All the Reasons Why This is WWE's Most Important WrestleMania in Decades

These days, even the sure things feel like possible misses for WWE. The expectations aren't just low: The expectation is that WWE will botch things in forehead-smacking fashion. 

Welcome to the vibes around WWE for WrestleMania 42: The most important WrestleMania in ages. 

It's a 'Mania match card where it even feels like WWE could goof up the super-obvious needed outcome of the Oba Femi vs. Brock Lesnar match. 

Femi needs a rocket strapped to his back, given his engagement with audiences so far. But he's seemingly gotten the better of Lesnar almost every step of the build, which naturally has led fans to speculate Lesnar might win. 

Which would be an unmitigated disaster. We could wax poetic about how Femi should beat Lesnar, making the veteran look a little vulnerable before he goes off into a possible "retirement" angle with Gunther. Femi, meanwhile, would rightfully hit the main event scene.

But…expectations matter. It feels like WWE is about to miss that layup at the rim on a Playskool hoop.

And that's just the easy stuff.

Pat McAfee got lobbed non-sensically into a main event of WrestleMania. Storyline-wise, he's apparently helping former sadistic legend killer Randy Orton rediscover himself…or something. Meanwhile, everyone's lovable dork Cody Rhodes is once again getting Travis Scott'd, this time with not just McAfee, but…Jelly Roll. 

Of course, the outside interference by TKO and a set of brass that apparently think McAfee has broad reach and is apparently Hollywood's next big thing (stop laughing, they might be serious) clearly messed with the product. 

We're flirting with end-of-life WCW here with McAfee and Jelly Roll possibly getting involved in a 'Mania main event in some fashion. At this point, it's more interesting to wonder just how they screw it up, rather than speculating about the actual winner of the match. 

And that's not all, folks. 

McAfee has also been inserted into the Night 2 main event between CM Punk and Roman Reigns. The podcaster and Punk have sent little verbal jabs at each other. And at this point, McAfee showing up and getting involved in that main event, too, almost feels inevitable. 

The actual outcome of that match is more interesting, at least. If Reigns were to win, things go right back to a possible part-time champion situation, but this time, without the luster of the Bloodline saga keeping things afloat even when the champion isn't on television. 

Rhodes and Orton, meanwhile, would go right back to a forgettable title run while likely doing something super silly like having an actual tag match that includes McAfee and the pastry guy. 

Many misguided steps got WWE to this point. One of the exclamation points, of course, was the botched John Cena heel turn. Travis Scott, The Rock, weird R-Truth stuff, and so much more ruined one of the most-hyped and easiest things to pull off in modern pro wrestling history (don't get gaslit into letting fans get blamed for it, either). 

That's hardly the only landmine WWE hit on the way, though. Running 'Mania at Las Vegas two years in a row was certainly a (horrendous) choice. Yanking the 2027 'Mania from fans and sending it to Saudi Arabia is certainly another. 

The booking and creative just can't keep up. WWE sent out McAfee, a heel, to surprise the crowd recently with…a discount on WrestleMania tickets. A staple of the podcast-bro era weaving in hatred for internet fans, saying the current product is bad and admitting the ticket prices are too high is by far one of the strangest and worst ways for WWE to build 'Mania main events. 

If one didn't know any better, the build around the biggest matches almost feels like WWE is trying to get fans to tune in just to see how off-the-rails terrible the actual event will be. Publicity is publicity and ticket sales are ticket sales, right?

But hey, good news for WWE: This is pro wrestling, and a few shifts can salvage almost anything. The expectations are six feet deep at this point, so leaping over a bar that's on the ground shouldn't be too difficult.

Right?

There's a slightly ajar door to 'Mania exceeding expectations with stellar matches, good decisions and a rebuttal of the weird TKO interference and celebrity sewage that has infested the product. 

But the reality is harsher. Things have been trending in the wrong direction for a while now. Soon enough, post-WrestleMania, we'll be right back looking at celebrities in the front rows at Raw, celebrities in the main-event scenes and more misguided attempts to get "bigger" despite WWE being as "big" as it technically has ever been. 

One would think the most important WrestleMania in decades would earn such a moniker because of good booking and critical era-defining feuds and passing-of-the-torch moments. 

Instead, it's the most important in decades because of the tension and outside meddling ruining the product. It's the most important in decades because at this rate, it's fair to wonder what WWE will look like in a few years, let alone a decade from now.