WrestleMania 32: Roman's empire

April 3rd, 2016

Location: Arlington, Texas

Venue: AT&T Stadium

Attendance: 101,763

​Theme song: "My House" by Flo-Rida

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When it comes to WrestleMania, the word "big" comes to mind as it is the show that wrestling fans look forward to every year. To WWE, they wanted to give a new meaning to the word "big" as the venue they selected would set a record they've been wanting to break since 1987.

A modern-day coliseum would be the home for the 32nd WrestleMania. For one man, "Roman Coliseum" would be an understatement.

For the third time in WrestleMania history, Texas hosted a WrestleMania, with Arlington getting its first run with the grand spectacle.

AT&T Stadium was selected as the venue, and with its capacity at 100,000 before any setup, WWE easily set a new WrestleMania attendance record.

With the combination of fans, WWE talent, and stadium employees, an attendance number of 101,763 was announced, crushing WrestleMania 3 (93,173). Although both numbers have been heavily disputed, WrestleMania 32 genuinely had the attendance record due to the stadium's size.

Another record was set in terms of the length of the show. The main show would be five hours long (seven if you include the pre-show). As somebody who watched the event the day of, it certainly is a grind. It'll be the same for me in person at WrestleMania 35.

Grammy-winning group Fifth Harmony was tasked to sing the traditional "America the Beautiful" at the show's start. From there, the opening video package spoke on WrestleMania's legacy and let everybody know what to expect for the evening.

WWE brought back the opening pyro, and WrestleMania 32 was underway.

Eight matches were initially scheduled on the card when near the end of the show, The Rock defeated Erick Rowan in an impromptu match that lasted six seconds, bumping the total to nine.

For the second straight year, WrestleMania opened up with a ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship. Zack Ryder, who heard his theme song played for the first time at WrestleMania, surprisingly won the championship. His celebration was short-lived when the next night on Raw, The Miz defeated him to become champion.

Even though the win was useless, Ryder would end up getting his WrestleMania moment.

At the Royal Rumble, AJ Styles, the hottest free agent, made his surprise debut, entering third in the Royal Rumble match. He would begin a rivalry with Chris Jericho, who was jealous of his popularity and culminated at WrestleMania.

Jericho would get the best of Styles, and once again, a high-profiled superstar didn't win their WrestleMania debut.

The League of Nations (Alberto Del Rio, Rusev, and Sheamus) defeated The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods). After the match, the Nations' leader, Wade Barrett, told the world that there was nobody who could step up to the group.

Suddenly, Shawn Michaels, Mick Foley, and Stone Cold Steve Austin surprised the crowd and took down the group themselves. The three legends would stand tall and give the fans in attendance a fun moment of the night.

Brock Lesnar and Dean Ambrose met in an uneventful No Holds Barred match. Lesnar would return to his winning ways and quickly take care of Ambrose.

Finally, the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal returned to the main card, which saw Baron Corbin win the annual over-the-top-rope match. In a fun twist, NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal made a surprise appearance and entered the battle royal. He didn't win, but still entertaining.

Now that the smaller moments of the night are out of the way, it's time to take a look at the three moments that stood out to me about WrestleMania 32.

The women's revolution

If here's one thing I've noticed since I started this series, it's that the women have had a rough time over the years to have their defining WrestleMania moment.

From being thrown in horrible gimmick matches to matches lasting less than five minutes to not appearing at all, the women rarely had the opportunity to properly deliver at WrestleMania.

That all changed when WrestleMania 32 came around, and the women finally earned their moment.

Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks, and Becky Lynch were up-and-coming talent in the women's division as they took NXT by storm. Mid-2015, Stephanie McMahon called up the three women as they were ready to make a difference in WWE.

At Night of Champions in September 2015, Charlotte took her place at the top of the women's division and dethroned Nikki Bella to become the new Divas Champion.

Like her father, WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair, Charlotte would also be as shady and found a way to sneak away with wins to hang on to her championship.

When Banks and Lynch competed to see who would face Charlotte at WrestleMania, the champ attacked both and wanted to reassure that none of them made it to WrestleMania.

Turns out, it was the wrong decision as Charlotte would go on to face both women in a triple threat match.

Fast forward to WrestleMania, and the pre-show had an announcement that would continue to put the women's division on the map.

WWE Hall of Famer Lita declared to the world that the company would stop referring the women as "Divas" and properly call them "women." In saying that, she revealed the brand new WWE Women's Championship. The women involved in the triple threat match would compete for the brand new title, and Divas Championship would be retired.

Jump ahead to the match, and Banks, Lynch, and Flair put on what could be the best match of the night. The three women proved to the world that they too can keep up with the men, and when given the proper time and spot, they can put on a performance.

After a 17-minute match, Charlotte gained the upper hand and put Becky in her signature Figure Eight submission hold. When Sasha tried to break the hold, Ric Flair (who accompanied his daughter to the ring) held her back to ensure the submission was secure.

Becky had no choice but to tap out, and Charlotte Flair became the new WWE Women's Champion.

Although the match didn't end cleanly, the three women gave a performance that had fans on their feet. It was just another chapter for the women who continued to make their mark in WWE.

​It was their time to shine, and they did just that.

A leap of faith

In February 2016, on Raw, Vince McMahon wanted to honor his daughter Stephanie with the new "Vincent J. McMahon Legacy of Excellence" award he created.

When Stephanie was ready to give her acceptance speech for a pointless award (no disrespect to Vince McMahon Sr), an old theme of the past blasted in the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit and caught everybody by surprise.

Making his first WWE TV appearance in six years, Shane McMahon came dancing down to the ring to confront his sister and father.

Shane revealed that although he left the company, he made a secret deal with his father to be next in line to take over the company when the time was right and not his sister. A confused Stephanie left the ring for Shane to confront his father.

Turns out, Shane had more secrets to reveal, gave Vince an ultimatum. The demand was to take control of Monday Night Raw in exchange for not revealing the secrets he had.

Vince took a look at his son and agreed but on one condition. That condition would have his son compete at WrestleMania. If he won the match, Monday Night Raw would be his.

It sounds simple at first until Vince revealed who that opponent was.

It would be The Undertaker, and as a bonus, the match would take place inside Hell in a Cell.

The next week on Raw, The Undertaker made an appearance to confront Vince for his decision. Once again, we all thought Taker was done after WrestleMania 31, which was also the same thought we had the year before.

As a threat to Vince, Undertaker stated that his son's blood would be on Vince's hands and not his own. In response, Vince added another stipulation. If The Undertaker didn't beat his son, it would be his last WrestleMania.

For the third time in WrestleMania history, the cell dropped from the rafters, and the two entered to get the match underway.

Those that know the history of the Hell in a Cell match, they'll know that this always ends up being violent, bloody, and destructive for those that stepped inside. Two-thirds of that statement would not be shown in this match.

Undertaker and Shane were slow in their match and did not have moments that stood out. At one point, 'Taker speared McMahon through the cell wall which came down and took the fight outside of the structure.

Shane gained momentum and weakened Undertaker, putting him down on one of the commentary tables. That's when Shane looked up to the heavens and began to climb the cell.

If you know Shane's history, you'll know he's done some ridiculous jumps just for entertainment. At WrestleMania 32, Shane took us on a trip down memory lane and reminded everybody why he was loved in the first place.

Undertaker got out of the way. Shane crashed through the announce table and thankfully only left with bruises without damaging anything.

Undertaker and Shane made their way back into the ring. The Deadman would perform his tombstone piledriver and improved his WrestleMania record to 23-1.

Undertaker was cleared to keep fighting at WrestleMania while Shane could not gain control of Monday Night Raw.

The match was terrible, but somehow, Shane told the world that he's still crazy.

The Big Dog [finally] reaches the mountain

WrestleMania 31 wasn't a fun time for Roman Reigns.

He nearly came close to capturing the WWE World Heavyweight Championship before Seth Rollins stole the spotlight and became champion.

2015 in WWE would belong to Seth Rollins, who dominated the main event scene and would be a great champion. However, Rollins tore his ACL at a non-televised show in early November and would vacate the title.

To quickly determine a champion, a 16-man tournament was announced. The finals took place at Survivor Series to crown a new champion.

Reigns met his old Shield partner Dean Ambrose in the final to see who would go on to become champion. Reigns outlasted Ambrose and won his first World Title in WWE.

However, the celebration was cut short when Sheamus, who had the Money in the Bank contract, cashed in as the confetti was falling down and quickly took the title off Reigns. So much for that.

In December, Reigns was granted a rematch against Sheamus for the title on one condition. If Roman lost the match, he would be fired from WWE.

But this is Roman Reigns, the next superhero of WWE who literally had a signature move called "Superman Punch!" Did you really think his career would end? Reigns would win the title for a second time and entered the New Year as a champion.

Vince McMahon, however, wasn't too happy that he was champion and wanted somebody better to represent the company.

In a twist of events, McMahon declared that Reigns would defend the title at the Royal Rumble. However, it wouldn't be in a regular wrestling match. Instead, the title would be defended in the annual 30-man Royal Rumble match.

It would only be the second time in history that the Rumble match involved the gold and not the traditional opportunity to earn a championship match at WrestleMania. It last happened in 1992 when Ric Flair won the Royal Rumble to become WWF Champion.

To make matters worse for Reigns, McMahon forced him to enter the match at number one, meaning he needed to go the entire distance to retain his title.

At the Royal Rumble, Triple H made his shocking return to WWE and entered the number 30 spot, becoming the match's final entrant. He would eliminate Reigns to the crowd's roar, then threw out Ambrose to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.

After months of battling, the two would go head-to-head in WrestleMania's main event, and nobody cared.

The match went over a half-hour, and because WrestleMania was nearing the five-hour mark, fans were out of it and exhausted from the big night.

Reigns and Triple H went back-and-forth to try and gain the upper hand. Stephanie accompanied her husband to the ring to distract the referee and give Triple H the advantage, only to be accidentally hit with Reigns' spear.

Triple H tried to hit Reigns with his sledgehammer in the match's final moment, only to be met with a huge spear. Reigns would win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship for the third time.

The closing image of WrestleMania 32 had him up on the ropes with title in the air and fireworks going off.

WWE gave Reigns their crowning moment again, and fans still didn't want it. They continued to reject him, and WWE would try again in the following year.

Final thoughts

I'm not sure what to say about this WrestleMania.

After two great back-to-back years, this came up short, badly.

​Nearly every match didn't bring as much excitement from the fights a year before. Except for the women, you mainly felt bored watching this WrestleMania.

The one thing that did hurt the show was the length. A five-hour show is extremely hectic and would begin to be the new norm as the next set of WrestleManias would reach that length.

It's one thing for fans in attendance to experience it as I'm sure it felt as if time flew and didn't end up feeling like a combined seven-hour show. For the fans at home, if nothing's exciting by, say, hour three, more likely than not, the TV gets turned off.

If a WrestleMania goes that distance, there should be something jaw-dropping at specific points in the show to wake somebody up and keep going. Match placement has never been more crucial moving forward for WWE.

As for Roman Reigns, my goodness, if nobody saw that coming, I wouldn't know what to tell them. It's unfortunate when WWE becomes too predictable, especially in the main event, that fans instantly tune out. Once again, WWE saw a lot in Roman that they wanted him to stay at the top. He had his crowning moment, and nobody cared.

But if you thought the ending to this WrestleMania was anti-climatic, the following year would have an even worse reaction.

Two top dogs would battle in the main event in a fight to see who was the rightful owner of the yard.

Results:

- Zack Ryder def. Dolph Ziggler, Kevin Owens (c), The Miz, Sami Zayn, Sin Cara, and Stardust - Ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship

- Chris Jericho def. A.J. Styles

- The League of Nations (Alberto Del Rio, Rusev, and Sheamus) def. The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods) - Six-man tag team match

- Brock Lesnar def. Dean Ambrose - No Holds Barred match

- Charlotte def. Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks (via submission) - Triple threat match for the inaugural Women's Championship

- The Undertaker def. Shane McMahon - Hell in a Cell match

- Baron Corbin last eliminated Kane to win the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal

- The Rock def. Erick Rowan

- Roman Reigns def. Triple H (c) - WWE World Heavyweight Championship

Rating: D+

Thanks for reading. Look out for tomorrow when I take a look at WrestleMania 33.

3 days away until WrestleMania 35.