LOADED WrestleMania Week Update (Patreon)

Welcome to our WRESTLEMANIE WEEK Primer, with lots of news and notes

Sean Ross Sapp and Denise Salcedo reunited for a special Monday edition of THE HUMP

Pat McAfee

Joe Hendry

Marko Stunt

Shotzi

Partner deals

Smackdown producers and writers

Media schedule

More

We've heard rehearsals will take place earlier this week than they usually do.

WWE filmed at the Bruno Mars concert, but Bruno Mars is not going to be at WrestleMania, as Wrestlevotes Radio reported.

Based on what we've heard, there are no restrictions on talent expressing displeasure in media about the Pat McAfee angle or comments. We saw Damian Priest

As Wrestlevotes noted, the set build started almost immediately after the Bruno Mars concert ended.

WWE has media days on Thursday and Friday, but will be doing a ton of media throughout the week, as one would expect. It's said to be one of the busiest WrestleMania media weeks of all time as they look to move tickets.

The brand deal with Rhea Ripley and the General Insurance is a WWE-wide deal. Joe Hendry did some promotion for it as well.

Joe Hendry

Speaking of Joe Hendry, Fightful spoke with him ahead of WrestleMania.

He said he was very proud of his WrestleMania moment, albeit a brief one with Randy Orton. His appearances in NXT and WrestleMania led to an unprecedented situation where he finished up his TNA contract early to go to WWE.

He spoke very highly of Kendal Grey and says she reminds him a lot of Kurt Angle, who Hendry wrestled a decade ago.

Hendry was very excited to join the WWE 2K26 roster, and knew he was going to be in it because they scanned him.

He HATED the Carolina Reaper they fed him at a media event, but said Sol Ruca handled it impeccably.

Hendry wished he could have faced John Cena, but was happy to be a part of the final show and got to talk to John Cena there at the show. He says that not facing John Cena lit a fire underneath him and motivated him

Shotzi Shotzi spoke to In The Weeds this week to promote her appearances at The Palms for SlamFest!- Says she is still our boss after beating up SRS.

- Says she is having a blast in MLW. “It’s like my creative playground. Court understood my character immediately.” Calls it a no brainer to sign with MLW. “It’s my favorite place to work right now.”

- Pitched to have a casket match everywhere in October, but no one gave her a casket. Says she has to have one in MLW. “No one else is allowed a casket.” Is worried she will never get her casket match. Says she has a casket that she found a casket on Facebook Marketplace for $300 and bought it. “I should have added a casket match to her MLW contract match.”

- Admits she’s overwhelmed with her schedule.

- Has been training with Amazing Red. Says he has the craziest ideas and she is all for it. “I’m really elevating training with him.” Says Red is taking gnarly bumps in training but he still moves around like he’s 20. “He could get signed by a huge company and be there for 20 years.”

- Is looking forward to facing Chalie (Dakota Kai) at HOG during WrestleMania weekend with no restrictions. “Our necks are definitely going to be feeling it the next day.”

- Says she went a little too HAM with her WrestleMania bookings. Is doing multiple matches a day and WrestleCon appearances. “If you see me, hand me a shot of whiskey.”

- Names “Rock You Like a Hurricane” as her go to karaoke song. Will be doing karaoke with Harley Cameron during Mania weekend.

- Speaks about Denise Salcedo’s live show during Mania weekend. I asked her to put Denise on the spot and ask her what her least favorite Taylor Swift album is. We both named Life As A Showgirl.

- Has not seen Scream 7. Names the original Scream has her favorite and Scream 3 as her least favorite.

- Partner, Promo, Punch in the Face: CJ Perry, McKenzie Mitchell, Harley Cameron

MIYU YAMASHITA NOTES

Ahead of TJPW LIVE in Las Vegas as part of Slam Fest, Miyu Yamashita joined Fightful’s Scott E. for an exclusive interview. Yamashita discussed a number of topics, including thoughts on her match at the event as she will face Miu Watanabe and Mizuki in a three-way match. She detailed how this is a historic match, the first time ever all three rivals will face off in such a match, and it’s led to Japanese fans being jealous they aren’t able to see it live.

When asked about being TJPW’s inaugural leader, she spoke about how it pushes her to be better overall, and that she still always wants to be at the top while helping lead the promotion forward.

At Grand Princess 26, Yamashita teamed with Arisu Endo against Sareee and Takumi Iroha. When asked about Endo’s performance, she explained that she has complex feelings as she wanted fans to learn who Endo was and felt right when she had a career-best performance, but also felt the push to be even better because everyone was left talking about Endo. In terms of potentially facing Sareee or Iroha in singles matches, Yamashita said that the match happened because of fate, and believes if it’s meant to be, then perhaps it will happen. She believes the entire roster for TJPW is filled with new dream type matches for her as she and they continue to level up — as well as Will Ospreay, who publicly accepted her challenge.

“The Pink Striker” closed out the interview highlighting the match fans should go out of their way to watch if they haven’t seen TJPW before, and it was her championship match from Wrestle Princess IV against Mizuki.

MIU WATANABE NOTES

Before TJPW takes over Las Vegas this weekend as part of Slam Fest, Miu Watanabe sat down for an interview with Scott E. to discuss a number of exciting topics.

Watanabe was incredibly open and excited about TJPW’s latest return to America. She plays a big part of bringing the full TJPW experience to the US, as she discussed in the interview. She talked about wanting to originally be an idol, and pro wrestling was used to get her there. But now that she does both at such a high level, she feels that they’re similar in terms of how she goes about it.

When talking about the matchup she has set for Las Vegas, she was intrigued by the fact all three of them are rivals to one another, and believes that will only add to the historic matchup.

When asked about her Daydream partner Rika Tatsumi, Watanabe said she is the pro wrestler and idol she is today because of Tatsumi. She explained that Tatsumi is why she believes rather than being a 50% idol and 50% wrestler, she’s 100% idol and 100% wrestler.

Watanabe also doesn’t believe she’s an ace, but explained what she’d prefer to be seen as despite many believing she is. She also named Uta Takami as someone she’s very excited about!

Talking the idea of dream matches, she said that she’s very interested in wrestling Sareee, but she wants Sareee to call her a princess to her face first.

You can check out the entire interview on Fightful’s YouTube channel now!

MARKO STUNT ON IN THE WEEDS!- Says Joey Janela called him a few months ago to pitch the idea of getting back in the ring, but he wasn’t sure he could come back. Went and got extra opinions from doctors and they said it looked like something he could work through. “Realistically, I wouldn’t be doing it at all if it wasn’t with Jack Perry.”- Told Joey one night that he missed wrestling and wanted to be involved, which sparked the “what if” talks. Brett Lauderdale contacted him to set up the retirement speech. Wasn’t sure if it was going to be a one off, and says it’s not.- Praises Joey Janela for being one of the most creative people and is glad that he took the idea and ran with it. Is confident and proud of what’s going on Mania week with GCW. Thinks Spring Break will blow everything out of the water.- Doesn’t think he would’ve returned anywhere but GCW or Memphis Wrestling, but wanted his return at GCW.- Says facing Jack in his last match was a great one to go out on. His daughter was in the crowd, and he loved seeing his friends at AEW again. Still loves AEW and will always have a connection with them. Likes to go to shows anytime they are in town.- Calls KJ Orso and Sam Stackhouse immature children. Says KJ got a massive ego and stopped washing his feet. Thanks Sam is trying to leech onto KJ.- Has not made knives with Jack, but thinks it’s crazy that he’s doing things like that. Says Jack is talented and creative in different ways.- Enjoys working with Memphs Wrestling. Initially came back to be a manager, but started helping with training and loves it. Says the difficulties can be having people rely on him because he doesn’t want to lead the wrong way. “That’s what scares me.” Is starting to feel more comfortable in the role and is enjoying be able to be creative.- Names Marko Harris, Aaron Roberts, John Dalton, CJ Blane, and Eli Knox as names to keep an eye on.- Recalls wild no holds barred match with Cabana Man Dan against Violence Is Forever at SUP. “I was really mad that I couldn’t bleed more.” Calls it one of his favorite matches. Was talking with Dominic Garrini and Kevin Ku about bringing back SUP, but doesn’t think it’s going to happen anytime soon. “SUP was about friends getting together and having fun.”- Partner, Promo, Punch in the Face: Jack Perry, Joey Janela, Cabana Man Dan

April 10th WWE SmackDown Writers, Producers And Other Notes

Writers:

- Cody Rhodes arrives at the arena segment: Christian Scovell 

- Carmelo Hayes/Trick Williams/Matt Cardona backstage segment: Eric Watts

- Jacob Fatu interview: Ioannis Filippides

- Pat McAfee arrives at the arena: Cristian Scovell and Colin Clark

- Royce Keys backstage interview: Eric Watts

- Jade Cargill backstage interview: Devyn Prieto 

- Nick Aldis, Miz, Kit Wilson backstage segment: Colin Clark

- ESPN Stand segment: Pat Lavin and Devyn Prieto

Producers:

- Rhea Ripley/IYO Sky In Ring Promo: TJ Wilson

- Bayley vs Alexa Bliss: Kenny Dykstra 

- Royce Keys vs Berto: Nick Aldis

- Pat McAfee promo: Michael Hayes and Bobby Roode

- Jacob Fatu vs Tama Tonga: Abyss

- ESPN Stand Segment: TJ Wilson

- Sami Zayn promo: Jamie Noble

- Matt Cardona vs Trick Williams: Jamie Noble

- Danhausen vs Kit Wilson: Shawn Daivari

- Iyo Sky vs Jade Cargill: TJ Wilson

Other Notes:

- The show was internally titled “Uncensored and Unsanctioned”.

- The show’s rundown was not finalized until late in the day.