10 Problems WWE Has With Modern WrestleManias

One of the most ubiquitous complaints about modern day WWE is that the company spends far too much time fawning over its old, greying has-beens, and less time cultivating new stars.

While there are definitely opportunities to tell great redemption stories wherein an old favourite can return to triumph over a cocky young upstart, all too often this leads to fresher talent looking weak or unimportant in comparison. They might be older, but a lot of WWE’s returning Attitude Era stars can’t possibly claim to be ‘old school’, as they’ve proven time and time again that they’re more interested in putting themselves over than the people who show up to wrestle day in, day out.

There is none more heinous an offender than The Rock, who only seems to return so that he can belittle current WWE Superstars in favour of promoting his Hollywood career. On RAW, he’ll trash talk the likes of Lana and Rusev without recompense, or make snide jabs at Roman Reigns and John Cena. It gets even worse when the Brahma Bull ‘finally’ returns to WrestleMania.

At last year’s event, he beat the imposing Eric Rowan in six seconds with a single Rock Bottom, all so he could break a record. It made the Wyatts look stupid, it made The Rock look a little stupid, and like his victories over CM Punk and John Cena a few years previous, it made everyone else on the roster look stupid.

Looking ahead to WrestleMania 33, an event co-headlined by Goldberg vs Brock Lesnar, it’s highly likely we’ll see the same kind of shenanigans pulled again. Just look at the poster, in which Goldberg, Brock Lesnar, The Undertaker and John Cena take centre stage, and the WWE Champion is almost invisible. You could argue that they’re box office draws, but sooner or later, they’ll retire from WWE for good, and there won’t be any more household names to replace them.