Gresselmania is indeed running wild in Atlanta. The newest nickname to hit the ATL sports scene obviously draws its inspiration from the world of professional wrestling and its biggest attraction: WrestleMania. Every year around this time, the biggest show on the wrestling calendar takes place, and this year’s “Showcase of the Immortals” will take place tonight. Despite WrestleMania being the biggest pro wrestling event of the year, there are plenty of other pay-per-views throughout the year, and we here at Dirty South Soccer thought why not come up with some other Atlanta United/WWE hybrids for your enjoyment? Through a collaborative effort, these are the best ones we could come up with:



Miguel in a Cell

The “Hell in a Cell” match made it’s debut in WWE at Badd Blood: In Your House in October of 1997 when “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels squared off with The Undertaker for the WWF (at the time) Championship. This match also served as the debut for Undertaker’s “brother” Kane, who cost Taker the match. Basically, it’s like a steel cage match, but instead of the cage being the same dimensions as the ring, the Cell leaves space around the ring to move around and it also has a “roof”. This can lead to some crazy moments (like this one, this one, and this one). The concept proved so popular among wrestling fans that WWE decided to give the match its own pay-per-view. Miguel Almiron fits this perfectly because when he is on the ball and in one on one situations with a defender, it must feel like being trapped in a cell with nowhere to go before he leaves them in the dust.

No Mears-cy

No Mercy has been a regular on the WWE’s PPV scene since the first one occurred in Manchester, England in May of 1999. Despite Tiger Ali Singh vs. Gillberg being on the card, the main event was actually Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. The Undertaker vs. Triple H. Stone Cold would win this match and it would start a long run for the PPV in the WWE. It has often been highlighted with darker storylines and has been a PPV that has heavily featured The Undertaker, a man who never shows any mercy to his opponents. A player for Atlanta United that embodies this is Tyrone Mears. In fact, the Five Stripes’ entire back line has been very good this season, so despite naming this one after Mears, it really goes out to the entire group.

Goslin Your House

The “In Your House” series of PPVs in WWE ran from 1995 to 1999 and was an ever evolving series. The first six were just titled “In Your House” followed by the number of the event, but starting with the 7th one (In Your House: Good Friends, Better Enemies), they started to have subtitles. My favorite one of these was D-Generation X: In Your House, which took place in December of 1997. This is mainly due to the fact that I loved “The World’s Most Dangerous Man” Ken Shamrock, and this was one of the few times that he would fight for the World Title (he would never win it... sad). The In Your House series was so versatile and could always morph into what the WWE needed it to be. That’s why we gave this one to Chris Goslin. He’s a very young and still has plenty of time to morph into a very important player for Atlanta United.

The Great American Bocanegra

The Great American Bash started in the old NWA territory, was taken over by Jim Crockett Promotions which became World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and ultimately ended up in WWE when they purchased WCW. The first Great American Bash took place in Charlotte in July of 1985, and featured a double main event of “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair defeating Nikita Koloff for the NWA World Championship and “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes defeating Tully Blanchard in a steel cage match for the NWA World Television Championship. Tying Carlos Bocanegra into this PPV is just perfect because he served valiantly as captain of the United States Men’s National Team for years and, well, he’s just a great American.

Money in the Blank

This one was just too easy. The “Money in the Bank” concept first came about at WrestleMania 21 in 2005 after being conceived by Chris Jericho. In order to win this match (which consists of numerous competitors, usually 6 or more) a competitor must climb a ladder and grab a briefcase that is hanging above the ring. Inside of that briefcase is a contract that guarantees the winner a WWE Championship match at a time of their choosing. This usually comes at the end of a PPV after (or during) the WWE Championship match when the winner/competitors are tired and the fresh holder of the briefcase can take advantage of the situation. The match was such a success, that eventually it was taken away from WrestleMania and became it’s own PPV. No explanation is needed as to why Uncle Arthur fits here.

These aren’t as easy to come up with as you would think. If you have a good one involving an Atlanta United player/staffer, please post it in the comments below. Are there any good ones left? I don’t know... Carmonageddon?