WM31 was the first WrestleMania event to be held in the Silicon Valley, the sixth to be held in California, and the sixth to be held in an open-air venue. While, Levi Stadium is great place to host a Super Bowl event; I don't agree with it, being a great place to host a wrestling show. First off, Wrestlemania 31 started at 4pm pacific-time, because it had to aired the event at 7 p.m. Eastern Time for fans. Since, Wrestlemania began in the late afternoon, the wrestling fans that attend the event, were in risk of suffering heat exhaustion. They were exposed to the hot Santa Clara sun for three hours, straight. It gets worst for them, as the stadium doesn't have much shade, due to the lack of overhangs and a roof. Due to the highly corporate atmosphere of the stadium, some fans hang out at the stadium's bars and lounges that surround the field. Since, they could hang out there, this meant, that their seats would be empty, which looks bad on TV. Since, the show start in the afternoon, you can see, that the stadium wasn't as full as they made it, out to be. Another problem with it airing it, earlier on the day is the lack of night. The long daylight hours, kinda kill the Undertaker's dark entrance in the ring, later on the card. WWE always tries to uses stadiums later at night, so you don't get to see the large gaps in missing attendance and so they can focus more on the show. I think the only reason, why WWE pick Silicon Valley in the first place, was to market the WWE Network. The opening video package to this PPV kinda mirrors the whole idea. It was pretty cool. I love rapper/artist LL COOL J's narrative, despite a few historic mistakes, he made. Showcase of the immortals started with a kickoff 4 man, WWE Tag Team Championship match: Tyson Kidd and Cesaro (c) vs The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Big E) vs Los Matadores (Diego and Fernando) vs The Usos (Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso). The match was average in quality, but kinda messy of times. The ref kinda screw up, by allowing the not so legal man, gain the pinfall for the match. To be honest I don't think anyone cared about that. I really didn't think the Usos should had been there in the first place, since one of them, were injury, before-hand. The André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal was next. It wasn't bad. There were some funny moments, and high points. Without spoiling it, the winner makes sense, in a logical way. Despite, the commentators saying, he never won a battle royal, which is a lie, it was pretty inevitable that he would win this event. The pre-show ended, and the opening match to the main show begins, which was a ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match: Bad News Barrett (c) vs Daniel Bryan vs R-Truth vs Dean Ambrose vs Luke Harper vs Dolph Ziggler vs Stardust. One thing that I hate about this feud, was how they hot potato stealing the title, around, leading up to the event. It didn't make the champion, look good, at all. Despite that, it was pretty good match. Remind me of the old Wrestlemania's Money in the Bank ladder matches. I'm pretty glad for the winner, but I kinda wish, he was in the main event, instead. Oh well. Randy Orton versus Seth Rollins was next. Although the finish was great, the match didn't have any other signature amazing spots. It could have been much more, than it was. The 5th match on the card was a No Hold Barred match with Triple H versus Sting. It was pretty clusterf*ck. I didn't like all the awkward run-ins and short-cuts, the match had. I really hated the ending, as it didn't make sense, why the fame newcomer didn't win. It wasn't my favorite match. I thought, Sting should had fought Undertaker, but what-ever. Sting and Triple H still got awesome entrances. I love the Terminator one. The fourth match of the night was a tag team match between The Bella Twins and AJ Lee and Paige. This match was pretty forgettable. It sucks that the Diva Title wasn't on the line. Following this match, the 2015 Hall of Fame class was introduced; The Bushwhackers, Larry Zbysko, Alundra Blayze, Tatsumi Fujinami, Rikishi, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Kevin Nash were presented to the crowd, while posthumous inductees "Macho Man" Randy Savage and Connor "The Crusher" Michalek were represented by family members. United States Championship was after this, with Alexander Rusev taking on John Cena. Great match, with great entrances. I love Rusev entering the stadium in a tank. That was pretty awesome. I was really surprised by the next segment, where The Rock & Ronda Rousey Confront Triple H & Stephanie McMahon. It was short, but interesting. The Undertaker vs Bray Wyatt was the 8th match on the card, and it was alright for the most part. Great storytelling from both men. The main event of the night was the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match between defending champion Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns. The match was brutal, and hard hitting. It was indeed Suplex City! The fans were very vocal, throughout the match, cheering the heel Lesnar and booing the babyface, Roman Reigns. They were still anger, that Reigns won the 2015 Royal Rumble match, rather than Daniel Bryan. In the end, most fans left happy, even if the show ended with the heel winning the main event, because of the shocking twist surprise. Overall: This Wrestlemania extravaganza might not have the best card or the best wrestling, but it was top-notch entertaining. This was definitely a sports-entertainment show first, and a wrestling show second. I do recommended watching.
Review of WrestleMania
WrestleMania
(2015 TV Special)
Since Wrestlemania 31 was held in the Bay Area. There is one phrase to deserve it; Wrestlemania 31 was hella cool, for the most part and knows how to stay connected.
19 June 2015
Warning: Spoilers