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

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.

6 wrestlers, deathmatch destruction, without a doubt MOTN, Jun Kasai, El Desperado, Rina Yamashita and Masahi Takeda went all out war but the victory was taken by Matt Tremont who was the standout of the match and Nick Gage #njpw#deathvegasinvipic.twitter.com/eROUKgvlu3

— ERD Wrestling (@ERD\_Wrestling) April 17, 2026 *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.

Carl Malenko vs. Mad Dog Connelly ROCKS!!!!

My god. Great show by ACTION. Absolutely check it out on pic.twitter.com/rdaSVZNnfU

— Peps🪭 (@Peps\_Wrestling) April 21, 2026 *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.

Erick Stevens vs. Fuminori Abe This is what im looking for in bloodsport matwork is smooth and good also has brutality with some wild strike exchanges u have steven gushing blood from his forehead and abe from is mouth its sincerely goated \\\*\*1/2 pic.twitter.com/gsYfONO06O

— tripvloski (@loskisports) April 18, 2026 *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.