ESPN's WWE Wrestlepalooza Review: 'One Match Saved This Show From Being Truly Average'

WWE held its first premium live event of a new era on ESPN's new direct-to-consumer streaming service on Saturday with Wrestlepalooza. Fans overall weren't exactly impressed with the show, which had an overlap of about an hour with AEW's All Out event, from the get-go, starting with Brock Lesnar's squash of John Cena to open the PLE. When ESPN graded the show, the outlet gave Wrestlepalooza a passing grade of a C, but said only one match on the card saved the show from being "truly average."

ESPN named the match for the vacant Women's World Championship as the best of the night, with Stephanie Vaquer and IYO SKY putting in work to entertain the crowd in Indianapolis, Indiana. Vaquer and SKY fought a 20-minute battle and in the end, Vaquer hit a corkscrew moonsault for the victory, picking up her first gold on the WWE main roster, all with her father at ringside. 

The outlet graded the match a B+ and wrote that WWE fans should go out of their way to see it. They graded The Vision's victory over the Usos, and CM Punk and AJ Lee's victory over Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch both Cs. In their story, ESPN said that every other match was either underwhelming, citing how short the Undisputed WWE Championship match was, or just a setup for a future match, like Lesnar destroying Cena in the opener. 

It noted that Wrestlepalooza "fell a little short of expectations," something fans across social media seemed to agree with. WWE's next stop is Crown Jewel from Perth, Australia on October 11. The show will see the champions from each brand square off for their respective Crown Jewel Championship, with Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes versus World Heavyweight Champion Rollins already being teased.