10 Ways This Has Been The Best WWE WrestleMania Build In YEARS!
Megastars, twists, and violence - now THIS is how you celebrate a fortieth!
Well, this has been a pleasant surprise!
Following the disastrous conclusion to last year's WrestleMania, it was easy to be worried over the future direction of the WWE. However, to their eternal credit the Paul Levesque-led company has spent the past year rebuilding themselves into the best wrestling promotion on the planet, rather than settling for being the most well-known one. All of which has resulted in a build-up towards WrestleMania XL that feels genuinely worthy of the fortieth edition of wrestling's most famous event.
WWE have done stellar work building up the card for this year's Show of Shows, and in the process have shown genuine improvement over issues that have bugged wrestling fans for years. Women have been given actual reasons to fight beyond "that's their job", the midcarders are doing more than propping up the main event, and most excitingly WWE actually paid attention to its fans!
True, the build-up to WrestleMania XL hasn't been perfect. Bobby Lashley and Karrion Kross' feud has done nothing for either man, and the female tag teams routinely perform in front of crowds so silent they make a Trappist monastery look like a frat house.
Frankly, however, that's to be expected. When there's this many moving parts in play, some of them are bound to run less smoothly than the others. But the parts that are running well have made this the most enjoyable Road To WrestleMania in years.
10. The Women's Division Has Actual Storylines
Good God, this feel's like it's been a long time coming.
WWE spent far too long treating the Women's Championship bouts at WrestleMania as afterthoughts. Look at last year's edition: Charlotte and Rhea only had one face-to-face meeting before their (legendary) bout, and Asuka and Bianca Belair didn't even get that. Hell, the latter feud gave more attention to Carmella and Chelsea Green than it did to the women who were fighting for the belt.
This year, things are thankfully, blessedly, different. Over on RAW, Becky Lynch and Rhea Ripley have a compelling story of the aging veteran facing the new standard-bearer in a desperate bid to prove she's still got what it takes. On Smackdown, meanwhile, WWE spent months crafting Bayley's betrayal by her former stablemates at Damage CTRL - a storyline that's led to the once-floundering superstar receiving the biggest cheers of her career since her legendary run in NXT.
After years of blatant disinterest from WWE Creative, it's incredibly refreshing to see both Women's Championship matches have a greater meaning beyond "the challenger wants the champion's belt". And it's even sweeter now that WWE have abandoned one of its most infuriating storytelling devices...