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WrestleMania 36, because of public health concerns regarding the outbreak of the novel coronavirus known as COVID-19, will not be held in the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, FL this year. You've... probably heard about that already. Instead, the Show of Shows will be presented over two (yep, I can count... I went to college) nights, and will be held not just at the WWE Performance Center (as a closed set), but also various other "multiple locations."
If you're like me - and I know I am - your heart sank just a little bit when this news was originally announced. Obviously, we all understand that the safety of the audience, performers, and crew is of utmost importance. Besides, if there's anybody who was going to find a way to keep the show going, it was going to be Vincent Kennedy McMahon.
Then, as I sometimes do, I got to thinking. WWE has always been able to take circumstances like this and turn them into a positive. There was the Raw after the 2015 Royal Rumble, which had to be canceled due to inclement weather (aka it snowed a lot and nobody could get there.) Or the SmackDown following Crown Jewel 2019, when a majority of the roster was stuck in Saudi Arabia. Both shows took what they had at their disposal and made the most of them. And they were great.
WWE has already thrown another wrinkle into the mix by announcing that 3-time NFL Super Bowl star and guy who admits he's friends with Mojo Rawley for some reason, Rob Gronkowski will be the host of both nights. Gronk retired from professional American Football in 2018 and, since then, has worked on his broadcasting chops as an NFL analyst for Fox Sports the following year.
So, here's some other ways we think can make this show... memorable. At least, more memorable than it's already going to be be.
#5. Make it cinematic
When I first pitched this idea to the Sportskeeda higher ups, I was pretty proud of myself for coming up with what is, in my humble opinion, a pretty darn good topic.
Then, I thought of two topics and got stumped. It happens.
Fortuitiously, my friend and actor/comedian John Gholson posted this on Twitter and totally came to my aid (and, yes, he totally knows there's a typo here):
I find it hard not to agree with this. Filming this show like any other WWE PPV - sans an audience - simply puts into sharp relief that there's no audience. WWE had fun with the concept on last Monday's Raw during the Stone Cold 3:16 Day segment...
But considering the format WWE is going with for the Show of Shows this year (see above), and there's an opportunity to film the event in ways they normally wouldn't.
Usually, I've found the times wrestling companies have actually done this a bit jarring - see the ending of the Halftime Heat empty arena match between Mankind and The Rock, where Mick Foley uses a forklift to win the WWE Championship from Rock, for example.
But, we're already dealing with a pretty jarring situation as it is. This is a perfectly fine time to try something new. And, who knows? They may just come up with a few ideas they can actually keep using.
#4. Absolutely nuts 'multiple locations'
As we were putting this piece together, it was not only announced that WrestleMania would take place over two days, but from 'multiple locations' other than the Performance Center in Orlando. These locations have, so far, not been revealed.
Holy cow, there's a lot of potential here.
Now, WWE's track record with on-location matches isn't... great. Yes, the Matt Hardy/Bray Wyatt "Ultimate Deletion" match was a treat, but we've already known that Hardy knows how to make these kinds of matches work.
On an aside, I'm kind of (but only kind of) disappointed that Hardy ended up in AEW, as it would have been a real shock to see him not only back in WWE in time for 'Mania, but offering the Hardy compound as a location for the Edge/Randy Orton Last Man Standing match. Oh, well.
Still, there's a lot of ways to work this. Have Shayna Baszler vs Becky Lynch in a cage in an empty MMA training gym. The Fiend vs John Cena can be held in a fireworks factory. Edge vs Randy Orton's Last Man Standing match can be held in that hole Edge pulled Orton out of. I dunno. Lots of possibilities.
Would this all be ridiculously gimmicky? Yeah. And hilariously so. But, if you take away the circumstances around why WWE is holding WrestleMania in this manner, well... that's pretty gimmicky in of itself.
Why not embrace it?
#3. That Edge/Randy Orton Last Man Standing match is going to be ridiculous
Let's go over the rules of a Last Man Standing match really quickly, for the three of you unfamiliar with the concept.
Two wrestlers start the match until one of them has been taken off their feet. At that point, the referee begins a 10-count, much like in boxing. If said opponent can't get to their feet by the count of ten, he loses the match. This ten count, by the way, can take place anywhere in the arena.
We good?
In matches like these (along with Falls Count Anywhere bouts), part of the excitement is seeing the action move into the crowd and all the chaos that ensues. Obviously, the reaction of the audience to the battle going on is an important element to the match, but it also presents a problem - namely, audience safety.
When a match is taken out into the crowd, pro wrestlers have to be concerned with the safety of their audience as well as that of their opponent. Of course, there is arena security there to help protect those attending the event (as well as protect the wrestlers from said public), but the wrestlers still need to be cognizant of the crowd around them.
Edge and Randy Orton won't have that problem at WrestleMania.
As of this writing, we still don't know where their Last Man Standing bout will take place - be it at the Performance Center or elsewhere (I hope it's at a Red Lobster, personally)(don't ask), but if it's held in an arena of any kind, these two will be able to go at it and put on a vulgar display of violence without having to worry about injurying anybody but themselves.
Considering how personal this storyline has gotten, I think that's a safe bet.
#2. They can focus completely on the TV audience
A usual live WWE TV show - Raw, SmackDown, NXT, whatever - always has two distinct audiences it needs to connect with. The live crowd in attendance and the viewers at home. Obviously, I'm not telling you anything you don't already know. I'm trying to make a point. Can I finish? Thank you.
Because of this, there has to be a balancing act between the two. A TV broadcast, for example, has to occasionally go to a commercial break, leaving the performers to have to stall somewhat for at least two minutes until the live show comes back on the air. Even a taped show like 205 Live (that's still on the air, right?) has to take into account the arena crowd, as their reaction to the performers is a major part of the show they're presenting.
Essentially, a typical pro wrestling show revolves around matches that are taking place in front of a live audience. Taped or live, that audience needs to be taken into account in the presentation. After all, that's the entire concept. Or, as Hollywood screenwriter and terrible human being Max Landis put it in his Wrestling Isn't Wrestling short, pro wrestling is a "TV show about a wrestling show."
You take that crowd away, and you're left with a wrestling show - albeit, with the same kayfabe trappings that come with the business either way.
I know WrestleMania is the biggest show of the year (usually), but these are unusual times and it's fascinating that the removal of simply one element - the live crowd - opens up a ton of possibilities to experiment with.
#1. If it works, this could change the way PPVs are presented in the future
"Necessity is the mother of invention."
I believe it was Plato who coined that phrase. Or Frank Zappa. Seriously, this feature is so behind deadline, I didn't really have time to research this one particular thing. But, I'm pretty sure it was one of those two guys.
In a weird way, I sort of compare this to the strategy a lot of video game companies have been implementing when it comes to the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) - another casualty of COVID-19, sadly. Rather than producing an expensive stage show of a press conference to announce their upcoming titles to the world, many of them are producing slick, fun, pre-recorded presentations and releasing them online during the event, instead.
Nintendo and Devolver Digital are just two examples of this.
OK, that's the last of the gaming stuff.
My point is, WWE has been trying to innovate in a vaccum. That can be helpful sometimes - have limitations on your creative output and, inversely, require creators to work with those limitations and create something even more... er... creative. And, WWE has been working with the same format for decades now. That's not a knock on them, by the way - when you're a company that big, you don't have the (for lack of a better word) luxury that a Chikara does.
Don't get me wrong - neither myself or anyone else (at least, not anyone else that's sane) expects WWE to reinvent the wheel this April. But, out of necessity, comes innovation. And, as I mentioned at the start of this rambling diabtribe, WWE works really, really well when necessity enters the picture.
So, I'm actually really, really excited to see what Vince and Co. cook up for this first week in April. It might be incredible, or it might be an abomination. Hopefully, at the very least, it'll be interesting.
