Wrestlemania 32, the Super Bowl of WWE, took over Dallas this weekend as the wrestling world's biggest stars took to the ring inside the Dallas Cowboys' AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson makes a historic return to the WWE ring at WrestleMania 32
By The Wrap
April 4, 2016 at 12:28PM
The packed card in front of a solded-out crowd of 100,000 people included a 20-man Battle Royal, a ladder match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship, the Divas Championship, a title bout between Triple H and Roman Reigns, and the highly-anticpated Hell in a Cell battle with Shane McMahon taking on The Undertaker, and TheWrap was there taking in all the action.
Of course, the main man of the night was Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who took a break from filming the upcoming "Baywatch" reboot and Season 2 of HBO's "Ballers" to return to his wrestling roots.
An eight-time winner of the WWE Championship belt, Johnson has of course since found phenomenal success as an action star in "Fast & Furious," "G.I. Joe" and "San Andreas."
Before the main event even kicked off, history was made with the announcement of the first ever WWE Women's Championship, announced by Amy "Lita" Dumas, which ultimately saw Charlotte beating Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch.
Lita is all about SPOTLIGHT being put on the @WWEDivas! #WrestleMania #WMKickoff @AmyDumas pic.twitter.com/QQ0BRlMXFr
— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) April 3, 2016
As the Superstars took to the stage in "the house that Jerry Jones built," which boasts the world's fourth-largest high definition video screen hanging from the ceiling, Flo Rida's "My House" blasted out through the speakers as the official theme song of the show.
Kevin Owens has spent the past 15 years fighting his way up the ranks, and on Sunday he made his Wrestlemania debut inside the ring, after watching from the outside for so long. "I bought tickets to four Wrestlemanias myself, then last year I was there as part of the company but wasn't in it, so this is my sixth time and I am finally taking part," he told TheWrap.
Owens took part in the first match of the big night, taking on The Miz, Dolph Ziggler, Sami Zayn, Stardust, Sin Cara, and the Zack Ryder in a Ladder match, where the title belt is hung in the air and contestants literally have to battle on ladders to retrieve it.
"I am looking forward to the Ladder match, but the one contestant I am most worried about is The Miz, which might surprise a lot of people, not because I think he is particularly dangerous but he is pretty sneaky," Owens admitted to TheWrap on Saturday. "I can totally see him trying to hide out until the time is right and basically steal the title, so I need to keep an eye on him."
#ICChampion @FightOwensFight just got turned INSIDE OUT! #WrestleMania #ICTitle #LadderMatch pic.twitter.com/P5mXmtyxfa
— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) April 3, 2016
Ultimately, it came down to Sami and Owens punching each other in the head trying to grab the coveted belt but just when you thought it was over … Ryder — who is most often seen in the Hype Bros. tag team with Mojo Rawley — beat out The Miz's comeback attempt to make the first Cinderella story of the night.
"This is the greatest moment of my life," Ryder later told wrestling fanatic Maria Menounos.
Entertaining tag team New Day then blasted out with their animated doppelgängers "promoting" their Booty-O cereal, before taking on the Irishman with the red mohawk, Sheamus, and his villainous League of Nations.
But suddenly WWE legends "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Mike Foley and Shawn Michaels appeared to add some serious star power to the match with their serious moves and fire the crowd up into a frenzy.
Be careful issuing challenges at @WrestleMania! You NEVER KNOW who will answer!! @RealMickFoley @SteveAustinBSR #HBK https://t.co/kkQsEtT4XZ
— WWE (@WWE) April 4, 2016
Next up, Dean Ambrose tried to take down Brock Lesnar down in a "No Holds Barred Street Fight" that involved baseball bats wrapped with barb wire, multiple chairs, a fire extinguisher and even a chainsaw! But not even that arsenal of weapons couldn't beat The Beast and Lesnar took the win.
The LOW BLOW by @TheDeanAmbrose leads to THIS… #WrestleMania #StreetFight pic.twitter.com/hkoMxEiTYF
— WWE WrestleMania (@WrestleMania) April 4, 2016
On Saturday, the WWE honored new 11 inductees into the Hall of Fame Class of 2016. Menounos and WWE announcer Byron Saxton reported from the red carpet for WWE's most stylish event of the year as Superstars, Divas and Legends showed off their glamorous sides.
However, it was Sting who stole the spotlight as the 57-year-old announced that he was retiring from the ring after a lifetime of wrestling.
Snoop Dogg was an apt choice for the celebrity inductee as his cousin, Sasha Banks, is one of the most lauded wrestlers in the world. (The talented relatives also took to the stage together the next night at Wrestlemania for a special appearance.)
Other inductees included: Joan Lunden, Charles Wright, a.k.a the Godfather, the Fabulous Freebirds and Big Boss Man.
Over at Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, the biggest names in NXT faced-off Friday and Saturday in front of a sold-out crowd of passionate fans. NXT Champion Finn Bálor put his NXT Championship on the line against Samoa Joe, while Mojo Rawley dominated Logan "The Drifter" Shulo and amped-up the hype level with his party-rocking speeches.
A photo posted by therock (@therock) on Apr 3, 2016 at 4:57pm PDT
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