Wrestlemania: Night of DisappointmentsBy Clay Hamric
Staff Reporter April 15, 2016 The grandest of all wrestling stages came once again – Wrestlemania XXXII. Due to such stars like Cesaro, Randy Orton and Seth Rollins being out, it was largely accepted that this year’s match card would not be the strongest. Unfortunately, most segments of the night were even worse than already expected.
The first match of the preshow had Ryback facing Kalisto for the United States Championship. Kalisto has been one of the most stagnant U.S. champions in recent history, so it would seem natural that WWE Creative would want to take a new route in booking. Kalisto’s win last night will simply prolong a weak championship reign and put Ryback deep into the midcard again. The seven-man ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship looked very promising. Most predictions were of Kevin Owens retaining the belt, leading to a very appealing feud between him and recent NXT call-up Sami Zayne. In a senseless turn of events, no-name Zack Ryder climbed the ladder and claimed the championship. Seeing as that Ryder has clung on to relevance in the company for years; this new push for him will be met with great skepticism. Many were expecting the feud between A.J. Styles and Chris Jericho to end at Wrestlemania, with Styles coming out on top and moving on to better promotions in the company. Jericho’s win last night shows that there is no end in sight for this angle, one which the WWE Universe may become tired of very soon. Jericho and Styles have already fought several times and their feud may become stale. Considering the news that the Divas Division would finally be updated to the Women’s Division, with a championship belt that didn’t look like a Barbie toy, fans were expecting a step forward last night. With a step forward meant a new champion. Sasha Banks was the obvious favorite for the triple threat match, and the first female wrestler in a long time that the crowd has truly gotten behind. Unfortunately, Charlotte retained the championship, her win providing no step forward for the division. The No Holds Barred Street Fight match between Dean Ambrose and Brock Lesnar was expected to be the highlight of the night. It ended up being the most disappointing matchup excitement-wise. What was billed as a brutal match that would take both competitors to the edge was extremely weak given its potential. It ended with Ambrose taking only one swing at Lesnar with a barbed-wire baseball bat, with Lesnar dodging and reversing into a suplex to win via pinfall, a perfect metaphor of the entire match itself. As a surprise treat for the crowd, both The Rock and John Cena did a segment together before the main event. Much to the dismay of many fans, the segment only weakened the legitimacy of the Wyatt Family, the most promising stable for WWE’s future. Instead of strengthening new talent, this segment only made the Wyatts look embarrassing as they were easily disposed of by The Rock and Cena. WWE Creative should know by now that that’s not how you build up wrestlers. The main events of the night were The Undertaker and Shane McMahon in a Hell in a Cell match, and Roman Reigns against WWE World Heavyweight Champion Triple H. These matches would dictate the future direction of several WWE storylines, and Creative completely messed it up. Many hoped that McMahon would win his match (making him the owner of Monday Night RAW) and Triple H retaining his championship. This would have made for a perfect power struggle between the two. Again to the dismay of the fans, the opposite happened in both matches. Shane McMahon may be completely out of the picture now and Reigns is again champion. Given the harsh backlash to Roman Reigns and WWE not giving up on his ill-fated push, WWE may be headed for an even darker television era. |
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