10 Ways WWE Is Completely Unrecognisable From Just One Year Ago

6. The Madison Square Garden Relationship Rebuild

Bayley Sasha Banks
WWE

WWE had their cake and farted on it too during WrestleMania 35 weekend, running an NYC-themed 'Show Of Shows' despite the event taking place in New Jersey and Axxess occurring off the a*se of a port in Brooklyn just a few feet short of where they used to bill Tazz from.

A testing time in the relationship between the McMahons and Madison Square Garden arose from the situation too. 'The World's Most Famous Arena' elected to play host to New Japan Pro Wrestling/Ring Of Honor 'Supercard Of Honor' event and even positioned it on Saturday against TakeOver - WWE's highest quality offering of the weekend.

The organisation stood down there, switching the Hall Of Fame to the Saturday and TakeOver to an unopposed slot 24 hours earlier, and have stood back up for MSG ever since. The group even ran television tapings at the beautiful building for the first time in a decade, offering up the likes of the first ever main roster Four Horsewomen tag match as well as the sight of Stone Cold Steve Austin dropping AJ Styles with a Stone Cold Stunner.

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett