All week, we here at Sports Al Dente will be previewing all 14 matches on the WrestleMania 34 super card. Considered to be one of the biggest WrestleMania’s of all time, there are multiple marquee matches set to take place on “the grandest stage of them all” Sunday night in New Orleans.
One of those marquee matches is a mixed tag match that pits Triple H and Stephanie McMahon against Kurt Angle and the debuting Ronda Rousey. This mega match is being rumored to main event the show, putting a lot of pressure on all four competitors to deliver in a huge spot. Let’s look at how we got to this headline-making match.
Stephanie McMahon and Triple H. Photo Credit: Fortune Brainstorm TECH – Under Creative Commons License
The Match
Triple H and Stephanie McMahon vs. Kurt Angle and Ronda Rousey
How We Got Here
Rousey shocked the world at the Royal Rumble event in January, coming out after the women’s royal rumble match and staring down Charlotte, Alexa Bliss, and Asuka. She then shook the hand of Stephanie McMahon, who was ringside doing commentary, before pointing to the WrestleMania sign.
Angle, who went into the WWE Hall of Fame a year ago, has been the Raw General Manager for almost a year now. Angle has seen limited time in the ring since his return, competing in two matches. One of those was the Survivor Series 5-on-5 tag team match, which saw Triple H hit his patented pedigree finisher on Angle, who were teammates.
HHH and McMahon have been the power couple in WWE the past five years. McMahon is the commissioner of Raw, meaning Angle reports to her every week. Triple H is the COO of WWE and used to run Raw as a part of The Authority. The couple has been married for 15 years now, using their marriage to help keep their power in WWE.
The History
This is not the first time Rousey has made her presence felt in WWE. At WrestleMania 31, the former UFC champion helped The Rock dispatch HHH and McMahon in a memorable WrestleMania moment. Rousey was still undefeated in the UFC at the time, so many considered this a one-time moment for her.
Angle and HHH have had multiple matches in the past, mostly during the WWE’s Attitude Era. Their most notable match came in the 2001 Royal Rumble, where the duo clashed for the WWE Championship. They also had a no disqualification match at No Way Out 2002, where McMahon served as the special guest referee.
Kurt Angle after winning the Armageddon Hell in a Cell match. Photo Credit: stormyxxx – Under Creative Commons License
The Feud
After debuting at the Royal Rumble, Rousey signed her official Monday Night Raw contract at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view. During the signing, Angle told Rousey that HHH and McMahon wanted to sign Rousey to “put their thumb on you and keep you down” for what Rousey did to them at WrestleMania 31. An enraged Rousey threw Triple H through a table. McMahon then slapped Rousey before running away from the former UFC champion.
After Angle denied everything he said, the former Olympic gold medalist double-downed on his words, leading to Rousey and Angle taking out HHH and Stephanie. The match was made official on March 5th.
Expectations
There’s a lot of buzz about this match with Rousey making her in-ring debut. A lot of national media will have their eyes on New Orleans to see how the former “baddest woman on the planet” fares in her first wrestling match. Angle and HHH are two of the all-time greats, and Stephanie is a good-enough wrestler to make this match work. Hopefully, it isn’t the main event match, as that may put too much pressure on Rousey. This should be a fun match, as there are a lot of unknowns with how this match will play out.
WrestleMania 34 takes place from The Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans on April 8 with a special start time of 7 pm eastern/6 pm central. The show is streaming live on the WWE Network.