WrestleMania XXIX

WrestleMania 29 was the 29th annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment, held on April 7, 2013 at Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. It drew 80,676 fans which became the 2nd highest ever attended in history of WWE after WrestleMania III and shattered other attendance records.
The event 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 Trump Plaza/Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.
==Background==
 
WrestleMania 29 featured professional wrestling matches involving different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds, plots, and storylines that play out on WWE's television programs. Wrestlers portray heels or faces as they follow a series of events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches.
On January 27, 2013, John Cena won the 2013 Royal Rumble match, making him a two-time Rumble winner. In doing so, he earned a WWE Championship or World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania 29. The next night on the January 28 edition of Raw, he announced that he will challenge the reigning WWE Champion. At the Elimination Chamber event on February 17, 2013, The Rock successfully defended the WWE Championship against CM Punk. The following night on Raw, Punk would challenge Cena for his spot in the main event, which Cena accepted. Cena won the match on February 25, setting up a rematch of his "Once in a Lifetime" match with The Rock from WrestleMania XXVIII.
Also at Elimination Chamber, World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio successfully retained his championship against Big Show. Returning superstars Jack Swagger, Chris Jericho, and Mark Henry earned spots in the six-man Elimination Chamber match, along with Daniel Bryan, Kane, and Randy Orton. Swagger won the event to become the number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship, and will challenge Del Rio for the title at WrestleMania.
On the March 4 episode of Raw, which celebrated "Old School Raw", The Undertaker made his return to WWE 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 would go on to win the match by pinning Orton, earning him the match against The Undertaker. The next week on Raw, Punk interrupted Paul Bearer's tribute segment to boast about how he was going to break Undertaker's streak, which prompted Undertaker's brother Kane to attack Punk, although Punk escaped. Later that night, Kane defeated Punk in a No Disqualification Match, before Undertaker came to the stage to perform his signature taunt with Kane to honour Bearer. Punk interrupted this by hitting Kane with The Undertaker's urn, which prompted 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.
On the March 15 episode of SmackDown, The Shield challenged Randy Orton and Sheamus to a 6-man tag team match at WrestleMania 29. Orton and Sheamus accepted, then recruited Ryback as their third man. 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 6-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 - stepped into the ring, 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, in which they were victorious. Following the match, The Shield came to the ring to confront the victors before retreating once again.
Also on the March 18 episode of Raw, Dolph Ziggler won a match against Kofi Kingston with outside help from Big E Langston. This caused Team Hell No, 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 WWE Tag Team Championship on the line, to which they agreed.
On the February 25, 2013 episode of Raw, Triple H returned, brawling with a returning Brock Lesnar, who was about to attack Vince McMahon for a second time. During the brawl, Lesnar's head was busted open and required 18 stitches. The following week on Raw, 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, said that Lesnar would accept Triple H's challenge, but they would get to add the stipulations and would reveal them after Triple H signed the contract. Triple H accepted the match, after which Heyman revealed that the bout would be No Holds Barred and that if Triple H loses, he must retire from WWE. On the following Raw before WrestleMania, Shawn Michaels returned to announce that he would be in Triple H's corner to support him.
A minor rivalry  between Chris Jericho and Fandango developed prior to WrestleMania. Fandango made numerous appearances throughout the WWE, but never competed in his matches because announcers and other superstars repeatedly mispronounced 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 in Jericho's match with Jack Swagger (and attack him after). He again attacked Jericho on the March 25 episode of Raw after Jericho's win against Dolph Ziggler. Jericho had just been attacked by Big E. Langston before Fandango came to the ring. This caused Jericho to ask Vickie Guerrero to set up a match between him and Fandango at WrestleMania.
Another rivalry that escalated was between The Miz and Intercontinental Champion Wade Barrett. Miz and Barrett had been trading jabs back and forth about which of them was the better actor, as Miz had starred in The Marine 3: Homefront, and Barrett had a minor role in the film Dead Man Down. After defending his title in a triple threat match against Miz and Chris Jericho on the March 18 episode of Raw, Barrett continued the feud with Miz after he shoved him on Main Event on March 20, which caused Miz to retaliate. On the March 25 episode of Raw, Miz won against Barrett in a non-title match via submission, thus earning him a championship match against Barrett and a chance for his second Intercontinental Championship. The match took place in the pre-show before WrestleMania.
===Undelivered match===
Another minor rivalry heading into WrestleMania was between Tons of Funk (Brodus Clay & "Sweet T" Tensai) and Team Rhodes Scholars. This also extended to their female companions, The Funkadactyls (Cameron & Naomi) and The Bella Twins. On the March 11 episode of Raw, the Bella Twins returned to WWE and appeared to begin a relationship with Damien Sandow and Cody Rhodes. On the March 15 episode of SmackDown, the Bellas attacked The Funkadactyls backstage. In the following weeks, all of the teams faced off in a series of tag team matches, most of which included ringside altercations involving the accompanying team members. WWE.com later announced that they would square off in an eight-person mixed tag team match at WrestleMania.
WWE did not include this match in the pre-show, pay-per-view or the post-show and removed mention of the match from their web site, not acknowledging that they had announced the match, though it had been advertised two days prior, on the April 5 Friday Night SmackDown. At 8:07 EST, seven minutes into the PPV, The Bella Twins posted a picture to Twitter of their team preparing for the match. Brodus Clay tweeted "Sometimes you need your heart broken to know how much you love it". Tensai tweeted "Everything happens for reason".
==Production==
Tickets went on sale on 10 November 2012, and WWE set a first-day sales record of 52,029 tickets, beating the WrestleMania X8 record of 51,620 tickets. This also set a first-day revenue record of more than $10 million, which topped WrestleMania XXVIII's $6.3 million (due in part to increased ticket prices).
For the first time, WrestleMania XXIX will be streamed on mobile devices via the WWE app and on Xbox Live.
==Match Preview==
Wade Barrett (c) vs. The Miz 	Preview
Sheamus, Randy Orton & Big Show vs. The Shield 	Preview
Ryback vs. Mark Henry 	Preview
Team Hell No (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler & Big E Langston 	Preview
Chris Jericho vs. Fandango 	Preview
Alberto Del Rio (c) vs. Jack Swagger 	Preview
The Undertaker vs. CM Punk 	Preview
Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar 	Preview
The Rock (c) vs. John Cena 	Preview
Brodus Clay, Tensai & The Funkadactyls vs. Team Rhodes Scholars & The Bella Twins	Preview
==Results==
;
;
*Pre-Show: The Miz defeated Wade Barrett (c) Via Submission to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship (04:08) 
*The Shield (Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose & Roman Reigns) defeated Sheamus, Randy Orton & Big Show in a Six-man tag team match (10:35)
*Mark Henry defeated Ryback (08:03)
*Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan & Kane) (c) defeated Dolph Ziggler & Big E Langston (w/AJ Lee) to retain the WWE Tag Team Championship (07:19)
*Fandango defeated Chris Jericho (09:13)
*Alberto Del Rio (c) (w/ Ricardo Rodriguez) defeated Jack Swagger (w/ Zeb Colter) Via Submission to retain the World Heavyweight Championship (10:30)
*The Undertaker defeated CM Punk (w/ Paul Heyman) (25:34)
*Triple H (w/ Shawn Michaels) defeated Brock Lesnar (w/ Paul Heyman) in a No Holds Barred match (19:30)
:*If Triple H had lost, he would have been forced to retire.
*John Cena defeated The Rock (c) to win the WWE Championship (21:09)
==Other on-screen talent==
;Commentators
*Matt Striker ()
*Josh Mathews ()
*Jerry Lawler
*Michael Cole
*John Bradshaw Layfield
;Ring announcer
*Lilian Garcia
*Justin Roberts
*Howard Finkel (WWE Hall of Fame)	
;Pre-Show Panel
*Scott Stanford
*Jim Ross
*Kofi Kingston
*Dusty Rhodes
;Referees
*Darrick Moore
*Charles Robinson
*Rod Zapata
*Mike Chioda
*Scott Armstrong
*Chad Patton
==See also==
*WrestleMania
*List of WWE pay-per-view events
*WWE Event History
*WrestleMania Revenge Tour 2013
*Event gallery
==DVD release==
* WrestleMania XXIX on DVD
==External links==
* WrestleMania XXIX Official Website
* WrestleMania XXIX at CAGEMATCH.net
* WrestleMania XXIX at Online World of Wrestling
* on WWE Network
Category:WrestleMania
Category:2013 pay-per-view events
Category:World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-view events
Category:Events with No Holds Barred matches