WrestleMania Is There A Road to Wrestlemania Anymore?

[Jacob Fox]

I don't know about others, but the road to WrestleMania that past few years has left me kind of empty. Even back before they called it that, the build up to WrestleMania was always the most exciting time of the wrestling world. The matches were announced earlier and time was spent building up the card. Nowadays, it seems like we don't even get a couple matches announced until a few weeks earlier. Then, rather than spending the time between Royal Rumble promoting the Mania card, we get very little hype and very little real build up. And with three hours of Raw and two hours of Smackdown every week, you'd think we'd get a lot of build up and little stalling.

I dunno. I've always been positive about the WWE even when they're doing bad. But I think they really need to put a lot more focus on getting these matches set longer before the PPV and spend the time building them better. It is disappointing.

 

[Solid Snake]

I know what you mean. It almost feels like the last few years the card and the matches themselves have been rushed.

I mean you can also state the case of KO and Jericho being a long time coming. They had a falling out before Fastlane and then Jericho screwed over KO at Fastlane. That is 4 Raws between that happening and Wrestlemania which is enough time to have a good build leading in to WM. This is the case of history though and we know other matches don't really have that. Most of the other matches on the card do feel a bit rushed and last minute.

I just miss the old days where we got a solid 3 month build of matches and feuds going to set a BIG stage for WM. Now that I think about it... Part of my disappointment is down to the predictability they have had the last few WMs.

 

[RedDwarfTechy]

Its because wrestlemania itself has lost its charm due to crappy booking.

This year is a perfect example for that. I mean, think about it. They could have had KO vs Jericho in a champion vs champion match. They could have given Bayley her win over charlotte and her first championship at WM, they could have made sure AJ had a better opponent than Shane.

They booked themselves into a shitty show. They'll still make money because the casual fanbase will still chant Goooooooooldberg for a 50 year old guy that can barely make his entrance without heaving his lungs out.

Shitty booking, shitty road to shitty wrestlemania.

Hardly surprised that we aren't too hyped about it.

They could have had one of the best wrestlemanias in recent memory (maybe even EVER) but their 'protective' booking has given us the worst case scenario pretty much.

 

[Stopspot]

The bits and pieces are all there for a great card. And come Mania I am sure the WWE media machine will make it seem like a million bucks. Like Snake pointed out we have the K.O vs Jericho feud among others that has a bunch of build packed away, but not used.

And a lot of that probably comes from something I have touched on in other threads. Vince no longer has the interest/ability to book long term. Or at least not the attention span for it. Because when Vince still does long term booking with a grand payoff. It is great. But he seems more interested in booking for the short term instead. And that will have a negative effect on the major shows, who are built on long running storylines ending and culminating in a big bang.

 

[CiV]

This has been one of the best Road to Wrestlemanias in......ever.

I dunno. I've always been positive about the WWE even when they're doing bad. But I think they really need to put a lot more focus on getting these matches set longer before the PPV and spend the time building them better.

Jericho and Owens has been building since Summerslam, Orton and Wyatt since around the same time. Goldberg and Lesnar have been feuding since before Survivor Series, Rollins and Triple H is over a year in the making, Undertaker and Reigns had the seeds planted at the Rumble, the Raw Womens division has been infighting all year and it's coming to a head at Mania, hell, even The Usos and American Alpha have been on and off feuding since Backlash, Ambrose and Corbin has started recently but Corbin has been built like a monster and Ambrose as a never-say-die kinda guy. If you don't watch the show, of course it seems like there hasn't been a buildup.

You're objectively wrong about this and I've been entirely engrossed in this Road to Wrestlemania

EDIT: You also can't hate on a buildup four weeks before the fvking pay-per-view, THAT'S WHEN THE BUILD HAPPENS

 

[Gman003]

That could be our problem nowdays. We all analyze things week by week. Every little motion is analyzed.

Don't get me wrong, I do it as much as the next person, but going back and watching a few months worth of shows from a decade or more ago you really can notice the difference. The heart and overall appearance has changed.

As stated several times throughout the past 2 years (lol ☺) I grew up through the 90s - 2000s. I've witnessed some of the best wwe smack downs live. And a couple raw as well. I was a smack down brand kid. Drifted away during 05-early06 until wrestlemania 31 2015. Damn near 10 years and that's the biggest thing I noticed....it's a different product. Totally.

While I've been able to adapt and come to terms with the product, it is so much different.

They used to have so much star power. Everything that was done was so...real feeling. Maybe it's because I was still a kid, but the booking and overall presentation was so much more larger than life, amazing, and accepted.
Recently gone back to July 2002 episodes, actually the episode vince named steph the SD gm. The episode after he named bischoff the raw gm. And I gotta say, man it takes me back.


So now onto the topic at hand. Haha sorry had a few brews this evening.

They've been trying to live off of their glory days hard.

The presentation is trying to be sooooo amazing, with relatively unknown names. Sure if you watch the program then you know who they are...but they use the regulars so badly in the grand scheme it's hard to get behind anyone because just when you think they're getting a push they get fed to someone and lose momentum.

The road to wrestlemania is dead. This year they feel like they have to resort to big name part timers to sell the event. Really all they have to do is book their fucking full timers right. But instead they're booking Goldberg as the universal champion to defend against brock lesnar. The match itself was OK. Really. If they wanted to do that as just a whatever kind of match to add name power then OK. But taking the belt from KO in such a shitty fashion just to fuel the wm card was so bad. Roman vs undertaker might be ok if roman beats him and makes the heel turn immediately after. Or if he gets beat and makes his turn. At this point the only positive outcome is a roman reigns heel turn.

Bray wyatt vs randy Orton should be good. This seems like the most logical way to go is wyatt defeats orton. But this is wwe, you never know who's going to win. Usually the guy we don't want lol.

Maybe this is the product of the Internet and new perspective making us view the content differently; but wrestling has seemed to lose it's star studded roster, but tried to over compensate with a star studded production.


We as wrestling fans NEED a REAL competitor to vince to TRULY feel the passion we once did for the company. They need to feel the heat in order to put on grade A shows week after week.

Without this we're falling more and more into then ideology that wwe can and will do whatever they want, and continue to get money from us month after month. Just in case one day they happen to find their charm again.

 

[Jacob Fox]

This has been one of the best Road to Wrestlemanias in......ever.

I'm happy you're enjoying it. I hope you continue to enjoy it.

If you don't watch the show, of course it seems like there hasn't been a buildup.

We obviously haven't met if you think I don't watch the show. Let me introduce myself. I'm Jacob Fox.

You're objectively wrong about this and I've been entirely engrossed in this Road to Wrestlemania


EDIT: You also can't hate on a buildup four weeks before the fvking pay-per-view, THAT'S WHEN THE BUILD HAPPENS

I'm not sure you really read my post. I wasn't "hating" on the build up and nowhere in my post did I say it was a bad build up. My entire point was that rather than announcing the majority of the matches within a few weeks after the Royal Rumble, they wait a few weeks before WrestleMania to announce them. At no point did I say the build up so far has been bad or that it has been unenjoyable in any way.

You actually confirmed my entire point with your EDIT.

 

[Jacob Fox]

That could be our problem nowdays. We all analyze things week by week. Every little motion is analyzed.

Yeah, gotta disagree with you there. Making the matches closer to WrestleMania rather than soon after the Rumble has been going on for years now. I've never complained about it before now, though. So I'm definitely not overanalyzing if it's been bugging me for such a long time but this is the first time I have talked about

 

[Gman003]

Yeah, gotta disagree with you there. Making the matches closer to WrestleMania rather than soon after the Rumble has been going on for years now. I've never complained about it before now, though. So I'm definitely not overanalyzing if it's been bugging me for such a long time but this is the first time I have talked about

I'm talking about the wwe as a whole. Not just the road to wrestlemania. Week after week all year long we analyze every episode of raw and smack down. Everything gets analyzed.

 

[Jacob Fox]

I'm talking about the wwe as a whole. Not just the road to wrestlemania. Week after week all year long we analyze every episode of raw and smack down. Everything gets analyzed.

That's fine, but I was answering within the context of the thread.

I personally don't think that's really anything different than we ever have done. Humans are very analytical and that constant analysis is probably one of the things that has led us to advancing like we have.

But yeah, we of course over analyze wrestling. I just disagree that I don't think that is a bad thing.

 

[Gman003]

Fair enough.

I feel like the road to wrestlemania is a farce. More for the casual fans who only watch wrestlemania and not much else throughout the year. And wwe panders to that audience too much. Maybe if they focused on delivering a great show that the habitual viewer can enjoy, it would go further than it does.

A friggin wrestlemania rematch from 13 years ago....which nobody liked, is the biggest thing they're focusing on this year. Sure their feud so far has been OK, but you know they only put the belt on Goldberg so the 2 actually had something to fight for. It just really sucks how they went about it all.

The best part of this road, for me, is the wyatt/Orton thing.

 

[Rosie]

Short answer, on Smackdown there is.

 

[Prince Bálor]

The RTWM has been lackluster for the past few years, tbh.

Vince thinks that WrestleMania sells itself, and part of it is true, therefore he doesn't feel the need to put in much effort and book long-term anymore.

Booking Lesnar vs Goldberg for the Universal title and have them close the show over KO/Y2J should tell you he doesn't really care anymore, at least not about the fans.

I don't want to drive this off-topic and feel free to ignore this part of my post, but I wouldn't find it hard to believe if his long-term booking idea, once WM ended, featured Reigns vs Lesnar for the Universal title at SummerSlam. Hell, it's probably what will end up being the ME of SummerSlam.

However, this year, things are looking better, as far as SmackDown goes. They may not have a whole bunch of feuds/storylines that have been running for a long time, but at least they are good and SmackDown does a good job of making you care about their product.

And while RAW isn't that good, it's not downright bad, either. It's OK, I guess. KO/Y2J and Rollins/Hunter is probably the brightest spot on the RAW side of things.

I pretty much have no interest in anything else as of this writing. I mean, Taker/Reigns can be good, if Reigns is positioned as a heel. But, we'll see.

All in all, this year's WM card and build-up could've been better, but oh well. :quimby:

I'm just waiting for WM and post-WM RAW at this point, and if they suck, I'll be done with RAW and will stick to watching SmackDown and PPVs only.

 

[CiV]

You actually confirmed my entire point with your EDIT.

I mean, kinda? A lot of the build for Wrestlemania has always been in the last little bit, with some of the earlier ones actually having people coming into the company a few weeks before the show. Now that's not to say that there haven't been longterm builds (Hogan vs Savage is a big one), but I also noticed you completely ignored the actual bulk of my argument and instead focused on my snark which, admittedly can kind of ruin the point. This year, a lot of those stories are really longterm slow burn builds and your idea that they aren't doing that anymore is just straight up wrong this year.

 

[Snowman1]

Shoot... was thinking in the AJ vs Shane bitch thread that it's what, seventh from the top?
Lesnar vs Goldberg... Reigns vs Undertaker... Rollins vs HHH (with tons of build that we barely remember)... Orton vs Wyatt... Owens vs Jericho... Then either the women's triple threat + maybe Nia or AJ vs Shane is the sixth match, then the Cena mixed tag is eighth?

That's arguably 8 matches that at least feel like some sort of deal, with enough build that they feel like they belong on a Mania card.. I'm used to them seeing them put a lot of effort into a top three matches (where interest is capped because of the part-timer problem) then throw the rest of the roster into a bunch of filler crap. This is... something better?

I think that's where the heat about the lack of Nakamura vs Styles come in as well. It feels like a whole show of a solid undercard level of excitement with no big match on the card to get us hyped up