Opinion

News From Cook’s Corner 1.25.21: Swinging For The Fences

Some notable deaths and a shift in the USA Network programming schedule seem to have peaked Cook’s interest. Check out what he’s got hot off the presses!

Published

4 years ago

January 25, 2021

Steve Cook

Some notable deaths and a shift in the USA Network programming schedule seem to have peaked Cook’s interest. Check out what he’s got hot off the presses!

Hi, hello & welcome to News From Cook’s Corner! Last week around this time, I was riding pretty high and feeling good about how things were going with the whole writing thing. Got some podcast publicity, wrote some pretty good stuff that went over well with the public, was expanding my horizons with some different work, good times were being had by all. That lasted a few days until I ran into every writer’s greatest enemy.

Writer’s Block.

It’s not that I’m lacking things to write about. There’s plenty going on in the world of pro wrestling, and now that the Chairshot is expanding its reach into sports, there’s always some NFL topic that people want to read about. One goes through times where it’s hard to find the words. It usually happens at a pretty inconvenient time, like when I actually have a lot of free time to write.

The hope for this column is that I can get some creative juices flowing thanks to some topics that interest me. There are plenty of reasons to talk about sports this week, so hopefully that will help! Let’s find out…

Will NBCSN’s Demise Lead To Changes For WWE?

Big news broke in sports television over the weekend, as NBCUniversal announced its intention to close down NBCSN by the end of 2021. This is being seen as a strategy intended to bump up the Peacock streaming service, where many of the properties currently airing on NBCSN will end up. The memo did mention that USA Network would begin carrying some of the programming, including NASCAR races & the Stanley Cup playoffs. This, naturally led to wrestling fans like us jumping to conclusions.

Oh, and fans of all those other sports too, but for the purposes of this column we talk about wrestling fans jumping to conclusions. WWE has two weekly wrestling shows currently airing on USA. Raw’s deal doesn’t end until 2024, but NXT’s ends in October of this year.

I think some are blowing this whole thing out of proportion. Maybe I’ll end up being wrong, but I don’t see the addition of the NHL & NASCAR affecting WWE too much. NASCAR will mostly air on the weekends. The NHL does have this Wednesday Night Hockey gimmick on NBCSN that people tell me is a big deal and may lead to the end of NXT on Wednesday nights. Mayyyybe that happens, as it’s pretty undeniable at this point that NXT would draw a larger audience on a different night. WWE would prefer to take a chunk out of AEW Dynamite viewership, but that’s not as big of a concern to USA.

However, as somebody that watches a good amount of hockey, I’ve never thought of Wednesday night as a destination night for the sport. Might be because my Nashville Predators are rarely featured on it (they will be this week, largely because they’re playing Chicago), but I don’t see it as this big thing that changing to Tuesday or Thursday Night Hockey would put traditional hockey fans up in arms. Certainly not like how they get worked up every time something related to Hockey Night in Canada changes.

There’s also the factor of the NHL contract with NBC expiring after this season, which could render the whole “Wednesday Night Hockey” thing as a moot point. This is all very interesting to keep an eye on, but I’m not expecting anything major to come out of it, at least when it comes to WWE business. Say what you will about Raw or NXT’s TV ratings, the NHL sure wouldn’t mind having them. We might see NXT get pre-empted if the NHL has a ton of playoff games on a Wednesday night, but other than that I wouldn’t worry about it.

Hammerin’ Hank

As a baseball fan that has loved studying the history of the sport from a young age, the last year or so has been brutal. It’s been a seemingly never-ending parade of Hall of Famers leaving us. Most of them were along for a long time, so it’s not like they were taken too soon or anything like that. It’s just kinda sad for baseball fans to see a piece of their childhood fade away.

Hank Aaron passed away at the age of eighty-six on Friday. He was the man who broke Babe Ruth’s home run record back in 1974, and had to deal with everything that that entailed. People that had a certain outlook on life were outraged to see Hank Aaron, an African-American, break the Sultan of Swat’s record. When I first read about all this and saw some of the things people sent Aaron in the mail, I was shocked. I was much younger at the time and under the impression that certain things had gotten better. Which they have, as now they send Tweets.

Aaron’s record of 755 home runs lasted over 30 years until Barry Bonds surpassed him with 762, and many folks out there still recognize Aaron as the home run king due to certain aspects of Bonds’ career. I’m not here to tell you how you should feel about that. What I will say is that 755 is much easier to remember than 762. It’s like how I was talking about the WrestleMania III attendance record being easier to remember than WM 32’s just last week. It’s just a better number.

You might wonder why I’m talking about all this in a wrestling column. Maybe you’re not, since it’s a pretty well known story. After Aaron retired from baseball, he became an executive with the Atlanta Braves & TBS. At the time, the Braves & TBS were owned by Ted Turner, who owned pretty much everything in Atlanta at that point. Including later in the 1980s, World Championship Wrestling. Aaron, like most TBS executives at the time, kept his distance from WCW, which was widely considered the red-headed stepchild of the Turner corporation.

WCW had quite the revolving door of executive VPs, bookers & assorted people in charge its first few years under the Turner umbrella. The middle of 1992 saw the arrival of Bill Watts, a man known in wrestling circles as pretty much a genius. Watts had booked for a number of successful territories during the 1970s & 1980s, and the Mid-South Wrestling promotion he led during the early 1980s produced some of the most critically acclaimed wrestling television to this day. Also did big business in Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and other areas that weren’t exactly population & media centers. Watts’ reputation as a wrestling genius gave people big hopes once he arrived, and, well, things didn’t quite go as hoped.

I have re-watched some of 1992 WCW fairly recently thanks to WWE Network dumping some WCW Saturday Night just before I started watching as a kid on there. I enjoyed a lot of it, but there were definitely some warts. The TV definitely didn’t draw a lot of money, and Watts’ new rules he brought to WCW definitely didn’t make any friends backstage. Watts was also forced to cut costs, though as Arn Anderson has pointed out, he would see other people pop up on the roster after his salary was slashed. Arn admitting that he used Erik Watts beating him down at a gas station as an excuse to take four months off, sit at home & let things play out just increases my opinion of the Enforcer. Tremendous.

WCW under Watts was definitely a mixed bag. The Cowboy had some good ideas, but he also had some terrible ideas that stifled the roster. Watts has explained the top rope ban as making the moves mean more, but it was ill-timed when WCW was trying to promote a Light Heavyweight division where the top two stars were Jushin “Thunder” Liger & Flyin’ Brian. I mean, it didn’t hurt Brad Armstrong or Scotty Flamingo too much, but we would have rather watched the former than the latter in 1992. Or in most other years.

Watts had gotten behind the times. Apparently, he was even more behind the times based off of a Torch Talk interview he did in 1991 that allegedly helped him get the WCW job. That’s a myth that’s been passed on over the times by newsletter writers, but when I read that interview, I saw at least 27 red flags. I had heard Watts’ explanation of the situation prior to my reading the actual transcription of all of this. Once I saw what he actually said, well, I can see why he was trying to spin it.

Bill Watts is a complicated figure in wrestling history. He gave the Junk Yard Dog his big push in Louisiana. He made Ron Simmons the first black WCW Champion. He made Ernie Ladd his booker in Mid-South Wrestling. He rightly saw that most of the top athletes in the world were black, and that wrestling denying that was ridiculous. Regardless of his opinions of other races, he saw that there was business to be done in pro wrestling.

Which, to be honest, puts him ahead of most other promoters in his time. Watts might have been a racist, but as a capitalist he still saw the business potential. WWE has been criticized for decades for not properly pushing African-American talent. They have been putting belts on minority talent lately, but still fund political campaigns meaning to bring minorities down. I’m not telling any lies here, just ask the people that vote for Vince & Linda’s preferred candidates. That’s what they want to do. Don’t get me started on the debate over who the first black WWF/E champion was. I am sticking a ten foot pole between me and that debate.

Watts made a habit of pushing African-American talent throughout his stints as a promoter & booker. He entrusted Ernie Ladd with booking Mid-South Wrestling, which was the first time an African-American had booked a wrestling promotion. Which made the interview he did with the Pro Wrestling Torch prior to getting hired by WCW more damning when I actually read it. I had read summaries before, and had heard Watts’ take on the matter. Actually seeing what he said…pretty shocking, though there are plenty out there that might agree with his hot takes.

The story is that Mark Madden (another wonderful individual just like his fellow Torch columnist Bruce Mitchell) faxed the Pro Wrestling Torch interview to Hank Aaron, after seeing Aaron on WCW television with Watts shortly after Aaron had spoken out against Marge Schott, the owner of the Cincinnati Reds that had made some very questionable statements concerning Adolf Hitler, among other things. See, Watts was big on mainstream sports, and would have marked out to have Hank Aaron on TV with him. Probably pulled some strings to make that happen. Aaron was not pleased when he saw the Torch interview, and told Madden that there would be something done about it. Watts resigned from WCW shortly afterwards.

It should be noted that Watts has a different take on all of this, though it has to be called into question since he made his Torch comments seem much less racist in his re-calling. Part of it does seem believable, since he claimed that he was already intending to step down from WCW due to the corporate agenda he didn’t want to deal with. It seems feasible, and Jim Cornette backed him up on the timeline on the ROH Straight Shootin’ Series interview they did. (Has Jim Cornette ever commented on Bill Watts’ political beliefs? That’d be an interesting YouTube clip.)

Watts’ removal led to Ole Anderson taking control, which didn’t last long. Once Ole pissed enough people off, he got shown the door, and that’s when Eric Bischoff slid in. I don’t think Hank Aaron paid attention to WCW a second after he got a fax from Mark Madden. Could be wrong, though I think if Aaron was at some of those Nitro telecasts they would have drug him out there to get a pop.

A lot of news sites wanted to sell Aaron as changing the course of wrestling history in their news bites reporting his death. I think that’s a little overblown, as Watts would have gone away even without Aaron being forced to respond to an interview that TBS apparently didn’t look into before hiring Bill Watts. The main issue is that Watts shouldn’t have been there to begin with. Easy to say with hindsight being 20/20, and the perception being Cowboy Bill being a wrestling genus, but his WCW stint, at least as far as TV entertainment value goes, was lacking.

Maybe he saved some money, but why would we care about that? Especially when he was saving money by cutting production values and cutting Arn Anderson & Bobby Eaton’s pay in half. Those were acceptable costs. And how much money do you save by not placing pretty blue mats at ringside to keep wrestlers from killing themselves on the floor? Can’t be that much.

Larry Fling Live

CNN has never really replaced Larry King. They tried to have Piers Morgan do it, which was a debacle that fortunately only British people have to deal with now. Chris Cuomo has the slot now, but that is what that is. Anderson Cooper is smart enough to stay out of that time slot because he doesn’t want the comparison. He’ll take any other slot on CNN, just not that 9:00 PM Eastern slot.

That was where Larry King interviewed people on CNN for twenty-five years. It was the signature program on cable television’s first news network. As much as we talk about cable television dying off and viewership going away, cable news is still a pretty big thing. It’s only gotten bigger since Larry King Live went off the air, and one wonders if a cable news host like King would do well now. King didn’t wear his party affiliation on his sleeve, which made him great for television back in the day. For television now? Could be an issue, since viewers tend to lean towards networks that reinforce their political views. Centerists aren’t especially popular these days, nor are people that try to hide their political opinions. You’re better off pandering to your side & checking all objectivity at the door these days.

Believe me, I’m not a fan of that idea, but that’s what the people want.

Larry King was always pretty unbiased. Which made him a great tool for pro wrestling. CNN was under that Turner umbrella we talked about earlier, but they tried to steer clear of WCW. They’d cover some WWF stuff from time to time, but pro wrestling wasn’t really under the cable news radar until the Chris Benoit murders/suicide. Many thought that could lead to the end of the business, and plenty of cable news shows were ready to jump all over it.

King’s show was open to bringing on more enlightened pro wrestlers, at least at that time. He was willing to let those wrestlers, whether it was Bret Hart or Chris Jericho or Mick Foley or whoever, speak their mind. He didn’t cut them off or shout them down. King’s fairness at that time won him favor from WWE, who had previously lampooned him with “Larry Fling Live” hosting segments between the Huckster, Nacho Man & Billionaire Ted, since they were mad when Ted Turner was competing with them.

King did find the wrestling business interesting, and appeared on Raw in 2012. By that point, King was off of CNN, and WWE was happy to let him make a guest appearance. He got to talk to menches like Daniel Bryan, Kofi Kingston & The Miz. Can’t hate on that. He even got out of there before Kane could say something to him.

I would like to someday think of myself as the Larry King of pro wrestling writing. Except I’ve probably already pissed off too many people to make that idea work.

Thanks for reading! Hope you’ve enjoyed this as much as I have enjoyed bumbling through it. Until next week, keep your stick on the ice.

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Opinion

Chairshot Staff Picks: WrestleMania 41 Las Vegas

Time for The Chairshot personalities to put their money where their mouths are! WreslteMania 41 predictions from the “expert” staff at TheChairshot.com and Chairshot Radio Network.

Published

3 days ago

April 18, 2025

PC Tunney

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Chairshot Staff Picks. And what better setting than WrestleMania for this article to return! This 41st edition has one of the most stacked rosters in WWE history. So, without further ado, let us get to the predictions and prognostications…

AJ – The New Day
Andrew – The New Day – No one seems to hold tag titles long anymore.
Dave – The New Day – They have earned it.
DJ – The New Day – Feel tha Powah!
DPP – War Raiders – Big E distraction.
Jason – The New Day – We are not getting E in a working capacity though everyone wants it.
Patrick – The New Day – WWE doesn’t care about this match, so why should I?
Rey – The New Day – Its a New Day, bruh.
Rob – The New Day – New Day rocks and wins!
Greg – The New Day – New. Day wins. New. Day wins!

Tunney’s Take: War Machine – Yes, WAR MACHINE. I have personally had the pleasure of throwing back a few cold ones with these guys on more than one occasion. Not only being tag champs in WWE but defending the titles at Mania and against The New Day is really cool for me as a long-time fan. Would it be fun to see The New Day have another title run.. YES. I think it’s smarter to give the War Raiders a big Mania W.

Chairshot Pick: THE NEW DAY 9-2

AJ – Jade Cargill
Andrew – Jade Cargill – She needs to stay a dominant force.
Dave – Jade Cargill – Gotta gear her up for the long term.
DJ – No contest – Naomi puts another beat down on Jade.
DPP – Jade Cargill – Nervous for how this match will go.
Jason – Naomi – Way more runway with Naomi as a bad guy. Keep it going!
Patrick – Jade Cargill – Jade gets her revenge.
Rey – Jade Cargill – Best non-title feud going. Naomi should win but Jade sneaks by.
Rob – Naomi – Naomi gets help to win.
Greg – Jade Cargill – They ain’t beating Jade here.

Tunney’s Take: Jade Cargill – I imagine WWE sees Jade’s ceiling much higher than Naomi’s. What better way to keep Jade climbing the ladder towards a World Title than to pick up a decisive victory in Vegas!

Chairshot Pick: Jade Cargill 8-2-1

AJ – Jacob Fatu – “AJ does a pretty good LA Knight impersonation” – PC Tunney
Andrew – Jacob Fatu – I’m biased, Jacob for President.
Dave – Jacob Fatu – Getting gold back in the Bloodline is smart.
DJ – Jacob Fatu
DPP – Jacob Fatu
Jason – Jacob Fatu – Thanks for coming pal, YEAH!
Patrick – Jacob Fatu
Rey – Jacob Fatu – C’mon cuz! All gas no brakes with it. Yadadamean??
Rob – LA Knight – Solo costs Jacob.
Greg – LA Knight – Solo screws Jacob.

Tunney’s Take: Jacob Fatu – It has been quite the journey for the Samoan Werewolf. I feel like that journey and the positive turn around it has taken deserves to be rewarded. Let’s see what Jacob can do on his own. Plus, LA Knight is ready to challenge for a World Title.

Chairshot Pick: Jacob Fatu 9-2

AJ – Tiffany Straton
Andrew – Tiffany Straton – I hate Charlotte Flair, no objectivity here.
Dave – Charlotte Flair – Tiffy might be the future, but she kinda failed the litmus test.
DJ – Charlotte Flair – The Queen crowns the freshman.
DPP – Tiffany Stratton
Jason – Charlotte Flair – Tiff wasn’t ready for this spot. Charnos is inevitable.
Patrick – Charlotte Flair – Lol Charlotte wins.
Rey – Charlotte Flair – Tiffany SHOULD win but, if Charlotte can squash, she will.
Rob – Charlotte Flair – Charlotte gets number 15.
Greg – Tiffany Stratton – Lol Charlotte wins. (Actually she doesn’t)

Tunney’s Take: Charlotte Flair – Charlotte needs the title for the first time in her career. Tiffy has had a nice run but now needs to take that all important step of not losing momentum after losing the title. Despite the drama and lackluster build here, I see a really good match coming this weekend from these two.

Chairshot Pick: Charlotte Flair 7-4

AJ – El Grande Americano
Andrew – El Grande Americano – I’d like to see Gable gain some momentum. Rey is Teflon.
Dave – El Grand Americano – He needs a marque win much more than Rey.
DJ – Rey Mysterio
DPP – El Grande Americano – Grande wins with the switcheroo to prove he is not Gable.
Jason – Rey Mysterio – Unmask Grande at the end. It is fun but has a shelf life.
Patrick – El Grande Americano – TOTALLY NOT CHAD GABLE
Rey – Rey Mysterio – Someone’s mask is coming off and it ain’t Rey.
Rob – El Grande Americano
Greg – Rey Mysterio – Hall of Famer wins but doesn’t take the mask.

Tunney’s Take: Rey Mysterio – Go listen to DWI 471. DP, Greg and I lay out exactly what this match should be, FUN! Multiple Americanos!!!

Chairshot Pick: El Grande Americano 6-5

AJ – Jey Uso
Andrew – Jey Uso – Kinda booked themselves into a corner here.
Dave – Jey Uso – It just makes sense.
DJ – Jey Uso – Jey YEETS all over The Ring Genreal.
DPP – Jey Uso – Jey wins after normal Gunther beating.
Jason – Jey Uso – Land the plane man. YEET
Patrick – Jey Uso – Jey has earned this one.
Rey – Jey Uso – YEEEEEEEEEEEET!
Rob – Jey Uso – YEET
Greg – Jey Uso – If Jey loses we riot. We don’t cause he wins.

Tunney’s Take: Jey Uso – ‘Til sweat drop down my balls, ‘Til all these bitches crawl, ‘Til all… YEET YEET YEET YEET YEET YEET YEET YEET YEET YEET YEET YEET YEET YEET YEET YEET YEET YEET YEET YEET YEET YEET YEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chairshot Pick: Jey Uso 11-0

AJ – Roman Reigns
Andrew – Seth Rollins – I can see Rollins being the last piece of Team Rock.
Dave – Roman Reigns – I can’t see Roman losing two years in a row.
DJ – Seth Rollins – Paul Heyman is a Seth Freakin Rollins guy.
DPP – Seth Rollins – The Rock helps Rollins.
Jason – Roman Reigns – Seth’s favor is a red herring. Make-A-Wish Brooks got his main, now look at the lights.
Patrick – Seth Rollins – Seth Rollins… Paul Heyman guy.
Rey – Seth Rollins – I smeeeeellllllll a new soul to sell.
Rob – Roman Reigns – Paul Heyman helps Roman win.
Greg – Seth Rollins – Brock Lesnar returns to help Seth win.

Tunney’s Take: CM Punk – I really have no idea here. I picked Punk because nobody else did. This is going to be professional wrestling cinema at its finest. The story is thick and neatly woven. All the participants are legends and so are the potential party crashers. Will The Rock stick his nose in here? Will Brock Lesnar return to play a factor? Obviously, Paul Heyman has a Plan A… but what is it? All these questions and more will be answered Saturday as night 1 will definitely go out with a bang!

Chairshot Pick: Seth Rollins 6-4-1

AJ – Iyo Sky
Andrew – Iyo Sky – Rhea vs Bianca doesn’t need a belt to be compelling.
Dave – Rhea Ripley – Going with Rhea barely, hoping Iyo wins.
DJ – Iyo Sky – Unfinished business.
DPP – Iyo Sky – Rhea and Bianca are too consumed with each other.
Jason – Iyo Sky – More layers to Rhea/Bianca. Iyo rules.
Patrick – Iyo Sky – Iyo stole the build and gets the win.
Rey – Iyo Sky – Smart money is on the underdog champ.
Rob – Iyo Sky – Iyo survives.
Greg – Bianca Belair – Naomi helps Bianca win and turn heel.

Tunney’s Take: Rhea Ripley – Rhea is the best women’s wrestler in the world. Give her the biggest win on the grandest stage of them all!!! Bianca needs to go full heel. Iyo has been amazing in this build.

Chairshot Pick: Iyo Sky 8-2-1

AJ – Dominik Mysterio
Andrew – Finn Balor – I can see a Judgement Day meltdown incoming.
Dave – Bron Breakker – Bron is about to become a MegaStar.
DJ – Bron Breakker – Judgement Day implodes.
DPP – Dominik Mysterio – Finn take the pin.
Jason – Penta – I literally do not care because the winner is us, the fans.
Patrick – Bron Breakker – The WWE doesn’t care about this matchup, so why should I?
Rey – Dominik Mysterio – Only match without a clear winner. I choose chaos.
Rob – Bron Breakker – Finn and Dom cancel each other out.
Greg – Dominik Mysterio – Dom steals the pin from Bron, on Finn.

Tunney’s Take: Bron Breakker – The case can be made for any of these four to walk away with the most prestigious non-World title in pro wrestling history. The short of it is though that the Main Event picture isn’t really readily accessible for Breakker right now. Let this IC reign go through the summer, to SummerSlam.

Chairshot Pick: Bron Breakker 5-4-1-1

AJ – Damian Priest – “AJ does a pretty good Drew impersonation” – PC Tunney
Andrew – Drew McIntyre – Priest has not been interesting in this face incarnation.
Dave – Drew McIntyre – Time for Drew to get that win back.
DJ – Fuck finish – To be continued at Backlash.
DPP – Drew McIntyre – Physical matchup!
Jason – Drew McIntyre – Either one is fine here.
Patrick – Drew McIntyre – With two eyes, Drew turns the tide.
Rey – Drew McIntyre – Low key match of the weekend.
Rob – Damien Priest
Greg – Damien Priest – Priest wins, Drew tweets about it half hour later.

Tunney’s Take: Drew McIntyre – With the addition of the Street fight rules, these two behemoths have a really good chance to have one of the best matches of the entire weekend (winks at Rey Ca$h-A-Mania)! I do wonder what is next for both of these talents moving forward. Priest has staled since leaving the Judgement Day and Drew seems stuck in the same cycle for a while now. Very interested to see what the summer holds for this pair.

Chairshot Pick: Drew McIntyre 7-3-1

WHO WILL BE RANDY’S OPPONENT?!?

AJ – Nick Aldis – Orton wins
Andrew – Orton and Aldis vs Solo and Tama – Orton and Aldis win
Dave – Someone is getting an RKO!
DJ – A segment w/ the Wyatt s6cks.
DPP – Rusev – Aldis introduces Rusev who defeats Orton.
Jason – Nick Aldis – You got one more in ya, bubba. Aldis wins!
Patrick – Nick Aldis
Rey – Solo then Rusev – Solo in a squash and Rusev MATCHKA(wins)
Rob – Nick Aldis – Aldis proves himself, Orton wins.
Greg – Nick Aldis – Orton beats Aldis, they shake after.

Tunney’s Take: I would really love to see a singles match between Orton and Aldis. More likely this is some type of involvement with Solo and Tama. Rusev as a surprise challenger would be cool but, I feel that would be better left for RAW. An impromptu Goldberg retirement match would be crazy and fun, yet highly unlikely and illogical. Whatever happens, best believe exactly what Dave Ungar said, “Someone is getting an RKO!”.

AJ – Logan Paul
Andrew – AJ Styles – Logan doesn’t need the rub and should stay upper mid card.
Dave – Logan Paul – It’s the smart move and would be a statement win for Paul.
DJ – Logan Paul – Kross gets involved somewhere.
DPP – AJ Styles – AJ wins a great high-flying match.
Jason – AJ Styles – Just enjoy it or get a beer, nerds.
Patrick – Logan Paul – Logan Paul will main-event Mania sooner than later…
Rey – Logan Paul – Pass the torch, my wily vet.
Rob – Logan Paul – Kross helps Paul win.
Greg – AJ Styles – Styles wins after Paul’s cheating backfires.

Tunney’s Take: Logan Paul – Logan seems to really have dedicated himself to becoming great in this business. Anyone with that type of goal must have a World title on their mind. Beating AJ at Mania will be a great springboard for Logan into the Main Event sooner than later (winks at Patrick O’Dowd).

Chairshot Pick: Logan Paul 7-4

AJ – Liv & Raquel
Andrew – Liv & Raquel – Not really a fan of Lyra, she needs more work.
Dave – Liv & Raquel – This Bayley and Lyra team makes no damn sense.
DJ – Liv & Raquel – Bayley crashes out.
DPP – Liv & Raquel – Bayley continues a potential heel turn tease.
Jason – Bayley & Lyra – Finish the story!
Patrick – Bayley & Lyra – The WWE doesn’t care about this matchup, so why should I?
Rey – Liv and Raquel – Bayley want a title but it ain’t the ones in this match.
Rob – Liv & Raquel – Champs retain.
Greg – Liv & Raquel – Liv and Raquel retain thanks to Carlito and maybe JD.

Tunney’s Take: Liv & Raquel – Liv and Raquel need to be kept as the cornerstone of the women’s tag division for a lengthier period of time. Building tag teams in this division is difficult enough, let alone without a North Star.

Chairshot Pick: Liv & Raquel 9-2

AJ – Cody Rhodes
Andrew – Cody Rhodes – They are mentioning it so much, I don’t think 17 happens.
Dave – Joh Cena – Record falls and we head to summer with a built-in storyline.
DJ – John Cena – Some kind of Final Boss involvement.
DPP – John Cena – Cena wins and retires on RAW.
Jason – John Cena – Story’s over, “Captain” BIG MATCH JOHN.
Patrick – John Cena – A record breaking night for Cena.
Rey – John Cena – They’d be really stupid to turn John just to lose. (Post-Mania: Rock, Cena, T Scott, Seth & Drew, TEAM Corporate)
Rob – Cody Rhodes – Cody surprises us with the W.
Greg – Cody Rhodes – Cody wins to piss off Rock and set the table for Cena to turn back face. Crowd is behind Cena all the way through.

Tunney’s Take: Cody Rhodes – They had me until the threat of retirement. Been there. Done that. Didn’t fall in love with it back then. I love John Cena. I love this final run. John will get his 17th just not here. I expect nothing less than an absolute GEM of a match here to close WrestleMania 41. This has all been, is, and will continue to be about Cody Rhodes. WM40 defeats Roman Reigns. WM41 defeats John Cena. WM42 defeats The Rock (The Final Boss).

Chairshot Pick: John Cena 6-5

In closing I want to thank everyone on the panel for participating with their picks! You can follow each prognosticator/podcaster on X @ the handles below. We wait all year for this so remember three things… be respectful of others, comparison is the thief of joy and HAVE FUN!

AJ – @PhenomenalAJB
Andrew – @IWCWarChief
Dave – @AttitudeAgg
DJ – @TheMindlessPod
DPP – @itsmeDPP
Jason – @JediFett
Patrick – @WrestlngRealist
Rey – @itsreycash
Rob – @rbonne1
Greg – @gregdemarco44
PC – @PCTunney
TheChairshot.com – @ChairshotMedia

For the latest, greatest and up to datest in coverage, opinions, and podcasts ALWAYS #UseYourHead and visit TheCharishot.com

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DeMarco: Top 5 Non-Title WrestleMania Matches In WWE History

Not all WrestleMania classics had titles on the line. Dive into the top 5 non-title matches that stole the show & defined legacies. #WrestleMania #WWEHistory

Published

5 days ago

April 16, 2025

Greg DeMarco

Shawn Michaels Kurt Angle WrestleMania 21

Not all WrestleMania classics had titles on the line. Dive into the top 5 non-title matches that stole the show and defined legacies.

WrestleMania is the Showcase Of The Immortals, but it’s not always the championship matches that steal the show—or define careers. In fact, some of the most iconic, business-defining, and emotionally resonant contests at the Grandest Stage of Them All didn’t feature a title at all. These matches succeeded because of character work, in-ring execution, and the kind of storytelling that sells tickets and moves merch.

Here are the five best non-title matches in WrestleMania history—at least, according to me!

5. The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan – WrestleMania X8 (2002)

This was never going to be a five-star technical clinic—but it was always going to be the moment. “Icon vs. Icon” was a tagline, sure, but it was also the reality: the biggest star of the ‘80s vs. the biggest star of the Attitude Era. And Toronto turned it into magic. Hogan walked in a heel but walked out immortal (again), with the SkyDome shaking on every punch, every look, every gesture.

What made this work was its self-awareness. Rock and Hogan read the crowd and flipped roles mid-match—Rock became the arrogant aggressor while Hogan Hulked Up to thunderous applause. It’s not often a non-title match headlines a card emotionally the way this one did, but it dominated every headline and highlight reel.

4. Owen Hart vs. Bret Hart – WrestleMania X (1994)

Sibling rivalries don’t usually lead to technical masterpieces, but then again, this wasn’t your average family drama. Owen and Bret opened WrestleMania X with a wrestling clinic that stood tall over a night packed with title changes. Owen needed to prove he was more than Bret’s little brother, and he did it by out-wrestling the best wrestler in the company. Clean. One-two-three.

It wasn’t just a great match—it was perfect storytelling. Owen’s victory, contrasted with Bret’s later world title win, set the tone for an entire year of brother-vs-brother tension. Bret became champion, but Owen had the moral victory—and all the bragging rights. This is proof that opening matches can steal the show.

3. The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels – WrestleMania 25 (2009)

If WrestleMania moments could be trademarked, this match would be the reason why. The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels wasn’t about championships—it was about legacy. Michaels wanted to be the man who ended The Streak. The build was steeped in biblical imagery: light vs. dark, heaven vs. hell. And the match? Pure perfection. Each man brought everything they had—near-falls, psychology, reversals that had 70,000+ people gasping in unison.

It was 30 minutes of generational storytelling that transcended pro wrestling. And here’s the kicker—it wasn’t even the main event. Yet it dwarfed everything that followed. Meltzer gave it 4.75 stars, fans gave it their hearts, and WWE gave it a sequel the next year. A match so good it forced the company to run it back—because lightning actually struck.

Now, if THIS MATCH is #3, what could possible be #2 and #1…

2. Bret Hart vs. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin – WrestleMania 13 (1997)

This wasn’t just a match—it was the turning point of an era. The Submission Match between Bret Hart and Steve Austin was as violent as it was poetic, with Ken Shamrock enforcing the rules and the Chicago crowd growing more frenzied by the second. The brilliance? The shift. Bret Hart, the traditionalist hero, grew darker and more self-righteous by the second, while the disrespectful anti-hero Austin refused to quit, even when drowning in his own blood. There was no title on the line, but the stakes felt bigger than gold.

The infamous double turn changed the business. Austin’s defiance turned him into the voice of a new generation of fans—blue collar, anti-authority, Attitude Era. Meanwhile, Bret would go on to lead the heel Hart Foundation. WWE didn’t need a championship to create a moment that catapulted Austin into superstardom and ignited the company’s hottest era. This match is business-first booking at its absolute best.

1. Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels – WrestleMania 21 (2005)

Dream matches often disappoint. This one didn’t. At WrestleMania 21, Olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle went hold-for-hold and spot-for-spot with Mr. WrestleMania himself, and together they delivered a masterclass in in-ring psychology. Every sequence had stakes, every near-fall had meaning. It was a stylistic war: Michaels’ heart vs. Angle’s intensity.

Angle forcing Michaels to tap was a statement—it told fans that pure wrestling, not just spectacle, could still main-event caliber storytelling without any need for a title. Michaels sold the ankle lock like death, and Angle’s post-match collapse sold the moment as a hard-fought war. This is the kind of match that keeps purists up at night, smiling, and leaves the storytelling fans like myself as happy as can be!

10 Honorable Mentions (Not Honorable, Just For The Heck Of It)

Edge vs. Mick Foley – WrestleMania 22 (2006)
A hardcore war that solidified Edge as a top-tier main eventer. That flaming table spear is still played in every Edge highlight reel.
AJ Styles vs. Shane McMahon – WrestleMania 33 (2017)
Everyone expected smoke and mirrors—what they got was a surprisingly technical, high-energy opener that kicked off the show right.
The Undertaker vs. Triple H – WrestleMania 28 (2012)
“End of an Era” wasn’t just a tagline. The Hell in a Cell match, with HBK as referee, was a brutal epilogue to a generation’s legacy.
Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho – WrestleMania XIX (2003)
A student-teacher battle of wills. Jericho’s low blow post-match was the perfect heel punctuation to a career-defining contest.
Randy Orton vs. Seth Rollins – WrestleMania 31 (2015)
The greatest RKO of all time. That curb stomp reversal belongs in a museum.
Floyd Mayweather vs. Big Show – WrestleMania XXIV (2008)
More sports-entertainment than wrestling, but a crossover moment that made mainstream headlines and paid off with a great finish.
Roddy Piper vs. Adrian Adonis – WrestleMania III (1987)
A retirement match with big heat, a hot crowd, and Piper walking off into the sunset (for a minute).
The Firefly Funhouse Match – John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt – WrestleMania 36 (2020)
Cinematic weirdness at its best. A meta masterstroke that broke Cena down in layers.
Bad Bunny & Damian Priest vs. The Miz & John Morrison – WrestleMania 37 (2021)
Bad Bunny stunned everyone. He didn’t just belong—he elevated the show.
Rey Mysterio vs. Dominik Mysterio – WrestleMania 39 (2023)
Father vs. son in a grudge match that played perfectly off real-life drama and Hall of Fame weekend emotions.

Some of these matches shaped legacies. Others shifted eras. But all of them proved that the most memorable moments at WrestleMania don’t need a title—they just need truth in the storytelling and fire in the execution.