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WrestleMania XXX
Promotional poster featuring various WWE superstars
Promotion	WWE
Date	April 6, 2014
City	New Orleans, Louisiana
Venue	Mercedes-Benz Superdome
Tagline(s)	Laissez les bons temps rouler
Pay-per-view chronology
← Previous Elimination Chamber (2014) Next → Extreme Rules (2014)
WrestleMania chronology
← Previous WrestleMania 29 Next → WrestleMania XXXI

WrestleMania XXX will be the thirtieth annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by WWE, to be held on April 6, 2014, at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.

It will be the first WWE event that is simultaneously broadcast live both on pay-per-view television and on the Internet via the WWE Network.

Production

Background

WrestleMania is considered WWE's flagship event, and has also been described as the Super Bowl of sports entertainment.

On February 18, 2013, WWE announced that WrestleMania XXX would be held at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in the city of New Orleans on April 6, 2014. The event is alternatively known as WrestleMania 30. On August 12, 'travel packages' for WrestleMania XXX went on sale, which not only included tickets to WrestleMania but also hotel room accommodations and various 'WrestleMania Week' activities such as WrestleMania Axxess, the 2014 WWE Hall of Fame ceremony and the next Raw; the cheapest package cost $795 per person. On November 16, individual tickets went on sale through Ticketmaster, with prices ranging from $25 to $850. While ordering WrestleMania through pay-per-view television costs between $55 to $70, WWE has also made WrestleMania XXX available live through its new WWE Network online streaming service, which costs $9.99 per month with a six-month contract; thus WrestleMania would be the first event available simultaneously on pay-per-view and on the WWE Network.

The event will be the first WrestleMania to be held in the state of Louisiana. There are three official theme songs for the event - "Celebrate" by Kid Rock, "Legacy" by Eminem and "In Time" by Mark Collie. A promotional poster for the event was released through pay-per-view providers such as In Demand, with the tagline laissez les bons temps rouler (let the good times roll).

Storylines

WrestleMania XXX will feature professional wrestling matches that involved wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds, plots, and storylines played out on WWE's primary television programs, Raw and SmackDown. Wrestlers will portray faces (heroes) or heels (villains) as they follow a series of events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches.

Daniel Bryan had been feuding with Triple H and Randy Orton since SummerSlam in August 2013. At the event, Bryan cleanly defeated John Cena to win his first WWE Championship. After the match, Triple H, the special guest referee, turned heel by attacking Bryan, which directly led to Orton cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase for an immediate title shot. Orton pinned a downed Bryan to capture the WWE Championship. After SummerSlam, Triple H claimed that it was a "business decision" to sabotage Bryan because Bryan did not fit the type of wrestler that the company was looking for as its champion; therefore Triple H and Stephanie McMahon (later known as the Authority) instead endorsed Orton as the "face of the WWE".

Over the next few months, Bryan was constantly sabotaged in his attempts to gain and hold on to the WWE Championship. Bryan defeated Orton to regain the WWE Championship at Night of Champions, but Triple H stripped Bryan of the title the next night on Raw. At WWE Battleground, Bryan and Orton battled to a no contest for the vacant title after The Big Show (who had been manipulated by the Authority in the weeks prior) attacked both men. Bryan once again challenged Orton for the vacant championship at Hell in a Cell; Triple H interfered in the match and was attacked by Bryan, resulting in special guest referee Shawn Michaels attacking Bryan, which led to Orton capturing the WWE Championship again.

At TLC, WWE Champion Randy Orton defeated World Heavyweight Champion John Cena to unify the two titles into the new WWE World Heavyweight Championship. In January 2014, Batista returned to WWE after having left in May 2010, and promptly won the 2014 Royal Rumble match for a slot in the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania XXX. Batista's win and Daniel Bryan's lack of participation in the Royal Rumble match was heavily booed by the live crowd at the event. After the Royal Rumble event, CM Punk reportedly legitimately walked out on WWE while still under contract and WWE stopped promoting him for future events; which Professional Wrestling Torch editor Wade Keller analysed played a part in Bryan's WrestleMania journey. At Elimination Chamber, Randy Orton successfully defended his championship in the Elimination Chamber match to set up Orton versus Batista (who still received a negative fan reaction at Elimination Chamber) for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania XXX.

Daniel Bryan also participated in the Elimination Chamber match, but was the last wrestler eliminated due to interference by Director of Operations Kane, who was affiliated with the Authority. Frustrated over being constantly cost the WWE World Heavyweight Championship by the Authority, Bryan challenged Triple H to a match at WrestleMania XXX. When Triple H refused Bryan's challenge; Bryan on the March 10 Raw brought a large group of fans to 'occupy' the ring and refused to leave. An irate Triple H agreed to Bryan's demand for a WrestleMania match with the stipulation that if Bryan won, he would be inserted into the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match at the event. On the March 17 episode of Raw, Triple H voiced his frustrations over Orton and Batista, then changed the stipulation of his own match, guaranteeing that the winner between him and Bryan would be added to the WWE World Heavyweight championship match, thus assuring a triple threat match for the title.

On the February 24 episode of Raw, Brock Lesnar and his manager Paul Heyman voiced their complaints about Lesnar not being in the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania. Instead, the Authority offered Lesnar a contract to face anyone else at WrestleMania. They were interrupted by a returning Undertaker, who confronted Lesnar. While Lesnar signed the contract for a match at WrestleMania with the Undertaker as his opponent, Undertaker accepted Lesnar's challenge by stabbing Lesnar with a pen and chokeslamming him through a table. This set up a match where Lesnar would attempt to break the Undertaker's 21-0 undefeated streak at WrestleMania.

At the Royal Rumble event, The Wyatt Family, led by Bray Wyatt, cost John Cena his match against Randy Orton for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. At the Elimination Chamber event, the Wyatt Family attacked Cena during his Elimination Chamber match for the same championship, which directly led to Cena's elimination from the match. Wyatt's motivations were that he wanted to end "this era of lies", beginning with Cena, because he wanted to expose to the world that Cena being an upholder of all that is moral and good and right was merely a hollow illusion. On the March 10 episode of Raw, Cena issued Wyatt to a match at WrestleMania, which Wyatt accepted.

On February 21, WWE announced that Hulk Hogan had returned to WWE to host WrestleMania XXX; Hogan had earlier left WWE in 2007. On the March 10 episode of Raw, Hogan announced that a 30-man battle royal (in honor of 30 years of WrestleMania and in memory of André the Giant) will also take place at WrestleMania with the winner receiving a trophy made in Andre's likeness.

On the March 17 episode of Raw, Kane, the 'Director of Operations' for the Authority, ordered the Shield to attack commentator Jerry Lawler, however the Shield turned on Kane and attacked him instead, thus turning face. In retaliation, Kane and the New Age Outlaws attacked the Shield while the group was already being double-teamed by RybAxel (Ryback and Curtis Axel) and the Real Americans after a match on the March 21 episode of SmackDown. This set up a match pitting the Shield against Kane and the Outlaws at WrestleMania XXX.

As reward for attacking the Shield on the March 21 episode of SmackDown, 'Director of Operations' Kane granted both Rybaxel and the Real Americans a future match for the WWE Tag Team Championship. On the March 25 episode of Main Event, it was announced that those two teams, along with Los Matadores (who had defeated Rybaxel on the previous Raw), would face current champions the Usos in a fatal four-way tag team match for the titles, which will take place on the pre-show.

On the March 24 episode of Raw, SmackDown General Manager Vickie Guerrero revealed that she had been offended by comments made by WWE Divas Champion AJ Lee on the March 21 episode of SmackDown. Therefore, Guerrero punished AJ by forcing her to defend her title in the Vickie Guerrero Divas Championship Invitational against the entire Divas roster, including her bodyguard Tamina Snuka, in a one-fall match. This will be the first time the title has been defended at WrestleMania.

Matches

1. The 27 announced participants are: Alberto Del Rio, Big E, The Big Show, Brad Maddox, Brodus Clay, Christian, Cody Rhodes, Damien Sandow, Darren Young, Dolph Ziggler, Fandango, Drew McIntyre, Goldust, The Great Khali, Heath Slater, Jinder Mahal, Justin Gabriel, Kofi Kingston, Mark Henry, The Miz, Rey Mysterio, Sheamus, R-Truth, Santino Marella, Sin Cara, Titus O'Neil, and Zack Ryder.
2. The participants are: AJ Lee (c), Aksana, Alicia Fox, Brie Bella, Cameron, Emma, Eva Marie, Layla, Naomi, Natalya, Nikki Bella, Rosa Mendes, Summer Rae and Tamina Snuka.

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External links

• Official Wrestlemania website

• Professional wrestling events
• 2014 in professional wrestling
• WrestleMania
• Sports in New Orleans, Louisiana
• Wrestling in New Orleans, Louisiana
• 2014 in Louisiana
• Professional wrestling in Louisiana