2015 WWE pay-per-view and livestreaming event
WrestleMania 31 was the 31st annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It took place on March 29, 2015, at Levi's Stadium in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Santa Clara, California.
Nine matches were contested at the event, including two matches on the Kickoff pre-show. In the main event, Seth Rollins cashed in his Money in the Bank contract as the scheduled match between defending champion Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns was in progress, and won the resulting impromptu triple threat match to capture the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. In other prominent matches, The Undertaker (in his first on-screen appearance 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, as well as his only WrestleMania match, in which he was defeated by Triple H.
Despite criticism for its build-up, the event received highly positive reviews from fans and critics alike; some critics called it one of the greatest WrestleManias of all time. Praise was focused on the quality of a vast majority of the matches, as well as the ending of the main event. Another point of praise were the lack of matches considered to be "filler" and making the most of their time, while the women's tag team match was subject to this very criticism. Retrospective criticism has been focused on Triple H's win over Sting, which was viewed as an unnecessary ode to WWE winning the Monday Night War. 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. This was also the first WrestleMania to incorporate WWE's current logo that was originally used for the WWE Network.
Production.
Background.
WrestleMania is WWE's flagship pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming 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 the WWE Network 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 December 9, 2013, WrestleMania 31 was scheduled to be held on March 29, 2015, at Levi's Stadium in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Santa Clara, California. 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).
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.
Storylines.
The event comprised nine matches, including two on the Kickoff 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. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, "Raw" and "SmackDown".
At the 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, 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 match for Lesnar's title at WrestleMania, but also a bad reception from almost all the WWE fans, even bigger than the winner of the last Royal Rumble, Batista. On the February 2 episode of "Raw", due to this uncomfortable atmosphere, Reigns agreed to put his #1 contendership on the line in a match at Fastlane. Later in the night, Daniel Bryan (the biggest fan-favorite to win the Royal Rumble and face Lesnar for his title at WrestleMania) defeated Rollins to face Reigns at the event. But at Fastlane, Reigns defeated Bryan to ensure his title shot against Lesnar at WrestleMania, enraging even more almost all the WWE fans. 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 final 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 storyline that Lesnar's contract was set to expire not long after WrestleMania, but less than a week before the event, amid speculation that he would be returning to UFC, Lesnar signed a new WWE contract and retired from MMA.
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 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 the 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 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 Kickoff 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 stole 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 US, 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 performed a "Curb Stomp" on Orton after dissension between the two. On the October 27 episode of "Raw", Orton performed an RKO on 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 (with Natalya) defeated The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) (with Naomi) to win the WWE Tag Team Championship. On March 23, the new champions were scheduled to defend their titles against Los Matadores (Diego and Fernando) (with El Torito), The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Big E) (with Xavier Woods), and The Usos in a fatal four-way tag team match on the WrestleMania 31 Kickoff pre-show.
Event.
Broadcasters.
The WrestleMania 31 Kickoff Show was hosted by Renee Young, with Booker T, Corey Graves, and Byron Saxton as analysts, while Tom Phillips and Lita served as social media correspondents. English commentators for the event were Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler, and John "Bradshaw" Layfield. Spanish, German, French, and Italian commentators also called the matches at ringside. Lilian Garcia and Eden Stiles served as the ring announcers.
Celebrities.
As is tradition, WrestleMania featured numerous appearances by celebrity guests – such as "E! News" host Maria Menounos, who served as a backstage interviewer.