5 Things WWE could have done better at WrestleMania 36 Night 2 (April 5th, 2020)

Brock Lesnar suffered his fifth WrestleMania defeat
Brock Lesnar suffered his fifth WrestleMania defeat

WrestleMania 36 is in the books after night two concluded and we now move forward in arguably the most unique era in the history of WWE. Nobody seems to know whether the programming will continue forward after the post-WrestleMania episodes of RAW and SmackDown. It also looks like WWE will have to continue with empty arena shows for a few months more.

As for WrestleMania, we felt that night one was superior and no match on the second day was able to top the main event between The Undertaker and AJ Styles. There was a cinematic-style match-up as well, which was unique in its own right, but we'll get to that later.

It was the most unique WrestleMania of all time - one that we'll never see again. There's no denying that it would have been much better with a crowd (and the card would have been much better as well), but WWE made the most of what they had and it wasn't the worst WrestleMania in the last five years.

However, there are a few things that WWE could have done better on night 2:


#5. The match order

Edge and Randy Orton battled it out in the first half of night 2
Edge and Randy Orton battled it out in the first half of night 2

With crowds, deciding the match order can be tricky in an event like WrestleMania. Due to the excitement and incredible matches, crowds can often burn themselves out midway. This is why it's important to place matches in an order that gives the audience rest before they can react to the "more important" matches, so to speak.

This has been a larger problem since 2016 after expanding the runtime of WrestleMania drastically. In this case, the order didn't matter as much, but the flow of the second day was disrupted by matches being placed in the wrong slots.

#4. Reduced time for Edge vs Randy Orton

Edge and Randy Orton went to war
Edge and Randy Orton went to war

Edge vs Randy Orton had a runtime of 36 minutes and 35 seconds. It was the longest WrestleMania match in many years and certainly an impressive feat for Edge, who was wrestling his first singles match in nine years.

That's a long time to be away and it made the match even more intense. However, the reality is that it went on for at least 15-16 minutes longer than needed. 20 minutes would have been sufficient to tell a story. Moreover, the first half of their match was incredible - filled with the old school psychology and storytelling that we often praise.

It was a war between two legends of the industry, but as it went on and almost the entire Performance Center was utilized, it became a drag. Had it been in the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, the crowd reaction would have most likely gone flat by 15 minutes. Even the main event of night 1 didn't last as long.

#3. Avoiding filler matches and segments

This didn't do much for the show
This didn't do much for the show

There were a few matches that were purely filler. Aleister Black vs Bobby Lashley, for example, was a random addition to the card with no storyline, no build, and no confrontation before the PPV.

Even the RAW Tag Team Championship match seemed a bit thrown together, while there were a couple of kickoff show matches with no significance whatsoever. The biggest surprise, however, was the 24/7 Championship segment.

Mojo Rawley was running away, with a bunch of people chasing him while WrestleMania 36 host Rob Gronkowski was on the main stage. He would end up jumping on all of them, pinning Rawley to win his first title in WWE.

What surprised us was the fact that there was a crowd gathered together with so much contact. WWE had been taking the social distancing protocol very seriously, which is why the Andre The Giant and Women's Battle Royal were canceled.

The point is that there were filler matches and segments that didn't need to be there. What we learned this WrestleMania is that two days of three-hour shows are better than a one day, seven-hour show.

#2. The time given to the main event

Drew McIntyre and Brock Lesnar closed the show
Drew McIntyre and Brock Lesnar closed the show

Brock Lesnar defended the WWE Championship against Drew McIntyre in the main event of night 2 at WrestleMania 36. When we said that Edge vs Randy Orton should have been 15-16 minutes longer, it was also because 10 minutes of that could have gone to the main event.

We understand why WWE chose to quickly wrap up the main event. There are a few possibilities that WWE wants to book a rematch between the two at SummerSlam or a later stage when there's a crowd watching. It'll essentially be the re-doing of McIntyre's coronation - one that took him over a decade to get to.

If this was in the Raymond James Stadium, then they would main event with a minimum of 15 minutes. This match wrapped up in 4 minutes and 35 seconds - far too short for a crowning performance.

More time should have been given to the main event to legitimize McIntyre's win. We expect this to happen if they have a rematch in the coming months.

#1. The Firefly Fun House match

A trip down memory lane went awry for John Cena
A trip down memory lane went awry for John Cena

The Firefly Fun House match was the most interesting part about WrestleMania 36. It's interesting how the best part of both days was the cinematic pre-taped matches. However, there was one major problem with it - The Firefly Fun House match wasn't an actual match.

It was more of a long segment featuring Bray Wyatt taking John Cena down memory lane. In the "match", we saw Cena appear in his debut gear from 2002, as well as a return of The Doctor of Thuganomics. There was a ring, but Wyatt didn't do much wrestling. It was more of John Cena trying to attack Wyatt, only to fail every time.

By technicality, Wyatt won, but it was not via pinfall - it was from John Cena vanishing. Advertising it as a match was wrong, but we enjoyed the segment in itself. It was well-crafted and different from The Undertaker-AJ Styles Boneyard match from night 1.

It was a segment to remember and we commend WWE for attempting something different.

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