WrestleMania 39 review: McMahon looms on wrestling’s star-studded biggest night

WrestleMania is perhaps the most famous event in the history of professional wrestling and serves as the State of the Union for World Wrestling Entertainment, which hosts it. It represents where the most prominent business in the industry over the past few decades has been and where it is looking to go. And if Sunday night’s WrestleMania 39 is any indication, it’s aiming to be much bigger and flashier, even if the elements worth watching are doing their best in front of us .

Closing in on the event from the start is WWE’s executive chairman and majority owner, Vince McMahon. In early summer 2022, he “retired” from the role amid a flurry of controversy and an investigation into alleged hush-money payments he had made. January 2023he inserted himself into the He revealed that he had signed a contract that would keep him locked up for the next two years. McMahon, who previously had the final say on all WWE creative decisions, turned the reins on his son-in-law and WWE Chief Content Officer Paul Levesque (retired grappler Triple H). However, it wasn’t McMahon’s style to let other people run the baby, so rumors are rampant that he casts a big shadow in that regard as well.

Meanwhile, as WWE appears to be getting closer and closer to potential buyers (CNBC The Endeavor Group, the UFC’s parent company, was recently reported was just around the corner), there is a growing focus on its broader presence in pop culture. This year’s theme is WrestleMania Goes Hollywood (this is his second time using it, having previously adopted the catchphrase on Show of Shows in 2005) and is the closest WWE can muster to star power. There are hordes of things. Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias, Maria Menounos, Stephen A. Smith, Greg Miller, Kevin Hart, Becky G, Jimmy Allen, Bad Bunny, Snoop Perry, to name a few celebrities who have stopped by in one way or another. Dogg, Russell Crowe, George Kittle, Lil Uzi Vert and Pat McAfee. Of course, the most attention was paid to his famous match (featuring interference by fellow YouTuber KSI) with Logan Paul, the infamous YouTuber actually becoming his OK wrestler.

As a side note, WWE was in full public relations mode with Paul, and the broadcast team did little to stop their constant barrage of praise for him and his accomplishments. Not a person, but a natural heel, but you can see WWE doing double duty to bring him down as a gifted bad guy in the family-friendly WWE Universe, but to remind people of the guy Nor filmed a suicide victim in a YouTube stunt just a few years ago.

Photo: Unique Nicole/Getty Images

Photo: Unique Nicole/Getty Images

WrestleMania has always stood out thanks to the inclusion of guest stars, but this year WWE’s everlasting effort to be known not just as a giant wrestling company but as an entertainment mainstay stood out. . Hitting the “Goes Hollywood” aspect, even if it does, will make more viewers see it as more than just the biggest name in the niche (“See! Celebrities too They adore us, not just wrestling fans”). It’s nothing more than a goofy camp. Of course, this hollow pomp is forced to match what professional wrestling is best known for, apart from actual wrestling.

Luckily for the company’s fans, some of the marquee matches were actually solidly accumulated and rooted in some long-running storylines. This is the closest he has come to a cohesive and attractive unit in almost a decade that WWE has.

At Saturday’s event, longtime friends/rivals/frenemies Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn were allowed to build on their pre-WWE pasts (in a rare WWE affair), giving both top tag team titles. And on Sunday, Bloodline leader Roman Reigns (former member of The Shield and last cohesive and compelling unit) took on Cody Rhodes. defeated and retained both top WWE singles titles. Everyone has a history with each other here, allowing Sami to be WWE’s best modern underdog character, and a heartwarming victory over Owens allows WWE to immerse themselves in the ardent worship of their die-hard fans for once. Also, from an emotional standpoint, Zain’s tale of bonding and betrayal with Bloodline temporarily ignores the fact that he would have found the much larger conclusion of dismissing Reigns as champion. can do.

Photo: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

One of WWE’s most precarious stables is Vicious Judgment Day, a group of wrestlers WWE doesn’t know how to deal with. The threat they pose to the wider roster seems to be changing by the minute, but once again, WWE is cuing up an outcome that at least allows for some emotional satisfaction. Rare “The Internet Wants Me To Step On Their Face” Ripley Wins SmackDown Women’s Champion From Charlotte “I’m Usually The Champion” Flair.

Rey Mysterio literally thrashed his whining son Dominic for trespassing on his family (Dominic was lured into The Judgment Day by Rhea). And current Judgment Day leader Finn Balor lost to WWE veteran and former Judgment Day leader Edge in a Hell in a Cell match. The last one is a pretty disappointing result, but on paper it was the best matchup between two guys who have spent much of their careers nailing the horror/goth aesthetic.

If you’ve never seen WWE or WrestleMania but know what basic storytelling in fiction is, all of this sounds like I’m patronizing you. But the WWE has a big habit of dropping the ball on these things and making weird choices at the 11th hour.Bobby Lashley and Brock Lesnar are both MMA fighters and main eventers, and have had some questionable victories for some time.(It’s hard to take Brock as a “little guy” seriously when he’s actually a former UFC champion.)

Lashley got into a haphazard feud with Bray Wyatt, but Wyatt was suddenly left off the cards for unexplained reasons. and the audience applauded slightly confused. Wrestler The Miz lost to his podcast host Pat McAfee and Snoop Dogg on separate nights. John Cena lost to ambitious heel Austin Theory (which was expected, but Cena showed up with a group of Make-A-Wish kids to cheer him on from the stage). It was a little weird after that).

Photo: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

Bianca Blair and Asuka proved why they are the greatest female wrestlers of all time, and it was a three-way match between Gunther and Drew. McIntyre and Sheamus turned the breast into a raw hamburger. But classic WWE style means there’s always a backlash waiting for regular viewers, with all the good stuff sandwiched between the downright questionable. .

Selling people in professional wrestling can be difficult. If someone isn’t into it, even the most impassioned declaration of “No, but this match is really good” is very difficult to shake them off. WWE seems to know this, securing McMahon’s future but being overloaded with desperate appeals to the mainstream, on the forefront of a purchase that could mean something to his talent. It’s unclear at this point how much Vince is doing, but it doesn’t do the wrestlers — the people who deserve the limelight the most — any favors.