WrestleMania 36 will go down as one of the worst shows in history and it’s not because of the lack of fans due to the coronavirus lockdowns, though that did play a part. For over a year, we’ve seen lackluster performances regularly, so the lack of a crowd isn’t an excuse. In fact, the circumstances helped some improve as they knew the cameras were focused on them. Others had a similar match as a year ago (Becky Lynch) with the same type of weak ending just so she can set records as the longest reigning women’s champion.
The good
At least Becky Lynch’s match made sense and was enjoyable, as was the Smackdown Women’s Championship 5 Person Elimination Match and the next Women’s Championship Match. Two other matches that should vie for best match of the event are the Smackdown Tag Team Championship Ladder Match and Kevin Owens versus Seth Rollins. Both were the cream of the crop, while The Undertaker-AJ Styles and Bray Wyatt-John Cena were great creations that gave us something new and different that we sorely needed.
Each of these had something to offer us, and it was great to see them making the best out of the situation and gave us the best match they were capable of.
Then there were the top championships in the company…
The bad and ugly
Championship matches are supposed to be the top draw on the card. They’re what we want to see as fans, and it’s only fitting as the champion is the face of the promotion. More than that, we expect and deserve far better than we got at WrestleMania 36, and so did the wrestlers.
For reasons that are unknown at this time, both top championship matches were nothing more than surviving multiple finishers, then hitting multiple ones for victories. That’s it. Plain and simple.
There was no storytelling, no tension, and nothing to care about aside from the right people won.
But beyond fans and what we wanted and deserved (some did pay $60 for a weekend long amateur hour showcase), Braun Strowman and Drew McIntyre deserved more and better. They each deserved to put on a fun, entertaining match that would help them rise above criticism and help legitimize their championship wins in fans’ eyes. They didn’t get that.
Sure, Goldberg doesn’t do long matches and only does two to three moves. It’s expected, but they could’ve mixed it up more and had Strowman demonstrate more of his ability than absorbing a few spears before delivering a few powerslams for the win. Intrigue is more than surviving finishing maneuvers. Vince McMahon used to know this. He also insisted on putting a quality product out there.
The same with Brock Lesnar and Drew McIntyre. They’re both capable and deserved so much more. They could’ve given us a twenty minute match of holds, power moves, and near falls but we got another exchange of finishers in what was most likely Lesnar passing the torch.
We’ve grown accustomed to Lesnar’s wrestling being limited to suplexes and the F-5 for whatever reason, but this was just… wrong. Everyone involved in these matches deserved so much more and better.
To put it in contrast, in WrestleMania 3, Andre the Giant’s back was so bad he could barely move. In fact, it was a struggle for him to stand. Hulk Hogan knew this and did a bulk of the work to make it easier on Andre. In the end, it wasn’t a great match, but it was entertaining given the circumstances and it worked as it put Hogan over big time with the “slam heard around the world!”
Another one is WrestleMania 14 where Shawn Michaels’ back was so bad he shouldn’t have wrestled, but he did and put on a pretty good match to put Steve Austin over.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuuIEufbhkA
How is it that two greats could find a way to work around debilitating injuries, while two other greats were limited?
Bret Hart said in his book Hitman that never in his career had he had a booker dictate a match except for the outcome. Maybe the WWE needs to go back to that or get a better booker to allow the wrestlers to do what they do best?
What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.
SUBSCRIBE NOW: Get TheOvertimer’s Hottest Stories, Breaking News and Special Features in your email, CLICK HERE!
