BSB #47 – WrestleMania and TakeOver Cards Take Shape

By Ryan Joy
Updated: March 26, 2021

Body Slam Brigade March 27, 2021

BSB #47 – WrestleMania and TakeOver Cards Take Shape

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“WrestleMania is an experience. It’s an overall ride, its ups and its downs and its curves and its music. It’s presentation, and it’s emotion, and it’s paying tribute to the past and progressing the product into the future. It’s career-defining moments for people who live for career-defining moments.” – Paul Heyman

It finally feels like WrestleMania season.

At the end of January, we only knew that Edge and Bianca Belair would have featured matches at this year’s WrestleMania.

At the end of February, we still didn’t know much of anything else.

Somewhere along the way, WWE changed the date of WrestleMania from late March to April 10th and 11th while also announcing that limited quantities of tickets would be sold to make WrestleMania the first televised WWE show with an audience since the March 9, 2020 episode of Monday Night Raw.

The on-sale date for tickets was announced for March 16th . . . and then it got moved to March 19th with a presale on March 18th.

Needless to say, plans for this year’s WrestleMania seem to have been anything but stable . . . until now!

With a little more than two weeks to go before Night 1 of WrestleMania, we now know most of the key matches for not only the two night WrestleMania, but also the two night TakeOver extravaganza on Wednesday April 7th and Thursday April 8th.

We’re going to get everything we’ve come to expect from WrestleMania including the top stars from Raw and Smackdown in addition to mainstream celebrities and wrestling legends.

We’re also going to get everything we’ve come to expect from NXT TakeOver, which mainly consists of incredible matches.

We also see the return of the WWE Hall of Fame Ceremony on Tuesday April 6th plus a special branded episode of NXT UK on April 8th called “Prelude.”

In addition to all of the content WWE is putting out that week, which also includes their regularly scheduled Raw and Smackdown programming, Independent Wrestling will flood the Florida market and other national companies will put on streaming and house show specials.

AEW, for example, is running a house show in Jacksonville on April 9th. They’ve never done this before. It goes without saying that their live Dynamite program will also run in Jacksonville on April 7th.

Impact has a streaming special for their Impact Plus subscribers called Hardcore Justice on April 10th that will air starting at 3PM (prior to Night 1 of WrestleMania).

Game Changer Wrestling and IWTV are running 12 and 14 shows respectively with most of that content available through streaming options.

Highspots will run a smaller scale Wrestlecon convention April 8th – April 11th.

It is WrestleMania Season! I can’t wait. Enjoy this week’s Newsletter.

Have a Great Weekend!

Ryan Joy

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Sasha Banks by Elbow Drop Art

General News

WWE has reached 75 Million You Tube Subscribers with 56 billion lifetime views. The milestone makes them the number 1 sports channel on You Tube and the number 4 channel overall.
WWE is moving from the Tropicana Field Thunderdome location starting with the April 12th Episode of Monday Night Raw. WWE will remain in Tampa, but they move to the Yuengling Center.
The Beth Phoenix Icon Documentary debuts this Sunday.
After Andrade publicly requested his release last week, WWE announced that they came to terms on his release.
WWE gave their on-line shop an overhaul. In addition to a new look, they’ve also introduced a point system where you earn 1 point per $1 spent. At 100 points, you get $5 in rewards.
Peacock (the new exclusive streaming partner of the WWE Network in the United States) has removed questionable content from the WWE historical library. Among the items removed was Vince McMahon’s casual use of the “N” word when talking to Booker T in 2005 and Rowdy Roddy Piper’s promo from WrestleMania VI (Piper had painted half his face black).
Former WWE Co-President George Barrios is the new Chairman of the Board at Make a Wish.

WrestleMania – April 10 and April 11

Hulk Hogan and Titus O’Neil will host WrestleMania
Night 1
- Bobby Lashley (c) v. Drew McIntyre – WWE Championship
- Sasha Banks (c) v. Bianca Belair – Smackdown Championship
- The Miz v. Bad Bunny
Night 2
- Roman Reigns (c) v. Edge – Universal Championship
- Asuka (c) v. Rhea Ripley – Raw Championship
- Bray Wyatt v. The Fiend
Matches Not Announced for Specific Night
- The New Day (c) v. AJ Styles and Omos – Raw Tag Team Championship
- Braun Strowman v. Shane McMahon

Hall of Fame Ceremony

WWE announced this week that Kane and The Great Khali will be inducted in the 2021 WWE Hall of Fame.
WWE will hold a ceremony honoring their 2020-2021 Hall of Fame Inductees on April 6th. The special will broadcast on Peacock.
The 2020 Hall of Fame Class included The NWO, Batista, The Bella Twins, JBL, The British Bulldog, and Jushin Thunder Liger.
- While Batista was announced for the 2020 Hall of Fame, it was announced this week that Batista will not be inducted this year. It was a
Molly Holly and Erich Bischoff were previously announced for the 2021 Hall of Fame.

NXT UK Prelude

WWE announced a special edition of NXT UK to take place during WrestleMania Week (April 8). Two matches have been announced for the show.

Rampage Brown v. Walter (c) – NXT UK Championship
Tyler Bate v. Noam Dar – Winner Gets NXT UK Heritage Cup Match

NXT TakeOver Stand and Deliver

WWE has announced that the next TakeOver event will occur over two nights. April 7th on the USA Network and April 8th on the WWE Network and Peacock. Announced matches for TakeOver so far include:

Night 1 (April 7 on USA Network)
- Io Shirai (c) v. Raquel Gonzalez – NXT Championship Match
- Walter (c) v. Tommaso Ciampa – NXT UK Championship Match
- GYV v. MSK v. Legado del Fantasma – NXT UK Tag Team Title Match
- Gauntlet Eliminator Match to determine Johnny Gargano’s challenger for the North American Championship on Night 2
Night 2 (April 8th on Peacock)
- Karrion Kross v. Finn Balor (c) – NXT Championship Match
- Adam Cole v. Kyle O’Reilly – Unsanctioned Match
- Jordan Devlin (c) v. Santos Escobar (c) – NXT Cruiserweight Unification Ladder Match
- Johnny Gargano v. Gauntlet Eliminator Match – NXT North American Championship Match

Results –

Smackdown Results from 3/19

Sasha Banks defeats Nia Jax – 09:30
Rey and Dominik Mysterio defeat The Street Profits – 02:54
Chad Gable and Otis defeat Rey and Dominik Mysterio – 04:50
King Corbin defeats Sami Zayn – 02:04
Bianca Belair defeats Shayna Baszler – 01:05
Edge defeats Jey Uso – 01:05

205 Live Results from 3/19

Ashante Thee Adonis defeats Ariya Daivari – 07:11
Jake Atlas defeats Tony Nese – 11:28

Fastlane Results from 3/21

Riddle defeats Mustafa Ali – United States Championship Match – 09:17. Retribution turned on Ali after the match.
Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler defeats Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair – WWE Tag Team Championship Match – 09:39
Big E defeats Apollo Crews – Intercontinental Championship – 05:42
Braun Strowman defeats Elias – 03:51
Seth Rollins defeats Shinsuke Nakamura – 12:54
Drew McIntyre defeats Sheamus – 19:40 – No Holds Barred
Alexa Bliss defeats Randy Orton – 04:40
Roman Reigns defeats Daniel Bryan – Universal Championship – 29:55

Raw Results from 3/22

Bobby Lashley defeats Sheamus – 11:36
Asuka defeats Peyton Royce – 11:16
Miz defeats Jeff Hardy – 04:21
Kofi Kingston defeats AJ Styles – 13:20
Drew McIntyre defeats Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin – 12:50
Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax defeat Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke – 02:44
Braun Strowman defeats Elias – 03:07

NXT Results from 3/24

Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez defeat Zoey Stark and Io Shirai – 11:53
Bronson Reed defeats LA Knight – 12:09
Karrion Kross defeats Oney Lorcan – 09:15
Walter defeats Drake Maverick – 00:23
Shotzi and Ember defeat Aliyah and Mercedes Martinez – 04:02 – NXT Women’s Tag Team Championship
Jordan Devlin defeats Kushida – 09:27

NXT UK Results from 3/25

Joseph Connors defeats Jack Starz – 06:50
T-Bone and Primate defeat Josh Morrell and Danny Jones – 06:30
Isla Dawn defeats Aleah James – 04:17
Ilja Dragunov defeats Sam Gradwell – 14:45

Wins and Losses Book Now Available

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One customer printed out several pages and has been getting them signed by wrestlers. That’s a really fun use for this reference book.

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If you have a wrestling podcast or if you write for a wrestling website, this could be a valuable tool when discussing professional wrestling in the year 2020.

Kenny Omega by My Ill Gotten Brain

AEW News

TNT has ordered a new unscripted seres called “Rhodes to the Top” featuring Cody and Brandi Rhodes. In a statement from TNT, they said “Each 30-minute episode will take viewers behind-the-scenes as the powerhouse couple manage their ever-busier lives inside and outside the ring, all the while surrounded by a colorful and often hilarious motley crew of wrestlers, family and friends who both support and test them at every turn.” The release from TNT did not include an expected air date for the first episode.
All Elite Wrestling announced their first ever “non-televised” event to take place on Friday April 9th at 7PM. This is the day before WrestleMania. The Jacksonville venue is about 3 Horus from Tampa (WrestleMania’s location).
AEW announced that Red Velvet’s contract has been upgraded. She is now “All Elite”

Upcoming on AEW Dark Elevation on 3/29

Scorpio Sky v. Mike Sydal
Orange Cassidy and Chuck Taylor v. Ryan Nemeth and JD Drake

Upcoming on AEW Dynamite on 3/31

Kenny Omega and Good Brothers v. Lucha Bros and Laredo Kid
Cody v. QT Marshall with Arn Anderson as Referee
Christian Cage v. Frankie Kazarian
Tay Conti and Hikaru Shida v. The Bunny and Nyla Rose
Chuck Taylor and Orange Cassidy v. Kip Sabian and Miro – Arcade Anarchy
MJF’s Gift to the Pinnacle

AEW Dynamite Results from 3/24

Kenny Omega defeats Matt Sydal – 11:28
Hangman Page defeats Cezar Bononi – 02:15
FTR and Shawn Spears defeat Varsity Blonds and Dante Martin – 06:24
Lucha Bros and Laredo Kid defeats The Young Bucks and Brandon Cutler – 12:27-
Tay Conti defeats Nyla Rose – 09:21
Darby Allin defeats John Silver – 13:46

AEW Dark Results from 3/23

Reynolds and Silver defeat Chaos Project – 06:56
SCU defeats Jorel Nelson and Royce Isaacs – 08:43
Penelope Ford defeats Miranda Alize – 04:14
Gunn Club defeats Adam Priest, Jake St. Patrick, Baron Black – 03:05
Dante Martin defeats Jack Evans – 05:51
Brian Cage defeats Brandon Cutler – 04:22
Ashley Vox defeats Alex Gracia – 02:29
Joey Janela and Sonny Kiss defeat Vary Morales and Seth Gargis – 04:29
JD Drake defeats Fuego del Sol – 04:26
QT Marshall defeats Shawn Dean – 05:34
Allie defeats Jazmin Allure – 02:43
Colt Cabana, Evil Uno, Stu Grayson v. Carlie Bravo, Brick Aldridge, Dean Alexander – 05:12
Nick Comoroto and Aaron Solow defeat D3 and Angel Fashion – 02:22
Cezar Bononi defeats John Skyler – 03:02

AEW Dark Results Elevation Results from 3/22

Tay Conti defeats Ray Lyn – 04:06
Lee Johnson defeats Adam Priest – 05:42
Varsity Blonds defeat Jake St. Patrick and Fuego del Sol – 05:48
Max Caster defeats Ryzin – 06:35
Big Swole and Red Velvet defeat Madi Wrenkowski and Leva Bates – 04:53
Ricky Starks and Will Hobbs defeat Jorel Nelson and Royce Isaacs – 03:38
Danny Limelight defeats Baron Black – 04:47
Orange Cassidy defeats Ryan Nemeth – 06:57
Ethan Page defeats Alan Angels – 07:07
Ryo Mizunami defeats Leyla Hirsch – 07:57

Introducing the Daily Wrestling News Show

The Body Slam Brigade Newsletter comes out on Friday, but if you want news closer to real-time, Body Slam Brigade author Ryan Joy is hosting a new podcast called the Daily Wrestling News Show!

The show is live every day at 10 AM on Facebook and You Tube or you can subscribe to the audio version on Apple, Spotify, or pretty much anywhere else you get podcasts. Use the links below to find the show!

Subscribe on Apple Podcast: Click Here
Subscribe Spotify: Click Here
Watch Live on Facebook: Click Here
Watch Live on You Tube: Click Here

Jon Moxley by My Ill Gotten Brain

New Japan Cup

Will Ospreay defeated Shingo Takagi in the 3/21 finals of the New Japan Cup. Ospreay advances to face Kota Ibushi for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship on 4/4.

New Japan Cup USA

Lio Rush and Tom Lawlor have qualified for the New Japan Cup USA Tournament
This week’s New Japan Strong has two qualifying matches:
- Fred Rosser v. JR Kratos
- Jordan Clearwater v. Hikuleo

Sakura Genesis – 4/4

The next major New Japan show takes place on April 4th. The following matches have been announced for the show:

Taichi, Sabre, Douki v. G.O.D. and Jado
Yano, Okada, Goto, Ishii, Yoshi-Hashi v. Evil, Kenta, Yujiro, Ishimori, Togo
Shingo Takagi, Tetsuya Naito, Sanada v. Jeff Cobb, Great-O-Khan, and a mystery partner
Tanahashi and Kojima v. Fale and White
Yoh and Sho v. El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru – IWGP Junior Tag Team Championship Match
Will Ospreay v. Kota Ibushi (c) – IWGP World Championship

Results –

New Japan Strong Results from 3/19

Karl Fredericks and Alex Coughlin defeat Clark Connors and Kevin Knight – 12:41
Tom Lawlor defeats The DKC – 09:13 – NJ Cup USA Qualifying Match
Lio Rush defeats Rocky Romero – 13:58 – NJ Cup USA Qualifying Match

New Japan Cup Show Results on 3/21

Taiji Ishimori, Jay White, Chase Owens defeat Yuya Uemura, David Finlay, Toa Henare – 09:38
Jeff Cobb, Will Ospreay, Great-O-Khan defeat Bushi, Sanada, Naito – 10:55
Minoru Suzuki defeats Tomoaki Honman – NJ Cup – 14:54
Kenta defeats Juice Robinson – NJ Cup – 17:17
Shingo Takagi defeats Kazuchika Okada NJ Cup – 23:58

Tommy Dreamer by My Ill Gotten Brain

Impact Wrestling Moves to Thursdays

Impact will move to “its traditional Thursday night time-slot, beginning April 8.” While Impact obviously did not say so, this move seemingly is related to NXT’s eventual move to Tuesday.
Impact will mark the April 8th Thursday debut with a huge six-man tag match: Kenny Omega and Good Brothers v. Rich Swann, Willie Mack, and Eddie Edwards.

Harcore Justice – No Matches Announced

The Next Impact Plus special will be April 10th with a special 3PM start time. This event will be on the afternoon of WrestleMania Night 1.

Impact Rebellion Moved to April 25th

The Next Impact Pay Per View (Rebellion) was moved from April 24th to April 25th
Matches Announced:
- Kenny Omega v. Rich Swann – AEW Title for Impact Title
- FinJuice v. The Good Brothers – Impact World Tag Team Champions

Upcoming on Impact Wrestling on 3/30

James Storm v. Eric Young – James Storm’s 1,000th match,
Kiera Hogan and Tasha Steelz v. Havok and Nevaeh – Non Title Match
Ace Austin and Madman Fulton v. Josh Alexander and TJP
Kenny Omega and Don Callis Return
Sami Callihan v. Larry D
Suicide v. Brian Myers

Impact Results from 3/23

Deonna Purrazzo defeats Jazz – 06:24
TJP defeats Ace Austin by disqualification – 11:51
Rohit Raju defeats Fallah Bahh – 03:49
Trey defeats Acey Romero – 09:24
Karl Anderson defeats Eddie Edwards – 14:29

Essential Wrestling Podcast Episode 44 – Click Here

The Essential Wrestling Podcast airs every Tuesday at 6:00 PM. Join Al Karl, John D’Aconti, John Smith, Gary Mehafy, and Minutes to Bell Time’s Ryan Joy as they take you through the latest in Pro Wrestling. Find out and get the rationale behind who they think wins the week’s matches.

This Week’s Lineup

Balor and Kross challenged for Tag Titles last week.
Tommy Dreamer controls Impact Hardcore Justice
Randy Orton Tried to set the Fiend on Fire . . .Again
Trent Seven challenged Jordan Devlin for the Cruiserweight Championship
Will Ospreay wins the New Japan Cup
ROH holds their 19th Anniversary Show
Al Reveals #4 on his All Time WrestleMania Match list
Thunder Rosa and Britt Baker had an Incredible
We make our picks for the week’s matches and take a special look at Fastlane.

MLW Never Say Never – April 24

MLW’s next major event is a special episode of MLW Fusion called “Never Say Never.”
Matches Announced Include
- Jordan Oliver v. Simon Gotch
- Myron Reed v. Daivari
- Calvin Tankman v. Jacob Fatu – MLW World Heavyweight Championship

MLW Fusion Results from 3/24

Gino Medina defeats Zenshi – 07:13
Mil Muertes defeats Gringo Loco – 07:30
Calvin Tankman defeats Sendai Death Squad Member Zad – 01:02
The Von Erich defeat Team Filthy – 07:40

MLW News

MLW’s previously scheduled return to Philadelphia on April 10th has been moved to July 10th.

Upcoming

No MLW Fusion on April 7th.
April 14th: Mil Muertes challenges Alexander Hammerstone for the MLW National Openweight Championship.

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19th Anniversary Show

ROH holds their 19th Anniversary Pay Per View Event this Friday (03/26). The Pay Per View event starts at 9PM, but the Hour One Pre Show starts at 8PM.

Dragon Lee is suffering from a broken ear drum, so Kenny King will take Lee’s place in the TV Championship match and Bestia del Ring will take Lee’s place in the Tag Title Match.

Lineup for Hour One
- Danhausen v. Eli Isom v. Brian Johnson v. LSG – Four Corner Survival Match
- Mexisquad v. Shane Taylor Promotions (c) – World Six Man Tag Team
ROH 19th Anniversary PPV
- Dalton Castle v. Josh Woods
- Mark Briscoe v. Flip Gordan
- Kenny King and Bestie Del Ring (c) v. Tracy Williams and Rhett Titus – ROH World Tag Team Championship Match – Del Ring is substituting for Dragon Lee
- Dak Draper v. Jonathan Gresham (c) – Pure Championship Match
- Matt Taven v. Vincent – Unsanctioned Match
- Tracy Williams v. Kenny King (c) – ROH World Television Championship – King substitutes for the injured Dragon Lee
- Jay Briscoe v. EC3 – Grudge Match
- Jay Lethal v. Rush – ROH World Championship Match

This Weekend on ROH TV

Beer City Bruiser v. Mike Bennett
Pure Wrestling Gauntlet Match – Participants Not Yet Announced.

NWA

The NWA has Returned

The NWA ran their Back for the Attack PPV on March 21 followed by the return of their weekly show Powerrr on Tuesday the 23rd. The entire Back for the Attack show was done in the memory of Joseph Hudson (The Question Mark).
Powerrr an be accessed through a 4.99 subscription with FITE.TV

NWA Back for the Attack Results

Slice Boogie defeats Jax Dane, Jordan Clearwater, and Crimson – 05:38
Tyrus defeats JR Kratos – 07:25
Thom Latimer v. Pope Ends in Time Limit Draw – NWA Television Championship Match
Kamille defeats Thunder Rosa – Number 1 Contender’s Match – 14:02
Trevor Murdoch defeats Chris Adonis – NWA National Championship – 08:40
Nick Aldis defeats Aron Stevens – NWA World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship – 21:28

NWA Powerr Results – 3/23

Kamille defeats Alex Gracia – 02:41
Fred Rosser defeats Matt Cross and Marshe Rocket – 05:10 – Rosser earns an NWA World Television Championship Match.
Mike Parrow defeats Jordan Clearwater – 03:03
Thomas Latimer, Nick Aldis, Chris Adonis defeats Aron Stevens, JR Kratos, The Pope – 10:46

United Wrestling Network

David Marquez made the following statement regarding the eventual return of Prime Time Live.
- “What we learned is a paywall does not work. No matter how inexpensive we think it may be for the public, it’s not going to be financially successful. I’m happy as a producer that we weren’t too much in the red but we definitely want to be in the black. So my team has been negotiating with broadcasters, streaming services and brands to cover the cost of the programming so you don’t have to pay to watch it. I can say we’re close to closing a deal and it’s my goal to be back on the air by this summer.”

Coastal Championship Wrestling (South Florida)

This week’s episode of CCW Alive included a match between Brian Cage and KC Navarro from the last Nashville live event. Great match.
CCW’s Bash at the Brew 3 takes place on April 3 at Unbranded Brewery in Hialeah, FL.
CCW announced Bulldog Unleashed for April 24th in Port Saint Lucie. Davey Boy Smith Jr. will make his debut at the show.

Ignite Wrestling (Vero Beach, Florida)

Ignite previously announced their “Fierce” show will take place on May 15th at Walking Tree Brewery.
Leon the Terrible (Ignite Champion) will face “Mr. Everything” Victor Andrews
The show will also include a “Women’s Tag Team Tournament” to crown new champions.

MCW Pro Wrestling (Jopp, Maryland)

On this week’s MCW Cast, regular hosts Dan McDevitt, Lary Legend, and Tara Myers welcome’s Nick Comoroto and Ref Becky on the show. Nick Comoroto has been working his way through the AEW ranks.