10 Things You Didn't Know About WWE In 2019

3. WrestleMania Run-Time Causes Chaos

Roman Reigns Rusev Hulk Hogan
WWE

WrestleMania 35 was a long show.

Too long, truth be told, and the ramifications went further than Becky Lynch having to wait for the early hours of Monday morning to even walk out to the ring let alone become the Raw and SmackDown Women's Champion in the night's historic main event.

At 5:50 (discounting the two hour pre-show), WWE pushed things too far for fans to be fully up for the headliner, and too late for local transport to get them home. Thousands were left stranded outside of MetLife Stadium as New Jersey transit shut up shop for the night and Ubers and taxis collapsed under the pressure of the numbers and over-charging.

It was p*ssing down with rain too, which didn't help. New Jersey governor Phil Murphy was none too pleased with WWE blaming the local infrastructure too, noting that WWE had mislead his office about timings. As he put it;

“At the end of the day, if folks are frustrated, they ought to be. I would have been crazed. It’s completely and utterly ‘dog-ate-my-homework’ unacceptable. We’re fixing it. We’re gonna learn from this. I’ll be damned if it happens again.”

The company are not set to return to the venue for at least the next two years. It could be longer if Murphy gets his way.

 
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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett