WrestleMania 38 Was Entertaining, But It's Not for the "Purists"

By Thomas Brunt

​WrestleMania weekend 2022 in Dallas, Texas wasn't what some would call, "Wrestling for the wrassling purists," but WWE proved once again, when they know how to and want to, they can deliver, even if from a more "Sports-Entertainment" angle.

The weekend was marked with several big star studded shining moments, so it's hard to pick a "single moment." Although, arguably it should, technically go to Cody Rhodes' return since the weekend was fueled by rumors of his imminent return, and had been for what was, at the time going into WrestleMania, Saturday was 45 days since news had broke on the former EVP and his wife, Brandi leaving from AEW. The return, much like CM Punk's AEW debut in August, was admittedly, "Wrestling's worst kept secret" but that of course, still didn't stop it from being every bit of a memorable moment that wrestling fans won't soon forget, or stop tweeting about.

Cody, back in WWE, but this time as "The American Nightmare", is a great concept and has worked great so far. Let's hope the chairman and creative don't let up on booking him strongly. Having listened to Rhodes himself, it sounds like the company has rolled out the red carpet for him, and the fact they let him use his AEW character, theme song and the "Wrestling Has more than one royal family" line as a part of the entrance music is a win!

Let's not forget to mention, they have given his wife and nine-month-old baby a bus to travel in, to go with him everywhere he goes, to my understanding. If this is for the whole year, and not just for WrestleMania, it is an incredible deal that works out for him to be able to see his family, in person, even while on the go for each next show! Cody's return match vs. Seth Rollins was arguably, the best of night one, and the best from an overall in-ring perspective both for night one and night two, though it still wasn't necessarily an all-time instant classic match; that's okay as the moment of his return and the grandeur of the spectacle carried this one and helped where it lacked in terms of a "Meltzer star rating" system.

In a recent interview on "The Pat McAfee Show", WWE Chairman, Vince McMahon talked about how he strives to market the company differently from just "any other wrestling company" and how the wrestlers there are "Superstars" or "Entertainers" and not just wrestlers. Admittedly, as much as we may not like to recognize it, the truth is McMahon does have a major point: WWE stands out, because of their sports-entertainment driven focus, albeit this writer still enjoys just pure wrestling from the indie scene and the passion many have for it, and wishes McMahon embraced it more in his company.

WrestleMania, unlike a ROH Supercard of Honor, isn't for the purists, but in all the grandeur, pomp and glory, unlike as of late, it actually delivered this time unlike their last outing at AT&T Stadium, which was a month before a disgruntled Cody, f.k.a. "Stardust" was released from his WWE contract. You know what they say: Everything is bigger in Texas according to pop culture, so to perform on a stage like that, it's a win for Cody. It's a win for the indie wrestling scene he advocates for, but most of all despite what we may say at times, depending on how you measure the success of a wrestling show, whether you think that WrestleMania has lost its way, in terms of not being as prestigious a show as it used to be, or you buy into the entertainment aspect, you can't argue that excitement was in the air and good memories were made. Just don't expect it to be wrestling "for the wrasslin' purists"; instead it sticks out, and in a world of a myriad of promotions all doing much the same thing, that's a success no one else can claim.