History making: Mayweather vs. Pacquiao at MGM Grand; Sting vs. Triple H at WWE WrestleMania
The past few days has been very interesting with some historic matchups, thought to be improbable, between pro boxers Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao and pro wrestlers Sting and Triple H.
On Friday, Feb. 20, Mayweather Jr. announced he will meet Pacquiao on May 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas in a welterweight showdown that will be boxing's richest fight ever. Mayweather announced the bout by posting a photo of the signed contract online.
The pugilistic contest was actually five years in the making as the much anticipated showdown between boxing’s two best stalled several times when they could not agree to terms. The fight appeared dead, and not in Undertaker terms.
A chance meeting on Jan. 27 during and after a Miami Heat basketball game at the AmericanAirlines Arena resurrected the conversation. Mayweather is a WWE fan and WrestleMania alum, beating Big Show in a boxer vs. wrestler No DQ match at WrestleMania 24 in 2008 from the Citrus Bowl in Orlando.
Speaking of WrestleMania...
On Sunday, Feb. 22, WWE icon Triple H and WCW icon Sting stood face-to-face in the middle of the ring during the WWE Fastlane pay-per-view on WWE Network from the FedExForum in Memphis.
The two faces of pro wrestling past and sports entertainment present eyed each other, with Triple H doing his best to court Sting to his side. Sting wanted no part of a unification, leading to Sting pointing with his signature bat at the marquee WrestleMania signage hanging from above.
Another big match thought to never happen. Well, it’s on.
Triple H accepted the challenge, and the epic battle will occur on WWE’s grandest stage, WrestleMania 31, WWE’s Super Bowl, on Sunday, March 29 at Levi’s Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers in Santa Clara, Calif.
Sting is the only big name from WCW to never compete in a WWE ring.
Also at Fastlane, Roman Reigns pinned Daniel Bryan to remain the No.1 contender for the WWE World title. Reigns, the Royal Rumble winner, will face WWE World champ Brock Lesnar with Paul Heyman at WrestleMania 31.
U.S. Champ Rusev remained undefeated as a distraction from Lana and a low blow beat John Cena, who passed out after the low blow, a kick to the head and the Accolade.
Perseverance lives. Cesaro and Tyson Kidd with Natalya became the new WWE tag team champs, defeating the Usos with Naomi.
Intercontinental champ Bad News Barrett won by DQ over the Lunatic Fringe Dean Ambrose.
WWE divas’ champ Nikki Bella with Brie Bella used some quick moving, thinking and tights to pin Paige.
The Authority (Big Show, Kane and Seth Rollins) with J&J Security (Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury) defeated Dolph Ziggler, Erick Rowan and Ryback. The victors and J&J Security beat-down the opposition after the match, until The Viper Randy Orton made his return and the save.
Bray Wyatt entered the FedExForum in a casket, complete with Undertaker’s druids, lighting and entrance music. After surprising the audience when the casket opened, he delivered one of his signature promos while challenging the Deadman to a match at WrestleMania 31.
In a dusty battle of the Rhodes family, Goldust defeated Stardust.
Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield and Jerry The King Lawler called the action.
The lovely and talented Renee Young, Corey Graves, Byron Saxton and Booker T hosted the pre-show. That pre-show included a special broadcast of Miz TV with Paul Heyman as guest.
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-- For WWE WrestleMania 31 information, go to
http://www.wwe.com/shows/wrestlemania/
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This story was originally published February 23, 2015 at 1:28 AM with the headline "History making: Mayweather vs. Pacquiao at MGM Grand; Sting vs. Triple H at WWE WrestleMania."