The next class of WWE stars have been announced.

The promotion company announced it’s fifth NIL (Next In Line) class on Friday night and had several notable college athletes that include a few second generation WWE members.

Among the most notable names are Jacob Henry, the son of Mark Henry, Brock Rechsteiner, the son of Scott Steiner, and T.J. Bullard, son of Titus O’Neil.

Jacob Henry was a football player and wrestler at Oklahoma. His father is a former WWE Heavyweight champion and is in the companies Hall of Fame.

Rechsteiner played two seasons at Jacksonville State as a wide receiver. He made 17 catches for 246 yards and two touchdowns during the FBS portion of his collegiate career. His father was a WCW world champion and formed a legendary duo with his brother, Rick Steiner.

Bullard was a three-year player for UCF and recorded two total tackles during his career. His father is a current WWE member and is a global ambassador for the company.

The other members of the class are ice hockey player Madison Kaiser, lacrosse player Gareth Beck, field hockey player Bianca Pizano, basketball players Gina Adams and Fatima Katembo and track athletes Zuriel Jiménez, Kerrigan Huynh and Meghan Walker.

There is no hotter name in the NHL scouting world right now than Gavin McKenna. Despite not being eligible for the 2026 NHL Draft, McKenna is widely viewed as the top prospect out there regardless of classification. And after destroying the WHL with the Medicine Hat Tigers, it’s easy to see why.

However, there are questions about where McKenna will play during the 2025 season. Speculation has surrounded leaving the WHL in favor of college hockey in the United States. One NHL insider, Elliotte Friedman, has even labeled one Big Ten program as the favorite to land him.

“I was asking a few people around hockey what they thought,” Friedman said via 32 Thoughts: The Podcast. “And informal straw poll, I would say Penn State. That’s who the favorite is but nothing is done until it’s done. I was told it would be premature to make an enormous proclamation but I asked around and said, ‘If you had to pick where he’s going to play next year,’ most of them said Penn State.”

NIL has completely changed the college hockey world, offering money to players who would otherwise play in other leagues before moving to the NHL. Reported offers have been in excess of $200,000 for guys who were previously in the CHL. For the most part, Big Ten schools have been in the middle of it all.

No reported numbers are out there on McKenna, who will have more options than Penn State. Friedman pointed out how the WHL wants him back in the league for one last go-round. Stateside schools are hoping they can pry him into college.

McKenna put up absurd numbers during the 2024-2025 season despite only being 17 years old. In 56 games played, he recorded 129 points with 41 goals and 88 assists. For a comparison, recent No. 1 overall pick Connor Bedard put up 100 points in the WHL a year removed from being drafted back in 2021-2022, scoring 51 goals and assisting on another 49.

As for Penn State, they finished last season with a 22-14-4 record, finishing fifth in the Big Ten. They made their way into the NCAA Tournament before going on an incredible run to the Frozen Four for the first time in program history. A dream journey with wins against Maine and UConn was unfortunately halted by Boston University in St. Louis in the semifinals.

NHL teams will be crossing their fingers that ping pong balls bounce in their favor next summer to earn the No. 1 overall pick. McKenna will almost assuredly hear his name called, completely changing a franchise moving forward.

Until then, one more season is required before making the jump. As of now, Friedman likes where Penn State sits for McKenna.

His first had given the Panthers a 4-3 lead in the second period, an advantage that stood up until Edmonton’s Corey Perry scored with 18 seconds left in the third to force overtime.

Anton Lundell gained control of the puck in the Panthers zone and fed a flying Marchand, who kept control despite a backcheck by Leon Draisaitl and somehow beat Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner for the victory two days after the Oilers’ overtime win in game one.

“It’s just obviously a fortuitous bounce and we’ll take it,” Marchand told broadcaster TNT.

Teammate Evan Rodrigues said it was the kind of play the Panthers have come to expect from 37-year-old Marchand, who was acquired from the Boston Bruins in March and who now has 10 career goals in Stanley Cup Final games.

“A hell of a play by him. He had a backcheck on him and still found a way to put it in,” Rodrigues said.

“Clutch, right?” he added. “No moment seems to be too big for him.”

The best-of-seven championship series — a rematch of last year’s Final won by the Panthers — now shifts to Florida for games three and four on Monday and Thursday.

– Frenetic first –

Edmonton emerged from a frenetic first period with a 3-2 lead.

Red-hot Sam Bennett put the Panthers up 1-0 at 2:07 of the first period, grabbing his 13th goal of the playoffs — his 12th on the road.

Evander Kane was called for high-sticking and Nate Schmidt found Bennett, whose goal ended the Oilers’ nine-game streak of scoring first.

Kane atoned with a goal that made it 1-1, and Evan Bouchard put the Oilers up 2-1, ripping a shot past Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky after his initial shot was blocked by Aleksander Barkov.

Seth Jones had pulled the Panthers level at 2-2 when Bennett was called for goaltender interference and 24 seconds into the ensuing power play Draisaitl scored to make it 3-2 on a stunning pass from Connor McDavid.

McDavid squeezed past Barkov and wrong-footed Aaron Ekblad before finding Draisaitl — the overtime goal hero in game one — in the right circle.

It was the highest-scoring first period in a Stanley Cup Final game since the Sharks and Penguins combined for five goals in game five in 2016.

Dmitry Kulikov pulled the Panthers level at 8:23 of the second with a wrist shot from point. After Florida’s Niko Mikkola was called for holding, Marchand, fed by Lundell, scored on a short-handed breakaway to put the Panthers up 4-3 and they took that lead into the final period.

The lead stood up until the waning seconds of the third, when 40-year-old Perry struck for his ninth career goal in a Stanley Cup Final.

Both teams had chances to end it in the first overtime, but goalies Bobrovsky and Skinner stood tall to force a second extra session for the first time in the title series since 2020.

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