There are unconfirmed reports that Total Divas will get an overhaul in cast for the upcoming season six on E!
Those rumored of not returning to the show at all include Alicia Fox, Rosa Mendes, and Mandy Rose. New cast members allegedly joining the show are Renee Young, Lana, Maryse, and Naomi, who returns to the show after she was booted from season five.
Renee Young appeared a few times on the show but was never officially a cast member. The arrival of Lana and Maryse will certainly shake things up on the show, receiving a much-needed shot of new blood.
The show has been a ratings disappointment this year with Total Divas audience going down by nearly 50%.
Gawker Media has filed its appeal against the $140 million judgment that a jury of six awarded Hulk Hogan over the leak of the sex tape.
On Monday, Gawker filed two motions – one that requests the verdict to be thrown out and the other for the damages to be greatly reduced – according to the Wall Street Journal. A hearing before Judge Pamela Campbell who presided over the trial will be held on May 25.
“Gawker is now beginning the process of challenging the jury’s verdict in a trial where key evidence was wrongly withheld and the jury was not properly instructed on the Constitutional standards for newsworthiness,” the company said in a statement. “So we expect to be fully vindicated. And even if the verdict were to stand, there is no justification for awarding tens of millions of dollars never seen by victims of death and serious injuries.”
One of Hogan’s lawyers, David Houston, said that they expected Gawker to file a motion for a new trial and an appeal. “It is apparent Gawker is unable to accept responsibility for their actions or demonstrate any intention of correcting their behavior,” Houston said.
The Wrestling Observer is reporting that the actual attendance for WrestleMania 32 was 97,769, much higher that the company expected and it was thanks to a large amount of last minute standing room only tickets being sold.
The announced gate money of over $17 million is based off that actual number while the company announced an inflated number of 101,763 as the official attendance. For comparisons, WrestleMania III had just over 78,000 tickets sold with an attendance announced of 93,173.
Inflated number or not, WrestleMania 32 at the AT&T Stadium still broke all WWE records and sits in first place when it comes to both attendance and gate money. The other WrestleManias which make up the top 10 attendance wise are WrestleMania III with 93,173, WrestleMania 29 with 80,676, WrestleMania 23 with 80,103, WrestleMania 28 with 78,363, WrestleMania 31 with 76,976, WrestleMania 30 with 75,167, WrestleMania 24 with 74,635, WrestleMania 25 with 72,744, and WrestleMania 26 with 72,219.
The post-WrestleMania Monday Night Raw got owned in the ratings by the NCAA basketball game, getting only an average of 4,090,000 viewers. Last year’s post-Mania show did over 5 million viewers.
Hour one started with 4,278,000 viewers, followed by a small dip to 4,178,000 in the second hour, before dropping off to 3,816,000 in the third hour which featured an awesome main event. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Former WWE Diva – or should we say Superstar? – Maryse Ouellet made her return on Raw last night, helping her husband The Miz capture the Intercontinental title from Zack Ryder.
Maryse came out after Ryder’s father pushed The Miz during the match and then she slapped him, causing the distraction and allowing The Miz to hit the Skull Crushing Finale.
“Oh Yeah!!! What a night!” she wrote on her Instagram, adding a photo of her kissing her husband while he’s holding the Intercontinental title. At this point it’s still unclear if she’s back full time or not. She will be appearing on Smackdown this week with The Miz for the rematch against Ryder for the title.
The 33 year old worked for the WWE between 2006 and 2011, first starting at the Diva Search Contest and then moving on the becoming one of the best female heels the company ever had. She won the Divas title twice.
The Raw after WrestleMania did not bring in any outside Superstars however it did bring a couple of popular acts from NXT.
First to make his Raw debut was Baron Corbin, the winner of the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal. Corbin’s involvement on Raw was expected considering he won the battle royal just 24 hours before. The former NFL player had been stuck in NXT since October 2012 and his progression to the main roster was slower than the others who debuted on Raw.
Apollo Crews also made his main roster arrival yesterday, defeating another NXT alumni, Tyler Breeze in his first live match on USA Network. Crews’ journey to the main roster took around a year and a half, having signed with WWE’s NXT back in October 2014.
The popular duo Enzo and Cass made the biggest noise with their Raw debut and were inserted in a program with the veteran Dudley Boyz. Enzo killed it on the mic and the Raw crowd definitely knew who they were, chanting along with all the usual catchphrases. Their journey to the main roster started in mid 2013. Their sidekick, Carmella, was nowhere to be seen and it seems that she will be staying put at NXT for the time being.
Making their debut on Smackdown will be The Vaudevillains, the team of Aiden English and Simon Gotch. The former NXT Tag Team champions have been in NXT since June 2014. Hopefully their run will not be similar to that of The Ascension!
When Sami Zayn got taken out from the Raw main event last night, the majority of the crowd expected two people to take his place – John Cena or Randy Orton. But the powers that be left the main event with four smart marks favorites and chose Cesaro as the fourth person.
The Swiss Superman received a rock star welcome from the audience, welcoming him back for his first WWE televised appearance since he underwent surgery back in November. There was no Cesaro Section at the American Airlines Center but rather it was the Cesaro Center.
Cesaro, just like Cena, had a rotator cuff problem that needed to be taken care of and his process of rehab took around five months. Cesaro was announced that he would be wrestling on the upcoming WWE WrestleMania Revenge Tour of Europe, with his first date in the Netherlands in around 10 days.
His fellow Superstars welcomed him on Twitter with genuine nice messages as Cesaro is considered one of the most nicest guys in the locker room. His return also carried a tribute to his former tag team partner Tyson Kidd, locking in the Sharpshooter during the match.
When AJ Styles lost to Chris Jericho at WrestleMania, the Internet Wrestling Community did not like it one bit that a part-timer defeated a new arrival and a favorite of their own. But less than 24 hours later, things changed drastically for the former TNA champion.
During a fatal 4 way to determine the new number one contender for the WWE World Heavyweight title, AJ Styles defeated Jericho, Kevin Owens, and the returning Cesaro to a massive pop from the crowd. Styles delivered the Styles Clash to Jericho, who returned the honors for him for the night before.
After the show was over, Styles stayed in the ring as the International crowd gave him a standing ovation for several minutes as a visibly emotional AJ shook hands and hugged with those at ringside, including Lilian Garcia and the International Raw commentary team.
AJ Styles will now face Roman Reigns for the WWE World Heavyweight title and judging by last night’s response it won’t be difficult to figure out who will be the face and who will be the heel in this program.
Monday Night Raw TV Report for April 4th, 2016 – “A Fresh Start”
Introduction Segment: Video Promo and Welcoming
Highlights of WrestleMania 32 air, then the regular Raw video plays and the pyro goes off in the American Airlines Arena. Michael Cole, John “Bradshaw” Layfield, and Byron Saxton welcomes us to the city of WrestleMania, Dallas, Texas. They put over the “crazy” post-WrestleMania crowd that has developed over the last few years.
Segment #2: Arena Promo
Mr. McMahon walks out to talk about his son, Shane McMahon. He is happy that Shane didn’t win, because he says that Shane showed the reckless capability he has, which concerns him because Shane may have used that for running Monday Night Raw too.
Shane walks out, to a massive pop and “you still got it chants.” He has two announcements – to shake Vince’s hand and say he won, like a man; and to say “goodbye.” Vince is displeased with Shane trying to “upstage” him, so he gives him the power for tonight only!
Tag-Team Champions The New Day are out and cut a promo about “Booty-O”s” and their “WrestleMania Moments.” They will be in action, as they put their titles on the line, next!
Commercials.
Match #1: Tag-Team for the Tag-Team Championship – The New Day (Big E. and Kofi Kingston) (with New Day member Xavier Woods) (Champions) VS. The League of Nations (Wade Barrett and Sheamus) (with League of Nations members Rusev and Alberto Del Rio) (Challengers)
Kofi and Sheamus start, struggling with a lockup until Sheamus kicks Kofi. He tries a clothesline, but Kingston slides under and hits a dropkick, and then tosses Sheamus to the floor. Big hurls Barrett then helps Kofi dive onto both League of Nations members. Kingston’s attention is caught, allowing Rusev to interfere and Wade to take over.
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Sheamus is in and drops Kofi over his knee, then follows the crowd with a wave. Kofi shoves off and leaps onto Sheamus to the mat. He crawls and makes the hot-tag to E; he belly-to-belly suplexes Barrett three times and splashes him. He runs at Wade but is hit with a knee, however, shoves him into Sheamus. New Day drives Barrett with their Big Ending to get the victory!
Winners via Pinfall and STILL Tag-Team Champions: The New Day
Post-match, Sheamus is ticked-off because The League is not as dominate; he says “you’re only as strong as your ‘weakest link.’” Rusev and Alberto hold up Barrett while Sheamus gives him a Brogue Kick! Suddenly, The Wyatt Family’s video starts and they appear in the ring, destroying the entire League! Bray plants Sheamus with Sister Abigail and tells everyone to “follow the buzzards,” to loud “thank you, Wyatts!”
Commercials.
Segment #4: Backstage Promo
Rene Young catches up with Mr. McMahon; she asks him why he is leaving. Vince tells her he does not want to see the “disaster” that Raw is going to be.
Match #2: Single – Summer Rae VS. Sasha Banks
Banks slaps Summer hard at first, but receives a spin-kick and slap in retaliation. Sasha pushes Rae into the corner and drives her to the canvas with double-knees. Summer tries a roll-up, which Banks reverses into the Banks Statement that forces Summer to tap!
Winner via Submission: Sasha Banks
Up next, former NXT Star Apollo Crews will make his Raw debut!
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Match #3: Single – Tyler Breeze VS. Apollo Crews
They lockup and Apollo counters a standing-side headlock into a wristlock. He amazingly flips over and lands on his feet, then powerslams Tyler! He is kicked back, but Breeze’s control doesn’t last for long; Apollo overtakes and finishes Breeze with a gorilla press, standing moonsault, and spin-out powerbomb!
Winner via Pinfall: Apollo Crews
Later tonight, Women’s Champion Charlotte will be presented with her new title; up next, new WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns will be out for an address.
Commercials.
Segment #5: Arena Promo
WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns saunters out and acknowledges the fans’ dislike. It doesn’t matter though, as Reigns declares himself “the guy.” He says he told Shane McMahon that he’ll let anybody take a shot, so he waits upon his next challenger.
Chris Jericho is the one to answer, then A.J. Styles, Kevin Owens, and Sami Zayn! The four brawl while Roman looks on; Jericho is left in the ring to eat a Spear!
Later tonight, The Dudleyz and The Usos will face-off again in a Tables Match!
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Segment #6: Backstage Promo
Shane McMahon congratulates Roman on capturing the WWE World Heavyweight Championship; he tells him there will be a Fatal-4-Way to determine who will be his next challenger, between A.J. Styles, Sami Zayn, Chris Jericho, and Kevin Owens.
Match #4: Single – Baron Corbin VS. Dolph Ziggler
Corbin grabs Dolph and chucks him into the corner and punishes Dolph throughout. He forearms a leaping Ziggler from the apron to the floor!
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Baron is still dominating until Dolph elbows back, and Corbin runs into the ring post. Ziggler follows with a couple of splashes and a face-buster. “The Show-Off” signs for the superkick, but Baron spins him around; Dolph counters with the Fameasser for a near-fall! Ziggler tries a Zig-Zag but is pushed off. Corbin tornadoes Dolph with Deep Six, a spinning side-slam! 1 – 2 – Ziggler gets his shoulder up!
On the outside, Baron boots Dolph into the crowd and stalks. He throws Ziggler into trashcans and the bell rings.
Winner: None due to Referee Stoppage
Post-match, Baron warns the referee “this is on you!” He continues to assault Dolph, flipping him with his End of Days finisher on the floor by the ring.
Up next, we will look at Dean Ambrose VS. Brock Lesnar from WrestleMania.
Commercials.
Segment #7: Video Promo
Still-pictures of Ambrose and Lesnar’s bout at ‘Mania are shown.
Segment #8: Arena Promo
Brand-new Intercontinental Champion Zack Ryder struts to the ring; he soaks in the adoration of the fans and gives props to his Dad for being there for him. A picture of him as a child with Razor Ramon’s I.C. Title, and a picture of Razor Ramon with his I.C. Title is shown too.
The Miz interrupts and berates Ryder for the way he won the title and stealing his “WrestleMania moment.” Miz eggs him on enough to challenge for the Intercontinental Championship!
Match #6: Single for the Intercontinental Championship – Zack Ryder (Champion) VS. The Miz (Challenger)
An elbow/collar tie-up starts, then Miz gives Zack a shoulder-block, but Ryder hits a dropkick back. He gains momentum and gives Miz a front-running-dropkick from the ring to the floor!
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Miz is now in control and mount-punches Ryder; they battle atop the turnbuckle and Ryder pushes Miz off, following with an elbow! 1 – 2 – Miz places his foot on the ropes to break. Zack gears up but Miz boots him.
On the floor, Miz gets into a confrontation with Ryder’s father, who shoves Miz after Miz shoved him. From out of the other side of the crowd walks Maryse – Miz’s wife – and also gets into a verbal joust with Mr. Ryder. This distracts Zack, who is grabbed from behind by Miz and dropped with the Skull-Krushing Finale. Miz covers and wins!
Winner via Pinfall and NEW Intercontinental Champion: The Miz
Post-match, Maryse and Miz celebrate while Zack and Mr. Ryder glare.
Segment #8: Backstage Promo
Rene inquires Kevin Owens about tonight’s Fatal-4-Way. He declares that he will end the “Roman Empire.”
Commercials.
Segment #9: Video Promo
Highlights of The Vaudevillians – Simon Gotch and Aiden English – from NXT air; they will make their debut this week on Smackdown!
Segment #10: Arena Promo
Hall-of-Famer Lita and most of the women wrestlers are in the ring; they are there to officially give Charlotte the new Women’s Championship. Charlotte and her father, Ric Flair, walk out. Charlotte puts over the women behind her, amid “women’s wrestling” chants, and then she puts herself over big-time, to the chagrin of the rest of the women, especially Becky Lynch.
The women walk out, except for Natalya, who goes at it with Charlotte and tries a Sharpshooter on her, but Ric pulls his daughter out of the ring. Natalya stares at them.
Segment #11: Backstage Promo
A.J. Styles tells Rene Young that “change” is in the air, as he is in WWE to be the Champion; he calls it “The Phenomenal Era.”
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Match #7: Tag-Team (Tables Rules) – The Usos (Jimmy and Jey) VS. The Dudley Boyz (Bubba-Ray and D-Von)
All four fight for a bit until a “What’s Up” headbutt is hit by The Dudleyz. Bubba and D-Von go for the tables, but The Usos recover and rocket over the top rope with planchas!
Commercials.
Jimmy and Jey are now in control and superkick/splash combo Bubba. They setup tables in the ring, but miss a splash and go through the tables themselves! The bell rings, but Bubba chucks an Uso through the table in the corner, then the bell and official announcement is made.
Winners via Putting Opponents Through A Table: The Dudley Boyz
Post-match, Bubba is mad at the mistaken finish.
Segment #12: Backstage Promo
Sami Zayn is interviewed about his placing in the Fatal-4-Way. He doesn’t get too far before being attacked by Kevin Owens, who powerbombs him through a table!
Commercials.
Segment #13: Arena Promo
The Dudleyz are still out, and stopped by a new team – Enzo Amore and Colin Cassidy of NXT! They make their grand entrance, then take verbal shots at Bubba and D-Von. The fans are totally into them! Enzo and Cass want them to “come down to this ring.” The Boyz oblige, but back away when they get to the apron. Cass calls them “S – A – W – F – T” which is “Sawft!”
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It is announced that Zack Ryder will challenge The Miz for the Intercontinental Championship this week on Smackdown!; and that Dr. Phil will be a “guest star” of Raw next week.
A.J. Styles, Chris Jericho, and Kevin Owens make their entrance; Lillian Garcia – the ring announcer – tell us that Sami Zayn has “not been medically cleared” for the match, so a replacement is named. Please welcome back ….
Cesaro!
Match #8: Fatal-4-Way – A.J. Styles VS. Chris Jericho VS. Kevin Owens VS. Cesaro
A.J. and Jericho go at it while Cesaro and Owens tangle. Kevin and Chris are tossed to the floor, leaving a great face-off between Cesaro and Styles! A.J. dropkicks Cesaro after they skip around each other, but he is soon caught in a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker!
Commercials.
Jericho and A.J. are in the ring, with Jericho suplexing Styles. He presses Styles’ neck against the middle rope and chops on Cesaro before chucking him outside. A.J. follows up with hard punches in the corner on Jericho, but “Y2J” hits back and dropkicks. Chris and A.J. stand on the turnbuckle, Owens joins and Cesaro brings all of them down with a Tower of Doom suplex/powerbomb combo!
Cesaro goes uppercuts, but is booted hard by Owens. He hits another one on Styles and almost takes this! Cesaro is dumped to the floor by Chris, but Jericho is package-powerbombed by Owens for a near-fall! Kevin misses the Cannonball corner splash, but blocks a Lionsault attempt! A.J. follows with a springboard-450 onto Jericho but his pin is stopped!
Owens yells at Styles, but Cesaro soars off the top turnbuckle with a crossbody! He repeatedly uppercuts A.J. and Owens in the corners, then hits Chris with one too! All three opponents for Cesaro are in corners, where he hits them all with uppercuts. He goes for a final on Jericho, but “Y2J” counters with a kick. Chris dives off the second turnbuckle, but Cesaro catches him for ten swings!
Owens stops both Cesaro and A.J. with kicks, and slams Styles with the Pop-Up Powerbomb! He covers, but Jericho breaks it before three! “Y2J” drives Owens into his knees with the Codebreaker, but Cesaro stops the pin!
Cesaro and Jericho battle back-and-forth, and Jericho rolls through into a Walls of Jericho; Cesaro turns that into a Sharpshooter, but A.J. springboards off the rope with the Phenomenal Forearm! He hits a Pele Kick on Owens, but just gets his shoulder up after a Codebreaker by Jericho!
A.J. and Chris wrestle and Styles reverses Jericho into the Styles Clash! He covers and gets the victory!
Winner and NEW #1 Contender for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship: A.J. Styles!
A.J. celebrates as the commentators put him and his upcoming WWE World Heavyweight Championship match with Roman Reigns over to close the show!
Reddit user Falconarrow, a confirmed insider who works with WWE, revealed in a Reddit AMA session today on r/squaredcircle that there are a bunch of surprises and two returns scheduled for the Raw after Mania tonight. A title change is also in the plans with him saying, “However I think this sub will be disappointed in one return that causes a title change tonight.” The main event he said will feature a fatal 4 way and while he didn’t specify one has to assume that it’s to see who will be the number one contender moving forward.
Talking about WrestleMania he said that if there were no injuries, the top card of WrestleMania was supposed to be John Cena vs The Undertaker, Seth Rollins vs Roman Reigns vs Dean Ambrose, and Bray Wyatt vs Brock Lesnar. All results of the matches were locked in towards the end of Thursday and nothing was changed or switched by the time WrestleMania was over. When asked if everyone came out injury-free following the show, Falconarrow said yes, apart from Roman Reigns’ pride.
When the topic of Roman Reigns came up, the Reddit insider said that he’s there because Vince McMahon made him the top guy and Vince doesn’t care about the boos because he thinks Roman “is the guy.” He expects him to hold the title at least through SummerSlam.
Discussing the work of the writers he said that it’s the greatest and worst job at the same time as there are a lot people throwing ideas only for them to get “consistently butchered by Vince.”
WWE champions Roman Reigns and Charlotte appeared on NBC’s TODAY show this morning in New York, flying all the way from Dallas overnight on a private jet.
“How did you recover so quickly?” the host asked Charlotte as she made her way in. “Make-up,” Charlotte responded getting a few laughs with her honest answer. She said she hasn’t had a moment yet to soak it all in.
Reigns said that that the WWE fans have been great and everywhere he went in Dallas he saw fans in t-shirts as they took over the city. The discussion turned to last night’s show and the 100,000+ fans in the building and how loud it was especially for the women’s match. Reigns mentioned the celebrities that were at WrestleMania and how the show is the biggest live event in the world and all the A-listers want to come.
When asked how she defeated two opponents, Charlotte said that she learned a trick or two from her dad, the dirtiest player in the game. She called Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch the best in the game, at which point Reigns turned around and asked, “Aren’t you the best in the game?”
Charlotte said that the Divas term is now retired and they’re all Superstars including matching titles. Reigns said he didn’t need anyone to tell him that the women were Superstars as well as they do everything the men do on a daily basis.
Reigns then said he’s going the defend the title and doesn’t care against who. He looks at the camera and said, “Hey John Cena, the champ is here!” The hosts told Reigns that Cena is a frequent co-host of the TODAY show and said that this is Cena’s house, a statement that Reigns replied with, “Not if I’m in it!” As the hosts laughed and oooh’d, Reigns added another parting shot to Cena. “I’m about to go in your fridge and eat your food!”
To end the interview, the two hosts were presented with replica WWE World Heavyweight and Women title belts. Charlotte and Reigns flew back to Dallas right after the show was over to prepare for Raw tonight.
WWE today announced that there are a total of 1,820,000 subscribers receiving the WWE Network as of yesterday, thanks to the massive #FreeWrestleMania promotion the company did over the past month. It was the first time that WrestleMania was part of a free month since the Network’s inception.
Out of the 1,820,000 subscribers, 370,000 opted to take the free month promotion and there are 1,454,000 paid subscribers. The last number that WWE announced for the Network was of 1,217,000 paid subscribers, a number which counted subs up until the end of Q4 2015.
From the 370,000 subscribers who are on a free month, 281,000 of those are from the United States while the rest are International subscribers. When taking the 1.8 million subscribers figure, 1,390,000 subs are domestically and 434,000 are International.
The night after WrestleMania XXX, WWE announced a total of 667,000 subscribers and the night after WrestleMania 31 they announced 1,315,000 subscribers. From WrestleMania 31 to WrestleMania 32 the WWE Network saw an increase of just over 500,000 subscribers.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson came, conquered, and went back to resume filming his Baywatch movie. Johnson departed Dallas right after WrestleMania and only got into town on Saturday night due to his busy schedule.
“Such an honor and a privilege to perform in front of you. I love you guys, and thank you,” The Rock said in a video posted on his Instagram just before he boarded a private jet.
“Thank you to ALL the WWE employees (so many of you I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting) who worked their butts off to make this night a huge success. Congratulations and what a win,” he added in another separate post later. “Thank you to my in ring ‘dancing partners’ who came to the dance with one goal – to ‘own the night’. Big bad talented dudes. Wyatts.”
The Rock also thanked the fans for the record breaking night and said they will always be the greatest connection he has. “You’re simply the best and I’m grateful. Aaaaand Ho-lee f*ck were you loud tonight!”
The original idea was for Rock to wrestle Triple H on the show in a continuation of last year’s WrestleMania segment however the insurance company covering his latest movie objected to the idea due to potential injuries. If you remember, The Rock was injured in his match against Cena at WrestleMania a few years ago that delayed the filming of his movie Hercules by several weeks, costing additional tens of millions of dollars to halt production.
Despite the insurance blocking, Rock still managed to get physical and had a six second “match” against Erick Rowan, delivering the Rock Bottom and later a spine buster and the People’s Elbow on Bray Wyatt.
Thousands and thousands of fans experienced the nightmare that happens every year – trying to get to your seat for a WrestleMania in time.
Despite doors opening earlier, getting inside the AT&T Stadium was no easy feat and standing outside the majestic building looking at the lines you would have thought it was damn near impossible to get in by the time the show was over.
Reddit user thumbscrews posted on the SquaredCircle forum that people began passing out while inside due to the heat as thousands of fans walked – or tried to at least – through the AT&T Stadium hallways.
“It took them 10 min. to get a medic to one older gentleman who fainted in front of us. Another girl had a seizure near us as well. Finally, police and staff on the ramp leading into the corridor ordered AT&T to remove the ticket check/wristband vinyl rope-line to let us move through faster,” he wrote. “It was so hot and very scary. It was so hard to breathe as people were firmly pressed into each other. We were herded like cattle with what seemed like nowhere to go.”
The description resembles the same thing that happened at the New Orleans Superdome at WrestleMania XXX where fans were made to walk all around the stadium from the hallways as some parts were blocked.
“People could have also been trampled as people were becoming very panicked and angry. Seriously, people could have been killed,” the Reddit user added.
The first two Kickoff show matches took place in a pretty much empty stadium and it was only when the last match took place – The Usos vs The Dudley Boyz – that the majority of the people were getting in their seats.
Both WWE and AT&T Stadium apologized for the long waiting times citing new added security measures as the cause of the delay in getting in.
Brie Bella wrestled her last match for WWE yesterday during the WrestleMania Kickoff show and rumors are that Brie is pregnant with her first child.
“These women made my last night feel sooo special. To the #BellaArmy to every women I got in the ring with, to @wwe for living the dream…to my husband @bryanldanielson who taught me everything.. I love you all and I’m forever grateful,” Brie wrote in a post on Instagram, adding the hash tag #mamabellamode at the end.
Brie was given a hero’s sendoff when her Total Divas partners lifted her up after getting the Yes! Lock submission on Naomi. Her sister Nikki, who has not appeared on WWE television since undergoing neck surgery, returned to celebrate with her sister receiving a massive pop.
Before lifting her up, Paige also pointed and tapped on Brie’s belly.
Brie is expected to say her goodbyes tonight on Raw. You can see a video of the ending of the 10-tag match and the post-match celebrations below.
WWE has opted to completely drop the term Diva to distinguish their women athletes and will now instead call them Superstars just like they refer to their male athletes.
In an editorial on ThePlayersTribune.com, WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon said that their female performers are “world-class athletes, actors, public speakers and philanthropists,” and that they dedicate themselves to WWE, achieve great success and earn the same respect as their male counterparts.
“Therefore, from this point forward, all of our performers – male and female – will be known as ‘Superstars,’” McMahon wrote.
Taking a page out of the UFC, the WWE Women’s title was also drastically changed from the Divas title and made it look exactly the same as the WWE World Heavyweight title, with the only difference being it’s on a white strap rather than a black strap. The UFC uses the same titles for men and women.
“This title belt represents the pinnacle of achievement in pro wrestling – and shows that in WWE, it isn’t about gender, race or ethnicity. It is simply about being the best at what you do,” McMahon added.
John Cena proved once again while he is super human, returning from a torn-rotator cuff surgery just 3 months after going under the knife, recovering in one third of the time he was expected to be out.
Cena returned last night at the Hall of Fame to induct Snoop Dogg but had not appeared in a WWE ring since early January. Cena had tweeted several times hinting at an early return and during the segment with The Rock and the Wyatts, Cena came out to help out his former rival.
The former WWE champion got physical, gave the 5 knuckle shuffle and hit the FU as well to a mixed reaction from the crowd, a crowd which enjoyed booing the leader of the Cenation as much as they enjoyed cheering for The Rock.
During the weekend, news broke out that Cena was medically cleared to return. You can see the video of his return below.
A total of 101,763 fans jam packed the AT&T Stadium to set a new attendance record for a WWE event, surpassing the WrestleMania III record at the Pontiac Silverdome which drew 93,173.
In addition to shattering the record, WrestleMania 32 also became the highest grossing live event in WWE history with $17.3 million, surpassing last year’s WrestleMania by over $4 million.
“We are thrilled that we made history tonight at WrestleMania, further cementing its place as one of the top sports and entertainment events in the world,” said WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon. “We thank our fans, the Dallas Cowboys and the entire Jones family for their overwhelming support.”
Dallas Cowboys Chief Brand Officer Charlotte Jones Anderson congratulated WWE on behalf of the Cowboys organization. “WrestleMania was an incredible spectacle like none other, and we look forward to hosting it again at AT&T Stadium.”
It’s WrestleMania Sunday! And you know what that means… The Biggest WrestleMania in History. Although by the time it ended, I don’t think they had originally planned for the longest WrestleMania in History!
Initial reports from outside the AT&T Stadium – fifteen minutes before the WWE Network go-live time – indicated that power issues were preventing the stadium from letting fans inside. This should make for an interesting pre-show. Empty arena matches, anyone?
The inside of the stadium looks really empty at the start of the pre-show – nothing much of substance. Earlier in the weekend, the HHH/Roman Reigns match had a no-disqualification stipulation added to it.
United States Championship: Kalisto (c) vs Ryback
My word, the stage is massive, and Kalisto has a wacky horned costume that Rey Mysterio would have worn back in the day. The stadium looks maybe a third full thanks to the technical issues that plagued AT&T Stadium, and Ryback’s WrestleMania gear is… a black t-shirt. Oh, and a load of Goldberg chants too.
Kalisto gets swatted by Ryback in the early going, and gets squashed to the canvas with a shoulder tackle. Kalisto gets a near-fall from a second rope bulldog, before a double knees to the chest of Ryback on the floor angers the Big Guy, who then tosses the champion into the barriers. Ryback carries Kalisto in a military press, walks the ring steps, and throws him into the ring, before another military press elevates Kalisto well above the ring, as we cut to an ad break? Seriously?! I guess they want to advertise to that guy who’s watching on YouTube and not the network…
Back from break and Ryback’s gotten a near-fall on Kalisto… and Ryback goes for a stalling superplex off the second rope, but Kalisto switches during the drop and gets a near-fall as he landed on top of Ryback. Kalisto blocks a Jackhammer attempt into a DDT, then scores a near-fall with the short huracanrana. Corkscrew forearm gets Kalisto a near-fall as Kalisto rips off a turnbuckle whilst fighting off Ryback… and almost immediately, Kalisto sends Ryback into the buckle, hits the Salida del Sol then scores the pin to retain!
In the first hour of the pre-show, Lita announced that there’d be a special announcement that she’d be making just before WrestleMania. New Women’s title belt?
The Total Divas (Brie Bella, Natalya, Alicia Fox, Paige & Eva Marie) vs Team B.A.D. & Blonde (Lana, Naomi, Tamina, Summer Rae & Emma)
Team Total Divas come out to the show’s theme… that reminds me, I’ve never seen that show. If they get another series, this’ll probably be a focal part of it, no doubt. Lana’s ring gear is… quite something. Expect a lot of booing when Eva gets in!
Summer and Alicia start with a tie-up, and some vicious elbows, as Summer counters with a DDT with a roll through to some ground and pound. Tilt-a-whirl gets Alicia a two-count, and in comes… who? We have a ten-diva face-off, and we’re off to an ad break to promote Total Divas. Eva Marie is in after the a break and we have boos!
Headscissors by Eva Marie, and a snap suplex, and boy, the boos keep coming. Early “you can’t wrestle” chants, and I bet the top brass are glad this stadium isn’t full yet. Eva forgets how to tag, then slaps Natalya in. Unsurprisingly, Emma/Naomi and Natalya is pretty good, at least until Naomi gets to those goddamned quick kicks. Paige comes in for a Hart Attack clothesline, but Naomi cuts her off with something close to a codebreaker, before she dives and hits the middle rope. HARD.
Lana makes her tag in and hits a kick to the back of Paige’s head, and there’s a smattering of boos. Trish Stratus-like bicycle kick follows, and Lana’s taunting in Brie, before tagging in Tamina to get an easy two-count…. and we have our stereotypical tower of doom spot, or at least we would, had Naomi not cleaned house. Paige knocks Tamina and Naomi to the floor, then dives onto them with a flying cross body.
Paige drops Emma into the bottom turnbuckle with a schoolboy-like rollup, and then tags in Brie who cleans house. Daniel Bryan kicks to Naomi set the crowd alight, but Lana breaks up a pin-fall. It breaks down for a while, and Eva Marie hits the Sliced Bread #2 on Tamina (good job training, Brian Kendrick!), but gets floored by Summer Rae. Spot spot spot. Naomi hits the Rear View on Paige, before taking out Brie with a dropkick. Brie gets the knees up to a split legged moonsault, but Lana knocks Brie off the top as she prepared to do something. Naomi went for the fallen Brie, but fell into the Yes Lock, and we have a tap-out – the Total Divas squad wins.
Post-match, Nikki Bella comes out in her neck-brace to celebrate, as the Total Divas hug, and they lift up Brie for what looks to be her farewell… but WWE cuts away to the concourses instead.
New Women’s Title Belt Revealed!
They’re now preparing for Lita’s announcement in the ring. There’s a podium and a cloth. This usually means title belt… and yes, hiding under the red cloth is… something that looks awfully like the WWE title. And sure enough, the 10-women tag match seems to be the end of the Divas title, as Lita announces that the winner of the Charlotte/Sasha/Becky match will receive the new WWE Women’s title. They’re killing off the divas branding (to the point where the male and female wrestlers are now all called Superstars). The new belt is a white leather strap, and looks a lot like the existing men’s title. Looks really nice – and thank God they’re getting rid of the Butterfly Belt!
The Usos vs. The Dudley Boyz
This is our last stop before Mania… and the Dudleyz get a nice pop. Despite being heels. The Dudleyz jump the Usos early on, and it’s all Dudleyz. Bubba Ray announces that they’re beating the Usos up, “just like we used to do to your daddy, Rikishi”. Needless to say, that sparked something of a comeback – superkick, Samoan drop, but Bubba cuts it off, and we have the Wazaap headbutt onto An Uso.
The crowd boos when the Dudleys are superkicked by Another Uso, who promptly gets the alternative 3D for a near-fall. An Uso comes into superkick both Dudleyz as they set up for the regular 3D, and D-Von takes the fall. Nothing spectacular, as you’d guess.
Post-match, the Dudleyz beat down, and they grab the tables! Double superkicks get the Usos free – and a lot of boos – before splashing the Dudleyz through the tables to get their WrestleMania (Pre-Show) Moment™.
To wrap up the pre-show, they’ve announced the Triple H vs. Roman Reigns will close out the show. Good luck with that!
WrestleMania opens with the standard singing of “America The Beautiful”, this year sung by Fifth Harmony. I’ve never heard of them, but they were apparently formed on the X-Factor, and are not One Direction. This year’s Awesome Opening Video was voiced over by Kelsey Grammar – and wasn’t anywhere near as grating as last year’s intro…
People are still queuing to get to their seats, to the point where there’s photos on Twitter of people streaming the Network inside AT&T Stadium whilst trying to get to their seats. Ho-hum.
Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match: Kevin Owens (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. The Miz vs. Sami Zayn vs. Stardust vs. Sin Cara vs. Zack Ryder
The Miz’s coat is nice and golden… and Sami Zayn’s pop is infinitely louder than what he had at NXT on Friday. That’s what a crowd almost 10x Friday gets you… Stardust’s gear has polka dots on it… good lord, what is Zack Ryder’s ring jacket? At least it got him on TV!
WWE pans across all of the foreign announcers, including Funaki for Japan, and we start with Zayn and Owens with a ladder, which they dump and exchange punches. Usual ladder insanity, as Owens decks Ziggler with a ladder, before Stardust slams Sin Cara, before getting a neckbreaker onto the ladder.
The Miz is the first one to start climbing, but he gets shoved off by Ziggler and Zayn. Owens gives Zayn a back body drop onto a ladder in the first painful spot of the night. Zack Ryder lays out Owens with a Rough Ryder, but gets booed as he climbs the ladder… Stardust shoves Ryder and Ziggler off the ladder then goes to climb himself, only for Sin Cara to shove the ladder (and Stardust) into the ropes). Everyone’s on the floor, as Zayn slides back into the ring… and the Miz is grabbing the ladder to stop Zayn from moving it… so he responds by diving through the ladder for a tope con hilo… then a cross-corner DDT on Kevin Owens. Holy crap!
Sin Cara knocks Zayn off the ladder then goes to climb, but Zayn tips the ladder and sends Cara onto the top rope… where he springboards himself into a senton dive onto the pile on the floor. Ziggler superkicks get cheers, and Ryder gets booed as he gets a Rough Ryder blocked and thrust into a ladder by Ziggler.
Ziggler sets up the ladder, but Kevin Owens comes in to block, and they hit a dual superkick. Stardust pulls a new ladder out from under the ring – a Dusty Rhodes Tribute Ladder! Stardust does the Terry Funk ladder windmill spot on a few guys, before taking Miz’s Skullcrushing Finale onto the ladder. Kevin Owens follows up with a small package neckbreaker onto Miz, them tosses the ladder to the floor, to a chorus of boos.
More Zayn/Owens now, but Owens blocks a Helluva kick with a big boot, before connecting with a frog splash on Zayn onto a ladder. Owens lays out Miz with a pop-up powerbomb, as Zack Ryder goes up top and connects with the El-bro drop off the top of the ladder onto the Miz. That got a cheer, which was followed by boos as Ryder went up to climb for the belt, but got cut off by Ziggler headbutts a la Daniel Bryan.
Ziggler hops up the ladder, but gets caught by Owens for a powerbomb off the ladder. Stardust hits the Queens Crossbow on Owens, and Sin Cara drops Stardust on a ladder draped across the barrier outside. Instead of climbing for the belt, Cara moves the ladder, but gets blocked by Zayn, and Owens tips the ladder to send Cara on a one-way big splash through Stardust on the outside.
Back to Zayn and Owens at the top of the ladder, they exchange fists, but Owens uses a thumb to the eye to get Zayn off the ladder, and Zayn drops Owens onto a ladder with a half nelson suplex! Ouch spot number two. Owens is not moving, and Zayn is climbing the ladder… but the Miz cuts it off and sends Zayn to the ropes. More boos as Miz climbs, but he’s cut off with the title in his hand, as Zack Ryder climbs up… and grabs the title. Zack Ryder is the new Intercontinental champion! And that is not an overwhelming positive reaction to Long Island Iced-Z’s win!
Well, it’s weird given that Ryder has largely been tagging with Mojo Rawley in NXT and largely forgotten in WWE until recently, but he got his WrestleMania moment at last! Even if it may only be a transitional deal…
Chris Jericho vs. AJ Styles
Jericho’s light up jacket has learned a new pattern or two! By the way, it’ll never not be weird seeing AJ Styles at a WrestleMania – especially given that he was wrestling in front of a crowd of fans who got in for free at TNA as recently as two years ago.
The crowd is definitely behind AJ, despite Jericho’s trunks reading GOAT (I assume Greatest of All Time, as opposed to showing his animal preferences). AJ and Jericho do some sweet sequences, with Styles winning a battle of “leaping onto the apron and hitting a kick to the floor”, but Jericho took out Styles as he tried a slingshot dive to the floor. A flying back elbow onto Styles gets Jericho a two-count, before locking Styles in a Dragon sleeper.
After some more neat sequences, Jericho rolled through a wheelbarrow attempt into a Walls of Jericho, with Styles eventually grabbing the ropes. Styles eats a big boot as he tried a running forearm into the corner, but he responds by shoving Jericho into the middle turnbuckles, and follows up with a forward superplex, dumping Jericho on his face in the middle of the ring. A crucifix roll-up gets Styles a two-count, but Jericho catches a Pele kick and turns it into the Walls of Jericho again, but he reverses it into the Calf Crusher. Jericho teases tapping as Styles sinks in the hold, but Jericho rolls through into a pinfall attempt for a two-count.
Jericho blocks a Styles Clash by dumping Styles onto the apron, and as Styles misses the Phenomenal Forearm, he turns into a Codebreaker for a very near fall. They go back to trading blows, and Jericho mocks the Styles Clash… but AJ’s able to block it. AJ then connects with the Styles Clash proper for a two-count. Jericho blocks a running diving forearm with boots to the head, but his effort at following up with a Lionsault sees him land in Styles’ knees. Styles responds with a springboard 450 Splash for another two-count, before planting Jericho with a brainbuster. Styles sets up for the Phenomenal Forearm, but Jericho catches him in mid-air with the Codebreaker and that’s it for AJ. Jericho wins!
This started really slowly, but got going at the end… not sure that the right man won, but if this ends this feud, then I’m all for it.
Maria Menounos interviews Zack Ryder backstage, and Ryder’s left eye is swollen badly. Scripted promo 101, but it seemed to work.
New Day Rocks! They’ve got a giant box of Booty-Os cereal… and some giant cereal hoops come falling out of the box when it tips over… as do the New Day! They win the award for the best in-box prize in a cereal packet!
The New Day vs. The League of Nations
Someone’s got to wear one of those giant Booty-O’s in this match, right? So much gold in the ring gear for this match… and this looks to be a six-man, with Wade Barrett on the floor, as opposed to wrestling.
It’s all New Day… at least until Xavier Woods comes in, and then he becomes the designated whipping boy. The crowd is silent when New Day aren’t on top, and there’s even a few boos when Del Rio takes down Woods with a tiltawhirl backbreaker. Sheamus traps Woods in the ropes for the crossface-style punches to the chest, and even a leaping senton splash by Rusev cannot wake this crowd.
Woods tries to fight out of the League of Nations corner, and starts to eat the ten-count corner punches from Del Rio. Kofi tags in but ends up prey for a Sheamus cloverleaf, but Sheamus changes his track and lifts up Kofi for a stiff kick to the head by Rusev. The crowd does waken up when Big E comes in to hit some overhead belly to belly suplexes, before doing his through-the-ropes spear to wipe out Sheamus, Rusev and Barrett. Woods flies in with a double stomp, but eats a backstabber from Del Rio… who then stomps Kofi off the apron to the floor with a double stomp of his own.
Woods clears the ring and gets a roll-up on Sheamus, but eats a Bullhammer from Barrett, then a Brogue Kick from Sheamus, and the League of Nations get the win! Barrett brags on the mic after the match, and the crowd continues to boo.
Woods clears the ring and gets a roll-up on Sheamus, but eats a Bullhammer from Barrett, then a Brogue Kick from Sheamus, and the League of Nations get the win! Barrett brags on the mic after the match, and the crowd continues to boo.
Not a good match, and the lack of crowd reaction desperately hurt it. Well, that was until a certain Shawn Michaels came out! Shaved, and in his ring gear to boot! Then Mick Foley! Then Stone Cold! What was that about “no three men can beat the League of Nations”, Mr Barrett?
Austin, Foley and Michaels march to the ring, and as the League of Nations note “there’s three of you and four of us”, the New Day grab Barrett out of the ring, and it’s the Legends demolishing the League. Mr Socko on Sheamus! Sweet Chin Music on Del Rio! Stone Cold Stunner on Rusev! And then Barrett takes all three of them as a parting gift. That’s one way to waken up the crowd – and a different way to use these guys.
Speaking of different, Kofi Kingston talks Shawn Michaels into twerking… Big E gets Mick Foley’s hips swivelling, and Stone Cold finally cuts a rug… well, he just teases and stuns Xavier Woods. Well, that got a reaction!
Brock Lesnar vs. Dean Ambrose
Ambrose forgot his red weapon-filled wagon, but he’s down in jeans for this street fight, whilst Lesnar’s in his standard ring gear. Double-leg takedown by Lesnar into the corner, followed by suplexes one, two and three. The crowd’s counting along here. Ambrose rolls to the outside and grabs a kendo stick, and there’s our first flurry of offence by Ambrose, at least until Brock hits a knee to the midsection and takes our suplex count up to five.
Ambrose runs for more weapons, and this time has two kendo sticks… except Lesnar commandeers them. Only to break them over his knee, and give us suplexes number six and seven (as they count it on the big screens, apparently). Brock stands on a kendo stick that Ambrose was trying to grab, and we go to suplex number eight. Ambrose slaps Brock then goes in with a flurry of punches… which gets him suplex the ninth.
Brock’s got a kendo stick now, but invites Ambrose to grab it. Ambrose goes low when Brock stands on the stick again, and now we’ve got a whipping – four kendo stick shots send Brock to the floor for cover, as Ambrose joins him with a suicide dive. Ambrose grabs the chainsaw! But he doesn’t get to start it, and Lesnar uses an overheard belly-to-belly suplex for a Tye Dillinger-pleasing tenth suplex.
Ambrose waffles Lesnar with a laptop from the German announce table, before using a steel chair. Ambrose is caught up top, and a superplex takes us to number 11… and now Brock has the Kendo stick. A blast of a fire extinguisher dazes Lesnar, allowing Ambrose to hit a bunch of steel chair shots, including several jabs to the midsection followed up with a diving dropkick in the corner.
Still with the chair in hand, Ambrose goes up top for a chair-assisted elbow to Lesnar for a two-count, and Ambrose throws some more chairs into the ring. The ring’s starting to resemble that ECW show where the Public Enemy got buried under chairs, as Ambrose is building a stockpile of them… but he takes suplex number 12 into the chairs, this time of the German variety. Lesnar goes for the F5 into the chairs, but Ambrose blocks it and lands a DDT into the chairs for a near-fall.
Time for more weapons, and this time it’s Mick Foley’s barbed wire baseball bat, which Ambrose is able to hold close to himself but not get cut. Brock ducks a shot, and another German suplex into the chairs makes it number 13. F5 into the chairs, and Lesnar gets the glorified squash win. Entertaining, but given how many losses Ambrose has had lately, there was no way he was taking this.
A pre-recorded promo with Ric Flair and Zack Ryder followed – given that Ryder was in his gear (and didn’t have a swollen eye)… it’s an advert for Snickers. Of course, Charlotte, when she’s hungry is Zack Ryder. That explains everything.
Hall of Fame recap segment followed, then the obligatory segment with the new inductees in front of the crowd. Also known as Howard Finkel keeping his streak going – now at 32 consecutive WrestleManias for the Fink!
WWE Women’s Title: Charlotte (c) vs. Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks
Well, I can’t call it the Divas title anymore… Sasha got Snoop Dogg to help her entrance to the ring, and what a reaction for Sasha (and her cousin). Sasha’s gear is apparently inspired by Eddie Guerrero, which usually means that this is going to be a loss for her… Meanwhile, Charlotte’s ring gear is inspired by Dalton Castle, and made of some of the robe Ric Flair wore in his (WWE) retirement match eight years ago.
This has to be a special moment for all three women, given how far they’ve all come since NXT (and in Becky’s case, a lot further back from that!)
Sasha and Becky shove down Charlotte at the start, and they quickly exchange some cool near-falls among the three of them in the early going. Banks takes down Charlotte with a rope-assisted huracanrana, but then takes some shoulder charges in the corner, before nearly capitalising by being in the right place with a near-fall on Becky via a sunset flip. Charlotte knocks Sasha loopy with an Alley-Oop on the floor, catching Sasha’s neck on the bottom rope. Charlotte scores a near-fall on Lynch with a backbreaker off the second rope, before Lynch recovers to send Sasha flying to the floor as she tried her double knees in the corner on Charlotte.
Lynch goes for the Disarm-her, but Flair interferes to distract the referee, only for Banks to slide in to break it up. Banks gets dispatched to the outside once more, and Charlotte finally goes for the Figure Eight, only for Sasha to come flying off the top onto Charlotte with a frog splash for the near fall.
Lynch gets a near fall on Charlotte with an almost-a-Rock Bottom (thanks, Michael Cole!), before going after Banks trying to lock in the Disarm-her. Banks drills Charlotte with a tope con hilo through the middle ropes, almost landing on her head on the outside. Becky takes out Ric Flair as he was too busy whoo-ing at Banks, and the crowd goes wild for it! Charlotte followed that up by climbing up top and landing a picture perfect moonsault to Banks and Lynch on the floor.
Back in the ring, Charlotte hits a double Natural Selection on both challengers, getting near falls on the pair of them. Charlotte throws Lynch shoulder-first into the ring post, then tries to powerbomb Banks, and Lynch just about connects in time with a Doomsday Device-like dropkick and gets a near-fall on Charlotte. A Disarm-her on Charlotte comes next, but Banks runs in to lock in the Banks Statement… Lynch makes the ropes, but Banks rolls through, and is left open for Charlotte to lock in the Figure Eight.
Banks reverses the Figure Eight, and Charlotte moves it back again, and Lynch pulls Banks out to break the hold. All three are on their knees now and trade chops, and that disintegrates into Banks and Lynch double teaming Charlotte before knocking each other down with simultaneous blows. Charlotte snaps Banks in half with a spear, but Lynch takes Charlotte into the corner to prevent her from even going for a pin. They go up top, and Sasha joins for a Tower of Doom… but she ends up in a Tree of Woe as Becky takes down Charlotte. Banks reverses out of a back suplex and hits the Banks Statement again, only for Charlotte to return and throw her out. Charlotte locks in the Figure Eight on Becky, and as Ric restrains Sasha, Charlotte retains/wins the Women’s title by tap-out.
In spite of the result, this was the best match so far… but by God, yet again, the wrong person won. Charlotte got an internal and external fireworks celebration as she became the first (revived) WWE Women’s Champion.
Hell In A Cell: Shane McMahon vs. Undertaker
This is weird – the match to decide the future of the company (supposedly) is third from the top? Shane’s kids (all three of them) are accompanying him to the ring – remember the young ‘un he held at the WrestleMania 20 opening video? All grown up now!
Undertaker’s entrance is epic as always, and Shane sells like he’s genuinely fearful of what it about to befall him. Particularly when the Dead Man slams the cell door shut behind him…
Shane connects with a bicycle kick early on at the Undertaker, and he tries to pepper him with his oh-so wonderfully looking punches. Undertaker sends Shane to the floor briefly, but gets caught with punches as he returns to the ring… before booting Shane to the mat. Shane no-sells a Snake Eyes in the corner and drills Undertaker with a flying back elbow. Shane gets thrown into the cell wall, and out comes the plunder, as Undertaker separates the steel stairs.
Shane returns to the ring, but gets dragged out again and shoved into the cell wall. Back in the ring, Shane eats the Last Ride for a near fall, but after a long break where the Dead Man slid the ring steps into the ring, catches the Undertaker in a Triangle choke. Of course, Undertaker powers up, and lifts Shane up for a chokeslam onto the steps for a near fall. Shane rolls out of the way as Undertaker gets nothing but steps with an elbow drop, before Shane suckers the Undertaker in for a DDT on the ring steps for a near-fall.
Another elbow drop gets Shane a two-count, and they go into the sit-up spot that Undertaker and Lesnar had, minus the goofy laughs. Hell’s Gate sees Shane fade, but somehow he slithers out and locks in a Sharpshooter. Not quite sure how that works in reality, but my disbelief is remaining suspended via the means of alcohol right now!
Shane peppers Undertaker with shots as he’s sat in the corner, before grabbing a trash can… and it’s shades of WrestleMania 17 as Shane goes Coast to Coast on the Deadman! Shane rolls over the Undertaker and gets a solid two count out of that. Shane looks up to the heavens, and this is foreshadowing…
From under the ring, Shane grabs some bolt cutters, and frees himself from the Cell… or at least, he does with a little help of the Undertaker, who drills Shane into the German Announce Table. Doesn’t quite have the same ring to it. Undertaker dismantles the English announce table, before kicking off Shane’s face. The Spanish announce table gets the same treatment, as Shane gets drilled by a TV monitor. They wander into a suspiciously-placed platform by ringside, as Undertaker goes for a Tombstone, but Shane slips out and locks in a sleeperhold, and Undertaker staggers/jumps off the platform and lands through the Spanish Announce Table. Ouch.
Shane crawls over to another suspiciously-placed item – a toolbox – and drills Undertaker in the head with it. Another shot from the toolbox sees its contents scatter across the ringside area, and Shane’s looking up again. Undertaker is out on the announce table, and Shane. Is. Climbing. Undertaker rolls away, and Shane plummets through the announce table… folding himself in half as he landed. This is a car wreck.
The Undertaker is stirring, and gets back to his feet as Shane lies prone. The crowd that was largely silent before now chant “this is awesome” (really, it took a death-defying leap to wake you up?), and Shane begs the Undertaker for more… so Undertaker picks him up, drags him back into the ring. One Tombstone later, and that’s it. Undertaker wins – match built around one spot, and by God, it delivered. The spot, that is, not the match. Up until the Coast to Coast, this was really dull, but if you came for a spectacle, you got it, I guess.
Shane gets an applause for breaking his body into millions of pieces, and unlike NXT on Friday the medical team don’t get booed.
And from two men nearly killing themselves, and the threat of WWE being changed forever extinguished (for now) we move to… Booker T and Lita dancing by the pre-show panel!
Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal
So, we have Baron Corbin, Mark Henry, Heath Slater, Adam Rose, Curtis Axel, Bo Dallas, Viktor, Konnor, Fandango, Jack Swagger, Damien Sandow, Darren Young, R-Truth, Tyler Breeze, Goldust, Kane, Big Show, Tatanka! DDP! Shaquille O’Neal?! The hell is Shaq doing in this?
Kane grabs Show and Shaq, but they combine to chokeslam him, as everyone goes after Big Show and Shaq, and we’re left with the two facing each other off… until Fandango goes in to dance, and gets eliminated by Show. Damien Sandow comes in for a pop, but Shaq tosses him (to a chorus of boos). Show grabs Shaq by the throat, and Shaq returns the favour, and they all go to toss them out… and Shaq is the third one out, followed by Big Show.
Viktor gets a Diamond Cutter then thrown out, as Konnor tries to get his own back on DDP… and he finally elimates Page, before R-Truth sends Konnor out. Adam Rose is the victim to Tatanka hulking up, only for Baron Corbin to give Tatanka a hand as he misses Rose with a charge and gets eliminated. Kane eliminates Swagger, and Rose and Slater get rid of Truth.
Axel and Dallas get rid of Goldust after he’d been thrown onto the apron, and the Social Outcasts do a victory lap in the ring… only to walk into the path of Kane. And Baron Corbin. Kane tosses Axel. Corbin tosses Rose… who tries to springboard back in only to be punched out. Chokeslam on Corbin by Kane, as Slater decides to jump onto Mark Henry, who catches him and dumps him over the top to the floor.
Tyler Breeze’s attempt to attack Henry fails, as he leaves in the same way Slater did, and Mark Henry goes out courtesy of Kane and Darren Young. Dallas and Young get eliminated by Kane, and Baron Corbin comes out of the corner to eliminate Kane… Big Baron Corbin is your surprise winner! Hopefully his push is more sustained after this than Cesaro and Big Show’s were after winning!
Where were the Wyatt family? I’m guessing injured Luke and sore back Bray meant they withdrew the whole clan, rather than just have Erick “Winemaker” Rowan and Braun Strowman expose the whole act? At least they’ve used the Battle Royal to make a new star, but Corbin? Well, it’s a new star, so it’s a start…
Time for the Rock to make his WrestleMania appearance – and this is why the show’s going to bleed over the four hour mark. He’s got a t-shirt gun with him… oh God, he’s going to shoot everyone who’s going to boo Roman Reigns. This may take us a while. Wait, it’s just a flamethrower. That’ll make toasting all of Roman’s detractors quicker…
Instead, Rock just sets fire to a sign made out of his name, and walks to the ring through the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders. Oh, and the Rock announces the crowd number… this year’s fake number is: 101,763. Just a teensy-bit inflated…
And here come the Wyatts! Holy crap, that visual of all of the lights! It’s Bray, Erick and Braun representing tonight. Bray’s gone from John Cena, to Undertaker, to no match. So sad. Wyatt introduces himself to the Rock, and it’s standard Wyatt fare. And standard Rock fare, as they cut down yet another guy from the full-time roster to please someone who’s irregular at best. At least Rock put him over as having ability and charisma… and this turns into an impromptu match.
The Rock vs. Erick Rowan
Well, this is the Vintner’s WrestleMania Moment. Never thought I’d see Erick Rowan vs. The Rock anywhere, let alone at WrestleMania. Rock Bottom, Rock Wins. That’s it. Does that count as a match? Six-seconds long… Rock has his own record, I guess.
The Wyatts surround the Rock, and out comes… John Cena? The hell? The crowd’s happy to see him, but he still gets the “John Cena Sucks” chants. Strowman eats some shots from Rock and Cena and takes a Rock Bottom, before Rowan takes the Five Moves of Doom, finishing off with the AA… then Wyatt comes in to take a few right hands from the Rock, a Spinebuster, and the People’s Elbow.
What was that about the Rock not being allowed to wrestle?
We’re now past 4am in the UK, and we’re not even close to the main event starting… but hey, at least we now know that Camp WWE starts in May.
WWE Title: Triple H (c) vs. Roman Reigns
The ring entrances don’t even start for this until 4.08am in the UK, a solid six-plus hours after the pre-show started. Weird Triple H entrance video starts, seemingly inspired by Slipknot. Stephanie’s wearing the Hunter skull and is atop a platform as she openly decrees the fans as “blind sheep who follow”. Kayfabe or not?
Triple H, Stephanie and a horde of faceless minions (who may as well be developmental trainees from the FCW days) holding WWE title belts come to the ring. Roman Reigns gets booed as he comes down the aisle… and of all people to miss on, they miss his pyro as he punches the stage floor. Pretty much everyone inside AT&T Stadium is booing Roman Reigns it seems – your next main babyface, everybody!
You can barely hear Lillian Garcia announce Reigns, and Triple H is getting something resembling cheers…. and at 4.18am (UK time), our main event is finally underway!
Reigns gets booed big time when he takes down Hunter with a shoulder tackle, and Hunter gets a good cheer when he tosses Reigns over the top. Hunter connnects with some arm wringers and arm breakers, and in the middle of this, JBL forgets the no-disqualification stipulation. Aside from boos whenever Reigns gets in offence, there’s shockingly little reaction for this WrestleMania Main Event. Even Reigns’ dropkick from the floor to the apron got nothing.
Triple H kicks Reigns low as the referee was distracted, and I’m fighting to stay awake, as it seems that WWE has all but muted the crowd audio. A swinging neckbreaker off the announce table sees Reigns struggle to beat the count-out, as he’s met with a running knee to the face on his way back in. Loud boos when Reigns gets a two-count from a Samoan drop, and Hunter rolls out of the ring to avoid a Superman punch. Reigns gets a run-up from the floor, and mounts the ring steps to take down Hunter with a clothesline as WWE picks up the only fans chanting for Roman.
Reigns keeps on top of Hunter with a spear through the crowd barrier, then drags Hunter back into the ring (just beating the count), and they’re acting like Roman sprained his wrist dragging Hunter. The crowd are now chanting for Nakamura as Hunter trips Reigns during a Superman punch, locking him an armbar, with added finger-joint manipulation.
Hunter segues into a Triangle choke, but Reigns lifts up Hunter and connects with a powerbomb for a near-fall as WrestleMania (including the pre-show) sails past the 400 minute mark. Another armbar by Hunter, and again, Reigns lifts up and powerbombs Hunter to free himself. Reigns counters a Pedigree attempt by giving Hunter a back body drop to the floor, and by now the bored fans are just entertaining themselves with chants.
Stephanie pulls the referee out of the ring to save a Hunter pin, and she climbs into the ring to admonish the referee… and Steph eats a high spear by Roman Reigns. There’s the pop. A Pedigree on Reigns only gets two-count in the aftermath of that, and Reigns retaliates with a Superman punch.
Hunter counters another spear attempt with a knee to Reigns’ face for a two-count. Stephanie passes Hunter his sledgehammer, and it’s clear the no-DQ stipulation got chalked off ages ago, but Reigns connects with two Superman punches, followed by a spear, and we have a new WWE champion. Such a loud pop from such a motionless crowd.
What a horrific match. Boring, and unfortunately the two outcomes would have either a) upset the fans or b) not told the story WWE wanted. Tonight they went with option a), and what the company thought would send fans home happy ended up with WrestleMania ending against the backdrop of a loud chorus of boos.
Thanks for sticking with us for almost seven hours of WrestleMania coverage tonight! I’ll be back on Monday over on BackBodyDrop.com with some thoughts from the weekend, and coverage of some more of the WWN live shows once they’re available.
WWE Hall of Famer Edge and his wife Beth Phoenix are expecting their second child, the couple announced. Phoenix has not attended a WWE event in years, she said mainly because she’s been busy running after their kid.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been able to come back, visit everybody and enjoy the experience. Before I get back into ‘Baby Land,’ I thought this was a good window to come and say hi, see the new generation of Divas and where it’s all headed,” Phoenix told WWE.COM prior to attending the Hall of Fame ceremony.
Edge said his wife has been pretty much a super woman, taking care of the house, a two-year-and-four-month-old, four dogs, and getting a master’s degree in forensic psychology while he gets to go and travel and be a “moron with my lifelong best friend.”
Phoenix said that everything is okay until it’s time to live tweet during the Edge & Christian WWE Network show. “Although the stuff at home is difficult, that’s what really sends me over the edge.”
