Wrestlemania 30 Week V – Wrestlemania Sunday
Ok so how are we still standing or at the very least not sleeping all day today after yesterday’s marathon endurance trial of two fan conventions, two cultural events,
a 4 hr Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony & Wrestlecon’s Supershow After-Party?
The answer is that today is Wrestlemania.
Day 5 – Sunday April 6th
In the many way that this event mirrors the Super Bowl other than being the pinnacle event of its industry, held in stadium on a Sunday in a city that won its bid, is that it has become a week-long affair of events leading up to it. If you have been following along to the four previous installments of this series, you already know that we attended many of those events and couldn’t be more excited for the culmination of today’s huge event.
But first:
DDP Yoga + “Kickass Breakfast” & Q&A with Diamond Dallas Page – Holiday Inn Westbank – New Orleans
Diamond Dallas Page‘s DDP Yoga “Wrestlemania” Workshop was in the cylindrical Holiday Inn that rises like a stack of poker chips just across the Crescent City Connection. The workshop was on the tower’s 14th floor, in a curved room offering a postcard view of the New Orleans skyline.
Jess and I were both nervous about trying DDP Yoga, and the greeting of “It Ain’t Your MaMa’s Yoga” the stencil-style slogan adorning the merchandise didn’t help matters.
DPP Yoga, as a practice, seeks to combine the flexibility benefits of yoga, the muscle-building potential of dynamic resistance, the cardio component of a traditional calisthenics class, and make them— along with a dairy-and-gluten-free nutritional approach — available to new audiences.
This means audiences who might find the more traditional versions of those exercises culturally weird and off-putting as well as those who would be unable to participate because of obesity or disability.
DDP, like many professional wrestlers, finished his in-ring career a total physical wreck. There’s slightly more awareness than there used to be about the toll pro wrestling takes on its performers’ bodies, but I think few who don’t work in the business can appreciate the level of physical punishment professional wrestling entails. It’s one of the reasons calling pro wrestling “fake” is so egregious: the risks pro wrestlers take and the life-changing injuries they endure and overcome in pursuit of their craft are brutally real, and in some ways longer-lasting, than the ephemeral rewards of fame or money that anyway only top guys ever get a taste of.
Before DDP began practicing yoga he could barely walk; he couldn’t separate his fingers and toes. He recounted this as part of a compelling opening statement that used his own extraordinary biography and tribulations as examples of what’s possible for anyone, in any area of life.
Page, upbeat and cheerleader-limber in his late 50s, is a great advertisement for his own systems: clearly, whatever he’s doing is effective.
The DDP Yoga team that he travels and conducts seminars with includes his girlfriend, his daughter and her boyfriend, all of whom are practitioners and advocates of DDP Yoga. During the exercise portions of the evening, they helped Page demonstrate positions and walked around to offer advice to those who were struggling or doing things incorrectly, Jess & I for example.
There were between 50 and 60 people attending. They ranged in age and apparent fitness level; they were, on average, slightly fitter than the average American pro wrestling fan, in part because a lot of them weren’t Americans. At the extra-curricular activities I’ve attended around WrestleMania, as the ticket price to a given event goes up, so does the proportion of patrons from other countries as I mentioned before.
Though I was aware of Page’s accomplishments, I didn’t follow the promotion where he had his biggest run, he was a top guy in WCW in the ‘90s. so he was never on my radar, however I am now a huge fan of the man we met and spent time with today. He’s a huge, powerful force of positivity & that’s something I’ve always responded strongly to.
Following the workout their was a “Kickass Breakfast” as promised followed by a very informal and laid back Q&A that was very intimate with lots of laughter.
This turned out to be one of the best things we did all week.
Wrestlemania XXX – The Superdome – New Orleans
The moment had arrived & we were finally here was already a victory itself. The rich tradition of wrestling at the Superdome is something I am greatly proud to now be a part of as this was the first WrestleMania to be held in the state of Louisiana
I’ve been very lucky or just chose well with the Wrestlemanias that I have attended.
Wrestlemania 17 & 25 out of proximity (both in Houston, and both considered to be two of the best ever)
Wrestlemania 19 ended up being the legendary Stone Cold Steve Austin‘s last match (I even sat next to him on the plane back to Dallas the next night after RAW on a redeye flight).
Wrestlemania 20 & 29 (both in NYC and produced legendary results).
…but dare I say that this was the best one of them all so far? It wouldn’t be far off the mark. You can get results of this event anywhere on the internet and if your reading this I’m sure you already know the outcome. What I hope to deliver is a people’s history and perspective from someone that was there.
This one was special as someone in his late 30s, it was great that the theme this year was reflection and what has taken place over the past 30 years.
We get just outside the entrance and the excitement is so palpable you could literally feel it and the crowd outside it super ready for this.
Also seeing the production set is one of the great reveals that you look forward to most in going – What’s it gonna look like this year?
This year’s set was absolutely stunning.
Really good choice for the pre-show & really set things up to come later on the main card.The big angle happened after the match as Cesaro applied the Cesaro Swing to former partner Jack Swagger. Huge pop for that. Crowd was firmly behind Cesaro.The Main Card –
The main show started when host Hulk Hogan came down to the ring for a segment, and at one point accidentally calling the Superdome the Silverdome (twice).
The crowd immediately was all over him with a huge chant of “SUPERDOME! SUPERDOME!” – Confused for a bit until he finally got what had happened, he attempted a decent save by apologizing that he was just thinking about slamming Andre the Giant (which took place at the Silverdome (that like most of Detroit has been left in near ruins sadly) at Wrestlemania III, still considered the benchmark), but you could feel it that he was thinking “I’m gonna hear about this for the rest of my life”.
A few moments later, Stone Cold Steve Austin joined him in the ring, teasing a confrontation between the two, and validated that by immediately teasing him by saying how good it was “…to be back here in the Silverdome” as Hogan just shook his head. I felt bad for him but it was truly funny and magically spontaneous.
After that, The Rock also came down to the ring. The three reminisced on former WrestleManias and led the crowd in their signature chants and catchphrases & shared a number of beers together before departing the ring, but not before taking a shot at Hogan’s flub himself.
That was one of the most memorable opening segments in the history of WrestleMania or any show. Hogan, Austin and Rock are the three biggest stars in WWE history of the WrestleMania era ( & Bruno Sammartino was sitting ringside.)
It was a brilliant way to start the show.
Steve Austin, a few weeks after the show on his excellent podcast The Steve Austin Show on the Michael Hayes episode, revealed a genius idea he had to come out and sing Hank Williams’ Jambalaya with the lyrics printed on the Titantron and lead everybody in a sing-a-long.
Can you even imagine how perfect that would have been and one of the most unforgettable things yet? He claimed they couldn’t/didn’t have time to get the licensing for the song so it was scrapped.
Only Stone Cold could have come up with that.
I tweeted to Steve:
“@steveaustinBSR Was at @WrestleMania 30 & if you had sang Jambalaya it would have KILLED!!”
Amazingly, he tweeted me back by simply saying:
“@TrickyKid2 I know…”
Daniel Bryan vs. Triple H w/Stephanie McMahon
The winner would be inserted in the WWE World Heavyweight Championship main event later that night so it made obvious sense to start with this match to give the winner the remainder of the show to rest for such a big match.
After another series of counters, Daniel Bryan hit his running knee for the three count. After the match, Stephanie Mcmahon slapped Bryan, distracting him long enough for Triple H to attack him from behind & placed Bryan’s injured arm against the ring post and hit it with a steel folding chair. The odds seem ever further stacked against ol’ Daniel.
Kane, Road Dogg & Billy Gunn vs. The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns)
I was looking forward to this match as Kane is one of my all-time favorites and is responsible for me tuning back in to wrestling in 2001 after not watching for almost a decade. Also because I missed all that time, I had previously never seen Road Dogg & Billy Gun do their thing before either which was a real treat.
Previous feats have seen him do a handstand walk, make a long jump from the guard rail back to the ring and pogo stick an announce chair.
But this may have been the most daring and impressive yet. After charging at Antonio Cesaro he found himself thrown up and over the turnbuckles before landing on the bottom step and falling backwards.
Here’s a listing of the 31 guys that were in the match in the order that they were eliminated:Yoshi Tatsu
Brad Maddox
Brodus Clay
Great Khali
Zack Ryder
Darren Young
3MB
Mark Henry
Titus O’Neil
The Miz
Santino
Xavier Woods
Damien Sandow
Justin Gabriel
David Otunga
Big E
Fandango
R-Truth
Sin Cara
Tyson Kidd
Goldust
Cody Rhodes
Rey Mysterio
Kofi Kingston
Dolph Ziggler
Alberto Del Rio
Sheamus
Big Show
and the winner of the match: Cesaro.I do have to give props & mention that the Mid-South Fanfest that we attended on Friday had been promoting their Main Event as the Junkyard Dog Memorial Battle Royal for months before WWE ever mentioned anything about their Memorial Battle Royal – coincidece? – Who knows.
John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt (w/Luke Harper & Erick Rowan)
One of the coolest things I look forward to at Wrestlemania is the musical performances as the bookings are also kept a surprise. I’ve always loved Triple H and responded greatly to him coming out to Motorhead. So imagine my shock and joy when at my first Wrestlemania (17) his entrance included Motorhead suddenly appearing to play him live to the ring.
The Wyatt Family made their entrance as an abbreviated version of the Jesus & Mary Chain led by Mark Crozier performed a live version of Wyatt’s theme song costumed in Eyes Wide Shut looking hierogamy-inspired outfits, after a seperate New Orleans voo-doo themed dance ritual from local performers. Both just framed the whole thing perfectly and contributed unforgettable moments.
The psychological aspect as cult leader was played to full effect. As Cena rebounded from the ropes Bray quickly bridged up into this crazy, creepy crab walk position & when John Cena fell to the mat stunned, Wyatt cradled him and disturbingly started to sing “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands” – Fucking awesome.
I hear Jim Ross talk about how theirs no such as a true heel these days, that they are more interested in being “cool”. That’s interesting to me and largely I agree with J.R. as if it was me, I would want to be a “true” heel and have genuine heat.
However, as a life-long fan of the G.I. Joe franchise, who doesn’t love a cool villian?The Hall of Fame class of 2014Jake Roberts, Mr. T, Paul Bearer (represented by his sons Michael & Daniel), Carlos Colon, Lita, Razor Ramon and finally The Ultimate Warrior. It’s great to see them all on the stage together like that.
The Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar (w/Paul Heyman)
The Undertaker entered as the stage was filled with caskets (and numbers) commemorating all his victories. There were 21 with Lesnar’s name on the one with 22 on it.
The Undertaker’s undefeated Wrestlemania streak is perhaps the biggest attraction every year (in some cases even bigger than the main event) – Will this be the year etc..
The internet wrestling community had been critical of the build towards this years Streak challenge because it didn’t present Lesnar as a credible threat to the wrestling tradition. Because of such, the entire contest was overlooked and viewed as a foregone conclusion.
Needless to say that no-one was prepared for what was to come. After a third F5 from the Beast, the referee’s hand fell a third and final time with no movement from the Deadman. Just like that The Streak was over. New Orleans were in a stunned silence. The majority of faces in the 75,000 crowd were pure shock. Even Lesnar and Heyman looked like they couldn’t quite believe that they had actually ended one of wrestling’s longest traditions. The word best may be questionable for this moment due to people not wanting The Streak to end or disagreements of a part-timer getting the crowning moment but there is no denying the magnitude of the moment. This is what this Wrestlemania will forever be remembered for and it puts it alongside that elite class of the aforementioned Wrestlemania III as this moment is as significant as Hogan vs Andre & everyone felt it.
It was followed by an undeniably great moment as they didn’t play Lesnar’s music right away like they do when other people win matches.
The Undertaker got back to his feet and the silenced crowd gathered themselves to give him a well deserved standing ovation for what is probably his final match
However that didn’t stop Miss Little Badass herself A.J. Lee from putting on one hell of a performance.
Despite having a rich history as part of pro wrestling, women’s wrestling these days mostly gets treated as a sexy sideshow. This is in large part because the decision-makers at WWE haven’t given a shit about their female athletes for a long time, and for better or worse, WWE defines for the whole world what pro wrestling is. That horrifically terrible “reality” show Total Divas has cast a light on them but in the most unfortunate way that seems their aspirations fall more into the Kardashian category than Trish Stratus.
This is where A.J Lee is the standout as you wouldn’t catch her on that show for any amount of money, but that’s not what makes her great.
Her greatness lies in her dedication and her performances reflect that – She has it all and in my opinion the greatest female competitor they’ve ever had and frankly one of the best period.
The powers that be clearly know this , as it doesn’t take a genius to see how her talent stands head & shoulders above everyone else, so they worked that into the storyline as it was literally her against the entire Divas division.
Alicia Fox
Brie & Nicki Bella
Cameron
Emma
Eva Marie
Layla
Naomi
Natalya
Rosa Mendes
Summer Rae
& Tamina SnukaNatalya teased doing a Sharpshooter on three girls at once but then AJ applied the Black Widow submission on Naomi and that was it after about 7 minutes.
Again this could be looked at as a lazy booking but I like it when they find a way to get everyone on the card, not to mention they statement it makes that AJ just beat the ENTIRE Divas division in one match.
Backstage, Mean Gene Okerlund interviewed Hulk Hogan and suddenly Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff showed up.
Piper had been saying in media interviews that he had been campaigning to WWE to give fans what they wanted to see during the celebration of thirty years of WrestleMania: to do a bit with him & Hulk Hogan.
In tribute to the first ever WrestleMania main event.Taking advantage of Mr T being in attendance because of his Hall of Fame induction, a backstage segment reunited every member of the historical main event.
Hogan found himself confronted by Piper and his WrestleMania I partner Paul Orndorff. Piper and Orndorff spoke about their feelings on being remembered for losing the big main event, and Orndorff being the one to take the pinfall, before Mr T came to the side of his buddy Hogan. As if that wasn’t enough, Pat Patterson came as a peacekeeper dressed in classic referee attire to complete the reunion.
Then came the handshake 29 years in the making, as the men all buried the hatchet including a comically reluctant Piper shaking Mr T’s hand.
A strong moment for long-term fans and took full advantage of having both Hogan and Mr T around while giving a rare Orndorff sighting.
WWE World Heavyweight Championship: Randy Orton vs. Batista vs. Daniel Bryan
Now it was time for the main event – As tradition holds the match that always goes last is the Heavyweight Championship match to secure its prestige (in a era especially when it needs all the prestige it can get).
Randy Orton made his entrance first & The band Rev Theory was there to sing Orton’s song live –
They all can’t be Motorhead & Living Colour but it gave it the right emphasis that it needed.
The match starts and besides the importance of its Main Event status ultimately I’m not a huge fan of any of the three competitors.
In fact I’m not a fan of Orton or Batista at all and though you won’t ever catch me doing the “Yes!” chant, I do agree that Bryan has earned his spot and clearly the one to cheer for. It seemed the original plan wasn’t to have Bryan in the match at all, & that the WWE thought that Orton & Batista could carry the match themselves. It wasn’t until after Batista winning the Royal Rumble in Jan and earning a spot in the main event that the powers that be saw the backlash that that’s not what people wanted to see.
The result, as can be seen below, saw an amazing move executed. Orton and Batista stripped two announce tables and set up the steel steps next to the Spanish Announce Table.
Batista then proceeded to Batista Bomb Bryan from one table towards the other, where Orton leaped with to catch Bryan in a mid-air RKO through the table.
& produced one of the most impressive spots of the night.
It made for uncomfortable viewing but given the injury reports coming out of the event, it is merciful compared to that Daniel Bryan a few later had to have legitimate neck surgery.Bryan fought off not just two opponents in the championship match but also Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, crooked referee Scott Armstrong as well as Batista and Orton teaming together temporarily to take him out. All of this on top of pulling double duty, selling an injury from prior to the show and getting a post-match beatdown earlier in the event, and ultimately got the win and the championship and the place just came unglued.
It was everything that it should have been. Despite a grueling match earlier in the show and selling a shoulder injury Bryan, was as good as ever.
When he won, the ovation was as loud as anything I’ve ever been a part of.
During the celebration, Bryan brought in his niece and sister to join him. Then he continued with the WWE & World Titles in his hands.
There was confetti. There was pyro. There were so many “yes” chants. It was such an incredible sight to be in that building and witness 70,000+ people doing the “yes” in unison. People didn’t leave. They were high-fiving with strangers and celebrating the fact that a deserving guy won and most importantly that WWE booked it in the right way too. The show ended with Bryan holding both titles looking like a champion.
The Crowd:
Now I don’t wanna end on a sour note but I do want to take a second to talk about the crowd a little bit –
Though thankfully it was nothing like the unprecendented rudeness and just bizarre selfishness I experienced last year, it was not without its hiccups.
We didn’t have a problem not once at the previous TEN other events we attended this week but today, although we had an amazing time and we didn’t let the crowd compromise that, their was some bullshit.
When we got to our seats, their were two guys sitting in front of us, at first on my good side as they were dressed as 80s stars Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiasi & Irwin R. Schister, that is until they decided to spend the next four hours watching the entire show through their celll phones.
Another hippy looking guy I have no idea how he even got in here as he looked downright homeless, proceeded to fire up clove cigarettes indoors right next to us until I made him stop.
The four seats behind us were empty during the Pre-Show but were soon filled with the most obnoxious frat-boy types all in the same N.W.O shirts saying every sexist, misogynistic thing imaginable. Thankfully they moved down about 10 seats about an hour later but were still audible during the Divas match to hear them rudely shouting “Bathroom Break! Bathroom Break!”
I was happy to see that the locals of New Orleans had the good seats, they deserve it – And hilariously you could have spotted us from the top of the stadium as we were the only whites in a 100 yard spread in every direction, & you know what else? We were welcomed –
If you’ve never been to the South, and been around southern people you won’t know what I’m talking about but they are the best people on earth and the black community in the South I have found to always be the friendliest.
No one was chanting vulgar things and being innappropriate –
No one was on their phones or filming the event, they were right there and totally invested and very animated and emotional.
No one was being inconsiderate to us, in fact their were two little boys about 8 years old , sitting on the backs on their chairs and turned on saw us and were concerned that we couldn’t see so they repositioned so that we could – EIGHT YEARS OLD! – You know why? Because their parents taught them to.
The adults that were around us in the upper section couldn’t grasp what a pair of 8 years old were doing without being prompted to.
When Daniel Bryan won, the guy behind us was so excited he grabbed Jess & I in a giant bear hug lifting us both off the ground that was so touching to me that I actually started to weep a little.
Stay tuned as we wrap up this incredible journey with the next installment that covers the next night’s Raw and the Smackdown taping the day after & much much more.
Photos –
Roy Turner
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