Mania Night Two preview
The first night of WrestleMania 37 is in the books, and we are mere hours from the events conclusion.
Without a doubt, the adrenaline had to be running high last night for the performers who took part in the show and I expect the same to happen in a few hours.
Tonight蘑菇视频 main event is scheduled to be Roman Reigns defending the Universal championship against Edge and Daniel Bryan in a triple threat match.
I am curious to see how the crowd reacts as for years, fans booed Reigns unmercifully as he was forced down everyone蘑菇视频 throats by Vince McMahon.
But now that Reigns is a bad guy, will the fans cheer him because he is a villain?
While I am in the Tampa area this weekend to head to a couple MLB games to do research for a book I am writing, I may run over to Raymond James Stadium tonight with the fans reaction to Reigns being the main reason I would go.
WWE has had 13 months to build wrestlers without a crowd in person, and while I expect WWE to pipe in sound to elicit louder cheers or boos, I can only imagine how amped up the performers will be tonight.
Other announced title matches tonight include Asuka defending her Raw championship against Rhea Ripley, Big E defending the Intercontinental title against Apollo Crews in a Nigerian Drum match, Riddle defends the US. Title against Sheamus and the team of Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler defend their tag titles against the winners of last night蘑菇视频 turmoil match winners.
Also scheduled are Kevin Owens versus Sami Zayn and Randy Orton takes on Bray Wyatt.
Will there be surprises tonight? Will anyone make their WWE return? Who will have their 鈥淲restleMania moment鈥� tonight?
These questions will be answered in a few short hours.
This column蘑菇视频 deadline was Friday afternoon, so we will look at results from both nights next week.
WWE still not going back on the road
For fans who were hoping that Mania would kick off WWE going back to doing shows in front of fans, it doesn鈥檛 look like it will happen anytime soon.
WWE has no shows scheduled, other that PPV蘑菇视频 or TV shows, through July.
All the shows will take place at The Yuengling Center on the campus of the University of South Florida.
While this is disappointing for WWE fans, the company is making a much bigger profit by not running live events so that will play a factor as to when it does start going on the road again.
Jericho and Austin
WWE has announced that Steve Austin蘑菇视频 Broken Skulls Sessions with Chris Jericho will debut tonight after Mania.
When the show was on the WWE Network, it would debut earlier in the day but now that it is on Peacock, the actual start time has not officially been announced.
New WWE content for Peacock?
In a piece on www.cnbc.com, Stephanie McMahon stated that WWE wants to get back to making more original content.
We shall see what this exactly means in the coming months.
Collier back in AEW
This past Monday and for the second straight week, Johnstown native Bill Collier performed on AEW Elevation.
Bill and I briefly communicated this week about the experience, and I hope AEW does the right thing and signs him to a deal.
No one deserves it more and it couldn鈥檛 happen to a better person.
We will take a closer look at Collier in this column in the next few weeks.
This Day in History
In 1995, the Rock and Roll Express win their fifth NWA tag title by winning an eight-team tournament, last beating Dick Murdoch and Randy Rhodes.
In 1997, Big Van Vader is detained in Kuwait after he attacks Bossam Al Othan, host of Good Morning Kuwait, after he took offense to Othan蘑菇视频 questions.
In 1999, Diamond Dallas Page defeated WCW champion Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, and Sting at Spring Stampede to win the title.
In 2011, reigning WWE world champion Edge announced that he had to retire due to medical tests showing the severity of his neck problems had gotten so bad that he would be risking death or paralysis if he were to continue wrestling. Edge had surgery immediately and did not return to WWE until the 2020 Royal Rumble.
This week蘑菇视频 question
You predicted weeks ago that the Bad Bunny vs. Miz match would turn into a tag match with Bunny teaming with Damian Priest and Miz teaming with John Morrison. Were you tipped off by someone that this was going to happen? Kelly from Masontown.
I actually guessed that one right! My logic was that Bad Bunny, as someone who is not trained in the pro wrestling business, would be much more protected in a tag match than if he wrestled a singles match.
Putting matches together is not easy and for someone out the business, they do not have the repetitions in to be able to adjust on the fly.
While The Miz would be able to get Bunny on track, it was always a safer call to make it a tag match.
Bunny had been training for the match since January, but that didn鈥檛 mean he was ready for a singles match heading into last night.
Email questions/comments to powerhousehughes@gmail.com or tweet them to @BillHughes_III.