We’re on the home straight. This Sunday, over 85,000 fans will pack the AT&T Stadium near Dallas, Texas (regardless of whatever attendance number WWE announces), as the thirty-second WrestleMania comes to pay-per-view.
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It’s an event that started in Madison Square Garden, spent over two decades largely confined to arenas, before blossoming into stadia across North America. Of course, we’re talking about WrestleMania – an event that has now seemingly developed a bidding process not unlike the FIFA World Cup or the Olympics (only without any allegations of corruption!)
Following wrestling online, it’s a certainty that you’ll have witnessed arguments between groups of fans. Whether it’s on message boards, Twitter, Facebook, or even in the comments of YouTube videos, every day there’s debates between fans about wrestlers, storylines and promotions. That is not unusual – however, there are certain groups of fans who make the entire process a farce.
A little over ten years ago, I started attending wrestling shows on a fairly regular basis. At the time, I was living in a former mining village in England, and save for the odd show here and there, wrestling in that part of the world was was limited to local wrestlers who may or may not have been trained, and nothing more.
This month marks fifteen years since WWE bought out WCW. In the time since then, there’s been books written about the demise of WCW, how WWE has struggled to adapt without competition, and many words said about the general state of wrestling post-WCW. Whilst it’s obvious that the big dog isn’t as big as it once was, it’s not exactly fair to say that the entire pound isn’t as loud as it was in 2001.
According to Tokyo Sports, Japanese wrestler Hayabusa has been found dead. He was 47.
So, the Internet rumour of the day is suggesting that WWE are on the verge of bringing back the brand split. That is, if you believe a rogue Ticketmaster listing that advertised “WWE Monday Night Raw vs WWE”.
Less than 24 hours after the Fast Lane pay per view that left us with only a main event, WWE locked in a few more big matches for WrestleMania on Raw. However, both of those new directions ended up raising more questions than answers for the company’s big stars, and their aim as a whole.