WrestleMania 31, the thirty-first annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view was produced by WWE and the event took place on March 29, 2015, at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California. The match card featured a total of 9 matches with two of them on the pre-show.
The capacity crowd at Levi’s stadium broke the WrestleMania attendance records, and in addition to the eye-catching matches, the grandeur of the PPV was amplified by the spectacular entrances of some WWE Superstars that inculded Bray Wyatt, Rusev, Sting and Triple H, to name a few.
With that being said, let us have a look at some of the best matches from the event
Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match
At WrestleMania 31, the fans witnessed a ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship and the notable highlight from this match was the inclusion of Daniel Bryan in the mix.
Bryan was never in the IC title match until a week before the event and the WWE Creative shocked the WWE universe by stating that he was also a part of the IC title match at WM. He joined 6 other superstars in Dolph Ziggler, Luke Harper, Stardust, R-Truth, Dean Ambrose and the Champion, Wade Barrett.
The 7 man ladder match was a great success and was also the first match on the main card. As it is said that the success of any show greatly depends on the start, this match lived up to the expectations.
The fan favourite Daniel Bryan won the title and held on to it for a short span of time.
John Cena vs. Rusev
A couple of weeks before WrestleMania 31 on RAW, John Cena made Rusev tap out and earned a US title match against the big Russian at the grand event. Cena lost to Rusev at FastLane – a month before Mania, and claimed a rematch but Rusev never agreed to his proposal and Cena earned it on his own.
Cena, headed into this match representing USA and was on the hunt for the US title and also to end the undefeated streak of the big Russian. There were a lot of questions about the inclusion of the US title into the scenario but the creative team had their own plans.
Cena conveniently won the match against Rusev not to forget that he put on a valiant effort to do so, and ended Rusev’s title reign with an Attitude Adjustment. This was Cena’s fourth US title victory and the very first in recent times.
Sting vs. Triple H
The storyline for this match dates back to Survivor Series. ‘The Authority’ was on the verge of a victory when Sting appeared out of nowhere. The WWE Universe was left shocked at the sight of Sting and he surprised one and all even more by helping ‘Team Cena’ win the match.
This left Triple H and Stephanie dumbstruck, who were temporarily out of administrative duty. Later after their return, Triple H asked Sting for a confrontation at FastLane to resolve their differences and settle the issues once and for all.
Sting accepted the proposal and they had a face-to-face confrontation at FastLane and a match was set up between the two at WrestleMania. This match was chaotic to say the least. The members of NWO and DX got involved and in the end, Triple H emerged victorious.
Sting losing his very first WWE match was a little shocker but that is what seemed best for the company back then.
The Undertaker vs. Bray Wyatt
Two of the most bizarre WWE superstars in the same ring at WrestleMania 31! In the weeks heading to the event, Bray Wyatt was busy composing cryptic messages directed at The Undertaker and he also brought the Undertaker’s urn and challenged the Phenom for a match at WrestleMania.
Bray was the self-proclaimed “New Face of Fear.” The Undertaker responded in typical Phenom style and accepted the challenge.
The Undertaker making a comeback after the streak being conquered was the talking point here. It was Undertaker once again who had the last laugh as he delivered a Tombstone to Wyatt for the win.
A couple of takeaways from the match apart from the in-ring action was Bray’s scare crow entrance and the Undertaker’s sit up when Wyatt was crawling towards the phenom who was down.
Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns
Brock Lesnar was set to defend his WWE WHC against the winner of the 2015 Royal Rumble, Superstar of the year for 2014 and the Power House, Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 31.
Brock Lesnar totally dominated Roman throughout the match and it was after 15-20 minutes into the match that Roman got an opportunity to counter the attacks of Brock. Brock delivered 4 F5s and a handful of German Suplexes to Roman while Roman delivered his trademark Superman Punches and Spears.
But it was Seth Rollins who had the last laugh by the end of the night as he shocked the world by cashing in his MITB contract and covering Roman after a Curb Stomp for the win.
