Opinion
DeMarco: Is Wrestle Kingdom The New WrestleMania Blueprint?
Did New Japan just show WWE how it should be done? Check it out, because I think a two night WrestleMania might just work.
Did New Japan just show WWE how it should be done? Check it out, because I think a two night WrestleMania might just work.
New Japan (NJPW) hosted their annual Wrestle Kingdom event over the weekend, an event that serves as their WrestleMania. For those that don’t know (which is probably none of you), it’s hosted at the Tokyo Dome and draws their biggest house of the year, by far. This year New Japan worked in a new wrinkle, making this a two night affair. New Year’s Dash is always the next day, and the three days end the 2019 “season” and kick things off for 2020. All total, the three events drew 74k fans, with New Year’s Dash drawing 4k of that. That puts the Wrestle Kingdom total at 70k over two days, so we’ll call it an average attendance of 35k per night. Only two WWE events eclipsed that (stateside) in 2019, and those were the Royal Rumble in Phoenix and WrestleMania 35 in New York/New Jersey.
- Night 1 – IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada beat 2019 G1 Climax winner Kota Ibushi to retain
- Night 1 – Tetsuya Naito beat IWGP Intercontinental Champion Jay White to capture the title
- Night 2 – Jay White beat Kota Ibushi
- Night 2 – IWGP Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito beat IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada to win the title, becoming the first Double Champion (the first man to hold the Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championships at the same time in New Japan)
We also saw Jon Moxley win the IWGP United States Championship from Lance Archer, then successfully defend his title against Juice Robinson the on Night 2. He was confronted by Minoru Suzuki on Night 2, and got his own retribution at New Year’s Dash. Jushin “Thunder” Liger’s retirement matches took place on both nights, with a retirement ceremony at New Year’s Dash.
Full results and on-point analysis by our own Andrew Balaz can be found here (Night 1) and here (Night 2).
WrestleMania Blueprint?
These events still had a long run-time, 8 “main card” matches each night and 20 matches in total. But I think the company put forth a great test for WWE, and a test WWE likely wouldn’t do themselves: What about a two-night WrestleMania?
WrestleMania has had a run time over 5 hours in recent years, with the last “tight” four hour event being WrestleMania 31 (which featured a rushed ending due to earlier segments, specifically The Rock and Ronda Rousey confronting Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, running long). Even that event included an extended Kick Off. More recent WrestleMania events have evolved into a “work shift” nearing 8 hours in length when you factor in the Kickoff. Even the 2019 Royal Rumble went over 6 hours live, but it didn’t feel so bad for me since I was there.
But what about a two-night WrestleMania?
A two-night WrestleMania could alleviate some of stress associated with a near 6-hour “main card” along with the events that surround the show of shows. Each night could clock in at 4 hours, with a kickoff where only an hour includes matches. That would provide the company with plenty of real estate, plus a storytelling device to use from night-to-night. WrestleMania 10 and WrestleMania 30 included earlier matches that impacted the main event, and those stories can play out over each night. The company has two world championships, so you can even split them between the nights if you wanted to (you also have two women’s championships you can feature here).
From a financial perspective, this seems like a no-brainer to me. You might need to move Takeover (if you have it that weekend) and the Hall Of Fame ceremonies to earlier in the week (since Smackdown is Friday now), but that further allows WWE to control the week—something they want to do anyway.
So it’s a no-brainer from a financial perspective, a no-brainer from a storytelling perspective, and a no-brainer from a fan service perspective. So why not do it?
Let’s put this out there now: make WrestleMania 37 a two night affair in beautiful Southern California!
Chairshot Radio Network
Launched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you’ll find!
MONDAY - Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)
TUESDAY - 4 Corners Podcast (sports)
WEDNESDAY - The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling)
THURSDAY - Nefarious Means
FRIDAY - DWI Podcast (Drunk Wrestling Intellect)
SATURDAY - The Mindless Wrestling Podcast
SUNDAY - 30 Mindless Minutes
CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS
Attitude Of Aggression Podcast: The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history) Unidentified History (Ufology) & Game Gone Wrong (Game of Thrones Universe)
Chairshot Radio Network Your home for the hardest hitting podcasts... Sports, Entertainment and Sports Entertainment!
Powered by RedCircle
Let us know what you think on social media @ChairshotMedia and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!
Opinion
Chris King: The Wyatt Sicks’ Wasted Potential By WWE
Chris King takes a look at the WWE and their wasted potential of Uncle Howdy and the Wyatt Sicks faction.
Chris King takes a look at the WWE and their wasted potential of Uncle Howdy and the Wyatt Sicks faction.
It’s that time of the year again, folks; it’s unfortunate and downright awful that so many WWE superstars got released today. I’m not going to list all of them, but I am going to talk about one of my favorite factions,
The Wyatt Sicks. Nikki Cross, Joe Gacy, Erik Rowan, and Bo Dallas (Uncle Howdy) were something special. After Bo’s brother Bray Wyatt’s tragic passing, WWE felt like there was a hole that needed to be filled. Wyatt was one of the most creative and brilliant characters, and Bo would be taking over his brother’s concept and bringing it to life. In 2024, at the end of an incredible documentary highlighting Wyatt’s career and struggles, Bo appeared on the screen portrayed as Uncle Howdy. The last time Uncle Howdy was seen on-screen was at the 2023 Royal Rumble, where Wyatt defeated LA Knight in a Pitch Black Match. Howdy jumped off a structure onto Knight.
This post-credit scene sparked so much speculation and excitement that Wyatt’s brother would carry on his legacy and possibly debut the faction that was Wyatt’s concept. On the June 17th episode of Monday Night Raw, The Wyatt Sicks made their dramatic debut ,destroying the backstage area as well as “murdering” Chad Gable. It was such an iconic arrival for Howdy as he made his menacing walk from the back into the audience who were chanting “Holy Shit.” The Sicks and American Made (Chad Gable and The Creed Brothers) battled for months, with The Sicks being victorious. On the September 9th episode of Raw, The Sicks defeated them, with Howdy getting the win with Sister Abigail.
The following year, The Sicks would move over to Friday Night SmackDown, and it seemed like WWE had a plan in place. They would win the tag team championships from The Street Profits and start to look dominant. Now, what should have happened next is Howdy should have won the United States title. The Sicks could have held all the gold over on the blue brand, but it never happened. The Sicks entered into a never-ending feud with The MFT’s (Solo Sikoa, Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa, JC Mateo, and Talla Tonga.) It started off exciting, and the WWE Universe was red-hot for their interactions.
After months of repetitive matches and The MFT’s stealing their lantern, the feud grew tiresome and boring. Even Tama asked Solo why they are still holding onto the lantern, as it was destroying them as a whole. Finally on the SmackDown before Mania, Tama
gave the lantern back to Howdy against Solo’s wishes. Please explain to me why both factions fought almost every single week instead of just having one final blowoff match at WrestleMania.
It should have been either a massive street fight or a falls count anywhere match on the grandest stage of them all. Instead, it turned into a meaningless week-after-week extravaganza that benefited no one. The MFTs won the rivalry, and The Sicks don’t even work for WWE anymore. This was the same criminalized creative process that Wyatt dealt with during his first run in the company.
We’ll never know how much of a dangerous force The Wyatt Sicks could have been in the WWE. For all their careers’ sake, I hope they stay far away from the company for as long as possible. Every superstar that was cut deserves better!
Chairshot Radio Network
Launched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you’ll find!
MONDAY - Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)
TUESDAY - 4 Corners Podcast (sports)
WEDNESDAY - The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling)
THURSDAY - Nefarious Means
FRIDAY - DWI Podcast (Drunk Wrestling Intellect)
SATURDAY - The Mindless Wrestling Podcast
SUNDAY - 30 Mindless Minutes
CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS
Attitude Of Aggression Podcast: The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history) Unidentified History (Ufology) & Game Gone Wrong (Game of Thrones Universe)
Chairshot Radio Network Your home for the hardest hitting podcasts... Sports, Entertainment and Sports Entertainment!
Powered by RedCircle
Let us know what you think on social media @ChairshotMedia and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!
Opinion
Chris King: Bloodline Saga: Is This the Right Call For WWE?
Chris King questions the WWE’s logic in setting up Jacob Fatu as the next challenger for World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns
Chris King questions the WWE’s logic in setting up Jacob Fatu as the next challenger for World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns
Roman Reigns is once again World Heavyweight Champion after his dominant win over CM Punk at WrestleMania 42. On the following night on Monday Night Raw, The OG Bloodline came back together as a well-oiled machine as The Usos stood side by side with Roman. With the WWE Universe asking who would be the first to challenge “The Tribal Chief,” Jacob Fatu shocked the world by answering the call.
Fatu is running hot after his impressive win over Drew McIntyre and feels like he is ready to become the new world champion. This bloodline segment ended Raw, and it picked right back up on SmackDown with even Solo Sikoa and the MFTs involved. This is now two shows that have been centered around The Bloodline saga, and it’s made me question whether or not WWE should be retelling this story.
The Bloodline (Roman Reigns, The Usos, and Solo Sikoa) ran WWE for over four years as Reigns’ henchmen, doing his dirty work to retain his title. Even though Roman has declared he doesn’t want Jey and Jimmy to serve him, it sure seems like WWE are spinning their wheels. Fatu could add a whole new chapter into the story, even if he’s not able to beat Roman at Backlash. “The Samoan Werewolf” could be forced to do the same thing as Jey did all those years ago and fall in line.
In my opinion, I feel like Fatu should be challenging for the Undisputed WWE Championship because that’s a title I feel like he should win. I understand standing up to your blood and trying to prove you’re the best, but I don’t think this is the right move. It feels like 2022 all over again, as The Bloodline is the central focus on both shows. If Fatu doesn’t win, what happens to all his momentum he’s been building over the last two years?
Why did WWE make this the best choice for storyline purposes? Why couldn’t creative have come up with a different challenger for Roman? There are so many other superstars that could challenge The Tribal Chief, such as Rusev, Bron Breakker, Gunther, or even a returning Sheamus.
I just can’t help but question WWE’s logic here, and it kind of reminds me of all the times The Shield reunited. Could WWE be pushing the same storyline too many times here? Could the WWE Universe get tired of this rinse and repeat cycle of The Bloodline Saga?
Are we about to see all the weekly episodes solely focused on The Bloodline again? Will it be cinema… Yes. Is there still money in The Bloodline… Yes. Was it the right call? That’s to be determined!
Chairshot Radio Network
Launched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you’ll find!
MONDAY - Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)
TUESDAY - 4 Corners Podcast (sports)
WEDNESDAY - The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling)
THURSDAY - Nefarious Means
FRIDAY - DWI Podcast (Drunk Wrestling Intellect)
SATURDAY - The Mindless Wrestling Podcast
SUNDAY - 30 Mindless Minutes
CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS
Attitude Of Aggression Podcast: The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history) Unidentified History (Ufology) & Game Gone Wrong (Game of Thrones Universe)
Chairshot Radio Network Your home for the hardest hitting podcasts... Sports, Entertainment and Sports Entertainment!
Powered by RedCircle
Let us know what you think on social media @ChairshotMedia and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!
-
Podcasts7 days agoGreg DeMarco Show: WrestleMania 42 – Know What You’re Watching
-
AEW Results6 days agoMitchell’s AEW Dynamite Results & Report! (4/22/26)
-
Results4 days agoMitchell’s WWE SmackDown Results & Report! (4/24/26)
-
Results5 days agoAndrew’s TNA iMPACT! Results & Match Ratings: 4.23.2026




