WrestleMania XXVIII

WrestleMania XXVIII
Promotional poster featuring John Cena (left) and The Rock (right)
PromotionWWE
DateApril 1, 2012
CityMiami Gardens, Florida
VenueSun Life Stadium
Attendance78,363[1]
Buy rate1,219,000[2]
Tagline(s)Once in a Lifetime
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WrestleMania XXVIII was the 28th annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by WWE. It took place on April 1, 2012, at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.

There were eight matches on the event's card and one pre-show match that was streamed on YouTube. The main event saw The Rock defeat John Cena and was advertised a year in advance, being set up in the main event of the previous year's WrestleMania XXVII. In other prominent matches, The Undertaker defeated Triple H in a Hell in a Cell match with Shawn Michaels serving as the special guest referee, CM Punk defeated Chris Jericho to retain the WWE Championship, Big Show defeated Cody Rhodes to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship, and in the opening bout, Sheamus defeated Daniel Bryan to win the World Heavyweight Championship in an 18 second match.

The Rock vs. John Cena match was re-broadcast on August 25 2012 on NBC and later issued on DVD and Blu-ray, collected under the title of The Rock vs John Cena: Once in a Lifetime.[3] The match was later included in WWE Best PPV Matches of 2012 as the Most Anticipated WrestleMania Match of All Time.[4] Despite the "Once in a Lifetime" tagline, the two would wrestle each other again at WrestleMania 29 in the main event for the WWE Championship, with Cena emerging victorious and winning the title from The Rock.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference WM28 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "WWF Pay-Per-View Buys (1993-2015)". Wrestlenomics. March 25, 2020. Retrieved January 22, 2021.
  3. ^ "REVIEW: WWE The Rock vs. John Cena "Once in a Lifetime" DVD". wwedvdnews.com. September 13, 2012. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
  4. ^ "Full Match Listing for WWE Best PPV Matches 2012 DVD & Blu-ray". wwedvdnews.com. November 23, 2012. Retrieved March 27, 2018.