9 Ups And 11 Downs From WrestleMania 32
1. Smoke And Mirrors
Overall, WrestleMania XXXII should be remembered for its liberal use of smoke and mirrors to make it seem like a much bigger event than it really was. The PPV extravaganza was besieged by injuries, decimating the roster at the worst possible time. This in part forced WWE to rely on a series of part-timers Triple H, Brock Lesnar, Undertaker, Shane McMahon to take many of the top spots on the Mania card.
But in addition to that, retired wrestlers also figured prominently into Mania, with Steve Austin, Mick Foley and Shawn Michaels beating up the League of Nations and showing up the Tag Team Champions, the New Day. Then we saw the Rock and an injured John Cena clean house with the Wyatt Family.
We also saw Undertaker and Shane McMahon rely on a few contrived spots and suspension of disbelief to hold their heavily gimmicked match together. And we saw a never-ending WWE World Heavyweight Championship match that artificially pumped up the drama to try to rally fans behind an unpopular challenger who now is the new champion.
On the surface, an observer might think Mania was a successful event. But scratch the surface and youll see a lot more. Was WrestleMania entertaining at times and include some really great moments? Sure, its hard not to. But anyone buying the hype that this was one of the greatest Manias ever clearly fell for the smoke and mirrors. This was simply a long WrestleMania, and more is not necessarily better.
Now time for the Ups...