IWE WrestleMania 35
From Iwe
| Royal Rumble (2019) | ||
| Promotional poster featuring Braun Strowman, Naomi, Daniel Bryan, Ronda Rousey, KJ Styles, and Shinsuke Nakamura | ||
| Promotion | IWE | |
| Brand(s) | Raw SmackDown | |
| Date | April 7, 2019 | |
| City | East Rutherford, New Jersey | |
| Venue | MetLife Stadium | |
| IWE Network chronology | ||
| ← Previous NXT TakeOver: New York | Next → Money in the Bank (2019) | |
| Royal Rumble chronology | ||
| ← Previous WrestleMania 34 | Next → — | |
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.
Contents |
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.<ref name=35Tickets />
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, it was revealed that current female wrestler Alexa Bliss would be the host of WrestleMania 35.
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 break her suspension and on the March 4 episode of Raw, a match between Lynch and Flair was scheduled for Fastlane where if Lynch won, she would be added back into the championship match at WrestleMania to make it a triple threat match. At Fastlane, Lynch defeated Flair by disqualification when Rousey attacked Lynch, and thus was added to the WrestleMania match.
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, after Heyman had reminded Rollins of his previous encounters with Lesnar, Rollins was attacked by Shelton Benjamin, Lesnar's old wrestling friend from the University of Minnesota, and 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.
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 L accepted and made it a No Holds Barred match.
On the March 11, 2019 episode of Raw, IWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle announced that he would have his retirement match at WrestleMania 35.
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
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 and Kingston asked what he had to do for a championship match. Mr. Matteson said he was not championship material, but if he could defeat Kevin Orton, Samoa Simpson, Cesaro, Sheamus, and Rowan in a gauntlet match the following week, he would receive a IWE Championship match against Bryan at WrestleMania 35.
Matches
| No. | Matches* | Stipulations | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rob Lesnar (c) vs. Seth Rollins | Singles match for the IWE Universal Championship | |
| 2 | Ronda Rousey (c) vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch | Triple Threat match for the IWE Raw Women's Championship | |
| 3 | Buddy Murphy (c) vs. 205 Live Tournament winner | Singles match for the IWE Cruiserweight Championship | |
| 4 | Triple K vs. Batista | No Holds Barred match | |
| 5 | Kurt Angle vs TBD | Singles match Angle's retirement match | |
| 6 | The Miz vs. Shane Matteson | Singles match | |
| 7 | KJ Styles vs. Kevin Orton | Singles match | |
(c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match
*Card subject to change | |||
205 Live WrestleMania #1 contender's tournament bracket
| Quarterfinals 205 Live (2/26, 3/5) | Semifinals 205 Live (3/12) | Final | |||||||||||
References
External links
| ← 2018 • 2019 IWE Network events • 2020 → | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IWE | Royal Rumble • Worlds Collide • Elimination Chamber • Fastlane • WrestleMania 35 • The Shield's Final Chapter • Money in the Bank • Super ShowDown • Stomping Grounds • Evolve's 10th Anniversary Celebration • Extreme Rules • Smackville • SummerSlam • Clash of Champions • Hell in a Cell • Crown Jewel • Survivor Series • Starrcade • TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs | |||
| NXT | TakeOver: Phoenix • Halftime Heat • TakeOver: New York • TakeOver: XXV • NXT TakeOver: Toronto • TakeOver: WarGames | |||
| NXT UK | TakeOver: Blackpool • TakeOver: Cardiff | |||
