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| source// wwe.com |
The road to WrestleMania has been a rocky one for WWE, but they look like they’re going to pull through. Despite all of the injuries to key stars, Vince McMahon et al look poised to put together a very intriguing card fitting of the ‘Mania name.
The decision to bring back Shane McMahon might scream of desperation on the company’s part, but it was a masterstroke. Shane’s return was the most shocking moment a WWE event has had seen since Seth Rollins’ cash-in at WrestleMania 31, while it set up what promises to be stellar Hell in a Cell bout with The Undertaker.
On top of that we have the clash of the super-babyfaces as Dean Ambrose goes up against Brock Lesnar, while Charlotte will defend her Divas Championship against Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch. Oh, and we have the small matter of Reigns vs. HHH for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, too.
We also have a couple of tag matches and Ryback vs. Kalisto for the United States Championship, but they aren’t worth writing home about.
The card has seen WWE break their attendance record for a show, with the target of 100,000 tickets sold looking a realistic possibility as some 84,000+ seats have been filled as of this writing.
Even though a lot of the card still needs to be finalised, WWE have made a great start and are doing more than any of us could have expected with what they have the work with.
However, the event is still looking far from perfect, and there are problems that nobody wants to admit about WrestleMania 32…
15. The Undertaker Doesn’t Make Any Sense
Hopefully this one will be explained in the coming weeks, but WWE have already messed up one glaring opportunity to do so.
‘Taker turned up to RAW a few weeks ago and cut a promo that was shorter than his entrance. He told us all things that we already knew, while he also seemed to confuse Vince McMahon.
The Deadman told Vince that Shane’s blood would be on his hands – sure Vince wants that as he booked the match? Vince went on to say that Shane would fail him as a son if he wasn’t to win the Hell in a Cell match – which doesn’t make any sense because if Shane does win, Vince will be out of a job and his favourite child won’t have control of Monday Night RAW anymore.
Surely McMahon senior wants junior to lose?
Then this week, Taker turned up and still didn’t explain why he is doing what he is doing. He attacked Shane, and then tried to attack Vince…
We still don’t know why ‘Taker is fighting on behalf of Vince McMahon. It seems that McMahon just asked his favourite Phenom if he fancied a match with his son, and he said sure, why not?
This storyline currently makes absolutely no sense and needs cleared up as soon as possible.
14. Shane McMahon Has Been Backed Into A Corner
I feel sorry for Shane McMahon, not because he has to faceThe Undertaker inside Hell in a Cell, but because of the expectations that have been placed on his shoulders.
WWE have driven home the message that Shane likes to jump off really high things to win matches. Video packages have been put together showing each and every leap the younger Simba did back in the day, which means that the 100,000 people in AT & T stadium will be expecting some death-defying spot to take place.
That’s right, we all need to see 46-year-old Shane McMahon damn near kill himself to feel like we’ve gotten our money’s worth.
Is Shane’s body up to something like this today? Will he be willing to take such a risk?
WWE have backed themselves into a corner here, a corner Shane McMahon may just have to jump off.
13. Absolutely Nobody Wants To See The Usos Vs. The Dudleys
Toilet break match confirmed! So let’s hope it isn’t on first…
The fact of the matter is there’s absolutely no substance to this feud. The Dudleys got p*ssed off at The Usos for ‘stealing’ their gimmick in a table match a few weeks back, and turned heel by attacking them.
Since then, they’ve declared that they’re not about the tables anymore, which means the reason they attacked The Usos in the first place is now void. Their heel run has been a tiny bit better than their face run, but that’s only because their face run was the absolute drizzling sh*ts.
Then, we have the fact that there’s just no reason for us to love Jimmy and Jay. We can all appreciate their high-flying prowess in the ring, and their colourful ring attire – but that’s it.
We just don’t care about these two teams like WWE think we should. The crowd is going to be so cold for this one.
12. Bray Wyatt
How do you solve a problem like Bray Wyatt? Roadblock should have told us, but injury prevented The Buzzard getting involved in any sort of storyline.
He ran away from Brock Lesnar after not participating in a match he was billed as being involved in, and that was that. It wasn’t referenced on this week’s RAW in any way, either, further adding to the confusion.
It feels like WWE forgot about their eater of worlds when they put together their revised WrestleMania card. There’s quite literally nobody left for Bray to face.
Plus, with ‘Mania less than three weeks away, there’s not really enough time to build a legitimate storyline.
I think it’s time to panic.
11. It Has The Unenviable Task Of Living Up To Previous ‘Manias
WrestleManias XXX and 31 are looked back on fondly by each and every member of the WWE Universe (just about).
WWE’s creative teams are going to have to pull something spectacular out of the bag to live up to the shows that featured Daniel Bryan’s WWE World Heavyweight Championship win, The Streak’s demise, and Seth Rollins’ shock MITB cash-in.
Of course, the matches that have been announced so far lend themselves to something absolutely mind-boggling happening. The Divas Triple Threat should be a real watershed moment for female wrestling, while Shane McMahon vs. The Undertaker and Lesnar/Ambrose are just going to be… WOW!
In WWE’s creative teams we’re going to have to trust. I certainly don’t envy them.
10. There Has To Be Somebody Better Than Ryback To Challenge For The United States Championship
Just when the WWE Universe had seemingly forgotten that Ryback looks exactly like Goldberg, WWE go and dress him up like the former WCW Champion.
Ryback needed a change following a couple of stagnant years floundering on the main roster, but the move to look like Goldberg hasn’t worked. It’s only gave certain portions of the audience another stick to beat The Big Guy with.
WWE have changed his look, but they’ve kept one crucial thing exactly the same – his promos. Ryback can’t cut a promo, and almost sent the entire WWE Universe into a coma during RAW a couple of weeks back with one of the most boring monologues ever witnessed.
This means he’s less than hot heading into ‘Mania season, despite his killing all of the lesser Superstars on the roster. Lack of steam notwithstanding, WWE are still going to be putting him up against Kalisto for the US Title at Mania.
Oh Joy.
There has go to be a better contender that could put some meaning back into the bewildered belt, someone fans care about.
Ryback – even if he does look like a Vince McMahon wet dream made real – just isn’t that guy at this time.
9. Vince McMahon Isn’t Doing What’s Best For Business With The IC Title
That’s if you believe the internet, who is saying that Kevin Owens will defending the belt against the likes of Sami Zayn and The Miz in a multi man clusterf*ck of a match.
It seems like WWE are hellbent on getting every single member of their roster on the ‘Mania card, when after recent happenings on RAW all we want to see is Sami Zayn and KO completely tear each other apart on the grandest stage – well, that’s what all of us in the WhatCulture office want to see, and we’re the voice of the voiceless, OK!
Give us what we want, Vince!
8. The Real Reason for #FreeWrestleMania
Sign up for the WWE Network and see WrestleMania free! That must mean the Network is booming, right? So much so that WWE can afford to give their single biggest payday of the year away for free, yeah?
Wrong.
The fact of the matter is WWE’s Network isn’t living up to WWE’s own predictions. They expected to be a lot further ahead in terms of subscriptions than they are now.
WWE recently released their fourth quarter 2015 financial report, which showed the WWE Network had 1.22 million paid subscribers, representing a 49% increase from the fourth quarter of 2014.
That jump might sound impressive, but it’s nowhere near where the company thought they would be. On releasing his streaming service, Vince McMahon forecasted that he’d have almost double the subscriptions he currently has at this stage.
Releasing WrestleMania, and all the content surrounding the big event for free to new subscribers has to be seen at WWE’s last real big attempt to get people through the door.
Will they be able to keep them there?
7. The Truth About Ticket Sales
84,000 tickets have been sold for WrestleMania 32 according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Record-breaking for WWE, right?
Wrong.
WWE are right in saying that 84,000 tickets have been sold for WrestleMania 32, but they don’t care to mention that a big chunk of those will have been sold to touting sites and the like, who will then sell on to fans wanting to attend the biggest event of the year. This is common practice for big WWE events.
Secondary sellers like StubHub have been struggling with the demand for ‘Mania tickets, which has caused quite a stir within the WWE Universe over the last few months.
The Wrestling Observer newsletter speculated that previous WrestleManias had 25,000 or more tickets purchased for resale, so if that’s the case for ‘Mania 32, the actual number of tickets sold to fans will currently be around the 59,000 mark – although they will be on the rise right up until the minute the event starts.
Nevertheless, no matter how tickets WWE manage to sell, they’re always going to say that WrestleMania 32 broke the 100,000 mark, aren’t they? They love to fabricate their attendance figures from time to time (or always).
6. NXT Will Steal The Weekend
There’s no doubting that WrestleMania will have a lot more star power than NXT TakeOver: Dallas, but the action from bell to bell WILL be better on the ‘developmental show’. There’s absolutely no doubting that.
TakeOver is going to be so good that we’re probably going to have to see the best ‘Mania ever for the Showcase of the Immortals to top it.
Finn Balor vs. Samoa Joe, Bayley vs. Asuka and Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Sami Zayn are going to blow our socks off – while the likes of Apollo Crews vs. Elias Samson, The Revival vs. American Alpha and Austin Aries vs. Baron Corbin are sure to be stellar bouts in their own right.
The wrestling fans’ show > the sports entertainment show.
5. The Legends’ Roles
Vince McMahon: “THE ROCK IS GOING TO BE AT WRESTLEMANIA!”
Creative team: “What’s he going to be doing, Vince?”
Vince McMahon: “Errrrr…. THE ROCK IS GOING TO BE AT WRESTLEMANIA!”
It isn’t just The Rock who has no role at Mania. The likes of Mick Foley, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels have all been rumoured to be in line for a ‘Mania appearance, but it’s not clear what they’ll be doing. Based on this week’s Raw, Foley could get involved in the Dean Ambrose/Brock Lesnar match, but that’s the only real clue we’ve been given.
Saint Mick could just as easily pop up in a throwaway backstage segment.
Chances are they’ll all be thrown into the ring for a 20 minute promo to kick the night off. Oh, the joy of it all.
WrestleMania will be an unadulterated clusterf*ck if those fabled creative teams don’t create a clear path for certain legendary superstars in the coming weeks.
4. No Worthy Challengers For The New Day
WWE’s tag team division is an absolute mess at the moment, so much so that the League of Nations – everyone’s least favourite tag team – will be getting a shot at the belts at WrestleMania.
This is because no other team in the division are worthy. Heck, given the way the LON have been booked since forming in the weeks following Survivor Series, there’s absolutely no way they’re worthy either.
It’s quite a predicament WWE find themselves in at present.
The tag team division needs some major surgery in the weeks and months following WrestleMania so WWE don’t find themselves in this sort of mess again next year. It’s a far cry from the glory days of Edge and Christian, The Hards and The Dudleys, isn’t it?
3. Jericho Vs. Styles AGAIN
Just when we thought we had seen the last of this rivalry, Jericho turns heel to set up a WrestleMania match.
The fourth match of the series. We’ve already had the rubber match which Styles won, so let’s move on. We’ve seen a couple of decent matches from the pair, so let AJ spread his wings a bit and allow Jericho get someone over that needs the rub from him.
Last weekend, The Phenomenal One and Kevin Owens battled it out in a 30 minute Iron Man match on a WWE live event, which ended with AJ attacking KO and holding the IC Title aloft.
Am I the only one who thinks that would be better for WrestleMania? However, it’s more likely that WWE are testing the waters for a huge summer storyline between the pair – even though they’re due to face off on SmackDown this week.
Nevertheless, if it’s just another singles match between Styles and Jericho, then it won’t be anything we haven’t seen before. Heck, even throwing those two into a multi-man Intercontinental Championship ladder match sounds more appealing, given the lack of time to develop a proper storyline.
WWE need to be giving us something special at their biggest show of the year. This isn’t it. This is match number four of a series that has outlived its usefulness.
2. The Main Event
WWE had the chance to give us something we really wanted a Roadblock, but decided to stick with what they’ve planned for so, so long.
They could have added Dean Ambrose, and they could have added Brock Lesnar too, but no; it’s Roman Reigns and absolutely nothing else will do.
It seems that just about nobody within the WWE Universe wants to see Roman Reigns win the WWE Championship, but that doesn’t matter to Vince McMahon, since he wants to see his special project lift the WWE World Heavyweight Championship on the Grandest Stage of them All.
Imagine the boos that will accompany that picture. Just imagine.
1. The Whole Show Will Be Massively Predictable
Predictable is a word that is associated with WWE all too often these days, and WrestleMania looks like it’s going change absolutely nothing in that respect.
We know that Roman Reigns will be winning the title, it’s safe to assume that ‘Taker will be going over Shane to keep The Authority in power and, of course, Brock will be defeating Dean Ambrose.
There’s absolutely no way anything else could happen in those three matches, is there? I really hope there is, but given the way things have panned out over the last few months in the WWE Universe, I just don’t think WWE’s creative teams are capable of producing anything out of the ordinary.
I really hope I’m wrong, but prepare to be be annoyed, as per usual…
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