This year, all of the draws have had the air sucked out of them. The Jericho vs. the Legends angle is easily the most prominent case of this by far, as a potential Jericho vs. Mickey Rourke match has devolved into a match where the cocky heel must OVERCOME THE ODDS by going through a gauntlet of legends, none of them of the prominence of a Ric Flair, Steve Austin, or Hulk Hogan. It also goes without saying that the last time Roddy Piper was on TV, he was helping a psuedo-celebrity pin a comedic jobber, so he's not exactly a prominent legend, at least in WWE's eyes. Snuka's last match was a wretched encounter where his son's short-lived tag team beat his team, and Steamboat hasn't worked a match in fifteen years. It's not to say that Snuka, Steamboat, and Piper aren't legends, but they don't draw in the casual fan, and worse yet, a win for the Legends HAS to happen but it's the type of win that would make Jericho look really bad in the process.
Triple H and Randal K. Orton are on a see-saw of stupidity that makes me want to just see the damn match and get things over with already. Same with the Money in the Bank that suddenly went from eight guys wanting a title shot to HEY, THESE EIGHT GUYS ARE FIGHTING AGAIN. As WWE themselves learned from their ridiculous overpromotion of their feature film flop 12 Rounds, you promote something on all three shows in the same fashion over and over again, people will actively choose to despise it.
Even sadder, the Triple H and Orton feud, while not feeling like a World title conflict at all (which will be an issue addressed later), is still better than the buildup of the other World title conflict in Edge vs. John Cena vs. Big Show. The out and out silly lengths this feud has taken actually led people to believe (and this wouldn't have shocked me either) that a story on WWE.com about the story's central woman Vickie Guerrero being pregnant was true. And it would not be shocking in any way if it were the case, which it isn't because that wacky Cena played an April Fools joke on us.
Shawn Michaels versus The Undertaker are in a fine feud with a rare marquee match, but one thing about Mania that has been brilliant in the past few years was that even if there was a poor build, the main events felt truly main. Cena, Triple H, and Orton fighting for the title was nothing special, but it was helped by a fine finish and the fact that Cena as the Rumble winner and Triple H as the Chamber winner were both worthy combatants. The emphasis was put on the Chamber and on the Rumble as big deals. But with the buildup being how it is, it's almost impossible to remember that Triple H has a belt, won the belt at the last PPV, and is facing the winner of the Royal Rumble.
It's amazing how much WWE has failed at emphasizing the stakes over storylines that are so rail thin, that last week's Raw essentially had them repeat an earlier step in the storyline in giving Triple H momentum to kick Orton's ass. But since the McMahons returned on Monday and sent the heels packing, there's no point to this match essentially except for it to be...well, a title match, which would be nice except that the title is a total footnote in the story. It can't suddenly become the focus on the go-home show when the "personal stuff" suddenly fades.
Worse yet, the aforementioned Cena/Show/Edge storyline is basically burying the other World title WITH CENA ADMITTING IN STORY THAT THE TITLE IS BEING BURIED. The ONCE PRESTIGIOUS World title (Cena's words) is stuck in a storyline involving a big man and a Canadian man fighting for the honor of a Mexican widow woman. What? Why? Dumb. And I say this as a person that usually loves the wacky antics of Vickie Guerrero, Edge, and smiling Big Show.
I'm dragging on for far too long and I didn't get to the rest of the matches because I don't really care. WrestleMania for the first time in a long time feels like it should just come and then go. I have no excitement for watching this show and I hope it just shows up quickly and leaves so that the entirety of two-hour Raws and Smackdowns and one-hour ECWs aren't continually burying themselves into storyline holes while also not giving any chance of a shine to the undercard. (I will not go into this week's ECW, in which THREE wrestlers of the show's roster were in matches and neither the show's main champion nor the show's most over babyface not in the ladder match were shown even in video packages. Also, the main event involved two women who are not on the brand.)
Good God, Vince. On April 6th, get your damn mind back together.
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