After what was a long weekend in Las Vegas, a new WWE season has begun, kicking off with the “Raw After WrestleMania” last night. Fallout from the Grandaddy of Them All will be felt in the coming weeks, but there isn’t much time to breathe with the next premium live event, Backlash happening in Tampa in less than three weeks. Where this year’s ‘Mania fits in the annals of WWE history won’t be clear for years as we wait and see what kind of impact the 42nd installment has on the product moving forward.
In the short term, though, as I reflect on one of my favorite weekends of the year, there is one feeling about this year’s WrestleMania experience that I keep coming back to.
WrestleMania 42 should’ve been a one-night show.
Why they switched to two nights…
It’s hard to believe it’s now been 6 years since the COVID-19 pandemic that took the lives of millions of people worldwide affected just about every aspect of our day-to-day lives. The wrestling business was not immune to the effects. In the United States, the two major companies who had TV contracts to fulfill both found ways to keep their programming on the air. The WWE specifically utilized their Performance Center in Orlando, as well as Thunderdome residencies in three Florida cities to keep producing Raw, NXT, and Smackdown. In early 2020, with no end to the pandemic in site, the WWE pivoted from hosting WrestleMania 36 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa in front of potentially as many as 70,000 fans…. to hosting it in essentially an empty warehouse with no paying fans in attendance.
As a way to get more people on the show, and a way to give their audience something else to do as we all sat at home in isolation, WWE added a second night to WrestleMania. They spread a total of 19 matches across the two nights, and although the big stadium atmosphere and grandiosity weren’t there, the WWE made the best of an awful situation. They put a cinematic spin on the show with the Boneyard and Firefly Funhouse matches, and while it likely won’t be remembered as one of the great ‘Manias of all time, the event was exactly what many wrestling fans needed at the time.
The following year, the WWE made it up to the fans of Tampa who had lost ‘Mania the previous year, by emanating from the Buccaneers stadium for ‘Mania 37. With the pandemic still lingering, they weren’t able to fill the stadium to its capacity, but that event in 2021 served as the beginning of the wrestling world starting to get back to normal.
One thing that hasn’t gone “back to normal” since, is WrestleMania being a one night affair. Since the Performance Center ‘Mania, the last 6 have all been two night events. Attendance records are being broken, ad revenues are skyrocketing, and despite ticket prices continuing to climb and the product being in a bit of a down period after the high of WrestleMania XL, the WWE is still having no problem stretching their biggest show of the year out over two nights.
What could’ve been…
I spent most of WrestleMania Saturday night not really feeling like it was WrestleMania. Outside of it happening in a big stadium, the show never really felt all that special. The mystique and grandeur that we’ve associated with ‘Mania seemed to be missing, with strategic product placement and repetitive advertising in it’s place.
There were definitely bright spots.
Seth Rollins and Gunther, despite having the shortest build of any ‘Mania match this year, delivered a match that was truly worthy of the grandest stage. Paige’s return and victory when it seemed likely she would never wrestle in WWE again was a great WrestleMania moment. And you can’t help but be happy for Bianca Belair and Montez Ford as they begin their parenting journey.
But as a whole, most of the night felt like something was missing.
WrestleMania Sunday was noticeably and viscerally a better experience. In the first hour alone, Oba establishing himself firmly in the upper echelon by defeating the Beast and a thrilling ladder match hit notes that the previous night never reached. Trick Williams was crowned, the Demon returned, Rhea became champion again, and CM Punk and Roman Reigns delivered an epic main event that refreshingly ended without any outside interference. Sunday night’s proceedings erased at least some of the sour taste that Saturday had left, salvaging the weekend with an exciting evening.
When we look back at WrestleMania 42, though, it’ll be tough to remember it for all of those moments that happened in the ring. Instead, long ad breaks, repeated sneak peeks of upcoming Netflix documentaries, and long wait times in between matches will be the “yeah, but….” to anything that happened in the 20 x 20. Instead of giving the Vegas crowd, who undoubtedly paid a pretty penny to be a part of the spectacle, more bang for their buck, the WWE spread 13 matches over 2 nights and filled in the empty space with shameless promotion of movies coming out this summer and shots of George Kittle slamming what were likely $20 beers.
While having time to breathe in between matches, especially WrestleMania ones that can sometimes be the culmination of intensely heated rivalries, is a good thing, this year’s show took it too far. Watching the show at home, there was plenty of time to refuel on food and beverages, hit the restroom, and check MLB scores in between matches. I don’t remember there ever being so much down time on previous ‘Manias and looking at match times, that feeling was validated.
Saturday night unofficially featured only about 85 minutes of in-ring time, while Sunday, despite having one less match, featured almost as much, clocking in at about 81 minutes. Put those amounts together and it still amounts to less than three hours. Throw in some extra time for Hall of Fame introductions, attendance announcements, and segments like the Danhausen one and you could still have reasonably fit everything into one night. With a 3-hour countdown show, a few of the main card matches could’ve been shifted to that part of the night, leaving extra room for all the ad breaks that became an unfortunate focal point of the weekend.
The benefits of having a one-night show aren’t limited to logistics either.
If the action of the two nights were combined into one, many of the criticisms levied by fans and talking heads alike simply wouldn’t have been an issue. Instead of WrestleMania 42 being considered a tale of two nights, it could be remembered more so for the highlights of the show in its entirety and not as much for one whole night being such a disappointment. The unsanctioned match may not feel so underwhelming if the ladder match came right after it. The confusing end to the Rhodes/Orton match may not be such a black eye (pun heavily intended) on the weekend if the Punk/Reigns masterpiece happened just an hour later.
The fact is, putting together a complete WrestleMania card where every single match is an instant classic just isn’t reasonable. WrestleMania 17 featured the epic TLC match and a generational clash between Stone Cold and The Rock and is widely considered one of the greatest WWE shows of all time. But that same show featured a Gimmick Battle Royal won by a 59 year-old Iron Sheik and multiple other forgettable matches. Comparatively speaking, it’s not crazy to think that if this year’s ‘Mania all happened on the same night, the narrative of Saturday night stinking and Sunday night salvaging the weekend just wouldn’t be a thing.
Maybe, if this WrestleMania all happened on one night, we’d be saying that the show, as a whole, was good.
Why we’re not going back…
I think the answer to this one is pretty clear: Money.
As long as there are people willing to fork over exorbitant amounts of money to see half of WrestleMania, TKO and the WWE have very little incentive to try to put the toothpaste back in the tube. Without being an expert on stock prices or anything like that, like anything else, the rich are going to continue to get richer until there is a huge and widespread revolt from the consumers.
While I’m not going to hold my breath, I will say that chatter about low ticket sales have never been louder on the interwebs than they were this year. Even in the likely fabricated attendance numbers that the WWE announced for the weekend, Sunday’s show drew around 5,000 more people into Allegiant Stadium than Saturday’s did. In addition, an ESPN reporter who was critical of Wrestlepalooza in September allegedly had his ‘Mania press credentials revoked. In the last 48 hours, several other prominent media personalities have already been critical of this year’s show, and those voices may only get louder.
Whether or not those voices and other important metrics will ever speak loudly enough that the board members at TKO and WWE become more considerate of their customers remains to be seen. Until then, I’ll continue to yearn for the days where one night of WrestleMania was all that was needed.
So what say you, Cagesiders? Will we ever see a one-night WrestleMania extravaganza again, or is it more likely we see a 3rd night added eventually? Let us know in the comments below!
