Review ‘WWE WrestleMania 31’ From The Editor

Expectations for WrestleMania 31 may have been low, yet the show will go down as one of the most exciting in recent years. This year’s event was packed with surprises ranging from surprise appearances and a new WWE world champion that wasn’t even scheduled in the match.

Rousey got physical with both Stephanie McMahon and Triple H to set up what looks like to be a mixed-tag team match with Rousey and the Rock vs. Hunter and Stephanie. Rock came out as a surprise and interrupted a promo with the Authority. Stephanie slapped him and challenged him to hit a woman. He went to ringside and got a woman who “would hit a woman.” Steph told Ronda to get out of her ring, Ronda wound up putting an arm bar on Steph and stood tall with Rock. Rousey was great and the fans absolutely loved her. They were chanting her name before she even got into the ring.

It does appear that Rock and Rousey will tag up against Hunter and Stephanie next year at WrestleMania 32. The WWE were looking for something big for AT&T Stadium and the dream team of Rousey and Rock may do it. They are already generating a ton of mainstream media buzz. You have to hand it to the WWE. They have wanted Rousey for a while now and they pulled off quite a coup to get her.

UFC president Dana White has been adamant against fighters doing pro wrestling for years, including prohibiting Brock wrestling Undertaker when Brock was UFC champion. Obviously he has acquiesced and my bet is that the compromise will be WWE promoting CM Punk’s UFC debut. We have no idea whether that is the case or not, but Dana had to get something big in return for Rousey wrestling on WrestleMania.

Triple H defeated Sting in a pretty fun match. It wasn’t the best match on the card and really hurt following what was thought as a fantastic Randy Orton vs. Seth Rollins match. But Sting looked great, the fans ate it up, and we got some fun surprises here. The New Age Outlaws and X-Pac came out to help Triple H and were countered by the n.W.o. group of Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall. The match ended with Shawn Michaels coming out of nowhere to hit Sting with Sweet Chin Music. Triple H eventually got the pin after using the broken top of a sledgehammer. Everyone hugged after the match signifying the official end of the Monday Night War.

John Cena beat Rusev to win the US title. Not totally surprised can be said about that win. There’s no problem with Cena, but Rusev should have remained unbeaten until he lost to the WWE champion. The WWE could have had something with Rusev against either Brock or the WWE champion and while those could still do business, it’s not the same. Rusev ran into Lana inadvertently at the end of the match. Lana was selling her ankle and Rusev yelled at her and walked out.

Undertaker beat Bray Wyatt. The Undertaker looked a lot better than last year. He moved much better and it was fun seeing him back in the ring. That said, the match was pretty mundane. That could be that we’ve already watched four hours of wrestling up to that point and just got out of what seemed like an hour-long segment with Rock and Rousey vs. the Authority. NOTE: The Undertaker was shown in the commercial promoting WrestleMania 32.

Other notes: Daniel Bryan won gold again at WrestleMania. Bryan won the intercontinental title in the Ladder Match. This was a real fun match and probably one of the better Mania openers. This was a pretty crazy match but it was Bryan and Dolph Ziggler who stole it (opinionated statement). Randy Orton pinned Seth Rollins in what ONLY to be dared saying was one of the best Mania matches on the card. It was a great match and it obviously sets up Orton challenging Rollins at some point coming off of the clean pin.

Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar

For months now, it has long been assumed that Roman Reigns was the designated man to receive the big push toward taking the WWE Heavyweight Championship belt. When rumors claimed Brock Lesnar’s UFC career could be revived, it seemed almost certain Reigns would take the belt, since Vince McMahon wouldn’t a Championship title holder disappearing shortly thereafter into the arms of Dana White. But when Lesnar’s contract with the WWE was renewed for multiple years, many thought it was possible the absentee champion could retain the belt.

Everyone knows there were multiple ways the WWE could take this match. Seth Rollins still retained his Mr. Money In The Bank status, and it was quite noticeable that Rollins’ match against Randy Orton was set hours before Bray Wyatt Vs. The Undertaker. Rollins was also given good reason to want a win of some type, since his WWE WrestleMania 31 results didn’t favor him.

If you missed that part of WrestleMania 31, Seth Rollins was about to do his NXT finisher off of the turnbuckle when Randy Orton rolled out-of-the-way. Rollins was then about to do his curb stomp when Orton popped him into the air with his head and turned it into a RKO out of nowhere. Win by pinfall.

The second big prediction was that The Undertaker would take his revenge for having his WrestleMania streak ended by Brock Lesnar. This type of surprise would provide a big pop, never mind if a twist with Paul Heyman or Sting was added into the blender. Of course, the crowds would have gone insane if CM Punk showed up out of nowhere.

So what really happened?

The match began pretty much like all the prior matches against John Cena, with Lesnar taking the advantage right from the start. An F5 came within the first several minutes, and you had to wonder if we should start counting the German suplexes, never mind the other various types of suplexes he punished Reigns with.

The turnabout happened when Roman Reigns was slowly climbing back into the ring under the threat of the ref’s ten count. Brock Lesnar tried to shoulder ram him off the apron, but Reigns managed to reverse that move. But the Beast continued his dominance after that brief respite, and even pulled off a bell-to-belly suplex over the rungs.

At this point, even the crowd was starting to number the buildings in Suplex City, and Brock Lesnar literally, not just metaphorically, took the gloves off. Roman Reigns was slapped multiple times, but The Rock’s cousin took all this punishment with a bloody grin on his face.

That’s when Superman came out to fight. Roman Reigns bloodied Lesnar’s face and managed to land a Superman punch. The two began to trade blows, but Reigns still got in headbutts and another Superman punch in addition to the Roman Spear.

Ringside, Paul Heyman appeared to be praying, but those prayers weren’t exactly answered, since Seth Rollins’ entrance music began to play and out came Mr. Money In The Bank for a Triple Threat match. The three men traded blows, but it was obvious from the start that the relatively fresh Rollins had the advantage. Then Heyman gasped in horror when his client ended up rolling outside of the ring.

WrestleMania 31 ended quickly, with Seth Rollins managing to catch Roman Reigns in the pin and become the champion! Besides being quite the upset, this also sets a new record since (as far as we’re aware) this is the first time anyone has cashed in their Money In The Bank briefcase at the main event for WrestleMania.

What do you think about the WrestleMania 31 results? Do you think the Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar match would have been good without the Rollins run in? Did WWE make the right move with the swerve ending? What do you think the result will be on WWE RAW tonight?

Comment below Sparx Fans below and give us your opinion!