Here’s Part 29 of our WrestleMania Retrospective series, looking back at past WrestleMania events as we march towards WrestleMania XXX on April 6th
WrestleMania 29 (2013)
Tagline: “NY/NJ”
Date: April 7, 2013
Venue: Metlife Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey
Attendance: 80,676
The Undertaker’s Streak: 21-0 (Def. CM Punk)
WrestleMania 29 was the 29th annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by WWE, held on April 7, 2013 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. It drew 80,676 fans, which became the second highest attended event in the history of WWE after WrestleMania III.
The event was the fifth WrestleMania in the New York metropolitan area; WrestleMania I, X, and XX were held at Madison Square Garden, and a portion of WrestleMania 2 was held at Nassau Coliseum. It was the third WrestleMania held in the state of New Jersey after WrestleMania IV and V, both of which were held at Trump Plaza/Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.
The Sheild
The Shield is a professional wrestling stable in WWE, consisting of Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns. The group debuted in November 2012 at the Survivor Series pay-per-view, and later declared their intention to fight what they perceive as injustice in WWE.
The Shield is portrayed as a terrorist gang that has no qualms with taking unjust, immoral measures to righting all the many wrongs they believe to be existent in the WWE. Often, the heel stable is seen ambushing, outnumbering, and skillfully exploiting chaos. Garbed in personal armor, each of the group members take on the appearance of riot police. The Shield’s trademarked promos are held in electrical rooms in which they hold a hand-held camcorder close up to their faces one by one and express their intentions. As another trademark of the stable, their entrances and exits are typically made by coming through the audience as opposed to using the aisle way. At the time of WrestleMania 29, the stable held the mark of being collectively undefeated in a scheduled match.
On the March 15 episode of SmackDown, The Shield challenged Randy Orton and Sheamus to a six-man tag team match at WrestleMania 29. Orton and Sheamus accepted, then recruited Ryback as their third man. Later that night, The Shield interfered in Ryback’s match with Mark Henry and delivered a triple powerbomb to Ryback before he was given three World’s Strongest Slams by Henry. The following Monday on Raw, Vickie Guerrero pulled Ryback from the six-man tag team match and put him in a singles match with Henry. After winning a match on the March 18 episode of Raw, Sheamus and Orton were about to be assaulted by The Shield, but then Big Show – who had also been brutalized by The Shield – stepped into the ring, causing The Shield to retreat, and on SmackDown! that week, Sheamus, Orton and Big Show were teamed together by Booker T to test their teamwork in a six-man tag match against 3MB, in which they were victorious. Following the match, The Shield came to the ring to confront the victors before retreating once again.
WrestleMania 29 began with The Shield (in their WrestleMania debut) taking on Sheamus, Big Show, and Randy Orton in a Six-Man Tag Team match. Sheamus and Roman Reigns started the match. Big Show ripped off Ambrose’s vest and chopped his chest. Sheamus also removed Seth Rollins’s vest. When The Shield went for their trademark Triple Power Bomb, Big Show speared all of them. When Sheamus tried to tag Big Show, Orton tagged himself in. As Orton tried to hit Ambrose with an RKO, Rollins came off the top rope and Orton caught him with an RKO in mid-air. Reigns speared Orton and Ambrose pinned him. After the match, Big Show knocked out Sheamus and Orton with punches.
The World Heavyweight Championship
On the February 1, 2013 episode of SmackDown, Swagger returned, and demanded that SmackDown General Manager Booker T put him in the Elimination Chamber match at Elimination Chamber. Later on that night, Swagger made his in-ring return by defeating Kofi Kingston. On the February 11 episode of Raw, Swagger debuted a new manager, Zeb Colter, who strongly advocated anti-immigrant beliefs; Swagger’s character was influenced by Colter to display similar traits. That same episode, Swagger defeated Zack Ryder to qualify for the Elimination Chamber match to determine the number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship, which he won after last eliminating Randy Orton.
On February 19, Fox News and various right-wing commentators including Glenn Beck claimed that Swagger and Colter’s characters were a mockery of the Tea Party movement meant to “demonize” the Tea Party.WWE responded to the criticism by stating that they were incorporating “current events into [their] storylines” to “create compelling and relevant content for [their] audience” and that “this storyline in no way represents WWE’s political point of view”. WWE followed by having Swagger and Colter break character during a video to invite Beck to appear on Raw while justifying that the storyline was designed to elicit a crowd response for the protagonist, Alberto Del Rio, and the antagonists, Swagger and Colter, while remaining within a PG rating, unlike several high-rated scripted dramas that use murder and rape in their storylines. Beck rejected the invitation. On the March 18 episode of Raw, Swagger broke the ankle of Del Rio’s ring announcer Ricardo Rodriguez after Rodriguez tried to save Del Rio from Swagger’s vicious assault.
During The Match at WrestleMania 29 between Jack Swagger and challenger Alberto Del Rio, Del Rio Irish whipped Swagger into the barricade. Swagger later nailed the Swagger Bomb, but Del Rio kicked out. Swagger then tried a gutwrench power bomb, but Del Rio kicked out again. Swagger worked Del Rio’s leg, then tried the Patriot Lock a few times, but Del Rio wouldn’t submit. Finally, Del Rio locked in the Cross Armbreaker and Swagger tapped out.
The Streak
On the March 4 episode of Raw, which celebrated “Old School Raw”, The Undertaker made his return to WWE by opening up the show, signaling any challenger to face him and try to end his undefeated WrestleMania streak at the event. CM Punk, Randy Orton, Big Show, and Sheamus all declared they wanted to face The Undertaker, prompting Raw’s Managing Supervisor Vickie Guerrero to set a Fatal Four-Way match among the four later that night. CM Punk won the match by pinning Orton, earning him the match against The Undertaker.
The following week, Undertaker and Kane’s former manager Paul Bearer died of respitory problems. The next week on Raw, Punk interrupted Paul Bearer’s tribute segment to boast that he would break Undertaker’s streak, which prompted Undertaker’s brother Kane to attack Punk, although Punk escaped. Later that night, Kane defeated Punk in a No Disqualification Match, before Undertaker came to the stage to perform his signature taunt with Kane to honour Bearer. Punk interrupted this by hitting Kane with The Undertaker’s urn, which prompted Undertaker to chase him away, and Punk escaped with the urn. On the March 18 episode of Raw, The Undertaker came to the ring to tell Punk he had one chance to return Undertaker’s property, but was interrupted by Punk on the TitanTron, who further boasted about being the one to “snap the streak” while nonchalantly tossing the urn in the air. Disguised as a druid, Punk further assaulted Undertaker on Raw and constantly beat him with the urn. Punk then boldly opened the urn and emptied its contents over a fallen Undertaker, thus igniting their feud.
At Wrestlemania 29, The Undertaker defended his 20-0 WrestleMania winning streak against CM Punk. Punk first tried to intimidate Undertaker, finally slapping him. Undertaker retaliated with a chokeslam, but Punk countered it with a kick to the head. Undertaker hit Punk with a big boot off the ropes and threw him outside, where they brawled. Undertaker cleared the Spanish announce table and hit Punk with a guillotine legdrop on the ring apron. Back in the ring, Undertaker attempted his signature move, Old School, but was pulled off the rope. Punk then “stole” the move and used it against Undertaker.
Undertaker attempted a big boot to the corner, but was caught on the top rope when Punk moved. Punk hit a flying axehandle. Punk attempted to steal Old School again, but was thrown from the ring. Paul Heyman stepped onto the apron and was almost chokeslammed, when Punk saved him with a flying clothesline, for a near-fall. Punk hit Undertaker with a running high knee and clothesline, and then a flying elbowdrop for another two-count. He then attempted a GTS, but Undertaker countered with a chokeslam, for a two-count, then Snake Eyes. Punk retaliated with a heel kick, and threw Undertaker outside.
Undertaker tried to Last Ride Punk through the table he’d cleared, but Punk countered and kicked him the back of the head. He laid Undertaker on the table, climbed the turnbuckle, and hit another flying elbowdrop. The table didn’t break. The referee began counting them out, and Undertaker made it back into the ring with one second to spare. As Punk attempted to pick him up from the mat, Undertaker suddenly locked in the Hell’s Gate. Punk countered into a bridging pin for another near-fall. He then secured the Anaconda Vice, but Undertaker powered through to his feet and tried another chokeslam, which Punk reversed into the GTS. Undertaker rebounded off the ropes and nailed Punk with the Tombstone, for a dramatic near-fall
Heyman was apparently trying to conjure the “power” of Undertaker’s urn at ringside, then stared at it in amazement when Punk kicked out. Back on their feet, the two traded blows, and the referee was knocked down in the chaos. Punk hit the high knee again, but Undertaker took advantage of the position by attempting the Last Ride. While Punk was on Undertaker’s shoulders, Heyman handed him the urn, which he struck on the back of Undertaker’s head.
Punk then “stole” the Tombstone and Undertaker’s traditional pinning style, for a two-count. Punk and Undertaker then traded near-finishers, with the Undertaker’s Tombstone finally winning out, securing his victory and improving his streak to 21 wins. He reclaimed the urn, and walked backstage, pausing on the ramp to raise his fist.
Triple H vs Brock Lesnar
On the February 25, 2013 episode of Raw, Triple H returned, brawling with a returning Brock Lesnar, who was about to attack Vince McMahon for a second time. During the brawl, Lesnar’s head was busted open and required 18 stitches. The following week on Raw, Triple H set out a challenge to Lesnar at WrestleMania. On the March 11 episode of Raw, after Lesnar attacked Triple H’s former D-Generation X members, the New Age Outlaws, Lesnar’s manager, Paul Heyman, said that Lesnar accepted Triple H’s challenge, but they would add the stipulations which would be revealed only after Triple H signed the contract. Triple H accepted the conditions, then Heyman revealed that the bout would be No Holds Barred and that if Triple H lost, he must retire from WWE. On the Raw before WrestleMania, Shawn Michaels returned to announce he would be in Triple H’s corner for the match to support him.
The next match on the card was the No Holds Barred match between Triple H and Brock Lesnar with the added stipulation that if Triple H lost, he would have to retire. Triple H and Lesnar quickly spilled to the floor of MetLife Stadium, pummeling each other with anything and everything within arm’s reach. Triple H sent Lesnar crashing into the ringside barricade, and he drove Triple H’s sternum into the announcers’ table in return. After a big brawl in and outside of the ring Triple H stole Brock Lesnar’s submission move, the Kimura lock and did it on Brock lesnar for a extended amount of time. In the end Triple H performed a pedigree on Brock lesnar (on the steel steps) and got him down for a 3 count.
John Cena vs The Rock
On January 27, 2013, John Cena won the 2013 Royal Rumble match, making him a two-time Rumble winner. In doing so, he earned a WWE Championship or World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania 29. The next night on the January 28 edition of Raw, he announced that he will challenge the reigning WWE Champion. At the Elimination Chamber event on February 17, 2013,
The Rock successfully defended the WWE Championship against CM Punk. The next night on Raw, Punk challenged Cena for his spot in the main event, and Cena accepted. Cena won the match on February 25, setting up a rematch of the previous year’s main event against The Rock.
The final match of WrestleMania 29 was The Main Event between John Cena and the WWE champion The Rock. After the bell had rang and the match had begun, Cena struck first, and it didn’t take long for The Rock to seize control of the contest, halting the Cena’s momentum and sending him scrambling outside the ring to regroup within the bout’s opening moments. The match went on while the Rock had control in the match hitting Cena with a few blows and punches. Later on in the match Cena attempted a five knuckleshuffle but failed to do it as the rock escaped. Later Cena came back locking The Rock in the STF but he reached the ropes forcing cena to break the hold. The Rock then hit Cena with a Rock Bottom but only for a 2 count.
Later on Cena recovered and they went to blows. The Rock went for the Rock Bottom, but Cena then reversed the move and countered with an AA, allowing him successfully pin the Rock. After the match Cena and The Rock shook hands as The Rock raised Cena’s hand as a sign of respect.
WrestleMania 29 Results
Pre-Show: The Miz defeated Wade Barrett (c) via submission for the WWE Intercontinental Championship
• The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns) defeated Randy Orton, Sheamus and The Big Show Six-Man Tag Team match
• Mark Henry defeated Ryback
• Team Hell No (c) (Kane and Daniel Bryan) defeated Dolph Ziggler and Big E Langston (with AJ Lee) Tag Team match for the WWE Tag Team Championship
• Fandango defeated Chris Jericho
• Alberto Del Rio (c) (with Ricardo Rodriguez) defeated Jack Swagger (with Zeb Colter) via Submission Singles match for the World Heavyweight Championship
• The Undertaker defeated CM Punk (with Paul Heyman)
• Triple H (with Shawn Michaels) defeated Brock Lesnar (with Paul Heyman) No Holds Barred match; If Triple H had lost, he would have been forced to retire.
• John Cena defeated The Rock (c) for the WWE Championship
