For two nights, the WWE got it right
BY: JACOB POLITTE
Managing Editor
WWE is not known for delivering satisfying programming to it’s hardcore base of fans nowadays. The product is like a fast-food restaurant: a basic menu, full of things that aren’t that good for you and made for quick and thoughtless consumption. Instead of building the future stars of tomorrow, the company seems locked into a prison of their own making by constantly relying on the aging stars of yesteryear. While the company continues to do record business, its television presence has plummeted and the returning part-timer stars suffer from consistently diminishing returns. No new stars, outside of a small handful, are being made. No one really cares unless you’re a diehard fan of the product.
Expectations for the “WrestleMania 38” event held over the course of two nights earlier this month at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas, were rather low. The build to the event on WWE’s weekly television shows were exceptionally lackluster, and the match card, despite a few notable gems, looked the same.
However, the 2022 edition of “WrestleMania” didn’t just exceed expectations. It blew them out of the water. This was easily one of the better editions of “The Show Of Shows” in many years, possibly since the 2015 edition. It may have surpassed it.
The event’s first night may be, top-to-bottom, the best “WrestleMania” in over 15 years. Not a single match disappointed, and even a legitimate injury in the show’s first bout did not damper the proceedings. Every match on Night 1 arguably over-delivered, and even non-wrestler Logan Paul had a fantastic showing that won many fans watching it over, earning him a lot of respect for taking the event seriously in addition to his fantastic work as a bad guy on the show.
While the returning Ronda Rousey underdelivered in her supposed main event match, the show instead relied on the ultimate dream scenario for its actual, impromptu and surreal final match for Night 1: the in-ring return of the legendary Stone Cold Steve Austin. For the first time in 19 years, Austin competed in an unadvertised, but officially sanctioned match against wrestler Kevin Owens, which Austin won.
Another Austin match, especially after nearly two decades of retirement, seemed like a pipe dream. Essentially, it could have been considered the holy grail of pro wrestling. Austin was offered numerous big-money opportunities to come out of retirement over the years against some fairly big names, and refused every single one of them. The thought of him coming out of retirement, even in his home state of Texas and despite numerous reports that he may wrestle at the show, seemed like an incredible stretch.
Until the moment the bell rang, no one seriously thought Austin would wrestle again. And many of those people could not have seriously believed that a 57-year old Austin would wrestle a near 15-minute match that would have action take place all over the stadium and saw him take as many hits as he gave Owens.
Owens himself may have lost the match, but he had to have been the happiest man on planet earth at the end of night. Wherever his career goes, he achieved something that no one else before him did, and likely no one else will be able to do again by bringing Austin back.
Night 2 could not possibly match the energy or reception of Night 1, but wisely did not try to. The night had a slower energy but still had plenty of solid match-ups, even if the title unification main event between Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar failed to excite the crowd for the most part.
The shining jewels of Night 2 again involved two matches with non-wrestling, and Stone Cold. The “Anything Goes” match featuring Johnny Knoxville and his “Jackass” crew was just plain great and stupid fun that elicted a great response from the crowd. And former NFL linebacker and current WWE commentator Pat McAfee’s match with newcomer Austin Theory was perhaps the best worked match of the night, with an even more fun and chaotic post-match segment featuring WWE owner Vince McMahon and Stone Cold Steve Austin where Theory, even in defeat, looked like a star on the rise.
From top-to-bottom, “WrestleMania 38” succeeded in what it set out to do despite the low expectations many had for it. It perfectly balanced nostalgia and the future, and everyone involved looked great, leading to the best WrestleMania in years.
Rating: 5/5 Ring Bells
