Indian Pro Wrestling Base

Welcome to KB’s Old School (and New School) Reviews. I’ve been reviewing wrestling shows for over twelve years now and have reviewed over 6,000 shows. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I’ll be posting a new review here on Wrestlingrumors.net. It could be anything from modern WWE to old school to indies to anything in between. Note that I rate using letters instead of stars and I don’t rate matches under three minutes as really, how good or bad can something that short be?
Wrestlemania XXXVIII Night Two
Date: April 3, 2022
Location: AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas
Attendance: 78,453
Commentators: Michael Cole, Pat McAfee, Byron Saxton, Corey Graves, Jimmy Smith
America The Beautiful: Jesse James Decker
We’re back for night two and that means the other half of the card gets their chance (plus one match from the original night because of timing issues). The main event is the latest biggest match ever as Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar have their unification match to make one World Title ..

That’s not good. On Saturday night, Rick Boogs suffered an injury during Night 1 of WrestleMania 38. He was teaming with Shinsuke Nakamura as they challenged Jimmy and Jey Uso for the SmackDown tag team championships.
WWE.com is reporting the following:
After being carried off following his SmackDown Tag Team Title Match Saturday night, it was determined that Rick Boogs suffered a torn quadriceps to the patella tendon. Boogs suffered the injury attempting to perform yet another stunning feat of strength with both Jimmy and Jey Uso on his shoulders when his leg gave out.
According to Dave Meltzer, this is a legitimate injury, and Boogs will be out of action for the foreseeable future.
Early diagnosis on Boogs is torn quad. Hopefully it's not that bad.
— Dave Meltzer (@davemeltzerWON) April 3, 2022
We will continue to monitor the situation and provide any updates as they become available to us. We wish him a speedy recovery and hope to see him back in action soon!
Editor’s Op..

Game Over. In the opening segment of Night 2 of WrestleMania 38, Triple H made his way to the ring for an unannounced segment. It was during that time that he officially retired from in-ring competition.
[This post contains video, click to play]

The Game announced that he was done wrestling during an interview with Stephen A. Smith on Stephen A’s World on ESPN+.
From WWE.com:
In a poignant scene, WrestleMania Sunday opened with an unannounced retirement ceremony for Triple H, one of the most influential and iconic Superstars in WWE history.
The WWE Hall of Famer, who announced his in-ring retirement last month on the heels of suffering a cardiac event in September, received a thunderous ovation as he walked down the WrestleMania aisle. He hugged his daughters at ringside before climbing the turnbuckles and saluting WWE fans in trademark fashion.
Chants of “Triple H” and “Thank you, Hunter” rippled through AT&T Stadium as Triple H placed a pair of his boots on the canvas, a time-..

It’s always great to take a look. WWE has posted a new video to its media channels in which they show a behind-the-scenes look at Cody Rhodes’ return to WWE on Night 1 of WrestleMania 38.
You can see the video in its entirety below:
[This post contains video, click to play]

The video shows Cody waiting on the bus for most of the afternoon and secretly making his way through the backstage area to the gorilla position before going out for his match with Seth Rollins. There is also footage of Brandi, his wife, who is there to support him and his return.
You can also here is their new baby in the background and see him getting dressed and ready to go. There is also a post-match interview, where are you can see the emotion as he is thrilled to be back in WWE.
Editor’s Opinion:
I love stuff like this, and I’m so glad that we got a behind-the-scenes look at Cody’s big return. The fact that he had to be hidden for so long, which I would imagine only adds to the nurse, makes this return ..

The boss leads by example. WrestleMania 38 has come and gone and as expected, it was the biggest event on WWE’s calendar. Anything that happens on the show is going to be worth a look in one way or another, though there are certain thing that will stand out above the others. The biggest story from the first night was an impromptu match and that was the case again on the second night as well.
One of the announced matches for the second night of WrestleMania 38 saw Pat McAfee defeat Austin Theory, who had Vince McMahon in his corner. After the match, McMahon and McAfee got into an argument, which resulted in McMahon, 76, getting in the ring for a match with McAfee. McMahon won via interference from Theory, but Steve Austin came out after the match and attempted to give McMahon a Stunner, which did not work as planned. Austin then gave McAfee a Stunner as well and drank beer before leaving.
Opinion: Aside from the fact that the Stunner could not have gone worse if they tried, it was ama..

Pair them up. Wrestlers can get a lot out of being in a stable. Rather than trying to find something to do, it can be easier to put a bunch of people together into one group and have one idea. While it is far from a perfect science, it is something that has a nice track record over the years. We might have seem the start of another one on the grandest WWE stage of them all.
Night Two of WrestleMania 38 featured a match between Edge and AJ Styles. Late in the match, former United States Champion Damian Priest appeared and distracted Styles, allowing Edge to hit a spear for the pin. Priest and Edge posed and left together after the match. This comes after reports of Edge possibly forming a stable, with Priest named as the first likely member.
Opinion: This is the kind of thing that could make for an interesting story and I’d like to see where it goes. Edge is someone who could put together a good idea like this rather quickly and that is what we might be seeing. The team is going to ne..

That’s the important part. There are a lot of titles under the WWE umbrella and some of them are among the most important in wrestling. It means a lot for a title change to take place and you do not get to see it happen very often with some championships. That makes a big time title change all the more important and that was the case more than once this weekend.
There were two title changes during the second night of WrestleMania 38. First up, Sasha Banks and Naomi defeated Rhea Ripley/Liv Morgan, Natalya/Shayna Baszler and champions Carmella/Queen Zelina to win the Women’s Tag Team Titles for the first time. Then, in the show’s main event, Roman Reigns defeated Brock Lesnar to unify the Universal and WWE Titles. There is no word on what the new title will be called.
Opinion: You knew that one of the titles was going to chance hands in the main event but the Women’s Tag Team Titles were a bit of a bonus. It can be fascinating to see a title change hands as you might not see it coming..

There is a first time for everything. There are all kinds of wrestling moves in a match but only a handful of them are among the most well known. Many of these best known moves are finishing moves that wrestlers have turned into their signature offense. Those moves often signal the end of the match, but that is not always the case. It wasn’t the case this weekend, and it was kind of an historic moment.
During Night One of WrestleMania 38, Drew McIntyre defeated Happy Corbin. At one point in the match, Corbin hit McIntyre with his End of Days finisher but McIntyre kicked out. This is the first time that anyone had ever kicked out of the move, making it one of the longest protected finishers in WWE history. Corbin debuted on the main roster on the night after WrestleMania 32, one day shy of six years ago, during which no one had kicked out of the move.
Opinion: This is the kind of thing that kind of sneaks up on you and that can be rather interesting. Sometimes you don’t realize just h..

What could have been. WrestleMania has been the biggest wrestling event of the year for the better part of forty years now and that seems likely to be the case for a long time to come. Everyone seems to be working especially hard and showcasing everything that they can do, which can include all kinds of special features. That was to be the case with someone else this year, but it did not wind up happening.
One of the matches on WrestleMania 38 Night One saw Drew McIntyre defeat Happy Corbin. A photo has been posted to Instagram, showing a group of men in kilts backstage at AT&T Stadium. The caption says that the group, called the Kilted Warriors, were supposed to accompany McIntyre to the ring but the entrance was canceled. This was not the only thing canceled on the show, as a match between the New Day and Ridge Holland/Sheamus was moved to the second night due to time constraints.
View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mike J Wilson (@_mike_j_wilson_)
Opinion: This is someth..

That could be a big problem. Wrestling is a physical sport and there is always the chance that someone could get hurt out of nowhere. It isn’t good to see, but it is a reality that is always around. When wrestlers work even more than usual, the possibility becomes even stronger and that was the case again during the busiest weekend of the year. Now it seems to have caught up with a major star.
According to Wrestling Observer Radio, AEW’s Jon Moxley has suffered a hamstring injury at some point during a recent training session. Moxley is expected to work through the injury, as he wrestled multiple matches over WrestleMania weekend. He also appeared at NJPW Strong Lone Star Shootout and referenced the injury. There is no word on when Moxley is expected to wrestle next.
Opinion: This is the kind of thing that can happen and that is never a good thing to see. The good thing is that this doesn’t seem to be the most severe, as Moxley seems like he won’t be missing any time. That being said..

Wrestlemania XXXVIII Night One
Date: April 2, 2022
Location: AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas
Attendance: 77,899
Commentators: Jimmy Smith, Corey Graves, Byron Saxton, Michael Cole, Pat McAfee
America the Beautiful: Brantley Gilbert
We have arrived at the biggest weekend in wrestling and this time it is back in the full capacity stadium. Again, this year’s show is split in two and again it feels like there is a good one night in between the two shows. That was the case last year though and the first night went well so maybe history can repeat itself. Let’s get to it.
Note that I was in attendance for this show, sitting in the third level off the floor in the end zone corner with the stage on my right.
Brantley Gilbert sings America the Beautiful.
Mark Wahlberg stars in the opening video and talks about how these people have a chance for a Texas sized helping of greatness. That is easier said than done though, as it is not easy to reach that level. Everyone has a chance though, so go ..

Dang it feels like we only did one of these things yesterday. It is time for the second night of Wrestlemania XXXVIII and they’re actually going to have their work cut out for them to do better than the first night. While I doubt anything is approaching Steve Austin actually having a match, there is a major main event that is going to have a lot behind the whole thing. Let’s get to it.
Johnny Knoxville vs. Sami Zayn
This is an Anything Goes match so Knoxville and his friends can get together and do a variety of wacky things to Zayn. That isn’t the most interesting way to go if you aren’t a Jackass fan, but this is a celebrity appearance that might work out. The point of Jackass seems to be seeing things happen to its cast so having Knoxville in a match is as good as anything else.
I’ll take Knoxville to win for the “feel good” moment, as Zayn has long since proven that he can take a loss like few others. I’m not sure how well the match is going to be but it should be a heck of a spe..