WrestleMania Review: Wasted Opportunities

ZWrestleTalk's Creator Triple Z gives his take on WrestleMania 32 and why it ended a run of having great WrestleMania's. 

Let's just get right into it. Last night's show was the wackiest WrestleMania I have ever watched! It had it's moments of entertainment but overall failed at making me interested into new story lines. The event also ended a streak of having good endings. Let's take a look at a couple past Mania's and their endings! WrestleMania had a hot streak starting with WrestleMania 28. WrestleMania 25 was boring and then WrestleMania 26 was much better. WrestleMania 27 was lazy. That's  why WrestleMania 28 started the hot streak for WrestleMania. 

Maybe I'm bias because I was in attendance for it. 

WrestleMania 28. We saw a "Once in a Lifetime" clash between The Rock and John Cena. Daniel Bryan lost in 16 seconds creating a unforgettable moment and a fantastic way to start off the show. Randy Orton and Kane had a match and surprisingly it was good! Big Show got his real WrestleMania moment beating the cocky Intercontinental Champ Cody Rhodes. Kelly Kelly and Maria Menounos fought Eve and Beth Phoenix… Yeah maybe we could nit pick that but that was a small part of the event! Jim Ross joined the commentary team during the main event match of Undertaker VS Triple H inside Hell in a Cell. The match was incredible to watch especially having Shawn Michaels as the referee. When I went to this Mania, the people I was with were not Wrestling fans. After this match they were mesmerized at the talent that went into it. Team Johhny defeated Team Teddy which was still a interesting scenario and it also created the new storyline of "People Power" which was somewhat entertaining to watch. The Battle of the Best in the World also happened as CM Punk took on Chris Jericho in a classic. Then the main event stole the show and it was awesome to see The Rock's hometown crowd jumping up and down after he just beat John Cena. It was the energy and the cheers which made the ending spectacular! Unlike this years WrestleMania where there was no cheering at the end at all. We will talk more about that later! 

WrestleMania 28 started a hot streak for exciting WrestleMania's. The show was so good it started "The Night After Mania" RAW. Which we saw Brock Lesnar make his return to WWE. 

WrestleMania would return to New York for WrestleMania 29. The event would live up to expectations. 

• The Shield makes their WrestleMania debut and defeats the team of Randy Orton, Big Show, and Sheamus in a great match.
• Ryback and Mark Henry was a little awkward but they tried to elevate Ryback which didn't work. 
• Team Hell No beat Dolph Ziggler and Big E with AJ Lee in a funny, exciting contest. 
• Fandango defeated Chris Jericho, and that was a low point for the show. 
• Another low point, Jack Swagger and Alberto Del Rio fought in a boring match. 
• Undertaker defeated CM Punk in a phenomenal match which was considered "Match of the Year" by most. 
• Triple H fought Brock Lesnar in a Street Fight which was entertaining
• Cena/Rock 2 was good and it ended with John Cena finally beating arch rival The Rock. 

WrestleMania 30 was a example of fixing the show for your audience would go home happy. Major events happened during this time. CM Punk would walk out of the WWE leaving Triple H without a WrestleMania opponent (at least they thought) Batista would make a return to the WWE after a long time away. WWE fans would turn on the product after Batista won the Royal Rumble over likes of CM Punk and Daniel Bryan. This also lead to CM Punk walking out on WWE. 

"The Yes Movement" would be born and Daniel Bryan would rise to superstardom. Fans didn't want to see Randy Orton VS Batista and they let WWE know it. WrestleMania 30 was under a lot of pressure but it became more interesting as the show was getting closer. Hulk Hogan would return to play the role of "host" and he would have a epic moment with The Rock and Stone Cold. The rest of the card I will break down below!

• Daniel Bryan defeated Triple H in a insane opening match. 
• The Shield fought Kane and the New Age Outlaws in a battle of New School VS Old School. The Shield would win in under two minutes. 
• Cesaro won the Andre the Giant Battle Royal. 
• John Cena defeated Bray Wyatt in a cool confrontation. 
• The most heart wrenching moment in WrestleMania history. THE STREAK ENDED.
• AJ Lee won the Vicki Guerrero Invititational. AJ Lee was truly before her time. Just imagine AJ Lee taking on Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks. AJ Lee was one women's wrestler we shouldn't forget even though WWE will erase her through history. 
• "Miracle on Bourbon Street" Daniel Bryan defeats Batista and Randy Orton to become the New WWE World Heavyweight Champion. 

WrestleMania 30 was spectacular! The ending was fantastic with everyone doing the "Yes" chant. It was just a entertaining show from start to finish! 

After the success of Daniel Bryan's underdog storyline. WWE attempted to create a new underdog storyline with former Shield member Roman Reigns. Fans were at odds with having Roman Reigns main event WrestleMania 31, due to his lack of promo skills and okay in-ring ability. Daniel Bryan recently cleared from a injury was still a fan favorite. When Daniel Bryan returned to WWE this time he was treated like a mid-carder. Working matches against Dolph Ziggler and Sheamus. Fans clamored to have Bryan back into a Main Event position. WWE then made a match at Fastlane, Roman Reigns VS Daniel Bryan, winner would go onto face Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania. WWE fans were ecstatic! David VS Goliath. Daniel Bryan, the hero of WWE taking on the Beast who killed Undertaker's legacy. It was the main event of main events. That wouldn't happen though… Bryan would lose at Fastlane and fans started to revolt once again. WWE this time didn't care as they wanted to prove us wrong. WrestleMania 31 would also feature Sting who has never had a match in WWE would finally get his WrestleMania moment kinda… Let's take a look at the rest of the card below. 

• Daniel Bryan went from the main event of WrestleMania to being in the mid-card ladder match. The match was entertaining though. 
• Randy Orton would defeat Seth Rollins after he reversed Seth Rollins curb stomp into a RKO. 
• Triple H would defeat Sting. The Monday Night War would play out at WrestleMania as WWE's Attitude Era stable DX would try to help Triple H win only to be interrupted by the notorious WCW faction nWo. It was a legendary moment despite Sting needing the win. 
• AJ Lee and Paige beat the Bella Twins in a okay match. Of course it's not Women's Revolution worthy but it was still enjoyable. 
• John Cena would defeat Rusev for the United States Championship. 
• Bray Wyatt had a showdown with the Undertaker. Undertaker prevailed. 
• Seth Rollins cashed in Money in the Bank mid-match of Reigns/Lesnar. Rollins would win the title and it would be a historic ending for most fans!

WrestleMania 31 was another example of WWE having to fix the card for the fans would be happy. They did it in the way of surprise. 

Hate to Say it: WrestleMania 32 ends the hot streak of great WrestleMania's

I hate being that guy who says the show wasn't that good. After looking at previous and recent WrestleMania's in comparison it wasn't that good! WrestleMania 32 might of had extraordinary hype to live up to due to it being in a huge stadium. Not even WWE fanboys who have dreams of working there someday could say it was a good show from start to finish. It wasn't. 

I have always been a fan of the philosophy of the quote below. 

"It doesn't matter the results of the event. We will still watch Monday night" 

The quote above is 100% true. Eva Marie could of been added into the Women's Championship match and win the championship. We still would watch Monday night! Roman Reigns wins the WWE Championship. We will still watch tonight! 

WWE realizes that and thats why they went into WrestleMania overconfident with Reigns/HHH they didn't care about the outcome they all know we are not going to stop watching. 

What the bigger issue of all of this is. WE KNEW THE RESULT TO THE MAIN EVENT SINCE JANUARY. When you already know the result to something is it going to make it more entertaining. No it won't make it entertaining there was no swerve. WWE was swerve happy the whole night and then the two matches that need swerves do not get swerves… 

"Well we all knew Daniel Bryan would win at WM30!!!!!" 

That's not true at all. WWE built it up to where it looked like he was going to lose a couple times throughout that match. That didn't even come close in the main event last night. 

The show had no bright spots that could overcome the darkness of the bizarreness. WWE didn't progress any story lines and it was just weird to watch. 

I'm going to review the matches. 

• Kalisto VS Ryback- The right guy won the match and it wasn't a fantastic match.
• Total Divas VS Team B.A.D and Blonde- Brie Bella became a fantastic wrestler in the end. Paige needs to return to the Anti-Diva. Emma and Summer Rae are both good and they were both good in the NXT. Lana and Eva Marie still need work. These superstars (oops almost said Divas, I guess the word Diva is no longer politically correct) had a okay kickoff match. 
• Uso's VS Dudley Boyz- A wasted opportunity (Hint: The title of this article)  to have Dudley Boyz VS New Day. Instead they are in a slow kickoff match? 
• IC Title Ladder Match- Zack Ryder winning is fantastic especially since he was over since WM28. Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens had a nice exchange. The Miz has perfected the art of getting people to hate him. 
• Jericho VS Styles- Jericho literally would job to anyone. Having him go over Styles wasn't the right move.
• League of Nations VS New Day- The match itself wasn't great nor was the result. Post-match was good due to a help from some legends.
• Lesnar VS Ambrose- It needed more time. It was good for the time given. Maybe WWE was to focused on the Women's match that they had to cut this match??? I want a rematch of this  tonight on RAW. 
• Charlotte VS Sasha Banks VS Becky Lynch- The match was solid with a bad outcome. The Women's Division needed a fresh face. It was a wasted opportunity (Hint: The title of this article)
• Undertaker VS Shane- What did you expect from two older guys? They had some crazy spots though. Another match with a bad result. 
• Andre the Giant Battle Royal- It was a strange match. Tatanka, Shaq, and DDP all in one match. Baron Corbin winning is fine but this battle royal means nothing. 
• The Rock and Cena segment- The Rock wrestled for six seconds and then with help from Cena they fought off the Wyatt Family. Adding more weirdness to a already bizarre show! 
• Reigns VS HHH- A bad way to close a already odd show. The show was approaching it's seventh hour. People were tired and wanted a reason to cheer instead they got a bunch of "Nakamura" chants. 

WWE was over-confident about WrestleMania 32 and then they booked the event extremely bad. The show was out of sorts, and the event had no direction. 

Charlotte winning doesn't make her more of a heel. It just doesn't make sense when Sasha Banks clearly deserved to have that moment. 

Roman Reigns won't get better if he turns heel. Nothing can change his skill or persona. 

It was fun writing this look back about previous WrestleMania's and it was fun giving some thoughts on this years. Hopefully tonight's RAW blows us away. If it doesn't then oh well...

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