10 Wrestlers That Have Suffered Since WWE WrestleMania 35
The only way is down.
Is WrestleMania a lie, or are the cracks around its once-proven truths starting to show?
WWE have dined out on forcing through "WrestleMania Moments" in recent years, often at the expense of logical narrative. Network specials donate time to dovetailing personal journeys that often shine spotlights on the lows of reaching the supposed personal and professional apex rather than the obvious highs. The shows themselves have become long to a fault - main events will continue to play subdued hums for years to come as long as the punters expected to pop have been sat there for seven hours.
'The Showcase Of The Immortals', by definition of that very nickname, should be the destination that solidifies stars forever. Yes, even a showpiece event has to have a midcard, but the increased prestige of the occasion used to set up as much as it paid off. Now, a taste of the good life is all some of these sacks of sh*t will ever get to appreciate, so fleeting and flawed is the fame.
It's not an exact science of course (as a sister piece for to this piece later this week will examine...), but WWE's pinnacle hasn't ever been as precipitous.
10. Tony Nese
Babyfaced in spite of his incredible abs earlier this year, the Tony Nese/Buddy Murphy Cruiserweight Championship clash held in front of a half-empty Metlife Stadium was a little bit of a banger, but the title switch didn't represent any sort of change for the division at large.
Murphy's 'Best Kept Secret' nickname was all too true throughout his reign - his contests were rarely pushed beyond the pre-show despite consistently over delivering on the measured expectations of the early-arrivers at pay-per-views. Never rewarded beyond the swathes of online praise his performances received, Murphy's loss didn't make a new star in Nese, nor did the match set anything in motion for either of them going forward.
For Nese, this was merely an unfortunate byproduct of the poisoned chalice he was now forced to sip from. For the Australian outgoing champion, a switch to SmackDown in a post-WrestleMania Superstar Shakeup should have been his overdue escape hatch.
However...