10 Positive Developments In This Awful Post-WWE WrestleMania Season

2. The Fact That There Remains SOME Hope For The Future

Seth Rollins
WWE

With so little in the present tense to appreciate, there is always hope for the future. There is always cruel, cruel hope, particularly when WWE is so phenomenal in the video production department that it can elicit excitement for a pay-per-view match with only the most functional of builds.

It's almost a shame that WWE returned to the dual-brand PPV format in parallel with this year's Superstar ShakeUp, given how loaded the SmackDown roster is. In addition to Daniel Bryan Vs. The Miz, almost guaranteed to be excellent, the prospect of Bryan Vs. Andrade Almas is an awesome one, since the Yes! man is best-equipped for fans to scream No! at Zelina Vega's perfectly-timed interference. AJ Styles Vs. Samoa Joe, with its five-star history, promises an excellent continuation, especially since AJ is over enough not to have to rely on a five minute chinlock to bore fans into cheering for him. Those PPV-calibre bouts act as some silver lining to the fatigue-inducing news of the imminent Four Hour PPV Era.

Over on RAW, the Intercontinental Title picture promises gold standard PPV encounters. Seth Rollins' form, and the fact that we've not really seen Sami Zayn's blinding heel character work his way through a lengthy featured match, is cause to cross the fingers. And, if nothing else, Bobby Lashley's impossibly awful arc fosters the most morbid of curiosity. How can it possibly get any worse?

That in itself is a positive, in a micro and a macro sense.

How can it possibly get any worse?

In this post: 
seth rollins
 
Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!