WrestleMania 35 is shaping up to be a pretty good show. The storytelling is at it’s best and on paper, the card looks very promising. We have top three babyfaces in Becky Lynch, Seth Rollins, and Kofi Kingston, who are going into the show as the favorites; Roman Reigns, whose career was in jeopardy until last month; Kurt Angle and Batista, who will possibly have their last wrestling match ever on the show; and three women, who are going to main event the show for the first time.
With that being said, it wouldn’t mean anything, if writers mess up on the evening of April 7. WWE needs to learn a lot of things from last years WrestleMania, which too looked very promising and was really good for the most part, but didn’t meet expectations. Let’s look at the mistakes that WWE made in last year’s Mania, which they shouldn’t repeat this year.
A Main Event Result That No One Wants
Wrestlemania 34 was one of the best WrestleMania in recent history. The show was filled with excitement, drama, memorable returns, a shocking heel turn, and The Undertaker. Yet, people remembered that pay-per-view for its ending. Everything that Daniel Bryan, Seth Rollins, Charlotte Flair, Nicholas, and Ronda Rousey did before was ruined because the last image that people saw while the show went off-air was Brock Lesnar holding the Universal Championship. People were booing both Roman Reigns and Lesnar throughout the match and the finish just made it worse.
This year WWE has a golden opportunity to correct their past mistakes with the Triple Threat Raw women’s championship. Just let all the three women put on a great show and let Becky Lynch win at the end. This sounds too predictable but sometimes fans just want to see a predictable result like the ending of WrestleMania 30. Becky holding the Raw Women’s championship would be the perfect way of ending the biggest show of the year and would be the only logical result of this storyline; unless WWE pulls a ‘Brock Lesnar’ here and have Ronda Rousey retain the belt to keep one of their biggest ‘star’ happy.
Brock Lesnar Retaining the Universal Championship
Speaking of Brock Lesnar and illogical decisions, WWE having Brock retain the Universal Championship at WrestleMania 34 was one of the worst decisions they have taken in the recent history. Roman Reigns winning at the end wouldn’t have pleased the crowd either, but at least it would have ensured that the championship came back to Raw. The management let Lesnar carry the belt for another 5 months until SummerSlam, which doesn’t make any sense at all. The extended reign didn’t help either Roman or the Universal Championship. Fans continued to boo Roman throughout the summer and the championship’s value kept on depreciating due to its absence from the show.
Giving the championship to Seth Rollins seems like the logical step here as he is the most over male wrestler on RAW right now and is someone who can get the belt to a position where it deserves to be. Brock is the biggest star of the company but the way he is booked is not helping anyone except him. It’s time WWE stop hurting their own brand because of one wrestler.
Not Having Cruiserweight Championship in the Main Show
The main card is already jam-packed and could go on for 6-7 hours as it is. But, if there is one match that deserves to be on the show more than the classic bout between Baron Corbin and Kurt Angle is the cruiserweight championship match between Buddy Murphy and Tony Nese. Murphy has been giving everything that he has got to the division and is busting his back each week. If not for anything, he deserves to showcase his talent to the larger audience. In pre-show, their match will get crammed up between two battle royals and pre-show discussion panel, which will not give them much exposure.
Granted that 205 Live is WWE’s least popular show, but that perception could only change if WWE gives them an opportunity to shine in the main show.
Pointless Title Changes
A total of 6 titles change hands at WrestleMania 34 that being Raw Women’s Championship, Cruiserweight Championship, United States Championship, Intercontinental Championship, Raw and Smackdown tag team championship. Out of those six, it seems like only Nia Jax, Seth Rollins, and Cedric Alexander‘s win had any purpose. Jinder Mahal lost the United States Championship only a week later on Raw to Jeff Hardy, Bludgeon Brothers title reign was just weird and they never came across as an undefeatable force, and Braun Strowman and Nicholas simply dropped the title a day later because the latter had to go to school.
A change for change’s sake is duller than actually having a planned championship reign after the show. WrestleMania is wrestling’s biggest show of the year, but it doesn’t mean that we have to have title changes in the show. The storyline should make sense and the change should reflect something. This year, let wrestlers like Samoa Joe, and Sasha Banks & Bayley retain their title as they can do much more with the victory than their opponents.
