Could we be looking at a 5 hour Wrestlemania this year...?

[Dave]

With the additional, customary, 2 hour pre-show?

A couple of things have got me thinking about the scheduling of WrestleMania this year. And the first of those is the decision to turn the other big three pay per views unto 4 hour events. Traditionally, the four hour slot was saved for only WrestleMania. Historically, it made Mania feel as though it was genuinely a bigger deal than the rest of the events. Now that the playing field is seemingly levelled, I think the WWE will be considering going ahead with the 5 hour event for only Mania.

But moreover, the build towards Mania this year has been pretty good. I would go as far as to say that it has made the build towards last year's event look pretty underwhelming. More importantly, it has captured the imagination of the WWE fans. I have been looking around this forum and other news websites to get a feel for what people are expecting and wanting. A lot of the matches seem set in stone. Goldberg versus Lesnar, Triple H versus Rollins, The Undertaker versus Cena (?), Owens versus Jericho, Styles versus The Miz (?), Strowman versus Reigns, Bayley versus Charlotte... The list goes on and on.

The point I am trying to make is that the WWE now have a massive wealth of talent that will all be looking to take part in the event. That's not even mentioning the Cruiserweight Division or the Andre the Giant Battle Royal, it doesn't take into account the IC Championship, the Tag Championships or other people that deserve the shot. My point is, the WWE have the talent pool to fill the show.

But even more importantly than that, it means that the WWE are giving the wrestlers time to put on great matches. After WK11, the WWE should take the opportunity to show the world that they have the best wrestlers in the world. The talking should all be done by then and the wrestling should be what takes over.

What's your thoughts?

 

[Y 2 Jake]

I hope so. I was expecting 8 hours, maybe more.

You know why people rate Reigns vs. Triple H so badly? Because it came at the end of a needlessly long card. It's not a bad match at all. 4 hours is sufficient for Mania.

 

[The Life Of Pablo Ren]

I was actually thinking about this earlier. When I was making my WrestleMania card there was a good 14 matches on it, matches that felt necessary (or matches that I felt needed to be on the card for both brands to be "equal", for example if there's a RAW Women's Championship match there has to be a Smackdown Women's Championship match) and a majority of them need a good amount of time. Plus I was leaving off some pretty big names like Sheamus, New Day, Enzo and Cass, etc. I had 3 matches on the pre-show with 11 on the main card but even then that's a lot as in past the past 10 or so years we've usually seen 8-9 matches, at most 10 on the main card.

I doubt they push Mania to 5 hours... that with a 2 hour pre-show is just too much. BUT they bumped the Rumble, Summerslam and Survivor Series to 4 hours so maybe to make it stand out... maybe they will make it 5 hours.

If I recall correctly, last year WrestleMania ended up running almost an hour over making it 5 hours anyway, they have the freedom to do that now and and if need be, I think they'll just do that and maybe MAYBE extend the pre-show by an hour and add another match or two. At that point it would basically feel like a whole show... before the ACTUAL show and that's pretty laughable, I don't think anyone would want that.

 

[Hyorinmaru]

Put the preshow on a couple days before 'Mania to get everyone pumped and keep the event 4 hours. Not everyone needs to be on the 'Mania card and not every match needs to 30+ minutes.

Personally I sit at my laptop and watch the network and 5+ hours is a bit more than I can handle so I don't want it that long. It's why I haven't watched WK11 yet.

 

[King Patrick Star]

I'm probably going to be in the minority here, but I'm hoping WrestleMania one day becomes a 2 day event. 4 hours on Saturday, 4 hours on Sunday, 2 hours each day for the pre-show, and 1 hour each for the post show. I would treat it like an award show, complete with a red carpet entrance for celebrities and special guests.

Day 1
Intercontinental Championship Title match
United States Championship Title match
Raw Tag Team Championship Title match
Smackdown Tag Team Championship Title match
André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal
10 Woman Tag Team match
Celebrity match

Day 2
WWE Universal Championship Title match
WWE World Championship Title match
Raw Women's Championship Title match
Smackdown Women's Championship Title match
Undertaker match
Brock Lesnar match
Main Attraction match

Think about the back to back attendance records. Think about how fun that entire week would be for that city.

If it too much for you, just watch it at your convenience.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

I hope not because they tried that last year with 6 hours plus event if you count the pre show and by the fourth hour the crowd was dead and they had fans leaving because the show was to long. It really hurt some of the top matches because of the length of the show.

You don't need to put everybody in a big single match, that's what the battle royal is for. I say have all the titles be defended on the mania card, a couple of main attractions matches that's a good wrestlemania card.

With a show that's already too long, why not cut the pre show from 2 hour to 1 hour and please lets fans actually get in before starting the pre show match. I felt so bad for ryback and kalisto last year when I saw them wrestling in front of a almost empty stadium

 

[Hyorinmaru]

I'm probably going to be in the minority here, but I'm hoping WrestleMania one day becomes a 2 day event. 4 hours on Saturday, 4 hours on Sunday, 2 hours each day for the pre-show, and 1 hour each for the post show. I would treat it like an award show, complete with a red carpet entrance for celebrities and special guests.

Not a horrible idea but it does give a big Middle Finger to NXT. Mania Saturday will have an NXT Takeover event from now on I'm sure and making 'Mania a 2 day event will take a lot way from the NXT crew who works just as hard if not harder than the Main Roster. I don't see this happening ever. Also Award shows suck, treating Mania like one will make me not watch like I do all Award Shows.

Like I said not a horrible idea but not that good either.

 

[Navi]

I have a feeling that the OP is right, it could possibly go that long this year with the talent and amount of matched you would need to showcase them all. I really hope it doesn't.

If you were watching on TV like I was last year, you could almost see the crowd deflating as the night wore on. Once they started losing the crowd it was time for the show to just be over. No point in having 100k plus if they are tired or worse, leaving the arena.

I sat through over 4 hours at SS this year and I was beginning to want to leave, cannot imagine sitting there in Orlando with that sun beating down on you for hours on end. The commentators must have been feeling it as well. Doing it over two days would be a great idea, but can that even be done. It must be wonderful to attend Mania, but truthfully, I would rather watch it at home. The replays come up, the fridge is close by and so is the washroom. Having the washroom handy is a huge bonus.

 

[Navi]

Also Award shows suck, treating Mania like one will make me not watch like I do all Award Shows.

They treat the Hall of Fame like an award show with a red carpet and all that. Usually you have Renee Young, Michael Cole and Maria Menounos talking to the wrestlers as they arrive. I quite enjoy that, but don't think they would be able to accomplish the same thing at Mania. When you have close to 100k to seat, keeping everyone waiting while they interview Ronda Rousey just won't fly with some people.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Pretty sure as soon as Vince's marketing people and or the marketing people for the company that sells 5 Hour Energy drink figure out how to exploit this idea it will happen. Maybe sell bottles at Mania with pictures of Cena on them for kids or bottles with Maryse for those that really need a pick me up after sneaking off to a closed bathroom stall with said picture of Maryse. 5 Hour Energy is the proud sponsor of this five hour Mania blah, blah, blah.

From a personal perspective I don't like this idea but not enough to complain or care much. If I watch Mania live I am only going to watch the last three hours at most. But overall, if I miss some of it I can always go watch it after based on the feedback from the fans. So either way not a big. Good at least for the guys who make more money from extra time.

But yeah WWE, send me my damn checks for my idea.

 

[CH David]

Just shoot me if Mania goes 5 hours PLUS the pre-show. I quite enjoy my wrestling. But 7 hours in one day is tough. By the time the main event rolls around you're exhausted and don't give a shit about it. That's how it was last year for me. Keep it at 4 hours and call it a day.

 

[justinsayne]

Just make a few adjustments & the 5 hr. format works just fine.

-Cut the preshow from 2 hrs. to 1 hr. (including matches)

-Start the event earlier, currently the WM starts at 6 pm my time, have it start at like 5 pm, with the preshow starting at 4 pm.

-Do a halftime/intermission, give the fans 20-30 mins to hit the bathroom, concession stands, & just in general a break from the action. To fill the time you can kick back to the preshow panel & recap the first half of the show, & this would also be the perfect place for all those shitty musical performances WWE insists on doing at WM every year.

-Make each match feel different, a lot of times WWE matches just follow the same exact formula, & when that happens repeatedly over 5+ hrs. it gets tiresome. Have the agents & talent make sure they're doing something different with each match. There should be something for every fan on WM, so why not make sure every match feels a little different the the ones before it. WK11 seemed to able to accomplish this, I don't see why WWE couldn't do it too.

-And finally, keep Reigns out of the ME. Seriously it's not working, just give it up & put him on earlier in the night.

 

[sMark]

Just make a few adjustments & the 5 hr. format works just fine.

-Cut the preshow from 2 hrs. to 1 hr. (including matches)

-Start the event earlier, currently the WM starts at 6 pm my time, have it start at like 5 pm, with the preshow starting at 4 pm.

-Do a halftime/intermission, give the fans 20-30 mins to hit the bathroom, concession stands, & just in general a break from the action. To fill the time you can kick back to the preshow panel & recap the first half of the show, & this would also be the perfect place for all those shitty musical performances WWE insists on doing at WM every year.

-Make each match feel different, a lot of times WWE matches just follow the same exact formula, & when that happens repeatedly over 5+ hrs. it gets tiresome. Have the agents & talent make sure they're doing something different with each match. There should be something for every fan on WM, so why not make sure every match feels a little different the the ones before it. WK11 seemed to able to accomplish this, I don't see why WWE couldn't do it too.

-And finally, keep Reigns out of the ME. Seriously it's not working, just give it up & put him on earlier in the night.

I agree with this plan. I only have 3 things to add to this:
1) do NOT use all the talent starting from midcard. Choose carefully only best of them and put them in best matches/rules possible. For example if you do not have a real plan for Luke Harper, do not add him into Orton/Bray match.
2) while WM is the place for fresh matches, at least in my mind, not every match must follow this formula
3) use mini storylines and surprises there, because the whole world will be watching. For example Brock attacks Goldberg during his entrance, so he have an advantage now. The Miz meet AJ Styles backstage, they brawl, The Mi doesn't have a match on the card but challenge Styles right after his victory and win. Rusev doesn't have a match as well, but challenge anyone for a fight and get beat by returning Kurt Angle.
Do not make it like a weekly TV show opera, but a little dose of this things will give fans some time to catch their breath between big matches and fresh up their interest.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

It's not something I'd be overly thrilled about, but it's also something I wouldn't dislike enough to piss and moan about.

Truth is, I could probably stand a 5 hour WrestleMania as long as we didn't have a bunch of promo segments featuring past stars that go on for 30 minutes or more. I might be in the minority on this, but I'm all about there here, now and the future as far as the wrestlers are concerned; watching Stone Cold, Hogan & Rock in the middle of the ring to open WM a few years back did nothing for me, having the Rock & Ronda Rousey make monkeys out of Trips & Stephanie did nothing for me, watching the Rock essentially jerk off while basking in the adulation of fans while making monkeys out of the Wyatt Family did nothing for me. It'd be great if Vince put the sort of effort into building up younger talent rather than usually feeding them to Attitude Era stars all for a moment of nostalgia.

It's great to see past stars come back now and again on Raw or SmackDown Live, but I'm over seeing them make modern stars look like stooges and I've little desire to see them eat up time at the biggest show of the year.

 

[sMark]

I don't know about you, but for me the best Legends moment was when Piper attacked Hogan at WM19 to help Vince. It was classic rivarly revisited for a moment and that was really enough. Though watching Hogan/Rock/Austin in the same ring at the same time was something to remember as well for me.

For the current WM i'd like to see Hollywood Hogan legdroping Goldberg. 1st this will taste the waters with his return judging by the crowd reaction 2nd this will be a blast from the past revisiting their famous Nitro match

P.S. don't judge me by my avatar, i'am not THAT all into Hogan, and i know he was an *ss backstage, but he is the Icon of 80's/90's and i think he deserve a second chance after all this lawsuit story.

 

[ShinChan]

As long as the matches are interesting, I don't care about the total time Wrestlemania will take.

If the time is more and still uninteresting matches like Roman Reigns Vs. Triple H happens, then I would rather see whatever interests me. Like Charlotte Vs. Sasha Vs. Becky was the match of the night, So I ain't going to miss interesting matches no matter how long they are.

 

[WorstWrestlingExcrement]

With the additional, customary, 2 hour pre-show?

A couple of things have got me thinking about the scheduling of WrestleMania this year. And the first of those is the decision to turn the other big three pay per views unto 4 hour events. Traditionally, the four hour slot was saved for only WrestleMania. Historically, it made Mania feel as though it was genuinely a bigger deal than the rest of the events. Now that the playing field is seemingly levelled, I think the WWE will be considering going ahead with the 5 hour event for only Mania.

But moreover, the build towards Mania this year has been pretty good. I would go as far as to say that it has made the build towards last year's event look pretty underwhelming. More importantly, it has captured the imagination of the WWE fans. I have been looking around this forum and other news websites to get a feel for what people are expecting and wanting. A lot of the matches seem set in stone. Goldberg versus Lesnar, Triple H versus Rollins, The Undertaker versus Cena (?), Owens versus Jericho, Styles versus The Miz (?), Strowman versus Reigns, Bayley versus Charlotte... The list goes on and on.

The point I am trying to make is that the WWE now have a massive wealth of talent that will all be looking to take part in the event. That's not even mentioning the Cruiserweight Division or the Andre the Giant Battle Royal, it doesn't take into account the IC Championship, the Tag Championships or other people that deserve the shot. My point is, the WWE have the talent pool to fill the show.

But even more importantly than that, it means that the WWE are giving the wrestlers time to put on great matches. After WK11, the WWE should take the opportunity to show the world that they have the best wrestlers in the world. The talking should all be done by then and the wrestling should be what takes over.

What's your thoughts?

The matches you and everyone speculated has been scrapped off by vince so cena and underflaker will not go as planned. Lesnar and Goldberg has been scrapped off and the matches are not impressive the least unless they go with AJ Styles vs Underflaker for WM33 but it seems Cena will go against AJ Styles and he will capture his title then which will be a huge disappointment if they can turn it into a 3 way match and add Daniel Bryan then let Bryan win it or someone else rather than cena. It looks like a snoozefest so far cause I don t really care for Big Slow vs a basketball player which is the similar mistake WCW did back then with basketball stars.
Triple HHH vs Rollins should be scrapped guy always wants the spotlight no matter what have Rollins vs Styles take place can help. But mcmoron never listens to any of his fans he does what he wants. To answer your question 5 hours of filling up useless scenarios and storylines on an event like this is a waste add some interesting matches forget the humor and storytelling

 

[FromGlasgow]

Since I'm from the UK the event didn't finish till nearly 6am here last year if I remember right which is way too long, I would have difficulty watching anything that length of time, 4 hour events should be more than enough time with maybe a one hour pre show totalling 5 at the very most, Back in the day when they were all under 3 hours I enjoyed watching them several times, I could not watch a 7 or 8 hour event several times, Its become more of a wrestling day and night rather than just a couple of hours wrestling event then a 3 hour raw the next night and a several hour hall of fame the night before its too much I don't have the free time to be a never miss anything WWE wrestling fan anymore.

 

[rge2010]

I would have no issue with a 2 hour pre show and a 5 hour main show. Wrestlemania is a spectacle and the more talent that gets on the card the better. This years Mania could be stacked.

Taker
Brock
Goldberg
Cena
Styles
Reigns
Rollins
Ambrose
Owens
Jericho
Strowman
Orton
Wyatt
Big Show
Shaq

These will all have matches and you could argue a case for a few more like Corbin, Ziggler, Balor etc. You have 2 tag belts, 2 womens belt, cruiserweight belt etc. I can easily see there been 15 matches at this Mania.

 

[Navi]

With the Rumble coming up this weekend and it being 6 hours long, with the two hour preshow, I can't see them doing Mania for any less even going the extra step of adding another hour or so to get the legends in. It's going to be a long day that's for sure. Just hope they make the right decisions on who will be going for what title to keep the crowd interested.

Really don't know how kids can sit there that length of time, must be hard enough for the adults.

 

[rge2010]

I'm probably going to be in the minority here, but I'm hoping WrestleMania one day becomes a 2 day event. 4 hours on Saturday, 4 hours on Sunday, 2 hours each day for the pre-show, and 1 hour each for the post show. I would treat it like an award show, complete with a red carpet entrance for celebrities and special guests.

Day 1
Intercontinental Championship Title match
United States Championship Title match
Raw Tag Team Championship Title match
Smackdown Tag Team Championship Title match
André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal
10 Woman Tag Team match
Celebrity match

Day 2
WWE Universal Championship Title match
WWE World Championship Title match
Raw Women's Championship Title match
Smackdown Women's Championship Title match
Undertaker match
Brock Lesnar match
Main Attraction match

Think about the back to back attendance records. Think about how fun that entire week would be for that city.

If it too much for you, just watch it at your convenience.

I have suggested this before and said one of the days should be held in London. They could feature all the British, Irish and European Wrestlers then throw in a couple of legends and 2/3 of the top stars and you have yourself a card that would sell.

Fin Balor in a title match, UK Title on the line, send Cena, Orton as the main stars backed up by veterans like Kane, Big Show, Mark Henry and possibly someone intriguing like Samoa Joe. Then send a legend there like Austin to host and it would sell.

 

[Wrestlingaholic]

Well, since last year Wrestlemania ran for just short of seven hours (including the pre-show), I think it's fair enough to assume that this year's will be the same. Especially since Money in the Bank, Summerslam, Survivor Series and Royal Rumble have all gone between 3.5 and 4 hours in the last six months.

Personally, having attended several Wrestlemanias live, but crucially NOT last year's (which I watched live on the network), I would say that 4 hours plus a half hour pre-show was the perfect length. Unfortunately, since the last time they significantly reduced the running time of one 'Mania to the next was in 1989, it's extremely unlikely we will get anything less than a total of 7 hours again this year.

On a personal note, I'm a little concerned. Up to seven hours in the Florida sunshine will be a killer for me, being ginger (I'm going again this year after last year's absence); I remember last time it was in Orlando in 2008, it was 30 degrees constantly until it got a tiny bit cooler when the sun went down. Camping World Stadium better have a ready supply of bottled water!