will, in the shortest possible time, lift all restrictions on Belarusian athletes in all sports.”

Some Olympic sports, such as judo and swimming, have already lifted restrictions but Belarus are still unlikely to be able to compete as a team in track and field after World Athletics said in response to the IOC announcement that it was keeping its ban in place.

“As a consequence of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, World Athletics sanctions implemented in March 2022 excluding Belarusian and Russian athletes, officials and supporting personnel from competition remain in place,” said a World Athletics spokesperson.

“Our council has made a clear decision that when there is tangible movement towards peace negotiations it can begin to review its decisions. We all hope this will be soon.”

 ‘In good standing’

At the last two Olympics in Paris 2024 and the Milan-Cortina Winter Games in February, Belarusians competed alongside Russians as “Individual Neutral Athletes”, stripped of their national colours and in small numbers — there were 17 in Paris and seven in Italy.

And for the moment, that will remain the case for Russian athletes wanting to take part in Los Angeles.

“The situation relating to the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) is different from that relating to the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Belarus,” said the IOC in their statement.

The ROC has been suspended since autumn 2023 for having placed the sports organisations of four occupied Ukrainian regions under its authority.

However, the IOC also said that fresh concerns have recently arisen regarding the Russian anti-doping system which was first exposed in late 2015 following the Sochi Winter Games the year before.

“The difference is the Belarusian National Olympic Committee was never suspended. And they’ve always been in good standing,” IOC president Kirsty Coventry told reporters.

“The most recent information which led to the World Anti-Doping Agency looking into a potential doping allegation, we do not know how long that will take.”

The Zimbabwean former Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer added: “But in 2016 I was still an athlete and it is a huge importance for me to do whatever we can to ensure that the field of play, whenever any athletes are coming back to competition, is the cleanest and fairest field of play that we can provide.

“The Russian Olympic Committee is still suspended.”

The rider killed in an accident at the North West 200 on Thursday has been named as Kamil Holan, from the Czech Republic.

The crash occurred at Station Corner in the opening Superbike qualifying session on Thursday morning in Northern Ireland.

Holan, 48, is the first fatality at the North West 200 since Malachi Mitchell-Thomas was killed in a Supertwins race in 2016, and he is the 20th to lose their life in the 97-year history of the event.

Hefty74, Holan’s team, led tributes to the Czech rider, saying “above all he was a wonderful friend and a man of great character”.

“Kamil, you were an inspiration, support and a partner in life and on the track. Your humility, passion and smile will be missed every second,” Hefty74 posted on Facebook.

“Your legacy will live on in Hefty74 and in our hearts. We express our deepest and most sincere condolences to his entire family and all his loved ones”.

One of a number of international riders competing at the road race in Northern Ireland, Holan, who lived in Prague, first raced at the North West 200 in 2023.

His most notable victory came at the Manx Grand Prix in 2012, when he won the Newcomers ‘A’ race to become the first rider from the Czech Republic to win at the event.

Holan also raced at the Isle of Man TT and had a best finish of 20th in the 2018 Superbike race, and was a regular in European road racing.

In the most recent running of the Ulster Grand Prix in 2019, Holan had two 14th place finishes in the Supersport and Superstock classes.

Colombian pop superstar Shakira has shared a minute-long clip of a new song, writing on social media: “From Maracana Stadium, here is ‘Dai Dai,’ the FIFA World Cup Official Song 2026.”

In the video clip, she appears on the field of Brazil‘s iconic Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, where Shakira drew a vast crowd for a free concert last weekend.

Holding the “Trionda,” the official World Cup match ball, she sings one verse in English with Nigerian artist and Afrobeats superstar Burna Boy, harmonizing with her.

“Knew from the day you were born
Here in this place, you belong
You’ve been this brave all along
What broke you once made you strong.”

Shakira is joined by dancers dressed in the colors of national teams taking part in the soccer tournament.

The chorus repeats “Dai, dai, we go, dale, ale, let’s go.” “Dai, Dai” presumably refers to the Italian for “Let’s go” while “dale, ale” is a Spanish expression for “Go on” or “We can do it.”

The short clip, also shared by the FIFA World Cup account, ends with the message: “We’re ready!” 

The song is set for official release on May 14.

Shakira’s “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)” was the official song of the 2010 World Cup held in South Africa.

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She also performed at the 2006 and 2014 World Cup finals.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup tournament kicks off on June 11, 2026, with Mexico taking on South Africa at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City.

Edited by: Roshni Majumdar