By Thomas Brunt

The month of April for Pro Wrestling, although mainly WWE who like usual, made its way around the news headlines as it is around this time they have their biggest show of the year, "WrestleMania." Let's not just pretend here that TNA is nonexistent as Dixie Carter and co. have also had observers of the promotion talking, as well.

​Here I will recap what we have learned in the month of April. ​

By Michael Yoder

It’s crazy to think that we are almost one month removed from the enormous, impressive yet underwhelming show that is WrestleMania 32. Unfortunately, WrestleMania brings to an end, without a doubt, the most enjoyable stretch of WWE programming throughout the year. WrestleMania season is always fresh, exciting, and must-see TV. On the flip side, the months after Mania are slow and difficult to watch. This period of WWE programming lacks star power (Brock Lesnar, The Undertaker and others always leave us for a few months) and offers us unimportant “B” pay-per-views with minimal storyline development (Payback, Extreme Rules).

As fans, we need to sift through the garbage in order to find gold and in a few short months, thankfully, gold will be upon us! As the temperature rises and the weather improves, so does WWE programming. The month of June brings us the end of the school year, the start of summer, and the Money in the Bank pay-per-view/special. Money in the Bank is one of my personal top 3 specials and almost ALWAYS provides us with great memories. The event itself has given us the infamous Punk/Cena match of 2011 and almost always provides us with a thrilling ladder match. From a storyline perspective, it is a vital event that helps to shape the landscape and future of the WWE. In my opinion, no other special except for the Royal Rumble is more important. The 2016 MITB ladder match offers up MANY exciting possibilities and I will dive into who I think will be participating in the match as well as their odds of winning the briefcase, and inevitably becoming the WWE World Heavyweight Champion.  

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

ROH World Champion Jay Lethal and Tetsuya Naito def. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada and Yoshi-Hashi

While I would have rather seen Lethal and Okada go one-on-one, I realize that might have been too big of a match to give away on one of ROH's B-level pay-per-views. Regardless, they worked well together as opponents and the involvement of Naito and Hashi didn't hinder the match in the slightest. If anything, they added to the enjoyment of it and made it a solid tag team matchup. The finish was especially fun and Lethal scoring the win for his team was the right move. On a side note, Okada is no longer the IWGP Champion as of this writing, but he was when this was taped two months ago (he actually lost it to Naito).


IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Kushida def. Frankie Kazarian (Non-title)

Maybe it's just me, but I've always found Kazarian to be highly underrated as a performer. I've loved his pairing with Christopher Daniels since their TNA days, but he should have been a bigger deal as a singles guy back then. This was the perfect opportunity for him to shine on his own and I thought he did so very well. He didn't needed to win nor should he have since Kushida is a champion, but he looked good in defeat, not to mention Kushida is always a treat to watch in the ring.

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

TNA World Heavyweight Champion Drew Galloway def. Tyrus

As I've expressed in the past, it's a shame Tyrus has been horribly handled by and large since arriving in TNA by being booked to lose more than he should have, but they still managed to have an enjoyable championship clash. I never bought into the possibility of Tyrus beating Galloway, but he had a solid showing here and in time he can be a top-tier performer if he is given a monster push. Moreover, the placement of the match in the opening slot was refreshing. It was nice to not start the show with a talking segment for once and I don't think it devalued the belt because as noted, Tyrus wasn't much of a threat to the title to begin with.

​
Rosemary def. Gail Kim

I'm not sure how competent of a competitor Rosemary is in the ring, but she fared well for herself against Kim while also staying true to her character, which is rare. Maria was the focus of the match and not Rosemary, but the match wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and they made decent use of the time they were allotted. I just hope this won't become a trend in the Knockouts division with Maria stacking the odds against Kim every week. With Velvet Sky leaving recently, they barely have enough talent as it is!