The Reality Era is an era of professional wrestling within World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), which began approximately early 2014 through May 1, 2016. It succeeded the previous PG Era .
128-397: On April 8, 2013, post- WrestleMania 29 episode of Raw , fans expressed intense and vocal displeasure when then-SmackDown General Manager Booker T suggested the possibility of a third match between John Cena and The Rock . John Cena 's increased prominence in major storylines had also been criticized by various media outlets. Conversely, fan support for Daniel Bryan began to rise as
256-621: A " goody-two shoes Superman ") who would often "overcome the odds", thus getting his first boos and jeers. In the following years, Cena would get mostly real "mixed reaction" rather than go away heat, oftentimes still getting more cheers than boos, with the notorious exception of Rob Van Dam 's Money in the Bank cash-in at ECW's One Night Stand (with ECW being Van Dam's "home promotion"), Tables, Ladders and Chairs match against Edge at Unforgiven in Edge's hometown and against CM Punk at Money in
384-547: A "dirty low down Injun " as a means of drawing cheap heat. Another example of a wrestler using cheap heat was Sgt. Slaughter , who often delivered anti-American promos during the Gulf War (and Operation Desert Shield immediately before it) as part of his Iraqi sympathizer gimmick ; one of those promos came at the 1990 Survivor Series , where Slaughter insulted servicemen stationed in Iraq for Thanksgiving . In 2003, The Rock used
512-408: A "spectacularly phoned-in performance," claiming, "I'll take last year's funky army of dancing mommas as led by Brodus Clay over Diddy any day of the week." He praised the announcers for doing a "fine job" but said John "Bradshaw" Layfield stole the show during the advertisement for Power Slammers action figures. He also praised Fandango's understated entrance but criticized the technical problems on
640-408: A 2-count. The Rock soon delivered a People's Elbow on Cena for another 2-count. Cena soon went for a second AA, but The Rock countered into a second Rock Bottom for a 2-count yet again. A frustrated Rock nearly fell into the same trap Cena did the year before when he taunted Cena with Cena's own "You Can't See Me" taunt before going for a second People's Elbow, however, Cena caught The Rock and delivered
768-410: A 2-on-1 handicap match with Del Rio facing Swagger and Zeb Colter. Del Rio won but had his leg injured by Swagger. Dolph Ziggler took this opportunity to cash in his Money in the Bank contract, and – despite Del Rio putting up a fight – pinned Del Rio to become the new World Heavyweight Champion. Ziggler was soon concussed and put out of action. He still held the title, and Del Rio and Swagger feuded over
896-453: A 6-Man Tag Team Match. Sheamus and Roman Reigns started the match. Big Show ripped off Ambrose's vest and chopped his chest. Sheamus also removed Seth Rollins's vest. When The Shield went for their trademark Triple Powerbomb on Sheamus, Big Show speared all of them at the same time. When Sheamus tried to tag Big Show, Orton tagged himself in, frustrating Big Show. Rollins came off the top rope but Orton performed an RKO on Rollins. Reigns performed
1024-552: A 7 out of 10, the same rating as the main event. WrestleMania XXIX garnered 1,048,000 PPV buys, 205,000 fewer than the previous year's event. The event set a new record for the highest grossing live event in WWE history, grossing $ 72 million. WrestleMania 29 set a new claimed world record of 80,676 fans at MetLife Stadium and was the then second-highest attended wrestling event in history after WrestleMania III . The Rock suffered legitimate torn muscles and tendons around his pelvis from
1152-590: A Codebreaker early in the match. Fandango executed a roundhouse kick, then a diving leg drop on Jericho for a near-fall. When he went for another, Jericho moved, then went for a Lionsault, but Fandango got his knees up. As Jericho attempted for the Walls of Jericho, Fandango quickly rolled him up for the pin. Next, Alberto Del Rio defended the World Heavyweight Championship against Jack Swagger (accompanied by Zeb Colter). Del Rio Irish whipped Swagger into
1280-452: A No Disqualification Match, before Undertaker came to the stage to perform his signature taunt with Kane to honor Bearer. Punk interrupted once again by hitting Kane with The Undertaker's urn , which prompted Undertaker to chase him away, and Punk escaped with the urn. On the March 18 episode of Raw , The Undertaker came to the ring to tell Punk he had one chance to return Undertaker's property but
1408-483: A Rock Bottom respectively. This continued until The Rock delivered a DDT on Cena. But instead of pinning Cena, The Rock instead went for a fourth Rock Bottom and Cena countered with a third AA to win the match and the title. After the match, The Rock and Cena shook hands and hugged each other and The Rock praised Cena as the new WWE Champion, and raised his hand on the top of the stage. WrestleMania 29 received generally positive reactions. Matt Kodner of The A.V. Club gave
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#17328803182001536-463: A chokeslam attempt, but Punk countered it with a roundhouse kick to the back of the head. The Undertaker delivered a big boot to Punk and threw him outside, where they brawled. The Undertaker cleared the Spanish broadcasting table and executed a guillotine leg drop on the ring apron on Punk. Back in the ring, The Undertaker attempted his signature move, Old School, but was pulled off the rope. Punk then stole
1664-475: A concussion during the match. The match ended as a no contest, but the victory went to Axel. Triple H returned on the June 3 edition of Raw , attempting to fight Axel, but was forbidden by his wife Stephanie McMahon, and his father-in-law Vince McMahon. He returned to the ring on June 10 edition of Raw to fight Axel. During the match, Vince took the ring bell and stopped the match after Triple H tried to restart it. On
1792-420: A feud that saw The Shield defeat Evolution consecutively at the 2014 Extreme Rules and Payback events. On the June 2 episode of Raw , Triple H announced his intention to continue the recently reunited Evolution's feud with The Shield, despite Batista quitting WWE to focus on his acting career. Later that night The Shield was in the ring, Seth Rollins attacked stablemates Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns with
1920-522: A first-day revenue record of more than $ 10 million, which topped WrestleMania XXVIII 's previous record of $ 6.3 million. For the first time, WrestleMania was streamed on mobile devices via the WWE app and on Xbox Live . WrestleMania's set included replicas of several New York City landmarks, including the Brooklyn Bridge and Empire State Building on top of the entrance ramp, the Statue of Liberty on
2048-478: A losing effort. Kevin Owens made his main roster debut at the 2015 Elimination Chamber event defeating top star John Cena in an upset but well-received victory. However, he lost their rematch at the 2015 Money in the Bank event . Despite that Rolling Stone named it the match of the year. One of rival wrestling promotion TNA 's most popular wrestler AJ Styles made his WWE debut at the 2016 Royal Rumble event in
2176-497: A natural disaster), although they sometimes do not mention it by name. Historically, another common practice of villains to draw cheap heat involves using racial and ethnic slurs to offend the collective sensibility of wrestling fans. For example, in 1972, when the American Indian Movement was gaining momentum, Baron von Raschke was known to refer to Native American WWA World Heavyweight Champion Billy Red Cloud as
2304-424: A negative reaction that a wrestling character gets from a crowd in a performance setting, it has also become slang for a negative reaction that a wrestler gets backstage from colleagues, management or both. Backstage heat can be garnered for both real and perceived slights and transgressions. Heels can draw "cheap heat" (called "cheap" because it is an easy way for the villains to receive boos) by blatantly insulting
2432-603: A place in the main event where he faced Orton and Batista. He faced the two in a triple-threat match on the same night and won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. During Triple H's post- WrestleMania attack on Bryan on the April 7, 2014, episode of Raw , The Shield interfered on behalf of Bryan and saved him from the assault by Triple H, Batista, and Orton. This led to the three of them reforming their old stable Evolution . The two groups would then engage in
2560-580: A podium above the ring. There are three official theme songs for the event, " Coming Home " by Diddy – Dirty Money feat. Skylar Grey , " Bones " by Young Guns and " Letters from the Sky " by Civil Twilight . Sean "Diddy" Combs performed a medley of tracks during the event, and Living Colour performed " Cult of Personality " as CM Punk made his way to the ring. The professional wrestling matches at WrestleMania 29 featured professional wrestlers performing as characters in scripted events pre-determined by
2688-485: A professional wrestling angle , or match. In terms of crowd reaction, heat is usually used to denote how much of a reaction a heel wrestler receives, but can also be used for a babyface . Although the term can in some contexts refer to either positive or negative crowd reactions, heat is usually used specifically to mean a negative crowd response (e.g. booing ), with its opposite being a " pop " or positive reaction (cheering, clapping, etc.). As heat typically refers to
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#17328803182002816-460: A second AA for another near-fall. The Rock soon went for a third Rock Bottom, but Cena countered and executed a Rock Bottom instead for a near fall. Cena then tried to sucker The Rock into a third AA by faking a People's Elbow attempt, the same mistake that cost Cena the match the last year . However, when Cena went for the third AA, The Rock countered into a third Rock Bottom for another 2-count. Afterward, both John Cena and The Rock went for an AA and
2944-521: A singles match with Henry. After winning a match on the March 18 episode of Raw , Sheamus and Orton were about to be assaulted by The Shield, but then Big Show – who had also been brutalized by The Shield – came out to aid Orton and Sheamus, causing The Shield to retreat, and on SmackDown that week, Sheamus, Orton, and Big Show were teamed together by Booker T to test their teamwork in a six-man tag match against 3MB ( Heath Slater , Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal ), in which they were victorious. Following
3072-448: A six-man tag team match at WrestleMania 29. Orton and Sheamus accepted, then recruited Ryback as their partner. Later that night, The Shield interfered in Ryback's match with Mark Henry and delivered a triple powerbomb to Ryback before he was given three World's Strongest Slams by Henry. The following Monday on Raw , Vickie Guerrero pulled Ryback from the six-man tag team match and put him in
3200-442: A spear on Orton and Ambrose pinned him. After the match, Big Show knocked out both Sheamus and Orton. Next, Mark Henry faced Ryback . Henry knocked Ryback out of the ring a few times. Ryback knocked Henry down with a Meat Hook Clothesline, then tried to perform a Shell Shock on Henry, who grabbed the ropes. Henry crashed down on Ryback, driving his face into the mat and knocking him out, then pinned him. Afterward, Ryback gave Henry
3328-502: A spinebuster and a Shell Shock. After that, Team Hell No ( Daniel Bryan and Kane ) defended the WWE Tag Team Championship against Dolph Ziggler and Big E Langston . Ziggler mocked Daniel Bryan by kissing his on-screen girlfriend, AJ Lee , as Bryan did before his loss at WrestleMania XXVIII . Bryan flew out of the ring onto Ziggler, while Kane and Big E fought inside. Later, as Big E distracted Kane, Ziggler executed
3456-451: A springboard clothesline on The Undertaker for a near-fall. Punk then performed a running high knee in the corner and short-arm clothesline followed by a diving elbow drop on The Undertaker for another count of two. He then attempted a Go To Sleep, but The Undertaker countered with a chokeslam, for a two-count, then Snake Eyes. Punk retaliated with a heel kick and threw The Undertaker to the outside. The Undertaker tried to Last Ride Punk through
3584-518: A steel chair. Rollins turned his back on The Shield, allying with The Authority. Of the three, Roman Reigns would also receive a heavy push. It was during 2015 that John Cena slowly began to transition to a part time role and WWE began to establish Roman Reigns as the face of the company, which received polarizing reception from fans and critics, since having Reigns win the 2015 Royal rumble match on January 25, 2015. Yet, much like what happened to Cena, Reigns' increasing prominence in major storylines
3712-592: A storyline to go in a particular direction. For example, in early 1992 the World Wrestling Federation was attempting to push Sid Justice as a villain. During the Royal Rumble match in January, Justice – who had become popular due to his charisma – was loudly cheered when he eliminated Hulk Hogan , and commentators Bobby "The Brain" Heenan and Gorilla Monsoon picked up on this as a fair act. However,
3840-414: A time where SmackDown!'s talent roster was short of heel main eventers due to Brock Lesnar leaving the company and Kurt Angle due once again suffering from legitimate neck problems. It came to light that then-reigning WWE Champion and top babyface Eddie Guerrero felt a lot of pressure as he felt he was responsible for the drop in crowd attendance at SmackDown!'s live events at the time and wanted to drop
3968-768: A triple threat match against Miz and Chris Jericho on the March 18 episode of Raw , Barrett continued the feud with Miz after he shoved him on Main Event on March 20, which caused Miz to retaliate. On the March 25 episode of Raw , Miz defeated Barrett in a non-title match via submission, thus earning him a championship match against Barrett. The match took place on the WrestleMania 29 Pre-Show. The Bella Twins and Team Rhodes Scholars ( Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow ) were scheduled to participate in an eight-person tag team match against Tons of Funk ( Brodus Clay and Tensai ) and The Funkadactyls ( Naomi and Cameron ) at WrestleMania, but
Reality Era - Misplaced Pages Continue
4096-504: A villain in November 2012, would never actually have a villain single run due to debuting as part of The Shield . By late 2013, Reigns would be getting the biggest push between the three members of The Shield ( Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins ), as he got to win as sole survivor his Survivor Series 5-on-5 Survivor Series match and the most elimination at 4, being the only member of The Shield to defeat CM Punk and breaking another record at
4224-483: A villain, which would lead to his return as a fan favorite. John Bradshaw Layfield's push in 2004 that would change him from a predominantly tag team division competitor to a SmackDown! main eventer who went on to hold the WWE Championship for 280 days (the longest reign in a decade) is often seen as go away heat due to the push being perceived as forced and undeserving. It was noted that Layfield's push came at
4352-468: A villainess, Stephanie McMahon has been able to draw many boos, but her run with The Authority since 2013, as well as her run as Raw Commissioner, has been criticized and critics and fans alike saw her heat during this period as go away heat. Hulk Hogan, the face of the WWF that would lead to a boom in professional wrestling during the 1980s, may be included as well due to receiving less positive reactions by
4480-577: 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 . Announced on February 16, 2012, WrestleMania 29, promoted as WrestleMania NY/NJ, was scheduled to be held on April 7, 2013, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey . This
4608-642: The Attitude Era , therefore audiences became increasingly hostile toward Maivia, with chants of "Die, Rocky, die!" and "Rocky sucks!" being heard during his matches. After suffering a legit injury in April 1997, Maivia would return as a villain character in August 1997 by joining the Nation of Domination and refusing to acknowledge the Rocky Maivia name, instead referring to himself in the third person as The Rock, insulting
4736-463: The Invasion storyline, where the WWF side (to which X-Pac belonged) was mostly portrayed as the heroes, the fans were vocal in their disapproval of X-Pac, which was acknowledged on-screen by both Alliance member Billy Kidman and later by WWF member Edge . This mass disapproval led to the term "X-Pac heat" as described above. Between 1999 and 2001, Triple H had a successful run as the main villain of
4864-708: The Lakers-Kings rivalry to gain cheap heat during a WWE Raw show in Sacramento (The Rock even claimed that he was friends with Laker star Shaquille O'Neal ) when he was singing a song about leaving the city; the song's last lyrics were: "I'll be sure to come back when the Lakers beat the Kings in May." In 2004 during a WWE live event in Germany, John Bradshaw Layfield used Nazi salutes and
4992-489: The National Football League , Fox lead commentator Joe Buck in an interview with Andy Cohen stated that the network had not ruled out the possibility of using artificial crowd noise on its telecasts for the 2020 season to make up for the possibility of limited or no attendance at games, and that Fox was also exploring the possibility of masking empty stands with CGI crowds. WWE would later follow up on
5120-579: The National Hockey League during the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs as the COVID-19 pandemic hit United States and Canada that impacted the sporting world . The crowd noise was provided by Electronic Arts , combined with recordings of team-specific chants by season ticketholders of participating teams in bubble cities in Edmonton and Toronto (the latter of which was also played in-arena). Similarly, in
5248-511: The Royal Rumble for the most eliminations in a single Royal Rumble match at 12, also eliminating both Ambrose and Rollins from the match and ending up being the runner-up (Reigns would get cheered over eventual winner Batista, as fans wanted fan favorite and popular Daniel Bryan to win instead of Batista), being eventually billed as the leader of The Shield during their feud with Evolution (Batista, Randy Orton and Triple H) between April and May 2014. After The Shield broke up in June 2014,
Reality Era - Misplaced Pages Continue
5376-470: The SuperSonics basketball team to Oklahoma City . "Canned heat" refers to playing a recording of cheering or booing through the arena sound system or adding it to a taped show, to either amplify a crowd reaction or mask silence from the crowd. Pre-taped crowd reactions from other events are also spliced in with the programming to make the crowd look more energetic than it actually is, or if promoters want
5504-507: The WWE Universal Championship from Brock Lesnar , Reigns was cheered. The following night on Raw , Reigns was again booed early in the show, but received a mixed reaction for suggesting that he defend his newly won championship against Finn Bálor later that night. After beating Bálor, Reigns was again heavily booed by the crowd, which increased in intensity after the match when Braun Strowman attempted to cash in his Money in
5632-506: The " Worst Feud of the Year " with Kane (including the " Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic "), as well as the " Worst Worked Match of the Year " (with Scott Steiner in January 2003) and being voted by WON' s readers as the " Most Overrated " (2002–2004) and the " Readers' Least Favorite Wrestler " (2002 and 2003). It would stay with him despite getting in a better physical condition and thus having better matches and feuds by 2004 —due to him winning
5760-469: The 1990s and the longest until Gunther in 2022), with his second reign being better reviewed and the ladder match in which he lost the title to Triple H at SummerSlam being rated ****1/4 out of five stars by journalist Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Newsletter ( WON ). Despite now getting the desired reaction, the WWF would turn him back into a villain (from November 1998 to April 1999) to feud with Mankind (Mick Foley) and become
5888-669: The 2000s. However, by late 2002 he would be criticized for the Katie Vick angle with Kane , with his following feuds with Scott Steiner and Booker T being criticized as well. Thus his "reign of terror" with the World Heavyweight Championship (he was the inaugural holder , being awarded the title by Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff in September 2002) by December 2002 to September 2003 would often being described as go away heat due to his mediocre angles and matches. As result of his go away heat, between 2002 and 2004 Triple H would win
6016-447: The April 15 episode of Raw , CM Punk came out to talk about his match with The Undertaker and his historic WWE championship reign. Punk gave Heyman the microphone, hugged him and walked out of the arena. He returned by defeating Chris Jericho at Payback . Punk then dropped Heyman as his manager, causing Heyman to turn on Punk and Punk becoming a face again. The Undertaker came out the next night on Raw to pay tribute to Paul Bearer, but
6144-531: The April 22 episode of Raw , Cena was scheduled to defend the WWE Championship against Ryback. On the May 6 episode of Raw , the match was made a Last Man Standing match. The match ended in a no-contest after Ryback rammed Cena through the entrance stage. The night after, Ryback came out with an ambulance and challenged Cena at Payback in an ambulance match. Cena accepted and made the match a three stages of hell match, in which Cena won. Wade Barrett invoked his rematch clause on Raw and defeated The Miz, reclaiming
6272-484: The Bank in CM Punk's hometown . Eventually, by the 2010s he would be reevaluated (ironically, also due Reigns being described as "even worse") and getting more cheers, especially during his run as United States Champion in 2015 and even when winning his 16th world championship against popular and respected veteran AJ Styles at the Royal Rumble in January 2017. Reigns, while actually debuting on WWE's main roster as
6400-511: The Bank title shot. The subsequent Shield reunion and attack on Strowman was positively received by the Brooklyn audience, but was viewed by many as a cheap attempt to garner positive reactions for Reigns. However, all the heat diminished as of the October 22, 2018 episode of Raw , when Reigns announced that he was re-diagnosed with leukemia after 11 years and would be taking a hiatus to treat it. As
6528-481: The Bank, losing to CM Punk multiple times and losing to Dolph Ziggler at TLC . He told Rock he would gain redemption by beating him at WrestleMania. At Elimination Chamber, World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio successfully retained his championship against Big Show . Jack Swagger , Chris Jericho , and Mark Henry , who all made their return, earned spots in the six-man Elimination Chamber match , along with Daniel Bryan , Kane , and Randy Orton to become
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#17328803182006656-454: The February 25, 2013 episode of Raw , Triple H returned, brawling with a returning Brock Lesnar (who was last seen at SummerSlam in 2012), who was about to attack Vince McMahon for the second time, thus reigniting their feud from last year. During the brawl, Lesnar's head was busted open and required 18 stitches. The following week, Triple H set out a challenge to Lesnar at WrestleMania. On
6784-535: The Intercontinental Championship for his third reign. In reality, this was done so The Miz could take time off to film the movie Christmas Bounty . Barrett was set to put the title on the line at Payback in a triple threat match against The Miz and Fandango. Fandango was injured and replaced by Paul Heyman's newest client, Curtis Axel . Axel won the championship. Alberto Del Rio and Jack Swagger had one more match to end their feud, but it turned into
6912-513: The Kimura lock, and locked it on Lesnar for an extended amount of time. In the end, Triple H performed a Pedigree on Lesnar onto the steel steps and got him down for the three-count securing his career and keeping his in-ring skills intact. In the main event, The Rock defended the WWE Championship against John Cena. After the bell rang, Cena struck first before The Rock seized control of the match and halted Cena's momentum by sending him scrambling outside
7040-455: The March 11 episode of Raw , after Lesnar attacked Triple H's former D-Generation X members, The New Age Outlaws , Lesnar's manager, Paul Heyman , stated that Lesnar accepted Triple H's challenge, but only if Heyman could add the stipulations, to be revealed after Triple H signed the contract. Triple H signed the contract, therefore, he accepted the conditions, then Heyman revealed that the bout would be No Holds Barred and that if Triple H lost
7168-407: The March 22 episode of SmackDown when Jericho made fun of Fandango's name. This caused Fandango to interfere with Jericho's match and attack him following the match. Fandango attacked Jericho once more on the March 25 episode of Raw after Jericho's match. This caused Jericho to ask Vickie Guerrero to set up a match between himself and Fandango at WrestleMania. According to Jericho, the original plan
7296-485: The Royal Rumble match that would be won by Triple H. The Reality Era moved to an end in the lead-up to Payback on May 1, 2016, an event that was being touted as the start of a " New Era ." At Payback, The Authority would officially disband as WWE Chairman Vince McMahon announced that Stephanie and Shane McMahon would run Raw jointly. WrestleMania 29 WrestleMania 29 (marketed as WrestleMania NY/NJ )
7424-604: The Skull Crushing Finale, but Barrett moved and went for the Bull Hammer. Miz moved and knocked Barrett to the ground and locked in the Figure-Four Leglock, shades of Ric Flair , and Barrett submitted, giving Miz his second Intercontinental championship in his career. The actual pay-per-view opened with The Shield ( Roman Reigns , Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose ) facing Sheamus , Big Show , and Randy Orton in
7552-471: The WWE Championship from previous champion CM Punk . The next night on the January 28 edition of Raw , Cena announced he would challenge the reigning WWE Champion, thus challenging The Rock. At the Elimination Chamber event on February 17, Rock successfully defended the championship against Punk. The next night on Raw , Punk challenged Cena for his spot in the main event, and Cena accepted. Cena won
7680-514: The WWE World Heavyweight Championship, winning his first WWE title in a decade. On the following episode of Raw, Brock Lesnar received a newly designed belt to represent the WWE Championship. WCW wrestler Sting , who had previously been dubbed the "greatest wrestler to never wrestle in WWE," made his debut at the 2014 Survivor Series , helping Team Cena defeat Team Authority in a (5 on 5) Elimination Tag Team match, going on to have his first-ever match in WWE at WrestleMania 31 against Triple H in
7808-516: The WWF —especially in 2000, when he became the first villain to win the main event of WrestleMania and thus retain the WWF Championship, as well as winning the "Feud of the Year" award by both PWI (with Kurt Angle ) and WON (with Mick Foley) and the WON " Wrestler of the Year " award due his accomplishments and performances. Dave Meltzer would rank Triple H's drawing power as the number one of
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#17328803182007936-552: The Zig-Zag on Kane for a nearfall. While AJ distracted the referee, Big E threw Ziggler his Money In The Bank briefcase. Ziggler tried to strike Kane with it, but he ducked and Kane performed a choke slam. In the end, Kane tagged in Bryan and Bryan executed a top-rope headbutt for the pin on Ziggler to retain the titles. In the fourth match, Fandango , in his in-ring debut, faced Chris Jericho , who began by punishing Fandango. Jericho delivered
8064-471: The audience in his promos as well as WWF television interviewers. The Rock would eventually become the Nation's leader and draw good heat, then starting getting cheered while still being a villain before being officially turned back into a fan favorite character by September 1998. During his time in the Nation, The Rock would get back the Intercontinental Championship and held it for 265 days (the second longest in
8192-487: The barricade in the timekeeper's area and with his teammates triple-powerbombed him through the broadcasting table. After SmackDown went off the air, Undertaker was saved by D-Generation X (Triple H, Billy Gunn and Road Dogg). CM Punk would become the final victim of Undertaker's undefeated WrestleMania streak as at WrestleMania XXX would lose at the hands of Brock Lesnar, ending the streak at 21-1. Chris Jericho continued his feud with Fandango , with each man attacking
8320-789: The barricade. Swagger later executed the Swagger Bomb, but Del Rio kicked out. Swagger then executed his gut-wrench powerbomb but Del Rio kicked out again. Swagger worked Del Rio's leg, then tried the Patriot Lock a few times, but Del Rio didn't submit. In the end, Del Rio locked in the Cross Armbreaker and Swagger submitted, and Del Rio retained the title. In the first match of the triple main event, The Undertaker defended his 20–0 WrestleMania winning streak against CM Punk (accompanied by Paul Heyman ). Punk first tried to intimidate The Undertaker, finally slapping him. The Undertaker retaliated with
8448-436: The building" after winning the 2015 Royal Rumble . For those arguing that Reigns is getting go away heat, their reason is due his perceived forced push, as he would headline WrestleMania 31 after wrestling only two singles matches on pay-per-view despite having a "very limited" in-ring moveset, "forced promo delivery" and a "petulant and annoyed" attitude ill-befitting of a top fan favorite. Reigns' first coronation
8576-450: The character has become stale, boring, and uninteresting. While it can be difficult to distinguish the good heat for the villain from go away heat, with some fans and critics claiming it is indeed go away heat and others claiming it is good heat, there are a few example which are closer to be go away heat, most notably in WWE because of its major exposure. Notorious examples of the concept are The Rock as Rocky Maivia, X-Pac (who popularized
8704-405: The company" or "the top guy" ( John Cena and Roman Reigns ) have been linked to have had go away heat, as both have in common the fact to be billed as heroic characters and staying as such despite getting jeers for years, unlike Rocky Maivia who was turned into a villain less than a year after his failed run as fan favorite. Cena had a brief run as a villain between late 2002 and late 2003, when he
8832-481: The concept by installing LED boards on Amway Center and later Tropicana Field , branded as WWE ThunderDome on-screen and mixing arena's audio with that of the virtual fans when the promotion began moving tapings from the WWE Performance Center in August 2020. "Go home heat" (sometimes called "go away heat" or "nuclear heat") occurs when fans boo or jeer a legitimately disliked character or, sometimes,
8960-414: The continuing negative reactions by both critics and fans alike, which has led PWI readers to vote him as " Most Hated Wrestler of the Year " for 2016, a first for a heroic character since the award was devised in 1972. It should also be noted that "business went up" with Cena, who has been also one of the best merchandising seller in WWE history, whereas the period in which WWE tried to push Reigns as
9088-583: The early 1990s, including the Sid incident at the 1992 Royal Rumble , and even getting some boos, especially in his early years with World Championship Wrestling (WCW). This was mostly due to a stale character, which was turned as a villain in July 1996 , becoming the leader of the New World Order (nWo) and eventually turning back into a fan favorite in 1999. Curiously, the last two WWE wrestlers billed as "the face of
9216-634: The event. CM Punk, Randy Orton, Big Show, and Sheamus all declared they wanted to face The Undertaker, prompting Raw' s Managing Supervisor Vickie Guerrero to set a Fatal Four-Way match among the four later that night. CM Punk won the match by pinning Orton, earning him the match against The Undertaker. The following night, Undertaker and Kane's former manager Paul Bearer died of respiratory problems. The next week on Raw , Punk interrupted Paul Bearer's tribute segment to boast that he would break Undertaker's streak, which prompted Kane to attack Punk, although Punk escaped. Later that night, Kane defeated Punk in
9344-459: The fans attending the event in Pittsburgh was so significant that it was reported as one of the major news items coming out of the event and described as the live audience engineering a "takeover" of the final two hours of the show. During the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match between Cena and Orton, fans booed both men and chanted for Bryan, with chants such as "This is awful." After the show
9472-436: The fans, a local sports team, or the town in which they are performing. Fan favorites would sometimes do the equivalent, referred to as a " cheap pop ", by referring to the town (which Mick Foley popularized) or promising to "win one for the fans". The villains can also draw cheap heat by referring to a mainstream news event as part of their promo , especially if the event has strongly emotional or political ramifications (e.g.
9600-518: The first to be held outdoors in a cold-weather city. To combat this, WWE added a heater that was hanging above the ring. Additionally, six electric furnaces were plumbed underneath the ring and vented into the ring posts to supply warm air. Tickets went on sale on November 10, 2012, during which WWE set a first-day sales record of 52,029 tickets, beating the WrestleMania X8 record of 51,620 tickets. Partly due to increased ticket prices, WWE also set
9728-481: The floor of MetLife Stadium, pummeling each other with anything and everything within arm's reach. Triple H sent Lesnar crashing into the ringside barricade and then Lesnar drove Triple H's sternum into the broadcasting table in return. After a big brawl, both in and outside of the ring, which included Shawn Michaels getting an F5 from Lesnar and Heyman receiving Sweet Chin Music, Triple H stole Brock Lesnar's submission move,
9856-533: The heroic Ambrose and the now villain Rollins would change their ring attire and theme music (unlike Reigns, who retained much of The Shield's aesthetic including ring attire, a remixed version of the group's theme music and ring entrance), eventually evolving their characters during their high acclaimed feud that won the Pro Wrestling Illustrated ( PWI ) award for the " Feud of the Year ". While Ambrose
9984-403: The hosting promotion , WWE. Storylines between the characters played out on WWE's primary television programs, Raw and SmackDown . On January 27, John Cena won the 2013 Royal Rumble match , making him the fourth multiple Rumble winner , and earning himself either a WWE Championship or World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania 29. Later that same night, The Rock won
10112-429: The inner workings of professional wrestling, and this type of heat is transformed into a pop. This is due to smarks realizing how good the character work is, and cheering instead of booing. Generally speaking, go home heat happens either because the fans feel the promotion has been too aggressively pushing a certain wrestler (regardless of his character alignment) who they feel is undeserving of their push, or because
10240-559: The live stream that caused many watching through WWE.com to miss the opening match. Canadian Online Explorer 's professional wrestling section gave the entire event a rating of 8 out of 10. The six-man tag team match received a 7 out of 10, the World Heavyweight Championship match received a 5 out of 10 and the CM Punk-Undertaker match received a perfect score of 10 out of 10. The Triple H-Brock Lesnar match received
10368-432: The main event of WrestleMania X-Seven at Austin's home state , "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania X8 and Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam , The Rock would never draw go away heat and would instead use both the fans turning on him and him getting more successful in his actor career to turn back into a villain in 2003 to end his full-time career, before becoming once again a fan favorite ever since 2004. During
10496-410: The main event of WrestleMania XXVIII the previous year. John Cena vs The Rock was the second time that a WrestleMania main event was back-to-back (the first being Bret Hart vs Yokozuna WrestleMania IX and X ). Other prominent matches included The Undertaker defeating CM Punk , concluding a storyline revolving around Paul Bearer 's death and The Undertaker's WrestleMania undefeated streak . In
10624-605: The main event, immediately going after the world title. However, as soon as his singles career on WWE's main roster started, Reigns' positive reactions started to diminish, culminating in Orton getting cheered over him during their match at SummerSlam . After suffering a legit incarcerated hernia in September 2014, Reigns' positive crowd reactions following his return in December further diminished, culminating in Reigns "getting booed out of
10752-614: The mat, The Undertaker suddenly attempted the Hell's Gate. Punk countered into a bridging pin for another near-fall. He then secured the Anaconda Vice, but The Undertaker powered through to his feet and tried another chokeslam, which Punk reversed into the Go To Sleep but The Undertaker immediately rebounded off the ropes and nailed Punk with the Tombstone for a dramatic near-fall. Back on their feet,
10880-448: The match on February 25, setting up a rematch of his "Once in a Lifetime" match from the previous year against Rock. Cena blamed Rock for sending his life into a downward spiral, citing events such as being attacked by Brock Lesnar on the post-WrestleMania Raw, Big Show turning heel and attacking him, being embarrassed by John Laurinaitis at Over the Limit , failing to cash in his Money in
11008-446: The match only if Team Hell No put their Tag Team Championship on the line, to which they agreed. A minor rivalry between Chris Jericho and Fandango (the former Johnny Curtis from NXT) developed prior to Wrestlemania. Fandango made numerous appearances, but he never competed in matches due to announcers and wrestlers repeatedly mispronouncing his name or did not say it with the right kind of "feel" he liked. The feud with Jericho began on
11136-615: The match was canceled due to time restraints and instead took place the following night on Raw , where Tons of Funk and The Funkadactyls emerged victorious. During the WrestleMania XXIX Pre-Show, a panel consisting of Jim Ross , Kofi Kingston , Dusty Rhodes and Scott Stanford discussed the event's matches. Later in the pre-show, Snooki spoke backstage to The Miz and Wade Barrett . Their Intercontinental Championship match, commentated by Matt Striker and Josh Mathews, went back and forth between both wrestlers. Miz went for
11264-465: The match, The Shield came to the ring to confront the victors before retreating once again. On the March 18 episode of Raw , Dolph Ziggler defeated Kofi Kingston , with outside help from his bodyguard Big E Langston . This caused WWE Tag Team Champions Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan and Kane), who both had been attacked by Langston during past matches with Ziggler, to challenge them at WrestleMania. Ziggler's girlfriend, AJ Lee , said they would accept
11392-483: The match, he must retire from WWE. On the final Raw before WrestleMania, Shawn Michaels announced that he would be in Triple H's corner for the match to support him. On the March 4 episode of Raw , which celebrated "Old School Raw", The Undertaker made his return (his first appearance since WWE Raw 1000 ) by opening up the show, signaling any challenger to face him and try to end his undefeated WrestleMania streak at
11520-491: The match. He later returned at WrestleMania XXX , albeit in a non-wrestling appearance. On the Raw after WrestleMania, Cena put his championship on the line against anyone. Mark Henry answered the challenge, which turned into a number-one-contender match. Cena won by count-out, and was then assaulted by Henry. Ryback then came to seemingly save Cena – making Henry retreat and helping Cena to his feet – but then attacked Cena. Prior to
11648-500: The move and used it against The Undertaker. The Undertaker attempted a big boot to the corner but was caught on the top rope when Punk moved. Punk executed a flying double axe handle and then attempted to steal Old School again, but was thrown from the ring. The Undertaker then ran the ropes in an attempt to perform his signature over-the-top-rope suicide dive but Heyman stepped onto the apron in his way. The Undertaker then attempted to chokeslam Heyman but Punk saved Heyman by connecting with
11776-437: The new face of the company and gave him multiple coronations at WrestleMania saw a much quicker decline in Raw viewership by late 2015, when Reigns was made the number one contender for the world title in October and eventually winning the title three times between November 2015 and April 2016. In August 2018 at SummerSlam , the audience started out giving Reigns a mixed crowd reaction during his entrance, but upon winning
11904-485: The number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship. Swagger won the match and challenged Del Rio for the title at WrestleMania. Throughout the weeks, Swagger and his new manager, Zeb Colter , repeatedly stressed about the ignorance of America and allowing illegal immigrants in, and promised that they would bring a new era of "Jack Swagger's America". They also repeatedly attacked Del Rio, and Swagger injured Del Rio's ring announcer, Ricardo Rodriguez 's ankle. On
12032-598: The number one contendership. At Extreme Rules, Del Rio won an "I Quit" match for the number one contendership. Del Rio defeated Ziggler at Payback to win the World Heavyweight Championship for a second time, ending Ziggler's reign at 69 days. During the match a double turn occurred, Del Rio turned heel attacking Ziggler's head taking advantage of his concussion, and Ziggler turned face showing a "never-say-die" attitude. Brock Lesnar returned to Raw on April 15, to challenge Triple H (who had suffered second degree burns to his torso and arms during his WrestleMania ring entrance when
12160-726: The other after matches. Jericho defeated Fandango in a rematch at Extreme Rules . WrestleMania 29 was the last WrestleMania to feature the World Heavyweight Championship, as the title was unified with the WWE Championship at December's TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs event, with the latter being renamed to WWE World Heavyweight Championship. It would in turn be the final WrestleMania to feature two world championships until WrestleMania 33 in 2017. Heat (professional wrestling) Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s In professional wrestling , heat can refer to both crowd reactions and real-life animosity between those involved in
12288-507: The penultimate match, Triple H defeated Brock Lesnar in a No Holds Barred match ; had Triple H lost, he would have retired. Also, Alberto Del Rio retained the World Heavyweight Championship against Jack Swagger in the title's final defense at WrestleMania, as it was unified with the WWE Championship in December 2013 . Due to that, this was the last WrestleMania to feature two world titles until WrestleMania 33 in 2017. WrestleMania 29
12416-476: The reaction was edited in future television replays, with Sid being booed heavily and Monsoon describing him as a "jerk." Before SmackDown went live in 2016, WWE usually overdubbed cheers on it and professional wrestling magazine Power Slam joked that the company has had to "fire up the Fake Crowd Roar Machine™ to add an artificial atmosphere". This was particularly done for Roman Reigns , who
12544-417: The ring to regroup within the bout's opening moments. The match went on while The Rock had control by striking Cena with blows and punches. Cena then locked The Rock into a Crossface, but The Rock countered into a pin for a 2-count. Cena then locked The Rock in an STF, but The Rock powered out. The Rock then executed a Rock Bottom on Cena but only for a 2-count. Cena then performed an AA on The Rock, but only got
12672-511: The royal rumble match. WrestleMania 32 received a negative response, with many calling NXT TakeOver: Dallas which took place the day before WrestleMania on April 1, 2016, a far superior event and many citing the match between Shinsuke Nakamura and Sami Zayn at the event as the match of the year. At WrestleMania XXX , The Undertaker's undefeated streak of 21 consecutive victories dating back to 1991 would be broken by Brock Lesnar . Lesnar would go on to defeat Cena at SummerSlam to win
12800-501: The show a letter grade of B. He generally criticized the event as "too much of the same, with nary a sense of fun to the matches." He claimed the main event between John Cena and The Rock was "all too similar, and the match never popped." He named The Undertaker vs. CM Punk "match of the night". "Though it came nearly an hour before the night was over, their match was the clear climax, and the only true triumph of WrestleMania XXIX [ sic ]" he said. Kodner claimed P. Diddy gave
12928-422: The stage sprayed dry ice on him ) to a steel cage match at Extreme Rules . A week later, Triple H came out to the surprise of Paul Heyman to accept the challenge and gave Heyman a Pedigree. Lesnar won the rematch at Extreme Rules. Paul Heyman came out the next night to reveal his newest client Curtis Axel. Triple H interrupted and issued a challenge to Axel before slapping him. Later that night, Triple H suffered
13056-418: The still-ongoing title match into a triple-threat match, and his eventual victory was met with a positive response. However, Rollins would be forced to vacate the title later on in October 2015 after an injury. At the 2015 Survivor Series event, a tournament for the vacant WWE World Heavyweight Championship was held, with Shield members Reigns and Ambrose making it to the finals and Reigns defeating Ambrose in
13184-406: The storyline featuring The Authority began. During the "Championship Ascension Ceremony" segment ahead of Cena and Randy Orton 's approaching championship unification match at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs , the fans' "Yes!" chants forced Cena to go off-script and acknowledge Bryan. Batista shockingly returned in January 2014 and won the 2014 Royal Rumble match . The negative reaction of
13312-400: The table he'd cleared, but Punk countered and kicked him the back of the head. He laid The Undertaker on the table, climbed the turnbuckle, and executed another diving elbow drop onto the broadcasting table. The referee began counting The Undertaker out as Punk made it back into the ring, but The Undertaker made it back into the ring with one second to spare. As Punk attempted to pick him up from
13440-463: The term in the early 2000s so much that go away heat is also known as " X-Pac heat "), Triple H , John "Bradshaw" Layfield , Lita , Stephanie McMahon , Michael Cole in 2011, and more recently Roman Reigns (see Persona and reception of Roman Reigns ), Baron Corbin , Gable Steveson , Nia Jax , Logan Paul , Karrion Kross , Austin Theory , and Charlotte Flair . Between 1996 and 1997, Rocky Maivia
13568-428: The title five times for a total of 616 days —until he put over Batista (whose storyline building and eventual feud was highly acclaimed, winning the WON "Feud of the Year" award) at WrestleMania 21 , Backlash and Vengeance . After his Hell in a Cell match with Batista at Vengeance, Triple H was given a standing ovation. Triple H would be getting cheered during his feud with Cena in 2006 despite still being
13696-400: The title. Layfield would not improve things on SmackDown! during his reign and actually drew even less than Guerrero. Furthermore, Layfield's matches on pay-per-view were not well received, including his WrestleMania 21 match with John Cena in which he lost the title. However, the subsequent rematch between Layfield and Cena in an "I Quit" match at Judgment Day was better received. As
13824-480: The top villain to main event WrestleMania XV as WWF Champion and drop the title to the company's "poster boy" Stone Cold Steve Austin . In April 1999, The Rock would turn back into a heroic character and would become one of the most successful characters of both the Attitude Era and WWE history. Despite getting some mixed reactions and being booed a few times in 2001 and 2002, most notably against Austin in
13952-404: The tournament final to win his first WWE World Heavyweight Championship . This received a mixed response from the fans. Reigns would then begin feuding with The Authority, culminating in the main event at WrestleMania 32 . There he would defeat Triple H to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship again after losing the title to Triple H at the Royal Rumble, wherein the title had to be defended in
14080-566: The two traded blows, and the referee was knocked down in the chaos. Punk hit the high knee again, but The Undertaker took advantage of the position by attempting Last Ride. While Punk was on The Undertaker's shoulders, Heyman handed him the urn, which he struck on the back of The Undertaker's head. Punk then mocked The Undertaker's traditional pinning style for another two-count. Punk and The Undertaker proceeded to trade near-finishers, with The Undertaker's Tombstone finally winning out, securing his victory and improving his streak to 21 wins. He reclaimed
14208-452: The urn (with Heyman being dressed up as Bearer) before then boldly opening the urn and emptying its contents over a fallen Undertaker. In November 2015, Paige mocked then Divas Champion Charlotte about her late younger brother Reid . In October 2018 at Key Arena in Seattle, WA , Elias and Kevin Owens received over six minutes of continuous booing after mocking the city's loss of
14336-438: The urn and walked backstage, pausing on the ramp to raise his fist. In the second main event match, Triple H faced Brock Lesnar (accompanied by Paul Heyman) in a No Holds Barred match with Triple H's career at stake. Prior to the match, Triple H suffered second-degree freeze burns due to a pyrotechnic malfunction, causing dry ice to be sprayed on to his chest and torso during his entrance. Triple H and Lesnar quickly spilled to
14464-447: The wrestler playing that character. Go home heat can be given to wrestlers who are viewed negatively, either for their booking , their character, or even their actions outside of the show; thus, both heroes and villains can get this kind of heat. However, nuclear heat can also mean a heel character getting genuine disdain from fans, simply from great character work. This is much less common in the present day, as fans may be more clued in to
14592-546: The year rolled on, as he was compared to Stone Cold Steve Austin during the Attitude Era . Similar to the "What?" chants associated with Austin, the "Yes!" chants among the fans of Bryan have become a cultural trend in the WWE — the chant even going as far as being translated to "Oui! Oui! Oui" whenever WWE would hold televised events in Montreal in 2018 and 2019. After John Cena lost the WWE Championship to Daniel Bryan at SummerSlam ,
14720-456: Was Jericho vs. Ryback, but Vince McMahon changed his rival. The other rivalry that had escalated was between The Miz and Intercontinental Champion Wade Barrett . Miz and Barrett had been trading jabs back and forth about which of them was the better actor, as Miz had starred in The Marine 3: Homefront , and Barrett had a minor role in the film Dead Man Down . After defending his title in
14848-428: Was a commercial success; it drew 80,676 fans, which became the third highest attended event in the history of WWE after WrestleMania 32 and WrestleMania III , and it became the highest grossing live event in WWE history, grossing $ 72 million. WrestleMania is considered WWE 's flagship pay-per-view (PPV) event , having first been held in 1985 . It is the longest-running professional wrestling event in history and
14976-410: Was being voted by PWI' s reader as the " Most Popular Wrestler of the Year " in 2014 and 2015 and Rollins as both the " Wrestler of the Year " and the " Most Hated Wrestler of the Year " in 2015, Reigns had finished in second place for the WON "Most Overrated" award in both 2014 and 2015. When breaking up The Shield, WWE thought Reigns was the most popular between the three and thus pushed Reigns in
15104-661: Was booed heavily by the crowd. In April 2006 during his feud with Shawn Michaels , Mr. McMahon used religion and the city to get heat from the crowd in St. Louis, Missouri by saying he went to hell that morning when his driver "got lost and ended up in East St. Louis ". More recent examples include CM Punk and Paul Heyman in March 2013 mocking through displays of flippancy and disrespect towards Paul Bearer (who had just died), stealing his trademark urn and with Punk going as far as assaulting The Undertaker and constantly beating him with
15232-399: Was heavily booed at the time despite being booked as a babyface. Gillberg 's entrance mocked on this concept, which features pre-recorded "Gillberg" chants in reference to accusations of World Championship Wrestling using pre-recorded crowd chants in entrances of the wrestler Gillberg parodies, Bill Goldberg . This concept would end up being used outside of professional wrestling such as
15360-555: Was interrupted by Punk on the TitanTron, who further boasted about being the one to "snap the streak" while nonchalantly tossing the urn in the air. Disguised as a druid, Punk further assaulted Undertaker on Raw and constantly beat him with the urn. Punk then boldly opened the urn and emptied its ashes over a fallen Undertaker, thus igniting their feud. On the March 15 episode of SmackDown , The Shield ( Roman Reigns , Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose ) challenged Randy Orton and Sheamus to
15488-506: Was interrupted by The Shield, who tried to attack him, until Team Hell No made the save. The next week, Undertaker wrestled his last match on Raw teaming up with Team Hell No in a losing effort against The Shield by pinfall from Dean Ambrose on Daniel Bryan. The same week, Undertaker wrestled his last match on SmackDown in a winning effort against Ambrose of The Shield by submission with Hell's Gate. Afterwards, Undertaker made some defense against The Shield, but Roman Reigns speared him through
15616-422: Was met with fan backlash . At the 2015 Royal Rumble , Reigns received massive heat from the live crowd. Fans expressed their outrage during and after Fastlane where Reigns defeated the fan's favorite, Daniel Bryan . During the main event of WrestleMania 31 between Reigns and then-WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar, Rollins surprisingly cashed in his Money in the Bank contract in the climax. This turned
15744-401: Was set to happen in the main event of WrestleMania 31, but WWE ultimately decided to go with Rollins cashing-in his Money in the Bank contract and win the title to avoid further negative reactions towards Reigns. Reigns would eventually win three world titles and two consecutive WrestleMania main events (against Triple H at WrestleMania 32 and The Undertaker at WrestleMania 33 ) despite
15872-453: Was taken off the air, Batista , who had been presented on the air as a heroic babyface character, mocked Bryan and gestured his middle finger at the crowd. On the March 10 episode of Raw , Bryan would "Occupy Raw" until Triple H gave in to his requests. During the March 24 episode the following week, Triple H would dub that point in time the beginning of the "Reality Era". At WrestleMania XXX Bryan would go on to defeat Triple H to earn
16000-497: Was the 29th annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by WWE . It took place on April 7, 2013 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey . Nine professional wrestling matches were contested at the event, with one match contested on the Pre-Show. In the main event , John Cena defeated The Rock to win his record eleventh WWE Championship , as well as avenging his loss to The Rock in
16128-569: Was the fifth WrestleMania in the New York metropolitan area ; WrestleMania I , X , and XX were held at Madison Square Garden , and a portion of WrestleMania 2 was held at Nassau Coliseum . It was the third WrestleMania held in the state of New Jersey after WrestleMania IV and V , both of which were held at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. The event was the fifth WrestleMania to be held outdoors (after IX , XXIV , XXVI , and XXVIII ), but
16256-475: Was the first major example of go away heat and also the best example of turning the go away heat into a star by 1998. Hyped as the WWF's first third-generation wrestler, Maivia was a clean-cut heroic character who was pushed heavily from the start and won the Intercontinental Championship despite his wrestling inexperience. This was during a transitional, but more edgy period that would lead to
16384-446: Was turned back into a fan favorite to acclaim, much like The Rock in 1998. Cena would also win his first world title to a pop from the crowd, eventually surpassing Batista's popularity in 2005 that would see him being moved from SmackDown to the Raw brand . By mid-2005, a change of character not appreciated by fans would see Cena changing from "The Doctor of Thuganomics" (a rapper) to a more clean-cut character (described by Cena as
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