WrestleMania 35
WrestleMania 35 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Promotional poster featuring Braun Strowman, Naomi, Daniel Bryan, Ronda Rousey, AJ Styles, and Shinsuke Nakamura
|
||||
Tagline(s) | WrestleMania comes to New York/New Jersey | |||
Information | ||||
Promotion | WWE | |||
Brand(s) | Raw SmackDown 205 Live |
|||
Date | April 7, 2019 | |||
Venue | MetLife Stadium | |||
City | East Rutherford, New Jersey | |||
WWE Network event chronology | ||||
|
||||
WrestleMania chronology | ||||
|
WrestleMania 35 will be the thirty-fifth annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event and WWE Network event produced by WWE for their Raw, SmackDown, and 205 Live brands. It will take place on April 7, 2019 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Contents
Production
Background
WrestleMania is considered WWE's flagship event,[1] having been described as the Super Bowl of sports entertainment.[2] The event will be the first WrestleMania to be held in the state of New Jersey since 2013 (at the same venue).[3] This is the fourth WrestleMania to be held in the state of New Jersey (IV, V, 29), and the sixth in the New York City Metropolitan Area (I, 2, X, XX, 29).
On November 5, 2018, traveling packages for the event were sold;[4][5] tickets went on sale on November 16, 2018, with individual tickets costing from $35 to $2,500.[4]
On the March 4 episode of Raw, Colin Jost and Michael Che of Saturday Night Live were announced as special correspondents for the event.[6] The following week, it was revealed that Alexa Bliss would be the host of WrestleMania 35.[7][8] On the March 18 episode of Raw, it was announced that Elias would perform at WrestleMania.[9]
Storylines
The card will include matches that result from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portray heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters to build tension, culminating in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results are predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw, SmackDown, and 205 Live brands,[10][11] with storylines produced on their weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw, SmackDown Live,[12] and the cruiserweight-exclusive 205 Live.[13]
At SummerSlam, Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair were involved in a triple threat match for the SmackDown Women's Championship, which Flair won. After the match, Lynch attacked Flair, ending their friendship.[14] Lynch defeated Flair for the championship at Hell in a Cell and they continued to feud over the title for the next few months.[15][16] At Survivor Series, Lynch was originally scheduled to face Raw Women's Champion Ronda Rousey in a champion versus champion match, but was replaced by Flair due to a legit injury;[17][18] during the match, Flair brutally attacked Rousey with weapons.[19] At TLC: Tables, Ladders, & Chairs, Rousey interfered in the namesake championship match between Lynch, Flair, and Asuka, costing both Lynch and Flair the match.[20] Lynch was unsuccessful in regaining the title at the Royal Rumble, but won the women's Royal Rumble match by last eliminating Flair, despite injuring her own knee, and chose to face Rousey for the Raw Women's Championship at WrestleMania 35.[21][22] Lynch then refused a medical examination on her knee after a brawl with Flair on SmackDown. Stephanie McMahon gave Lynch an ultimatum: have her knee examined or be suspended until she does. Lynch still refused and was suspended indefinitely.[23] On the following episode of Raw, it was revealed that Lynch had her knee examined by her own physician and was cleared and her suspension lifted, but Vince McMahon overruled the decision and suspended Lynch for 60 days and replaced her with Flair at WrestleMania.[24] Over the next couple of weeks, Lynch continued to break her suspension and on the March 4 episode of Raw, a match between Lynch and Flair was scheduled for Fastlane where if Lynch won, she would be added back into the championship match at WrestleMania to make it a triple threat match.[25] Lynch defeated Flair by disqualification when Rousey attacked Lynch, thus adding her back into the WrestleMania match.[26]
At the Royal Rumble, Seth Rollins won the men's Royal Rumble match, thus earning a world championship match of his choice at WrestleMania 35.[21] The next night on Raw, Rollins was given until the end of the night to choose which champion he wanted to face. Later, after Universal Champion Brock Lesnar's advocate Paul Heyman tried to discourage Rollins from challenging Lesnar, Rollins confronted Lesnar, resulting in a brawl. Afterwards, it was announced that Rollins made his choice to face Lesnar for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania.[22] On the March 11 episode of Raw, after Heyman had reminded Rollins of his previous encounters with Lesnar, Rollins was attacked by Shelton Benjamin, Lesnar's old wrestling friend from the University of Minnesota and tag team partner in Ohio Valley Wrestling, and Benjamin performed several German suplexes on Rollins, just as Lesnar would do, but Rollins nonetheless defeated Benjamin in a match.[7]
On the February 19 episode of 205 Live, General Manager Drake Maverick scheduled an eight-man single elimination tournament with the winner facing Buddy Murphy for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship at WrestleMania 35.[27] The tournament began the following week. Tony Nese, Drew Gulak, Oney Lorcan, and Cedric Alexander advanced to the semifinals by defeating Kalisto, The Brian Kendrick, Humberto Carrillo, and Akira Tozawa, respectively.[28][29] Nese and Alexander then advanced to the finals,[30] which was won by Nese.
On the SmackDown 1000 special on October 16, 2018, Batista, who had last wrestled in WWE in 2014, made an appearance for an Evolution reunion. During the segment, Batista praised fellow Evolution member Triple H for having done everything in the wrestling business, except defeat him;[31] during Batista's first singles run in 2005, he defeated Triple H in all three of their only matches against each other.[32][33][34] The two had a tense stare down before embracing, seemingly showing that there was no ill will between the two.[31] However, on the February 25, 2019 episode of Raw, a celebration for fellow Evolution member Ric Flair's 70th birthday was planned, but Flair did not show. It was then shown that Batista had attacked Flair backstage, and Batista asked if Triple H had his attention.[35] Triple H called out Batista on the March 11 episode of Raw,[25] where Batista stated that he wanted his final match to be on his own terms. He challenged Triple H to a match at WrestleMania 35, and Triple H accepted and made it a No Holds Barred match.[7] The following week, Batista explained that his hatred for Triple H dated back before their time in Evolution. He said Triple H had only used him and underestimated him. He said that Triple H was jealous and a control freak, and that he would end Triple H's wrestling career at WrestleMania.[36]
On the March 11, 2019 episode of Raw, WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle announced that he would begin a farewell tour, culminating with his retirement match at WrestleMania 35.[7] The following week, Angle said that The McMahon Family allowed him to choose his WrestleMania opponent. Angle said there were many opponents he would like to face, but there was only one he wanted to beat. Angle decided to pick Baron Corbin due to the many problems Corbin caused Angle while Angle was the Raw General Manager from 2017–2018. Corbin had also caused Angle to lose his position as General Manager and Corbin subsequently became the Acting Raw General Manager until December 2018.[36]
At Crown Jewel, Shane McMahon won the WWE World Cup, replacing The Miz in the finals, who was deemed unable to compete due to a pre-match brawl.[37] Following this, The Miz began a pursuit to form a tag team with Shane, claiming that they could become the "best tag team in the world". Shane finally agreed to the pairing, and the two won the SmackDown Tag Team Championship at the Royal Rumble.[21] They lost the titles at Elimination Chamber,[38] and failed to regain them at Fastlane; in both matches, Miz was pinned. Following their match at Fastlane, a disappointed Miz and Shane hugged Miz's father, who was in the front row. After Shane consoled Miz and his father, Shane then attacked Miz from behind, turning heel.[26] On the following episode of SmackDown, Shane explained that he was tired of people using him. He claimed that he enjoyed beating up The Miz at Fastlane and wanted to do it again at WrestleMania 35, and then scheduled a match between himself and Miz for the event.[39] Miz responded and said that people had warned him about Shane but he did not listen. He said Shane was just as terrible as his father, Vince McMahon, and that he would defeat Shane at WrestleMania.[40]
For several weeks, AJ Styles and Randy Orton interrupted each other's backstage segments on SmackDown, insulting each other. At Elimination Chamber, Orton eliminated Styles in the Elimination Chamber match.[38] At Fastlane, after Orton had attacked Elias from behind with an RKO, he himself was then attacked by Styles with a Phenomenal Forearm.[26] On the following episode of SmackDown, Orton took umbrage with Styles referring to SmackDown as "the house that AJ Styles built", since Orton began his career on SmackDown in 2002 and became very successful, while Styles, who debuted in WWE in 2016, spent most of his career on the independent circuit (1998–2016), with Orton also referencing Styles' time in Ring of Honor and TNA Wrestling. Styles responded by saying that Orton had everything handed to him because of his family's wrestling lineage while Styles had to actually work for it. Styles eventually challenged Orton to a match at WrestleMania 35, which was made official.[39]
On the February 12 episode of SmackDown, The New Day's Kofi Kingston was a last-minute replacement for an injured Mustafa Ali in a gauntlet match to determine who would enter last in the WWE Championship Elimination Chamber match; Kingston pinned WWE Champion Daniel Bryan and lasted over an hour before being eliminated.[41] At Elimination Chamber, Bryan retained the title in the titular match, with Kingston being the last wrestler eliminated.[38] On the following episode of SmackDown, Kingston was granted a WWE Championship match at Fastlane after pinning Bryan in a six-man tag team match.[42] The following week, however, Vince McMahon replaced Kingston with a returning and "more deserving" Kevin Owens.[43] At Fastlane, The New Day (Big E, Kingston, and Xavier Woods) confronted Mr. McMahon, who scheduled a triple threat match for the title, however, Kingston was instead put in a handicap match against The Bar (Cesaro and Sheamus) and lost, while Bryan retained the title in his respective match.[26] On the following episode of SmackDown, The New Day again confronted Mr. McMahon and Kingston asked what he had to do for a championship match. Mr. McMahon said that if he could defeat Randy Orton, Samoa Joe, Cesaro, Sheamus, and Rowan in a gauntlet match the following week, he would receive a WWE Championship match against Bryan at WrestleMania 35.[39] After Kingston survived the gauntlet match, Mr. McMahon congratulated him and said he would be going to WrestleMania if he could defeat one final opponent, WWE Champion Daniel Bryan, who defeated Kingston.[40]
On the October 22, 2018 episode of Raw, Roman Reigns went on hiatus due to leukemia.[44] He returned on the February 25, 2019 episode and explained that his leukemia was in remission and that he would return to action.[35] At Fastlane, Reigns, Dean Ambrose, and Seth Rollins reunited for one last time as The Shield and defeated the team of Baron Corbin, Bobby Lashley, and Drew McIntyre, and The Shield performed their signature Triple Powerbomb on McIntyre through an announce table.[26] The following night on Raw, Reigns, who had not had a match on Raw in five months, was scheduled to face McIntyre, but McIntyre brutally attacked Reigns before the match. Ambrose subsequently faced McIntyre in a falls count anywhere match in a losing effort.[7] The following week, McIntyre challenged Reigns to a match at WrestleMania 35 and then defeated Rollins later that night.[36]
At Fastlane, Samoa Joe retained the United States Championship in a fatal four-way match by making Rey Mysterio pass out to the Coquina Clutch.[26] On the following episode of SmackDown, Mysterio pinned Joe in a tag team match.[39] The following week, Mysterio announced that he would be challenging Joe for the United States Championship at WrestleMania 35.[40]
At Fastlane, Sonya Deville accidentally caused Mandy Rose to lose her match against Asuka for the SmackDown Women's Championship.[26] On the following episode of SmackDown, a similar incident happened, but this time with Rose accidentally causing Deville to lose her title match against Asuka.[39] The following week, it was announced that the winner of a fatal four-way match between Rose, Deville, Naomi, and Carmella on the March 26 episode will face Asuka for the SmackDown Women's Championship at WrestleMania 35.[45]
Matches
No. | Matches | Stipulations | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Seth Rollins | Singles match for the WWE Universal Championship[46] | |
2 | Ronda Rousey (c) vs. Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair | Triple threat match for the WWE Raw Women's Championship[47] | |
3 | Buddy Murphy (c) vs. Tony Nese | Singles match for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship[48] | |
4 | Triple H vs. Batista | No Holds Barred match[49] | |
5 | Kurt Angle vs. Baron Corbin | Singles match This is Angle's retirement match[50] |
|
6 | Shane McMahon vs. The Miz | Singles match[51] | |
7 | AJ Styles vs. Randy Orton | Singles match[52] | |
8 | André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal | Battle royal for the André the Giant Memorial Trophy[53] | |
9 | Samoa Joe (c) vs. Rey Mysterio | Singles match for the WWE United States Championship[54] | |
10 | Asuka (c) vs. Fatal Four-Way winner* | Singles match for the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship[45] | |
<templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
|
(*) - The winner of a fatal four-way match between Sonya Deville, Mandy Rose, Carmella, and Naomi on the March 26, 2019 episode of SmackDown Live will get a SmackDown Women's Championship match at WrestleMania 35.
WWE Cruiserweight Championship #1 Contender's Tournament
First round 205 Live (2/26,[28] 3/5[29]) |
Semifinals 205 Live (3/12[30]) |
Final 205 Live (3/19) |
||||||||||||
Tony Nese | Pin | |||||||||||||
Kalisto | ||||||||||||||
Tony Nese | Pin | |||||||||||||
Drew Gulak | ||||||||||||||
The Brian Kendrick | ||||||||||||||
Drew Gulak | Sub | |||||||||||||
Tony Nese | Pin | |||||||||||||
Cedric Alexander | ||||||||||||||
Humberto Carrillo | ||||||||||||||
Oney Lorcan | Pin | |||||||||||||
Oney Lorcan | ||||||||||||||
Cedric Alexander | Pin | |||||||||||||
Cedric Alexander | Pin | |||||||||||||
Akira Tozawa | ||||||||||||||
André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal participants
1 entrants have been announced as of October 30, 2024.
- – Raw
Wrestler[53] | Date |
---|---|
Braun Strowman | March 18, 2019 |
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 25.0 25.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 26.3 26.4 26.5 26.6 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 28.0 28.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 29.0 29.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 30.0 30.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 31.0 31.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 35.0 35.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 36.0 36.1 36.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 38.0 38.1 38.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 39.0 39.1 39.2 39.3 39.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 40.0 40.1 40.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 45.0 45.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 53.0 53.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.