6. ...But Maria Menounos Didn't
Over the years, lots of wrestlers have been shafted out of spots on the WrestleMania broadcast, and it's not an easy pill to swallow. There's a prestige that comes with having competed on a show that's like no other, and again, the pay is nothing to sneeze at - the simple fact that the show outdraws all other WWE PPV events by four or five times offers some idea of how valuable that one night's worth of work is. The Usos, for instance, have never competed on a WrestleMania card - they've been relegated to the pre-show four times. At WrestleMania 29, a planned Brodus Clay/Tensai/Funkadactyls versus Rhodes Scholars/Bella Twins match was bumped to Raw the next night, greatly disappointing all eight of the participants. All of that is to set up the fact that, at WrestleMania 28, "Access Hollywood" correspondent Maria Menounos got to live out hundreds of wrestlers' lifelong dreams when she got a spot on the card, teaming with Kelly Kelly to defeat Beth Phoenix and Eve Torres. Menounos, who is a longtime wrestling fan, was honored and humbled by her inclusion in the event, but it was still a sour reminder that a little bit of mainstream fame goes a long way when it comes to infiltrating WWE's hierarchy. Busting your ass year-round doesn't seem to count for much, though.
Scott Fried
Contributor
Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried.
*Best Crowd of the Year, 2013
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