March is the biggest month on the pro wrestling calendar. I mean, sure, sometimes it's April, but this year it's March. You can believe that. Just look at the stats: The Undertaker turns 50 on March 24th. AJ Lee turns 28 on March 19th. These two great retired professional wrestlers both left an indelible footprint on the sport that will be felt forevermore. And there's something else that usually happens in March...
If you're reading this thread, you already know all this, so here's the rundown of wrasslin' feds and shows you may want to check out...
http://wwe.com
Current Champion: Brock Lesnar
It's time for the WWE to baptize a new guy. THE guy. Is Roman Reigns it? Probably not, but hey, let's give him a chance. At least let's all agree to stop whining about Daniel Bryan.
Here's what the Wrestlemania XXXI card will likely look like...
Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Roman Reigns (WWE World Heavyweight Championship)
Triple H vs. Sting
Rusev (c) vs. John Cena (United States Championship)
Bad News Barrett (c) vs. Guys to Be Named Soon (Ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship)
Tyson Kidd and Cesaro (c) vs. The Usos (Tag Team Championship)
Nikki Bella (c) vs. Paige (Divas Championship)
Random stuff:
-AJ Lee called out Stephanie McMahon for the crappy treatment of the Divas. Vince has apparently "heard" the fans...2-minute matches are in our future
-#GiveDivasAChance
-According to Dave Meltzer, we should all be mourning the career of Daniel Bryan
-Big Show and Kane will find a way to main event at least two more Raws before Mania
http://wwe.com/shows/nxt
Current Champion: Kevin Owens
NXT is like that hot new girl or guy who just rolled into your school and has been occupying your late night fantasies. WHY CAN'T YOUR CURRENT GIRLFRIEND OR BOYFRIEND BE THIS HOT. She/He used to be so damn hot. She/He used to love you and care about you. But you're ready to leave her behind. For real this time. And you'll do nothing but devote yourself to NXT because she's/he's everything you used to love about the person you're with now...BUT BETTER.
Thankfully, there's no Takeover special this month, so the boys won't have to worry about trying to outdo their developmental territory at Mania.
Random stuff:
-Adrian Neville is probably getting called up soon. RIP.
-Baron Corbin and Bull Dempsey are still boring
-Tyler Breeze has "it"
-Is Finn Balor THE guy?
http://elreynetwork.com/luchaunderground
Current champion: Prince Puma
This is the most entertaining pro wrestling show on television today. It's slick and it knows exactly what it is. Ya'll should check it out on Wrestling Wednesdays. You'll be treated to stuff like this...
Random stuff:
-Aerostar is incredible
-Cage is a beast
-Konnan.gif
http://rohwrestling.com
Current champion: Jay Briscoe
The 13th Anniversary Show is this Sunday, March 1st. It's on traditional PPV, and the card is stacked:
Jay Briscoe (c) vs. Michael Elgin vs. Tommaso Ciampa vs. Hanson (ROH World Championship)
Jay Lethal (c) vs. Alberto El Patron (World TV Championship)
reDRagon (c) vs. The Young Bucks (Tag Team Championship)
AJ Styles vs. ACH
Moose vs. Mark Briscoe
Cedric Alexander vs. Matt Sydal
The Kingdom vs. The Addiction vs. The Bullet Club
Maria Kanellis vs. ODB
Roderick Strong vs. BJ Whitmer
Also, Samoa Joe is coming back. Wat. If only the company could get more exposure and not feel like it's running in place.
Random stuff:
-Meltzer reported that ROH has been talking to Spike TV
-Adam Cole is out until May
-ROH/NJPW joint shows have been announced for this year
http://www.impactwrestling.com/
Current champion: Bobby Lashley
Not really building to PPVs, major stars leaving since 2014, downgraded to a network with a smaller reach than Spike, and not much to talk about at all. Bobby Roode is cool. I guess. Maybe. I dunno.
Random stuff:
-Drew Galloway is on this thing now
-Grado is over, brother
-Al Snow is still wrestling
-The next champion is
Kurt Angle
http://njpw.co.jp/english
http://njpwworld.com
Current champion: AJ Styles
In case you missed it, do yourself a favour and watch Tomoaki Honma vs. Tomohiro Ishii from last month's New Beginning in Sendai show. And get New Japan World because it's pretty damn rad. Look at this stuff, man...
Finally, Bootaaay has provided the following info about Euro wrestling this month...
PROGRESS Wrestling hold Chapter 18 on March 22nd at the Electric Ballroom in Camden, London. The show, like the past seventeen PROGRESS events, is entirely sold out but will be available to purchase on DVD and MP4 download at http://www.progresswrestling.com/ and sees the nefarious PROGRESS Champion Jimmy Havoc try and defend his title against five of his toughest opponents to date. Further matches will be announced in the weeks to come, but there's likely to be some fallout from the myserious Faceless after they captured the tag titles from fan favourites F.S.U.
Insane Championship Wrestling have three events this month; Spacebaws VI on March 15th at The Garage in Glasgow which promises to be a showcase of ICW's up-and-coming talent, the return of ICW to Newcastle on March 28th and a huge show at The Barrowlands in Glasgow on March 29th for Barramania. Tickets can be bought from http://insanewrestling.co.uk/ and the shows will also be available on ICW's on demand subscription service; http://icwondemand.pivotshare.com
wXw present the annual 16 Carat Gold Tournament, the biggest and most prestigious tournament running at present in Europe, in Oberhausen, Germany from March 6th to March 8th. This year's tournament features the following opening round matches; Absolute Andy vs Sha Samuels, Andrew Everett vs Ricochet, Axel Dieter Jr. vs Timothy Thatcher, Axel Tischer vs Zack Sabre Jr, Cedric Alexander vs Marty Scurll, Daisuke Harada vs Kim Ray, Sasa Keel vs Uhaa Nation and Tommy End vs Chris Sabin. Tickets can be bought from http://www.wxw-wrestling.com/ and the shows will be available on VOD & MP4 download at https://vimeo.com/westsidextremewrestling
Wrestling Podcasts:
Live Audio Wrestling - http://fightnetwork.com/news/law/
The Old School Wrestling Podcast - http://flairchop.com
Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast - http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/not-sam/sam-roberts-wrestling-podcast?refid=stpr or http://notsam.com
The Steve Austin Show - http://podcastone.com/Steve-Austin-Show
Talk is Jericho - http://www.podcastone.com/Talk-Is-Jericho
The Ross Report - http://podcastone.com/The-Ross-Report
Piper's Pit - http://podcastone.com/Pipers-Pit-with-Roddy-Piper
Art of Wrestling with Colt Cabana - https://soundcloud.com/coltcabana or http://coltcabana.com
Random Wrestling Stuff:
Botchamania (also available on youtube)
The top 10 from the wall of shame for February OT2:
Updates:
Data West's primer for joshi (Japanese women's wrestling)
Bjork's additions to Data's joshi list
Data West's Top 5 Matches of 2015 so far