10 Ways WWE Can Prove The Critics WRONG At WrestleMania 37

8. Don't Do The Roman Reigns Thing With Drew McIntyre

Drew McIntyre
WWE.com

Ahead of WrestleMania 33, Roman Reigns had to be kept strong, even though he was rather strong already, to convince the fans that he stood a chance against the Undertaker. To do this, Reigns brutalised the reigning RAW Tag Team Champions in a damaging and laughably transparent exercise.

"This Roman Reigns fella has the strength of two men! What a great powerhouse!" literally nobody said, except some dipsh*t in Bryan Alvarez's Twitter replies.

It was a double-barrelled blast of quintessentially damaging Vince McMahon bullsh*t. The fans further resented Roman and grew yet more disillusioned with the abject death of tag team wrestling. This was no aberration, either: Triple H was rather fond in the 2000s of casually burying tag teams on his lonesome as a skit, almost.

There's nothing left to kill in 2021. Tag team wrestling is no longer a corpse; it's just ashes. But there's a risk facing Drew McIntyre, who mustn't be killed. He's a rare well-pushed main event-level act, and a babyface no less. Meanwhile, it's difficult not to cheer Bobby Lashley. He just melted The Miz and is an awesome wrecking machine. He is everything the WWE fan was programmed to pop for in their youth writ large.

If Drew annihilates Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin, in the sort of development often forecast through cynical (and accurate) jokes, that might be it for him.

Don't weaponise critics, and they won't shoot. It's so, stunningly simple.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!