411’s WWE 24 Report: WrestleMania: The Show Must Go On

-Air Date: 08.24.20
-Run Time: 59:30

-SummerSlam weekend closes for me with a new episode of WWE 24. Real quick thanks to everyone for the feedback on my fill in coverage for Dynamite. Good or bad I appreciate the comments. Now, let’s close out this weekend by looking back at a WrestleMania with 0 fans. Let’s get to it!

-We start in the PC in Orlando, FL with HHH holding court speaking to the talent. He tells the story of speaking to Vince about COVID-19. The decision was made to start having shows at the PC. That leads to Mania being held there and we get a brief teaser package of what’s to come. HHH thanks the talent. This is WWE 24!

-Tampa, FL: Raymond James Stadium a year prior as the announcement was made for Mania 36. Steph, Roman, Charlotte, and Hulk Hogan all discuss what it will be like to have Mania in Tampa next year. Fans celebrate getting tickets and Hogan asks them what they are going to do when WrestleMania runs wild on you.

-One Year Later: 4 weeks before WrestleMania, Rhea Ripley is in Raymond James Stadium to film hype videos for her match with Charlotte. She talks about growing up in Australia and how she binge watched WWE as a kid and fell in love with it. She started wrestling at 16 and we get footage from Riot City Wrestling of her early work. She got a WWE tryout in 2016 when she was only 20 years old and was told she might not hear back from them for a long time. She got the call 4 days later and packed up her things to move to Tampa. She was put in the Mae Young Classic and everything was go, go, go the moment she got there. She talks about her bubbly personality with that first show and she was just happy to be there. By the next year she was more herself and was put in NXT UK and became their first Women’s Champion. She ended 2018 UK Champ and 2019 as NXT Champ.

-She always wanted a match with Charlotte Flair and we see her show up on RAW to basically call Charlotte out. Rhea always looked up to Charlotte and thought she was amazing. “There is going to be 80,000 people in here and that’s terrifying.”

-”A few days later, the rapid spread of covid-19 became a global health crisis…putting the future of wrestling in doubt.” They include news reports from MSNBC and the WWE was working daily to try to have 70,000 at Mania still, but it was also clear that it may not be possible. More news reports including one with Dr Fauci. ESPN breaking news of the NCAA canceling March Madness, Olympics in Tokyo postponed. The WWE was still determined to have a show with fans, but were making contingency plans. Finally they ditched having it in a stadium and went with 2 nights in the PC.

-The task now was to convert the PC into something worthy enough to hold Mania and they only had 14 days. Bruce Prichard talks about how it was a chance to do something they never had to do before. Michael Cole mentions the world is consumed with the pandemic and he is proud the WWE is doing what they can provide an outlet and release. Jerry Lawler: “The show must go on and it will.”

-Loch Lomond, Scotland: Drew is on a UK media tour and is filming a commercial for their TV partners over there. He was pulled out and brought back to the US just to be safe so that he wasn’t stuck over there. He jokes that he finally gets to Main Event Mania and everything is going to hell.

-We flashback to Vince introducing Drew McIntyre to the WWE World and promising he will be a future World Champion. Drew tells us that he has always been the top guy in promotions and this was basically how things were supposed to go. He wins the IC Title from Morrison and he assumed things would just be that easy. Challenges and tests started to come his way and he started failing 3MB! Awesome! Drew says he was young and naive and had a lot to learn in and out of the ring. We see him getting pinned by El Torito and then he was released. Drew blamed himself and used wanting to have a match with Brock as his motivation. We get footage of Drew rebuilding himself in EVOLVE and ICW. He was asked by Regal, who he calls a mentor, to take a call with Hunter and Drew was all about it.

-Drew signs with NXT and wins the NXT Title in 2017. His stay in NXT was short though as you knew the main roster was going to be calling soon. We flash to Royal Rumble 2020 which seems like a lifetime ago now. Drew not only gets to eliminate Brock, but gets the Rumble win to cement the fact that they were strapping the rocket to him. He used the idea of facing Brock as motivation and somehow it came true. Drew admits he was angry and started to wallow in self pity knowing Mania was in the PC. He soon realized there were bigger problems in the World with the Pandemic. That’s the attitude Drew!

-John Cena is next as he talks about the challenges of having a Cinematic Match. He says the story behind the match is just as important as the match. He says that losing the audience is basically the WWE losing their biggest Super Star. He has spent 20 years listening to the fans and now he has to be more focused on the story. We see segments of the Fun House being filmed including Hollywood Cena playing air guitar with the nWo version of the WCW Title. AWESOME! Puppet Vince even makes an appearance! DOUBLE AWESOME! This is some good…. stuff as they show filming and some outtakes as it was apparently a 7.5 hour shoot!

-It’s the morning of the first shoot and everyone is getting hyped as they all still seemed jacked even if this isn’t the Mania they all expected. Elias is amazed they were able to get the Mania sign into the PC. Tom Phillips mentions everything is different about this one as they feed off the fans, but it is what it is this year and they will do what they do.

-Edge talks about how bizarre it is to return with his first singles match at Mania and there are no fans. Cena is grateful to be having Mania at a time when the world could use a smile. Cena talks about the guidelines as we see people getting temperature checks and sanitation stations all over the place. Truth says he is the 24/7 Champ and is paranoid as it is, but it’s super high now.

-Braun Strowman talks about how insane it was for him as he didn’t have a Mania match. He drove from Florida to his home in Wisconsin since he wasn’t booked and after the 21 hour drive he gets a call saying they need him back. They will tell him when he arrives, but a jet is already in the air to Wisconsin and he needs to be on the plane. He got to bed at 1:30 AM and then went to the PC at 9 AM and yeah, you’re facing Goldberg. He mentions that Roman just had newborn twins and didn’t want to pull out of the show, but Braun says he is a damn good man and father and did the right thing. Braun got a little emotional talking about Reigns there. He is thankful for it as well as it gave him his chance.

-We get Braun’s story as he wanted to be Hulk Hogan as a kid. He was a husky kid because he loved snacks and he mom didn’t like to tell him no. He was bullied as a kid and he didn’t know why because he liked making people laugh. He knew he was fat and he gets emotional talking about all the bullying. This is surreal and I feel for the big man. He told a friend who owned a gym he didn’t want to be picked on anymore. The guy helped him learn nutrition and training and did it for free. “Bullying sucks!” Tell em Braun! He got in Strong Man competitions and won his first one. He then met Mark Henry who talked to him about wrestling and even paid for Braun’s plane ticket to his WWE try-out. Mark told Vince this kid has something and we see early Braun in the PC during promo class. HHH told Braun he was going to be signed and it blew his mind.

-Braun debuts as part of the Wyatt Family after only 8 matches in the PC/NXT. Vince put him in the deep end of the pool and told him to sink or swim. Braun loves what he is doing and learns something each time he goes out there. He takes honor in carrying on the legacy of Andre, Taker, Kane, Show, and Henry. He brings up he worked at Mania in Dallas with the most fans and now one with 0 fans.

-Kevin Owens talks about reading all the people crapping on Mania at The PC. To him it wasn’t lessened and it felt just as big to him. It would have been disrespectful to so many people to think otherwise. KO remembers his 8-9 month run with The PC and NXT. It all happened so fast that he didn’t get a chance to really say goodbye so this is a nice call back to his story.

-He talks about going to Raymond James Stadium in Feb with his dad and son to see a Monster Truck Show. He noted the giant Pirate Ship and he told everyone he was going to jump off it. He was bummed he was losing that, but then he saw the giant Mania logo and immediately wanted to jump off it. His legit reaction to seeing the sign is great, “I’m going to jump off that bitch.” Fantastic!

-KO goes through his Mania history as he loved Mania 32 and says 33 wasn’t a great time as Vince wasn’t happy with the match. Mania 34 was great as he was happy to be there when Bryan made his return. He wasn’t on the show for 35 and that was used in the story with Rollins. For KO he really wanted a WrestleMania moment and this was his chance.

-GRONK is asked about there being 0 fans, but he will bring the energy because he has Mojo with him. They don’t need fans to get hyped. Back to SmackDown where Mojo gets hyped and introduces THE GRONK on SmackDown. As someone mentioned this week, GRONK was supposed to be the football guy with all the charisma that could be a future star and now we see the real football star turned wrestler should be all world punter, Pat McAfee.

-GRONK talks about being a fan and his favorite wrestler was Val Venis. This is also a chance to work with his good friend Mojo. GRONK got involved at Mania 33 tackling Jinder in helping Mojo win the ARMBAR.

-Here we go as KO tells the story of GRONK having to jump off the balcony. Vince decided to come out and show GRONK how to do it. Drew mentions that Vince won’t ever ask his talent to do something he wouldn’t do and we flashback to his doing Shawn’s entrance at Mania earlier in the day prior to Shawn doing it. Vince takes the dive on a crash pad and Rhea calls Vince a bad ass. Vince coaches GRONK and even after seeing a 70+ year old do it, he still looks nervous. He finally goes through with it and realizes it’s not that bad.

-WrestleMania 36: Nikki and Alexa win Tag Gold, Black murders Lashley, and Cena brags about having front row seats as he watches the Tag Ladder Match where 3 guys kill themselves with no fans watching. Again, credit to those three! Otis gets the win and the girl in a happy ending for a change. Lynch retains against Shayna, and Edge/Orton have a match that some joke may still be happening. I kid as I love both guys! BONEYARD MATCH and it’s still awesome! Night One was clearly the better show and delivered more than expected.

-Kevin Owens wanted to make a memory and that’s what happened. He and Rollins have a pretty good match which gave us the moment of Owens diving off the sign with an elbow to put Rollins through a table. Happy to see Owens got a Mania moment for himself. He is very proud of the match and he knows Rollins is as well. This moment ranks up there with his first Mania.

-Over to Braun as he admits he was nervous. He talks about Goldberg being one of those guys and calls him iconic and a legend. “He’s freaking Goldberg.” As expected it was a short match with high impact moves and Strowman finally gets his hands on a World/Universal Title. Braun says he couldn’t believe it and it does sound weird when he says, “I beat Bill Goldberg at WrestleMania.” Braun gets emotional again talking about it and can’t wait to talk to his parents. Braun has been a highlight of this one as the big man is a softie and it’s great! He held the title high to shove it in all those bully’s faces. He tells that overweight kid to keep his head up as you will make it. More tears from Braun and it’s great!

-Cena tells us that anything we see after his Mania entrance is “fucking weird, so enjoy it.” He’s not lying! This “match” wasn’t as well received as Taker/Styles, but I will say I was losing it watching it live with all the in jokes and references even if it wasn’t really a match. Cena credits the WWE for letting him and Bray tell this story. He admits he was nervous because he has never done anything like this. He tells us that he loved it!

-Ripley vs Charlotte next. Rhea talks about her emotions and even with 0 fans this is something she always wanted. They have arguably the match of the weekend as I would put The Boneyard Match and Ladder Match as the only two others in the conversation. Rhea loses, but we say Charlotte hugging her after the match and giving her a big hand. Rhea is crying after the match and Charlotte comes over and tells her she is a champ. Rhea cries as her dream came true and it was as special as she thought it would be. Nice moment!

-Drew is alone getting ready and had to fire himself up because this was Mania, yet nobody was around him in the back. Much like Goldberg/Braun this was another short match filled with power moves and the right guy going over. You forget sometimes just how huge Drew is, but it showed as he stood face to face with Brock. The one good thing with no crowd is Heyman is nearly doing running commentary during the match. Drew wins and we haven’t seen Brock since because really, why waste him on shows with no fans.

-Drew gets congratulated by Michael Hayes in the back as they give fist bumps. Drew talks about the moment of looking at the title and the crowd got to see that private, special moment as it usually hits guys when they get back to the hotel with nobody around. I am always a sucker for when guys win their first Major Title and you can see moments when they break character and soak it in. Edge when he cashed in on Cena being one of the best.

-Oh man, we get some great foreshadowing as GRONK jokes around with Mojo that feels bad for Tampa and needs to make it up to them. He picks up a phone and jokingly says send me to The Bucs. You know the editors of this were thrilled to see they caught that to be able to include knowing what happened.

-We wrap up with videos of fans watching at home and reacting to the show. We run through closing thoughts from nearly everyone as well and Drew closes it by saying “this is the WrestleMania that will never be forgotten.” Wait, just as I think it was over, Edge stands on a ladder and thanks the crew for everything they’ve done and now we are out.

-This was great and a wonderful and detailed look at the most unique Mania we will ever see. Even if by some chance we don’t have a Stadium Show for Mania next year they will be more prepared and have a better handle on what to do. As we have seen, wrestling has gone on and even a pandemic couldn’t stop it, so I will credit the WWE for being able to pull off a WrestleMania and make it an enjoyable one. Spreading it over two nights certainly helped. As for this show, definitely check it out. As I have said I am a sucker for these documentaries and love the behind the scenes stuff. The mix of people featured was spot on and Strowman came out of this looking great. KO was fun, as was Rhea. Cena’s input on the Fun House match was wonderful to hear and credit to him for going outside the box so late in his career. Again fun show all around as the WWE continues to produce wonderful documentaries. Thanks for reading!