WrestleMania XXVIII was a 2012 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by WWE. It was the 28th annual WrestleMania and took place on April 1, 2012, at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. This was the first WrestleMania held following the end of the original brand extension in August 2011 as well as the first WrestleMania held to be promoted under the company's shortened trade name of WWE, as following WrestleMania XXVII the prior year in April 2011, the company ceased using its full name of World Wrestling Entertainment, although that remains the legal name of the company.
There were eight matches on the event's card and one pre-show match that was streamed on YouTube. The main event saw The Rock defeat John Cena and was advertised a year in advance, being set up in the main event of the previous year's WrestleMania XXVII. In other prominent matches, The Undertaker defeated Triple H in a Hell in a Cell match with Shawn Michaels serving as the special guest referee, CM Punk defeated Chris Jericho to retain the WWE Championship, Big Show defeated Cody Rhodes to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship, and in the opening bout, Sheamus defeated Daniel Bryan to win the World Heavyweight Championship in an 18-second match.
The Rock vs. John Cena match was re-broadcast on August 25, 2012, on NBC and later issued on DVD and Blu-ray, collected under the title of The Rock vs John Cena: Once in a Lifetime. The match was later included in WWE Best PPV Matches of 2012 as the "Most Anticipated WrestleMania Match of All Time". Despite the "Once in a Lifetime" tagline, the two would wrestle each other again in the main event of the following year's WrestleMania 29, with Cena emerging victorious and winning the WWE Championship from The Rock.
Contents
Production
Background
WrestleMania is considered WWE's flagship professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event, having first been held in 1985. 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".
The city of Miami Gardens, Florida was one of the two major contenders to host WrestleMania XXVII along with Atlanta, Georgia; in February 2010, Atlanta was awarded the right to host the event. According to the Miami-Dade Sports Commission, WWE management felt that Miami's planning for the event would have been too hectic with many other sporting events held in the area around the same time of the planning, such as Super Bowl XLIV. However, the Miami area was reportedly considered for the next event due to its international ties, facilities, airports, and experience of hosting previous major events.
Bidding documents were sent to 17 cities in consideration for hosting a WrestleMania event between 2012 and 2014, with 14 replying in interest. Other cities under consideration for WrestleMania XXVIII included Los Angeles, California, New Orleans, Louisiana, New York City, New York, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Detroit, Michigan, Tampa, Florida, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, St. Louis, Missouri, Jacksonville, Florida, Orlando, Florida, and Houston, Texas. The city of Dallas, Texas also showed interest, but had to withdraw from bidding for the next two years due to hosting events such as the NCAA Final Four.
Miami was revealed as the site of WrestleMania on February 9, 2011, by The Miami Herald and at a WWE press conference at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach. The event was scheduled to be held on April 1, 2012, at Miami Gardens' Sun Life Stadium. WrestleMania XXVIII was the second WrestleMania event that was hosted in the U.S. state of Florida, the fourth open-air event, and the third event to be held entirely outdoors. For hosting the event, WWE received a $250,000 cash incentive from the Miami-Dade Sports Commission, raised through grants and sponsorships. Along with WrestleMania XXVIII, a series of events grouped as "WrestleMania Week" was held in the week preceding the event including WrestleMania's annual WrestleMania Axxess fan convention at the Miami Beach Convention Center, the 2012 WWE Hall of Fame ceremony at the American Airlines Arena, the finals of the WrestleMania Reading Challenge, and a Celebrity Pro-Am Golf tournament.
Storylines
The event included matches that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and SmackDown.
The main event of WrestleMania XXVIII pitted The Rock wrestling against John Cena, billed as a Once in a Lifetime, face of the company generational match. On the February 14, 2011, episode of Raw, The Rock was revealed as the host of WrestleMania XXVII, and upon his return to WWE, began a feud with John Cena (and Cena's opponent at that WrestleMania, then-WWE Champion, The Miz), which continued for weeks in terms of verbal insults, until the March 28 episode of Raw, where Cena delivered the Attitude Adjustment to The Rock after he fended off attacks from The Miz and his protégé, Alex Riley. At WrestleMania XXVII, The Rock got involved in the main event WWE Championship match between The Miz and Cena, which initially ended in a double count-out. After the match was restarted under no disqualifications, no count-outs rules, The Rock delivered a Rock Bottom to Cena as a measure of payback, thus enabling The Miz to win the match. The next night on Raw, Cena challenged The Rock to a one-on-one match; The Rock accepted and proposed that it be held at WrestleMania XXVIII. After winning the championship from The Miz at Extreme Rules, Cena interrupted The Rock's birthday celebrations during the May 2 episode of Raw to announce his intention to defend the WWE Championship against The Rock at WrestleMania XXVIII. Such intentions were however thwarted by Cena losing the title at Money in the Bank in July. At Survivor Series in November, Cena teamed with The Rock (who wrestled his first WWE match in almost eight years, last competing at WrestleMania XX in 2004). Billed as "the most charismatic tag team", they defeated The Miz and R-Truth. After the match, Rock performed a Rock Bottom to Cena.
Another match billed as the "end of an era", saw The Undertaker face Triple H in a Hell in a Cell match. The previous year at WrestleMania XXVII, in a No Holds Barred match, The Undertaker defeated Triple H via submission, in their second encounter at a WrestleMania (the first being at WrestleMania X-Seven in 2001, where The Undertaker won as well). However, in the post-match events, due to the harsh physicality suffered during the bout, The Undertaker, for the first time in his career, was carted away from the Georgia Dome by the medical staff on a stretcher. After a near ten-month long hiatus, The Undertaker returned on the January 30, 2012, episode of Raw, confronting and challenging Triple H to a rematch at WrestleMania XXVIII. The Undertaker, having been dissatisfied of his post-WrestleMania match scenario the previous year, stated that he "did not want 'that scene' to be a lasting memory" of him and was willing to give Triple H "another chance at immortality". After Triple H refused to accept the challenge the next week, his close friend and WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels appeared on the February 13 episode to instigate him in accepting The Undertaker's challenge, which was in vain as Triple H stated he was willing to put his ego and personal agendas aside for the future of WWE, and viewed The Undertaker's 19–0 undefeated WrestleMania streak as a "brand" to cash-in for the company, finally ending the argument saying he would not be the one to end it. Then, on the February 20 episode, The Undertaker still remained adamant in getting a WrestleMania rematch with Triple H, going so far as to label Triple H as a "coward", and comparing his abilities and career to that of Shawn Michaels. Enraged by these comments, Triple H finally accepted The Undertaker's challenge at WrestleMania XXVIII, saying that if "he [Undertaker] wanted an end, they would go all the way", and proposed that they would compete in a Hell in a Cell match. On the March 5 episode, Michaels confronted Triple H again; Michaels expressed his views on who was better than the other, predicted Triple H's chances of defeating The Undertaker, and revealed himself as the special guest referee in their Hell in a Cell match at WrestleMania.
Event
Pre-show
A non-televised triple threat tag team match for the WWE Tag Team Championship pitted champions Primo and Epico, The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso), and Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd against each other. The match began with multiple aerial tactics and many pin attempts. In the midst of the match, Justin Gabriel botched a dive outside resulting in an elbow injury. The match ended when Epico hit Jey Uso with a Backstabber and pinned him to retain the titles.
Preliminary matches
In the first televised match, Daniel Bryan defended the World Heavyweight Championship against Sheamus. After receiving a good luck kiss from his (kayfabe) girlfriend AJ Lee, Bryan was surprised by Sheamus, who delivered a Brogue Kick and pinned him to win the title. Lasting only 18 seconds, this was one of the shortest title matches in WWE history.
In the second match, Randy Orton faced Kane. After trading moves back and forth, Orton gained the upper hand until Kane made a comeback. Kane continued to dominate the match until Orton kicked out of a chokeslam. Orton gained back momentum but after attempting an RKO from the second rope, Kane delivered a Chokeslam off the second rope and pinned him to win the match.
Next, the Intercontinental Championship was on the line between champion Cody Rhodes and Big Show. Rhodes attempted to avoid his opponent until Big Show caught him and tossed him back inside. Big Show dominated from there with vicious attacks. Rhodes managed to deliver a disaster kick. As he went for another one, he took a spear mid-air to the groin from Big Show. Big Show knocked out Rhodes with a Knockout Punch and pinned him to win his first Intercontinental Championship.
A tag team match pitted Kelly Kelly and Extra correspondent Maria Menounos against Beth Phoenix and Eve. Kelly began to get the upper hand over Eve. Kelly tagged in Menounos who got off to a good start but was slowed down by interference from Phoenix. Phoenix and Eve would continue to wear down Menounos who had already suffered two cracked ribs prior to the event. Menounos eventually tagged in Kelly who began to dominate. Phoenix managed to wear down Kelly but Kelly countered a Glam Slam with a bulldog and tagged in Menounos. The climax of the match came when Kelly saved Menounos, knocked Phoenix into Eve on the apron, and Menounos rolled up Phoenix for the win.
Jim Ross joined the commentators (Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler) for the Hell in a Cell match between Triple H and The Undertaker with Shawn Michaels as special guest referee billed as "The End of an Era". The match started with the two going back and forth. The match moved to the outside where The Undertaker dominated. Back in the ring, Triple H assaulted The Undertaker with the steel steps and even countered a Hell's Gate. The match intensified when Triple H brought steel chairs and a sledgehammer into the ring. After multiple big moves and weapon shots on each other, the two men repeatedly kicked out. After suffering a Pedigree, a Sweet Chin Music, and multiple chair and sledgehammer shots, The Undertaker came back and executed a Tombstone Piledriver; however, Triple H kicked out. Triple H delivered one more Pedigree before The Undertaker kicked out, took back control, performed another Tombstone, and won the match to extend his undefeated streak to 20–0. After the match, The Undertaker and Michaels helped Triple H out of the ring and made it to the entrance stage, where they embraced.
Main event
The main event pitted John Cena and The Rock in a match billed "Once In A Lifetime". Cena and The Rock viciously went back-and-forth with each other throughout the match. During the course of the match, The Rock kicked out of two Attitude Adjustments, Cena out of a Rock Bottom and People's Elbow. When Cena attempted a People's Elbow on The Rock, throwing his sweatband in the crowd in similar fashion to The Rock, he ran into another Rock Bottom, which allowed The Rock to pin Cena and pick up the win.
Reception
WrestleMania XXVIII received generally positive critical reception, with praise going to The Rock vs. John Cena, the WWE Championship match between CM Punk and Chris Jericho, and the match between The Undertaker and Triple H. However, the World Heavyweight Championship match between Daniel Bryan and Sheamus was heavily criticized for its short length and perceived burial of Bryan.
Eric Larnick of The Huffington Post praised the main event match giving it a verdict of good; he applauded Dwayne Johnson, opining that he worked "his butt off to prove that he can still go in the squared circle". The post also praised the WWE Championship and Hell in a Cell matches, ranking them alongside the main event. IGN called Daniel Bryan vs Sheamus the "worst match of the night" and The Undertaker vs. Triple H the "match of the night". They also applauded the main event match, calling the unexpected outcome a good way for the crowd to go home happy. Wrestling-Edge rated all the matches on a scale of 5 and gave a full 5 star ratings to The Undertaker vs. Triple H Hell in a Cell match.
The Baltimore Sun's Adam Testa led with a headline that WrestleMania XXVIII was unable to live up to the hype, while the main event did. He labeled the match as being the match that could break or make the WrestleMania and ended in "an amazing sequence". The Rock's victory was again stated as shocking and welcome, leaving people curious about the aftermath of the event. Yahoo's A. Orien Avery found The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan from WrestleMania X8 as the only comparable match from previous WrestleManias, though according to him The Rock being in his prime would make the match more symbolic.
WrestleMania XXVIII garnered 1,300,000 buys, making it the most purchased wrestling event in history, surpassing WrestleMania 23's buyrate of approximately 1.2 million, with global gross sales in excess of $67 million. The event also set a new record for the highest grossing live event in WWE history, grossing $8.9 million.
The Undertaker vs. Triple H Hell in a Cell match won the 2012 Slammy Award for the match of the year as well as being voted the match of the year on Pro Wrestling Illustrated. It has since been regarded as one of the greatest Hell in a Cell matches of all time, as well as one of the best matches in professional wrestling history.
Aftermath
The following night on Raw, John Cena talked about his loss to The Rock. He asked for The Rock to come out so that he could offer his congratulations. Instead, Brock Lesnar, in his first appearance since WrestleMania XX in 2004, appeared and laid out Cena with an F-5. The following week, a match between Cena and Lesnar was scheduled for Extreme Rules, which was later changed to an Extreme Rules match. At Extreme Rules, Cena defeated Lesnar.
On the April 10 episode of SmackDown, it was announced that a two out of three falls match between Daniel Bryan and Sheamus for the World Heavyweight Championship would take place at Extreme Rules. At Extreme Rules, Sheamus defeated Bryan to retain the title and end the feud.
On the following episode of SmackDown, Randy Orton and Kane faced each other again, this time in a No Disqualification match, which Orton won. A Falls Count Anywhere match between the two was later scheduled for Extreme Rules, which Orton won to end the feud.
A tables match between Big Show and Cody Rhodes was scheduled for Extreme Rules, where Rhodes defeated Big Show to reclaim the title.
Also, a Chicago Street Fight between CM Punk and Chris Jericho for the WWE Championship was scheduled for Extreme Rules, where Punk retained the title.
At the 2013 Royal Rumble, John Cena won the Royal Rumble match to earn himself a world title match at WrestleMania 29. Later that night, The Rock defeated CM Punk to end Punk's 434 day reign as champion. The following night on Raw, Cena chose to face The Rock for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 29. At WrestleMania 29, Cena defeated The Rock to win the title.