WWE WrestleMania 31

Image Source: SportsKeeda.com

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Genre: Wrestling
Produced By: WWE
Format: Pay-Per-View
Date: March 29 2015
Location: Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, California, USA
Attendance: 76,976

Projections going into WrestleMania 31 were very low. A build-up characterised by an extremely negative reaction to the Royal Rumble match, a subdued crowd for the Fast Lane show that set the stage for the top WM matches, and weak or inconsequential activity on TV over the last five weeks, meant that whilst most were looking forward to Mania because, well, it's WrestleMania, expectations were not anything more than "there should be some good matches". Fortunately, like in New Orleans last year, WWE pulled off some surprises and all matches were either as expected or better, resulting in this year's WrestleMania being one of the most enjoyable cards in its 31-year history.

The Kick-Off show this year featured two matches, the first being Cesaro and Tyson Kidd defending the WWE Tag Team Titles against The New Day, Los Matadores and The Usos. Jey Uso was attacked early on by Cesaro and never returned, due to a real-life injury presumably. The match was a little slow to get going, as were the crowd to respond. But the fans did raise their voices as it went on and would be vibrant all night from that point, and the bout energised too with a large collection of nifty moves, stunts and spots. In the end, a Jimmy Uso splash on Big E. seemed to give the ex-Champs the gold despite being one man down, but instead Cesaro made a late tag and got the winning pin, allowing him and Kidd to retain the titles. A pretty good tag bout, then, but a step down from the same bout before Mania 30 due to the more choreographed feel to proceedings. Still a nice start though.

Oddly, all the participants returned to join several others for the second Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal. Of note, Ryback looked dominant, Bo Dallas made an almost-unnoticed return, and Hideo Itami entered a good performance in his first main-stage WWE bout. It came down to Big Show, The Miz and Damien Mizdow, and Mizdow got a massive pop by finally turning on Miz and eliminating him. He put up a great fight against Show, but the big man ultimately prevailed, a result which makes sense in terms of believability but represented a squandered opportunity; Mizdow should have won and gotten over even more. Instead, he looked really good, but this was the night that the giant was chosen to prevail.

WrestleMania 31 then officially began, with a cool rendition of America The Beautiful by Aloe Blacc, and with the Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match. There were many key spots and a few truly insane moments, including a painful-looking suplex off a high ladder to Stardust by Bad News Barrett, a powerbomb through a ladder to Dean Ambrose by Luke Harper, and a brutal Zig Zag by Dolph Ziggler to Harper. In the end, Ziggler and Bryan had an exchange of headbutts which Bryan won, and which allowed Bryan to win and become the new Intercontinental Champion. This was a great start to WrestleMania, although a shade or two below the greatest Ladder/TLC matches we've seen at Mania; I thought this was on the level of the later Money In The Bank matches at WM. Speaking of MITB ...

Mr. Money In The Bank, Seth Rollins, was up next against Randy Orton. They were expected to provide a really good wrestling match, and they did that without question. Lots of big moves by Rollins including a dangerous tope and an attempted Phoenix Splash from which he somehow landed on his feet. Orton looked strong too and had some cool moments, such as a double DDT to J&J Security (who had met the original Stooges, Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco, during the Kick-Off) at ringside and turning an attempted Curb Stomp into a powerslam. Rollins survived an RKO, and Orton surprisingly survived a Curb Stomp. One more attempt at a Curb Stomp by Rollins was reversed into a match-winning RKO in the move of the night; Orton forced Rollins to bounce off his back, foot placed down, for him to shoot high up and be drilled by a perfectly-timed RKO. One of the best endings to a WrestleMania match ever gave The Viper his revenge, but would this be the last we would see of Mr. Money In The Bank? We would have to wait and see, although Orton winning suggested otherwise.

We then surprisingly got Triple H vs. Sting in the third match, for reasons which would become apparent later. Sting's entrance was preceded by some unusual yet intriguing Japanese drummers, but this was surpassed by Triple H's Terminator-inspired entrance. This was one of the coolest WM entrances ever, although it did feel slightly over-the-top and it also felt odd for the villain to receive this treatment, making the Icon look inferior. Otherwise, though, a great start before the bell rang, and fans were clearly psyched up for this one.

The action began slow and basic, but by design, and every simple move worked, eliciting the right reaction and keeping fans interested. It slowed further when HHH began taking control, but the Stinger fired back with more than one attempt at the Scorpion Deathlock. His second such struggle was where this match really began to become a thrill ride as the music of D-Generation X unexpectedly hit, and The New Age Outlaws and X-Pac ran to ringside. HHH eventually took advantage of this with a Pedigree which Sting survived, and then the crowd erupted for the nWo music, and the appearances of Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and Hollywood Hulk Hogan, brother! The Monday Night War had come to life, and the WWE vs. WCW conflict re-ignited for a square-off that people thought they would never see, DX vs. nWo! The two factions collided at ringside (Hogan took a nasty spill off an X-Pac shove), and things picked up even more when another Scoprion Deathlock was broken by Sweet Chin Music from Shawn Michaels! HHH was then handed his sledgehammer, but Sting was handed his trusty black baseball bat. STing caught The Game with the bat, but then took a sledgehammer blow which won the match for HHH.

I loved this match; as a long-time fan, and a supporter during the years when Raw and Nitro battled for ratings supremacy, this was a superb slice of nostalgia. But the decision to have HHH won was shocking, and not in a good way. Why wait all these years for Sting to debut and have him lose his first WWE match? It felt like it was done to "prove" that WWE was better than WCW, which it was, but this match wouldn't have affected anybody's opinions on that. If Sting wrestles again, he will seem weaker, and if he doesn't, then he will have never won a match in WWE. Meanwhile, Triple H didn't really need the victory, and could easily have lost and not been harmed. A senseless end to an otherwise hugely enjoyable presentation. Afterwards, the two shook hands, which I thought would signify a HHH babyface turn; later on, we learned otherwise, making this add-on a bit pointless.

After a musical performance of the WM theme songs by Skylar Grey (Rise) and Kid Ink (Money & The Power), we got a Divas tag team match between Paige and AJ Lee and The Bella Twins. The Bellas continuously attacked AJ off the apron to ensure that Paige was isolated. But the Norwich-born Paige finally made the tag to AJ, and after clearing house on the "Kardashian wannabes", AJ locked Nikki Bella in the Black Widow for the submission win. A respectable showing for the Divas, but I think that it is time to introduce another female from NXT if the recent spotlight on the Divas division is to grow beyond this event.

After the 2015 Hall Of Fame inductees took a bow, it was time for John Cena to "fight for America!" Against Rusev for the United States Title, Cena was aiming to become the first man to officially defeat The Bulgarian Brute, whose devotion is to ... Russia. The US Champ entered on a tank as part of an elaborate entrance which reminded me of World War II; whether that was intentional or not is debatable. Cena entered following a patriotic pro-America video, and this thing was on!

Rusev controlled the early portion of the match, but Cena soon turned things in his favour, epitomised by the Five-Knuckle Shuffle. An attempted AA wasn't to be, but Rusev did hit some big moves of his own, most notably a huge flying headbutt. Cena countered with a very impressive second rope leap into a backwards jump into a Stunner, but Rusev survived! The STF also didn't put him away, although Cena himself would also avoid submitting when he managed to break The Accolade. By the way, during the STF, Lana threw a shoe in the ring for reasons which were unclear, but she would get involved again by climbing onto the apron to distract Cena. But, instead, Rusev ran into Lana, knocking her off the apron, and Cena followed up with an Attitude Adjustment to win the match and the US Title, and to hand Rusev his first official WWE defeat.

This was better than expected, although I felt that Cena won a bit too easily; Rusev could have survived an AA (hell, he did at Fast Lane) and gone down swinging, as if beating him was a struggle was akin to Brock Lesnar's (successful) attempt to end The Undertaker's Streak at Mania 30. Instead, Rusev lost having put forth a lot of effort, but not a lot of resistance. Those who had predicted this outcome before Rusev even debuted in early 2014 were proven right, and from here Rusev may struggle to regain his momentum. Cena as US Champ has some possibilities, but my hoped-for big shock of Rusev beating Cena, maybe even by submission, was not to be, and so we would have to look elsewhere for a WrestleMania moment.

That seemed to come next, as an unusual mid-WM promo by The Authority (now you know why HHH's match was third) was interrupted by The Rock. Rock got a great ovation and, as is the norm with him, cracked some rather funny jokes. But a slap from Stephanie McMahon led not to Rock retaliating on HHH's missus, but to Rock bringing into the ring the UFC fighter Ronda Rousey to (eventually) take down Steph, after she even took down HHH following some blows by Rock. This was a fun segment for sure, although it did drag a bit; the show went from having ages left to running out of time from the beginning to the end of this segment. Still, it was great to see Rock (greeted better than at Royal Rumble, fortunately), and it was intriguing to see a UFC fighter take down the WWE's power couple. Obviously, there were no other UFC fighters who have any reason to fight someone such as Triple H ... right?

Next up was The Undertaker vs. Bray Wyatt, and a collection of question marks if ever there was one. What would Undertaker look like in his first appearance since WM 30? Would he be up for a gruelling Mania match? Would Bray be affected by an ankle injury suffered close to show time? Most importantly, who would win? Would Taker win to regain momentum after the end of The Streak, or would he lose to Wyatt to truly make him The New Face Of Fear? And how would their entrances look in the daylight?

Wyatt's entrance was very cool and creepy, as he gave life to a number of scarecrows who followed him down to the ring. Taker had his standard entrance, albeit in less darkness, and the crowd popped huge to see The Phenom rise. We saw that he now had more hair again, and his condition was much-improved upon last year when he looked like age was catching up with him. Here, he looked ready, and he began with a hard boot to Bray. He delivered some big strikes, and it was great to see him effortlessly perform Old School on Wyatt. But Bray took over with such control that I began wondering if this indeed would be Taker's last stand.

An attempt at Sister Abigail was perfectly intercepted by a chokeslam, following a classically scary Taker expression (his are the best). This didn't obtain victory, though, and neither did the preceding Hell's Gate nor the subsequent Tombstone Piledriver, to the surprise of many. Wyatt then hit Sister Abigail, and victory for Bray seemed certain, but Taker kicked out! With both down, Wyatt then performed a Spider Walk, but he crumbled when he was interrupted by a Taker sit-off in a very cool visual. But Wyatt regained his composure and control of the match, and he had Taker locked for a match-winning Sister Abigail, only for Undertaker to reverse it and hit a Tombstone to win and go 22-1!

As unforgettable a moment as it was when Brock Lesnar ended The Streak last year, there was still a strange feeling; something really didn't feel right, and it felt cruel for Undertaker's career to end this way. Contradictory as this may read after that statement, I was wondering why Taker would return to face Bray Wyatt; surely a rematch with Brock or a dream match with Sting were the only feasible options. But Bray built it up very well via his promos and his claims to revive Undertaker for the sole purpose of destroying him, and Taker silenced naysayers with a strong performance. Was it in the same league as his matches with Shawn Michaels or Triple H? No, but such expectations are no longer realistic. That Undertaker can still go is good enough, and he definitely brought it here in a very good match with Wyatt. The Undertaker is back! For how long, we shall find out. But respect to the man who, despite his loss in 2014, remains The Phenom.

It was now main event time, and the most intriguing of scenarios from a booking standpoint. Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship had only two potential outcomes - Lesnar retaining the crown or Reigns winning the title - but neither looked appealing beforehand. For Brock was heading out the door, possibly back to UFC, and Reigns had unwittingly become the most unpopular babyface since, erm, Batista this time last year. The plan for months seems to have been Roman becoming Champ in his crowning moment, but there was a real prospect that he would be booed out of Levi's Stadium; is this the way WWE really wanted someone who was built up as being the next John Cena to be greeted? However, with Lesnar about to leave, they had no choice ... or did they?

Lesnar suddenly announced on Tuesday that he had signed a new WWE contract, and just as suddenly, the chances of Lesnar retaining the title shot up. And it was Brock the supposed heel, who was greeted like a top babyface when he entered the stadium, whilst Reigns received a largely negative reaction during his security-surrounded entrance. Paul Heyman humorously took over Brock's introduction; the sound of nearly 77,000 joining in with him was a memorable moment.

The bell rang, and Lesnar began brutalising Reigns and quickly suplexed and F5'd him. More suplexes followed, with Heyman using his fingers to keep count, and with the fans using their voices to also count along. Despite this, it was Brock who was cut, seemingly off Reigns' very first strike. But Brock didn't allow this to affect him - as if he ever would - and continued punishing Roman with suplex after suplex. A second F5 followed, but Roman kicked out. Cue more punishment and a busted mouth for Lesnar, but Reigns began smiling, as if to say he was enjoying the beating and telling Lesnar to bring some more. That he did, and it resulted in a third F5, but Reigns again kicked out!

Lesnar began showing frustration and took the fight to ringside, but with Reigns ducking an attempted attack, Brock's head bounced off the ring post, busting him open pretty heavy. Reigns then began taking control, hitting a Superman Punch and a Spear, only for Lesnar to kick out. Nevertheless, Reigns could feel that he finally had a chance in this fight, and the crowd could sense it too, with some even beginning to show some support for the challenger. But soon both men went down, and that led to the moment this night will be remembered for most, Seth Rollins rushing out to cash in Money In The Bank during the main event of WrestleMania 31! The singles match was now a triple threat bout, in an unprecedented development. Rollins immediately Curb Stomped Lesnar, but he kicked out! Lesnar intercepted an attempt at another Curb Stomp for a potential F5, but was stopped by a Reigns spear which took the Champ out of the ring. But then Rollins capitalised by Curb Stomping Reigns once more, and scored the three-count to become the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion! Rollins quickly ran up the ramp with his prize and celebrated as fireworks exploded to mark the end of the show.

What a main event that was, then! What seemed like the most unappealing of prospects beforehand turned into something that will be talked about for years to come, but it's worth noting that the match had been something special even before Rollins arrived. Indeed, Lesnar lived up to his usual billing of The Beast, but Reigns also brought it in his biggest ever match, and only for the negative reaction surrounding his rise up the WWE ranks, chances are that a victory following his beat-down from Brock would have got him over massively. Instead, the decision was made to have Seth cash in, something that many expected, but not during the match itself; that was a brilliant way to protect Brock and give Roman a reason to seek justice, and set up a main event feud between the two ex-Shield members. Plus, it most likely turns Lesnar babyface, resulting in a potential Lesnar-Rollins title match down the road, and Seth's interruption may even lead to demand for a Lesnar-Reigns rematch. Now, who could have predicted that beforehand?

So, how to sum up WrestleMania 31? Considering that few were excited about it beforehand, WM 31 appears to have been a massive success. None of the matches were disappointing from a wrestling standpoint, there were several nice surprises and jaw-dropping developments, and big story lines culminated on this night in front of a mostly super-charged crowd. From Mizdow turning on Miz to DX vs. nWo to Undertaker returning to Seth cashing in, WrestleMania 31 lived up to the standard set by this event over the years and will never be forgotten. On the downside, some results were questionable, most notably Triple H pinning Sting, and there was no truly classic match in the vein of Taker-Shawn or Savage-Steamboat. But these are minor complaints when ranking this as an overall show; rarely will you enjoy four hours of wrestling more than this.

Beforehand, most wondered whether WrestleMania 31 would be a poor follow-up to the enthusiastically-greeted WM XXX, and some even thought that it would be one of the worst Manias ever. Instead, the show surpassed all expectations and actually topped last year's presentation, now setting a high standard for WrestleMania 32 to live up to. It wasn't quite as good as WM X-Seven, WM XIX or WM XXIV, and possibly one or two others, but it was definitely one of the most entertaining and enjoyables WrestleManias to date. A top 10 Mania, if not top 5, there were plenty of major developments, eye-catching moves and surprising moments to ensure that whilst most will want to forget the Road To WM 31, few will forget what happened when that road ended.

Last year, we saw three icons celebrate, The Streak end and Daniel Bryan achieve the impossible. Next year, we may get Sting vs. The Undertaker, The Rock vs. Triple H or Brock Lesnar, or even the in-ring return of Stone Cold Steve Austin. But between those historic moments and potentially historic matches was a show that will live long in the memory. WrestleMania 31 may not have been greatly anticipated, but it will never, ever be forgotten. Believe that.

Overall Rating: 9/10 - Outstanding