Let’s talk about the length of WrestleMania. First of all, I thought it became too long starting with WrestleMania 32 in 2016. Fans were just wiped out by main event time when Roman Reigns and Triple H came out for their match. I was very surprised when WWE decided to continue this format for the next two years.
This year however, they may be taking it even further. WrestleMania is set to be as long as a typical workday. There are 17 matches that are going to be on this year’s card, and there have only been seven officially announced. This is not a big deal for the die-hard fans, but I’m worried this could turn away casual fans because they are going to deem that they have better things to do than to watch wrestling for eight hours.
I read an excellent point on thesportster.com talking about how Vince McMahon has developed the idea ever since the inception of the WWE network, that nearly every superstar needs to be included on the WrestleMania card, and that’s just not the case. One aspect of an event like WrestleMania that makes it special is that not everyone gets featured on the card, so superstars feel really valuable to the company if they have a big match at the biggest show of the year. It’s just a note for Vince and Triple H to be careful; they have a great product that isn’t going away anytime soon but, making sure fans stay engaged is critical to long-term success.