This Sunday, Dallas becomes the biggest stage in wrestling as the city plays host to Wrestlemania 32.As we’ve discussed before on ComicBook.com, professional wrestling is a bit like a live action comic book, with heroes and villains coming together to do battle for the fate of the world…or for prize belts and glory.Pay per views are the wrestling equivalent to comic events, with different storylines coming together and veering in often unexpected directions.Wrestlemania is the WWE’s largest annual event and serves as a “season finale” for a year’s worth of wrestling storylines and rivalries.Many of the best wrestling matches in WWE history happen at Wrestlemania, as wrestlers pull out all the stops to create their very own “Wrestlemania Moment”.
New fans can watch Wrestlemania for free by signing up for the WWE Network, the company’s streaming platform, prior to the event.So if you’re considering giving the WWE a chance, here’s some of the company’s biggest stories leading into Wrestlemania:
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Brawl for the World Heavyweight Title
Wrestlemania 32’s “main event” will feature Triple H and Roman Reigns for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Not only is the match for the biggest prize in the WWE, it will also end a feud that has brewed for months.
When Seth Rollins, the previous WWE World Heavyweight Champion and Triple H’s previous handpicked wrestler, vacated the title due to injury last November, Triple H offered Reigns a chance to bypass a 16 man tournament for the title in exchange for joining the Authority, a villainous corporate cohort representing the WWE and led by Triple H and his wife Stephanie McMahon. Reigns won the tournament on his own merits, but Triple H conspired with Sheamus, another heel (the wrestling term for a villainous character) to steal the belt off Reigns, ending Reigns’ first ever title run in just over five minutes.
Since then, Reigns has been on the warpath to win back the title and get his revenge on Triple H for interfering. Reigns temporarily took Triple H out of action in December with a vicious beatdown, but Triple H returned during the Royal Rumble to both beat Reigns and win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Since then, the two have traded vicious attacks, with Triple H injuring Reigns’ nose in Detroit and Reigns returning the favor a few weeks later.
The interesting wrinkle about the Triple H and Roman Reigns feud is what it means for the future of the WWE. The WWE has set Reigns up as the next face of the company, filling a similar role to John Cena, Stone Cold Steve Austin or Hulk Hogan. But the fanbase hasn’t really backed Reigns during his build to becoming and his matches are met with more boos than cheers. So far, the WWE has ignored the fans and pushed Reigns relentlessly, but it’s possible they could either pull a surprise similar to last year’s Wrestlemania (when Seth Rollins ran in during the main event match between Reigns and Brock Lesnar and walked away as the new champion) or turn Reigns heel, which would make for a much more interesting direction in the coming months.
The Prodigal Son Returns
For years, Shane McMahon was a fixture on WWE’s television shows and pay per views, acting as both an ally and antagonist to his father Vince, the CEO and majority owner of the company. While not a professional wrestler, Shane has entered the ring many times, often sacrificing his body to pull off insane stunts and spots. However, Shane eventually left the company after he realized that his sister Stephanie and brother-in-law Paul Levesque (aka the wrestler Triple H) had overtaken him as Vince’s successor.
Shane stunned the world six weeks ago when he returned to Monday Night RAW after a seven year absence from WWE programming. Citing the WWE’s mediocre television ratings and lack of direction, Shane demanded that his father turned over control of Monday Night Raw, the WWE’s flagship show, and claimed he had some sort of blackmail to use against his father if necessary. Vince offered up a compromise: if Shane could win a match of his father’s choosing at Wrestlemania, Vince would cede control of Monday Night RAW, functionally changing the entire make up of the WWE.
But with Vince McMahon, there’s always a catch. Shane’s opponent at Wrestlemania will be the Undertaker, who has only lost once in 22 Wrestlemania appearances. What’s more, the match will be a “Hell in a Cell” cage match, a speciality of the Undertaker dating all the way back to the first Hell in a Cell match in 1997. And to motivate the Undertaker, Vince added a stipulation that if the Undertaker loses the match, he’ll never wrestle at Wrestlemania again.
The Undertaker/Shane McMahon match isn’t a traditional Wrestlemania main event match, but there’s enough intrigue surrounding the match to appeal to WWE followers. A victory for Shane could signal a wholesale change for Monday Night Raw and some have even speculated a second brand split (the WWE’s two shows used to have totally different rosters that existed separately from one another) could be on the way. If the Undertaker wins…well, it’s still a Undertaker Hell in a Cell match and Shane is guaranteed to do at least one insane jump that will leave the crowd breathless. This could be one of the least predictable matches in Wrestlemania history, so anything is possible.
David vs. Goliath…Only Much Bloodier
Wrestlemania’s bloodiest fight will almost certainly be the “street fight” style match between Brock Lesnar and Dean Ambrose. A street fight match means that there’s no disqualifications, meaning that a wrestler can use weapons or tactics banned during normal wrestling matches. That’s probably a good thing, as Ambrose will need every extra advantage to defeat the Hulk-like Lesnar.
Ambrose and Lesnar’s feud began at Fastlane, during a Triple Threat match to determine Triple H’s opponent at Wrestlemania for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Both Lesnar and Ambrose were in the match along with Roman Reigns, who had previously faced Lesnar at last year’s Wrestlemania. While Reigns urged his good friend Ambrose to take Lesnar seriously, Ambrose knew that the only way to win the Triple Threat match was to take Lesnar out of the match. Lesnar dominated both Ambrose and Reigns in the Triple Threat, until Ambrose punched Lesnar in the groin, opening him up to further assault. Ambrose later finished Lesnar off with several chair shots to the back, giving Reigns the opening he needed to finish Ambrose with a spear tackle and win the match.
Lesnar blamed Ambrose for the loss and attacked him the following day, putting him through the windshield of a car before that night’s RAW. In response, Ambrose challenged Lesnar to a street fight, which Lesnar accepted…right after he stepped on Ambrose’s head. Although Lesnar, a former WWE and UFC heavyweight champion, clearly has the advantage in the match, Ambrose is a classic wrestling underdog and considers himself too crazy to quit, even when facing a monster like Lesnar. Several legendary wrestlers like Mick Foley and Terry Funk have sided with Ambrose and have passed along weapons for Ambrose to use against Lesnar. Of course, any weapon Ambrose can use in the match Lesnar can use too.
Right now, Ambrose is arguably the WWE’s most popular “babyface” wrestler, even though he’s typically set up to lose big matches like the one at Wrestlemania. He’s a classic underdog who needs a win and it wouldn’t be surprising for the WWE to give him one on the biggest stage in wrestling.
The Past vs. the Future
An international champion in both Japan and the US, AJ Styles made headlines as the WWE’s biggest free agent signing in years. Joining the company in January, Style has shown off his unique blend of fast paced technical skills and high-flying moves, mainly against veteran Chris Jericho, a long time fan favorite. Styles beat Jericho in his first ever singles match on RAW and later beat him again in his first ever pay per view match at Fastlane. Although Jericho and Styles had a begrudging respect for one another at first, the rivalry turned dark after a brief and disastrous tag team run together. Jericho turned on Styles and viciously attacked him after a loss to reigning Tag Team champions The New Day, claiming that he was sick of how quickly fans had embraced Styles. After interfering with each other’s matches for weeks, Styles challenged Jericho to a Wrestlemania match to end the feud once and for all.
The Jericho/Styles has all the makings of a show stealer. This is Styles’ first Wrestlemania and he’s sure to pull all the stops to leave the crowd dazzled. While Jericho’s attitude and look are a bit…out of date, his matches with Styles are among his best in recent years and he’s a proven Wrestlemania veteran able to react and adapt as necessary. Expect a fun, heart-stopping match that will show exactly why Jericho’s long WWE career is underappreciated and why Styles could be the next big thing in the WWE.
The Rise of Women’s Wrestling
The WWE doesn’t have that great a history with female wrestlers. Although there have been plenty of great women wrestlers who have stepped into the WWE’s ring over the years, too often have female wrestlers been relegated to sex appeal and/or one-dimensional stereotypes. The company has made headway in legitimizing the division in recent years, but the WWE still infuriatingly refers to their female wrestlers as “Divas”, which helps fuels a litany of mysognistic and idiotic chants during matches.
The WWE’s biggest stride to changing how fans treat their women’s division was their so-called “Divas Revolution” last summer, which introduced three new wrestlers to the main rosters. Charlotte, Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks were all decorated and celebrated wrestlers in NXT, the WWE’s developmental league and the company hoped they could help legitimize a division still in need of reform.
Although the Divas Revolution storyline didn’t work as well as the WWE hoped, it still succeeded in making Charlotte the new Divas Champion last year. While Charlotte, the daughter of legendary wrestler Ric Flair, was an upright champion at first, she turned to increasingly underhanded tactics (similar to her father’s famous antics) to keep her title. Eventually, Charlotte turned on her ally Lynch and beat her in a controversial match earlier this year at the Royal Rumble. Lynch and Banks later became reluctant allies and both were given a chance at Charlotte’s title at Wrestlemania.
All three wrestlers bring something different to the match. Charlotte is a superior athlete and has adopted many of Flair’s famous moves, but she’s still a little raw around the edges. Lynch is the purest “babyface” of the three, armed with a underdog mentality, a polished moveset and a likeable personality. Banks is arguably the best wrestler of the three and has a great “in your face” attitude that has made her a fan favorite, even when she’s playing a heel role. There are rumors the WWE is finally ditching the “Divas” belt and replacing it with a more traditional Women’s Championship, so it might be time for women’s wrestling to finally shine at Wrestlemania.
Multi-Man Matches Galore
The other three matches in this year’s Wrestlemania are all different kind of multi-person matches. The biggest of the three is a seven person ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship, the second biggest title in the WWE. In a ladder match, wrestlers win by being the first wrestler to climb a ladder and pull down the Championship belt hanging from the roster. Kevin Owens, one of the most popular bad guys on the roster, will defend his title against a host of challengers, several of whom he’s ticked off or feuded with since his debut last summer. Owens’ biggest challenger is his longtime friend/rival Sami Zayn, who recently joined the WWE’s main roster after years as the face of its developmental NXT league. Other wrestlers in the ladder match include the luchador Sin Cara, the supervillain-themed wrestler Stardust (best known for his feud against Arrow actor Stephen Amell last summer) and veterans Zack Ryder, the Miz and Dolph Ziggler. Ladder matches are usually brutal and filled with exciting spots, and any match featuring Zayn and Owens should be fun to watch.
Also appearing at Wrestlemania is a tag team match between the New Day and the League of Nations. The New Day are the WWE’s reigning tag team champions and one of the funnier acts on the shows, sporting light up unicorn horns before matches and referencing Internet memes during interviews. They probably have a big entrance planned for this year’s show, although it’s rumored that the WWE shut down their original plans of riding unicorns into the ring. Their opponents are the League of Nations, a group of villainous international wrestlers. While talented, the League of Nations hasn’t had much to do besides lose to Roman Reigns repeatedly, so maybe this match will push their careers along too.
Rounding out the Wrestlemania card is the Andre the Giant Battle Royale. The Battle Royale is a newer event that features just about every other wrestler in the company. Wrestlers are eliminated by being tossed out of the ring over the top rope, and the winner earns a trophy featuring the likeness of Andre the Giant. This year’s Battle Royale will kickoff Wrestlemania at 7 PM and will probably be a great bit of wacky chaos.
