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ICONIC WRESTLING MOMENTS FROM LAS VEGAS

Las Vegas is best known for its large casinos. The city was built around the gaming industry, attracting people from all over the United States and the rest of the world to play games like poker, blackjack, roulette and slots. 
 
It’s given rise to some of the biggest names in the industry, including Caesars Palace, The Bellagio and The Strat.
 
Even in the face of competition from online brands that offer many of the same casino games through their websites and mobile apps, Las Vegas has continued to enjoy strong revenues and patronage from visitors.
 
If you’ve ever been to Las Vegas though, you’ll know that there’s far more to it than just its giant casinos filled with thousands of video slot machines and hundreds of gaming tables. Vegas has world-class live entertainment, sports, great food, luxury resorts, boutique shopping and wild rides. 
 
Las Vegas casinos are also regular hosts to live sports like boxing, MMA, and wrestling, with major events regularly held in the city. Over the years, Las Vegas casinos have seen some of the most iconic events in wrestling history take place. Here are some of them. 
 
RAW Roulette

Back in October of 2002, the RAW Roulette wheel was seen for the first time. The wheel, which took influence from the popular Las Vegas casino game, was spun to decide the match type that would be played.
 
All of the main types were included, including TLC matches, cage matches, and Las Vegas street fights, along with some questionable entries that would not be appropriate 18 years later. 
 
The wheel was used to create a sense of unpredictability in WWE, something that regular viewers today will agree is missing. Despite the seemingly random appearance of the roulette wheel, the outcome was fixed. 
 
In a 2014 Reddit post, someone claiming to have insider knowledge of the production of Monday Nigh Raw revealed that those segments were never aired live and a low-tech method was used to ensure the right outcome. 
 
Someone would stand behind the wheel while it was spun. Their role was to manually stop it at a particular point that had been marked with tape. Regardless of this, it was fun to watch and that’s all that matters. 
 
The First Mae Young Classic

Women’s professional wrestling has come a long way over the last few years. The quality of competition in women’s wrestling has increased exponentially in recent years and it's far more inclusive than it was in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s. 
 
The Mae Young Classic tournament ran for two years in 2017 and 2018, featuring 32 competitors from NXT and independent circuits. It was named after Johnnie “Mae Young”, a professional wrestler who began her career in 1939 and continued making perodic appearances until 2007. She was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame the following year. 
 
The final of the first ever Mae Young Classic was held at the Thomas & Mack Center in Paradise, a town that borders Las Vegas. It saw Shayna Baszler and Kairi Sane go head to head, with Sane eventually overcoming the odds to take victory.

 
John Cena vs AJ Styles

John Cena was the biggest name in WWE for much of the last two decades, while AJ Styles was TNA’s biggest star. For this reason, many wrestling fans were wishing and hoping for a match between the two to see who would come out on top. 
 
It finally happened in 2016, with Cena and Styles battling it out at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. 
 
They fought for 24 minutes straight, with the two seeming very evenly matched. Signature moves like the Styles Clash, Attitude Adjustment, Calf Crusher, and STF were all thrown in the mix, but the match was settled when Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows joined in to help Styles claim victory over Cena. 
 
This historic moment in WWE history wouldn’t be the end for these two, with the feud continuing over the summer of that year. But the first time these two squared off will be remembered the most, and it all happened in Las Vegas.

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