WrestleMania: Has The Grandest Stage of All Gotten Too Big?
By Bryan Heaton
WrestleMania 34
Projected Main Card Length: 5 hours
Scheduled Matches on Main Card: 10
Projected Average Match Length: 14 minutes
Total Projected Match Time: 2 hours, 20 minutes
Projected “Wasted” Time: 2 hours, 40 minutes
If we take the previous four WrestleMania events as a guideline, we can figure out just how much time will be spent inside the ring this year. We know WWE has five hours set aside for the main card on Sunday. There’s always a chance that things run late, like last year, but man, going past midnight again would be rough. The match quality should be far superior to last year, but most of the “running late” was the Undertaker’s grand exit.
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Try to figure out just how WWE will fill that near three hours of non-wrestling time, too. There’s got to be about 10-15 minutes set aside for the Hall of Fame – a recap of the induction ceremony, plus introductions of the new class. Roughly all of the major matches will have a 3-5 minute video package explaining the feud to the casuals – so that’s another 45 minutes or so right there.
There’s going to be a Kid Rock performance, I can feel it in my bones. The Kick Off Show – with both battle royals and the Cruiserweight Championship match – will get a recap, and you know something will happen with the two battle royal winners and some celebrity in attendance. Throw in a John Cena segment where the Undertaker takes twenty minutes to get to the ring, and the show fills up pretty quickly.
But has WrestleMania gotten too big? Personally, we have to see how this year’s show goes to truly answer that. Looking at the previous Network Era shows, though, it’s a pretty safe bet to say yes. With all the great talent on the roster, you’d think a spot on the actual WrestleMania show could be found for most of what happens on the Kick Off Show.
If WrestleMania truly is the Super Bowl of WWE, then most of the proceedings should be centered around wrestling, like the Super Bowl is about football. There’s no games on the pre-game show for the Super Bowl, and the entertainment is limited to commercial breaks and halftime. Does Pitbull perform after a touchdown during the Super Bowl? Nope.
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Do you agree that WrestleMania is too big?