"Wrestlemania 32" is the offspring of unfathomable ego, stubbornness, insolence and laziness. Imagine a sequel that focused on the predecessors most critically panned character out of spite for the audience disliking the creation. Also imagine that that sequel killed off all fan favourites in a way that rendered all previous growth mute. That is "Wrestlemania 32" in a nutshell - where the dimensionless Roman Reigns is nauseatingly hailed as a magnetic phenomenon and almost every other character/match is configured so it will not take the limelight away from Vince McMahon's pet project.
Alright, good things out of the way:
Ryder winning, New Day's entrance, Women's championship/division/triple threat, Charlotte's moonsault, Corbin, Shane being my hero and Triple H's badass ""assault on the senses"" entrance.
And the rest:
Matches had no breathing room for reasons I hypothesize being so they didn't overshadow Vince's sole obsession - the stale main event that saw his boy Reigns go over massively. The two biggest and most unforgivable instances of this were the AJ/Jericho match and the Ambrose/Lesnar street fight. Both lacked space to innovate because both had to follow a strict schedule in order to be in and out without disrupting the main event build. Now, AJ losing is boggling but it was more the absence of chemistry, novelty and time that irked me. But the Ambrose dilemma is a whole different beast (no pun intended). I don't think I've ever seen a conclusion to a feud exude such disregard for audience and previous narrative and thematic establishment. Ambrose was illuminated as a fervid madman who craves pain and the opportunity to fight it until his body fails him. However, the match with Lesnar featured no moments of resilience to note and ignored strategy that was being hyped for weeks (dangerous weapons gifted by legends). Also, It's called a street fight, yet what transpired was about as thrilling and subversive as the Uso pre-show match (zilch). Revolting, considering Ambrose is a once in a lifetime gem who is being exploited as an instrument for WWE to laugh at audience expectation.
Also worth nothing was the disgusting amount of pandering. While it's great to see HBK, Stone Cold and Foley, what purpose did they serve? None, because they were simply there so the writing team could take the day off and not formulate a proper fruition to a storyline.
Also blood-boiling was the segment of the Wyatt's getting kicked around by legends that lead to absolutely no avail. The Rock just talked complete and useless garbage for 15 minutes (taking up time that could have been used for, I don't know, matches? Storyline? Jeez). Then the Wyatt's came out and Rock comically squashed them with the wave of his hand. The Wyatt's, predominantly Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper (although absent due to injury I thought I'd mention him anyway because he's awesome), deserve so much more but instead they are being exploited as boneheads so The Rock and Cena can have a ""Wrestlemania moment."" Just...go away for a bit Rock, your appearance did nothing but harm. Cena, all you did was throw a few punches so we're cool.
There's nothing much to say about the main event, because the earth- rumbling boos speak volumes. And I like Roman Reigns, he's just being written in the most noxious way possible that the end result is an empty shell of a ""character"" that bores me to death. Triple H and Stephanie tried their hardest to imbue some vigour into the proceedings but no amount of effort can alleviate the depression brought on by the most uninspired finish to a mania in recent memory.
All in all, I felt drained and dumber for sitting through FIVE HOURS of WWE teasing fans, disobeying mind- numbingly simple narrative rules, and obviously having dollar signs in their eyes instead of inspiration to create something substantial.
(Sorry for the (probably incoherent) rant, but good God I can't believe the drivel that was just hurled my way)
Alright, good things out of the way:
Ryder winning, New Day's entrance, Women's championship/division/triple threat, Charlotte's moonsault, Corbin, Shane being my hero and Triple H's badass ""assault on the senses"" entrance.
And the rest:
Matches had no breathing room for reasons I hypothesize being so they didn't overshadow Vince's sole obsession - the stale main event that saw his boy Reigns go over massively. The two biggest and most unforgivable instances of this were the AJ/Jericho match and the Ambrose/Lesnar street fight. Both lacked space to innovate because both had to follow a strict schedule in order to be in and out without disrupting the main event build. Now, AJ losing is boggling but it was more the absence of chemistry, novelty and time that irked me. But the Ambrose dilemma is a whole different beast (no pun intended). I don't think I've ever seen a conclusion to a feud exude such disregard for audience and previous narrative and thematic establishment. Ambrose was illuminated as a fervid madman who craves pain and the opportunity to fight it until his body fails him. However, the match with Lesnar featured no moments of resilience to note and ignored strategy that was being hyped for weeks (dangerous weapons gifted by legends). Also, It's called a street fight, yet what transpired was about as thrilling and subversive as the Uso pre-show match (zilch). Revolting, considering Ambrose is a once in a lifetime gem who is being exploited as an instrument for WWE to laugh at audience expectation.
Also worth nothing was the disgusting amount of pandering. While it's great to see HBK, Stone Cold and Foley, what purpose did they serve? None, because they were simply there so the writing team could take the day off and not formulate a proper fruition to a storyline.
Also blood-boiling was the segment of the Wyatt's getting kicked around by legends that lead to absolutely no avail. The Rock just talked complete and useless garbage for 15 minutes (taking up time that could have been used for, I don't know, matches? Storyline? Jeez). Then the Wyatt's came out and Rock comically squashed them with the wave of his hand. The Wyatt's, predominantly Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper (although absent due to injury I thought I'd mention him anyway because he's awesome), deserve so much more but instead they are being exploited as boneheads so The Rock and Cena can have a ""Wrestlemania moment."" Just...go away for a bit Rock, your appearance did nothing but harm. Cena, all you did was throw a few punches so we're cool.
There's nothing much to say about the main event, because the earth- rumbling boos speak volumes. And I like Roman Reigns, he's just being written in the most noxious way possible that the end result is an empty shell of a ""character"" that bores me to death. Triple H and Stephanie tried their hardest to imbue some vigour into the proceedings but no amount of effort can alleviate the depression brought on by the most uninspired finish to a mania in recent memory.
All in all, I felt drained and dumber for sitting through FIVE HOURS of WWE teasing fans, disobeying mind- numbingly simple narrative rules, and obviously having dollar signs in their eyes instead of inspiration to create something substantial.
(Sorry for the (probably incoherent) rant, but good God I can't believe the drivel that was just hurled my way)