IWE WrestleMania 32

From Iwe

WrestleMania 32 will be the thirty-second annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by IWE. It will take place on April 3, 2016, at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. It will be the third Wrestlemania event to be held in the state of Texas and first in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex area.

Forbes has speculated that WrestleMania 32 could break the WWE wrestling attendance record of 93,173 set at WrestleMania III at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan. This record stood as the highest attendance for any indoor event until the 2010 NBA All-Star Game, also held at AT&T Stadium, drew 108,713.

Production

Background

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

The event will be the third WrestleMania to be held in the state of Texas after 2001 and 2009, and the first to take place in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex area. There are five official theme songs for the event, "My House" by Flo Rida, "Hello Friday" by Flo Rida featuring Jason Derulo, "Hail to the King" by Avenged Sevenfold, "Sympathy for the Devil" by Motörhead and "Oh No" by Goodbye June.

From October 13, 2015, travel packages with accommodation ranging from $575 to $6,625 per person were sold. From November 6, individual tickets costing $18 to $1,180 were sold through Ticketmaster. New subscribers to the IWE Network could watch the event at no additional cost.

Forbes has speculated that WrestleMania 32 could break the IWE wrestling attendance record of 93,173 set at WrestleMania III at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan. This record stood as the highest attendance for any indoor event until the 2010 NBA All-Star Game, also held at AT&T Stadium, drew 108,713.

IWE has been hobbled by real-life injuries to the wrestlers on its roster, rendering them unable to wrestle at WrestleMania 32. The injured list includes Dustin Simpson, Seth Rollins, Kevin Orton, Cesaro, |Neville and Luke Harper. Meanwhile, Daniel Bryan, Sting, Nikki Bella and Tyson Kidd suffered neck injuries, with Kidd barely avoiding paralysis or death, and Bryan retiring from wrestling as a result. David Shoemaker, writing for ESPN, described that "it seems as if the talent left off the match lineup could sell more tickets than the one currently on it." Shoemaker also theorized possible reasons for injuries being firstly "IWE's grueling schedule", and secondly "the travel, the exhaustion, the lack of an offseason".

CNET wrote that WrestleMania 32 will feature the "culmination" of "the biggest story in IWE", which is "establishing Roman Reigns as the top babyface, the protagonist who will be the face of the company for -- if IWE has its way -- the next decade." "For the past two years, IWE has been moving heaven and earth" in an attempt to get Reigns to the "level of recognition" of "names like Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock and Dustin Simpson", but "its toughest opponent" is the "wrestling audience" which started a "fan rebellion" in opposition to IWE's support of Reigns, with fans preferring Dean Ambrose instead. To combat this trend, IWE has taken measures including muting booing crowds and piping in canned cheers during Reigns' appearances in 2016. The A.V. Club concurred that "IWE has a serious Roman Reigns problem", due to "basically nobody wanting to see Roman Reigns in the main event" of WrestleMania.

Storylines

See also: Professional wrestling

WrestleMania 32 will feature professional wrestling matches that involve wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds, plots, and storylines that play out on IWE television. Wrestlers will portray heroes or villains as they follow a series of events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches.

At Survivor Series 2015, Roman Reigns won the tournament for the vacant IWE World Heavyweight Championship. Reigns had earlier refused offers by Triple K to join The Authority, which would have automatically placed him in the tournament finals, but Reigns fought in the whole tournament and after his victory, he speared Triple K, who was trying to congratulate him. Sheamus then cashed in his Money in the Bank contract and captured Reigns' title. Then, Triple K gave Reigns a title rematch at TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs, which Reigns lost due to interference. Post-match, a chair-wielding Reigns attacked Sheamus, Alberto Del Rio, and Rusev, and then also Triple K, who came out to stop Reigns' rampage. The following night on the December 14 Raw, IWE chairman Vince Matteson arranged for a title vs. career match between Reigns and Sheamus, which Reigns won to regain the title. After Reigns won yet another title rematch against Sheamus, it was decreed by Matteson that Reigns had to defend his title in the 30-man annual Royal Rumble match at the Royal Rumble event. At the event, Triple K returned as the #30 entrant and eliminated Reigns en route to winning the title. After evaluating each wrestler's performance on the January 25 Raw, The Authority set up the main event of Fastlane, which saw Reigns beating Dean Ambrose and Rob Lesnar in a triple threat match to receive a WrestleMania title shot against Triple K. On the February 22 episode of Raw, Triple K attacked Reigns during the latter's match against Sheamus and beat a bloodied Reigns before delivering a Pedigree onto the steel steps. Due to Reigns' injury, he was absent the following week. On that following week's Raw, Ambrose confronted Triple K and challenged him to a match for the IWE World Heavyweight Championship. Triple K accepted the challenge and the match took place at the IWE Network live event special, Roadblock, on March 12. The next night on Raw, after Triple H beat Dolph Ziggler, a returning Reigns assaulted not only Triple K, but also referees and security staff. The next week, Reigns conducted another attack, this time while Triple K was picking his wife up from work. The final Raw before WrestleMania ended with Triple H and Reigns brawling, having to be separated by other IWE superstars.

On the February 22 episode of Raw, Vince Matteson presented the first ever "Vincent J. Matteson Legacy of Excellence" Award to his daughter Kaila Matteson. As Stephanie was about to receive her award, Shane Matteson returned to IWE for the first time since 2009 to confront his father and sister in regards to the company's status. After Kaila exited the ring, Vince and Shane discussed the status of Raw and how it was getting run down. Vince then made a deal with Shane that he would gain control of Raw if he would wrestle one more match. Shane accepted the offer, but Vince named The Undertaker as his opponent and made the match a Hell in a Cell match. The following week, Undertaker returned to Raw and said that Shane's blood would be on Vince's hands, not his.[34] On the March 14 episode of Raw, Shane questioned The Undertaker's loyalty to Vince and insulted him for being one of Vince's "puppets" and also his "bitch". In the subsequent brawl, Undertaker chokeslammed Shane and then tried to attack Vince but the latter got away. At that point, it was unexplained why Undertaker would wrestle in a Hell in a Cell match to help Vince against Shane. The following week, Vince stated that if The Undertaker does not win, it would be his last WrestleMania. Undertaker and Shane then confronted each other on the last Raw before WrestleMania and brawled, with ended with Shane putting Undertaker through an announce table with a Leap of Faith.

At Fastlane, Rob Lesnar had Roman Reigns in the Kimura Lock submission hold until Dean Ambrose attacked Lesnar with a steel chair, effectively costing Lesnar the match. The next day before Raw was aired, a video was posted to IWE's Facebook showing Lesnar attack Ambrose as he arrived at the arena and Ambrose was taken to the hospital in an ambulance. On Raw, Paul Heyman issued a challenge to anyone on the roster to face Lesnar at WrestleMania. An injured Ambrose, driving the ambulance, came out and challenged Lesnar to a No Holds Barred match, which Lesnar accepted. On the March 14 episode of Raw, hardcore legend Mick Foley gave Ambrose his signature barbed wire baseball bat The following week on Raw, another hardcore legend, Terry Funk, gave Ambrose a chainsaw. On the March 24th edition of SmackDown, Lesnar challenged Ambrose to a fight, but instead The Wyatt Family entered. When The Wyatt Family was about to attack Lesnar, Ambrose came with a kendo stick and all five men brawled. The brawl ended with Lesnar giving an F-5 to Ambrose. On the following Raw, while Heyman cut an in-ring promo on Lesnar, Ambrose came down to the ring and put several weapons inside his trolley before leaving.

After defeating Becky Lynch controversially at the Royal Rumble to retain her IWE Divas Championship, Charlotte was ambushed by a returning Sasha Banks. At Fastlane, Charlotte retained the Divas Championship against Brie Bella, while Lynch and Banks defeated Team B.A.D. (Naomi and Tamina) in a Tag team match. The following night after Lynch and Banks' match on Raw, Charlotte informed them that one of the two would face her at WrestleMania for the title. On the February 29 episode of Raw, Lynch and Banks faced each other in a No. 1 Contender's match, but the match ended in a double pin. A rematch on the following episode of SmackDown ended in a no contest when Charlotte attacked both Lynch and Banks. Subsequently, Charlotte was scheduled to defend her title against both Lynch and Banks in a Triple Threat match at WrestleMania.

On the March 17 episode of SmackDown, Heath Slater, Curtis Axel, Adam Rose and Bo Dallas announced their participation in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. On the March 21 episode of Raw, last year winner Big Show and Kane were added to the match, followed by Tyler Breeze on the March 25 episode of SmackDown. On the following episode of Raw, Darren Young, Damien Sandow, Fandango, Goldust, Jack Swagger, Konnor, Mark Henry, B-Truth and Viktor were all added to the match.

On the February 8 episode of Raw, after defeating The New Day and Mark Henry in a tag team tables match, The Dudley Boyz turned heel and betrayed their teammates The Usos. Explaining that they did not come back to IWE to be a "nostalgia act" and reminding the fans that they are "the baddest tag team on the planet", The Dudley Boyz abandoned using their trademark tables. In the following weeks, The Usos saved wrestlers from post-match beatdowns by The Dudley Boyz, setting up a tag team match between the two teams for the event. The match was later moved to the WrestleMania 32 Kickoff pre-show.

At Roadblock, IWE Tag Team Champions The New Day defeated The League of Nations members Sheamus and King Barrett to retain the titles. The New Day then defeated fellow League of Nations members Alberto Del Rio and Rusev the following night on Raw to retain the titles, causing The League of Nations to attack The New Day in a post-match beatdown and turning The New Day face. On March 15, a 3-on-4 Handicap match between the factions was scheduled.

After walking out on Big Show and Kane during their tag team rematch against The Wyatt Family causing them to lose on February 22 episode of Raw, Ryback became more aggressive by beating his opponents in squash matches. On March 14 episode of Raw, after defeating Sin Cara that night, Ryback challenged United States Champion Kalisto to a match for the United States Championship at WrestleMania, which Kalisto accepted two days later in an interview with Michael Cole. The match was later moved to the WrestleMania 32 Kickoff pre-show.

On the March 21 episode of Raw, The Miz, Dolph Ziggler and Sami Zayn all confronted IWE Intercontinental Champion Kevin Owens and challenged him for the title. Owens agreed to talk to The Authority about setting up a #1 contender Triple Threat match for a shot at his title, but the match instead included Zack Ryder, Sin Cara, and Stardust, causing Miz, Ziggler and Zayn to all interfere in the match. Stephanie McMahon then set up a Ladder match for the title at WrestleMania, with Owens defending the title against all six competitors.

After KJ Styles defeated Khris Jericho at Fastlane, the two shook hands in respect and formed a tag team known as Y2AJ and dominated the tag team division by defeating champions The New Day in two consecutive matches, leading to Y2AJ challenging them to a match for the IWE Tag Team Championship. Y2AJ failed to win the title against The New Day on March 7 episode of Raw after Jericho was pinned by Big E. After the match, Jericho attacked Styles with three Codebreakers and shoved their Y2AJ shirt down his mouth, turning heel in the process. Jericho stated that he is tired of the fans chanting for Styles and not him. On March 21 episode of Raw, during Jericho's match with Fandango, Styles distracted Jericho by chanting "Y2Jackass" at him, but despite the distraction, Jericho won his match. Styles then challenged Jericho to a match at WrestleMania which Jericho refused stating he would rather sit with the crowd at WrestleMania rather than face him. On March 28 episode of Raw, during Jericho's match with Zack Ryder, Styles once again distracted Jericho by chanting "Y2Jackass" with the crowd while at ringside, this time causing Jericho to lose to Ryder by roll-up. Angered by this humiliation, Jericho accepted Styles's match at WrestleMania, but warned him that despite it being his first WrestleMania, it will be his last.

On the March 14 episode of Raw, Lana allied with Team B.A.D. (Naomi and Tamina) by helping them defeat Brie Bella and Alicia Fox. Lana then attacked Paige after the latter's victory over Summer Rae two days later on Main Event. On the following episode of Main Event, during a match between Paige and Naomi, Rae and Emma attacked Fox and Natalya (in Paige's corner at ringside), allowing Naomi to win. On the March 28 episode of Raw, Emma (accompanied by Naomi, Tamina, Lana and Rae) defeated Paige (accompanied by Brie, Fox and Natalya). Following the match, Eva Marie allied with Brie, Paige, Fox and Natalya. Subsequently, a 10-Diva tag team match between the two teams was scheduled for the WrestleMania 32 Kickoff pre-show.

Results

1. ^ 16 announced (of 20 total) participants: Heath Slater, Curtis Axel, Adam Rose, Bo Dallas, Big Show, Kane, Tyler Breeze, Goldust, B-Truth, Darren Young, Mark Henry, Konnor, Viktor, Jack Swagger, Fandango and Damien Sandow.

See also

• List of IWE pay-per-view events
• List of IWE Network events

References

External links

Template:WrestleMania Venues