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The Internet is still buzzing about WrestleMania 31. On one side, a portion of the WWE Universe is extremely happy about how things went down at the pay-per-view while on the other side, there is another portion that dug out the mistakes that WWE did at the show.To get the record straight, it was a great show. It was hands down the best pay-per-view outing of WWE in recent years and some of the fans even went on to say that it was the best ever WrestleMania.The ‘best’ WrestleMania argument needs further dissection and there are certain factors which work against it. Here is a look at those booking decisions which should have been avoided by the company at the Levi’s Stadium on March 29, 2015.
#5 NWo helping Sting
So let’s go through some history about WCW, shall we? The NWO coming down to aid Sting at WrestleMania 31 in his match against Triple H was a standout moment of the pay-per-view. The DX – NWo showdown was something that the fans wanted to see for ages and when it finally happened, the fans were swept away by Nostalgia.
However, the moment actually was contradicting to everything that happened between Sting and NWo back in WCW. Both parties were never on the same page back then and Sting was one of the biggest headaches for the faction. So why would NWO help Sting in the first place? WWE could come up with the argument that the common emotion of WCW is what joined them together but then again, NWo wanted to take over WCW and rule, so there you go.
#4 The Divas Match timing
Compared to the previous WrestleManias, the Divas match at WrestleMania 31 got some proper time. But this was still nowhere near the limelight that the male superstars got during the pay-per-view. The Divas Match lasted only six minutes while the next shortest match in the show was between Randy Orton and Seth Rollins and it lasted thirteen minutes.
WWE had the option of cutting short the Rock – Ronda Rousey segment and giving the divas some extra minutes to showcase their talent but the creative team chose otherwise.
The Give the divas chance hashtag is doing wonders for the girls and though WrestleMania 31 was comparatively better, all the four women involved probably deserved more time in between the ropes.
#3 Tag Team Championship in the Pre-Show
The pre-show of WrestleMania 31 ran nearly two hours and had two matches. The Andre the Giant (which we will see later in the list) Battle Royal looked perfectly fit to the scenario but the tag team bout didn’t. It had some fun spots and solid action right from the start itself and surprisingly, it also had an in-match storyline.
The injury of Jey Uso was played perfectly by the WWE and the champions retaining the gold was cherry on the top. All the eight men involved put their body on the line big time and deserved a spot in the main show for the amount of effort.
Lack of time might have been the reason why WWE put this in the pre-show but no one would have complained if WrestleMania ran some fifteen minutes longer.
#2 Big Show winning Andre the Giant Battle Royal
The Andre the Giant Battle Royal was designed for the purpose of remembering the legendary Andre and at the same time to put over a young superstar using his name. The first edition saw Cesaro being pushed as the winner and though he had a lot of momentum thanks to the win, WWE wasted their opportunity to build him as a main event star.
This year was WWE’s chance to restore some credibility back to the battle royal, but instead of doing that, WWE made Big Show win the whole thing. Now, Big Show deserves credit for everything he has done during his career but he is nowhere near his prime.
He had no momentum whatsoever coming into WrestleMania and letting him win over the likes of Ryback, Mizdow or even Hideo Itami was a big mistake by the company.
#1 Rusev losing to Cena
WWE gave Rusev a grand entrance at WrestleMania. He had flags, a miniature army, Lana and even a tank which he rode on. WWE trusting a debutant with such big entrance looked promising until John Cena pinned Rusev clean to win the United States Championship.
Almost everyone was sure about Cena winning the match at Mania, but there was a slight glimmer of hope here and there about Rusev changing the trend. That hope failed to come true and at the end of the day, Rusev ended up just like all those Anti-American heels that came and faded away in the big shadow of Americans.
Rusev’s career is at cross roads now and he might be in danger of being another Vladamir Kozlov if WWE doesn’t feed him with some proper feuds in the coming months.
