#futureshock wrestling

[timothythatchr]

The prettiest man with a man bun 😍

[temomi]

No mustache Gallagher 

X

[ladygimli]

Had a belter of a Sunday night, I enjoyed some amazing ramen and gyoza in Wagamama and then headed off to Fierce Females, the only all female wrestling promotion in Scotland. The talent there was world class and I got to catch-up with Viper as I haven’t seen her since I worked the PWE show in Ayr! Jayla Dark and Chakara, Jokey and Leah Owens and Viper v Bea Priestley were my favourite matched of the night.

[danwhobrowses]

WWE Wrestlemania 38 Night 1 - Quickfire Review

Stand & Deliver is done, time for Wrestlemania.

Since it's Sunday I can only do Night 1 of the card atm, will have to go to work before watching Night 2 just so you guys know. And if you didn't see my ROH or NXT ones I'm only doing Quickfire Reviews because it's time consuming and this isn't that popular, it is what it is, but I'm gonna watch some wrestling, and give you my thoughts.

WWE has sadly done a poor job with building much of their muddled card, but a strong match can fix a poor build easily, let's see if they do it.

Spoilers for Wrestlemania 38 Night 1 Below

Pre Show

As I said in NXT, not enough matches in the Pre Show is a huge down for a 2 HOUR long pre-show. The panel is a sausage fest and the attempt to put over 'Stupendous' is idiotic, almost as idiotic as Booker T trying to get a chant for Sharmell - who entered the HOF ahead of Victoria and Andy Kaufman. Also I saw these video packages on NXT. Jerry Lawler also showed up, also Jake Paul who tried to put over his brother and call Rey Mysterio old, at least he knows he's a heel though. For all the women's matches previewed we got no women added on the panel (except of course the one recurring one) which was daft.

The Dude Perfect throw and Pat McAfee kick to set off fireworks was silly (and worked) but I kinda liked it for Pre-Show silliness. And the HOF recap was of course good.

0 Matches though, the fuck is up with that?

Main Card

A musical start from Brantley Gilbert singing America the Beautiful. Not American, not for me.

Was that Mark Wahlberg? I couldn't tell.

Dallas also brought out cheerleaders to Thunderstruck, which is another American-ism but at least more people are getting paid.

The Usos (c) def. Shinsuke Nakamura & Rick Boogz Opening with the SD Tag Title, the match did descend to 2vs1 with Boogz' knee buckling when lifting both Usos - seems that this injury is legit too which is sad. Nakamura at least survived an Uso Splash but couldn't overcome the 1-D. A very short match this one, possibly due to the injury, but now I do have to wonder who's meant to take on the Usos next? Tag division isn't exactly thriving.

Drew McIntyre def. Happy Corbin [w/Madcap Moss] A match about a stolen sword, backed by the winner of the AMBR who eliminated the US Champion (showing the slow demise of both the near-dead Battle Royale and Balor's credibility as champion). Not so much the bulldoze it should've been, Drew even kicked out of the uber-protected End of Days (WWE have done a lot of 'nobody has kicked out of this' between here and NXT), Futureshock and Claymore gave Drew the win after. It's what it is, at the very least I can say the right person won. Drew is still over with the fans despite his attempts at decapitating people - like the ring broke from him slicing the top 2 ropes.

The Miz & Logan Paul def. The Mysterios There is no god.

The match I was most angry and worried about this one, for all the wrong reasons. I mean the pop for Rey's music was huge for the situation WWE has put him in, they even popped out the ground like Rey used to. Dom in the US Flag and Rey in the Mexico flag which was cool. Logan was dressed like the Miz with a Pokémon Card on his neck (so I can despise him more). I don't like the guy, but for a first match, Paul worked his spots well as simple as they were, he knew his role. But Miz blind tagged Logan before they hit the double 619 and hit a Skull Crushing Finale on Rey. Only to then hit it on Logan Paul and leave.

Why? WHY!? W H Y? Rey Mysterio is a legend, a legend who is on the cover of this year's game, and this is what we do for him? Have him get pinned by Miz on his son's Wrestlemania debut just so we can set up Miz vs Logan Paul? Meaning that this was all just FILLER!? Why couldn't they have won and Miz in frustration attacked Paul? Or leave Paul to the wolves? Of all the avenues you went with Logan Paul winning, I would've rather Rey just not had a match, a match purely made to stroke egos and try and curry favor from instagram followers who will only ever watch for Logan Paul and ditch WWE when he's done. Seriously though when was the last time the Mysterios won a feud? 1 year? 2 years? For fuck's sake this is Rey Mysterio we're talking about here! Rey Mysterio is not your fucking filler. No wrestler has been booked this poorly since making a game cover, even CM Punk, Big Show, Chyna and the Miz himself won or were holding major titles - usually the world title - after making the cover of their respective games. Edge gets to face AJ, Brock is in the night 2 Main Event, even Dolph Ziggler is a world champion right now but Rey Mysterio gets to lie down for Logan Paul!? I am literally disgusted.

Stephanie McMahon then introduced Gable Stevenson, he's been on the roster since the Draft so this was just fishing for a cheap pop for me.

Bianca Belair def. Becky Lynch (c) - NEW RAW WOMEN'S CHAMPION Becky did an MCU intro before her entrance which was pretty cool, the new hairstyle will need warming towards. Bianca had a marching band for her entrance. They started hot though, looking to recreate Summerslam, but then Bianca tried KOD which Becky then escaped using Bianca's hair to hit a Manhandle Slam for 2. Becky trying to finish the match quickly sold her fear, but she whipped out some good counters, a Moonsault attempt, and a Manhandle Slam on the steel steps, she had clever tactics and counter-attacks that engaged the crowd to rally behind Bianca, a rebound suplex on the outside, a second rope 450, and finally using the turnbuckle to backflip out of a Manhandle Slam to hit the KOD, a lovely finish for a lovely match. Becky and Bianca have good chemistry and Becky has put Bianca over hard, both women deserve props for that.

Cody Rhodes def. Seth Rollins As if it was going to be anyone else. Seth came out to a choir, they definitely gave us a long wait for Cody's superfluous entrance, firewords, lights go out, and Cody's non-WWE theme 'Kingdom' (Adrenaline in my soul something something Cody Rhodes) to a good pop. Cody's still in the Homelander-esque coat, with commentary making sure to avoid referencing AEW directly - but Pat did get 'Undesirable to Undeniable' in there. It started as a bit of a slow technical match (not helped by my internet deciding the renege its sole purpose), Cody worked the arm, Rollins worked the ribs, mocking Cody with 'welcome back to the big leagues', after a buckle bomb on the barricade it heated up, Rollins kicked out of the Cross Rhodes, Seth hit an Inverted Superplex and a Dragon Sleeper slam for 2, both teased a Pedigree but instead Cody hit a powerbomb and a Cody Cutter for 2, Rollins did hit the Pedigree but also 2. Cody hit a double Cross Rhodes, Bionic Elbow and a third Cross Rhodes for the win. It was a good match, kinda expected more, and for Rhodes to actually hit the Pedigree for once, circumstances aside it was a fine match, probably could've been shorter.

Hall of Famers came out, Taker with the big pop, then left.

Charlotte Flair (c) def. Ronda Rousey Ronda was all smiles given how a 2 year excursion and being pitted against Charlotte has by default made her the face of the match, Charlotte in the blue like her father used to, the crowd wasn't too hot for this though, Rey got a bigger pop in his farce of a match. Commentary tried to sell that she had 'improved her repertoire' but really I didn't see it, maybe a step-up knee strike but it's hardly mind blowing, most of her offense was strikes, judo throws and submissions, the worst spot she took was an Exploder on the barricade. A daft ref bump where Charlotte speared Lil Naitch after being kicked in the butt led Ronda tapping Charlotte with the armbar but unseens, then leading to Ronda losing *checks again* to a Big Boot...a Big Boot?? Girl can't keep a shoulder up for a backslide pin and she loses to a Big Boot? Meh, this feud must continue.

KO Show Stone Cold Steve Austin def. Kevin Owens You have to laugh sometimes, Ronda vs Charlotte was inked to be Wrestlemania 35's Main Event, Becky happens and they shoehorn Charlotte in, so they pencil it in for next Mania's Main Event, but then Ronda disappears from wrestling for 2 years because she couldn't hack the boos, she has a kid, wins the Rumble so she can finally get the Charlotte Mania match, and then it doesn't become the Main Event because Austin got on the phone. Hilarious. Though with that finish it's a good thing it weren't the Main Event.

The crowd was booing Owens pretty heavily, Owens ripping on Texas and besting the What chants before feigning an apology. He withheld Austin from the crowd for more heat while dragging him out, but Austin comes out when he wants, unsurprisingly with the pop of the night. He then left to return with a dune buggy and lapped the ring. After discarding the KO Show signs Owens tried to 'maintain order' and tell Austin to sit down, which he did to lay down some verbage on Owens. KO dragged down Texas some more, before saying he wanted a match - a No Holds Barred match in fact - before attempting to dissuade Austin from doing it. It was an easy prompt for the 'gimme a hell yeah' spot. The match was a fanservice show, Owens did have a fair bit of offense but Austin often rallied back with his classic skillset, fighting all over the place including the ramp and crowd, quite a lot of beer can spots, Owens hit a Stunner for 2 but Austin's Stunner - after Owens' chair shot rebounded off the top rope and onto him - gets the 3. A second stunner adds insult to injury as very Texan security drag him out, Austin sends the fans home happy and hits a stunner on Byron Saxton too.

Conclusion

So Night 1 is in the books. It was a fairly good show, I've seen better from WWE but I've seen worse, I think I enjoyed Stand & Deliver a bit more though. Granted, a lot of this feeling is because I abhor that Rey lost to Logan Paul, it really killed a lot of my anticipation for this, the first two matches did feel like filler we could've put on the Pre-Show as opposed to 2 hours of promo packages, and Becky/Bianca probably deserved better billing than Ronda/Charlotte - who was only in that spot on name value, rather than merit in this supposed meritocracy - since for me it was the match of the night. It ended well though with Austin and Owens, and WWE have often favored the Night 2 card anyway.

So we'll see how it turns out for Night 2.

[bisexualgaledekarios]

5 unpopular wrestling opinions!

idk how many of these are truly unpopular lmao but let’s go

1 - bobby is way more talented than a lot of people want to give him credit for. maybe part of it is familiarity with only his nxt work, but i think people have formed an impression of him and stubbornly refuse to change their opinions regardless of what he might be doing in aew or what he has done prior to nxt. (side note: idk how we got to “injury prone” based on a knee injury and a freak accident in a match involving a steel cage setup but ok.)

2 - team ambition and redragon did more to develop kyle as a character than futureshock, and while his feuds with adam have certainly been important to his career i think it’s a little odd that people act like futureshock was on the same level as the other teams he’s been part of

3 - nxt should have presented ue on a more equal level across the group, including more equal promo time and wrestling ability. i know why they didn’t and im not gonna get too into it lmao but the group shouldn’t have felt like one main person and three interchangeable lackeys :/

4 - shaynas 2nd nxt womens title reign was good and also necessary, as the division needed that time to develop and build people to a credible level. also she’s cool and sexy and her work in nxt overall was fantastic

5 - diy have split up and reunited too many times lmao and them eliminating rdgn from the 2019 dusty classic is always gonna make no sense to me, they should never have been in a tag team tournament if it was only to further a singles feud (as a bonus that’s semi-related to this - too many non-tag teams win the dusty classic for my liking :/ )

[darkarfs]

Wow, I forgot that the first ever episode of ROH TV started with a young FutureShock (baby Adam Cole and Kyle O'Reilly) taking on a tag team I had never heard of before, the Bravados (who have that awesome move, the Gentleman's Agreement, aka a float-around enziguri). Then, in our main event, Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team (Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas! In 2011!) vs. the Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli)! 10 years ago, folks.

[punknrasslin]

Good evening dear readers & welcome to a bonus blog this week focusing on the 3 UK Wrestling Promotions you should be checking out after this lockdown/isolation whatever is through. Happy Monday, sit back & enjoy!!

Attack Pro Wrestling based in Cardiff. If you’re after seeing the future of BritWres in a small bingo hall, this is your place! Of course the established names still show a face your Flash Morgan’s, your Damien Dunne’s & Santos’ etc but at a reasonable ticket price you can check out one of the best nights you can have on the scene right now. If Comedy Wrestling is your bag, Attack got you. If you’re a fan of the flippy divey high flying style, Attack cater. If you just like to see a good story play out in front of your eyes, then yes this is your place. A highly recommended promotion.

Riptide Wrestling based in Brighton. If you’re a fan of watching a full on wrestling themed story play out in front of your very eyes, head to this promotion in 2020. Theatric, Over The Top, Glamorous Graps Operatics but not by any means a traditional wrestling show. Head to Tide’ this year & you’ll be exposed to a whole new world of wrestling. You’ll probably be converted as one of the faithful. You’ll feel at home, welcome & above all safe. A true community feel with bloody good grappling to boot. This, let’s be honest here, is more than your average wrestling show.

Futureshock based in Manchester. One that’s been on my list of ‘must attend’ for quite a while now this, running in various venues in & around Manchester. Definitely more one to check out the stars of the future as they have a lot of up & coming young talent on board the roster. A fantastic mix of a good afternoons crack with your friends & great in ring action. I mean, what other promotion offers cask ale & street vendor food at reasonable prices. Get to a show whenever you can!

Matches to check out from each then;

Attack- Bayside High vs CCK from How Do You Learn To Fall Off A 20ft Ladder?

Riptide- Cara Noir vs PAC from Point Break (see link below as Riptide have kindly put this cracker up for free!) https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WswcvsHW8N4

Futureshock- PAC vs Soner Dursun from Futureshock Underground 31.

I’ll likely during isolation do another 3 promotions I think deserve some love but fir now those 3 are my main favourites. Hope you all enjoy checking those out.

I’ll write the weekly wrestler focus blog this week as per usual, any ideas for those would be appreciated.

Thanks for reading,

Jx

Blog soundtracked by.. Every Time I Die

[andrewgibney]

40 before 40 - update 2020

On the 2nd of January 2018, I posted my 40 before 40 list on Tumblr.

Even then I knew I probably wouldn't complete them all, but it would be fun to try. I few things have changed from the original as my interests have changed or moved on, but the bulk is the same.

The reality is I am definitely not going to manage all 40, there's probably more chance of making it a 50 before 50 and giving myself another five years to do these, with 10 more added. That bridge will be crossed come September 2021.

I've still got 19 months left. Money is probably the biggest issue. We've got loads of house issues to sort and traveling is not a priority.

Go back to NYC - DONE (1) - We spent an amazing 12 days back in that amazing city last year.

Take Catrin to Paris

- Not done and unless we can pop over for a quick weekend, this one is on the backburner

Visit Tennessee - Unlikely. Would have loved to go for my 40th, but again, traveling is on the minimum

See the Northern Lights - Imagine if we had the funds to get there, but then didn't see them. Gutted.

Get debt-free - This is a new one and probably the toughest one to achieve.

Go to FIVE new Zoos - Only one more Zoo to go, this should be easy

Visit Scottish islands

Visit 5 new countries - 4 done (Slovakia, Austria, Czech Rep, Sri Lanka) - Cuba was meant to be the fifth, but Thomas Cook put an end to that. Italy doesn't really count because I went skiing there.

Wrestlemania - Don't even watch WWE anymore, but think this would still be awesome. Just to see the events around it too.

See the Phoenix Suns live - Sad, but unlikely

NFL game at Wembley - DONE (2) - Watched the Titans lose to the Chargers

Go skiing 

- There are slopes here, so still possible

Run 5k again - DONE (3)

Run 10k again - DONE (4)

https://twitter.com/Gibney_A/status/1147813082326024192?s=20

Finish half-marathon - DONE(5) - Manchester race was done. Impressed myself by running without stopping and getting under 2:30:00

Well. That went fairly bloody great. #mcrhalf @ManchesterHalf pic.twitter.com/cUCXoT2iYT

— Andrew Gibney 🦄 (@Gibney_A) October 14, 2018

Finish a marathon - I've penciled in the Yorkshire Marathon in 2021. It's the month after my birthday, but that still counts.

Break deadlift PB of 135kg - Easily got myself back up to 120kg, so don't see this being a long-term issue. More a problem of buying the plates for my house.

Weigh 14st - Currently 16st 2 - but 7 pounds down this year. Progress

Climb a Munro - Could still happen. Need to look at options

Squat 100kg - Hopefully buying a squat rack this year, so can work on this. Think I was up to 65k when I was last lifting.

10k tough mudder - Just a case of booking one I think. Shoulder is in a much better place.

Play American Football - Need to look into this more

Read 20 books - Eight down. Catch 22 put a huge dent in my momentum. One every two months would still beat this.

Try 1000 different new beers - Passed the 850 mark. This is the one target I'll probably smash haha. Typical.

Wrestling training 

- Hoping to take part in FutureShock's trainee program this year

Make my own beer - My dream is to brew a beer with Beatnikz Republic, perhaps something to do with the podcast

Bake my own doughnut - Bats eyelashes at Siop Shop in Manchester

If you've not been to @siopshop in the @NQManchester you're missing out. Best doughnuts in the world. And trust me, I've put in a lot of research. pic.twitter.com/bzsyQe3XdP

Swim with an animal - DONE (6)

- In Sri Lanka we swam with sea turtles. Easily one of the most amazing things I've done.

Write book - The idea for my book on wrestling has been hatched and is somewhat underway.

Learn a new skill - Decided that on nights, when it's quiet, I'm going to teach myself photography. Then look at getting a cheap camera to practice.

Cooking class - Looked at a few places in Manchester. Really want to do this with Cat.

Build a sandcastle with Catrin - Determined this will happen. No reason it won't

Build a snowman with Catrin - Just need a good amount of snow, which we've not had.

Be in the audience for a TV show - Should be plenty of opportunities for this, since we are in Manchester.

See a new sport live - Could really do with some ideas for this one.

Bake Catrin a cake - Was meant to do this as part of her birthday. Lazy on my part.

Legoland - Maybe Windsor should count. Denmark looking unlikely

Get five tattoos - I'm up to two, the new Star Wars one joined my arm in New York. Got ideas for at least another four. Just need to find the right person for them.

Newest addition to my left arm. Amazing work from Shannon at Red Rocket Tattoo in NYC.@starwars #StarWars #rey #KyloRen #riseofskywalker pic.twitter.com/SsRcMkGP4M

Audition for Star Wars

- With all the Disney+ stuff coming up, maybe the opportunity for this will come up

Add to the Gibney family - this is the plan for 2020.

This is looking like a 30/40 job still.

I'd take that!

[prowrestlingpost-com]

Soner Dursun 'Turkish Wolf' | Indie Spotlight Watch

"..I wanna leave pro wrestling knowing that no matter what I do next my name will be remembered" - Soner Dursun 'Turkish Wolf' | Indie Spotlight Watch @SonDursun @FutureShockWres @TNTExtremeWres

If you haven’t heard the name Soner Dursun, you certainly will. As a member of TNT Extreme Wrestling, Dursun has earned a name for himself as the promotions IGNITION Champion. While the Manchester, UK, native is in the midst of year-plus run with TNT Extreme Wrestling, it was a match he had for Futureshock Wrestling with a certain star of AEW, that truly catapulted his name forward. In order to…

[arunmehta]

Nick and Scott review Futureshock Wrestling’s latest show, Underground 31!

[rickygoldman34]

Hello everyone Ricky Goldman here.

Its Futureshock: Live Pro Wrestling at Stockport guildhall live in stockport.

First match is HT Drake vs Doctor Proctor in a first round match in the trophy tournament. The crowd was fairly quiet throughout this one,Drake played into Proctor's gimmick,good opening match here,Drake was finished playing around and looked to end this he did get the crowd into it but a surprising win by Proctor after a german suplex to advance.

Next up CP Reilly vs Nate Reese also in a 1st round match. Nate very much takes it to CP as they took it to the outside where CP took sending Nate into the ring post,once back in Reilly remains in control he goes for a bear hug but Nate fights out and turns the match around hitting a dropkick,it didn't last long though as Reilly clamps on a headlock submission he then acts as if Nate has broken his nose but kicks Nates knee to hit a end of days to take the dub.

Next on is Forbidden Planet (Dave Birch and Aiton Steen) vs North West Saviours for the futureshock tag team titles. The challengers wasted no time here as the both hit a suicide dive to the outside. In the ring and the champions control the pace and slow the action down with frequent tags in and out they singled out Dave he finally tags in Aiton who quickens the pace. The challengers go for a double team move but Aiton gets cut off as Rizzman Khan hits a huge slam. Alot of pin falls getting broken up here as Dave flys off the top rope. Aiton goes to the top but gets thrown off by Max. Max and Rizzman double team Dave to retain.

Lets go to another one Critchy vs Sam Bailey it was meant to be Tony Wright but Tony is out with a broken ankle so Sam takes his place. They go back and forth and both gain a upper hand throughout this one, Critchy tries all the cheap shots he can but its for nothing as Sam Bailey emerges on top to also advance.

[clarebearr]

[temomi]

X

[grapsandclaps]

GRAPS AND CLAPS REVIEWS - PCW 7TH ANNIVERSARY 'STAIRWAY TO SEVEN'.

Like any movie trilogy, there has got to be an end and here we are folks for Part 3 of PCW's 7th Anniversary weekender which ended on the evening of Saturday 18th August in front of a good sized crowd, which was promising given that Futureshock and ROH were all running big events that night plus Preston vs Stoke was on and also the big concerts involving Liam Gallagher, Britney Spears and Feeder all in the local proximity.

As I left you last time we had just finished the afternoon show on the Flag Market and was looking for somewhere to pass time for an hour, so we embarked to visit a couple of local drinking establishments that is forever growing in Preston by the month. First off was The Guild Ale House's sister pub - The Orchard which is located on Preston all-new indoor market, which for ever in you re in Preston I recommend visiting as it looks like somewhere you could easily spend a few hours.

Anyways, The Orchard even though it is relatively small, it does offer up to 10 keg lines plus 2 cask options with drinks served mainly in Schooners and costing anything upwards from £3.50, but still giving you a great taste of some of the more exotic drinks at an affordable price unlike Port Street Beer House the day before.

After having a much needed 2 half's in The Orchard whilst watching if Hemel Hempstead would score to see my Both Teams to Score bet come in (I cashed out for £27), we moved on elsewhere with the final sight of a swarm of fly's getting half cut of a 1/2 of a fruity drink in a Tiny Rebel glass - you never see stuff like this on Attenborough. Next pub was another of the new pub's to the scene 'Plug and Taps' located near to the old Corn Exchange building in the city.

As good as this pub is for it's selection of beer on tap and takeouts, you can get a bit hot and sweaty when there are a few people in there especially on a warmish Saturday afternoon as it was on this day. I had in here a 2/3rd of a Liquat sour beer costing £6 and another 2/3rds of a Outstanding Strawberry Witbier which was around the £4 range, that considered this is well worth a trip to when on your travels in Preston.

Venturing into Evoque, we took our spots in the usual position that I have taken up in the last 3 years (no not holding up the bar, before you say anything) ha! So let's get into the night's action which started at 6:10 pm with what was to be expected a raft of early matches for wrestlers who had to get elsewhere on there travels down the M6/M62.

First up was our boy Ashton Smith who is due someday to face Charlie Sterling in PCW, as they did start a feud in February, but have only had a couple of altercations since then, the last being in April/May. Ashton's opponent for this evening was Adam Brooks who has become a bit of a Marmite figure among BritWres fans some thinking he is only average and then you have some like me who has not seen him have a bad match yet, we really are a divisive bunch. 

As ever the Ashton singing section was in full voice as the match began, in what was a really good 12 minute or so opener it was Ashton who picked up a much needed win after his earlier loss to Sheikh El-Sham on the flag market, by finishing off Brooks with a modified 'Roll of the Dice' DDT to get the 3 count and off up the road to go and Futureshock Heavyweight Title against Cyanide (You can read all about that on Andrew Gibney's review that he did for me from Saturday night on The Indy Corner - cracking read as well).

Next up we had a hotly contested PCW Women's Title match with the new Champion Nightshade taking on Viper who picked up a huge win in the afternoon show against Rhio. Surprisingly with this match, it was a comprehensive victory for Nightshade as she hit a match-winning spear to Viper to retain her title and as stated on the Blackpool review hopefully on to a new batch of challengers instead of Rhio and Viper.

Tag Team action next with the Masked Duo of Suicide and Planet Bolton's own Arcadian taking on the World-Travelled Desmond Xavier and Zachary Wentz - 'The Rascals'. As expected this was a sight of high flying action, with the bulk of the match spilling to the outside and in this writer's opinion it was good to Arcadian get an opportunity to test himself against someone like Des and Zachary. Sadly for Arcadian it wasn't to be a fairy tale ending as Desmond and Zachary hit the push moonsault and Wentz covered Arcadian for the 3 fall. This was really good fun!!

Up next was the eagerly anticipated confrontation between 'The Face of the Case' Tel Banham vs Magnificent Matthew Brooks in a 'Fans bring the musical instruments' match and on inspection there was a lot of guitars in the crowd, god knows which shop they found in Preston/Blackpool to buy anything musical given our failed attempt in the morning. Early doors the musical instruments came into play as Brooks climbed a top of Banham on the ropes to use a triangle symbol to deafen Banham given that Brooks can't now use his voice to do the same thing. Brooks then set a keyboard up on the outside across two chairs which he was about to put Banham through, but as ran to do said thing, he was hip-tossed by Banham through the keyboard which sounded faintly like one of the ones PROGRESS use nowadays to make its entrance themes.

Back in the ring, with Brooks suffering from the keyboard fall, Banham tried to take the opportunity to add further misery to Brooks but Brooks managed to wriggle free to grab a didgeridoo of all things from the outside to whack Banham around the back and neck, with Brooks in control he neutralised the threat of BIG T as well, plus it has to be noted Joanna Rose got involved in Banham's business due to a confrontation at the last show when Rose was marched off to a local medical facility at the hands of Banham. With all that said , Brooks finally finished off Banham with the 'High Note' legdrop for the victory. This was everything I was expecting from the match and more to end what has been the main highlight of PCW in the past year - credit to Matthew Brooks and Tel Banham for that, take a bow lads.

Up next we had a battle of World of Sport Alumni with Iestyn Rees taking on Doug Williams who is currently in his what some have called his Retirement tour as he begins to wind down what has been a successful career which will culminate in a Wembley Arena match defending his ATLAS title against Trent Seven for PROGRESS. Rees who has been on a bit of down slope since losing his PCW Title and also Rhio in the process was looking to get back on course with a victory here against Doug, which he duly did in a hard fought contest that ended up being better than I expected it to be on paper. After the match, Doug received a standing ovation for his efforts which was well deserved!

A -ONE-TWO-THREE-FOUR SUGAR DO DO DO DO!! Yes it was Archies time once again in Evoque as Sugar Dunkerton entered the building for a 6-way contest against James Finn, Rhio, Drew Parker, Dave Birch and the mystery opponent who turned out to be none other than the Former Cruiserweight and #Boom Champion Dave Rayne strutting out to the Basement Jaxx Classic 'Get Me Off'. The start of the match played host to Sugar trying to get everyone to dance along with him, but Drew was not having any of it as he jumped Sugar to get the match going, This match was similar to the 6-way the night before with the action spilling to the floor outside, but in a stroke of good fortune it was our boy Sugar who picked up the victory to send the PCW crowd into another singing session of 'Sugar Sugar', I can say that my voice was shot from singing at this stage - ouch!!

We were treated then with an appearance by Sheikh El-Sham all suited and booted coming out to gloat about the two big victories he had picked up over the weekend on Joey Hayes and Ashton Smith respectively. In this segment, El-Sham called out PCW Owner Steven Fludder for a talk about possibly offering Fludder all of his Middle-Eastern Millions to buy the company from him and take PCW to the next level, sadly for El-Sham, Fludder wasn't of the same thinking as he politely declined Sham's offer leaving 'The Prince of Panache' seething saying that Steve will regret he ever did this. One thing I do say, PCW have done excellently to build El-Sham as the next big bad guy in the company - keep an eye on this for the next year I am guessing.

PCW Tag Team Title action next with the Champions 'The Kinky Party' Sha Samuels and Jack Jester due to take on Team Single,  Rampage Brown and T-Bone, but sadly due to Rampage still being on the shelf due to a shoulder injury that he picked up in a match against Josh Alexander for Tidal, PCW Matchmaker Greg Lambert had to search for an opponent and in he found one in the form of - 'SUGAR DO DO DO DO'. Yes it was our boy Sugar once again to form the tandem of 'T & Sugar' to see if they could rest the tag belts away from The Kinky Party, well at one stage all looked on course for T & Sugar until Sheikh El-Sham made an unwelcome appearance to attack T-Bone to cause the DQ victory for T & Sugar BOOOOOOO!! So it looks like we will be getting  Sheikh vs T-Bone match in the future at an upcoming PCW show this year.

Greg Lambert was out again next to introduce the next match which was a battle of two men from British Wrestling folklore and two men that Greg Lambert was familiar back in the heyday of the FWA with Jody Fleisch taking on 'The Wonderkid' Jonny Storm, I have to say this was a classy touch by the promotion and it made you feel invested straight away in this contest.

What followed was a great exhibition match between Storm and Fleisch who haven't missed a step, especially Jody who looks in amazing shape with his physique and it was Jody who picked the victory here over Storm in around 10 minutes to a great ovation from the crowd. It didn't end there as Doug Williams came out to congratulate both men on the match and to say to them to continue to carry the torch of the old brigade when he retires next month, this was great to listen to and even elicited a shout of 'FWA FWA FWA' from a couple members of the audience who shall remain nameless ha! 

FWA FWA FWA FWA!! - YOU CAN DO TWO THINGS ABOUT IT - THAT'S NOTHING AND LIKE IT!!

With that out of the way, it was time now for your Main Event of the evening with Dean Allmark cashing in his No.1 Contenders shot which he earned by winning the Road To Glory Tournament in February and his opponent was the Champion, Lionheart who won the title in May by defeating T-Bone. After a talking segment where Lionheart mentioned about Allmark's finisher being a version of the Styles Clash which broke Lionheart's neck a few years ago on a fateful night in Evoque, this provoked some ill-advised comments from some of the local delinquents to some right head shaking from myself.

That said, the Main Event itself was a good end to proceedings but I always had the thought in my head that once Dean Allmark wins, which he did with the Smiles Clash to win the PCW Championship that a certain Mr. Tel Banham would come out to cash in his briefcase to challenge for both titles that Deano held and low and behold, the prediction what I have been shouting ever since Dean won the Road To Glory Tournament and since Banham has had the case - finally happened as Banham snuck up from behind a prone Dean to cash in his suitcase to hit two USHI-GO-RUSHI'S to get the 3-count and your NEW PCW Cruiserweight & Heavyweight Champion - Tel Banham and in this writer's opinion a well deserved one as well.

Pictured: Your New Double Champion Tel Banham (Credit to PCW for the top picture).

In the process now for Banham, you have two ready made challengers for the belts in Dean Allmark and Matthew Brooks which should keep him busy for the next 6 months. 

So there you have it, the end of the PCW's 3-show weekender that provided lots of matches and entertainment to make the punters go home happy into the Preston night. One thing though I wish there would have been was a break in the action once again tonight, 8/9 matches in a row live can be a bit wearing on the mind but that's only one small thing. I hope you have enjoyed reading about this weekend and if it has enticed you enough, go and give PCW a try at any of there upcoming shows in Blackpool and Leeds in Early October and also there Fright Night show on October 27th with the return of Billy Gunn and X-Pac.

Next review from myself will be from NXT UK in Birmingham this coming Sunday to give you a flavour of something that you might see sometime soon on the WWE Network once they get there act together.

After that I am off to Germany for the WXW/PROGRESS show in Hamburg at the end of August and seeing as my podcast debut got good reviews, my voice will be back in September to give you a preview of some of the shows going on in the North West and Yorkshire in September including GPW/TIDAL and Futureshock Wrestling. Untll then BYE!.

#grapsandclaps

@oggypart3

[danwhobrowses]

WWE Wrestlemania 37 Day 1 - Review

Big Card, Not so big build

But it is that time of the year, we Stood, we Delivered, and now we shall Showcase for the Grandest Stage of them All

I got hyped for it by watching Bret vs Owen so I do have expectations, I haven't been spoiled too much save for the Main Event and the fact that there was storms that delayed the event, I dunno if they cut that content but we shall see Note: I am gonna bold who I predicted to win per match as well just to show how right/wrong I was

Spoilers for Wrestlemania Night 1, You Have Been Warned

Pre-Show The opening panel was not so great; Booker (with a captain Hook moustache), JBL, Lawler and Rosenberg, bunch of contrarian drivel really and trying to make Braun/Shane out like it deserves on the card just doesn't sit with me, that match robbed a potential Father/Son Tag Title Victory for the Mysterios (I know the Dirty Dawgs won on SD but I feel like they wouldn't have retained if it were Mania). Most of the promo packages were good at the least since they can cut out all the shoddy booking decisions and act like some stars were underbooked over the past year. I will say though, selling BelAir and Banks as 'the first time a women's singles match has main evented Wrestlemania' is a bit of a slight on the triple threat - which would've been 1v1 if Vinny didn't want to be adamant in adding more feathers to Charlotte's peahen plumage - it was still a singles match, sometimes WWE's desire for 'first time evers' are a bit insufferable. Also this is not 'the most important match of Cesaro's career', that is a terrible thing to say about a non-title match revolving around Rollins feeling embarrassed. The Hall of Fame recap was a mixed bag as well, mainly because I disagreed with some of the inductions and the way they tried to sell them bigger than what they are, but I was glad for some - Liger, Bulldog, Molly Holly, Kane...still waiting on Lillian and Andy Kaufman to get inducted though. Sonya also popped up to promote the tag turmoil and retreading the main event, she was super natural and should've been on the whole panel, or in the ring. Sonya's talents are wasted right now.

No Match though! An Hour of Recap lacked any entertainment seeing as we'd see all these promo packages again on the main card. So overall this was entirely skippable.

Main Card...Delayed Vince opened the event to address the crowd, which was kinda nice actually. It was a much more inclusive introduction than just having someone singing America the Beautifu-oh they're still doing tha-boooooooobs! It's also kinda weird looking at the roster not even on the card on the stage, like this is their only contribution for the entire year...

The intro package was a big obnoxious too, dude does an okay Jack Sparrow accent but it kinda went on a bit long, 10 minutes into the main show and there's no wrestling y'know?

Byron out with a super white suit as well, looking like Liberace as weather warnings echoed the arena, with news that it'll be worse tomorrow I hope that arena has a roof. With the delay WWE pulled with interviews, Big E even showed up to join his New Day buddies. Cole's 'Wrestlerainia' did not land and Braun saying 'I'm fighting for everyone whose been bullied' doesn't land either, we had this story with Nia and Alexa years ago. I also hate 'Herstory', like the literal word I hate it, History has adapted well beyond gender. Sure, it evolved from the Greek Histor which means 'wise' or 'a learned man' but the His is not the agent noun, the Tor is, and it's a gender neutral noun, if it were a Latin root then it'd be masculine but its root is Ancient Greek - there's your Etymology lesson for tonight.

The irony though, the moment fans get back in the arena they have to come back out because of rain.

Main Card - This Time Around Titus and Hulk came out as hosts to ramp up the crowd, it was kinda uncomfortable in context really, plus we don't need a third rundown of the card. Reminder that those in bold was who I earlier predicted to win.

WWE Championship - Bobby Lashley [w/MVP] (c) def. Drew McIntyre (Ref Stoppage Submission via Hurt Lock) Starting hot with the World title match again, bit odd to see Lashley do his point pose on the ramp and no pyro, but both men fixed their eyes on each other and barely looked away. Their history goes beyond WWE after all, not that the commentary would tell you. The did come out with a ton of falsities though, I know the WWE Championship was at several times the most prestigious belt in wrestling but not all the time in that 60 years, Big Gold Belt, IWGP and 10 Pounds of Gold had times too, AEW also can tout that, but Cole's most baffling claim was that you'd need to win it to be a Hall of Famer - on the same year Bulldog who never won a world title was inducted. No quick draw like last year, the match started with some meat slapping, Drew even gesturing a fuck you with the Bras d'honneur to Lashley after knocking him down. Both men would trade blows and advantage, Drew almost locking an armbreaker but Lashley clubbing free - very weird camera cutting there. Lashley hit 2 throws and a neckbreaker to regain the advantage, he didn't get the Futureshock but he hit a nice Northern Lights Suplex. Lashley hit his newer version of the Dominator and an Uranage but both only kept Drew down for 2, he almost got the Hurt Lock as Drew fought back with some blows and a front-facing Alabama Slam, he tried a superplex but Lashley fought out, tried a kimura but got knocked down, so he went for the Tree of Woe throw he does. Lashley gets him with another Uranage but Drew kips up, belly to belly, Futureshock, Futureshock, Futureshock! 1, 2, No! Drew calls for the Claymore but Lashley rolls out, MVP coming late, Drew then does a Tope onto both. He goes up top but almost gets caught with the Hurt Lock, an Exploder and a Flatliner puts Lashley in the driver's seat, he tries for the Hurt Lock again but is driven into the Turnbuckle, Drew then locks in the Kimura but Lashley gets to the ropes. After trading shots Lashley lands into a boot and a headbutt, Drew looks for the Claymore but MVP shouts to distract him, allowing Lashley to dodge and get the Hurt Lock in, Drew tried to fight back, tried to roll out of it by kicking the turnbuckle but Lashley cinched it in tight, fading, fading, and the ref calls the bell.

A very good opener this one, big men slapping meat can hardly go wrong. Not too many false finishes either and MVP only psyches Drew out rather than got fully involved. It was right for Drew to fade rather than tap too. First prediction wins, I did think it was a risk but I expected it because WWE had sold the idea that they wanted Drew to win in front of a crowd, but he had held the title for most of the year, so I anticipated the swerve. Still, we didn't have to break up the Hurt Business for this, hopefully Lashley gets more time to shine.

As Lashley celebrated with some strange camera switching we moved to Titus, the NWO and a Bayley segment. Bayley trying to sell her Ding Dong Hello and being denied some Two Sweets, a huge waste of Bayley's talents especially with the year she has had.

Tag Team Turmoil for a shot at the WWE Women's Tag Championship on Night 2 - Natalya & Tamina def. Naomi & Lana, the Riott Squad [Liv Morgan & Ruby Riott], Billie Kay & Carmella and Dana Brooke & Mandy Rose (pinfall by Tamina on Ruby Riott via Superfly Splash) Props to Billie Kay selling the lack of cohesion in her and Carmella's entrance as they started the match against Lana & Naomi. Naomi started with the advantage but it was traded to Carmella when Lana was tagged in, then to Billie, then back to Naomi. A double facebuster flattens Billie but Carmella breaks the pin, after Carmella throws Lana out Billie rolls up Naomi - who is also strengthened by Carmella lying on the floor but using her feet to keep Billie up right - for 3, eliminating that team. Naomi is not happy, as she should be that was a huge waste, as the Riott Squad come in. Sporting Suicide Squad Joker (Ruby) & Harley (Liv) outfits, the Riott Squad start hot but are foiled by Carmella's tag. Liv is the feeder to Carmella and Billie's combos, they try the same rollup trick but they are caught by the ref, Carmella's dumped allowing Liv to hit a codebreaker and hold Billie down for Ruby's senton for the 3, the two embrace but Carmella superkicks Liv as Dana & Manda arrive in pink, Mandy humorously slipping on the ramp did not go unmissed. With Liv taken out Ruby tried to fight alone, Dana hits a top rope blockbuster but Liv comes back to break the pin. Dana hits a spinning neckbreaker and tags Mandy in, a pin for 2 by Ruby opens the door for Liv to be tagged in, a Codebreaker/Riott Kick combo lands but the pin is broken by Dana. Cole accidentally calls Mandy 'Dana' as she rallies, Dana comes back to dump Ruby out as they land the Superplex/Swanton combo on Liv, Mandy pulls Ruby from making the save but Liv reverses the pin for 3. The announcer then wrongly says that the Riott Squad were eliminated and has to be corrected, making you think this wasn't the plan. Natalya and Tamina pick up the scraps, Natalya tries a Sharpshooter but gets rolled up for 2, she drops Liv onto the ropes and tags Tamina in. Natalya hits a powerbomb but Ruby breaks the pin before being dumped out by Tamina again. Liv fights both women enough for Ruby to tag in, an assisted spear on Tamina leads to the Codebreaker/Senton combo but it hits for 2. They set up the Codebreaker/Riott Kick but Tamina yanks Riott away and superkicks Liv. Natalya returns to hit the Hart Attack on Ruby, looks to set up the Sharpshooter but instead tells Tamina to take point, Superfly Splash gets the win. The champions look on on a monitor at their opponents.

A bit of a mixed bag this one, the wrestling was clean but I think external botching brought it down, as well as questionable booking decisions. Naomi is a multi-time champion she should not be pinned so quickly. I did again correctly predict Nattie and Tamina, but I personally wanted the Riott Squad to win, it was the Heyman dressing down that motivated me to pick the Daughter Combo - also weird that they acknowledge Tamina's heritage given what Superfly did. The Riotts at least got a great showing, the finish took a bit of a long time considering that all Liv took from them was a superkick and was out for 2 minutes, hopefully this'll inspire booking to push them which is well overdue. As for Tamina and Natalya, heel vs heel is a tough one, they didn't look like babyfaces here and while I do have them to win the titles this was not a good look for their chances.

Cesaro def. Seth Rollins (pinfall via Neutralizer) Seth entered the ring with a homage to the Andre OBEY print on his tights, followed by his Cesaro smear ad, then Cesaro in a weird choice of just a black jacket as well as black and yellow tights similar to his Wrestlemania XXX attire.

Cesaro starts with a huge uppercut and setting up the Swing, but Seth wriggles out, tries a big boot but Cesaro hits the Dragon Screw and tries for the swing again, but fails again. Cesaro gets a corkscrew springboard uppercut but Seth hurts his arm on the ropes, he gets an uppercut as Seth climbs on the turnbuckle but he kinda didn't get all of it. Going for an Avalanche Gutwrench Suplex, Seth rolls out into a Buckle Bomb for 2, Seth then preys on the arm, Cesaro's arm prevents a rally as Seth hits the Superplex/Falcon Arrow combo for 2. Cesaro flurries with uppercuts, he tries the swing but Rollins keeps countering, first a rollup then going to ropes followed by an Enzugiri, when he tries the Stomp though Cesaro gets the swing, 9 spins causes the arm to give way but he locks in the Sharpshooter (probably why Natalya couldn't/wouldn't do it last match), Rollins gets to the ropes and powers out of the Neutralizer, knee strike and a sling blade sets up for a Corkscrew Frog Splash for 2. Seth sets up the Ripcord Knee but gets lifted into a Neutralizer! 1, 2, No! (Commentary saying again 'and now Cesaro begins to doubt himself), Cesaro tries it again but lands into a Pedigree! 1, 2, No!

Seth gloats surviving both of Cesaro's big moves, clubbing the back of Cesaro's head with his hand and then his leg as he prepares a stomp, Cesaro then hits the uppercut, UFO! Gestures for the Swing and gets it! 23 Rotations, Neutralizer, 3!

That's what I'm talking about! Indy Darling match with some great spots, good crowd involvement and a proper babyface win. Cesaro thanks the crowd as they cheer him on, Seth did show some great creativity which I kinda hoped Cesaro would but it was a small thing in otherwise a great match. I guessed with my heart on this one unlike the Tag Team Turmoil, because of my Universal Title plans really, Cesaro has been given the chance to earn the push we all know he deserves and he's took it, now we can push him further.

Post-match they recapped the AMBR and 4-Way, bit off to say 'Veteran Experience pays off' when Rey was the most experienced of them all, also the 4-Way should've been on the mania card and the tag turmoil on SD. They interviewed the Dirty Dawgs to talk the Raw Tag titles, which was a bit rough to see, it's clear what the pecking order is in Vince's mind.

Raw Tag Championships - AJ Styles & Omos def. New Day [Xavier Woods & Kofi Kingston] (c) (pinfall by Omos on Kofi via Double-Handed Chokeslam TITLE CHANGE) Annoyingly the Champions came out first, but they were introduced by Big E, a Fusion Dance hologram graphic paired with their entrance as they came out in Red to rep the Tampa Bay Bucs in what would've been their 2020 attire, cheekily the 2020's last 0 was scribbled out and a 1 added. Blue trumpet though, couldn't recolour that. AJ and Omos came together too but no matching attire, Omos looked like he was going for dinner. AJ also looked like he stumbled a bit at the start.

Kofi goaded AJ into starting the match rather than Omos, leading to some liquid sequences from both former WWE Champions, each respectively rolling out of an SOS and Calf Crusher. After a back body drop Kofi stared down an unimpressed Omos, then twerked which hurt my soul. Kinda heelishly, Xavier tripped up AJ when a throat chop gave him a reprieve, leading to them keeping AJ in the corner, including the Unicorn Stomp as Omos continued to look unimpressed. Against Xavier AJ tried to drag him to his corner, but cannot get to Omos' halfhearted reaching. A team bulldog only gets 1 though. Kofi then continues to block the corner so AJ goes out of the ring to run around, only to be intercepted by Xavier. AJ continues to try and get to Omos, even being flattened by a splash by Kofi, when setting up their finisher though AJ elbows Kofi away, a visual exchange between the now free AJ and the top-turnbuckle Xavier preludes AJ finally tagging in Omos, Xavier frightened as Omos finally has a smile on his face. The 7'3 giant no sells Xavier's and Kofi's offense, charging into both on either turnbuckle, then a backbreaker to both. AJ then jumped over Omos to hit the Phenomenal Forearm to deal with Woods, Omos hit a two-handed chokeslam then pinned Kofi with one foot for the titles.

I didn't like this match's narrative, the wrestling was fine but the story wasn't done so well. For one, New Day acted more like the heels by bullying AJ and keeping him cornered, for second, Omos didn't really 'wrestle' he just no sold and did 3 safe moves and third, New Day are 11 time tag champions, Kofi a former world champion and they pinned him like that. Disrespect. The fact that the SD Tag Titles are second fiddle to a match where it's just AJ Styles plus the Great Khali, and that's Raw's Division right now, Two Thirds of New Day and this mismatch. This only highlights the severe lack of depth and WWE's booking hypocrisy. Next time you read about a 5 foot something wrestler not getting a title or a push because they're 'too green' or 'can't talk' remember that Omos won the tag titles on his debut match after doing a backbreaker, a turnbuckle tackle and a double handed chokeslam.

Humorous though is that WWE cut to a cringy Corbin ad break just as AJ was falling off of Omos' shoulders, I saw that WWE. We also cut to Sasha preparing for the match as the cage began to lower.

Steel Cage Match - Braun Strowman def. Shane McMahon (pinfall via Running Powerslam) The apathy for this match remains high considering that Shane showed up a couple months ago to steal a card slot from someone who could've been wrestling all year. Shane enters in his usual way, Braun with blinding fog and a train sound effect, cringy commentary as well as Shane keeps the door shut. Elias and Ryker soften Braun with chairs, attacking the legs and gifting Shane a chair who unloads on his grounded opponent. Once he feels he's done enough he tries to leave by the door, but Braun pulls him away, he tries to climb over the cage but gets pulled away, Braun declaring that he won't escape. Shane does his tacky jabs dodging Braun's wide swings, he tries to climb out again but Braun grabs him, but there's a planted piece of sheet metal that he uses as a weapon. After a 1 count Shane tried to escape through the door but fails, Braun decides to throw Shane into the cage walls, opening Shane to be struck by his blows and sandwiched between the cage walls, the leg gives out before the powerslam allowing Shane to ram Braun into the cage wall and DDT him, Coast to Coast gets 2 and Elias and Ryker climb the cage, hoping to pull Shane over, but Braun tackles the cage wall to knock everyone off. Shane makes the climb again but Braun is gripping onto him, bags are planted on the corners of the cage as Shane cracks Braun with a toolbox, as Shane celebrates he gets his leg over, he waves his hand through the cage at Braun but he grabs it, peeling off the cage wall to pull Shane back inside. Braun considers leaving but pulls Shane to the top of the cage, throwing Shane to the ring floor. Braun shouts at Shane, hits the running powerslam for 3.

It's good to be wrong here, though when I predicted Shane to win it was more a Pyrrhic win like being sent through a cage wall - because the build had Braun foolishly act like cage matches never have interference. This was a match, Shane planting weapons and using Elias and Ryker to prove himself 'smart' and Braun just powers out of it, the ripping the cage wall to drag Shane back in was a good spot - if not overly convenient since Shane could've dropped and gloated after - but it didn't need to be Wrestlemania.

Bayley comes back this time to the announcers table, bullying Cole out of his seat, but she's made to look stupid since Byron of all people tell her that they're waiting for the Hall of Famers, the HOF package happens again and the inductees able to attend appear on the stage, graphics of those who couldn't on the screen, NWO get their own entrance though with the NWO-painted Big Gold belt, bit unnecessary really they have enough spotlight.

Stone Cold announces the next mania in Texas in the AT&T Stadium, Booker then joins the announcer's table.

Bad Bunny & Damian Priest def. Miz and John Morrison (Pinfall by Bad Bunny on Miz via Crossbody/Electric Chair combo) A bunch of men dressed as bunnies hop into the ring before Miz and Morrison lipsync their diss track entrance. After the promo package Damian Priest makes his entrance, wearing the HBK Bondage shirt and sporting the purple, Bad Bunny appears atop of a Monster Truck in a pre-recorded segment with a lot of camera cuts, leading into the live version, looking like Rufus from Bill and Ted.

Miz and Morrison goad Bad Bunny to start the match so Priest tags him in, Miz mocks Bunny for a free shot and gets floored with a blow, waistlock and another punch, after a brief flurry Miz slows Bunny down but then gets caught with an arm drag, a toehold and a roll up for 2. Morrison attempts to snap Miz out of his frustration, but every offense he gets Bad Bunny comes back, this time with a spinning headscissors. Morrison's tagged in but gets headbutted, a 'bunny hop' jumping elbow, Miz's cheap shot leads to some heat feeding as Miz does some mocking bunny hops. He rolls over Miz for 2 but gets flattened with a boot, Morrison punishes Bunny on the announcer's table who then does a Spinaroonie while they continue to punish Bunny and incite Priest. Bunny gets a tornado DDT to open up the Hot Tag who cleans up house with strikes - more annoying camera cuts though. Chokeslam only gets 2 because Morrison breaks the count, Bunny comes in and both men hit stereo Falcon Arrows, both for 2, Priest does a tope, Bunny crossbodies from the top corner. Priest sets up his finish but gets caught with a Skull Crushing Finale, 1, 2, Bunny breaks the pin. Back into his corner Morrison tries to keep Bunny from being tagged, but Bunny hits a Canadian Destroyer onto Morrison on the outside of the ring, Miz and Priest awestruck. Priest sets up the Electric Chair, Bunny crossbodies and that's 3.

I may not know who Bad Bunny is, or particularly like his music, but he definitely meets the standards of the work celebrity guests should put in if they wanna be booked for a match. Bad Bunny did far much more spots than Omos, granted his punches flooring Miz was a bit unbelievable but overall he shone in an entertaining match, I feel bad for Miz and Morrison really, Miz was WWE champion about a month ago for a week and Morrison left at the top of Impact and AAA to come back for this? Maybe if he pairs up with his wife he'll get the booking he deserves. Also don't really know why Booker needed to be there on the announcer's table, aside from one mock spot and a GI Bro mention he didn't influence the match at all

SD Women's Championship - Bianca BelAir def. Sasha Banks (c) (Pinfall via KOD TITLE CHANGE!) And so comes the Main Event, the Royal Rumble winner comes out a sparkly EST outfit with tassels, Sasha with a black and neon green attire that definitely stood out. More shoddy camera cutting though kinda upset the flow of the entrance.

On Pre-Show - 'These two are in the Main Event regardless of Race, Regardless of Gender' On Main Event - 'For the first time two black women are having a title match on the main event at Wrestlemania' ...poor form WWE. Especially since you followed this with a Snickers plug.

The Bell rings as there are close ups on an emotional Bianca, duelling chants from the crowd as Sasha overpowers BelAir, leading her to kip up and get her own advantage, almost landing the KOD early. BelAir's power catches most of Banks' assault so she opts for counter-wrestling, she looks to count BelAir out but then decides for a Suicide Dive, but BelAir catches her and presses her back up the stairs and into the ring. Dropkick by Sasha gets 2, Bianca hits a powerslam but her handspring moonsault is blocked by Sasha yanking at the hair, using it as leverage to drive her knee into BelAir's head, Shining Wizard only gets 2. When Banks tries the knees in the corner she's planted with an Uranage, she tries to yank Bianca's hair into the corner post but Bianca powers her into it instead, a barricade crossbody also misses but the count is up to 6, both women roll in, BelAir uses an inside cradle to momentum herself up to a Vertical Suplex position, she slingshots 2 of the sides but Banks struggles, Bianca powers her back up but Sasha struggles again, BelAir powers again and lands the suplex but it takes a lot out of her. After clotheslining Sasha who was pulling on her hair, BelAir flurries with strikes and a running shooting star, Glam Slam hits but Sasha gets the knees up for the 450. The two trade pins and BelAir hits the Powerbomb for 2, she tries again but Sasha goes for a facebuster, Double Rotation Tornado DDT gets 2 for Sasha, a clunky Frog Splash which might've been a Meteora that Bianca was out of position for hits BelAir but only has 2, Sasha starts getting frustrated and goes for the arm, snaps it against the ropes then throws BelAir into the steps, she goes for the Bank Statement, wrapping Bianca's hair around her arm for added leverage, she tries to rebound off the ropes but Bianca rolls back to rope break, Sasha yanks the hair between the rope and stomps on her hair in frustration but this gets Bianca angry, she sets up a Superplex but is thrown off, she tries what looks like a Stratusfaction but gets locked into a Tree of Woe double stomp, Bianca avoids it and the running knee strike, landing the 450! 1, 2, No! Bianca freaks out, she was so sure that was it, but now the anger sets in, KOD set up but Sasha pulls the hair to right herself, Bianca cracks Sasha with her hair and tries again, but Sasha wriggles to try a Backstabber, Bianca escapes that, spins her around and lands the KOD, 1, 2, E.S.T.

A really good match from both women, met with a great ovation for Bianca. The match liked to prey on Bianca's hair a lot which may've been a little overdone, I would've liked to have seen it get a bit more than 18 minutes too. I predicted Sasha because I think Rhea's winning hers (I still do) and Sasha has once again yet to have a major Wrestlemania win, but I'm certainly not unhappy with BelAir - she put on a great performance here, especially with the fact that she fumbled her NXT Women's Title match against Baszler earlier, showing a lot more maturity and a strong face character to get behind. WWE should not have overdid the booking on this in the build but for the night, it is Bianca's night to close day one of WrESTlemania.

Conclusion NXT Stand and Deliver set a high bar for Wrestlemania to pull off, and for Night 1 at least I believe they definitely met it. There were a few downs, shoddy camerawork, non-wrestling botching and heavy mistreatment for Naomi, Bayley and the New Day but on the other hand we had great matches out of Cesaro, Bad Bunny and the other title matches including the main event, aside from the tag turmoil I'm not upset with the winners. Becky teased us with appearing before the show but it seems like it was a fakeout, was kinda hoping she'd be back but maybe it'll be Night 2

We will only find out on the night though, and there's a lot more to look forward to.