The 7 best non-WWE matches from WrestleMania 42 week in Las Vegas

For more than 20 years now, WrestleMania weekend hasn’t just meant the big show. Dozens of smaller shows have joined in WWE’s wake, creating a week-long celebration of the endlessly different colors across the pro-wrestling palate.

Here are seven of the best non-WWE matches from this year’s WrestleMania 42 festivities in Las Vegas.

1. Bandido vs. Amazing Red

House of Glory: Las Vegas Culture Clash, April 16

Very fun battle of generations here. Amazing Red was one of the forefathers of high-flying innovative pro-wrestling — his matches with Low-Ki still have never been matched — and Bandido is the one of the inheritors of that legacy.

Red, 43, never got the WWE or AEW run he deserved, but built House of Glory into a successful promotion and wrestling school, and still went move-for-move and hold-for-hold with Bandido in this one, including maybe the dive of the weekend, and wild Topé con Hilo where he landed in the second row. I’d love to see this matchup run back on a Ring of Honor pay-per-view, to give Red the one last big moment he deserves.

2. Senka Akatsuki vs. Chris Hero

West Coast Pro vs. The World, April 16

Senka made a name for herself with an incredible underdog performance against Aja Kong at last year’s WrestleMania weekend. (They had a rematch later this same night at the Marvelous show.) She may be the best pure babyface in wrestling today, a spunky never-say-die fighter who won’t even concede a one count if she can avoid it.

Hero was a surprise opponent, after Dani Luna was forced to cancel. Hero, an all-time indie wrestling icon and current west coast booker (and AEW producer) came out of retirement, wrestling his first match in two years and only his seventh match since leaving the WWE in 2020. Senka has a tremendous connection to the crowd, reminiscent of her trainer and mentor Chigusa Nagayo, and while this crowd was also very into Hero returning, Hero quickly turned them against him by leaning into his bullying indie persona.

Great stuff here, with both wrestlers wringing high drama out of simple things.

3. Blue Panther vs. Ultimo Guerrerro

CMLL: Slam Fest, April 18

This one featured a pair of eternal rivals demonstrating the beauty of lucha libre on the first U.S.-based CMLL show in decades.

The 65-year-old Panther is one of pro-wrestlings all-time greats, and he’s somehow added to his legacy tremendously in his sixth decade in the business, having multiple classic matches at an age when most of his peers are mastering bridge and crossword puzzles. Guerrerro, 54, is bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and is also known as a professor of lucha libre. Both men are known for their mastery of llave — lucha libre mat work — but this match had a lot more fireworks, with Panther doing multiple dives to the floor and taking a superplex and top-rope powerbomb.

Before Panther won with a top-rope arm-drag, the crowd showered the ring with cash to show their appreciation. Just an incredible throwback performance by both men — and an incredible leg on Blue Panther’s endless lucha journey. 

To see the full Blue Panther vs. Ultimo Guerrerro match, watch on TrillerTV here.

4. Hate Club (Matt Tremont & Nick Gage) vs. El Desperado & Jun Kasai vs. Rina Yamashita & Masashi Takeda

New Japan Pro Wrestling: Death in Vegas, April 18

New Japan junior heavyweight El Desperado leaned into his bloodletting side in a rare NJPW deathmatch show.

This was the main event and a maximalist gore-fest. With hundreds of light tubes tied to the ropes, the match also featured pizza-cutters, scissors, barbed wire and a Jackson Pollock canvas spattered with blood instead of paint.

Kasai and Gage have been doing this gruesome dance for two decades. Gage had recently been in rehab, and it was strangely cathartic to see him back where he belongs — swinging a light tube in front of a crowd who’s living and dying with every crash of glass. A wild spectacle here, with some real emotional heft among the carnage. 

To see the full Death in Vegas match, watch on NJPW World here.

5. Karl Greco Malenko vs. Mad Dog Connelly

ACTION Pro Wrestling: We Gambled the Graphics Budget, April 19

This was a BattlArts rules match featuring Karl Greco Malenko, a BattlArts and Pride Fighting Championship veteran in the second match of his comeback. (Disclaimer: I booked the first match of Malenko’s return at the Death Valley Days show in February.)

Here he took on Mad Dog Connelly, a ferocious indie attraction who’s better known for his dog-collar matches than his shoot-style prowess. Connelly attacked the gap in skill with pure aggression, overwhelming Malenko with live rounds, while the veteran looked for openings. Maybe the stiffest match of the entire weekend, living up to the BattlArts legacy it promised.

To see the full Karl Greco Malenko vs. Mad Dog Connelly match, watch on IWTV here.

6. Eric Stevens vs. Fuminari Abe

GCW: Bloodsport, April 19

This was the best match on Josh Barnett’s final shoot-style Bloodsport show.

Stevens is a Ring of Honor veteran on a comeback tour, while Abe is one-half of the Astronauts, the current stewards of the shoot-style mantle.  Stevens has a strong jiu-jitsu background, and while the early parts of this match focused on both guys countering positions on the mat and hunting for submissions, things got amped up when Abe cut Stevens forehead with a head-butt, and got even nastier when Abe started spraying blood from his mouth from a cross-face. That egged on both fighters, as the shots got harder and holds got tighter, leading to a wild scramble of a finish.

Bloodsport has hosted some of the coolest matches of WrestleMania weekend for the past several years, and if this was the final show, they went out on a good one. 

To see the full Eric Stevens vs. Fuminari Abe match, watch on TrillerTV here.

7. Sandman vs. The Invisible Man

GCW: Joey Janela’s Spring Break, April 19

This was the final match of The Sandman’s career — and also a pretty impressive one-man performance for a guy with a ton of miles on his odometer.

These kind of run-in heavy comedy matches, much like a “Naked Gun” or “Scary Movie” film, really depend on the gags hitting — and while there was some misses here (not sure we needed Zombies and Vampiro), the big spots definitely hit: A series of 20 referees coming in and getting bumped, leading to a 20-ref near-count; Missy Hyatt coming in and starting a fight with Kendra Lust (don’t google her); and Mick Foley appearing to stick Mr. Socko down the throats of both Invisible Man and Invisible Stan.

Sandman went through some tables, chugged some beers, and went out on his back , putting over a younger star like you are supposed to.