Minutes to Bell Time

BSB #49 – It’s WrestleMania Week

Body Slam Brigade April 9, 2021

BSB #49 – It’s WrestleMania Week

Sign up here to get this newsletter delivered to your email each week.

 

It’s WrestleMania Week!

Happy WrestleMania Week.

Last year’s WrestleMania was too big for just one night, and it seems that this year’s WrestleMania is really too big for just two days.

WWE is putting out 8 consecutive days of pro wrestling content that started with Raw on 4/5 and concludes with NXT’s first Tuesday show on 4/13.

There will be hits and misses along the way, but it’s a lock that we’ll have some interesting surprises, plenty of title changes, and a lot of fun!

As I’m traveling to Tampa to attend Mania live, this issue is a little different than the gigantic news dump that you normally get with the Body Slam Brigade newsletter every week.

Instead of endless amounts of news, I’ll talk about just three things.

1. This Weekend’s WrestleMania Card

The WrestleMania Card for each night is listed below for your reference. If you’re looking at this for the first time, you might be surprised to see no Undertaker, no Lesnar, no Goldberg, and no John Cena.

It’s true that this year’s Mania is missing all those names, but I’m encouraged to see a couple of sleeper matches: Cesaro v. Seth Rollins and Sami Zayn v. Kevin Owens.

Cesaro has never had the opportunity to compete in a one on one match at WrestleMania, but there has always been such a strong undercurrent of support for him. This will be the biggest match of his career, and he will likely be more driven than usual to deliver an excellent match.

Zayn v. Owens is a match that we’ve seen many times before. It’s a tale told over multiple companies and multiple WWE brands, but that tale is now being brought to the biggest stage possible.

I bring those two matches up because while they don’t have a ton of attention, they could easily be the show stealing match each night.

As for the rest of the card, I see a ton of potential for each match to deliver something great.

Night 1

  • Sasha Banks v. Bianca Belair – Smackdown Championship
  • The Miz and John Morrison v. Bad Bunny and Damian Priest
  • Tag Team Turmoil Gauntlet Match
  • Cesaro v. Seth Rollins
  • New Day v. AJ Styles and Omos – Raw Tag Team Titles
  • Braun Strowman v. Shane McMahon – Steel Cage Match
  • Bobby Lashley v. Drew McIntyre – WWE Championship

Night 2

  • Big E v. Apollo Crew – Intercontinental Championship
  • Kevin Owens v. Sami Zayn
  • Winner of Tag Team Turmoil Match v. Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler – Tag Team Championships
  • Asuka v. Rhea Ripley – Raw Championship
  • Randy Orton v. The Fiend
  • Sheamus v. Matt Riddle – US Championship
  • Roman Reigns v. Daniel Bryan v. Edge – Universal Championship

2. WrestleMania Stats and Figures

I was so excited to talk about WrestleMania all week on the Daily Wrestling News Show. Taking a look back at some of our favorite moments from WrestleMania history was a rewarding experience.

After discussing some of our favorite WrestleMania Events (WrestleMania 3, WrestleMania 10, WrestleMania 19, and WrestleMania 20) in their own individual episodes, Al Karl and I sat down to talk about WrestleMania stats and figures.

Al did all the work collecting data, so I was amazed to learn from his research.

Did you know that California has hosted more WrestleMania events than any other state?

John Cena has 8 championship wins at Mania – that’s more than anyone else in history.

Of course you know that the Undertaker has the most consecutive wins, but did you know that Tito Santana holds the record for the most consecutive losses (7).

If this type of thing interests you as much as it does me, you can hear Al talk through the rankings in 16 different categories.

3. How I Caught the Wrestling Bug.

We all have a story about how we fell in love with wrestling.

My story goes back to WrestleMania IV, which was one of the first videos I remember renting from our local video store. I can remember watching that VCR tape and becoming completely mesmerized by Randy Savage’s huge championship win.

After reading newsletters and articles from 1988, I have come to understand that not everyone was as captivated by WrestleMania IV as me.

The tournament to crown a new WWE Champion was full of short matches, non-finishes, and head scratching results.

Still, I became a fan of wrestling by watching Randy Savage’s four match ascent to the WWF Championship.

I told that story and many others in an interview on the Wrestling Heroes and Insiders Podcast (aka The WHIP Show).

Give a listen if you’re curious to know more about me and my relationship with wrestling and how I came to start this newsletter.

Have a Great Weekend!

 

Ryan Joy

 

WrestleMania III

Travis joins the show to talk about one his favorite WrestleManias – WrestleMania 3. Join us as we explore the question of whether this show holds up to our modern standards!
 

WrestleMania X

John D’Aconti joins the show to talk about one Ryan’s favorite WrestleManias – WrestleMania 10. Join us as we explore the question of whether this show holds up to our modern standards!
 

WrestleMania 19

Al Karl joins the show to talk about one Al’s favorite WrestleManias – WrestleMania 19. Join us as we explore the question of whether this show holds up to our modern standards!
 

WrestleMania XX

NOTE: Bear with us as we do about 3 minutes at the top of the show to set the stage. It’s unfortunately necessary for this particular subject matter.

John D’Aconti joins the show to talk about one John’s favorite WrestleManias – WrestleMania 20. Join us as we explore the question of whether this show holds up to our modern standards!

 

WrestleMania Stat Show

Al Karl has stolen a page out of the Minutes To Bell Time playbook and compiled a ton of stats and figures about WrestleMania. He joins the show to share it all with us!

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

Facebook
Facebook

Twitter
Twitter

Website
Website

YouTube
YouTube

Email
Email

Instagram
Instagram

Spotify
Spotify

Apple
Apple

Copyright © *|CURRENT_YEAR|* *|LIST:COMPANY|*, All rights reserved.
*|IFNOT:ARCHIVE_PAGE|* *|LIST:DESCRIPTION|*

Our mailing address is:
*|HTML:LIST_ADDRESS_HTML|* *|END:IF|*

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

*|IF:REWARDS|* *|HTML:REWARDS|* *|END:IF|*


 

Share this: