WrestleMania has changed a lot in the last five years. From the WWE Network to the dominance of Lesnar (and the stop-start push of Reigns), the WWE Universe has come a long way from 2014.
WrestleMania XXX took place in New Orleans. With everyone still reeling from CM Punk’s departure, it was up to Daniel Bryan to save the Show of Shows. And he did not disappoint. To quote JBL, Yesslemania stole the show from start to finish, with Bryan beating Triple H to open the show. He then beat Orton and Batista to stand triumphant at the end.
And who can forget Lesnar breaking the streak? To see it happen live was truly an otherworldly experience. Finally, the Undertaker didn’t seem like the Phenom anymore. It was like we could get a glimpse of the man underneath for the first time; when the man left, we saw the bruised body of Mark Calloway aching from the countless bumps he took during the last two decades.
In a year plagued with many losses- Ultimate Warrior passed away shortly after WM 30 and Bryan went away to rehab from his injuries- there were a few good things that stood out from the rest. Rollins broke away from the Shield to become a bonafide singles star, and Brock Lesnar began building the foundations of Suplex City. Lesnar dominated his Summerslam bout with Cena.
This was also one of the last few times Cena competed as a World Champion, marking another rite of passage that saw Cena transitioning to a part time role to pursue bigger things in Hollywood.
The WrestleMania next year was a big step in the right direction. Taking place at the Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, it hosted several iconic moments, such as Orton catching an airborne Rollins in an RKO and Roman Reigns doing his best to slay the Beast. It ended with the best Mania twist in recent history, with Rollins cashing in to pull off the heist of the century.
By 2016, the Reigns experiment was fully underway, and the fans would have none of it. Some truly awful promos didn’t help his case, either. As time went on, the hatred for Reigns exceeded the level of vitriol reserved for the likes of Super Cena.
When Triple H came back at the Royal Rumble to win his fourteenth World Championship, it looked certain that a Reigns vs HHH Mania main event was written in the stars. For his part, Triple H did as much as he could to be an entertaining heel, but the retread of the face vs The Authority storyline didn’t do any favors for Reigns.
WrestleMania 32 also marked an important milestone in the women’s revolution, with Charlotte Flair winning the newly instated WWE Women’s Championship in a triple threat bout with Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch.
The new brand split changed the course for both Raw and SmackDown Live. AJ Styles soon emerged as the top dog in SmackDown, while Kevin Owens of all people won the new Universal Championship on Raw (thanks to a timely assist by Triple H). While things stagnated on Raw, SD Live improved from strength to strength. The robust women’s program, involving Becky Lynch and Alexa Bliss, was much better than the back and forths between Sasha Banks and Charlotte Flair. An entertaining tag team tournament also lead to the crowning of Heath Slater and Rhino as inaugural SmackDown Live Tag Team Champions.
WrestleMania 33 was a mixed blessing. AJ Styles and Shane McMahon set a high bar with their opening bout, one that the others struggled to overcome. Rollins won against Triple H in a fan favorite match, while Brock Lesnar finally beat Goldberg to become the New Universal Champion.
Of course, nothing tops the importance of the Reigns vs Undertaker match. I remember seeing the news of Taker’s defeat on my phone that day, and the shock I felt was shared by wrestling fans worldwide.
When Taker left his hat and coat in the ring, it felt as though a part of our childhoods had exited the building. The beaten and broken down Mark Calloway was one step closer to calling it quits.
WrestleMania 34 had, perhaps, the strongest Mania match card in recent history. WrestleMania had come back to New Orleans, and for good reason, too: Daniel Bryan was finally making his return from injury.
For the first time, Styles was walking into a WrestleMania event as the WWE champion, facing an electric Shinsuke Nakamura in one of the main events. While the match itself was good, it didn’t quite reach the heights of their legendary match in Wrestle Kingdom 10. On the other hand, Ronda Rousey delivered what was, perhaps, the most entertaining match of the night. She manhandled HHH and his wife in a way that had rarely been seen before in a WWE ring.
Charlotte defeated Asuka in a mostly good match; however, fans were starting to grow tired of her achievements. Many felt that Asuka deserved more, and thankfully, she was given recognition in the form of a SD Live Women’s Championship win later in the year.
Of course, almost no one wanted to see the Reigns vs Lesnar match, but it happened nonetheless. The shock of a Reigns defeat did work to an extent, but the feud was on autopilot until Reigns won the title from Lesnar in Summerslam.
When I think about Reigns, I can’t help but remember Diesel’s term as the WWE Champion in 1995. Both Kevin Nash and Joe Anoa’i are charming, personable people. But the babyface personas pushed on them by management fell flat with the audience. Thankfully, Reigns has been received a lot better since his fight with leukemia. Let’s see how long it takes for management to screw that up.
Fortunately, we still have Daniel Bryan, and boy, are we lucky to have him. Since last November, Bryan has pulled off the most successful heel turn in recent history, slowly becoming everything that he fought against. He’s the asshole heel that everyone loves to hate. Even though what he says about the environment is essentially true, his elitist vegan shtick makes him that much easier to root against. Bryan’s title defense against Kofi will be something to see. Whatever the outcome, this is, in a sense, the true men’s main event.
While this year’s Wrestlemania probably won’t be the greatest, it’s still exciting to see the likes of Styles and Orton go up against each other.
There’s always the women’s main event, which features a white-hot Becky Lynch going up against champions Ronda Rousey and Charlotte Flair.
Although many have slagged Lynch as a Stone Cold lite, she’s done her part to make the feud as interesting as possible. Whatever the outcome (we are hoping that Lynch wins), this match itself is something to celebrate.
It will be hard this year to see a Wrestlemania without any Cena or Undertaker appearances, but that’s what time does to men. At least, we still get to see Triple H and Batista duke it out at the MetLife Stadium, so there’s that.