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WWE: Top 10 Moments on the Road To WrestleMania

By Granger Chapman

NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 04: The Rock, Vince McMahon, and John Cena attend the WrestleMania 29 Press Conference at Radio City Music Hall on April 4, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Taylor Hill/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 04: The Rock, Vince McMahon, and John Cena attend the WrestleMania 29 Press Conference at Radio City Music Hall on April 4, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Taylor Hill/Getty Images) /
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6. Daniel Bryan and the WWE Universe occupy Raw

Back in 2014, Daniel Bryan was arguably the most popular wrestler in the world. There was no doubting that he was already the most popular superstar in the WWE. Anytime that Daniel Bryan was on television and even when he wasn’t, you could see the “Yes” movement growing each and every week. The fans chanted “Yes!” in support of Daniel Bryan and the more that The Authority attempted to keep him down, the fans just got even louder. However, the more popular Daniel Bryan got, the more that The Authority wanted rid of him and the more they do to make sure of it.

It all started at SummerSlam in 2013. Daniel Bryan had been given a shot at the WWE Championship by the champion himself, John Cena due to Bryan’s rising popularity. The two had a great match and in the end, Daniel Bryan shocked many by defeating Cena and winning the WWE Championship. Unfortunately, Daniel Bryan’s first WWE Championship reign would be very short. The guest referee Triple H betrayed Daniel with a pedigree as Randy Orton slithered into the ring with the Money in the Bank briefcase. Just a few seconds later and Daniel’s dreams were crushed. However, Daniel wasn’t going to just tuck his tail and give up that easily.

He fought through everything The Authority would throw at him to get a shot at Randy to get his title back. After Daniel successfully defeated Randy to win the WWE Championship again, his second reign was just about as short as the first. The Authority stripped him of the title due to “Daniel working with the referee.” After losing to Randy Orton for the now-vacated championship due to Shawn Michaels, Daniel was out of the title picture for a few months. Daniel feuded with Bray Wyatt in the meantime while dealing with his losses. He was swayed to join The Wyatt Family for a moment before turning on Bray inside a steel cage and remember who he was.

The “Yes!” movement was as strong as ever and Daniel had his eyes set on what he wanted. He told all of his fans that they had a voice and they would be heard and showed Triple H that he was done taking his mistreatment. On March 10th, 2014, Daniel finally took things to the next level as he would “occupy” Raw. The fans stormed the ring with Daniel and refused to leave until Triple H finally gave Daniel what he wanted. After Daniel’s threats, Triple H finally agreed to face Daniel at WrestleMania, and if Daniel won he would be added to the WWE Championship match. Daniel went on to beat three members of Evolution on the same night to win the WWE Championship and lead a 75,000 plus “Yes!” chant.

5. John Cena and The Rock have the longest Road to WrestleMania

The WWE Universe was electrified in February 2011 when The Rock was announced as the host of WrestleMania 27. It was the first time in nearly seven years that The Rock had actually finally come back to the WWE. Despite such a long gap, the millions and millions were still Rock fans and it was like “The Great One” had never left. However, some people weren’t pleased with The Rock’s return. All of the time people spent building their spotlight and suddenly it was all taken away from them. The Rock was right back in his spot on the top and that rubbed some the wrong way.

Two of those people were then WWE Champion The Miz and his opponent at WrestleMania John Cena. Less than a week away from WrestleMania, The Miz and The Rock both go physical with The Rock. At WrestleMania 27, during the main event WWE Championship match at WrestleMania between John Cena and The Miz, The Rock couldn’t help himself from getting involved. After a faulty initial ending to Miz and Cena’s match, The Rock wouldn’t let the show end that way and restarted the match as a no disqualification match.

That way he could legally get involved himself and hit John Cena with a Rock Bottom and cost him the match. Due to the interference of “The Great One,” The Miz was able to pick up arguably the biggest win of his career in his only WrestleMania main event. The next night on the Raw after WrestleMania, John Cena was there looking for The Rock and he wasn’t hard to find. John Cena laid down the challenge and The Rock didn’t back down. While most Road to WrestleMania’s start around the Royal Rumble, The Rock had another idea in mind. The Rock didn’t want to do things the normal way. As usual, he wanted to electrify the Road to WrestleMania.

Almost a full year until WrestleMania 28, The Rock challenged John Cena for a match on the show of shows. For the first time ever, the potential main event of the next WrestleMania was set the day after WrestleMania. The Rock and John Cena were going to have a long road to WrestleMania to build up a match that they were billing as “Never Before and Never Again.” The dream match of many wrestling fans had plenty of time to build up their match and it ended up being a classic. However, it just didn’t live up to the billing as they would fight again just a year later.