WrestleMania Weekend Goes Beyond Just WWE

Photo Credit: WWE.com

WWE WrestleMania is attended by thousands of wrestling fans from all over the world. Over the last five years other wrestling companies have booked shows in whatever city is fortunate enough to hold the event, in the hopes of getting their product in front of new fans.

Every year WrestleMania weekend is a favorite vacation destination for some of the biggest wrestling fans in the world. WWE seems to add more activities for fans to participate in over the course of the long weekend.

Between WrestleMania Axxess, The Hall of Fame Ceremony, NXT TakeOver, and of course WrestleMania itself, WWE has turned their biggest event of the year into a weekend of giant profits.

Many independent wrestling companies have followed WWE’s lead over the past few years and have booked shows in the same city as WrestleMania. This is a smart strategy as  thousands of wrestling fans descend on the city looking for activities over the weekend.

This has turned WrestleMania into a vacation destination, as fans with different wrestling tastes can quench their appetite for action with a variety of different promotions that offer various types of wrestling.

This year is no different with some of the most prominent independent promotions that have booked the top  stars from around the world. Companies such as Evolve, Progress, CZW, Impact, Revolution Pro, GCW, and ROH have announced shows in New Orleans during WrestleMania weekend.

Some of these companies have joined under collaborative umbrella’s such as Wrestlecon or WWN Live. I will discuss the many alternatives to WWE during WrestleMania weekend.

  WWN Live Experience 2018: Evolve, Beyond, Style Battle

The WWN Live experience 2018 is one of the top independent wrestling networks in the world. Many top Independent including Evolve, Progress,Shimmer, and GCW fall under WWN Live’s banner.

WWN has already announced many amazing contests that will happen over the course of the weekend on their website.

Two of the most anticipated shows for the weekend will be from the Evolve brand. Evolve will run two shows chapter 102 and 103. For Evolve 102 which is the Thursday before WrestleMania WWN has announced what they are billing as “The Definition of A Dream Match when Walter and Timothy Thatcher take on Sekimoto and Sawa.

Evolve 102 will also offer another highly anticipated match as Will Ospreay is slated to take on AR Fox. Stars Such as the WWN Live Champion Keith Lee, The Evolve World Champion Zack Sabre Jr., and Matt Riddle have also been announced to appear.

Friday at Evolve 103 they have announced a couple of matches including

Special Attraction Match

Matt Riddle vs. Daisuke Sekimoto

Special Challenge Match

WALTER vs. Darby Allin

Besides WWN’s main brand Evolve they will also have shows from companies such as Beyond Wrestling, and Style Battle, and Kaiju. Nothing has been announced for these shows as of yet.

WWN Live Experience 2018: GCW, Shimmer

Another favorite among independent wrestling fans is Game Changer Wrestling. GCW is known for having unique events hosted by and named after popular independent stars. This unique concept continues this year during the WWN Live Experience with two shows.

The first is Matt Riddle’s Bloodsport, which will be comprised of contests that can only be won by knockout or submission. The concept is based off of the fact that Riddle was a fighter in the UFC before finding his home in professional wrestling.

The “King of Bros”, Riddle is popular on the independent scene having competed all over the world. He is the Former WWN Live champion and also a former Progress Wrestling Atlas Champion. Riddle is known for his laid back disposition outside of the ring, and his brutal MMA / professional Wrestling hybrid style in the ring. Riddle has faced some of the biggest stars on the Indie circuit including Zack Sabre Jr., Walter,  and Keith Lee.

Although no matches have been announced for Bloodsport, yet this is sure to be a win for wrestling fans.

The second unique show for GCW is Joey Janela’s Spring Break 2. Last year Joey Janela’s Spring Break was one of the most talked about independent shows during WrestleMania  weekend.

Janela, who was a virtually unknown name on the indie scene a few years ago, has developed a pretty decent fan following since then after his feud with current NXT talent Leo Rush.

The full card for this event has not been revealed, but Joey Janela’s opponent has. In the main event it will be The “Bad Boy” Joey Janela vs. The Great Sasuke.

Janela is known for his in ring antics used to win over the crowd. I have a feeling he will go all out again this year making this one show an independent wrestling fan does not want to miss that weekend.

WWN Live’s Women’s Promotion Shimmer will also be holding a show over the weekend. Shimmer 100 will take place on Saturday April 7th.

Shimmer was put into the spotlight in 2017 as many of the Ladies of Shimmer competed in the inaugural WWE Mae Young Classic.

Matches have been announced for this event such as for the Shimmer Championship  Nicole Savoy defends vs. Mercedes Martinez. Shazza McKenzie defends the Heart of Shimmer Championship against Tessa Blanchard.

Others that have been announced to appear include:

SHIMMER Tag Team Champions Leva Bates & Delilah Doom

Mia Yim

Ashley Lane (aka Madison Rayne)

LuFisto

Hudson Envy

Veda Scott

Britt Baker

Chelsea Green (aka Laurel Van Ness)

Kellyann

WWN Live Experience 2018: Progress Wrestling, WWN Live Supershow- Mercury Rising

One of the most popular companies in independent wrestling today, Progress Wrestling, makes their long awaited return to America. Progress is a British based promotion that incorporates punk rock music into their high adrenaline shows.

Progress is known for their smash mouth British strong style of wrestling and has gained quite a following over the past few years. In 2016 Progress held two of the qualifying matches for the WWE Cruiserweight Classic.

Last year during WrestleMania weekend Progress held it’s first show in the United States. Last Year during WrestleMania Axxess Night 3 some of Progress superstars including the current Progress Wrestling World Champion Travis Banks were highlighted during the event.

Progress has not announced any set matches but have announced four competitors who will be there on their Wwitter account

This will be an entertaining show for the current Progress Wrestling fan or a fan who has never experienced Progress to see some amazing action from England.

The final event under the WWN Live banner is the culmination of all the companies associated with WWN Live.

Mercury Rising 2018 is a WWN Live Supershow and  they have a portion of the already stacked card announced

Main Event #1

WWN Championship Match

(if Lee is still champion)

Keith Lee defends vs. Daisuke Sekimoto

Main Event #2

EVOLVE Championship Match

(if ZSJ is still champion)

Zack Sabre Jr. defends vs. Munenori Sawa

EVOLVE Tag Team Championship Match

(if Catch Point are still champions)

Chris Dickinson & Jaka defend vs. WALTER & Timothy Thatcher

Bonus Main Event

Matt Riddle vs. Will Ospreay

Also set to appear on this show is the Progress Wrestling World Champion Travis Banks. WWN Live has an impressive set of shows set up for WrestleMania weekend, but there are other options when it comes to fan interaction with superstars, and independent shows over the weekend.

WrestleCon 2018

WrestleCon 2018 is another popular choice for fans over WrestleMania weekend. The WrestleCon event is a bit different because it combines not only great action from some of the top Independent Promotions from all over the world, but it also includes a 3 day fan interactive experience where they can meet some of the top stars in the business.

According to their website  Wrestlecon 2018 will have over 200 wrestlers for fans to interact with over the course of the weekend.

This type of event will be a big hit for fans of all ages because it offers the chance for fans from different eras to meet their favorite stars from the past and the present just a few names that are scheduled to appear Ted Dibiase, Sting, Trish Stratus, Lita, Bobby Fulton, Stevie Ray, Tommy Dreamer, Shawn Micheals, and Bret hart to name just a few.

The second part of WrestleCon 2018 is the live action portion of the event. Many prominent companies such as Impact, CZW, And RPW UK will offer fans with diverse tastes in Wrestling a chance to satisfy their appetites for action.

Not all of the companies above have announced full cards but some have announced stars or matches that will happen over the weekend.

The Wrestling Revolver has announced one match for their show entitled Pancakes and Piledrivers.

Rev Pro based out of England is known for their collaborations with NJPW and ROH during the War of the Worlds events. so far no announcements as far as matches go, but has made one superstar announcement.

Minoru Suzuki the leader of the infamous NJPW stable Suzuki-Goon. Suzuki is a legend in Japan, and the current IWGP Intercontinental Champion.

Impact Wrestling is joining the festivities this year. Impact has announced a few names including Sami Callihan, LAX, Eli Drake, Johnny Impact and Alberto El Patron. although they have announced quite a few big names for this event there have been no matches announced. Impact is currently re-branding itself, and is featuring some of the best names in independent wrestling.

CZW  is a company known for its violent death match wrestling will also be a part of WrestleCon that weekend. CZW has gained a cult-like – almost ECW-type of – following over the last decade.

CZW has announced few names  their show including Joey Ryan, Will Ospreay, Joey Janela, and Jeff Cobb.

Much like the WWN Live experience WrestleCon is having a supershow as well. As well. So far it has been announced that Penta El Zero M, Rey Fenix, Joey Janela, Juventud Guererra and many more are slated to appear at the super show.

ROH SUPERCARD OF HONOR XII

Last but certainly not least on this list of impressive WrestleMania weekend shows is Ring of Honor’s Supercard of Honor XII. ROH was the company that originally started doing shows every year during WrestleMania weekend.

Before WrestleMania became a four day festival of Wrestling  ROH would throw  a top quality show that would offer fans who enjoy different styles of wrestling and a alternative to the WWE product.

Last year the night before WrestleMania at Supercard of Honor XI the company had their biggest show to date. The Hardys dropped the ROH tag team titles to the Young Bucks then showed up at WrestleMania, shocking the world with their WWE return.

Supercard of Honor is such a big show for ROH even as I am writing this I got breaking news. ROH has announced Cody vs. Kenny Omega at Supercard of Honor 12. This is a much anticipated match pitting Bullet Club Vs. Bullet Club that will be sure to pack the arena.

If you are in New Orleans over Wrestlemania weekend this will be the hottest non WWE ticket in town. Through their partnership with NJPW, ROH has already announced stars of international Proportions  Kota Ibushi and Hiroshi Tanahashi. Also Listed to appear The Young Bucks, “The American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes, “The Cleaner” Kenny Omega, and The ROH World Champion Dalton Castle.

Next: WWE: Will others Follow Jericho's Lead?

Wrestling is a universal language that brings people together. WrestleMania draws fans from all over the world who all have one thing in common, A love of the sport. As you can see the action available over that weekend is as diverse as the crowd flocking to New Orleans to watch it.