Are We There Yet?

The road to Wrestlemania is usually when WWE presents its best storylines to its fans. Who could forget the epic buildup between John Cena and the Rock as their one-year storyline culminated at Wrestlemania 28? Who could forget the memorable promos and confrontations between Stone Cold Steve Austin and the Rock before their unbelievable Wrestlemania bouts? While the ultimate destination of this journey is the actual Wrestlemania event, the trip to the showcase of the immortals is half the fun as these usually fantastic storylines payoff with memorable matches that have wrestling fans around the world gasping in awe.

This year, however, the road to Wrestlemania seems pretty bland. Instead of speeding up the coast with breathtaking views of the ocean, it seems that WWE is driving along a country highway where all you can see is endless fields of corn. Talk about dull. The buildup to Wrestlemania 31 has been subpar at best in my opinion. Why is this? How can what should be WWE’s most exciting time of the year seem so boring? There is one big reason why this year’s Wrestlemania buildup has been so bland and why the road to the event has not been that exciting.

The lack of confrontations is really filling the road to Wrestlemania with potholes and slowing down the trip. Royal Rumble winner Roman Reigns and current WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar have only faced off once, and it was in a studio the night after the Royal Rumble pay-per-view. Since then, I do not believe they have been in the ring at the same time or in the same backstage segment. Paul Heyman, the manager of Lesnar, has been carrying this storyline on his back as he cuts fantastic promos every week to try and build the match. All he can do is talk though, and what wrestling fans really want to see is Reigns and Lesnar get into some sort of altercation. As I write this, there are only two weeks left until Wrestlemania. If WWE really wants its fans to get excited about this match, then these two wrestlers better start trash talking face-to-face and brawling before Wrestlemania at some point.

Also, there really has been no confrontation between Bray Wyatt and the Undertaker. For weeks, Wyatt taunted and called out to the Undertaker and on the March 9, 2015, edition of Monday Night Raw, the phenom finally answered in the form of a pretty entertaining segment. However, that is the only sign of the Undertaker we have seen thus far. Now even though WWE has managed to buildup an Undertaker match at Wrestlemania without the dead man appearing on television until Wrestlemania in the past like they did in 2004, I do not believe it is working this year. The Undertaker’s opponent that year was Kane and aside from the history between these two men to help drive their story, the Undertaker also tormented Kane with various mind games. It was entertaining, and it helped fuel the storyline and build anticipation for the return of the Undertaker. WWE has not been able to do that this year.

I am not saying that there have not been some highlights to help build up Wrestlemania. Sting in Triple H have been developing a fun storyline since Survivor Series, the feud between John Cena and the WWE United States Champion Rusev has been pretty entertaining, and the Randy Orton/Seth Rollins rivalry really got hot last week. However, the biggest matches have had the poorest buildup in my opinion. Reigns and Lesnar need to engage the audience more without the help of Heyman by confronting each other, and the Undertaker needs to get inside Wyatt’s head. If WWE can make this happen in two weeks, then the road to Wrestlemania 31 might be somewhat memorable.