"Dream Match"
WrestleMania 32 has arrived and it has a spectacular main event that every fan has been talking about ever since it was made official: The Phenom of the WWE, The Undertaker, going up against The Icon of WCW, Sting, in a No Holds Barred Match.
The Build-Up
Monday Night RAW: February 29, 2016
"Welcome back Ladies and Gentlemen to Monday Night Raw!" Michael Cole said, "Now, apparently, we would witness the return of a legend right here tonight!"
"That's right Michael! I can't wait for that legend to appear! Who's it gonna be?" JBL told Cole in response, "Is it Bret Hart? Ricky Steamboat? Kevin Nash? Shawn Michaels? Ric Flair?"
"Well, we don't know for sure but I heard he was going to show up right now!" Cole told JBL, both of them eager to see whoever was supposed to return.
After ten seconds of silence from the commentators, a familiar sound of a gong was heard, and the lights went out, causing the audience to erupt into a frenzy.
"Oh My!" Cole screamed, "Tell me I did not just hear that!" Booker T said, "I am gonna love this!" JBL said, as they all heard the bell.
Then, the sound of a gong was again heard, and it was followed by an eerie, morbid theme song. The lights then came back on under a dark blue hue. A man wearing a long black coat, black gloves, and a Western-style hat, emerged from the entrance ramp to loud cheering from the fans in attendance.
"I'd never thought The Undertaker would return tonight!" Cole shouted, "Last time we saw him was at SummerSlam, where he beat Brock Lesnar in a Street Fight, but Brock retaliated with fifteen chair shots and three F-5s, so The Undertaker was carried out on a stretcher"
"And I thought that was the last we'd ever see of The Undertaker," JBL continued Cole's explanation.
"But here he is, alive and well and my goodness, I think he hasn't forgotten what Brock has done to him!" Booker T said.
The Undertaker then slowly walked on the entrance ramp, walked on the steel steps, and entered the ring as the lights went back on. By this time, the audience was louder than ever, louder than the "YES!" chants that were heard earlier that night. The Undertaker then removed his hat, showing his iconic eyes-rolled up face, before the music stopped, and the crowd started chanting The Undertaker's name.
"The Deadman has risen from his grave yet again, and I think he's gonna deliver a message to Brock Lesnar!" Cole said, before Cole, JBL and Booker T stopped talking to listen to the crowd's chants.
The Undertaker just stood in the ring stoically and listening to the crowd chanting his name. This went on for a whole minute, before the lights went out once again. This time a familiar sound of a crow calling was heard, drawing another loud applause from the crowd. Another sound of the crow came with morbid images flashing on the huge entrance screen. One of the images showed a man's face painted black and white.
Another eerie theme song was played, and the lights once again came back on, before an equally mysterious-looking man, wearing a long black coat, black boots, black gloves, with his face painted black and white, and holding a baseball bat in his right hand, appeared and walked down the entrance ramp, much to the huge delight of the crowd.
"Oh my!" Cole once again screamed, "There's someone we also haven't seen in a while!" JBL exclaimed, while Booker T remained silent, but had his mouth open in shock and awe. "Stinger is back!" Cole continued to scream, "The last time we saw him was also at SummerSlam, where he beat John Cena one-on-one!" "The Franchise of WCW, Sting, has returned to Raw!" Cole finished screaming, as the crowd chanted, "This Is Awesome!"
The face-painted man then walked up the entrance ramp and entered the ring, where he met face-to face with The Undertaker. "Tell me I did not just see that!" Booker T finally blurted out what he had in mind, as The Undertaker and Sting just stared at each other, as Sting's theme song stopped, and the crowd became louder than when they saw The Undertaker enter the arena earlier.
Both men just started at each other silently and stoically. No emotions, no words, just eyes. The crowd continued to chant "This Is Awesome!" as the two men continued to look at each other. After all, both of them looked similar in terms of their clothing. Both of them had long back coats, black boots, and black gloves. Of course, they did have distinguishing features. Suddenly, both them simultaneously looked at the WrestleMania 32 logo up in the arena rafters. This drew another loud positive reaction from the crowd.
"This is gonna be good!" JBL broke the silence between the commentators. Cole responded with, "I think we're about to see a dream match come true!"
The two silent men then looked at each other once again, and The Undertaker did his signature throat slash taunt, drawing a loud response from the crowd. Sting responded with a taunt of his own: pounding his chest violently with his fists and screaming, drawing an equally loud response from the crowd.
"I'd never thought I'd see these two icons face each other, and it seems like they're gonna fight at the grandest stage of them all: WrestleMania!" Cole screamed as the crowd continued cheering for both men standing in the ring facing each other.
Monday Night RAW: March 6, 2016
Dean Ambrose had just successfully retained the WWE Intercontinental Championship against Stardust. Ambrose walked up the entraced ramp, with his title belt in his right hand, and walked to the backstage area. Just then, Michael Cole said, "Now Ladies and Gentlemen, if you remember the confrontation between The Phenom, The Undertaker and The Icon, Sting, last week, I have some wonderful news for you, Triple H had just announced that a match between The Undertaker and Sting has now been made official! It will be a No Holds Barred Match and it will take place at the grandest stage of them all: WrestleMania!" As Cole said that, the huge entrance screen showed a visual of the upcoming match between The Undertaker and Sting, along with the words, "No Holds Barred Match" and "WrestleMania" at the bottom of the screen. This drew another loud response from the crowd in attendance.
"No doubt, Michael, that this will be a match for the ages!" JBL said in response to Cole's statement.
The Entrances
WrestleMania 32: April 3, 2016
The preliminary matches were already nothing compared to the anticipation of the main event of the night. Sure, there were several great moments, such as The Rock beating Triple H one-on-one, The Dudley Boyz defeating The New Age Outlaws in a Tables Match, and Dean Ambrose defeating Seth Rollins to unify the WWE Intercontinental Championship and the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. But as one match was left on the card, the crowd grew louder than they have even been that night.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, it is now time for our main event!" Jim Ross, who had returned as a special guest commentator for the night, said as he referred to the final match of the night, The Phenom versus The Icon.
The lights went out, drawing a loud roar from the crowd. Then, the familiar sound of a crow was heard and flashes of morbid images went up on the video screens. Suddenly, the lights went back on, and there was a casket outside the side of the ring which faced the entrance ramp. Though the crowd didn't understand what was going on, they continued cheering for Sting.
The casket suddenly opened by itself, with smoke emitting from the inside. As the smoke cleared, the inside revealed a mannequin with a blond flattop wig, colorful face paint, and brightly-colored pants.
"Wait a minute, that's Sting's old ring gear, what is it doing here?" Jerry "The King" Lawler wondered as he and JR looked at the mannequin. "I think Sting's past has come back to haunt him," JR calmly told his fellow commentator.
"Sting's old ring gear is inside that casket but not Sting himself," JR said, "Well, if Sting's not inside that casket, where could he be?" King continued to wonder.
The lights went out again, before the sound of a crow was again heard and morbid images flashed again on the video screens. Sting's eerie theme song was then played. A spotlight illuminated the rafters, showing Sting in his long black coat, black boots, black gloves, with a harness attached to his body.
"He's here JR! It's him!" King screamed in awe as he witnessed Sting silently stand in the rafters. The crowd once again cheered loudly when they saw the Icon. "Perhaps this is the loudest crowd I have ever heard in all my years of commentating!" JR said as Sting descended from the rafters with his harness and landed feet first on the entrance stage, with Sting still being illuminated by the spotlight. "This is only Sting's second WrestleMania match, after he lost to Triple H last year," JR pointed out. The lights then went back on. Sting removed his harness, and slowly walked down the entrance ramp and made his way to the ring as the crowd continued cheering and chanting Sting's name. Sting then walked up the steps and stood on the apron where the open casket containing his old ring gear was placed. After peeking into the contents of the casket, Sting then slammed it shut, and finally entered the ring.
Sting took the time to walk around the ring, before his theme song stopped, and the crowd's cheering and chanting slowly died down. "The Icon of WCW, now standing in a WWE ring, going for his second WrestleMania appearance tonight," JR continued to state the facts.
The lights went out again, drawing another loud response from the crowd in attendance, with some beginning to chant The Undertaker's name. The lights went back on again under a dark blue hue. A group of druids, wearing hooded cloaks and carrying torches, then emerged from the backstage area and slowly made their way towards the entrance ramp, humming an ominous hymn along the way.
"My God, the Druids have returned!" JR exclaimed at the sight of the mysterious torch-bearing people. The druids then made a torch formation at the entrance ramp as tombstones emerged from the entrance stage displaying the names of the opponents The Undertaker has defeated at WrestleMania through the years.
"Oh My God!" King exclaimed at the sight of the tombstones. From left to right, the names on the tombstones read "Jimmy Snuka", "Jake 'The Snake' Roberts", "Giant Gonzalez", "King Kong Bundy", "Diesel", "Sycho Sid", "Kane", "The Big Boss Man", "Triple H", "Ric Flair", "A-Train", "The Big Show", "Randy Orton", "Mark Henry", "Batista", "Edge", "Shawn Michaels", "CM Punk" and "Bray Wyatt".
"Those are all of the men that The Undertaker has put through Hell at WrestleMania," JR stated, "Brock Lesnar's name isn't there," King responded.
"Well, he was the man who ended The Undertaker's undefeated streak at WrestleMania, ending it at 21 and 1," JR once again pointed out the facts.
The familiar sound of a gong was heard, and the lights went out again. This drew another loud response from the audience as the lights went back on again under a dark blue hue, with The Undertaker's theme song playing. The Undertaker finally emerged from the backstage area, much to the obvious delight of the crowd. The Undertaker was wearing his most iconic ring gear: black boots, black gloves, long black coat, and a black Western-style hat, the same gear he was wearing when he appeared on Raw a month ago.
"And there he is, the man who has risen from the dead once again after going through Hell once more!" JR exclaimed as The Undertaker suddenly raised his hands and made a motion that caused the tombstones to be struck with lightning and set on fire.
"Oh My God!" King once again exclaimed as he saw The Deadman strike the tombstones with lightning, "My God! Could this be Sting's fate after all of this is over!?" JR shouted.
The Undertaker then slowly walked down the entrance ramp where the Druids stood in their formation, taking around two and a half minutes to do so, before he eventually made his way to the casket containing the mannequin dressed in Sting's old wrestling gear. The Undertaker then went up the steps and turned the lights back on, before finally entering the ring to face his opponent.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, you are now about to witness a dream match unfold right here at the grandest stage of them all: WrestleMania," JR continued commenting on how potentially great the match between two wrestling legends could be.
The Undertaker then removed his coat before removing his hat, showing his trademark eyes-rolled up taunt, before his theme song stopped. Sting had also removed his coat and was ready to fight. Underneath their coats, both men were also wearing black tights. The two men again stared down each other with no words, no gestures and no emotions.
The crowd was split in half, with one half cheering for The Undertaker and the other half cheering for Sting. "This could be the greatest match ever in the history of sports entertainment," King said with excitement as the bell rang and the match was officially under way.