Official ‘WrestleMania 33’ Poster Shows WWE’s Worrying Reliance On Veterans

The official poster for WrestleMania 33 has a story to tell, and that story is a worrying one for the WWE network. It would probably be false to say that the WWE is in trouble. However, the official WrestleMania 33 poster indicates that the WWE feels the need to push its veteran performers at the expense of younger wrestlers. Of course, with WrestleMania 33 just three weeks away, the WWE network need to sell tickets, advertising, and most importantly, PPV subscriptions. That said, many members of the WWE universe have spoken out about the WWE’s advertising, and many are not happy.

The #WrestleMania poster. The WWE Champion is hard o find. pic.twitter.com/SLIn5qH8zT

— Ringside News (@ringsidenews_) March 8, 2017

As recently reported by the Inquisitr, fans have been quick to point out an imbalance in the advertising. All-but-one of the WWE superstars, featured at the front and center of the official WrestleMania 33 poster, are part-timers. Those part-timers include some of the biggest names in WWE history. John Cena, Triple H, The Undertaker, Goldberg, Brock Lesnar, and Shane McMahon, all feature prominently in the WrestleMania poster.

Of course, no one would deny that this list contains the most popular names in wrestling over the last 20-years. John Cena and The Undertaker sell tickets for the big events, and in the wrestling world, it doesn’t get any bigger than WrestleMania. Likewise, there probably isn’t a wrestling fan in the world who would want to see those huge names frozen out of WrestleMania. The WWE universe understands these things; it’s just that, well, many fans just don’t like the way WWE is using its talent.

According to Give Me Sport, the fans’ discontent is focused on the WWE’s failure to reward the superstars who put on a show every week. Since the WWE split last year, the franchise has been held together by the likes of Kevin Owens, Braun Strowman, AJ Styles, and Bray Wyatt. Yet all of those superstars are barely visible on the official WrestleMania 33 poster.

WrestleMania 33 Matches That Are Causing Frustration

When the official WrestleMania 33 poster was circulated, fans were dismayed to see AJ Styles hidden away behind his rumored WrestleMania opponent, Shane McMahon. As Cageside Seats reported, the WWE has been building up AJ Styles vs. Shane McMahon for many weeks. The latest rumble between the Styles and McMahon came on last Tuesday’s SmackDown Live when Styles predictably lost the chance to battle Bray Wyatt in a championship bout at WrestleMania.

Bleacher Report claims that Styles talent is wasted by putting him up against McMahon at WrestleMania. The simple fact is that Styles is the most talented wrestler in WWE. He also held down the SmackDown brand for the best part of 12-months. The fans want to see Styles fight for a world championship, but it seems that WWE believes that Styles will be a bigger draw after a WrestleMania bout against 47-year-old McMahon.

The Undertaker vs. Roman Reigns makes more sense. Reigns has been around WWE for long enough to become the world’s most unpopular wrestler. This despite the fact that, Vince McMahon has pushed Reigns as the face of the network for over half a decade. The smart money is on Reigns taking a heel turn and ending The Undertaker’s career. We know that The Deadman is still wildly popular, but he has already had hip surgery, and it’s believed he needs a hip replacement.

Reigns has everything it takes to become the best heel in WWE history. There would be no better way, to set up a Roman Reigns heel turn than to have him end The Undertaker’s career.

It seems that John Cena will have only a small part to play at WrestleMania 2017. Cena will team up with Nikki Bella to tackle the Miz and Maryse in a tag match. It’s perhaps fitting that Cena, whose TV and film commitments keep him away from WWE, is facing The Miz, who has been one of the WWE’s most consistent performers over the past couple of years.

Of course, Brock Lesnar and Goldberg are facing each other. It’s an understandable bout, even though the total time the two have spent in the ring together over two recent bouts has totaled about 60-seconds.

Of the high-profile veterans that just leaves Triple H, who was touted to face Seth Rollins. It still is not clear who Triple H will face if Seth Rollins does not recover from his knee injury in time for WrestleMania 33.

What the official WrestleMania poster tells us, is that the WWE feels that it has to roll out the veterans to sell WrestleMania tickets. Their problem is that those veterans cannot continue forever, and WWE is not pushing the emerging stars through quickly enough to replace them.

[Featured Image by WWE]