This review was commissioned by Ryan_duckworth over on my Ko-fi account.
When speaking about 2023’s wrestler of the year, I mentioned that stories of self-conflict in pro wrestling often manifest as intrusions on the in-ring action as opposed to blending in seamlessly. The best examples of it, whether it be Eddie Kingston attaining ace status in 2023 or Roddy Piper turning away from cheating ways at WrestleMania, work hard to hide the seams of this kind of narrative. Needless to say, this match from WrestleMania has the self-conflict as a central feature, seams and all.
In concept alone, that already means this is fighting a bit of an uphill battle for me. “Heel tries to get the babyface to DQ themselves” is one of my least favorite genres of wrestling match, and it’s bogged down even more getting wrapped up in Bray’s vague spookiness of the time. Even at the time, as someone rather hopeful for The Wyatt Family after how fantastic The Shield match was earlier in the year, the ideas behind this kept me from fully embracing it. It’s also 22 minutes long, which it absolutely does not need.
That being said, there’s a couple of things working in its favor. There was some magic in the air when it comes to WrestleMania XXX, and just enough of that touches this presentation-wise. What Daniel Bryan does for Imagine Dragons, Bray Wyatt does here for late stage Eminem. That “Legacy” music video remains sticky and iconic enough in the brain to stand the test of time, especially as a rather bittersweet remembrance of the dearly departed Bray Wyatt, and by extension Luke Harper.
What also works to its credit is that both guys remain pretty committed to the idea here. That doesn’t always translate to the best choices in ring, but boy do they give it a real proper go. Cena, especially, is committing to the acting here, and that has mixed results. It always teeters right between expressive and cheesy, and it’s a bit of a coin flip where it ends up landing. Mechanically though, it’s Cena that’s really excelling here. Those big, crispy headlock takeovers at the start, the ability to shift enough from his standard offensive fare to make those moments of conflict at least ring clear if not true.
As for Bray, I will always give him credit for just losing himself in this character. I may not love his strikes, or the plotty taunting of Cena’s morality, but he just so fully embodies this gimmick that I can’t help but remember why this act showed so much promise in the first place. There really was something there, and if even for just a while, it really did feel like he had the whole world in his hands.
Rating: ***
