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**Fox** · 03-22-2016, 12:28 AM

Damn. This has got to be the worst WrestleMania card of the modern era, say, since WrestleMania 8. And yes, it absolutely has to do with the injuries. The WWE has been dealt a very shitty hand this March season. Imagine what the card would look like if they had John Cena, Randy Orton, Seth Rollins, Sting, Bray Wyatt and Daniel Bryan healthy for this event. Or if they had managed to get The Rock or Ronda Rousey to get into the ring? They really did get a bad deal for Mania this year.

But that's not the whole problem. They have also decided to play the hand they were dealt in a really disappointing fashion. The main event is the worst of it. The last main event I remember where the fans were so ambivalent toward both parties was WrestleMania 22. Some people think that night made John Cena. Perhaps that's what they're trying to accomplish again. I'm personally of the belief that Roman Reigns doesn't have half of what John Cena has in him. Reigns has not had his "Doctor of Thuganomics" phase where he more or less got over on his own. He will absolutely need that if he's ever to reach the heights of Cena, Austin, Rock, Hogan, Macho, or any of the other "faces" of the WWE. And it's going to have to be one hell of a performance if they plan on pulling off the "big push" at Mania. I mean Oscar caliber performance from both guys.

The Shane/Undertaker feud has really boiled down into shit. Everyone was excited when Shane came back. But he's really made a mess of the whole thing by his constant screw ups on the microphone and by those embarrassingly weak punches he threw at Taker on RAW. The corporate world has clearly taken from Shane some of that spark he had in him during the Attitude Era. The stakes are "high" from a storyline standpoint, but I think we all know that there's no chance Shane wins and ends Undertaker's WrestleMania career. It will likely be a really good match and Shane will probably damn near kill himself to make sore of that, but the best way I can put it is that everything feels wrong about this match. It's completely out of its time and incredibly contrived.

Don't get me started on the Intercontinental Title situation... you have an incredible heel wrestler, who is also very over with the fans, as your champion, and you could choose one of SEVERAL face wrestlers for him to go against, and give us a guaranteed, solid, in-ring 20-25 minute classic. The glaringly obvious choice is Sami Zayn, and we already know that match will deliver. AJ Styles would also make a perfectly acceptable opponent. Instead, they are going with another clusterfuck 7-man Ladder match, which we have already seen a thousand times before. I get that, in theory, it is more "difficult" and therefore more "prestigious" to defeat 6 other men in a ladder match than to defeat one other man in singles competition, but when you have a card that is already struggling to deliver, why would you put so many of your most talented young stars into a match where only one of them is really going to get over in the end? And to make it even worse, they actually DO give a singles match to the trashy United States Championship in a match between Kalisto and Ryback, two guys who really are not capable of putting on a "classic" WrestleMania contest. Why not make Kalisto's US title up for grabs in a Ladder match and let Owens defend the IC Title in a singles contest? It is impossible for me to believe that no one suggested this very idea.

New Day against the League of Nations makes absolutely no sense. Turning New Day face is a bad idea.

The only bright spots that I can see are Ambrose versus Lesnar and the Diva's Championship triple threat, but back in the days, these matches alone would not really persuade a $60 purchase out of me. Ambrose is awesome, don't get me wrong, but this is kind of a waste of Lesnar. He should really be doing something "bigger." What that would be I'm not too sure, but it would probably involve the WWE Championship in some form or another.

03-22-2016, 12:28 AM	#23888
Fox "Ask him!" Posts: 10,072	Damn. This has got to be the worst WrestleMania card of the modern era, say, since WrestleMania 8. And yes, it absolutely has to do with the injuries. The WWE has been dealt a very shitty hand this March season. Imagine what the card would look like if they had John Cena, Randy Orton, Seth Rollins, Sting, Bray Wyatt and Daniel Bryan healthy for this event. Or if they had managed to get The Rock or Ronda Rousey to get into the ring? They really did get a bad deal for Mania this year. But that's not the whole problem. They have also decided to play the hand they were dealt in a really disappointing fashion. The main event is the worst of it. The last main event I remember where the fans were so ambivalent toward both parties was WrestleMania 22. Some people think that night made John Cena. Perhaps that's what they're trying to accomplish again. I'm personally of the belief that Roman Reigns doesn't have half of what John Cena has in him. Reigns has not had his "Doctor of Thuganomics" phase where he more or less got over on his own. He will absolutely need that if he's ever to reach the heights of Cena, Austin, Rock, Hogan, Macho, or any of the other "faces" of the WWE. And it's going to have to be one hell of a performance if they plan on pulling off the "big push" at Mania. I mean Oscar caliber performance from both guys. The Shane/Undertaker feud has really boiled down into shit. Everyone was excited when Shane came back. But he's really made a mess of the whole thing by his constant screw ups on the microphone and by those embarrassingly weak punches he threw at Taker on RAW. The corporate world has clearly taken from Shane some of that spark he had in him during the Attitude Era. The stakes are "high" from a storyline standpoint, but I think we all know that there's no chance Shane wins and ends Undertaker's WrestleMania career. It will likely be a really good match and Shane will probably damn near kill himself to make sore of that, but the best way I can put it is that everything feels wrong about this match. It's completely out of its time and incredibly contrived. Don't get me started on the Intercontinental Title situation... you have an incredible heel wrestler, who is also very over with the fans, as your champion, and you could choose one of SEVERAL face wrestlers for him to go against, and give us a guaranteed, solid, in-ring 20-25 minute classic. The glaringly obvious choice is Sami Zayn, and we already know that match will deliver. AJ Styles would also make a perfectly acceptable opponent. Instead, they are going with another clusterfuck 7-man Ladder match, which we have already seen a thousand times before. I get that, in theory, it is more "difficult" and therefore more "prestigious" to defeat 6 other men in a ladder match than to defeat one other man in singles competition, but when you have a card that is already struggling to deliver, why would you put so many of your most talented young stars into a match where only one of them is really going to get over in the end? And to make it even worse, they actually DO give a singles match to the trashy United States Championship in a match between Kalisto and Ryback, two guys who really are not capable of putting on a "classic" WrestleMania contest. Why not make Kalisto's US title up for grabs in a Ladder match and let Owens defend the IC Title in a singles contest? It is impossible for me to believe that no one suggested this very idea. New Day against the League of Nations makes absolutely no sense. Turning New Day face is a bad idea. The only bright spots that I can see are Ambrose versus Lesnar and the Diva's Championship triple threat, but back in the days, these matches alone would not really persuade a $60 purchase out of me. Ambrose is awesome, don't get me wrong, but this is kind of a waste of Lesnar. He should really be doing something "bigger." What that would be I'm not too sure, but it would probably involve the WWE Championship in some form or another.