Fastlane is quickly approaching, but I’m looking ahead to WrestleMania 37 and so should WWE. In fact, it should always be the case that every single year, by a month after WrestleMania, WWE should have a general idea of some matches for the next year’s biggest show.
Naturally, WrestleMania 36 was in shambles due to the pandemic. This year suffered similar consequences. However, they were somewhat a 50/50 split on difficulties. WWE had a basic idea of most of the matches heading into 2020, but couldn’t do them all and had to adjust some on the fly. This year, WWE seemed to have almost nothing in mind, despite a better flexibility to actually do more.
That lack of planning ahead is terrible on a regular basis, but it’s inexcusable for WrestleMania. The Grandest Stage of Them All deserves the proper attention and effort it commands, which includes a big thing WWE doesn’t always like to do: learn from its mistakes.
Looking back on last year’s surprise two-night rendition of WrestleMania, WWE should apply some of the lessons learned from what worked and what didn’t work to make sure this year’s WrestleMania Weekend 37 is a much better success.
Lesson #1: Quantity is Not Automatically Quality
Last year, WWE had to spin the unfortunate circumstances in a positive direction somehow. Instead of people talking about not holding WrestleMania at Raymond James Stadium, the idea was to make it a two-night show and use the slogan that it’s “too big for one night” as the distraction tactic.
It worked in some ways, but it was likely never thought to be a true solution to the problem—just a means to take some negative attention away and get people talking about something positive.
But what didn’t work is the actual presentation of what was considered “too big for one night” as half the card was a waste.
Yes, Drew McIntyre against Brock Lesnar, Becky Lynch against Shayna Baszler and some other matches were big and important. However, you can’t convince me Cesaro vs Drew Gulak, Liv Morgan vs Natalya, and Aleister Black vs Bobby Lashley, in particular, fit the bill.
All of those performers are great. Don’t get me wrong. But none of those matches mattered in the slightest bit and NEVER would have been on the actual WrestleMania card if it were at Raymond James Stadium. At least, they never should have been, but we’ve also seen Kalisto against Ryback, so history makes fools of us all.
A big lesson to learn—arguably the biggest—is to not do that this year. Don’t treat the card like you can spread out 6 decent matches over 2 nights and pack it with last-minute filler and think it’s special.
Less is more. If you don’t have 19 good enough matches, don’t have 19 matches. Cut the event shorter or give more time to the matches that will be good enough to justify going past 6 minutes.
Guaranteed, people would rather watch a 20+ minute match between Cesaro and Seth Rollins where they can just go out there and have an amazing wrestling match than to give them 10 minutes and use the other 10 for a six-man tag between RETRIBUTION against Lucha House Party and Ricochet or whatever that people would fast-forward on an episode of Raw.
Lesson #2: Pacing and Balance is Key
Last year, there was a cinematic match on both nights. Good call. It worked out better that way. The same should apply this year, even though I don’t think there will be cinematic matches.
Assuming there’s both an Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal and a women’s battle royal, split them up.
If WWE is going against my personal wishes and doing another Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt match at WrestleMania, it should be a hardcore match of sorts. Don’t book that on the same night as another match of a similar style if there’s a Last Man Standing or No DQ or whatever there might be.
Both nights have to be treated like they’re their own separate cards. You can’t put all the good in-ring matches on one night and then all the good storytelling matches on the other night. You also can’t have 5 fast matches in a row and then Night 2 has a bunch of slower, more methodical fights.
This should naturally be the same for every event, but WWE seems to ignore that from time to time. What has to be done is a true and honest assessment of the FULL lineup before scheduling the two nights. WWE has to look at every contest, match them up with their most similar counterpart and split them up.
Sasha Banks against Bianca Belair shouldn’t be on the same night as the Raw Women’s Championship match. If the Raw title is contested in a multi-woman match (let’s say, Fatal 4-Way) it shouldn’t be on the same night as the Women’s Tag Team Championship match if that’s a Triple Threat, which would mean that goes on the same night as Banks vs Belair. All it takes is a few minutes and a spreadsheet.
Lesson #3: Announce the Lineup in Advance (Way Before the Kickoff)
Last year, WWE taped WrestleMania ahead of time, but played coy with which matches were on which nights. My guess is there were two reasons for this: 1) they were still figuring it out, which is terrible, and 2) they hoped that by not saying anything, people would watch the whole first night even if their favorite match wasn’t scheduled, then tune in the following night, too.
This year, especially if there are indeed fans in attendance, that shouldn’t happen.
WWE shouldn’t wait until the kickoff to say “here are the matches for tonight” because nobody really watches the pre-show. Folks like myself do, but I also watch 205 Live and we all know how few viewers that gets.
Imagine how pissed you’d be if you buy a ticket for Night 1 only, risk your health to go and all the matches you’re looking forward to are on Night 2 and you only find out when the show’s about to begin. You could have sold your ticket, stayed home and safe, swapped with someone who was in the opposite position, etc.
Selfishly, announcing the card ahead of time also helps someone like myself just do my job better. That’s not something WWE will ever care about, I know, but it’s wishful thinking on my part.
Lesson #4: Women’s Main Event
Want to know a quick way to make sure part of your fan base is upset? Book the main event of both nights to be a men’s match.
On principle alone, some people will be upset about that just because they’ll argue that the women’s division could have been one of the main events.
And you know what? They’re not wrong. At least, not in theory.
Last year, I went into WrestleMania fully expecting Becky Lynch and Shayna Baszler to be one of the two main events. In retrospect, I see why WWE went with the Boneyard Match (which I didn’t think would be Undertaker’s final match, mind you) and Drew McIntyre against Brock Lesnar. But that still upset people just because they thought it wasn’t fair to the women’s division.
This year, depending on how the card shapes up, WWE should consider going with a women’s match for one of the finales. Naturally, if they go with Asuka against Charlotte Flair, that’s not worthy. Belair against Banks could be, though, depending.
Right now, I’m expecting the two main events to be McIntyre against Lashley and Roman Reigns against Edge. However, I’d go so far as to say McIntyre beating Lashley in the main event is a lesser rehash than the Lesnar scenario and since it’s been done, it doesn’t have to be the finale of that night. Give that to Belair beating Banks instead.
I’m not the type of person who subscribes to the idea that you have to placate everyone who complains about everything, because you’ll never be able to make everyone happy. There will always be a section of fans out there who find a problem with what you’re doing as people have different opinions. But WWE has to at least consider this potential problem, because…
Lesson #5: Send the Fans Home Happy
…you need to prioritize making people happy above everything else. EVERY. THING. ELSE.
The absolute number one rule WWE should be applying to their product on every single night is to appease its fans. You have to worry about sponsors, deals and blah blah, but WWE has focused so much more on those aspects and pushed the actual “entertainment” part of the process to the side for so long that its fans have become so jaded.
I don’t watch WWE shows primarily to be filled with joy anymore. Instead, I watch them in the hopes I’ll enjoy them and far too often, I’m more frustrated leaving the show than I was going into it.
WrestleMania cannot be that type of deal where people leave thinking “Well, that sucked” or “I guess a couple matches were okay but a lot of them were disappointing.” No. You need to make sure everyone goes out there, gives it their all, and that you properly set them up to have amazing matches organized well.
I trust most of the performers to do their jobs, but I don’t trust WWE to give them the tools to succeed anymore. For instance, Flair against Rhea Ripley from last year was a good match with a bad ending that did nothing but ruin Ripley’s momentum she’s yet to recover from a full year later.
Don’t end the shows in any way that can make the fans question your booking decisions. Make WrestleMania the show to end all shows, rather than something to set up a follow-up with “the REAL payoff” at the next event or on Monday Night Raw. Don’t have matches ruined with disqualifications. Resist the temptation to hold off on the big surprise returns and actually do them on this show.
And for God’s sake, make sure a babyface is winning the main event and not by count-out or DQ. Make it so the last thing people feel for each night was joy and that they applauded.
What do you think? Do you have any suggestions of what WWE should keep in mind while booking WrestleMania 37? Drop your thoughts in the comments below!
