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What is going on with WWE? What's going on in the mind of Vince McMahon? How many times has it occurred that the biggest babyfaces going into WrestleMania have won their match?
More often than not, it has always been about striking a balance. If one crowd favorite bags a victory, the other matches will either be a spoilsport or it will be according to what Vince wants. Vince McMahon clearly knows what the fans want, but you can never expect Vince to please the fans in a manner like what we have witnessed at the MetLife Stadium this year.
If somebody told you that Seth Rollins would slay the Beast in under 2 minutes, that too at WrestleMania, you would have shaved your head as a bet. But it did happen. It is unimaginable to think that Vince would let such a thing happen to Brock, one of his favorites. Even Roman Reigns was denied a crowning moment at last year's showpiece event.
Rollins tore through the RAW roster and his performances and hard work landed him a deserving opportunity at this year's WrestleMmania. There were many people who called his Royal Rumble victory 'uninspiring', but honestly, there was no better candidate to face Brock other than the Architect himself.
Plus, with Roman announcing his leukemia diagnosis, things almost got into a panic mode for the red brand. They were left without their biggest star and more importantly, the Champion at that point. Rollins was the most obvious choice, but a deserving one.
And what about the women? It is easy to believe that Vince sees Charlotte as not just the face of the Women's Division, but even maybe as the face of WWE too. After what has transpired over the last year, with Ronda Rousey's arrival and her impact on the division, it was evident that women were going to headline Mania. Charlotte vs Rousey was the plan right from the start.
Fans already knew of this plan, and they would have prepared themselves for this match as well. To be honest, even if it had been Flair vs Ronda as the main event this year, a lot of fans may not have complained at all... only had there been no resurgence of Becky Lynch.
We don't deserve Becky. It's true. She has literally crawled and clawed her way to not just the main event of this year's WrestleMania, but also to become the first ever Undisputed Women's Champion.
Only Becky deserves all the credit. She has masterfully spun the wheels of her fortune around and shaped her character in a way that WWE just couldn't resist the Lynch wave anymore. She was moving merch sales too. And we as fans would have been content with a Rousey and Charlotte match at Mania anyways.
And what about Kofi Kingston? Not until a week before the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view were we even aware that Kofi had the potential to bring the crowd to tears. Just like the accidental rise of Becky, Kofi may have been the biggest accidental success story of the modern era.
His story may be similar to Daniel Bryan's win six years ago, but unlike Bryan, Kofi was never ever seen as a major player in the roster. Bryan, even though he was an underdog, had more credentials to be a top star and WWE played to that perfectly as well.
But had Mustafa Ali not been injured, had there been no Gauntlet match on the SmackDown before Elimination Chamber, had the script been changed for that Gauntlet match, we might have seen Mustafa Ali vs Daniel Bryan at Mania. Or maybe even Kevin Owens vs Bryan. Ali would have been a very deserving candidate for the WWE Championship match too, but would there have been such an emotional investment from the fans? Could it have raised the magnitude of the match?
Seth, Becky, and Kofi are the gifts that we as fans don't deserve. But they are the gifts we needed. Ask anyone what they thought about this year's WrestleMania, and they would tell you it was one of the most memorable ones in recent years. Why? Because these three just gave us moments that make us raise our heads, and tell everyone "We're proud to be wrestling fans".
