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Forum nameOkay Sports
Topic subjectCOVID-MANIA: they did alright (and even excelled in spots)
Topic URLhttp://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=8&topic_id=2709907&mesg_id=2713899
2713899, COVID-MANIA: they did alright (and even excelled in spots)
Posted by Tiger Woods, Mon Apr-06-20 09:22 AM
The huge missed opportunity on the weekend is the lack of fan interaction. Duh, there's no one there - how could they have gotten fans engaged nonetheless? For a company that's always reminding us how digitally savvy they are, there was no hint of that ingenuity all weekend.

Right to the bad: too many matches of little consequence, and too few guys/girls who acknowledged and used the the unusual setting. By and large, most of the matches just didn't have enough heat, and most of the performers weren't creative enough to mix things up. Not enough talking between competitors, still a bunch of awkward looks towards a nonexistent audience...some of these matches were downright hard to watch (note: they'll get a mulligan, but Goldberg vs Strowman is easily the worst title match at a Wrestlemania ever)

The good: Cena, Wyatt, Edge, Orton, AJ, and Taker in particular clearly understood that this was a lawless time, and they ran with the creative freedom they were given. All three of the "cinematic" matches were entertaining, and a few days removed from the Taker/AJ "Boneyard" match I actually think it may be heralded as a classic. The online buzz is still humming for that one. I don't know what it says about the current roster, the backstage culture, or the WWE developmental apparatus when the weekend's brightest highlights were made possible by such tenured talents. But nonetheless, kudos to them for making chicken salad out of chicken shit. Also, do want to at least acknowledge the effort put in by Rollins and Owens. I'm not really an Owens fan, but he and Rollins busted ass as best they could as well.

The hallmark of the weekend was obviously Taker vs AJ Styles. That
exceeded any expectations that anyone could have had, and I can assure you it turned out better than anything they would have done in a traditional match setting. Part of me admittedly wants to see that version of the Undertaker character again, but I think it's in his best interest to call it at this point. The parting visual of him on the bike, fist raised, UT laser symbol on the barn...that's a fine spot to go out on.

If they're hell bent on still having so many Wrestlemania matches and including so many performers moving forward, then I guess going two nights is the way to do it. Probably hard to fill an NFL stadium full of marks two nights in a row, and I doubt they'd scale down to baseball stadiums. I wish they'd just have fewer matches, we'll see what they do moving forward.

In all, I think the weekend earned a C+ ... which is so much better of a grade than I think I would have thought they'd get going in.

If they're allowed to do a Summerslam, I anticipate that being one of their all-time best shows...the Mania they meant to have.