WrestleMania XXX Results: Two Undefeated Streaks Come To An End
Mon, April 7, 2014 
Less than 24 hours reeling off of WrestleMania XXX, one of the greatest WrestleMania events in WWE history, the WWE Universe is still buzzing. This article is simply to give you an opinionated recap of the events that took place on April 6th, 2014, however, future articles may be completely differently formatted than what's here. Whether you liked it or not (there is no reason to not like it), this will be a WrestleMania remembered for the ages. Why? Because it was eventful, it had fantastic matches and the crowd were incredibly involved. They brought genuine emotion and enthusiasm from all over the world. And one thing's for sure, the WWE Universe is one of the most involved crowds in any sport and they have already taken to the internet to complain.
The night started off with a bang. The host of WrestleMania XXX himself, Hulk Hogan came out to greet the fans and welcome them to WrestleMania. Even though he kept slipping and calling the venue the "Silverdome" (the site of WrestleMania 3), Hogan was able to make a good save and say he was thinking about bodyslamming Andre The Giant, something the man is obviously proud of. Out comes Stone Cold Steve Austin who hadn't made a WrestleMania appearance in years. He cuts a short promo praising Hogan and the accomplishment of WrestleMania when none other than the most electrifying man in Sports Entertainment comes out...The Rock. The Rock cuts a promo saying how the legacy of WrestleMania wouldn't have been big today. He says that Daniel Bryan would not be fighting against the authority if Stone Cold Steve Austin never stood up against Vince McMahon. All in all, it's a fantastic promo and it ends with them drinking beer. If you didn't "mark out" during this, than you're really not a wrestling fan. What The Rock said was undeniably true...but we just didn't know it yet. This WrestleMania, from a storytelling standpoint, was all about legacy.
The first match of the night was a shocker, it was Daniel Bryan vs Triple H in a clean, singles match. The winner of the match would go on to compete in a triple threat match against Batista and Randy Orton for the World Heavyweight Championship. Honestly, this match was one of Triple H's best. The storytelling was there, the crowd involvement was hot and the entrance was awesome. There were moments where you thought that Daniel Bryan could actually lose. It was quite suspenseful, and as a wrestling fan, I was on the edge of my seat. Eventually, Daniel Bryan pulled a running knee out of nowhere and won clean over Triple H, which lead to Stephanie (who was wearing an outfit that would make you want to create some #RockBabies) distracting Bryan so Triple H could get a beat-down on him before he enters the Triple Threat. All-in-all, a completely perfect and satisfying match that got the crowd hot.
The next match of the night was the shortest, but somehow not the worst. The Shield vs Kane and the New Age Outlaws lasted little over three-minutes long yet it was one of the most fun and thrilling six-man tags I've seen in the past few weeks. It was a showcase of quick, greatly paced spots and The Shield dominated throughout, and a line of commentary from JBL said "There goes the Attitude Era", and he's right. The Shield united together, victorious over Kane and The New Age Outlaws, ushering a new age of superstars. It doesn't seem like WWE is breaking up the vicious and fantastic stable yet, seeing as this match sensically put the glue back between the pieces that were falling apart since Elimination Chamber. The Shield are one of the tag teams that you can't imagine ending, and I hope they last as long as possible even though Roman Reigns deserves a shot into stardom via a singles run.
With the crowd still hot, the Andre The Giant Memorial Over-The-Top Rope Battle Royal started and was sort of a mess at first, but as superstars started to get eliminated one-by-one, the match started to clear up. As usual, Kofi Kingston did a very cool "eliminated-but-saved" spot that he usually does in Royal Rumble matches. In this match, Kofi Kingston was launched over the turnbuckle to the outside, but kept his feet on the metal stairs thus preventing an elimination. Unfortunately for poor Mr Kingston, he met his doom once again. In another very unfortunate event, Santino had eliminated The Miz, ending his 4-0 WrestleMania match streak. However, The Miz is still undefeated in singles competition at WrestleMania. Anyway, The match ended with Cesaro and Big Show in the ring, and whilst you hope Cesaro is going to win it, there's still a deep part of you that feels that Big Show will obviously win it. Lucky for us, Cesaro lifted the Giant and threw him over the top rope, winning the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal and earning the coveted trophy.
One of my highly-anticipated matches was next, and that was John Cena vs Bray Wyatt. Following an incredible live performance from Mark Croser and The Rels, John Cena came out pretty much plain and simple this year. The match was off and boy, it was fan-fucking-tastic. Even the camera work was well done, in my opinion. John Cena and Bray Wyatt put on a psychology clinic here. The storytelling, the character building, all of it was really great especially seeing how involved the crowd was with the story being told. For example, there was a time that they trusted Bray Wyatt and they joined him in singing. It was incredibly eerie, and definitely fit the character well. All-in-all, John Cena got the expected win and honestly, I have no idea why people complained. I never saw that Bray would win, especially with this Legacy theme. The story was, essentially, that if Cena lost, everything he worked for over the years would be de-legitimized. He'd have to turn heel or go into exile. Maybe smarks can use some logic before complaining next year.
Next up was the not-so-built-up Lesnar vs Undertaker match, the traditional WrestleMania spectacle. And from a point-of-view, the match was incredibly slow and weak. There wasn't anything special to it. Brock Lesnar threw a few punches, did a few grapples, but Taker always reversed it into one of his signature moves, hoping that he could somehow pull out the win. After two hell's gates and a kimura lock, Brock Lesnar would still not stay down. Taker eventually pulled out a tombstone, which was reversed by Brock into an F5 and Brock Lesnar ultimately got the three-count on the Undertaker, breaking the streak. The crowd fell into utter shock. There was silence. Brock Lesnar's music didn't play. The crowd didn't boo. They didn't cheer. It was just a shell-shock of a moment in the wrestling world. Conspiracy theories have been thrown around that it was a botch, a mistake, Lesnar changed the finish pre-match.......nope. It was all planned, and it was executed brilliantly. The match was actually pretty clever, and Taker had always wanted Brock to beat the streak. In 2010, he met Brock at a UFC event and they had an "altercation". Last year at WrestleMania Axxess, Undertaker pointed to a picture of Brock Lesnar on a brochure and hinted that it might be his last. Anyway, Taker respects Brock, and vise-versa. It was an incredible moment in time and will be talked about for years to come in the WWE whether you liked it or not.
The second-to-last match was the Divas Championship Invitational which was a cluster-fuck of divas just rolling out and entering the ring by hitting each other with special moves. I don't even honestly remember it. It was a HUGE blur and the crowd was even dead from Taker losing. Eventually, AJ won the match by tapping out Naomi (who sort of botched the finish) and it was one-and-done in less than 8 minutes. Nice filler between the main event for people to calm down about Taker's loss and gather their bearings.
The night ended with a very, very good triple threat championship match full of exciting spots. Batista, Orton and Bryan will in full-form tonight and no one got blown up or out of shape. Quite a few fun false finishes and insane spots, including a spot where Batista did his finisher on the announce table to Bryan, but Orton caught him mid-air and RKO'd him through the table. Unfortunately for Orton, he landed back-first on a monitor and could've seriously injured his back. Luckily, he didn't, but you damn well know he felt the pain. Eventually, Bryan worked through the pain of his shoulder and was able to lock in a "yes Lock!" on Batista and make him tap out, essentially winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship after 8 months of brutal punishment by The Authority. Albeit predictable, it was a very fun match with an enjoyable ending, although Taker's loss really killed a lot of the momentum from the crowd for his celebration. The crowd were simultaneously "YES!"ing but something felt very off, nonetheless, this indie schmuck has finally earned the WWE Title.
All-in-all, WrestleMania was a very enjoyable PPV and one of the best Manias in a very, long time. CM Punk didn't return, because really, there was no room for him. Sting didn't debut, because it wouldn't have made sense (especially with Taker losing) and there were no surprise gimmick promos or live performances, everything was quickly paced and to the point. If this is how things will be with Paul Levesque running WWE when Vince is dead and gone, then it'll be amazing.
Reader Comments