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#3 Storytelling
Even if it is not the main reason you watch Pro Wrestling, storytelling is a vital part of the product overall. During the Hogan Era of the 80s and the later Austin years of the late 90s, Vince McMahon's ability to tell a story was second to none. True, the WWE have always tended to concentrate their best storytelling around a small select few, but when they are good, they are very good indeed.
Was Reigns vs Lesnar an example of the WWE's better storytelling work? One would have to argue that all things being equal, it probably wasn't.
The biggest problem was that the fans have never really been that invested in it. The lion share of the WWE Universe was always more willing to see somebody else in Reigns' position. At WrestleMania 31 most people would have preferred to see Daniel Bryan take on Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship, and the list of people deemed more worthy of the WrestleMania 34 main event pretty much covers most of the active male roster.
WrestleMania 31 was probably the highpoint of the storytelling with this feud. Lesnar was still riding the waves of his conquering of John Cena and The Undertaker and it was genuinely exciting to see if somebody would ultimately topple him. But coming off the back of Reigns' dismal Royal Rumble 2015 victory, that saw fans actually booing The Rock for daring to stick up for his cousin, nobody was really interested in seeing Reigns become the man to do it.
Instead, the WWE decided to draw back from their initial plan and have Seth Rollins cash in to take the title away from the Beast.
If WrestleMania 31 was less than sufficient, WrestleMania 34 was worse still. Lesnar had become more of a hindrance to the wrestling scene than anything else, failing to show up and defend his title on an annoyingly regular basis. With fans more invested in the likes of Braun Strowman and Seth Rollins, Lesnar vs Reigns in the main event felt like a largely skippable affair - hardly the basis for a storyline that captures your imagination.
In almost perfect contrast to this, Kenny Omega and Kazuchika Okada have just concluded one of the best-told stories of the modern era of Pro Wrestling. It had every story arc one could have needed - a seemingly unstoppable, cocky champion a brash, hungry upstart on the rise, jealousy, desperation, frustration and ultimate payoff. That is not to mention the subtleties of the Bullet Club's demise that saw Omega take on his stablemate Cody and fall out of favour with his best friends The Young Bucks.
The fact that Omega's victory prompted such dramatic post-match scenes with Ibushi and The Young Bucks holding him high above the ring tells you all you need to know about the emotional journey the Canadian has been on to reach this point. People cared about Omega achieving the seemingly impossible in a way that Roman, sadly, could only dream about.
