What WWE Can Learn from the Magic of NCAA March Madness

The electricity that crackles around NCAA March Madness every year is what WWE should aspire to recreate.

The NCAA Men's Division I basketball tournament is simply one of the most engrossing days of the sports calendar. Even the most casual of college basketball fans are drawn in. Passion, drama and suspense all power the gripping annual event.

Underdogs take down big-time programs. Victory means advancement. And it's a thrill ride each time out.

WWE would better itself by borrowing some of the elements that make that tourney so special.

The squared circle equivalent of the play-in game and the Cinderella are narrative tools the company needs to lean on more often. Suspense, high stakes and stories to remember can be the result of emulating the NCAA tournament.

The Play-In Game

In 2001, March Madness added an additional stage for drama—the play-in game. Officially dubbed the opening-round game, this is a clash between two low-seeded teams, with the victor earning a spot in the tourney.

It's the final opportunity to make it to the Big Dance—a battle of two Davids, with the right to take on a Goliath on the line.

In the WWE world, access into major matchups isn't made dramatic enough. Whether it's the Royal Rumble or the Andre the Giant Battle Royal, wrestlers often just announce their own entry. 

Before the 2015 Rumble, Bray Wyatt stood in his usual smoky, dark setting and told fans, "In three weeks time, Bray Wyatt will arrive at the Royal Rumble match." Where is the drama in that?

College basketball features teams scrambling to claim a berth to the tourney. It doesn't even matter that it's often squads many fans have never heard of; one still wants to see who moves on. WWE must emulate that more regularly.

Every year, come Royal Rumble time, have bottom-of-the-card wrestlers battle it out to be assured a place at the table. Have Zack Ryder and Fandango collide in wrestling's version of a play-in game. Allow two NXT stars a chance at getting into the Rumble by way of a qualifying matchup.

It's certainly not a concept WWE has utilized before, but it should be more commonplace.

To get into the Money in the Bank ladder match, one should have to earn it through victory in the equivalent of a play-in game. The same goes for Elimination Chamber matches, Fatal 4-Ways for a championship or the King of the Ring tournament.

There's ample drama to be displayed in the process. Suddenly, Raw and SmackDown get matches that mean far more than normal, and WWE can make use of the little-seen members of the roster.

One-and-Done

When Sin Cara wrestles Ryback on Raw or Brie Bella takes on Summer Rae on SmackDown, there is little urgency, little anticipation. In the everyday matchup, winning and losing doesn't matter nearly as much as it could.

That's far from the case each March in the college basketball world.

When Wisconsin faces Pittsburgh in the first round this year, the game will no doubt boast a must-see feel. Victory means a trip to the second round. Defeat means the end of one squad's season. And fans will be on the edge of their seats because of it.

Such is the power of the single-elimination tournament.

It's a tool WWE simply doesn't use enough. The format sets up the simplest and most effective of stories—survival equals success. 

When Seth Rollins tore his knee up last year, forcing him to vacate the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, the company decided to crown a new titleholder by way of a tournament. At times, it was a rousing triumph. Some of the matches were outstanding, largely because of what was at stake.

Will Pruett of ProWrestling.net wrote of some of the early-round bouts on Raw: "Neville vs. Owens, Ziggler vs. Ambrose, and especially Reigns vs. Cesaro, all delivered on a very high level. Those three matches all felt like true WWE Championship matches with something tangible on the line."

WWE, though, limited the power of that tournament by not including bigger names. John Cena and Brock Lesnar were not a part of it, and no storyline reason was given.

That's like the Kansas Jayhawks just deciding to sit by to watch the rest of the country decide the next NCAA basketball champs.

Bigger tournaments with bigger names would be a smart way to add drama to the product. And they need to be a more frequent part of the show.

The King of the Ring tournament should either be an annual tradition again or be replaced by another single-elimination contest. WWE can decide the No. 1 contenders to major titles by way of a tournament. It can create a Queen of the Ring event, at least on a one-time basis.

Last year, the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic was one of the more fun additions to NXT. Bringing a similar concept to the main roster is a no-brainer. With such an overload of pay-per-views on the calendar, making a lesser one like Battleground an annual home for a tournament, tag team or otherwise would add some much-needed variety.

The Cinderella Story

Ask someone whose bracket is busted on the first day of the tournament how unpredictable March Madness can be.

Out of nowhere, Florida Gulf Coast University dunked its way past Georgetown and eventually into the Sweet 16 in 2013. The Steph Curry-led Davidson Wildcats slayed a number of college basketball giants in 2008.

These surprise runs became the talk of the tournament. The audience stayed glued to each of these teams' games, wondering just how far they could go. It didn't matter whether one knew anything about FGCU or Davidson beforehand; their run of upsets made them instantly compelling.

Even though WWE decides who wins and loses, we don't see this type of inherently appealing Cinderella story enough.

The product is largely predictable. In the WWE title tournament last year, one could see Roman Reigns making it to the finals coming a mile away. 

Imagine, though, if Cesaro had stunned the world and knocked Reigns off in the second round. Imagine if Kalisto had followed his upset win over Ryback with a string of surprise victories. That's the kind of unexpected development one sees every March on the hardwood.

Of March Madness, Breaking Muscle's Danette Rivera wrote, "The idea that anything is possible is never truer than during this tournament. How can we not love this?"

That feeling is not cultivated effectively in the WWE world. Upsets happen, but wrestlers largely stay on their respective tiers, and the favorites move past the bottom-feeders. WWE would do well to surprise us more, in or out of a tournament setting.

Every time that The Social Outcasts go to battle, fans can tune out. Curtis Axel and company aren't going to take down any big names. 

However, if WWE decides to have that goofy faction score one upset after another, it would force fans to take notice. What if Axel and Heath Slater defeated The Dudley Boyz, The Usos and The Wyatt Family in consecutive bouts? Suddenly, WWE has an intriguing story on its hands.

The company could have Tyler Breeze or Damien Sandow shock the crowd with a stretch of wins. Seeing that unfold would astonish the audience. That's a sensation the NCAA tournament creates multiple times a year. 

And while March Madness is dependent on that kind of story developing on its own, WWE can craft those narratives itself—something it needs to do more regularly.