Four WWE Takeaways From Underwhelming WrestleMania 41 PLE

WrestleMania 41 certainly was a show, and there might be some WWE fans who are finally seeing the light.

Cagematch isn’t the perfect rating system, but it’s one of the most popular for fans to see how others think about events and matches. Night 1 of WrestleMania 41 received a 5.69 rating, and Night 2 received a 5.68. Those ratings were out of 10, so fans didn’t seem impressed by WWE’s big show in Las Vegas.

Oddly enough, WWE’s big-picture booking problems existed for years, but its loyal fanbase was willing to overlook those flaws because they got what they wanted. It seems like they did not last weekend. Let’s dive deeper into the premium live event and break down all that happened at Allegiant Stadium.

WrestleMIDnia
The build to WrestleMania 41 was very underwhelming. It was hard to get hyped up for most of the 14-match card, and the results weren’t better. Night 1 was abysmal, with nearly every match lacking the WrestleMania feel. It felt more like a glorified episode of “Monday Night RAW.” Jey Uso did nothing to prove he’s worthy of being the world heavyweight champion, and WWE had the gall to have him win via submission instead of giving fans the 1-2-3 they wanted. It was a flat start, not made better by the slop Tiffany Stratton and Charlotte Flair put out. It wasn’t a downright disaster to make it funny, nor was it an in-ring classic to save the night. It was an average mess that followed up snoozer matches.

Iyo Sky, Rhea Ripley and Bianca Belair started out Night 2 hot and put on the best match of WrestleMania 41. The crowd was able to get into the show, even if the results could be met with shoulder shrugs. Even Becky Lynch’s big return was an afterthought since the inevitable outcome will probably be Lynch being revealed as Bayley’s attacker. But wrestling is defined by its main events.

WWE’s main event style
Millions of fans last weekend were exposed to WWE’s Vince Russo-style booking. The matches literally don’t matter, and the talent know it. Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns and CM Punk lacked any intensity on Night 1, and things didn’t pick up until Paul Heyman got involved. John Cena seemingly refused to bump for Cody Rhodes, and their match didn’t get going until Travis Scott slowly walked his way to the ring. This is by design. WWE has taught its audience that matches are secondary to storytelling, as if both aren’t essential to what makes pro wrestling great. The problem is that crowds pop for an entrance, have their hands in their pockets for the match — unless they notice they’re on camera — and look at the entrance ramp to see who will run in. This was what plagued WCW in the late ’90s and why Russo was part of the company’s downfall.

WWE is not going anywhere. But while there was a positive reception to the Night 1 main event, Night 2 showed that when that style of booking doesn’t give the fans what they want, they’ll turn on the show. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson didn’t show up, despite supposedly being the on-screen catalyst for Cena’s heel turn, which proved to bite WWE when fans cheered the soon-to-be-retiring star and booed Rhodes. Cena showed how washed he is as a performer, and his undisputed WWE title run could be a chore to watch. The main events were bland and were a byproduct of years of WWE’s booking style. Everything felt soulless and lacked any energy. It seemed like some fans finally realized how damaging it can be for their viewing experience.

No more McAfee
What does Pat McAfee offer to WWE? Off-screen, he invites wrestlers on his show to give them free PR. But on-screen, he’s horrible for the viewing experience. The only reason to have the audio on for WWE shows is to hear the crowd. Otherwise, you’re better off listening to WWE shows on mute. McAfee offers nothing and only does annoying schtick with Michael Cole and Wade Barrett. It’s grating and made worse with Cole’s typical overdramatic storytelling on commentary. But as long as WWE superstars and executives are invited on the “Pat McAfee Show” and he continues to be a superfan of the product, he’ll continue to be a goof on commentary.

WWE hegemony
The big business news from last weekend was WWE announcing it had acquired Lucha Libre AAA. Those who follow the lucha scene are better sources to learn what this means for the business, because Paul “Triple H” Levesque calling AAA “traditional lucha libre” was laughable. AAA has never been anything close to “traditional lucha libre” since it wanted to be different than its competitor CMLL. Do WWE fans care? Of course not. It’s just another win for WWE that they can tout on social media. Enjoy the return of Albert Del Rio, who’s the top champion at AAA.

Nothing exemplifies WWE fans looking for “wins” anymore than Joe Hendry’s appearance for Randy Orton’s open challenge. The TNA world heavyweight champion came out and was made to look like the JAG he is. Making another promotion’s world champion look like a geek should be bad, right? Well, not to WWE’s loyal audience, who claimed that the exposure itself was great for TNA. Let’s be real, you’re not watching TNA after seeing that Hendry is its world champion. Here’s some free unsolicited advice: Don’t ever take a job where the top form of payment is exposure. It never works out well, and TNA was made to look like a minor-league promotion because only WWE is No. 1.