WrestleMania 31 was the thirty-first annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event and WWE Network event produced by WWE. It took place on March 29, 2015, at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
Nine matches were contested at the event, with two being shown on the pre-show. In the main event, Seth Rollins cashed in his Money in the Bank contract as the scheduled match between Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns was in progress, and won the resulting impromptu triple threat match to capture the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. On the undercard, The Undertaker (in his first match since the previous year's event) defeated Bray Wyatt and John Cena defeated Rusev to win the WWE United States Championship. The event was also notable for Sting's debut match in WWE and only WrestleMania match, in which he was defeated by Triple H.
The event received highly positive reviews from fans and critics alike; some critics called it one of the best ever WrestleMania events. WWE reported that the show was the highest grossing WWE event ever, drawing a revenue of $12.6 million. The company also claimed an attendance figure of 76,976.
Production[]
Background[]
WrestleMania is considered WWE's flagship event, and has been described as the Super Bowl of sports entertainment.
The logo for the event included a red "play" button. According to a San Jose Mercury News article, Vince McMahon explained that the play button highlighted the technical prowess of Silicon Valley. There were two theme songs for the event. The main theme was "Rise" by David Guetta featuring Skylar Grey, while the secondary theme was "Money and the Power" by Kid Ink. The event included live musical performances from Skylar Grey, Kid Ink, Travis Barker and Aloe Blacc. Grammy Award winner LL Cool J appeared in the opening video package for the event.
Travel Packages for the event went on sale on September 29 with the exclusive California Dreamin' Travel Package ranging from $5,500. The VIP Package, Platinum Premium Package, Gold Package and Silver Package was available on October 6 with prices starting from $3,250, $1,650, $1,150 and $900 respectively including tickets to WrestleMania, hotel accommodation, airfare, and other activities through WrestleMania Axxess. Individual tickets went on sale on November 15 ranging from $35 to $1,000.
It was the first WrestleMania event to be held in the San Francisco Bay Area, the sixth to be held in the state of California (after 2, VII, XII, 2000, and 21), and the sixth to be held in an open-air venue (after IX, XXIV, XXVI, XXVIII, and 29).
Storylines[]
The card consisted of nine matches, including two on the pre-show, that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches, with results predetermined by WWE's writers. Storylines between the characters played out on WWE's primary television programs, Raw and SmackDown.
At Royal Rumble, Brock Lesnar successfully defended his WWE World Heavyweight Championship against John Cena and Seth Rollins in a triple threat match. Rollins was also the holder of the Money in the Bank briefcase, additionally guaranteeing him a future title match at a time of his choosing. Meanwhile, the 2015 Royal Rumble match was won by Roman Reigns, granting him a main event title match against Lesnar at WrestleMania. On the February 2 episode of Raw, Reigns agreed to put his number one contendership on the line in a match at Fastlane. Later in the night, Daniel Bryan defeated Rollins to face Reigns at the event. At Fastlane, Reigns defeated Bryan to ensure his title shot against Lesnar at WrestleMania. Reigns had only two face-to-face interactions with Lesnar prior to WrestleMania, with his title match described as "being built on whether or not he is even worthy of being in the match in the first place". Reigns was also described as having "experienced no adversity on his journey" as he "chatted with [Lesnar's manager] Paul Heyman one week, got a shirt, and then played tug o' war with" Lesnar – a reference to the in-ring confrontation between Lesnar and Reigns on the March 23 episode of Raw, in which the two grappled with the WWE World Heavyweight Championship belt. It was acknowledged in the storylines that Lesnar's contract was set to expire not long after WrestleMania. Less than a week before the event amid speculation that he would be returning to UFC, Lesnar signed a new WWE contract and he retired from mixed martial arts.
On the March 2 episode of Raw, Paige defeated Divas Champion Nikki Bella by disqualification in a title match after Brie Bella attacked Paige; therefore, Nikki retained the title. Brie and Nikki then continued to attack Paige in the ring until AJ Lee returned from injury and saved Paige. On the March 5 episode of SmackDown, AJ defeated Brie after Paige kept Nikki from interfering in the match. On March 9, AJ and Paige were scheduled to face The Bellas at WrestleMania.
At Survivor Series, Sting made his first WWE appearance by attacking Triple H in the main event Survivor Series elimination match, attacking Triple H and aiding Dolph Ziggler in pinning Seth Rollins, giving Team Cena the win and causing The Authority to be out of power, which was a secondary stipulation of the match. On January 19 episode of Raw, Sting made his Raw debut, appearing backstage during the main event, a 3-on-1 handicap match between Cena and the team of Big Show, Kane, and Rollins. The lights in the arena darkened as Sting entered the stage and gestured to The Authority at ringside. The distraction allowed Cena to pin Rollins for the win, which reinstated the jobs of the recently (kayfabe) fired Ziggler, Ryback and Erick Rowan. On January 26, Triple H challenged Sting to a "face-to-face" confrontation at Fastlane. On the February 9 episode of Raw, Triple H again called Sting out to accept his challenge. The lights went out, and a group of Sting impersonators appeared around the arena and inside the ring, illuminated by spotlights, while a video message of Sting had accepting Triple H's challenge played on the TitanTron. At Fastlane, the two brawled until Sting got control of Triple H. Sting then pointed to the WrestleMania sign in the rafters with his signature baseball bat, issuing a challenge, which Triple H accepted. Later that night, the match was confirmed.
On the February 23 episode of Raw, a second annual André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal was scheduled for WrestleMania. Over the following month, The Miz, Curtis Axel, Ryback, Fandango, Adam Rose, Zack Ryder, Jack Swagger, Titus O'Neil, Darren Young, Big Show, Kane, Erick Rowan, Sin Cara, Damien Mizdow, Goldust, Heath Slater, Mark Henry and The Ascension were announced as participants. On March 26, the match was set for the pre-show. That same day, Hideo Itami won a NXT tournament at WrestleMania Axxess to earn a spot in the match.
On February 26, Intercontinental Champion Bad News Barrett was scheduled to defend his title in a multiple-man ladder match at the event, in which a storyline was made when several contenders steal the title, claiming that they won it.Between the March 2 episode of Raw and the March 12 episode of SmackDown, R-Truth, Dean Ambrose, Luke Harper, Dolph Ziggler, Stardust and Daniel Bryan were added to the match.
At Fastlane, Rusev defeated John Cena to retain the United States Championship after hitting Cena with a low blow (while the referee was distracted with Lana) and making him pass out to the Accolade submission hold. In the following weeks, Cena challenged Rusev to a rematch, which Rusev declined. On the March 2 episode of Raw, Stephanie McMahon decreed that Cena would not compete at WrestleMania unless Rusev agreed to a match. On the March 9 episode of Raw, after Rusev defeated Curtis Axel, Rusev made several insulting remarks towards the USA, drawing the ire of Cena. Following the insults, Cena went into the ring and placed Rusev in the STF submission hold until Rusev passed out. Cena then picked up a bottle of water, used it to revive Rusev and then placed him into the STF again. Although Rusev submitted, Cena refused to break the hold until Lana granted Cena a title rematch at WrestleMania on Rusev's behalf.
At Fastlane, Bray Wyatt challenged The Undertaker to a match at WrestleMania after sending messages to the Undertaker weeks prior. On the March 9 episode of Raw, The Undertaker accepted Wyatt's challenge to a match at the event.
On the October 20 episode of Raw, The Authority members Randy Orton, Kane, and Seth Rollins defeated Cena and Ambrose in a 3-on-2 handicap street fight. Immediately after the match, Rollins Curb Stomped Orton after dissension between the two. On the October 27 episode of Raw, Orton RKO'd Rollins, thus directly defying The Authority's orders. On the November 3 episode of Raw, after increasing frustration, Orton attacked Rollins during his Intercontinental Championship match against Ziggler. Orton then demanded a match with Rollins to settle their dispute, which Triple H granted in order to keep Orton on The Authority's side. Rollins won the match, and Orton then attacked the Authority before Rollins Curb Stomped him, causing a (kayfabe) injury which forced Orton to miss several months of competition. At Fastlane, Orton returned to WWE and attacked The Authority. Over the next weeks, Orton teased a renewed alliance with The Authority, before attacking Rollins after a handicap match against Reigns. On the March 12 episode of SmackDown, Orton challenged Rollins to a match at WrestleMania. On the March 16 episode of Raw, Rollins accepted the challenge.
At Fastlane, Tyson Kidd and Cesaro defeated The Usos to win the WWE Tag Team Championship. On March 23, the new champions were scheduled to defend their titles against Los Matadores, The New Day and The Usos in a fatal four-way tag team match on the WrestleMania pre-show.
Aftermath[]
Results[]
| No | Results | Stipulation | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tyson Kidd and Cesaro (with Natalya) (c) defeated Los Matadores (Diego and Fernando) (with El Torito), The New Day (Big E and Kofi Kingston) (with Xavier Woods) and The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) (with Naomi) | Fatal 4-Way tag team elimination match for the WWE Tag Team Championship | |
| 2 | Big Show won last eliminating Damien Mizdow | 30-man battle royal for the Andre the Giant Memorial Trophy | |
| 3 | Daniel Bryan defeated Bad News Barrett (c), Dean Ambrose, Dolph Ziggler, Stardust, Luke Harper and R-Truth | Ladder match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship | |
| 4 | Randy Orton defeated Seth Rollins (with Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury) | Singles match | |
| 5 | Triple H defeated Sting | No Disqualification match | |
| 6 | AJ Lee and Paige defeated The Bella Twins (Brie and Nikki Bella) by submission | Tag team match | |
| 7 | John Cena defeated Rusev (with Lana) | Singles match for the WWE United States Championship | |
| 8 | The Undertaker defeated Bray Wyatt | Singles match | |
| 9 | Seth Rollins defeated Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar (c) (with Paul Heyman) | Triple threat match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship
This was Rollins' Money in the Bank cash-in match. |
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Other on-screen personnel[]
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See also[]
| WrestleMania |
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