Fans of the WWE should keep expectations low.
Wrestlemania used to be an exciting time for wrestling fans. The matches, the moments and the social gathering of fans around the world made it special.
I remember watching Wrestlemania Six when Hulk Hogan went one-on-one against the Ultimate Warrior at what was then known as the Skydome in Toronto, Canada.
In recent years, WWE has forgotten what made Wrestlemania special.
Usually, the buildup to Wrestlemania starts the first Monday Night Raw after the Royal Rumble in late January. This year, the buildup for the event took until mid-March. It feels as if WWE still didn’t know what the card was going to be.
Keep in mind, Wrestlemania is supposed to be WWE’s biggest event of the year.
Because of the lack of effort in putting the card together, the matches don’t feel exciting. With the exception of CM Punk vs. Roman Reigns for the World Heavyweight Championship, the rest of the card feels underwhelming.
Sami Zayn will defend the United States Championship against Trick Williams at the event, even though they already wrestled each other multiple times on Smackdown in recent weeks for the same championship. Wrestling fans don’t like to see a match between the same two wrestlers over and over again, no matter how good the matches are.
A ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship will take place without any story being put into it. Besides the matches, fans want to see a story play out to give them a reason to cheer or jeer the wrestlers.
Another example of this is Gunther vs. Seth Rollins. Seth Rollins was involved in a different storyline, and Gunther has been off TV in recent weeks since defeating AJ Styles in a retirement match. All of a sudden, these two have a match at Wrestlemania?
The Dominik Mysterio storyline started off hot, with Dominik and the rest of his group turning on Finn Balor on an episode of Raw. How did the WWE writing team follow this up the next week? Finn Balor cut a pre-taped promo, and Dominik cut a promo that didn’t even air on TV. It’s difficult for fans to get into a story with such slow progression.
Also, WWE is still stuck with the old school format of the 1980s-90s cowardly heel. Today’s WWE fan would like to see less of a cowardly heel and more of a cunning heel, sort of like a comic book supervillain attempting to take over the world.
If you can understand why the villain does this, the story is more compelling a form of storytelling WWE lacks.
Celebrity involvement for a major event like Wrestlemania is okay as long as they are used sparingly. Celebrities announced for the event are Lil Yachty, iShowSpeed, Jelly Roll and Pat McAfee.
McAfee will most likely be involved in one of the main events when Cody Rhodes defends the WWE Championship against Randy Orton. Both these wrestlers have family lineage. You would think it would be easy for the WWE writing staff to come up with a story. Adding McAfee to this main event is unnecessary.
As a long-time WWE fan, it’s a strange feeling to anticipate being disappointed for this event. Fans should keep their expectations low. Maybe we will be pleasantly surprised, but I doubt it.
