 What's good Joshua Ross back again with another video. So we got to check this one out, man This is a special one. I think a lot of you guys are excited about this This was an era of wrestling that I think a lot of us did not enjoy Rest in peace to the WWE Pandemic era 2020-2021 one of if not The worst era of wrestling. I'ma just be honest with you It's a part of wrestling that it just It was awful in the sense of no crowds Same story lines like it just didn't feel right WrestleMania last year with no crowd was the weirdest WrestleMania of all time and these shows these with the virtual crowds It just it's not enough. You gotta have fans fans are what make wrestling great without fans Wrestling is not the same. It's not just just keep it a stack, man So it's good to know that this era is over with and I'm glad that the crowds and the fans are coming back So we're gonna check this out appreciate all the love and support. Let's get into this 16 months since the pandemic completely changed the entire world as we know it Schools were closing down forcing students to learn from home Employees were stuck working at home also because the offices were closed the NBA along with other sports even suspended their season however One thing continued and that was professional wrestling The WWE could not afford to take some time off because of their TV deals And so the show went on Vince McMahon took all of his employees and talents to Florida and they transformed the performance center into the new set for Monday Night Raw in Friday night Smackdown I will never forget watching the first episode of Smackdown wondering how WWE could go on for the rest of the pandemic without a crowd It was beyond weird to watch wrestling in a completely empty arena, but they somehow managed it I'd even say that a lot of good matches Moments and things came out of the pandemic era. It's pretty underrated if you ask me With that being said, I wanted to spend some time today looking at some of those highlights from the pandemic era that really carry WWE for the last 16 months We should appreciate this special time in wrestling although it was strange bizarre and sometimes annoying Wrestling was there for us for that That they you know tried to do the best they could but I'm beyond switch it was to me easily one of the worst Eras of wrestling grateful in all time The biggest highlight of the first half of the pandemic era has to be Drew McIntyre and his entire WWE reigned. The WWE needed someone to fill in the shoes of a top star and Drew McIntyre was not afraid of that challenge He accepted it and excelled beyond anyone's expectations Drew McIntyre really solidified himself as a true superstar during the pandemic era He carried Monday Night Raw on his back with his incredible feuds against Seth Rollins, Randy Orton, and Bobby Lack He was definitely carrying Monday Night Raw. I'm not even gonna lie to you He was definitely carrying Monday Night Raw Like I'm gonna just keep it a stack in the half man So hey shout out to Drew When he was on top of the card He was putting the company on his back and at this point Roman Reigns was still gone So hey, I'm not gonna lie to you. Drew did his thing during the COVID era of WWE Ashley He deserves so much more credit and I hate how there's a portion of Twitter fans right now Currently hating on him because it doesn't make sense that he's on the top of the division. Yes He's a top star. He deserves top star positions Anyways, Drew rules While Drew McIntyre was carrying Monday Night Raw Sasha Banks and Bayley were doing the same thing for SmackDown The Golden Role models were consistently entertaining on a weekly basis Bayley's women's championship run was superb and she's quietly become my new favorite member of the Four Horsewomen Throughout the pandemic. Yeah, I thought that these two she's definitely gotten into her own like in her own stride We're excellent when it came to storytelling and providing Entertainment's WWE giving them all the belts was also a fantastic idea Even though it did not last for too long It was a fun moments Bayley and Sasha Banks holding all of the gold was an underrated moment during this period of time It was also great to see Sasha Banks become this SmackDown women's champion and have a lengthy run Before putting on that classic match with Bianca Belair Cinematic matches a key highlight for I will say this if there were some highlights This was one of them. Bonyard match was pretty pretty dope The match with John Cena in the fiend that was pretty cool The match between Johnny Gargano and Tomasso Ciampa. That was cool I think there was a match. I could be wrong I think Adam Cole versus Velveteen dream and like a parking lot like that was cool like those cinematic matches were actually quite entertaining, man From the pandemic era was the introduction of cinematic matches Although other performers in different promotions already had cinematic matches This was the first time that WWE finally had their own because there weren't fans in the stands anyway So it didn't matter if someone was watching it live or not There were three very good ones that I want to talk about the first one is the Bonyard match between the undertaker and AJ Styles This was absolutely perfect, and you could have not given undertaker a better send-off Another excellent cinematic match was the Firefly Funhouse match with the Fiend and John Cena And I love this match so much so that it's actually in my top 10 favorite matches of all time And last but not least the money in the main glider match last year was also very fun, and it was unique I didn't like Otis winning it, but the match itself was fun part of me wishes that cinematic matches will return But I don't see that happening The hurt business would have never happened if there was in a pandemic the group may be dead right now But it was amazing while it lasted. Don't know why they killed them off. I did that Did that you got a scottish? It starts stuttering because it doesn't make sense Vance what are you doing? That doesn't I don't know why They were so good. They were so good. I don't know why they got rid of them MVP took Bobby Lashley And he turned him into a superstar that is now the WWE champion He also rejuvenated the careers of Shelton Benjamin and Cedric Alexander It does suck that WWE isn't doing too much with those two since the split But I do have to appreciate the group even though it didn't last too long It's one of my favorite factions ever period this table also help bring back the prestige of the US title So you also got to respect that as well. I don't know why business was great People need to give more credit to the Randy Orton and Edge feud because I thought it was actually perfect Everything about it was really good. So I enjoyed that Randy Orton turning on Edge was great Then giving an arcade to his wife just made things even more personal and that's such a Randy Orton thing And then Edge would deliver some of the best promos of his career on raw and unlike most people I thought their last man standing match at WrestleMania 36 was pretty good It was a physical bout with two men trying. I felt like it could have been better I think it was a little bit too long, but I enjoyed it though I definitely didn't enjoy it and to kill each other and nothing more than that It is exactly what it needed to be if that wasn't enough They also gave the fans the greatest wrestling match of all time and that match I believe is going to age like fine wine. That was a pretty good match Wasn't the greatest of all time. It was good for talent when it comes to character work Wrestlers needed to shift their focus from the in-ring competition to the storyline aspect of professional All I can think about Was the eye for an eye match just Ray Why they do you so daddy Ray? We can't we can't forget about that. That was part of the pandemic air The eye for an eye match and the winner has to gouge out the loser's eye like what? Wrestling it was tough to really put on a good match without a live audience And so WWE doubled down on character work Seth Rollins would take full advantage of this bringing his money that Messiah character to life I believe Seth Rollins was one of WWE's most valuable performers during the pandemic era He managed to get people invested in his character and most of his feuds as well The feud against the mysterious might have gone on for a little too long But I have to admit it and say it was good stuff in the beginning of the program His summer slay match against Dominic was also really good as well Seth Rollins only continued to improve his game becoming even better in 2021 this was a good time for Rollins to master his skills One of the most underrated feuds that many people don't talk about enough is the Braun Strowman and Bray Wyatt program I guess people didn't like it But I thought it was brilliant especially when it came to storytelling I was always interested in a feud between these two and I was glad that it finally happened It had some good moments in it for sure like him going back to the the old Bray Wyatt gimmick Bray Wyatt gimmick, you know saying it was cool, but I just wasn't the biggest fan of it You know, I just I didn't really too much care for it as much as I should have Their money in the big match told a good story Then they had the swamp fight which was kind of entertaining because we did have old Bray Wyatt who made a return and then their summer slam match Led to the return of Roman Reigns You cannot complain too much when it comes to these two Roman Reigns practically kept the universal championship interesting for the time being WWE's ratings were not doing too well throughout the pandemic era and this led to the debut of the Thunder Dome The essence of this was to create an atmosphere that brought back excitement to professional wrestling and it was cool at first I'll say that But then afterwards I was just like yeah, I'm ready for people to come back. I'm tired to see people on the screens I want people back so it did its job It did its job to give some type of wrestling vibe to it was you know better than being in the performance center But yeah, you know Nothing beats actual live crowds instead of piped in crowd chants and WWE took this risk on this insane idea and it massively paid off Although I wasn't a huge fan of the idea at first it turned out to be a good one and changed everything for the WWE Reporters have also gone out and stated that the Thunder Dome pretty much stayed the company's ratings So you have to respect WWE's creativity because this also gave us probably the better half of the pandemic era Oh, yeah, you gotta put Roman Reigns Roman Reigns you got to put him in there He is without a doubt one of the best things about the pandemic era of wrestling because without him I don't know how well it would have lasted man Roman Reigns coming back saved Not only WWE in a sense because at least fans had something to really sink their teeth into but same damn their smackdown and Hope shit And returned during the pandemic era He took some time off to protect the health of his newborn twins But six months later he would return at SummerSlam beating up both Braun Strowman and the Fiend a week later And he paired himself with Paul Heyman in a shocking moment and then won the Universal Championship Officially turning heel well followed after was the greatest work of his entire career And Roman Reigns has been carrying the professional wrestling world since becoming the best thing about the business Turn Jey Uso into a main event star. He made Paul Heyman relevant again And he made the Universal Championship the most prestigious title in the industry I'll just say that Roman Reigns has become this generation's goat during this pandemic era I know this may seem very random But the pandemic era also gave Seamus a lot of opportunities and I just want to say that he's been killing it as well I loved his many feud with Jeff Hardy It was cool and the two had great chemistry Seamus then went on to have an intense program with Drew McIntyre Which was also good and he is currently the US champion That was a perfect choice by the WWE and their creative team without the pandemic era I think that he might have been lost in the shuffle. So thankfully he's been able to prove his value for the company Sami Zayn has been doing amazing work ever since returning to WWE when they introduced the Thunder Dome He's doing the best work of his career. He's hilarious Interesting and one of the best parts of SmackDown. We need to appreciate the brilliance of Sami Zayn a lot more if we don't already One of the final things that I want to appreciate during the pandemic era is WrestleMania 37 The card was truly special. Both nights from top to bottom were really good and seeing the fans return for the one show Was a great added bonus. That was really true versus Bobby was dope Cesaro finally got his WrestleMania singles match and his WrestleMania moment. Bad Bunny killed it Bianca Bellar became a star. Logan Paul took one of the meanest stunners of all time and Roman Reigns won in one Of the best WrestleMania matches ever. It was a true massive success And that pretty much wraps up the WWE pandemic era. It was quite the interesting time to be a WWE fan We experienced some ups and some downs. However overall when you look at it I think it was a really exceptional year for wrestling with that being said though I cannot wait for WWE fans to return. I think that WWE is positioning themselves for their best year in a decade I am beyond excited. Thank you. I like his optimism But I'ma let's be honest Monday night Raw has been awful In this pandemic the early light last year It was it was tolerable because you had some stuff on raw that you cared about Drew McIntyre His whole situation him carrying pretty much the company then when Roman Reigns came back He started pretty much carrying the company. So you had some good things But this year bro Be honest with you Raw is awful. It is garbage It is bottom of the barrel. No Smackdown has some enjoyable stuff Smackdown is way better than raw at this point and nxt is still holding it down You know, it's not as good as it used to be But nxt still has some things about it that is still enjoyable and they at least allow fans in their You know in their you know venues and stuff, but nah Nah, let's let's not overlook the fact that raw has been complete duty water, but Comment down below. Let me know. Are you guys Glad that the pandemic era is over. I'm pretty sure 100% of you guys are gonna say yes We're glad pandemic era is over fans will be in attendance. Yes So I'm looking forward to that man But uh, yeah, I would like to get your guys thoughts and opinions and and let me know Comment down below as well your favorite moment from the pandemic era. What was your favorite match favorite moment? Let me know. I want to get your guys Opinions on that, but I appreciate all the love and support row two 50k appreciate y'all kicking with me. I'll see y'all in the next one. Peace