Every year before WrestleMania, fans go through a roller coaster of emotions, so it’s fitting one of the themes for this year’s event is quite literally the same exact thing. The promos would imply that it’s nothing but excitement 24/7 building to a fever pitch, while the truth is a much bumpier ride.
There are ups and downs all along the way, ranging from that same level of intense excitement to bitter resentment that certain matches weren’t booked, then back to being pumped before feeling a sense of dreaded hopelessness that the event will surely suck. Eventually, we all find ourselves sitting down with anticipation to watch the show regardless, and the end result will determine whether it’s looked back on with a snide “told you so” in a positive or negative light.
We all hope WWE’s plans for WrestleMania 33 are setting the pay-per-view up to be one of the best ever, but we’d be foolish not to look back on the history of the event and not realize that there are flawed decisions the company has made from time to time with setting up WrestleManias which have severely tarnished the quality of those shows.
Keeping that in mind and applying it to this year’s “ultimate thrill ride” extravaganza, what are some of the mistakes WWE needs to avoid when booking WrestleMania 33? There’s only just over a week to prevent that from happening this year, but it’s still plenty enough time to right a few wrongs before they even take place.
Time Management
This is crucial in so many ways that the entire article could revolve solely around this topic.
For starters, there are already so, so many matches on the card with the potential for at least a handful of others. The lack of a SmackDown Tag Team Championship match was addressed (somewhat) on Talking Smack and we also have nothing set in stone for Braun Strowman, Samoa Joe, Sami Zayn, and plenty of others who will be addressed in the regular “Superstars Missing” article to come soon.
Unfortunately, not everybody can be given an insane amount of time to wrestle. This is a six hour show if you count the two-hour kickoff, which means mathematically, you just cannot give 30 minutes to everything. There are going to have to be cuts along the way, and it’s important to properly judge how much time should be given to each segment.
If the card is overbooked, don’t just start cancelling matches. Just the same, don’t have a 45 second fight and then consider it good enough if you have a rematch on Raw or SmackDown the following night where the real match takes place. That’s just going to piss off the audience that watched it at WrestleMania as it feels like it was built up and then taken away from them.
When you realize you need to trim some fat, start with the video packages. There’s absolutely no justification for needing two hours of a pre-show where the panelists rundown what has happened with every single feud, then show clips of the feuds, and then to show the same exact video packages before each match on the main card, too.
If people are watching Raw and SmackDown, they already know what the stories are because they’ve seen it play out. Also, every edition of Raw and SmackDown has recaps of what happened the previous week(s), so this might be the 20th time we’ve seen the same footage of Randy Orton torching Sister Abigail’s place.
If people aren’t watching Raw and SmackDown, then guess what? Maybe they’ll feel the need to tune in if you don’t spoon feed them. Too many people already say they’ll skip a show because “anything important will be shown on recaps anyway” and this is exactly the type of mentality you want to avoid.
The better methodology is to show brief reminders (keyword: brief) to refresh people’s memory while also providing the smallest amount of backstory for non-viewers who might just be casually checking things out since it’s a big show and they could be hanging out with their buds eating pizza for the social aspect. If they care, they’ll ask their friends to fill them in. If they don’t, they’re not going to watch the video packages anyway. Then, the lack of video packages on the main card opens up a huge amount of time that could be utilized in other ways.
Also, on the note about budgeting time, don’t make the mistake of thinking a super short squash match will be considered a good main event for Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar. This isn’t UFC, where people are used to spending a ton of time waiting for something that ends in mere seconds. Likewise, if Goldberg and Lesnar aren’t going to have a good match, don’t spend 45 minutes with the two of them posing and doing nothing. Just look at how well that went down at WrestleMania XX.
Don’t assume anybody will cheer the ones you want them to cheer
One of the major problems WWE has had over the past decade is selective hearing when it comes to the audience. At times, they prove they’re listening and are willing to bend to what the fans want to see, but in other cases, there is a staunch refusal to acknowledge things aren’t going the way they want them to.
Roman Reigns is the textbook example at the moment, having fallen into exactly the same pit John Cena still can’t quite get out of. For all the boos Reigns gets, WWE continues to push him as a babyface and do the equivalent of sticking their fingers in their ears to say “lalalala I’m not listening” while sometimes even going so far as to edit broadcast material to make it seem like he’s getting better reactions.
He absolutely will not be cheered against The Undertaker. It’s just not going to happen. The Deadman is far too respected of a legend and even if he came out on this next episode of Raw and punted a baby into the fifth row, fans would start to justify how that baby had it coming and they’re glad Taker could address the problem since Snitsky isn’t around anymore.
Because of this, please don’t make the mistake of booking Reigns to win the match unless you specifically want him to look even more like a heel. Don’t do spots where the crowd is supposed to get behind him to cheer him on as he fights back, because they’ll just boo instead and it will change the dynamic of what is happening on screen.
In the same regard, don’t think that this isn’t applicable to other matches, either. There’s a good chance Brock Lesnar could get cheered over Goldberg, the fans might root for The Miz and Maryse over John Cena and Nikki Bella, and even Triple H might get a better reception than Seth Rollins.
Book things with enough flexibility so they can be played by ear, as if you’re too rigid and you expect the WWE Universe to abandon their preferences in the interest of helping you tell the story you want to happen, you’ll be in for a rough night.
Stop the distractionsThis is a byproduct of the previous point, but it’s different enough that it should be addressed separately.If the fans are not having a good enough time watching what is going on in the ring or on the video screens, the crowd is going to start hijacking the show. Most of the time, this is through chants for CM Punk, JBL, Randy Savage and so forth, but there’s a good chance this year could have some pretty nasty shots at Paige and Xavier Woods based off the recent leaks.Don’t give people the opportunity to do that. Figure out a way to divert the attention away from that and back to the product itself. Nothing kills a chant faster than when it seems like nobody else is chanting it and it’s lame to continue, whereas nothing adds more fuel to the fire than fanning the flames by looking upset about it or trying to play around it.
Placement of matches on the card
WWE needs to adequately judge the flow of the show well enough in advance to be able to tell when the audience is going to need an energy boost or some time to relax.
This is easier said than done as it requires full knowledge of what the plans are, how long each segment is supposed to go, and even elements like how well a beaten up star like The Undertaker thinks he can perform.
The style of a match like the battle royal is vastly different than what we’ll see happen with Shane McMahon and AJ Styles, which itself will be an entirely different world from Goldberg and Lesnar and all four of those fights at the very least shouldn’t seem like a repeat of anything we’d get with Neville vs. Austin Aries.
Don’t book three fast matches in a row followed by three laborious ones. Mix things around to spice it up so people are on their feet as often as possible minus the few times they’re too exhausted to stand anymore, and that’s when you need to hit them with something like the Hall of Faeme recap.
Start off with something decent—not a huge bang—and then build up a bit, dip down, build up, dip down, etc. When you think there’s going to be a time in the night where interest might start to wane, hit the viewers with something explosive to rejuvenate them. You can’t book all of the most exciting things to happen at the start and then wonder why there’s no more energy left by the third or fourth hour, since the answer will be obvious.
Bathroom breaks are essential, but they shouldn’t come at a time that would kill the momentum. Having a bad match and then a bathroom break followed by another disappointment will just start to frustrate and bore the audience, which means the next thing to follow has significantly more work to do to make up for the lack of enthusiasm.
It’s better to keep a consistently entertained pace with small fluctuations than to have massive peaks followed by massive drops.
David Otunga vs. Mauro Ranallo
Something seems to be going on with Mauro Ranallo, but nobody is speaking about it. He missed two weeks of SmackDown in a row with one of them being blamed on weather conditions at least on his Twitter account, which went silent ever since that tweet. JBL also talked some trash about him on Bring it to the Table and it’s starting to make the situation feel as though he’s on the outs for some reason.
If it isn’t a problem, fix it by WrestleMania. He has his fans and even someone like myself who finds him to be a little on the irritating side from time to time will admit that I’d rather have his energy and passion behind the commentary table than the sheer lack of enthusiasm exhibited by David Otunga every single week.
Given the choice, if you’re going to decide between having someone who never really has anything to say but chimes in once in a while nonetheless versus someone who can actually make it seem like we should be excited about what’s happening on screen, there shouldn’t be any discussion about it. It’s an easy choice to make.
If by some chance this whole situation with Ranallo isn’t going to be fixed by WrestleMania, the week we had with Tom Phillips and JBL proved that they’re an even better team without Otunga, so just boot him from the mix entirely or replace him with someone else. Corey Graves has great chemistry with Phillips and could definitely stand in if needed.
Some of the best moments in WrestleMania history were made significantly better because we had people like Jim Ross giving it authenticity. The last thing we need to hear when Orton is being declared champion is an apathetic “congratulations” from Otunga to sully the mood.
Don’t forget about the future
Obviously, WrestleMania is like any event where you need to book the card based on trying to make the best singular pay-per-view you possibly can, but don’t forget about the next two events and everything to follow it, either.
If Chris Jericho is going to stick around long enough to have another match with Kevin Owens either on Monday Night Raw or Payback, perhaps it’s a better idea to have him retain the United States Championship at WrestleMania and to drop it elsewhere down the line than to have Owens win as most people are predicting. Think about which option is better not just for WrestleMania itself, but for what is to come after, too.
Similarly, if you can avoid it in a positive way, don’t make all of the titles change hands. When Payback and Backlash hit, if we have all new champions, then it’s pretty obvious no new champions will be crowned without hurting the authenticity of those title reigns and making them feel like they were pointless transitional runs in retrospect, which hurts WrestleMania’s legacy as well as the interest in Payback and Backlash.
One of the most annoying things that happens sometimes with WrestleMania is to see the next month consist of nothing but poor sequels to what already transpired, as if WWE can ride on the coattails of the biggest show of the year by doing reruns for a few weeks. Don’t try to pass off the idea of a “WrestleMania rematch!!!!” as being super special unless there’s something new to the dynamic that will make us want to see it again, and even then, don’t make it an exact duplicate.
Even if WWE follows these guidelines, there’s still a chance the show could steer in the wrong direction if the quality of the matches and segments themselves just aren’t very good, but at the very least with these mistakes in mind, there can be a better strategy to stop a few of the problems from taking place.
What are you afraid WWE might screw up with this year’s WrestleMania? Are you super optimistic that everything will go off without a hitch and this could be a perfect show? Whether your glass is half full or half empty, drop your comments below!
