By Brian Argabright
Christmas for pro wrestling fans has arrived!
This is WrestleMania week, and if you aren’t psyched for that then I’m not sure how much impact my words are going to have. Things started with Monday Night Raw, moved on to the WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony Tuesday and continues Wednesday and Thursday with two nights of NXT Takeover: Stand & Deliver. Friday welcomes back Smackdown, and Saturday and Sunday will feature two days of WrestleMania 37 from Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay, Fla.
Tonight’s NXT card features three title matches and a gauntlet match to determine the opponent for the NXT North American title will be defended Thursday night.
The show kicks off both night at 6 p.m. with a pre-show, and the actual event begins at 7 p.m. Night one will air live on both USA and on Peacock, the NBC streaming service, but night two will air exclusively on Peacock.
So here’s the card for night one (in no particular order):
Io Shirai defends the NXT Women’s Championship against Raquel Gonzalez.
WALTER (yes, in all caps) defends the NXT UK Championship against Tommaso Ciampa.
MSK vs. Grizzled Young Veterans vs. Legado del Fantasma for the vacant NXT Tag Team Championship.
Leon Ruff vs. Isaiah “Swerve” Scott vs. Bronson Reed vs. Cameron Grimes vs. Dexter Loomis vs. L.A. Knight in a Gauntlet Match for a chance at the NXT North American Championship Thursday night against Johnny Gargano. Basically, the match begins with two competitors. The winner there faces the next man and so on until there is only one man left. Ruff and Scott will kickoff the match and Knight will be the last man to hit the ring.
And here’s the card for night two (in no particular order):
Finn Balor defends the NXT Championship against Karrion Kross.
Adam Cole vs. Kyle O’Reilly in an unsanctioned match.
Johnny Gargano defends the NXT North American Championship.
Shotzi Blackheart and Ember Moon defend the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championship against The Way.
Santos Escobar vs. Jordan Devlin in a ladder match for the NXT Cruiserweight Championship.
WrestleMania will be available only on Peacock. Like NXT, the pre-show starts at 6 p.m. followed by the matches at 7 p.m. If you’re looking to watch this on the WWE Network, you’re out of luck.
Night one, Saturday night, looks like this:
Bobby Lashley defends the WWE Championship against Drew McIntyre.
Sasha Banks defends the SmackDown Women’s Championship against Bianca Belair.
Recording artist Bad Bunny and Damian Priest take on The Miz and John Morrison.
Cesaro versus Seth Rollins.
The New Day defends the Raw Tag Team Championship against the team of A.J. Styles and Omos.
Shane McMahon battles Braun Strowman in a Steel Cage Match.
The teams of Naomi and Lana, Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke, The Riott Squad, and Natalya and Tamina will battle in a Tag Team Turmoil match with the winner facing the team of Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax Sunday for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship.
Speaking of Night 2, here’s what’s going down on Sunday:
Roman Reigns defends the WWE Universal Championship against Edge and Daniel Bryan in a Triple Threat Match.
Asuka defends the Raw Women’s Championship against Rhea Ripley.
“The Fiend” Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton resume their rivalry.
Big E defends the WWE Intercontinental Championship against Apollo Crews.
Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn.
Riddle defends the WWE United States Championship against Sheamus.
Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler defend the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship against the winners of Saturdays Tag Team Turmoil match.
There could be one or two more matches announced Friday on SmackDown, but that’s already a lot of wrestling to cram into just a few days.
