Top 10 Stories Of 2020: Two-Night, Taped WrestleMania

Throughout December, Neal Wagner will count down the top 10 stories of 2020 as voted on by The Wrestling Estate staff. Here is No. 4: Two-Night, Taped WrestleMania

Forget Broadway – Vince McMahon coined “the show must go on.”

WrestleMania 36 was originally scheduled to take place on April 5 from Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay, FL, home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That weekend was to play host to the usual weekend festivities of NXT Takeover, a live SmackDown on FOX and the Hall of Fame ceremony. Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, SmackDown was taped from the WWE Performance Center and Takeover and the Hall of Fame were canceled.

Once Florida announced a shutdown in March, WWE decided to move WrestleMania 36 to the Performance Center, along with two firsts: the event would be taped and aired over two nights.

The show was reportedly taped between March 25 and March 26. The Undertaker vs. AJ Styles was changed to become the first Boneyard Match from an undisclosed location and John Cena vs. “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt was changed to the first Firefly Funhouse Match. Both of these would be done in a cinematic style which still featured wrestling but was shot like a movie in lieu of a wrestling ring in front of any audience. The Boneyard Match would be considered the best thing of WrestleMania weekend while the Firefly Funhouse Match was much more controversial.

In other issues, Roman Reigns, who was scheduled to win the Universal Championship from Goldberg, would leave the day of his taping after it was reported that The Miz showed up sick for the show and Reigns wasn’t comfortable considering his compromised immune system due to his leukemia. Reigns wouldn’t return to WWE TV until SummerSlam. Braun Strowman replaced Reigns as Goldberg’s opponent and won the Universal Title. No explanation would be given on TV as to why Strowman replaced Reigns – WWE just aired an updated graphic while running down the card.

The Miz was removed from his scheduled SmackDown Tag Team Title defense alongside John Morrison against The Usos and The New Day in a Ladder Match. Jey Uso would also be removed from the match after suffering an injury while filming an angle during the go-home SmackDown. The match would go from a Triangle Ladder Match to a Triple Threat Ladder Match where one member from each team would be represented.

For the actual show itself, Night 1 (aired on April 4) was considered far superior to Night 2. Charlotte Flair winning the NXT Women’s Championship over a red-hot Rhea Ripley was panned. The Edge and Randy Orton Last Man Standing Match clocked in at over 36 minutes, the second longest match in WrestleMania history behind the Bret Hart-Shawn Michaels Iron Man Match from WrestleMania 12. Many fans considered it slow, plodding and way too long.

I never imagined a two-night, taped WrestleMania, but that’s 2020 for ya. WWE definitely did its best with the circumstances. Just think, if WWE had gone forward with the original WrestleMania 36 plan, we would never have got the Boneyard Match. WWE stepped up to the plate once again, giving fans an escape from reality when we all needed it most.