WrestleMania XXVIII

The city of Miami Gardens was one of the two major contenders for hosting WrestleMania XXVII along with Atlanta, Georgia. Ultimately in February 2010, Atlanta was awarded the right to host the event.^[6][7][8] 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.^[8] However, the Miami area was reportedly considered for the next event due to its international ties, facilities, airports and experience of hosting previous major events.^[6]

Bidding documents were sent to seventeen cities in consideration for hosting a WrestleMania event between 2012 and 2014, with fourteen replying in interest.^[8][9][10] Other cities under consideration for WrestleMania XXVIII included Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York City, Toronto, Detroit, Tampa, Vancouver, St. Louis, Jacksonville, Orlando and Houston.^[6][9] The city of Dallas also showed interest but had to pull out of bidding for the next two years due to hosting events such as the NCAA Final Four.^[9]

On February 9, 2011, it was announced by The Miami Herald that Miami had won the right to host the event.^[6] WWE would later officially announce the event in a press conference held at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach.^[5][10] WrestleMania XXVIII will be the second Wrestlemania event to be hosted in the state of Florida, the fourth open-air event, and the third event to be held entirely outdoors.^[6] For hosting the event, WWE will receive a $250,000 cash incentive from the Miami-Dade Sports Commission raised through grants and sponsorships.^[10] Along with WrestleMania XXVIII, a series of events grouped as "WrestleMania Week" will be held in the week preceding the event including WrestleMania's annual WrestleMania Axxess fan convention at the Miami Beach Convention Center, the 2012 WWE Hall of Fame ceremony at the American Airlines Arena, the finals of the WrestleMania Reading Challenge, and a Celebrity Pro-Am Golf tournament.^[5][10][11]

WrestleMania will feature professional wrestling matches that involve different wrestlers from pre-existing feuds, plots, and storylines that will be played out on WWE's primary television programs. Wrestlers will portray villains or heroes as they follow a series of events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches.^[12]

The main event heading into WrestleMania XXVIII, would feature The Rock going up against John Cena. On the February 14, 2011 episode of Raw, The Rock was revealed as the host of WrestleMania XXVII, and upon his return to the WWE, began a feud with John Cena (and Cena's opponent at that WrestleMania, the WWE Champion, The Miz), which continued for weeks in terms of verbal insults, until the March 28 edition of Raw, where Cena delivered the Attitude Adjustment to The Rock after he fended off attacks from The Miz and Alex Riley. ^[13][14] At WrestleMania XXVII, The Rock got involved in the main event WWE Championship match, which initially ended in The Miz's favor via a count-out, and after restarting the match under no disqualifications rules, he delivered The Rock Bottom to Cena, thus enabling The Miz to pin the latter and win the match. ^[15] On the next night on Raw, Cena challenged The Rock to a one-on-one match at WrestleMania XXVIII. With The Rock subsequently accepting, the match was officially announced on WWE.com.^[16] The following week, Cena announced his intent to defend the WWE Championship against The Rock in their match at WrestleMania XXVIII. On the May 2 edition of Raw celebrating The Rock's birthday, Cena, whilst holding the WWE title, confronted The Rock and declared his intent to keep the title until their match. At Survivor Series in November 2011, Cena teamed with The Rock (who made his in-ring return in a match in the WWE after nearly eight years, last competing at WrestleMania XX), and billed as "the most charismatic tag team", they defeated The Miz and R-Truth, collectively known as Awesome Truth. After the match, The Rock gave a Rock Bottom to Cena.^[17] As of February 2012, Cena does not hold the WWE Championship.^[18]

A second main event match scheduled for WrestleMania would pit The Undertaker against Triple H in a Hell in a Cell match. Last year at WrestleMania XXVII, in a No Holds Barred match, The Undertaker defeated Triple H via submission, in their second encounter at a WrestleMania (the first being at WrestleMania X-Seven in 2001, where The Undertaker won as well). However, in the post-match events, due the harsh physicality suffered during the bout, The Undertaker failed to leave the venue (Georgia Dome) on his power, as he was carted away by the medical staff on a stretcher for the first time in his career, while Triple H left on his own accord. After a near ten-month long hiatus, The Undertaker returned on the January 30, 2012 edition of Raw, confronting and challenging Triple H to a rematch at WrestleMania XXVIII, reason being The Undertaker having been dissatisfied of his post-WrestleMania match scenario last year, stating "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 on Raw, his close friend and WWE Hall of Famer, Shawn Michaels appeared on the February 13 edition of Raw 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 the 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 of Raw, 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 due to 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 defeated seven other wrestlers to win the SmackDown Money in the Bank ladder match.^[19] On the July 22 edition of SmackDown, Bryan declared his intentions of cashing-in his Money in the Bank contract at WrestleMania XXVIII.^[20]However, despite this claim, he attempted to cash-in his contract briefcase on the November 25 episode of SmackDown. He 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.^[21] WWE, however, 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.^[22]

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.^[23] Sheamus announced on Smackdown that he would decide who he wishes to face at WrestleMania after the Elimination Chamber PPV.^[24] At the Elimination Chamber event in February, Sheamus attacked Daniel Bryan, after the latter successfully retained his World Heavyweight Championship in an Elimination Chamber match, thus declaring his wish to challenge Bryan for his title at WrestleMania. The match was officially announced the next day on WWE.com.

Another match booked for WrestleMania is from the Raw brand, which would see CM Punk defending the WWE Championship against Chris Jericho. Since last summer, Punk has had several altercations, both verbal and physical, with WWE's top authorities, including Vince McMahon, Triple H and John Laurinaitis, en route feuding with wrestlers like John Cena and Alberto Del Rio, whom he both defeated to win the WWE Championship each at the Money in the Bank and Survivor Series pay-per-views in 2011, respectively. Calling himself the "best wrestler in the world", Punk went on to successfully defend his title again Del Rio and The Miz in a Triple Threat Tables, Ladders and Chairs match (at the TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs event in December 2011), Dolph Ziggler (at the 2012 Royal Rumble event), and six wrestlers in an Elimination Chamber match (at the 2012 Elimination Chamber event). 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 the WWE after nearly a year, and quickly established a villainous persona over the weeks. On the February 13 edition of Raw, Jericho accused Punk in an in-ring segment of being a copycat of him, and that he (Punk) stole his proclamation of being the "best in the world". While competing in the Raw Elimination Chamber match 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. This incident further fueled Jericho's animosity towards Punk. On the February 20 edition of Raw, Jericho last eliminated Big Show to win a ten-man battle royal to determine the number-one contender to face Punk for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania XXVIII to prove who is "the best in the world".

• Official WrestleMania website

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