3 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE Unreal Season 3 (Review)

Downs...

4. Expectations Around Unreal Are Met, For Better And For Worse

When the first season of Unreal aired, it was can't-miss TV. For the first time, WWE was set to acknowledge the complexities of its backstage workings, secrets that had been kept for decades, and bring us access to the people behind the characters they play on TV. Across the show's first two seasons, fan expectation has been tempered. Unreal is part of the company's mission to be seen as entertainment that overcomes any adversity to deliver flawlessly to its fans, who are wowed by WWE's every move.

Fans have begrudgingly accepted the show is an exercise in PR, but Season 3 has a harder job of portraying WWE's ability to please its audience than in its first two seasons.

This year's WrestleMania was controversial for all the wrong reasons, as constant adverts made for a disjointed viewing experience, shortened matches were panned, and poorly executed angles came to largely unsatisfying conclusions. The John Cena retirement tour was also considered a disappointment, with his final match against Gunther at Saturday Night's Main Event causing weeks of hot takes about the man who never gives up tapping out. Season 3 of Unreal concentrates on trying to discredit these negatives with pretty unsatisfactory results.

Everything else is business as usual. Fly-on-the-wall footage is fun, and fans feel like they get a better idea of the personalities they follow. AJ Lee, Liv Morgan, and Trick Williams benefit best from this, while Stephanie Vaquer and Bron Breakker's coverage is a little disappointing, with the discussion around Breakker not being the right fit to win the 2026 Royal Rumble being one of the only moments that feel like you're getting any genuine look behind the curtain. Paul Levesque is worried fans might feel like they're having Breakker rammed down their throats, instead plumping for a man who's never been pushed down their throats: Roman Reigns. Sure.