Blagamania - Beginner's Guide to WrestleMania 38

Welcome to Blagamania, the beginner’s guide to WWE’s WrestleMania show taking place on both Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd April. This new annual tradition aims to give the cheat sheet to those who want to (or are being forced to) watch the shows this weekend who don’t watch week to week. This article will break down each match and give you the backstory behind each one.

The Headlines

• WrestleMania 38 will take place at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. It is the biggest show of the wrestling calendar.
• The stadium is home of NFL team the Dallas Cowboys, whose badge (a giant blue star) has served as the inspiration for this year’s stars-heavy theme.
• This is the first “full” WrestleMania in two years, following WM 36 taking place in front of 0 fans in the WWE Performance Centre, and WM 37 taking place in front of 20,000 fans across two nights in Tampa, Florida. 
• Also returning this year is the circus of independent wrestling shows in the Dallas area. This includes the WrestleCon convention, and shows from Impact Wrestling, GCW and AAA. The highlight looks to be the Ring of Honor show on Friday 1st - their “Supercard of Honor” show will be the first show since the company went on hiatus in December, and the first since they were purchased by All Elite Wrestling, the hottest wrestling promotion in the world right now.
• WWE also has supplementary shows, starting with the 2022 Hall of Fame ceremony on Friday night. The class of 2022 is headlined by The Undertaker.
• WWE is also running NXT: Stand and Deliver on Saturday afternoon. I’ll do a quick preview of the show at the bottom of the page.

Here is a breakdown of every announced match. If you have any questions after reading, please send them over to me on Twitter - @TheGutteridge.

Night One - Saturday ​2nd April

The KO Show featuring Stone Cold Steve Austin

• Stone Cold Steve Austin (left) is one the most famous wrestlers of all time. He saved the company from bankruptcy and catapulted them into mainstream success in the mid-to-late 90s during the “Attitude Era”. He retired 19 years ago at WrestleMania 19, in a losing effort to long time nemesis The Rock.
• French-Canadian Kevin Owens (right) literally learned English from watching wrestling during the 90s. A former darling of the independent wrestling scene, known for his incredible charisma and mic skills, he has since made WWE his home, even winning the Universal Title in 2016.
• In the build-up to WM 38, Owens started frequently mentioning how much he hates Texas. As he and his tag partner Seth Rollins struggled to find a way onto the WrestleMania card, Owens decided to take matters into his own hands by calling out Texas’ favourite son, Steve Austin.
• On paper, this is just scheduled to be a talk show segment, with Steve Austin appearing on Owens’ “The KO Show”, although it has been insinuated that this will main event Night One.

What to expect: A fight of some description. Rumours swirled a few weeks ago that Steve Austin was returning for a match, 19 years after retiring. Then, the next day, Kevin Owens hated Texas all of a sudden, and now we find ourselves here. WWE has left things purposefully vague - this could be just a talking segment with a Stone Cold Stunner thrown in, a protracted brawl, or an honest-to-goodness match. And in all honesty, I don’t know what I want. Steve Austin was my favourite wrestler growing up, and Kevin Owens is easily one of the best in the world right now. But Austin is 57 and hasn’t wrestled in nearly two decades, so how good could a match be? Whatever happens, it’s by far the most interesting thing on Night One. 

Charlotte Flair © vs. Ronda Rousey for the WWE Smackdown Women’s Title

• Charlotte Flair (left) has been Smackdown Women’s Champion since October 2021. It is the highest prize in the Women’s division on Smackdown
• Flair, daughter of wrestling legend Ric Flair, is WWE’s golden girl - the most decorated woman in company history, she is portrayed as “The Queen” of the division, lauding over the rest of the women’s roster as its arrogant final boss.
• Ronda Rousey (right) came to the world of wrestling from MMA, being the first woman inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame. A big wrestling fan (taking her “Rowdy” nickname from WWE legend “Rowdy” Roddy Piper), she joined WWE in 2018, and wasted no time in becoming a dominant champion.
• Rousey won her shot at Flair by winning the 2022 Women’s Royal Rumble. The feud has largely revolved around Flair claiming that Rousey is a one-trick pony that she has all the answers for.
• The two have met before at WrestleMania, in a triple threat match won by Becky Lynch at WM 35. It made history as the first women’s match to main event a WrestleMania. 

What to expect: The “main event”. If the KO Show goes on last, this will likely be the last wrestling match on Night One, making it the de facto in-ring main event. But I wouldn’t be surprised if this does actually go on last, particularly if Steve Austin decides he isn’t wrestling a match after all. Flair vs. Rousey was supposed to be the match at WM 35, but Becky Lynch was too popular to ignore. Now however, WWE get to have the match they wanted all along, and it should be entertaining, with both women showing good chemistry together in the past.

Becky Lynch © vs. Bianca Belair for the WWE Raw Women’s Title

• Ireland’s own Becky Lynch (left) won the Raw Women’s Title in October 2021. It is the biggest prize in the Women’s division on Raw.
• A few years ago, Lynch was the hottest star in wrestling, forcing her way into the WM 35 main event. She took some time off for the birth of her daughter, but returned last summer as “Big Time Becks”, an arrogant champion who now believes her own hype.
• Bianca Belair (right) won the Smackdown Women’s Title in the main event of Night One last year, beating Sasha Banks in only the second women’s match to headline a WM, and the first WM main event between two African Americans. 
• Belair’s reign as champion was actually ended by Lynch when she made a surprise return at SummerSlam last year. She earned her chance at a title shot by winning an Elimination Chamber match back in February.

What to expect: Redemption. Fans were happy to see Becky come back at SummerSlam, but weren’t happy by how fast she beat up-and-comer Belair for the title. This scorn was the catalyst for Lynch turning evil, and has led to Belair working her way back to the top. It’s made for an effective story, and both women will be out to steal the show to make the shock loss at SummerSlam worth it in the long run. 

The Usos © vs. Shinsuke Nakamura and Rick Boogs for the WWE Smackdown Tag Team Titles

• Twin brothers Jimmy (far left) and Jey Uso (middle left), sons of WWE Hall of Famer Rikishi, won the Smackdown Tag Team Titles in July 2021. They are the top prize in the tag division on Smackdown.
• The Usos are also the cousins of Universal Champion Roman Reigns, and are part of his “Bloodline” faction, ruling the roost and holding all the gold on the Smackdown brand. 
• Shinsuke Nakamura (middle right) was one of the biggest stars in Japan’s top wrestling promotion, New Japan Pro Wrestling before jumping to WWE in 2016. A hypothetical love child of Michael Jackson and Freddie Mercury, the eccentric “King of Strong Style” was Intercontinental Champion until very recently.
• Since May last year, Rick Boogs (far right) has joined Nakamura as his tag team partner, playing a Bruce Springsteen-like character that plays guitar for Nakamura’s incredible entrance music. 

What to expect: A short match. Nakamura had a long-reign as Intercontinental champion, but defended it very rarely due to niggling-injuries. Although he is now cleared to wrestle, he hasn’t been in the ring much in the last 6 months, so questions linger if he is back to 100% yet. Throw in Rick Boogs still being relatively early in his in-ring career, and The Usos being a super-dominant team associated with the top champion on the brand, I’m expecting this to be short and sweet, although I’m going to be pleasantly surprised if it gets more time.

The Mysterios vs. The Miz and Logan Paul

• Yes, that is THAT Logan Paul (far right). The internet . . . thing? . . . is the latest celebrity to dip his toes into wrestling just in time for WrestleMania, following on from Bad Bunny’s success last year.
  
• Paul was actually involved at WrestleMania last year, appearing in the corner of Sami Zayn when he faced Kevin Owens. He ate a stunner from Owens for his troubles. 
• He’ll team with The Miz (middle right), WWE’s go-to celebrity facilitator / chaperone, who was also in a celebrity tie-in match last year, facing Bad Bunny. The Miz came to wrestling from the world of reality TV, and now has his own show, Miz and Mrs, chronicling his life in and out of the ring.
• They’ll face the father and son team of Rey (middle left) and Dominik Mysterio (far left). Rey is considered one of the greatest luchadores of all time, and is now getting to team with his son every week, last year becoming the first father and son team to hold tag team titles in the WWE.

What to expect: A surprisingly good match. Celebrity matches at WrestleMania are common, with Mr T actually appearing in the very first main event at WM 1, teaming with Hulk Hogan. But they were almost always crap, with the sole good one coming at WM 24 when infamous boxer / arsehole Floyd Mayweather taking on the Big Show. But last year, Bad Bunny went all-in and put on one of the best matches of the show. And Paul has some athletic pedigree, as seen in his “boxing” matches, and this year has been correctly cast as the bad guy. It won’t be a 5 star match by any means, but there'll be enough bells and whistles to make this fun. 

Drew McIntyre vs. Happy Corbin

• Drew McIntyre (left) was the first British WWE Champion in history, with the Scotsman picking up the title by defeating Brock Lesnar at WM 36 in front of 0 fans.
• Happy Corbin (middle) was formerly Baron Corbin, a perennial bad guy who found himself in (fictional) financial and mental ruin in 2021, appearing more and more disheveled each week, until he hit it big in a Las Vegas casino and became Happy.
• Now dressing in cuban hats and extolling the virtues of being happy, he hangs around with his buddy Madcap Moss (right), a seemingly derangly happy sidekick who just laughs at everything. 
• This all started after Corbin and Moss made fun of McIntyre, which shows a clear lack of sense on their part as Drew is a 6ft 5in giant Glaswegian who carries a literal sword around - why would anyone make fun of that man?

What to expect: Filler. Drew has not had a great year. Following a monster 9 months as WWE champion, McIntyre lost the title, lost his title rematch in the opening match of Night One last year to Bobby Lashley, and has largely flitted from forgettable feud to forgettable feud. Now he finds himself against Corbin, who has always been underappreciated by fans but is an undeniable step down for Drew following two headline matches on back to back WrestleMania’s. It may be one of the least anticipated matches of the weekend, so it could be a quick one.

Kofi Kingston and King Woods vs. Sheamus and Ridge Holland

• Kofi Kingston (middle left) and reigning “King of the Ring” Xavier Woods (far left) are two thirds of the New Day, alongside Big E. They are a fun-loving, meta tag team who love all things video games, with Woods running his own video game YouTube series UpUpDownDown, as well as hosting the recently revived G4.
• Big E was originally going to be part of this match, but had a very bad injury scare in a match with Ridge Holland a few weeks ago. He suffered a broken neck, but thankfully he is now on the mend.
• Irishman Sheamus (middle right) is one of the longest tenured members of the roster, and has started up his own little street gang with Brits Ridge Holland (middle) and Butch (far right), formerly known as Pete Dunne. 

What to expect: A breather. Every Mania card needs a match that allows fans to take a moment to catch their breath between big matches. It is a necessity on long shows, and this fairly straight forward tag match will likely find a nice home in the middle of the show. I’d give it more credit if Butch was involved, as the former Pete Dunne is much more suited to the big stage than relative newbie Holland. That said, the other three men in the match are veterans at this point, so they’ll have a chance to elevate this.

Seth Rollins vs. TBC

• Seth Rollins found himself off the WrestleMania card a few weeks ago, and tried to get himself booked via any means necessary.
• Still falling short with a week to go, he got summoned to Vince McMahon’s office, where the owner of the company said all he had to do was ask, and he’d be given a match, albeit against an opponent of Vince’s choosing.

What to expect: Cody Rhodes. For those not in the know, All Elite Wrestling is the new wrestling company on the block, and the first major competition WWE has had since World Championship Wrestling went out of business in 2001. They were founded by Tony Khan (son of the owner of Fulham Football Club and the Jacksonville Jaguars in the NFL), and a few wrestlers, one of which was Cody Rhodes. He went all in on the “Us vs. Them” mentality, giving less than subtle signs that he saw WWE as the enemy. Then all of a sudden, his contract ran out in January, and rumours swirled that he was heading back to the company he left under a cloud in 2016. It hasn’t been 100% confirmed, but all signs point towards Cody being Seth’s surprise opponent. 

Night Two - Sunday 3rd April

Brock Lesnar © vs. Roman Reigns © in a Winner Takes All Unification match for the WWE and Universal Titles

• Roman Reigns (right) has been Universal Champion since August 2020, dominating everything as the top champion on Smackdown. 
• After years of mixed reactions as a good guy, he came back after a short stint away at the start of the pandemic (he had recently recovered from leukemia and had newborns at home), as the “Tribal Chief”, an uncompromising mafia boss alongside his real-life cousins The Usos. 
• Brock Lesnar (left) has been dominating the WWE roster in general off and on since 2002, between stints in the NFL and UFC. He’s enjoying a rare good guy turn at the moment, appearing more like a playful lumberjack (who could still pull your head off) as opposed to the ultra-serious “final boss of wrestling” character that has been his staple for 20 years.
• Brock’s had a crazy 2022 already. He was set to face Reigns at Day 1, the New Year’s Day PPV, but Reigns pulled out due to catching Covid. Brock instead got inserted into a multi-man match for Big E’s WWE Title, won it, lost it to Bobby Lashley at the Royal Rumble a few weeks later, entered and won the Rumble itself later on in the night, and instead of waiting for WM 38 for his guaranteed title shot, decided to join the Elimination Chamber match for Lashley’s WWE title, which he of course won.
• So now we find ourselves here, on the cusp of only the 3rd WWE Title unification match in company history, as whoever wins will become the sole “top” champion in the company. The build has seen both men antagonizing each other in ambushes - Reigns attacked Lesnar at Madison Square Garden, so Lesnar attacked Reign’s car with a forklift truck. There is also the wrinkle that Lesnar’s long time manager Paul Heyman is now managing Reigns. 
• BONUS! This will be the first time two people have faced each other in the main event of WrestleMania 3 times, after Reigns and Lesnar met in the main events of both WM 31 and 34 previously (Lesnar won at WM 34, and Seth Rollins cashed in a title shot mid-match to steal the title at WM 31). They will surpass The Rock vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin, who main evented WM 15 and 17 (they wrestled a 3rd time at WM 19, but didn’t go on last, as that honour ironically fell to Lesnar in his match with Kurt Angle). 

What to expect: Pomp and circumstance. Even though they now have two nights worth of matches, this is the only one that truly feels special, which is no surprise given that the two men hold both top titles in the company. WWE put all their eggs in this basket, so it will be presented like the Clash of the Titans. Entrances alone may take 20 minutes. Match quality wise, we only really have their two previous Mania main events to go off, one of which was great (WM 31), while the other was lackluster (WM 34). Both men are in a much better place character and in-ring wise than they were 4 years ago, and the show hopefully won’t be heading into its 7th HOUR by the time they come out as was the case last time, so I think this will be a solid-to-good final match. 

RK-Bro © vs. The Street Profits vs. Alpha Academy in a Triple Threat for the Raw Tag Team Titles

• Riddle (middle left), the stoner goofball who just happens to also be a former UFC badass, decided out of nowhere after last year’s WrestleMania to make Randy Orton (middle right), the usually cold blooded loner, his best friend. It took a while, but Orton eventually gave in.
• RK-Bro (a combination of Orton’s finisher the RKO, and Riddle’s favourite word, “bro”) are now in their second reign as Raw Tag Team Champions.
• They won those titles off of Alpha Academy, two real-life best friends and former All-American amateur wrestlers - mentor Chad Gable (far right), and mentee Otis (left of Gable).
• The Street Profits Angelo Dawkins (far left) and Montez Ford (right of Dawkins) are also former champions, and combine comedy with crazy athleticism, especially Ford who has the jumping skills of a kangaroo.
• After circling around each other for most of the last 6 months, all 3 teams are now getting their inevitable triple threat match. 

What to expect: Fun! The comedy chops are strong in all 3 teams, so this may actually bring a smile to your face before they really crank up the action. It’s also a wide open field in terms of who will win, so this could be the dark horse of the whole weekend. ​

Carmella and Queen Vega © vs. Sasha Banks and Naomi vs. Rhea Ripley and Liv Morgan vs. Natalya and Shayna Baszler in a Fatal 4-Way for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles

• Carmella (middle left) and Queen Vega (left of Carmella) (so named as she won the inaugural Queen of the Ring tournament last year) won the tag titles back in November. 
• Several women, who usually wrestle in the singles division, have teamed up for a crack at the title. Sasha Banks (middle right), who main evented Night One last year against Bianca Belair, is teaming with Naomi (right of Sasha), and were the first to earn a shot.
• Following this, Liv Morgan (far left) teamed with “moss pit kid” Rhea Ripley (right of Liv) to work their way into the match, before Shayna Baszler (far right) and Natalya (left of Baszler) found their way in too.

What to expect: Hard work. I mean that in every sense of the word, to cover all bases. The Women’s Tag Team Titles are annoyingly undervalued, and don’t mean as much as they should, exemplified here by the fact that none of these women were in teams 6 months ago. If they are unmotivated, this may be a bit of a slog. But everyone here is talented, so if they want to go above and beyond, this could surprise a few people.

Edge vs. AJ Styles

• Edge (left) was a WWE mainstay during the late 90s and 2000s, both in a tag team with best friend Christian and as a singles star. We won multiple world titles before being forced to retire from a neck injury.
• He returned to much fanfare in the 2020 Royal Rumble, where he very quickly . . . injured AJ Styles, allegedly postponing their WrestleMania feud planned for WM 36.
• AJ Styles (right), who enjoys similar legendary status to Edge, is considered by many to be one of, if not the, best technical wrestlers on the planet.
• And now, two years after it was meant to happen, we are finally getting this match. It came about after Styles answered a WrestleMania open challenge from Edge. Edge accepted, but then viciously attacked Styles, saying he wanted him at his “pitbull” best, not the “soft” Styles who had largely been in a tag team with Omos for the past year.

What to expect: Match of the night. The only reason we haven’t seen this match before is they just haven’t been in the same place for long enough. While Edge has been with the company since the late 90s, AJ Styles was making himself a legend everywhere but the WWE, with stints in ROH, TNA and in Japan. When Styles finally joined, Edge was still retired. But now we’re here, and these two veterans seem set to have what could be the best match of the weekend.

Sami Zayn vs. Johnny Knoxville in an Anything Goes match

• Yes, that Johnny Knoxville.
• From Jackass.
• He actually declared himself for the Royal Rumble in January, which earned the ire of Sami Zayn (left), who has been running with a conspiracy theory gimmick for a few years now. He felt as though this was more proof that the company cared more about literally everyone else, including non-wrestling celebrities, than him. 
• This feud has had quite a lot of crazy things happen, including Sami turning up to the Jackass Forever premiere, only to be shocked by a cattle prod by Knoxville, followed by Knoxville flying a place over LA with Zayn’s phone number on it, leading to him receiving 1000s of texts and calls.
• With Zayn going deeper and deeper into madness, the match has now been made an “Anything Goes” match, which means every weapon is legal.

What to expect: The best kind of car crash. Cards on the table, this is the match I’m most looking forward to this weekend, as it is an almost perfect “Darren Gutteridge” cocktail. Sami Zayn is my favourite wrestler in the WWE, and has all the comedy and wrestling skills needed to make the celebrity match work. And my love of Jackass is well known to any PopScorn listeners. I have no doubt Knoxville will be a willing participant, and the “Anything Goes” stipulation means we can have all the craziness and potential Jackass crew cameos needed to make this fun.

Pat McAfee vs. Austin Theory

• Somehow, this is even weirder than the Johnny Knoxville match.
• Pat McAfee (left) is a colour commentator on Smackdown, and a former NFL kicker for the Indianapolis Colts. 
• Austin Theory (right) is a young stud who came up on NXT as an airhead jock who liked to take selfies with his beaten opponents. When he appeared on Raw, he was taken under the wing of none other than the owner himself, Vince McMahon.
• Vince appeared on Pat McAfee’s podcast, and at the end asked if McAfee would like to wrestle a match at WrestleMania. Pat accepted, and soon after Theory revealed that he would be his opponent.
• Theory has spent the last few weeks sneakily attacking McAfee whilst he has been on commentary. 

What to expect: I have no idea. This really does feel out of place here. McAfee did actually turn in a few surprisingly decent performances during a brief stint in NXT, but he is very much a non-wrestler. And Austin Theory felt on the cusp of a big push ahead of WrestleMania, with some even thinking he would be the one chosen to face the returning Steve Austin, with Stone Cold’s old nemesis Vince McMahon getting involved and the whole “Austin vs. Austin” thing. But instead we get this, and I just have a bad feeling this is going to fall very flat.

Bobby Lashley vs. Omos

• Bobby Lashley (left) opened last year’s WrestleMania as WWE Champion, retaining his title against Drew McIntyre. He held on to the title until September, before regaining it in January from Brock Lesnar. 
• Unfortunately, in his match with Lesnar at the Royal Rumble, Lashley picked up a shoulder injury, which required him to be written out of the Elimination Chamber match in February. He was expected to be out for 4 months, missing WrestleMania.
• Omos (right) is the tallest man on the WWE roster, clocking in at 7ft 3in. A former college basketball star, he made his in-ring debut last year at WrestleMania, teaming with AJ Styles to win the Raw Tag Team Titles from the New Day.
• Since then, he has largely remained untouchable, barely even leaving his feet and usually beating more than one opponent in his matches.
• Omos issued an open challenge on the last Raw before WrestleMania, which was answered by the returning Lashley, returning to action way earlier than expected.

What to expect: Tedium. Omos currently has the wrestling skills of a tree trunk, and is about as mobile. Lashley may be ahead of schedule in terms of his return from injury, but there’s no way he is 100%. These are not the ingredients for a dynamic, entertaining match. But if they make a big deal of Lashley’s herculean efforts to get Omos off his feet, it could work on the night.

And that about wraps things up! I’ve got a quick preview of NXT Takeover below for those interested, but this wraps up everything you need to know for WrestleMania. 

I’ll be watching both nights live, so if you have any questions before, during or after the event, please feel free to send them to me on Twitter - @TheGutteridge.

NXT Stand and Deliver - Saturday 2nd April

• Dolph Ziggler © vs. Bron Breakker for the NXT Title: The new emphasis on “youth” on NXT got off to a good start when 24 year old Breakker took the NXT Title from Tommaso Ciampa. But then, he was unseated by 41 year old former World Champion Dolph Ziggler. Hardly indicative of a “youth movement”, but as a short term champion for Breakker to beat to regain his title it makes some sense, plus it will be a big feather in the cap of the rookie to beat such an established veteran. Match-wise, Ziggler is a dream opponent for a guy of Bron’s size, as he’ll work hard to make him look like a million bucks.
• Imperium © vs. MSK vs. The Creed Brothers in a Triple Threat for the NXT Tag Team Titles: Three young, talented teams who will be working very hard to make this as good as it can be. It’s also wide open in terms of who could win, which is ideal!
• Carmelo Hayes © vs. Grayson Waller vs. Santos Escobar vs. Solo Sikoa vs. Cameron Grimes in a Fatal 5-Way Ladder match for the NXT North American Title: This is right at the top of candidates for “Match of the Weekend”. It’s the best showcase of the good side of “NXT 2.0”, which I have otherwise not been keen on. That said, the only way Carmelo loses is if he is set to move up to the NXT Title picture, so I’d back him to retain for now.
• Mandy Rose © vs. Cora Jade vs. Io Shirai vs. Kay Lee Ray in a Fatal 4-Way for the NXT Women’s Title: This seems to have been a last minute pivot, as originally this was set to be Rose vs. Jade, neither of which are known for their in-ring leadership. Meanwhile, KLR and Shirai won the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, seemingly setting up an NXT Women’s Tag Team Title match against Rose’s Toxic Attraction teammates Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne. However, the team instead cashed in their title shot for Rose’s title instead, making this a fatal 4-way. Odd last minute changes aside, adding KLR and Shirai is a massive boost to this match, and I’m now looking forward to seeing what they can pull off.
• Toxic Attraction (c) vs. Raquel Gonzalez and Dakota Kai for the NXT Women's Tag Team Titles: Another odd last minute change, as after becoming the first NXT Women's Tag Team Champions, Kai and Gonzalez split and had a pretty intense blood feud. But the show needed a tag team to face Toxic Attraction, so Kai and Gonzalez seem to have let bygones be bygones, and reform their fun team for at least one night. It makes for an interesting dynamic if nothing else. 
  
• Tommaso Ciampa vs. Tony D’Angelo: Ciampa does seem to be main roster bound after Stand and Deliver, so this may be the NXT’s legends last match, and Tony D’Angelo would benefit a lot from beating Ciampa on his way out. 
• LA Knight vs. Gunther: His name is Walter, and nothing you can do will make me accept he is now “Gunther”. But he’s still the same chopping machine, so expect him to turn LA Knight’s chest into a spag bol for our viewing pleasure.