If 2020 was a "Horror Show" in name and nature, what did that make 2021's edition of the show with barely a weapon in sight during the build?
Roman Reigns' Universal Championship defence against The Demon was slapped with the titular tag, but that felt inherently redundant due to the nature of the Challenger's character. What's scarier than the darkest recesses of Finn Bálor's soul? Said recesses tw*tting you with a novelty weapons, apparently.
Bálor is supposed to have to go to such a dark place to summon the creature from within that it causes him physical and emotional pain. It's why he doesn't do it all the time, other than because that intricate paint job looks like a total b*llache for a company that doesn't give a sh*t about any details let alone the literal devil in them.
But he'd have weapons at his disposal here. As for everybody else, it was just another Sunday in between the company's biggest stadium event of the year and a blood money event in Saudi Arabia that will likely prohibit a minimum of four performers on this card from even attending.
Based on those stipulations in the absence of any others, just how did it go?
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for 10 years. Alongside the production of daily written, audio and video content covering WWE and AEW, he 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 on the UK's wrestling podcast charts with over 10,000 episodes and 70,000,000 total downloads. He also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House!, Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast, and has guested on long-running Sunderland AFC podcast Wise Men Say.
With WhatCulture, he has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. He has also been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana, 411Mania and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling.
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 music and culture magazines The Crack, Pilot as well as Sunderland AFC's premiere fanzine A Love Supreme. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it every other Saturday at the Stadium Of Light, and at Cribs gigs nationwide.
