ESPN's Reviewers Were NOT Impressed With WWE Wrestlepalooza... (WWE News)

Per ESPN, WWE Wrestlepalooza "fell a little short of expectations".

by Andrew Pollard
WWE Wrestlepalooza 2025 Iyo Sky Stephanie Vaquer
WWE

With WWE Wrestlepalooza representing the first-ever Premium Live Event as part of the mammoth deal between ESPN and WWE, and with ESPN going hard with its promotional push for the PLE, it turns out that the sports juggernaut wasn't all that impressed with Wrestlepalooza.

ESPN's Andreas Hale was tasked with formally reviewing Wrestlepalooza, awarding the show an overall score of C. In terms of the highest-rated match, the excellent Stephanie Vaquer vs. Iyo Sky bout received a B+ ranking, whilst John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar had the lowest rating with a C-. For those wondering, all three other matches on the card - AJ Lee & CM Punk vs. Becky Lynch & Seth Rollins, The Vision vs. The Usos, and Cody Rhodes vs. Drew McIntyre - all received C ratings.

These ESPN reviews of WWE PLEs are done with the aim of assessing "the quality of each wrestling match based on effective storytelling, in-ring performance and overall entertainment", and clearly Andreas Hale felt that Wrestlepalooza fell somewhat short, particularly given the considerable hype surrounding the event, not to mention Triple H's promises of surprises and spectacle. On that front, there was an incredible amount of pyro used during that show that might warrant some of that spectacle, but for surprises, the only surprise of any fashion was the Undertaker announcing Stephanie McMahon as the first inductee of the 2026 WWE Hall of Fame class.

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Summarising WWE Wrestlepalooza, the final thoughts of this ESPN review are:

"The excellent Vaquer vs. Sky match saved this show from being truly average. It was a phenomenal display inside the squared circle. Everything else was either underwhelming (the short Rhodes-McIntyre match) or a setup for a future match (Lesnar dominating Cena). For a card that promised to have epic moments, it fell a little short of expectations."

Elsewhere, ESPN's Arda Ocal - who was previously in WWE as Kyle Edwards - was a little more positive about Wrestlepalooza, naming AJ Lee as the MVP of the night, praising WWE's positioning of Cody Rhodes as the guy, and likewise celebrating Vaquer vs. Sky as the PLE's best match.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.