WrestleMania 42: A double-sided medal.

As every year, we have arrived at the most important event of the year regarding world wrestling.

Wrestlemania is one of those shows that can launch careers (John Cena and Batista), end them (Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels), create unforgettable moments (the end of Undertaker's Streak), and carry forward nonsensical records (the same Streak for 20 years). After 42 years, the "showcase of the immortals" is always an event that makes the entire wrestling community talk about it. This edition makes no exception.

How was it? Let’s go in order with the nights. Let's start from the first night. But first, a small premise regarding the path that brought us to Wrestlemania.

Road To Wrestlemania.

Honestly, this Road To Wrestlemania, a period that goes from February to April (which always starts from the Royal Rumble), was not much. Personally, no story really gripped me. In truth, I didn't give a damn about any wrestler. This is a problem that this year has accentuated considerably, which I had already encountered for a couple of years.

At Wrestlemania 39 and 40 I had Cody Rhodes against Roman Reigns and that desire to see Cody win the title and finally realize his dream. It took two years, two Royal Rumbles won in a row, and a ton of ups and downs, but in the end, the wait paid off. Other than that storyline, for both editions, I don't remember anything else. No matches or stories come to mind that were worth the stage of Wrestlemania, as far as I'm concerned.

At Wrestlemania 41, we had "bad" John Cena, after two decades of waiting, who was going for the title, again against Cody Rhodes. That match was damn interesting, also for the alliance of Cena with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Unfortunately, what we had at Wrestlemania was meager stuff (I would say a real piece of crap), but even here, other than this match, I don't remember that feud that touched my emotional chords.

Wrestlemania 42 is even worse, because there wasn't that match that I absolutely wanted to see. That construction for that match that was worth being followed until the end was not made. All the stories for the proposed matches were approximate, superficial, almost as if the entire creative team had absolutely no ideas for the most important show of the year, not only for the American company, but for all wrestling in general. There were a couple of interesting moments, but they don't justify three months of slowness, little inspiration, and waste.

Furthermore, we must not forget the fact that Wrestlemania moved from New Orleans to Las Vegas, only to capitalize on the cost of tickets. This change did not help at all. The fans found themselves fighting with prices at the limit of illegal, making people scream for the boycott of the show. The WWE itself, given the scarcity of interest for the show, had to lower the price of tickets, only to avoid having half-empty stands. There was news according to which for both nights only 30 thousand tickets had been sold against a stadium capacity of over 50 thousand.

Weak stories and controversy over tickets are not a good omen. However, the show, how was it?

Night One.

Let's start immediately by saying that despite the alarms of an empty Wrestlemania, the first night saved itself. For the first evening, there were 50 thousand people. The visual was excellent, worthy of Wrestlemania.

Regarding what happened in the ring, the first night was something delirious, not in a positive sense. This first night was hamstrung by three factors, difficult to overlook: the advertising, the matches, and the audience.

Advertising.

The first is the advertising. I, fortunately, saw the first night on replay on Sunday morning (the same thing I will do for night two, recovering it on Monday morning), so I was able to skip the advertising parts. However, it was a continuous pushing on the right arrow to go forward. It was nerve-wracking for me to go forward continuously, let alone undergo that torture live. It is true that during the match they did not do interruptions, but between one match and the other it was a nightmare. Practically out of three hours of show, only one hour of wrestling was seen. The other two hours passed between commercials, entrances, and other things that had nothing to do with the show. The other three Wrestlemanias I had always finished after lunch. It had never happened to me to finish the show before lunch. Instead, this time it happened. Which leads me to the second point.

Matches.

The matches were too short. Apart from two matches (Seth Rollins vs Gunther and Cody Rhodes vs Randy Orton) that exceeded 15 minutes, all the other matches saw an average duration of around eight minutes. What do you want to obtain with eight minutes of match? Even during the episodes of Raw and Smackdown, the spoken segments last longer. The confrontation before Wrestlemania at Smackdown between Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton lasted almost 20 minutes. Wrestlers can try everything you want, but with such timing, you can't tell anything.

Those who paid the price were the women who saw scandalous timings in all matches, especially if we consider the Fatal-Four-Way match for the tag titles: four pairs, eight women, less than eight minutes of match. Practically an average of one minute per woman. But also the other matches, the one for the women's intercontinental title and for the women's top title, lasted less than ten minutes. The even more scandalous thing is that those women have the potential to do 30 minutes of very high-quality match, and yet nothing. Three titled matches that last less than ten minutes is madness. At least the men had a couple of "long" matches.

What I perceived was the flavor of a weekly show. When you think of Wrestlemania, you think of great moments, great returns, or something that will mark a year or even an entire generation of fans. The Bodyslam of Hulk Hogan on Andre the Giant is one of those moments. In this first evening, there was nothing. Yet we could have had great matches, given the people involved.

The opening match (The Usos and LA Knight against Logan Paul, iShow Speed, and Austin Theory) was short and absolutely meaningless. It served only to introduce iShow Speed to the audience and show that he is athletic. Almost the entire match rotated around him. No story told, no evolution. Waste of time.

The "fight" between Drew McIntyre and Jacob Fatu was a classic wrestling match with a couple of objects used. These two had only one task: to hurt each other and destroy everything in the process. For months these two beat each other with unheard-of violence and then when it mattered the most, they did a ballet.

There was the return of Paige, after almost a decade of absence, during the match for the women's tag titles, which she won with Brie Bella, but it did not help. Yes, a nice event, but already at the Main Event, I had almost forgotten that Paige had returned, as forgot what happened in this too-short match. If I had gone to the bathroom shortly before, I would have missed it.

The fight between Becky Lynch and AJ Lee for the intercontinental title was strange. The construction was precarious, with the two interacting little in recent months. And it was seen in the match: it almost seemed like Becky wrestled the referee and not AJ. I swear to you there was more violence and chemistry between Becky and the referee than between Becky and AJ. Becky wins the intercontinental title, but it was not emotional, because it was too short. Nothing relevant happened in the match.

The top women's title was a mega spot for Liv Morgan's song, released a few days before. For the rest, an irrelevant match. The Judgment Day (the group Liv Morgan belongs to with Roxanne Perez and Raquel Rodriguez) helped Liv win the match against Stephanie Vaquer and take the title. Here too, short timing, everything happened too quickly. If I had blinked, I would have missed it.

Speaking of the Main Event, many got angry both for the story told and for the match. Honestly, they are right. True that there was a meager timing (15 minutes for the main event is little), however more could have been done than this. There could have been a different winner, making Orton win the 15th title in his career, the requested "turn heel" of Cody Rhodes could have been told, but nothing was done. They made us sniff something, without giving us the opportunity to savor what we want to eat.

The comic thing is that, qualitatively, the matches were not bad. God, it is also difficult to do disasters in only ten minutes of match. Unfortunately, the creative team hamstrung everything with such a ridiculous timing and sloppy stories. Difficult even to judge. No development for the future was offered, no closure worthy of such a name, and no jaw-dropping moment or that thing that stays in the mind. I will have already forgotten this evening tomorrow.

Audience .

Then we have the audience. Many said that the audience was turned off. Much depends also on how the sound is captured in the arena, but even I visually saw a little active audience. It must also be said that by now there is always the comparison with the audience outside the United States, which makes Americans pass as boring. Which is also partially true, but given what WWE offered as matches in this first night, it is also difficult to scream "wow, how cool!". It is not a question that the American audience is very casual, therefore it doesn't cheer and doesn't incite too much. It is about emotional dragging: there was no reason to go crazy for the matches seen. Too reduced timings, zero stories told that did not allow the audience to warm up or the wrestlers to bring the audience into the contention.

A disappointing first night for me. Not even John Cena as host, or Bianca Belair's pregnancy announcement, had the desired effect.

On this first night (morning for me), I was able to watch the event, write this post, and still didn't miss a thing. I can't imagine the mood in which those who were in Las Vegas and paid hundreds of dollars to see this show left the arena.

Night Two

The night was better. Same number of matches, less advertising, and therefore longer matches. This gave the audience a way to warm up and enjoy a show that was all in all pleasant. Of course, we are always far from Wrestlemania standards, but during the second evening, a greater quality was seen.

The evening opens with John Cena who creates an involuntary comic moment, stating that the first night was a beautiful thing. I don't know what universe he saw. I know he has to sell Wrestlemania as a grandiose show, because he is paid by the company, but after all the disappointment that the fans expressed after the first night, it seemed quite out of context. But I understand the reason that was behind this announcement.

For the second night, too, let's take the three points from night one and compare them with night two.

Advertising.

Also in night two, advertising was the master. I expected something like that, since these kinds of problems are not corrected in 12 hours. There are existing contracts that were signed weeks before. It was not fortunately so invasive, but it made itself felt. With longer matches, the spaces to sell products were fewer. However, there was the moment of madness, which we will see later.

Matches.

How were the matches? The matches had a greater space, as it should be in a wrestling show. And this allowed the wrestlers to tell a minimum of a story and save the damage that WWE did during the months that led to the show, something that was not possible in night one. This evening was very masculine, with only one female match between Jade Cargill and Rhea Ripley. In this edition, neither the female United States title nor both male tag team titles were put on the line. They preferred to occupy the time, trying to sell items, rather than creating matches even for these three titles.

I didn't expect that the first match was already the encounter between two physical monsters like Oba Femi vs Brock Lesnar. I expected a fight between giants and it was what I got. Good to see two beasts like them beat each other up properly. Unfortunately, the match lasted little. I would have liked to see these two beat each other for a long time. We are facing less than ten minutes, perhaps the shortest of all the second evening. But the audience lit up and participated. Brock Lesnar loses and we have probably seen the end of the Beast's career. I understand that by now Brock Lesnar is close to 50 and that it was time to leave the path to young people like Oba Femi. Too bad only that I would have liked to see his end of a stupendous career at his home in Minnesota, during Summerslam. Good to see anyway Brock and Paul Heyman embrace publicly and spend time with the audience. Oba Femi is scary. He has a physical strength without sense. WWE has a beast.

Here's the moment where commercials cut out the entrances of three wrestlers. Dragon Lee, JD McDonagh, and Rusev's entrances were only seen in the stadium. Again, it's nice to see how commercials took away from the show. I only got to see the entrances of Rey Misterio, Penta, and Je Von Evans.

The ladder match for the Intercontinental title was fantastic. It was long enough, with lots of commercials, people flying everywhere, ladders breaking, and physical challenges being put to the test. I had a lot of fun. This match delivered exactly what I expect when three Mexicans and Je Von Evans are surrounded by ladders.

The moment where Dragon Lee, Rey Misterio, and Penta were in the ring at the same time was cute. Mexican wrestling must have appreciated Je Von Evans, and he was fantastic: an incredible athlete. A great match, the second best of all WrestleMania.

A United States Title match that I didn't care about. I honestly don't care about Sami Zain as champion, and the rivalry with Trick Williams didn't really pique my interest. However, what happened at the end is particularly interesting. It will be interesting to see how Sami Zain develops his villain persona, given that, from the way this match played out, Sami is going to be a villain. And I want to know how WWE will handle Trick Williams as United States Champion, hoping he doesn't squander it.

The street fight between Dominik Misterio and Finn Balor was supposed to elevate the match after the previous day between Drew McIntyre and Jacob Fatu, which was truly pitiful. It was nice to see Finn Balor as the "Demon" after three years, but the beauty ends there. This match was a disappointment. I didn't see a street fight, but a match with objects in the ring. It's a real shame, because it could have been a great match, but it was just a wrestling match. No violence, no sadism, just wrestling moves. I didn't feel the brutality of the match, but I didn't feel it during the build-up to this event either, to be honest.

The WWE Women's Championship match had a nearly ridiculous build. It all hinged on champion Jade Cargill saying she has more muscle than challenger Rhea Ripley. Those aren't the reasons I'm passionate about a story, and they're not the reasons to keep me glued to the screen for the match. The match was based solely on the fact that the crowd loves Rhea and doesn't care about Jade. If Rhea hadn't been in the match, no one would have cared. Even though there was interference from K-Fabe, Min Chin (who are with Jade Cargill), and then Iyo Sky, these interferences didn't give me any sense of imminent danger. In fact, K-Fabe and Min Chin's interferences were completely stupid. This "low quality" has nothing to do with the athletes, but with the creative team. Rhea wins the WWE Women's Championship. On to the next match.

The segment with The Miz and Sandhausen made me feel pity. WWE tried to create something funny, but it was an incredible piece of shit. Let's move on.

The Main Event lasted forever. We went from a night one match lasting just eight minutes to a night two Main Event that lasted about 60 minutes, including the entrances and the match. I'd say we went from one extreme to the other.

It was fantastic to hear the original version of Roman Reigns' entrance again, as if to say "back to basics."

The match, though "long" on paper, was the best match of all WrestleMania. It was physical, mentally brutal; they fought, they bled, they stole each other's finishing moves, they made themselves available for "dangerous" spots.

It was a coherent match, well thought out, and well executed. I saw the desire of both men to prove who the alpha male is; I saw Roman's frustration and hatred on one side and Punk's determination on the other; and I saw the intensity the two displayed throughout the Road to WrestleMania. This was the only WrestleMania match worthy of the name.

Roman Reigns finally becomes the Raw Heavyweight Champion. His return to the top of WWE is a major coup. And it's also a major coup for Netflix, which will have Roman and Punk on the same show. Now we'll have to see how Roman Reigns will handle this reign and how Punk will respond.

Audience.

The second night was better. With higher quality, longer matches, the crowd also felt more engaged. The ladder match for the Intercontinental title was perhaps the most adrenaline-fueled moment, where the crowd participated, but the main event was something fantastic, where the crowd was that extra something. Other matches were also emotionally engaging, especially the opener with Brock Lesnar's retirement and Trick Williams' victory in the United States title. On this night, the money spent on the event was well spent.

Result Night Two.

Night two was better than night one. Better matches, a more engaged crowd, and that premium live event feeling was finally there. But it was nowhere near the epic scale that WrestleMania is supposed to offer.

Final thoughts.

It was a very strange event, because it was like watching two different events: on night one we had a run-of-the-mill Raw, while on night two we had something approaching WrestleMania.

It wasn't a decent WrestleMania, though. I was bored on the first night, and the second night wasn't up to par with the most important show of the year, aside from the Main Event. It's a shame. Too many short matches, too much commercial breaks.

What really undermined this edition was the buildup to each individual match. Months of time to create something beautiful, exciting, and that anticipation for the "showcase of the immortals" that you expect, but they didn't use it. They wasted time and created truly unappealing, boring storylines that made all the matches feel down.

It's a shame. After all, not every year can be great, but you always hope it happens next year. Let's hope they can build on this momentum to create an exciting 2026, in preparation for WrestleMania 2027.

M.