Lack of Sting, Lesnar and Taker Hurtin WM Build?

[pepentorresHHH]

I as am not excited about Wrestlemania as I should be or I have been with past Wrestlemanias. Right now the 3 "main events" are Brock vs Reigns for the belt, Sting vs HHH in a WWE vs WCW war, Bray Wyatt vs The Undertaker, among others.... But the lack of HALF OF ALL 3 MATCHES IS HURTING THE BUILD!

Sting is here!!! he is finally signed up and we are getting nearer and nearer to his eventual battle with COO Triple H. But why am I not as excited about this clash of icons? Because One Week HHH does all the talking, the next week only a video promo, the next a fake Sting voice and the next who knows? The fact is Sting SHOULD be here if not every week at least every 2 weeks. in almost 4 months we`ve seen the guy 3 times. He haven't seen a promo from him and tbh for modern fans that didn't follow his work on WCW or haven't watched the network he is just some old guy in face paint that seems way too hyped. I have seen sting on TV, the network and know his work but his lack of presence is hurting his match.

Bray Wyatt has been on a rampage since returning back in Hell in a Celll, beating the likes of Bryan, Ambrose, Ziggler, among others. And he does cut amazing promos. But Taker hasn't been seen yet and WM in basically less than 3 weeks away. there is so much you can do with basically the same promo. Bray needs Taker there so he can get new material, we see some back and forth, something. Taker needs to come and 1 Address the LOSS AGAINST BROCK LESNAR, he lost his WM UNDEFEATED STREAK and we haven't heard a word about it. We need to see Taker defend his status as the face of fear etc.

Brock Lesnar is the WWE Champion, for better or worse he doesn't show up often but when he does its because he has to defend his belt. and with less than 3 weeks he should be here. I know his contract doesn't allow it but come on he missed 1 date and then took 2 weeks off. That hurts the build of the match. he came back and was silent. Then he doesn't interfere in the main event....
With rumors of Brock Leaving, a lack of faith in hardcore fans, and less than desired crowd reactions, this WM build for Reigns and the WWE title picture has been pretty disappointing.

What do you think?? Is the lack of half of 3 main events hurting the overall build for Mania??

 

[JoeMallard]

I agree that since some of the younger audience don't know who he is, he should show more. However, his character is of a vigilante, so he doesn't really need to do much.

If Lesnar is going to sign back with UFC, Taker should not bring up his first mania defeat. Since there is no streak, they needro try a different kind of build. The mystique of his deadman character not appearing til his match builds the anticipation to see how he performs after being destroyed last year.

Everything you bring up about Lesnar is spot on. We are now three weeks til Wrestlemania and we have only seen one face to face meeting between Lesnar and Reigns. The build to the main event of mania this year has been the worst I've seen in years. If Lesnar has to make up the date he walked out on, him and Reigns need to face off. At this point in time, I will be tuning out before the main event.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

What I've found to be most unusual about this year's WrestleMania is that mid-card matches like the Intercontinental Championship ladder match and Cena vs. Rusev have gotten more of a solid build than the main event matches. For the main events like Taker vs. Wyatt & Lesnar vs. Reigns, WWE looks to be taking something of a minimalist approach. Sting has yet to appear on Raw to speak inside the ring, with or without Triple H, it's been reported that Taker won't be appearing on Raw at all and there's been zero face to face interaction between Brock Lesnar & Roman Reigns since the post Royal Rumble Raw.

I get the feeling that this is all by design and that Vince is experimenting a bit here. My instincts tell me that Vince still believes that his absence makes the heart grow fonder formula he's used with Brock Lesnar as champion will work here and, for the most part, I just don't see it. Within the next few weeks, they're really, really, really, REALLY gonna have to step the build up for these three matches.

With Sting vs. Triple H, I don't think things are going badly because this match has something in particular going for it: the novelty of it being Sting's very first match in WWE. That in & of itself I think is enough to sustain the interest of a lot of fans for this one, but I do think they need a big confrontation to drive it home.

With Taker vs. Wyatt, reports suggest that Vince wants to keep Taker off TV to keep speculation high as to how he's doing, what condition he's in, how he looks, etc. That's actually true to some degree because we're all genuinely curious about that. At the same time, however, all we're left with really is the image of Taker we saw a year ago, which looked to be a gutsy, yet out of shape 49 year old man that nagging injuries have take their toll on. Maybe Taker is in great shape now and last year just happened to catch him at an inopportune time in which old injuries were flaring up and preventing him from being in shape. I'm hoping that's the case.

As for Lesnar vs. Reigns, I have to say that this may well be some of the most lackluster build to any WrestleMania main event I've seen. I'm sure we'll see them involved in some sort of big brawl within the next few weeks and that's something that does need to happen, especially with Heyman's comments last night. Heyman have given some genuinely epic promos the past few weeks, but there's only so much he can do. He's Lesnar's mouthpiece because Lesnar himself just ain't that much on the mic, but we've heard zip from Reigns aside from a few brief backstage promos or the video package we saw last night. I know Reigns can brawl with Lesnar, the problem is that nothing that's happened has alleviated the doubts that some fans have in regards to Reigns' charisma or promo abilities. With each passing week, I keep finding myself more & more convinced that they should have gone with Daniel Bryan in this match.

 

[makeitvab]

Lack of the 3 you mentioned is hurting it, as is Reigns being an over entitled pretty boy with the personality of a moldy dishcloth. I don't "hate" Reigns per se, but when I think of the Champ it has to be someone with a presence and Reigns doesn't have it.

He's a gym rat no doubt, but not more so than some co workers of mine, where as Lesnar is a beast so he doesn't need words.

Thought of Reigns as champ bores me.

Don't particularly care about Sting/HHH as not a fan of either.

Wyatt/Taker is a lose/lose on many levels.

Not trying to be overly negative, this years Mania just isn't interesting me. The IC Ladder match will be fun, no doubt, however I wanted the simple rematch of Ambrose/Barret with Ambrose winning.

Doubt I'll be tuning in, every Mania is about 4 hours and has more useless celebrity/promo/music bullshit than your average PPV so I'll just catch it on replay when I can skip past 2/3rds of show.

WWE needs to get their head out of their ass, won't pretend to know what's wrong or who's causing it but it's been boring and "same ol same ol" for at least a year or two now. It's jarring to watch NXT and have the episode fly by, leaving you wanting more, and to have the first 30 minutes of Raw let you know "Hey you can go back to vidyagames now, this is going to be WWE Raw template #2 tonight".

Sorry for tangent, point was I think the current landscape of Raw (won't pretend they build stuff on SD) is why this years Mania is underwhelming. Shit booking pretty much all around.

 

[Creepy Old Man]

The build to WrestleMania gets weaker every year. This time around it's just sad, with Sting and Undertaker's titantron messages, Undertaker not appearing at all, and Lesnar too terrified to cut a live promo. The Undertaker segment on this week's Raw was particularly embarrassing, with an old promo played through the speaker and Cole pretending it was Taker's live voice. It sucks, it really does, but Vince only cares about the bottom line now. 30 years ago he was emotionally invested in his product and wanted it to make for genuinely great viewing, but now he's old, burned out and cares only about making money.

Beyond Sting and co., the Andre Battle Royal and IC ladder match almost make me weep. It's just the laziest kind of booking imaginable.

 

[King Patrick Star]

This should tell you everything!!

Sting should have been at every Raw from the Royal Rumble all the way to WrestleMania. I wouldn’t not have mind if it was someone else dressed up as Sting in the rafters, or in the crowd, or backstage or anything.

Brock Lesnar should have been defending the WWE Championship or at least made an appearance, at every Pay Per View since Night Of Champions. There really isn’t a good enough reason why he hasn’t been showing up. The only excuse I would have let slide would be if Brock Lesnar was in the UFC at the same time. Can you imagine seeing Brock Lesnar walk toward the UFC octagon with the WWE World Heavyweight Championship Title Belt around his waist!? Can you imagine Brock Lesnar walking toward the WWE ring with the WWE World Heavyweight Championship Title Belt on his right shoulder and the UFC World Heavyweight Championship Title Belt on his left shoulder!?

Undertaker, I guess is fine as is. Appearing though would have added to the hype, but Bray Wyatt is doing a good enough job carrying the promos.

If Hulk Hogan is making more appearances than 3 of your Main Eventers for this year WrestleMania…combined, then I have an issue with that.