Wrestlemania Week

“WrestleMania” Week(end) Road Diary 2026: “You Had To Be There, Man” – Sixty Nine Hours On The Scene In Las Vegas

The Magic Of Senka Akatsuki, Part Two

By Chris Whitehead

Wednesday, April 15th 2026

8:15am, Los Angeles: Last year I did the trip to Vegas on somewhat of a whim (or as I called it at the time, “a sadness hangover”). This time I was locked in from the get go, because last year was so much fun. Last year I left the house not excited at all, and hence everything exceeded my tempered expectations (or in the case of Senka Akatsuki, nuked them).

This year, I am coming in hot with high expectations, having mapped out a really good looking ‘path of glory.’ In addition to that, improvements have been identified this year: driving instead of flying, last minute hotel changes for maximum fiscal discipline, pre-made plans for hangs. On the wrestling side, AEW has walked back their soft ban on their wrestlers participating from last year (leaving TNA to look like the fools instead), STARDOM and Marvelous both return and made wrestlers available for indie bookings and new promotions have been added to the mix. As I jump in the car and hit the road, all signs bend towards optimism – a rare feeling in America in the 2020s.

12:15pm, Las Vegas: I make it to Vegas in four hours flat, about as fast as is safe to do so (if you consider driving 90mph through the middle of the desert “safe”). My drive is sound tracked by the newest episode of Social Suplex’s own Joshi’ing Around Weekly, and when that finishes, one of the most essential albums in my collection 2003’s “Guitar Romantic” by The Exploding Hearts. If you have never heard this record, and you like punk and/or power pop, please drop everything and put it on right now. It’s an instant classic, and sadly the only album they ever made. Ready to eat lunch, I head directly to the Ton Shou Izakaya in Vegas’ Chinatown district, an old favorite with a killer chicken katsu sando, and I am not disappointed by my decision as the sandwich is every bit as good as I remember.

© Chris Whitehead

From there I head to the hotel to check in. As noted earlier, thanks to a hot tip from Los Angeles premier local sports reporter Dan Greenspan, I got an insane deal at Richard Branson’s Virgin Hotel. I spot Josh Barnett while in line, the first of many wrestlers spotted in the wild this week(end). With all of my care and feeding needs attended to, it’s time to head to the first show, at what will be my main hangout spot, The Bizarre Bar.

3pm, Pandemonium Pro: “Whatever, Forever”

On the drive over, anxiety hits, as I realize I will be meeting my favorite wrestler, my special little guy, my blorbo, Natsupoi. I have never enjoyed the idea of wrestler meet and greets and had only done one before, on a whim, with Barbaro Cavernario at Wrestlecon in 2019. Despite that, Poi is not an opportunity that I felt could be passed on, but a sudden sense of presumed awkwardness has me sweating it out of nowhere.

Fortunately, I park up and immediately run into my first returning friend from last year, Dan Snyder. Simply talking to another human calms my nerves and by the time the doors open and we’re in line to meet Poi I feel good. Seeing that the line is being managed by mega sweetheart Sumie Sakai soothes me further. (While waiting, I also took the opportunity to talk to Taro Okada, who I would love to talk to ‘officially’ some time in these pages. Call me back, Stardom Office.) When I get to the front of the line, I am immediately blown away by how shredded Poi is. I wish I could have used the M&G time to ask her what her exercise routines are, because, as someone who only got into lifting in the last year, I too would like to have traps and abs that cut. Turns out that (as always) I am anxious for no reason and the M&G experience is lovely; she is very nice and we exchange a “bye poi” greeting at the end, which is my only real goal of the whole affair.

© Chris Whitehead

But, hey let’s talk about the actual show, right? Actually, no…let’s talk about the venue first, as it’s our key location for the week(end). The Bizarre Bar (fka The Swan Dive) is on the second floor, has a cool patio area, an ante-room with a bar and some couches and then the main room, which is almost certainly a great place to see a band, with a capacity of a few hundred, low ceilings, a loud sound system, excellent bartenders and good bar prices. The low ceiling is such that the ring being used for the shows here is what I am told is called a “lowboy”, where the mat is at shin height instead of waist height. The Bizarre Bar proves to be a great room for some ‘small room’ wrestling. John Carroll (host of the podcast Wrestling Omakase) and I agree it has some similarities to Shinjuku FACE.

Ok, so the show…is largely good, with lots of enjoyable, competent indie wrestling. It probably has a couple more matches than it needed, and maybe too many multi person matches, but it goes by pleasantly enough. On the undercard are people that I will see many more times as the week(end) progresses. The first notable undercard match is a six man tag with the Pacific Northwest’s premier tag team C4 (Cody Chhun & Guillermo Rosas) teaming with Canada’s Steve Bradley to take on Juni Underwood, J Bouji and Devious Cass. C4 is always reliable and they look great here. The second is New Fever (Danny Orion & Shimbashi) taking on Robert Martyr & Jordan Saint, with the New Fever team doing great heel work. The real reason I am here, and seemingly many others in the crowd, goes on third from top: Natsupoi vs Johnnie Robbie. It delivers in all the ways I want it to. It is a match that feels like it is booked for me – which is to say a match I would book if I was a booker – with my actual SLG facing my favorite local wrestler. I want to know a) what it would be like to see Poi in such a small room and b) if Johnnie can hang with the ‘high speed’ style. Immediately upon them touching, these questions are answered. The quality, intensity and velocity of the wrestling is streets ahead of anything else we have seen on the rest of the show. They even choose the exact layout I would have asked for, with Johnnie using her superior size to bully Poi, taking the heel role to the visiting star and highlighting the two key Natsupoi skills: incredible selling and building to a big comeback for the win. My only complaint is that they ‘only’ go around 12 minutes, losing time due to longer running matches earlier in the card (and needing to finish on time so that Poi and Saya Iida had time for more post-show M&Gs). The main event of Saya Iida vs Amira vs Janai Kai also comes in short on time, and is constrained by the three way nature, but anytime Iida and Amira are in there it looks good. (Note: this is the American Indie wrestler Amira, not the British wrestler Amira who seconds Michael Oku.)

© Chris Whitehead

After the show, I grab dinner (bougie hamburger that was good, if a tad pricey) and catch up with some old friends from last year. New Texas Pro promoter (and old friend) Biss tells us El Desperado was hanging out unmasked, in the crowd, at the “Pandemonium” show. After dinner, we break up into a couple cars and head over for the next show. I bond with new friend Aaron (erstwhile host of the Everything Evolves podcast) on the way there, delving into the kind of truly fascinating conversation you hope to get into with a new person, rather than boring small talk.

8pm: DGUSA “The Gate Of Sin City”

If you read my piece from last year, you will remember that my biggest issue with last year’s DGUSA show was that they were working under the umbrella of the GCW-led “Collective.” Sadly that is true again this year, and the vibes in the crowd are weird again, which leads us to hang out in the back for the whole show. The venue is your standard giant hotel ballroom, with expensive looking carpet and bartenders in bow ties (selling $18 beers!), which seems like it is going to be a weird fit for a multi-day event that will feature multiple death matches and will host literal juggalos. The show itself is fine, if somewhat forgettable. The highlight is undoubtedly getting the chance to stuff a dollar into Hyo’s crotch during his entrance. That is a beautiful man, with abs carved out of marble. He smells fantastic. He insists on giving us a hug and he is covered in what appears to be coconut oil. I regret not handing him a $10 bill; coconut oil isn’t cheap.

© DGUSA

Beyond thirsting over the hunk that is Hyo, other notable events on this show are limited. Multiple people jump out of their seats when HoHo Lun wins his tag match, proof that HoHo remains a cult hero with English speaking DG fans. Alec Price hurts his legs on the way to the ring due to a malfunction with the steps from the stage, but the three way tag with him and partner Jordan Oliver vs Ben-K/Hyo and Aero Panther/Fight Panther Jr is fun enough. Jonathan Gresham nearly puts me to sleep in the semi-main event. The main event is fun, with Dragon Kid and ISHIN being my standouts. At least they didn’t book Jimmy Lloyd on the show this year.

The capper on the Horseshoe/GCW/collective experience is paying $20 to park for 3 hours. That is the final straw, and I promise myself nothing will drag me back to the Horseshoe.

Thursday, April 16th 2026

Much like my lunch on Wednesday, I return to another old haunt for breakfast on Thursday, the AmeriBrunch cafe, and have an excellent breakfast sando, a gallon of coffee and another gallon of water, as less than 24 hours in Vegas has already dried out my sinuses and skin. I head to the Bizarre Bar filled with bacon and optimism, looking ahead to what should be a long but excellent day of wrestling. Last year, the middle part of Thursday almost killed my fandom, only for Senka Akatsuki to bring me back from the brink later that night. Knowing that the day has two Senka matches in it is the primary source of that optimism.

11am: New Texas Pro “Sin City Stampede”

The show opens with New Texas paying homage to the ‘traditional “Mania” week(end) six man tag’, with some indie guys on the come up (Andrew Cass and Shimbashi) teaming with Dragongate’s Dragon Kid to take on Cosmo Orion, Epydemius Jr and Starboy Charlie. This is an all action ten minute sprint in which everyone looks great. Afterwards, in a lovely moment, Shimbashi gets on the mic and pays tribute to Dragon Kid and his influence on the scene overall and specifically on some (maybe even all) of the men in this match.

© Chris Whitehead

Other standout matches are Manders and Timur the Great beating the tar out of each other; a seven man scramble match that is actually good (are ‘scrambles’ good if the show takes place during brunch hours?) with some really high quality, young prospects from the Texas scene – keep your eyes out for Prince Kxriuki; Adam Priest being the world’s biggest shithead against Dustin Nguyen; and the main event of Bryan Keith and Danny Orion, which went to a 20min time limit draw.

With this show wrapped up, I decide to take it easy for a while. I ditch the car back at the hotel, grab a Mai Tai at the nearby Stray Pirate tiki bar, grab some food and then go back to the venue and enjoy some time outside on the patio.

© Chris Whitehead

3pm: St Louis Anarchy “Let Anarchy Be Anarchy”

Consequently, due to the aforementioned leisure time, I miss the majority of this show but I hear some of it, and see other parts of it – including most of the main event, a hard hitting affair pitting Aaron Williams and Gary Jay against Thomas Shire and One Called Manders. As Biss later tells me, the whole show was stiff is fuck and filled with heart. Honestly, I do not have my head in the game during bits of this period of time, as this is when I am introduced to Senka Akatsuki (!) and Chigusa Nagayo (!!!) and have a kind of out-of-body experience that I cannot articulate very well, which takes a little time to recover from.

7pm: West Coast Pro Wrestling “West Coast vs The World”

I just got a chill down my spine from typing out the name of the show. This might be the best crowd I have ever been a part of. At the risk of bragging, I have been lucky enough to see wrestling at some of the most legendary venues out there: Korakuen Hall, the American Legion Post #308 in Reseda, Ryoguku Kokukigan, the Lucha Underground Temple, Madison Square Garden and the Tokyo Dome. I’ve never experienced exactly the same thing in any of those rooms that I have on this night.

Before I even address the legendary section of this show, almost the whole card deserves to be spotlighted: LaBron Kozone and Alpha Zo have a hoss match that rocks and is filled with power moves and stiff strikes; Andrew Cass overcomes veteran Australian Adam Brooks in a fun match; Aja Kong gives Miko Alana her traditional rookie sacrifice match, taking two half bumps for Miko (pretty good considering Aja will work again later in the night); Cajun Catch Revival (Jiah Jewell & Seabass Finn) have a really fun tag match with Aaron Solo and Alan Angels; Adam Priest and Starboy Charlie have a good match that no one can get up for, as they follow Senka; that comedown continues into the semi-main of Vinnie Massaro and Thomas Shire, who also underwhelms me somewhat, but also is the second or third match both men wrestled on this day; Johnnie Robbie and Mio Momono deliver in the main event, as the crowd is fully back by this point, culminating with Mio winning the West Coast Women’s Title from Johnnie, ending her 390 day reign on her 15th defense, a reign which is up there with any in West Coast Pro history. Much like her match with Natsupoi the day before, Johnnie is able to go full speed with Mio and hang at her level, which, in the case of both these opponents, is basically the highest level at which one can hang. As I have noted before in the newsletter, it’s a matter of when not if Johnnie is a TV wrestler. Anyone that’s seen her the last year already knows that, but this week(end) cements it. She is undeniable. This is her version of Will Ospreay’s “Mania” Weekend in New Orleans in 2018.

© Chris Whitehead / Chris Gannon

With apologies to everyone else on this card, or on any show this week(end), for the second year in a row, the only name that should be on everyone’s lips as the breakout of the weekend is Senka Akatsuki.

Senka was supposed to wrestle Dani Luna on this show, in a match that certainly would have been good-to-great. Sadly, Dani had the awful situation of having to fly home instead of to Vegas due to her father passing away unexpectedly. Less than 24 hours before the show is to begin, WCP announces a surprise opponent will face Senka in a 5 minute exhibition match. Speculation flies all day, with only four people actually knowing who the opponent will be (the two participants and the promoters of Marvelous and WCP), and all guesses are wrong.

The person who emerges to face Senka is Chris Hero, wrestling his first match in two years. This fires up the crowd, as it is both truly unexpected and truly intriguing. In some ways, this is a re-worked version of the Senka/Aja Kong match from last year, with Senka trying to slay the beast in front of her, failing, getting knocked down and trying again and again and again. Once again, she refuses to be pinned for a two count, generating wild reactions from the crowd every time. As the time ticks down to the last few seconds, Hero begins to play with his food, not even trying to win and merely attempting to break Senka’s spirit. He is unable to do so, as an indomitable spirit is Senka’s whole thing, even when he hits her with a piledriver with seconds remaining, knowing full well that he won’t have time to pin her. After the time expires, Senka recovers and offers Hero a deep bow of respect, which Hero blows off, and he begins to leave. Never has his name been less relevant to his actions.

With the crowd ragging on Hero, begging for more time, calling him an asshole and a coward, Hero eventually relents and agrees to 5 more minutes. During the overtime period, Senka finally manages to get some offense to connect and get Hero off his feet, but is unable to get an advantage in any real way, eventually succumbing to a tombstone piledriver around the 3 minute (8 minute) mark. This time, however, when offered an even deeper bow of respect, Hero reciprocates. They exchange some words while on the mat bowing, before Hero pulls Senka to her feet, treating her as an equal. As much as Senka is the star of this show, Hero stepped in on short notice, clearly not planning to wrestle (no gear) and does as much as you can do for someone in this situation. I’m not sure there was actually a better option available. In my preview, I said that no wrestler would have a stronger crowd connection all week(end) than Senka, and Chris Hero made it more true than I could ever have imagined.

© Chris Whitehead

As noted earlier, the volume and intensity of the crowd reactions during both sections of this match are truly remarkable. I am screaming and jumping out of my seat (you can see this on the taped version). How does a 20 year old, with 18 months wrestling experience, manage to elicit the kind of crowd reaction that fills your body with adrenaline and makes you vibrate with joy and manic energy for 10 minutes (and then crash for 20 min afterwards)? It defies all logic. Again, not to brag, I’ve been blessed to see some of the best wrestlers to ever do it. Even Hiroshi Tanahashi in his retirement match didn’t make me feel like this. I am writing this days later and the adrenaline is coming back into my system as I type. How does she do it? Can anyone else at her level of experience do this? Can anyone at any level of experience do this? Is she, and this is an insane thing to type knowing other people will read it, actually a contender for one of the best wrestlers in the world? I have no idea. All I know is that Senka is like no one else I have ever seen live and I can’t believe I was lucky enough and privileged enough to see this match live. Wrestling can frustrate like few other art forms, but when it delivers, and it hits its maximum potential, there’s nothing better. Chris Hero and Senka Akatsuki have given me as magical an experience as it’s possible to provide.

11pm: Marvelous

As soon as the WCP show ends, we get immediately into line, even with an hour plus turnaround, because we are anxious to get to the seats we want, knowing this show is, as they say in Japan, “Super No Vacancy” Sold Out. Our patience is rewarded and we take the seats in the exact spot we want. While the crowd is filing in, someone gets on the house mic and asks anyone that is a wrestler or crew member that is not actively working on the show to please leave and head to the backstage area to make room for ticketed fans. That’s how sold out this show is. It is noted in our section that no one has heard an announcement like that at a show before, until one person said they heard something like it once: at the Samoa Joe vs Kenta Kobashi “Ring of Honor” show in 2005 in New York. That’s some pretty elite company.

The show opens with the traditional introduction of every person on the show, starting with the eight men booked in a multi man match and ending with Chigusa Nagayo. More people should do these, it’s such a good detail. Biggest pops: Senka, Takumi, Sareee and Chigusa.

We kick off with the eight man match, which was fine but not what anyone came to see. Up next is Amira and Echika Miyabi, who have a fun match mostly built around Miyabi bullying her smaller opponent, including her signature stiff chops. Next up is a four way consisting of some local wrestlers, with Sweet Caroline, a standout rookie from the WCP school, getting the win. (Caroline and Miku Alana were announced earlier in the week for Japan tours with Marvelous starting in May.) After that, Sora Ayame takes on former indie standout/current AEW wrestler Maya World. They have a fun match with Sora unexpectedly picking up the win following a series of shin kicks and roll ups. It is really fun to get to see Sora pick up one of her very infrequent wins.

From there, we move into a match that sold plenty of tickets to this show, and a rematch from last year’s Marvelous Vegas show: Senka Akatsuki vs Aja Kong. Before we get to the match, important business is at hand, as WCP regular Tim ‘Dawg’ has spent hours at home prepping streamers for us to throw and then handing them out to people around the ring. So we are able to give Senka a streamer shower, surely the only one in Vegas all week(end). She looks genuinely surprised and delighted to see that happen. It is a very, very cool moment.

For the match itself, I have questions. Will Senka be able to get her redemption, one year later? Would taking a beating at the hands of Chris Hero, mere hours ago, make it physically harder? Or had Hero made it clear to Senka that she has “the right stuff”? Would wrestling Miko earlier have any impact on Kong?

Once the match is underway, they slowly build up the narrative that Senka has more to offer Kong now than she did last year, as she started to get some momentum, leading to her taking Aja off her feet once, and then again. Hero, it seems, has successfully convinced Senka to stop being so respectful of her seniors, and that even if she lacks experience her ‘never say die’ spirit puts her at their level. Around this time, Hero comes out to lend Senka his support. He had whispered something to Senka earlier after their match. Was it some veteran advice, a weakness in Kong’s game? Or was it just moral support? We’ll never know, but with Hero’s support adding to the crowds, Senka does the thing: she rallies, and she pins Aja Kong, clean. The crowd erupts. Senka looks agog with disbelief. Hero looks like a proud dad at a swim meet. Kong looks shocked.

It is a legitimately perfect moment, but somehow, it doesn’t hit as high a peak as the Senka/Hero match hours earlier. That’s how spoiled we are on this Las Vegas night: we’ve witnessed two perfect moments, and ended up talking about which is more perfect. Preposterous. It is noted later that this is Aja Kong’s first pinfall loss in a singles match in over six years, which is really something for her to give to a rookie, even this super rookie.

© Chris Whitehead / Chris Gannon

While Senka is celebrating, Magenta – who had been seconding Kong – get into the ring to talk some shit to Kong about losing to Senka (despite both Magenta members having lost to Senka in recent months), which Kong does not appreciate. Kong asks Senka to team with her to fight them, showing that Senka finally – a year later – has earned Kong’s respect. This is actually a smart idea, for a few reasons: it bakes in a natural cool down section, while Senka is still out there; after Kong and Senka win the tag match, with Kong getting the pin, it gives Kong the chance to lose a match clean, but then ten minutes later leave with her hand raised and her music playing (credit to John Carroll for that astute observation); and it gives Magenta a fun match and the chance to be their natural bratty selves. It is a short match and maybe the most memorable part is seeing our only chair bowling of the week(end) as Senka is thrown into our seats.

Second to last, we see Miko Alana take on Ai Houzan in a match that sadly has a blown finish, with no one really being sure what’s happened. But that shortens the distance to the main event, the other match that sold tickets for this show: Spark Rush vs Johnnie Robbie and Mio Momono.

This is where I remind the reader that Sareee is the world’s greatest maniac. On Thursday April the 16th, she wrestled in Korakuen Hall, at around 7.30pm Japan Time (best I can tell). That match was a thirty minute time limit draw with Saya Kamitani and Chihiro Hashimoto. I already know they worked hard in that match, without even seeing it. She then went directly to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, and flew to Los Angeles – an approximately 11 hour flight – arrived, cleared immigration and customs, changed terminals, went through TSA, waited for her flight, flew to Las Vegas, and was brought straight to the building. If my math is correct, the April 16th she lived was a 37 hour day. This is such beast behaviour. I thank her in person and I am now thanking her again in writing. Also, she doesn’t stop smiling. From the moment she comes out in the pre-show introduction, til she comes back out for her match, and all the way through the match and then the ninety minute long merch line she has, never not smiling. She does it for the love of the game. Being out there wrestling after her insane journey seems to bring her as much joy as it does everyone in the crowd.

The match itself is a fun, hard hitting, good vibes match that goes around twelve minutes, which is a little shorter than I expected, but between Sareee’s journey and Mio and Johnnie wrestling each other a few hours earlier (and Johnnie working like 7 matches in 4 days), it’s also reasonable. It is fast and all action, and the people in the ring seem like they are having a great time. What more can you ask for?

I am at the venue, waiting for the merch line to die down to get my Senka Akatsuki One Year Anniversary shirt signed (a treasure from my trip to Japan in December) and waiting to talk to people and get some photos to go with the interviews. I am not exaggerating when I say the merch line lasted 90 minutes. With over 200 people in the building, and $20 for a signed picture and/or $20 for a ‘two shot’ picture, in all likelihood, it is a great earning day at work, especially for Sareee. By the time I make it out of there it is almost 3am and freezing cold, as a windstorm is blowing with gusts up to 50mph. I go straight to bed.

Friday, April 17th 2026

I wake up at 7am, tired and dehydrated. The windstorm has blown open a window in my hotel room and it is really cold outside of the bed. I know immediately I am not going to any of the early shows and stay in bed for another 5 hours, intermittently napping. Between naps, I think about the magnitude of the previous evening’s events and once again, how abnormal this Senka situation is. Writing now, days later I still haven’t processed it, and it may take quite some time. I am roused from my reveries and naps by Dan Greenspan with the tempting offer of lunch, a thing I definitely need and always enjoy. At his recommendation, we venture to Tacos El Gordo, a Vegas institution that I am sadly unfamiliar with. Now that I am familiar, it will likely be my first stop next time. It is incredible. From there I go in search of coffee and then make my way onwards to The Palms for STARDOM.

© Chris Whitehead

3pm: STARDOM “American Dream 2026”

Walking into The Palms, I realize I am returning to the location of the all-time low point of my wrestling fandom (last year’s Wrestlecon “Supershow”) and briefly shudder at the memories. I am early so I grab a beer in the bar and do some people watching. The Palms is the busiest casino floor I see all week(end). I see multiple wrestlers (not booked on this show) wandering around during this time. I meet up once again with John and their friends and while we are in line for the show, Ric Flair walks past us and looks like hell. I carefully avoid catching his eye. I think the poor guy just wants someone to recognize him and say hi but I didn’t have it in me.

For the show itself, I have pretty low expectations, with a card that looks like a low tier house show at best, even before it got changed due to three STARDOM wrestlers being unable to get their visas processed in time (Yuria Hime, Fuwa-chan and Maki Itoh). The show opens with a video showing the matches and the match order, and as soon as it is over there is an immediate apology and announcement of a change to the match order, which I think just ends up being just a swapping of the first two matches. Shrug emoji.

The crowd ends up being bigger than expected, probably some comps mixed in with the sold tickets. It is a weird crowd, with some genuine STARDOM hardcore fans mixed with some American wrestling/“Mania” Week(end) tourist fans. One person near me loudly asks his friend, and our whole section, why they are hitting so hard during the ExV/Mi Vida Loca match. Someone behind me says some impolite things to/at Willow Nightingale when she comes out that they probably think are polite. This is my main exposure to ‘basic American wrestling fans’ all week(end) and it sucks.

© Chris Whitehead

The opening match is pretty bad, with the combination of SAKI and local wrestler Brittnie Brooks not able to keep up with Natsupoi and Aya Sakura. The aforementioned ExV/MVL match, with the returning Mina Shirakawa tagging with her old unit members (after the unit disbanded) is a good little preview tag for their blow off match at “All Star Grand Queendom”, a proper effort match and not a vacation match, with Maika and Suzu kicking out of big moves along the way to, somewhat surprisingly, Maika pinning Suzu for the win.
The match of the show is a singles match between RoH Women’s Champion Athena and Rina, with Rina being wildly over (and loving it). They have a good, solid match with Athena taking more of it, and getting the win. I haven’t seen a ton of Athena in recent years and I wasn’t sure she could keep up with Rina but she did and this is her best singles match that I have seen in years (remember, I haven’t seen too many before you @ me a long list of them).

Alex Windsor and Saya Iida have the exact match you think they would for the NJPW STRONG Women’s title, pummelling each other even if they don’t have perfect chemistry the whole time.

The main event sees Neo Genesis’s Starlight Kid, AZM and Mei Seira take on AEW’s Kris Statlander, Willow Nightingale and Harley Cameron. Statlander looks great in there with AZM, doing power moves and looking like a beast. Willow and SLK have a fun segment together. Harley does fine with Mei, and is smartly kept out of the bulk of the match, before coming in to lose to AZM following the La Mistica and an AZM sushi roll up. Our section is shocked to see that outcome, with Tony Khan clearly having made a rare allowance for one of his wrestlers to lose on an outside show. Thanks, TK.

After the show, I grab some really solid teriyaki chicken from a Hawaiian restaurant at The Palms food court (it comes with Furikake rice, or as we call it in this publication “the Yurika Oka Special”), then head back to the Stray Pirate for another Mai Tai (yeah, it’s that good) while trying to finalize plans for the evening. For days, I have been low key nagging Voices of Wrestling’s Rich Kraetsch to go to the Martinez Lucha Libre show that his podcast has made me aware of, because it sounds cool, I don’t want to go solo, and because he also seems quite intrigued by it, and finally we decide to pull the trigger.

© Chris Whitehead

7pm(ish): Martinez Entertainment & Vago’s Lucha Libre: “Welcome to Las Vegas Lucha Libre 2”

While Rich and Aaron are at dinner, I scout out the scene. The venue is a warehouse cramped between a train line, the freeway and more warehouses. The parking lot is a zoo, with cars parked in every square inch, some at abnormal angles. There is a long line to get in, fifteen minutes after ‘bell time.’ Yeah, this is an authentic lucha show. I eventually find parking in an adjacent parking lot that is empty, which seems to serve a bail bonds office, a law office and some storage units. All are closed, so despite the sign saying we will get towed, I figure it is fine. Everyone else parking there is also going to the lucha show. They can’t tow us all, can they?

We join the line, which is only growing in size, unsure about when or if we will get in, how much it costs, if we’re even in the right line, or really of anything at all. A few check-ins with people further in line reveal there is a VIP line moving first, and that we can pay cash to enter. Perfect. We wait and are generally just having a fun hang in an unusual location. Nothing happens for another fifteen minutes, which is all the excuse Aaron needs to take off back to his hotel, which is within sight and walking distance of where we are waiting. Hard to argue with that decision. Rich and I decide we’re locked in and keep waiting. We chat to some folks in line which yields us a pair of parking lot beers, as those folks have just made a 7-11 run. Really, there are worse ways to pass the time than chatting, breaking down the shows from the previous day and drinking a beer. Eventually the line starts to move, first for those with online tickets, then eventually for those of us walking up. The line of people behind us somehow enters before us (gringo tax?), and we are two of the last four people into the building. We grab some seats in the second row, nicely held for us by one of Rich’s Patreon members, and are informed we missed a pre-show match of two kids having a pretty good match but we settle in for what looks like it should be a fun show, with LA Park scheduled to appear. Looks like this gambit has paid off and we’re in for a good time.

© Chris Whitehead

Seconds later, around a half dozen members of the LVPD enter, along with a luchador in a golden cat mask and a guy that looks like a promoter. A few moments later, the promoter-type guy gets on the house mic and talks in Spanish. Even without knowing what he is saying, the reactions around us (boos and groans) are informative: the show is cancelled. Even with translations later from a few people around us, we do not get the full details. It seems like it was some issue with the venue’s owner and/or the person leasing the venue and/or the promoter and/or permits. We had noticed a couple of the cops earlier while in line but didn’t think too much of it. On the way out, I ask one of the cops what the deal is, telling him I don’t speak Spanish and am confused and he said even he isn’t sure but that we all have to take off. I do make sure to get a refund, because I am a very cheap man at heart. Fortunately, as we had come in late and paid cash, the door guy recognizes/remembers us. The folks who bought tickets online don’t get refunds at the venue (and may not at all?). Anyone who paid cash and doesn’t ask doesn’t get one either. It is suspicious to me that it’s been shut down after letting everyone in, but likely they have to pay the wrestlers (for sure they have to pay LA Park) so I don’t wanna assume that is nefarious. Could be an issue with the number of people here or any number of things. We will never know.

While I think this show would have rocked, just based on the vibes in the room, it is still a fun experience and makes for a great story. What’s better than ending another “Mania” Week(end) – my fourth – with a suitably bizarre story?

I go back to the hotel and pound some ice cream while scrolling my phone to hear that “Spring Break” – where most everyone else I know ended up – is having a rough night, including a worst match of all time contender. That’s all I need to know, time to go to sleep. Week(end) over.

Saturday, April 18th 2026

9am: I sleep for ten hours, like I’m in a coma, making up for the night before. I grab a mediocre breakfast, and hit the road back to LA, hoping to be home in time for lunch.

On the way back, between podcasts, I delve into my ‘desert island discs’ and let rip with one of my top five albums of all time: 2004’s “On The Outside” by The Marked Men, a classic of the melodic punk genre, from the architects of a niche sound I long ago named “The Denton Sound.” As I let their furious riffing and massive hooks wash over me, I notice that what I have been feeling the last few days hasn’t only been that I’ve been having a good time, with fun people, at excellent shows.

I realize that part of what I was feeling was a sense of relief from the jarring nature of daily life in 2026. The “Mania” Week(end) experience is so immersive, lending you to being in the moment for hours at a time and thinking about nothing else, that it provides a break from ‘real life’, from the headaches, hassles and horseshit we all deal with every day, from the fucking relentless America of it all. I remember that Scott Bregante, the promoter of West Coast Pro, told me after his show that he wanted to give people that relief. And he really did.

This ended up not just being a trip to Vegas to see some shows. It turned out it was a vacation for the brain and for the soul, a chance to be with people who share the niche of a niche hobby, to experience joy and optimism and community together. I needed it more than I realized, and I remain grateful for the communities we create online and how we can turn them into real life communities. I never went to summer camp, but I assume it was similar? These are the people you see once a year and have fun with outside of your normal context.

If you have the opportunity to ever take a wrestling trip, for “Mania” Week(end), for “All In”, for “Wrestle Kingdom”, or even just an overnighter to catch a big show in another city: do everything you can to go.
Go solo, and meet some new people and get to know them; meet up with your friends from the internet in real life; or be like my friend Koss and make it a family trip, like he and his dad and brother did for the second year in a row. Whoever you do it with, immerse yourself in it for a few days. As I said in last year’s piece, and as our newsletter’s head honcho Trish Spiers has said many times, the relationships we make along the way are what truly matters in this crazy hobby we all chose.

Thanks to everyone that watched a show, hung out, grabbed a bite to eat, said hi, and lost their minds with me for Senka. I had the best time.

© Chris Whitehead

© WWE

WWE WrestleMania 42 Saturday

Date: 18th April 2026
Location: Allegiant Stadium, Nevada, USA
Company Announced Attendance: 50,081
Watch On: ESPN / Netflix

Review by David Hayter

After months of anticipation and a slow and deliberate build whetting our appetite by dropping subtle hints of what to expect, the big day has finally arrived. It’s time to sit back and enjoy the next, and possibly final, chapter in a legacy that has laid dormant for far too long. On the grandest stage of them all, WWE proudly presents the main event of all main events: Ken vs Ryu. That’s right, “WrestleMania” is home to the exclusive trailer for the new Street Fighter movie. Look, there’s 50 Cent as Balrog, Jason Momoa as Blanka, and, oh my god, we even caught our first glimpse of Cody Rhodes as Guile (not that I’d want to distract you with any wrestling related content). They even managed to find time to squeeze in Chun-Li and Cammy; that’s some pretty impressive editing I have to say. You’d be surprised to learn just how difficult it is to find time for women during these grand promotional extravaganzas.

Then again, “WrestleMania” truly is special. There are supershows the world over, from Anniversario in CMLL to AEW’s All In at Wembley Stadium, not to mention Wrestle Kingdom at the Tokyo Dome, but for all WWE’s ills, they are still the one promotion that can truly make the impossible happen. Matches that seemed unimaginable are made manifest: Hollywood Hulk Hogan vs The Rock, Bret Hart vs Vince McMahon, and, erm, Sting vs Triple H (I guess). The possibilities are endless. However, “WrestleMania 42” went one step beyond. Not only were we treated to our first glimpse of Street Fighter, only a matter of moments later we bore witness to a preview of Mortal Kombat too. M. Bison and Shao Kahn on the same card — what a time to be alive!

There was, however, some criticism. Fans have long complained that “WrestleMania” is riddled with too many long video packages, and there is no denying that, as dramatically edited as those trailers were, it’s not the same as seeing the stars in the flesh. Well, thankfully, Ari Emanuel really can pull the strings this year, because who else would have the clout and chutzpah to fly Din Djarin and Grogu all the way from Mandalore to Las Vegas to wave and blow kisses to the people? Personally, I was happy just watching George Kittle downing beers (repeatedly), but Ari really did go above and beyond. “WrestleMania” was such a commercial hub, such a destination for celebrities, advertisers, influencers and thought leaders alike, that chart-topping pop stars like Sophia from Katseye had to squirm in the background behind a saluting war veteran just to get camera time. That’s how hot WWE is – TKO is beating off celebrities with a stick. I mean, why would we want to shout out a young, trendy female star who’s just played Coachella, when we could give screen time to a retired footballer like Rob Gronkowski? If Saturday night taught us anything, it’s that female performers are best enjoyed in (really) small doses.

Now, I’m sorry — this is starting to sound a bit negative. The Social Suplex’s review of “WrestleMania 42” really shouldn’t start with nitpicks. (Editor’s Note: pick all the nits you want, David.) We should dive right into the heart of the content and talk about the real highlights. There were so many bold and, as John Cena would say, “polarising” decisions made at “WrestleMania” this year that we should try to find some common ground, spread some positivity, and discuss the segments we truly loved. Well, speaking on behalf of the international fans watching at home on Netflix, if I had to pick just one standout section, it would have to be when the Wheatley’s “so good I drink it neatly” commercial aired and then rolled right into the first of four unskippable trailers for the Hulk Hogan Real American documentary (and honestly, who would want to skip the ads?).

For you see, “WrestleMania III” was Hulk’s road-to-Damascus moment, where he stepped in the ring with Andre The Giant not knowing whether his opponent would co-operate with him or not. Right up until the referee counted three, poor Hulk had no idea if he was going home with the title or not. Suitably educated and ready for more after that exclusive sneak preview, WWE delivered yet again with an unskippable “Be Right Back” screen featuring images of all my favourite WWE Superstars gurning at me in super slow motion. Hey look, there’s Iyo Sky, she’s my favourite wrestler in all the world and the star of “WrestleMania 41” — I wonder who she’ll be wrestling this year? Well, that doesn’t matter, because Tiffany Stratton (remember her?) and Drew McIntyre are battling it out on a new mobile game, and wow, Tony Hinchcliffe and Jeff Ross are in the front row and they have a special airing on Netflix this weekend. This, my friends, is the good shit right here.

So, are we having fun yet?

No doubt I have belaboured the point, but that is entirely by design, because in 2026 “WrestleMania” barely feels like a wrestling show. Only 36% of the PLE actually involved in-ring wrestling, which is historically low even by “WrestleMania’s” own standards, where long video packages and extravagant pre- and post-match pageantry are the norm. The reason we are dwelling at such painful length on the gluttonous buffet of adverts, commercial tie-ins, celebrity endorsements and meaningless downtime is because WWE has reached a tipping point. This card was a bridge too far: the moment when it became simply impossible for fans to grin and bear it. The commercialisation of the product is now utterly overbearing, to the point that “WrestleMania” feels like a hollow exercise in extracting what meagre resources remain in fans’ pockets after paying $700+ to attend in person or an ESPN+ subscription fee to watch a PPV event overflowing with regular and routine commercial breaks. This isn’t entertainment — it’s purgatory. TKO have transformed Allegiant Stadium into one giant waiting room at a dentist’s surgery: a place for yawning, restless fidgeting and browsing magazines full of puff pieces and glossy adverts.

What’s truly tragic is that “WrestleMania” has always been famous for its non-wrestling time, but even as recently as a year ago, most of that non-wrestling time was dedicated to long, well-constructed video packages laying out the stories underlying the matches we were about to witness. Regular viewers find these videos a little tedious, but I have been to shows with casual fans and where a video package explaining the Bloodline saga has got them hyped for a main event they were previously disinterested in. Video packages are a part of wrestling; they are wrestling content. But now even they are gone. Over the course of “WrestleMania 42”, only two matches had video packages air for the public watching at home: Cody Rhodes vs Randy Orton and CM Punk vs Roman Reigns. Every other match was introduced cold, because the time that would have been spent bringing new fans up to speed on why they should be excited to see Stephanie Vaquer or Jacob Fatu, was instead spent shouting out Zuffa boxers or introducing mute crypto millionaires who’ve paid God knows how much to sit alongside Michael Cole.

The Sunday night edition of “WrestleMania” would demonstrate that good wrestling and feel-good moments are capable of salvaging this disgustingly greedy cash-grab masquerading as a “Premium Live Event”, but Saturday was an unmitigated disaster.

Believe it or not, based on the Cagematch ratings, I actually enjoyed this show more than most people. So much so that I had to include written reviews before my scores would be allowed on the website; because my disdain for the show was deemed too positive and suspiciously out of keeping with the voracious vitriol this show inspired. And yet I cannot praise this show in almost any way. “WrestleMania” was entirely vacuous – a lifeless husk designed to provide just enough entertainment somewhat resembling wrestling for you to obediently sit down and let them ram commercial after commercial down your throat until you can recite entire sections of the Hulk Hogan documentary by heart. “WrestleMania” Saturday was a non-event. It wasn’t just anti-wrestling, it was anti-content. As Gertrude Stein would say, “There’s no there there”.

Illogical and Incompetent, Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton Are Lost At Sea In The WrestleMania Main Event

Between Pat McAfee and Travis Scott, one thing is clear: Triple H’s creative team is incapable of adapting to the unexpected. The main event between Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton already had a great weight resting on its shoulders; as the only match given anything resembling a substantial run time, it had to pretty much save “WrestleMania” night one. Suffice to say, they were not up to the task, but the fault most likely does not lie with either wrestler. Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton had been telling a simple and logical story built on the back of their decades-long mentor and protégé relationship. Cody, in what was probably just a meaningless platitude designed as a show of sportsmanship, had said that he wanted to face the “best version of Randy Orton at Wrestlemania” during a contract signing. Confronted with what he felt was a patronising gesture from someone who was supposed to be his friend, Randy Orton gave Cody exactly what he wanted. He beat Rhodes bloody with the ring steps and appeared to emerge as the house-invading, wife-punting, Viper — the dreaded ’09 Orton.

The die had seemingly been cast for Cody Rhodes to take the next natural evolution in his character. Having been pushed to violence by Kevin Owens and having learnt to pull the trigger- even if it meant cruelly bludgeoning a friend – with John Cena in 2025, the Orton feud would see Cody go one step further. He’d already shown he had more killer instinct than Sami Zayn in earning back his world title, but the question remained: was he an actual killer? To beat this version of Randy Orton, he would not only have to prove his superiority as a wrestler, he’d have to go to a darker place, proving he could be more vicious, bloodthirsty and potentially dishonest than his former mentor. Randy would be his most vile and unrepentant self, but could Cody match him without losing his identity in the process? It’s certainly a melodramatic B-movie plotline, but at least it provided a clear and compelling direction of travel.

Then enter Pat McAfee, and the entire world was turned on its head. Randy Orton went from a man doing anything in his power to win his 15th World Title to being labelled the saviour of wrestling for disgruntled Attitude Era fans — despite the fact Randy was a teenager during the 90s and a pretty boy wrestler loathed by bloodthirsty Steve Austin fans. Suddenly, Cody was back to being a white-meat babyface, standing up to Pat as the ex-punter whined about ticket sales and Cagematch ratings before accusing Cody of sucking Triple H’s arsehole (yes, really). It was a bizarre and stark shift, but at least the battlelines had been drawn. This wasn’t going to be a shades-of-grey battle featuring a conflicted babyface being pulled to the dark side; instead, Cody would be defending WWE from Pat McAfee and his mysterious corporate backers, be they The Rock, TKO or Ari Emanuel.

Then as the sun went down on 18 April 2026, at “WrestleMania”, after Randy Orton had made his excruciatingly long and meandering entrance and Cody Rhodes had dramatically reflected on his past evolutions (including Stardust), it was time for the main event. And something very strange indeed began to unfold. It quickly became apparent that some combination of Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton and Triple H had decided to not ditch the old storyline idea after all. Instead, they were going to tell the story of Cody’s flirtation with Randy Orton-level villainy and have him play the White Knight defending WWE from Pat & TKO simultaneously. Don’t worry – if that sounds confusing, it is going to get so much worse because, while Cody is falling victim to a full-blown bout of multiple personality disorder, WWE has decided that Randy Orton is going to go play sympathetic babyface for approximately 10 minutes.

It started innocently enough. Pat McAfee clobbers Cody Rhodes with a microphone during the ring introductions and Cody valiantly fights back two-on-one. He puts down Randy briefly, which gives him just enough time to kill Pat with the CrossRhodes. Then, from out of nowhere, country pop sensation Jelly Roll appears to hit what we will generously describe as a flying elbow through the announce table onto the lifeless McAfee. So far, so good. We have clear babyfaces and heels, the celebrities have got in and out within the first two minutes, and best of all, Pat McAfee has been written off and stretchered out. It’s time to wrestle.

© WWE

Well, there’s good news and bad news. The fans wanted ’09 Orton, and they are getting exactly that. Unfortunately, those of us who survived the Orton–Cena years will remember that watching Orton get the heat is as painfully dull as it is technically precise. Orton grinds his opponents into the mat with singular forearms, slow Garvin stomps and gruelling chinlocks. The brilliant, almost joyous, fun-dad Randy Orton who has been having a late-career resurgence in the 2020s — well, he’s vanished. In his place stands the merciless grinder famed for killing the clock and sucking the life out of his opponents (not to mention the crowd). But hey, at least we have a babyface and heel.

Wait, what’s that? The commentary team are informing us that the rumours that Randy Orton has suffered some kind of back injury in the weeks leading up to “WrestleMania” are true. Huh. That feels like something that should have been brought to our attention before the match began, but okay, thanks, I guess — maybe they are just letting us know why Randy and Cody are taking it so ungodly slow. Oh wait, no. Cody has just cut Randy off and is actively attacking Orton’s lower back. He’s methodically picking apart an injured veteran with a callous and emotionless expression, and Randy is now actively selling like an underdog babyface, setting the stage for a dramatic comeback.

It’s at this moment that it becomes apparent that Triple H and the agenting team have completely overthought the match layout. They are now adding a third layer on top of both the original Legacy storyline and the new McAfee storyline. They are going full Vince Russo and are assuming that 50,000 fans are magically aware of the injury reporting of the dirt sheets. More specifically, it is abundantly clear that they assumed Randy Orton was going to be wildly cheered and Cody Rhodes would be heartily booed. This is not an unreasonable assumption given Randy’s incredible popularity, but unfortunately for WWE, that isn’t the reality on the night. Orton is popular, but since he started with his slow-paced offence, he’s not really getting a strong positive or negative reaction. The crowd are engaged, but they are not loudly chanting “RKO” or much of anything at all. Cody, on the other hand, got an incredible volume of reaction during his entrance, but has now settled into the usual mix of cheers and boos; whatever the case, it’s certainly not overwhelmingly negative.

The psychology of the match is now totally cattywampus. Cody is no longer seeking to match and surpass Randy’s level of aggression; instead, he’s picking apart an injured Viper – and it’s getting worse. Cody is now actively mimicking Randy’s intentionally boring heel offence: to a chorus of boos, Cody delivers a Garvin Stomp and cinches in a chinlock. WE ARE BEING FORCED TO WATCH THE LEGENDARILY UNWATCHABLE ’09 ORTON HEAT SEGMENT TWICE!

Don’t worry, it’s getting stranger still. Randy is now reduced to victim status, barely able to fire back. He’s reaching for his back between every move and sequence. If he is selling, he’s doing it brilliantly: clenching his teeth in agony after a superplex, struggling to bend to pick Cody up, and he’s adopting a slight arch in his gait — this really is a masterclass. The trouble is it’s taking the crowd out of the match. Rather than ripping through his comeback at speed, he’s hobbling. When he hits the hanging DDT to a muted murmur in lieu of a pop, he’s so committed to selling his back he can’t even twist and fall into his signature taunt. So rather than having the crowd go wild and clap along with him in anticipation as he punches the mat, they instead watch in awkward silence as Orton gingerly drops down one knee at a time to assume the Viper pose like an octogenarian.

Cody, meanwhile, has completely gone off the deep end. He’s smearing Orton’s blood across his chest, he’s low-blowing poor Randy, and he’s sarcastically hitting Orton with his signature poses to boot. This show of unrepentant heel work is, at last, drawing loud, shocked gasps from the crowd and the match is starting to build momentum. It makes little sense — the roles have been swapped at least three times — but we have alighted on a strategy that is actually working. The crowd is losing their minds as Rhodes pokes Orton in the eyes, causing the blinded Orton to give referee Charles Robinson a flash RKO in one of those wholly preposterous, but utterly brilliant, “only in wrestling” moments. Then it happens: Cody hits an intentional low blow and goes for the Cody Cutter, but Randy counters with the RKO out of nowhere and Cody’s head starts gushing blood, as Orton crawls into the cover.
So let’s recap: whatever happened at the start of the match, Cody Rhodes is now cheating galore, beating up an injured Orton and making a mockery of his opponent. For at least 10 minutes, he’s been a full-blown heel. Randy, who started as a heel, is now unquestionably an underdog babyface working desperately from underneath, and he has the visual pinfall (the staple of every good and honest babyface).

Excellent. So what happens next? Yes, you guessed it: who should come high-stepping down the ramp in a comical neck brace, sunglasses and, most importantly of all, a referee’s shirt? That’s right — the number one heel in the entire promotion, Pat McAfee. Evil Pat is running down to the ring to count a pin for plucky underdog Randy Orton – and that’s not the worst of it, trust me. Pat then proceeds to slow count. Yes, that’s right – Pat, who has run down to secure Randy’s victory, is slow-counting his teammate, even though he has agreed that if Cody Rhodes wins, we will never see Pat McAfee in WWE again. What the hell is happening? Babyface Randy is now furious that heel Pat didn’t fast-count for him against heel / face / who-the-fuck-knows Cody Rhodes.

Eventually, Randy Orton RKOs Pat, drawing by far and away the biggest pop of the match. Presumably, he’s back in the babyface role, despite the fact he wanted to cheat to win. There is no bigger babyface move than RKOing McAfee, so let’s just roll with it. Anyway, it does not matter: all the over-the-top twists and turns have finally got the crowd going crazy. It’s now mano-a-mano. It’s time for five minutes of wild counters, kick-outs and RKOs out of nowhere until one man is left standing. Oh wait, scratch that – Cody hit one CrossRhodes and has won the match. He didn’t even need to use the combo CrossRhodes. That’s it, just as it was getting sort of good, or at least flaming-car-crash intriguing, it’s over.

Well actually, we aren’t quite finished yet. Cody Rhodes is happily celebrating. Thanks to Pat’s interjection, we don’t really know what the story’s original resolution was supposed to be, and no one has any idea whether Cody has turned heel or whether we are supposed to think he’s beaten Orton at his own game (even though Orton wasn’t actually cheating tonight). But it doesn’t matter, because poor, underdog, injured old man Randy Orton rises from his grave to bash the rotten cheating Cody in the head with the World Title. Cody is a bloody mess and, after teasing it for years, Randy hits Cody with the dreaded punt. The final cherry has been laid on the confusion sundae. Orton has hit the most strongly established heel move in WWE, but in doing so he’s also brought back a spot fans have been crying out to see since it was retired a number of years ago.

Cody’s eye is a black, blue and crimson mess, but it’s still in better and more recognisable shape than the psychology of this match. Despite being relatively well wrestled in terms of pure execution and undeniably dramatic in an utterly braindead fashion during its crescendo, this match was an all-time booking disaster. Overthought, muddled, uncertain, entirely built on second-guessing the reaction rather than trusting their own instincts, and undermined by a knee-jerk desire to bolster ticket sales, this one match is the perfect encapsulation of Triple H’s fumbled build to “WrestleMania 42”. There’s a good storyline thread and a decent match buried in there somewhere, deep beneath all the utterly irrational self-inflicted wounds and self-indulgent idiocy.

© WWE

Gunther and Rollins Effortlessly Steal The Show In A Really, Really Good, But Never Great Clash

“WrestleMania” was drifting into the abyss when the bell rang to start this rather thrown-together match between Gunther and Seth Rollins. Thankfully, these men were built for the biggest of stages and were determined to flip the script on a tiresome evening. The second the bell rang, Gunther flew across the ring, surprising Rollins with his wonderfully ugly Tyrannosaurus Dropkick. Not giving his opponent a second to breathe, the Austrian followed up with a big back suplex and powerbomb combination and we were off to the races. Foolishly taking a moment to admire his handiwork, Gunther let the momentum slip as Rollins came roaring back at ringside by clawing at his larger opponent’s eyes before battering him all around ringside. Finally, “WrestleMania” was delivering big stars, intense, expertly executed action, and a sense that what happened in the ring actually mattered.

Both men seemed genuinely fired up and they were clearly aiming to conjure that dream match feel, and by God they succeeded. Gunther was at his absolute best, marrying the smug self-confidence of a man who can humble a world-class athlete using offence as rudimentary as a lariat, with the barely concealed fear of a schoolyard bully who’s always on the verge of being exposed as a coward he really is. Seth, meanwhile, was in his element: no dorkery or pomposity, just a wrestling machine determined to blow up his opponent with his relentless cardio. Great spots and sequences came in waves. Seth caught and carried Gunther across the entire ring into his devastating buckle bomb, before the pair entered a nail-biting sequence of nearfalls with Gunther landing his signature powerbomb and Rollins replying with his Pedigree/Curb Stomp combination.

© WWE

The crowd were living and dying with the action as Seth had Gunther on the ropes, trapping the Austrian in his own legend-killing sleeper — a neat callback to Jey Uso’s world title victory just 12 months ago. Gunther would escape, but had to fight for his life to endure not only a superplex/Falcon Arrow combination, but a parade of suicide dives. Gunther would catch Rollins on the last dive and give him an apron powerbomb and a powerbomb on the announce table, but Rollins wouldn’t wilt. Instead, Gunther was the one to fade when Rollins returned fire with a Pedigree and a Curb Stomp on the second announce table. Fourteen or so minutes in, and the pair appeared on course for an all-time classic, but alas, there was to be no more back-and-forth action. While the referee checked to see if Gunther was still conscious following the Curb Stomp, Bron Breakker came rampaging to ringside to spear Rollins out of his boots. In a dramatic final image, Rollins would stare down Breakker, only for Gunther to rise like a monster from the abyss to drag Seth down into the sleeper. Seth would battle briefly before passing out.

What we saw of this match was truly excellent, and the finish does make perfect sense given the overarching storyline and Raw’s future direction of travel, but it still feels like a missed opportunity. Saturday was such an empty shell of a show, it needed a five-star banger more than it needed another big return. Had Gunther and Rollins been given another 5–10 minutes, I have no doubt they’d have delivered a classic Mania match, but instead we got two-thirds of an epic: a teaser for what’s to come on a show that is supposed to deliver the grandest of culminations.

Three Women’s Title Matches Are Dismissively Crammed Into 23 Short Minutes

It might feel insulting to group the three top women’s matches on “WrestleMania” night one together rather than giving them the due care and attention they deserve, but it is merely a reflection of the wanton disregard with which WWE decided treat the women who are, on paper at least, some of the promotion’s biggest stars.

Liv Morgan and Stephanie Vaquer were given the shortest shrift of all. Despite recovering from a freak injury to win the 2026 Royal Rumble before embarking on a violent and viciously personal feud, Morgan’s long-awaited Women’s World Championship showdown wasn’t even afforded seven full minutes. The performers themselves cannot be faulted; despite being given scant snatches of TV time, they built up a tremendous sense of both grievance and vitriol. Liv would inflict casual racism on Vaquer (referring to the “mud huts” of Chile) one week and calling her mother a whore the next. Not to be outdone, Vaquer would bring Morgan to tears by pointing out her coddled Performance Center privilege, before sickeningly slam Liv’s skull into her stablemate Roxanne Perez’s forehead a few weeks later, causing a giant haematoma to blossom. The final image of the two women was of screaming fury, with Morgan bruised, battered and ring-eyed, looking strung out on unadulterated loathing of Vaquer.

© WWE

The match was then positioned as a sleeper show-stealer, capable of upstaging the plodding Randy Orton. The two women certainly started brilliantly as Vaquer simply overwhelmed Morgan with an icy intensity. She was beating Morgan to the punch and had the crowd rocking as she snapped off a headbutt, SVB and the Devil’s Kiss in short order. Morgan was reeling as Vaquer caught her with the Ob-Liv-ion for a great early nearfall. The champion would have to rely on Judgment Day to cut Vaquer off and regain any semblance of control. Only four minutes in, and Vaquer was valiantly making her first comeback, hitting a gorgeous springboard plancha to wipe out Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez at ringside.

With Stephanie running wild, it finally happened: Liv snuck up behind her, rammed her into the ring post — the heat was upon us. After a white-hot start, Liv was going to cool the match back down so we could build up to a brilliant crescendo. Only that never happened. With Vaquer staggered, Morgan hit a diving Codebreaker as the pair returned to the ring and followed up with an Ob-Liv-ion to capture her third world title. It was all over. The finish was really rather excellent and would have been the perfect denouement had it arrived at least four or five minutes later. Instead, it was a violent rug pull: a match that had so much promise and that had been a genuine joy for its brief run time was suddenly over. Any sense of fondness or excitement was replaced by the sensation of being short-changed (the defining characteristic of “WrestleMania” night one).

Tragically, despite both women’s best efforts, this title match is unlikely to be remembered in a week, let alone a year’s time. It is a limp end to Vaquer’s reign that felt like an afterthought, merely a pretext for Morgan to lip-sync her Temu-Britney “hit” single “Trouble” during her ring entrance. Morgan would have a better match with Sol Ruca on Raw than she did here, and the one moment that has caught the public’s imagination stemming from this match is, unfortunately, a meme: a clip of Liv Morgan’s rip-away suit refusing to give way during her dance routine and the sight of her backing dancers having to ungainly yank and pull at her to reveal her ring gear.

Still, it could be worse. At least they had a good match in the time they were given; the same cannot be said for Becky Lynch and AJ Lee. Their Intercontinental match was lightweight, forgettable and wretchedly wrestled, serving as a pitiful coda to AJ’s grand return to the squared circle. After Becky Lynch had been played to the ring by The Wonder Years and AJ had skipped down the aisle with an adorable troupe of mini-mes, it felt like they might at least attempt to produce a Mania-worthy spectacle, but it wasn’t to be. The fifteen minutes the pair were given at Elimination Chamber was cut to a paltry eight, and even within such tight confines, the match felt strangely vacant. Devoid of heat, lacking in intensity and featuring woefully poor execution, the pair were never on the same page.

At times, I genuinely felt for Becky. The Man isn’t the fastest; she’s banged up and battle-scarred after a long career, but she is always in the right place, famed for her ring IQ and storytelling ability. Unfortunately, no matter how slowly she paces the match, she can never move quite slowly enough for AJ Lee. Becky would take bumps for AJ, spin to her feet and charge, but somehow AJ was always late. Even when the task was as simple as raising a boot or doing Vader’s butterfly attack, she blew the timing. How on earth do you manage to be late hitting a move that simply involves standing still and waving your arms? Well, AJ found a way. There was at least one creative moment as Becky managed to escape the Black Widow by pulling AJ’s hair on referee Jessica Carr’s blind side, but that is where the compliments end.

For the second straight PPV, there was far more heat during the confrontations between Becky Lynch and Jessica Carr than anything involving AJ Lee. Playing off the finish of their Elimination Chamber match, Becky would once again loosen the turnbuckle pad, but this time she pulled the referee in front of her, causing enough of a distraction for Becky to jam AJ’s head into the exposed steel. From there, one Manhandle Slam was enough for Lynch to reclaim her title. The best that can be said for AJ is that she does take tremendous bumps for Becky’s finisher; hopefully this is the end of her run.
Rounding off WWE’s whirlwind presentation of its women’s division was the World Tag Team Championship fatal four-way. Four teams, eight women and one minute each to impress. Truth be told, this was barely a match and more of a cavalcade of both sloppy and solid spots, but it nevertheless turned into one of the rare highlights of the show thanks to one big surprise return.

When The Bella Twins’ music hit, Brie strutted onto the stage, accompanied by Nikki hobbling on crutches, to introduce her mystery replacement — Nikki’s “old friend”, Paige. Suffice to say, Paige’s return blew the non-existent roof off the place. Returning with her old music and a classic look, Paige felt right at home in WWE. Saraya always felt awkward and out of place in AEW, but as she skipped down the ramp, everything seemed to be in right place. The fans were rabid for the match, not because they were interested in Lyra Valkyria and Bayley’s slick offence, but because they wanted to see Paige’s hot tag — and, after a brief tease, WWE delivered it. Paige looked satisfyingly sharp as she escaped Lyra’s Nightwing and countered with a Paige Turner to clear the ring.

This led to a dramatic showdown with Charlotte Flair, which drew such a raucous response that WWE should likely adjust their plans on the fly to deliver that match. The pair briefly exchanged chops before Charlotte got the upper hand with the Natural Selection (which always looks terrible). Alexa Bliss would return to the ring to deliver the Twisted Bliss, only for Paige to get her knees up before sending the crowd home happy with the RamPaige. Job done.

Nevertheless, while this segment had a great feel-good energy, it’s still a strange choice from a booking perspective. WWE sacrificed RhIyo to put The Irresistible Forces (Lash Legend & Nia Jax) over, but within a month they dropped the titles with little fanfare. They can be rebuilt, but it will be interesting to see how long the makeshift team of Brie Bella and Paige will last as champions.

Jacob Fatu Gets His Big Win Over Drew McIntyre In A Tame Unsanctioned Match

Talk about overpromising and underdelivering. Jacob Fatu and Drew McIntyre went to war in the build-up to this match. They brawled across arenas, Drew allegedly kicked out Jacob’s teeth, they crashed cars and sent each other flying through windscreens, Jacob nearly killed Cody Rhodes by way of collateral damage at “Saturday Night’s Main Event”, and, oh yes, they both plummeted off the side of a building. This was supposed to be a war so dangerous that WWE could not possibly think of sanctioning it. Instead, it was every other PG street fight in existence — not even half as good as McIntyre’s no-DQ battle with Damian Priest at last year’s Mania.

The pair worked their usual match. The action was good and solid, with both men hitting hard and bumping well. Drew would borrow his brother’s phone to film a mocking video and even would use a wrench to scrape at Jacob’s forehead, but when the Samoan rose to his feet without even a dash of colour, it was clear that the safety wheels were very firmly on. This would have made for a fine TV match on SmackDown, but it was not befitting of “WrestleMania”, the stipulation or the feud itself. The match did manage to peak with a perfect finish. The pair planned a brilliant Chekhov’s table spot: with McIntyre laid out on a table in the ring, he sneakily slipped off and onto the apron, throwing a chair at Fatu to cut off his Triple Jump Moonsault. With the camera focused on Jacob on the top rope, teetering above the table in the ring, Drew shocked everyone by shoving Jacob off the top rope to the floor, where Jacob took a corkscrew flip bump through a table that had been set up and left at ringside in the opening minutes of the match. However, this superb misdirection would only prompt Jacob to make a superman recovery, rising from the ashes to superkick Drew into oblivion before hitting a sumptuous moonsault through a table for the win. It ended with a bang, but this match existed as a prolonged whimper.

ISHOWSPEED Steals The Show In Forgettable But Fun Opener

The opening contest on “WrestleMania” weekend was an underbaked celebrity six-man tag which pitched LA Knight & The Usos against Logan Paul, Austin Theory & IShowSpeed. Speed is both incredibly popular with young boys and legitimately likeable. He’s a good little actor, capable of displaying both fear and determination, who has a legitimate spring in his step. This match was never about the wrestling. These four solid professionals filled their time with some unremarkable, but inoffensive, sub-Raw-level action en route to LA Knight nailing Theory with a BFT to pick up the pinfall victory. Then, and only then, could meaningful action unfold.

Having briefly bumped into Austin Theory during the match, IShowSpeed was taking the blame for his team’s defeat. He was protesting his innocence, arguing that he’d been roped into this match and never really wanted to fight anyone. With the heels bullying the skinny influencer, the babyfaces rode to the rescue. After The Usos hit the 1D, the stage was set for Speed’s big moment. Logan Paul was laid out on the announce table and Speed climbed to the top of the ring post, hit Cristiano Ronaldo’s signature “Siu” celebration and then soared through the air with a genuinely spectacular frog splash before crash landing onto the helpless body of Logan Paul. It was a great moment, but it was just that: a moment, a fleeting visual to justify a paper-thin match.

© WWE

WWE WrestleMania 42 Sunday

Date: 19 April 2026
Location: Allegiant Stadium, Nevada, USA
Company Announced Attendance: 52,011
Watch On: ESPN / Netflix

Review By David Hayter

WWE had backed themselves into a corner following the grotesque embodiment of corporate greed, smug self-satisfaction and vacuous celebrity key-jangling that was “WrestleMania” Night One. Even if you enjoyed the limited wrestling content in isolation, it was hard to shake the queasy feeling that you were being fed empty calories: a putrid energy bar with a few slithers of dried fruit squished between gallons of sickly sugar and tasteless reconstituted slop. As the show closed with a defeated Randy Orton standing tall, a bad taste lingered in the mouth; fans had paid through the nose both in the stadium and on ESPN+ for the privilege of being presented with hour upon hour of advertising. WWE had no choice but to cleanse our palates or face a full-throated fan revolt.

Fear not, anyone who has just read the Social Suplex’s “WrestleMania” Saturday review, I will not be subjecting you to another blow-by-blow account of the endless downtime and commercial glad-handing that has driven the wrestling out of “WrestleMania”. Instead, the review of the Sunday night show is going to be far more positive, as it turns out even the most obnoxious examples of corporate enshittification are somewhat tolerable when the core wrestling product is strong. All the ickiness is still in effect and certain matches were cut tragically short (yet again), but the top matches on Sunday night absolutely delivered.

The staleness and lack of confidence that has defined so much of WWE’s booking in the last six months was cast aside. Triple H allowed a sense of positivity and optimism to creep into the product; the show picked up momentum early and allowed it to snowball. Most crucially of all, WWE got out of their own way. The heavy-handed fingerprints of TKO and the creative team were pleasingly absent from this show and, when Triple H was presented with a choice, he made the obvious and crowd-pleasing one. Oba Femi was put over in devastatingly strong fashion; the brilliant talent packed into the ladder match was let off the leash; Trick Williams was given the platform to stand tall and shine; Finn Bálor was allowed to bring back the Demon and be portrayed as a dominant babyface once more; Rhea slickly blasted Jade into oblivion as RhIyo were allowed to be wholesome and happy without a hint of heat or humiliation; and – best of all – Roman Reigns and CM Punk were given 33 minutes to just go out there and tell a story in the ring. No interference. No celebrities. No swerves. No double turn. No nonsense.

“WrestleMania” Sunday wasn’t an all-time classic by any means and it certainly doesn’t erase the memory of the abomination that preceded it, but it is exactly what WWE needed: a refresh and a re-centering. Finally, a show that felt confident, self-assured, and forward-facing. For the first time in months it felt like Triple H was actually building towards something: new stories, new faces and a sense that what happens in the ring actually matters. The overthinking and second-guessing that positively reeked of “too many cooks in the kitchen” disappeared for three and a half hours on Sunday night. It felt as though an invisible weight had been lifted from the promotion’s shoulders, but make no mistake, the stench of corporate value extraction still lingers, even if this show was a tentative step in the right direction.

Punk’s Aged Body Betrays Him As He’s Outlasted By Roman Reigns In An Instant Classic

Suffice to say that WWE got so much of the “WrestleMania 42” build wrong. Fans need only cast their minds back to Saturday night to recall the grotesque and mangled psychology of Randy Orton vs. Cody Rhodes; a feud beset by indecision, second-guessing and panicked interference from the TKO board. However, amidst all the promotion’s missteps, the Roman Reigns and CM Punk build had been pleasingly straightforward and satisfyingly deep, as their bitter promos informed every action, expression and story beat in this gruelling 30+ minute war.

On one level, the main event is simply the best in the world, the reigning World Heavyweight Champion defending his crown against not only the winner of the Royal Rumble, but the most dominant champion of the past decade, the face of the franchise, Roman Reigns. However, from their very first promo exchange, the pair let it be known that the sporting contest is entirely secondary to a deep-seated loathing. Roman resents that Punk, to this day, takes credit for introducing him to WWE as a member of The Shield, alongside Seth Rollins and Jon Moxley. Roman has never forgiven Punk for letting the world know that he chose Seth and he chose Moxley, while Roman was forced upon him. Worse, Roman has utter contempt for Punk’s decision to broadcast to the world that Roman Reigns was WWE’s protected pet project; not merely the chosen one, but the coddled apple of Vince McMahon’s eye. Putting it bluntly, with a few loose words on a podcast, Punk made Roman’s life hell by kicking up a nascent hornet’s nest of fan resentment that would blight his entire babyface run. Roman could not stomach the fact that, in spite of his transparent cruelty, thin-skinned pettiness and sanctimonious self-righteousness, the fans never stopped loving Punk.

Naturally enough, Punk hates Roman too. He sees his opponent as the embodiment of entitlement; a Samoan nepo-hire, born into the limelight and given a hundred and one chances to fail upwards thanks to his smouldering good looks and chiselled abs. Punk not only had to earn it on the indies, overcoming every question about his look, his style, his upbringing and his inherent lack of coordination to even get a foot in the door, but he knew that even a single misstep would see the company sour on him. He not only had to earn it, but had to keep proving he had it long after any such doubts should have been laid to rest. Whereas Roman had the privilege of coasting; so assured in his status that he doesn’t even bother to turn up to work half the time. Punk simply cannot abide that someone has been handed the world on a platter and doesn’t even care enough to cherish it.

The jealousy was dripping from their every pore each time they stared each other down; a freakish mirror image of one another, both incapable of apologising or admitting fault, both stubbornly self-righteous and both fundamentally flawed. The story of the match was simple: when these two obstinate, contemptuous pricks butted heads, whose Achilles heel would lead to their downfall? Would Roman prove to be a paper tiger propped up by his Bloodline, incapable of truly earning anything on his own merits, or was Punk simply too old, a shell of his former self, incapable of truly hanging with an actual athlete like Reigns? When Punk originally flew off the handle at being called “old”, fans and critics alike were taken aback—why was that the line that caused Punk to snap? The answer was relatively complex, but would play beautifully into the “WrestleMania” main event. Punk claimed he had finally reached the top of the top, he had “fuck you” money and “fuck you” fame—he had earned the privilege that Roman was gifted—but it had arrived too late. He’s weak, he’s feeble, he’s breaking down and he knows it; every title match from Gunther to Roman has been about his struggling to hold it together. Just as he’d reached a critical mass of commercial infallibility, his body was betraying him.

All these themes would play out beautifully as the skies darkened over Allegiant Stadium, as Roman Reigns and CM Punk made their spectacular and perfectly contrasting entrances. Roman came out to a gorgeous classical rendition of his theme, the very image of stately, old-money, self-assurance; with golden pillars and four generations of his Bloodline displayed on screen, he sauntered to the ring. Punk’s entrance was the polar opposite. Not pomp and circumstance, but a collection of grubby Polaroids capturing his long journey to tonight’s main event: proudly displaying every bad haircut and scuzzy set of gym shorts he’d worn on route to the top of the world (or as close as he could get, the roof of Allegiant Stadium). This trip down memory lane was soundtracked by AFI’s “Miseria Cantare”, his original ROH theme, and I have to admit to being a little moved. I have never personally been a CM Punk fan, but I was a scraggly Ring of Honor fan in 2006, desperate for an alternative, and the combination of the theme and the photos transported me back in time to a happier place: watching imported DVDs of CM Punk giving Jimmy Rave the Pepsi Plunge with my best friends in my university digs. In all honesty, it made me feel tragically old, reminding me just how distant my (and CM Punk’s) youth truly is.

The dividing lines had been drawn and, as the Reigns and Punk circled, it was clear what was about to happen: these two bitter bastards were going to beat each other to exhaustion until one of man — in this case the older, more desperate and less composed CM Punk — finally wilted.

© WWE

It’s worth starting with the finish, because it was the most poignant moment of this brilliantly structured story. After 30 minutes of stubbornly butting heads like two ornery goats, with sweat dripping and blood pooling, CM Punk finally had Roman Reigns beat: he hit the Go 2 Sleep and Roman was spent, his dead weight flopping into the ropes and collapsing atop CM Punk’s shoulders. The scene was set for Punk’s signature finish. Using his bloody-minded resilience, he was going to power his way back up to his feet and finish Roman once and for all with a final Go To Sleep, the ultimate coup de grâce. Punk was nearly there; he had Roman all the way up, his legs were shaking – they’d been rubbery for 32 minutes, they only had to last a few more seconds – but they buckled.

Punk collapsed in a pitiful, exhausted heap. He was about to lose the main event of “WrestleMania” not with a bang, but a whimper. He staggered back to his feet, but it was academic; Roman would spear him into oblivion before the poor old fool could even remember where he was. Just as he had feared and knew deep down, his spirit might be strong, but his body had atrophied; when it really counted, he couldn’t keep up – he was too old. However, the tragedy—and what makes this such a beautiful ending to the story—is not that Punk lost because of his age; it’s the fact he will forever be left with the knowledge that he could have and would have beaten Roman if his body hadn’t let him down. That is what’s so haunting about growing old: it’s being so keenly aware of what you used to be able to achieve, but can no longer deliver. It’s having to watch yourself being beaten to the punch by someone who simply isn’t as good as you, but has the one quality you cannot replicate: youth.

It ended beautifully, but the entire match itself was immaculately structured to bring to life the underlying themes of the feud. The second the bell rang, it became apparent that both Punk and Roman were intent on both humiliating and breaking the other man down. This was a blood feud, but not the sort that starts with a pier-six brawl; instead, Roman and Punk wanted to expose one another as a fraud. Punk started with a wonderful air of sneering self-confidence, assured that he’d dog-walk Roman through the early wrestling exchanges. The crowd audibly gasped when it was Punk who sent the larger Reigns to the mat with the first shoulder tackle. He was treating Reigns like a young boy on the grandest stage. Not to be outdone, after a brief regroup, Reigns would gain control and prove equally contemptuous; he couldn’t technically show Punk up, but instead he chose to beat and stomp down Punk, treating him like a literal sack of crap to be disdainfully kicked around.

From there the pair were off to the races, with a rapt crowd hanging on their every movement and gesture. It became clear from the very early going that Punk was clinging on, smartly using a combination of his very real exhaustion and his innate lack of physical coordination to sell fragility. Even when he had the upper hand, he stumbled and bumbled like a man whose quads were hanging on by a thread. Roman was more assured in his physicality, but more frustrated emotionally, constantly getting worked up as he couldn’t either put Punk away or sustain the upper hand.

Both men would prove gleefully cruel as the match progressed, but in their own distinct ways. Roman would cut Punk off on the top rope, causing Punk to fall into the tree-of-woe position on the outside. Sensing his opportunity, Roman would deliver a parade of Superman punches that drew queasy groans from the crowd, uncomfortable seeing a babyface land a series of unprotected shots on a defenceless opponent. 50,000 fans were suddenly transformed into a nervy old boxing coach on the verge of throwing in the towel. Punk would eventually crumple to the floor and come up bathed in blood. Unable to match Roman’s physical dominance, Punk had to find a psychological edge. When it was his turn to twist the knife, he goaded Reigns into a slugfest, only for Punk to take the tape off his fist and petulantly throw it against Roman’s chest in what felt like a petty and pointless gesture. Of course, when the referee went to remove the tape from the ring, Punk would blast Roman with a savage low blow—but when the referee turned around, he simply saw Punk preparing to hoist his opponent for a GTS. Punk never stopped goading his opponent, mocking his taunts, throwing some of the most wonderfully wretched Superman punches imaginable and even donning Roman’s Ula Fala before attempting a pitiful spear.

Naturally, in a match fuelled by loathing and contempt, so many of the match’s greatest moments were built around displays of hubris. Having put on the Ula Fala and mockingly Roman’s performed “Hua-ah” taunt, CM Punk staggered forward for a spear and was immediately caught in a humiliating guillotine choke. In Roman’s arms, Punk looked like a cosplay wrestler, an unathletic nobody being slowly put to sleep. Punk, however, had the nous to counter with a series of slick reversals—first into an Anaconda Vice and then later into a flipping pin for a near fall—showing he had the wrestling smarts to overcome Roman’s raw physicality. Not to be outdone, Punk would have fantastic cut off moments of his own. Most notably, when it was Roman’s turn to set up for his signature spear and, just as he finished his signature taunt, Punk met him with a savage knee to the jaw, legitimately shocking the crowd.

As the match entered the finishing stretch, a clear story was developing: while neither man would relent and give the other an inch, Roman was becoming more and more frustrated with Punk’s refusal to die. Sure, Punk wasn’t pinning Roman either, but he had the smug, slimy self-assurance of a man who knew he was under his opponent’s skin and felt he was going to win in time. Whereas Roman was beginning to look visibly offended at Punk’s endurance and more than a little rattled by the fact this “non-athlete” kept kicking out. The momentum was ebbing away from Reigns and it built to a beautiful Icarus-flying-too-close-to-the-sun crescendo.

Punk finally had Roman splayed out on the announcers’ table. The Tribal Chief was helpless and, having contemplated it and failed once before and suffering from a rush of blood to the head, CM Punk climbed to the top rope. At 47 years old and unsteady on his feet, CM Punk decided that he was going to relive his youth on the grandest stage of them all—he was going to spring off the top rope, fly through the air, and hit a Macho Man elbow drop on Roman Reigns through a table. And by God, he did it. His elbow drop was ugly as sin and he certainly didn’t soar, but he certainly splattered across his target as both men were sent crashing through the table with an almighty thud. He had done it. CM Punk was young again. He’d proved that age was just a number and he could do everything he used to do – and that was the end for him. With the finish line approaching, he had emptied his chamber. Within a matter of minutes, he’d be falling flat on his face, unable to carry Roman’s weight. He had enjoyed a moment of glorious delusion, but sacrificed his winning chances. It was over. The second his feet left that top rope, Roman had won.

As you may have gathered, I loved this match and, for me, it is one of the rare occasions where seeing the physical match play out enhanced the storyline build in retrospect, highlighting all the little seeds and nuances that they were planting in advance of a very particular match with a very particular finish. This was my personal favourite “WrestleMania” main event and certainly the best main event match not involving a mass murderer (just a thin-skinned prick instead).

Brock Lesnar Appears To Retire After Being Obliterated By Oba Femi

The one match that truly clicked and had WWE fans the world over licking their lips with anticipation was Oba Femi vs. Brock Lesnar. The concept was simple and the build was perfect: the undisputed biggest and baddest man in wrestling had finally run into a faster, stronger and ultimately younger apex predator. The hunter had become the hunted, as Brock came out on the losing end of every single angle in the run-up to “WrestleMania”. The feud was so one-sided in favour of Oba Femi that fans had convinced themselves that Brock must be winning – surely they wouldn’t give one of the most protected acts in wrestling history absolutely nothing?
Well, at the end of the day, they gave him about 90 seconds. Brock, after having his clotheslines no-sold and being effortlessly flung from the ring, managed to regain his composure long enough to (briefly) take The Ruler to Suplex City. However, just as Brock seemed to be regaining his confidence, Oba took an F5 and slowly, but defiantly, rose to his feet. Brock charged; Oba slammed him into the heart of the earth with a gorgeous Fall From Grace pop-up powerbomb, and in just four minutes Oba had won clean as a whistle. The crowd were frenzied from the get-go and were jubilantly chanting for Oba and mimicking his strut as they celebrated his victory. Oba smartly played up shock at his own victory – taken aback at the sheer ease and enormity of what he had accomplished.

Brock then surprised everyone. He began to cry in the middle of the ring and took off his boots and gloves, leaving to huge chants of “Thank you Brock / Thank you Lesnar”. Both Lesnar and Heyman certainly played this up as a legitimate, pseudo-spontaneous retirement; although whether Brock has actually retired remains to be seen. He is heavily rumoured for a final match at “SummerSlam” in his former hometown of Minnesota against Gunther, a man who Paul Heyman “owes a favour” in kayfabe.

Putting the shock of Brock’s (potential) retirement to one side, this was absolutely perfect. They could have easily had a longer and more dynamic match, but everything they did was executed to perfection and they could not have made Oba look like a bigger star or a more dominant force.

© WWE

Rhea Works A Miracle With Cargill And Iyo Gets Her WrestleMania Moment™

Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky’s road to “WrestleMania” has been a messy one. The pair had been involved in a long and rewarding tag team storyline built around their deep personal friendship and a stacked field of contending tag teams that had become the highlight of both Raw and SmackDown. However, with sluggish ticket sales, Bianca Belair unavailable and Tiffany Stratton entering the unmitigated disaster category as both champion and challenger, WWE decided to break glass in case of emergency and pull Rhea out of the tag division and back into the main event.

Her storyline with Jade Cargill was rushed, but it was also simple and satisfying. Rhea promised that she’d show that while Jade was bigger and badder physically, her body was built for show, whereas Rhea was built for go. To up the emotional stakes, Jade recruited her former bullying victims Michin and B-Fab to her side, and the trio brutally beat up Iyo Sky (who had naturally come to Rhea’s rescue) as a way of sending a message.

So the scene was set; the only question was whether Jade could pull it off. I’m pleased to report that, by hook or by crook, she just about did. Huge credit here goes to Rhea, who was clearly hugely motivated. Not only was she farming aura to a ridiculous degree, but she was really bumping her arse off to get Jade over. Jade, despite some hesitations and her legendarily atrocious selling, was very strong on offence, hitting all her power spots with aplomb. She was clearly feeling herself so much that she decided to pinch Kenny Omega’s One Winged Angel – sorry, I mean Jade’s patented Sandstorm – for a unique near fall. Like clockwork, just as Rhea began to make her comeback, Michin and B-Fab appeared to interfere, which in turn summoned Iyo Sky to make the save. Iyo’s top might have been hanging by a thread, but she was both a ray of sunshine and a house of fire as she cleaned out both heels before hitting a beautiful Asai Moonsault to even the odds. Jade was supposed to just miss Iyo with a pump kick as this spot happened; unfortunately, Jade hesitated and was far too late in throwing the kick, but it hardly mattered – the moonsault still looked cool.

Then the match legitimately became great for the final few moments, as – with Iyo cheering Rhea on – Jade cut her off. She slipped out the back of a Riptide and hit a killer pump kick, with Rhea taking a hard bump. The misdirection was brilliant and the crowd seemed both shocked and resigned as Jade lifted Rhea in the air for the Jaded, only for Rhea to masterfully swing her feet and build momentum to slide backwards between Jade’s legs and come up in perfect position for a Riptide to secure the 1-2-3. This finish was picture-perfect and genuinely innovative. Make no mistake, most of the match was merely solid and clunky in places, but it’s all about how you leave them, and the abiding memory of this match will be Iyo’s heroic save, Rhea’s incredible counter and the heartfelt, emotional title-winning celebration RhIyo shared.

The “Get Everyone On The Card” Ladder Match Transcends Spotfest Status With Superb State Of The Art Wrestling

There was never a question of this match failing to deliver. Penta, Je’Von Evans, JD McDonagh, Dragon Lee, Rey Mysterio and Rusev are too damn talented and (with the exception of Rusev) too over to mess it up; they could put on a 15-minute spotfest in their sleep. The only real question, after watching the travesty that was “WrestleMania” night one, was whether they would be given the time and the freedom to truly show what they could do. Thankfully, they were given a full 15 minutes and it seems that no restrictions were placed on the talent in terms of athleticism, danger or creativity. Best of all, however, rather than just curating a collection of random spots, the match did have, if not exactly a story, then a sense of fight and drive as the workers battled for control of the ladders and limited themselves to only a handful of contrived moments of ladder-bridge construction.

The standout stars of the match from the audience’s perspective were Penta and Je’Von Evans. Penta would not only win the match, but would deliver the single most devastating spot when he hit a sick Mexican Destroyer on a ladder bridge, which seemed to spike JD hard on the top of his head. Not to be outdone, Je’Von was the fan favourite, wowing the audience with his signature “bouncy” sequences and seeming to spring and glide to the top of various ladders with ease. His big moment came when he ran up a ladder leant against the ring post to then hit a huge OG Cutter on Rusev, who was busy reaching for the IC title. Speaking of Rusev, while he continues to be incapable of garnering anything resembling a reaction, he was the anchor of this match. He was not only there to catch, but he was booked effectively as the bully heel, routinely cleaning house and taking the time to get heat on the entire field, which proved effective in cooling the crowd down in anticipation of the next crazy spot.

However, if Penta, Je’Von and Rusev were the narrative focus of the match, the best workers were Dragon Lee and JD McDonagh, by a considerable distance. Lee had incredible sharpness and intensity to his delivery, as well as some flashy creative flair. In the triple-team sequences where the three luchadores worked together, Lee’s work was visibly superior to both Rey Mysterio and Penta – and that’s no mean feat. JD, on the other hand, was the true MVP, taking one madman bump after another and selling immaculately so that the babyfaces could look like larger-than-life superheroes. He also looked impressive on offence without ever threatening to turn himself babyface; he truly is a remarkable worker.

The match was, of course, too frantic to ever evolve into an ultra-memorable show-stealer, but it was absolutely great for what it was: a pleasant reminder that WWE does have a phenomenally talented roster who are more than capable of shining when the shackles are removed and they are actually given a non-token amount of time to work.

© WWE

Trick Williams Announces His Arrival By Effortlessly Defeating Sami Zayn, While The Demon Finn Balor Makes His Return

If there’s one place you do not want to be at “WrestleMania”, it’s the midcard. Time will be at an absolute premium, and whatever epic match you dreamed of having will have to be condensed into a cliff-notes version to make way for a parade of commercial tie-ins and celebrity cameos. (See Saturday’s review for more righteous fury). In truth, if you are stuck between the matches that really matter, you have to make a decision: what do you actually want to convey, and what are you willing to sacrifice?

For Trick Williams and Sami Zayn, the answer was obvious: they were going to jettison their match pretty much in its entirety. Sami Zayn had actually been telling a compelling story over the last few months, his frustration at going unrewarded for “always doing the right thing” boiling over into a bitter resentment that was reflected in his increasingly hostile crowd responses. It seemed the more he did what was right, the more the fans saw him not only as a try-hard character, but as someone taking opportunities from newer, younger, more exciting babyfaces like Carmelo Hayes.

The story Sami and Trick had laid out was simple: Sami believed Trick was a flash in the pan, and he was going to drag Trick into the deep waters, where Trick would drown against a superior, but less fashionable wrestler. Oh, what’s that? We’ve only got seven minutes? Well, scrap that—actually, we’re just going to give Trick a grand coronation: a huge, larger-than-life entrance, a short and sweet match with an ultra-decisive finish, and then a big celebration. In other words, it wasn’t much of anything, but the crowd got to chant and dance with Trick, who looked like a gigantic star. So, mission accomplished (if you don’t get hung up on what could have been).

Finn Bálor and Dominik Mysterio were blessed with a whole 10 minutes for their three-years-in-the-making first encounter following the long-awaited Judgment Day split. Finn was afforded plenty of time to make his entire goofy but dramatic Demon entrance, and Dominik was carried to the ring as the King of Luchadores. The “WrestleMania”-level pomp and circumstance were certainly there, but the match itself was limited.

Finn and Dom served up yet another WWE street fight with all the standard weapon spots you’ve come to expect (if you haven’t seen this match, you should have no issue visualising it if you’ve ever watched an episode of Raw). Dominik got in his signature heel offence, and Finn was incredibly slick (his work has been excellent all year), but the match never felt special or particularly dramatic. Thankfully, it ended with a real bang: a Coup de Grace through a table, which looked absolutely gnarly, with Finn really sticking the landing. No one will remember this match in a week, but it did its job on the card.

The Business of Wrestlemania

By Trish Speirs

WWE announced “Wrestlemania 42” as one of the “highest-grossing events in WWE history” in their press release following their flagship events, a sharp turn of phrase from last year, which was labelled the highest grossing shows in company history in the corresponding release. WWE stated that they had “record or near-record performances across gate, sponsorship, merchandise, WWE World, On Location VIP experiences and digital.”

The company claimed to have 106,072 fans in attendance across both nights, after announcing 50,816 for Saturday and 55,255 for Sunday night. This is a drop in announced numbers, compared to 2025, of 17% and 13% respectively. Wrestletix’s independent estimates were of 50,081 for night one and 52011 for night two, down 17% and 15% on their last year’s numbers.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority paid a $6 million site fee in order to secure this year’s two day event and take it away from the already announced New Orleans. This was $1 million higher than last year’s fee and second only in terms of domestic site fees to the $7 million paid by New Jersey for “Summerslam” in 2025. Wrestlenomics reports that the company also received a further $4.3 million in tax incentives.

In terms of actual attendance, this was by far the lowest attended “Wrestlemania” since WWE adopted a two night format (and without covid regulation restricting attendance). By the company announced numbers, they were down in combined attendance by 32% compared to “Wrestlemania 38” in Arlington, Texas in 2022, 34% on “Wrestlemania 39” in Inglewood, California, 27% below “Wrestlemania 40” in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and -15% for last year’s event in Las Vegas. The announced total was also 7% down from the “Summerslam 2025” announced combined number of 113,722 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The total number of attendees, as illustrated by the Wrestletix estimates for each event as well as Pollstar and local authority data, are far lower, but this illustrates a decline in attendance even within their own numbers.

Part of that decline has been driven by ticket prices. Last year’s event generated $66 million in ticket sales for the two nights of “Wrestlemania” alone, dwarfing the $36 figure (without fees) for the previous year’s event in Philadelphia. This year began with even higher pricing than in 2025 but was subject to several periods of heavy discounting in the run up to the shows, including involvement in a kayfabe TV angle. In the final days before the events, the entry price for both nights fell below the lowest available ticket prices for last year’s events but still far exceeded the cheapest ticket prices for last year’s “Summerslam” weekend. Based on the price structure and number of attendees, you would expect that this year’s shows will likely have outperformed the New Jersey event in regards to gate, falling into second place behind last year’s shows in Las Vegas in WWE’s all time domestic gate rankings.

One of the primary reasons that Las Vegas paid WWE an increased site fee in order to wrangle the event back to Nevada was the fact that (they claimed) that 81% of ticket buyers for last year’s events came from outside of the local area, meaning much higher additional spend on accommodation, hospitality and events outside of the WWE sphere. Our expectations would be that we see a significant decline in this number as well as the number of nights in local accommodation booked in relation to this event. There were also reductions encountered to the weekly shows attached to the weekend, which are traditionally attended by a much greater percentage of international fans than they are by domestic attendees. “Smackdown” on April 17th 2026 drew 9,543 fans, according to Wrestletix, down from 17,051 in 2025, whilst “Raw” fell from a sellout of 17,831 to 13,217. A drop in international attendees indicated within these numbers also correlates with the experiences of many domestic travellers who had attended events across the week in both 2025 and 2026. The National Association of Broadcasters Convention was held in Las Vegas over the same weekend as “Wrestlemania”, meaning that there were another 60,000 people involved in the race for hotel rooms across the time period.

The events were the first to be broadcast on ESPN cable channels live, in part, with one hour of each night being available on cable television before the rest of the shows were aired domestically on the ESPN Unlimited app. The first night’s hour was broadcast on ESPN2 and drew a Nielsen rating of 0.62 with 1,616,000 viewers. This was, as WWE claimed, the highest viewership for any event on the channel so far this year.

The second night, on the main ESPN channel, did a 0.65 rating in 18-49 with 1,822,000 viewers. WWE claimed that the viewership number was the highest on ESPN across the course of the weekend but that was not true, with a NHL Playoff game between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins on the Saturday evening drawing 2.1 million viewers and a 0.66 demo rating. The Minnesota Wild- Dallas Stars game on Saturday night also outscored “Wrestlemania” with 1.94 million viewers. The night two numbers were well below the UFC prelim numbers on CBS the previous Saturday (which did 2.65 million and a 0.70 whilst also being simulcast on Paramount+) but also well below ESPN’s primetime average of 2.5 million. Both numbers were also lower than the John Cena-R-Truth led “Saturday Night’s Main Event” number on NBC in May 2025, which was also broadcast live on Peacock.

There was no press release from ESPN relating to the performance of “Wrestlemania” on their cable platforms or on ESPN Unlimited, there have been 65 press releases in regards to sports TV numbers between October 22nd 2025 and last week from the media giant. ESPN paid $1.6 million across five years for the rights to the WWE PLE’s and subjected their audience to non-stop WWE coverage in the week leading up to the shows, skewing much harder to promote their wrestling partner than that of the opening rounds of the NBA or NHL playoffs. ESPN’s current NHL deal is worth $300 million a year (compared to their WWE deal at $325 million) and delivered more ratings value on this weekend alone compared to WWE’s biggest event of the calendar year.

Wrestlenomics estimates for 2024 viewership on Peacock, based on their listed minutes watched figures, calculated that 2.7 million accounts in the US watched night one from Philadelphia, while 2.9 million accounts watched night two. With these numbers being accounts, it would suggest that Peacock domestic viewership would have been over the 3 million mark for both nights. Estimates of overall subscribers to ESPN Unlimited in December 2025 were 2.1 million, although availability has improved in relation to cable carriers in the months that have followed.

The full broadcasts were also down internationally, with neither night registering in the Netflix Top 10 listings, meaning that Night 1 fell below the 2.4 million viewers estimate from 2025, and night 2 did less than the 2.8 million viewers it did last year. This is despite a 21% growth in the availability of WWE on the platform in terms of total market available to. “Raw” on April 20th came in at 3.3 million viewers, down from 3.6 million viewers twelve months ago for its worldwide and US combined viewership.

WWE also noted in their press release that they had a record 32 marketing partners for the event, with even the ESPN Unlimited part of the nightly broadcast being heavily subjected to full advertisement breaks. Whether that was a WWE/ TKO decision or that of media partner ESPN (in order to gain more value from their current deal) is unclear.

© GCW

Wrestlecon “Mark Hitchcock Memorial Supershow” 2026

Date: April 16th, 2026
Location: The Horseshoe, Las Vegas, Nevada
Watch On: Triller+

Review By Trish Speirs

This year’s “Mark Hitchcock Memorial Show” had found itself in the news in the weeks leading up to the show when the original main event of Leon Slater vs Ricochet was pulled after the match had been publicly announced for this show and with less than a fortnight left to go. Even worse, the TNA decision was communicated to the media before it was to show promoters Wrestlecon/Highspots, leaving everyone involved with the show majorly frustrated, and having to find a new main event with just days to go. AEW stepped in to assist, leading to a six man main event of JetSpeed and Michael Oku vs The Demand.

This felt like a standard all star tag main event, which opened with the crowd breaking out in understandable “Fuck TNA!” chants. Even Ricochet couldn’t avoid a smile at that. The match quickly went outside of the ring, with stereo dives from the babyface team helping to liven up the crowd after a long show in the midst of individual brawls, ending when Kevin Knight found himself launched through the entranceway. This left the JetsSpeed/ Oku team a man down for a short period, with the Demand focusing on Michael Oku, and preventing him from tagging Speedball in the first heat section of the match.

Oku was eventually able to make it to his corner after hitting a missile dropkick, tagging in Knight, who made his way back to the ring at this point. The match sped up from here, with Speedball finally being involved in the in ring and momentum between the two teams now consistently switching back and forth. The Canadian ran into a big bodyslam from Liona but managed to avoid a senton, only for him and Knight to be hit with a double fallaway slam. A very cool spot, that one.

The match closed where it had began; with Michael Oku and Ricochet in the ring. Ricochet gave Oku a visual tap out to the half crab whilst the referee’s back was turned, before getting the pin for his team after hitting the Brit with the three man Galaxy Impact. This was more good than great, but considering this match also didn’t happen due to flight delays, they did more than enough in this spot to send the crowd home happy.

© GCW

Flight delays for the Demand meant that the promoters had to play for time in order to ensure their second advertised main event could go on as advertised. This left a time gap that was filled by a previously unscheduled defense of the Progress Men’s World Championship by Man Like DeReiss against Ethan Allen. DeReiss’ high energy entrance helped him to win over a crowd who were unsure who he was at the start, leading the Las Vegas crowd chanting the Birmingham phone area code in his entrance and then in the early parts of the match. Allen, who alongside tag partner Luke Jacobs had recently turned babyface in Progress, worked as a sneering heel in this one.

The pair worked hard in this one, with Ethan doing everything he could to get heat in order to build up the big DeReiss comeback. The finish was relatively formulative and the crowd did enjoy DeReiss putting away the Mancunian in the end. Credit to both for filling in on short notice and taking on what was a really tough spot, especially having to come right after what was the best match on the show, in the form of Bandido vs Galeno del Mal.

It is perhaps ironic, that on a show which had an inter-promotional match pulled, that Galeno and Bandido was successfully run here. Both men are said to have wanted the match for some time and this one occurred in what was likely a very small window of availability, with Galeno expected to head to WWE’s AAA brand in the near future.This was one that both performers were up for from the off, and the crowd very much responded to it, with the RoH Men’s World Champion easily the most over person on this show. The match structure was an easy tale of size vs speed, with Galeno taking early control through his immense power, especially when engaging in some chair bowling with his smaller counterpart and putting him down with a massive big boot after they had made it back to the ring. Bandido dropped like a stone for the later move, making such a simple bit of offense look completely killer. Bandido’s selling of his beating only led to his comeback feeling more electric, as his escaping of Galeno’s control led to a sudden speed change in the match. A jumping sidekick followed by a beautiful looking dive over the top had the crowd on its feet.

Bandido thought he had it wrapped up with a frog splash but Galeno kicked out at two, before turning the match again with a huge lariat. This ended up as a final flurry from the bigger man though, who fell victim to the 21 plex after a bit of a messy set up for the finish. The crowd gave both competitors a standing ovation before Bandido cut an emotional promo where he offered plenty of praise for his opponent. The pair embraced as it came to the end. It was a cute moment after easily the best match on the show.

The undercard for the Supershow had opened with Headbanger Thrasher teaming with Swoggle against Heath Slater and Rhyno after injury had meant this could not continue as a Headbanger tag. This was a weird opener that went far too long where it felt like nothing happened for the first ten minutes before Swoggle got gored by Rhyno, who was then rolled up by Thrasher.

© GCW

The elimination tag match that followed it probably would have made for a better opener. Riot Lucha boys Latigo and Toxin, Rev Pro duo CPF, Dragongate’s Love and Peace and the StarMen competed in this one, with the Japanese pairing of Hyo and Ben-K getting the energy up in the crowd with their entrance which was missing from the opener. The match began after Hyo had chained up his cat in the corner and took a while to get going, with Starboy Charlie’s cosmic swirl getting nothing from the crowd before the StarMen were eliminated.

The Vipers were the next team out as the pace picked up, leaving the match down to Love and Peace and CPF with the crowd firmly behind the Dragongate pair. Ben-K survived a big knee from Danny Black before teammate Hyo picked up the win. The match missed the peak by about a minute but was still a good pick up from the opener. Ben-K celebrated the win by picking up a Japanese flag from the crowd and doing a high speed lap of the venue with it. This pairing was great fun and you cannot help but love their energy.

After a brief interlude of Sgt. Slaughter shilling (which included a hilarious reception to “who’s kicking ass in the world today? USA!”), The Horseshoe crowd welcomed Masato Tanaka, who took on AEW’s Mark Davis. This was the perfect matchup for Tanaka; a sprint where things were kept simple and the difference in size between the two men presented a ready made story. It almost felt like a demolition job early on, with Davis making great use of his power advantage, charging Tanaka into the “state of the art” chairs set out for the audience, before Tanaka was able to catch him on the turnbuckle and deliver a suplex followed by a brainbuster. The crowd broke out in “Tanaka!” chants, only for a massive lariat to end their hopes of the former ECW wrestler achieving an unlikely victory. This was as entertaining a mauling as you can get.

The middle of the card contained another tag match, which saw Blake Christian and Lee Johnson go over Mark Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster in a perfectly fine bout which sadly lacked crowd heat until the very end before an entertaining intergender ten man involving more well known wrestlers such as Steph De Lander, Mance Warner and Beast Mortos as well as lesser knowns to this crowd like LJ Cleary, Vaughn Vertigo and Derek Dillinger; who somehow has a film director gimmick with a look which felt more akin to a biker. Fairplay for trying something different I guess.

The match opened by giving every competitor time in the ring, with Vertigo given plenty of spots to help make his name with this crowd. Warner was massively over with the crowd, who went crazy for everything he did. The audience also took great joy in slow motion chanting for the Gravity bit late on. That bit has been around a while now but is always well received by a live crowd. Beast Mortos got the win over LJ Cleary at the end of a pretty entertaining affair.

© Gringo Loco’s Twitter

GCW presents Gringo Loco’s “The Wrld On Lucha” 2026

Date: April 17th, 2026
Location: The Horseshoe, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Watch On: Triller+

Review By Trish Speirs

Gringo Loco’s “The Wrld on Lucha” has been a welcome addition to the GCW roster of events in recent years, with the Loco six man repeatedly being the highlight of each show; this one was no different. Loco teamed this year with Arez and Vengador against Dragongate trio Hyo, Kzy and Yuki Yoshioka in the semi-main event. The match was messy in places, full of crazy aerials and went about five minutes too long; so very much fitting expectations of an indie lucha six man. Arez, Loco and Vengador incorporated the same colour scheme into their gear, looking more like an established team instead of a thrown together one.

It feels like a small treat these days to watch Arez in his original gimmick. He remains one of the most sound luchadors out there, with an underrated technical prowess. Vengador, whose name appeared to break out during last year’s Mania week festivities, provided most of the flashier style of offense, including his impressive looking split legged moonsault. The Dragongate boys weren’t to be outdone though, mixing up crowd pleasing theatrics involving Hyo’s straps and Kzy’s hips, alongside some flying of their own.

Loco once more provided the craziest of power moves, with Arez and Vengador flinging Kzy into a super sit down powerbomb and a double crucifix bomb once again stealing the show. He hit a moonsault on Hyo following a Vengador cutter in order to pick up the win in what was a very fun match, even if it didn’t live up to the standards of last year’s corresponding affair. I would also really like to see an Arez- Hyo singles match after that one as well.

The trios came before a singles main event, where El Desperado faced off with Vipress in a Lucha Extreme Death match. The match was helped by a very supportive crowd; something that often separated the GCW shows from other events during the weekend this year. They got behind Vipress, who spent most of the match on the receiving end of various bits of chair based offense from Desperado.

We tend to use ‘carry job’ as a negative term in wrestling, but sometimes it is more about the care taken in order to lead someone through a match. This was very much the case here, where Desperado took control of the match structure and also made sure to look after his opponent at all times. The best example of this was a chairshot to Vipress on the outside whilst Vipress was hanging over another chair, leading to the other chair swinging around. It looked viscous as hell but never touched her. Real clever spot.

© Gringo Loco’s Twitter

Desperado took a lot of the big bumps as well, including a back bump into a table he set up earlier in the match, caused by being thrown off of the top turnbuckle. He also sold a destroyer from his lesser experienced opponent for a good near fall near the end before putting her away with a Pincho Loco onto a stack of chairs. This was nothing to write home about, but truly an example where someone did everything they could to get it to a decent level.

The undercard was pretty much standard indy fare, with KJ Orso winning the opening scramble with a pin on Dolce Tormenta after saving multiple moves from going drastically wrong during the course of the match. Orso gets great heel heat from the GCW crowds generally, and that came with him to Las Vegas. The scramble was followed by Thunder Rosa defeating Julissa Mexa in a match with a veteran vs rookie vibe that involved a very funny sequence where Rosa bowled Mexa into the second row chairs before choking her out right in front of Jordan Castle’s dad. The crowd liked the match more than I did, giving Mexa plenty of support before she succumbed to a Thunder driver.

The second (or first in terms of running order) lucha six man on the show saw Latigo and Toxin team with Rey Horus against Noisy Boy, Spider Fly and Briyante Jr. This was the kind of trios mess that I take far too much joy from watching sometimes; with awkward bodies flying everywhere your eye can take you and set ups for moves getting messier and messier as the match went on. Noisy Boy got the win after being the match’s main agent of chaos in the proceeding minutes.

The big name singles on the show saw Jack Cartwheel face off against Galeno Del Mal. The crowd were big into Galeno at the start, cheering him on while he tossed Cartwheel around in the opening minutes. This one had just started to get going when Cartwheel hurt his arm attempting a springboard phoenix splash, forcing the match to be called to a halt. Hopefully it’s not something too disruptive for him going forward.

This was a very much passable show that was inoffensive in its watch but probably won’t be remembered to any great degree going forward.

© GCW

GCW presents “Joey Janela’s Spring Break X”

Date: April 17th, 2026
Location: The Horseshoe, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Watch On: Triller+

Review By Trish Speirs

The tenth edition of Joey Janela’s Spring Break had easily the largest independent crowd in Las Vegas during Wrestlemania week, with the Horseshoe being so full in comparison to other shows held there in the days previous that it looked like a completely different venue. The attendance is testament to the reputation that Janela has built up for this event over the previous decade, whilst others have struggled to sustain the same levels of interest or stopped running Wrestlemania week entirely. GCW opened this show with their own celebration, with a video package to the tune of Alphaville’s “Forever Young”.

The sentimental start didn’t last long though, as the show launched straight into its opening match, and a brass ring ladder match at that. Competitors didn’t need to climb the ladder in this one, instead it was one pinfall to the finish. There were big reactions in the entrances of Bear Bronson, Shotzi Blackheart and Vengador, whilst Man Like DeReiss rapped to the ring, 1 Called Manders led his latest Bon Jovi singalong and Vipress rode a low rider around the ring in a very Hyper Misao style.

The action opened with big spots to the outside early, with a spanish fly to the outside within the first thirty seconds quickly followed up by a beautiful moonsault from Vengador. The luchador attempted to jump from the ropes onto the turnbuckle for another dive just moments after only for near disaster to strike as the turnbuckle ripped clean from the corner, leaving the top rope fully redundant for the remainder of the match. The wrestlers worked around the major equipment failure, with Man Like DeReiss just about executing his 450 splash onto Grinco Loco from the second turnbuckle and Loco only narrowly avoiding killing Vengador on a sitdown powerbomb through a table after balancing a ladder on the second rope when it really needed the top one to hold it in place.

This was an all action match, as you would come to expect, for the most part, with constant big spots and moments; with Masato Tanaka countering a sit down powerbomb attempt into a headscissors to Gringo Loco, a chair joust for Tanaka and Bear Bronson, a crazy suplex from the top of a ladder by Shotzi on Man Like DeReiss for a two count, a no hands standing suplex from Vengador and a piledriver spot from the apron to the floor with Vipress and Charles Manson. Vipress was then taken out of the match by an interfering Christian Napier, who then launched himself over the top rope at Matt Tremont, who was coming out to make the save for Vipress. Tremont swatted Napier out the air with the chair like he was the clean up hitter for the Las Vegas Aviators.

The finish felt like the first time we had seen 1 Called Manders in the match, as he found himself partnered off with Vengador. Manders chucked him a piece of broken door and when Vengador caught it, it was quickly followed by a lariat to both man and wood. Vengador would make his way up, only to get decimated by another Boss lariat. He would not be getting up a second time. With the victory, 1 Called Manders can call his shot at any title in GCW, and you would suspect it will be the World Title that he will have his eyes on. San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle was on hand to present Manders with his brass ring and some beer.

The trios match which followed the opener between the Rascalz and Marcus Mathers, Alec Price and Jordan Oliver was always going to struggle to keep the energy of a crazy opening ladder match; and that very much proved to be the case. At least they had a full turnbuckle set up to work with though as they plied through a number of double team and triple team manoeuvres, with the most impressive of the match being Jordan Oliver executing a trap pin on one Rascal and a northern lights suplex on another at the same time. This match felt a little too pedestrian at times before finally getting to a big finish, where Myron Reed launched himself into a cutter over the top rope that took out both Price and Oliver. This left Mathers on his own in the ring with all three Rascalz, who hit him with a whole host of top rope moves in train form before successfully making a pin.

The third match out could have been done with some time shaved off; which feels crazy to say about a World Title match, but remains accurate. Atticus Cougar successfully defended his GCW World Title against the second coming of Hayabusa in a match which had a far too long control segment in the middle. GCW fans at least got to see a beautiful Hayabusa moonsault to the outside, but there wasn’t much else in this that will live long in the memory, outside of a ridiculous spot where Cogar attempted a moonsault onto Hayabusa laid out upon some chairs, only for the Japanese wrestler to move and his leg to go right through the back chair. It was a horrendous landing where Cogar was very lucky to escape a major injury.

The show did pick up a little with the next bout, as Marko Stunt and Jack Perry teamed for the first time together in several years against KJ Orso and Sam Stackhouse following Orso’s heel turn on Stunt after he had announced he would need to retire from wrestling on medical grounds. Jack Perry was dropped off for his first independent match in seven years by his dinosaur via his Jurassic Express school bus and was welcomed by a crowd eagerly singing along to Baltimora, whilst Marko Stunt led the wave. Orso arrived in full Ric Flair robe, with the giant Stackhouse alongside (his name is literal).

The bell rung to chants of “Fuck You Fuego!” from the audience, who then rewarded the audience by manipulating it so it was he and Marko in the ring after Perry had elected to start. The heels work over Marko for a few minutes before he is able to find escape and hit a messy plancha onto Orso on the outside, which was swiftly followed up by a much prettier moonsault onto both opponents. These moments of babyface offense are fleeting though, with Orso and Stackhouse controlling most of the match.

Both Perry and Stunt refuse to stay down though, with Marko looking done for after being toyed with by Stackhouse, only to kick out at one. Orso then hits Perry with a character assassination but still is unable to put Jurassic Express away. Frustration from this leads to Orso looking to use Perry’s AEW National Championship, only to find that GCW ring announcer Emil Jay refusing to let him take it. Orso dragged Jay into the ring during a tug of war with the belt. He threatens to use it on the announcer, but is stopped by Jack and hit by a tornado DDT from the ring announcer. Jay’s intervention proves to be highly important, as it leads straight into the finish, with Orso getting up from the DDT only to be hit with a twisting neckbreaker from the top turnbuckle from Stunt. In the aftermath, Stunt declared he might not quite be done in the ring just yet.

© GCW

Next up was arguably the biggest attraction of this show; the retirement match of ECW legend the Sandman in a match against The Invisible Man. Sandman’s iconic entrance has been a memory maker for generations of fans, and this definitely felt like something to remember, with a raucous “Enter Sandman” singalong being accompanied by complete chaos in the crowd as Sandman scaled runs of chairs in between pouring numerous beers down the throats of fans and smoking his trademark cigarette. The Invisible Man would be managed by Bill Alfonso, whistle in mouth.

There are probably many reviewers who have written out this match in a sort of play-by-play commentary, but quite frankly, no summary of all the events in this one is ever going to do it justice. What makes the match, though, is the crowd, who play along with all the invisible offense and pop big for every run in and plot development. This is not a wrestling comedy match, but rather a series of happenings which the crowd treat as getting bigger and bigger as they progress. There is JCW involvement, including Vampiro, a Kendra Lust heel turn on Sandman (with some incredibly funny kendo stick shots, it must be said), which is swiftly followed by a kendo wielding Missy Hyatt and an even funnier attempt at a catfight. We see a moustache wielding Richard Halliday, a spot where fifteen referees counted a two count after being beaten on by both a kendo wielding Sandman and The Invisible Man and a return from the dead of invisible brother Invisible Stan.

The last man out was Mick Foley, rescuing Sandman from an invisible double team. The two men shared a pretty touching embrace, only to suffer dual invisible low blows. The Invisible Man rolled Sandman up for the pin, causing boos and “bullshit” chants to break out as soon as the bell was rung. They were short lived though, as the chants swiftly changed up to “Thank You Sandman!” Foley took the mic and explained that although they never liked each other, they meant a hell of a lot to each other’s careers, and that is why he wanted to be there for Sandman’s last match. It was surprisingly touching after twenty minutes of complete lunacy (in the best way). Honestly, I don’t think I have even begun to touch the sides on how ludicrously fun the whole thing was, if you choose not to take it all too seriously.

Perhaps the funniest thing about wrestling though is how quickly it can give you whiplash. GCW followed up the Sandman match with another match with high stakes, as former tag partners Effy and Allie Katch faced off in a ‘Loser Leaves GCW’ match. Effy has become more and more delusional in recent months after the sudden loss of the GCW World Title, somewhat by his own doing. Allie Katch had attempted to talk some sense to him but nothing non-physical has worked up til now.

The theme of this match going in was how “Effy is not fine”. By the end of this match it was the audience that wasn’t fine, as the pair dragged the crowd through twenty six minutes of frankly boring action, despite involving several run ins from throughout their history as well as the usage and teased usage of several weapons. The match had fully lost the crowd by the ten minute mark and no amount of blood or conscience battles were able to turn it. The announcers described the match as “almost uncomfortable to watch” and there was no “almost” about it.

Effy spent most of the match threatening to use a screwdriver on Allie Katch, whilst having no issues chokeslamming her onto a chair or throwing a broken door at her head. 1 Called Manders comes out to plead with Effy to not use the screwdriver, and takes the screwdriver to the head himself. Parrow came out to stop the usage of a ring bell and got hit with it instead. This was all supposed to add to the drama of a match with a GCW career on the line but was mostly met with silence from a crowd who simply didn’t care. The last ring visitor, Dark Sheik, handed Effy’s latest weapon – a ring corner hook – to Allie Katch, but Allie couldn’t bring herself to use it. Katch melted down onto a fallen Effy in a half head hug as the crowd broke out into even louder boos. Effy hit her with a headbutt to break up the pretend sentimental moment and finally attacked her with the screwdriver. One piledriver later and Allie Katch’s GCW career was over.

Effy and Allie Katch can be easily considered some of the most recognisable names when it comes to GCW, but that meant nothing to the audience here. Some managed a polite “Thank You Allie” chant as the wrestler cried, others remained in silence. You can see what they were aiming for here, a match full of actual gravitas and emotions between the two participants. In reality, they achieved neither.

The task of picking up the crowd was given to the intergender tag match between Mance Warner & Steph De Lander and the team of Megan Bayne & Nick Gage. Gage was Bayne’s surprise partner and wasted no time, attacking Warner repeatedly before his ring introduction had been completed. The four were very much clear on the task that faced them, opting for big strike exchanges right into furniture battles. This was not a match that needed a long control segment and thankfully, it didn’t have one.

The closing stretch saw Gage hit Mance with a twisting senton with a door carcass between them, a spear from Bayne to Warner was followed by another spear from De Lander to Bayne. They found time for some sit down exchanges (ala Omega and Moxley at “Winter Is Coming 2020”) before the pizza cutter made its way out and into Mance Warner’s forehead. Warner was encountering quite the move train, and succumbed to the pin after a Bayne powerbomb followed by a piledriver from Gage. This was nothing spectacular, but probably felt miles better than what it was because of what it followed.

The main event saw Brodie Lee Jr. make his in ring debut against Joey Janela. The teenager had been training under the care of Nattie Neidhart and Tyson Kidd in the lead up to this match, and put in a performance well above what most would have expected of him, given his inexperience, the anxiety that must come with having a famous name and debuting in front of such a large crowd. If he was nervous, you really weren’t able to tell from his entrance or his in-ring efforts. A lot of this may be the confidence of youth, the other part was that he was very well led by Janela, who cleverly adapted several spots for when things may not have gone exactly as planned.

Janela was in control in the early going after an initial Brodie flurry, with the match becoming more competitive after Brodie ducked a hard chop attempt on the outside, leaving Janela’s hand to make sharp contact with the ringpost. Janela also missed a moonsault, leading him to be caught by successive knee strikes by the young wrestler. There was time for Brodie to deliver the papers and a long battle over turning a figure four before Janela threatening to piledrive Lee brought out Chris Bey. Bey was prevented from reaching the ring but the distraction was enough for Brodie to escape on this occasion.

The closing sequence (which did go too long, in standard GCW fashion), saw the pair exchange discus lariats, before Brodie managed to capture Janela in a Sister Abigail for a two count. Janela replied by finally hitting Lee with a tombstone, only for that one to end with a two count as well. The pair continued to battle until Brodie was able to fully take control after delivering multiple discus lariats. He picked Janela up in the middle of the second pin attempt though, opting to end the match with a sharpshooter straight out of the Hart Dungeon. Janela, realising Brodie’s grip was slipping, tapped quickly in order to make the finish look as strong as possible.

Brodie Lee Jr. was serenaded with cheers from the crowd before being embraced by his mother, ahead of other members of his family and his wrestling friends. The show went off the air with Lee up on the shoulders of other wrestlers whilst younger brother Nolan threatened Janela in the corner. A real feel good ending to a mixed bag show.

Man Like DeReiss invited five Welsh pensioners who had never seen wrestling before to this show. After seeing the actual show for myself, this might be one of the funniest things any wrestler has ever done.