Other than the Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania is my favourite event out of the big 4 (now 5 since King Of The Ring is back and to that I say, LET’S F**KING GOOOOOOOOO, BOYZ).
However, as the years went by and with the increase in both the roster and television time since the show’s inception in 1985, the biggest event in professional wrestling has gotten longer and longer and longer.
To the point where it went from being an almost 3-hour show in the case of Wrestlemania 9 (a show everybody hated besides that racist POS named Terry) to the last show with only a single night, Wrestlemania 35 closing in at “only” 5 HOURS AND 19 MINUTES excluding the pre-show (aka a typical run time for every AEW PPVs).
The first time I can recall a discussion about whether Wrestlemania should be a two-night extravaganza was actually on an episode of the Solomonster Sounds Off podcast during a Q&A session.
I don’t really remember thinking much of it until WWE announced a 2-night event for Wrestlemania 36 and I reacted to it the same way Meg Ryan’s character reacted in this When Harry Meets Sally “No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no…yes”
Like Bryan Danielson, I say “yes” because the possibility of a show ending in less than a few hours is my “Waves Joey Bada$$” to my ears.
Part of the reason why Money In The Bank 2020 was one of my all-time favourite shows is that the event ended at 2 hours and 23 minutes and you know a show is good when there’s no sunrise yet.
You’re probably going to read this like, “why do you care if a show is too long?” and to that question I answer with, as an adult, time is getting more scarce than ever and as a person that lives outside of North America, I do not want to go to work (true) an hour after every wrestling event looking like f**king Clayface.
The looks up how much Wrestlemania 38 made 18 million dollar question is, how has Wrestlemania been since the debut of the two-night event? Let’s just put it this way, first-night thumbs up, second-night thumbs down.
The show actually flows a LOT better since each of the two nights lasted around 3 hours instead of, I don’t know, 7 HOURS.
That fluidity also gives the matches more breathing room to tell a great story (case in point, Bianca Belair vs Sasha Banks for the blue women’s belt at Wrestlemania 37. Now that’s what I call a good f**king match).
Just because those shows have more time to simmer with their matches, that doesn’t mean all of them are gonna come out great and I have a way to convey that point using a click on a pen LIST!
Here is a list of those matches:
WRESTLEMANIA 36: Elias vs King Corbin, Edge vs Randy Orton (yea, looking back, it was one boring a** match), The Street Profits vs Angel Garza and Austin Theory.
WRESTLEMANIA 37: Apollo Crews vs Big E, Randy Orton vs The Fiend, Braun Strowman vs Shane McMahon
WRESTLEMANIA 38: Drew McIntyre vs Happy Corbin (that match didn’t make me happy, I’ll tell ya that much), Charlotte Flair vs Ronda Rousey, Vince McMahon vs Pat McAfee.
On and all, Wrestlemania has, for the most part, benefited greatly thanks to its adoption of a two-night showcase.
Will see how that tactic matures over time but for now, I’m going to watch the Shawn Michaels vs The Undertaker match at Wrestlemania 26 and so should you my Gs.
