10 Signs That WrestleMania 36 Could Be A Crushing Disappointment

Pointing at the red flag.

Red Flag
WWE.com

WrestleMania season is upon us, and the Road has taken quite the turn.

The path was clear, the view rather grand. WWE put Drew McIntyre over big at the Royal Rumble; he eliminated Brock Lesnar and then tore up the rest of the field in a killer, committed spot of booking: a convincing, super talent the WWE system has not failed, or dumbly persisted with in spite of failure, emerged as the next top babyface of the company.

Edge returned that same night in a moment only the word "magic" can accurately describe. He looked thrilled and humbled, and performed very well as a gritty, wily babyface in eliminating Randy Orton, before Orton re-injured his neck in a shocking, disturbing scene so well-performed that it was thought WWE had restored its old, brilliant storytelling mechanisms. The vehicle entered a whacky fork in the Road when Shayna Baszler became a vampire for a week, but no matter: the follow-up promo exchange was excellent, promising real violence instead of delivering cartoonish gore.

And then WWE took that vehicle, GTA-style, and killed several innocent bystanders masquerading as pro wrestling stars, flattening Ricochet, AJ Styles and the Fiend in a five star police chase with minus five star squash matches...

10. A Bad Omen Informed By Recent History

Red Flag
WWE.com

A returning superstar returns from years-long hiatus in a white-hot angle that builds towards a marquee WrestleMania match.

Interest is high. This is classic WWE business when WWE most needs it.

The angle is furthered on television with very good promos.

A WWE Legend is destroyed to heat it up.

The issue is that the returning star's opponent is a very overfamiliar headliner with a penchant for working methodical, overlong slogs that don't generate a level of heat that makes up for how little he does or is capable of in his matches.

The above describes Triple H and Batista's WrestleMania 35 programme and match, but the dynamic is eerily similar to the ongoing Edge Vs. Randy Orton feud.

Randy Orton almost invariably disappoints at WrestleMania. He hasn't worked an over, very good match since 2015. Really, 2015 and 2014 were aberrations; Orton has mostly turned in quite good midcard performances (2012, 2013) or outright disasters (2009, 2013). His deliberate style fails to project to and ignite the upper bowl of the stadium-sized crowd. This storyline is hot, believable, and very well-performed. That doesn't matter much either; fans enjoyed his operatic but entertaining programmes with Triple H and Bray Wyatt.

And then the bell rang.

Basically, Randy Orton works 'Mania like a guy Bruce Prichard writes off on his podcast. He is Virgil in a stadium; good for memes, not so good for the semi-main.

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 surefire Undisputed WWE Universal 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!