10 Times WWE Pleasantly Surprised Their Audience

5. Brock Lesnar Vs Roman Reigns (Vs Seth Rollins)

Finn Balor John Cena
WWE.com

Brock Lesnar's WrestleMania 31 WWE Championship match against Roman Reigns was already over-delivering before Seth Rollins raced down the enormous ramp with his Money In The Bank briefcase in hand.

'The Big Dog's bloody grin served as a mark of his indestructibility in the face of somebody that has assumed total domination as normal. Roman wasn't getting cheered, but many of the fans that ordinarily hurled disdain at him were suddenly frozen in frazzled awe at his remarkable fighting spirit before they were bailed out by the strains of Rollins' entrance music echoing out from the stadium speakers.

Delivering the fan-friendly solution at the exact right moment, WWE provided a winner the entire venue could leave satisfied over, a surprising WrestleMania ending that left the community in shock and a genuine historic first - no other holder of the briefcase had ever chosen the 'Show Of Shows' finale to spring their surprise challenge.

Rollins - by this point the heel 'Architect' and destroyer of The Shield but not yet quite the abused step-child of Triple H and Stephanie McMahon - was popular enough on his own terms to be the one to take the title even if it set both Reigns and Lesnar on a revenge mission in the aftermath.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett