The Internet Wrestling Community is abuzz about ESPN’s Andreas Hale giving strong, legitimate critiques of WWE Wrestlepalooza, the first WWE PLE hosted on ESPN airwaves via their app.
Hale did not hold back as a fan, ripping the Drew McIntyre-Cody Rhodes title match and Brock Lesnar’s nine-minute finisher fest against John Cena in one of the final matches of the latter’s retirement run, while claiming the Io Sky-Stephanie Vaquer women’s championship match saved the show from being “truly average.”
“The excellent Vaquer vs. Sky match saved this show from being truly average. It was a phenomenal display inside the squared circle. Everything else was either underwhelming (the short Rhodes-McIntyre match) or a setup for a future match (Lesnar dominating Cena). For a card that promised to have epic moments, it fell a little short of expectations,” Hale wrote.
One wonders if the Rhodes-McIntyre match would’ve still been deemed “underwhelming” had a new champion been crowned. Ditto if Cena had gotten the win over Lesnar.
McIntyre has long drawn sympathy for his crowning moment, becoming WWE Champion for the very first time at WrestleMania 36, taking place at the PC in Orlando, Florida, in front of no fans during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic back in March 2020.
The “Beast” Lesnar has been a polarizing figure for his connection to former WWE CEO Vince McMahon’s active federal lawsuit. Seeing him destroy Cena in one of his final matches quite literally brought children in the stands at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse to tears. It was particularly poignant after the “Never Seen 17” included dozens of children wearing his merchandise during his entrance.
On the flipside, Hale may have been sharing subliminal ESPN advertising for the WWE’s newest star, Vaquer. Putting down the two main events, which featured well-established veterans who’ve put on enough Match of the Year candidates to be forgiven for first-night ESPN yips, to boost Vaquer shines a spotlight on “La Primera” during her crowning night.
Pro wrestling fans weren’t expecting ESPN to cover a WWE show with any bit of objectivity. They were expecting Bleacher Report’s level of coverage of AEW when they were Tony Khan’s company’s exclusive pay-per-view provider.
Clearly, they had another thing coming.