It’s WrestleMania week, and despite the changes, we have plenty of reasons to be excited! Why? Read on to see…
WrestleMania week is upon us, and it’s obviously not what we’re used to. We don’t have a choice in that matter, honestly. But we do have choices, and those choices are very important ones for us to make.
Last week on The #Miranda Show, Miranda asked me for advice to fans. And it was simple: watch the show! Give it a chance. And that’s my thing today:
It’s WrestleMania week, and I am still excited. Just for different reasons. You can be too.
There’s an underlying character trait about myself that you need to understand as you read this: I believe happiness is a choice. Our situation and circumstances surrounding our life might not be a choice, but our happiness with it is.
It’s important to remember where we are. A month ago we expected a very different WrestleMania week:
- Wednesday: go home edition of WWE NXT, live
- Thursday: WWE Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony, live
- Friday: go home edition of WWE Smackdown on FOX, live
- Saturday: NXT Takeover Tampa, live
- Sunday: WWE WrestleMania 36, live
- Monday: RawAfterMania, live
That doesn’t even count the live Raw that would have aired Monday, serving as the red brand’s go home show.
What are we getting now? Let’s take a look:
- Wednesday: pre-taped edition of WWE NXT, featuring a match or two originally planned for Takeover
- Thursday: pretty much nothing! (NXT UK, maybe?)
- Friday: go-home edition of WWE Smackdown, already taped
- Saturday: Night 1 of WrestleMania 36, already taped
- Sunday: Night 2 of WrestleMania 36, already taped
- Monday: RawAfterMania, already taped
Mind you, these are all taking place in front of zero fans, and a handful of the matches might resemble a movie production over a wrestling match. But I refuse to let all this get me down, and I believe you can do the same. So why am I excited? Let me list some reasons for you…
We Will (Hopefully) Never See Another WrestleMania Like This Again
No fans… two nights… movie-style production for at least a few matches… major storyline developments in an empty room…
This is a WrestleMania like no other! Of each element I listed above, the only thing we may see again is a two-night WrestleMania. Now I’ve been calling for that for a couple of years, and I’d call it 50/50 on us getting that as soon as next year.
We have things we will never see again—this is history. Be a part of history, don’t ignore it.
WWE Is Taking A Financial Hit For The Fans
It would have been cheaper to cancel or postpone WrestleMania 36. But still, this is happening. WWE is incurring costs, likely losing money, and doing it all for their fans.
It’s more than “the show must go on,” it’s “we put smiles on people’s faces.”
It’s more than “hey look at what we did,” it’s “we need to do this for our fans.”
It’s easy to rip on WWE, even if I try to avoid falling into that trap myself. And some of the time it’s easy because they make it easy. (The rest of the time it’s easy because the fans don’t know what they’re watching.) This should be bigger than that. But hey, if you want to complain about WWE, I might allow it this once. Why? Read on…
It Allows You To Be A Normal Person
Almost everything we love has been taken away from us. Last night (Sunday March 29), my wife and I got ready as if we were headed to our favorite Comedy Club or Dueling Piano Bar, hopped in the car and drove around. We didn’t have a plan, but we needed to get out. We needed to do SOMETHING, and we refused to allow the state of the world to hold us down.
EVERYTHING is closed. There is literally nothing official to do. We looked at houses, as we delayed moving a year and are looking at January/February 2021. Maybe we’ll move that back up, we’ll see. But we had fun looking at houses, and we’re not going to give up on doing things.
WWE is going us, as wrestling fans something to do. Now here’s my thing: be you. You’re “hate on WWE” guy? You know what—you get a pass from me this time. Go and hate on WWE. You’re “real name” guy? Fine, use their real names while you watch. You’re “it’s still real to me” guy? Great! Let it be real to you on Saturday and Sunday night.
The fact it, we don’t have the Final Four next Saturday. There’s no baseball. Even the XFL cancelled the rest of the season! But we have WrestleMania, and it’s pretty much the only normal thing we have right now (at least close to normal).
WWE Talent Are Busting Their Asses For WrestleMania
You can hate this decision by WWE all you want. As bad as it can be perceived when the company goes to Saudi Arabia twice a year, talent is on those shows busting their asses for people’s entertainment. WrestleMania is no different.
The wrestlers are still out there…wrestling! They’re thrust into a really challenging environment (remember the whole no fans thing?) and stepping their game up. They deserve an audience, let’s give them one.
