In the acclaimed and controversial 1999 wrestling documentary Beyond the Mat, Vince McMahon told the filmmakers "We make movies." While this wasn't exactly true when talking about the business during the Attitude Era, it did serve as a preview of what was to come two decades later. WWE does have its own movie studio now, but it's never made a movie as compelling as what it put on at WrestleMania 36.
Under the most challenging circumstances in the history of the company, the WWE managed to make two of their marquee matches at WrestleMania 36 into the most unique cinematic experiences it's ever produced. Instead of having two more empty-arena wrestling matches, the WWE made two short films that satisfied fans and may have foreshadowed the future of the business.
The first match-turned short film was The Undertaker and AJ Style's Boneyard Match, which wound up taking place in an actual boneyard. Styles entered inside a casket and hearse, mocking The Deadman while The Undertaker revived his American Badass persona, driving in on his motorcycle to the tune of Metallica's "Now That We're Dead." The usually silent Undertaker constantly talked trash to Styles throughout the match that quickly turned into an all-out brawl.
Just when Styles thought he had the match won, with The Undertaker lying before him in an empty grave, The Deadman suddenly appeared behind him fully rejuvenated. The American Badass still had The Deadman's supernatural powers and proceeded to take out the OC before choke-slamming Styles off the roof of a greenhouse. The match officially ended in similarly to a buried alive match, as Undertaker booted Styles to the ditch and buried him alive with a backhoe. The Phenom officially improved his WrestleMania record to 25-2, riding off into the night while Style's hand rose up from the dirt. With The Undertaker nearing the end of his wrestling career and coming off a string of poorly-received matches, this Boneyard match made him look better than he has in years.
Just when everyone thought they had seen the best filmed match WWE had to offer, the company topped it on Sunday night with John Cena and Bray Wyatt's Firefly Fun House match. Rather than have a regular wrestling match like they did at WrestleMania XXX, Cena and Wyatt decided to go on a madcap journey into wrestling history, as seen through the twisted mind of Bray Wyatt.
This wasn't a match, but The Fiend psychologically breaking down John Cena's past in a nightmare sequence that was as hilarious as it was terrifying. Wyatt began by taking Cena back to his debut as "Ruthless Aggression" John Cena, with Wyatt playing the role of Kurt Angle. Wyatt brought out other versions of Cena, including an 80s version of Cena, the Doctor of Thuganomics Cena and a version of Cena fans have waited forever for, a heel John Cena. With Wyatt bizarrely impersonating Eric Bischoff, he introduced the eternally good Cena to the nWo heel version of himself a la Hollywood Hulk Hogan.
Eventually the real Cena finally snapped back into reality, but in his rage he did the deed Wyatt had begged him to do at WrestleMania XXX by swinging a chair at him. But once he did, Wyatt disappeared and out came The Fiend. The Fiend applied his finisher while Firefly Wyatt played the role of referee. It appears that The Fiend finally got his long-awaited revenge on Cena as he disappeared from the ring, while the WWE gave the audience an experience they'll never forget.
Those two short films at WrestleMania pushed the boundaries of what WWE has been willing to do to entertain its audience. It could also be a sign of what's to come, in both the short and the long term, for the future of the business.
Hardcore wrestling fans have always been annoyed by Vince McMahon's commitment to billing his business as more of an entertainment company than a straight up wrestling company. But the reason why they have been pushing this business model for so long is that professional wrestling has always been about entertainment as long as it's existed. At WrestleMania, the company showed why it's always been making "movies" -- and why it's actually good at it.
With the circumstances of the coronavirus, it's impossible to know exactly when things will go back to normal. This means that for the foreseeable future, the WWE will have to continue to rely on its outside-the-box methods of doing empty-arena shows and creating unique short films to advance storylines -- and it would be wise to continue doing so, even after live audiences return.