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WWE sent out a routine press release today promoting the upcoming airing of the WrestleMania 30 special on NBC. It's notable only for what, or rather whom, is not included rather than who is.
Read it:
NEW YORK - July 16, 2014 - NBC and WWE are bringing WrestleMania® to network television Sunday, Aug. 3 at 7/6 C with "WrestleMania 30: The World Television Premiere" on NBC. For the sixth year in a row, this special will allow fans to relive moments celebrating 30 years of the world's most popular sports entertainment extravaganza.
The one-hour broadcast will feature the return of pop culture icons and WWE legends Hulk Hogan, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and The Rock, as well as highly-anticipated matches, including John Cena vs. Bray WyattTM, and Undertaker® defending his epic WrestleMania undefeated streak against former UFC Heavyweight Champion, Brock LesnarTM.
On April 6, WWE's annual pop-culture extravaganza sold-out the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans with more than 75,000 fans from all 50 states and 37 countries in attendance. WrestleMania 30, grossing $10.9 million, broke the record for the Mercedes-Benz Superdome's highest grossing entertainment event, which was broadcast worldwide in more than 100 countries and 20 languages and reached a record 1 million households in the U.S. on WWE Network and pay-per-view combined.
Next year's WrestleMania 31 takes place on Sunday, March 29, 2015 at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California. Ticket information will be announced later this year.
For more information, visit www.nbc.com/specials and NBC Universal Media Village at www.nbcumv.com
Please follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/NBC and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/NBC
So when it came time to decide who to feature in the hour long special, WWE chose Austin, Rock, Hogan, Cena, Wyatt, Undertaker, and Lesnar over Daniel Bryan, who the show was almost entirely built around. He worked the opening match against Triple H before going on to the main event against Randy Orton and Batista, where he won the WWE world heavyweight championship and closed the broadcast celebrating with fans as confetti showered the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans.
It's an interesting decision, and one that shows WWE wasn't confident in Bryan's drawing power compared to the other options available, despite the fact that he was the focus of the event. The fact that he's currently out injured with no timetable for a return and WWE forced to write him out of all plans going forward just adds injury to insult.
The first half of 2014 was very kind to Bryan. The second half couldn't be worse.