Wrestlemania XL
Lincoln Financial Field - Philadelphia, PA
This is the most fun that I've had watching Wrestlemania since I was in elementary school.
There were rumors that Sylvester Stallone was going to be involved, presumably with a Rocky themed introduction to the show or something along those lines. That didn't end up happening, but there was plenty of Philadelphia injected into the past two nights, both in the ring and from the fans. From Meek Mill, to the Eagles Luchadores of Jason Kelce and Lane Johnson, to many epic fan signs, this definitely felt like a Philly Wrestlemania.
This sign sums up my thoughts on WWE right now. I've watched this company's product off and on since I was five years old. The one consistent thing in all of that time is that whether it was called the World Wrestling Federation or World Wrestling Entertainment, this was a company that couldn't get out of its own way. No matter how talented the men and women on screen were, the writing was so ridiculous that it stripped the fun out of it. They create many cool moments, but it usually wasn't long before they'd screw it up with asinine dialogue, or lame attempts at humor, or booking decisions that seem as if they were done deliberately to piss off the audience... and I'm not talking about a heel getting heat.
I'm not going to go into any further detail here because it's a topic that could fill a book and I need to get some sleep. Suffice to say that enough people who have worked for the company have spoken out, and they paint a pretty clear picture of what was going on. The company was under the control of an asshole, and that asshole has now been removed from the equation.
All of the matches were enjoyable in different ways, but the things they all had in common is that the stories that were being told made sense. The commentating sounded fresh and interesting, free from all of the buzz words and typical scripting that used to make every character sound like they were one person speaking in different voices. The wrestlers seemed to be given more creative freedom with their characters, whether they were on camera during the show or speaking at the press conference at the end of both nights. If this is the road that this company is going to ride, I'll be riding it with them
