WrestleMania 36 marked the first time the Grandest Stage of Them All took place on two nights. This has created conversation as to whether or not it should be the last.
Amidst the circumstances of the widespread COVID-19 pandemic, WWE made the controversial decision to proceed with the planned date for this year’s WrestleMania and relocate the event from the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida to their Performance Center in Orlando.
The move to go along as scheduled without an audience sacrificed a lot of the elements of what makes WrestleMania special in the process.
The roar of the fans in attendance, the major pyrotechnic displays and even some of the performers who rightfully chose to prioritize their health as well as that of their colleagues and sit out this year’s event have contributed to unforgettable WrestleMania moments over the event’s near 40-year existence.
With the flexibility of outright owning the venue that WrestleMania would take place in, WWE made another decision, this time to extend the show to be two nights.
Major wrestling events being expanded past a standalone is starting to appear more commonplace as New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Wrestle Kingdom event this year was the first in the annual Tokyo Dome show’s history to span two nights.
Unlike New Japan who had a year-in-advance to prepare for the show however, WWE had a mere two weeks and no live audience to deliver these performances in front of.
The next WrestleMania is another year away which leaves time for global circumstances to improve and for WWE to consider whether or not to roll forward with a two-night event, assuming all stars align with the SoFi Stadium.
Pro: More Nights, More Wrestlers
Every year, deserving performers are left out of Wrestlemania plans. Sometimes, that includes wrestlers who were returning from injury and cleared to compete but withheld from the show in favor of a fresh start on TV later that week. Other times, wrestlers simply don’t make the show and in recent years, they’re jam-packed into Kickoff battle royals or multi-man main card matches.
To put it into perspective, Dolph Ziggler’s match against Otis at WrestleMania was the former’s first one-on-one match in his nine appearances at the event. While that is a testament to the level of talent on the roster that a two-time World champion has a grand total of one singles WrestleMania match, it also shows how difficult it is for performers to get featured spots on the card.
Raw and Smackdown’s rosters have stacked WrestleMania cards on their own. Rhea Ripley’s performance against Charlotte could be a sign that NXT’s involvement on the show could very much evolve from filling up Kickoff battle royal slots in the future, which means three rosters worth of talent to fit on the card.
Making the show two nights long increases the likelihood that wrestlers can not only be featured at WrestleMania but extend their roles on the show beyond battle royals.
Pro: More fleshed-out in-ring stories
On the Brodie Lee edition of Talk is Jericho, the “Exalted One” referenced his match with Erick Rowan against The Usos and The New Day for how difficult it is to get time to tell a story at WrestleMania while the former AEW Champ brought up his match against William Regal.
Every year, there’s at least one or two matches at WrestleMania that could’ve benefitted from having the time to tell a proper story that they would on TV or a standard pay-per-view.
All the high quality video packages and extravagant entrances definitely boost the show but it also eats away at match time.
At WrestleMania, it is the stories that ultimately drive emotional investment. Making it a two night show allows more time for these stories to be told in the ring.
Pro: Potential for lower overall run time per night
The first night of WrestleMania wasn’t perfect but did feature a compelling Triple Threat Ladder match, Owens vs. Rollins and the heavily praised Boneyard match between The Undertaker and AJ Styles.
The image of “The Deadman” riding into the night concluded the first half of WrestleMania at roughly three hours. This was a refreshing change of pace compared to the run time of other big WWE shows.
Last year’s WrestleMania—including Kickoff matches—clocked in at over 7 hours total. Even SummerSlam and to a lesser extent, Royal Rumble and Survivor Series’ overall run-time rivals that of some pre and early Network era WrestleManias.
At eight matches per half, there was less of a need to jam-pack more than a dozen matches onto one night’s worth of wrestling and instead, the show was evenly spaced out. That trend could continue for future WrestleManias but also potentially fall into a trap.
Con: Potential for higher overall run time per night
This will surely be met with groans by people who will argue that wrestling fans are whiny and ungrateful for complaining about too much wrestling. However, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing and quality matches have been hindered by a cold or exhausted crowd.
As someone who narrowly missed out on a group trip to last year’s WrestleMania, the messages I got from attendees marveled at how good the show was but expressed a high-level of exhaustion and fatigue.
36 can be a starting point for how to space everything out evenly or it could prompt WWE to make each night even longer. If the latter happens, then it defeats the entire purpose.
Con: WrestleMania Week Schedule
The COVID-19 pandemic affected more than just WrestleMania. NXT TakeOver Tampa was cancelled and matches that would’ve been on the card were expected to be rolled out on NXT TV over the weeks after instead. WrestleMania Axxess events were cancelled and the Hall of Fame was postponed.
On a normal year, Axxess Week, the Hall of Fame and TakeOver consumes a large amount of the week leading up to Sunday. Adding another night of WrestleMania to the mix can create a potentially tricky scheduling predicament.
There’s also Raw on Monday, NXT on Wednesday and SmackDown on Friday. It’s not exactly impossible to account for another night of WrestleMania but could prove difficult.
Con: Accessibility
Obviously, this problem is more specific to people that make plans to attend the show live but the possibility of having two nights of WrestleMania comes with that of paying for two nights of WrestleMania.
Domestically, the ticket prices and demand alone require some well-advanced and solid planning. Travel, lodging and food can more than break the bank. Internationally, these factors skyrocket in cost.
Some may choose—for financial reasons or otherwise—to only attend one night of WrestleMania and skip out on the other. Some may opt not to go at all.