5 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE SmackDown (March 20)
2. The Lack Of Follow Up On 'Mania XXX's Re-Run
As aforementioned, WWE's decision to re-air old matches makes sense. For example, seeing the men's Royal Rumble match (and Drew McIntyre's memorable win) on Raw was a fine way to build anticipation for his match with Brock Lesnar.
Somehow, John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt from 'Mania XXX didn't feel as special.
The match itself was an enjoyable trip down memory lane, but where was the real follow up? Having Michael Cole weakly say that Wyatt's loss to Cena in 2014 created his 'Fiend' character wasn't enough. It was a feeble attempt by WWE to fill time by throwing the full match on screen, and it needed some extra context or feud exploration.
Bray should've popped up on camera to cut a promo himself. Why is Cole speaking for him and guessing his backstory? Surely that'd be better coming from Wyatt's mouth instead of the lead play-by-play man. This was some seriously lazy booking.