Background in
Miami Gardens, Florida WrestleMania is considered
WWE's flagship
professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV)
event, having first been held in
1985—in April 2011, the promotion ceased going by its full name of World Wrestling Entertainment, with the "WWE" abbreviation becoming an
orphaned initialism. It is the longest-running professional wrestling event in history and is held annually between mid-March to mid-April. It was the first of WWE's original four pay-per-views, which includes
Royal Rumble,
SummerSlam, and
Survivor Series, referred to as the "Big Four". WrestleMania XXVIII was the first WrestleMania to occur following the end of the first
brand extension in August 2011. The city of
Miami Gardens, Florida was one of the two major contenders to host
WrestleMania XXVII along with
Atlanta, Georgia; in February 2010, Atlanta was awarded the right to host the event. According to the Miami-Dade Sports Commission, WWE management felt that Miami's planning for the event would have been too hectic with many other sporting events held in the area around the same time of the planning, such as
Super Bowl XLIV. Other cities under consideration for WrestleMania XXVIII included
Los Angeles, California,
New Orleans, Louisiana,
New York City, New York,
Toronto, Ontario, Canada,
Detroit, Michigan,
Tampa, Florida,
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada,
St. Louis, Missouri,
Jacksonville, Florida,
Orlando, Florida, and
Houston, Texas. and at a WWE press conference at the
Fontainebleau Miami Beach. The event was scheduled to be held on April 1, 2012, at Miami Gardens'
Sun Life Stadium.
Storylines The event included matches that resulted from scripted storylines, in which wrestlers portrayed
heroes,
villains, or
less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows,
Monday Night Raw and
SmackDown. (left) and
The Rock (right) agree to fight at WrestleMania XXVIII. The
main event of WrestleMania XXVIII pitted
The Rock wrestling against
John Cena, billed as a Once in a Lifetime, face of the company generational match. On the February 14, 2011, episode of
Raw, The Rock was revealed as the host of
WrestleMania XXVII, and upon his return to WWE, began a
feud with John Cena (and Cena's opponent at that WrestleMania, then-WWE Champion,
The Miz), which continued for weeks in terms of verbal insults, until the March 28 episode of
Raw, where Cena delivered the
Attitude Adjustment to The Rock after he fended off attacks from The Miz and his protégé,
Alex Riley. At WrestleMania XXVII, The Rock got involved in the main event
WWE Championship match between The Miz and Cena, which initially ended in a
double count-out. After the match was restarted under
no disqualifications, no count-outs rules, The Rock delivered a
Rock Bottom to Cena as a measure of payback, thus enabling The Miz to win the match. The next night on
Raw, Cena challenged The Rock to a
one-on-one match; The Rock accepted and proposed that it be held at WrestleMania XXVIII. After winning the championship from The Miz at
Extreme Rules, Cena interrupted The Rock's birthday celebrations during the May 2 episode of
Raw to announce his intention to defend the WWE Championship against The Rock at WrestleMania XXVIII. Such intentions were however thwarted by Cena losing the title at
Money in the Bank in July. At
Survivor Series in November, Cena teamed with The Rock (who wrestled his first WWE match in almost eight years, last competing at
WrestleMania XX in 2004). Billed as "the most charismatic
tag team", they defeated The Miz and
R-Truth. After the match, Rock performed a Rock Bottom to Cena. being taunted by
The Undertaker ahead of their second consecutive
WrestleMania match Another match billed as the "end of an era", saw
The Undertaker face
Triple H in a
Hell in a Cell match. The previous year at WrestleMania XXVII, in a
No Holds Barred match, The Undertaker defeated Triple H via
submission, The Undertaker, having been dissatisfied of his post-WrestleMania match scenario the previous year, stated that he "did not want 'that scene' to be a lasting memory" of him and was willing to give Triple H "another chance at immortality". After Triple H refused to accept the challenge the next week, his close friend and
WWE Hall of Famer
Shawn Michaels appeared on the February 13 episode to instigate him in accepting The Undertaker's challenge, which was in vain as Triple H stated he was willing to put his ego and personal agendas aside for the future of WWE, and viewed The Undertaker's
19–0 undefeated WrestleMania streak as a "brand" to cash-in for the company, finally ending the argument saying he would not be the one to end it. Then, on the February 20 episode, The Undertaker still remained adamant in getting a WrestleMania rematch with Triple H, going so far as to label Triple H as a "coward", and comparing his abilities and career to that of Shawn Michaels. Enraged by these comments, Triple H finally accepted The Undertaker's challenge at WrestleMania XXVIII, saying that if "he [Undertaker] wanted an end, they would go all the way", and proposed that they would compete in a Hell in a Cell match. On July 17, 2011, at the
Money in the Bank event,
Daniel Bryan won the SmackDown
Money in the Bank ladder match. On the July 22 episode of
SmackDown, Bryan declared his intentions of cashing-in his Money in the Bank contract at WrestleMania XXVIII. However, he apparently cashed-in his contract briefcase on the November 25 episode of
SmackDown and pinned the reigning World Heavyweight Champion
Mark Henry to supposedly win the title and began to celebrate, but SmackDown
General Manager Theodore Long informed Bryan that Henry was not medically cleared to compete, and declared the match void, thereby returning the briefcase to Bryan and the title back to Henry. The next week on
Raw, Bryan acknowledged that he went back on his word, saying that headlining WrestleMania
was his dream and that his "plans changed"; that the briefcase "doesn't guarantee [him] anything", since he could be put out of action at any time. WWE continued to maintain the advertisement for WrestleMania, until Bryan successfully cashed in his Money in the Bank contract briefcase on
Big Show at the
TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs event on December 18, 2011, to become the new World Heavyweight Champion. In January 2012, at the twenty-fifth annual
Royal Rumble pay-per-view,
Sheamus won the
thirty-man Royal Rumble match, giving him the right to challenge either the
WWE Champion or the
World Heavyweight Champion at WrestleMania XXVIII. At
Elimination Chamber in February, Sheamus attacked Bryan, after Bryan successfully retained his World Heavyweight Championship in an
Elimination Chamber match, thus challenging Bryan for his title at WrestleMania. In another match,
CM Punk defended the
WWE Championship against
Chris Jericho. Since regaining the title at
Survivor Series in November 2011, Punk had successfully defended the WWE Championship several times, calling himself the "best wrestler in the world". On the January 2, 2012, episode of
Raw, after extensive hype through several viral vignettes proclaiming the "end of the world as we know it" on that day, Chris Jericho returned to WWE after over a year, and established a
villainous persona over the next several weeks. On the February 13 episode of
Raw, Jericho accused Punk in an in-ring segment of being a copycat of him, and that Punk stole his proclamation of being the "best in the world". While competing in the Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, Jericho was
knocked out by a kick to the head by Punk, rendering him unable to compete any further, and Punk went on to win that match and retain the title. Rhodes also cost Big Show a chance at the World Heavyweight Championship, by eliminating him from the Elimination Chamber match at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view in February, and a shot at the WWE Championship at WrestleMania, when he pulled Big Show over the top rope, aiding in his elimination by Chris Jericho in the end of a number-one contender's battle royal on the February 20 episode of
Raw. At the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view in February 2012,
John Laurinaitis, WWE's Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and
Interim Raw General Manager, expressed his desire to become the permanent general manager of both Raw and SmackDown.
Alberto Del Rio, Mark Henry, and
Christian all came out and voiced their support for Laurinaitis over SmackDown General Manager
Theodore Long, who later that night put forth his own claim to run both shows. On the February 21 episode of
SmackDown, the two General Managers got into an argument following a match between WWE Champion CM Punk and World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan that ended in a draw. The two were then given the chance by the WWE Board of Directors to run the other show for one night in order for the Board to evaluate them, with Long running the March 5 episode of
Raw and Laurinaitis in charge of the March 9 episode of
SmackDown. But being still not convinced of either man's decision-making, on March 12, the Board of Directors scheduled a
12-man tag team match for WrestleMania XXVIII, with the stipulation that the General Manager of the winning team being awarded stewardship of both Raw and SmackDown. The same night on
Raw, Long appointed his assistant,
Santino Marella to be the captain of his team, while Laurinaitis appointed his legal counsel,
David Otunga to be his team's captain, naming Mark Henry as the first member of his team. Over the following weeks,
R-Truth,
Kofi Kingston,
Zack Ryder,
The Great Khali, and
Booker T were added to Team Teddy, with
Hornswoggle serving as the team's mascot, while Christian,
Dolph Ziggler,
Jack Swagger, and
The Miz joined Team Johnny. Christian, who had joined the team in return for Laurinaitis promising him a shot at the World Heavyweight Championship after WrestleMania, was forced to leave the team due to being (
kayfabe) injured by CM Punk on the March 26 episode of
Raw (the real reason being Christian not having fully recovered from his real-life ankle injury) and was replaced by
Drew McIntyre. Another match scheduled for WrestleMania was between
Divas Beth Phoenix and
Eve Torres taking on the team of
Kelly Kelly and
Extra co-host
Maria Menounos. The feud between Phoenix and Menounos began on the October 12, 2009, episode of
Raw when Menounos accompanied then-
Access Hollywood host
Nancy O'Dell, who was the
guest host of
Raw that night. Phoenix, angered over having been traded to the SmackDown brand by O'Dell, barged into their office and got into a confrontation with both women, leading to a
Six-Diva tag team match later that night in which Menounos' team defeated Phoenix's team. On the
2011 edition of
Tribute to the Troops, Menounos made an appearance, this time in an Eight-Diva tag team match, winning the match for her team by pinning Phoenix. Kelly and Eve, on the other hand, had a falling apart of their friendship after Eve turned villainous and admitted to having used
Zack Ryder and John Cena to further her own career. On the March 15 episode of
Extra, Phoenix and Eve interrupted an interview between Kelly and Menounos, which resulted in a confrontation. Phoenix would then challenge Menounos to a match at WrestleMania, which the latter accepted. Later that night, WWE officials sanctioned a tag team match pitting Phoenix and Eve against Menounos and Kelly for WrestleMania XXVIII. Another rivalry heading into WrestleMania was between
Randy Orton and
Kane. On the March 2 episode of SmackDown, Kane interrupted Orton's match against Daniel Bryan, causing Orton to lose via count-out. The next week on
SmackDown, when Orton demanded Kane to explain the root cause of his attacks on him, the latter referred to his handshake with Orton after a
Street Fight on the July 22, 2011 episode of SmackDown, in which Orton had defeated him. Kane, explaining that the handshake made him look weak and "human", that this "wretched" self was now gone, and now wanted to eliminate that memory, challenging Orton at WrestleMania XXVIII. On March 30, a
triple threat tag team match for the
Tag Team Championship was scheduled between the defending champions
Primo and Epico,
The Usos (
Jey Uso and
Jimmy Uso), and the newly formed team of
Justin Gabriel and
Tyson Kidd. This match would be streamed online free
before the pay-per-view on both WWE.com and the official WWE
YouTube channel. ==Event==