Matt Hardy: "WrestleMania 42 felt very Prostituted because of all the ads"

WrestleMania 42 had its highlights and low points, with a first night heavily criticized by fans due to the short duration of the matches and the excessive advertising that inundated the entire show (and extended to the second night). A corporate decision that not only brought huge profits to WWE, but also made it clear that the company's shows will not be the same as before.

Matt Hardy, one of the greatest legends in tag team wrestling, went further, describing the last edition of WrestleMania as an event prostituted by excessive advertising and sponsors, which left the matches, the soul of a show of this nature, in the background.

"It is definitely so evolved and so different from what the initial concept of WrestleMania was. It felt very prostituted because of all of the ads and everything else. I also feel, when you go to these pay-per-views like WrestleMania, if you have these big matches between big stars, these matches need to be good and need to have time and need to have a good payoff. That’s what you’re building to," Matt said on The Ariel Helwani Show.

Despite all the criticism, WWE achieved its goal, making WrestleMania 42 one of the most profitable events in its history. The company made up for the lower number of attendees (compared to last year's edition) with higher ticket prices, more sponsors, and high merchandise sales figures.

On the other hand, the presence of advertising in the ring (both on the canvas and in the corners) has become common since the "Netflix era" began, being much more noticeable in PPVs and the weekly shows of Monday Night Raw. For now, only NXT remains free of advertising in the ring.