10 Things I Hate About WrestleMania
6. The Return Of The Rematch
Theres a disturbing leaning toward WWE re-running a money match again at WrestleMania and only at WrestleMania, making a repeat reaction out of a feature attraction.
The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin famously clashed three times during the Attitude Era, at WrestleMania XV, WrestleMania X-Seven and WrestleMania XIX - but at two year intervals, at entirely different points in their careers, and with entirely different storylines and characterisation at play, these rematches felt more like battles in an ongoing war.
Similarly, Edge & Christian, the Dudley Boyz and the Hardy Boyz clashed at WrestleMania 2000 and X-Seven - but their three-way feud had been building brilliantly over the intervening year, including the first ever TLC match at SummerSlam 2000.
Really, it was Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker that began the worrying trend, working the Heartbreak Kids retirement match in the main event of WrestleMania XXVI the year after their barnstormer at WrestleMania XXV.
Naturally, Triple H couldnt let that slide and he would end up wrestling the Dead Man at the next two WrestleMania events just so he could tie with his BFF in DX (although he just had to reverse the storyline so that it was the Undertaker desperate for a rematch with him, and not the other way around).
Most notoriously, The Rock and John Cena had their once in a lifetime superfight main event from WrestleMania XXVIII repeated a year later at WrestleMania 29. The second time would prove to be for the WWE Championship, but aside from that it didnt significantly stand out from the first.
And thats the point, really. Running a high profile rematch exactly a year later just makes the card seem derivative and unimaginative. New stipulations, locations, gimmicks and titles dont really change the story of the match or the people involved on their own.
WWE need to let fans demand a rematch and allow it to happen organically, rather than just booking it on the following years show as a matter of course.