The WWE dropped all its aces on its biggest stage on March 29 as WrestleMania 31 became the sports entertainment outfit’s biggest grossing live event in its history.
Held at the Levi’s Stadium in Sta. Clara, California, it’s not actually the main event triple threat match among former World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins that drew the crowd to the event but actually the luminaries of wrestling that did it, including the very popular Ronda Rousey, UFC’s women’s bantamweight champion.
The most anticipated match of the event is arguably the battle between Sting and Triple H of Team Authority and COO of the WWE, which has already been hyped as early as the Survivor Series 2014 held in November last year.
More than the battle itself, which was pretty much perfunctory, it was the presence of veteran wrestling superstars, both from the former WWF and WCW that really made it more glittering. The fight actually brought back the time when WWF and WCW battled each other highlighted by respective non-conformist groups featuring Degeneration X in the WWF and NWO for New World Order in the WCW.
Triple H, as everyone knows is part of the core of the Degeneration X in the WWF while Sting is a member of the NWO in the WCW.
Sentimental match
Thus the match between Triple H and Sting was a sentimental one especially to those wrestling fans who may have outgrown the sport but not the memories. So when the match was made, it obviously drew more attention from former wrestling fans.
It also helped that both Degeneration X and NWO members came during the match to give the expected sideshows. First to come out were the members of the Degeneration X featuring Road Dogg, X-Pac, and Billy Gunn. A short time later, it was the turn of the NWO members featuring wrestling legend Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall.
The usual sideshows erupted but none came more surprising than the eventual appearance of WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels who gave Sting the Sweet Chin Music.
Triple H eventually won the match and most of the fans felt that Sting was robbed of the victory but it was all part of the show and hardly anybody was surprised about it. The good thing is that everyone had fun watching it.
Other big draws
In addition to the wrestling veteran stars, there is also the appearance of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson along with Ronda Rousey who battled Team Authority. Those two stars alone were more than enough to bring in a sizeable crowd.
The wrestling icon The Undertaker also had a match in the event and he was also a major draw. The rest of the traditional wrestling crowd-drawers included John Cena and the Big Show.
As for the rest, they have their share of the current young fans of the WWE but it was definitely the veterans that pulled the big numbers in WrestleMania 31.
WrestleMania 31 actually grossed $12.6 million, beating the record of $12.3 million set by WrestleMania 29 two years ago. In terms of live attendance, the event also made a new record for the Levi’s Stadium with 76,976 attending fans eclipsing the previous record of 70,779 that was recorded during the NFL match between the Philadelphia 49ers and the Chicago Bears set in September 2014.