WrestleMania 32 is coming, and if you love professional wrestling, then you owe it to yourself to cancel WWE Network and sit this one out.
In February, this Inquisitr writer penned an open letter to the WWE letting them know that they had until WrestleMania 32 to get their act together after a series of bad booking decisions put “the grandest stage of them all” in jeopardy for 2016.
The longer the decision weighed on my conscience, the more it seemed like a better message would be to refrain from giving the WWE what it wanted — another holder-on willing to give them the benefit of the doubt in hopes that somehow, eventually, things would get better.
It occurred to me that the only way to really send a message to Vince McMahon and his overstaffed creative department would be to hit them where it hurts.
And yes, I’m fully aware that McMahon will make money “in spite of himself,” and that my individual $9.99 per month would not be missed. But some things you have to do on principle.
When WWE decided that Roman Reigns and Triple H were the main event WrestleMania 32 needed, I realized that, $9.99 or not, there was no way I could support that decision.
https://youtu.be/gAthFW8B3m4
Some contacted me through Twitter and accused me of crying wolf — that whether I liked it or whether I didn’t, I would be parked in front of the TV on the night of the big show.
But seeing how the card was shaping up to complement the Triple H-Roman Reigns main event, I decided this was the best possible time to abandon ship, and canceled my membership to the network effective March 5. Here’s what I’ve found in the time since then.
1. You can still watch NXT through Hulu Plus.
NXT and the once-a-month pay-per-views were the only reasons that I kept WWE Network around. With a lackluster WrestleMania 32 shaping up, I’ve found that I can get NXT on my existing $7.99 per month Hulu Plus subscription with a lot more quality content than I was getting on WWE Network. The only caveat: you have to wait an extra day for it to become available. But that’s not really an issue when you consider…
2. Lucha Underground airs on Wednesday nights anyway.
Lucha Underground on El Rey is a treat for professional wrestling fans, and if you haven’t tried it out yet, then you have no idea what you’re missing out on. It’s the best wrestling program on television, and while NXT is entertaining, it takes a back seat to this action-packed 60 minutes.
3. My urge to see ‘WrestleMania 32’ has plummeted since deciding not to watch it.
You would think abandoning WrestleMania 32 would be a tough decision to make, especially after they added the Shane McMahon-Undertaker match to the card. But rather than excitement for the matchup, I can’t help feeling this is a desperate plea to buoy a main event that absolutely no one wants to see.
https://youtu.be/CWp_OXE5HBw
What is the end game here? If I thought that WWE Creative had a good answer to that question, I’d probably want to see it; but I don’t think they know what they’re going to do.
It was a creative decision that reeked of “kitchen sink,” and I’m going to need a lot more than that to coax me back to the main product.
But what do you think, readers?
Would canceling your WWE Network membership in protest of WrestleMania 32 be the best thing that you could do to get the WWE Brand back on track, or are you content to keep feeding a directionless beast? Sound off in the comments section.
[Image via WWE Raw screen grab]
