Thoughts From Ringside…

The Road to WrestleMania 29…

So…we’re 2.5 weeks away from the biggest wrestling PPV of the year, WrestleMania 29, and I’m having to ask myself, “do I REALLY want to spend money on this?”

We’ve been on the “Road to WrestleMania” for weeks now, a time that the WWE talent, creative teams, and front office should be using to create a sense of excitement and build up for the company’s annual PPV spectacle. A time where fans should be clamoring to find out “who’s going to win what match” A time where wrestling fans are proud to be just that…a wrestling fan.

For the fans, this is usually the most exciting time of “the wrestling calendar year.” Hall of Fame ceremonies, Axxess fan events, better TV programming featuring big stars, and “the Showcase of the Immortals.” What more could a fan ask for?

Well, this fan is wondering where the better television is. I’m also wondering where the “WrestleMania excitement” is. I’m wondering if I REALLY want to even order this year’s PPV altogether.

Will I?  More than likely. It is WrestleMania of course, and I’ll probably be watching, but part of me isn’t happy about that. Since the Elimination Chamber PPV, I’ve been looking for some clarity on what we would be seeing at WrestleMania 29. I wanted to know what matches were going to take place, and I wanted to be EXCITED by the product. Well, we got Cena/Rock again…which I was iffy on from the start. After the last 5 weeks however, I really don’t want it. They’ve done absolutely nothing to make me care about this match. I really just do not care. Will it be better than last years match? Maybe, but The WWE Champion hasn’t even been on TV in the last 2 weeks and has ONLY wrestled during PPVs. I have zero connection to either star, and just really do not care about who wins or loses this one. Period.

I’ve also been thinking, if Paul Bearer had not passed away…WHAT WOULD CREATIVE HAVE DONE TO PUSH THE TAKER/PUNK FEUD?!?! I honestly have no idea how they would have set up this match, and while I’m excited about the match itself, there’s this feeling of “they put this together way too fast for me to be emotionally invested”…and that goes for every match (aside from Cena/Rock and Lesnar/HHH). I mean, Swagger comes back from out of nowhere and becomes #1 Contender, meanwhile Jericho is back ONLY until WrestleMania and he’s not even on the card as of today. What is going on?

The 6-Man Tag between the Shield and Sheamus/Orton/Show? Thrown together. It’s the same match we’ve seen for months…just sub in Show. Speaking of Show, he’s a tweener now because of this match when he should have just stayed heel in some other feud.

Ryback and Henry started a feud 2 weeks ago. Again, REALLY fast booking, but probably one of the most intriguing matches on the card. Will Ryback try to pick Henry up and fail? Will Henry win and make Ryback a chronic PPV loser?

The Tag Team titles are on the line against a tag team that isn’t even a tag team. They’ve NEVER wrestled together…hell, Langston has never wrestled on television before. Why are we supposed to be extremely excited about storylines and feuds that have had little to zero development. The US and IC titles aren’t on the card yet, which again shows you how important the WWE thinks that they are. Oh, and Fandango may debut at Mania…ugh.

Seriously, the only matches I’m excited for are Lesnar/HHH and Taker/Punk. Lesnar and HHH are just telling a great story right now, with great physicality. I was NOT looking forward to this match until Lesnar and HHH got back on TV and started hyping it up. They’ve sold me on caring about their match (Heyman being one of the biggest reasons). Punk/Taker is just exciting because it promises to be a great match. I just don’t care about the rest of the card though, which sucks, because it’s going to cost a LOT of money to see a bunch of stuff I don’t want to see.

WrestleMania prices were released today. $59.95 for SD and $69.95 for HD. $70 plus tax. WOW. That’s more expensive than the cheapest TICKET to GO to WrestleMania. I guess they figure $10-15 extra bones a pop won’t be that big of deal, cause the people that are going to buy it will buy it regardless, but it DEFINITELY makes me think twice about purchasing the program. Maybe I’ll just find a bar to go watch it in FOR FREE…how about THAT WWE? It’s cool that they’re going to offer ‘Mania through new outlets, like Xbox live…but $70…that would get me Xbox live for over a year…and it’s the cost of only ONE PPV. Just insane.

I want to be excited. I really, really, do. But mediocre programming and last minute story hype are killing my usual “WrestleMania buzz.” They have 2 more Monday Night Raws to show me that this event is still worth buying. They owe it to their true fans to kick-start their biggest PPV each year with great emotion and storytelling, and I’m not getting either so far on the whole.

I want to get excited about WrestleMania. Please. Get me excited.

Follow Doug McDonald on Twitter and tune in to RSM Weekly EVERY Thursday night LIVE at 7pm EST! (RSM Weekly will not be airing on 3/21/13)

NXT Results – March 20, 2013

Impact Wrestling Results- March 21, 2013