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With only two weeks left in the road to WrestleMania, outside of the Cody Rhodes and John Cena match, the buildup to the showcase of the immortals seems lackluster this year.
As of April 1, there were only seven matches announced for the show, which has been spread out over two nights since 2020 when WrestleMania emanated out of the WWE Performance Center in front of no fans.
This year, thousands of fans will gather at Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nev., for two nights of WrestleMania on April 19 and 20. If I was a ticket holder for April 19's night one show, I'd be upset with the current card, knowing the cheapest ticket prices are hundreds of dollars and most people probably spent thousands to be there.
So far, we know Jey Uso will challenge Gunther for the world heavyweight championship; Randy Orton will face Kevin Owens; Logan Paul will face AJ Styles; Iyo Sky will face Bianca Belair for the women's world championship; Charlotte Flair will challenge Tiffany Stratton for the WWE women's championship; CM Punk, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns will compete in another triple threat match; and Cody Rhodes will defend the undisputed WWE championship against John Cena.
I think it's a safe bet that we're going to see several new world champions crowned at the show, but I'm not excited to see many of these matches. Fans could go without watching WrestleMania this year and not miss much outside of the Rhodes and Cena match, in my opinion.
The name WrestleMania sells itself and people are going to watch it regardless of how great or lackluster it is. As a fan, however, I feel disappointed that the biggest show of the year is just around the corner, and we don't even know half of the matches taking place.
The time for WWE to put their foot to the pedal and build interest for the show is long overdue, and I'm not sure there's much that can be done at this point to make people excited for the matches that were announced early.
For example, after the Royal Rumble in February, I don't think it would've been too far-fetched to have Stratton and Flair main event night one of WrestleMania. In the weeks since then, fans haven't gotten behind Stratton as champion at all and the idea seems preposterous now.
I'm a Tiffany Stratton fan, but I feel like the WWE has put her in a position where she can't win against Flair, who is arguably the greatest female wrestler of this generation. Even if Stratton retains the WWE women's championship over Flair, the forced win could backfire and hurt her career early on.
Stratton has only been on the main roster for a cup of coffee and has won both the Money in the Bank briefcase and the WWE women's championship within her first year.
I hate to say it, but I almost want to see Flair win the title and have Stratton chase after it again. Anything can happen in the WWE, including an interference from a returning Becky Lynch, who has a history with Flair and could cost her the match against Stratton. That's one scenario to keep the championship on Stratton and take Flair out of the title picture, at least for now.
It's very unlikely that will happen. I think "the queen" is coming for her crown, and there's not much that can be done about it now.
The fun of being a fan is you never truly know what's going to happen, but Cena better win his 17th world title after selling his soul to The Rock at the Elimination Chamber premium live event.
Cena might have turned his back on the fans, but this fan hasn't given up on the hope that he will beat Ric Flair's record for the most world championships before retiring at the end of the year.
If anything, Cena's heel turn has only made me want that final championship run even more. Imagine the matchups we could get between a heel Cena and a face Orton or Punk. It might be enough to make the shows exciting to watch again.
Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520 and mchurella@altoonamirror.com