Unlike years gone by, we’re going to be taking a lot more measured approach to WrestleMania weekend, not covering everything that’s going on because I value my own sanity.
There’s over fifty wrestling shows going on between Thursday and Sunday night, with a fair amount of them streaming live. Like in years gone by, Fite TV do have bundles – which will give you a saving if you’re the sort who’d have bought EVERYTHING.
The FITE Fest bundle gets you these shows for $75:
March 31
6:00pm ET – AAA Lucha Libre: Invades WrestleCon
10:00pm ET – Mark Hitchcock Memorial WrestleCon Supershow
11:00pm ET – Major Wrestling Figure Podcast: Live XII
April 1
6:00pm ET – NJPW Lone Star Shootout
8:00pm ET – Thuzio: SuperShow Live!
10:00pm ET – IMPACT Multiverse of Matches
April 2
12:00pm ET – USA vs The World
GCW’s Collective bundle gets you these for $140:
March 31
12:00pm ET – Glory Pro Wrestling: Cemetery Gates
4:00pm ET – Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport 8
9:00pm ET – Joey Janela’s Spring Break 6, Part 1
April 1
1am ET – Planet Death
12:00pm ET – LA Fights vs JCW
4:00pm ET – For The Culture 3
8:30pm ET – Gringo Loco’s: The WRLD on Lucha
April 2
1am ET – Joey Janela’s Spring Break 6, Part 2
12:00pm ET – Effy’s Big Gay Brunch 4
4:00pm ET – Mission Pro Wrestling: Bangerz Only!
8:00pm ET – Unsanctioned Pro: Mulligan
April 3
1am ET- Black Label Pro: Norm
Obviously missing from any of those bundles is ROH’s Supercard of Honor that’ll be starting at 8pm ET Friday night / 1am Saturday morning BST. That’s available for $30 on FITE, alongside traditional PPV in the US, and HonorClub for those of you who’ve held onto that particular subscription after Tony Khan’s purchase of ROH.
There’s no live presence from the IWTV stable of promotions, but promotions such as New Texas Pro and No Peace Underground are running – so expect those to drop after the fact.
So… with that in mind, and a quick scan of the cards, what will we be looking to cover at some stage – whether live or on-demand?
Thursday
Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport 8
4pm ET / 9pm BST
There’s some stuff on here I’m going “HUH?” at, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious over how Ninja Mack vs. Yoya is going to look. Minoru Suzuki vs. Chris Dickinson, Yuya Uemura vs. Mike Bailey and Timothy Thatcher vs. JR Kratos leap off the page for me, while part of me wants to see how Slade vs. Alex Coughlin looks under the shoot-fight rules…
Mark Hitchcock Memorial Supershow
10pm ET / 2am BST
It’s either this or the first part of Joey Janela’s Spring Break, but this one’s winning out solely for two matches: Biff Busick vs. Minoru Suzuki, and Tomohiro Ishii vs. Timothy Thatcher. YES. I guess Bandido vs. Mike Bailey in a re-run of that 16 Carat Gold 2020 quarter-final won’t hurt…
“On the other channel,” Spring Break 6 Part 1 offers you Joey Janela vs. X-Pac, while Jon Moxley defends his GCW title against AJ Gray.
Friday
New Japan LoneStar Shootout
6pm ET / 11pm BST
It’s a toss-up between this and Supercard of Honor, but I have a bad feeling I’d need to quit one stream for the other. Chris Dickinson vs. Tomohiro Ishii and Jay White vs. Mike Bailey are the attention-grabbers here. These US-only pay-per-views typically drop on NJPW World within a day or two
From Supercard of Honor, the Briscoes vs. FTR is perhaps the big match, along with the Bandido vs. Jonathan Gresham title unification match.
Joey Janela’s Spring Break 6 Part 2
Saturday morning 1am ET / 6am BST
If I’m still awake, my delirium will likely carry me through to Maven in the Clusterfuck. While (badly) singing his old music…
Saturday
WrestleCon: USA vs. The World
12pm ET / 5pm BST
Going head to head with NXT (not Takeover), we’ve got this themed show, featuring Michael Oku defending Rev Pro’s Undisputed British Cruiserweight title against Rich Swann, Davey Richards vs. Mike Bailey, and Big Damo vs. Calvin Tankman…
Mission Pro Wrestling Bangerz Only
4pm ET / 9pm BST
Mission Pro’s gotten a lot of hype, but it’s fallen off of my radar as I’ve pulled back from covering shows…
WrestleMania 38 – Night One
9pm ET / 2am Sunday BST
I’ll not be reviewing this one live, but for reference…
Sunday
Black Label Pro Norm
1am ET / 6am BST
Probably one to catch on-demand, given Black Label Pro’s variety (and the time of day), but on the bill we’ve got the Faces of Fear vs. the Work Horsemen in a delightfully-BLP match, Black Taurus vs. Blake Christian, plus Tom Lawlor, Kevin Ku & Dominic Garrini vs. Davey Richards, Kevin Blackwood and a TBA.
WrestleMania 38 – Night Two
9pm ET / 2am Monday BST
I’ll not be reviewing this one live, but for reference…
In addition to all that, we’ve got the usual TV shows that we cover dropping – NXT UK and NJPW Strong – while there’s a curious AEW Rampage vs. ROH Supercard of Honor clash on the Friday night. There’s also scheduled content drops from PROGRESS (whose March show, “Dodge, Dip, Duck, Dive, Dodge”) is also coming out on-demand over the weekend…
Unless you’re the sadist that’s going to sit down and watch everything, this may well be the year you don’t binge on the bundles and instead pick and choose.