The Most Notable WWE Moments In Indianapolis
Source: WWE / Getty
With WWE’s Friday Night Smackdown at Gainbridge Fieldhouse and the Royal Rumble at Lucas Oil Stadium on Saturday, Indianapolis is the pro wrestling hub for the next five days. Indianapolis has always been a great pro wrestling town, whether it’s the likes of WWE or AEW coming to town, smaller promotions, conventions, etc. I thought it would be a good time to look back at some of the notable WWE moments that took place in Indianapolis.
Wrestlemania 8 (1992)
Taking place at the Hoosier Dome, Wrestlemania 8 is still the only time WWE’s biggest event of the year stopped in Indianapolis. That will change in the near future, with Wrestlemania coming to Indianapolis at some point as part of the multi-year partnership with Indy Sports Corp. The eighth edition of WWE’s marquee event saw over 62,000 fans back the Hoosier Dome with some of the biggest names in pro wrestling history on the card. Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Randy Savage, The Undertaker, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart were all scattered throughout the card.
Bret Hart vs. Roddy Piper for the Intercontinental Championship and the WWF Championship match between Randy Savage and Ric Flair are both considered two of the best matches in Wrestlemania history. Shockingly, neither of those matches headlined the event, rather a non-title singles match between Hulk Hogan and Sid Justice capped off the evening. It has been ranked as the worst main event in Wrestlemania history, not only due to it being a non-title main event but also because it ended in a disqualification and featured the infamous late arrival of Papa Shango, who missed his cue to interfere with the match and caused for the match to have a sloppy finish. The Ultimate Warrior made his surprise return to save Hogan from Justice and Shango.
Summerslam (2008)
This one will hold a special place in my heart, as it was the first WWE pay-per-view I finally attended live. Taking place at the then named Conseco Fieldhouse, Summerslam is another one of the “Big 4” events (Wrestlemania, Royal Rumble, Summerslam and Survivor Series) on WWE’s annual calendar. There were highs and lows on this night, the highs being the main event that saw the Undertaker and Edge do battle in Hell In A Cell, the first-time ever bout between John Cena and Batista and a solid match between CM Punk and John “Bradshaw” Layfield for the World Heavyweight Championship. The lows? A 33-second disqualification match between Matt Hardy and Mark Henry for the ECW Championship and a painfully lethargic 10-minute WWE Championship match between Triple H and the stiff as a board Great Khali.
Survivor Series (2012)
While not the strongest card by any means, Survivor Series at Banker’s Life Fieldhouse has multiple notable historic moments attached to it. For one, the event was moved to Indianapolis from Pittsburgh due to a scheduling conflict with a Ravens-Steelers game. Pittsburgh would be awarded the 2014 Royal Rumble as a make good, which is infamous in its own right for the fans loudly vocalizing their displeasure with multiple match results. But Survivor Series in Indianapolis was most notable for being the event that The Shield debuted. The main event of the evening saw WWE Champion CM Punk defending his title in a triple threat match against John Cena and Ryback. Punk had escaped by the skin of his teeth multiple times leading up to the match to keep his near year-long title run going but it was in the final five minutes of the match when help arrived once again. This time it was in the form of Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose jumping the guardrail and attacking the much bigger Ryback, putting him through an announce table, eliminating him from the match. CM Punk would capitalize on The Shield’s interference and push his title reign to over a year. For The Shield, Indianapolis became the most notable city in their history as a group.
Monday Night Raw (June 2, 2014)
This edition of Raw was the fallout from the night before, when WWE’s Payback pay-per-view took place in Chicago. The main event of Payback had seen The Shield defeat Evolution (Triple H, Randy Orton and Batista) in a no-holds barred elimination match. The night started with the defeated Evolution trying to recover and vowing vengeance on The Shield, but Batista told Triple H he was sick of dealing with The Shield and wanted what he came back to WWE for, a one-on-one championship match with champion Daniel Bryan. Triple H noted Bryan was injured and couldn’t compete and even if he could, Batista would likely choke away the opportunity. Tensions rose and as Triple H said they were done with The Shield when he said, Batista calmly stated “I understand and I quit,” before doing a sarcastic wave to the crowd and leaving. Evolution was down to just two members. At the end of the night, The Shield came out to celebrate their win but Triple H (with sledgehammer in hand) along with Randy Orton made their way down the ramp. Triple H mentioned the while beating The Shield at Payback was supposed to be Plan A, there’s always a Plan B. It was at that point, Seth Rollins crushed a chair over Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose, betraying his Shield brethren and aligning himself as the newest member of Evolution. The end of The Shield came in the same building they debuted in two years earlier.
This moment in Indianapolis has been used as a reference point for over a decade now as the Rollins and Reigns have had more downs than ups in their relationship. Rollins interfered in Reigns’ title match with Cody Rhodes at last year’s Wrestlemania wearing the same Shield gear he betrayed Reigns in. Reigns then cracked a chair over Rollins’ back as a form of payback from over a decade ago and that brief moment of revenge cost him his championship as Rhodes took advantage and ended the Tribal Chief’s 1,238-day reign as champion.