IWE WrestleMania 31

From Iwe

WrestleMania 31 will be the thirty-first WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by IWE. It will take place on March 29, 2015 at the Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California. It will be the first WrestleMania event to be held in the San Francisco Bay Area and the sixth to be held in the state of California (2, VII, XII, 2000, and 21). It is the fourth WrestleMania to not feature the number in its logo (I, 2000, and 29).

Production

Background

WrestleMania is considered IWE's flagship event, and has been described as the Super Bowl of sports entertainment.

It is the first WrestleMania to feature a logo which is the red “play” button. According to a San Jose Mercury News article, Vince Matteson explained the play button represents the technical prowess of Silicon Valley. There are two theme songs for the event. The main one is "Rise" by David Guetta feat. Skylar Grey, and the secondary one is called "Money and the Power" by Kid Ink. Grammy-award winner LL Cool J will be performing at the start of the event.

Travel Packages for the event went on sale on September 29 with the exclusive California Dreamin' Travel Package ranging from $5,500. The VIP Package, Platinum Premium Package, Gold Package and Silver Package was available on October 6 with prices starting from $3,250, $1,650, $1,150 and $900 respectively including tickets to WrestleMania, hotel accommodation, airfare, and other activities through WrestleMania Axxess. Individual tickets went on sale on November 15 ranging from $35 to $1,000.

Storylines

See also: Professional wrestling

WrestleMania features professional wrestling matches that involved wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds, plots, and storylines that played out on IWE's primary television programs, Raw and SmackDown. Wrestlers portrayed faces (heroes) or heels (villains) as they followed a series of events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.

At the Royal Rumble, Rob Lesnar successfully defended his IWE World Heavyweight Championship against Dustin Simpson and Seth Rollins, while the 2015 Royal Rumble match was won by Roman Reigns, setting up a title match between Lesnar and Reigns at WrestleMania. On the February 2nd episode of Raw, Reigns agreed to put his number one contendership on the line in a match at Fastlane. Later in the night, Kody Brown defeated Rollins to earn the right to face Reigns at the event. Reigns defeated Brown at Fastlane to retain his title shot against Lesnar at WrestleMania.

On November 23, during the main event of Survivor Series, Sting made his first-ever appearance in a IWE ring by attacking Triple K with a Scorpion Death Drop and dragging Dolph Ziggler on top of Rollins, giving Team Simpson the win and causing the Authority to be removed from power, which had been a secondary stipulation of the match. On January 19 edition of Raw, Sting made his Raw debut by appearing backstage during the main event, a 3-on-1 handicap match between Dustin Simpson and the team of Big Show, Kane, and Rollins. The lights in the arena darkened as Sting walked to the stage and gestured to the Authority at ringside. The distraction allowed Dustin Simpson to pin Rollins for the win, which reinstated the jobs of the recently (kayfabe) fired Ziggler, Ryback, and Erick Rowan. On January 26, it was officially announced via IWE.com that Triple K challenged Sting to a "face-to-face" confrontation at Fastlane. On the February 9th edition of Raw, Triple K again called Sting out to accept his challenge. The lights went out, and a group of Sting impersonators appeared around the arena and inside the ring, illuminated by spotlights, while a video message stating that Sting had accepted Triple K's challenge played on the TitanTron.. At Fastlane, Triple K had a face to face confrontation with Sting. The two brawled until Sting got control of Triple K. Sting then pointed to the WrestleMania sign in the rafters, with Triple K accepting the challenge. Later in the night, it was announced that Triple K will face Sting at the event.

On the February 23rd edition of Raw, it was announced that there would be a André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania. The Miz, Curtis Axel and Ryback announced their participation in the match. On the February 26 episode of SmackDown, Fandango and Adam Rose announced their participation in the match. On March 2nd, it was announced on Facebook by IWE that Zack Ryder was added to the match. Later in the night, Jack Swagger, Titus O'Neil and Darren Young announced their participation in the match on the IWE App. On the March 5th episode of SmackDown, Big Show and Kane announced their participation in the match. On March 9, it was announced on IWE.com that Erick Rowan and Sin Cara were added to the match. On the March 9 episode of Raw, Damien Mizdow announced his participation in the match. On the March 16 episode of Raw, Goldust, Heath Slater and Mark Henry were added to the match.

On February 26, it was announced on Facebook that Intercontinental Champion Bad News Barrett would defend his title in a Ladder match at the event. On the March 2nd episode of Raw, it was announced that B-Truth was added to the match. On March 4, it was announced on IWE.com that Dean Ambrose and Luke Harper were added to the match. On the March 5th episode of SmackDown, it was announced that Ziggler was added to the match. On March 10, it was announced on IWE.com that Stardust was added to the match. On the March 12 episode of SmackDown, Brown announced that he was entering the match.

At Fastlane, Rusev defeated Simpson to retain the IWE United States Championship after hitting Simpson with a low blow (while the referee was distracted with Lana) and made him pass out to the Accolade. In the following weeks, Simpson challenged Rusev to a rematch, which was declined. On the March 2nd episode of Raw, Kaila Matteson decreed that Simpson would not compete at WrestleMania unless Rusev agreed to a match. On the March 9 episode of Raw, after Rusev defeated Axel, Rusev made several insulting remarks of the United States. Prior to this, Simpson warned that if Rusev did that, he would show how much fight the U.S. had. Following the insults, Simpson went into the ring and placed Rusev into the STF until he passed out. Simpson then picked up a bottle of water, made him conscious, and then he placed him into the STF again. Although Rusev was tapping out, Simpson refused to let him out of the STF until Lana granted Simpson a title rematch at WrestleMania on Rusev's behalf.

On the March 2 edition of Raw, Paige defeated IWE Divas Champion Nikki Bella in a championship match by disqualification after Brie Bella attacked Paige; Therefore, Paige did not win the championship. Brie and Nikki attacked Paige until AJ Lee returned from injury and saved Paige. On the March 5 edition of SmackDown, AJ defeated Brie after Paige prevented Nikki from interfering in the match. On March 9th, it was announced on IWE.com that AJ and Paige would face The Bella Twins at WrestleMania.

Bray Wyatt had been broadcasting mystic missives. At Fastlane, Wyatt challenged The Undertaker to a match at WrestleMania. The following weeks, Wyatt had been sending messages to the Undertaker. On the March 9th edition of Raw, the Undertaker accepted Wyatt's challenge to a match at the event.

On the October 20 episode of Raw, a 3-on-2 handicap street fight was held which pitted Kevin Orton, Kane, and Seth Rollins against Simpson and Ambrose, Orton picked up the win but was immediately Curb Stomped by Rollins. On the October 27 episode of Raw, Orton RKO'd Rollins thus defying the Authority for not controlling Rollins the previous week. On the November 3 episode of Raw, after increasing frustration, Orton attacked Rollins during his Intercontinental Championship against Ziggler, causing Rollins to win by disqualification, and demanded a match with Rollins to settle their dispute, which Triple K granted in order to keep Orton on their side. Rollins got the win with a backside pin, and Orton attacked the Authority before being Curb stomped by Rollins. At Fastlane, Orton returned to IWE and attacked the Authority. For the next few weeks, Orton helped Rollins to win his matches. On the March 9 episode of Raw, Orton attacked Rollins after their match with Reigns. On the March 12 episode of SmackDown, Orton challenged Rollins to a match at WrestleMania. On the March 16 episode of Raw, Rollins accepted the challenge, but only if Orton faced him that night, which Orton accepted.

Matches

1. ^ The announced participants are: The Miz, Curtis Axel, Ryback, Fandango, Adam Rose, Zack Ryder, Jack Swagger, Titus O'Neil, Darren Young, Big Show, Kane, Erick Rowan, Damien Mizdow, Sin Cara, Goldust, Heath Slater, Mark Henry, Konnor, Viktor and Hideo Itami, Kofi Kingston, Big E, Jimmy Uso, Tyson Kidd, Cesaro, Diego, Fernando, Bo Dallas, and Alex Riley.

References

External links