Wrestlemania 32

Wrestlemania 32 held in Dallas, TX for the first time set the all-time Wrestlemania attendance record with over 102,000 fans packing ATT Stadium.
Myself along with my guest & co-host this week, underground Hip-Hop artist J. Skinner took in the spectacle as guests of sponsor Cricket Wireless from their suite in the stadium. Join us as we discuss all the action & surprises that took place + so many of the accompanying events that make Wrestlemania a week long celebration.

Wrestlemania had finally come to Dallas. The 32nd installment of the annual spectacle, that has become a week-long celebration that includes community outreach events, a Fan Fest, a Hall of Fame induction ceremony & much more.
Orbiting that is the entire wrestling community – having the global wrestling audience literally all in one place, it’s the perfect destination for anyone currently or ever associated with wrestling to book appearances or their own events, creating a packed schedule that hemmorages the host city for fans to gorge on for almost an entire week.

You can catch up on Parts:
I – NWA/IHWE Parade of Champions
II – Wrestlecon & Shimmer Women’s Wrestling events
III – WWE Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony & Ringside: w/ Jim Ross

Now today was the big day – Wrestlemania Sunday had finally arrived & we had ALOT planned today even before the event started.
First, since I had pretty much kidnapped my nephew Jake since his arrival, we made an appearance at my (much younger) nephews’ birthday party before heading to the spectacle in Arlington.
We stopped at my old friend Steve’s house just a few miles from Cowboys Stadium where the event was being held today to park and just take an Uber over as close as we could get. Steve’s wife Felicia generously offered to wisk us over there and given the congestion, it was an offer we couldn’t refuse.

We started the big day off with what we thought was gonna be something a bit more than what it was (or turned out for us) but who are we to complain?
It’s Wrestlemania Sunday!

Ric Flair’s Wrestlemania Pre-Party – Fishbone Bar & Grill – Arlington, TX

We were invited to this event that promised to be (or at least from the invite-ers) a truly memorable afternoon, a pre-party with the man Nature Boy Ric Flair, right across the street from the stadium.
We were told that this was a gonna be a private event with Flair for some industry insiders and a few fans. Food and drinks, fun & intimate.
When we got there it turned out to be anything but – just another signing appearance that anybody willing to pay for his autograph could get into and when we arrived the line was practically to the freeway.

We are not snobs and I’m not above it but we were told something that we planned on and arrived to discover we weren’t even on the list and the elitist gals at Will Call were completely unsympathetic to our situation or even aware of who our so called hosts were.
Honestly, I could really care less about getting into that event as it was now – Fine that it was just some public signing appearance but had we known, that’s two more hours I could have spent with my nephews’ on their birthday instead of getting the run around and a sun burn.

One interesting thing did happen however – We were waiting to meet up with a sponsor and stood in the grassy area that was reserved for extra parking when a chauffeured SUV pulls up & asks us if we can park here (not as an inquiry but like they thought it was up to us) we showed our hand but not before asking who they were picking up/dropping off and it turned out to be the used-to-be-funny-now-just-an-asshole political comedian Dennis Miller as well as NASCAR All-Star Danica Patrick

The oddities (& unexpected celebrity sightings) were only just beginning.

Wrestlemania 32 – April 3rd – ATT Stadium – Arlington, TX

The day had finally come, what felt like a lifetime of expectation, Wrestlemania was finally in Dallas. The last time it was in Texas (Houston) in 2009 I flew Jake down there to join me and was the only Wrestlemania to date that he had attended. Making that adventure all the more special was that a writer for MSNBC was doing a story on me and included Jake & our adventure into the finished product.
This time another great special occurrence was about to take place as just a week prior I had been invited by main sponsor Cricket Wireless to be one of four special social media ambassadors on their behalf and would be doing so from their luxury suite inside the stadium during the show!
First we were to meet up with Lauren, our CW representative that had set it up to get our suite tickets and number.
The scene outside was madness but eventually we found her and made our way inside.

Once inside we were escorted to the private elevators and to our suite which just that alone was a super bonus convenience because we had heard later that a large percentage of attendees had to suffer a long and messy process in entering the Stadium through its security checkpoints.
Thank goodness that didn’t happen to us as we were the first to enter the suite chose seats in the front row and just in awe of the view, in disbelief of the turn of events that got us here and overall just grateful to be here.

Pre-Show

….and thank goodness once again that we were brought up straight away as we didn’t have a second to spare as by the time the hostess brought us our drinks and we sat down (still the only ones in the suite) the bell rang for the first of three matches as part of the two-hour long WrestleMania Kickoff pre-show.
To illustrate the enormity of Wrestlemania, most Pay-Per-Views are a bit over two hours, for Wrestlemania, the freaking Pre-Show was over two hours!

In the first hour, Kalisto defended his WWE United States Championship against Ryback after executing a Salida del Sol on Ryback after he bumped his head on an exposed turnbuckle.

In the second hour, WWE Hall of Famer Lita (& one of my all-time faves) unveiled the newly established WWE Women’s Championship, which would replace the WWE Divas Championship. She announced that the winner of the women’s triple threat match later that night would be awarded the title

This was also designed as segue into the next event – a 10-Diva tag team match.
You could technically call this “lazy booking” but this being Wrestlemania – the event the performers work for all year, a match like this is great as it provides an opportunity for alot of them to be on the show.

Divided into two teams:
Team Total Divas (the girls from the current season of Total Divas)
vs. Team B.A.D & Blonde

This was great for me as the female competitors are my faves and I was finally able to see Eva Marie in action who just freaking slayed 100k just by removing her robe before she even got in the ring.

Another great bonus was that Team BAD was expanded to BAD & Blonde special for Wrestlemania to include two of my other favorites, Summer Rae and Emma + Lana who was FINALLY making her debut and looked AMAZING.

Another historical aspect of the the match was that Brie Bella won the match for Team Total Divas by making Naomi submit to a Yes! lock (recalling the spirit of her husband Daniel Bryan from Wrestlemania 30) in what appears to be her final match.
Nikki Bella, who is still inactive due to a neck injury, came out to celebrate with her sister and the rest of the team.

Next, The Usos defeated The Dudley Boyz in a tag team match. After the match, The Usos frog splashed the Dudleys through tables.

The Main Card – 

Ok so now as the Main Card is set to begin the suite is now rocking with all of the other guests now having arrived. In our row up front we were joined by YouTube star Luge & her brother who is also a very talented & popular animator. Both very cool and the perfect companions for what was about to be a very special evening.
With having already seen the pre-show that included 17 top stars over three matches & now we were just getting started.
With catered meals in our laps & drinks in our hands, we couldn’t have been more grateful, priveledged (or just any more freaking comfortable) to witness this once-in-a-lifetime event. Let’s do this!

Wrestlemania (besides Christmas) is my favorite day of the year – I love the pageantry, spectacle & just majesty of the event.
One of my favorite parts is always the opening ceremonies, this year was Fifth Harmony singing America the Beautiful.

Fifth Harmony

Ladder Match for WWE Intercontinental Championship – 

Competitors: Kevin Owens (champion)
Zack Ryder
Sin Cara
Stardust
Sami Zayn
Dolph Ziggler
The Miz

The opening contest is another example of “mass booking” (see above) with a seven-man ladder match for Kevin Owens‘ WWE Intercontinental Championship.
A fantastic, dizzying match that threatened to steal the show early. For me personally, my fave moment came when Stardust Cody Rhodes pulled out a black ladder with yellow polka dots in tribute to his late father Dusty Rhodes, one of the all-time greats & one of my heroes growing up.

Mid-match, Dolph Ziggler managed a series of superkicks, while Zack Ryder hit a diving elbow drop off a ladder onto the Miz. Near the end of the match, Owens powerbombed Ziggler off a ladder, then caused Sin Cara to fall off a ladder onto Stardust, who was lying on a ladder laid across the ring and security barricade. Owen’s rival Sami Zayn took out Owens with a half and half suplex onto a ladder, and was in turn incapacitated by the Miz. Premature celebrations by the Miz allowed Ryder to shove him off a ladder and pull down the belt to win the match!
A great feel-good moment came Post-match when Ryder’s father joined him in the ring for the celebration.

Chris Jericho vs. AJ Styles

After an evenly contested battle (which saw Styles kick out of Jericho’s Codebreaker finisher, and Jericho kick out of Styles’ Styles Clash), Jericho hid behind the referee, then countered Styles’ Phenomenal Forearm into a mid-air Codebreaker to score the pinfall victory.

The New Day vs. League of Nations

Next came something supurbly awesome & would only happen at Wrestlemania – The kind of moment that makes Wrestlemania what it is.
The New Day (who are kinda like the new Edge & Christian but even more absurd & dare I say entertaining) have bombastically been pimping their own brand of ficticious cereal Booty-O’s (that is so over with the crowd that their shirts are now sold in Booty-O’s boxes) that resulted in a classic Wrestlemania entrance of them falling out of a GIANT box of Booty-O’s (that had to have been three stories high) dressed as characters from Dragon Ball-Z.

The League of Nations won the match following outside inference by League Member Wade Barrett when the referee was distracted.

Afterwards, Barrett bragged that no three men could beat the League of Nations, which prompted another amazing Wrestlemania moment as suddenly you hear that inmistakable glass break signaling the arrival of none other than Stone Cold Steve Austin (in Texas no less) along with two other Hall of Famers in the form of Mick Foley & Shawn Michaels to answer Barrett’s three-man challenge. I don’t need to tell you that the stadium (as well as us in the suite) went completely batshit as they made their way down the ramp together.

After clearing the ring of Barrett and his cohorts. Austin then delivered a Stunner to Xavier Woods, who had hilariously tried to persuade the Hall of Famers to dance with him.

Brock Lesnar vs. Dean Ambrose – No Holds Barred Street Fight

With no disrespect to anyone, for me, Brock Lesnar vs. Dean Ambrose is the definition of “Bathroom Break” (& hey in my defense we’d been here over 4 hrs & still had a  looooong night ahead….but I was always offended when people would refer to the women’s matches as such so I digress). I have nothing but respect for anyone that gets in there but these two guys (especially Lesnar) just don’t hold my attention. Not to mention, it was dessert time haha!
I also wanted to stretch my legs a bit, meet & network with the other guests in the suite and really enjoy our surroundings.

From the bit I did watch, the match saw Lesnar executed no less than thirteen suplexes on Ambrose (one example of his limitations) & they did this super annoying thing on the GIANT video screen where every time he would do one, it would keep a running tally inviting the fans to obnoxiously shout which number it was.
No thanks –
While Ambrose used kendo sticks and chairs to try to keep Lesnar down & attempted to use a chainsaw, which did not start,  he threw numerous chairs in the ring & brought in a barbed wire wrapped baseball bat (an ode to Mick Foley) but Lesnar caught him with yet ANOTHER freaking suplex, and executed an F5 finishing move on the pile of chairs to win the match.

Hall of Fame Class of 2016

A moment I look forward to each year at Wrestlemania is when the current class of Hall of Fame inductees (honored traditionally the night before & always my favorite part of Wrestlemania week) are recognized and get to come out together and each get to take an individual bow.

I do wanna say this and no disrespect to anyone:
Every year at the Hall of Fame, they have what I guess they refer to as “the headliner” & this year it was WCW legend Sting (who announced his official retirement the night before at the ceremony).
Someone’s gotta go on last but I really don’t think at events like this there should be a hiearchy. I think it’s tacky when the inductees are brought out to take their final bows & are introduced one at a time, “the headliner” from the previous night’s induction ceremony doesn’t stand with them. They wait till all of the other inductees have been introduced and then that headliner’s music plays and they walk out last solo, like the lead singer in a band (with Lead Singer’s Disease).
Maybe the headliner’s themselves don’t like it either (me thinks some do – Kevin Nash I’m looking right at you) but I’m sure their not gonna fight city hall over it.
Regardless it’s a trend I don’t see ending anytime soon though I wish they would alter it to make them all appear (& made to feel) equal.

Women’s Triple Threat Championship:
Charlotte (champion) vs. Sasha Banks vs. Becky Lynch

Ok so now here we go, for me this is the freaking Main Event – the match I’m most anticipating to see. And so proud to see how far the Women’s Division has come.
Sad that AJ Lee who championed the changes we are seeing today is no longer competing to see her visions come to fruition but somewhere I’m sure she’s smiling to see the fruits of her labor come to life. In my opinion AJ Lee is the best women’s performer  ever to do it and one of the best ever regardless of gender.
However hot on her trail is the incomparable Sasha Banks who also IMO is the best wrestler in the world today period.
She lived up to her “The Boss” character by making a grand entrance with her cousin (& now WWE Hall of Famer) Snoop Dogg along with Fenix to perform her theme song live.

Banks came out with so much confidence & swagger & somehow more physically perfect than I could have imagined. This was my first time finally seeing her wrestle and she looked so hot my seat practically melted. Her hair never looked cooler (or longer) and she just looks like an action figure, she is just a star no question.
Known for her adoration for WWE great Eddie Guerrero (who tragically passed away way too soon as many have) and was actually at the arena in anticipation of finally seeing her idol in action as a young person the day he died and never got that chance. I mention this because she did something particularly cool by wearing tights (she normally wears shorts) that were identical to the ones Guerrero wore in 2004 when he won the championship in homage.

This match delivered and exceeded my expectations and IMO was the match of the evening. It had it all and I loved Banks’ further homage to Guerrero with several frog splashes and other cadences .

However, their is homage and then their is just sad duplication. Probably to no fault of her own (& in fact I kinda feel sorry for her) but Charlotte being Ric Flair’s daughter, who is considered the greatest of all time, and they make her come out to HIS music with HIM, and do HIS finish and catchphrases and then he get’s involved in all the matches etc. Maybe that’s the work and their building to an emancipation but it’s getting old fast.
I’m sure it’s also Triple H’s way of keeping Flair out of trouble & on the road instead of putting the legend out to pasture.
The booking for this match was perplexing however as all bias aside Banks should have won this match.
Charlotte has been champion for sometime now, Lita returned to present the new belt and with a new belt should have been a new champion.
Banks’ is so legitmately over with the crowd, this should have been her moment in the sun which also in turn would easily lend itself for NXT”s Bailey to be called up to challenge her for it. None of that happened and the show and match suffered because of it.
However, for three girls who came out at Wrestlemania 30 in New Orleans as Triple H’s harem and then sat in the stands last year to now be one of the main events and have their faces adorned on one full side of the stadium is the greatest triumph of all.

The Hell in a Cell match between The Undertaker and Shane McMahon

If McMahon won, he would get control of Raw, while Undertaker would be barred from wrestling at future WrestleManias. Though Undertaker dominated the bulk of the match, McMahon kept fighting, finally getting an advantage by reversing Undertaker’s Hell’s Gate submission move into a Sharpshooter. McMahon then placed a garbage can in front of Undertaker’s face and hit his Coast-to-Coast finishing move, which Undertaker kicked out of at two. Undertaker then slammed McMahon through the side of the cell, and the two fought on the floor around ringside. After Undertaker slammed McMahon through a broadcast table to get out of a sleeper hold, McMahon recovered and struck Undertaker in the head with TV monitors and a metal toolbox to keep him down, and placed him across another broadcast table. Shane then climbed all the way up to the top of the 20 foot tall cell, and attempted to hit an elbow drop onto Undertaker, who moved out of the way at the last second, causing McMahon to crash through the table from 20 feet in the air. Though McMahon would motion for Undertaker to “bring it”, he had no strength left to fight, and Undertaker would deliver a Tombstone piledriver and pinned McMahon to win the match. McMahon wound up being carted out of the stadium on a stretcher (while showing a thumbs-up to the crowd) while Undertaker walked on his own two feet and smiled.

André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal

There were several surprise entrants in the match, including legends Diamond Dallas Page and Tatanka, NXT call-up Baron Corbin making his main roster debut, and NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal as a celebrity entry. O’Neal and Big Show double chokeslammed Kane to start, and the other wrestlers were then thrown aside (though not eliminated) by the two seven-footers. After Fandango and Damien Sandow were eliminated by Show and O’Neal respectively, the two big men fought to the ropes, where the rest of the field ganged up and eliminated them both. In the end, Corbin won the match, last eliminating Kane.

The Rock

Wyatt Family member Erick Rowan was defeated by The Rock, setting a new record for the shortest match on WrestleMania.

The Rock then made a grand entrance, which included the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders and Rock using a flamethrower to set a big sign bearing his name ablaze.

Rock announced that WrestleMania 32 had set the all-time attendance record with 101,763,

when he was confronted by The Wyatt Family. After some verbal back-and-forth, Rock (who had his ring gear on underneath his street clothes) challenged them to a match. Wyatt Family member Erick Rowan accepted the challenge and was quickly defeated following a Rock Bottom.

WWE recognized the match length as six seconds, though other sources reported seven seconds. This set a new WrestleMania record for the shortest match, besting the previous record (11 seconds) set by Kane and Chavo Guererro’s match at WrestleMania XXIV.[62][63][64] Enraged by this quick victory, the entire Wyatt Family then surrounded the Rock when surprisingly John Cena emerged and helped Rock clear the ring of the Wyatts.[65] The segment ended with Rock and Cena walking up the ramp and Rock hugging his family before he raised Cena’s arm.

The Main Event: WWE Championship Triple H vs. Roman Reigns (No Disqualification)

The main event match saw Triple H defend his WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Roman Reigns. The champion was introduced first and made a grand entrance, featuring his costumed wife Stephanie McMahon giving a Game of Thrones style speech,[65] while insulting the audience for their “pathetic lives” and commanding all to bow to Triple H, who then made his way to the ring followed by Stephanie and a group of masked men dressed in black with replica world title belts (including NXT superstars and referees).

Finn Balor
Chad Gable
the Revival (Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson).
Hideo Itami
Enzo Amore
Simon Gotch
Elias Samson.
Blake and Murphy
Chris Girard.
3 NXT Referees: Drake Wuertz, Shawn Bennett and Danilo Anfibio

Reigns, the challenger, entered last; his entrance consisted of cocking his fist and punching the floor (which in his matches signals him using a Superman punch), which set off fireworks both within and outside the stadium; Reigns then made his way down the entrance ramp to the ring.

Not long after the match started, Triple H threw Reigns over the top rope. Reigns mounted a comeback, but Stephanie distracted the referee (Chad Patton), which allowed Triple H to hit a low blow, and eventually target Reigns’ nose. Reigns then rallied by spearing Triple H through the ringside barrier. Triple H regrouped to focus his attack on Reigns’ left arm, but Reigns recovered, hitting another spear on Triple H, but Stephanie pulled the referee out to stop the count at two. Stephanie entered the ring to argue with the referee, and was inadvertently struck by Reigns’ spear when Triple H sidestepped Reigns. Triple H executed a Pedigree on Reigns, but only secured a two count. Stephanie passed Triple H his trademark sledgehammer, so the referee warned that he would be disqualified if he used it. However, Reigns hit two Superman Punches, rendering Triple H staggering in the corner. Then, Reigns ran the ropes, dodged a sledgehammer shot, and responded with a third spear to garner the pinfall victory and win the title for a third time. A wide array of celebratory fireworks was released.

Photos –

Roy Turner
Jake Skinner
WWE Archives
Getty Images

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