WrestleMania 2018

Promotional poster featuring, from left to right, top to bottom, Vinny Marseglia, The Miz, Minoru Suzuki, Seth Rollins, Marty Scurll, Sin Cara, Sheamus, Bobby Roode, Cesaro, and Bray Wyatt.

## UWF Event Chronology

### Next

Backlash 2018

**WrestleMania (2018)** was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the UWF. It took place on April 15th, 2018. The event took place at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. It was the first annual UWF WrestleMania event.

Six matches were contested on the main card. In the main event, Cesaro defeated Sheamus to win the UWF Championship. On the undercard, The Miz won his first Intercontinental Championship against Bobby Roode and Seth Rollins in a triple threat, and Vinny Marseglia defended the Television Championship, in a Monster's Ball match. Additionally, Drew Gulak and Orange Cassidy won an Ultimate X match to become co-number one contenders to the Television Championship, Jimmy Jacobs beat Kevin Steen in a Cage of Death, and Chris Jericho won an I Quit match over Dolph Ziggler.

## Storylines

On the February 14th episode of *Revolution*, Cesaro pinned Seth Rollins to earn a UWF Championship match at WrestleMania. On the March 14th episode of *Revolution*, UWF Champion Sheamus and challenger Cesaro were on the losing end of a tag team match against the returning Kevin Steen and debuting Minoru Suzuki. The next week, Cesaro pinned Steen in a singles match, prompting an assault from the latter against the former. Sheamus attempted to save Cesaro from the attack but inadvertently Brogue Kicked the challenger instead. On the February 29th episode of *Revolution,* Sheamus and Cesaro had a contract signing, after which they both respectfully shook hands and exchanged words. On the go-home episode of *Revolution*, Sheamus saved Cesaro from a 2-on-1 assault from Dolph Ziggler and Jimmy Jacobs, causing a roster-wide brawl between all of the WrestleMania match participants. Instead of brawling, Sheamus and Cesaro stared each other down in the middle of the ring to close the show.

On the March 14th episode of *Revolution*, Jimmy Jacobs approached Kevin Steen about a potential partnership, which Steen politely declined. After Steen's victory in the night's main event, Jacobs went out to celebrate with Steen and was met with a Package Piledriver. The next week, after Steen once again shot down Jacobs's attempts at attaining a partnership, Jacobs attacked Steen during his match with Cesaro to give the latter the victory in the main event. On the March 29th episode of *Revolution*, Steen defeated Drew Gulak without any interference from Jacobs, who appeared on the titantron after the match to reveal he had kidnapped Steen's son Owen. Owen Steen said Jacobs would let him go if Kevin Steen would accept his challenge for a Cage of Death match, which Steen accepted.

On the March 14th episode of *Revolution*, Seth Rollins announced he would be defending the Intercontinental Championship in an open challenge, which was accepted by both Bobby Roode and The Miz. Later that night, Roode pinned Rollins, but both were mysteriously attacked by Billy Gunn and Billy Kidman. The next week, Miz hosted a Miz TV segment with Rollins and Roode as the guests, where it was revealed that Gunn and Kidman were working for Miz the entire time as they attacked Rollins and Roode once again. On the March 29th episode of *Revolution*, now performing under the tag team name The Hired Gunns, Gunn and Kidman beat Rollins and Roode in a tag team match after Rollins abandoned Roode.

On the March 14th episode of *Revolution*, Vinny Marseglia offered a Television Championship match to all comers, which was responded to by Marty Scurll, Minoru Suzuki, Bray Wyatt, and Sin Cara. Ethan Carter III announced a Monster's Ball match at WresteMania for the Television Championship. Later that night, Marseglia pinned Wyatt. However, both of them were attacked by Suzuki-Gun. Sin Cara attempted to make the save but was also beat down, causing Scurll - who was initially going to help the defense - to think twice before joining the others as victims of the assault and instead left the arena without a fight. The next week, Marseglia, Scurll, Wyatt, and Sin Cara won an 8-man tag team match against the members of Suzuki-Gun.

On the March 29th episode of *Revolution*, Ethan Carter III announced an Ultimate X match, with the prize being a shot at the Television Championship. Initially annouced for the match were Monty Brown, Drew Gulak, Orange Cassidy, and Viktor. However, the match was an open invitational to any new members of the roster between the time of the announcement and WrestleMania, so Bubba Ray Dudley, Matt Hardy, Roman Reigns, and William Regal's mystery client were added to the match leading up to the show.

At Insurrextion, Chris Jericho defeated Dolph Ziggler by countout. On the March 14th episode of *Revolution*, Ziggler attacked Jericho during his entrance for his match against Sin Cara, causing Sin Cara to win the match in record time. The next week, Jericho challenged Ziggler to a match, which was met with Ethan Carter III announcing an I Quit match between the two at WrestleMania. Later that night, Jericho distracted Ziggler during his match, causing him to lose to Monty Brown. Jericho then uncharacteristically attacked Ziggler after the match. On the March 29th episode of *Revolution*, Ziggler returned the favor by distracting Jericho, enabling Brown to defeat Jericho. On the go-home episode of *Revolution*, Ziggler used the Walls of Jericho during the fatal 4-way main event. Jericho later attacked Ziggler while making the save for Sheamus and Cesaro during the final brawl to close the show.

## Event

#### **Preliminary matches**

The show kicked off with a video package summarizing Chris Jericho's past year in the UWF. Then, The Miz and Maryse socialized with The Hired Gunns. Backstage, Charly Caruso accepted a bet that if Orange Cassidy wins the Ultimate X match, she'll go out on a date with him. Elsewhere, Marty Scurll arrived at AT&T Stadium and was interviewed by Renee Young. Finally, Vinny Marseglia cut a promo on the Monster's Ball match,

The first match of the night saw Chris Jericho defeat Dolph Ziggler in an I Quit match while Jericho applied the Liontamer after hitting a Codebreaker through a table. This marked Ziggler's final pay-per-view match to date.

Backstage, Renee Young confronted Larry Sweeney about no-showing an interview. The feed then went to Bubba Ray Dudley, who was interviewed on the Ultimate X match. Finally, Orange Cassidy made last-minute preparations for his match.

The second match saw Drew Gulak and Orange Cassidy of The Gentlemen's Club both reach the X and split the victory of the Ultimate X match. The tie would be broken in a tiebreaker match at Backlash.

Outside the arena, Paul Heyman and Cesaro took part in an interview from the back of a limo. Backstage, Renee Young interviewed Sheamus on his main event match. Then, Vinny Marseglia cut another promo on his title defense.

The third match saw Vinny Marseglia pin Bray Wyatt after clobbering him with a baseball bat to retain his Television Championship in a Monster's Ball match. Immediately following the match, Minoru Suzuki and Suzuki-Gun took part in a press conference.

Backstage, Renee Young managed to land her interview with Kevin Steen. The Miz goes on about his pre-match jitters before being sent out for his match,

The fourth match saw The Miz force Bobby Roode to tap out to the Figure Four leglock in a triple threat also involving champion Seth Rollins to win his first Intercontinental Championship, beginning a reign that would end up lasting over 130 days.

Backstage, Paul Heyman and Sheamus cut separate promos on the same topic: the UWF Championship.

The fifth match saw Jimmy Jacobs pin Kevin Steen in a Cage of Death after stabbing him in the stomach with a screwdriver and hitting a Contra Code. This match put Steen out of action for 11 months.

In the locker room, Marty Scurll cut a promo reacting to his Television Championship loss, while The Miz did an interview with Renee Young reacting to his Intercontinental Championship victory.

#### **Main event**

The main event of WresteMania saw Cesaro pin Sheamus following a Neutralizer to win the UWF Championship for the first time and end Sheamus's reign at a then-record 123 days, which wouldn't be broken until February 2019.

## Aftermath

On the April 25th episode of *Revolution*, Maxine announced a Champion of Champions match between UWF Champion Cesaro, Intercontinental Champion The Miz, and Television Champion Vinny Marseglia for the UWF Championship at Backlash. The next week, the trio were in a six-man tag team match against Chris Jericho, Marty Scurll, and Sheamus, which ended with Cesaro and Marseglia leaving Miz high and dry as the Intercontinental Champion was knocked out by a Brogue Kick and rendered unconscious during the application of the Crossface Chickenwing. On the May 9th episode of *Revolution,* Cesaro and Marseglia won a tag team match against Drew Gulak and Orange Cassidy, but Cesaro was hit with a Skull Crushing Finale after the match by The Miz. On the go-home episode of *Revolution*, Cesaro, after winning a match against Roman Reigns, avoided an attack from Miz but was knocked out by Marseglia with the Television Championship.

On the April 25th episode of *Revolution*, Maxine and Ethan Carter III announced a Money in the Bank match at Backlash, and announced Sheamus, Chris Jericho, Jimmy Jacobs, Seth Rollins, and Marty Scurll as five of the six entrants. Later that night, Bubba Ray Dudley defeated Matt Hardy and Roman Reigns to earn the sixth and final spot in the ladder match. Additionally, Jacobs and Scurll defeated Sheamus and Jericho respectively in singles matches. The next week, Jericho, Scurll, and Sheamus won a six-man tag team match against Cesaro, The Miz, and Vinny Marseglia, after which Jericho hit a Codebreaker on Scurll. On the May 9th episode of *Revolution*, Sheamus was attacked off-screen by Bray Wyatt. Later that night, Maxine added Wyatt to the Money in the Bank match to replace Sheamus, who suffered a severe leg injury from the attack. Additionally, following Jericho's win over Jacobs, Scurll attacked Jericho with an umbrella. On the go-home episode of *Revolution*, Jacobs, Wyatt, and Scurll defeated Jericho, Rollins, and Dudley in a six-man tag team match, and a brawl ensued among all the competitors.

In the weeks before WrestleMania, Triple H hyped up the announcement of a new protege he would be bringing into the UWF. On the April 25th episode of *Revolution*, the protege was revealed to be himself, a fact resented by one-time rival Daniel Bryan, who verbally confronted Triple H after the announcement. The next week, the two had a match that ended with Bryan rolling up Triple H while using the ropes as leverage. Triple H responded to this by, on the May 9th episode of *Revolution*, demanding a rematch with Bryan and hitting a Pedigree on him after his match with The Miz.

On the April 25th episode of *Revolution*, Ethan Carter III scheduled a match between Drew Gulak and Orange Cassidy at Backlash for the Television Championship number one contendership. The Gentlemen's Club defeated The Hired Gunns in tag team action later that night. On the final two episodes of *Revolution* before Backlash, The Gentlemen's Club lost back-to-back matches against the team of Cesaro and Vinny Marseglia, and Titus Worldwide.

On the May 9th episode of *Revolution*, Maxine announced a six-man tag team match between the team of Sin Cara, Jay White, and Matt Hardy and the team of Roman Reigns, The Brian Kendrick and Minoru Suzuki for Backlash. The winning team would be placed in a triple threat on the next episode of *Revolution* to determine a number one contender for the Intercontinental Championship.

## Results

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