IWE WrestleMania 35

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Revision as of 22:46, 26 March 2019

WrestleMania 35 will be the thirty-fifth annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event and IWE Network event produced by IWE for the Raw and SmackDown brands. It will take place on April 7, 2019 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

The event is set to feature the first-ever women's main event match in the show's history with Ronda Rousey defending the Raw Women's Championship in a triple threat match against Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch.

Production

Background

WrestleMania is considered IWE's flagship event, having been described as the Super Bowl of sports entertainment. The event will be the first WrestleMania to be held in the state of New Jersey since 2013 (at the same venue). This is the fourth WrestleMania to be held in the state of New Jersey (IV, V, 29), and the sixth in the New York City Metropolitan Area (I, 2, X, XX, 29).

On November 5, 2018, traveling packages for the event were sold; tickets went on sale on November 16, 2018, with individual tickets costing from $35 to $2,500.

On the March 4 episode of Raw, Colin Jost and Michael Che of Saturday Night Live were announced as special correspondents for the event. The following week, Alexa Bliss was revealed as the host of WrestleMania 35. On the March 18 episode of Raw, Elias announced that he would perform at WrestleMania. On March 26, 2019 it was announced that Joan Jett would perform her song "Bad Reputation" (which is currently the entrance music for Ronda Rousey) live as Rousey enters the ring.

Storylines

The card will include matches that result from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portray heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters on the Raw, SmackDown, and 205 Live brands, to build tension, culminating in a wrestling match or series of matches. Storylines are produced on IWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live, and the cruiserweight-exclusive 205 Live.

At SummerSlam, Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair were involved in a triple threat match for the SmackDown Women's Championship, which Flair won. After the match, Lynch attacked Flair, ending their friendship. Lynch defeated Flair for the championship at Hell in a Cell and they continued to feud over the title for the next few months. At Survivor Series, Lynch was originally scheduled to face Raw Women's Champion Ronda Rousey in a champion versus champion match, but was replaced by Flair due to a legit injury; during the match, Flair brutally attacked Rousey with weapons. At TLC: Tables, Ladders, & Chairs, Rousey interfered in the namesake championship match between Lynch, Flair, and Asuka, costing both Lynch and Flair the match. Lynch was unsuccessful in regaining the title at the Royal Rumble, but won the women's Royal Rumble match by last eliminating Flair, despite injuring her own knee, and chose to face Rousey for the Raw Women's Championship at WrestleMania 35. Lynch then refused a medical examination on her knee after a brawl with Flair on SmackDown. Kaila Matteson gave Lynch an ultimatum: have her knee examined or be suspended until she does. Lynch still refused and was suspended indefinitely. The following Raw, it was revealed that Lynch had her knee examined and was cleared and her suspension lifted, but Vince Matteson overruled the decision and suspended Lynch for 60 days and replaced her with Flair at WrestleMania. Over the next couple of weeks, Lynch continued to violate her suspension and attacked Rousey both physically and on Twitter. Following pleas by Rousey to reinstate Lynch, the suspension was lifted on the March 4 episode of Raw. At Fastlane, a limping Lynch defeated Flair by disqualification when Rousey attacked Lynch. As a result, Lynch was added back into the championship match at WrestleMania to make it a triple threat match. It was later announced that this match would become the first-ever women's match to main event WrestleMania.

At the Royal Rumble, Seth Rollins won the men's Royal Rumble match, thus earning a world championship match of his choice at WrestleMania 35. The next night on Raw, Rollins was given until the end of the night to choose which champion he wanted to face. Later, after Universal Champion Rob Lesnar's advocate Paul Heyman tried to discourage Rollins from challenging Lesnar, Rollins confronted Lesnar, resulting in a brawl. Afterwards, it was announced that Rollins made his choice to face Lesnar for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania. On the March 11 episode of Raw, Heyman reminded Rollins of his previous encounters with Lesnar and Rollins was attacked by Shelton Benjamin, Lesnar's old wrestling friend from the University of Minnesota and tag team partner in Ohio Valley Wrestling; Benjamin performed several German suplexes on Rollins, just as Lesnar would do, but Rollins nonetheless defeated Benjamin in a match.

On the February 19 episode of 205 Live, General Manager Drake Maverick scheduled an eight-man single elimination tournament with the winner facing Buddy Murphy for the IWE Cruiserweight Championship at WrestleMania 35. The tournament began the following week. Tony Nese, Drew Gulak, Oney Lorcan, and Cedric Alexander advanced to the semifinals by defeating Kalisto, The Brian Kendrick, Humberto Carrillo, and Akira Tozawa, respectively. Nese and Alexander then advanced to the finals, which was won by Nese

On the SmackDown 1000 special on October 16, 2018, Batista, who had last wrestled in IWE in 2014, made an appearance for an Evolution reunion. During the segment, Batista praised fellow Evolution member Triple K for having done everything in the wrestling business, except defeat him; during Batista's first singles run in 2005, he defeated Triple H in all three of their only matches against each other. The two had a tense stare down before embracing, seemingly showing that there was no ill will between the two. However, on the February 25, 2019 episode of Raw, a celebration for fellow Evolution member Ric Flair's 70th birthday was planned, but Flair did not show. It was then shown that Batista had attacked Flair backstage, and Batista asked if Triple K had his attention. Triple K called out Batista on the March 11 episode, where Batista stated he wanted his final match to be on his own terms. He challenged Triple K to a match at WrestleMania 35, and Triple K accepted and made it a No Holds Barred match. The following week, Batista explained that his hatred for Triple K dated back before their time in Evolution, stating that Triple K had only used him and underestimated him. On the March 25 episode, Batista decided that he would not face Triple K unless Triple K put his career on the line, and Triple K agreed.

On the March 11, 2019 episode of Raw, IWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle announced that he would have his farewell match at WrestleMania 35. The following week, Angle chose Baron Corbin as his final opponent, explaining that while there were many opponents he would have liked to have faced, Corbin was the only one he wanted to beat. Corbin had caused Angle many problems while Angle was Raw General Manager from 2017–2018 and eventually supplanted Angle, becoming Acting Raw General Manager until TLC in December 2018.

At Crown Jewel, Shane Matteson won the IWE World Cup, replacing The Miz in the finals, who was deemed unable to compete due to a pre-match brawl. Following this, The Miz began a pursuit to form a tag team with Shane, claiming that they could be the best tag team in the world. Shane finally agreed to the pairing, and the two won the SmackDown Tag Team Championship at the Royal Rumble, where Shane made the victory pin. They lost the titles at Elimination Chamber, and failed to regain them at Fastlane; in both matches, Miz was pinned. Following their match at Fastlane, a disappointed Miz and Shane hugged Miz's father, who was in the front row. After Shane consoled Miz and his father, Shane then attacked Miz from behind, turning heel. On the following episode of SmackDown, Shane said he was tired of people using him. He said he enjoyed beating up The Miz at Fastlane and wanted to do it again at WrestleMania 35, and then scheduled a match between himself and Miz for the event. Miz responded and said that people had warned him about Shane, but he did not listen. He said Shane was just as terrible as his father, Vince McMahon, and that he would defeat Shane at WrestleMania.

For several weeks, KJ Styles and Kevin Orton ran into each in backstage segments on SmackDown, insulting each other. At Elimination Chamber, Orton eliminated Styles in the Elimination Chamber match. At Fastlane, after Orton had attacked Elias from behind with an RKO, he himself was then attacked by Styles with a Phenomenal Forearm. On the following episode of SmackDown, Orton took umbrage with Styles referring to SmackDown as "the house that AJ Styles built", since Orton began his career on SmackDown in 2002 and became very successful, while Styles, who debuted in IWE in 2016, spent most of his career on the independent circuit (1998–2016), also referencing Styles' time in Ring of Honor and TNA Wrestling. Styles said Orton had everything handed to him because of his family while Styles had to actually work for it. Styles eventually challenged Orton to a match at WrestleMania 35, which was made official.

On the February 12 episode of SmackDown, The New Day's Kofi Kingston was a last-minute replacement for an injured Mustafa Ali in a gauntlet match to determine who would enter the IWE Championship Elimination Chamber match last; Kingston pinned IWE Champion Daniel Bryan and lasted over an hour before being eliminated. At Elimination Chamber, Bryan retained the title in the titular match, with Kingston being the last wrestler eliminated. On the following episode of SmackDown, Kingston was granted a IWE Championship match at Fastlane after pinning Bryan in a six-man tag team match. The following week, however, Vince Matteson replaced Kingston with a returning Kevin Owens, stating Owens was more deserving. At Fastlane, The New Day (Big E, Kingston, and Xavier Woods) confronted Mr. Matteson, who scheduled a triple threat match for the title, however, when Kingston went out for the match, he was instead put in a handicap match against The Bar (Cesaro and Sheamus) and lost, while Bryan retained the title in his respective match. On the following episode of SmackDown, The New Day again confronted Mr. Matteson, who said that Kingston would have to defeat Kevin Orton, Samoa Simpson, Cesaro, Sheamus, and Rowan in a gauntlet match to receive a IWE Championship match at WrestleMania 35. The following week, Kingston won the gauntlet match, but Mr. McMahon then forced him to also wrestle IWE Champion Daniel Bryan, who defeated the exhausted Kingston.

On the October 22, 2018 episode of Raw, Roman Reigns went on hiatus due to leukemia. He returned on the February 25, 2019 episode and explained that his leukemia was in remission and that he would return to action. At Fastlane, Reigns, Dean Ambrose, and Seth Rollins reunited for one last time as The Shield and defeated the team of Baron Corbin, Bobby Lashley and Drew McIntyre, and The Shield performed their signature Triple Powerbomb on McIntyre through a broadcast table. The following night on Raw, Reigns, who had not competed on Raw in five months, was scheduled to face Corbin, but McIntyre attacked Reigns before the match. Ambrose subsequently faced McIntyre in a falls count anywhere match in a losing effort. The following week, McIntyre challenged Reigns to a match at WrestleMania 35 and then defeated Rollins later that night.<ref name="Raw03182019"/> On the March 25 episode, after McIntyre brought up Reigns' leukemia and family, Reigns accepted the challenge.

On the March 4 episode of Raw, Braun Strowman got into a backstage confrontation with SNL's Colin Jost and Michael Che, with Jost questioning the legitimacy of professional wrestling, resulting in Strowman choke lifting him. The following week, the duo attempted to apologize to Strowman by gifting him a new car, only for Strowman to dismantle the car. On the March 18 episode, the annual André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal was officially confirmed when Strowman became the first to announce his participation. The following week, while as guests on "A Moment of Bliss", Strowman challenged Jost to enter the battle royal. Che agreed on his behalf, and Jost in turn also agreed that Che would enter. As the host of WrestleMania 35, Alexa Bliss then made it official that both Jost and Che would be participants in the battle royal.

At Fastlane, Samoa Simpson retained the United States Championship in a fatal four-way match by making Rey Mysterio pass out to the Coquina Clutch. On the following episode of SmackDown, Mysterio pinned Simpson in a tag team match. The following week, Simpson was scheduled to defend the championship against Mysterio at WrestleMania 35.

At Fastlane, Sonya Deville accidentally caused Mandy Rose to lose her SmackDown Women's Championship match against Asuka. On the following episode of SmackDown, a similar incident happened, but this time with Rose accidentally causing Deville to lose her match against Asuka. The following week, a fatal four-way match between Rose, Deville, Carmella, and Naomi was scheduled for the March 26 episode, with the winner facing Asuka for the SmackDown Women's Championship at WrestleMania 35.

After becoming the inaugural holders of the IWE Women's Tag Team Championship at Elimination Chamber, The Boss 'n' Hug Connection (Bayley and Sasha Banks) stated that they would defend the titles across Raw, SmackDown, and NXT. After retaining the championship against Nia Jax and Tamina at Fastlane, for which they received a post-match beat down from Jax and Tamina, The IIconics (Billie Kay and Peyton Royce) called out the champions on the March 12 episode of SmackDown. The following week on Raw, IWE Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix came out of retirement to team with Beth Phoenix to challenge for the championship at WrestleMania 35. On SmackDown the next night, The IIconics defeated The Boss 'n' Hug Connection in a non-title match. The following week, after asserting that they would defend the titles against anyone, The Boss 'n' Hug Connection were scheduled to defend the titles against Jax and Tamina, Natalya and Phoenix, and The IIconics in a fatal four-way tag team match at WrestleMania.

At Elimination Chamber, Finn Bálor defeated Bobby Lashley and Lio Rush in a 2-on-1 handicap match to win Lashley's Intercontinental Championship. Lashley won the title back on the March 11 episode of Raw thanks to assistance from Rush. On the March 25 episode, Bálor was originally scheduled to face Lashley and Rush in a handicap match where if he won, he would receive a title match at WrestleMania 35, but as Rush was not medically cleared, Jinder Mahal instead teamed with Lashley. Despite the odds, Bálor defeated Lashley and Mahal to earn a championship match against Lashley at WrestleMania.

Matches

(*) The winner of a fatal four-way match between Sonya Deville, Mandy Rose, Carmella, and Naomi on the March 26, 2019 episode of SmackDown will get a SmackDown Women's Championship match at WrestleMania 35.

205 Live WrestleMania #1 contender's tournament bracket

André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal participants

3 entrant has been announced as of November 9, 2024.

     – Raw

     – Free agent

References

External links

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