PODER~! Wrestling
PoderMania~! 2026
April 15, 2026
Horseshoe Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada

Watch: Triller

It’s 1 a.m. in Salford. The night sky is speckled with ominous clouds, but the darkness of the night is locked outside. My yearly WrestleMania weekend routine begins now. The fridge is full of snacks, I don’t have work tomorrow , and I’ve nothing to do but review some of the worst wrestling you will ever see anywhere in the world.

PoderMania was so bad, it made me wonder why we subject ourselves to this nonsense. The wrestling was often terrible, but more often it was lazy. It was a show for nobody, and it is best avoided like the plague.

Leva Bates and Su Yung def. Joseline Navarro and Mazzerati

This match set the tone for the evening, by being slow and rubbish from the outset. Do you ever have one of those dreams where you are trying to run away from something, but you run at a snail’s pace? That was how they wrestled.

There were fundamental misunderstandings of tag team wrestling throughout. Joseline threw Bates into her own corner during a control period. They tried to do a hidden tag spot but nobody noticed or cared.

Good wrestlers know what to do between spots. The four wrestlers in this match stood around with vacant expressions. Bad. *

Jazzy Yang and Toga def. Amira and Lil Marz

The wrestlers understood how tag matches work, which was an improvement on the previous match. Unfortunately, the work was so sloppy it didn’t really matter.

It started off well, with some good grappling between Toga and Amira. It soon came to a grinding halt when Amira dropkicked fresh air and Toga sold it.

Jazzy missed a cue and basically threw herself under an elbow drop. I suppose it showed there was some thought involved in this match, but the botch practically exposed the business.

There were fleeting moments of wrestling; some big backbreakers and cannonballs were very impressive. Unfortunately, the rhythm of pro-wrestling wasn’t there. These spots built to a hot tag, but everyone was looking round to make sure they timed it right. *¾

Vegas Boulevard Brawl
Nixi XS def. Shazza McKenzie

This was a shameful exhibition. It was an absolute embarrassment. It was little more than a series of weak spots performed inadequately.

A table was set up and the wrestlers played a game of cards. The props looked cheap, and the high school drama performances didn’t elevate it.

The card game descended into some of the weakest violence you will ever see. They tickled each other with chairs and kendo sticks. Shazza ducked a strike before Nixi had even lifted the stick. Any sense of danger or spectacle was completely absent, and a bag of what Veda Scott called “gems and jewels” being spilled on the mat only added to the farce.

The finish involved the fakest of fake glass, and it left me crying a river. DUD

Izzy Moreno def. Brittnie Brooks and Gypsy Mac

Gypsy Mac and Brittnie Brooks were the first competent wrestlers of the evening, and they put together some interesting sequences. The triple threat plague was in full display, though. Nobody had the creativity to transcend the tropes, and it was the usual routines of turn-taking and stolen pins.

Izzy Moreno put on a display of shocking incompetence. She insisted on going to the top rope and attempting splashes. I rewatched a few of those spots, and I don’t understand how she was able to find so little air. PAC may be the wrestler gravity forgot, but it certainly remembered Izzy Moreno.

Izzy delivered an excellent promo at the end: “I belong in PoderMania.” Yep. **

Allie Katch def. Kaia McKenna

This was, at best, functional. There were lockups and submission holds. Irish whips and suplexes. Kaia was beaten down by the heel and fought hard to bounce back.

It was destroyed by an amazing lack of athleticism. Nobody could do the wrestling moves. Allie Katch did a cannonball that was essentially a forward roll.

Chinlocks were used as rest holds several times, and I wondered why. Bad. *½

Dani Mo, Emily Jaye & Rachel Ley def. Journey Burke, Sirena Veil & Valentina Rossi

Rising above what had come before, this match was competent and generally enjoyable. Everybody could wrestle, and was able to keep the pace up to hold interest throughout. That might sound like I’m damning it with faint praise, and maybe I am, but I would watch anyone in this match again and that’s the whole point of WrestleMania Weekend.

I was particularly impressed with Sirena Veil, who brought a violence that had been sorely missed. **¾

Alex Gracia def. Aleah James

This match was the most egregious on the show, because it was drastically cut short. It felt like it was going somewhere interesting, but the finish came far too soon.

I know Aleah James from my days of covering BritWres for the site, and it was good to see her wrestle well here. They dragged each other around as soon as the bell rang, and they sprinkled the match with interesting wrinkles. I enjoyed Aleah reversing a submission into a pin.

I don’t know if time became an issue, but this was the first match on the show that felt violently truncated. It just ended, and they deserved better. **¾

PODER~! Title Match
Brittany Blake © def. Shotzi Blackheart

Shotzi Blackheart had to carry this match. If that strikes fear into your heart, I apologise.

Shotzi was the biggest star on the show, and the slight yet palpable change of atmosphere helped this match slightly. Unfortunately, Brittany Blake is a terrible wrestler and it soon fell apart.

Brittany Blake didn’t do well by any metric. Her offense was weak, her selling was amateurish and she could barely get herself off the floor when taking a back suplex.

An ill advised kendo stick spot dug a deep hole. Shotzi tapping to a submission that was barely locked in buried the match. Terrible. *¾

Miranda Alize def. Carolina Cruz

At this point, the show felt relentless. There were so many matches behind us, yet there were still more to come. Alize and Cruz had an uphill struggle, and they chose to have the most generic match imaginable. **

This match, while still bad, managed to pace itself properly and build some interest. Alejandra Lion had an interesting charisma, and she was able to rally some support.

This was another match that felt neutered. It was going well, and I enjoyed some of the high spots. A neckbreaker felt particularly impactful and I was waiting for some intrigue around who would win.

It never happened, the match ended and we waited patiently for the next one. **

Billie Starkz def. Charli Evans

I wondered if Billie Starkz had improved since Tony Khan signed her and put her to work in ROH. I have never been impressed with her work, and I’d hoped being around workers slightly more talented than your average GCW wrestler would help her. Unfortunately, it hasn’t and she continues to be completely underwhelming. She didn’t really do anything in this match, and it felt little more than another booking and her excuse for a weekend in Vegas.

Evans’ performance was comical. She gurned and screamed throughout, completely overselling every moment. She delivered some good knees and a few cool looking moves, but the unnatural performance ruined any goodwill.

Starkz stole the pin in a short, pointless match. **

Final Thoughts

It seems that we must have as many shows as possible crammed into WrestleMania Weekend, whether they are worth watching or not. This certainly wasn’t worth watching at all, and was just another block of content on the conveyor belt of bad wrestling. Avoid.