WHEI WrestleMania I

The logo for WHEI WrestleMania I

 LWL

 205 Live

 NXT UK

**WHEI WrestleMania I** was a professional wreslting pay per view produced by War Hawks Entertainment Inc. for their Raw, SmackDown, LWL, 205 Live, and NXT UK brands. It took place on Sunday, March 31, 2019 from Wisner Stadium in Pontiac, MI. It was the fifth pay per view to feature multiple brands in season three. Despite the fact that they've had 2 seasons before this it was the first event in the WHEI WrestleMania chronology. As well as the seventeenth and final pay per view of season 3 overall.

In the main event Drew McIntyre defeated Tommasso Ciampa to win the WHEI Universal Championship.

Elsewhere on the card Baron Corbin defeated Xerios to win the LWL World Heavyweight Championship while Braun Strowman defeated Sami Zayn to retain the WHEI Championship.

## Background

The card consisted of matches resulting from scripted storylines that played out on WHEI's Raw, SmackDown, LWL, 205 Live, and NXT UK brands. Storylines played out on the War Hawks' weekly shows on Twitch *Monday Night Raw*, *Friday Night SmackDown Live*, *LWL: Lethal Wrestling Legends*, *205 Live*, and *NXT UK*. Wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters as they built tension that lead to a match or series of matches leading into the event.

WrestleMania is treated at *THE* premiere event for both WWE and WHEI. It's often referred to as their version of the SuperBowl and is a week long event that often takes over whatever city they hold it in. It is also recognized as the season finale of WWE, though they don't take time off. For WHEI it serves as the finale of the current season as they switch over to the next game following it and start a new season. The winner(s) of the the Royal Rumble Match(es) in January are guaranteed a Championship Match at WrestleMania, a World Championship for the men and a Women's Championship for the women.

As all 5 brands were featured, the event was be long, and featured a lot of matches. As a result the background is quite long.

The primary feud heading into the event on the Raw brand was between and Drew McIntyre and Tomasso Ciampa with the two feuding over the WHEI Universal Championship. At Royal Rumble, McIntyre won the Royal Rumble Match, thereby earning him the right to face the champion of his choosing at WrestleMania, the next night on Raw, he came out and interrupted Universal Champion Ciampa to announce he would be facing him for the title. Raw Co-General Manager Juggernaut came out and told him that while he may have chosen to stay on Raw, they still had another pay per view between then and WrestleMania. He told McIntyre he would get his match at Mania, but Ciampa might not be the Universal Champion when he got there. At No Way Out, Ciampa defeated Adam Cole to retain the title and secure his place in the main event of WrestleMania opposite McIntyre.

The primary feud heading into the event on the SmackDown brand was between Braun Strowman and Sami Zayn with the two feuding over the WHEI Championship. When Raw's Drew McIntyre won the Royal Rumble and chose to challenge the Universal Champion, SmackDown General Manager Ironman scheduled an Elimination Chamber Match to determine the challenger for the WHEI Championship at WrestleMania while scheduling a rematch for the title between Braun Strowman and Daniel Bryan for the next SmackDown pay per view. At the Elimination Chamber, Strowman squashed Bryan in under a minute in the later's rematch from the Royal Rumble. While in the main event, Zayn won the Elimination Chamber Match to earn the right to challenge Strowman for the title at WrestleMania. the following episode of SmackDown their match was made official.

The primary feud heading into the event on the LWL brand was between Xerios and Baron Corbin with the two feuding over the LWL World Heavyweight Championship. At Heartbreaker, LWL's February pay per view, Corbin, who was the LWL Zodiac Champion at the time, won a 10 Man Royal Rumble to earn the right to face the LWL World Heavyweight Champion at WrestleMania. He would later have to vacate the Zodiac Championship since the runner up would receive a title shot at WrestleMania. In the main event, Xerios would lose the match but retain the title after he was counted out due to his opponent laying him out on the ramp. The following episode of LWL, their match was made official for WrestleMania.

The primary feud heading into the event on the 205 Live brand was between Heath Slater and "Gentleman" Jack Gallagher, with the two feuding over the WHEI Cruiserweight Championship. On the Royal Rumble pre-show, Slater defeated Gallagher to win the championship. The following episode of 205 Live, General Manager Heath came out and announced that Gallagher would be receiving his rematch at WrestleMania.

The primary feud heading into the event on the NXT UK brand was between Pete Dunne and Marty Scurll, with the two feuding over the WHEI United Kingdom Championship. At SummerSlam the previous year, Dave Mastiff won the championship in the finals of a tournament by defeating Wolfgang. On the September 1, 2018 episode of NXT UK, the very first episode, Scurll won the WHEI NXT UK Television Championship. He would go on an unbelievable undefeated streak, winning every match he was placed in save for a Classic Survivor Series Match on the pre-show. With this in mind, NXT UK General Manager Nic Nitro offered Scurll the opportunity to challenge Mastiff for the title at WrestleMania. However the condition was that he would need to vacate the Television Championship. Scurll accepted and the match was made official for the show. However at the Royal Rumble, Mastiff lost the championship to Dunne, thereby making it a match between them for the title at WrestleMania.

Another feud on the Raw brand heading into the event was between Edge and Samoa Joe with the two feuding over the WHEI Intercontinental Championship. At the Royal Rumble, Edge won the championship in a triple threat match also involving War Hawks member Stephen by pinning Stephen. The following night on Raw while Edge was celebrating in the ring, Joe attacked him from behind and called him a paper champion because he didn't beat him to win it. Juggernaut later made the rematch official for WrestleMania.

Another feud heading into the event on the SmackDown brand was between Scott Hall and Kenny Omega with the two feuding over the WHEI United States Championship. At Elimination Chamber, Hall defeated Elite member Cody Rhodes to win the title. After the match he and his partner Nash continued to attack Rhodes until they were chased off by the Young Bucks. The following episode of SmackDown, a rematch resulted in a disqualification after Nash got involved. The two continued to beat down on Rhodes until Omega made the save and challenged Hall to a match at WrestleMania for the title which Hall accepted

Another feud heading into the event on the LWL brand was between R-Truth and Bo Dallas with the two feuding over the LWL Zodiac Championship. At Heartbreaker, LWL Zodiac Champion Baron Corbin won a battle royal to challenge the World Champion at WrestleMania. He won by last eliminating Truth who by virtue of that fact earned himself a Zodiac Championship match. Later that night Corbin won his match against Rusev, to make sure everything was fair, Sherania announced that Corbin would have to give up the title to challenge Xerios at Mania. She then announced she would tell him who the replacement would be at a later date. That opponent was later revealed to be Dallas.

Another feud heading into the event on the NXT UK brand involved a 10 Man over the top rope battle royal for the recently vacated WHEI NXT UK Television Championship. After champion Marty Scurll vacated the title to challenge for the main title, Nitro announced a battle royal to crown a new Champion at WrestleMania. A few weeks later, Nitro would reveal the participants in the battle royal as Wolfgang, Wade Barrett, Shane Thorne, Travis Banks, Hanson, Jimmy Havok, Bram, Finn Balor, Joe Coffey, and Nigel McGuinness. Shortly after this announcement, a brawl in the ring between all 10 men occurred.

Another feud heading into the event on the Raw brand was between Nikki Bella and Madison Rayne with the two feuding over the WHEI Raw Women's Championship. After SmackDown's Becky Lynch won a battle royal at the Royal Rumble to earn the right to face a champion at WrestleMania, she chose SmackDown. This left Raw's Women's Champion without a contender. At No Way Out Bella defeated Asuka in a rematch to retain the title, while Rayne won a Fatal 4 Way Elimination match to earn the right to face Nikki for the title at WrestleMania. The next night on Raw the contract signing made it official and the two had a staredown.

Another feud heading into the event on the SmackDown brand was between Kaitlyn and AJ Lee with the two feuding over the WHEI SmackDown Women's Championship. At the Royal Rumble Pay Per View, since they could not hold a Women's Royal Rumble Match yet, Ironman and Sherania held a tri branded 6 woman battle royal for a shot at a women's world championship at WrestleMania. Lynch won the match by last eliminating AJ Lee, and came out the next SmackDown to announce that while she was challenging the SmackDown Women's Champion at the show, she knew there was a pay per view between now and then, and would wait to see who exited the Elimination Chamber as the champion first. Meanwhile AJ Lee challenged her for her spot at SmackDown's February event Elimination Chamber, putting the title match in even more jeopardy. At Elimination Chamber, Lee defeated Lynch for her title shot while Kaitlyn won the titular match to win the title and face her at WrestleMania.

Another feud heading into the event on the LWL brand was between Ember Moon and Zelina Vega with the two feuding over the LWL Leading Lady Championship. At Heartbreaker Vega won a 6 Woman Over The Top Rope Battle Royal to earn the right to face the LWL Leading Lady Champion at WrestleMania. Later that night, Moon defeated Lita to win the championship, thus setting the two on a collision course for each other at WrestleMania. On the following episode of LWL their match was made official for WrestleMania.

Another feud heading into the event on the 205 Live brand was between The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods) and The War Hawks (Ironman, Heath & Stephen) with the two teams feuding over the WHEI SmackDown and Cruiserweight Tag Team Championship. After months of The New Day dominating the Cruiserweight tag team division, 205 Live General Manager Heath decided to put a stop to them himself by teaming with fellow War Hawks member Stephen to challenge them at WrestleMania. New Day accepted and the match was made official for WrestleMania. However at Elimination Chamber, Kingston and Big E would defeat Heath and Will of the War Hawks SmackDown Division for the SmackDown Tag Titles. Knowing E would get involved in the match, Ironman challenged New Day to put both their titles on the line and have all 3 of them in the ring as well as Ironman on the War Hawks team in a Winner Take All Elimination Match. New Day accepted and the match was made official for WrestleMania.

Another feud involved the WHEI Women's Hardcore Championship. With Guardian defending in a all brands included 8 Woman Ladder Match. At Evolution, Guardian won the title and the right to be the first champion. After months of fending off attempts to take advantage of the title's 24/7 rule, Guardian announced she would be defending the title at WrestleMania and any one person from her brand, and two from the other two, would be allowed to participate. After this, Nic Nitro came out and pointed at that while the title was supposed to be for all brands, it was only defended on the main 3. He found this to not be fair to his ladies and added two of his own to the match. He later revealed the two as Viper and Toni Storm. Brie Bella asked Guardian to be Raw's other representative in the match so that her and her sister could have a chance to leave WrestleMania both wearing gold. Guardian agreed saying she'd rather have her working with her than against her. Ironman announced SmackDown's participants as Nightingale and Bayley. While Steph announced her participants as Shayna Baszler and Ruby Riott.

Another feud on the NXT UK Brand was between Xia Brookside, Rhea Ripley, and Jinny. With the three feuding over the WHEI NXT UK Women's Championship. At Evolution, Brookside defeated former champion Millie McKenzie to win the championship. Following the Royal Rumble, NXT UK General Manager Nic Nitro announced that the ladies of NXT UK would participate in WHEI's first WrestleMania. This caused a bit of celebration in the ring before everyone remembered they were supposed to not like each other and Rhea attacked the other two.

Another Match involved the WHEI Women's Tag Team Championship with champions The Chaotic Kittens (Amber and Kat) defending against The Riott Squad (Liv Morgan & Sarah Logan). At TLC: Tables, Ladders, & Chairs. Amber and Kat defeated Girls With Flair to win the championship for the third time. In a subsequent rematch on an episode of Raw, they defeated them again. After the match both teams were attacked by the Riott Squad and the champions were challenged to a match at WrestleMania. The match was later made official after the Chaotic Kittens accepted.

## Event

### Pre-show

The pre-show opened with a tag team match between The Chaotic Kittens (Amber & Kat) and The Riott Squad (Liv Morgan & Sarah Logan) for the WHEI Women's Tag Team Championship. After a long and back an forth match between both teams Amber hit Liv with Natural Selection to win the match and retain the championship for her team.

The next match on the pre-show was for the vacant LWL Zodiac Championship between Bo Dallas and R-Truth. In the end despite interference from Goldust, Truth hit a Little Jimmy on Dallas to win the match and the championship.

The final match on the pre-show was a 10 Man Over The Top Rope Battle Royal for the vacant WHEI NXT UK Television Championship. Wolfgang was the first person eliminated by Thorne followed by Banks and Barrett. Jimmy Havoc eliminated Hanson on his own. Coffey immediately eliminated Havoc upon entering the ring, followed soon after by McGuinness by Bram. Finn was eliminated shortly thereafter by Bram via a clothesline. Bram was eliminated by a combination effort by Thorne and Coffey. In the end while Coffey was trying to skin the cat to avoid elimination, Thorne knocked him down to win the match and the Championship.

### Preliminary matches

The actual pay per view opened with an 8 Woman Inter-Promotional Ladder Match for the WHEI Women's Hardcore Championship with Guardian defending against Brie Bella, Nightingale, Bayley, Shayna Baszler, Ruby Riott, Viper, and Toni Storm. After a long and slightly hard to keep up with match, Baszler knocked Viper off the ladder and retrieved the Championship to win the match and the title.

The next match was for the WHEI NXT UK Women's Championship with Xia Brookside defending against Rhea Ripley and Jinny. After a surprisingly short match after knocking Xia to the outside Jinny locked Rhea in a Camel Clutch and forced her to submit surprisingly to win the match and the championship.

The next match after that was a match pitting defending champion Scott Hall against Kenny Omega for the WHEI United States Championship. After a long and very competitive match in which both men hit their signature moves several times, Omega hit a second One Winged Angel to win the match and the championship. After the match Hall cemented his heel turn by offering a handshake and instead hitting Omega with a lowblow.

Following that was a match for the WHEI United Kingdom Championship between Pete Dunne and Marty Scurll. After a decently long and competitive match Scurll locked Dunne in the Crossface Chickenwing to win the match and the championship.

Next was a match featuring Nikki Bella defending her WHEI Raw Women's Championship against Madison Rayne. After a very nice sequence where both women countered pinfall attempts with ones of their own, Madison hit Nikki with a Playmaker to win the match and the championship.

Then was a match between Edge and Samoa Joe for the WHEI Intercontinental Championship. After a great back and forth match between the two Edge hit a fourth Spear to win the match and retain the championship. Becoming the first champion on the main show to do so.

After that was the match for the WHEI Cruiserweight Championship between Heath Slater and "Gentleman" Jack Gallagher. After a long and brutal match in which both competitors gave it their all hitting their finishers multiple times Gallagher hit a fourth running dropkick in the corner on Slater to win the match and the Championship.

Soon after was a Winners Take All 2 Fall Match for the WHEI Cruiserweight and SmackDown Tag Team Championships. This match is unique in that the titles are on the line in different falls, with the SmackDown titles being on the line in the first fall, and the Cruiserweight titles on the line in the second fall. Heath hit Woods with a Detonation Kick to win the first fall for the War Hawks and bring the SmackDown Tag Team Championship back to them. Soon after, after a long and hard fought match between both teams, Ironman hit a Shooting Star Press on Kofi and knocked him out to win the second fall the Cruiserweight Tag Team Championship for his partners, and the match.

The next match was the LWL World Heavyweight Championship Match between defending champion Xerios and Baron Corbin. After a brief but hard hitting match between the two Corbin hit Xerios with two consecutive End Of Days to win the match and the championship.

Up next was a match for the WHEI SmackDown Women's Championship with Kaitlyn defending against her former Chickbusters partner AJ Lee. During the match Ironman received a phone call from an irate Becky Lynch who accused him of trying to screw her out of her title match. Ironman told her she could have her match after the current one. Meanwhile Kaitlyn hit a back breaker on AJ after a surprisingly short match to win and retain the championship.

This was followed immediately by Kaitlyn defending her championship once again against Becky Lynch. After a comparatively longer and more competitive match Becky locked Kaitlyn in the Dis-Arm-Her and forced her to submit to win the match and the championship.

After that was the main event from the SmackDown brand for the WHEI Championship between Braun Strowman and Sami Zayn. After a match that was only prolonged because Strowman didn't seem to know where the ropes were, Strowman finally managed to hit a Running Powerslam far enough away from the ropes to pin Zayn and retain the championship.

The penultimate match was the main event from the LWL brand for the LWL Leading Lady Championship between Ember Moon and Zelina Vega. After a surprisingly good match between the two with great back and forth Ember hit a second Eclipse to win the match and retain the championship.

### Main event

The main event was from the Raw brand for the WHEI Universal Championship with Tommasso Ciampa defending against men's Royal Rumble winner Drew McIntyre. After an amazing match in which both men proved they deserve to be in the main event McIntyre hit a Claymore Kick to win the match and the championship.