10 Fascinating WWE WrestleMania 31 Facts
WWE defies low expectations with a memorable 'Mania.
The road to WrestleMania 31 was one littered with potholes, downed wires, and flash flooding. For many fans, the week-to-week trek was about as navigable as the Pacific Ocean is on rollerblades. It wasn't just that Roman Reigns was being gift-wrapped the WWE Championship belt against many fans' wishes; the entire show seemed to lack the WrestleMania polish.
Sting's feud with Triple H over some long-dead WWE/WCW issue seemed to cast "The Game" as the hero, which was news to the crowd. Rusev's rivet-gunned allegiance to Russia was a transparent set-up for All-American John Cena to go all Rambo-in-jorts on him. The participants in the Intercontinental ladder match took turns stealing the belt from each other in the world's lamest game of keep-away. Bray Wyatt had to single-handedly carry his confusing feud with The Undertaker, the point in where his once-brilliant promos veered off into dissonant gibberish.
All of this, before Reigns and Brock Lesnar's half-hearted game of tug-of-war with the belt that ended the go-home Raw.
In spite of all that inanity, WrestleMania 31 delivered. It was a show where no match was terrible, and a handful would've justified giving the show a thumbs up on their own. If ever a wrestling event overachieved, it was this one.
10. Early Plans Were For Triple H To Wrestle Batista At The Show
After Batista quit Evolution, and functionally WWE, on-camera in June 2014, the door was still open for "The Animal" to return to the fold. By all accounts, Batista was going to run out for a bit to 'do the movie thing', and dip back in when his media obligations to Guardians of the Galaxy died down. A match with Triple H, who he'd stood up by tersely resigning, had WrestleMania written all over it.
Guardians came out later that summer, and calling it a box office smash is putting it mildly. In all, the movie grossed more than $770 million worldwide, and suddenly, Drax the Destroyer was in high demand. Batista would be cast as assassin Mr. Hinx in the James Bond movie Spectre, which began production in the fall of 2014. A Guardians sequel also loomed large.
With Hollywood blowing up Big Dave's phone, there was little time left for wrestling. The Rock understands how that works.