10 Mistakes WWE Has Made With WrestleMania 33
Is the writing on the wall for the Grandest Stage of them All?
You can never wholly judge a wrestling event, or any event for that matter, before it has taken place. Shows like WrestleMania and Summerslam are often pushed as the two greatest shows in WWE’s calendar, but last year proved that this isn’t always the case. Conversely, Payback or Backlash might not sound particularly exciting on paper, but they’re just as likely to become instant classic shows as WWE’s flagship ‘Big Four’.
That being said, what we eventually get on paper can always be compared and contrasted to what we could have had. It’s easy to pre-judge and throw around hypotheticals, but in some cases, it’s plain to see exactly where WWE made a poor creative decision long before its consequences have played out in full.
WrestleMania 33 is one such case; WWE is promising the “Ultimate Thrill Ride”, but one can’t help but examine the matches currently advertised and wonder what exactly went wrong. It doesn’t look bad per se, but the established card feels more like a good Summerslam or Survivor Series card at the moment, rather than a WrestleMania-worthy one.
With just over a week to go, WWE has already made some glaring errors in assembling WrestleMania 33.
10. Relegating Owens And Jericho To The Mid-Card
Kevin Owens vs Chris Jericho is arguably the hottest feud on WWE TV right now. It’s been building for months, has been pretty much booked to perfection, and involves two of the most over Superstars in the WWE locker room.
So it’s a little strange to see them fighting over the United States Championship, a belt that had pretty much been an afterthought ever since Roman Reigns won it from Rusev last year. Really, it would have made more sense to put the US Title on somebody else, and have Owens and Jericho fight over the Universal Championship. That’s the belt Jericho sacrificed life and limb for Owens to keep after all, and is pretty much the catalyst for this entire feud. But instead, Goldberg and Lesnar are fighting for the big red belt in a match that stands out on its own as a marquee bout.
This isn’t to say the Owens vs Jericho will take place in the middle of WrestleMania, but it has now technically become RAW’s ‘midcard’ feud, beneath Roman vs Undertaker and Goldberg vs Lesnar. Owens vs Jericho will probably still steal the show, but the stakes would feel so much higher if they were fighting for the Universal Championship.