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After a one-year hiatus of having no fans in attendance, WWE’s WrestleMania 37 returned with a live audience at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. Did it surpass its previous incarnation of the flagship pay-per-view event, or did it flop? Being a fan of professional wrestling, I thought it would be fair to compare this year’s event to last year’s fan-less rendition. WrestleMania events always serve as the beginning of vital storylines for future WWE stars and the conclusion of WWE Legends’ careers. The Undertaker, John Cena, and Batista are some of the notable WWE Legends that we said goodbye to this tumultuous season. So let’s see how many adrenaline-pumping “WrestleMania Moments” we got this year. After all, mania means to exert excessive enthusiasm, and WrestleMania 37 did just that.
A Recap: The First Of It’s Kind, WrestleMania 36
WrestleMania 36 served as the first of its kind for both the fans and World Wrestling Entertainment. The whole event was a “WrestleMania Moment” in itself as it was the first time the event took place on two nights and the first time wrestlers at the event performed at a pay-per-view without fans. This was a disappointment to many who planned on attending and to wrestlers looking to have their own“WrestleMania Moment” in front of a crowd, but it was better than canceling it.
While this was not the first time WWE aired content without fans, April 4 and 5 of last year served as historical dates that changed the way fans and wrestlers of WWE interacted with the company’s biggest annual event. With the event being the first of its kind, WrestleMania 36 allowed the company to experiment by incorporating more matches and venturing into cinematic matches that broke away from in-ring fights. These new changes allowed WWE to channel more of their entertainment side rather than just their iconic wrestling. A sight unlike we had ever seen before, WrestleMania 36 set a new standard for their fellow competitors like Impact and All Elite Wrestling (AEW).
Night One: The Deadman’s Last Ride
Night One was mainly memorable for The Undertaker’s final match against A.J. Styles, which the two originally planned to perform in front of a live audience. The cinematic “Boneyard Match,” in all honesty, worked best, considering The Undertaker was 55-years-old at the time and had already accumulated multiple career-affecting injuries that would’ve held him back in a traditional live match. This was a problem we saw before at WrestleMania 30 when he was severely concussed, having later mentioned that he does not even remember the match that night. Fortunately, this was not the case at WrestleMania 36 when we witnessed The Undertaker bury A.J. Styles alive before riding off on his motorcycle to Metallica one last time in their prerecorded brawl.
Night Two: Farewell Cena, Hello Drew
Night Two gave us another cinematic match, this time between John Cena and The Fiend. The “Firefly Funhouse” match was entertaining as fans had the pleasure of reliving the different phases of John Cena’s career, from starting as a rookie to rapping and wearing jean shorts and, conclusively, to him sporting cargo shorts and wearing bright shirts with motivational slogans. While it was pleasing to see John Cena one last time on screen, an in-ring match against The Fiend would have had me more invested in his departure from the sport.
The best of Night Two, however, was seeing Drew McIntyre solidify himself as the new WWE Universal Champion after defeating Brock Lesnar with his signature Claymore Kick. What made this match even more entertaining was after McIntyre beat Lesnar, we were given an immediate title defense match where McIntyre had to face off against The Big Show. This title defense was random, but it further solidified that McIntyre would propel to stardom for the rest of the fan-less year going into WrestleMania 37.
WrestleMania 37: Back In Business
WrestleMania 37 served as a historic night as fans returned to experience the new reimagined two-night event. The event served as both the conclusion and continuation of storylines that the WWE created through a year of fan-less shows that largely took place in their performance center. With fans finally returning, it was up to our WWE Superstars to show their sorely missed audience what they had been working on all year and to deliver the best pay-per-view they possibly could. With WrestleMania 36 behind us and the new event taking place in an actual stadium, it was finally time to fasten our seat belts in preparation for WrestleMania 37.
Originally scheduled to begin at 7 PM EST, fans were greeted and then informed about a temporary delay due to rain and lightning. With fans already inside, the WWE had to stall, and they handled this by having wrestlers of both Night One and Night Two deliver promos in relation to their matches and the opponents they’d be facing off against. This was a great solution as fans got to witness unrehearsed and unscripted interviews for the first time in what felt like ages due to the pandemic. After stalling with interviews, fans were welcomed by none other than Vince McMahon, the CEO of WWE, who expressed his gratitude for the fans in attendance and those watching from home. Fans were later greeted by hosts Titus O’Neil and Hulk Hogan as they introduced the first match of the night between Bobby Lashley and Drew McIntyre for the WWE Universal Championship.
This served as a great opener as fans witnessed a fight for one of the most prestigious belts on the line and were unsure of who would win, considering Lashley was up against last year’s champion. Opening the event this way was a similar strategy the company used at WrestleMania 35 when Brock Lesnar and Seth Rollins faced off for the Raw Universal Championship, immediately drawing in fans. To savor the momentum and to provide fans with a more balanced event with lower stakes, a tag-team women’s match followed where the winner would advance to compete the following night. Unfortunately, this match felt useless after the winners of the first night fell short on the second night and lost. Fans were rightfully left confused as to why the original team won to begin with.
New “WrestleMania Moments”
The rest of the first night was very entertaining and filled with “WrestleMania Moments” that will remain memorable for years to come. The first occurred in the match between Seth Rollins and Cesaro. Cesaro, for the first time at the event, performed his signature Cesaro Swing, where he holds his opponent in the center of the ring and spins them until they lose their balance. He then combines this with his UFO, spinning Rollins on his shoulders to completely disorient him. This victory fell into the theme of developing the future stars of WWE, meaning that Cesaro will most likely be featured in bigger matches and more title opportunities for the rest of the year or years to come.
Additional memorable moments that followed were the tearing of a steel cage in the middle of a match by Braun Strowman, Bad Bunny proving himself as a phenomenal celebrity wrestler, and seeing WWE’s rookie talent, Omos win the Raw Tag Team Championship alongside A.J. Styles. Night One established itself to be an all-around action-packed opener — but the best match of the night was still yet to come.
BelairMania: The “EST of WWE”
The biggest match of Night One delivered one of the best performances of the entire event as fans saw two Black women headline the main event of WrestleMania for the first time in its 37 years. Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair gave fans an instant classic, with Belair winning the match in what felt like a passing-of-the-torch moment. This is not the end of Banks’s career but a launching pad to legitimatize Belair as a WWE star.
It was also a pleasant sight witnessing Belair celebrate in-ring with her husband and child. While we were unable to see the faces of many crowd members because of safety protocols, it was still evident that fans were excited about Belair winning the Smackdown Women’s Championship. Her win was just the beginning of her stardom, as we are likely to see her defend the belt for the rest of her career. The best is yet to come for the self-proclaimed “EST of WWE.” A meaningful victory was a great way to conclude the night and leave fans wanting more from the prettiEST, strongEST, toughEST, and greatEST future WWE star.
Night Two: A Rollercoaster
Unfortunately, Night Two started with Randy Orton facing off against The Fiend in a match that fell short and left many fans confused. Considering the sendoff Cena received at WrestleMania 36, many speculated that they’d get a similar fight worthy of this year’s event. Instead, we were given a match in all red lighting that led to The Fiend being betrayed by his ally, Alexa Bliss, who stared at him while pouring black blood into the ring. This gruesome distraction allowed Orton to hit an RKO and secure the victory. (Let’s just say I was as confused as Randy was when he won that match, a spectacle that only made The Fiend look less intimidating and killed any momentum for his character to strike fear into the other wrestlers.)
The next notable match was between Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens, which featured Youtuber Logan Paul ringside as Zayn’s special guest. The match itself was an all-out brawl that was very entertaining and showcased both of the wrestlers’ in-ring abilities. Owens’s won and was approached by Logan Paul, who raised Owens’s hand and then suffered a Stunner shortly after. Definitely a “WrestleMania Moment” for those who dislike Logan Paul. But if you follow the careers of Zayn and Owens, it’s no surprise that these two can deliver quality matches as they’ve done so many times previously in Ring of Honor and Pro Wrestling Guerilla (PWG) when working in the indies.
However, the best match of Night Two was the main event between Edge, Daniel Bryan, and defending Smackdown Universal Champion Roman Reigns. This triple threat was a great way to conclude the night as it was a highly entertaining fight filled with the use of weapons and creative maneuvers. In this match, Edge showcased that at 47-years-old he can still perform and keep up with his younger competition, contrary to his singles match at last year’s event, which was sluggish and long. In the end, Reigns ultimately won and maintained his title by stacking both of his opponents and pinning them at the same time. This further established Reigns as the next big thing by adding Bryan and Edge to his list of notable victories.
My Verdict: Fans Make a Difference
There’s no denying that WrestleMania 37 was an upgrade from last year’s event. While WrestleMania 37 highlighted the victories of the new faces that will be representing WWE, WrestleMania 36 attempted to do the same without fans in attendance. WrestleMania 36, unlike its successor, was incredibly long, but it still failed to be as exciting or engaging as its future interpretation. We saw the conclusion of the careers of John Cena and The Undertaker through cinematic matches in 2020, but not seeing these two give their goodbyes in front of a crowd still felt like an improper sendoff. Given the circumstances, it was still infinitely better than a postponement of the event but a catch-all representation of WrestleMania 36‘s disappointment under its limited capabilities.
Thus, sometimes less is more. In this case, WrestleMania 37 was able to deliver fewer matches, with the majority of them holding more significance storyline-wise as well as historically over last year’s event. This also works in favor of the original format for WrestleMania, which normally occurred on a one-night basis. While 36 was the originator of a two-night event, its coined phrase “Too Big For Just One Night” fell short. What also played a vital role were the fans. While we couldn’t see fan reactions because of masks, they were still loud and made their presence clear when cheering or booing their favorite stars. This made a big difference compared to listening to inserted audio of fans, which failed to deliver the same excitement as the live audience did. Conclusively, the latest event has fans like myself excited and hopeful for the return of live pay-per-view with an audience once again for WrestleMania 38.