Tag: wrestlemania 30

Brock Lesnar reflects on breaking Undertaker’s WWE WrestleMania streak

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Brock Lesnar had mixed emotions when he broke The Undertaker’s WrestleMania streak in 2014.

At WrestleMania 30, Lesnar defeated Undertaker to end his Mania streak after 21 straight victories. It was a controversial decision and remains one of the biggest moments in WWE history. Lesnar reflected on the night during an appearance on Barstool Sports’ Spittin Chiclets podcast.

“For me, guys, it’s really simple. Like, this is a business. It’s a business,” Lesnar said about the decision for him to win. “And I think a lot of guys live and breathe the lifestyle of it. And for Taker — obviously it wasn’t my call to make. At the time, Vince McMahon, if there was a person that could take the streak away with a legitimate background and people could believe it, I guess it was me. There’s a lot of people that are pissed that it’s me, but it’s not my call. And so my hats off to Undertaker, Mark, he’s a great guy. And at the end, it’s a business. It’s a give and take. And it was time for Taker to give — and it was a time for Brock Lesnar to take it.”

Lesnar said he was excited when he found out he was going to win, but he also felt bad for Undertaker. They’ve always had a good relationship. And after Undertaker suffered a concussion during the match, Lesnar made sure to go to the hospital with him.

“He was a mentor of mine. Like, I worked with Taker for many years,” Lesnar said. “And so now we’re out in this match and Taker got hit left field day of. He’s coming to his [22nd] WrestleMania thinking that he’s going to win and then two hours before we go on, the rug gets pulled on him. And so a lot of different emotions there, I’m sure. I was excited, but I also felt bad too. Like, I’m the guy and I get to be the guy.

“So we’re out in the match and next thing I know Taker is not being Taker. It’s a dance out there and you just got to do your best to get through it. And we did. And, yeah, out of respect — because I spent a lot of time with Taker and I wanted to make sure that he was all right. And that’s part of the deal, you know? I did go to the hospital to make sure he was okay. That’s just part of the respect thing.”

Undertaker ended up continuing his in-ring career through WrestleMania 36, where he defeated AJ Styles in a Boneyard Match. He finished with a WrestleMania record of 25-2.

At WrestleMania 42 this year, Lesnar is set to face up-and-coming WWE star Oba Femi. The two-night event is being held in Las Vegas on Saturday, April 18 and Sunday, April 19.

Bryan Danielson: Main eventing WrestleMania 30 ‘doesn’t mean that much to me’

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Because of the circumstances surrounding the moment, headlining WWE WrestleMania 30 doesn’t mean that much to Bryan Danielson.

Danielson reached the summit of WWE when he won the company’s World Championship in the main event of WrestleMania 30 in 2014. It will always stand out to fans as one of the highlights of Danielson’s career, but the moment does not hold much sentimental value for Danielson.

“I main evented WrestleMania 30 with WWE. And honestly, it doesn’t mean that much to me,” he told Sun Sport in a new interview. “My sister and my niece got to come into the ring, right? But I was about to marry my wife the following Friday and they wouldn’t let her come down to the ring. They didn’t want her to be in the thing. And then on top of that, it wasn’t just that — it was like, I was going through a ton of neck pain and all these other things. So these things that seem like cool moments to a viewer, there’s all this other stuff going on in a wrestler’s life or in a performer’s life that could make that moment not as valuable to them as it is to the people viewing.”

Danielson reiterated that the match that meant the most to him in his career is facing Swerve Strickland in the main event of AEW All In 2024 at Wembley Stadium. Having his wife Brie Bella and their kids Birdie and Buddy there is a big part of what made that night so special for Danielson. He also loved seeing how much Strickland had grown as a performer since the match they had against each other in October 2023.

“So I would say that at All In, it’s the whole circumstance,” Danielson said, “It’s knowing that my career’s coming to an end. It’s knowing that this might be the last time that my kids ever get to see me wrestle. It’s them being there. It’s the crowd reaction. I mean, the U.K. crowds are just the best, right? It’s all of those things. It’s Swerve Strickland’s performance.”

Danielson won the AEW World Championship in that match before later dropping the title to Jon Moxley, who was dethroned by Hangman Page earlier this month at All In 2025. Danielson played a role in that match by helping to neutralize interference by the Death Riders.

Despite getting physically involved in Page vs. Moxley, Danielson says he is not back as an active performer. He’s retired as a full-time wrestler but has not fully closed the book on ever competing again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEpjh8f8Mjc

ESPN airing of WWE WrestleMania 30 draws over 800,000 viewers

Posted on by Paul Fontaine

Sunday night’s re-airing of WrestleMania 30 on ESPN averaged 839,000 viewers for the show headlined by Daniel Bryan winning the WWE Championship in a triple threat over Randy Orton and Batista.

It was the highest rated show on ESPN for the weekend, but with no live sports occurring in North America right now, it’s not as impressive as it sounds. 

It’s roughly the same number that the week five XFL game did, also airing in primetime on Sunday night on ESPN two weeks ago. That was the lowest any of the XFL games had done on ESPN. 

In comparison to UFC, it’s lower than what a live show would normally do on that station, but it did beat a re-airing of UFC 244 that was shown on Saturday night. That UFC 244 re-airing averaged 725,000 viewers. 

In the 18-49 demo, the WrestleMania 30 special averaged a 0.31 rating and finished 30th for the night on cable. The UFC show the night before finished 40th in that demo with a 0.21 rating.