WWE WrestleMania XXX

Image Source: Smark Out Moment

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Genre: Wrestling
Produced By: WWE
Format: Pay-Per-View
Date: April 6 2014
Location: Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Attendance: 75,167

The thirtieth WrestleMania then; what a milestone in WWE history this was. Every WrestleMania is big, but Mania number 30 immediately takes on a bigger level of importance. All those memorable Mania moments from over the years, from the unprecedented success of WM 1 to the record-setting crowd that saw Savage vs. Steamboat and Hogan slam Andre at WM III, the unforgettable Hogan-Warrior battle from WM VI, the timeless Savage-Warrior Career match at WM VII, two classic matches at WM X, HBK's boyhood dream coming true at WM XII, the famous Bret-Austin double turn at WM 13 and Austin's crowning as WWF Champion at WM XIV, the best WWF/WWE show ever at WM X-Seven, Rock vs. Hogan at WM X8, great matches and historic wins at WM 21, Ric Flair's WWE swansong at WM XXIV, the two Undertaker-HBK classics at WM 25 and WM XXVI, the Undertaker-HHH battles at WM XXVII and WM XXVIII, and the amusingly-dubbed "Twice In A Lifetime" meetings between Rock and Cena at WM XXVIII and WM 29, and countless other memorable Mania matches and moments (some remembered for the wrong reasons) - WrestleMania has an incredible legacy, and it was widely predicted going in that WM XXX would be another standout night in WWE's illustrious history. However, few could have predicted just how memorable WM 30 would turn out to be.

It was expected that this would be Daniel Bryan's night of glory. Having won the WWE Title from John Cena at SummerSlam 2013 only to have it taken away from the newly-formed Authority, Bryan's chase against the modern-day Corporation had an abrupt end, and once WWE positioned Batista and not Bryan as the man to face Randy Orton for the top prize at Mania (via Bryan's non-entry into the 2014 Royal Rumble match), fans rebelled. As WWE wondered how to fix this problem, another big setback occurred when CM Punk unexpectedly walked out of WWE the night after the Rumble, torpedoing a potential Punk-HHH match at Mania before the feud had really gotten off the ground (Punk had been involved in scraps with Authority members not named HHH before he left). With a real quandary on his hands, WWE ultimately decided to listen to the fans and reignited Bryan vs. The Authority in the form of Bryan vs. HHH, with the winner being entered into the Orton-Batista main event for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. After the bumps en route to Mania, surely WWE wouldn't have Daniel Bryan fail on the grandest stage of them all ... would they?

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