The Best and Worst Moment of WrestleMania 31

Wrestlemania 31 was another episode of WWE's fabled annual fixture that came straight to us from the Levi's stadium - Santa Clara, California.

There were plenty of expectancies from this pay-per-view owing to the star power it boasted on its match card. Adding to that, Wrestlemania always gives WWE an opportunity to showcase why its the grandest stage of them all the fans were eagerly waiting for Mr McMahon and company to pull out an ace.

Coming into the match, there were real questions about whether Sting vs. Triple H could deliver given each man’s limitations, or what Bray Wyatt vs. The Undertaker might look like.

The show over-performed with most outings exceeding expectations, including a fun turf war between the New World Order and DX, an all-time great RKO from Randy Orton to Seth Rollins, and a surprise moment from The Rock and Ronda Rousey. This article takes a look at the best and worst moments from WrestleMania 31.

Best Moment: Seth Rollins Cashes In

Seth Rollins did the unimaginable when he interrupted the WrestleMania 31 main event to cash in.

By WrestleMania 31, Money in the Bank had been on the WWE landscape for a full decade. At the time, fans had concocted a lot of schemes for how the title opportunity might be used, and reaching as far back as WrestleMania 22, there had been theories that WWE might subvert an unsavory win by John Cena or Triple H with a winner like Rob Van Dam or Ric Flair cashing in.

In the end, though, WWE always seemed to treat WrestleMania, and particularly its main event, as sacred. There will be no cash-in shenanigans that might confuse casual fans or read as silly to traditional fans.

Fast forward to the closing minutes of WrestleMania 31. Roman Reigns had done the unlikely in delivering far and away his best singles performance up to that point. While coming into his own might soften the blow to his naysayers, of Reigns being the one to slay Brock Lesnar, it nonetheless felt like a no-win situation. Reigns didn’t feel ready to be on top. Lesnar winning would feel like a downer.

Option C came into play in electric fashion here with Seth Rollins cashing in in the final minutes of the match and stealing the title. The finish protected Lesnar and Reigns, while the electricity of the most shocking cash in till date sent fans home happy, even with a heel going over to close the show.

The fact that Rollins cashed in the contract during a live match was a maverick stroke and it was also the first time in WWE history that such a move had been witnessed.

The main event needed to live up to the expectations and one can be rest assured that it had managed to do more than that.

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Worst Moment: Triple H pins Sting

No one expected or wanted to see Triple H beat Sting at WrestleMania.

How often do you see Dx, Sting and The NWO in the ring at the same time and get to call out the moment as the worst of the lot. We'll Wrestlemania 31 was the occasion that gave us this infamous setup.

WWE has its reasons for unpopular booking decisions, and several times history plays out to crystalize those choices that didn’t seem to make sense as they were happening. But in matches between part-time legends, particularly in the context of a show like WrestleMania, it’s hard to defend a face that's not going over.

More to the point, when Sting finally arrived in WWE and faced off with Triple H, both men were bulletproof and it was hard to imagine Sting and his fans not getting their moment.

The match itself was nothing to write home about, with Sting, in particular, showing his age. Nonetheless, the nWo-DX subplot to the match was fun to take advantage of the WCW vs. WWE undertones of the match. There was a feel-good moment waiting to be had in Sting, making The Game tap to the Scorpion Deathlock or else pinning him after a Scorpion Death Drop.

Instead, Triple H used the head of his busted sledgehammer to knockout The Icon and pin him.

This story did support the idea of WWE winning the Monday Night War, and Triple H would be reigning as WWE Champion in a year’s time. However, it felt like a needless downer, particularly when Sting would be challenging for the world title against Seth Rollins in his next program that summer, and this would turn out to be his only WrestleMania match.

Triple H was notorious for his burial tactics and Sting fell prey to the setup during his debut WWE match. If only the same fixture had taken place around two decades ago, they would have torn the house down.