POST IT NOTES
**Wai Ting and I are live again tonight with our WrestleMania Sunday POST Show immediately after the show. We will be live on the POST YouTube channel to review the show and take calls from our Double Double, Iced Capp & Espresso members of the POST Wrestling Café. The live stream and podcast version will be available free for everyone.
**Our WrestleMania Saturday (Night 1) POST Show is available on all podcast platforms to download and on our POST YouTube channel:
**For POST Wrestling Café members, we have bonus shows covering Spring Break Part 2, ROH Supercard of Honor, and the WWE Hall of Fame & SmackDown.
**I wanted to mention all of the great reports we have on the site for the WrestleMania Week events. Jon Pine, John Siino, and Bruce Lord have been covering the shows going on this weekend with reports on all the major events from The Collective, WrestleCon, NXT, WWE, and Ring of Honor.
**On today’s Wrestlenomics Radio, Brandon Thurston and guest co-host Jesse Collings go through the business of WrestleMania 38, the announced attendance figure for night one & more.
**Karen Peterson has a great review of today’s opening round matches for Stardom’s Cinderella tournament. It is the largest field ever for the tournament and will run throughout the month.
**The POST Daily News show will be airing live on Monday at 1 p.m. ET with the fallout from WrestleMania weekend.
WRESTLING NEWS
**WWE presented its first night of WrestleMania on Saturday and was a well-received show that one would have to see as a “thumbs up” show given the quality of Seth Rollins vs. Cody Rhodes, Becky Lynch vs. Bianca Belair, and a truly memorable ending to the show with Steve Austin’s first match in nineteen years.
The show was filled with video packages, some of which are in-house, but there is commercial inventory that is just part of the presentation in the era of Peacock. Due to timing, Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods vs. Sheamus & Ridge Holland was moved to tonight’s show. Although you feel bad for the performers, the show was not hurt by its omission and it was the right call to make if they wanted to be off the air by Midnight ET and not worry about rushing the biggest part of the show with Austin and Kevin Owens.
Besides Austin, the other major story was Rhodes’ arrival, which was expected but also led to the anticipation factor increasing weekly and a giant reception when “Kingdom” played. Rhodes was presented as the American Nightmare down to every detail and felt like a major league star. He is set to speak on Raw this Monday in Dallas about returning to the company and appears to have a mission statement of winning a championship his father never held. The match was electric from start and finish and frankly, I thought it was one of the better ‘Mania matches of recent memory. Seth Rollins was incredible on this night and performed like he was among the top tier in the entire industry. They tore the house down and it could not have been a better execution for the return of Rhodes.
If there was a disappointment on night one, it was the SmackDown women’s title match between Charlotte Flair and Ronda Rousey. The audience was down after the previous two matches but that’s the game when you’re competing for main event spots. Their timing was off at different points and it never felt like the audience was invested in Rousey winning the title compared with Belair an hour earlier. With Flair winning, this should extend the program and I believe they definitely have a better match in them. Ultimately, this should end with one of them submitting the other as that was such a focus of the promotion for this match.
**Ariel Helwani conducted an interview with Cody Rhodes for BT Sport. Helwani asked about the interview in Variety about a personal matter that they couldn’t get past regarding leaving AEW. Rhodes said he couldn’t get into the personal matter but it “wasn’t anything nefarious or scandalous” and they were just drifting apart. He added that he wasn’t sure if Tony Khan will ever share what went down but “it wasn’t anything crazy”.
**Cody Rhodes spoke with the media for nearly an hour on Sunday morning at the Axxess Superstore. He is coming back to the company with a high level of confidence, as he should, as a main event player, and noting that he won’t show any fear or be shy about taking chances. He continued to compliment AEW and the changes he helped create for the industry but kept reiterating “it was time to go”. Whether he will ever speak more deeply on the causes is unknown, but he said he won’t be doing any “shoot interview” adding there is no salacious story and just wished AEW well. Steve Austin told him, “that’s the match you needed to have” with Rollins.
**Rick Boogs posted the following message after suffering a quadriceps and patella tendon injury at WrestleMania:
From the highest of highs to lowest of lows. Having my beautiful wife with me to experience my first Wrestlemania. Getting the incredible opportunity to open the show! Being able to demonstrate brute strength in front of millions of viewers! Unfortunately, the doctor told me my quad was too strong for the tendon and it was flexing so hard, it ripped the tendon totally off the bone. I’m still incredibly grateful for the experience and for all the love and support. History proves I will come back bigger, better, and stronger. IT’S A MINDSET
**On the WrestleMania broadcast, the announced attendance was 77,899. As of Saturday, WrestleTix’s final count out of tickets distributed was 65,719, although doesn’t include suite numbers.
WrestleMania – Night 1 [FINAL COUNT]
Sat, Apr 2 at 6:30pm
AT&T Stadium, Arlington, TXTickets Distributed => 65,719
The announced attendance was 77,899.
[https://t.co/yRCOtL75Yu] pic.twitter.com/rosmiiIXjf— WrestleTix (@WrestleTix) April 3, 2022
We should get a range of the legitimate figure when the second-quarter earnings report is released around late July and can determine through the key performance indicators. In 2016, Brandon Thurston reported that Arlington police shared with him that the turnstile count for that year’s show at AT&T Stadium was 80,709.
**WrestleTix also reported that the final number of tickets distributed for SmackDown & the Hall of Fame ceremony on Friday was 12,011 at the American Airlines Center.
**WrestleMania 38 wraps up tonight with the second half at AT&T Stadium in Texas. Like Saturday, there is a two-hour pre-show beginning at 6 p.m. ET that was essentially skippable, especially for those about to watch a nearly four-hour show afterward.
The main event is the recipient of one of the largest promotions WWE has assigned to a match in years by billing it as the “biggest WrestleMania match of all-time” with no bell nor whistle sparred in the lead-up. I don’t sense the title unification aspect means a whole lot to people as it’s been drummed into fans to expect an eventual split of the belts when it’s needed.
This is the third time Lesnar and Reigns have headlined WrestleMania with a terrific match in 2015 that featured the Seth Rollins cash-in and a match in 2018 that the audience completely turned on and was very bad by modern standards for a main event on the show due to the audience’s reaction. It’s completely different in 2022 where both are in strong roles and it feels like a major match with both presented strongly with enough believability of either one winning.
Everything is built around Roman Reigns and the challenge is creating new challenges, although, with the addition of Cody Rhodes and others like Drew McIntyre and Bobby Lashley, they have options. Lesnar is currently advertised for Backlash next month and winning this one would give him the distinction of ending two major streaks at WrestleMania. Unless there is a reason for Reigns to lose the title, then I think he should win this one just by mapping out several options in my head of where each one could go after WrestleMania.
Below is the full card:
*Champion vs. Champion: Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar
*Anything Goes Match: Sami Zayn vs. Johnny Knoxville
*AJ Styles vs. Edge
*Pat McAfee vs. Austin Theory
*WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships: Carmella & Queen Zelina (champions) vs. Naomi & Sasha Banks vs. Rhea Ripley & Liv Morgan vs. Natalya & Shayna Baszler
*Raw Tag Team Championships: Randy Orton & Riddle (champions) vs. The Street Profits vs. Alpha Academy
*Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods vs. Sheamus & Ridge Holland
*Omos vs. Bobby Lashley
Edge and Styles have a lot of pressure to deliver a classic and they should have the time to do it. The bar is high from the two major matches on Saturday but I’m fairly confident this one is going to be excellent. The winner should be slotted high and part of the main event picture.
Zayn versus Knoxville is all in the execution with the tease of Zayn taking some crazy stunt. It’s a match that Knoxville can win and doesn’t take Zayn down a peg as he’s terrific in this role and gives the character ample ammunition for months of promos complaining about his treatment at WrestleMania.
Based on SmackDown, it seems apparent that Vince McMahon will get involved in the Pat McAfee vs. Austin Theory match.,That likely calls for some physicality, which is risky when that person is 76 but again, Vince was also leaping off balconies at the Performance Center two years ago to coach Rob Gronkowski. As a match, McAfee and Theory should deliver and it’s probably going to surprise the non-NXT fans that never saw him against Adam Cole. It is the biggest match of Theory’s career and overall, people seem to have enjoyed the promotion behind it.
The women’s four-way seems like a way to get them onto the card and we’ll see if it gets enough time to be anything more than a collection of sequences before the ending. It’s probably time to move the belts to either Morgan & Ripley or Banks & Naomi. If they don’t have something major planned for Banks immediately, they would be my choice being the more popular duo and the women’s tag division needs some help.
The Raw tag title match will be great if they have 12-15 minutes as all six have worked with each other over and over and it’s solid. RK-Bro feuding with a heel version of The Street Profits is a fresh direction with the tease on television of Dawkins & Ford going that route. They don’t need to switch the titles in this one as Orton & Riddle is a great act whether they are champions or challengers.
New Day against Sheamus & Ridge Holland should be fine but feels more like a television match than something of WrestleMania caliber.
Finally, Omos and Lashley, I don’t expect anything special in this one and it should be short. The booking is interesting as Omos has been protected like few have, and is this the time to beat him? Lashley is one of the few top babyfaces or heels they have and shouldn’t be sacrificed to Omos, so I see him winning this one, but it begs the question where you go with Omos once he’s been beaten? It’s an interesting match even if it might be the weakest on the show.
**It was officially announced on Saturday’s broadcast that the two-night format for WrestleMania will continue next year. WrestleMania 39 is scheduled for April 1 & 2, 2023 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
**The following matches are set for Monday’s edition of AEW Dark: Elevation that streams at 7 p.m. ET on YouTube:
*Paul Wight vs. Austin Green
*Ruby Soho & Anna Jay vs. Diamante & Ashley D’Amboise
*QT Marshall & Aaron Solo vs. Brock Anderson & Lee Johnson
*Leyla Hirsch vs. Ella Envy
*Frankie Kazarian vs. Lucky Ali
*Serena Deeb vs. Dani Mo
*Red Velvet vs. Brittany Jade
*JD Drake & Anthony Henry vs. Best Friends
PREMIUM LIVE EVENT REWIND
WrestleMania 37 – Night 2
Sunday, April 11, 2021
Tampa, Florida at Raymond James Stadium
*Randy Orton over The Fiend
*Women’s Tag Team Championships: Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler (champions) over Natalya & Tamina
*Kevin Owens over Sami Zayn
*U.S. Championship: Sheamus over Riddle (champion)
*Nigerian Drum Fight for the Intercontinental Championship: Apollo Crews over Big E. (champion)
*Raw Women’s Championship: Rhea Ripley over Asuka (champion)
*Universal Championship: Roman Reigns (champion) over Edge and Daniel Bryan
*****
WRESTLENOMICS: The business of WrestleMania 38
More than 65,000 fans were in attendance for Night 1 of WrestleMania. WWE, as always, announced a bigger number. Brandon Thurston is joined by Jesse Collings to discuss.
*****
WrestleMania 38 Saturday (Night 1) POST Show
John Pollock and Wai Ting review WWE WrestleMania 38 Saturday from Dallas, TX featuring the return of Stone Cold Steve Austin, Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte, and Seth Rollins vs. ???
*****
upNXT: NXT Stand & Deliver 2022 POST Show
Braden Herrington and Davie Portman review WWE NXT: Stand & Deliver 2022 headlined by Dolph Ziggler vs Bron Breakker for the NXT Championship.
*****
GCW Joey Janela’s Spring Break 6 Pt. 2 POST Show
Wai Ting & GCW reviewer Jon Pine continue Mania Week coverage by discussing Joey Janela’s Spring Break 6 Part 2 featuring The World’s Greatest Clusterfuck and Minoru Suzuki vs. Effy.
*****
ROH Supercard of Honor 2022 POST Show
John Pollock is solo to review ROH Supercard of Honor from Friday night featuring the arrival of Samoa Joe, FTR vs. The Briscoes & more
*****
WWE Hall of Fame & WM SmackDown POST Show
John Pollock & Wai Ting review the WWE Hall of Fame 2022 featuring The Undertaker’s induction speech, and WrestleMania SmackDown featuring the Andre Memorial Battle Royal.
*****
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