With the entire professional sports world being canceled or suspended because of the COVID-19 pandemic, people all throughout the world were searching for alternative forms of sports entertainment that weren’t the MLB, NBA, NHL, Premier League, La Liga, etc.
Enter the “Greatest Spectacle of Sports Entertainment”: Wrestlemania. The 36th installment of WWE’s Wrestlemania occurred in an unorthodox fashion. Rumors circulated that WWE would cancel the grandaddy of wrestling events because of the ongoing pandemic. But if anybody knows Vince McMahon’s questionable, albeit, successful way of thinking, that certainly wasn’t happening. WWE strategically planned out Wrestlemania by making it a multi-night event, the first time since Wrestlemania II in 1986.
For avid wrestling fans like myself, there were certainly several reservations. Performing in front of no fans at the WWE performance center (essentially an empty gym) in Orlando? It turned out to be convenient since Wrestlemania was supposed to be held in Tampa, Florida. The idea sounded implausible on paper to many.
But the moment former New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski appeared as the animated de facto “host,” it was clear that nobody was going to be disappointed or if not disappointed, at least shaking their head in excitement and or despair. He later jumped off of an elevated platform in his Gronk-like attire to win the 24/7 title, which can be won at any time, anyplace and anywhere. It must be defended at all times.
So how did WWE adjust to having no fans? By showing two of the most elaborate matches (if you want to call them that) in a movie set. The lion’s share of fans, including myself, were caught off-guard by The Undertaker and A.J Styles’ “Boneyard Match,” which resembled a Freddy Vs. Jason-like atmosphere, in which The Undertaker buried Styles alive after chokeslamming him off of the roof of a barn.
The other movie-like production match that followed on the second day was well-known superstar John Cena against Bray Wyatt’s “The Fiend” gimmick in a “Firefly Funhouse Match,” which, if it was your first time watching wrestling, made you feel like Raoul Duke’s character in “Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas” on an acid trip. For the die-hard fan, it was a retrospective of Cena’s WWE career and a fantastic way of storytelling the rivalry Cena had with Wyatt, dating back to 2014, in which Cena beat him at Wrestlemania 30. Wyatt had finally gotten his revenge.
Outside of the cinematic matches, the main event match involving defending WWE champion Brock Lesnar against Drew McIntyre wasn’t anticlimactic nor was it climatic. It was just an exchange of finishing moves until McIntyre eventually pinned Lesnar five minutes later to crown himself as the WWE champion for the first time in his career, something McIntyre deserves after his journey back to WWE.
If there’s anything important to take from Wrestlemania 36, it’s that WWE made the best of having no fans by entertaining the masses with two matches that could qualify as horror/action flicks. Of course, not everything was going to be well-received, specifically the cinematic portions, as a whole, but WWE taking those angles was a big risk that paid off. It was perhaps one of the best things WWE has done in the past few years.
