Why WWE WrestleMania 38 Reeks Of Desperation

by Scott Carlson
Undertaker, Shawn Michaels
WWE

For years, people have criticized WWE for relying on part-timers at WrestleMania, observing that there would come a day when Undertaker, John Cena, Triple H and even Shane McMahon wouldn’t be able to perform, and what would the company do then to fill out a Mania card? Book Dolph Ziggler in a prominent feud?

The solution, for this year it seems, is to lean on Brock Lesnar again, throw money at Ronda Rousey, book a couple of celebrities, try to entice Steve Austin out of retirement, toss Vince McMahon into a feud at 76, and combine your two biggest titles in the company on six weeks’ notice.

WrestleMania is WWE’s biggest show of the year, and it’s an ambitious effort to try to sell out the Dallas Cowboys’ stadium. So yes, they should be pulling out all the stops.

One or a two of those gimmicks would suffice for a Mania, but all of them? Do you know what else they have in common? Aside from Roman (and to an extent Rousey), none are WWE roster m ainstays or current champions. Sami Zayn, Miz, even Kevin Owens aren’t the selling points of these matches.

That gets to the bigger issue here: WWE is relying on smoke and mirrors to make Mania seem like a dream event and that the company is bigger and better than ever. And while they could pull all of this off and deliver a “stupendous” two-night WrestleMania, it doesn’t take into account that the shortcomings that force this desperation aren’t being addressed the other 363 days of the year.

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Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.