Credit to Marc Middleton
[spacer height=”20px”]WrestleMania XXX Pre-Show Results
The pre-show has officially started. We will begin our updates when the first match hits the ring, which is expected to be the WWE Tag-Team Championship bout featuring The Usos defending the titles against The Real Americans, Los Matadores and the team of Ryback and Curtis Axel.
WWE Tag-Team Championships
Elimination Match
– The Usos (c) vs. The Real Americans vs. Los Matadores vs. Ryback & Curtis Axel
After a bunch of panel discussion and pre-taped video packages, we finally head down to the announce table. Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and JBL welcome us to the first match of the evening, which is a WWE Tag-Team Championship match. The match was changed to an elimination style match during the pre-show.
Out first are The Real Americans. Zeb Colter cut a mini-promo, which was pretty basic standard stuff, during their walk to the ring. Out next is the team of Ryback and Curtis Axel. Next, Los Matadores, accompanied as usual by El Torito, make their way to the ring. Finally, the WWE Tag-Team Champions — The Usos — make their way to the ring. The first match of WrestleMania XXX is about to officially get underway everybody!
Axel and Uso start things off. The two trade a bunch of chops. Axel goes to tag in The Real Americans, however both guys jump off the apron and refuse to accept the tag. Axel gets back in the mix with Uso and blasts him with a huge dropkick. Axel tags in Ryback, and the boo’s and “Goldberg” chants immediately start up.
Ryback goes to work on Uso in the corner. Uso starts firing back punches. Ryback ends up cutting his offensive attempt short, flooring him with a big clothesline. Out of nowhere, Diego of the Los Matadores tags himself in.
Uso rolls Diego up immediately, however Diego manages to kick out. Uso tags in his brother and the two nail Diego with a double superkick. Diego chops the crap out of Uso and starts turning the tide a bit.
Fernando tags in now and he picks up where Diego left off with Uso. Uso tags Cesaro in and the crowd erupts. Cesaro beats up Diego for a second and then tags Jack Swagger in. Swagger levels Diego with a huge clothesline as a loud “we the people” chant breaks out in New Orleans.
A big melee breaks out with everyone in the match, ending when everyone except Axel is laid out on the floor. El Torito goes for a big dive but Axel stops him. Los Matadores hop up on the apron, with Axel seated on the top rope. Torito gets back in the mix and all four guys tumble out to the floor, crashing onto everyone who was out there.
Back in the ring, after a loud “holy shit” and “this is awesome” chant, the action resumes with Swagger and Diego. Swagger locks Diego in the Patriot Lock. Diego ends up tapping out.
The Los Matadores are the first team to be elimination.
Uso and Swagger are the legal men in the ring now. Uso misses a big superkick attempt and Swagger locks in the Patriot Lock on him. He ends up escaping. Axel tags in and now he and Uso are the legal men in the ring.
After a bunch of tag-ins and tag-outs, when all of the smoke clears, Cesaro blasts Ryback out of nowhere with The Neutralizer finisher for the 1-2-3.
Curtis Axel and Ryback are now eliminated.
The only two teams left now are The Usos and The Real Americans. Whoever wins this fall will walk out of New Orleans as the WWE Tag-Team Champions. A loud “we the people” chant breaks out before all four guys collide in the middle of the ring. The Usos end up knocking Cesaro and Swagger out to opposite sides of the floor. They each do a big dive over the ropes, crashing onto both Real American members on the floor.
A loud “this is awesome” chant breaks out again now as the action returns to the ring. Cesaro goes for the Cesaro Swing but the other Uso comes in to break it up. Uso hits a crazy spinning dive off the top rope onto both Cesaro and Swagger inside the ring. He goes for the pin but only gets two. Uso goes for the butt-splash on Swagger in the corner, but Swagger reverses it into the Patriot Lock. All four members end up in the ring knocking each other around.
Another “this is awesome” chant breaks out again as all four guys are laid out. Uso throws Cesaro into Swagger. Cesaro knocks Swagger off the apron and onto the floor. The Usos go to the top rope on opposite ends of the ring. They hit a double-splash off the top. 1-2-3. The Usos win and retain the WWE Tag-Team Championships.
Winners and STILL WWE Tag-Team Champions: The Usos
After The Match: The Real Americans Break Up
After the match, Cesaro is laid out in the ring. Zeb Colter stands over him yelling at him. Jack Swagger starts yelling at him as well. Swagger locks Cesaro in the Patriot Lock but Colter yells at him “don’t do it” so he lets go. He orders Swagger to shake his hand. Swagger extends his hand to Cesaro. Cesaro looks around at the crowd and then to Colter. Cesaro goes to shake his hand but instead grabs Swagger by the legs. He does the Cesaro Swing to Swagger as the fans count along. We see a shot of Colter looking upset in the corner of the ring. Cesaro poses to the crowd and leaves by himself as the fans explode with approval.
The pre-show is over now, and the official WrestleMania XXX intro video package is now airing. Here we go ladies and gentlemen!
WrestleMania XXX Pay-Per-View Results
The video package is playing now. Stick with us as we will be updating literally every minute or two throughout the entire show!
After the video package wraps up, we shoot live into the arena and Justin Roberts immediately introduces the host of WrestleMania — Hulk Hogan. “Real American” blasts through the speakers of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome and 70,000-plus fans literally explode with cheers. “The Hulkster” poses a bit at the top of what is a very elaborate, really cool looking stage, before finally making his way to the ring as the cheers get louder and louder.
Opening Segment: Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin & The Rock
The music fades down and the cheers, which didn’t seem to be able to get any louder, get way louder. “Well let me tell you something, brother!” begins Hogan. The fans chant “Hogan, Hogan” as “The Hulkster” begins his promo.
Hogan talks about being at the first WrestleMania. He says 30 years later, “right here in the Silverdome,” and the fans boo like crazy. They chant “you fucked up” at Hogan and he finally corrects himself. “I’m sorry, the Superdome!” says Hogan, and the fans applaud wildly. He says he was thinking back to when he slammed Andre The Giant at WrestleMania III. Before he can continue, the glass breaks and out comes “Stone Cold” Steve Austin!
Austin does his “B.M.F.” walk to the ring as the fans go literally insane with cheers. Austin does his pose on all four corners to the loud reaction of all the fans in the Superdome (not the Silverdome!).
The music fades and Austin gets right in Hogan’s face. “If you’re ready for WrestleMania 30, give me a hell yeah!” The fans respond with a loud “hell yeah!” Austin makes a joke about Hogan calling this building the Silverdome. The fans laugh.Austin says he normally opens up a can of whoop ass of anyone who’s in the ring with him. He asks the fans if they want to see Austin open a can of whoop ass on Hulk Hogan, to give him a hell yeah. They all chant hell yeah.
The “What?” chants break out so Austin plays into them by going down the list, saying “WrestleMania 1″ …”What?!” …”WrestleMania 2″ …”What?!” etc. all the way up to ten, before saying we get the picture. Austin says he respects Hogan and shakes his hand. Hogan asks for somebody to give Austin a hell yeah. Everyone chants “hell yeah!” Austin asks all of the current WWE Superstars to put it all on the line tonight. He reminds everyone that “Austin 3:16 says I just whooped your ass.”
Out of nowhere, we hear “if ya smell….” and the fans erupt again. The Rock makes his way out to the ring. Well, we definitely have a “WrestleMania Moment” unfolding before our very eyes here, as three of the biggest icons in the history of the business are all standing together in the ring. Rock does his pose on all four corners of the ring, stopping at one point to give “Stone Cold” a big-ass hug.
Before The Rock even begins, the fans break out into a huge “this is awesome” chant. Seeing these three standing in the ring really is a cool sight, by the way. Rock does his “finally” stuff to start off. Rock makes a Superdome reference and Hogan blushes. Rock pats Hogan on the shoulder as a loud “Superdome” chant breaks out.
The Rock says he sees his good buddy “Stone Cold” and his childhood hero “The Immortal” Hulk Hogan. Rock says he sees, without question, the two biggest names in the history of WWE. He talks about having the honor of facing them both at WrestleMania. Rock talks about John Cena, saying he wouldn’t exist without Hogan. He talks about a man rising above Authority, but that wouldn’t happen without a man kicking his bosses ass like Stone Cold. The fans break out into the first of what will likely be a ton of “Yes!” chants.
The Rock does his “if ya smell” line, followed by Austin doing his “that’s the bottom line” line and Hogan doing his “whatcha gonna do?” line. Hogan makes one more “Superdome” comments and then “Real American” plays again as the beers get thrown into the ring for all three legends to have a “Stone Cold” beer bash to kick off WrestleMania XXX.
Triple H vs. Daniel Bryan
After the amazing opening segment with Hogan, Austin and Rock, we shoot to the announce table where Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and JBL reveal that the first match of the evening will be Triple H vs. Daniel Bryan. With that said, the video package for their match airs.
After the video package, Justin Roberts introduces “one of the principle owners of WWE,” Stephanie McMahon. Stephanie is in the ring and she introduces Triple H. With that said, Triple H comes out with an elaborate entrance. His demon-looking logo thing is on the stage, with a big throne in front of it and some decked out warrior-princess looking chicks standing next to it. After the smoke clears out, we see Triple H sitting in the throne with a Greek-god style mask and helmet on, with shoulder pads. He’s also wearing a robe. The chicks take the robe off of him, he takes the helmet off and then his regular “Time to play the game” theme music by Motorhead plays. He starts his walk to the ring. Very cool stuff there.
As soon as Triple H’s music fades down, the “Yes!” chants begin. Daniel Bryan doesn’t get the big, elaborate entrance like “The Game” did, he simply comes out to his usual music, and hops down the stage leading the fans in a huge “Yes!” chant. When Bryan hits the ring and stands on the top rope, we see a wide shot of the entire arena, and it looks like literally everyone in that building is chanting “Yes!” and doing the hand gestures. Bryan’s shoulder is heavily taped by the way.
When Bryan’s music fades down, the fans explode in a thunderous “Daniel Bryan” chant. Triple H arrogantly smirks as the two circle each other. The bell rings and here we go.
As soon as the bell rings and the referee moves out of the way, an enormous “Daniel Bryan” chant breaks out. HHH and Bryan circle each other as a loud “Yes!” chant starts spreading. There’s a ton of “Yes!” signs as well. HHH extends his hand to Bryan, but Bryan simply kicks it away. He immediately rolls HHH up but “The Game” manages to kick out at two. Bryan backs HHH into a corner and blasts him with repeated “Yes!” kicks. HHH ducks a big homerun kick follow-up attempt and rolls out to the floor. Stephanie goes over to console “The Game” as we see a shot of Bryan in the ring mocking HHH’s handshake offer.
Back in the ring, HHH gets Bryan on the ground. Bryan fights back and dropkicks HHH down to the mat. Bryan slaps a headlock on a grounded HHH now as we hear Stephanie screaming from ringside. The two work their way back to their feet, Bryan hits the ropes, but runs into a high-knee from “The Game.” Before HHH can follow up, Bryan snatches a headlock and takes HHH back to the mat.
HHH finally gets Bryan backed into a corner and starts yanking his injured arm over the top rope. Bryan tries fighting back, but HHH knocks Bryan down to the mat. HHH pulls Bryan over to the corner, hops out to the floor and goes to wrap Bryan’s arm around the ring post. Before he can, Bryan kicks HHH off. Before you know it, Bryan jumps off the apron and catches HHH coming down with a tornado DDT. Bryan goes to the top rope and does a front-flip onto HHH on the floor. He didn’t get all of it, and looked like he had a pretty rough landing.
He’s right back up, however, and Stephanie backs off as Bryan approaches a grounded HHH. He rolls him back in the ring and tries to pin him, but HHH manages to kick out at two. We overhear Stephanie scream “you’re never gonna win” and “you’re B-plus at best” as HHH turns the offensive tide of the match and knocks Bryan out to the floor with a big right hand.
Triple H clears off the announce table and puts Bryan on it. Bryan fights back with punches, but ultimately ends up laid out on the table. HHH goes back into the ring, allowing the referee to begin his count. Bryan makes it back into the ring before the count of ten. No one went through the announce table, by the way.
“The Game” starts focusing his offensive attack on the injured arm of Bryan in the middle of the ring. Bryan ends up fighting out and knocking HHH to the floor. Bryan goes for his trademark dive through the ropes, but when he comes through, HHH catches him with a big Big Show knockout-style punch to the face. HHH goes to work on Bryan’s injured arm on the floor.
Stephanie is overheard talking trash to a grounded Bryan on the floor now as HHH goes back into the ring, once again letting the referee begin his count on Bryan. The count gets to nine this time before Bryan slides back into the ring. As soon as he gets back in the ring, however, HHH is there to greet him with another submission style move on the injured arm of Bryan.
The fans rally behind their guy with a loud “Daniel Bryan” chant. Bryan escapes the crossface chicken wing that HHH had applied, but HHH immediately snaps him down to the mat and applies a crossface, Chris Benoit-style. Bryan makes it to the ropes, but HHH wrenches back on the arm and throat of Bryan a bit more before eventually letting go.
Bryan is finally showing signs of life now as he fires back at Triple H with punches. HHH answers them, but eventually Bryan knocks “The Game” down to the mat. The crowd erupts. Bryan starts firing off “Yes!” kicks, but HHH low-blows him to cut him off. HHH goes for a German suplex, but Bryan reverses and blasts HHH with one of his own. And another. He goes for a third, but HHH reverses and goes for another crossface chicken wing. He ends up hitting a back-suplex on Bryan, which resulted in Bryan landing on his injured shoulder.
HHH sits Bryan on the top rope. He goes for a superplex but Bryan blocks it. Bryan ends up flipping over HHH and powerbombing him off the top and onto the mat with a vengeance. Both guys are down as the “Daniel Bryan” chants start up again. It sounds like there’s some “this is awesome” chants mixed in there as well.
Bryan runs at HHH, screaming the entire way, and nails him with a flying kick in the corner. He goes for another, but HHH catches him coming in with a huge clothesline. Stephanie screams out “Yeah!” from the floor. Very annoying voice, in typical Stephanie fashion. We see some replays of what just happened. HHH is the first to get back to his feet.
Triple H goes for a Pedigree on Bryan, but Bryan reverses into a pin attempt. HHH kicks out at two. Bryan blasts HHH with a big kick to the head. The “Yes!” chants start spreading across the Mercedes-Benz Superdome as Bryan climbs to the top rope. Bryan goes for a flying headbutt, but HHH catches him coming down with a knee. HHH locks in a crossface on Bryan on the mat. Bryan is scratching and clawing his way to the ropes to break the hold. He gets close to the ropes, but HHH pulls him back to the middle of the ring. We see Stephanie taunting Bryan from ringside as loud “Daniel Bryan” chants break out. Out of nowhere, Bryan reverses HHH into the “Yes!” lock.
The fans explode as Bryan wrenches back on the “Yes!” lock. We hear Triple H screaming out in pain as the fans cheers grow louder and more intense. HHH starts crawling to the ropes. He finally makes it and the referee forces Bryan to let go of the hold. HHH rolls out to the floor to recover. Bryan ends up doing his trademark dive onto HHH on the floor. He quickly runs back into the ring, hits the ropes and for a second straight time, dives onto HHH on the floor.
Bryan lights HHH up with kicks on the floor and then rolls him back into the ring. He goes to the top rope and hits a flying dropkick. Both guys are down. Bryan ends up hopping back up to his feet, ala Shawn Michaels (I always forget if that’s a nip-up or a kip-up). Bryan fires up and the crowd responds by chanting “Yes!”
A loud “this is awesome” chant starts spreading among the 70,000+ fans in New Orleans. Bryan leads the fans in a “Yes!” chant as he waits for HHH to get up. He charges at “The Game,” looking for his running knee, but HHH catches him coming in with a spinebuster. He follows it up with a Pedigree and immediately covers Bryan. 1-2…NO! Bryan kicks out! The fans erupt. Stephanie is shown at ringside looking shocked. Another “this is awesome” chant breaks out as we see a shot of HHH slumped against the ropes looking shocked that Bryan is still in it.
Out of nowhere, Bryan rolls HHH up for a pin attempt, but “The Game” manages to kick out at two. HHH loses his cool and starts punching away at a grounded Bryan in the corner of the ring. He goes for another Pedigree, but Bryan reverses it into another close near fall. HHH goes to pick Bryan up in Pedigree fashion, but Bryan blocks it. He finally locks Bryan up for a Pedigree, but Bryan escapes and blasts HHH with a superkick. Out of nowhere, Bryan escapes a suplex attempt by HHH, and as soon as HHH turns around, Bryan catches him with the Running Knee. The fans explode. He covers him. 1-2-3. The fans go crazy. Michael Cole immediately calls this one of the biggest upsets in WrestleMania history. Bryan poses on the ropes and leads a passionate-sounding New Orleans crowd into an enormous “Yes!” chant.
Winner and ADVANCING to the main event: Daniel Bryan
After The Match: Triple H Attacks
After the match, during his celebration, Bryan sees Stephanie enter the ring. She gets in his face and starts repeatedly bitch-slapping the hell out of him. He smiles, but from behind Triple H knocks him down. HHH goes out to the floor and grabs a chair. HHH puts Bryan’s arm around the ring post and blasts it with the steel chair. HHH and Stephanie eventually leave and head up the ramp as the fans boo loudly.
The Shield vs. Kane & The New Age Outlaws
Out first are The New Age Outlaws. Road Dogg was in the middle of doing his usual trash-talking promo as he walked to the ring, but half-way through it, when The Outlaws were still on the middle of the ramp, The Shield’s music plays to cut him off. All three members of The Shield — Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins make their way to the ring. As soon as they hit the ring, Kane’s fire pyro explodes and his music plays. He comes out to join The Outlaws on the ramp, and they finish their walk to the ring together as video highlights are shown of some of the moments on RAW and SmackDown that led to this match.
The bell rings and Kane and Dean Ambrose start things off for their respective teams. Kane immediately gets Ambrose in the corner and goes to work on him. Ambrose fights back and makes the tag to Roman Reigns. Reigns goes to work on Kane as Billy Gunn and Road Dogg try and come in to help, but Reigns takes them out too. Reigns blasts Road Dogg and Gunn both from the floor with his flying boot to the face on the apron spot. He enters the ring and immediately blasts Kane with a huge Superman punch. Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose enter the mix now, and there’s bodies flying all over the place.
This match sure feels like it’s being rushed, as Reigns spears Kane in the ring while The Outlaws and the other members of The Shield battle on the floor. Ambrose, who I guess was the legal man, tagged in Rollins. Everyone is in the ring now. Ambrose and Rollins feed Reigns both Road Dogg and Gunn for a double-triple powerbomb. He pins him and 1-2-3. That went really quick. Kind of a shame that they sped through that match so quickly.
Winners: The Shield
Legends Playing With Action Figures
Tons of legends and Hall Of Famers are shown backstage playing with WWE action figures. Really nothing much to mention here. Ricky Steamboat got a bit of an entrance during the segment, as did “Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase and Ron Simmons, who finishes the segment with his “Damn!” catchphrase.
Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal
After that, the rushing kind of pace continues as Big Show’s music immediately hits. It’s time for the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal. Sheamus is out next. Those are the two that got solo entrances.
There are bodies everywhere. Yoshi Tatsu gets eliminated. Out next is Brad Maddox. Next is Brodus Clay. Zack Ryder is eliminated after him. Next out is Darren Young. Mark Henry nearly eliminates Rey Mysterio, but he ends up hanging on. Jinder Mahal and Drew McIntyre are eliminated. Heath Slater is out next. Big Show eliminates Mark Henry.
Fandango gets a cool little impressive spot and now the fans are “Fandango’ing” in New Orleans. Eventually, Fandango too gets eliminated. Guys are dropping off pretty quickly now. There are nine guys left, I believe.
I’m having trouble keeping up with the rapid eliminations, but I do know that we’re down to Big Show, Sheamus, Alberto Del Rio, Rey Mysterio, Dolph Ziggler, Cesaro and Kofi Kingston. Mysterio gets eliminated.
Now we’re down to six. Cesaro is thrown over the ring post and onto the floor, but his feet never hit the floor, as they were laid across the ring steps. He points it out, the refs agree, so he gets up and goes back in the ring. The fans applauded that. It looked like he was supposed to land standing up on the steps, by the way, but ended up laid out on his back with his feet touching the steps.
Anyways, Cesaro grabs a hold of Kingston in the ring now and does the big Cesaro Swing as the fans count along. They eventually give up the count as Cesaro swung him what seemed to be at least 30 times. As soon as he’s done, Big Show chokeslams him. Show turns around into a Brogue Kick. Sheamus eliminates Kingston. Ziggler is thrown over the top, but hangs on. However, while hanging on he’s hit with a superkick from Del Rio and ends up getting eliminated anyway.
Back to the action, Del Rio slaps the Cross Armbreaker on Sheamus. Sheamus powers out of it, goes to eliminate Del Rio, but they end up both getting dumped out to the floor.
We’re down to just Cesaro and Big Show now. Big Show goes to clothesline Cesaro but Cesaro escapes. Cesaro tries clotheslining Big Show over the top, but Big Show avoids it. Cesaro comes off the top rope but is met with a King Kong like swat from Big Show. Cesaro ends up scooping up Big Show out of nowhere, and in an incredible show of strength, literally holds him up, hoists him up even higher and easily slams Big Show over the top rope and onto the floor. Cesaro pulls off a shocker and gets the win.
Winner: Cesaro
John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt
After the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal, the video package for the John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt feud airs. Up next will be the battle between these two.
Following the video package, we see a bunch of fire at the top of the WrestleMania XXX stage. A bunch of drums are being pounded as women dance around in a dark and fiery scene. After that goes on for a second, we have The Wyatt Family cut-in happen. Then, we see the latern and Bray with his Wyatt members. “New Orleans, we’re here.” The fans erupt. Next, the band who performs the theme song are shown singing it live at the top of the stage. They actually sound damn near identical to the recorded version, by the way. Out walks Bray and his Wyatt Family members with the latern as the band continues performing the theme song. Very cool sight visually.
Out next, with a simple, typical entrance, is John Cena. He runs to the ring, throws his hat, etc. Same stuff we always see from him. The bell rings and this one is officially underway.
As soon as the bell sounds, Bray gets on his knees and extends his arms, “sacrificing” himself to John Cena. He yells out that “this can all be over now” and tells Cena to “give these people what they came to see” and tells Cena to “show them that you’re a monster.” Cena tells Bray to get up. Long story short, they collide and this fight is underway.
A loud “let’s go Cena” and “let’s go Wyatt” dueling chant breaks out. Meanwhile, Bray gets the better of the physicality in the ring and has Cena right where he wants him at the moment. Bray keeps shouting stuff, in typical Bray Wyatt fashion, as he pummels Cena all over the ring.
After several minutes of domination, Cena finally decks Bray. He spends a moment in the corner turning into a vicious state of mind. I’m assuming the story here is Cena finally turned into the “monster” that Bray predicted him to be all along. As Cena attacks Bray, Bray starts loudly laughing. The announcers point out how weird it is that Bray is laughing while Cena is viciouisly attacking him.
Bray goes back to dominating Cena for several minutes, including a lengthy beatdown on the floor that featured Bray smashing the ring steps into Cena’s skull. Back in the ring, Bray is seated on the mat and he grabs Cena’s head, cradles it in his arms in his lap and starts singing “he’s got the whole world in his hands” again. Cena starts fighting back, but Bray cuts him off and remains in control of the offense.
Out of the blue, Bray hits his “Sister Abigail” finisher on Cena. He covers him, 1-2 …NO! Cena kicks out. The crowd pops. Bray goes from smiling to looking nervous and confused as to how Cena didn’t stay down for the three-count on that one. He goes out to the floor and takes the top off of the announce table. He grabs a steel chair and slides back into the ring. Now Erick Rowan enters the ring.
Rowan exits the ring. Bray throws the chair to Cena and kneels down, extending his arms, shouting at Cena to “finish me.” Cena grabs the chair and stands up. The ref is pleading with Cena to “don’t do this.” Rowan hops back on the apron so Cena knocks him off with the chair. Bray uses that distraction to capitalize. He snatches Bray up for another Sister Abigail attempt, but Cena powers out, hoists Bray up and blasts him with the Attitude Adjustment. 1-2-3. Cena wins.
Winner: John Cena
WWE Hall Of Fame 2014 Class
A video package is shown of Saturday night’s WWE Hall Of Fame ceremony, and then all seven inductees into the 2014 class of the WWE Hall Of Fame are introduced on stage. The first six come out, followed by Ultimate Warrior, who gets entrance music treatment. They all smile and wave and then we shoot backstage.
Backstage: WWE Trainer Examines Daniel Bryan
Backstage, we see Daniel Bryan with his shoulder still heavily taped up, being checked on by one of the WWE trainers. The announcers put over the post-match attack on Bryan from Triple H earlier in the evening, and they question what his status will be for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship main event later in the evening.
The Streak vs. The Beast
– Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar
The video package for Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar airs after the Daniel Bryan backstage segment. Up next is “The Streak vs. The Beast,” folks! I hope you’re excited, because I know I am!
Out first is Brock Lesnar, who is of course accompanied by Paul Heyman. Lesnar comes out in his UFC-style gear, shorts, gloves and all, complete with a “Eat, sleep, conquer, repeat” snow-hat on. Before he enters the ring, right at ringside, Heyman shouts some final instructions into Lesnar’s face to pump him up.
Next up, the Undertaker style church singing happens. Clips flash in with famous sound bytes and quick, flashy video excerpts from the past 21 appearances he has made at WrestleMania. Finally, the gong hits. As soon as it does, the 70,000-plus fans in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome go ballistic. The purple/blue lights dim, the fog spreads across the top of the stage, lightning strikes and finally we see the shadow of the most intimidating, legendary figure in the history of WrestleMania. That’s right children, Undertaker is here. ‘Taker remains still at the entrance way and off to the side, we see casket lids popping open. He slowly starts to walk a bit, only for fire to explode out of the aforementioned casket. He stops and looks at it briefly, turns and proceeds his slow walk down the aisle. An awesome, awe-inspiring ring entrance from “The Dead Man,” as you would expect. Finally, Justin Roberts gets on the mic and officially introduces him.
Taker finally makes it to the ring apron, slowly raises his hands and BOOM! Lightning explodes, fire erupts and the lights come back on. He enters the ring, whips his long coat off and slowly removes his hat. When he does, the lightning strikes again and he does the Taker eye-roll. I just have to say, each year seeing Undertaker standing in the middle of the ring at WrestleMania, it feels more legendary each year. It really is an amazing sight just to see him standing in that ring. A truly once in a lifetime performer and a guy who has built a legacy at WrestleMania that will never be touched. Not even close.
The bell rings and these two big boys immediately collide in the center of the ring. Lesnar suplex-throws Taker. Taker stands back up and goes right back after him. Taker gets Lesnar in the corner and lights him up with punches. Taker throws Lesnar shoulder-first into the ring post as the fans erupt in loud “Under-Taker” chants.
The action spills out to the floor and Taker again whips Lesnar into the ring post, shoulder-first. Taker goes for his classic “Old School” spot, but Lesnar stops him. As Lesnar finally starts building up a bit of offense, Taker cuts his efforts short and smashes him shoulder-first into the ring post yet again.
Once again the action makes its’ way out to the floor and Taker is in firm control of “The Beast.” Back in the ring, Taker continues his domination of the former UFC Heavyweight Champion. Taker slaps his hand onto the throat of Lesnar. Taker goes for the chokeslam, but Lesnar reverses it into an F-5 attempt. Lesnar doesn’t get it, however, as Taker escapes and goes back to work on Lesnar.
Finally, Lesnar cuts Taker off and starts mounting a legitimate offensive attack. Lesnar is targeting the leg of the big man now. He whips Taker’s leg into the ring post. The fight goes out to the floor again. Lesnar goes after Taker, but walks right into a back elbow from “The Dead Man.” Taker goes to follow up, but Lesnar manhandles Taker, slamming him down hard to the ground.
We’re back in the ring now and Lesnar bites his lips and begins stalking the WrestleMania legend. The fans try and rally behind Taker with chants, but to no avail, as Lesnar methodically stalks his opponent and continues to smash him. We see a shot of Paul Heyman, the evil genius himself, with a sick look of approval on his face, mixed with a slight bit of doubt behind those eyes, watching on as his “beast incarnate” continues to go to work on “The Phenom.” We over-hear Heyman shouting at Lesnar to “break him down.” Lesnar obliges.
The action spills out to the floor yet again and Lesnar continues to dominate the man with the longest undefeated streak in WrestleMania history. Taker tries fighting back, but his efforts don’t last long as the former NCAA champion easily regains control over the big man. Lesnar throws Taker back in the ring and arrogantly circles him, looking down at a beaten legend. Lesnar puts Taker up against the ropes and proceeds to pummel him with knees and punches.
The announcers start talking with their “serious” and “concerned” voices, as Lesnar continues to bash the big man with ease. Out of the clear blue, Taker blasts Lesnar with a DDT. Both guys are now down in the middle of the ring as the fans come alive upon seeing hope from their legendary hero.
Both guys slowly get back to their feet and start trading punches. Taker eventually gets the better of the exchange, whips Lesnar into the corner and follows him in with a huge clothesline. And another. Taker hits “Snake Eyes” on Lesnar and follows it up with a big boot. Taker is mounting a series of offensive attacks for the first time since the beginning portion of the match.
Taker throws his mighty hand up now, calling for the chokeslam. Meanwhile, Heyman is slamming his hands on the mat and freaking out. Taker chokeslams Lesnar and covers him. 1-2…NO! Lesnar kicks out. We see replays of the first successful chokeslam this evening from The Undertaker. The fans start chanting for Taker.
Taker hoists Lesnar up for the Tombstone Piledriver, however Lesnar quickly reverses it into a F-5 attempt. He hits it. Lesnar covers Taker immediately, but only manages to get to a count of two-and-a-half. The fans start stomping their feet, clapping their hands and chanting for “The Dead Man.” Heyman is overheard screaming at Lesnar to “finish him.” Taker goes to do his legendary “sit-up,” but keeps struggling to do so.
Lesnar goes over to grab onto Taker, but Taker snatches him out of the blue with his Hell’s Gate submission move. Lesnar signals his hand, showing that he was contemplating tapping out, but eventually uses one last surge of energy to hoist Taker up — still in the hold — and slam him down in powerbomb-style fashion. Heyman yells out to Lesnar, “now he’s yours!”
Once again, Lesnar arrogantly stalks a grounded Taker. He goes to pick him up, but Taker once again catches Lesnar in the Hell’s Gate out of nowhere. The same scenario plays out here, as Lesnar struggles briefly, but ultimately lifts Taker and slams his way out of the submission hold. Both guys are down now and the fans start stomping and clapping again, encouraging Taker to get back into the fight.
Out of nowhere, Lesnar slaps on a submission of his own. Taker is stuck in Lesnar’s dreaded Kimura lock now as Heyman proudly brags that “it’s over.” Michael Cole points out the history of Lesnar’s Kimura, noting that Lesnar has injured guys like Triple H and Shawn Michaels with this hold in the past. Taker eventually reverses and now Taker has Lesnar in his own Kimura hold. Lesnar screams out in pain as Taker wrenches away on his arm. Lesnar finally makes it to the ropes, forcing Taker to break the hold.
Taker grabs Lesnar’s arm again while standing and begins to climb the ropes. He goes for his famous “Old School” spot, but Lesnar yanks Taker off the top rope, with Taker falling perfectly across Lesnar’s shoulders for an immediate F-5 follow-up. Lesnar covers Taker, but again only manages to get a count of two-and-a-half. We see a glimpse of Heyman at ringside looking befuddled at what’s taking place in the ring.
Meanwhile, Lesnar fights on. Lesnar hits a German suplex on Taker. And another. Lesnar is slumped over in the corner now, clearly fatigued. Heyman gets right in his face and yells at Lesnar, informing him that “this is his destiny.” He screams at Lesnar, reminding him that he’s a “conquerer.” This ignites some passion in Lesnar, as he viciously proceeds to pummel a clearly and visibly beaten “Dead Man.” Out of nowhere, however, Taker nails Lesnar with The Last Ride.
Taker staggers up to his feet and waits for Lesnar to do the same. Lesnar finally does, only to turn around, directly into a Tombstone Piledriver. 1-2…NO! Lesnar kicks out again. Taker has a look of disbelief on his face. Both guys are down.
Undertaker does his trademark “sit-up” and then does his trademark throat-slashing hand gesture. Taker goes for another Tombstone, but Lesnar counters and F-5’s him. 1-2-3. The Streak is over ladies and gentlemen. I’m shocked.
Winner: Brock Lesnar
After The Match: The Streak Is Over
As soon as the pin happens, there was complete silence in the arena. Almost a sense of confusion. Did that really happen? Is someone going to come out and say he cheated, or something like that? Nope. He didn’t. Fair and square. We see a ton of shots of different fans in the audience with their hands on their heads, their jaws dropped. Total and utter shock. As time goes on and reality sets in, and equal amount of disgust from large sections of the arena. They did not want to see that. No Lesnar victory music, just silence. Well, silence other than Paul Heyman freaking out, shouting to Lesnar that he did it. Finally, Lesnar’s music plays and he and Heyman make their way to the back.
After all of that, the music stops and we see Taker down in the ring. After a bit more silence, finally the fans rally around Taker and start applauding and chanting for him. “Thank you Taker” chants break out as we see Taker finally make it to one knee, where behind him on one of the giant screens in the arena, we see 21-1. Unbelievable guys. I’m in total shock. Really am. A very weird feeling as more time passes. Everyone is doing the “Thank you Taker” chants. Everyone is standing and applauding. We see everyone at ringside, the ring crew, the announcers — everyone — standing on their feet and clapping. Finally Taker stands tall and looks around. The place explodes even louder with cheers. Taker finally slowly exits the ring and begins his walk up the ramp. Insane. Absolutely insane. Crazy. Just plain insanity. Wow. It’s all over, folks! The gong hits, the lights dim and Taker continues his walk up the ramp.
Vickie Guerrero Diva Invitational
Well, I don’t know how you move on after that, but it’s time to. Lilian Garcia is in the ring and she announces that it’s time for the Vickie Guerrero Diva Invitational. First out is the WWE Divas Champion, AJ Lee. Already in the ring are the rest of the Divas for this match. We hear the most annoying voice ever, “excuse me!” She screeches for a bit more and then the bell rings.
As soon as the bell rings, by the way, everyone boo’s. I’m pretty sure that’s reaction from the last match with Undertaker losing, not anything to do with this. The fans are chanting something. I can’t make out what it is, but it sounds Undertaker-related. Could be CM Punk chants too, but it didn’t sound like that.
Divas are flying everywhere, with all of them ending up on the floor except for both of The Bella Twins. They both do a huge dive through the ropes onto all of the Divas on the floor. The funniest thing of the night is one single person, loud enough to be heard on the pay-per-view, chanting “holy shit” after that. Epic.
The Bella Twins end up in the ring alone again and finally they duke it out. They slap each other and go at it briefly, but then the other Divas start filling the ring again. As the action spreads, the WWE Network (at least for me) gets choppy and the screen goes black for about 10 seconds. When it comes back, we hear “here’s a WrestleMania Moment,” so probably not the best timing, as I have no idea what it was (but it seemed to be Tamina Snuka doing the Superfly splash). AJ Lee ends up getting The Black Widow on one of The Funkadactyls. She taps. AJ Lee wins and retains.
Winner and STILL WWE Divas Champion: AJ Lee
After The Match
Michael Cole says AJ’s historic reign continues. There ya go, folks! Anyone bumming out over Undertaker’s streak ending — fear not — AJ’s streak continues!
“Mean” Gene Okerlund With Hulk Hogan, Mr. T, Roddy Piper & Paul Orndorff
Backstage, “Mean” Gene Okerlund is with Hulk Hogan. “Well ya know something, ‘Mean’ Gene…” before he can continue, in walks “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff. Piper talks some trash and then Orndorff does. They both complain about losing to Hogan in the first WrestleMania. Piper takes his jacket off and they get ready to attack Hogan, but in walks Hogan’s partner from WrestleMania I, Mr. T. Hogan extends his hand and tells Piper to be a man. Orndorff shakes it. Piper finally does too. Mr. T extends his hand. It clearly pains Piper to do so, but he shakes Mr. T’s hand too, and hugs him.
Legends In The House
Next, Justin Roberts introduces some of the WWE legends and Hall Of Famers sitting in the crowd. Introduced are Bruno Sammartino, Harley Race, Bob Backlund, Dusty Rhodes and Bret Hart. The only one who got a real Superstar reaction was “The Hitman.”
WWE World Heavyweight Championship
– Randy Orton (c) vs. Batista vs. Daniel Bryan
After the legends are show, we immediately hear the WWE World Heavyweight Champion’s theme song playing. We see Rev Theory, the band who performs the song “Voices,” playing the song live at the top of the stage. Out walks the champion, Randy Orton. Orton slowly makes his way to the ring as Rev Theory continues singing the theme song live.
After the theme ends, the crowd applauds Rev Theory for rocking it. Next up, Batista’s theme music hits. You hear what it sounds like when 70,000-plus people boo, as everyone craps all over “The Animal” as soon as the first note hits. That remains as he makes his way out to the top of the stage. He finally starts making his way down the aisle and to the ring as the boo’s continue.
When Batista’s theme song ends, the boo’s become even louder. Next up, Daniel Bryan’s music hits and the place erupts again. Daniel Bryan comes out heavily selling his injured shoulder still. It’s still very heavily taped up, by the way. Bryan finally “Yes!” chants-his-way down the stage, however he does so while only raising one arm, continuing to sell the effects of the shoulder injured he’s suffering from. During his ring walk, we see Triple H’s post-match attack on Bryan in the opening match of the evening earlier tonight.
Bryan’s music fades down and Justin Roberts begins his formal introductions for tonight’s main event. First up, he announces Daniel Bryan. He leads all of the fans in a big “Yes!” chant. He announces Batista next and everyone boo’s. Finally, he introduces the WWE World Heavyweight Champion Randy Orton, and Orton receives a bit of a mixed reaction, but mostly boo’s. Orton hands the titles off to the referee, who holds them up to show everyone what they’re fighting for tonight.
The bell rings and immediately Batista ends up in control. The Network (once again, at least for me) goes black and silent again. It only lasts for a second, however, and we’re back live. We see Batista continuing his dominance, working over Orton in the corner of the ring while Bryan is out on the floor. Orton finally cuts Batista’s momentum short with a big backbreaker. Bryan goes to re-enter the ring, but he’s knocked out to the floor. Batista knocks Orton over the top and onto the floor as well.
Batista goes out after Orton and attacks him outside of the ring. He slams Orton’s face off of the announce table and then whips him back-first into the barricade. The fight continues on the floor for a while, before Batista and Orton finally end up back in the ring. Orton is in control of the offense now, as he starts doing the “Ronnie Garvin Stomp,” stomping away at a ground “Animal.” Bryan, meanwhile, is still on the floor outside the ring.
Out of nowhere, Bryan comes off the top rope with a double-missile dropkick, knocking down both Orton and Batista. He fires up and starts blasting Orton and Batista with “Yes!” kicks repeatedly. Orton eventually cuts him short, dumping Bryan on his injured shoulder. Orton covers Bryan for a pin attempt, but Bryan manages to kick out at two.
Batista ends up in control of the match again, and the fans start boo’ing like crazy. Now Bryan is running from one side of the ring to the other, screaming as he runs across, nailing both Orton and Batista in opposite corners with flying kicks. After he finally stops, the crowd cheers as a sign of respect for Bryan’s efforts.
We are told that “#ThankYouTaker” is the number one trending topic worldwide on Twitter right now. Meanwhile, Bryan is launched over the top rope and out to the floor, crashing down hard on his injured shoulder.
Back in the ring, Batista goes up to the top rope. Orton cuts him off. Orton goes for a superplex, but Batista blocks it. Orton headbutts Batista over-and-over again and eventually hits the big superplex off the top. Bryan comes in the ring out of nowhere and takes out Orton.
Also out of the blue, Bryan locks the “Yes!” lock on Orton. We see Triple H and Stephanie McMahon come out of the crowd and out to ringside. Bryan is distracted by this, as he turns his attention to them. Bryan goes to hit the ropes for a dive onto HHH on the floor, but he runs directly into Batista’s spinebuster.
“That crooked referee” Scott Armstrong appears in the ring as Michael Cole flips out. Batista hits a Batista-Bomb on Bryan. 1-2….NO! The fans erupt in “Yes!” chants. Batista charges after Bryan in the corner, but Bryan moves and Batista rams himself shoulder-first into the ring post.
The heel ref Scott Armstrong leans over and Bryan kicks him in the face. Michael Cole reminds everyone that the match is no disqualification. I must have missed that announcement. Bryan does a big dive onto Armstrong, HHH and Stephanie on the floor. The fans go nuts with “Yes!” chants as we see replays of Bryan’s dive.
HHH, pissed that Stephanie was knocked down, goes under the ring and grabs a sledgehammer. He goes to enter the ring with it, but Bryan gets it away from him. He knocks HHH out to the floor with it. Bryan rolls up Batista, but Orton breaks up the count. The action ends up outside the ring on the floor, where Orton goes “Viper-mode” on Bryan. Orton and Batista seem to be aligned now as they both stomp away at Bryan on the floor.
Batista scoops Bryan up and slams him shoulder-first into the barricade. We see a number of officials helping HHH to the back. Batista takes the ring steps and nails Bryan shoulder-first with them. Now Batista and Orton turn their attention to each other. They get face-to-face, but shake their heads “yes” as if they agree on something. They clear off the announce table.
The fans break out into a huge “CM Punk” chant as Batista scoops Bryan up onto the announce table. Orton is on the Spanish announce table next to them. Batista hoists Bryan up and instead of Batista-Bombing him directly down, launches him over to the next table, where Orton catches him coming down with an RKO through that table. An absolutely incredible spot. The crowd goes nuts seeing that. We see a bunch of replays of it. Really cool spot.
Ringside doctors check on everyone, mainly Bryan. Orton is having trouble getting back to his feet. The announcers have their “sad” and “concerned” voices on as they talk about how Bryan hasn’t moved since going through the table. Doctors come down to ringside with a stretcher. Batista is just standing there watching it, with the announcers correctly questioning why he doesn’t just grab one of the two, throw them in the ring and pin them. Good question.
Batista stops the doctors from attending to the two. He throws Orton into the ring post. The doctors now have Bryan in a neck brace and are loading him onto a stretcher. The announcers, still in their serious voices, talk about how Bryan hasn’t even opened up his eyes yet. Meanwhile, Batista continues his vicious attack on the WWE World Heavyweight Champion on the floor. The fans explode in a random “Daniel Bryan” chant.
Bryan is on the stretcher now and they are pushing him up the ramp. At the same time, Orton turns the tide on Batista. Orton hits his trademark draping-DDT on Batista onto the floor. We see the doctors pushing Bryan on a stretcher up the ramp, but Bryan sticks his hands up and pushes them away. He stumbles over and off the stretcher, falling onto the floor. He crawls up to his feet and comes back to ringside to continue fighting.
As soon as Bryan makes it to ringside, Orton grabs him and whips him into the ring steps. The fans break out into a huge “Daniel Bryan” chant. Orton poses to the crowd and slams down onto the mat in “Viper” fashion, calling for the RKO. Out of nowhere, Bryan latches onto Orton with the “Yes!” lock. Batista breaks it up. Now Bryan has Batista in the “Yes!” lock. Orton breaks that one up.
The “Daniel Bryan” chants start up again as Orton waits for Batista to get up so he can RKO him. Batista avoids it and knocks Orton down. Batista goes for a spear on Orton, but Orton avoids it and Batista spears Bryan instead. He turns around right into a RKO from Orton. 1-2…NO! Orton sees a grounded Batista, and with his face tells the story that he’s about to hit the punt on Batista. Bryan runs out of nowhere with his Running Knee on Orton. Batista tries capitalizing, throwing Bryan out to the floor and quickly covering Orton. 1-2, NO!
“This is awesome” chants break out. Batista hits the Batista Bomb on Orton. Out of nowhere, however, Bryan comes off the top and knocks Batista down. Bryan locks Batista in the “Yes!” lock. Batista taps. Daniel Bryan’s music hits and the crowd goes ape shit.
Winner and NEW WWE World Heavyweight Champion: Daniel Bryan
After The Match
Daniel Bryan is handed the WWE World Heavyweight Championship by the referee as Michael Cole goes insane on commentary trying to sell it as the biggest moment and upset in history. Bryan’s music continues to play as the fans go nuts. The “Yes!” chants break out. Everyone in the building is doing the “Yes!” chants, led by Bryan — holding both titles — in the ring. The “WrestleMania Moment” we all wanted to see is happening. In walks a little girl and Bryan hugs her. Another blond girl walks into the ring and Bryan hugs her too. No one explains who they are, however. Confetti drops from the ceiling — tons of it — and the fans continue chanting and going nuts. Bryan gets on the top rope, holding both titles, and leads everyone in yet another enormous “Yes!” chant.[spacer height=”20px”]
