WrestleMania 32

WWE had been hobbled by real-life injuries to the wrestlers on its roster, rendering them unable to wrestle at WrestleMania 32. The injured list at the time included:


 * 1) Bray Wyatt - right calf injury during a Street Fight match against Kane in a WWE Live event on 26th February, he would return on April 26
 * 2) Luke Harper - dislocated his patella and tore his medial patellofemoral ligament on March 21 in a WWE Live event sidelining him for 5 months returning in August
 * 3) Erick Rowan - torn rotator cuff would be out of action for 8 months on March 19 WWE Live event during a match with Ryback, he would return November 19.
 * 4) John Cena - torn rotator cuff on the January 7, 2016 he would return on the Memorial Day edition of Raw on May 30, 4 months earlier than had been expected for his type of injury
 * 5) Seth Rollins - torn ACL on November 4, returned on Super Showdown PPV in May 22
 * 6) Randy Orton - shoulder injury on October 19, returned in May
 * 7) Sting - neck injury which temporarily forced to retire until coming out of retirement in 2020 for All Elite Wrestling (AEW)
 * 8) Daniel Bryan - Severe concussion. WWE pulled Bryan from wrestling on the remainder of WWE's touring of Europe as a "precautionary measure", cancelled WrestleMania match and WWE stopped advertising Bryan from all future live events or television tapings
 * 9) Rusev - bicep injury in January returned a week after WrestleMania
 * 10) Wade Barrett - nerve injury in his neck did not wrestle again
 * 11) Mark Henry - rib injury, retired shortly afterwards
 * 12) Cesaro - torn rotator cuff muscle in his left shoulder, returned on the 4 April 2016 episode of Raw
 * 13) Neville - broken ankle (during a Raw match v Chris Jericho)
 * 14) Tyson Kidd - spinal cord injury which resulted in his retirement in 2017
 * 15) Sin Cara - dislocated shoulder
 * 16) Sasha Banks - back injury returned on the 4 April 2016 episode of Raw
 * 17) Brie Bella - shoulder injury and extended break for family reasons, wouldn't return in-ring until September 2017
 * 18) Nikki Bella - neck injury, wouldn't come back until Summerslam in August 2016
 * 19) Paige - unavailable, would return night after WrestleMania
 * 20) Tamina - knee surgery in early March, returned after a 7-month absence in September
 * 21) Naomi - torn tendon in early March returned in July

David Shoemaker, writing for ESPN, described that "it seems as if the talent left off the match lineup could sell more tickets than the one currently on it." Shoemaker also theorized possible reasons for injuries being firstly "WWE's gruelling schedule", and secondly "the travel, the exhaustion, the lack of an offseason". There was also the possibility that Chris Hero would not be on the WrestleMania 32 card, Hero was looking to quit the company due to his longstanding frustrations with WWE as well as backstage politics including a real life feud with Triple H who had a real life feud. As he'd been dealing with depression, he asked Vince McMahon for a release. While McMahon denied his request, he granted Hero time off to reconsider his career