WWE WrestleMania: The Part-Timer Obsession That Fills the Main Event

Did you know that since 2012 a part-time talent has headlined every WrestleMania?

From The Rock to Brock Lesnar, those talents from the past have held that distinction despite making a handful of small appearances leading up to pro wrestling’s Super Bowl. It is a trend that WWE relies on to fill the stadiums for WrestleMania every year. Of course, it is business as those said talents are tried and true in terms of filling up seats for some of the company’s biggest events. Overall, it is cross promotion gold for the company. Money talks at the end of the day here.

However on the flip side, the idea of the WrestleMania main event is to cement a Superstar’s place in the history books. The WrestleMania main event was a huge part in their legacy. Think of Superstars such as Shawn Michaels, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Yokozuna and Rey Mysterio. Fans remember the build up to that said Superstar and how it all came together the night of WrestleMania.

But lately the main events are shrouded in controversy that seems to grow by the year. With the news coming out that Lesnar and Bill Goldberg will headline WrestleMania this year, it takes away from the Royal Rumble winner and that match. Essentially it’s just a guaranteed match for the Rumble winner despite itself depending on the circumstances. And by circumstances I mean that if the part time talent isn’t Champion, then the winner is almost irrelevant.

It’s almost as if WWE is saying that other than Cena their talent today cannot sell WrestleMania. Both Rock versus Cena matches were main events at WrestleMania 28 and 29. It was clear that the part time talent main events were WWE’s way of thinking back in 2014 when the original main event for WrestleMania XXX was Randy Orton and Batista. Thanks to the fans with the massive Yes! Movement for Daniel Bryan, WWE caved and found a way for the main event to work and it was one of the best moments in WrestleMania history. Ultimately, the show was centered on Bryan and his quest to overcome The Authority despite the insurmountable odds he had faced to the very last moment.

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Everyone knows the story with Roman Reigns. His case is clearly a booking issue – and this is a huge issue that plagues much of the roster. His entire booking has been controversial and it seems that the company hasn’t learned the purpose of trial and error when it comes to Reigns. Reigns faced Lesnar in 2015 and Triple H in 2016, matches he lost and won. Both of those ended WrestleMania, to which Seth Rollins would create his own WrestleMania moment in 2015 by cashing in his Money in the Bank contract and pinning Reigns.

Bryan and Rollins benefited tremendously from their moments at WrestleMania, which is the silver lining here.

Going back to the booking plague; while there have been home runs there have been many misses. Again, Reigns is a prime example with endless sabotaging to boot. The misses hurt the talent overall and eventually fans will tune out. If the booking makes sense, the fans respond accordingly. It is really that simple.

There is a great possibility that this year’s Royal Rumble will produce a brand new winner. If both AJ Styles and Kevin Owens retain their respective Championships, then the “main event” will turn the corner so to speak. Nonetheless they would still be robbed of the real main event spot that closes the show thanks to WWE revisiting the past and feeding the nostalgia to its core.

Overall many fans get why these matches with the part time talent happens. It sells and serves its purposes. Matches involving the part time talent may belong on the card depending on the situation and a fan’s point of view. Call it a special attraction match maybe, but in the case of Lesnar and Goldberg it should not main event WrestleMania. It is nothing more than to settle a “What if?” scenario that is thirteen years old. No one other than those two benefit from it. It’s a hell of a second, third chance even for the monster wrestlers, particularly Goldberg. The company has made it top priority which is consistent to their obsession. It’s a step back for the new era if you ask me.