Welcome back! As I mentioned in my manifesto for Buffalo Wins, occasionally we’ll have some wrestling stuff drop. Since I attended two weeks ago the largest pro wrestling show (paid) in these here United States of America, I’m gonna give you the live view of what went down that weekend and tips for you should you decide to go to WrestleMania weekend!
First Stop: Indies Ahoy!
Before we get to the grand-daddy of em all, I want to throw a word of advice to you if you ever go to WrestleMania weekend – go to the non-WWE shows as well. Not only will places like Evolve or Ring of Honor or WrestleCon have wrestlers you may remember from your childhood or new talent that gets you into the product more. In our case, we went to Evolve 58 on Friday and Evolve 59 on Saturday. Both shows were great; in particular the matches featuring Catch Point, Zack Sabre Jr vs Will Ospreay and Ricochet vs Will Ospreay were top notch.
Will Ospreay tore the house down with Zack Sabre Jr at #EVOLVE58 – Here’s the match – https://t.co/JZTj55vl2rpic.twitter.com/pf1t8NO9md
— The Indy Corner (@TheIndyCorner) April 5, 2016
The shows were held at Eddie Deen’s Ranch – which inside looked every bit like a place you’d imagine as a fight scene in Road House. Almost 2,000 folks packed in to see the shows on both days – and most of my voice was lost chanting and cheering along with the rest of the heavily-influenced-by-European-soccer-chanting crew there. On the second day, getting a chance to meet and chat with Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer was a great exclamation point on the weekend proper outside of ‘Mania. I also got to meet some of these up and coming wrestlers, including Matt Riddle, who is great in the ring and just looks like a dude you’ll see in the main event of a WrestleMania one day. The ex-UFC fighter has taken to wrestling quite well – and I look forward to seeing him climb the ladder.
After that, we headed to the NXT Takeover: Dallas show, which is “indy” only in who is wrestling. It is entirely a WWE product. However, this would be the first time I got to see Shinsuke Nakamura in a WWE ring, so I was going to be there live. As you see in the pic above, Shinsuke is a different dude. Whenever friends or family ask, “how can you still watch pro wrestling at your age” I put on a Nakamura match and wait for “it” to happen. “It” in Shinsuke’s case is some action outside of the norm that gets a new watcher to say, “okay, this dude is pretty cool.”
How do you watch a scene like that in Japan, then see the reaction to him here in these here United States without thinking he’s pretty much the boss?
Shinsuke is amazing in the ring and without speaking a word will grab your attention. Nakamura is an entertainer, but it is a genuine glee for wrestling that you see when he’s in a ring. So seeing almost 10,000 folks lose their minds when he wrestled Sami Zayn was a highlight of the weekend for me.
If you feel like the current WWE product isn’t for you, or isn’t “real” enough – I’d strongly suggest watching NXT. You have some of best in the world mixed in with men and women that are just starting their journey and it makes for a great watch.
We also got a chance to sit down and listen to Jim Ross, the voice of the WWE chat about his time in wrestling. He was at the House of Blues and had special guests Jeff and Karen Jarrett. The fact I remember it’s J-a-double r-e-double t is solely from the mid nineties.
Kung Fu Fighting
In addition to catching some great independent wrestling, I also got a chance to check out a great bar-cade named the Kung Fu Saloon. Not only did they have great food, but they had awesome 80s/90s arcade games for free play, in addition to skee ball, pool, etc. I came to Dallas with 3 of my friends and visiting the Kung Fu Saloon was a great opportunity to hang out with some of my people from the Pro Wrestling Torch’s East Coast Cast, a podcast hosted by the Torch that covers wrestling, entertainment and frankly whatever the heck the callers want. I contribute on the VIP tip, but I hadn’t had a chance to meet with Travis (the host) and Cam, who hosts the show with Travis for the culture. I also got to hang with a ton of Team Stunt Granny (Shahid and Maes), Steve, Bardre and a few special guests.
*Side note – Cam and Travis also host a great Flash-related podcast called Fan x Fan – if you enjoy DC’s The Flash, check it out!*
Much fun was had – and I now need to invest in a giant-size Jenga set. Thanks for the money pose, Steve.
Another great reason to listen to Cam and Travis’ Fan x Fan podcast is to hear the story of these glasses. Trust me, it’s worth it:
The Main Event
Now we’re at WrestleMania – with over 96,000 screaming folks losing it at the Jerrah Dome. I remarked on Twitter that I need to see a game there, because the sight lines and the atmosphere were incredible.
Steve Austin. HBK. The Rock. Mick Foley. John Cena. SHAQ?!
These are folks that just…showed up to WrestleMania. For a show that spanned 5-6 hours, the matches I remember most are the Intercontinental Title ladder match, the Shane vs Taker Hell in a Cell and the Divas Women’s Title 3-Way match. Ryder winning the title was a cool moment to see – a guy who has toiled for 10 years and had a heck of a photo after:
When I was a kid I held @SCOTTHALLNWO‘s Intercontinental title. Tonight at #WrestleMania, he held MY IC title! pic.twitter.com/f0Jjm23CAg
— Zack Ryder (@ZackRyder) April 4, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Raw the night after was rowdy, but at that point, my voice was almost gone – and then completely gone when Enzo and Cass debuted – prompting me to say word for word their catch phrases. YOU HAVE TO THESE ARE THE RULES.
And that’s it. I enjoyed it immensely and I cannot recommend enough going if you are a wrestling fan. One final tip: if the WrestleMania prices for the big show are out of your price range, go to some of those indy shows, or a convention and get some great pictures – then watch Mania with some buds at a bar nearby, or on the WWE Network.
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
