If there’s one thing I learned from “Scooby-Doo! Wrestlemania Mystery”, it’s that WWE expected Sin Cara to be a huge star. As far as the wrestlers portrayed in this cartoon go, he’s the second top star right behind John Cena. Not only does he team up with “The Champ”, but he’s looked upon as his equal. There’s no doubt WWE had high aspirations for Sin Cara during his introduction phase. It’s just kind of sad to see their vision here, only to see the dismal failure that was the real Sin Cara over the past few years. They can still redeem themselves by focusing their attention on Sin Cara Dos if they still see potential in the character.
Another thing I learned from this film is that you can get a match at Wrestlemania simply by stealing the WWE Championship. Scooby-Doo is accused of stealing the vacant title and, per WWE City rules, can earn his freedom from prison by competing in a match. He teams with his partner in crime (literally) in taking on “The Big Red Machine” Kane in a Handicap Last Man Standing match to kick off Wrestlemania. I wonder if this bumped a Sheamus/Daniel Bryan contest from the show.
The reasoning for Scooby-Doo and the gang’s presence in WWE City is because Scooby-Doo won a video game contest, earning him V.I.P. tickets to Wrestlemania. Said contest was won by doing a victory dance, which Brodus Clay embarrassingly refers to as “Funkadactic”. You read that right, folks. Simply by doing a dance, Scooby and the gang won tickets to Wrestlemania. I know this is a cartoon, but couldn’t they have come up with a better option for their arrival?
As it goes in every one of their adventures, a mystery is always lurking when Scooby and the gang are present. This time they set their sights on the mysterious Ghost Bear, which is planning on sabotaging Wrestlemania and destroying WWE City; a city which lovingly has every store and landmark modeled after WWE properties. A giant “Triple H” statue welcomes you into the city (and gets climbed on by The Miz, wearing only boxers), the mountains are carved to resemble the WWE Championship, and the stores have wrestling monikers, such as “Royal Rumble Ribs” and “Mr. McMahon’s Waffle House”. If only it was “CM Punk’s Waffle House”.
Back to that Ghost Bear. Legend has it that, back in the olden days, the Ghost Bear (then just known as Bear, I assume) was vanquished from the village by Sin Cara Grande. Decades later, it’s ghost is haunting the grounds and isn’t pleased that the WWE has built their own city on his beloved woods. Or something like that. It’s kind of a flimsy legend, though I guess that makes sense this is a Scooby-Doo mystery. The evil villain’s back story is usually outlandish and asinine. It’s no different here, with the reveal once again being very easy to figure out. Spoiler alert: it’s not Ted Turner.
The Ghost Bear’s actual plan to shut down Wrestlemania actually makes sense. By using EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse), he’s going to cut the power from the generator’s during the show, causing not only the lights to go out, but the live PPV feed as well. Silly Ghost Bear, all you need is a severe rainstorm to do that! Alas, he doesn’t rely on Mother Nature, instead focusing on his electrical work. A Ghost Bear with electrical skills is ludicrous as it comes, but this is a children’s cartoon, so just go with it.
“Scooby Doo! Wrestlemania Mystery” incorporates the usual trope of the series, while infusing the wackiness of the WWE. I’m not sure how well this will fare for those who aren’t fans of the WWE product, but, for those who are, such as myself, it’s quite amusing. John Cena is his usual superhero self, at one point even deflecting a giant boulder with his muscles. Daphne, who starts the film off bemoaning wrestling, becomes a huge fan after developing a crush on John Cena (much to Fred’s chagrin). Velma slowly becomes a fan too, though that’s mostly because of her study in comparing it to classic roman sporting events. Sin Cara, who never speaks (unless it’s his evil incarnation), utilizes luchadore moves to get his message across. Thankfully for everybody involved, John Cena speaks luchadore and translates for Scooby and the gang. What I find even funnier than this is that they actually brought Sin Cara in to do voiceover work, despite not actually having any lines of dialogue. I imagine he just stood in front of the microphone and kept pointing.
There are two major complaints I have with “Wrestlemania Mystery”. The first is that the subplots get lost in the shuffle. One involves an aspiring wrestler who’s uncle wants him to ditch his boyhood dream and focus on his computer skills. Not only am I disappointed that this story gets lost in the shuffle (up until the end, that is), I’m also let down that the writer, Michael Ryan, and director, Brandon Vietti, didn’t take this opportunity to present a good message to the children watching. Talk to almost anybody in the wrestling business and they’ll tell you that, if you plan on becoming a wrestler, that you should go to college and get a degree before stepping into the ring. This provides you with a trade that you can fall back on if you don’t succeed in achieving your dream or to settle into after your wrestling career is over. Why not push this message towards the kids? I’m all for the “follow your dreams” message, but including smart decisions into the mix is a wise lesson.
My other issue with the film is the lack of wrestlers involved. To be fair, there is a decent amount. The likes of John Cena, Sin Cara, Triple H, Kane, The Miz, Brodus Clay, Santino Marella & AJ Lee get screen time, but that’s about it. Outside of cameos from The Big Show, Alberto Del Rio, Sgt. Slaughter, Jerry Lawler & Jimmy Hart, there’s not many more wrestlers to be found. There are a good amount of jobbers involved, and one wrestler who I think was supposed to be Christian, but I wanted to see more of WWE’s roster involved. You’d think they could’ve squeezed Daniel Bryan into the mix considering the villain is a Ghost Bear. For those not getting my reference, simply search “Daniel Bryan bears” on Youtube and revel in the magnificence.
While I can chalk the lack of wrestlers up to time management, it is harder for me to excuse the lackluster subplots. I didn’t even mention the huntsman who threatens Scooby and the gang when they trespass on his property, mainly because I forgot he existed until I looked over my notes. The same goes for Vince McMahon’s right-hand woman, I think, who’s in charge of running WWE Headquarters. She actually plays a pivotal role in the story, but I constantly forgot about her existence until she showed up on screen.
Putting these issues aside, I quite enjoyed “Scooby-Doo! Wrestlemania Mystery”. It’s got that Scooby-Doo charm that I grew up loving, mixed in wonderfully with the lunacy of the WWE. Some wrestling fans may scoff at this being another attempt to force feed them the “PG Era garbage”, but it’s all in good fun. Besides, there’s a running gag in the film where The Miz constantly gets injured, so that should please the critics. That should please everybody, actually!
Final Rating: B