Add as a preferred source on Google WWE received a great deal of criticism related to the first night of WrestleMania 42, held on Saturday, April 18, at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada.
A large portion of that criticism stemmed from the excessive commercials and sponsor videos, at the expense of shorter matches.
The match between Stephanie Vaquer and Liv Morgan, for example, lasted only six minutes, although, at least in this case, there is the explanation that both arrived at the event injured. In other words, WWE did not want to risk a possible worsening of those injuries with a longer match.
However, for WWE Hall of Famer Booker T, on the latest edition of his Hall of Fame podcast, times have changed and today there is the phenomenon of advertising. In the former wrestler’s view, not everything is just about pro wrestling.
“When I was coming up, I didn’t think much about that. Sometimes I thought the matches were too long… I wasn’t into that at first. I like medium-length matches, you know, 15 minutes, 18 minutes, something like that. Usually, that’s my ideal type of match. But a lot of those matches were shorter. Times have changed, man. It’s not just about pro wrestling, it’s about the partners, the advertising, and everything else. Today you’re much more involved than you were back in the day.”
Booker T made a comparison with AEW, where the in-ring action tends to be longer, but the number of matches is also considerably higher.
“But when you watch AEW shows, it feels like there are a hundred matches, and everybody gets, you know, 30 minutes to go out there and do whatever they want…”