WWE WrestleMania 33: 5 Ways to Improve on Last Year’s Show
By Adam O'Brien
2. No More Unnecessary Burials
Don’t take this the wrong way; there is always a great buzz in the air when a WWE legend is in the house – perhaps even more so when that legend happens to be arguably the biggest name in Hollywood today, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
But there’s a right way to do a one-off appearance and there’s a wrong way, and The Rock’s impromptu match against Erick Rowan at WrestleMania 32 was without question the wrong way to go about laying the smacketh down on Dallas that night.
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The segment itself was fun, and having The Wyatt Family interact with “The Great One” could have done a lot for them – even in defeat at the hands of Rock and John Cena – but having The Rock beat Rowan in the shortest match in WrestleMania history was unnecessary, and only served to make The Wyatt Family look like a joke.
What somehow makes this even more ridiculous is that we had a perfectly good example of how to book a legend’s return earlier in the very same night.
Shawn Michaels, Mick Foley and ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin came out to throw down with The League of Nations after they had won a match against the reigning WWE Tag-Team Champions. It made sense that an obviously fatigued group of athletes would fall to some of the most notoriously tough men to ever grace a ring mat.
But Wyatt and his men were fresh as daisies – and they were the ones to get the jump on The Rock – so there’s really no defending them in the way they got leveled.
Again, The Rock is a treasure to the WWE. He is now, just like he was when he was lighting up microphones and canvases in the Attitude Era, and it would be great to see him at WrestleMania this year if he decides to make his presence felt once again.
But here’s a tip; how about steering clear of the blatant burials of upcoming talent and instead utilize the time to either elevate their standings, or interact with someone of equal legendary status like Rock did with Triple H at WrestleMania 31.