WrestleMania 29, also promoted as WrestleMania NY/NJ, was a 2013 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by WWE. It was the 29th annual WrestleMania and took place on April 7, 2013, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. This was the final WrestleMania to broadcast exclusively via traditional PPV outlets due to the launch of the WWE Network streaming service in February 2014.
Nine professional wrestling matches were contested at the event, with one match contested on the Pre-Show. In the main event, John Cena defeated The Rock to win his record 11th WWE Championship, as well as avenging his loss to The Rock in the main event of WrestleMania XXVIII the previous year. John Cena vs. The Rock was the second time that a WrestleMania main event was held back-to-back (after Bret Hart vs. Yokozuna at WrestleMania IX and X). Other prominent matches included The Undertaker defeating CM Punk, concluding a storyline revolving around Paul Bearer's death and The Undertaker's WrestleMania undefeated streak. In the penultimate match, Triple H defeated Brock Lesnar in a No Holds Barred match; had Triple H lost, he would have retired. Also, Alberto Del Rio retained the World Heavyweight Championship against Jack Swagger in the title's final defense at WrestleMania, as it was unified with the WWE Championship at Tables, Ladders & Chairs in December 2013. Due to that, this was the last WrestleMania to feature two world titles until WrestleMania 33 in 2017.
WrestleMania 29 was a commercial success. It drew 80,676 fans, which became the third highest attended event in the history of WWE after WrestleMania 32 in 2016 and WrestleMania III in 1987. It also became the highest grossing live event in WWE history, grossing US$72 million.
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". In the lead up to WrestleMania 29, the event was 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 February 15, 2012, WrestleMania 29, promoted as WrestleMania NY/NJ, was scheduled to be held on April 7, 2013, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. This was the fifth WrestleMania in the New York metropolitan area; WrestleMania I, X, and XX were held at Madison Square Garden, and a portion of WrestleMania 2 was held at Nassau Coliseum. It was the third WrestleMania held in the state of New Jersey after WrestleMania IV and V, both of which were held at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. The event was the fifth WrestleMania to be held outdoors (after IX, XXIV, XXVI, and XXVIII), but the first to be held outdoors in a cold-weather city. To combat this, WWE added a heater that was hanging above the ring. Additionally, six electric furnaces were plumbed underneath the ring and vented into the ring posts to supply warm air.
Tickets went on sale on November 10, 2012, during which WWE set a first-day sales record of 52,029 tickets, beating the WrestleMania X8 record of 51,620 tickets. Partly due to increased ticket prices, WWE also set a first-day revenue record of more than US$10 million, which topped WrestleMania XXVIII's previous record of $6.3 million. For the first time, WrestleMania was streamed on mobile devices via the WWE app and on Xbox Live.
WrestleMania's set included replicas of several New York City landmarks, including the Brooklyn Bridge and Empire State Building on top of the entrance ramp and the Statue of Liberty on a podium above the ring. There were three official theme songs for the event, "Coming Home" by Diddy – Dirty Money feat. Skylar Grey, "Bones" by Young Guns, and "Letters from the Sky" by Civil Twilight.
Sean "Diddy" Combs performed a medley of tracks during the event, and Living Colour performed "Cult of Personality" as CM Punk made his way to the ring.
Storylines The event comprised nine matches, including one on the Pre-Show, that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Raw and SmackDown.
On January 27, John Cena won the 2013 Royal Rumble match, making him the fourth multiple Rumble winner, and earning himself either a WWE Championship or World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania 29. Later that same night, The Rock won the WWE Championship from previous champion CM Punk. The next night on the January 28 episode of Raw, Cena announced he would challenge the reigning WWE Champion, thus challenging The Rock. At the Elimination Chamber event on February 17, Rock successfully defended the championship against Punk. The next night on Raw, Punk challenged Cena for his spot in the main event, and Cena accepted. Cena won the match on February 25, setting up a rematch of his "Once in a Lifetime" match from the previous year against Rock. Cena blamed Rock for sending his life into a downward spiral, citing events such as being attacked by Brock Lesnar on the post-WrestleMania Raw, Big Show turning heel and attacking him, being embarrassed by John Laurinaitis at Over the Limit, failing to cash in his Money in the Bank, losing to CM Punk multiple times and losing to Dolph Ziggler at TLC. He told Rock he would gain redemption by beating him at WrestleMania.
At Elimination Chamber, World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio successfully retained his championship against Big Show. Jack Swagger, Chris Jericho, and Mark Henry, who all made their return, earned spots in the six-man Elimination Chamber match, along with Daniel Bryan, Kane, and Randy Orton to become the number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship. Swagger won the match and challenged Del Rio for the title at WrestleMania. Throughout the weeks, Swagger and his new manager, Zeb Colter, repeatedly stressed about the ignorance of America and allowing illegal immigrants in, and promised that they would bring a new era of "Jack Swagger's America". They also repeatedly attacked Del Rio, and Swagger injured Del Rio's ring announcer, Ricardo Rodriguez's ankle.
On the February 25 episode of Raw, Triple H returned, brawling with a returning Brock Lesnar (who was last seen at SummerSlam in 2012), who was about to attack Vince McMahon for the second time, thus reigniting their feud from last year. During the brawl, Lesnar's head was busted open and required 18 stitches. The following week, Triple H set out a challenge to Lesnar at WrestleMania. On the March 11 episode of Raw, after Lesnar attacked Triple H's former D-Generation X members, The New Age Outlaws, Lesnar's manager, Paul Heyman, stated that Lesnar accepted Triple H's challenge, but only if Heyman could add the stipulations, to be revealed after Triple H signed the contract. Triple H signed the contract, therefore, he accepted the conditions, then Heyman revealed that the bout would be No Holds Barred and that if Triple H lost the match, he must retire from WWE. On the final Raw before WrestleMania, Shawn Michaels announced that he would be in Triple H's corner for the match to support him.
On the March 4 episode of Raw, which celebrated "Old School Raw", The Undertaker made his return (his first appearance since WWE Raw 1000) by opening up the show, signaling any challenger to face him and try to end his undefeated WrestleMania streak at the event. CM Punk, Randy Orton, Big Show, and Sheamus all declared they wanted to face The Undertaker, prompting Raw'''s Managing Supervisor Vickie Guerrero to set a Fatal Four-Way match among the four later that night. CM Punk won the match by pinning Orton, earning him the match against The Undertaker. The following night, The Undertaker and Kane's former manager Paul Bearer died of respiratory problems. The next week on Raw, Punk interrupted Paul Bearer's tribute segment to boast that he would break Undertaker's streak, which prompted Kane to attack Punk, although Punk escaped. Later that night, Kane defeated Punk in a No Disqualification Match, before The Undertaker came to the stage to perform his signature taunt with Kane to honor Bearer. Punk interrupted once again by hitting Kane with The Undertaker's urn, which prompted The Undertaker to chase him away, and Punk escaped with the urn. On the March 18 episode of Raw, The Undertaker came to the ring to tell Punk he had one chance to return Undertaker's property but was interrupted by Punk on the TitanTron, who further boasted about being the one to "snap the streak" while nonchalantly tossing the urn in the air. Disguised as a druid, Punk further assaulted The Undertaker on Raw and constantly beat him with the urn while Punk's manager Paul Heyman looked on, dressed like Bearer. Punk then boldly opened the urn and emptied its ashes over a fallen Undertaker, thus igniting their feud.
On the March 15 episode of SmackDown, The Shield (Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and Dean Ambrose) challenged Randy Orton and Sheamus to a six-man tag team match at WrestleMania 29. Orton and Sheamus accepted, then recruited Ryback as their partner. Later that night, The Shield interfered in Ryback's match with Mark Henry and delivered a triple powerbomb to Ryback before he was given three World's Strongest Slams by Henry. The following Monday on Raw, Vickie Guerrero pulled Ryback from the six-man tag team match and put him in a singles match with Henry. After winning a match on the March 18 episode of Raw, Sheamus and Orton were about to be assaulted by The Shield, but then Big Show – who had also been brutalized by The Shield – came out to aid Orton and Sheamus, causing The Shield to retreat, and on SmackDown that week, Sheamus, Orton, and Big Show were teamed together by Booker T to test their teamwork in a six-man tag match against 3MB (Heath Slater, Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal), in which they were victorious. Following the match, The Shield came to the ring to confront the victors before retreating once again.
On the March 18 episode of Raw, Dolph Ziggler defeated Kofi Kingston, with outside help from his bodyguard Big E Langston. This caused WWE Tag Team Champions Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan and Kane), who both had been attacked by Langston during past matches with Ziggler, to challenge them at WrestleMania. Ziggler's girlfriend, AJ Lee, said they would accept the match only if Team Hell No put their Tag Team Championship on the line, to which they agreed.
A minor rivalry between Chris Jericho and Fandango (the former Johnny Curtis from NXT) developed prior to Wrestlemania. Fandango made numerous appearances, but he never competed in matches due to announcers and wrestlers repeatedly mispronouncing his name or did not say it with the right kind of "feel" he liked. The feud with Jericho began on the March 22 episode of SmackDown when Jericho made fun of Fandango's name. This caused Fandango to interfere with Jericho's match and attack him following the match. Fandango attacked Jericho once more on the March 25 episode of Raw after Jericho's match. This caused Jericho to ask Vickie Guerrero to set up a match between himself and Fandango at WrestleMania. According to Jericho, the original plan was Jericho vs. Ryback, but Vince McMahon changed his rival.