14 Lessons We Learned During WWE Wrestlemania Weekend

Wrestlemania 35 weekend is in the books and what a weekend it was. Truthfully, Mania "weekend" isn't so much a weekend anymore. Instead, it's a week packed with events, both those presented by WWE and otherwise. From WWE's own fan festival to a long list of independent wrestling shows, there's something to do practically 24 hours a day during Wrestlemania week, and events that appeal to every kind of fan.

This year, GameSpot made the trek out for Mania weekend, spending six days in New York and New Jersey, taking in the best professional wrestling has to offer. GameSpot's Mat Elfring and Chris Hayner attended shows put on by companies from around the world, as well as just about everything WWE had to offer, from NXT Takeover: New York to Wrestlemania 35, itself.

All told, we watched about 30 hours of live wrestling during the trip and spent a good chunk of time at Wrestlemania Axxess. Looking back on the week, there were some definite lessons we learned that only deepened our appreciation for sports entertainment. However, this being pro wrestling, there were also a few things that promotions presenting the various shows should take note of so they can avoid doing it again in the future.

Take a look at our Wrestlemania weekend lessons, then check out the rest of our coverage from the big event. From our reviews of Wrestlemania and G1 Supercard, to a look at all of the memorabilia on display at Axxess and interviews with WWE superstars, we have it all covered.

Image credit: WWE

Throughout the evening at DDT Pro Wrestling, the Japanese promotion showcased the weird, the wonderful, and the truly bizarre at its Thursday evening event in Queens, New York. One of these moments was the inclusion of Japanese wrestling superstar, Yoshiko, who is a blow-up doll. That’s right, a star attraction to the midcard of this event was three pounds of vinyl filled with air.

Yes, the idea may seem stupid to people without a sense of humor--looking at you, commenter who is about to say it’s ruining wrestling or whatever. However, what makes this such a special event is it that it is all in the name of fun and it gives Yoshihiko’s opponent the ability to show what they can do in the ring through controlling the character and over-selling every move. And yes, the blow-up doll did become champion for a brief period of time during the evening. Makes sense to me. -- Mat Elfring

Obviously, you shouldn't expect to see John Cena showing up at a Pro Wrestling Guerrilla show, but Wrestlemania weekend proved that WWE allowing certain talents to work outside of the WWE system can work incredibly well. The company has some kind of partnership with Evolve that led to the Street Profits and Roderick Strong appearing at Evolve's Wrestlemania weekend show. These NXT stars get as much spotlight as they can in NXT, but that's only a weekly one hour show.

In Evolve, the Profits got a nice amount of promo time and also wrestled in singles matches, showing just how talented this duo is. It's the most personality I've seen from them yet, and it made me so excited to see them perform during NXT Takeover's pre-show. Giving them and Strong the opportunity to hone their skills on the indie stage only serves to make them better. What's more, it raises the stock of anyone they're facing.

Obviously, the situation with Evolve is a unique one. Here's hoping, though, that it's a road WWE continues to go down--especially when it comes to something like Wrestlemania weekend. WWE's roster is so massive that there's plenty of men and women that could help round out the multiple indie shows going on. -- Chris E. Hayner

Image credit: WWE

Check out GameSpot's look back at the ten best matches in Wrestlemania history. It takes a lot to steal the show at the Showcase of the Immortals, but these bouts did the trick.

There are two kinds of Japanese wrestling: New Japan Pro Wrestling’s strong style-heavy and slow-paced shows which focus more on in-ring, very serious action. There’s also shows like DDT Pro, which are a hodge-podge of madness. Both are unique and incredibly fun to watch. They are unlike anything fans see in the United States, so getting to experience both sides of the coin during the weekend was quite the thrill.

At ROH/NJPW G1 Supercard at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, Japan’s largest and most popular promotion presented hard-hitting bouts that were easily some of the best matches ever to grace the building. From high spots that wowed the crowd to slow and intense builds to huge finishes, NJPW showcased the best Japan has to offer.

The style itself is very different from what WWE offers its fans, but in no way is that a bad thing. Seeing both the serious and funny Japanese styles makes you realize that there is much more to wrestling than what WWE--and WCW in earlier years--offers its fans. When a blowup doll can win a championship, you know you've found something special.

No offense to NJPW, which I love, but DDT has my heart forever. Where else can you see a guy kiss everyone in the crowd during his entrance, Hulk Hogan being used as a foreign object, or a wrestler not being cleared to compete by a doctor because his blood pressure was too high? Only in DDT. -- Mat Elfring

Image credit: NJPW

If you don't know who Joey Ryan is, get it together. He's sort of become king of the indie wrestling scene, thanks to his gimmick of simply being the sleaziest wrestler alive with wildly powerful genitalia. What's more, he's willing to do practically anything to entertain fans--as was seen at both the DDT Pro show and his own event, Joey Ryan's Penis Party.

The thing about Joey Ryan that just makes him so much fun to watch is he leans hard into the comedy he's known for, but he can also wrestle wonderfully. That leads to an interesting mishmash of styles only rivaled by Colt Cabana on the indie scene. Looking back at the weekend, though, it's clear that Joey ruled the weekend when it comes to shows that weren't presented by WWE and Ring of Honor. -- Chris E. Hayner

The G1 Supercard show, presented by Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling was a mixed bag. There were some truly incredible moments and some that just sort of happened, like Dalton Castle's super quick loss to Rush. However, there was truly only one terrible moment of the show. The men formerly known as Enzo and Big Cass in WWE made their Ring of Honor "debut" or whatever it was in a moment that saw them jump the barrier and attack wrestlers at ringside.

In the moment, it seemed possible that this was not planned. However, the lack of security running to have them arrested kind of gave away that it's a storyline. That said, this is the last possible storyline ROH would ever need. Enzo and Big Cass should not be anywhere near Ring of Honor or NJPW and including them in this show was truly disappointing. These companies sold out Madison Square Garden on their own merit. Using subpar wrestlers who were fired from WWE as an added attraction was a mistake. Hopefully, it's one ROH will learn from. -- Chris E. Hayner

Image credit: WWE

Evolve was the very first match Chris and I went to during our Wrestlemania week. And the first time I got really excited was when AR Fox and Leon Ruff had their match. So much of what happened is now foggy to me, as it's been replaced with other memories and moments, but I remember seeing Fox and Ruff and thinking, "these guys should be huge." Aside from being incredibly charismatic, they were both exceptionally solid in the ring. It was a party on the inside and outside of the ring, and although I had never heard of or seen the two before, I was instantly a fan. I was enjoying them so much, the above photo of Ruff was the only decent photo I got. -- Mat Elfring

If there's anything Mat and I learned during Wrestlemania, it's that the New Day is always "on." And it's always glorious. Whether it's Xavier Woods and Big E air banding Seth Rollins' theme song during Raw, the trio having way too much fun during the WWE 2K19 Million Dollar Championship semi-finals--during which we witnessed Big E's resting pose--or the interviews GameSpot conducted with them through the weekend, the New Day have proven themselves time and again to be WWE's most precious resource.

They're always fantastic on the microphone, they continuously deliver wonderful matches, and they have a unique talent of taking the most ridiculous things and making them so entertaining. Joey Ryan may be the indie MVP of Wrestlemania weekend, but the New Day are the MVP's of WWE. -- Chris E. Hayner

The New Day has been ridiculously entertaining since their face turn, years back. Heck, I thought they were fantastic as heels, trying to make a bad gimmick work. But here's the thing, when these guys are performing, they are insanely entertaining, especially Big E.

While we interviewed Big E--along with the rest of the New Day--they were in "performing for the camera" mode, but aside from that, Big E was hypnotizing. During the WWE 2K19 tournament, Big E did a bunch of weird/hilarious things: He sat on the middle turnbuckle for no reason, slapped his butt a bunch, and gyrated like no one was watching.

He was always doing something, even when he knew the camera wasn't on him. Don't get me wrong, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods were very entertaining at all times as well, but Big E is on another level with the weird things he does. Remember when he did the splits? Why? I don't care, it was awesome. I demand the WWE Network offer picture-in-picture mode with a camera focused solely on Big E whenever he's involved in segment or match. Make my dreams come true. -- Mat Elfring

Wrestlemania Axxess is a very weird experience… unless you've been to a Comic-Con before. Much like any con, it's all about celebrating your fandom, meeting your favorite celebrities, and stocking up on gear that lets you show the world your pop culture allegiance.

At Axxess, though, it's all wrestling. You can meet the New Day, watch NXT UK matches live, pick up exclusive merchandise not available anywhere else, and also dive head-first into some pretty impressive activations, which let you do everything from recreating your favorite wrestler entrance to do color commentary on legendary matches. What's more, it's all included with the price of the ticket. -- Chris E. Hayner

As someone who has been covering conventions like San Diego Comic-Con for a decade, I can tell you from first-hand experience that these shows are expensive and love taking advantage of con-goers and their wallets. The ridiculous prices charged for fans to get their pictures taken with celebrities, after already buying convention tickets and hotel rooms, makes conventions are a horrific money pit. Strangely enough, Axxess was not.

Sure, the tickets to get into Axxess weren't cheap--especially if you wanted VIP access--and the WWE Superstore offered everything the WWE Shop did but for 10 percent more, but aside from that, practically everything else was free. Axxess offered free wrestling events for fans to watch, a chance to meet your favorite WWE superstars, and activations like commentating a classic WWE match. Let me repeat that. It was free—with price of admission so not REALLY free, I guess. I still don’t know how the whole Axxess time slots work, but that was really cool to see there were things to do at the show. -- Mat Elfring

Image credit: WWE

One of the absolute best things about Axxess is something you don't even have to participate in. There's an activation at the fan fest that allows fans to recreate their favorite wrestler entrances, complete with music and video wall graphics. What this, of course, leads to, is an army of children acting like wrestlers, and it's pretty much the best thing you could hope for.

Mat and I stood there for a half hour watching child after child do their best Finn Balor, AJ Styles, and Bayley impressions with massive smiles on our faces because it reminds you of how many kids just flat-out love wrestling. It's easy to be more jaded by it as an adult because you become more critical. For kids, however, they're pretending to be the real-life superheroes they've come to see at Wrestlemania. It's hard not to love that. -- Chris E. Hayner

Image credit: WWE

I'm not an eSports guy. Much respect to those of you that love watching people play video games competitively, but I never got it. It's just not my thing. Or, at least, it wasn't. The WWE 2K19 Million Dollar Championship, it turns out, was the perfect thing to introduce me to what eSports really is. I don't know if they're all like this or not, but watching WWE superstars trash talk each other while a group of gamers who would utterly destroy me in 2K19 fought it out for a million bucks was wildly entertaining. I get it now, to a degree.

It also led to something I kept saying to Mat over and over again throughout the weekend. "Mat, we saw someone win a million dollars." And, like, it was a life-changer for this guy to win that prize. I can't even begin to imagine what was racing through his mind at that moment. Video games are cool and I love playing them. Maybe watching other people do it isn't so bad after all, though. -- Chris E. Hayner

Do we really have to get into detail about this? Wrestlemania was a blast, but getting through that long show--which was subjectively a lot of fun--was rough. The main event was over after 12:30 AM. That's nuts. And let's not get into how awful getting out of MetLife Stadium was. When people attending the show aren't getting home until after 3 AM, that's a problem. Cut back the matches, please. -- Mat Elfring

Image credit: WWE

By the time Wrestlemania had come around, Chris and I had sat through 20-something hours of wrestling over the course of three days. We weren't the only ones who were starting to feel the fatigue. Everyone in the press box was there. However, maybe it was the Mania atmosphere or the fact WWE supplied us with all the coffee, but there were a few moments that had us on our feet.

While there were many moments I could talk about, one really sticks out, and that's Kofi Kingston vs. Daniel Bryan. We all knew Kofi was going to win, as the WWE Shop accidentally released the Kofi as champion t-shirt when the match started, but that moment where we got the win got me by the heartstrings, especially when his children got into the ring. It was masterful booking with an incredible pay off. Yes, there were a lot of derivative moments building to it, but Kingston and the New Day brought their own flavor to it, making it something different. If you're a fan of WWE and didn't get a little teary-eyed during Kingston's celebration, you've died on the inside. -- Mat Elfring

Mat pretty much nailed it. Yes, we all know Wrestlemania is special, and it's impressive that WWE is able to gather over 80,000 fans from around the world. By the time that show rolled around, though, we'd been through multiple wrestling events squished into only three days. We'd practically seen it all. The funny thing about wrestling, though, is how emotional it makes you. When Kofi Kington pinned Daniel Bryan and hoisted the WWE Championship over his head, a room full of tired writers sprang out of their chairs in pure elation. When Becky Lynch pinned Ronda Rousey well after midnight, she got an excited shout and a standing ovation.

It's something I've said countless times to friends and family that don't understand why, after decades, I can still get wrapped up in professional wrestling. Yes, it can be bad. When wrestling is bad, it's pretty bad. It can be gross, the storylines can be senseless, we as fans can sometimes be too hard on the performers. However, when wrestling is good, it's just so pure and right. Something good happening in wrestling can erase so much of the bad.

Seeing the women main event Wrestlemania and seeing Becky Lynch, who is more popular than anyone on WWE's roster could dream of being at this point, holding the women's championships for both brands to close out this weird extravaganza of bodyslams was a powerful moment for so many reasons. And it encapsulated why we're willing to sit through nearly eight hours of wrestling for a single moment. -- Chris E. Hayner

Image credit: WWE