10 Ways This Has Been The Best WWE WrestleMania Build In YEARS!
1. WWE Is Listening To The Audience
Two months ago, WWE fans felt a familiar sense of dread when the train leading to Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns' WrestleMania rematch was derailed by an unexpected -and unwelcome - Rock on the tracks.
To be fair, the fans' antipathy was well-earned. After all, WWE had spent the majority of the past ten years placing their pet projects on inconceivably high pedestals, seemingly out of the reach of the sling and arrows of its disgusted audience. This "our way or the highway" booking didn't even do the supposed beneficiaries any favours: the supremely talented Charlotte Flair was unfairly castigated as the ultimate nepo hire, and the more WWE tried to portray Roman as its biggest hero, the more arenas he was booed out of.
This time, however, WWE actually listened. The company noted the hugely negative backlash to Cody's usurpation from the main event, and turned on a dime to transform a potentially catastrophic firestorm into a blaze of hype. This has been the best build to a WrestleMania main event since Daniel Bryan's ascent up the mountain back in 2014 and - inadvertently or not - has created the idea that WrestleMania XL is a once-a-decade event. Just as wrestling watched in droves to see Daniel Bryan win the big one at WrestleMania XXX, so too will they be tuning in to see Cody finally finish his story.
WWE has the chance to kick off a bold new era by putting the title on Cody, and wrestling fans all over the world will be eagerly tuning in on WrestleMania Weekend to see it happen.