WrestleMania 35: What if the PPV doesn’t live up to the hype?

WrestleMania 35 is right around the corner and the card for the biggest show of the year has promise. There’s the first women’s main event at a WrestleMania, which has the heat, star power, and intrigue to legitimately feel like a match worthy of its placement. Kofi Kingston has quite arguably usurped Becky Lynch’s spot as the hottest act in the company based on a series of excellent performances en route to challenging Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship.

Elsewhere on the card, Triple H vs. Batista has its marquee value, the prospect that Seth Rollins could take the Universal title off Brock Lesnar has its appeal, and Roman Reigns vs. Drew McIntyre should be a fun big man match. While Kurt Angle’s retirement match isn’t likely to be a classic, it will at least have historical significance.

For all of these potential highlights, there’s no guarantee that any show will be great. Indeed, with a bloated card expected to reach as many as seventeen matches, and with some key signature WrestleMania stars out of the mix, there is the possibility that the show will run long and lose the crowd, or under-deliver in some key spots. While all WWE fans hope for the best at WrestleMania, this article considers what it might mean if WrestleMania 35 ultimately falls short of expectations.

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#4. The women don’t get another shot at the main event

One of the most historically significant components going into this year’s WrestleMania is that the show is set to close with a women’s match for the very first time.

Women’s matches have only closed WWE PPVs four times before. Ronda Rousey vs. Nikki Bella closing Evolution may or may not count, given it was an all-female show. Otherwise, the original main event, Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte Flair at Hell in a Cell, garnered mixed reviews, while the first women’s Royal Rumble was better received, and fans by and large approved of the women’s TLC match that closed out 2018 PPVs.

Now that Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch, and Charlotte Flair are headlining WrestleMania, they’ll face more scrutiny than any women’s match before. While it may not be entirely fair, if the show feels like a flop, it’s reasonable to think this match and its performers will suffer some blame. Whereas a great match could kick down the door for more women’s main events across the board, a lackluster match on an underwhelming ‘Mania may spell the end of female talent main eventing big shows in WWE.

#3. Kofi Kingston takes the blame

Kofi Kingston has enjoyed the push of a lifetime building to WrestleMania 35. Might he shoulder the blame if the show doesn't live up to the hype?

While the female main event talents have a lot of weight on their shoulders for this WrestleMania, WWE’s next biggest gamble may fall on Kofi Kingston, who has had so much SmackDown TV time dedicated to him in his quest to get a WWE title shot at WrestleMania.

Kingston is a solid and entertaining in-ring performer and paired with supreme talent like Daniel Bryan, the odds are the match will be good, if not great. Rather than a question of quality of performance, the test for Kingston comes to drawing power. A vocal contingent of hardcore fans are undeniably behind him going into the biggest show of the year. However, there is a risk of WWE reading a poor response to WrestleMania as a sign that more casual fans didn’t buy into him as a viable world title contender for a show this big.

#2. Roman Reigns re-positioned as the guy

Roman Reigns is out of the main event after four straight years; if WWE isn't happy with the event, they may push him back to the top very soon.

Regardless of what happens at WrestleMania, there’s a fair chance that Roman Reigns will find himself booked as WWE’s top star again going into summer. After all, every indication is that WWE intended for him to be the guy before his fight with leukemia forced him out of the spotlight. Now that he’s back, and more popular among a wider cross-section of fans than ever before, it makes sense that WWE would go all the way with him again.

If WWE feels that WrestleMania came up short, it will add all the more ammunition to an argument that Reigns should be on top. After all, this will be the first WrestleMania in five years that Reigns doesn’t main event. While a lot of fans would argue that the ‘Manias in between, and particularly his matches, weren’t all great, WWE may nonetheless choose to overlook those criticisms in favor of rushing to get The Big Dog back on top.

#1. Every effort to book The Undertaker for WrestleMania 35

The Dead Man has been conspicuously missing from the build to WrestleMania 35.

For the first time in 2000, it appears that The Undertaker will not work a match at WrestleMania. While WrestleMania 34 saw him in an odd role—working a match that wasn’t confirmed before the show, and that turned out to be a quick squash—the fact that The Dead Man was working John Cena was a big enough spectacle to make it work. If The Undertaker doesn’t work a match at all, or possibly doesn’t even appear in New Jersey, it will truly feel like a changing of the guard.

The Phenom isn’t getting any younger, and it’s not as though WrestleMania 35 will necessarily miss him from a match quality perspective. Nonetheless, he’s enough of an icon with a legacy tied up enough in this event that it does feel odd to go into ‘Mania without him on the scene. If he doesn’t work the show, and WWE feels the show doesn’t live up to its hype, we can safely assume the company will do everything in its power to get The Undertaker back in the ring for WrestleMania 36.