Date: 7th April, 2013
Venue: MetLife Stadium
City: East Rutherford, NJ
Attendance: 80,676
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry “The King” Lawler & John “Bradshaw” Layfield
Theme Songs: “Coming Home” by Diddy – Dirty Money feat. Skylar Grey
“Bones” by Young Guns
“Letters from the Sky” by Civil Twilight
“Surrender” by Angels & Airwaves
[divider]
Background
On January 27, John Cena won the 2013 Royal Rumble match, making him the fourth multiple Rumble winner, and earning himself either a WWE Championship or World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania 29. The next night on the January 28 edition of Raw, Cena announced that he would challenge the reigning WWE Champion. At the Elimination Chamber event on February 17, 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 Rock. Cena blamed Rock for all of the things that happened to him in 2012, such as being beat up by Brock Lesnar, losing to John Laurinaitis, failing to cash in his Money in the Bank, losing to CM Punk multiple times and losing to Dolph Ziggler. He told Rock he would gain redemption by beating him.
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, thus reigniting their feud from last year. During the brawl, Lesnar’s head was busted open and required 18 stitches. The following week, 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 only if Heyman could add stipulations, to be revealed after Triple H signed the contract. Triple H signed the contract, therefore, he accepted the conditions, then Heyman revealed that the bout would be No Holds Barred and that if Triple H lost the match, he must retire from WWE. On the final Raw before WrestleMania, Shawn Michaelsreturned to announce he would be in Triple H’s corner for the match to support him.
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’sManaging 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 night, Undertaker and Kane’s former manager Paul Bearer died of respiratory 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 honor Bearer. Punk interrupted once again 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.
Also at Elimination Chamber, World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio successfully retained his championship against Big Show. Returning superstars Jack Swagger, Chris Jericho, and Mark Henry earned spots in the six-man Elimination Chamber match, along with Daniel Bryan, Kane, and Randy Orton to become the number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship. Swagger won the event, and challenged Del Rio for the title at WrestleMania. Throughout the weeks, Swagger and his new manager, Zeb Colter, repeatedly stressed about the ignorance of America and allowing illegal immigrants in, and promised that they would bring a new era of “Jack Swagger’s America”. They also repeatedly attacked Del Rio, and Swagger broke Del Rio’s ring announcer, Ricardo Rodriguez’s ankle.
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.
Also on the March 18 episode of Raw, Dolph Ziggler won a match against Kofi Kingston with outside help from Big E Langston. This caused Team Hell No, who both had been attacked by Langston during past matches with Ziggler, to challenge them at WrestleMania. Ziggler’s girlfriend, AJ Lee, said they would accept the match only if Team Hell No put their Tag Team Championship on the line, to which they agreed.
A minor rivalry between Chris Jericho and newcomer Fandango developed prior to Wrestlemania. Fandango made numerous appearances throughout the WWE, but he never competed in matches because announcers and other superstars repeatedly mispronounced his name or did not say it with the right kind of “feel” he liked. The feud with Jericho began on the March 22 episode of SmackDown when Jericho made fun of Fandango’s name. This caused Fandango to interfere with Jericho’s match with Jack Swagger (and assault him after). He again attacked Jericho on the March 25 episode of Raw after Jericho’s win against Dolph Ziggler. Jericho had just been attacked by Big E Langston before Fandango came to the ring. This caused Jericho to ask Vickie Guerrero to set up a match between him and Fandango at WrestleMania.
Another rivalry that escalated was between The Miz and Intercontinental Champion Wade Barrett. Miz and Barrett had been trading jabs back and forth about which of them was the better actor, as Miz had starred in The Marine 3: Homefront, and Barrett had a minor role in the film Dead Man Down. After defending his title in a triple threat match against Miz and Chris Jericho on the March 18 episode of Raw, Barrett continued the feud with Miz after he shoved him on Main Event on March 20, which caused Miz to retaliate. On the March 25 episode of Raw, Miz won against Barrett in a non-title match via submission, thus earning him a championship match against Barrett and a chance for his second Intercontinental Championship. The match took place in the pre-show before WrestleMania.
Another minor rivalry heading into WrestleMania was between Tons of Funk (Brodus Clay & Tensai) and Team Rhodes Scholars. This also extended to their female companions, The Funkadactyls (Cameron & Naomi) and The Bella Twins. On the March 11 episode of Raw, the Bella Twins returned to WWE and appeared to begin a relationship with Damien Sandow and Cody Rhodes. On the March 15 episode of SmackDown, the Bellas attacked The Funkadactyls backstage. In the following weeks, all of the teams faced off in a series of tag team matches, most of which included ringside altercations involving the accompanying team members. WWE.com later announced that they would square off in an eight-person mixed tag team match at WrestleMania. However, due to time constraints, the match did not take place on the pay-per-view, but on the next night’s Raw. Tons of Funk and The Funkadactyls won the match, which was joined in progress.
[divider]
Match Results
WrestleMania 29 Kick-Off
Intercontinental Championship
The Miz defeated Wade Barrett (c) by submission (04:06)
Six Man Tag Team Match
The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns) defeated Randy Orton, Sheamus, and The Big Show (10:35)
Mark Henry defeated Ryback (08:02)
WWE Tag Team Championship
Team Hell No (Kane and Daniel Bryan) (c) defeated Dolph Ziggler and Big E. Langston (with AJ Lee) (06:16)
Fandango defeated Chris Jericho (09:17)
World Heavyweight Championship
Alberto Del Rio (c) (with Ricardo Rodriguez) defeated Jack Swagger (with Zeb Colter) by submission (10:28)
The Undertaker defeated CM Punk (with Paul Heyman) (23:07)
No Holds Barred Match
Triple H (with Shawn Michaels) defeated Brock Lesnar (with Paul Heyman) (23:58)
WWE Championship
John Cena defeated The Rock (c) (24:32)
(c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match
[divider]
Aftermath
The Rock suffered legitimate torn muscles and tendons around his pelvis from the match, leaving it unknown when or if he will invoke his rematch clause for the WWE Championship.
On the Raw after WrestleMania, Cena put his championship on the line against anyone. Mark Henry answered the challenge, which turned into a number one contender match. Cena won via countout, and was then assaulted by Henry, who held the championship belt over his head. Ryback then came to seemingly save Cena – making Henry retreat and helping Cena to his feet – but then attacked Cena and held the belt over his head as well. Prior to the April 22nd 2013 episode of Raw on WWE.com, it was announced that Cena would defend the WWE Championship against Ryback. On the May 6 episode of Raw, it was announced that it would be a Last Man Standing match. The match ended in a no contest after Ryback rammed Cena through the entrance stage. The night after, Ryback came out with an ambulance and challenged Cena at WWE Payback in an ambulance match. Cena accepted and made the match a three stages of hell match, in which Cena won.
Wade Barrett invoked his rematch clause on Raw and defeated Miz, reclaiming the Intercontinental Championship for his third reign. In reality, this was done so Miz could take time off to film the movie Christmas Bounty. It was announced that Barrett would put the title on the line in a triple threat match at WWE Payback, against The Miz and Fandango. Fandango was injured and replaced by Paul Heyman’s newest client, Curtis Axel. Axel won the championship.
Alberto Del Rio and Jack Swagger had one more match to end their feud, but it turned into a 2-on-1 handicap match with Del Rio facing Swagger and Zeb Colter. Del Rio won, but had his leg injured by Swagger. Dolph Ziggler took this opportunity to cash in his Money in the Bank contract, and – despite Del Rio putting up a fight – pinned Del Rio to become the new World Heavyweight Champion. Ziggler was soon concussed and put out of action. He still held the title, and Del Rio and Swagger feuded over the number one contendership. At Extreme Rules, Del Rio won an “I Quit” match for the number one contendership. Del Rio defeated Ziggler at WWE Payback to win the World Heavyweight Championship for a second time, ending Ziggler’s reign at 69 days. During the match a double turn occurred, Del Rio turned heel attacking Ziggler’s head taking advantage of his concussion, and Ziggler turned face showing a “never-say-die” attitude.
Brock Lesnar returned to Raw on April 15, to challenge Triple H (who had suffered second degree burns to his torso and arms during his WrestleMania ring entrance when the stage sprayed dry ice on him) to a Steel Cage Match at Extreme Rules. A week later, Triple H came out to the surprise of Paul Heyman to accept the challenge and gave Heyman a Pedigree. Lesnar won the rematch at Extreme Rules. Paul Heyman came out the next night to reveal his newest client Curtis Axel. Triple H interrupted and issued a challenge to Axel before slapping him. Later on that night, Triple H suffered a concussion during the match. The match ended as a no contest, but the victory went to Axel. Triple H returned on the June 3rd edition of Raw, attempting to fight Axel, but was forbidden by his wife Stephanie McMahon, and his father-in-law Vince McMahon. He returned to the ring on June 10 edition of Raw to fight Axel. During the match, Vince took the ringbell and stopped the match after Triple H tried to restart it.
On the April 15 episode of Raw, CM Punk came out to talk about his match with The Undertaker and his historic WWE championship reign. Punk gave Heyman the microphone, hugged him and walked out of the arena. He left TV until defeating Chris Jericho at WWE Payback. Punk then dropped Heyman as his manager, causing Heyman to turn on Punk and Punk becoming a face again.
The Undertaker came out the next night to pay tribute to Paul Bearer, but was interrupted by The Shield who tried to attack The Undertaker until Team Hell No made the save. The Undertaker wrestled his first match in three years on Raw, teaming up with Team Hell No in a losing effort against the Shield. He then wrestled his first match on SmackDown in a winning effort against Dean Ambrose of The Shield. Afterward, The Shield attacked The Undertaker and powerbombed him through the announce table.
Jericho continued his feud with Fandango, with each man attacking the other after matches. Jericho defeated Fandango in a rematch at Extreme Rules.
