Vince McMahon's Refusal To Pivot Predictable WrestleMania Plans Is Very Frustrating
So if you listened to From The Top Rope today, you heard me touch on this a little bit, but I’m gonna use the blog to elaborate on what I said.
I’ve been becoming increasingly frustrated with Vince McMahon’s refusal to pivot leaked or just downright predictable WrestleMania plans for years now. Every year without fail, around November or December, we learn what all of the high profile matches at WrestleMania will be. Last year we found out about John Cena and Nikka Bella vs The Miz and Maryse this early, Goldberg vs Brock Lesnar the same thing, and also Roman Reigns vs Brock Lesnar II…taking place at THIS YEAR’S WrestleMania. Yep, we found out through Dave Meltzer and a shit ton of other news outlets that the WrestleMania 34 main event was locked in stone nearly 2 years out, and it’d involve Roman Reigns finally beating Brock Lesnar and “getting the rub” from him. So for the past few months, we’ve been watching Brock Lesnar beat fan favorites Samoa Joe, Braun Strowman, and AJ Styles…and we all know it’s just so Roman Reigns winds up looking strong at WrestleMania. As a fan, that’s infuriating.
I love Roman Reigns and I loved his match against Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 31. I’ve said time and time again that it was the most amazing crowd atmosphere I’ve ever been in at a wrestling show and would love to see the rematch…but not at this year’s WrestleMania…not anymore. We’ve all known what the finish will be for too long.
The older wrestling fan will probably say, “Don’t read dirtsheets and you’ll have nothing spoiled for you!” but it’s 2017 and we’re all “internet fans” now. We all see the headlines and you can’t escape them if you’re on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. If these plans leak, and they may, why not deviate from them and show you’ve still got your fastball when it comes to unpredictability? The higher-ups at WWE must know that Roman will get booed into bolivian against Brock, which makes no sense to risk since he’s finally getting over as a face thanks to The Shield reuniting.
Why not make it look like Roman’s gonna win the Rumble, and let Finn Bálor eliminate him? That way, we get the rubber match between Reigns and Bálor – two guys with UNBELIEVABLE chemistry – at WrestleMania for the Intercontinental Championship. Then, let Shinsuke Nakamura win the Rumble to challenge AJ Styles for the WWE Championship on the Grandest Stage of Them All, and have Braun Strowman run rampant through the Elimination Chamber so he can finally get his rematch with Brock in NOLA. That trio of matches right there are all things everyone would like to see (as long as you keep Braun/Brock to 5 minutes or less and have Braun go over) and we WOULDN’T have known about them for years. Vince claims to know his audience better than they know themselves, though, so we’ll get another year where this shot closes out Mania to a chorus of boos, right back at square one with one of the most mishandled guys they’ve got:
