Over the course of the past few months, I’ve been talking to so many of my friends and colleagues who have ponied up the cash to attend WrestleMania 29 in person at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, April 7th, 2013. Of course, they ask me if I’m going to partake in the live spectacle that is WrestleMania, and I’ve consistently had this answer since as far back as this summer:
No thank you.
My answer may seem baffling considering how much time, energy and effort I put into my work here at Pulse Wrestling, but honestly there are a few reasons I’m just not all that enthralled with WWE’s Granddaddy of Them All, 2013 edition.
First and foremost — and this has been discussed a whole lot in these parts — I just don’t care about the rematches slated for two of the main event slots: Rock-Cena II and Brock-HHH II. Hell, even WWE seems to not really have much to say about Rock-Cena this time around, so much so that they literally had nothing for Cena — their top star and quintessential moneymaker — to do on Raw this week.
As for Brock vs. Trips, while I do think that Paul Heyman has done an AMAZING job delivering the goods here, the bottom line is that Brock Lesnar has been back for nearly one year and due to his initial limited-appearance contract we are getting a rematch that could have happened already instead of something fresh for WrestleMania.
With those two main event matches aside, the only big match left that WWE has slated for WrestleMania 29 is CM Punk vs. The Undertaker. Now, I do think I will enjoy this match, but on its own it’s just not enough to push me towards wanting to shlep over to New Jersey and spend 200 bucks minimum to see it unfold in person.
Oh, and whether or not you agree with the late Paul Bearer’s inclusion into this storyline to generate heat on Punk is a moot point to me. The more probing question to ask is this: What were they going to do to progress this story if Bill Moody didn’t pass away? Do they even know the answer to that?
And that’s my next issue. We are now just three episodes of Monday Night Raw away from WrestleMania 29, and yet this past week’s episode still had a TON of filler most accentuated by the worst thing Chris Jericho’s been involved with in years if not ever. That Highlight Reel debacle was so cringe-inducing and off-putting that it just ruined the entire night, and it actually pushed me to turn off the TV, get a good night’s sleep and catch up on the rest of Raw on Tuesday. My DVR confirmed that I really didn’t miss much.
With all of that said, there is also a more practical reason I am skipping out on WrestleMania 29 live. After all, I already saw WrestleMania XX in person at Madison Square Garden, and I just know that this year’s live experience in such a big arena could never measure up to the level of engagement and intimacy the Garden crowd had with the competitors that night.
Maybe that’s the reason I was more excited to attend this year’s WWE Hall of Fame ceremony with my wife and a few friends at The Garden rather than the big dance itself. And the fact that the Hall of Fame inductees this year (so far) are Bruno, Backlund, Trish, Trump and Mick, you can make a case that this is the better stacked card of the entire weekend for WWE.
I know my friends will all have a blast on Sunday, April 7th, 2013 at MetLife Stadium. I know my good buddy Rey Mundo will enjoy every second of the WrestleMania 29 festivities with his tight-knit group that he can’t wait to spend the day with, and I’m sure it’ll be a pleasurable night for everyone who attends.
There will be over 80,000 strong hootin’ and hollerin’ and chanting and cheering, and WWE will make “Millions of Dollars” as The Prime Time Players would say.
And who knows, maybe at 34 years-old — my last year of relevance for TV’s most coveted demographic — I’m not supposed to be dying to see WrestleMania in person like I did nine years ago at 25.
But man, since the summer, I’ve been dying for a reason to want to go, and three weeks before the big show, WWE still hasn’t given me one.
That’s all from me — CB.
