“The Phenomenal One, my ass!” A seething Undertaker said, as he looked directly into the camera at AJ Styles on the go home episode of Raw ahead of Wrestlemaniathis weekend.
The Undertaker, much like Chris Jericho, is a master of knowing when it’s time to change his character and keep it from getting too stale. Form the deathly zombie-like beginnings, to the American Badass, to Big Evil and back to a modern version of The Deadman. Undertaker has done it to perfection for so many years which is why he is still so relevant 3 decades later. But this Hybrid version of The Deadman and American Badass personas may just be his best yet.
Undertaker is still dressing like The Deadman character, all in black, but he also has a beanie hat and is speaking more like the man behind the gimmick. No more gravelly voice, no more talk of tombstones and souls. This is the most real Undertaker we have ever seen, and it’s brilliant to see.
Since this rivalry with AJ Styles began, Undertaker has responded differently than he ever has before. He’s displayed more shades of Big Evil and the American Badass. While we shouldn’t expect him to ride out on a Harley any time soon, we should prepare ourselves to hear and see more of the man behind the big black hat.
On Raw this past week, Undertaker cut one of his best promos in years, completely cutting Styles down to size. He was still dressed all in black, but this time it was leather. He was even sporting a bandanna underneath the beanie. Undertaker was his merciless best here, totally disrespecting AJ, using his real name and even claiming he was too scared to join WWE in the early 2000s because he “couldn’t hang with Rock, Austin, Edge and Guerrero”.
This was as far from The Deadman’s usual schpiel about death and souls that you could get. Undertaker took it down the reality route, and it worked. This version of Undertaker has added layers to the character that could help him remain in the mix for years to come, health permitting.
Undertaker discussed how he has been in the ring with the biggest names this industry has ever seen, and that Styles doesn’t come anywhere near the conversion when talking about the best. He clearly has no respect for AJ, in story line, which is exactly how Big Evil used to act back in the day.
Undertaker closed out the scintillating promo by warning Styles, “Try me, and I’ll make you famous!”, a line he hasn’t used since poor old DDP was stalking his wife. This is deeply personal, and thanks to Undertaker and Styles’ tremendous promo work in recent weeks, fans are anticipating something special, and I’m sure they will deliver.
Undertaker obviously has more matches behind him than he does in front of him, but this rivalry with Styles has seen him return to a form than many thought ended with the retirement of Shawn Michaels. Can he still deliver the goods between the ropes? He can ask for no greater ring partner than AJ Styles, who will do everything in his power to get this match over and make Undertaker look a million bucks.
Undertaker is 55 years of age. He’s no spring chicken to say the least. But this new hybrid character will allow him to lean into the reality of father time more, and be honest about the situation. He’s not the same guy he was 20 years ago, but he’s still a big, bad son of a bitch who can beat a lot of guys up whenever he chooses.
The Phenom has often spoken of his desire to return to the Big Evil/American Badass version of his character, and this might be Vince McMahon’s way of allowing it while not completely burying The Deadman persona.
How to watch Wrestlemania
Wrestlemania is being broadcast this Saturday & Sunday ‘as live’ from WWE’s Performance Center in Orlando via the WWE Network & BT Sport Box Office.
Unfortunately we aren’t able to show Wrestlemania in our pubs & bars, however we will be showing future WWE events!
Download the We Love Sport app to find your local pub or bar showing WWE PPV’s. You can locate your chosen venue then book the best seats in the house.
Many different artists have performed on the Grandest Stage of Them All over the years. We’ve heard everything, from country to rock to pop music.
Some performances were pretty good, such as Run-DMC at Wrestlemania V and Snoop Dogg at Wrestlemania 32. Moments like those helped add to the spectacle of their respective show.
There were others, however, that were really bad and extremely forgettable.
So, without further ado, allow me to sarcastically present to you the. . .ahem. . .“best” musical performances at Wrestlemania.
Flo Rida & **Sia** at Wrestlemania 28
Kicking things off is WWE‘s favorite rapper, Flo Rida.
That really isn’t an understatement either; they’ve used some of his songs as themes for their pay-per-views and he has performed at several of their shows. He was also supposed to hold a WWE SummerSlam concert in 2016, but go figure, it was ultimately canceled due to low ticket sales.
But speaking of his performances, his appearance in Miami, Florida at Wrestlemania 28 was quite forgettable. If you go back and re-watch it, he sounds just like he does in the studio! Oh wait, that’s because he lip-synced the entire time and it was blatantly obvious. Don’t worry though, that’ll be a recurring theme in this article.
Also, the stars around Sia’s name in the heading weren’t because of a sticky keyboard. Whoever stood on that stage her, and I’m not sure why WWE thought people wouldn’t notice.
Unfortunately, WWE didn’t learn their lesson, but we’ll get to that later.
The Chris Warren/DX Band at
WrestleMania XIV
Next
is a very. . .interesting rendition of “America the Beautiful” and “The
Star-Spangled Banner”.
Chris Warren was best known for singing DX’s theme and Triple H’s theme, “My Time”. He’s also created WWE ‘s Superstars’ theme in 1997 and a few for TNA in 2007-08.
But his most infamous moment came at Wrestlemania XIV in Boston, Massachusetts. The band’s performance was, “the alternative, nu-wave version” of “America the Beautiful” and our national anthem.
Sometimes different is a good thing, but this was definitely not one of those times. Both fans and critics hated the performance, stating it was disrespectful and in poor taste.
WWE seems to have agreed, as they never released it to home video and edited it out of the replay on the WWE Network. However, a clip still remains on YouTube to this day.
So, watch if you dare and judge for yourself.
Kid Rock at WrestleMania 25
Then we move on to Kid Rock’s performance at Wrestlemania 25 in Houston, Texas.
This
one isn’t here because of the performance itself; he’s at least singing and
putting forth some effort. No, it’s included because of how long he was on
stage.
If
you watch it on YouTube, the video is almost 11 minutes. That’s just way too
long, especially when you have, oh I don’t know, wrestling matches that
need to go on after. The women even start making their way to the ring for
their battle royal during the last song.
Who
thought giving him that much time was a great idea? If that was the plan all
along, they might as well have given him his own concert. But then again, as
they learned with Flo Rida, it probably would have backfired quickly.
Pitbull, Flo Rida, Lunchmoney Lewis,
& Stephen Marley at WrestleMania 33
Just when you thought WWE moved on from Flo Rida, they brought him back for Wrestlemania 33 in Orlando, Florida. At least they brought other people this time too!
Unfortunately,
adding Pitbull, Lunchmoney Lewis, and Stephen Marley didn’t help this
performance at all. It was filled with the usual lip-syncing, except worse than
before. The song itself drowned out any attempted “singing” that was going on.
At
least Pitbull brought some energy, but like most ‘Mania crowds, however, they
just weren’t into it. It’s as if they wanted more wrestling matches instead of
musical performances.
Lately it seems as if WWE has moved away from Flo Rida, but people probably thought that back at Wrestlemania 28. At this point, he might just show up every few years or so until the end of time.
Motörhead
at WrestleMania 17
Ending things here is an entry that is
probably a little controversial.
Don’t get me wrong, having Motörhead sing
Triple H to the ring is the definition of badass. Just hearing the opening
makes you feel like you can run through a brick wall.
But then Lemmy Kilmister started to sing, and
that’s when things went downhill. It sounds like gibberish in several parts, as
if he forgot the lyrics just before going on stage.
It kind of takes away from it for me
personally. However, it’s still a very memorable entrance and one that many
fans love to this day.
To be fair, any other lead singer butchering the lyrics would have been an absolute disaster. But Lemmy and Motörhead are cool enough to make this performance sound absolutely epic, gibberish and all!
How to watch Wrestlemania
Wrestlemania is being broadcast this Saturday & Sunday ‘as live’ from WWE’s Performance Center in Orlando via the WWE Network & BT Sport Box Office.
Unfortunately we aren’t able to show Wrestlemania in our pubs & bars, however we will be showing future WWE events!
Download the We Love Sport app to find your local pub or bar showing WWE PPV’s. You can locate your chosen venue then book the best seats in the house.
The Grandest Stage. The Granddaddy of Them All. The Showcase of the Immortals. Whatever you want to call it, Wrestlemania is the most hotly anticipated professional wrestling event of the calendar with tens of thousands of fans clambering from around the world to get a ticket and millions watching around the world.
35 editions of Wrestlemania has been seen by the hundreds of millions of fans in the last three and a half decades which means there has been a lot of memorable moments to sink their teeth into from the heartwarming moments like the reunion to Miss Elizabeth and Randy Savage to the utterly shocking like The Miz retaining over John Cena atWrestlemania 27.
1.Seth Rollins Cashes in During the Wrestlemania 31 Main Event
The only man to do it and the man to make what many considered a very poorly built Mania main event unbelievably interesting. A lot of fans had turned on Roman Reigns because he was being pushed to John Cena levels and the fans decided to reject him and instead, supported the part time champion. Reigns won the Rumble match after he overcame The Authority with the help of his cousin, The Rock, which punched his ticket to the main event of Wrestlemania 31.
Seth Rollins won the Money in the Bank briefcase after being put in said match by The Authority vowing for him to win. At this time, Rollins was the ‘golden boy’ of The Authority, could do no wrong and got everything handed to him. Rollins lost earlier in the night to Randy Orton, a match that gave us another Wrestlemania moment with the greatest RKO out of nowhere we’ll ever see.
The actual match between Lesnar and Reigns was very one-sided, as most Lesnar matches are, with Reigns taking the beating and coming back into the match sporadically but for it to be instantly shut down by The Beast. It evened out after Lesnar was rammed into the corner post and cut open but Reigns was still not in full control of the momentum but would show defiance towards Lesnar, mainly laughing at his attempts to attack. You’d anticipate Reigns was told to do this by Vince to get the crowd more behind him as the defiant babyface who does as he pleases, but that still didn’t work. A lull near the end of the match is where it got really good, Lesnar hits an F5 on Reigns but is exhausted from the long match he put himself through, an average length for other competitors.
The opening sounds of The Second Coming hits the speakers and out comes Seth Rollins looking like he’s running from Triple H after doing something he shouldn’t do, down to the ring with briefcase in hand. He hands the briefcase to senior official, Mike Chioda, the referee rings the bell to signal the triple threat match and two Curb Stomps later, one to Lesnar and one to Reigns, Seth Rollins is your new WWE Champion. He runs to the top of the ramp in disbelief he is holding the championship before frantically swinging it above his head. Michael Cole made this moment even more memorable with his line ‘the heist of the century’ because it was exactly that, Rollins cashing in the briefcase to steal the title from under both Lesnar and Reigns noses. It led to a very respectable title run for Rollins before he suffered his knee injury.
2. Brock Lesnar Breaks the Undertaker’s Streak
One day wrestling fans never thought would come, the end of the legendary undefeated streak. 21 consecutive Wrestlemania wins, we thought it would last his whole career, possibly reaching 30. At the time, you’d think that Brock Lesnar was not the right person to end the streak of the Undertaker, you’d expect it to be a rising star who would use this win to kick-start their career.
But looking back at it, the past six years, Brock Lesnar has been given a resurgence as the unstoppable final boss of WWE, all built on this win. The build to this match was a weird one, starting with Paul Heyman complaining that Lesnar wasn’t in the title match at Mania, so the Authority gave him a contract to face anyone. He obviously picked the Deadman with the only interaction between the two coming at the contract signing where Taker stabbed Brock’s hand with a pen and Chokeslammed him through a table. That was it, no wild brawls, no elaborate build. In the match itself, Taker looked absolutely shattered straight away with both men trading submission attempts before Undertaker succumbed to Lesnar’s third F5.
There was no theme music, no noise from the crowd, all you could hear was Heyman freaking out and Justin Roberts announcing Lesnar as the winner. We got the brilliant image of the stunned Taker fan, which became a meme and forever will be, and the shocked look on the faces of Heyman and Brock which would make people think this was a botch. Taker slowly rose to his feet, to applause from the fans and graphic on the screen saying ’21-1’, an eerie sight that we will never forget.
3. Daniel Bryan Defies the Odds
The greatest underdog story in WWE history, one man defying his bosses to become the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. A man, who has never fitted in to the WWE mould based on his height, lack of distinct muscle and different move set would rise up and unite the WWE universe against the Authority. Every wrestling fan knows how damn good Daniel Bryan is in the ring and the passion he has for the business which made the rally behind him that much sweeter despite Triple H and Stephanie McMahon believing he was only a ‘B+ player’.
The build to this moment was absolutely beautiful and every set back Bryan went through made his victory more satisfying with it starting all the way back at SummerSlam 2013, eight months prior to Wrestlemania. A series of matches with Orton, and screwjob finishes, led us to the fans voicing their opinions louder and louder with Bryan being omitted from the Royal Rumble match and entry into the Elimination Chamber. Bryan took matters fully into his own hands with his ‘Occupy RAW’ segment, bringing fans into the ring and refusing to leave unless Triple H gave him what he wanted. Hunter gave in and did as Bryan pleased but only if he could defeat him in the opening match of Wrestlemania, the winner going on to the main event against Randy Orton and the winner of the Royal Rumble, Batista.
The weeks leading up to Mania was Triple H attacking Bryan constantly, focusing on his shoulder which was heavily taped in both matches in New Orleans. In the opening match of Wrestlemania XXX, Bryan defeated Triple H despite a heavy attack on his injured shoulder to punch his ticket to the main event. Bryan would be severely outnumbered in that triple threat match, not only by his opponents, but by Triple H who would interfere with Stephanie and a crooked referee, Scott Armstrong. Eventually, Bryan would be taken out the match after a Batista Bomb/RKO combination through the announce table with Daniel being put onto a stretcher to be taken out the arena. He fights of the EMT’s to stay in the match but is still outnumbered. Batista and Orton’s partnership disintegrates and both start to compete against each other giving Bryan the chance to pick one off.
He isolates Batista and hits him with the running knee and makes him tap out to the Yes Lock, winning the championship to an absolutely raucous crowd. Michael Cole again made this moment amazing with his commentary saying ‘the miracle kid, the miracle kid, the miracle on Bourbon Street’ as Bryan stood on the announce table and lifted the titles above his head with the ‘Yes’ chant.
4. Hulk Hogan Slams Andre the Giant
Often imitated, never duplicated. That is the saying that will forever be synonymous with Andre the Giant. This match gave us more than one iconic moment, not only the slam but Andre’s entrance to the ring in the mini cart to no music, Bob Eucker announcing him and fans throwing garbage at him as he waved to them.
At the time, WWE billed this match as ‘the greatest match in sports entertainment’ and that is extremely fitting, Hulk Hogan was the be all and end all in professional wrestling at the time, a time where kayfabe wasn’t a prominent thing like it is today. To the fans in 1988, Hogan was the valiant baby-face overcoming the evil foreign giant but seemed like he couldn’t in the build-up to the match. The heel turn by Andre prior to Mania and the match itself stemmed from jealousy after Jack Tunney gave both men trophies, Hogan for being champion for three years and Andre for being undefeated in 15 years but Hogan’s was significantly larger than his friends.
It seemed impossible for Hogan to slam Andre, he even attempted it in the match about two minutes in but to no avail, ten minutes later he ‘Hulked up’ and managed to lift Andre and drop that sweet Leg Drop for the three and to retain his title to complete adulation from the fans in attendance. Something that the fans never thought would happen, did on the grandest stage of them all giving us one of our earliest and long standing Wrestlemania moments.
5. Shawn Michaels Retires Ric Flair
With a tear in his eye and the words ‘I love you’ coming out of his mouth, Shawn Michaels ended the 36-year career of the Nature Boy with one swift Sweet Chin Music. In November 2007, Ric Flair returned to WWE to declare he would never retire, Vince McMahon decided to test that and informed Ric the next match he would lose, later changing that stipulation to only include singles matches.
Ric went on a streak of beating mid to higher card talent, the likes of Randy Orton and MVP before deciding that if he was going to retire, he would do it at the hands of the very best on the biggest stage. It was set up and made official, with a hype package that made Shawn look more of a heel wanting to end the career of the older competitor, referring to Ric as Old Yeller and taking him behind the woodshed. As expected, the entrance Ric had was ridiculously elaborated with fireworks in the background and a robe that would make a peacock jealous. Shawn looked ready for business but was one step behind the veteran constantly on the backfoot with any move he did being countered.
Eventually the field evened out and Ric succumbed to the inevitable and just like that, his career was over, well so we thought before he went to TNA but we won’t talk about that. He would hug his family, including a young Charlotte, before making his way to the back in tears.
Wrestlemania is the moment maker, I know that is Keith Lee’s thing but everything to happen at Mania is more memorable than anywhere else.
How to watch Wrestlemania
Wrestlemania is being broadcast this Saturday & Sunday ‘as live’ from WWE’s Performance Center in Orlando via the WWE Network & BT Sport Box Office.
Unfortunately we aren’t able to show Wrestlemania in our pubs & bars, however we will be showing future WWE events!
Download the We Love Sport app to find your local pub or bar showing WWE PPV’s. You can locate your chosen venue then book the best seats in the house.
Wrestlemania hasn’t always been great for the female talent of the WWE . On Several occasions’ women were not included on the PPV with no title defences or rivalries showcased on the grandest stage of them all.
However, throughout history we have seen an evolution in how women are used at Wrestlemania and it was only last year that we witnessed history made when female talent main-evented the biggest wrestling event on the calendar.
Now, despite the lack of time and effort over the years we have seen an array of strong and standout performances from the women’s division all of which using the time they did have to put on the best performance they possibly could but just what are the great Wrestlemania women’s matches of all time?
Jazz vs Trish Stratus vs Lita (Wrestlemania 18)
While these three women were not given much time at all here and following such a huge match effected the feel of this bout there can be no denying that the triple threat for the women’s championship between Lita, Trish Stratus and Jazz is one of the best showings the women’s division has had at Wrestlemania. After seeing the female talent not even booked for Mania events throughout most of the nineties this match gave fans hope that things were changing for the women in the company.
The slightly longer showing at Mania and the performance the three women put on in the short time they were given spoke volumes. Put aside Jerry’s “puppies” comment and we have here an important match in the history of women’s wrestling between three all-time greats.
Becky Lynch vs Ronda Rousey vs Charlotte Flair (Wrestlemania 35)
While it had its controversial ending (botched ending) and didn’t quite live up to expectations in some areas the historic encounter between Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair and Ronda Rousey will be something fans talk about for many many years. The first-time women had main evented Wrestlemania this was a booking decision so many thought would never happen and the build was fantastic.
While many believed this should have been a one on one between Lynch and Rousey Flair would in fact arguably have the greatest showing of the match at Wrestlemania. What we had here was three of the biggest names not only in women’s wrestling today but of all time and in sports entertainment full stop, putting gender aside completely! Each Woman gave something completely different to the match and there really was so much history between them.
This felt like the right time for women to main event and the right match to do so and while it had its messy moments and disappointments the action was fantastic and fans genuinely were on the edge of their seats as they watched three of the best of the best take the women’s evolution to a whole new standard.
Mickie James vs Trish Stratus (Wrestlemania 22)
One of the most iconic rivalries in women’s wrestling history is without a doubt Mickie James vs Trish Stratus. With Mickie debuting as the latest WWE Divas and expressing her admiration for her idol Trish Stratus a strange obsession grew and would become one of the most memorable and entertaining storylines in the history of the WWE Women’s division.
Their rivalry would reach its peak when the pair collided at the grandest stage of them all, Wrestlemania on the twenty second anniversary back in two thousand and six. With the WWE Women’s championship on the line this was a huge bout for the female talent and stood out as one of the biggest rivalries and story lines for the division heading into Wrestlemania. The action itself while far from lengthy was longer than most matches we saw from the women at Wrestlemania during this time.
The backstory and build to this match added to why it was so strong and with the early stages dominated by Trish in this encounter it was interesting to see if the all time great would retain or a star would truly be born in Mickie James. After what was a great showing from both women and in fact some great work on targeting the leg of Stratus Mickie James did in fact pick up the victory becoming the brand-new WWE Women’s Champion!
The women were given time and attention during this match and were able to do things throughout the bout that were so rare for female talent at the time. The crowd reaction must also be noted be here.
Charlotte Flair vs Asuka (Wrestlemania 34)
Despite the massively controversial end result that left many fans very frustrated indeed this women’s championship bout between Charlotte Flair and Asuka will forever go down as a Wrestlemania classic.
Again, I do believe this could have been even stronger if the two had been provided with a little bit more time but considering the length fans have been used to seeing for its female talent at Mania Asuka and Flair were given a good amount of time to show why they are two of the best in the industry today.
This went down as a dream match for many years way before it even took place with two of the most dominant women in the WWE coming to blows at the grandest stage of them all being a real treat for fans. Both had different paths, styles and characters and while the build didn’t have a great deal of story to it the angle that saw the undefeated Empress of tomorrow square off against the queen Charlotte Flair sold itself and had fans hooked!
The action showcased the athleticism of Charlotte and the sheer talent of Asuka and was noted as one of the best matches of the evening and the year.
Sasha Banks vs Charlotte Flair vs Becky Lynch (Wrestlemania 32)
Wrestlemania thirty-two was a big night for women’s wrestling. We saw the divas championship retired and the WWE Women’s Championship arrive on the scene. It was also revealed female talent would no longer be called divas but instead superstars alongside their male colleagues.
One of the biggest and must see matches of the night was without a doubt the triple threat for this new championship with Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks and the champion heading into the bout, Charlotte Flair. This went down as one of the longest women’s mania matches to date and from the special entrances’ to the action inside of the ring it was clear that this match was ushering in a brand new era for women’s wrestling and was a key night within the women’s evolution.
The athleticism, the storytelling and the spots performed showcased just how incredible the talent was within the women’s division and each woman competing had their time to shine! The end result sure did divide fans but this bout went down as the strongest of the evening and cemented a huge change for women’s wrestling in the WWE.
Over the years women haven’t had the best showing at Wrestlemania. Female talent went nearly a decade without being showcased on the grandest stage of them all and when they were they were limited to under ten sometimes five minuets but we have seen change and incredible moments. From Chyna wining the women’s championship to Ronda Rousey making her in ring debut to history being made and genuine incredible performances. Wrestling and the WWE has come so far to the point where we are seeing multiple bouts booked for the women’s division and I’m sure in ten years time a list like this will be truly endless.
How to watch Wrestlemania
Wrestlemania is being broadcast this Saturday & Sunday ‘as live’ from WWE‘s Performance Center in Orlando via the WWE Network & BT Sport Box Office.
Unfortunately we aren’t able to show Wrestlemania in our pubs & bars, however we will be showing future WWE events!
Download the We Love Sport app to find your local pub or bar showing WWE PPV’s. You can locate your chosen venue then book the best seats in the house.
