WWE is losing its sauce. Will WrestleMania 42 bring it back? | Opinion

After breaking records in gate, merchandise, sponsorship and hospitality experiences, generating $322.2 million in total economic output for Las Vegas — plus the millions it reportedly got in tax credits — it was obvious TKO Group Holdings, Inc., owner of WWE, saw the money and couldn’t resist.

The money was also seen in tickets. It’s been a talking point for a few years how expensive it’s become to attend WWE events in person, making what has long been a family event quite the cost.

That reached a breaking point with WrestleMania 42. When tickets were released, the get-in price to attend both night one and night two were over $850. In 2023, you could get both nights for just $120.

There was so much outrage, WWE had no choice but spend the past few months discounting tickets in hopes of filling up the stadium. While it has helped, there’s another issue with people buying tickets: Do you want to really see what’s going on?

Of all the issues going into WrestleMania, none may be worse than the mess of storytelling to build hype in the matches — and who isn’t featured.

To start, two women that were championship winners last year in Iyo Sky and Tiffany Stratton are absent from the card. A rising star that keeps getting roadblocks in Carmelo Hayes lost the United States Championship, stunting his growth, to a tiresome person in Sami Zayn. Women’s United States Champion Giulia is nowhere to be found.

As for the matches actually happening, the Women’s World Championship bout between Stephanie Vaquer and Liv Morgan has been a rinse-and-repeat feast of exchanging words and then attacks. Seth Rollins returned, and there wasn’t a real direction with him, so they threw Gunther at him, which doesn’t make much sense.

The Vision had been beefing with The Usos and LA Knight for months, and a WrestleMania match made sense, but injuries left creative to pivot. The result? IShowSpeed. Welp.

Then there’s the main events. Roman Reigns and CM Punk have been mostly fine, but boy has WWE messed up Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton big time. There’s so much history, they could easily tell the story on their own.

Instead, WWE decided it needed to spice it up, by bringing in… Pat McAfee?

Oh goodness.

There are a lot of bad ideas in wrestling, but inserting McAfee into the main event might be one of the worst. It completely killed the momentum this story had as it was a clear money grab to get McAfee involved — especially with ESPN now airing the event. Even worse, we now have Jelly Roll involved with a likely match coming down the road.

Rhodes and Orton turned the spotlight over to McAfee and it’s been a botched experiment that doesn’t have people excited, instead more frustrated. A perfectly good story ruined. No wonder John Cena is coming back as host.

It’s not hard to understand why there isn’t anywhere near the same level of hype for WrestleMania 42 compared to recent years. Such a disappointing build can only mean a depressing event, right?

It doesn’t have to be. For as much has gone wrong, there are still some things that can save the weekend.

Yes, Brock Lesnar still wrestling is controversial, but the anticipation for him and Oba Femi colliding is palpable, maybe the best match going into this. Finn Balor and Dominik Mysterio have been building toward this showdown, and the Intercontinental Championship ladder match can steal the show. Plus, AJ Lee and Becky Lynch are veterans that have proven they can deliver against each other.

For all the bad progression with some matches, it can all be redeemed with spectacular showings inside Allegiant Stadium. The disappointment just has people thinking it will be bad, and that can easily change.

WWE has the chance to seize momentum, and it better do it in its final opportunity. This time of year in wrestling is supposed to be exciting. It’s meant to make the atmosphere electric and the crowd roaring, not walking into the stadium or turning on the TV like a zombie.

WrestleMania 42 needs to be a success. If it happens by proving it does want to put out a creative product, WWE will again be riding a high that has captivated fans for the past few years and have audiences back in the palm of its hands, buying into what happens next.

If it doesn’t, WWE will enter a “new era,” one that could ruin it all and make it too late to come back from.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: WWE is struggling, and it needs WrestleMania 42 to save it