After months of criticism about the ticket prices and weeks of scrambling to spur more interest from the general public, potentially to the overall detriment of the show, Wrestlemania 42 kicked off from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, the second year in a row that the venue hosted the sports entertainment spectacle. I have to be honest, with how disjointed the narratives across the board have been recently, I expected a quality show in terms of bell-to-bell action, but wasn’t sure how or if the pay-per-view would have the sizzle expected from a WM event. Based on the initial feedback after the broadcast went off the air last night, there were mixed reviews of the showcase of the immortals.
The six man tag was the opener and was included in the free portion of the broadcast on the ESPN cable network before the rest of the PPV event was exclusively on the app. I understand why they put IShowSpeed and Logan Paul in this spot, as with the mainstream distribution of the ESPN network, it can theoretically sell the show before the switch puts the rest of the event behind the paywall. I had no idea who IShowSpeed was before he showed up on WWE television a few years ago, but I still don’t think this segment came off as intended. The match was only about five minutes, and the aftermath was wonky and forced. Sure, the office wanted the moment of the video game streamer jumping through the table to get some traction online, but the whole thing was clunky, as the baby faces randomly decided to work with him after weeks of a rivalry on television. It was a narrative that looked forced and the argument could be made that the post-match stuff took too long. In some ways, this seemed like sometime designed specifically for the preshow that was instead used as the kickoff segment. The baby face team got the win, but there’s not much to say about the match itself. Tomorrow night, the clash between Brock Lesnar and Oba Femi, potentially the bout with the best build, will also be included on the cable network before the remainder of the show is on the ESPN app. While I understand the reasoning behind this and it’s a worthwhile strategy, I’m not sure if a “preview” so to speak will be enough to truly move the needle in terms of how many people will be prompted to pay $30 for the app this month if they weren’t already subscribed. I mention this because that’s where the scrambled build made the show a more difficult sell to casual viewers that weren’t already invested enough to pay to watch the event. The conflicting narratives on television make the lowest common denominator, which is the easiest way to sell to the mainstream audience, a lot murkier. Keep in mind, when the show is getting publicity on ESPN, you’re trying to cater to the most casual audience, and you can’t sell to that demographic without a narrative that is easy to connect with as far as the selling point of the show.
The argument can be made, despite the flimsy attempts, Wrestlemania doesn’t offer enough meat on the bone for the general public to spend $30 to watch the weekend of events if they weren’t already subscribed for it.
Drew McIntyre vs. Jacob Fatu was next, and without criticizing the six man tag too much, this was essentially the opener of the event. I was wondering if an unsanctioned match with gimmicks to start the show would be diminish things for later in the night, but it was done wisely to avoid that, which is something Tony Khan should take note of. More than anything else, and this isn’t surprising, this segment proved that Drew and Fatu are worthy of a storyline that wasn’t thrown together when the writing team simply didn’t have anything else for them. This bout had natural peaks and valleys that built well and kept the contest compelling as they built toward the finish. Drew is a tremendous performer, especially with how crisp and smooth everything he does in the ring is, including the dive to the outside, and much of the same can be said for Fatu. The bump through the table to the outside looked brutal. Despite the short build up, I hope there’s more to this rivalry in the future because while the initial premise was superficial, these two worked very well together and they both looked like stars in the process. Fatu got the victory after a moonsault through a table.
The term “Wrestlemania moment” has become a marketing cliche rather than an organic observation, but there’s no doubt that Paige’s return to the ring after several years away from the WWE was a true WM moment. The reaction from the crowd and the legitimate emotional on the British grappler’s face after the title win are going to be memorable moments in hindsight. The match itself was a little clunky, which was probably unavoidable with so many wrestlers in the ring at once, but the action was solid, and as I said, the return and the finish when Paige won a portion of the tag belts are what will be remembered so it was mission accomplished. It should be noted that it’s wonderful that the real-life Saraya was able to not only be re-signed by the company, but was healthy enough to be medically cleared to compete. To be honest, when I read earlier this week that Paige had re-signed, I assumed that if she would appear on television, it would be in a non-wrestling role, at least at first. I didn’t think she’d be in the ring, especially as soon as Wrestlemania since she was benched years ago after a serious neck injury. It’s well-documented that Paige went through a lot of personal struggles between past drug issues and dealing with the personal videos that were leaked online years ago. It’s great to see a successful comeback, as pro wrestling already has too many Dark Side of The Ring stories. Obviously, it will be interesting to see how this develops, mostly if Paige can stay healthy, because if she does, it’s possible that the current run could eventually be the best work of her career. It also must be noted that Saraya was under contract to All Elite Wrestling for a few years, but the sum total of that tenure was minimal, which says more about the booking, or lack thereof than Paige’s skills in the ring.
The Women’s Intercontinental title match was solid, and AJ Lee and Becky Lynch worked well together, but this one seemed like it was cut a little short so it didn’t get a chance to get into second gear. Don’t get me wrong, it was refreshing that the majority of the matches on the card didn’t overstay their welcome and the time given to each segment was kept tight for a better pace of the show, but this match was one that could’ve used the extra two or three minutes. The submission attempts by AJ Lee worked well, as it was believable that it could’ve been the conclusion, and the finish with the exposed turnbuckle protected the baby face, but allowed Becky Lynch to regain the championship. The sequences they did with the series of counters were very solid so this is another feud that could reasonable continue since these two worked well together. Credit to AJ Lee for being out of the ring for more than a decade and getting back into the mix almost seamlessly for a Wrestlemania match.
Very similar to Drew/Fatu, the Seth Rollins vs. Gunther match was thrown together on relatively short notice when the writing team didn’t have anything for either of them, possibly because it wasn’t known if Seth would be medical cleared in time, but it also delivered a quality performance, just without the gimmicks used in the unsanctioned match. The back and fourth sequences were very well done and both performers shined. This was solid bell-to-bell action, and considering that this was one of the longer matches on the show, it was one of the tent poles as far as the overall presentation. Rollins is undoubtedly injury prone, which is unfortunate, but when he’s healthy, the guy can go in the ring and probably doesn’t get enough credit for how solid he is inside in the ring ropes, mostly because his progress was derailed several times with injuries over the years. Bron Breakker making his return to cost Seth the match sets up for a good feud, at least on paper, going forward. Gunther got the win via submission.
The Women’s World title match was fine, but seemed a little rushed. Everything they did was solid, but similar to Becky/AJ Lee, for whatever reason, this one just didn’t seem to get into second gear. The outside interference gave Stephanie Vaquer a safety net so to speak, and the defeat doesn’t really hinder her status, but in truth, I expected more from this segment. Liv getting the win made sense since she won The Royal Rumble earlier this year as a part of her comeback from injury, but the follow-up will be key as far as who she works with after this.
The main event was confusing, conflicting, and could overly skew the perspective of the entire show. If Randy Orton was too injured to compete, management probably would’ve put someone else in that spot, but I think they leaned into the notion that he was hurt as a crutch to give an excuse for him not to have to do anything that might actually risk a more serious injury.It was somewhat of an attempt at reverse psychology, but it missed the mark. If anything, it put Cody Rhodes in a terrible position as the baby face. Randy Orton was the vicious heel that turned on Cody with a low blow and made him bleed several weeks ago on Smackdown. Somehow, the structure of this segment made Orton look sympathetic, as he struggled to get through the contest as a wounded athlete. If the idea was to make it seem like Cody got revenge by making Orton bleed, it didn’t translate. As I wrote a few weeks ago, the scripting of the Cody character actually devalued his star power with the way he lost in key matches, but still ended up in the main event of WM. The same could be said for how his persona was scripted here, as he had the advantage more or less the entire time. The match was slow, tedious, and at times, even boring, which is obviously the opposite of what you look for in the main event of WM. There was no pace and ultimately, no drama. Jelly Roll randomly showing up to drop an elbow through a table was a forced attempt to bring some sizzle to the segment, but it added nothing.
Orton dropping Pat McAfee with the RKO was completely illogical and was just odd, especially based on the fact that McAfee’s purpose, as pointless as it was when he showed up a few weeks ago, was to promote Orton. Cody got the victory, but this could end up being a stain on his or Orton’s career. I’d say that it will affect Orton’s track record more because while he’s embraced as an elder statesman of sorts by the modern fans, the reality is that Orton is a great performer that showhow often had underwhelming matches, especially on the biggest stage. The WM 25 match against Triple H is remembered for all the wrong reasons. Cody won the match, but Orton attacked him and left him in a heap in the ring so the baby face champion was pummeled to end the night, which is about as flat of a conclusion as there can be to a major pay-per-view. Unless, there’s some extraordinary follow up to the end of the Rhodes/Orton segment tonight, and there’s not necessarily a reason that there would be, this match will probably be known as one of the most underwhelming main events in Wrestlemania history.
What do you think? Share your thoughts, opinions, feedback, and anything else that was raised on Twitter @PWMania and Facebook.com/PWMania.
Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
Email [email protected] | You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, & Threads @jimlamotta89
