WrestleMania 33

WrestleMania 33 was the 33rd annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. The event took place on April 2, 2017, at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida. The New Day ( Big E, Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods) served as the hosts of the event.

Thirteen matches were contested at the event, including three on the Kickoff pre-show. For the first time since WrestleMania 29 in 2013, two world championships were contested: Raw's Universal Championship and SmackDown's WWE Championship; it marked the first time that the Universal Championship, SmackDown Women's Championship, and new Cruiserweight Championship were defended at WrestleMania. In the main event, Roman Reigns defeated The Undertaker in a No Holds Barred match, giving Undertaker his second loss at WrestleMania. Whilst the loss and the events immediately following the main event served to insinuate that The Undertaker had retired, he would return to in-ring competition in 2018 at WrestleMania 34. In the main match for the Raw brand, Brock Lesnar defeated Goldberg to win the Universal Championship, thus becoming the first wrestler to win both the WWE and Universal titles, and in the main match from SmackDown, Randy Orton defeated Bray Wyatt to win his ninth WWE Championship. The event also marked the surprise return of The Hardy Boyz (Jeff Hardy and Matt Hardy), who won the Raw Tag Team Championship. It was also the first WrestleMania to be on the air past midnight Eastern time.

Reception towards the event was mixed to positive, although it was largely considered to be an improvement over WrestleMania 32. Praise was directed towards Styles vs. McMahon, Owens vs. Jericho, the ladder match, Rollins vs. Triple H, and the Universal Championship match. Criticism was reserved for the main event, the WWE Championship match, and the overall length of the show.

Production

Background

WrestleMania is considered WWE's flagship pay-per-view (PPV) and WWE Network event, having first been held in 1985. It is the longest-running professional wrestling event in history and is held annually between mid-March to mid-April. It was the first of WWE's original four pay-per-views, which includes Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, referred to as the "Big Four". The event has been described as the Super Bowl of sports entertainment. WrestleMania 33 was scheduled to be held on April 2, 2017, at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida. The event featured wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brands, following the reintroduction of the brand split in July 2016. It was the first WrestleMania to feature the Universal Championship, following its introduction on Raw in July 2016 after the WWE World Heavyweight Championship became exclusive to SmackDown and renamed to WWE Championship. It was also the first WrestleMania to feature the SmackDown Women's Championship and new WWE Cruiserweight Championship.

The event was the third to be held in the state of Florida, after XXIV (at the same venue) and XXVIII. Tickets went on sale on November 18, 2016, with individual tickets costing $38 to $2,130. On October 31, 2016, traveling packages with accommodation ranging from $950 to $5,900 per person were sold. A two-hour Kickoff pre-show preceded the main show, with the second hour broadcast simultaneously on USA Network. On February 20, 2017, The New Day ( Big E, Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods) of WWE's Raw brand were confirmed to be the hosts of WrestleMania 33.

The four official theme songs for the event were "Greenlight" (by Pitbull feat. Flo Rida and LunchMoney Lewis), "Like a Champion" (by Danger Twins), "Flame" (by Tinashe), and "Am I Savage?" (by Metallica). At the event, Pitbull performed "Options" with Stephen Marley before performing "Greenlight" with Flo Rida and LunchMoney Lewis. American singer Tinashe performed "America the Beautiful" to kick off WrestleMania 33. The pre-show was broadcast on the WWE Network, WWE.com, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, and YouTube, with USA Network joining the live coverage for the second hour.

Beginning at WrestleMania 32, a match between Big Show and NBA star Shaquille O'Neal had been teased from various media outlets, including WWE. Shaq was a surprise entrant in the 2016 André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal where he and Big Show faced off, but the other participants eliminated both of them. In July at the 2016 ESPY Awards on the red carpet, Show and Shaq had another brief confrontation. A match was proposed for WrestleMania 33, which Shaq accepted. In January 2017, the two began calling each other out on social media, posting workout videos of themselves preparing for the potential match. Big Show then began to doubt Shaq's commitment to the match. By the end of February, Shaq said that it looked like the match was not going to happen, but he would still train just in case. The following week, Shaq said that discussions were back on between him and WWE. However, Big Show's announcement as a participant in the 2017 André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal indicated that the match was off. According to Dave Meltzer of ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'', the match was canceled due to monetary reasons, as both parties could not agree on a deal. Big Show said that he really wanted to do the match, especially since this would probably be his last WrestleMania and blamed Shaq's weight as a reason for why Shaq backed out.

According to wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer in January 2017, a WrestleMania 33 match between The Undertaker and John Cena was scrapped as Vince McMahon had "a different vision for the show and asthinking bout thelongterm picture not short-term."

Since 2014, WWE had attempted to establish Roman Reigns as their top babyface and the next ' face of the company', but a significant portion of fans rejected Reigns in this role, taking issue with his perceived special treatment, real-life demeanor, wrestling moveset, speaking skills and character presentation. This resulted in Reigns being booed while he wrestled in the main events of WrestleMania 31 and WrestleMania 32. Reigns was even voted as 2016's " Most Hated Wrestler of the Year" by ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' readers, a first for a heroic character since the award was devised in 1972. In response to the negative reception, Reigns said that there is "possible jealousy" from fans regarding his "major success". In March 2017 before WrestleMania 33, wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer reported that WWE's long term plans ("which obviously could change") leading to WrestleMania 34 was to "once again build for a year and have the big coronation" for Reigns, who would still be a heroic character "between now and then" and beat Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship "to fully replace John Cena as the lead babyface of the company", while the "idea" for Lesnar's role "for years now" was "to become a monster, be unbeatable, run through everybody, and then lose to Roman Reigns".

Storylines

The card consisted of thirteen matches, including three on the Kickoff pre-show, that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches, with results predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands. Storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, ''Monday Night Raw'', ''SmackDown Live'', and ''205 Live'', the latter of which is cruiserweight-exclusive.

Main event

At the Royal Rumble, The Undertaker was eliminated by Roman Reigns in the titular match. In the ensuing stare down, Reigns exclaimed: "This is my yard now!", a claim Undertaker had made for many years. On the March 6 episode of ''Raw'', The Undertaker attacked Reigns with a chokeslam, and a match between the two was scheduled for WrestleMania 33 in what would become the main event.

World championship matches

At the Royal Rumble, SmackDown's Randy Orton won his second Royal Rumble match, earning himself a world championship match at WrestleMania 33 for his brand's WWE Championship. At Elimination Chamber, Bray Wyatt won the Elimination Chamber match to become the new WWE Champion. As a devoted Wyatt Family member, Orton relinquished his championship opportunity. SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan then scheduled a battle royal to determine Wyatt's WrestleMania challenger; it ended in a draw when both AJ Styles and Luke Harper hit the ground simultaneously. Styles then defeated Harper the following week to earn the title match, but at the conclusion of the episode, Orton restated his intentions to challenge Wyatt for the WWE Championship by appearing at the Wyatt Family compound, where Wyatt Family's matriarch Sister Abigail was buried, and setting the compound ablaze. A number one contender's match between Orton and Styles was scheduled in which Orton won.

At WrestleMania XX in 2004, Goldberg defeated Brock Lesnar in their first match against each other. Both left the company after the event, but Lesnar returned in 2012. After twelve years, Goldberg returned in 2016 and immediately began a feud with Lesnar. He defeated Lesnar at Survivor Series in one minute and twenty-six seconds, and also quickly eliminated him from the Royal Rumble match. The next night on ''Raw'', Lesnar and Paul Heyman appeared and challenged Goldberg to one final match at WrestleMania 33. Goldberg accepted Lesnar's challenge and also challenged Kevin Owens for the Universal Championship at Fastlane, which he won, turning their match into a title match for the Universal title. The following night on Raw, new Universal Champion Goldberg came out but was interrupted by Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman. Lesnar attempted to shake Goldberg's hand to congratulate him, but Goldberg refused. Heyman then said that Goldberg would be "Brock's bitch" at WrestleMania and Lesnar attacked Goldberg with an F-5. The following week, Lesnar and Heyman gloated about Lesnar's attack on Goldberg. On the final Raw before WrestleMania, Goldberg and Lesnar had one last confrontation where Goldberg speared Lesnar.

Undercard matches

In 2014, The Shield (Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, and Roman Reigns) were involved in a rivalry with Evolution (Triple H, Randy Orton, and Batista). After multiple losses to The Shield and Batista quitting WWE, Triple H recruited Rollins to The Authority. Rollins was the forefront of The Authority and won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship (later renamed WWE Championship) at WrestleMania 31, but was forced to vacate the title in November 2015 due to injury. He returned in mid-2016, and during a fatal four-way for the vacant WWE Universal Championship, Triple H aided Rollins in eliminating Reigns, but then turned on Rollins by attacking him with a "Pedigree," costing Rollins the match. During the first months of 2017, Rollins started a rivalry with Triple H, asking for answers. At NXT TakeOver: San Antonio, Rollins appeared and challenged Triple H to a match, who had Rollins escorted from the building by security. On the January 30 episode of ''Raw'', as Rollins was about to confront Triple H, Samoa Joe attacked Rollins, re-injuring his knee. Rollins was estimated to be out of action for up to eight weeks, but after an attack from Triple H, Rollins signed a contract for a non-sanctioned match with Triple H at WrestleMania 33, which forbid Rollins from suing the WWE if he were to get injured again.

After losing the WWE Championship at Royal Rumble, AJ Styles asked for a rematch, which SmackDown Commissioner Shane McMahon promised if Styles did not win the title back in the Elimination Chamber match. At the event, Bray Wyatt won the championship. Styles received a rematch, but in the form of a triple threat match, also including John Cena, where Wyatt retained. After Randy Orton relinquished his championship opportunity, Styles entered into a number one contender's battle royal, which ended in a draw between him and Luke Harper. After defeating Harper to become the number one contender, Orton restated his intentions to challenge for the title, so McMahon and Daniel Bryan decided that Styles would have to compete in another number one contender's match, this time against Orton, who won. The following week, Styles attacked McMahon and threw him through a car window. Styles was subsequently (kayfabe) fired by Bryan, but at the end of the show, an injured McMahon challenged Styles to a match at WrestleMania 33, which Styles accepted.

In mid-2016, Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens began teaming and assisting each other. Jericho played a part in Owens winning the vacant Universal Championship. Over the next several months, Jericho assisted Owens in retaining his title in various defenses. The two also defeated Roman Reigns in a handicap match, with Jericho winning Reigns' United States Championship. After Owens retained his title at the Royal Rumble, Jericho accepted Goldberg's challenge on Owens' behalf for the Universal Championship at Fastlane, which was made official to the dismay of Owens. Jericho then held a "Festival of Friendship" for Owens, who turned on Jericho and brutally attacked him. In retaliation, Jericho cost Owens his Universal Championship match at Fastlane. Jericho then challenged Owens to a match at WrestleMania 33 and Owens agreed under the condition that it would be for Jericho's United States Championship and Jericho accepted.

At Elimination Chamber, The Miz was eliminated by John Cena in the WWE Championship Elimination Chamber match. Cena then eliminated Miz in the number one contender battle royal, and Miz retaliated by returning and eliminating Cena. Cena was then a guest on ''Miz TV'' where Miz criticized Cena for being a hypocrite, as Cena was basically doing the same thing that he himself had criticized The Rock for doing: leaving the WWE and going to Hollywood. Miz said that despite his hard work, he does not get the same opportunities as Cena, and he eliminated Cena to prevent him from going to WrestleMania 33. Cena criticized Miz for copying other people's gimmicks and moves, which caused Maryse to slap Cena for insulting her husband. Cena's girlfriend Nikki Bella then came out and Maryse and Miz retreated. During the following weeks, Miz and Maryse made fun of Cena and Nikki's reality show '' Total Bellas'' by impersonating them in "unaired footage". This ultimately led to Daniel Bryan scheduling a mixed tag team match between the two couples at WrestleMania.

At Roadblock: End of the Line, Charlotte Flair defeated Sasha Banks to win her record fourth Raw Women's Championship, ending their long feud and, as per a post-event stipulation, as long as one of them was champion, the other could not challenge for the title. Charlotte then began a feud with Bayley, losing the title against her on the February 13 episode of ''Raw'', thanks to help from Banks. Also during this time, Banks entered into a feud with Nia Jax. Bayley retained the title against Flair at Fastlane after an interference from Banks, who defeated Jax on the Kickoff pre-show. The following weeks, Bayley was defeated by Banks and Jax. Both Flair and Banks touted their reasons why they should challenge Bayley for the title at WrestleMania 33, leading to a triple threat match being scheduled. Jax was then added, turning the match into a fatal four-way elimination match. On ''Raw'', Bayley and Banks teamed up and defeated Flair and Jax. After the match, Jax laid out her three WrestleMania opponents.

On the Royal Rumble Kickoff pre-show, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson defeated Cesaro and Sheamus to win the Raw Tag Team Championship. Cesaro and Sheamus invoked their rematch, but lost due to interference from Enzo Amore and Big Cass. On the February 20 episode of ''Raw'', Amore and Cass defeated Cesaro and Sheamus to receive a tag title match at Fastlane, where Gallows and Anderson retained. A rematch occurred the following night on ''Raw'' where Cesaro and Sheamus got involved, costing Enzo and Cass the titles. Later on, Raw General Manager Mick Foley scheduled Cesaro and Sheamus to face Amore and Cass on the next episode, with the winners going on to challenge Gallows and Anderson for the titles at WrestleMania 33. However, during that match, Gallows and Anderson attacked both teams, causing a double disqualification. Foley then scheduled Gallows and Anderson to defend the titles against both teams at WrestleMania in a triple threat match. The following weeks, Gallows and Anderson attacked the others with a ladder. The WrestleMania match was then turned into a triple threat ladder match for the Raw Tag Team Championship.

At Elimination Chamber, Naomi defeated Alexa Bliss to win the SmackDown Women's Championship, but a legit injury forced her to relinquish the title. Bliss then defeated Becky Lynch for the vacant title. On the March 7 episode of ''SmackDown'', Becky, Natalya, and even Bliss' ally Mickie James all demanded to challenge for the championship at WrestleMania 33. Daniel Bryan decided that Bliss would defend the title against all available female SmackDown wrestlers at WrestleMania. On the final ''SmackDown'' before WrestleMania, Naomi returned and confirmed that she would be in the match at WrestleMania, making it a six-pack challenge.

Pre-show matches

At Elimination Chamber during the WWE Championship Elimination Chamber match, Baron Corbin was eliminated by the Intercontinental Champion Dean Ambrose. Then, Corbin executed the "End of Days" on him before he left the chamber, causing his elimination. During the following weeks, both wrestlers attacked each other, leading to a match at WrestleMania for the Intercontinental title. The match was moved to the Kickoff pre-show.

After retaining the WWE Cruiserweight Championship for several months, Neville said there was no one left in the cruiserweight division that could compete with him. Austin Aries, who had been out of action due to injury, disagreed and attacked Neville. On the March 14 episode of ''205 Live'', Aries won a fatal five-way elimination match to face Neville for the title on the WrestleMania 33 Kickoff pre-show.

Event

Pre-show

Three matches were contested on the two-hour long WrestleMania 33 Kickoff pre-show.

In the first match, Neville defended the WWE Cruiserweight Championship against Austin Aries. In the climax, as Aries applied the " Last Chancery" on Neville, Neville poked Aries' eyes to escape and performed a " Red Arrow" on Aries to retain the title.

Next, 33 wrestlers competed in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, including previously unannounced participants Kalisto, Sin Cara, Luke Harper, Titus O'Neil, The Vaudevillains ( Simon Gotch and Aiden English) and The Ascension ( Konnor and Viktor). In the climax, Jinder Mahal taunted New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski, who was sitting at ringside. This prompted Gronkowski to enter the ring and shove Mahal. Mojo Rawley then eliminated Mahal to win the match.

In the last pre-show match, Dean Ambrose defended the Intercontinental Championship against Baron Corbin. In the end, Corbin attempted the " End of Days" on Ambrose, who countered and performed " Dirty Deeds" on Corbin to retain the title.

Preliminary matches

The actual pay-per-view opened with the hosts, The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods), who were dressed as characters inspired by '' Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood'', a sponsor of the event. They made their entrance and hyped the live crowd for the event.

In the first match, AJ Styles faced Shane McMahon. During the match, Styles attempted a springboard 450° splash on Shane, who countered into a triangle choke on Styles, who then countered into a one-armed " Styles Clash" on Shane for a near-fall. After the referee was knocked down, Styles attempted a " Coast-to-Coast" on Shane, who countered by attacking Styles with a trash can. Shane then performed a "Coast-to-Coast" into a trash can on Styles for a near-fall. Shane attempted a "Leap of Faith" through an announce table on Styles, who moved and Shane fell through the announce table. As Styles attempted a " Phenomenal Forearm", Shane countered into a float-over DDT on Styles. Shane attempted a shooting star press, but Styles avoided and performed a "Phenomenal Forearm" on Shane to win the match.

Next, Chris Jericho defended the United States Championship against Kevin Owens. Owens attempted a pop-up powerbomb on Jericho, who countered and performed a " Lionsault" on Owens for a near-fall. Owens applied the " Walls of Jericho" on Jericho, who escaped. Owens performed a pop-up powerbomb on Jericho for a near-fall. As Owens attempted a second pop-up powerbomb on Jericho, Jericho countered into a " Codebreaker" on Owens, who touched the ring ropes with one finger to void the pinfall at a two count. In the end, Owens performed a powerbomb on Jericho onto the ring apron and pinned him to win his first United States Championship.

After that, Bayley defended the Raw Women's Championship against Charlotte Flair, Nia Jax and Sasha Banks in a fatal four-way elimination match. Bayley, Flair, and Banks performed a triple powerbomb on Jax and all three pinned Jax to eliminate her. Banks applied the " Bank Statement" on Flair, who escaped and caused Banks to collide with an exposed turnbuckle, after which Flair pinned Banks to eliminate her. In the end, Flair collided with the exposed turnbuckle, allowing Bayley to perform a diving elbow drop on Flair to retain the title.

In the fourth match, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson were originally scheduled to defend the Raw Tag Team Championship against Cesaro and Sheamus and Enzo Amore and Big Cass in a triple threat ladder match. Before the match, hosts The New Day announced that the returning Hardy Boyz (Jeff Hardy and Matt Hardy) would also be involved in the match. In the end, Matt performed a " Twist of Fate" off a ladder on Anderson and Jeff performed a " Swanton Bomb" off a ladder through a bridged ladder on Cesaro and Sheamus. Matt then retrieved the title belts to win the championship for the first time as a team; individually, the first time for Jeff and the second time for Matt.

Later, John Cena and Nikki Bella faced The Miz and Maryse in a mixed tag team match with Al Roker serving as the special guest ring announcer. In the end, as Bella and Maryse were the legal wrestlers, Cena and Bella performed " Five Knuckle Shuffles" on Miz and Maryse. Cena performed an "Attitude Adjustment" on Miz whilst Bella performed a " Rack Attack 2.0" on Maryse. Cena and Bella pinned both Miz and Maryse to win the match. After the match, Cena proposed to Nikki, who accepted.

Next, Seth Rollins then faced Triple H in a non-sanctioned match. During the match, Rollins attempted a "Pedigree" on Triple H, who countered into a DDT on Rollins onto an announce table. Triple H targeted Rollins' leg, applying an inverted figure-four leglock on Rollins, who rolled out of the ring to escape the hold. Triple H retrieved his signature sledgehammer, only for Rollins to perform an enzuigiri on Triple H. As Rollins retrieved the sledgehammer, Stephanie McMahon snatched the weapon away from Rollins. This allowed Triple H to perform a "Pedigree" on Rollins for a near-fall. As Triple H attempted a "Pedigree" on Rollins from the top rope, Rollins countered and performed a " Phoenix Splash" on Triple H for a near-fall. After trading counters, Rollins performed a superkick on Triple H, who bumped into Stephanie, causing her to crash through a table. Rollins then performed a "Pedigree" on Triple H to win the match.

Next, Bray Wyatt defended the WWE Championship against Randy Orton. At the beginning of the match, Orton attempted an "RKO" on Wyatt, who rolled out of the ring. During the match, Wyatt played mind games on Orton by having large images of different insects appear on the ring canvas. Outside of the ring, Wyatt performed " Sister Abigail" on Orton into the barricade. Orton then performed an "RKO" on Wyatt and scored a near-fall. Wyatt performed "Sister Abigail" on Orton for a near-fall. Orton then performed another "RKO" on Wyatt to win his ninth WWE Championship and his first at WrestleMania.

After that, Goldberg defended the Universal Championship against Brock Lesnar. Lesnar performed three German suplexes on Goldberg, who quickly recovered and performed two spears on Lesnar, who then rolled out of the ring. Goldberg then performed a spear on Lesnar through the barricade into the timekeeper's area. Goldberg got Lesnar back into the ring and attempted a "Jackhammer", but Lesnar countered and attempted an " F-5" on Goldberg, who also countered and performed another spear, followed by a "Jackhammer" on Lesnar, who became the first man to kick-out of the spear-"Jackhammer" combo. Goldberg attempted the fifth spear, but Lesnar avoided Goldberg with a leapfrog

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