2017 WWE pay-per-view and livestreaming event
WrestleMania 33 was the 33rd annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. The event took place on April 2, 2017, at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida, and was the third WrestleMania held at the state of Florida after XXIV (at the same venue) and XXVIII. The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods) served as the hosts of the event. It was the first WrestleMania to feature Goldberg since WrestleMania XX.
Thirteen matches were contested at the event, including three on the Kickoff pre-show. For the first time since WrestleMania 29 in 2013, two world championships were contested: Raw's Universal Championship and SmackDown's WWE Championship; it marked the first time that the Universal Championship, SmackDown Women's Championship, and new Cruiserweight Championship were defended at WrestleMania. In the main event, Roman Reigns defeated The Undertaker in a No Holds Barred match, giving Undertaker his second loss at WrestleMania. Whilst the loss and the events immediately following the main event served to insinuate that The Undertaker had retired, he would return to in-ring competition in 2018 at WrestleMania 34. In the main match for the Raw brand, Brock Lesnar defeated Goldberg to win the Universal Championship, thus becoming the first wrestler to win both the WWE and Universal titles, and in the main match from SmackDown, Randy Orton defeated Bray Wyatt to win his ninth WWE Championship. The event also marked the surprise return of The Hardy Boyz (Jeff Hardy and Matt Hardy), who won the Raw Tag Team Championship. It was also the first WrestleMania to be on the air past midnight Eastern time.
Reception towards the event was mixed, although it was largely considered to be an improvement over WrestleMania 32. Praise was directed towards Styles vs. McMahon, Owens vs. Jericho, the ladder match, Rollins vs. Triple H, and the Universal Championship match. Criticism was reserved for the main event, the WWE Championship match, and the overall length of the show, which stretched past the seven hour mark.
Production.
Background.
WrestleMania is considered WWE's flagship pay-per-view (PPV) and WWE Network event, having first been held in 1985. It was the company's first pay-per-view produced and was also WWE's first major event available via livestreaming when the company launched that broadcasting outlet in February 2014. It is the longest-running professional wrestling event in history and is held annually between mid-March to mid-April. It was the first of WWE's original four pay-per-views, which includes Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, referred to as the "Big Four". The event has been described as the Super Bowl of sports entertainment. Much like the Super Bowl, cities bid for the right to host the year's edition of WrestleMania. Announced on March 8, 2016, WrestleMania 33 was scheduled to be held on April 2, 2017, at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida. The event featured wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brand divisions, following the reintroduction of the brand split in July 2016. It was the first WrestleMania to feature the Universal Championship, following its introduction on Raw in July 2016 after the WWE World Heavyweight Championship became exclusive to SmackDown and renamed to WWE Championship. It was also the first WrestleMania to feature the SmackDown Women's Championship and new WWE Cruiserweight Championship.
The event was the third to be held in the state of Florida, after XXIV (at the same venue) and XXVIII. Tickets went on sale on November 18, 2016, with individual tickets costing $38 to $2,130. On October 31, 2016, traveling packages with accommodation ranging from $950 to $5,900 per person were sold. A two-hour Kickoff pre-show preceded the main show, with the second hour broadcast simultaneously on USA Network. On February 20, 2017, The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods) of WWE's Raw brand were confirmed to be the hosts of WrestleMania 33.
The four official theme songs for the event were "Greenlight" (by Pitbull feat. Flo Rida and LunchMoney Lewis), "Like a Champion" (by Danger Twins), "Flame" (by Tinashe), and "Am I Savage?" (by Metallica). At the event, Pitbull performed "Options" with Stephen Marley before performing "Greenlight" with Flo Rida and LunchMoney Lewis. American singer Tinashe performed "America the Beautiful" to kick off WrestleMania 33. The pre-show was broadcast on the WWE Network, WWE.com, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, and YouTube, with USA Network joining the live coverage for the second hour.
Beginning at WrestleMania 32, a match between Big Show and NBA star Shaquille O'Neal had been teased from various media outlets, including WWE. Shaq was a surprise entrant in the 2016 André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal where he and Big Show faced off, but the other participants eliminated both of them. In July at the 2016 ESPY Awards on the red carpet, Show and Shaq had another brief confrontation. A match was proposed for WrestleMania 33, which Shaq accepted. In January 2017, the two began calling each other out on social media, posting workout videos of themselves preparing for the potential match. Big Show then began to doubt Shaq's commitment to the match. By the end of February, Shaq said that it looked like the match was not going to happen, but he would still train just in case. The following week, Shaq said that discussions were back on between him and WWE. However, Big Show's announcement as a participant in the 2017 André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal indicated that the match was off. According to Dave Meltzer of "Wrestling Observer Newsletter", the match was canceled due to monetary reasons, as both parties could not agree on a deal. Big Show said that he really wanted to do the match, especially since this would probably be his last WrestleMania and blamed Shaq's weight as a reason for why Shaq backed out.
According to wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer in January 2017, a WrestleMania 33 match between The Undertaker and John Cena was scrapped as Vince McMahon had "a different vision for the show and [was] thinking [about the] longterm picture not short-term".
Since 2014, WWE had attempted to establish Roman Reigns as their top babyface and the next 'face of the company', but a significant portion of fans rejected Reigns in this role, taking issue with his perceived special treatment, real-life demeanor, wrestling moveset, speaking skills and character presentation. This resulted in Reigns being booed while he wrestled in the main events of WrestleMania 31 and WrestleMania 32. Reigns was even voted as 2016's "Most Hated Wrestler of the Year" by "Pro Wrestling Illustrated" readers, a first for a heroic character since the award was devised in 1972. In response to the negative reception, Reigns said that there is "possible jealousy" from fans regarding his "major success". In March 2017 before WrestleMania 33, wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer reported that WWE's long term plans ("which obviously could change") leading to WrestleMania 34 was to "once again build for a year and have the big coronation" for Reigns, who would still be a heroic character "between now and then" and beat Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship "to fully replace John Cena as the lead babyface of the company", while the "idea" for Lesnar's role "for years now" was "to become a monster, be unbeatable, run through everybody, and then lose to Roman Reigns".
Storylines.
The event comprised 13 matches, including three on the Kickoff pre-show, that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, "Monday Night Raw", "SmackDown Live", and the cruiserweight-exclusive "205 Live".
Main event.
At the Royal Rumble, The Undertaker was eliminated by Roman Reigns in the titular match. In the ensuing stare down, Reigns exclaimed: "This is my yard now!", a claim The Undertaker had made for many years. On the March 6 episode of "Raw", The Undertaker attacked Reigns with a chokeslam, and a match between the two was scheduled for WrestleMania 33 in what would become the main event.
World championship matches.
At the Royal Rumble, SmackDown's Randy Orton won his second Royal Rumble match, earning himself a world championship match at WrestleMania 33 for his brand's WWE Championship. At Elimination Chamber, Bray Wyatt won the Elimination Chamber match to become the new WWE Champion. As a devoted Wyatt Family member, Orton relinquished his championship opportunity. SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan then scheduled a battle royal to determine Wyatt's WrestleMania challenger; it ended in a draw when both AJ Styles and Luke Harper hit the ground simultaneously. Styles then defeated Harper the following week to earn the title match, but at the conclusion of the episode, Orton restated his intentions to challenge Wyatt for the WWE Championship by appearing at the Wyatt Family compound, where Wyatt Family's matriarch Sister Abigail was buried, and setting the compound ablaze, turning face in the process. A number one contender's match between Orton and Styles was scheduled in which Orton won.
At WrestleMania XX in 2004, Goldberg defeated Brock Lesnar in their first match against each other. Both left the company after the event, but Lesnar returned in 2012. After twelve years, Goldberg returned in 2016 and immediately began a feud with Lesnar. He defeated Lesnar at Survivor Series in one minute and twenty-six seconds, and also quickly eliminated him from the Royal Rumble match. The next night on "Raw", Lesnar and Paul Heyman appeared and challenged Goldberg to one final match at WrestleMania 33. Goldberg accepted Lesnar's challenge and also challenged Kevin Owens for the Universal Championship at Fastlane, which he won, turning their match into a title match for the Universal title. The following night on "Raw", new Universal Champion Goldberg came out but was interrupted by Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman. Lesnar attempted to shake Goldberg's hand to congratulate him, but Goldberg refused. Heyman then said that Goldberg would be "Brock's bitch" at WrestleMania and Lesnar attacked Goldberg with an F-5. The following week, Lesnar and Heyman gloated about Lesnar's attack on Goldberg. On the final "Raw" before WrestleMania, Goldberg and Lesnar had one last confrontation where Goldberg speared Lesnar.
Undercard matches.
In 2014, The Shield (Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, and Roman Reigns) were involved in a rivalry with Evolution (Triple H, Randy Orton, and Batista). After multiple losses to The Shield and Batista quitting WWE, Triple H recruited Rollins to The Authority. Rollins was the forefront of The Authority and won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship (later renamed WWE Championship) at WrestleMania 31, but was forced to vacate the title in November 2015 due to injury. He returned in mid-2016, and during a fatal four-way for the vacant WWE Universal Championship, Triple H aided Rollins in eliminating Reigns, but then turned on Rollins by attacking him with a Pedigree, costing Rollins the match. During the first months of 2017, Rollins started a rivalry with Triple H, asking for answers. At , Rollins appeared and challenged Triple H to a match, who had Rollins escorted from the building by security. On the January 30 episode of "Raw", as Rollins was about to confront Triple H, Samoa Joe attacked Rollins, re-injuring his knee. Rollins was estimated to be out of action for up to eight weeks, but after an attack from Triple H, Rollins signed a contract for a non-sanctioned match with Triple H at WrestleMania 33, which forbid Rollins from suing WWE if he were to get injured again.
After losing the WWE Championship at Royal Rumble, AJ Styles asked for a rematch, which SmackDown Commissioner Shane McMahon promised if Styles did not win the title back in the Elimination Chamber match. At the event, Bray Wyatt won the championship. Styles received a rematch, but in the form of a triple threat match, also including John Cena, where Wyatt retained. After Randy Orton relinquished his championship opportunity, Styles entered into a number one contender's battle royal, which ended in a draw between him and Luke Harper. After defeating Harper to become the number one contender, Orton restated his intentions to challenge for the title, so McMahon and Daniel Bryan decided that Styles would have to compete in another number one contender's match, this time against Orton, who won. The following week, Styles attacked McMahon and threw him through a car window. Styles was subsequently (kayfabe) fired by Bryan, but