Reality Era

Reality Era
WWE (2014) logo.svg
The logo used by WWE throughout the Reality Era
PromotionWWE
DateMarch 24, 2014 (2014-03-24) – May 1, 2016 (2016-05-01)
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The Reality Era was a period of professional wrestling within World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) which spanned from early 2014 to April 30, 2016.

Daniel Bryan storyline and initiation

Triple H and Stephanie McMahon (The Authority) had a heavy presence on television during the Reality Era.

On the April 8, 2013 post-WrestleMania 29 episode of Raw, fans expressed intense and vocal displeasure when possibilities of a third match between John Cena and The Rock were suggested by the then-SmackDown General Manager Booker T. The increased prominence of Cena in major storylines has also been criticized by various media outlets. Conversely, fan support for Daniel Bryan began to rise as the year went on, with his perception compared to that of Stone Cold Steve Austin during the Attitude Era. Similar to the "What?" chants associated with Austin, the "Yes!" chants among the fans of Bryan have become a cultural trend in the WWE — the chant even going as far as to being translated to "Oui! Oui! Oui" whenever WWE would hold televised events in Montreal in 2018 and 2019.

Cena would drop the WWE Championship to Bryan at SummerSlam, immediately after which began The Authority storyline. During the "Championship Ascension Ceremony" segment ahead of Cena and Randy Orton's impending championship unification match at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, the fan's "Yes!" chants would force Cena to go off-script and acknowledge Bryan.

Daniel Bryan closed WrestleMania XXX by celebrating his win of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.

Batista made his return in January 2014 and won the 2014 Royal Rumble match. The negative reaction of the fans attending the event in Pittsburgh was so great that it was reported as one of the major news items coming out of the show, and described as the live audience engineering a "takeover" of the final two hours of the show. During the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match between Cena and Orton, fans booed both men and chanted for Bryan, with chants such as "this is awful". After the show went off the air, Batista, who had been presented on-air as a heroic babyface character, mocked Bryan and gestured his middle finger at the crowd.

On the March 10 episode of Raw, Bryan would "Occupy Raw" until Triple H gave in to his requests. It would be on the March 24 episode the following week that Triple H would dub this point in time as the beginnings of the "Reality Era". Bryan would go on to defeat Triple H, and later, Orton and Batista in a triple threat match on the same night at WrestleMania XXX to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.

Breakup of The Shield and rise of Roman Reigns

Roman Reigns broke out as a huge star during this timeframe. (Above) He defeated Triple H in the main event of WrestleMania 32 to become a three-time WWE World Heavyweight Champion.

During Triple H's post-WrestleMania attack on Bryan on the April 7, 2014 episode of Raw, The Shield interfered on behalf of Bryan and saved him from the assault by Triple H, Batista, and Orton. This led to the latter three reforming their old stable Evolution. The two groups would then engage in a feud that saw The Shield defeating Evolution consecutively at the 2014 Extreme Rules and Payback events. On the June 2 episode of Raw, Triple H announced his intention to continue the recently-reunited Evolution's feud with The Shield despite Batista quitting WWE to focus on his acting career. Later that night with The Shield in the ring, Seth Rollins would attack stablemates Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns with a steel chair, turning heel and allying with The Authority.

Of the three members, Reigns would also receive a heavy push. However, much like what happened to Cena, Reigns' increasing prominence in major storylines was met with fan backlash. At the 2015 Royal Rumble, Reigns would receive massive heat from the live crowd. Fans expressed their outrage during and after Fastlane (2015) where Reigns defeated fan favorite Daniel Bryan. During the main event of WrestleMania 31 between Reigns and then-WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar, Rollins' surprisingly cashed-in his Money in the Bank contract in the climax, turning the still-ongoing title match into a triple threat match, and his eventual victory was met with a positive response. Reigns would eventually win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship for the first time at the 2015 Survivor Series event, defeating Ambrose in the finals of a tournament to a mixed response from the fans. Reigns would then begin feuding with The Authority, culminating in the main event at WrestleMania 32, where he would defeat Triple H to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship again. The match, along with the entire event, received mixed-to-negative reviews.

Other notable occurrences

At WrestleMania XXX, The Undertaker's undefeated streak of 21 consecutive victories dating back to 1991, would be broken by Lesnar. Lesnar would go on to defeat Cena at SummerSlam to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, winning his first WWE title in a decade.

WCW wrestler Sting, who had previously been dubbed the "greatest wrestler to never wrestle in WWE", made his debut at the 2014 Survivor Series, helping Team Cena defeat Team Authority in a 5 on 5 Elimination Tag Team match and went on to have his first-ever match in WWE at WrestleMania 31 against Triple H. He would wrestle his final match for the WWE against Rollins at Night of Champions in 2015.

End of the era

The Reality Era came to an end in the lead up to Payback on May 1, 2016, an event which was being touted as the start of a "New Era". At Payback, The Authority would officially disband as WWE Chairman Vince McMahon announced that Stephanie and Shane McMahon would run Raw jointly.


This page was last updated at 2022-09-11 04:35 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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