Republished from
Wikipedia
Production
Background
On January 20, 2015, WWE announced that WrestleMania 32 would be held at the
AT&T Stadium in the city of
Arlington on April 3, 2016.
[3] On October 13, travel packages for WrestleMania 32 went on sale, which included tickets to WrestleMania, hotel room accommodation, and other activities including
WrestleMania Axxess, the
NXT TakeOver: Dallas, the 2016
WWE Hall of Fameceremony, and the next
Raw; the cheapest package cost
$575 per person.
[4]On November 6, individual tickets went on sale through
Ticketmaster, with prices ranging from $18 to $1,180.
[4] WrestleMania will be available for free to new subscribers on WWE's monthly subscription service, the
WWE Network.
[5]
CNET wrote that WrestleMania 32 will feature the "culmination" of "the biggest story in WWE", which is "establishing
Roman Reigns as the top babyface, the protagonist who will be the face of the company for -- if WWE has its way -- the next decade." "For the past two years, WWE has been
moving heaven and earth" in an attempt to get Reigns to the "level of recognition" of "names like
Hulk Hogan,
Stone Cold Steve Austin,
The Rock and
John Cena", but "its toughest opponent" is the "wrestling audience" which started a "fan rebellion" in opposition to WWE's support of Reigns, with fans preferring
Dean Ambrose instead.
[8] To combat this trend, WWE has taken measures including muting booing crowds and piping in
cannedcheers during Reigns' appearances in 2016.
[9][10] The A.V. Club concurred that "WWE has a serious Roman Reigns problem", due to "basically nobody wanting to see Roman Reigns in the main event" of WrestleMania.
[11]
Storylines
WrestleMania 32 will feature
professional wrestling matches that involve wrestlers from pre-existing
scripted feuds or
storylines that play out on WWE television. Wrestlers will portray heroes or villains as they follow a series of events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches.
[12][13]
At
Survivor Series 2015,
Roman Reigns won the tournament for the vacant
WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
[14]Reigns had earlier refused offers by
Triple H to join
The Authority, which would have automatically placed him in the tournament finals,
[15] but Reigns fought in the whole tournament and after his victory, he speared Triple H, who was trying to congratulate him.
Sheamus then cashed in his
Money in the Bank contract and captured Reigns' title.
[14][16] Then, Triple H gave Reigns a title rematch at
TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs,
[17] which Reigns lost due to interference. Post-match, a chair-wielding Reigns attacked Sheamus,
Alberto Del Rio, and
Rusev, and then also Triple H, who came out to stop Reigns' rampage.
[18] The following night on the December 14
Raw, WWE chairman
Vince McMahon arranged a
title vs. career match between Reigns and Sheamus, which Reigns won to regain the title.
[19] After Reigns won yet another title rematch against Sheamus, it was decreed by McMahon that Reigns had to defend his title in the 30-man annual
Royal Rumble match at the
Royal Rumble event.
[20] At the event, Triple H returned as the #30 entrant and eliminated Reigns en route to winning the title.
[21] After evaluating each wrestler's performance on the January 25
Raw, The Authority set up the main event of
Fastlane,
[22] which saw Reigns beating
Dean Ambrose and
Brock Lesnar in a
triple threat match to receive a WrestleMania title shot against Triple H.
[23] On the February 22 episode of
Raw, Triple H attacked Reigns during the latter's match against Sheamus and beat a bloodied Reigns before delivering a
Pedigree onto the steel steps.
[24] With Reigns absent due to a
storyline injury, Triple H accepted Ambrose's title challenge and defeated Ambrose to retain the title at
WWE Roadblock on March 12.
[25][26][27] The next night on
Raw, after Triple H beat
Dolph Ziggler, a returning Reigns assaulted not only Triple H, but also referees and security staff.
[11][28]
The night after Fastlane, Vince McMahon presented the inaugural "
Vincent J. McMahon Legacy of Excellence" Award to his daughter
Stephanie McMahon. As Stephanie was about to accept her award,
Shane McMahon returned to WWE for the first time since 2009 to confront his father and sister in regards to the company's status. Vince and Shane discussed the status of
Raw and how it was getting run down. Vince then made a deal with Shane that he would gain control of
Raw if he could win a match of his choosing. After Shane accepted, Vince named
The Undertaker as his opponent and made the match a
Hell in a Cell match.
[24] The Undertaker returned to
Raw the following week to address the match, and said that Shane's blood would be on Vince's hands, not his.
[25] On March 14 episode of Raw, Shane confronted The Undertaker and questioned his loyalty to Vince. Undertaker stated that no one, not even Vince can control him. After Shane insulted Undertaker for being one of Vince's "puppets", Undertaker and Shane brawled, ending with Undertaker chokeslamming Shane after Vince pushed Shane towards him. Undertaker then attempted to attack Vince but got away.
[28][29]
In the triple threat match at Fastlane, Brock Lesnar had Roman Reigns in a
kimura lock submission hold until Dean Ambrose attacked Lesnar with a steel chair; this incapacitated Lesnar long enough for Reigns to beat Ambrose.
[23] The next day, before
Raw aired, Lesnar attacked Ambrose as he arrived at the arena and Ambrose was taken to the hospital in an ambulance. On
Raw,
Paul Heyman issued a challenge to anyone on the roster to face Lesnar at WrestleMania. Ambrose returned in the ambulance to challenge Lesnar to a
No Holds Barred Street Fight; Lesnar accepted.
[24]
After defeating
Becky Lynch controversially at the Royal Rumble to retain her
WWE Divas Championship,
Charlotte was ambushed by a returning
Sasha Banks.
[21] At Fastlane, Charlotte retained the Divas Championship against
Brie Bella, while Lynch and Banks defeated
Team B.A.D. (
Naomi and
Tamina) in a
tag team match.
[23] The following night after Lynch and Banks' match on
Raw, Charlotte informed them that one of the two would face her at WrestleMania for the title.
[24] On the February 29 episode of
Raw, Lynch and Banks faced each other in a No. 1 Contender's match, but the match ended in a
double pin.
[25] A rematch on the following episode of
SmackDown ended in a
no contest when Charlotte attacked both Lynch and Banks. Subsequently, Charlotte was scheduled to defend her title against both Lynch and Banks in a triple threat match at WrestleMania.
[30]
On the February 8 episode of
Raw, after defeating
The New Day and
Mark Henry,
The Dudley Boyz attacked their teammate
The Usos.
[33] The following weeks, the two teams attacked each other. On March 14, it was announced that The Usos would face The Dudley Boyz at the event.
After walking out on
Big Show and
Kane during their tag team rematch against
The Wyatt Family causing them to lose on February 22 episode of Raw,
Ryback became more aggressive by beating his opponents in squash matches. On March 14 episode of Raw after defeating
Sin Cara that night, Ryback challenged United States Champion
Kalisto to a match for the
WWE United States Championship at WrestleMania. On the March 16, in an interview with
Michael Cole, Kalisto accepted Ryback's challenge.
Matches
- Jump up^ Announced participants: Heath Slater, Curtis Axel, Adam Rose and Bo Dallas.
