Brandon’s World: RIP WWE Pandemic Era (2020–2021)
On March 9, 2020, WWE’s Monday Night RAW aired from the Capital One Arena in Washington D.C. It was a normal Monday night for every WWE fan. Edge returned for the first time since the night after his shocking comeback at the Royal Rumble and brawled with Randy Orton, A.J. Styles challenged The Undertaker to a match at Wrestlemania 36, and Seth Rollins, Murphy and the Authors of Pain defeated The Viking Raiders and The Street Profits in the main event.
Little did the whole world know that was the last WWE event in front of a live audience for over a year.
Two days after RAW went off the air, the coronavirus 2019 disease (COVID-19) was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), forcing schools and businesses worldwide to shut down, Shortly after the announcement, WWE cancelled all live events up till Wrestlemania 36 and moved their TV shows to the WWE Performance Center (PC) in Orlando, Florida. Four days after entertaining nearly 19,000 fans inside the Capital One Arena, Friday Night SmackDown was broadcasted inside the PC with only essential personnel in attendance.
The first SmackDown inside the PC was weird, eerie and scary. While WWE tried to do what they do best and entertain the fans at home (mostly by having Triple H on commentary with Michael Cole), it was a sign of things to come.
Wrestling may be the sport that requires fan reaction the most. Unlike other sports, wrestling fans’ reaction can change the course of history, and the cheers and boos of the paying fans can change the direction of a story or character on the drop of a dime. Just take a look at “KofiMania” or the “YES! Movement” for example. Neither of those iconic WWE storylines would have happened without Kofi Kingston and Daniel Bryan constantly getting cheered by the crowd, even when they weren’t on television.
Without a crowd, WWE and their talent had to adapt and while it was rough at first, the biggest sports entertainment brand in the world never stopped. They produced 16 months of television every week for their fans, and WWE produced a ton of memorable moments during the “Pandemic Era”.
With WWE returning to the road on July 16, I decided this week to take a look back at the “Pandemic Era” and pick out my favorite moments from each of the time frames and appreciate what WWE, and their performers, did for us — the fans — during a time when we needed it the most.
The Performance Center Era (March 13, 2020 — Aug. 17, 2020)
The “PC Era” started out with a lot of uncertainty. WWE fans, including myself, weren’t even sure if Wrestlemania 36 was going to happen! There were rumors that Wrestlemania would be pushed back to June, but alas, It did happen in April, and I was against the idea of doing Wrestlemania in an empty arena, but WWE made it work! For the first time, Wrestlemania was two nights (Saturday, April 4 and Sunday, April 5), and the superstars did everything they could to make the two-night extravaganza the best it could be!
On Night One, Jimmy Uso (on a torn ACL!), John Morrison and Kofi Kingston put on a hellacious Ladder Match for the SmackDown Tag Team Titles, Kevin Owens jumped off a Wrestlemania sign, Braun Strowman (replacing Roman Reigns, who opted out due to health concerns), defeated Goldberg to win his first Universal Championship, and Undertaker buried A.J. Styles in the first-ever, and possibly last-ever, “Boneyard Match”, the first of two cinematic matches on Wrestlemania weekend.
The second cinematic match took place the next night when John Cena and Bray Wyatt entered in Wyatt’s Firefly Fun House and took a trip down memory lane, reliving the 16-time World Champion’s career. Also on Night Two, Otis and Mandy Rose got their revenge on Dolph Ziggler and Sonya Deville for trying to break them up, Edge wrestled his first one-on-one match in nine years, defeating Randy Orton in a near 40-minute brutal Last Man Standing match, and Drew McIntyre fulfilled his destiny by Claymoring Brock Lesnar out of “Suplex City” and winning his first-ever WWE Title (Let’s try to forget about Big Show challenging McIntyre the next night on RAW “after” Wrestlemania went off the air!).
Cinematic Matches:
Not only were the two cinematic matches at Wrestlemania out-of-this-world entertaining, but the Money in the Bank (MITB) Ladder Match at WWE Headquarters is my favorite MITB match of all time! It was so entertaining (I especially enjoyed the food fight, the spot with Daniel Bryan and A.J. Styles in Vince’s office, and all the trash-talking by both the men and the women), and Otis winning the briefcase after Styles dropped it was a terrific finish (even though what Otis did with the briefcase was nothing special)!
Two months later at “Extreme Rules: The Horror Show”, Universal Champion Braun Strowman and Bray Wyatt, returning to his days as a cult leader, went to Wyatt’s swamp where Wyatt originally found Strowman, and brawled in the dirty water in a true masterpiece of storytelling!
We also saw Jeff Hardy and Sheamus beat each other to death in a Irish Bar! The story was based off of Jeff Hardy’s past drinking issues, and it started when WWE officials found Hardy lying on the ground, and Elias in handcuffs as SmackDown hit the air. Hardy claimed Sheamus hit him (though we never found out who ACTUALLY hit him!) and sure, it wasn’t the greatest cinematic match ever, but who doesn’t like to watch two fellas beat each other up in a bar?!
While WWE did cinematic-like matches in the past (Randy Orton vs Bray Wyatt in a “House of Horrors Match” at PayBack 2017, and Matt Hardy and Wyatt fighting inside “The Hardy Compound” on the March 19, 2018 episode of RAW), they weren’t “full” cinematic like these matches. These matches were filmed like shoot-fight movies with background music instead of just having commentary live over the taped match, and they worked out great! We haven’t seen a “full” cinematic match since the “Swamp Fight”, and I want to see more!
Drew McIntyre:
I don’t know if Drew McIntyre would have become the star he is if the world was normal in 2020, but when he slayed Lesnar at Wrestlemania, he became an instant star. He was RAW during this era, and his feuds with Andrade, Seth Rollins, Bobby Lashley and Dolph Ziggler made him feel like he was ready to carry the company. With Reigns sidelined, Cena stuck in the Funhouse, and Wyatt dealing with Strowman, McIntyre elevated himself quickly into “star of the company” status the minute he won the coveted WWE Title. His promo work was engaging, and his matches never disappointed.
Bayley and Sasha Banks:
While McIntyre ruled the men’s side, “The Golden Role Models” and two of “The Four Horsewomen”, Bayley and Sasha Banks, dominated the women’s division. Bayley was the SmackDown Women’s Champion, and eventually, Sasha Banks won the RAW Women’s Champion, and the duo captured the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships. They left The Horror Show with all the gold in the women’s division, and the heels were on every show. Not only RAW and SmackDown, but they also performed on NXT and truly hit their peak as a team during this time.
Different Matches:
To go along with some amazing cinematic storytelling and some MVP-like performers in Bayley, Sasha Banks and Drew McIntyre, WWE tried some different types of matches during this time. Rollins and Rey Mysterio had an “Eye-for-an-Eye Match” at The Horror Show, where the only way to win was to “extract your opponent’s eye” (Yes, you read that right!) Rollins ended up “extracting” Mysterio’s eye by squishing it into the steel steps (though we never saw the eyeball come out; the referee just said it was out, and he put a towel around Rey’s head)!
Following his loss to Edge at Wrestlemania, Orton claimed the only reason Edge beat him is because it wasn’t a traditional one-on-one contest, so Orton challenged Edge to a match at BackLash. WWE dubbed the match, “The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever”, and the two veterans did everything they could to live up to the hype. Between the old-school referee shirt Charles Robinson was wearing, the Howard Finkle introductions (RIP Fink), the constant mat wrestling, a Pedigree, and a Figure-Four Leg Lock, Edge and Orton had a barnburner of a match to close out the June Pay-Per-View (PPV) with Orton winning with an RKO and a Punt Kick to the Rated-R Superstar, displacing his triceps in the process.
And while this match wouldn’t be considered “different”, on the June 12 episode of SmackDown, Daniel Bryan and A.J. Styles put on an instant classic in the Finals of the Intercontinental Championship tournament (The title was vacated by Sami Zayn after Wrestlemania due to health concerns). After 40-plus minutes of old-school mat wrestling, and a ton of submission attempts, Styles hit an exhausted Bryan with the Phenomenal Forearm to win the gold.
RETRIBUTION:
I can’t end the “PC ERA” without talking about the oh-so-promising stable known as RETRIBUTION. Originally meant to be a group that was formed because WWE management wouldn’t give them contracts, RETRIBUTION would mess with the lights and the production truck on the Aug. 3 episode of RAW. Four days later on SmackDown, they would storm the ring and chase off the wrestlers, Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Gregg Hamilton and everybody in WWE with chainsaws. That was the height of the RETRIBUTION era. Everything after that… let’s not get into (Oh WWE, this was so promising! Why?)!”
Debut of The Thunderdome (Aug. 21, 2020 — Dec. 7, 2020)
Going into SummerSlam 2020, WWE knew they needed to spice up their product. The PC was getting tiresome with little to no crowd reaction, and AEW was beginning to host limited fans at Daily’s Place in Jacksonville Florida. WWE did not want to only have limited fans in attendance. If they were coming back, they were coming back all the way!
There were rumors that SummerSlam may take place on a beach in Florida, and while I wished so badly that happened, WWE opted to create the “WWE Thunderdome”, a state of the art LED board that would allow for fans to be seen in the arena digitally through their devices. It would also allow WWE to once again host their shows in a large arena instead of a box-like building like the PC and create much-needed piped in crowd noise.
Roman Reigns:
Following “The Fiend” recapturing the Universal Championship from Braun Strowman in a brutal No Holds Barred match during the main event of SummerSlam, Reigns made his return by spearing “The Fiend” out of his boots and taking out both monsters. Reigns showed up ripped and with a new t-shirt that said, “Show up and win”, signaling a new attitude for “The Big Dog”. Five days later on SmackDown, it was announced “The Fiend”, Strowman and Reigns would compete in a triple-threat match for the Universal Championship in 48 hours at PayBack.
Throughout the show, Vince McMahon put WWE Official Adam Pearce in charge of making sure all three men signed the contract for the match. At the end of the night, Pearce only had to get Reigns’ signature, so he went into his locker room, and Reigns — sitting on his couch — said he would show up and win the Universal Championship at PayBack, and that wasn’t a prediction… it was a spoiler! The camera cut to Reigns’ right and sitting next to him was Paul Heyman, who then uttered, “Believe THAT” to end the show.
It was a truly shocking moment. For the first time in his career, Reigns was a heel, and he was paired with the heelest manger in the history of the business in Heyman. At PayBack, Reigns waited till Strowman and Wyatt pulled a SummerSlam 2.0 and destroyed each other before he entered the ring, beat them both within an inch of their lives with a steel chair and won the Universal Title while barely working up a sweat.
Over the next few months, Reigns’ “Head of the Table” and “Tribal Chief” personas would come to life, convincing his cousin Jey Uso to “acknowledge him” after a emotional Hell in a Cell I Quit match, and feuding with Kevin Owens, truly making SmackDown must-see television every Friday.
Jey Uso:
Like his cousin, Uso broke out once the “Thunderdome Era” began. With his brother sidelined with the ACL injury he suffered in the Ladder Match at Wrestlemania, Uso stayed on the sidelines for the better part of six months until “The Tribal Chief” rescued him from the “Island of Irrelevancy”, but it didn’t come easy for Uso. He initially rejected his cousins’ new gimmick, challenging him to a match for the Universal Championship at Clash of Champions (It was during this time Uso began to cut some of the best promos of his career!). In the main event, “The Head of the Table” beat his cousin senseless, forcing the referee to stop the match.
Even though he couldn’t continue at the September PPV, Uso still wouldn’t acknowledge Reigns as the head of the Anoa’i family, so Reigns challenged Uso to a Hell in a Cell I Quit Match at the Hell in a Cell (HIAC) PPV with the stipulation being if Uso lost the match, he would have to acknowledge the champion. Inside the cell, Reigns again brutalized Uso and beat him to a pulp, including locking in The Guillotine submission, but Uso refused to say the words, “I Quit”. The referees tried to stop “The Head of the Table”, but the Universal Champion had none of it. He kept Uso in the submission, choking him out, until Uso’s brother Jimmy — hobbled and all — slid into the cell and tried to convince Uso to quit and for his cousin to stop tormenting his brother.
Then, in one of the best acting jobs of the year, Reigns began bawling his eyes out, acting upset that he choked out his cousin. He spent a few minutes pouting before locking in The Guillotine on Jimmy. When Uso came to his senses, he yelled, “I Quit!” and bowed down to his cousin to save his brother from suffering another injury.
From that moment forward, Uso turned heel, aligned with his cousin and the two family members ran roughshod over the entire SmackDown roster, and the rest is history.
Sami Zayn:
Following winning the Intercontinental Championship from A.J. Styles on the Aug. 28 episode of SmackDown, Jeff Hardy was attacked by the returning Sami Zayn. Zayn claimed he never relinquished the Intercontinental Championship, and that WWE management only stripped him of his championship because they don’t like him. The next week on SmackDown, Zayn came down to the ring holding his Intercontinental Championship while Jeff Hardy appeared with his IC strap.
The two would battle to see who was the “true” title holder, but the match was interrupted by Styles, who claimed he deserved a one-on-one rematch with Hardy for the title, and that Zayn should go to the back of the line. What followed was a match-of-the-year candidate to open up the Clash of Champions PPV when the three men went to war with one another in a Ladder Match for the gold. Zayn would win the match by handcuffing Hardy’s ear to one ladder and Styles to another, allowing him to easily climb a third ladder and secure the championship in one of the most creative ways to win a match in WWE history. Over the next few months, Zayn would feud with Big E over the championship, but his heel promos and work were excellent, and his whiny character brought a fun element to the blue brand.
Randy Orton:
I’ve written a lot about how superstars on the SmackDown side shined during this time, but it’s time to get to a few shining stars on the red brand, and Randy Orton is a perfect place to start. Coming off his feud with Edge, Orton continued to attack legends through the end of the “PC Era”, including Ric Flair, Christian, Big Show and Shawn Michaels. By attacking all of those legends, Orton got the attention of WWE Champion Drew McIntyre, who was in need of an opponent for the “Biggest Party of the Summer”.
At SummerSlam, McIntyre defeated Orton with an old-school rollup in an old-school type wrestling match. Over the next few months, an incensed Orton would try to do whatever he could to become a 14-time WWE Champion. At Clash of Champions, with the help of the aforementioned legends (who all came back to hurt Orton), McIntyre defeated Orton in an Ambulance Match and was driven out of the arena by Flair.
However, Orton wouldn’t give up. He continued to take shots at McIntyre’s family and attack him backstage, forcing McIntyre to put the WWE Title on the line against Orton one more time at the HIAC PPV inside the cell. The two warriors tore each other apart inside the domonic structure, but Orton would hit McIntyre with an RKO off of a missed Claymore Kick to capture World Title №14. While Orton would lose the title to McIntyre three weeks later in a No Holds Barred Match six days before Survivor Series and begin a rivalry with “The Fiend”, with the Drew McIntyre feud, Orton proved Edge didn’t carry him during their battles, and that Orton was truly in the prime of his career. 2020 Randy Orton may have been Orton’s best year since 2009 when he took out the entire McMahon family ahead of his Wrestlemania 25 showdown with “The Game”, Triple H, a match Orton would lose.
The Hurt Business:
As WWE transitioned from the “PC Era” to the start of the “Thunderdome Era”, Bobby Lashley was gaining momentum. Alongside MVP as his manager after he divorced Lana, Lashley began to look like the badass he was during his first stint in WWE. The two slowly formed the group, “The Hurt Business”, and it focused on beating people up for strictly business purposes.
As the weeks went by, MVP and Lashley recruited two new members to the group. The first was Shelton Benjamin, a skilled veteran who had been lost in the shuffle. The second was Cedrick Alexander — a talented performer who wasn’t going anywhere as a “babyface” teaming with Ricochet. The Hurt Business was essentially “Evolution” 2.0. MVP was Triple H (the minds and brains of the group), Lashley was Batista (the powerhouse), Benjamin was Flair (the savvy veteran) and Alexander was Orton (the young upstart with a lot of potential).
The team sent RETRIBUTION into a tailspin quickly before focusing on championship gold. Alexander and Benjamin began to team together to try and win the RAW Tag Team Titles, and Lashley would focus on the United States Title while MVP managed all of his men to success. The quartet were the second biggest story on RAW during this time right behind McIntyre and Orton, and they were on half of the show every week.
The Thunderdome at Tropicana Field (Dec. 11, 2020 — April 9, 2021)
The longest stint of the Thunderdome took place at Tropicana Field in Tampa, Florida, home of Major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays. Tropicana Field essentially was the home of the “Road to Wrestlemania”, and is my favorite era of the state-of-the-art LED boards for multiple reasons.
- Orton burned “The Fiend” to a crisp in a “FireFly Inferno Match” at TLC, and while this wasn’t a full cinematic match like the “Boneyard Match” or the “FireFly Fun House Match”, seeing “The Fiend” lying in the middle of the ring, being burned alive, is still a Top 5 moment of the “Pandemic Era”.
- The Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber PPV’s were during this era, and those are two of my favorite events of the year (besides Wrestlemania, MITB and SummerSlam).
- We had a ton of surprises!
Edge:
Maybe the best surprise during this era of the Thunderdome was the “Rated-R Superstar”! Following his return last year after being nine years away from the squared circle, my favorite wrestler of all time stormed down to the ring on Jan. 31, 2021, entered the Royal Rumble Match at №1, outlasted 29 other men, and wrestled nearly an hour to punch his ticket to Raymond James Stadium and Wrestlemania 37 in one of the greatest wrestling moments of my life time!
I don’t care if it was in front of paid screaming fans, or if it was in front of a bunch of LED boards during a nation wide pandemic, Edge winning the 2021 Royal Rumble is a Top Five day of my life! I waited nearly a decade to see Edge return to where he belonged, and after he ripped his tricep apart during “The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever” against Orton at BackLash, I was bummed out! Edge had just returned and knowing he was going to be out again sucked! However, it was all worth it when he won the Rumble!
“The Master Manipulator” waited a month to choose his Wrestlemania opponent. He went around to every show and asked every champion why he should face them. I wanted him to choose Reigns because I felt that was a true dream match, and I got my wish when Edge speared Reigns after Reigns successfully defended his Universal Championship against Daniel Bryan at Elimination Chamber.
At FastLane, Reigns defended the championship against Bryan with Edge as the special enforcer (a title he would earn by defeating Jey Uso 48 hours prior on SmackDown). The story surrounding the match was Bryan felt he deserved a Universal Championship rematch because Reigns beat a battered Bryan after the Elimination Chamber, and Edge didn’t want Bryan to interfere in his Wrestlemania showdown with Reigns.
Near the tail end of the bout, the referee got knocked down, so Edge had to become the official. Edge helped Bryan take out Uso, but then Bryan accidentally struck Edge with his Running Knee that was intended for Reigns. The leader of the YES! Movement would lock Reigns into the YES! Lock, and Reigns did the unthinkable: He tapped! However, there was nobody to make the call. Coming to after the Running Knee, Edge would smack the challenger with a chair, screaming, “THIS IS MINE!” before leaving the Thunderdome. Reigns would drape an arm over Bryan, and a new official would enter the ring to count the one, two, three.
The Friday after FastLane, WWE Official Adam Pearce heard arguments from all three men. Reigns claimed he didn’t need to defend the title at all at Wrestlemania, Edge didn’t want to face Bryan to earn his opportunity back, and Bryan just wanted a crack at both individuals. At the end of the night, with all three warriors present, Pearce determined the three men would compete in one triple threat match for the title in the main event of Night Two of Wrestlemania. Edge snapped once he heard the decision, taking out both men with chairs and hitting WWE Officials with right hands.
Over the next few weeks, all three participants would cut promos on why they were going to win the championship, and Edge’s promos were (totally unbiased) the best! The man had fire in his eyes and talked about how he was going to win the Universal Championship 10 years to the day he had to retire because he manifested it! Tweener Edge was born, and it was the best promo work my favorite wrestler has ever done!
Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan:
While I wanted to highlight Edge for everything he did in his build up to Wrestlemania, I can’t go on without mentioning his Wrestlemania opponents. The matches Bryan had with Jey Uso were physical and intense, and the performance he put on inside the Elimination Chamber, outlasting five superstars after starting at №1, was spectacular. The match with Reigns at FastLane took so many twists and turns that I legitimately thought Bryan and Edge were going to main event Wrestlemania multiple times throughout the match, and Bryan’s promos about how this could be his last Wrestlemania, and Reigns’ promos on how he was THE champion of choice, only added fuel to the fire.
Bianca Beliar:
Edge wasn’t the only one who had a memorable Royal Rumble performance. Entering at №3, Beliar went almost an hour herself to win the Women’s Royal Rumble and begin her climb to superstardom. The wife of Montez Ford grew up at the Rumble and over the next several months, earned enough respect from SmackDown Women’s Champion Sasha Banks that Banks insisted Beliar challenge her for the strap at Wrestlemania. Beliar accepted, and the two had a friendly rivalry, leading up to Wrestlemania until Banks started calling the challenger a rookie when they failed to capture the Women’s Tag Titles from Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler at FastLane.
The Miz:
At HIAC, Miz defeated Otis, thanks to Otis’ former tag team partner, Tucker, turning on him. By winning the match, Miz — who alongside John Morrison had been trying to get Otis to drop the MITB briefcase — won the briefcase, becoming a two-time MITB contract holder. With the briefcase in hand, Miz became relevant again and went back to cutting great heel promos about how he was going to become a two-time WWE Champion.
Miz attempted to cash in the contract at TLC mid-match between A.J. Styles and McIntyre in a TLC Match for the WWE Title but after failing to win the championship, Miz and Morrison found a loophole in the contract due to the fact Morrison cashed in the briefcase for Miz, and not the Miz himself. Pearce ruled in favor of Miz and gave him back the contract.
At Elimination Chamber, right before the main event — the WWE Championship Elimination Chamber Match — Miz was seen talking to Bobby Lashley and MVP. Right after McIntyre successfully defended his championship, Lashley sprinted down to the ring and put the “Hurt Lock” on the champion, forcing him to pass out. Once Lashley made it to the back, Miz jumped at the opportunity. He ran down to the ring with a new official in toe, cashed in the briefcase, rapidly delivered a “Skull Crushing Finale” to a fallen McIntyre and secured his second WWE Title.
By becoming a two-time WWE Champion, the Parma, Ohio native became the only WWE superstar to become a two-time grand-slam champion (A grand-slam champion is when a superstar wins a Tag Team Title, the Intercontinental Title, the United States Title and a World Title). Unfortunately for Miz, his second reign as the head man of Monday nights only lasted eight days when Lashley defeated Miz in a LumberJack Match on the March 1 edition of RAW to win his first WWE Title. Miz and Morrison would wrestle popular artist Bad Bunny, who was feuding with Miz and Morrison dating back to the Royal Rumble, and Damian Priest — Bunny’s friend — at Wrestlemania, and even though the match felt like a huge downgrade for Miz compared to where he was at on the card a month ago (and he deserved to be WWE Champion heading into Wrestlemania for all the work he’s put into WWE over the years), Miz and Morrison made the rivalry fun with their AWESOME (pun intended) new song, “Hey, Hey, Hop, Hop”! Any man that makes something out of nothing is an MVP in my book, and that’s what Miz did from October 2020-present.
Sami Zayn:
Not only did Zayn make his IC Title reign enjoyable, but he became even more of an enjoyable character when he lost the strap to Big E on the Christmas Day special edition of SmackDown in a LumberJack Match. With nowhere to run, Zayn couldn’t protect his championship anymore, and when he finally lost it, Zayn claimed he only lost it because WWE management was against him (yes, again!), but what made this time different was Zayn went to a whole ‘nother level. He hired a documentary crew to film his every act to prove to the WWE Universe that management was against him. He spent weeks asking people to believe him. He even went as far as to handcuff himself to the barricade during the Jan. 22 episode of SmackDown, but nobody believed him.
Zayn had one last aile he thought he could trust in Kevin Owens, but when even his former/current best friend wouldn’t believe him, Zayn attacked Owens, starting a Wrestlemania program between the two, which would eventually involve Logan Paul. Paul was Zayn’s guest during the red carpet of his documentary (which is still not finished!), and Paul walked out on Zayn!
This was Zayn’s best run in WWE to date, and I hope the documentary premieres soon! Zayn still says there’s a conspiracy against him, but I haven’t seen it lately!
Big E:
In the 2020 WWE Draft, WWE separated The New Day by moving Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods over to RAW, allowing Big E to shine on his own on the blue brand. It took the big man a little time, but once he won the Intercontinental Title from Zayn, E took off, defeating Sheamus and King Corbin for the championship before losing the belt to Apollo Crews in a “Nigirian Drum Fight” at Wrestlemania.
It was during this time Big E got serious. Yes, he could still be that fun-loving, pancake-throwing guy, but he had a new attitude in the ring. We saw a more serious Big E. We saw a Big E that was hungry to prove to people he didn’t need his New Day brothers to succeed in WWE, and E truly proved to be a mid-card stable during his IC Championship reign. It’ll be interesting to see if WWE keeps New Day separated during this upcoming draft.
Cesaro:
Since his WWE debut in 2012 (when he could speak five different languages), we’ve always heard commentators rave about the “Swiss Superman”. Cesaro was supposed to be “The Next Big Thing” in WWE. He was strong, and he had personality.
However, every time WWE strapped a rocket to his back, he failed. His United States Championship reign was forgetful. His pairing with Zeb Colter and Jack Swagger as “The Real Americans” faltered when Cesaro won the inaugural “Andre The Giant Battle Royal” at Wrestlemania 30, lifting up Big Show and slamming him over the top rope to win the match. The next night, he joined forces with Paul Heyman, but that partnership quickly faded.
For the next seven years, WWE paired him up with Tyson Kidd, Sheamus and Shinsake Nakamura in various tag teams, and while Cesaro was relevant, he never felt like “The Guy”.
That changed in February of 2021 when Cesaro started teaming and competing with and against Daniel Bryan. Bryan and Cesaro started and finished the aforementioned Elimination Chamber Match Bryan won earlier this year, but it was the start of the “Cesaro Push”. Cesaro started winning matches and gaining momentum, getting the attention of the “Drip God” Seth Rollins. Rollins felt Cesaro still wasn’t utilizing his potential, and he wanted to take Cesaro under his wing, but Cesaro declined by swinging Seth Rollins 22 times on the Feb. 26 episode of SmackDown. The swing started their Wrestlemania program, a match in which Cesaro would win, — earning his first-ever singles Wrestlemania victory — and cementing his flag in WWE’s mid-card division.
Alexa Bliss:
Following Orton setting “The Fiend” on fire at TLC, Alexa Bliss started tapping into her “Sister Abigail” powers, throwing fireballs at Orton and using her Fiendish powers to scare Orton. She even created her own version of Wyatt’s Firefly Fun House, Alexa’s Playground.
A lot of the WWE Universe can’t stand the Bliss magic, but I personally enjoy it. It’s different, and it allowed us to see a new side of Orton. Who would have thought Orton would be scared of a girl?!
The Thunderdome at Yuengling Center (April 12, 2021 — July 12, 2021)
Following a Wrestlemania 37 that featured two nights of incredible action and a LIVE CROWD (I thought it was the best Wrestlemania since Wrestlemania 30 and by a wide margin), WWE moved the Thunderdome from Tropicana Field to the Yuengling Center. Located on the University of South Florida, the Yuengling Center hosted the end of the Thunderdome era while Tropicana Field once again became the home of Rays baseball.
Post-Wrestlemania, the excitement always goes down a notch in May and June. The big angles are over, and WWE goes into a little bit of a holding pattern with the NBA and NHL Playoffs taking up a lot of their viewership, ala Monday Night Football and the MLB Playoffs taking up a lot of their viewership during the fall. However, there were still some highlights during this time, though admittedly not as many. We didn’t get any real special matches sadly, but there were still some good stories that were told.
RK-Bro and A.J. Styles and Omos:
You can’t mention this era of WWE programming without mentioning the two top teams in WWE in RK-Bro and the RAW Tag Team Champions, A.J. Styles and Omos.
At Wrestlemania, Styles and Omos, with the latter making his in-ring debut, won the RAW Tag Titles from New Day in dominating fashion, and while they haven’t had many matches together, their chemistry fits perfectly, and they both draw my eyes to the TV every time they appear.
RK-Bro meanwhile have been carrying the majority of RAW since “The Showcase of the Immortals”. While I originally thought the team was going to be a one-week thing, the comedy act has been widely entertaining every Monday. Riddell has really come into his own on the mic and as a performer. He hasn’t had a bad match since Wrestlemania, and he has a real shot to win the MITB Ladder Match (Here’s to hoping Orton doesn’t cost him the briefcase, and they keep the tension going for a few more months!).
Kofi Kingston:
For the first time since losing the WWE Championship to Brock Lesnar on the first Friday Night SmackDown on FOX, Kingston feels like a legitimate WWE Championship contender. Kingston has always felt like the centerpiece and the leader of The New Day to me, but him and Woods both felt a little lost in their first few months without Big E by their side. While they were the RAW Tag Team Champions heading into Wrestlemania, they weren’t as happy-go-lucky without their heavy by their side.
That was until Kingston started targeting Lashley and the WWE Championship.
The night after Wrestlemania BackLash, Lashley offered an open challenge, and it was accepted by Kingston, who ended up defeating the “All-Mighty” thanks to interference from McIntyre. Two weeks later, Kingston lost a №1 contender’s match to McIntyre, but it was a hell of a match, and Kofi didn’t mind. He waited for his time, and when Lashley retained the championship against McIntyre at HIAC inside the cell, Kingston challenged Lashley to a WWE Title match at MITB, and Lashley accepted easily, noting that Kingston couldn’t beat him one-on-one.
Lashley wanted to make sure the match at MITB will be one-on-one by taking out Woods. Woods challenged Lashley to another HIAC Match to prove to Lashley he wasn’t just Kofi’s lackey, but the idea didn’t work out for Woods as Lashley destroyed him and forced him to tap out to the Hurt Lock. After the bout, MVP locked the cell door back, and Lashley locked in the Hurt Lock to Woods up against the steel of the cell, making Lashley look like a badass and sending Kingston into 2019 KofiMania mode.
The next week on RAW, Kingston cut arguably his best promo since winning the WWE Title at Wrestlemania 35 when he insulted Lashley for hurting Woods and underestimating him. He claimed Lashley was hiding behind MVP, and that he was going to show the “All Mighty” how a true champion acted when he defeats him in Corpus Christi, Texas at MITB.
The promo instantly made me invested in this feud, and I hope Kingston leaves MITB with the strap in hand. Lashley’s WWE Title reign has been filled with Drew McIntyre showdowns and boring promos, and it’s time for a new top dog on Monday nights.
Roman Reigns:
When has Roman Reigns not been an MVP during the “Thunderdome Era”? After Wrestlemania, Reigns finished his program with Daniel Bryan before entering feuds with Cesaro and Rey Mysterio, and now he’s trying to bring Jimmy Uso back into the family (though that storyline may take a turn for the worse with the Jimmy Uso arrest), and he’s trying to put down Edge for good. All of Reigns’ matches during this time have been fire, and I think they have all been match of the year candidates, and I think him and Edge will have the match-of-the-year at MITB.
Pat McAfee:
The former punter for the Indianapolis Colts has been a breath of fresh air every Friday night since he made his debut alongside Michael Cole the Friday after Wrestlemania. Along with COMPLETELY putting over Rick BOOGSSSSSSS every week, McAfee’s commentary has been sooooooo enjoyable to listen to! The dude just loves to have fun and talk about wrestling, and I hope he never leaves the commentary table. Him and Cole have Jim Ross and Jerry “The King” Lawler vibes.
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And that’ll do it for the “Pandemic Era”! There’s only one more show inside the Thunderdome, and then WWE is coming HOME and performing in front of a LIVE audience. I can’t wait till July 16 in Houston, Texas at the Toyota Center! While the “Pandemic Era” provided us with great memories that will last a lifetime, I’m glad to say so long to virtual screens!
