WrestleMania XXVII

Production

Background

WrestleMania is considered World Wrestling Entertainment's (WWE) flagship professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event, having first been held in 1985. It has become 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 XXVII was scheduled to be held on April 3, 2011, at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia and featured wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brands.

In September 2009, it was reported that the city of Atlanta was seeking to host WrestleMania XXVII at the Georgia Dome. Atlanta's main rival bid came from the city of Miami, Florida, which proposed to host the event at Sun Life Stadium along with WrestleMania Axxess at the Miami Beach Convention Center and the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony at the American Airlines Arena. Miami would eventually become the host for WrestleMania XXVIII. Atlanta was formally announced as the site at a press conference on February 1, 2010. According to WWE's senior vice president of special events, John Saboor, Atlanta was ultimately chosen for, among other reasons, "their track record of success with large events, rich in its tradition with the WWE, and great infrastructure". The event marked the first time WrestleMania was held in the U.S. state of Georgia.

Along with WrestleMania XXVII, a series of events grouped as "WrestleMania Week" was held in the week preceding the event including WrestleMania's annual WrestleMania Axxess fan convention, the 2011 WWE Hall of Fame ceremony, the fourth annual WrestleMania Art exhibition and auction, and a Celebrity Pro-Am Golf tournament. WrestleMania Axxess was held at the Georgia World Congress Center, while the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony took place at the Philips Arena. It was the first pay-per-view event under WWE's promotional rights deal with Kmart. Under the deal, Kmart was the official sponsor for all of WWE's live events in the United States for the rest of 2011. As another part of the promotion for the event, WWE Magazine released a "Guide to WrestleMania XXVII" app for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad, offering information about the upcoming event as well as trivia from past events.

"Written in the Stars" by Tinie Tempah was the theme song for the event. "Diamond Eyes (Boom-Lay Boom-Lay Boom)" by Shinedown served as the secondary theme song, while R&B singer Keri Hilson performed "America the Beautiful" at the start of the show. Celebrities and former wrestlers that appeared in WrestleMania XXVII segments include Snoop Dogg, Pee Wee Herman, Gene Okerlund, Mae Young, and Roddy Piper. In addition, the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2011 inductees made an appearance, including the headliner Shawn Michaels, Jim Duggan, The Road Warriors, Sunny, Bob Armstrong, Abdullah the Butcher, and celebrity Drew Carey.

Storylines

The event included matches that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Raw and SmackDown.

The predominant rivalry for the Raw brand involved Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, John Cena, and the reigning WWE Champion, The Miz. On the February 14 episode of Raw, The Rock was announced as host for WrestleMania XXVII. In his first appearance in a WWE ring in seven years, The Rock publicly mocked both The Miz and Cena. At the following week's Elimination Chamber event, Cena won the Raw brand's annual Elimination Chamber match to earn himself a WWE Championship opportunity against The Miz. One night later on Raw, both Cena and The Miz derided The Rock's previous comments, with Cena producing a rap questioning The Rock's true commitment to WWE over his acting career. Via satellite, The Rock responded to Cena's rap on the February 28 episode of Raw, citing that he started a movie career to help open the door for other wrestlers to go to Hollywood, including The Miz and Cena himself. On the March 28 episode, The Rock and Cena confronted each other face to face before WrestleMania, until The Miz came out. The Miz and his protégé, Alex Riley, attacked The Rock, who managed to fight back both men. After the assault, Cena performed an Attitude Adjustment on The Rock to end the show.

Starting from the January 31 episode of Raw, mysterious vignettes began promoting the return of a mysterious wrestler on "2.21.11". On the February 21 episode, The Undertaker was revealed as the mysterious figure, who made his return after a four-month absence. However, The Undertaker's return was interrupted by a returning Triple H. The two men stared each other down and both peered at the WrestleMania sign, teasing a possible challenge at WrestleMania XXVII. The match was confirmed four days later on WWE's official website. This match marks the second time the two would face each other at a WrestleMania, the first being WrestleMania X-Seven ten years earlier. Before their WrestleMania match, both men had a face to face encounter on the March 28 episode of Raw, only to be interrupted by Shawn Michaels, who criticized Triple H for believing that he could defeat The Undertaker at WrestleMania, something that Michaels wasn't able to do at the previous years' event. After The Undertaker stated that Michaels was history, Michaels attempted to perform a Superkick on him, but The Undertaker retaliated with a Chokeslam that was stopped by Triple H, who then asked Michaels why he is going to defeat The Undertaker at WrestleMania. Michaels, however, left the ring, unable to give Triple H an answer, believing that Triple H couldn't defeat The Undertaker at the event.

Event

Pre-show

Before the event aired, two dark matches took place. The first match pitted Sheamus against Daniel Bryan in a lumberjack match for the United States Championship. During the match, a brawl broke out between the lumberjacks outside the ring, resulting in the match ending in a no contest. SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long then called for a battle royal to take place. The Great Khali won the match after last eliminating Sheamus.

Preliminary matches

As the show went live on pay-per-view, R&B singer Keri Hilson performed "America the Beautiful". Soon after, The Rock, the guest host, walked to the ring and cut a promo, mocking John Cena as well as firing up the crowd for WrestleMania.

In the first match, Edge (with Christian) defended the World Heavyweight Championship against the 2011 Royal Rumble winner Alberto Del Rio (with Ricardo Rodriguez and Brodus Clay). Early in the match, Del Rio focused on Edge's injured arm and Christian fended off Clay and Rodriguez. After some back and forth action, the ending came when Edge applied the Edgecator while Del Rio applied the Cross Armbreaker. When both men got up, Edge delivered the Spear for the win. After the match, Edge and Christian destroyed Del Rio's car. This was Edge's last televised match, as he retired the next week on Raw due to a legitimate neck injury. Edge has since been medically cleared to wrestle again, returning to in-ring competition nearly 9 years later at the 2020 Royal Rumble.

The next match pitted Cody Rhodes against Rey Mysterio, who came out dressed as Captain America. Rhodes dominated most of the match, however, Mysterio managed to gain control later on. The ending saw Mysterio removed Rhodes' face mask and deliver headbutts but Rhodes countered by removing Mysterio's knee brace. When Mysterio went for a dive, Rhodes knocked out Mysterio with the knee brace and executed the Cross Rhodes for the win.

In the next match, Kane, Big Show, Santino Marella, and Kofi Kingston faced The Corre (Wade Barrett, Ezekiel Jackson, Heath Slater, and Justin Gabriel) in an eight-man tag team match. The match lasted two minutes, ending with Slater receiving a Cobra from Santino and a WMD from Big Show. Big Show then pinned Slater to win.

In the next match, Randy Orton faced CM Punk, with the New Nexus banned from ringside. Punk spent most of the match focusing on Orton's injured knee until Orton gained control later in the match. Orton then attempted a punt kick, but his injured knee stopped him. Punk attempted the GTS, but Orton went for an RKO. Punk dodged and went for a Springboard clothesline, but Orton delivered an RKO for the win.

In the next match, Michael Cole (with Jack Swagger) faced Jerry Lawler, with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin as the special guest referee. For this match, Booker T and Jim Ross joined Josh Mathews on commentary. The match began with Lawler trying to get Cole out of his "Cole Mine", a small glass box that Cole would announce from. After some time, he did so and started attacking him. Cole managed to counter and had the upper hand on Lawler for most of the match. Swagger tried to help Cole by throwing in the towel when Lawler began to take control but was denied and received a Stone Cold Stunner. Lawler then forced Cole to submit with the ankle lock while Austin mocked him. After the match, Austin shared a beer with Lawler and stunned Booker T, who came out to celebrate with Lawler. After Lawler had seemingly won, the Anonymous Raw General Manager reversed the decision in an email read by Mathews because Austin was a biased referee, making Cole the winner by disqualification. Austin then proceeded to stun Mathews as well in retribution. Lawler then replaced Mathews and Booker T as the color commentator for the rest of the night, with Jim Ross doing the play-by-play.

Main event

In the last match, The Miz (accompanied by Alex Riley) defended the WWE Championship against John Cena. During the match, Cena delivered the Five Knuckle Shuffle to The Miz. Cena attempted the Attitude Adjustment, but The Miz countered with a DDT. There was a lot of back and forth action until The Miz executed the Skull Crushing Finale and Cena executed an Attitude Adjustment on The Miz – both for near-falls. Both men fought outside of the ring, knocking each other out in the process, and were counted out. The Rock came out to intervene, when an email message from the Anonymous Raw General Manager arrived. The Rock went to read it, but then disregarded it and restarted the match under "no disqualifications, no count-outs, no time limits" stipulations. Cena dragged The Miz back inside the ring and attempted an Attitude Adjustment. The Rock stalked Cena from behind and performed a Rock Bottom on him, in vengeance for the Attitude Adjustment from the episode of Raw that aired six nights prior. Taking advantage, The Miz then pinned Cena for the win, retaining the WWE Championship, and became only the third heel to win in the main event of WrestleMania. After the match, The Rock had a staredown with The Miz until The Rock delivered a spinebuster and a People's Elbow. WrestleMania XXVII went off the air with The Rock posing on top of the turnbuckles for the fans.

Reception

WrestleMania XXVII received mixed reviews from critics. Canadian Online Explorer's professional wrestling section gave the entire event 6.5 out of 10. The World Heavyweight Championship match received an 8 out of 10, the Undertaker–Triple H match received an 8.5 out of 10, the WWE Championship match received a 5 out of 10 and the CM Punk–Randy Orton match received a 7 out of 10.

The attendance record for WrestleMania XXVII was announced as 71,617. WWE's number was later confirmed by officials at the Georgia Dome.

The match between Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler is considered one of the worst WrestleMania matches of all time, as well as one of the worst in WWE. Dave Meltzer gave the match 1 star out of 5. Vince McMahon himself stated to Michael Cole after the match that it was "the worst thing [he'd] ever witnessed in 60 years." The match was criticized by fans for being too long, involving a non-wrestler in Cole and for the Anonymous Raw General Manager's reversing of Lawler's initial victory.

Aftermath

Raw

The following night on Raw, John Cena and The Rock agreed to face each other in a match at WrestleMania XXVIII, marking the first time a match had been announced almost a year in advance for any WrestleMania. Later on Cena won the WWE Championship in a Triple Threat Steel Cage match against The Miz and John Morrison at Extreme Rules. The Raw after Extreme Rules, Cena defended the WWE Championship against The Miz in a singles match after being restarted due to the referee noticing interference from Alex Riley after Miz winning, and again later on in an "I Quit" match at Over the Limit against The Miz. Later in a backstage segment Cena "congratulated" The Rock on his birthday, telling him to bring it on for WrestleMania while showing off the WWE Championship, implying that their match at WrestleMania XXVIII would be for the WWE Championship, continuing on with their feud. However, Cena would go on to lose the WWE title three times that year, twice to CM Punk, and once to Alberto Del Rio. In November, at Survivor Series, Cena teamed with The Rock, which would be the latter's first match since WrestleMania XX in 2004 (which coincidentally was at Madison Square Garden in New York City), and defeated the Miz and R-Truth, only for Rock giving a Rock Bottom on Cena after the match. The Rock defeated Cena at WrestleMania XXVIII, and, in 2013, a rematch at WrestleMania 29 took place, with The Rock's WWE Championship on the line, which saw Cena emerging victorious.

The Miz suffered a legitimate concussion in the main event, being knocked out when Cena tackled him to the concrete for the double-countout, and largely doesn't remember the match. The concussion remains the worst of Miz's career, the only other time he was legitimately knocked out being by Kofi Kingston at Madison Square Garden in 2012.

Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler's feud continued as they appeared on that same night Edge had retired from WWE. Cole was locked in a glass box staying off contact with Lawler while Jim Ross made his return only for Jack Swagger to show up and made it as a singles match where Lawler defeated Swagger. Cole addresses Lawler that their rematch was the "Country Whipping match" in a form of Tag Team at Extreme Rules and Lawler accepted as he team up with Ross, but lost to Cole again. Finally, their last match to end their feud in Over The Limit was the "Kiss My Foot Match" as Lawler defeated Cole to end his heel turn and goes back to having friends with Lawler.

As a consequence of using a chair shot to the head, Triple H and The Undertaker were legitimately fined by WWE for violating the company's "concussion policy" at the event. After a ten-month hiatus, The Undertaker returned on January 30, 2012, episode of Raw to confront Triple H before challenging him to a rematch at WrestleMania XXVIII, having felt unsatisfied with having to leave victorious not under his own power. After Triple H refused despite insistence from Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker mocked him by calling him a coward and knowing that Michaels was better than him. This angered Triple H to the point that he finally accepted The Undertaker's challenge, but under the stipulation that their match be a Hell in a Cell match. Soon after the match was made, Michaels confirmed he would officiate the match as special guest referee. The Undertaker defeated Triple H at WrestleMania XXVIII with their match dubbed as an "End of an Era" and extended his Undefeated WrestleMania Streak to 19–0.

SmackDown

On the April 11 Raw, Edge retired due to a legitimate neck injury, marking his last match for the company against Del Rio at WrestleMania. Edge vacated the World Heavyweight Championship on the April 15 episode of SmackDown, therefore retiring as world champion and leaving WWE full-time to make part-time appearances for the company. At Extreme Rules, Christian won the title for the first time in a ladder match against Del Rio, only to lose the title to Randy Orton, on the May 6 episode of SmackDown. The next year Edge would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. However after nine years and two neck surgeries, Edge returned as a surprise entrant in the men's Royal Rumble match at the 2020 Royal Rumble, and then entered into a feud with Randy Orton. Starting the match at WrestleMania 36 in a Last Man Standing Match, when Edge won. Then at Backlash in a Singles Match, which Orton win and result Edge out of action due tore his triceps. At the 2021 Royal Rumble, Edge return and won the men's Royal Rumble match by last eliminating Randy Orton. Orton challenged Edge to a rubber match on the following night's Raw, where Edge defeated Orton to end to their rivalry.

Following their loss at WrestleMania (not to mention failing to regain the Divas Championship), tension rose in LayCool. After two weeks of couples therapy, a bitter Michelle McCool turned on Layla, dissolving their team. Layla and McCool would face off in a match at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view with no count-outs, no disqualifications, and the loser has to leave WWE. Layla went on to win the match, resulting in McCool's subsequent – and legit – departure from WWE.

Future

WrestleMania XXVII was the last WWE pay-per-view to be promoted under the promotion's full name of World Wrestling Entertainment, as just after the event on April 7, the company began to refer to itself solely as "WWE", with the abbreviation becoming an orphaned initialism. It was also the last WrestleMania held under the first brand split, which ended in August, although the brand split was reintroduced in July 2016.