Raging against WM31

By Scott Keith on March 8, 2018

Was excited to see the repost of your Wrestlemania 31 rant today, but reading it reminded me of how infuriated it made me at the time.

You mention your suspicion that WM30 might be better remembered, but I'm not so sure. Every Wrestlemania season, 31 finds its way into numerous top 10s and best-of lists, and it's baffling. Sure, the ending was amazing, but is it really that great as a show overall?

Nearly every match featured an established WWE guy going over a newer talent (Cena, Triple H, Orton, Taker, even freaking Big Show in the ARMBaR). Even the new WWE champion Seth Rollins jobbed earlier in the night and then won on little more than a fluke. WM31 could have been a passing of the torch to some of the younger stars, but other than maybe Rollins, no torches were passed, and nobody got anything out of this show.

So why do/did people love it? Was it only because expectations going into it were so low and it slightly over-performed? Did the closing image of Rollins' victory stick with people and convince them it was great? What gives?

How can ANYBODY defend a show featuring that Triple H/Sting bullshit?

A certain amount of bullshit is fine. Taken as a goofy legends tribute in a vacuum, HHH v. Sting was fine. I think the issue was more that people were expecting more out of Sting at that point and Vince just saw him as another WCW castoff in with a 2K Sports videogame deal. I will definitely agree that Big Show winning the battle royal was infuriating, because they had spent so much effort on the excellent Hideo Itami buildup and then needlessly had him thrown out like garbage.

But as for the rest…it was a good show. I can't hate on it.

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