WrestleMania 2026 review: Match grades for 6 hours of ads and some wrestling
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - APRIL 19: Roman Reigns celebrates after defeating CM Punk during the World Heavyweight Championship match during WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium on April 19, 2026 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) | Getty Images There was a time when WrestleMania felt special; it felt magical. An event that culminated a year’s worth of drama, storytelling, and feuds into one epic three-plus-hour display of the greatest professional wrestling on the planet.
My first live WrestleMania was XIII, defined not by the ho-hum main event between The Undertaker and Sycho Sid — but the undercard no-holds-barred match between Bret Hart and Stone Cold Steve Austin, which left a blood-covered Austin passed out in the center of the ring, and regarded to this day as one of the greatest Mania matches ever. Legendary WrestleMania moments kept rolling through my mind over the two-night course of WrestleMania 42, in equal parts nostalgia and utter despair. A near-constant reminder of how far this once-great event has fallen.
The “Showcase of the Immortals” and “Grandaddy of Them All” is barely on par with a low-tier event from two decades ago. Nothing lasts forever, and after WrestleMania 42, we’re on the verge of that Old Yeller feeling where WrestleMania, at least the idealized version in our heads, needs to be put out of its misery. Let’s establish very quickly that this has nothing to do with the talent.
This was unquestionably two days of everyone doing the best they could in an absolute ass situation. Over the course of two nights and over six hours of “wrestling,” we only saw two matches last longer than 20 minutes. Meanwhile, we had SIX of the 13 matches end in less than 10 minutes.
That isn’t enough to tell a story in the ring. It’s not enough to have an ebb and flow in the action. No performer can put a cap on a year-long rivalry with seven minutes in the ring.
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