5 Most Insane Things Happening In Wrestling Right Now (April 27)
2. Iron Men (But Not Women)
In 1996, Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels wrestled for one hour in the main event of WrestleMania 12. The card was subsequently abridged, with a selection of bang-average battles trundling along before the company's two tightest technicians prepared to tackle the terrifying timeframe. This sort of task could only be undertaken by two athletes of such pedigree. In 2018, WWE are asking even more from their own audience.
The company blocked out six hours on the WWE Network for Saudi Arabia's Greatest Royal Rumble, three days after delivering another six across Monday and Tuesday with the usual diet of Raw, SmackDown and 205 Live. All just a fortnight removed from a seven-plus hour WrestleMania. It's one thing to get too much of a good thing, but quite another when half of the output is the drizzling sh*ts.
Monday Night Raw's main event was both an example of the overkill, and a heavy-handed make-good for their biggest public embarrassment since having to remove an alleged sex trafficker from a tin-pot battle royal trophy. Headlining the last (and least-watched) hour of Raw, WWE threw the entire women's division out to set up a Nia Jax 'high' spot and a Ronda Rousey run-in. The back-to-back big bumps resonated relatively well with the live crowd, but the segment was a transparent apology for the fact that none of the featured talents would be anywhere near the Greatest Royal Rumble.
Experts in sickening super-service, WWE were having their cake and eating it too. Again.