thelesterlee
Thanks to WWE’s relationship with Peacock, I was able to sit down and watch Wrestlemania 38 without trying to figure out where the fuck one locates the ‘pay per view’ channel in 2022. I’m aware this article is going to come off as if it were written by an elderly man but I swear I wasn’t even alive while Andre the Giant was.
Perhaps it’s WWE turning Mania into a 2-night even or perhaps it’s the overall change in the sport of professional wrestling but I can earnestly say I have no idea if Wrestlemania 38 was great or just some random pay per view they scrapped together as they appear to do every single month.
But in order to determine whether or not Wrestlemania 38 was great, we must first map out what actually makes the biggest event in sports entertainment…great.
Big Moments
What a #WrestleMania moment!@PatMcAfeeShow shared a beer with @steveaustinBSR AND got a Stone Cold Stunner on the Grandest Stage of Them All!
OH HELL YEAHHHHHHH. 🍻 pic.twitter.com/koFHPMPnxW
— WWE (@WWE) April 4, 2022
The ‘Big Moments’ Wrestlemania 38 relied on were Stone Cold Steve Austin stunning everyone and the guys from Jackass doing Jackass shit. I never understood bringing someone older out of retirement to wrestle a guy he has zero history with and with zero build-up.
Stone Cold was forced into retirement because his bone cartilage evaporated so after years of being physically incapable of competing, they attempt to be coy about his return and then suddenly rush to have him face Kevin Owens based almost solely on the fact they both do stunners. Ok.
Not saying he should’ve wrestled The Rock or anything but is there not someone else they could put in a ring with him that he’s, ya know, actually been in a ring with before? Kurt Angle’s final match was against Baron Corbin. Does anyone look back and remember that match? Did it turn Corbin into a star? So then what even we even doing here?
With Wrestlemania 38 being in Texas this year, how dope would it be if Steve Austin and Booker T both got a huge farewell match against each other after years of beating the shit out of each other.
The only other ‘big moment’ was the return of Cody Rhodes which is cool for Redditors who care about the former EVP of AEW re-joining WWE but this moment is completely forgotten in 6 months if WWE just keeps Rhodes in the mid-card. Who gives a shit about the big return of the guy who loses to bigger-name wrestlers every week. We can put a To Be Determined on this big moment.
Storyline Payoffs
Wrestlemania 30 is one of the greatest of all time because of the Daniel Bryan story. The ultimate underdog story. Vince McMahon is known to only push gigantic Hulk Hogan/Brock Lesnar-sized monsters and Daniel Bryan looks like he gets car sick if you drive over 45 mph.
He beat Triple H, Randy Orton and Batista all in one night to win the championship. Just phenomenal storytelling that night. the Wrestlemania 38 main event of Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar was a cool like, end of a rivalry type thing but like, these two guys have been throwing each other around for years. Nothing about this particular match made it any more important than the previous matches. Reigns won both titles. Cool. WWE is going to take one away from him so that both USA Network and Fox can both have their own champions. We know this. The stakes were fake.
Great Matches
I’m not certain the current WWE cares about having 5-star matches but I reckon you can make the argument they’ve never cared. Wrestlemania typically has one great work-rate matchup. Growing up, that spot in the card was reserved for Kurt Angle, Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit but the baton has been passed to AJ Styles.
So yea, AJ Styles and Edge had a great match but that may be it.
I’ve been told all weekend about how amazing Bianca Belair vs. Becky Lynch was. Sure. Compared to Charlotte Flair and Ronda Rousey wrestling as if they had only met 5 seconds before their match started then yes, Belair put on a classic but I believe they left so much meat on the bones. The match could’ve been more dramatic, higher stakes but it was safe and that’s fine.
So was Wrestlemania 38 great?
If you tuned in to watch Logan Paul wrestle Rey Mysterio’s kid then sure, it was the best Mania ever. Again, turning it into a 2-night event dilutes the product and instead of focusing on 10 great stories and matches, you are rushing around trying to get so many plates to spin by the time Roman Reigns wins the biggest match of his career, you’re burned out and disinterested.
The common critique of WWE is their inability to create new stars which is clear at Wrestlemania 38. They can’t rely on Shawn Michaels or The Undertaker to just automatically fill two hours with the best wrestling of the year. They need a former NFL punter and the guys from that old MTV show from 22 years ago where they light their pubes on fire.
