10 Things WWE Fans Forget About The Build To WrestleMania 31

To date, WWE has put on nearly 40 iterations of its biggest show of the year, WrestleMania. One of the stronger outings of the past decade was 2015’s WrestleMania 31, which featured huge moments like the WWE in-ring debut of Sting, a memorable United States Championship match between John Cena and Rusev, and the shocking finale of Seth Rollins “stealing” the WWE Championship via opportunistic Money In The Bank cash-in.

Like most WrestleManias, WrestleMania 31 had months of build across episodes of Raw and SmackDown as well as pay-per-view events, making it easy to forget about some aspects of the storylines going into the show. Let’s take a look at these 10 moments and plot points, including a feud that stalled before the show even happened.

10 People Kept Stealing Wade Barrett's Intercontinental Championship

Wade Barrett Intercontinental Champion Cropped

WrestleMania 31 opened with an absolute banger of a seven-man Ladder Match for the Intercontinental Championship, but it’s easy to forget the silly build to the match. In the weeks leading up to ‘Mania, Bad News Barrett had his IC strap stolen by Dean Ambrose at multiple occasions, with other wrestlers like Dolph Ziggler, Stardust, Luke Harper, R-Truth, and Daniel Bryan getting into the shenanigans. As a result, all six men fought for the belt at WrestleMania 31, with Bryan emerging as the new champion.

9 Seth Rollins & Randy Orton Were Stablemates

The Authority: Randy Orton, Big Show, Seth Rollins, Kane, Stephanie McMahon, and Triple H

Fans certainly remember the Seth Rollins vs. Randy Orton bout at WrestleMania 31 thanks to Orton’s reversal of the Curb Stomp into one of the greatest RKOs of all time. However, it’s easy to forget the two opponents used to be teammates. Back in the fall, Rollins and Orton were both in The Authority, with Orton as the group’s original main guy as the WWE Champion. However, after Seth Rollins turned on The Shield to join the group, his profile in the group started increasing, causing tension between himself and Randy Orton.

8 Sting Helped Dolph Ziggler Win Survivor Series

Sting Helps Dolph Ziggler Win Survivor Series

WrestleMania 31’s stacked card featured Sting’s first-ever match in WWE as he took on Triple H in a match that was presented as a WCW vs. WWE affair. Sting’s long-awaited arrival in WWE was a big deal, but it’s easy to forget the circumstances of his debut.

During the men’s elimination match at Survivor Series 2014, the babyfaces vs. Authority bout came down to Dolph Ziggler vs. Seth Rollins. The odds were against Ziggler thanks to the presence of The Authority, but Sting made a surprise debut to even the odds and help Ziggler pin Rollins.

7 Bray Wyatt Started Calling Himself “The New Face Of Fear”

In early 2015, Bray Wyatt embarked on a new phase of his WWE career. Having already distanced himself from followers Luke Harper and Erick Rowan, Wyatt began referring to himself as “The New Face of Fear,” putting himself forward as WWE’s top spooky character. This seemed to be a direct shot at WWE’s long-tenured supernatural phenomenon, The Undertaker, and before long Wyatt was making explicit challenges to The Deadman. As fans remember, however, Bray Wyatt was unsuccessful in challenging The Undertaker, as the latter got the victory at WrestleMania 31.

6 Stardust & Goldust Were Building To A Big Brother vs. Brother Match

After a string of disappointing tag team losses, Cody Rhodes deemed himself unfit to tag with his brother Goldust and thus reinvented himself as the cosmic weirdo Stardust. However, by early 2015 Stardust turned on Goldust, which in most cases would set up a WrestleMania feud. The two had a match at Fastlane, with Goldust coming out on top, but Stardust made it clear that the feud wasn’t over. Unfortunately, a planned WrestleMania match was canceled, and the brothers never got to have their big encounter until 2019 in AEW.

5 Sting Helped John Cena Win Back His Co-Workers’ Jobs

Sting interferes in John Cena vs. Seth Rollins

Sting’s debut at Survivor Series wasn’t his only attempt to interfere with The Authority’s business on the road to WrestleMania 31. Following Survivor Series, The Authority decided to fire Ryback, Dolph Ziggler, and Erick Rowan, forcing John Cena to fight for their jobs back on the 1/19/2015 Raw in a bout with Seth Rollins. During the bout, Sting once again interfered, distracting The Authority and Rollins, thus creating the opportunity for Cena to pin Rollins to win his friends’ jobs back.

4 Seth Rollins Put Randy Orton On The Shelf For Months

The increasing tension between Seth Rollins and Randy Orton finally came to a head on the 11/3/2014 episode of Raw. Triple H booked Rollins and Orton in a match so they could finally work out their problems, but after the match Rollins delivered a Curb Stomp to Orton that took “The Viper” out for a few months.

WWE fans didn’t see Randy Orton on television again until Fastlane in February 2015, where he returned and staged an attack on his former faction, leading to his aforementioned WrestleMania 31 match against Seth Rollins.

3 John Cena Extorted A US Title Shot Out Of Lana

One of the more memorable moments of WrestleMania 31 was Rusev’s United States Title defense against John Cena, which had the champion riding a tank to the ring. However, the bout would not have happened had Rusev had anything to say for it. After John Cena failed to dethrone Rusev at Fastlane, The Authority told Cena as told he couldn’t have a match at WrestleMania at all if Rusev didn’t agree to a rematch. As a result, Cena applied his STF submission to Rusev for an extended period of time — long enough for Rusev’s manager Lana to agree to the bout on her client’s behalf.

2 Damien Mizdow Got Demoted

Going into WrestleMania 31, Damien Sandow ended up en route to becoming one of WWE’s top babyfaces thanks to his role as “Damien Mizdow,” The Miz’s personal stunt double who ended up becoming more popular than the bad guy he was associated with. This all led to a huge encounter during the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal at ‘Mania, but before that The Miz ended up putting the kibosh on his lackey’s shtick. On the 2/2/2015 Raw, Miz finally had enough of getting upstaged by Mizdow, and demoted him from being his stunt double to being simply his personal assistant.

1 Daniel Bryan Tried To Halt Roman Reigns’ Road To WrestleMania

Daniel Bryan vs. Roman Reigns at Fastlane 2015

Before Daniel Bryan found himself mired in Intercontinental Championship kleptomania, he proved to be a pitstop for 2015 Royal Rumble winner Roman Reigns on the road to WrestleMania 31. The controversial Reigns was audibly rejected following his Rumble win, with the extremely popular Bryan — who was eliminated halfway through the match — challenging Reigns for his ‘Mania main event opportunity. The two clashed in the main event of Fastlane in a solid bout that had Reigns securing his title shot at Brock Lesnar.