The coronavirus outbreak caused World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) to make some tough decisions in the last month regarding their biggest event of the year, WrestleMania. The 36th installment of the show was scheduled to take place at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, with 80,000 people from all over the world expected to attend. Though the company initially hesitated to follow suit with other sports leagues in postponing or potentially canceling their show, it became clear within a matter of days that this event would not happen under normal circumstances.
In the weeks leading up to the big show, WWE started to move its weekly live tapings of Raw and SmackDown to its Performance Center in Orlando, Florida with only essential personnel in attendance. The company saw this as an opportunity to make sure WrestleMania would still happen on its original date and moved the event to the Performance Center. The company soon realized that a seven-hour show with no crowd could be boring and instead split the event into two nights for the first time ever.
Night one of WrestleMania 36 took place on Saturday, April 6, with WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon addressing the audience at home as the show started.
“It is our commitment to you to somehow, some way provide you with a diversion during these hard times,” McMahon said. “[To] deliver a sense of hope, determination and perseverance. And most of all, to entertain you and your family.”
Three-time Super Bowl champion Rob Gronkowski served as host for both nights and kicked off the festivities. The night started off slow with four matches that failed to grab viewers’ attention early on, with finishes that made the event feel more like an episode of RAW rather than a WrestleMania. However, halfway through the card, things started to pick up. A triple threat ladder match for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship between John Morrison, Kofi Kingston and Jimmy Uso gave viewers their first taste of what this WrestleMania could become. Hit after hit followed as the next match saw Kevin Owens jump off a WrestleMania sign and elbow Seth Rollins through an announcer’s table in one of the signature moments of the night.
The next match was originally supposed to feature Roman Reigns and Goldberg for the Universal Championship. Reigns, whose real name is Joe Anoa’i, returned to WWE in February of 2019 after battling leukemia for the second time. In the week leading up to WrestleMania, Pro Wrestling Sheet reported that Reigns did not feel comfortable participating in the event as an immunocompromised wrestler. WWE honored his request and dropped him from the show. The man who replaced him was Braun Strowman, who swiftly defeated Goldberg in two minutes and 10 seconds to become the new Universal Champion.
The highlight of night one came in the main event as AJ Styles faced The Undertaker in a “Boneyard Match.” The absence of a live audience paved the way for WWE to experiment. The 19-minute match was pre-recorded to give it a more cinematic feel, and this move worked as the match was received well by critics. The Undertaker, returning his “American Bad Ass” gimmick from the late 90s, emerged victorious over Styles.
Sunday, April 7, saw the second night of WrestleMania hit the ground running. Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley kicked off the show in a back-and-forth contest for the NXT Championship. Flair defeated Ripley after a grueling 20 minutes and became the new champion. In the longest match of both nights, Edge defeated Randy Orton in a Last Man Standing match. This was Edge’s first singles match since retiring in 2011 due to neck injuries. The match was nearly 37 minutes and saw both men fight throughout the Performance Center, including the warehouse where all old WWE props were stored. Host Rob Gronkowski also won the 24/7 Championship after jumping onto a sea of people from 20 feet in the air.
The penultimate match was John Cena versus “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt in a “Firefly Fun House Match.” Much like the “Boneyard Match,” this was also pre-recorded. While some may argue that this was not a match but rather a story, it surely did not disappoint. It was unlike anything ever seen in the world of professional wrestling, and there was incredible storytelling for the whole 13 minutes. Fans were also overcome with waves of nostalgia as they turned back the clock to several gimmicks, including Cena’s “Word Life” persona and Wyatt’s “Eater of Worlds” character. The company allowed Wyatt to freely express his creative ideas and the match lived up to the hype. Wyatt played mind-games with Cena and picked up the victory.
Finally, the main event saw Drew McIntyre defeat Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship. In just under five minutes, McIntyre endured three F-5’s from the champion. However, a series of Claymore kicks were enough to pin Lesnar.
All in all, WrestleMania 36 lived up to the hype. The WWE was faced with very dire circumstances and still managed to deliver an amazing show. With that being said, it is likely that some matches and results on this card would have never happened if they were performed in front of a live audience – especially the pre-recorded matches. For the wrestling fans watching at home, some have argued that the virus was a blessing in disguise as it resulted in a better and more entertaining show. Nevertheless, the WWE fulfilled its promise and put on a show to help give viewers a temporary escape from the world and put a smile on their faces.
Photo Courtesy of WWE
