207-474: WrestleMania 25 (marketed as The 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania and WrestleMania 25th Anniversary ) was the 25th annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw , SmackDown , and ECW brand divisions . The event took place on April 5, 2009, at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas . It
414-493: A WWE 2K24 gaming tournament, live podcast recordings, meet-and-greets with wrestlers, and a large merchandise store with various memorabilia honoring WrestleMania's 40-year history. Survivor Series Survivor Series , branded as Survivor Series: WarGames since 2022, is a professional wrestling event produced annually since 1987 by WWE , the world's largest professional wrestling promotion . Held in November generally
621-425: A Tombstone Piledriver on Michaels – all of which scored near-falls. Undertaker won the match after Michaels attempted another moonsault only to be caught in mid-air, and landed into another Tombstone Piledriver. As a result of this victory, The Undertaker remained undefeated at WrestleMania, extending his record to 17–0. Throughout the match, fans were split, chanting for both superstars, and at one point chanted "This
828-536: A Winner Takes All Lumberjack match , which has a number of wrestlers surround the ring in order to keep any competitor from avoiding the match, to unify the World Tag Team Championship and WWE Tag Team Championship . The Colóns won the encounter after Primo executed the Backstabber on Morrison. As the event went live on pay-per-view and right before the opening pyro, Nicole Scherzinger sang " America
1035-666: A five stars rating from sports journalist Dave Meltzer . In Night 2's main event, Roman Reigns retained the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against Cody Rhodes, after Reigns' cousin Solo Sikoa interfered on his behalf. WrestleMania XL took place on April 6 and 7, 2024 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . Following precedent, the WrestleMania Weekend festivities included
1242-621: A ladder match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship also headlined, in which Razor Ramon defeated Shawn Michaels . Bret having been defeated earlier won the WWF World Heavyweight Championship from Yokozuna in the main event. Bret is the first wrestler in WrestleMania history to lose his first match and come back to win the WWF World Heavyweight Championship in the main event. After failing to capture
1449-454: A villain or a hero as they followed a series of events that built tension, and culminated into a wrestling match or series of matches. The event featured wrestlers from WWE's Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brands—a storyline division in which WWE's employees are assigned to a television program of the same name. John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) defeated CM Punk on the March 9 episode of Raw to win
1656-408: A No Holds Barred Street Fight, Charlotte defeated Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks to win the inaugural WWE Women's Championship , Chris Jericho defeated AJ Styles in a singles match, The League of Nations (Sheamus, Rusev, and Alberto Del Rio) (with King Barrett ) defeated The New Day ( Xavier Woods , Kofi Kingston , and Big E ) in a six-man tag match, Zack Ryder won a 7-man ladder match for
1863-601: A WrestleMania in a critically acclaimed match, which received the 2009 Match of the Year award by both Pro Wrestling Illustrated and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter . The WWE Intercontinental Championship was defended at the event for the first time since WrestleMania X8 with Rey Mysterio defeated John "Bradshaw" Layfield. John Cena defeated Edge for the World Heavyweight Championship also involving
2070-444: A bout that received much acclaim, and The Undertaker defeated Sycho Sid for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship in the main event. The match between Hart and Austin is considered by many fans as one of the best professional wrestling matches of all time and has been voted by IGN as the greatest match in WrestleMania history, and was number 1 among their list of top 20 WrestleMania matches of all time. Various other sources also names
2277-774: A brand value of US$ 245 million in 2019 behind the Super Bowl , Summer Olympics , NCAA Final Four , the FIFA World Cup , and the College Football Playoffs . For five of the first six WrestleManias, Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura served as the color commentators (the exception being WrestleMania 2, which was split among three venues and had Monsoon, Ventura, and Vince McMahon split up with guest commentators), while Bobby Heenan , Gene Okerlund , Lord Alfred Hayes , and others filled guest roles. For WrestleMania VII and VIII, Monsoon and Heenan provided color commentary. In
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#17330857802062484-635: A casket match, and Mickie James defeat Trish Stratus to win the original WWE Women's Championship . At WrestleMania 23 , the Money in the Bank match expanded to include eight men and would include stars from the new ECW brand, which was won by Mr. Kennedy . John Cena would go on to retain his WWE Championship against Shawn Michaels, while The Undertaker would win the World Heavyweight Championship from Batista. Representing Donald Trump , ECW World Champion Bobby Lashley defeated Umaga , who represented Vince McMahon, in
2691-438: A contract, which guarantees a world title match at the time and place of the winner's choosing for up to one year, including the following year's WrestleMania. This lasted until 2010 when the Money in the Bank pay-per-view was introduced and thus the Money in the Bank ladder match was retired from WrestleMania. Forbes named WrestleMania one of the world's most valuable sports event brands from 2014 to 2019, ranking it sixth with
2898-416: A favorable impression, show them that match.” Dave Meltzer gave the match 4 and 3/4 stars out of 5 but stated that he felt "there was a predictableness to it" which prevented it from being a 5-star match. Undertaker affirmed that both he and Michaels "delivered on every aspect of storytelling and match quality", and Michaels himself called the match "the most perfect, beautiful thing I've ever performed inside
3105-444: A feud with Cena while Triple H would go out to re-unite DX. On the same episode of Raw , it was announced that Vickie Guerrero would vacate her role as SmackDown general manager to become the new permanent Raw general manager. As her first act, Guerrero announced that John Cena would defend his World Heavyweight Championship at Backlash against Edge in a Last Man Standing match . The animosity between Matt and Jeff Hardy continued on
3312-577: A four-day event held at convention centers and arenas in the host city of that year's WrestleMania. For WrestleMania XL in April 2024, WWE will relaunch the event under a new name of WWE World at WrestleMania, which will be done in partnership with Fanatics Events and held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. The event will run from Thursday, April 4 until Monday, April 8. The five-day event includes interview panel sessions with WWE wrestlers,
3519-595: A future WrestleMania will be held at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana as part of a partnership with the Indiana Sports Corp, which will see the 2025 Royal Rumble and a future SummerSlam held at the stadium. Over the years, WrestleMania has featured many celebrity appearances with varying levels of involvement. The main event of the first WrestleMania showcased numerous celebrities along with
3726-517: A ladder for him to ascend while he would perform a maneuver similar to a leapfrog over the hurdle, and diving down in a seated position known as a leapfrog leg drop , ultimately missing his target, due to Matt's last-minute dodge, which resulted in Matt gaining the advantage over his brother. He then forced Jeff's head in between the seat and back of a steel chair, then executed the Twist of Fate with Jeff's head in
3933-758: A live WrestleMania SmackDown (including the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal) immediately followed by the 2024 WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Friday April 5, then on the afternoon of Saturday April 6, NXT held their Stand & Deliver event , all at the Wells Fargo Center in Philly, which also hosted the post WrestleMania edition of Raw on Monday April 8. The main event of Night 1 saw The Bloodline ( The Rock and Roman Reigns ) defeat Cody Rhodes and Seth "Freakin" Rollins . This match determined
4140-504: A match billed as the "Battle of the Billionaires" and arbitrated by "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. This was also the last WrestleMania where the original WWE Women's Championship was defended when Melina defeated Ashley Massaro in a lumberjills match. At WrestleMania XXIV , Shawn Michaels defeated Ric Flair in a highly acclaimed retirement match, while the Money in the Bank ladder match included seven participants from all three brands which
4347-542: A match officiated by "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, while Triple H failed in his attempt to avenge Shawn Michaels' loss to The Undertaker from a year prior. This was the first WrestleMania in history in which both the World Heavyweight Champion and WWE Champion were able to successfully retain their titles. World Heavyweight Champion Edge defeated the challenger Alberto Del Rio in what would be Edge's last match before his retirement on April 11, and The Rock closed out
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#17330857802064554-532: A match with the added stipulation that if JBL had won, he would have become the owner of Michaels' name and likeness . On the February 16 episode of Raw , Michaels challenged JBL to another match, with the winner advancing to WrestleMania to challenge The Undertaker to attempt to end his undefeated streak at the event . The next week on Raw , Michaels defeated JBL, but it was later announced that another competitor would stand in his way to prevent him from advancing to
4761-444: A result, Guerrero arranged a match pitting Edge against Cena with herself serving as a special guest referee. With all that misdirected hostility focused on Cena, who could not touch Vickie or he would sacrifice his World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania, a lopsided confrontation seemed inevitable. As Edge and Cena battled, Big Show walked down the ramp toward the ring. When he arrived, Edge joined him in tying Cena up within
4968-402: A result, Triple H recruited his brother-in-law and father-in-law, Shane and Vince McMahon respectively. After the main event of the March 2 episode of Raw , SmackDown general manager Vickie Guerrero announced that her husband Edge would defend his World Heavyweight Championship against Big Show at WrestleMania. A contract to be signed to make the match official was intended to be held on
5175-407: A series of kicks on Kane from atop the ladder, knocking him off. Punk went on to win the match after he grabbed the hanging briefcase. Punk's victory marked his second consecutive victory in the match. After the match, Kid Rock performed a live medley of songs: " Bawitdaba ", " Rock N Roll Jesus ", " Cowboy ", " All Summer Long ", and " So Hott ". During the last song, the female competitors of
5382-734: A six-man tag team match, and Cesaro won the first-ever André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal by body-slamming Big Show over the top rope in similar fashion to Hulk Hogan bodyslamming André the Giant at WrestleMania III. WrestleMania 31 was held at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California , on March 29, 2015. Brock Lesnar defended the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the main event against Royal Rumble winner Roman Reigns, with Seth Rollins cashing in his Money in
5589-529: A small festival to celebrate WrestleMania IV, which included autograph signings, a brunch, and a 5K run; the event was held again in 1989 for WrestleMania V. In 1992, a festival was held the day of WrestleMania VIII which included a WWF superstar look-alike contest and a tournament for the WWF WrestleFest arcade game. In 1993, the WWF held a "WrestleMania Brunch" the day of WrestleMania IX at Caesars Palace , during
5796-703: A sumo contest at WrestleMania 21, and fought professional welterweight boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. at WrestleMania XXIV . Jersey Shore star Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi competed in a 6-person tag team match teaming with Trish Stratus and John Morrison in a winning effort against Dolph Ziggler and LayCool ( Layla and Michelle McCool ), at WrestleMania XXVII . The event has also featured live musical performances. Ray Charles , Aretha Franklin , Gladys Knight , Willie Nelson , Reba McEntire , Little Richard , Boyz II Men , Ashanti , Boys Choir of Harlem , Michelle Williams , John Legend , Nicole Scherzinger , Fantasia Barrino , and Keri Hilson have each renditioned
6003-574: A symbolic contract which the holder would be able to exchange for a WWE, World Heavyweight, or ECW Championship match at any time or location of his choosing up until one year. To participate in the match, a wrestler had to first qualify for it by winning a match; this process began on the February 23 episode of Raw , in which CM Punk qualified by defeating The Miz and John Morrison in a Triple Threat match. The next week of Raw , Kane defeated Rey Mysterio and Mike Knox in another Triple Threat match. The next night on ECW , Mark Henry qualified for
6210-615: A team had to be eliminated to win. The name of the match stemmed from this stipulation, as the winners were the "survivors", and in some cases, there was only one survivor. On occasion, there were additional stipulation placed on the Survivor Series match, such as members of the losing team being ( kayfabe ) fired. While typically contested between two teams, the 2019 event had three teams against each other in three-way Survivor Series matches. The promotion had several tag team elimination matches earlier in 1987, albeit with three-man teams and
6417-468: A traditional component to Survivor Series in there because it's large teams of people competing. We just upped the ante a little bit with WarGames and made it evolve. Survivor Series has been an amazing event for 36 years. And it needs to evolve a little bit and this year seemed like the right time to do it. During the Survivor Series: WarGames post-event press conference, Triple H was asked if
WrestleMania 25 - Misplaced Pages Continue
6624-497: A triple threat match. WrestleMania 38 took place on April 2 and 3, 2022, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. As most COVID-19 restrictions had been lifted by that point, this was the first full capacity WrestleMania since 2019, and established a new format for WrestleMania Weekend—a special live WrestleMania SmackDown featuring the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal (a recent WrestleMania night staple) immediately followed by
6831-404: A turnbuckle where the referee was standing, causing him to collide, and knocked out the referee. After executing an RKO on Triple H, Orton tried to gain more advantage and went out of the ring to pick up Triple H's signature weapon, the sledgehammer. As Orton made his way back to the ring, Triple H delivered a punt kick to Orton. Triple H took his sledgehammer from Orton, hit him with it and executed
7038-465: A two-night event. WrestleMania 37 took place on April 10 and 11 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, the original location of WrestleMania 36, to allow for fan attendance—making it the first WWE event to have ticketed fans in attendance during the pandemic, though to a limited capacity of 25,000 for each night. In the main event for WrestleMania 37 Night 1, Bianca Belair defeated Sasha Banks to win
7245-457: A wrestling ring and commentate a wrestling match. In 2001, WrestleMania Axxess was held at the Reliant Hall which expanded upon the event by adding numerous activities including areas where attendees could buy special merchandise, see a production truck and check out special WWE vehicles. From 2002, WrestleMania Axxess would be extended to a three-day event (March 14–16) and would be held at
7452-460: A wrestling ring in my life". WWE ranked it at the top of their list of "The 100 best matches to see before you die". The rivalry between Triple H and Randy Orton continued after WrestleMania when both men would meet in a six-man tag team match at Backlash on the following episode of Raw . The match would pit Triple H, Shane McMahon and Vince McMahon against The Legacy (Orton with his protégés, Ted DiBiase Jr. and Cody Rhodes ). Vince's part in
7659-519: Is awesome", referring to the match itself. The World Heavyweight Championship was contested for in a Triple Threat match between the champion, Edge, Big Show, and John Cena, who entered through an aisle of look-alikes to start the match; Vickie Guerrero was brought out to ringside in a wheelchair by Chavo Guerrero Jr. due to her emotional investment in both Edge and Big Show. The action began with some brawling and some early teamwork from Big Show and Edge before their alliance crumbled. The match spilled to
7866-528: 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". WrestleMania 25 was held on April 5, 2009, at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas . The event featured wrestlers from the Raw , SmackDown , and ECW brands . The event was marketed as "The 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania" and written as "WrestleMania 25th Anniversary". As
8073-588: Is once again two choices: the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship. A women's Royal Rumble match was introduced in 2018, with the winner receiving the option of challenging for either the WWE Raw Women's Championship or WWE SmackDown Women's Championship , which were renamed as the WWE Women's Championship and Women's World Championship, respectively, in June 2023. NXT 's championships,
8280-634: Is the company's flagship event and along with Royal Rumble , SummerSlam , Survivor Series , and Money in the Bank , it is referred to as one of the "Big Five", WWE's five biggest annual events of the year. The widespread success of WrestleMania helped transform professional wrestling. The annual event has facilitated the rise to stardom of several top WWE wrestlers. Celebrities such as Aretha Franklin , Cyndi Lauper , Muhammad Ali , Mr. T , Mike Tyson , Donald Trump , Floyd Mayweather Jr. , Snoop Dogg , Rob Gronkowski , Shaquille O'Neal , and Bad Bunny , among many others, have made special appearances within
8487-585: Is the only time consecutive WrestleManias were held in the same venue. The event also saw the WrestleMania in-ring debut of Shawn Michaels , who would later go on to earn the moniker "Mr. WrestleMania". The first time WrestleMania took place outside of the United States was WrestleMania VI, which was held at the SkyDome (now Rogers Centre ) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada . In the main event match, The Ultimate Warrior won
WrestleMania 25 - Misplaced Pages Continue
8694-461: The 1998 event , which hosted an elimination tournament for the vacant WWF Championship (now WWE Championship), and the 2002 event , which saw the debut of the Elimination Chamber , a type of six-person steel cage match won by eliminating all other opponents. Since 2022, the event has been based around WarGames matches for the men and women. WarGames is a team-based steel cage match where
8901-525: The Canadian National Exhibition . The three-day event included similar activities to that of the one-day line-up. 2003 would be the final WrestleMania Axxess at a convention center for 6 years. From 2004 to 2008, WrestleMania Axxess visited cities around the United States and Canada with a smaller touring version of what was previously presented at regular Axxess events. In 2009 WrestleMania Axxess returned, and has continued every year since, as
9108-578: The Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois , and the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena in Los Angeles. They each featured multiple matches that led up to the main event; this saw WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan defeat King Kong Bundy in a Steel Cage match . A world indoor attendance-record of 93,173 fans was set at WrestleMania III, which was also the largest paying attendance in
9315-501: The Dirt Sheet , as well as profess the brothers' impotence towards their associates , The Bella Twins . The two teams wrestled again on the February 13 episode of SmackDown , with the winning team earning a date with the Bellas. Miz and Morrison won the rematch and the date. The two teams continued their feud in the coming weeks, and while the initial focus of the feud was the competition for
9522-613: The Montreal Screwjob incident, Bret Hart defeated Vince McMahon in a No Holds Barred match with members of the Hart wrestling family present. The Money in the Bank ladder match included ten participants from both Raw and SmackDown (the ECW brand was retired in February), and this match was won by Jack Swagger . This was the last Money in the Bank ladder match to be held at a WrestleMania event due to
9729-574: The NXT Championship and NXT Women's Championship , became additional choices in 2020, but were dropped as choices in 2022 after NXT reverted to its original status as WWE's developmental brand in September 2021. WrestleMania 21 saw the introduction of the Money in the Bank ladder match . This match features six to ten participants and took place at six WrestleManias between 2005 and 2010 before becoming
9936-787: The Pedigree to retain the WWE Championship. WrestleMania 25 received mixed reviews from various sources. Gordon Holmes of Comcast criticized the mini-concert by Kid Rock, stating that "Kid Rock gets ten minutes and The Miz and Morrison don't? Blasphemy!" [ sic ] He also criticized the 25-Divas Battle Royal which "was a bit of a mess, we didn't even get proper introductions for returning Divas like Sunny , Molly Holly , and Torrie Wilson ." Dale Plummer of Canadian Online Explorer 's Slam! Sports stated that "the top of this year's card looked an awful lot like last year's. Just swap out Floyd Mayweather Jr. for Shawn Michaels and everyone else
10143-432: The Raw and SmackDown brands for brand supremacy; NXT was also involved in 2019. In addition to Survivor Series matches between the brands, the champions of each brand faced off in non-title matches. In 2022, the brand supremacy concept was dropped and the event was rebranded as "Survivor Series: WarGames", marking WWE's first main roster event to feature the match; NXT had its own WarGames event from 2017 to 2021 and it
10350-659: The SmackDown Women's Championship against Asuka , ending Asuka's two-year undefeated streak, and Nicholas, a 10-year old fan, became the youngest champion in WWE history when he teamed with Braun Strowman to defeat Cesaro and Sheamus for the Raw Tag Team Championship, The SmackDown Tag Team Championship was also defended for the first time at WrestleMania, where The Bludgeon Brothers ( Harper and Rowan ) defeated The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) and The New Day to win
10557-502: The Toyota Center , where the Class of 2009 were inducted. WrestleMania featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds, plots , and storylines that were played out on Raw , Friday Night SmackDown , and ECW on Sci Fi — World Wrestling Entertainment 's (WWE) primary television programs. Wrestlers were portrayed as either
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#173308578020610764-460: The USA Network . The Army National Guard were the primary sponsor for the event, using the event to help enhance their recruitment. To commemorate the event, THQ and Yuke's produced a video game , WWE Legends of WrestleMania , that was released a few weeks prior to the event and featured past competitors from the company. As with previous WrestleMania events, a series of events were held in
10971-641: The WWE Intercontinental Championship . A week later, JBL's old rival Rey Mysterio issued a challenge to face JBL for the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania. With the match accepted by JBL, this would be the first time since WrestleMania X8 that the Intercontinental Championship would be defended at WrestleMania. On the March 30 episode of Raw , JBL was pinned by Mysterio in a non-title match. At No Way Out , Shawn Michaels defeated John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) in
11178-509: The World Tag Team Champions John Morrison and The Miz from ECW in a lumberjack match to unify the two championships; the match took place on the event's pre-show. Another marquee match saw The Undertaker defeat Shawn Michaels to extend his undefeated WrestleMania streak to 17–0. Featured matches on the undercard included Matt Hardy defeating Jeff Hardy in an Extreme Rules match , Chris Jericho defeated
11385-492: The World Wildlife Fund over the "WWF" initialism. In April 2011, the promotion ceased using its full name with the "WWE" abbreviation becoming an orphaned initialism . Also in March 2002, the promotion introduced the brand extension , in which the roster was divided between the Raw and SmackDown brands where wrestlers were exclusively assigned to perform — ECW became a third brand in 2006. The first brand extension
11592-477: The chokeslam while Undertaker blocked attempts at Michaels' Sweet Chin Music . The action went to the outside of the ring with Michaels attempting a moonsault , only to have The Undertaker avoid the attempt. This led to The Undertaker attempting a suicide dive over the top rope , only to have Michaels pull the nearby cameraman (played by Sim Snuka ) into Undertaker. The spot , however, did not go as intended. The idea
11799-531: The history of professional wrestling at the time. The event is widely considered to be the pinnacle of the 1980s wrestling boom . To make certain that every seat in the Pontiac Silverdome would be filled, WWF decided to exclude the entire state of Michigan from pay-per-view access to the event, which made attending the event the only way for fans in Michigan to see it. The event featured Hulk Hogan defending
12006-401: The match card also includes gimmick matches and matches involving personal feuds. Since 1993, the winner of the annual Royal Rumble match receives a guaranteed world championship match at the same year's WrestleMania (except in 2016 in which the WWE World Heavyweight Championship was the prize of the match itself). With the introduction of the previous World Heavyweight Championship in 2002,
12213-471: The 2022 Survivor Series would not be based on the brand supremacy concept. Additionally, he announced that the event would feature two WarGames matches , one each for the men and women, marking the first time for a main roster WWE event to feature the match. The 2022 event was in turn renamed as Survivor Series: WarGames , and it was also the first Survivor Series held on a Saturday. The NXT brand previously held an annual WarGames event from 2017 to 2021. With
12420-539: The 2022 event was the highest-grossing Survivor Series of all time as well as the most viewed. The 2023 and 2024 events would also retain the WarGames concept. From 1987 to 2021, the event was traditionally characterized by having the Survivor Series match , a type of tag team elimination match that typically featured two teams of four or five wrestlers against each other. In a Survivor Series match, each member of
12627-802: The American version of the WWE Network merged under Peacock in March that year. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, WWE had to present the majority of its programming for Raw and SmackDown from a behind closed doors set at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida , beginning mid-March. In August, these events were relocated to WWE's bio-secure bubble , the WWE ThunderDome , hosted at Orlando's Amway Center . The 2020 Survivor Series
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#173308578020612834-433: The Bank , referred to as the "Big Five". From 1987 to 2021, the event was characterized by having Survivor Series matches , which were tag team elimination matches that typically featured teams of four or five wrestlers against each other. Stipulations had also been added to these matches, such as members of the losing team being ( kayfabe ) fired. During these years, only two events did not feature Survivor Series matches:
13041-500: The Bank briefcase and won the title from McIntyre, becoming only the second wrestler to successfully win a world championship after a cash-in at WrestleMania, and Sami Zayn defeating Gunther in Night 1 to end the latter's 666-day reign as Intercontinental Champion . Also on the card, Rhea Ripley successfully defended the Women's World Championship against Becky Lynch in the opening match of
13248-527: The Bank briefcase, turning the bout into a Triple Threat, ending with Rollins pinning Reigns to win the championship. Other main bouts included Sting 's first-ever WWE match against Triple H, which he lost, The Undertaker returned and defeated Bray Wyatt to get his 22nd victory at the event's history, Randy Orton defeated Seth Rollins and Rusev lost the United States Championship and his unbeaten streak to John Cena. Another important promoted match
13455-552: The Bank briefcase. As the briefcase guaranteed a title shot, CM Punk capitalized from an exhausted Jeff Hardy. CM Punk had hit the "GTS" (Go to Sleep) yet remarkably Hardy kicked out. CM Punk then hit a second one to win the World Heavyweight Championship. After the events of WrestleMania, both Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker took a four-month hiatus from the WWE. Shawn came back to reform D-Generation X (D-X) with Triple H so that they came face to face with The Legacy at SummerSlam . The Undertaker also returned at SummerSlam and attacked
13662-511: The Beautiful ". The Money in the Bank ladder match was the start of the event as the participants: CM Punk , Kane , Mark Henry , MVP , Shelton Benjamin , Kofi Kingston , Christian , and Finlay , fought for the briefcase that was suspended over the ring. The match was littered with many notable moments , including a series of the match's combatants performing dives onto the floor of the arena onto each other, as well as Benjamin diving off of
13869-522: The Bella Twins, the feud took on a dual purpose as each team successfully defended their respective titles in subsequent matches with both teams retaining their respective belts; it was announced on the March 17 episode of ECW that the WWE and World Tag Team titles would be unified at WrestleMania into what would be called the "Unified WWE Tag Team Championship". At the 15th Screen Actors Guild Awards , actor Mickey Rourke , who gained critical acclaim at
14076-514: The Big Show, while Triple H retained the WWE Championship against Randy Orton. At WrestleMania XXVI , the professional wrestling career of Shawn Michaels came to an end as he faced The Undertaker in a highly acclaimed re-match of their encounter from the previous year. The event also featured John Cena winning the WWE Championship and Chris Jericho retaining the World Heavyweight Championship. Following Bret Hart's return to WWE in over twelve years since
14283-434: The Intercontinental Championship, and The Rock defeated Erick Rowan in a record-breaking 6-second match. Also at WrestleMania 32, Baron Corbin won the third annual André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, by last eliminating Kane. WrestleMania 33 took place on April 2, 2017, at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida . It was the first WrestleMania since WrestleMania 29 in 2013 to feature two world championships on
14490-432: The Money in the Bank ladder match; Punk would be able to get his match at Extreme Rules in June by defeating Jeff Hardy to win the World Heavyweight Championship. Prior to CM Punk defeating Jeff Hardy, Hardy was involved in a World Heavyweight Championship ladder match with Edge. Hardy had managed to trap Edge between the ladder, climb it, and retrieve the hanging belt. It was at this point that CM Punk cashed in his Money in
14697-550: The SmackDown Women's Championship, which was the first time two African Americans headlined WrestleMania. Also on the card, Bobby Lashley defeated Drew McIntyre by technical submission to retain the WWE Championship and celebrity Bad Bunny teamed with Damian Priest and defeated The Miz and John Morrison . In the main event of Night 2, Roman Reigns retained the Universal Championship against Edge and Daniel Bryan in
14904-522: The Undisputed WWE Universal Championship and end Reigns' generational 1,316 day-long title reign, following interference from Reigns' cousins Jimmy Uso , Solo Sikoa , and The Rock on his behalf, and Jey Uso , John Cena , Seth Rollins and The Undertaker on Rhodes' behalf. Other marquee matches during the two-night event saw Drew McIntyre defeat Rollins for the World Heavyweight Championship before Damian Priest cashed in his Money in
15111-601: The United States, rising above competitors such as the National Wrestling Alliance and American Wrestling Association . In attendance were business celebrity Sy Sperling and broadcasting executive Tony D'Angelo. WrestleMania 2 was held the following year and took place in three venues across the country. The Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York , the Rosemont Horizon (now Allstate Arena ) in
15318-601: The Universal Championship against Roman Reigns. In another main event promoted match, AJ Styles retained the WWE Championship against Shinsuke Nakamura . Other marquee matches saw Kurt Angle and Ronda Rousey defeat Triple H and Stephanie McMahon in a mixed tag team match, which was Rousey's WWE debut match, and Daniel Bryan had his in-ring return after three years, teaming with Shane McMahon to defeat Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn . Also, The Undertaker defeated John Cena in an impromptu match. In another prominent match, Charlotte Flair retained
15525-403: The Universal Championship. The event also saw the retirement of veteran WWE stars Kurt Angle and Batista. For the first time, the main event of WrestleMania was a women's match, with Raw Women's Champion Ronda Rousey, SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair, and Becky Lynch facing off in a Winner Takes All Triple Threat match for both championships, in which Lynch emerged victorious. For
15732-426: The WWE would come to the ring to compete in a 25- Diva battle royal , to crown "Miss WrestleMania". The match featured Divas that were employed by WWE at the time and Divas that had worked for WWE in the past. Santino Marella , who portrayed a diva called "Santina", his twin sister, won the match and was crowned "Miss WrestleMania". Mae Young acted as the special guest timekeeper of the match while Candice Michelle
15939-452: The WWE Championship against Chris Jericho, via submission. The third main event featured The Rock defeating John Cena via pinfall in a "Once in a Lifetime" match, announced a year in advance. In 2013, WrestleMania 29 had 80,676 fans in attendance, becoming the third-highest attended WrestleMania ever. This WrestleMania had three main events. The first saw The Undertaker extend his undefeated streak to 21–0 by defeating CM Punk. Triple H, with
16146-471: The WWE Championship and Benoit defeating Triple H and Shawn Michaels to win the World Heavyweight Championship. The event also featured the Rock 'n' Sock Connection (The Rock and Mick Foley) versus Evolution ( Batista , Randy Orton , and Ric Flair) in a 2-on-3 handicap match, which was The Rock's last match for over seven years, as well as Stone Cold as the guest referee in an inter-promotional singles match between
16353-493: The WWE Hall of Fame inductions, and then NXT holding its now annual WrestleMania event, Stand & Deliver , the afternoon of Night 1, and then followed by Raw After WrestleMania on Monday. At WrestleMania 38 itself, Cody Rhodes returned as Seth Rollins' "mystery opponent", defeating Rollins in Night 1. In the main event of Night 1, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin came out of retirement for a one match return to defeat Kevin Owens . In
16560-594: The WWE. During this conflict, Orton punted both Vince and Shane McMahon (father and son, respectively) in the head as well as RKO-ing Stephanie McMahon (Vince's daughter), which enraged the WWE Champion (and Stephanie's husband) Triple H . On the March 2 episode of Raw , Triple H convinced Orton to use his title opportunity in a match for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania. The following weeks saw Triple H attack Orton both backstage and at his house. In retaliation, Orton attacked Triple H's wife Stephanie McMahon. As
16767-506: The WWF World Heavyweight Championship against André the Giant and the WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship match between "Macho Man" Randy Savage and Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat . The match between Savage and Steamboat would go on to be regarded as one of the greatest matches in WrestleMania history and is acknowledged by many (including Vince McMahon) as having "stolen the show". WrestleMania IV
16974-579: The WWF World Heavyweight Championship from Hulk Hogan. The following year, the event returned to the United States for WrestleMania VII, which was originally scheduled to be held at the outdoors Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum . The event was moved to the adjacent indoors Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena after poor ticket sales, sold on television as being for security reasons related to the Gulf War and Sgt. Slaughter 's storyline defection to Iraq . The event saw Hulk Hogan face defending champion Sgt. Slaughter for
17181-559: The WWF World Heavyweight Championship, while The Undertaker made his WrestleMania debut, defeating Jimmy Snuka . Following this, The Undertaker went undefeated in 21 of his WrestleMania matches until he lost to Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania XXX in 2014. The next edition, WrestleMania VIII, was held in the Hoosier Dome with "Macho Man" Randy Savage defeating Ric Flair for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship and Hulk Hogan defeating Sid Justice via disqualification. WrestleMania IX
17388-467: The WarGames match moving to the main roster for Survivor Series, this subsequently ended NXT's WarGames event, which was replaced by Deadline . In an interview with The Ringer in regards to WarGames at Survivor Series, Triple H said: The tradition of the Survivor Series has ebbed and flowed and changed slightly over time, but this will be similar to that. This will not be Raw versus SmackDown. It will be much more story-line driven. I still look at it as
17595-449: The WarGames match would become a permanent fixture at Survivor Series and he said "we'll see", citing the success of the 2022 event. In regards to the event not including a traditional Survivor Series match, he was asked if the match was done for good and he said they "weren't done with anything", noting that this year was the time to freshen up the event but the traditional match could see a return at future events. Triple H also revealed that
17802-584: The World Heavyweight Championship against Jack Swagger, and Fandango pulling off an upset win over veteran Chris Jericho. In the opening bout, The Shield ( Dean Ambrose , Seth Rollins , and Roman Reigns ) defeated the team of Big Show, Sheamus , and Randy Orton in their WrestleMania debut. WrestleMania XXX was the 30th annual WrestleMania event produced by WWE on April 6, 2014, at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans , Louisiana . The event
18009-437: The World Heavyweight Championship against Kurt Angle and Randy Orton in a Triple Threat Match, and John Cena retained the WWE Championship against Triple H. Edge defeated Mick Foley in a Hardcore Rules match, where Edge infamously speared Foley off the ring apron through a flaming table at ringside. WrestleMania 22 also featured Shawn Michaels defeating Vince McMahon in a No Holds Barred match, Undertaker defeating Mark Henry in
18216-471: The attendance record at 101,763 as announced by The Rock at the event. In the main event, Roman Reigns defeated Triple H to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Other bouts included the Undertaker defeating Shane McMahon in a Hell in a Cell match. Had Shane won, he would have gained control of Raw , while had Undertaker lost, this would have been his last WrestleMania. Brock Lesnar defeated Dean Ambrose in
18423-427: The best matches I've seen in years", while Triple H , Tony Schiavone , and Shane Taylor have dubbed it the greatest ever, as well as publications such as Bleacher Report . Jim Ross stated he had "never seen a more psychologically compelling match than Shawn and Taker had that night" and Arn Anderson said "If you want to sit down and put up with somebody who’s never seen a wrestling match, and you want them to have
18630-471: The building by security, while Triple H made his return and continued his feud with Randy Orton. They would later battle in a Last Man Standing match on Raw for the WWE Championship which went to a no contest, then at The Bash , Randy Orton defeated Triple H in a Three Stages of Hell match, and would later end their feud in a triple threat Match at Night of Champions , with Randy Orton retaining his title against both Triple H and John Cena. Orton would then begin
18837-519: The chair to win the match via pinfall. A singles match for the Intercontinental Championship was next, in which Rey Mysterio faced defending champion John "Bradshaw" Layfield. Before the match started, JBL kicked Mysterio and punched him down to the ground for a few seconds. But once the referee started the match, Mysterio surprised JBL by quickly executing the 619 before pinning him for a win via pinfall in twenty-two seconds. Following
19044-402: The classic two matches earlier." The match between The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels is widely acclaimed, earning the 2009 Match of the Year award from both Pro Wrestling Illustrated and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter , as well as Match of the Year at the 2009 WWE Slammy Awards . Regarded as one of the greatest matches in the history of professional wrestling, Bret Hart called it "one of
19251-474: The coming weeks, Jericho was confronted by a number of legends including Roddy Piper , Ricky Steamboat , and Jimmy Snuka on an episode of Piper's Pit hosted by Jericho himself. Each confrontation resulted in Jericho viciously attacking each respective wrestler. The following week, Jericho challenged Flair to a match. Although Flair declined (honoring his retirement from active competition ), he offered to be in
19458-402: The condition that Michaels would retire from WWE if he lost. At WrestleMania XXVI , The Undertaker defeated Michaels in a Streak vs. Career Match, thus ending Michaels' career. The next night on Raw , Michaels said farewell to WWE, with his best friend and D-X member Triple H right next to him as they spent their last time, together before Michaels finally left the building. WrestleMania 25 was
19665-573: The corner of Piper, Steamboat, and Snuka for their challenge against Jericho in a handicap match . Jericho accepted the challenge, but subsequently attacked and bloodied Flair. Before the event was aired live, the crowd in attendance were treated to a dark match, which featured the WWE Tag Team Champions The Colóns (Carlito and Primo) compete against the World Tag Team Champions John Morrison and The Miz in
19872-449: The course of which Lex Luger attacked Bret Hart . In 1994, WWF offered "Fan Fest" for the weekend of WrestleMania X, which allowed fans to step inside a WWF ring, participate in games, meet superstars, and purchase merchandise; the event was followed up in 1995 with another "Fan Fest" for WrestleMania XI. For WrestleMania XV, a pre-event concert known as the "WrestleMania Rage Party" (in reference to that year's theme, "The Ragin' Climax")
20079-499: The creation of the Money in the Bank pay-per-view in July that year. WrestleMania XXVII featured the return of The Rock following a seven-year hiatus to serve as host for the event. Trish Stratus competed in her first WrestleMania since WrestleMania 22, teaming with John Morrison and Jersey Shore ' s Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi to defeat LayCool and Dolph Ziggler . Longtime WWE announcers Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler brawled in
20286-424: The departing superstars Brock Lesnar (who would return to the company eight years later) and Goldberg (who would return 12 years later). The WWE Hall of Fame was also reintroduced and became an annual induction show held the night before or week of WrestleMania. At WrestleMania 21 , the concept of the Money in the Bank ladder match was introduced; a six-man ladder match that featured a briefcase suspended above
20493-452: The episode of SmackDown following WrestleMania, leading to continued assaults between the two; newly appointed SmackDown general manager, Theodore Long would announce one last match between the two at Backlash, an "I Quit" match . CM Punk would be drafted to the SmackDown brand, which would see him try on multiple occasions to invoke his contractually-guaranteed title match from winning
20700-650: The event have been hosted in North American cities, with 38 in the United States and two in Canada . The only WrestleMania in the event's history not to air live and be held without fans in attendance was WrestleMania 36 in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic ; it was the first major professional wrestling event to be affected by the pandemic. It was also the first to be held across two nights, with each WrestleMania since becoming two-night events. WrestleMania 37 in 2021
20907-692: The event include " Crash " by Decyfer Down and " Touched " by VAST . According to WWE's executive vice president, Michelle Wilson, WrestleMania 25 featured the most extensive promotional campaign in WrestleMania history. Promotion for the event included a merchandise deal with Kmart enabling discounts on the pay-per-view's retail price, as well as deals with DirecTV and Dish Network to promote through interactive television . The campaign also saw WWE mail to previous purchasers of WrestleMania, professional boxing and mixed martial arts pay-per-views to order their show. WWE spent US$ 10 million for cross-channel spots on television networks such as ESPN , MTV and
21114-598: The event produces a local economy boost for the host cities. WrestleMania centers on the main event matches, primarily for the men's WWE Championship —and additional men's world titles, such as the previous World Heavyweight Championship (2003–2013), the WWE Universal Championship (since 2017), and the current World Heavyweight Championship (since 2024)—as well as matches involving celebrities such as American footballer Lawrence Taylor or actor Mr. T . Other WWE championships are also contested for, while
21321-581: The event saluting the fans after laying out John Cena and The Miz with his signature move , the Rock Bottom , following Miz retaining the WWE Championship. This incident would set up the main event for the following year's WrestleMania. WrestleMania XXVIII had three matches in the upper card. In the first main event, The Undertaker defeated Triple H in a Hell in a Cell match via pinfall, officiated by Shawn Michaels and extending his WrestleMania streak to 20–0. The second main event featured CM Punk retaining
21528-511: The event to avoid potential transmission of the virus to members of the Raw and SmackDown rosters. Raw would win that year's competition with a 4–3 victory over SmackDown. The 2021 event also did not include NXT as the brand reverted to its status as WWE's developmental territory in September of that year. At the 2021 event, Raw again won the competition with a 5–2 victory over SmackDown. On September 19, 2022, WWE executive Triple H announced that
21735-590: The events, with some participating in matches. The first WrestleMania was held in Madison Square Garden in New York City ; the 10th and 20th editions were also held there. WrestleMania III in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan , was the highest-attended indoor sports event in the world, with 93,173 fans in attendance. The record stood until February 14, 2010, when the 2010 NBA All-Star Game broke
21942-400: The feuds loosely related. In an early break from the norm, the 1992 event had only one Survivor Series match. As of 2024, five Survivor Series events have not featured any Survivor Series matches. The 1998 event , which was the first without any Survivor Series matches, instead focused on an elimination tournament for the vacant WWF Championship (now WWE Championship). The 2002 event was
22149-507: The first WrestleMania on March 31, 1985, at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The main event was a tag-team match between WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan and Mr. T , accompanied by Jimmy Snuka against the team of Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff , who were accompanied by Cowboy Bob Orton . The financial and critical success of the event secured the company's status as the most successful professional wrestling promotion in
22356-434: The first night, Jey Uso defeated his twin brother Jimmy Uso in Night 1, in only the third WrestleMania to feature a match between two real-life brothers after Owen Hart vs Bret Hart at WrestleMania X and Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy at WrestleMania 25 , social media influencer and professional boxer Logan Paul beat Randy Orton and Kevin Owens in a triple threat match to retain the United States Championship on
22563-415: The first three-man inter-brand commentary team since the brand extension was introduced was used and consisted of Jim Ross, Jerry "The King" Lawler, and Michael Cole . The following year at WrestleMania XXVI, Jim Ross was replaced by Matt Striker . At WrestleMania XXVII, Jim Ross returned to commentate, along with Josh Mathews and new SmackDown color commentator Booker T ; the sudden change of commentary
22770-572: The first three-way Survivor Series elimination matches for men and women. NXT subsequently won that year's competition with a 4–2–1 victory, with SmackDown having 2 points, and Raw's sole win occurring on the pre-show. NXT would not compete at the 2020 event due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Outbreaks of the virus had occurred at both of NXT's home arenas, Full Sail University and the WWE Performance Center, prompting WWE to exclude NXT wrestlers from
22977-520: The first time in WrestleMania's history, WrestleMania 36 was taped and held across two nights. The tapings occurred on March 25 and 26, 2020, at multiple locations including the WWE Performance Center in Orlando , Florida. It then aired on tape delay on April 4 and 5. It was originally scheduled to take place solely on April 5 at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida , and to air live, but
23184-507: The first-ever Triangle Ladder match for the WWF Tag Team Championship , involving The Hardy Boyz ( Jeff Hardy and Matt Hardy ), The Dudley Boyz ( Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley ), and Edge and Christian . The main event featured WWF Champion Triple H successfully defend his title in a fatal four-way match against The Rock, Big Show , and Mick Foley . This match was billed as having 'a McMahon in every corner' as Triple H
23391-592: The former as the only title to challenge for until the reintroduction of the brand split in 2016, which added the WWE Universal Championship as a choice. After it and the WWE Championship were unified as the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at WrestleMania 38 in 2022, the undisputed title became the only choice in 2023, but with the introduction of a new World Heavyweight Championship following that year's WrestleMania 39 , there
23598-520: The fourth annual André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal by last eliminating Jinder Mahal . The event also marked the unannounced return of The Hardy Boyz, who won the Raw Tag Team Championship at the event in a fatal four-way tag team ladder match. WrestleMania 34 was held on April 8, 2018, at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. In the main event, Brock Lesnar retained
23805-411: The headline match of its own pay-per-view event, Money in the Bank which incorporated the use of two Money in the Bank ladder matches for both respective WWE brands, Raw and SmackDown (since 2017, two matches have been held at the titular event, but one each for the men and women, with participants divided between the brands). The participant who retrieves the briefcase suspended above the ring wins
24012-464: The help of Shawn Michaels, defeated Brock Lesnar in a No Holds Barred match; had Triple H lost, he would have had to retire from in-ring competition. In the final match, John Cena avenged his loss from the previous year by defeating The Rock for the WWE Championship, winning the title a record 11th time and setting a record of four victories as a challenger in a world title match at WrestleMania. Other matches included Alberto Del Rio successfully defending
24219-556: The indoor sporting event record with an attendance of 108,713 at Cowboys Stadium, since renamed AT&T Stadium , in Arlington, Texas . In 2016, WrestleMania 32 surpassed WrestleMania III as the highest-attended professional wrestling event ever held in America, with 101,763 fans in attendance at AT&T Stadium, although the company revealed that attendance figures are manipulated for marketing purposes through investor calls. All editions of
24426-399: The introductions were made, Austin drove to ringside and all around the ring in an ATV, and toasted the fans with beer. The last match of the event was for the WWE Championship; the match was contested between the champion, Triple H, and Randy Orton. As per a pre-match stipulation by Vickie Guerrero, if Triple H had been disqualified or had been counted out during the match, he would have lost
24633-642: The last WrestleMania to feature the ECW brand, and subsequently the ECW Championship, as the brand was disbanded in February 2010, deactivating the championship along with it. WrestleMania WrestleMania is a professional wrestling event held annually between mid-March and mid-April by the American company WWE , the world's largest professional wrestling promotion . Since premiering in 1985 , 40 events have been held, with its most recent 40th edition occurring at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on April 6 and 7, 2024. WrestleMania
24840-444: The light; in sharp contrast, The Undertaker entered second, ascending from the floor with fire shooting up from the stage. The match began with a fast pace by both men going for strikes to have them countered before Michaels feigned a knee injury to gain the advantage, and the pace slowed. This led to an exchange of signature moves and submission holds, which saw Michaels escape The Undertaker's Hell's Gate and dodge multiple attempts at
25047-475: The line: Raw's Universal Championship , defended for the first time at WrestleMania, and SmackDown's WWE Championship. The main event saw Roman Reigns defeat The Undertaker in a No Holds Barred match giving Undertaker his second loss at WrestleMania. Elsewhere on the event's card, Brock Lesnar defeated Goldberg in a rematch from WrestleMania XX to become the new Universal Champion, Randy Orton defeated Bray Wyatt to win his ninth WWE Championship, and Mojo Rawley won
25254-426: The local economy and generated $ 5.7 million in local tax revenue, equating to 600 full-time jobs for the area. With an attendance of 72,744, it is the 8th largest attendance in WrestleMania history. WrestleMania is considered World Wrestling Entertainment 's (WWE) flagship pay-per-view (PPV) event , having first been held in 1985 . It has become the longest-running professional wrestling event in history and
25461-537: The main event for Part 1 of WrestleMania 36, The Undertaker defeated AJ Styles in a Boneyard match , which was produced as a cinematic match and was one of two matches not filmed at the Performance Center—this would in turn be The Undertaker's final match. Braun Strowman also defeated Goldberg to win the Universal Championship while Becky Lynch retained the Raw Women's Championship over NXT's Shayna Baszler. In
25668-466: The main event for Part 2, Drew McIntyre defeated Brock Lesnar to win the WWE Championship; after the show went off the air, a dark match occurred wherein McIntyre retained the title over Big Show in a match described by WWE as the "hidden WrestleMania main event" (which was shown on the April 6 episode of Raw ). Also on the show, "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt defeated John Cena in a Firefly Fun House match, which
25875-609: The main event of Night 2, Roman Reigns defeated Brock Lesnar in a Winner Takes All match for the WWE Championship and WWE Universal Championship, becoming the first wrestler to hold both titles simultaneously and becoming recognized as the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion , although both titles retained their individual lineages. WrestleMania 39 took place on April 1 and 2, 2023, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California —the original location of WrestleMania 37 before
26082-564: The main match of the Raw brand, was a singles match in which Triple H defeated Randy Orton to retain the WWE Championship . The main match of the SmackDown brand was a triple threat match for the World Heavyweight Championship , which saw John Cena defeat defending champion Edge and Big Show to win the championship. The main match of the ECW brand saw WWE Tag Team Champions The Colóns ( Carlito and Primo ) from SmackDown defeat
26289-430: The match as the greatest WrestleMania match of all time. At WrestleMania XIV , Austin defeated Shawn Michaels to become the new WWF World Heavyweight Champion in a match that featured Mike Tyson serving as the special enforcer. Although Tyson had been aligned with Michaels and his stable D-Generation X , Tyson revealed to have been aligned with Austin all along as he personally counted the pinfall and declared Austin
26496-454: The match by defeating Santino Marella . Both Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) and Shelton Benjamin qualified for the match on the March 6 episode of SmackDown by defeating Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy in respective singles matches. On the March 9 episode of Raw , Kofi Kingston qualified by defeating Chris Jericho . Christian qualified the next night on ECW by winning a battle royal when he last eliminated Chavo Guerrero Jr. Finlay
26703-400: The match was later replaced by a returning Batista . At Backlash, Randy Orton and The Legacy defeated Triple H, Shane, and Batista for the WWE Championship. Triple H was put out of action after being punted by Orton after the events of the pay-per-view, while Shane was attacked by Legacy and was taken out on a stretcher. Two months later, Batista later suffered the same fate and was taken out of
26910-404: The match, a frustrated JBL grabbed a microphone and proclaimed, "I quit!". This has been JBL's last singles match as an active performer. The match marked the first time since WrestleMania X8 that the Intercontinental Championship has been defended at a WrestleMania event. The next match pitted The Undertaker against Shawn Michaels. Michaels made his entrance descending on a platform to symbolize
27117-410: The match, thus making it a Triple Threat match . It was soon revealed that the match would involve the new challenger based on Cena extorting Guerrero with footage of the general manager having adulterous relations with Big Show. The next week on Raw , Edge, Vickie and Big Show were set to confront Cena due to Cena revealing the affair between Vickie and Big Show, much to the chagrin of all three. As
27324-475: The men and women from the two brands against each (2016 and 2018 also featured matches with the brands' tag teams going against each other), there were interpromotional matches that featured the brands' champions against each other in non-title matches (e.g., the Raw Women's Champion vs. the SmackDown Women's Champion ). The 2016 , 2017 , and 2018 events were contested between Raw and SmackDown. The 2016 event
27531-404: The mid to late 1990s, the commentator team comprised Vince McMahon , Jim Ross , and Jerry Lawler . Since the brand separation in 2002, matches from the Raw brand have been called by Ross and Lawler; the SmackDown matches called by Michael Cole , Tazz , John "Bradshaw" Layfield , and Jonathan Coachman , and from 2006 to 2010, the ECW matches called by Joey Styles and Tazz. At WrestleMania 25,
27738-460: The most recent to not include any Survivor Series matches, or any type of elimination stipulations, as they instead featured two WarGames matches, one each for the men and women, with the 2022 event also notable for being WWE's first main roster event to feature the WarGames match. WarGames is a team-based steel cage match where the roofless cage surrounds two rings placed side by side and the two teams typically feature four to five wrestlers each but it
27945-456: The next episode of SmackDown ; however, John Cena , from whom Edge won the World Heavyweight Championship at the previous month's pay per view, No Way Out (in the Elimination Chamber match), interfered with the signing before whispering a message in Vickie's ear prompting the signing to be canceled. The next week on Raw , Vickie announced to the surprise of Edge and Big Show that Cena would be in
28152-499: The night of Survivor Series where he was found unconscious in a hotel stairwell (which caused him to be removed of the WWE Championship match and being replaced by Edge at that event), the recent account of someone driving Jeff off the road, and the misfiring of the pyrotechnics in his entrance. Matt then talked about the fire to Jeff's house a year prior, killing his dog Jack. This ultimately led to Jeff retaliating against his brother after weeks of passive resistance. Later that night, it
28359-554: The outside seeing Edge spear Big Show through the guardrail. Cena returned Edge to the ring before applying the STF before Big Show came to his senses, and broke up the action, leading to Cena and Edge teaming up to remove Big Show from the equation before turning on each other. Cena won the match by lifting both Big Show and Edge at the same exact time and set up the Attitude Adjustment on Big Show, then dropping Edge onto Big Show with
28566-508: The pandemic forced it to be relocated. As was established the previous year, the WrestleMania Weekend festivities included a live WrestleMania SmackDown (including the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal) immediately followed by the 2023 WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Friday March 31, then on the afternoon of Saturday April 1, NXT held their Stand & Deliver event , all at the Crypto.com Arena in nearby Los Angeles , which also hosted
28773-526: The post WrestleMania edition of Raw on April 3. The main event of Night 1 of WrestleMania saw Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn defeat The Usos for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship , marking the first time a tag team title match was the main event of a WrestleMania, and only the second time a tag team match was the main event, after WrestleMania I. The match was well received. It was also the first WrestleMania match since 1997 to earn
28980-455: The promotion's original four annual events and their four biggest events of the year. From 1993 to 2002, it was considered one of the "Big Five", including King of the Ring , but that PPV event was discontinued after 2002. In August 2021, Money in the Bank became recognized as one of the "Big Five". In May 2002, the WWF was renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) following a lawsuit with
29187-479: The referee start to count out the Undertaker. The referee began to count as the Undertaker started to revive, and when the official got to the count of 9, Undertaker rolled into the ring, managing to beat the count of 10. The match continued with both men performing all of their respective finishing moves. The Undertaker executed the Last Ride and chokeslam, Michaels executed Sweet Chin Music twice and Undertaker executed
29394-511: The residents near the Gulf of Mexico due to Hurricane Ike and the disaster area declaration by Texas Governor Rick Perry . Following another postponement due to the effect of Ike on the state of Texas, WWE announced that ticket sales would be postponed until November 8, 2008. The official theme songs for the event were AC/DC 's " War Machine " and their live version of " Shoot to Thrill ", as well as " So Hott " by Kid Rock . Other songs used at
29601-452: The return of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin after a year-long hiatus, while Kurt Angle defeated Shawn Michaels in a highly acclaimed match. The Money in the Bank ladder match was also held at WrestleMania 22 as a six-man interpromotional match where the winner would get a world title match of their choosing, regardless of the brand they were on, with this match was won by Rob Van Dam. The main events of WrestleMania 22 featured Rey Mysterio win
29808-598: The ring containing a contract that guaranteed the winning Raw brand participant a world title match at any time and place of their choosing within one year up to the next year's WrestleMania, in which Edge went on to win this match. In the main events, the WWE Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship passed on to John Cena and Batista , respectively, by defeating John "Bradshaw" Layfield and Triple H in their respective matches. Eddie Guerrero's last WrestleMania match took place at WrestleMania 21 against Rey Mysterio, before he died later that year. The event also featured
30015-438: The ring ropes. Fittingly, each drove their anger in his direction: Edge speared him, Vickie slapped him and Big Show drove his giant fist into Cena's ribs several times before clocking him in the jaw. Edge then speared Big Show and sent a message that he would retain his title at WrestleMania. The fifth annual Money in the Bank ladder match was announced for WrestleMania 25 on the February 23 episode of Raw . The briefcase holds
30222-553: The ring, appearing to help his brother. Instead, Matt turned on Jeff by hitting him with a steel chair, costing Jeff the match and his WWE title. After losing his Money in the Bank qualifying match to MVP on the March 6 episode of SmackDown , Matt interfered in Jeff's qualifying match later that night by punching Jeff's opponent, Shelton Benjamin, disqualifying Jeff from the match. A week later, Matt provoked Jeff even further by referring to Jeff's recent accidents, including Jeff's incident at
30429-406: The roofless cage surrounds two rings placed side by side and the two teams typically have four to five members each but it is decided by one fall instead of eliminating all opponents. As a result, the events since 2022 have also not featured Survivor Series matches. After WWE reintroduced the brand extension in 2016, the events from 2016 until 2021 centered around competition between wrestlers from
30636-556: The same move before pinning Big Show to win his second World Heavyweight Championship. Next after that, the 2009 WWE Hall of Fame class was introduced in this order by Justin Roberts : Terry and Dory Funk Jr. , "Cowboy" Bill Watts , Howard Finkel , Koko B. Ware , the Von Erich family (represented by Kevin Von Erich ), Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat , and Stone Cold Steve Austin . After
30843-632: The second WrestleMania to be held in Houston and the state of Texas after WrestleMania X-Seven at the Astrodome , WWE mainly promoted WrestleMania 25 under the tagline "Everything Is Bigger in Texas, Especially WrestleMania" since its announcement at WrestleMania XXIV in March 2008. WWE later began using "The 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania" name in late 2008 to primarily promote the event. Tickets for WrestleMania 25 were originally scheduled to go on sale September 20, 2008, but had to be postponed out of concern for
31050-442: The second event to not include any Survivor Series matches. Instead, it had an elimination tables match and a triple threat elimination tag team match (in which only one member of a team had to be eliminated to eliminate the whole team), but most notably, the event saw the debut of the Elimination Chamber , a type of six-person steel cage match where each opponent had to be eliminated to win. The 2022, 2023, and 2024 events are
31257-570: The second night, and Bayley defeating Iyo Sky in Night 2 for the WWE Women's Championship to mark her first world title victory at WrestleMania. WrestleMania 41 will take place on April 19 and 20, 2025, at Allegiant Stadium in the Las Vegas suburb of Paradise, Nevada . While still roughly in mid-April, this is the latest April date for a WrestleMania, which subsequently marks the first WrestleMania to be held during Easter weekend. Additionally,
31464-432: The show in the form of Vladimir Kozlov , who also made a challenge to Undertaker; the two wrestled the next week on Raw with Michaels defeating Kozlov, and earning his match with Undertaker. The next week on Raw , Undertaker and Michaels defeated Kozlov and JBL in a tag match. After the match, Michaels attacked Undertaker. The pair played mind games with each other over the following weeks. The headline of WrestleMania 25
31671-487: The songs " The Star-Spangled Banner " or " America the Beautiful " before the show. Robert Goulet performed " O Canada " at WrestleMania VI. Acts such as Motörhead , Limp Bizkit , Saliva , Run–D.M.C. , Salt-n-Pepa , Living Colour , Ice-T , Drowning Pool , Flo Rida , P.O.D. , Machine Gun Kelly , Rev Theory , Mark Crozer , and Snoop Dogg have also performed during the live entrances of competitors. In 1988, in association with The Trump Organization , WWF prepared
31878-537: The special guest enforcer for the WWF Championship bout between Shawn Michaels and Steve Austin, while professional boxer Butterbean was challenged to a boxing match by Bart Gunn at WrestleMania XV. At WrestleManias XIV, XV, and 2000, Pete Rose became involved in a short feud with Kane that became a running gag with each appearance ending with Rose receiving a Tombstone piledriver or chokeslam from Kane. Big Show faced sumo wrestling yokozuna Akebono in
32085-475: The spot. Michaels later entered the 2010 Royal Rumble , but would be eliminated by Batista. He later tried to enter the Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship, but he was defeated by Randy Orton to earn the spot. Then at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, Michaels cost The Undertaker his World Heavyweight Championship. The next night on Raw , The Undertaker accepted the rematch, but only on
32292-461: The stipulation of Night 2's main event. Since Rock and Reigns won, the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship match was a Bloodline Rules match . Had Rhodes and Rollins won, all members of The Bloodline would have been barred from ringside during the championship match. Night 2 witnessed a rematch from last years WrestleMania, as Cody Rhodes defeated Roman Reigns in the Bloodline Rules match to win
32499-617: The team of Roddy Piper , Ricky Steamboat and Jimmy Snuka , and the annual Money in the Bank ladder match which was won by CM Punk . Tickets for the event commenced sale to the public on November 8, 2008. For the third consecutive year, WrestleMania broke the record for the highest- grossing pay-per-view in WWE history, grossing US$ 6.9 million in ticket sales, which included fans from all 50 U.S. states, 24 countries, and seven Canadian provinces. WrestleMania 25 generated approximately 960,000 pay-per-view buys, grossing $ 21.0 million in revenue. The event pumped an estimated $ 49.8 million into
32706-401: The themes from The Wrestler , which was the respect for older wrestlers after their careers start to decline, of which Jericho disapproved. On the February 9 episode of Raw , Ric Flair appeared to protest Jericho's tirades, professing that the wrestlers should be respected, as they had paved the way for the future generations to make a living, leading to a heated exchange between the two. Over
32913-572: The then-World Heavyweight Champion, CM Punk. At the Slammy Awards , The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels won the Best Match of the Year, with Michaels expressing that he was glad that he had created history at WrestleMania, but just when he was about to leave, he challenged the Undertaker to a rematch at the next WrestleMania. The Undertaker later denied the challenge, saying he had nothing more to prove to Michaels, and told Michaels that he would have to earn
33120-474: The time for his role in the film The Wrestler , had announced he would be competing at WrestleMania, specifically targeting Chris Jericho. The announcement led to a storyline confrontation between the two on Larry King Live , which showed signs of second thoughts from Rourke. On January 28, it was announced Rourke's spokesperson that the actor would not compete at the event, but would still be in attendance. Jericho's narrative subsequently evolved towards one of
33327-529: The title from Diesel at WrestleMania XI, Michaels defeated Bret Hart to win the WWF World Heavyweight Championship in a 60-minute Iron Man match at WrestleMania XII. The match was widely praised. The event also saw the return of the Ultimate Warrior, who defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley (later known as Triple H) in the latter's WrestleMania debut. At WrestleMania 13 , a submission match pitted Bret Hart and Stone Cold Steve Austin against one another in
33534-504: The title in the " Vickie Guerrero Divas Championship Invitational". WrestleMania XXX also saw the end of The Undertaker's undefeated streak at WrestleMania as he was defeated by Brock Lesnar in what was described as 'the most shocking result in sports-entertainment history'. At WrestleMania XXX, Bray Wyatt 's undefeated streak since his debut came to an end at the hands of John Cena. Also, at WrestleMania XXX, The Shield defeated Kane and The New Age Outlaws ( Road Dogg and Billy Gunn ) in
33741-450: The title to Orton. The champion had his signature weapon, the sledgehammer, in hand only to relinquish it prior to entering the ring by throwing it through a glass wall. Early in the match, Triple H did everything in his power to hurt Orton without being disqualified in the process. Orton performed a Back Body Drop to Triple H onto the Spanish announce table. At one point, Orton threw Triple H to
33948-528: The titles, Matt Hardy last eliminated Baron Corbin to win fifth André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal as well as first-ever WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal contested where Naomi won by last eliminating Bayley . WrestleMania 35 was held on April 7, 2019, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. At the event, Kofi Kingston became the first African-born WWE Champion after defeating Daniel Bryan, while Seth Rollins defeated Brock Lesnar to win
34155-428: The top of a ladder with a senton bomb onto his opponents. The ladder was also used as a weapon by the competitors, which saw it being thrown at each other or, in the case of Kingston, to be used as extra force dropped on their chest as Kofi incapacitated them by draping the collapsed ladder over their bodies and leg dropping onto the ladder. The finish came with Punk and Kane on top of the ladder, which saw Punk execute
34362-407: The tournament featured a rematch of the previous year's main event between Hulk Hogan and André the Giant while Randy Savage went on to defeat Ted DiBiase in the finals to win the championship. The next event, WrestleMania V, returned the event to Atlantic City, in which Hulk Hogan defeated Randy Savage for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship, which Savage had won the previous year. To date, this
34569-418: The two brands (e.g., Team Raw vs. Team SmackDown), but it was not the focus of the event. However, with the return of the brand split in 2016, Survivor Series took on the theme of direct competition between the Raw and SmackDown brands for brand supremacy, similar to the former Bragging Rights events held during the first brand split in 2009 and 2010. In addition to traditional Survivor Series matches pitting
34776-411: The week of Thanksgiving , it is the second longest-running pay-per-view (PPV) event in history, behind WWE's flagship event, WrestleMania . In addition to traditional PPV since the inaugural 1987 event , it has aired via livestreaming since the 2014 event . It is also considered one of the company's five biggest events of the year, along with WrestleMania, Royal Rumble , SummerSlam , and Money in
34983-533: The week preceding WrestleMania 25. For the second consecutive year, WrestleManiArt , an art exhibition and auction featuring work by WWE wrestlers and local artists, was held at the Julia Ideson Building on April 1, with the proceeds going to Houston Public Library Foundation. WrestleMania's annual fan convention , WrestleMania Axxess , was held from April 2 through April 5 at Reliant Center . On April 4, WWE hosted its annual WWE Hall of Fame ceremony at
35190-566: The winner was also given the option to choose between it or the WWE Championship. The creation of the ECW brand in June 2006 gave the Rumble winner a third option, the ECW Championship . This option was made available from 2007 until the brand was retired in 2010; however, the title was never chosen. The brand split ended in 2011 and the WWE and World Heavyweight Championships were unified in 2013, leaving
35397-460: The winner. The Undertaker and Kane fought for the first time at this event where The Undertaker won. The following year at WrestleMania XV , Austin defeated The Rock to regain the WWF Championship. The event featured the first of three encounters at WrestleMania between Austin and The Rock in a rivalry of the two most prominent and popular stars of the Attitude Era. WrestleMania 2000 featured
35604-457: The worst executed in WrestleMania history." The Randy Orton vs. Triple H main event was generally regarded by critics as a disappointing ending to the show. Holmes of Comcast.net believes that the match "never seemed to click" and Kevin Eck of The Baltimore Sun stated that he was "disappointed that it didn’t feel more special after some great angles on TV." Nick Tywalk of Slam! Wrestling wrote that it
35811-437: The wrestlers. Billy Martin served as ring announcer with Liberace as timekeeper, and Muhammad Ali served as an official. Mr. T competed in the main event alongside tag team partner, Hulk Hogan. WrestleMania 2 featured a 20-man battle royal pitting several NFL players against WWF wrestlers, while Lawrence Taylor defeated Bam Bam Bigelow in the main event of WrestleMania XI. Mike Tyson appeared at WrestleMania XIV as
36018-447: Was "solid and had its share of drama, but the lack of outside interference or plot twists of any kind failed to spark the same feeling of energy Reliant Stadium had in it a few hours before. It was almost a "That's it?" reaction that first came to mind." Wade Keller gave the match 3.75 out of 5. He called the match "good, both well-plotted and well-executed, appropriate to the storyline and feud", but added that "it just wasn't able to follow
36225-599: Was Taker-Michaels." IGN offered their own review of WrestleMania 25, with IGN TV writer Dan Iverson praising Kofi Kingston, Shawn Michaels, and Ricky Steamboat for their performances, but also criticizing WWE for not showing the Tag Team unification match during the event itself. He finished off the review by stating: "It was just too bad that the potential of the card wasn't lived up to", also giving it an overall rating of seven out of 10. Arash Markazi of Sports Illustrated wrote that Mickey Rourke's appearance "may have been one of
36432-492: Was WWE's first pay-per-view (PPV) produced and is the most successful and longest-running professional wrestling event in history. The event has been broadcast through traditional PPV since 1985 and has been available via livestreaming since WrestleMania XXX in 2014, which was WWE's first major event available through this medium. WrestleMania was conceptualized by former WWE executive chairman Vince McMahon and named by ring announcer and WWE Hall of Famer Howard Finkel . It
36639-1577: Was WWE's first event back with a live crowd, but at a reduced venue capacity before the company resumed live touring with full capacity crowds in July that year. Most WrestleMania events have taken place in large stadiums in large cities, with some in sports arenas. Much like the Super Bowl , cities bid for the right to host the year's edition of WrestleMania. The most-attended events include WrestleMania III (93,173) in Pontiac , WrestleMania VI (67,678) in Toronto , WrestleMania VIII (62,167) in Indianapolis , WrestleMania X-Seven (67,925) in Houston , WrestleMania X8 (68,237) also in Toronto, WrestleMania XIX (54,097) in Seattle , WrestleMania 23 (80,103) in Detroit , WrestleMania XXIV (74,635) in Orlando , WrestleMania 25 (72,744) also in Houston, WrestleMania XXVI (72,219) in Phoenix , WrestleMania XXVII (71,617) in Atlanta , WrestleMania XXVIII (78,363) in Miami , WrestleMania 29 (80,676) in East Rutherford , WrestleMania XXX (75,167) in New Orleans , WrestleMania 31 (76,976) in Santa Clara , and WrestleMania 32 (101,763) in Arlington . Since moving to large stadiums and running WrestleMania Axxess ,
36846-605: Was a confrontation over the WWE Championship , rooted at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view event in January by Randy Orton winning the Royal Rumble match . Per the traditional stipulation of the match, Orton was given the opportunity to choose to wrestle for the WWE , World Heavyweight , or ECW Championship at WrestleMania. Simultaneously, Orton began to assault the McMahon family , the owners of
37053-506: Was able to execute a number of his signature moves including arm drags , chops , and a plancha . Jericho was able to regain control of the match by connecting with the Codebreaker , pinning Steamboat to win the match. After the match, Jericho challenged Mickey Rourke, sitting at ringside, to come into the ring. Rourke finally entered the ring and knocked Jericho onto the canvas with a punch before being commended by Ric Flair. The fourth bout
37260-572: Was accompanied by Stephanie McMahon , The Rock by Vince McMahon, Big Show by Shane McMahon , and Mick Foley by Linda McMahon . At WrestleMania X-Seven , Stone Cold defeated The Rock and regained the WWF Championship. The event also featured Vince and Shane McMahon in a Street Fight , while Edge and Christian won the WWF Tag Team Championship against the Hardy Boyz and Dudley Boyz in the second Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match . The event
37467-466: Was announced that Matt and Jeff would fight each other at WrestleMania with a subsequent announcement a week later declaring the match to be held under Extreme Rules . On the January 23 episode of SmackDown , WWE Tag Team Champions The Colóns ( Primo and Carlito ) defeated World Tag Team Champions John Morrison and The Miz in a tag team match. After their loss, Miz and Morrison proceeded to harass their defeaters on their weekly Internet show ,
37674-553: Was defended for the first time at the event, with Triple H retaining against Booker T , while Brock Lesnar defeated Kurt Angle to win the WWE Championship. WWE celebrated the 20th edition of WrestleMania at Madison Square Garden with WrestleMania XX . The event featured The Undertaker (who returned to his Deadman persona) defeating the unmasked Kane in their second encounter and the WWE Championship and World Heavyweight Championship victories of Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit , respectively, with Guerrero defeating Kurt Angle to retain
37881-509: Was discontinued after the match was moved to Survivor Series in 2022. The first Survivor Series , held in 1987, came on the heels of the success of WrestleMania III , as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) began to see the lucrative potential of the pay-per-view (PPV) market. The first event capitalized on the big time feud between André the Giant and Hulk Hogan , who wrestled each other at WrestleMania III. Survivor Series
38088-521: Was dissolved in August 2011, but it was reintroduced in July 2016. Survivor Series, along with the other original "Big Four" events, were the only PPVs to never be held exclusively for one brand during either brand split periods. In 2014, Survivor Series began to air on WWE's online streaming service, the WWE Network , which launched in February that year, and in 2021, the event became available on Peacock as
38295-705: Was due to a singles match between regular commentators Michael Cole and Lawler. Howard Finkel , who is credited with coming up with the name "WrestleMania" in 1984, has served as the long-standing ring-announcer and has appeared at every event except WrestleMania 33 , but since the introduction of the WWE brand extension, Lilian Garcia , Tony Chimel , and Justin Roberts took over as announcers for their respective brand's matches. Four French commentators were at ringside: Jean Brassard and Raymond Rougeau ( WrestleMania 13 ), Phillippe Chéreau, and Christophe Agius ( WrestleMania XXX , WrestleMania 31 , WrestleMania 32 , and WrestleMania 33 ). The World Wrestling Federation staged
38502-412: Was for Michaels to push the referee out of the way, and pull Snuka into the path of Undertaker and for Snuka to catch Undertaker before he hit the ground. However, Snuka was standing too far back and Undertaker landed almost head first on the protective mats surrounding the ring. He remained on the floor of the arena for some time, while Michaels revived the referee, rolling him back into the ring and having
38709-590: Was held at the Atlantic City Convention Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey (though on the broadcast it was billed as being held in the Trump Plaza because the adjacent casino hotel was the event's primary sponsor). The event was an all-tournament event to crown a new WWF World Heavyweight Champion, with four non-tournament matches to fill between the gaps in the tournament rounds. The second round of
38916-463: Was held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center and televised by USA Network in an hour-long special, featuring performances by Isaac Hayes and Big Pun . The following year WWF held its first WrestleMania Axxess event at the Anaheim Convention Center expanding upon the party idea of WrestleMania Rage Party . The event included autograph signings and mementos to inductees of the WWE Hall of Fame . There were also activities where fans could enter
39123-409: Was in turn produced from the ThunderDome and was WWE's final PPV to present the ThunderDome from the Amway Center, as in early December, the ThunderDome was relocated to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida . In July 2021, WWE resumed live touring with fans. During the first brand extension period (2002–2011), there were only a few Survivor Series matches that were held between wrestlers of
39330-425: Was moved due to the COVID-19 pandemic . It was only attended by essential personnel, and was the first WWE pay-per-view event unattended by fans . It was the first WrestleMania to promote the NXT brand, which was formerly WWE's developmental brand, but this would be the only to promote NXT as the brand was not featured at the next WrestleMania and it returned to being the developmental brand in September 2021. In
39537-416: Was notorious as it featured the Montreal Screwjob . Survivor Series was going to be discontinued and rebranded in 2010, but following fan outcry, the company decided to continue with the event. Survivor Series became the second longest running PPV event in history (behind WrestleMania ), and is also regarded as one of the "Big Four" pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, Royal Rumble , and SummerSlam ,
39744-440: Was originally created to counter WCW's Starrcade . The first eight Survivor Series events took place on either Thanksgiving Day (1987–1990) or Thanksgiving Eve (1991–1994). Beginning with the 1995 event , Survivor Series was held on various Sundays before Thanksgiving. The 2005 and 2006 events were held on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, while the 2022 and 2023 events were held on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The 1997 event
39951-453: Was the 7-man ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship, which was won by Daniel Bryan. Also at WrestleMania 31, AJ Lee teamed with Paige to defeat The Bella Twins ( Brie Bella and Nikki Bella ) in a tag team match, while Big Show won the second annual Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, by last eliminating Damien Mizdow . WrestleMania 32 was held at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on April 3, 2016. WrestleMania 32 broke
40158-414: Was the Extreme Rules match between brothers Jeff and Matt Hardy. This featured a multitude of moments that saw the Hardys assault each other with many different weapon-based attacks, which included assaults with numerous objects under the ring and Jeff splash from the top turnbuckle through a pair of tables, with Matt sandwiched between the two and a chair. Jeff, seeking to end the match, attempted to set up
40365-436: Was the final wrestler to qualify for the match when he defeated The Brian Kendrick on the March 13 episode of SmackDown . Over the following weeks, the participants competed in eight-man tag team matches and an eight-man battle royal . The buildup to WrestleMania 25 also included a rivalry between brothers Matt and Jeff Hardy. During Jeff's match against Edge at the Royal Rumble for the WWE Championship, Matt came down to
40572-428: Was the first WrestleMania held at an outdoor venue. It was also the first and only time in WrestleMania history that the WWF World Heavyweight Championship switched twice. Yokozuna defeated Bret Hart to become the WWF World Heavyweight Champion, only to lose it to Hulk Hogan in an impromptu match. WrestleMania X saw the event's return to Madison Square Garden. The event featured Owen Hart defeating his elder brother Bret;
40779-429: Was the first WrestleMania to be held in the state of Louisiana . It saw Daniel Bryan defeat Triple H in the opening match. Per the stipulation, this gave Bryan a spot in the main event, where he won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship by making Batista submit in a triple threat match which also included Randy Orton. It was the only WrestleMania where the WWE Divas Championship was defended, with AJ Lee retaining
40986-410: Was the first after the company was renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), saw Stone Cold's last match, as he faced The Rock for a third time at WrestleMania, ending their long-running feud. Additionally, Hulk Hogan defeated Vince McMahon and Shawn Michaels participated in his first WrestleMania match in five years, defeating Chris Jericho . The World Heavyweight Championship (2002–2013 version)
41193-419: Was the genesis for what became the theme of brand supremacy that began in 2017. In 2017 and 2018, Raw won the competition with a score of 4–3 and 6–1, respectively (SmackDown's one point in 2018 occurred on the Kickoff pre-show). The 2019 event saw the addition of the NXT brand, which previously served as WWE's developmental territory but became one of WWE's three main brands in 2019, and in turn featured
41400-435: Was the last WrestleMania to be produced under the WWF name, and featured Triple H defeating Chris Jericho to win the Undisputed WWF Championship . Austin, The Rock, and The Undertaker defeated Scott Hall, Hulk Hogan, and Ric Flair respectively, all of whom had rejoined the company after their stints with WCW. Also, Rob Van Dam won his first Intercontinental Championship in his WrestleMania debut. WrestleMania XIX , which
41607-410: Was the one who gave the sash and crown to Santina. The next match featured Chris Jericho facing Ricky Steamboat, Jimmy Snuka, and Roddy Piper (who were accompanied to the ring by Ric Flair) in a three-on-one handicap elimination match . Before long, Jericho had caused Snuka to submit the Walls of Jericho . He then pinned Piper after an enzuigiri . Steamboat, however, would outlast his partners as he
41814-432: Was the other match not filmed at the Performance Center and also produced as a cinematic match, and Charlotte Flair defeated Rhea Ripley to win the NXT Women's Championship , which was the first and thus far only time an NXT title was defended at WrestleMania. Also on Part 2, Edge had his first singles match since 2011 in which he defeated Randy Orton in a Last Man Standing match . Following this, WrestleMania would become
42021-404: Was the pinnacle of the 1990s wrestling boom. It was also the first WrestleMania held after the dissolution and WWF's subsequent purchase of the company's rival, World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and the end of the Monday Night War . The event was highly praised. In 2013, WWE released a list of their "15 best pay-per-views ever", with WrestleMania X-Seven ranked at number one. WrestleMania X8
42228-447: Was the same." However, he praised the Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels match by rating it a ten out of ten, his highest rated match. The main event received a seven out of ten. Overall, he rated the event 7.5 out of ten. Wade Keller of the Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter also criticized Kid Rock's performance, but praised the Undertaker vs. Michaels match. He rated it five out of five, and stated that "the match that deserved to end this show
42435-402: Was the second WrestleMania held in Houston; the first was WrestleMania X-Seven at the Reliant Astrodome , which was held in April 2001. It was also the last WrestleMania to feature the ECW brand and the first WrestleMania of the PG Era . Eight matches were held on the event's card , which featured a supercard , a scheduling of more than one main bout. The final match of the night, which was
42642-515: Was the second WrestleMania to be held at an outdoor venue. This was also the last WrestleMania event of the Ruthless Aggression era since later on in Mid-2008 the era ended as the WWE shifted towards a more "kid-friendly" product. WrestleMania 25 featured Chris Jericho defeating WWE Hall of Famers Roddy Piper , Jimmy Snuka , and Ricky Steamboat in a match that featured appearances by Ric Flair and actor Mickey Rourke . Shawn Michaels unsuccessfully attempted to hand The Undertaker his first defeat at
42849-495: Was won by CM Punk , who would also win the match again at WrestleMania 25. The ECW Championship was defended for the only time at a WrestleMania event, when Kane emerged as the new champion in a record 8 seconds, while Randy Orton retained the WWE Championship and The Undertaker won the World Heavyweight Championship for the second consecutive year, defeating Edge. In an encounter that featured major media coverage, boxing world champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. defeated Big Show. The event
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