Triple H vs. Daniel Bryan
After the amazing opening segment with Hogan, Austin and Rock, we shoot to the announce table where Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and JBL reveal that the first match of the evening will be Triple H vs. Daniel Bryan. With that said, the video package for their match airs.
After the video package, Justin Roberts introduces “one of the principle owners of WWE,” Stephanie McMahon. Stephanie is in the ring and she introduces Triple H. With that said, Triple H comes out with an elaborate entrance. His demon-looking logo thing is on the stage, with a big throne in front of it and some decked out warrior-princess looking chicks standing next to it. After the smoke clears out, we see Triple H sitting in the throne with a Greek-god style mask and helmet on, with shoulder pads. He’s also wearing a robe. The chicks take the robe off of him, he takes the helmet off and then his regular “Time to play the game” theme music by Motorhead plays. He starts his walk to the ring. Very cool stuff there.
As soon as Triple H’s music fades down, the “Yes!” chants begin. Daniel Bryan doesn’t get the big, elaborate entrance like “The Game” did, he simply comes out to his usual music, and hops down the stage leading the fans in a huge “Yes!” chant. When Bryan hits the ring and stands on the top rope, we see a wide shot of the entire arena, and it looks like literally everyone in that building is chanting “Yes!” and doing the hand gestures. Bryan’s shoulder is heavily taped by the way.
When Bryan’s music fades down, the fans explode in a thunderous “Daniel Bryan” chant. Triple H arrogantly smirks as the two circle each other. The bell rings and here we go.
As soon as the bell rings and the referee moves out of the way, an enormous “Daniel Bryan” chant breaks out. HHH and Bryan circle each other as a loud “Yes!” chant starts spreading. There’s a ton of “Yes!” signs as well. HHH extends his hand to Bryan, but Bryan simply kicks it away. He immediately rolls HHH up but “The Game” manages to kick out at two. Bryan backs HHH into a corner and blasts him with repeated “Yes!” kicks. HHH ducks a big homerun kick follow-up attempt and rolls out to the floor. Stephanie goes over to console “The Game” as we see a shot of Bryan in the ring mocking HHH’s handshake offer.
Back in the ring, HHH gets Bryan on the ground. Bryan fights back and dropkicks HHH down to the mat. Bryan slaps a headlock on a grounded HHH now as we hear Stephanie screaming from ringside. The two work their way back to their feet, Bryan hits the ropes, but runs into a high-knee from “The Game.” Before HHH can follow up, Bryan snatches a headlock and takes HHH back to the mat.
HHH finally gets Bryan backed into a corner and starts yanking his injured arm over the top rope. Bryan tries fighting back, but HHH knocks Bryan down to the mat. HHH pulls Bryan over to the corner, hops out to the floor and goes to wrap Bryan’s arm around the ring post. Before he can, Bryan kicks HHH off. Before you know it, Bryan jumps off the apron and catches HHH coming down with a tornado DDT. Bryan goes to the top rope and does a front-flip onto HHH on the floor. He didn’t get all of it, and looked like he had a pretty rough landing.
He’s right back up, however, and Stephanie backs off as Bryan approaches a grounded HHH. He rolls him back in the ring and tries to pin him, but HHH manages to kick out at two. We overhear Stephanie scream “you’re never gonna win” and “you’re B-plus at best” as HHH turns the offensive tide of the match and knocks Bryan out to the floor with a big right hand.
Triple H clears off the announce table and puts Bryan on it. Bryan fights back with punches, but ultimately ends up laid out on the table. HHH goes back into the ring, allowing the referee to begin his count. Bryan makes it back into the ring before the count of ten. No one went through the announce table, by the way.
“The Game” starts focusing his offensive attack on the injured arm of Bryan in the middle of the ring. Bryan ends up fighting out and knocking HHH to the floor. Bryan goes for his trademark dive through the ropes, but when he comes through, HHH catches him with a big Big Show knockout-style punch to the face. HHH goes to work on Bryan’s injured arm on the floor.
Stephanie is overheard talking trash to a grounded Bryan on the floor now as HHH goes back into the ring, once again letting the referee begin his count on Bryan. The count gets to nine this time before Bryan slides back into the ring. As soon as he gets back in the ring, however, HHH is there to greet him with another submission style move on the injured arm of Bryan.
The fans rally behind their guy with a loud “Daniel Bryan” chant. Bryan escapes the crossface chicken wing that HHH had applied, but HHH immediately snaps him down to the mat and applies a crossface, Chris Benoit-style. Bryan makes it to the ropes, but HHH wrenches back on the arm and throat of Bryan a bit more before eventually letting go.
Bryan is finally showing signs of life now as he fires back at Triple H with punches. HHH answers them, but eventually Bryan knocks “The Game” down to the mat. The crowd erupts. Bryan starts firing off “Yes!” kicks, but HHH low-blows him to cut him off. HHH goes for a German suplex, but Bryan reverses and blasts HHH with one of his own. And another. He goes for a third, but HHH reverses and goes for another crossface chicken wing. He ends up hitting a back-suplex on Bryan, which resulted in Bryan landing on his injured shoulder.
HHH sits Bryan on the top rope. He goes for a superplex but Bryan blocks it. Bryan ends up flipping over HHH and powerbombing him off the top and onto the mat with a vengeance. Both guys are down as the “Daniel Bryan” chants start up again. It sounds like there’s some “this is awesome” chants mixed in there as well.
Bryan runs at HHH, screaming the entire way, and nails him with a flying kick in the corner. He goes for another, but HHH catches him coming in with a huge clothesline. Stephanie screams out “Yeah!” from the floor. Very annoying voice, in typical Stephanie fashion. We see some replays of what just happened. HHH is the first to get back to his feet.
Triple H goes for a Pedigree on Bryan, but Bryan reverses into a pin attempt. HHH kicks out at two. Bryan blasts HHH with a big kick to the head. The “Yes!” chants start spreading across the Mercedes-Benz Superdome as Bryan climbs to the top rope. Bryan goes for a flying headbutt, but HHH catches him coming down with a knee. HHH locks in a crossface on Bryan on the mat. Bryan is scratching and clawing his way to the ropes to break the hold. He gets close to the ropes, but HHH pulls him back to the middle of the ring. We see Stephanie taunting Bryan from ringside as loud “Daniel Bryan” chants break out. Out of nowhere, Bryan reverses HHH into the “Yes!” lock.
The fans explode as Bryan wrenches back on the “Yes!” lock. We hear Triple H screaming out in pain as the fans cheers grow louder and more intense. HHH starts crawling to the ropes. He finally makes it and the referee forces Bryan to let go of the hold. HHH rolls out to the floor to recover. Bryan ends up doing his trademark dive onto HHH on the floor. He quickly runs back into the ring, hits the ropes and for a second straight time, dives onto HHH on the floor.
Bryan lights HHH up with kicks on the floor and then rolls him back into the ring. He goes to the top rope and hits a flying dropkick. Both guys are down. Bryan ends up hopping back up to his feet, ala Shawn Michaels (I always forget if that’s a nip-up or a kip-up). Bryan fires up and the crowd responds by chanting “Yes!”
A loud “this is awesome” chant starts spreading among the 70,000+ fans in New Orleans. Bryan leads the fans in a “Yes!” chant as he waits for HHH to get up. He charges at “The Game,” looking for his running knee, but HHH catches him coming in with a spinebuster. He follows it up with a Pedigree and immediately covers Bryan. 1-2…NO! Bryan kicks out! The fans erupt. Stephanie is shown at ringside looking shocked. Another “this is awesome” chant breaks out as we see a shot of HHH slumped against the ropes looking shocked that Bryan is still in it.
Out of nowhere, Bryan rolls HHH up for a pin attempt, but “The Game” manages to kick out at two. HHH loses his cool and starts punching away at a grounded Bryan in the corner of the ring. He goes for another Pedigree, but Bryan reverses it into another close near fall. HHH goes to pick Bryan up in Pedigree fashion, but Bryan blocks it. He finally locks Bryan up for a Pedigree, but Bryan escapes and blasts HHH with a superkick. Out of nowhere, Bryan escapes a suplex attempt by HHH, and as soon as HHH turns around, Bryan catches him with the Running Knee. The fans explode. He covers him. 1-2-3. The fans go crazy. Michael Cole immediately calls this one of the biggest upsets in WrestleMania history. Bryan poses on the ropes and leads a passionate-sounding New Orleans crowd into an enormous “Yes!” chant.
Winner and ADVANCING to the main event: Daniel Bryan
After The Match: Triple H Attacks
After the match, during his celebration, Bryan sees Stephanie enter the ring. She gets in his face and starts repeatedly bitch-slapping the hell out of him. He smiles, but from behind Triple H knocks him down. HHH goes out to the floor and grabs a chair. HHH puts Bryan’s arm around the ring post and blasts it with the steel chair. HHH and Stephanie eventually leave and head up the ramp as the fans boo loudly.