Jazz, Trish Stratus and Victoria provided a spiritual sequel to the WrestleMania 18 three-way clash, with Lita's replacement Victoria and safer placement on the card providing an even more satisfying outcome. The last 12 months had proved astonishing for Trish in particular - she'd exponentially improved as a wrestler, becoming doyen of a reinvented division in the wake of the first brand extension.
Victoria and Jazz were intense heels, sharing the load of smashing the sh*t out of Stratus before her eventual re-emergence. A double shoulder-breaker on Stratus was particularly innovative and ferocious and spoke to the innovative efforts that often went ignored.
The finishing sequence spoke to how well thought-out the contest had been. Victoria's valet Stevie Richards ran interference with a steel chair with Jazz disposed on the arena floor, but after nailing him with a hard Stratusfaction bulldog, Trish reversed Victoria's Widow Peak to leather the champion with a killer Chick Kick for the climactic title victory.
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.
