WrestleMania has always been one of the biggest stages in sports entertainment, known for unforgettable moments and career-defining matches. But according to Matt Hardy, the latest edition of WWE’s biggest show feels “very prostituted” due to the sheer number of ads.
Hardy, who has competed at WrestleMania 11 times and was a major part of WWE’s golden era, didn’t attend WrestleMania 42 in person this year. However, he stayed involved through fan events. From that experience, he noticed a big change in how the show is presented today.
Matt Hardy questions WWE WrestleMania direction
Speaking on The Ariel Helwani Show, Hardy said WWE now feels more like mainstream entertainment than traditional wrestling.
“It feels very mainstream. They have all the advertisements and everything else. It feels very different from standard WWE. I think it’s hard for a lot of people to kind of grasp that WWE changes. I can say this being older, I sometimes hate change,” Hardy said.
He pointed out that the heavy use of ads and sponsorships made the show feel very different from what it used to be.
“It is definitely so evolved and so different from what the initial concept of WrestleMania was as an event. It felt very prostituted because all the ads and everything else,” he added.
Hardy also shared concerns about the matches themselves. For him, WrestleMania has always been about big matches with strong storytelling, but he believes that wasn’t fully delivered this year because many matches were too short.
“If you have these big matches between big stars, these matches need to be good. They need to have time. They need to have a good payoff at that point, because that’s what you’re building to. I feel like the TV is the vehicle that you build these matches, and you tell stories, but once you get to these PPVs and WrestleMania, that’s where you have to deliver the goods. No doubt about it,” Hardy added.
Looking at the numbers, his point makes sense. On Night 1 of WrestleMania 42, only a few matches went past 10 minutes, and only one match crossed 20 minutes. Night 2 was slightly better, but still had only one match that went beyond that mark.
In comparison, WrestleMania 40 had longer matches overall. For Hardy, this shows that WWE’s priorities may be shifting more toward more commercial elements rather than in-ring storytelling.
That said, Hardy didn’t completely criticize the current product. He admitted that “WrestleMania is still WrestleMania. It still feels like a big event.”
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