The Post-Wrestlemania Blues

I have been watching the WWE for over 20 years now. Every WWE fan will tell you that the first few months of the year are always the highlight of the year. The year starts off with the Royal Rumble where we find out who will be wrestling at Wrestlemania. Then comes Wrestlemania, the Super Bowl of wrestling, it is the biggest wrestling event of the year.

For me the fun doesn't end there though. I always used to love what happened immediately after Wrestlemania. Since Monday Night Raw started one of the best episodes every year is the Monday Night Raw the night after Wrestlemania. The reason being that since Wrestlemania was such a huge event that most of the matches on the card ended the current feud. The next night on Monday Night Raw would be like a new beginning where we would see new feuds formed and get an idea where the WWE was headed for in the future.

Take for example one of the most memorable Monday Night Raws of all time, the night after Wrestlemania XIV. On that night Vince McMahon awarded the new Heavyweight Championship to the new Champion "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Steve Austin gave Vince McMahon the stunner and the Stone Cold reign was under way. Meanwhile Triple H was introducing X-Pac and along with the New Age Outlaws formed the new version of Degeneration X. Both of those things set up what we were going to see for the next year to come.

More recently than that the WWE roster has seen some drastic changes immediately after Wrestlemania. It was right after Wrestlemania that Vince McMahon decided to split the roster into two brands, Raw and Smackdown and they also held a draft in order to form the rosters. The next few years after that there were always some exciting roster changes right after Wrestlemania.

It is now a month after Wrestlemania 23 and so far nothing has happened and nothing is new. The two champions at Wrestlemania, John Cena and Batista, are still feuding with the same people they wrestled at Wrestlemania. Three of the matches on the next PPV, Backlash, are rematches of Wrestlemania 23. It makes Wrestlemania 23 look pretty bad when the matches on the card don't even end the feud. What if the feuds end at this PPV? You mean to tell me that Backlash was the PPV to end your feuds while Wrestlemania was just a means of getting to Backlash? That's dumb. All the rematches at Backlash have caused me and my friends to change the name of the PPV to Backwash.

Unfortunately I have a feeling this isn't changing soon. With no competition Vince McMahon seems content with letting the same four guys wrestle over and over again. I wouldn't be surprised if the same guys are wrestling again by next Wrestlemania and next Backwash...I mean Backlash.