So I was thinking about this and what kind of topic I could create for WrestleMania week to try and generate some discussion. I thought about ranking my excitement level for each match, but then came to a simple realization, there's nothing about this WrestleMania season that stands out at all. There have been plenty of times where WWE's tried to do something and it just didn't connect or missed the mark or was in poor taste, but this is totally different. WWE literally didn't put any effort into creating interesting stories at all for this year's Mania and it's ridiculous.
Let's start with not one match, but a story that permeated throughout multiple matches for Sunday. Brock Lesnar didn't show up week after week and it is the main crux of the main event against Roman Reigns, Undertaker didn't show up week after week and it is the main crux of his match with John Cena and Ronda Rousey didn't show up week after week. That's three of the top matches at Mania where the only thing told was one of the people in the match couldn't be bothered to show up to RAW and promote the story hardly at all.
Then there's two battle royales that are happening. We are supposed to think they are important just because they are happening. It's not that hard, give the winner a title match at Payback, let them be GM for a week on their show and set up the next rivalry, make it some cash prize. All things that have been done before to great success and make you invest in who is fighting and give the wrestlers a reason to want to win. This is literally just, it's the first women's battle royale at Mania so it's important or it's Andre the Giant so it's important. It's laziness to the highest degree.
There's the Cruiserweight Tournament final, which in and of itself is fine. I like Cedric Alexander and think Mustafa Ali could be good if given enough time. But, the problem with this match is simple, the WWE didn't think that five hours of weekly programming were enough to give this match any main show time. It happened strictly on 205 Live. Listen, I get it, you have the Network, it's a lot of time to fill, frankly it's more time than I can commit. I watch RAW and SD every week, I've watched every NXT since the last Takeover until Takeover New Orleans. That's six hours per week, sorry WWE I draw the line at trying to find time to watch 205 Live or Main Event, regardless of what you put on those programs.
I've already touched on Brock vs Roman and my main problem with it. My other problem is simply I'm over Brock Lesnar, he's not entertaining, he's staler than 2008 John Cena, his matches are all worse than 2007 John Cena. They give this money to guys like Brock to be on these part time contracts and there's never the return on investment from the fans perspective.
Styles vs Nakamura. Listen the match will be fantastic, probably the runaway MOTN hands down. But I'm sorry, the WWE has failed and yes Nakamura has failed to get over the fact that this guy is a badass and a threat and should be a guy that fans look forward to. I have zero hope that Nakamura will never not be repetitive and boring given his limitations in storytelling and you know what he seems charismatic, but all his gyrations and craziness don't excite me, the guy doesn't connect with me.
The Triple Threat for the IC belt is a bright spot. Miz, Rollins, Balor, all are at the top of their games and have told a good story. The extra layer of if Miz is turning over a new leaf as a father is interesting. These guys should tell a good story and have a really good match.
The US Championship. This is just a cluster. Rusev has no business being there, except that he's really over and deserves a spot of the card and the WWE overlooked him until two weeks ago for the show. Jinder is playing a weird mind game, Roode and Orton have this weird dynamic when Orton never should have taken the belt off him this early. I don't really understand why this match is happening (other than it has something to do with SD starting a weekly top 10 superstars list, the first list created heat between Orton and Roode and the list stopped being weekly after it's second installment). Every Mania card has its cluster match and this one is it.
Bliss vs Nia Jax. Look, the women's revolution (or is it evolution now, since revolution is a dirty word for conservatives like Vinny Mac?) is wonderful. These women are finally getting to show what they can do, no longer are they relegated to lingerie matches and King shouting puppies. They've come a long way and the quality of this match should show that. But then, you remember the McMahons are in charge of creative, which means they are in capable of telling a story about the women competitors that ever evolves past the sophistication of a sad high school cat fight.
Charlotte vs Asuka. They've fallen into the bare minimum here. You have Charlotte who has been booked extremely well to maintain status of queen of the division. Asuka is the hot newcomer that seems unbeatable. All well in good, I want something more from the story though and this doesn't have it.
The Bar vs Strowman. This one has been fairly well done and the payoff could be great too. I'd love it if they do something where Strowman has some jobber for a partner, that guy starts getting his ass kicked, Strowman tags himself in, demolishes his partner and then goes on to single handedly beat the Bar anyhow. Strowman is probably the best booked guy in the entire company right now.
Usos vs Bludgeon Bros vs New Day. The WWE dropped the ball fantastically with this one. After the last SD PPV this was one of the more buzzworthy matchups. The previous match ends with a brutal attack, but then nothing. There's been almost no interaction or furthering of storyline except for a couple of bland matches.
Angle & Rousey vs HHH & Steph. Let's see this match is built on the WWE (HHH & Steph) making a huge investment and big deal out of WWE's ability to sign Rousey, a legit badass. Only for us to find out a day after she was announced, that HHH & Steph secretly think she sucks and has no business in the company. I mean come on now, how stupid are we supposed to be.
Bryan & McMahon vs Zayn & Owens. The WWE have actually tried with this match. They are consistently having these four interact and drive towards a match. However, they haven't really answered why they are fighting, other than Owens attacked Vince six months ago, Shane has attacked like an ass since then, but not actually done anything about it. Bryan gets cleared and goes from being an ally to the other two to being a rival worthy of a beatdown. The whole thing just sucks.
Taker vs Cena. Nothing good exists in this match. There's no build. No reason to want to see and Taker can no longer go, so what's the point.