I wasn’t the biggest fan of Wrestlemania 32. So I wrote a Top 5 list and made a video about the event’s biggest missed opportunities.
At the same time as this, my arch nemesis Francesca Wood has made a Top 5 gushing about Wrestlemania 32’s best moments. She was actually there, which she does not stop reminding me about.
WATCH FRANCESCA’S TOP 5 WRESTLEMANIA 32 MOMENTS HERE.
Click the thumbs up button on the video of whose countdown you prefer, and the one with the most will be declared the Top 5 Wars Round 3 winner.
Full disclaimer, I haven’t won one yet. In fact, I was pretty much destroyed in rounds one and two, but I’m banking on the Internet’s love of negativity here.
Let’s all moan together and see what’s my number 5 biggest missed opportunity at Wrestlemania 32…
5. SEXUAL RETIREMENT
You’ll notice there’s a theme for this countdown: the people that should’ve won matches mostly didn’t. It makes up over half this countdown, and misses out at least four other damaging losses.
But number 5 isn’t Dean overcoming Brock, nor is it AJ Styles decisively beating Chris Jericho for a fourth time. Because I’m a softie, number 5 is that Mark Henry should’ve won the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.
I’m a Baron Corbin guy. I think he’s got a real presence about him. And winning the battle royal at Wrestlemania is a great way to debut on the main roster. But, on the flip side of that, Corbin could’ve just been booked as a monster squashing people on Raw and then he wouldn’t have to carry that awful trophy everywhere.
Rather than starting a career, the Battle Royal should’ve ended one. Mark Henry made his first WWE appearance on 11th March, 1996. Wrestlemania 32 would make it almost exactly two decades since he debuted. He’s said in interviews that this Wrestlemania would probably be his last, and he seems to have been in a perpetual state of ‘about to retire’ since his brilliant 2013 pink suit speech – still one of my favourite wrestling promos of all time.
With Wrestlemania 32 being in his home state of Texas, this could have been a fitting end for the sexiest of chocolates.
4. THE LEGIT WINNER
At number 4 is another person who should’ve won their match: Sasha Banks.
She competed in a three way against Charlotte and Becky Lynch for the former’s newly unveiled Women’s Championship. If she won, she’d be the first WWE Women’s Champion of this new era.
Instead Charlotte retained.
This wasn’t always the plan. Originally we were meant to get a straight up singles bout between Charlotte and Sasha Banks at Wrestlemania, which Banks was meant to win. It wasn’t until Becky Lynch was added in the weeks leading up to the event, making it a three-way, that it was decided Charlotte would retain.
But the time was right for a title change. Charlotte had held the Divas Title since September 20th the previous year, making it 196 days by that point. WWE seemed to be telling the story of a heel holding the title hostage for a babyface to eventually overcome them.
The Boss could have been the first Women’s Champion at Wrestlemania 32, but the WWE squandered yet another feelgood, poignant moment for no discernible reason.
3. TO BE THE MCMAHON…
Shane McMahon vs The Undertaker in a Hell in a Cell match was undoubtedly one of the night’s most spectacular matches. Shane’s elbow from the top of the cage was genuinely breathtaking. But as good as this match was, it could’ve been much better.
The story we were told building up to Wrestlemania 32 was of the conflict between Shane McMahon and his father Vince, not between Shane and Taker. Taker was just Vince’s hired muscle.
Yet the eventual bout between the two had no appearance from Daddy McMahon, meaning there was a distracting white elephant in the AT&T stadium that night. Mainly because of its freakishly muscly arms for an elephant that age.
Vince needed to be there, not just to conclude the Vince/Shane/Undertaker story, but also to add a whole new dynamic to the match – what will Vince do at ringside? Will Shane go after Vince? Will Taker rebel? Suddenly, the match’s story becomes much greater than just a select few high spots and Shane’s gutsy performance.
2. HE’S THE BAD GUY
The main event of Wrestlemania 32 was one of the most deflating in recent history – Triple H vs Roman Reigns for the WWE Championship. Reigns ended up winning to a deafening eruption of ‘boos’.
You know what would have made it better? Turning him heel.
Imagine it…The Rock comes down to celebrate with his cousin Roman, but in the midst of confetti and celebrations, Roman flashes Rock a jealous glare before knocking him out with a superman punch. Which Rock would probably sell by flipping out of the ring and all the way up the entrance ramp.
Rock stole Roman’s spotlight when Reigns won the Royal Rumble in 2015, and here he is hogging the glory again. Presented like this, the heel turn makes sense, and it would make the fans feel like they watched an angle that actually mattered – again, something that was greatly lacking from the event.
Speaking of things actually meaning something, here’s my biggest missed opportunity from Wrestlemania 32…
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE TO FIND OUT THE NUMBER ONE MISSED OPPORTUNITY FROM WRESTLEMANIA 32…
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Oli Davis is the host of the WrestleTalk News. You can follow him on Twitter @OliDavis.
