Despite this year’s WrestleMania being a train wreck and nothing close to what the plans should have been, WWE has decided to go along with the typical WrestleMania Week idea on WWE Network.
Every day has a list of a few “specials” of some sort, but not all of them stand out as worth watching. In fact, a good portion of them immediately scream “don’t bother.”
For example, there are 10 programs that are just collections of WrestleMania matches. “Edge’s Best WrestleMania Matches” and “Best of WrestleMania Theater” and so on. If you’ve seen those matches before, there’s no need to watch this playlist material, as it won’t feature anything new.
However, there are still a couple programs that are popping up that have new material. Outside of NXT UK and The Bump, there are five that I’ll personally be checking out, as I watch all true new programming from WWE Network.
But you might not have to. I’m going to save you the trouble. What I’ll be doing is watching each one of these and offering my thoughts, as well as a judgment of whether or not you should see it or skip it so you can make the call of whether or not you want to go back and put it on, or dedicate your time to something else.
I’ll be editing this post each day to accommodate the new premieres, so keep checking back for updates!
Without further ado, let’s get into it.
Where Are They Now?: Eva Marie & Snitsky
Kelly Kelly is struggling to host this show. Her introductions are pretty bad.
Snitsky wasn’t a guy I was ever super fond of, but I actually found his segment pretty interesting. To sum it up in short, he doesn’t seem bitter at all about his experience in WWE, which is rare for someone in his situation. He wanted to do well, gave it a shot, it didn’t work out and it is what it is. He looks back fondly on his memories, still has his action figures, and works at a military supply store now.
Eva Marie is working on a film and is still into fitness and other projects like that. All Red Everything now has purple hair. Funny enough, I didn’t give her the proper credit I should have. I figured she was a Total Divas person who only wanted to get in WWE to propel a modeling career and had no interest in it. Turns out, she had always been into sports and enjoyed the modeling and acting stuff beforehand, too, so when she came across the Diva Search, she figured it merged all those things together. That makes sense. She also seems open to a return, at some point.
Verdict = Skip It. I just gave you all the info you need to know.
WWE Dream Match Mania
This was pretty much exactly how I pictured it would be. Dubbed “WWE Dream Match 2K20 Simulation Special”, it was hosted by Matt Camp along with guests. This featured:
- Roman Reigns vs. The Rock (with The Usos)
- Big E vs. Goldberg (with Big E and Kofi Kingston)
- Charlotte Flair vs. Beth Phoenix (with Charlotte Flair and Beth Phoenix)
- Seth Rollins vs. Ric Flair (with Johnny Gargano and Adam Cole)
- Sasha Banks vs. Trish Stratus (with Sasha Banks and Bayley)
- John Cena vs. Hulk Hogan (with Drake Maverick and R-Truth)
Simply put, a couple people got on Skype, watched the AI have a match on WWE 2K20, talked about a lot of other topics, and moved on to the next thing. I know some people absolutely love that stuff, and if you’re that type of person, you should definitely see it. However, this isn’t my idea of a fun hour and a half on a busy week.
I was hoping we’d get some interesting conversations coming about with the guests, yet even when things were their liveliest, it still felt so “meh” to me. I enjoyed Big E flipping out that he lost to Goldberg. “Matt Fooool…change your Twitter…” That was easily the best part, hands down, by far, but I also had a lot of fun with Drake and R-Truth, per usual.
Beth and Charlotte was too serious and kind of boring. Gargano and Cole showed a lot of respect. Banks and Bayley had some fun. Overall, it wasn’t something I’d suggest to most people.
Verdict = Skip it.
WWE Untold: HBK vs. Angle
I wasn’t actually watching wrestling at the time this feud went down. I had taken a few years off watching the product, so I missed this live. Of course, since Shawn Michaels is my favorite of all time, I’ve seen it by revisiting old material over the years, as it was a must-see match.
Even without having that nostalgia, I still enjoyed this episode of Untold. Perhaps, I even liked it more because it’s not something that I already knew all the information about. But I think that if you were a fan of this feud, you’d enjoy this look back.
Verdict = See it.
WWE Chronicle: Drew McIntyre
This is our first real look at how WWE has been operating during the pandemic. That alone is worth watching.
Verdict = See it.
WWE 24: Edge: The Second Mountain
I absolutely loved this. I can’t overstate how great this was. This may be my favorite WWE Network special ever. It really boosted my morale and made me respect Edge even more, as if he wasn’t already one of my top 10 favorites of all time. You MUST see this.
Verdict = See it.
What did you think of these shows? Would you recommend them or do you think they’re not worth checking out? Drop your thoughts in the comments below! Keep the discussion going!
