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Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet first broke the news that WrestleMania 36 is being planned to go ahead inside a different venue than planned - the WWE Performance Center. As you know, the latest episode of RAW and SmackDown took place from the Performance Center and that's where WWE will continue to be heading into WrestleMania 36. They posted a full statement, saying:
“In coordination with local partners and government officials, WrestleMania and all related events in Tampa Bay will not take place. However, WrestleMania will still stream live on Sunday, April 5 at 7 pm ET on WWE Network and be available on pay-per-view. Only essential personnel will be on the closed set at WWE’s training facility in Orlando, Florida to produce WrestleMania.”
This is undoubtedly heartbreaking for fans who booked their tickets from across the world to come and watch WrestleMania 36, but the reality is that in the bigger picture, avoiding a gathering of 75,000+ people is the right call to make.
As a result, we're going to have the smallest and most unique WrestleMania in WWE history and here are a few changes we can expect:
#5. WWE pulling something big out of the box
WWE is in a compromising position where WrestleMania 36 is in jeopardy. While being in the Performance Center could make the event lose all its aura and traction, WWE knows that they have to pull something big to get attention.
The Undertaker possibly changing gimmicks could be a sign of that, and while it may not be an outright surprise, WWE may make some major creative moves that they haven't before to garner attention for their biggest show of the year.
WWE has a few more weeks for that and we expect something big to happen before WrestleMania 36.
#4. Lack of pyro and a different take on entrances
WrestleMania is a spectacle and it's hard to imagine the event without the big, larger-than-life superstars making grand entrances. Superstars such as Triple H have huge entrance budgets and it's a part of their WrestleMania appearance.
This year, WWE has to compromise on all of that - the grand entrances, the massive set, the visual effects, the pyro, and everything that makes WrestleMania the pop-culture extravaganza that it is.
It's going to be a big loss this year and we're most likely going to witness WWE try and do a special take on these entrances. It's hard to imagine WrestleMania without it and the company won't be able to go all out as they usually do.
Either way, it's an unfortunate consequence of the situation and it's something that we have to be mentally prepared for. Triple H is a notable absence on the WrestleMania 36 card this year but we wonder what superstars have been doing about possible new gear that they've made specifically for the event.
#3. The shortest WrestleMania in 5 years
WrestleMania has grown so much over the years and so have all the other Big 4 PPVs. In 2015, Triple H announced that SummerSlam would be a 4-hour special going forward and they started to repeat this for Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series. They extended the length of all Big 4 PPVs - but none more so than WrestleMania.
Given that WWE wants to get everyone possible on the card, they have a 2-hour Kickoff Show and a PPV that runs from 4-5 hours. The total runtime can reach up to 6-7 hours and that can be quite a burnout for fans watching, which is why many significant matches in the last few years have lacked the desired reaction.
It's been a few years now since WWE implemented that big change to WrestleMania and the last edition that only had a few matches on the card was WrestleMania 31. Many matches have been and will be announced for the card, but don't expect the same runtime. That might be one of the few positives from this.
#2. No major surprises or returns
This is a major drawback that we expect. Kevin Owens accepted Seth Rollins' WrestleMania 36 challenge and stated that he has a "home field advantage" at the WWE Performance Center, indicating that he could have other NXT Superstars align with him.
It would make storyline sense if you watched NXT Takeover: WarGames, where he stepped in for Tomasso Ciampa's team at the last minute and played a huge role in helping them win the match. If that's the case, Ciampa, Keith Lee, and Donovan Dijakovic could be in the picture, but ultimately, we don't anticipate that happening.
WWE may pull off big moves before or after WrestleMania, but unlikely during the event. For now, it appears to be a case where WWE will want to get WrestleMania over with and move on until everything dies down and they can start performing in front of crowds again.
This also means that the RAW after WrestleMania 36 will be in an empty Performance Center.
#1. Brock Lesnar possibly retaining the WWE title against Drew McIntyre
One of the superstars who may get affected the most by these circumstances is Drew McIntyre. The Scotsman won the 2020 Royal Rumble and was all set to kick off the decade with his well-deserved coronation.
McIntyre is red-hot right now and is the perfect man to dethrone Lesnar - with the WWE Championship match expected to headline WrestleMania 36. Unfortunately, he won't get the coronation that he dreamed of and for all we know, he may not even get a coronation to begin with.
Let's not forget that it was only two years ago when every one of us was 100% sure that Roman Reigns would dethrone Brock Lesnar and become Universal Champion at WrestleMania 34. Ultimately, he did so, but only four months later at SummerSlam 2018.
Given the lack of crowd, WWE may postpone McIntyre's coronation and have him beat Lesnar at a later date in front of a bigger crowd. This would be devastating for McIntyre.
