Wrestlemania 37 Week

[forameus]

 

It's been a long fucking year, hasn't it?  We're now well past the year anniversary of WWE deciding that, above all else, the show must go on, and they started running eerie shows in a darkened, empty Performance Centre.  We had a preview of what Wrestlemania 36 might have looked like with the weekly shows happening in front of no crowd, but nothing could quite prepare for how odd the Show of Shows felt.  Some good - the Boneyard match, the Firefly Funhouse match, Bayley finding her voice - but also some bad - the audio presentation of some of the matches, Drew's coronation being in front of no-one, whatever the f**k the Gronk was.  But, above all else, it was undoutedly a Wrestlemania, desperate to put on an over-the-top show, even with its wings clipped,

Since then, there have been a lot of downs, and at times it probably felt like there wasn't much chance the product could sink lower.  Dreadful, dreadful RAW ratings, PPVs that didn't make sense, absolutely rancid "cinematic" matches.  But there have been some bright spots.  There have.  Shut up.  

But after an awful year for pretty much the entire world, if there's one thing that can make things feel a little more normal, as we all stare at our own stadiums lying empty, it's Big Vince cramming thousands into a stadium in a Covid hotspot and putting on an overly long ode to the company he built.  Smashing.

But even as things get back to "normal", Wrestlemania itself is going to feel pretty different with the new two-night format.  The reason given seems to be to allow more people the chance to enter socially distanced stadiums by having two different crowds, but the show has been crying out for a change like this for a while.  We've hopefully left behind the era of Wrestlemania shows being about eight hours long, and this should hopefully give a more focused show.  You'd think at least.  Night 1 is on Saturday 10th April, with Night 2 following on the Sunday.  In true @JamieStevenson fashion, the show should kick off around midnight in the UK, and I'd expect there to be a two-hour pre-show, because they just can't help themselves.  Interestingly for them across the water, it will also be the first major show to appear on the Peacock network, who are now hosting the WWE Network.

But not content with doubling the size of Wrestlemania, Mad Old Bill Regal decided he fancied a shot too.  So the traditional Wrestlemania Weekend NXT also became a two-night show, and the aforementioned weekend has now pretty much become a week.  Wednesday April 7th will see Night 1 take place, with Night 2 on Thursday 8th.  So just the four likely full-length shows in five days, with the Hall of Fame sandwiched in between.  f**k sake, guys.

Confirmed Matches at Time of Writing

Night 1

No.	Matches*	Stipulations
1	Pete Dunne vs. Kushida	Singles match[20]
2	MSK (Wes Lee and Nash Carter) vs. Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake and Zack Gibson) vs. Legado Del Fantasma (Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde)	Triple threat tag team match for the vacant NXT Tag Team Championship[21]
3	Leon Ruff vs. Isaiah "Swerve" Scott vs. Bronson Reed vs. Cameron Grimes vs. Dexter Lumis vs. LA Knight	Six-man Gauntlet Eliminator match to determine the #1 contender for the NXT North American Championship on Night 2[22]
4	Walter (c) vs. Tommaso Ciampa	Singles match for the NXT United Kingdom Championship[23]
5	Io Shirai (c) vs. Raquel González (with Dakota Kai)	Singles match for the NXT Women's Championship[24]

Night 2

No.	Matches*	Stipulations
1	Ember Moon and Shotzi Blackheart (c) vs. The Way (Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell)	Tag team match for the NXT Women's Tag Team Championship[25]
2	Adam Cole vs. Kyle O'Reilly	Unsanctioned match[26]
3	Johnny Gargano (c) vs. Gauntlet Eliminator winner	Singles match for the NXT North American Championship
4	Jordan Devlin (NXT Cruiserweight Champion) vs. Santos Escobar (Interim NXT Cruiserweight Champion) (with Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde)	Ladder match to determine the undisputed NXT Cruiserweight Champion[27]
5	Finn Bálor (c) vs. Karrion Kross (with Scarlett)	Singles match for the NXT Championship[28]

 

Night 0

So apparently WWE are fucking morons, and there will be "Wrestlemania" matches on Smackdown on Friday 9th April.

I'll fill in the matches when they're properly confirmed, but...

Andre the Giant Battle Royal

Smackdown Tag Team Championship Fatal Four Way - Entrants TBD

Night 1

No.	Matches*	Stipulations
1	Sasha Banks (c) vs. Bianca Belair	Singles match for the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship[64]
2	Bobby Lashley (c) (with MVP) vs. Drew McIntyre	Singles match for the WWE Championship[65]
3	Bad Bunny and Damian Priest vs. The Miz and John Morrison	Tag team match[66]
4	The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) (c) vs. AJ Styles and Omos	Tag team match for the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship[67]
5	Braun Strowman vs. Shane McMahon	Steel cage match[68]
6	Cesaro vs. Seth Rollins	Singles match[69]
7	Lana and Naomi vs. Dana Brooke and Mandy Rose vs. The Riott Squad (Liv Morgan and Ruby Riott) vs. Natalya and Tamina	Tag Team Turmoil match[70] Winners face Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship on Night 2

Night 2

No.	Matches*	Stipulations
1	Roman Reigns (c) (with Paul Heyman) vs. Edge vs. Daniel Bryan	Triple Threat match for the WWE Universal Championship[71]
2	Asuka (c) vs. Rhea Ripley	Singles match for the WWE Raw Women's Championship[72]
3	The Fiend (with Alexa Bliss) vs. Randy Orton	Singles match[73]
4	Big E (c) vs. Apollo Crews	Nigerian Drum Fight for the WWE Intercontinental Championship[74]
5	Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn (with Logan Paul)	Singles match[75]
6	Riddle (c) vs. Sheamus	Singles match for the WWE United States Championship[76]
7	Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler (c) (with Reginald) vs. Tag Team Turmoil winners	Tag team match for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship[77]

 

 

 

Edited April 6, 2021 by forameus

[DA Baracus]

Mind when Wrestlemania used to mean something? Mind when it was the culmination of the big feuds and it helped create new stars?

Now it's just another PPV. 

[TheGoon]

TheGoon absolutely in the mud here. 

I’m looking forward to it, it’s Mania, but just nothing outside of the main events is grabbing me at all. 

[CEMSFC]

The problem with WWE PPVs is that they have 1 per month, none of them feel big as they just repeat the same matches over and over.

AEW and NXT, tend to have different feuds for each PPV and if they they repeat a match from the previous PPV, it still feels special as they aren't facing each other every week on TV before the PPV. 

 

I think if WWE want PPVS etc to feel special again, they need to sack off most of their PPVs, because right now, they are just a glorified version of Raw/Smackdown

[Ira Gaines]

Rollins/Cesaro and Zayn/Owens are both surefire crackers, and I have to say, it's great to see the latter on the big stage. Make it a brawl and let them just tear it up. 

[NotThePars]

Having crowds back will help amplify it as well.

[8MileBU]

Just seen a clip of The Bump where the Undertaker announces to Kane that he’ll be getting inducted into the HOF.
“The Big Red Machine” was pretty overwhelmed with emotion. Undertaker holding back a wee happy tear too! 

[Ira Gaines]

I don't have any argument with any of the HOF entries so far. I'm not sure of the impact Khali had so can't really comment on him, but the rest have a place for sure.

 

[Scotty Tunbridge]

Was hoping for some multiman madness in either the IC or US title match but not looking likely now if Big E v Apollo has been booked.

Agree Zayn v Owens will be great even though we’ve seen it so many times before, it has been a while. Have we had it as Zayn (heel)/Owens (face) on WWE before?

Edited March 27, 2021 by Scotty Tunbridge

[forameus]

Opening post now updated to be full of rambling shite, and a bit about the show that's actually happening. 

Have to say, there's a distinct lack of it feeling like a Wrestlemania.  There's some matches that look like they'll be great, but not much in the way of stipulation or special matches.  Across all four nights look like, at the moment, just the one ladder match.  I expect a lot will change in a couple of weeks though.  

Not all bad though, it also exposed me to...this

I think the burnt look did actually work in the shows, but on a poster?  Jesus Christ.

[Ira Gaines]

I reckon the chances of a ladder match have been and gone. They could have one for the US title I guess, but with the guys not booked so far, I'm not sold that it's actually gonna happen.

[forameus]

Shame really.  It's usually clearly an attempt just to get bodies on the card, but the multi-man ladder matches are usually great fun.  Tremendously dangerous for all involved, but fun nonetheless.

We'll no doubt be getting an Andre Battle Royal instead.  Yay.

[Ira Gaines]

Aye. I'm a big fan of clusterfuck ladder matches. Nobody has really nailed them like WWE have over the years. The majority I've seen from other promotions have been mediocre at best.

[Ludo*1]

That is the worst Mania card I've seen in a long time.

Only Reigns vs Bryan vs Edge sounds remotely interesting.

There's a few that will be very good matches like Rollins vs Cesaro but it's very meh.

[Ira Gaines]

Quite intrigued by Lashley vs. Galloway as well. They had a good series of matches in TNA, and Galloway seems to excel in these big shit kicking matches. It's just NOT a main event though, much like the rest of night one. There's a campaign to have Belair vs. Banks as main event, and I don't see why not, PURELY because of that.

I can see them giving Galloway his title win in the main event so as he gets it in front of the fans this time though.

[TheGoon]

RVD confirmed for the Hall of Fame, apparently Subu is doing the honours which should be tremendous. 

[FifeArab]

Can’t wait for mania week. I’m off Saturday, Sunday and Monday so will be ready. Looking at the card there doesn’t look like there’s a big match like previous years with Taker and Cena etc.

[DA Baracus]

They need to punt the MITB PPV and bring it back as a Mania match. Have just one for the guys with folk from both brands and one NXT guy (have qualifiers before Mania and the final on the Takeover before Mania). Not too many folk; limit it to 5 or 6. They could do the same with the women's one. Have one each night if they're going to be sticking with the 2 nights.

But the main thing they need to do is sort out the absolutely shite storytelling, or lack of storytelling. There are no long term builds and there are no good builds. Matches are chucked together last minute. It all massively diminishes Wrestlemania. It's not a culmination of storylines. It's just another PPV. 

They've managed to bungle Edge for f**k sake. Twice actually, but this time is worse. An easy story and they're fucked it so badly that they've had to add Daniel Bryan to the match.

[DA Baracus]

Night 2 of the NXT show looks absolutely brilliant though. Night 1 looks great as well, but Night 2 looks like it easily be the best show of the week and, were it front of a regular crowd, an all time great.

[Ira Gaines]

I don't think they added Bryan for any other reason than to eat a fall.

Agree with the point on storytelling overall though. If they stuck with a one on one with Reigns/Edge, I think the two could have had a great heel/face dynamic, but they flung that away. And that's just a wee part of what looks like a thrown together Mania card with no planning.