Wrestlemania XXXV

Overview

Wrestlemania XXXV is the thirty-fifth annual Wrestlemania pay-per-view produced by WWE. It takes place April 7th, 2019 in East Rutherford, New Jersey at Metlife Stadium.

Background

Wrestlemania XXXV marks a historic Wrestlemania for WWE, as it will be the first Wrestlemania to feature a women's match as the main event. The match is a triple threat between Ronda Rousey, Charlotte Flair, and Becky Lynch in a winner-takes-all match for both the Raw and Smackdown Women's Championships (Rousey goes into the match the champion on Raw, and Flair the champion on Smackdown). The match has had months of build, and culminated in a brawl on the final Raw before Wrestlemania that led to the Charlotte Kneeing Ronda meme.

One of the other most-anticipated matches going into the event is Daniel Bryan defending the WWE championship against Kofi Kingston of The New Day. Kofi Kingston began growing popular as a potential challenger to Bryan's belt when he was inserted into a gauntlet match on Smackdown prior to the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view match when competitor Mustafa Ali was injured. His strong performance there and in the Elimination Chamber led to a rush of organic fan-support, dubbed "Kofimania."^[1] As an interesting wrinkle, KofiMania shares many similarities to Daniel Bryan's Wrestlemania XXX journey, where Bryan was positioned as an underdog and called a "B+ player" by the Authority. Bryan, now a villainous heel, has called Kingston a "B+ player" and Vince McMahon the character has worked to keep Kingston out of the match with some purposefully subtle racist overtones,^[2] such as referring to Kingston and The New Day as "you people."

Other notable matches include Seth Rollins facing Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship, Kurt Angle facing Baron Corbin in Angle's retirement match, and Triple H facing Batista in a match with the stipulation that if Batista wins, Triple H must retire from in-ring competition.^[3] Saturday Night Live hosts Colin Jost and Michael Che will be in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royale after running afoul of Braun Strowman.

Of note, John Cena is rumored to be appearing at the show in some capacity, but it is unclear what he will be doing, as he has not been on WWE television for months.^[6]

Developments

Prior to the event, John Oliver ran a segment critical of the way WWE treats its wrestlers. In response, WWE refuted the points made in Oliver's segment and invited him to Wrestlemania XXXV.^[4]

/r/SquaredCircle^[5] ran an April Fools Day prank stating that Wrestlemania XXXV was cancelled due to "allegations of match-rigging."

Of the night's matches, notable victors include Becky Lynch defeating Charlotte Flair and Ronda Rousey for both the Smackdown and Raw Women's Championships in a controversial finish, Kofi Kingston defeating Daniel Bryan to become WWE Champion, and Seth Rollins defeating Brock Lesnar to become Universal Champion. Kurt Angle lost to Baron Corbin in his farewell match, and Triple H defeated Batista. Braun Strowman won the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royale.

John Cena appeared using an old gimmick, the Dr. of Thuganomics, interrupting a musical segment for the heel Elias and insulting him with battle rap one-liners.

Related Memes

The Miz' Dad

During a Falls-Count-Anywhere match between The Miz and Shane McMahon, The Miz' 68-year-old father, George Mizanin stepped into the ring to defend his son against Shane. He received a few punches and kicks from Shane McMahon, causing The Miz to lose his composure and brutally attack Shane.

After the moment, wrestling fans joked about Mr. Mizanin's fighting pose in a series of photoshops. For example, user @darkstar1 photoshopped the moment into a still from Mortal Kombat (shown below, left). User @adambarnhardt tweeted a photoshop of Mr. Mizanin fighting against Thanos (shown below, right).

Batista Trip

While entering the ring for his first match in several years, Batista got his foot caught on the ring rope and stumbled during his entrance (shown below).

Twitter users joked about the moment with comparisons to Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers jokes. For example, user @KhannVict434 tweeted a Disintegration Effect joke about the moment (shown below, left). @Hazardf5 posted a GIF of Batista as Drax from Guardians of the Galaxy mocking the image, gaining over 230 retweets and 550 likes (shown below, right). Memes of the event were covered by CNet.^[7]

Controversies

Attack on Bret Hart

During the WWE Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on the Saturday before Wrestlemania, a fan tackled Bret Hart as he spoke on stage at the Barclay's Center. The fan was quickly dealt with by the numerous nearby wrestlers and security. The fan, identified as Zachary Madsen, was charged with assault and criminal trespassing charges.^[8]

Search Interest

External References