On March 29th, 1998 I remember sitting in my living room. I was a sophomore in high school. My house was filled with all my friends from school, some younger than me and a few older. Our ages didn't really matter because we were all there for one thing, to watch Wrestlemania XIV!
The main event saw the Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels defend his title againstĀ Stone Cold Steve Austin with special guest referee Mike Tyson. This was the first WWF pay-per-view I had ever purchased. My parents ordered us a ton of pizza, made cookies and had enough drinks for a small army. We watched the undercard come and go as our excitement built for the title match. I had quickly become a Shawn Michaels fan, his DX angle was silly and fun but also kind of rebellious and bad. It was everything a kid my age wanted. Others in the room were die hard fans of the Texas Rattlesnake. His in your face, anti-authority stance was more their speed.
By the time it all went down Mike Tyson had betrayed DX and sided with Stone Cold, allowing him to win the title. This match would kick off an obsession that would stay with me through the rest of high school and a little into college, I loved wrestling!
I would watch Sunday night Heat, Monday night Raw and Nitro, Thursday night Thunder, Friday night Smackdown, Saturday night, well Saturday Night and anything else that popped up. I had shirts, video games, the whole nine! It didn't last though. As I got older and WWF became WWE, theĀ Attitude Era became the PG Era, I became less interested.
Over the years I would randomly try and get back in but I didn't know characters or storylines. Some people had retired, some jumped to AEW (which I had no idea what that was) so there was no way I was going to drop the money on a PPV. Eventually, NBC would bring the WWE to their streaming service Peacock and I would try again. a Royal Rumble here, Survivor series there but nothing ever stuck.
In the past year I've really made an effort to watch it. I've been helping out at my kid's school and they all talk about it and I wanted to seem like a cool grown up. Even some of my adult friends have been watching and they seemed really excited and invested.
I've casually kept up with the storylines and watched a few shows. Fast forward to last weekend and Wrestlemania Goes Hollywood.
Side note - I think it's weird they're getting away from the number system and going with titles. I know it's the thing to do right now with Assassin's Creed, HALO and others dropping numbers. They're worried kids will see the high number and be put off, comics do it with "New #1" all the time. The numbers aren't what are putting people off.
I don't know that they need 2 full nights of it. Most of the matches were enjoyable, even if it felt like they were put there so some of the roster had something to do at Wrestlemania. Everyone was looking forward to the main event though. Cody Rhodes challenges Roman Reigns for the championship. Both of these wrestlers are legacy, coming from great families.
Cody was kinda playing the prodigal son. He left the company a few years ago and did really well in a few promotions before returning. He won the Royal Rumble back in January giving him the chance to fight on the biggest stage of them all.
Roman was the defending champion. He and his "Bloodline" faction walked into Wrestlemania with all the gold. Roman has been the champ since August 30, 2020 one of the longest streaks in the company's history and for sure in the modern era.
It looked like the tide was finally changing as the Usos had lost their tag titles on the first night of Wrestlemania. Roman and Cody's match came, and I'll admit, it was a good one but nothing changed. At the end of it Roman still had the belt.
This is why I can't get into wrestling, Roman Reigns has become too untouchable. I appreciate a good title run as much as anyone but it just isn't fun anymore. During the prime days (when I watched) titles could change any time to anyone and it was exciting! I've seen titles change hands the night after a PPV or even the same night at an event.Ā
With Roman that isn't there. They have him built up to be a god that nobody is worthy to even pin. He won't even get pinned in a tag match. Even Goldberg's undefeated streak came to an end. After a few months into a title run it might seem like someone could still win. After all the build up and hype it seemed like Cody was finally going to be the one to dethrone the tribal chief, but it wasn't meant to be.
Now, I'm not a fan of Cody Rhodes like I was HBK. I'm not super invested in the stories so it didn't have to be Cody to beat Roman, it is just time. I don't care who does it. That's just the thing, I don't care. It doesn't look like it's changing any time soon so I don't care to watch it.
Even if they have Roman walk away and vacate the title, so he still technically never lost, I'd be ok. If the company isn't going to give anyone else a chance to move up or move on, what's the point of watching? This is why it's hard for old fans to get back into it. I mean, WCW even let David Arquette have a title run.
Before you start saying I'm just a grumpy old man who needs to embrace the new era let me tell you I really want to. I'm trying to and that's why I get upset. I've seen a lot of great matches from the current roster. There are some people who's mic work are better than some of the Attitude Era people. It's because I see this talent that I want someone else to hold the championship.
People like Cody Rhodes, AJ Styles, Big E, Bobby Lashley, Drew McIntyre and more could easily have amazing runs. Until something changes I will continue to have a hard time watching and rooting for WWE.
What do you think? Should Roman keep his streak going or is it time to move on? Let me know in the comments below.
Until next time,
Lance
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