Professional wrestling is great. The combination of athletic feats and top-notch storytelling consistently makes for fantastic entertainment. 

WWE, the largest company in the industry, recently concluded “WrestleMania,” its biggest show of the year. The two-night event featured several high-profile matches, with many living up to expectations. The two best examples of this were night one’s main event triple threat match between Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns and CM Punk and night two’s Women’s World Title match between the champion Iyo Sky, Bianca Belair and Rhea Ripley. 

Each contest had great in-ring spots, storytelling and the right winner. 

But despite these high points, a certain stench has remained with the show since it concluded on Sunday. This negative association stems from night two’s main event: John Cena’s win over Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Championship. 

First, I want to preface by saying John Cena and Cody Rhodes are both terrific performers. Both have tremendous charisma in the ring and are well deserving of their spot in the final match of the show. Furthermore, the finishing moves and the result itself played out in the exact way many fans, including myself, wanted. 

The main crux of the problem stems from the story told leading up to the pay-per-view and the lackluster climax that took place during the match. The contest’s third act began when famous rapper Travis Scott slowly made his way toward the ring. Following a crossroads from Rhodes to Cena, Scott interfered and removed the referee from the ring, altering a pin count that was heading towards three. 

The champion eventually neutralized Scott, but his involvement laid the seeds for a chaotic ending in which Rhodes refused to hit Cena with the title belt, opening the door for Cena to connect the strike and make the pin. 

To the average viewer, the inclusion of a non-wrestling celebrity is off-putting at least and completely unacceptable at worst. But the larger issue comes from who wasn’t present in the match. 

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson played an integral part in the story leading up to WrestleMania. At the end of Elimination Chamber— the pay-per-view before—he initiated the match’s storyline by turning John Cena heel. 

Going back even further, Johnson has been in an ongoing feud with Rhodes ever since he temporarily stole his spot in the main event of “WrestleMania 40.” 

The Rock had to be involved in this match, plain and simple. But due to the lack of care for his role in WWE’s storylines, the biggest match of the year ended with a dud. 

Situations like this summarize the main issue pro wrestling has had for decades: selfish, profit-driven leadership. 

Paul “Triple H” Levesque, WWE’s main booker, and The Rock both have executive positions within the company. Levesque, as chief content officer, has the primary goal of making as much profit as possible. Due to his status as the booker, he can manipulate how each story is played out in any way he desires. If a non-wrestler who has no place in a narrative brings eyes and money to the product, he’ll be added to the main event with no hesitation. 

The Rock, as a board member for TKO, WWE’s parent conglomerate, has even more power concerning the stories he wants to be in. If his status in Hollywood is waning, and he wants to briefly be a part of a wrestling plot to for good publicity, he can quickly insert himself, then leave whenever he wants to. 

The industry has largely been this way ever since Vince McMahon consumed much of the WWE’s competitors, making professional wrestling a proto-monopoly or duopoly ever since. McMahon’s villainy has been absent for several years, but as long as his handpicked successors are still running the show, WWE fans won’t be getting the product they deserve. 

I’m a lifelong pro wrestling fan, someone who sees the art as the masterpiece it is. Because of this, I feel that it is important to speak out whenever the product is unjustifiably poor. The fact of the matter is that large-scale structural change is needed; “WrestleMania” was yet another example.