WrestleMania 34 was a 2018 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE, held for wrestlers from the promotion's main roster brands, Raw, SmackDown, and 205 Live. It was the 34th annual WrestleMania and took place on April 8, 2018, at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. This was the second WrestleMania held at this venue, after WrestleMania XXX in 2014, and the first to include the cruiserweight-exclusive 205 Live brand, albeit on the Kickoff pre-show, subsequently being the first to feature wrestlers from three brands since WrestleMania 25 in 2009.
The card comprised 14 matches, including three on the Kickoff pre-show. In the main event, which was the main match of the Raw brand, Brock Lesnar retained the Universal Championship against Roman Reigns. The main match from SmackDown saw AJ Styles retain the WWE Championship against Shinsuke Nakamura. Other matches saw Ronda Rousey make her WWE debut and Daniel Bryan returned to the ring after nearly three years of absence due to concussions. In a featured match from Raw, Rousey teamed with Kurt Angle to defeat Triple H and Stephanie McMahon in a mixed tag team match, while in a featured match from SmackDown, Bryan teamed with Shane McMahon to defeat Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. Also, The Undertaker defeated John Cena in an impromptu match.
Also on the card, Charlotte Flair retained the SmackDown Women's Championship against Asuka, ending Asuka's undefeated streak. A 10-year-old named Nicholas (son of referee John Cone) became the youngest champion in WWE history when he teamed with Braun Strowman to defeat Cesaro and Sheamus to win the Raw Tag Team Championship. This was also the first time that the SmackDown Tag Team Championship was defended at a WrestleMania.
WrestleMania 34 received mixed-to-positive reviews from fans and critics, with the world title matches being subjected to more negative responses. The main event between Lesnar and Reigns particularly received heavy criticism and was decried by some as one of the worst main events in WrestleMania history. Despite this, other aspects of the show, such as the return of Daniel Bryan, SmackDown's Intercontinental Championship match, the SmackDown Women's Championship match, and the debut performance of Ronda Rousey, were widely praised.
Contents
Production
Background
WrestleMania is WWE's flagship professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event, having first been held in 1985. It was the company's first pay-per-view produced and was also WWE's first major event available via livestreaming when the company launched the WWE Network in 2014. 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". WrestleMania was ranked the sixth most valuable sports brand in the world by Forbes in 2017, and has been described as the Super Bowl of sports entertainment. Much like the Super Bowl, cities bid for the right to host the year's edition of WrestleMania.
Announced on January 9, 2017, WrestleMania 34 was scheduled to be held on April 8, 2018, at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana and it wrestlers from the Raw, SmackDown, and 205 Live brand divisions. The event was the second WrestleMania to be held in the U.S. state of Louisiana, subsequently the second held at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, which previously hosted WrestleMania XXX in 2014. On October 30, 2017, traveling packages for the event were sold; tickets went on sale on November 17, 2017, with individual tickets costing from $35 to $2,000.
The four official theme songs for the event were "Celebrate" and "New Orleans" by Kid Rock, "Let the Good Times Roll" by Freddie King, and Devil by Shinedown. On April 8, prior to the start of WrestleMania, WWE and event sponsor Snickers held the WrestleMania Block Party at the Champions Square plaza. The tailgate event included appearances from WWE Hall of Famers Alundra Blayze and Ric Flair, as well from active competitors Tamina and R-Truth.
American duo Chloe x Halle performed "America the Beautiful" to kick off the main card of WrestleMania.
Since 2014, WWE 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, WrestleMania 32, and WrestleMania 33. The perception that Reigns was the "company's chosen one" led to widespread expectations that Reigns would triumph in the main event of WrestleMania 34 to become WWE Universal Champion; and it was also anticipated that while doing so, he would be again received negatively by the WrestleMania crowd.
Storylines
The event comprised 14 matches, including three on the Kickoff pre-show, that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw, SmackDown, and 205 Live brands, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw, SmackDown Live, and the cruiserweight-exclusive 205 Live.
After Brock Lesnar won the Universal Championship at WrestleMania 33, he seldom defended the title, which was often criticized, especially by Roman Reigns. As the 2018 men's Royal Rumble winner chose SmackDown's world championship, Lesnar's WrestleMania 34 opponent was determined through the Elimination Chamber match at the namesake event, which was won by Reigns. The two had also previously fought at WrestleMania 31 in March 2015 over Lesnar's WWE World Heavyweight Championship (truncated as WWE Championship in 2016), but without a decisive winner as Seth Rollins cashed in his Money in the Bank contract and pinned Reigns to win. Despite being advertised, Lesnar did not appear for several episodes of Raw. Reigns repeatedly criticized Lesnar and also questioned WWE Chairman and Chied Executive Officer Vince McMahon, for which he was temporarily suspended. When Reigns nevertheless appeared on Raw to confront Lesnar, he was arrested by U.S. Marshals. The handcuffed Reigns assaulted the Marshals, but was then attacked by Lesnar. Heyman then declared that should Lesnar lose, they would not re-sign with WWE. Their match was scheduled as the main event, which would be the first Universal Championship match to main event WrestleMania.
At the Royal Rumble, SmackDown's Shinsuke Nakamura won the men's Royal Rumble match, earning a world championship match of his choosing at WrestleMania 34. Nakamura immediately chose SmackDown's WWE Champion AJ Styles. At Fastlane, Styles retained the WWE Championship in a six-pack challenge, thus solidifying the Styles-Nakamura match at WrestleMania. The two expressed respect for each other, but Styles warned Nakamura to not take him lightly this time, bringing up their previous encounter in New Japan Pro-Wrestling in January 2016, where Nakamura had defeated Styles.
After failing to win the Elimination Chamber match, Intercontinental Champion The Miz demanded a WrestleMania challenger on the February 26 episode of Raw. Seth Rollins then came out and defeated Miz, followed by Finn Bálor, who also defeated him. The following week, both Rollins and Bálor confronted Miz, leading to a 2-on-3 handicap match between Rollins and Bálor and The Miz and his Miztourage (Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel), in which Rollins pinned Miz. Afterwards, Raw General Manager Kurt Angle scheduled The Miz to defend his championship against Bálor and Rollins in a triple threat match at WrestleMania.
Event
Pre-show
Three matches were contested on the two-hour long WrestleMania 34 Kickoff pre-show, with the second hour shown live on USA Network. During the pre-show, it was shown that John Cena had indeed attended the event as a fan, and cameras followed him as he took his seat in the audience, a few rows back from the ring.
The first match on the pre-show was the fifth annual André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. In the closing moments, "Woken" Matt Hardy, Mojo Rawley, and Baron Corbin were the final three competitors. Bray Wyatt, who had previously feuded with Hardy, appeared and surprisingly, Wyatt assisted Hardy in eliminating Rawley and distracted Corbin, As a result, Hardy then eliminated Corbin to win the match and trophy.
Next, Cedric Alexander faced Mustafa Ali in the tournament final for the vacant WWE Cruiserweight Championship. Ali performed a "054" on Alexander, who broke the pinfall attempt by placing his foot on the bottom rope. In the end, Alexander executed a "Lumbar Check" on Ali to win the title.
The WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal culminated in Sasha Banks and Bayley teaming up to eliminate Natalya and The Riott Squad (Ruby Riott, Sarah Logan, and Liv Morgan). Banks and Bayley then shook hands only for Bayley to quickly eliminate Banks. Thinking she had won the match, Bayley began celebrating, not realizing that Naomi had not actually been eliminated. Naomi then performed a "Rear View" on Bayley and eliminated her to win the match.
Preliminary matches
The actual pay-per-view opened with The Miz defending the Intercontinental Championship against Seth Rollins and Finn Bálor in a triple threat match. In the end, Bálor performed a Coup de Gráce on Miz, only for Rollins to perform a Curb Stomp on Bálor on top of Miz. Rollins then performed another Curb Stomp on Miz to win the title, becoming the 19th Grand Slam Champion in the process.
Next, Charlotte Flair defended the SmackDown Women's Championship against Asuka. After an evenly contested match, Charlotte forced Asuka to submit to the Figure-Eight Leglock to retain the title and end Asuka's undefeated streak, coincidentally mimicking the end of The Undertaker's streak by Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania XXX, which was also held at the same venue four years prior. After the match, the two embraced.
After that, Randy Orton defended the United States Championship against Bobby Roode, Jinder Mahal (accompanied by Sunil Singh), and Rusev (accompanied by Aiden English) in a fatal four-way match. In the climax, Singh distracted Rusev which allowed Mahal to perform the Khallas on Rusev to win the title.
Next, Kurt Angle and Ronda Rousey faced Triple H and Stephanie McMahon in a mixed tag team match, which was Rousey's in-ring debut and Stephanie's first match at WrestleMania and Angle's first since WrestleMania 22. Angle and Triple H started the match, while Stephanie distracted the referee to attack Rousey. Rousey eventually tagged in and faced off with Stephanie. She also faced off against Triple H and at one point in the match had Triple H on her shoulders. Angle performed an Angle Slam on Triple H for a nearfall, Triple H then executed a Pedigree on Angle, but Rousey broke up the pin. In the end, Rousey forced Stephanie to submit to an armbar for the win.
In the next match, The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) defended the SmackDown Tag Team Championship against The New Day (Big E and Kofi Kingston, accompanied by Xavier Woods) and The Bludgeon Brothers (Harper and Rowan) in a triple threat tag team match. In the end, Harper pinned Kingston after an aided superbomb to win the titles.
John Cena had attended the first two matches in the audience until a referee had informed him that The Undertaker had arrived at the arena. Following the SmackDown Tag Team Championship match, Cena made his entrance for an expected match with Undertaker. The lights went out, but instead of The Undertaker, Elias appeared. After a brief confrontation, Cena attacked Elias. As Cena was leaving, the lights went out again and Undertaker's coat and hat (which had been left behind at WrestleMania 33) appeared in the ring and were struck by lightning. The Undertaker then made his entrance to the panicked shock of Cena and the match was made official. Undertaker dominated most of the match and utilized his Old School and flying clothesline maneuvers. Cena countered a chokeslam attempt into a spin-out powerbomb. As Cena attempted a Five-Knuckle Shuffle, Undertaker sat up and performed a chokeslam followed by a Tombstone Piledriver to defeat Cena, extending the Undertaker's WrestleMania record to 24–2. This would prove to be Undertaker's final WrestleMania match in front of a live audience, as he retired in 2020.
Main event
In the main event, Brock Lesnar (accompanied by Paul Heyman) defended the Universal Championship against Roman Reigns. Lesnar performed three german suplexes on Reigns, who performed superman punches and two Spears on Lesnar for a nearfall. Lesnar performed two F-5s on Reigns with each scoring a nearfall. Frustrated, Lesnar put Reigns through an announce table with an F-5 and performed another one in the ring scoring another nearfall. Lesnar removed his gloves and attacked Reigns with elbow strikes, causing Reigns to bleed profusely from the head and performed a fifth F-5 for a near-fall. Reigns recovered and performed two more Spears on Lesnar for a near-fall. In the end, as Reigns attempted another Spear, Lesnar countered into a sixth F-5 to retain the Universal Championship, and become the fifth heel to win in the main event of WrestleMania. The match would perhaps end up being more notable due the majority of the crowd signaling their strong disinterest by chanting among other things "boring", "this is awful" and calling for then-former WWE wrestler CM Punk. Even beach balls were also thrown around the crowd which resulted in cheers and boos.
Reception
Jack de Menezes, writing for The Independent, stated that WrestleMania 34 "brought a mix of brilliance, bemusement and disappointment". The Intercontinental title triple threat was "brilliant" and "frantic", the WWE Title match was an "eye-catching affair" culminating in a "stunning heel-turn", "Rousey made a splash on her in-ring debut", and "Daniel Bryan once again captured the imagination of the WWE Universe". Cena-Undertaker left "fans stunned, bemused and feeling shortchanged at what had occurred", while finally the main event was a "slow-burning match" which was "a huge anti-climax".
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer noted that the main event was "physical as hell", but the "crowd seemed to react more to beach balls in the crowd" and "didn't even pop for" Reigns' kick-outs. Meltzer felt that the match was "done for sympathy for Reigns when it was over to make him a babyface as they concentrated on showing him all beaten up". For the other matches, Meltzer noted that the women's battle royal "was rushed through" and it was not the first of its kind at WrestleMania as promoted, pointing to a previous version in 2009. The Intercontinental title triple threat was "all action" which "felt like three babyfaces" as the Miz "didn't work as a heel at all in the match." He thought Asuka-Charlotte was "a great match" with "hard hitting and pretty emotional stuff", while the mixed tag team match was "excellent"; he noted that Ronda Rousey "at no point looked out of her element, she was crisp in just about everything", and that it was "one of the better pro wrestling debuts I've ever seen". Finally, Meltzer noted that the announced attendance of 78,133 "isn't even close to real although it may be August before the real number is out".
Joshua Needelman of The Washington Post wrote that this event was "one of the most entertaining WrestleMania's in recent memory" except for an "anticlimactic" and "remarkably disastrous end", as the "New Orleans crowd made it clear the main event was not what they wanted", which saw them booing Reigns. Meanwhile, the Styles-Nakamura match was "surprisingly slow and plodding, with the intensity only reaching its expected level toward the end". Also, the mixed tag match "exceeded expectations", while the U.S. title match result drew the ire of fans because "fan-favorite Rusev" was pinned. Lastly, Needelman noted that Daniel Bryan, "perhaps the most popular wrestler of the past decade", "had the crowd in the palm of his hands" during his match.
Wade Keller of Pro Wrestling Torch described the Lesnar-Reigns main event as a "disaster". Keller noted that the "tired and disinterested crowd" had booed Reigns and chanted "CM Punk", "Boring" and "This is awful!" As for the other matches, Styles-Nakamura was "a letdown" given the expectations, Cena-Undertaker was "crowd pleasing", the mixed tag match "went about as well as anyone could have hoped", and Asuka failing to "really showcase her signature spots before losing" "almost felt like a downgrade in Vince McMahon's faith in her".
Aftermath
Raw
In recent years, WWE has gone out of its way to warn viewers that the post-WrestleMania Raw crowd are "non-traditional" and will "boo the guys they normally cheer (face)" and "cheer the guys they normally boo (heel)". This announcement was repeated after WrestleMania 34, but critics pointed out that the crowd cheered wrestlers "regardless of whether they are babyfaces or heels" and that "on this night, they cheered everyone that WWE wanted them to cheer with one exception... Roman Reigns."
On the post-WrestleMania 34 episode of Raw, Commissioner Stephanie McMahon, with her arm in a brace, bragged about her WrestleMania performance, stating she knew that she would bring out the best in Ronda Rousey. Rousey then made her entrance and listened to Stephanie praising her. When the two hugged, Ronda grabbed Stephanie's arm, pulled the brace off, and applied the armbar.
Also on Raw, another Universal Championship match between champion Brock Lesnar and challenger Roman Reigns was scheduled for the Greatest Royal Rumble event, this time as a Steel Cage match, with no justification given for the match. Reigns acknowledged that Lesnar had re-signed with WWE instead of going back to the UFC, then said he was not directly told about the rematch and alleged that there was a conspiracy against him. After Reigns concluded that he would eventually beat Lesnar if he kept receiving title matches against him, a returning Samoa Joe appeared. Joe called Reigns a failure and said that after Lesnar defeats him at Greatest Royal Rumble, Joe would be waiting for Reigns at Backlash.
New Raw Women's Champion Nia Jax had a tag team match against Alexa Bliss and Mickie James. Nia's partner was NXT call-up Ember Moon. The team won after Moon performed the Eclipse on Bliss for the pin. Also in the women's division, Sasha Banks lost to Absolution's Mandy Rose, when interference by Bayley backfired. A match between Banks and Bayley the following week ended in a no-contest when the two were attacked by The Riott Squad, who were traded to Raw.
Backstage, Braun Strowman and Nicholas informed Raw General Manager Kurt Angle that they were relinquishing the Raw Tag Team Championship due to Nicholas' schedule as a fourth grader, but vowed to come back for the title when Nicholas was done with school. When Cesaro and Sheamus demanded their titles back, Angle said they could regain them at the Greatest Royal Rumble. A four-team tournament to determine their opponents, called the Tag Team Eliminator, was won by André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal winner "Woken" Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt.
SmackDown
On the first SmackDown after WrestleMania, Commissioner Shane McMahon announced that Daniel Bryan – now a full-time wrestler on the SmackDown brand – resigned as General Manager, and introduced Paige, who retired from in-ring competition the previous night on Raw due to injuries, as Bryan's successor. She then scheduled a match between Daniel Bryan and WWE Champion AJ Styles. Shinsuke Nakamura, who had issued a mocking apology for attacking Styles, attacked both Bryan and Styles during their match. The following week, a rematch between Styles and Nakamura for the championship was scheduled for the Greatest Royal Rumble.
The Usos earned a SmackDown Tag Team Championship match against The Bludgeon Brothers at Greatest Royal Rumble by defeating The New Day. Also, Randy Orton defeated Bobby Roode and Rusev in a triple threat match to earn a United States Championship match. Following this, new United States Champion Jinder Mahal was traded to Raw, but lost the title to Jeff Hardy, who moved to SmackDown. The winner of the championship match between Mahal and Hardy at Greatest Royal Rumble would face Orton at Backlash.
SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair commented on her WrestleMania match and future challengers, but was interrupted and attacked by NXT's The IIconics (Peyton Royce and Billie Kay). After this, Carmella cashed in her Money in the Bank contract and won the title. Also in the women's division, Natalya confronted Naomi, calling her victory in the WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal a disappointment. Naomi then defeated Natalya in a match. It was later revealed that soon after Flair's title win at Wrestlemania 34, she became seriously ill after getting silicone poisoning which resulted from her breast implants leaking.
205 Live
On 205 Live, Cedric Alexander celebrated becoming WWE Cruiserweight Champion, with Mustafa Ali showing his respect. Buddy Murphy then attacked the new champion from behind and performed Murphy's Law on him.