The Worst WrestleManias Ever
What are the six all-time shittiest editions?
If you’ve been keeping up with the countless hours of WWE TV, you might get lost on the Road to WrestleMania.
While we know Becky Lynch, Charlotte and Ronda Rousey are set in stone, as is Brock Lesnar defending the Universal Championship against Seth Rollins and Batista returning to face Triple H, the rest of the lineup is anybody’s guess. That doesn’t bode well for the actual card, which hopefully won’t run close to eight hours as in recent years.
The Wrestling Estate Editor-in-Chief John Corrigan and fellow diehard Tim Jimenez of KYW NewsRadio shared their list of the top five worst WrestleManias of all time. As you can imagine, they had several of the same choices. To hear the full conversation, listen to Corrigan’s Corner on Team LeftJab Radio.
WrestleMania XXVII
Tim Jimenez: “The Rock came back, which was huge. It got me back into it because there were years when I hadn’t been watching. The actual card didn’t do much for me. The Rock hosting was alright, but I wanted to see him wrestle. You had Michael Cole beating Jerry Lawler, which was absolutely ridiculous. Cole did a good job as a heel, but him beating Lawler was absurd. The Miz defending the title against John Cena was eh. It helped set up the next year, but it just felt flat.”
John Corrigan: “That Cole-Lawler feud had been built up so well for months and months. Cole turning heel was brilliant because people already hated him as an announcer. I guess WWE officials wanted to push the blow off back a couple more months, but WrestleMania is supposed to be the blow off. King should have whipped his ass in three minutes, hit him with a piledriver and send everybody home happy. Instead, there was too much interference and too many shenanigans. Michael Cole should not be working anybody’s leg for an extended period of time.”
Jimenez: “I completely agree. C’mon, who is he? Kurt Angle? Lawler hadn’t had his WrestleMania moment yet, and they took it away from him.”
Corrigan: “And I know people didn’t like the main event, but anytime Cena gets pinned, I’m a huge fan. When The Rock laid him out and the next night on Raw they agreed to face off at WrestleMania XXVIII, that was the moment I decided my friends and I are going to my first WrestleMania. Just to experience The Rock coming back and beating Cena. So that angle kicked off my yearly tradition of spending way too much money on wrestling.”
WrestleMania 32
Jimenez: “The main event was again flat – Triple H vs. Roman Reigns. You want the main event to feel special and it didn’t really do it for me. The rest of the card was so-so. Shane jumping off the Cell was cool. But whenever Shane wrestles, I feel like he’s getting too much offense in, especially against Undertaker. You also had Lesnar vs. Ambrose. That could have been a lot better than it was, and it didn’t really mean anything.”
Corrigan: “The only reason I didn’t put 32 on my list is because it was cool to be a part of the largest crowd in WrestleMania history. I also liked AJ Styles vs. Chris Jericho, although it’s still puzzling that Styles would lose his Mania debut, and I liked that Zack Ryder shocked the world by winning the Intercontinental Championship. As for the Shane-Taker match, you can’t even say you enjoyed the buildup because nobody knew what the hell was going on.
Jimenez: “Exactly.”
Corrigan: “And when Shane’s kids came out, I wanted Taker to hit one of them. Gotta bump young! The show was just so long, too. Six hours and 35 minutes into the show and Triple H is working an arm. What’s going on here?”
WrestleMania IX
Corrigan: “I don’t think the matches were all that terrible, but I don’t like the results. You have a count out and two DQs, plus the main event is this clusterfuck where Hogan comes out and wins the title in two minutes.”
Jimenez: “I agree and it’s on my list. It was the world’s biggest toga party, how exciting is that? It did have a few highlights, though. Jim Ross, the greatest announcer of our lifetime, debuting is such a cool part of history. Then you have Bobby Heenan entering backwards on a camel. And the finishes, didn’t Money Incorporated just leave the ring? I mean, c’mon. They built it up big about Hulk Hogan’s return and then they just walk out like whatever.”
Corrigan: “The outdoor vibe was cool, but the execution just didn’t live up to it.”
WrestleMania IV
Corrigan: “There weren’t really any good matches and the show was just so long. If I grew up during that era, I might have a different feel, though. It’s one of Tommy Dreamer’s favorite WrestleManias. Looking back on it now, it doesn’t live up to the hype.”
Jimenez: “Tournaments are tough, but it was cool for Randy Savage to have that moment. The big buildup to that was Hogan and Andre meeting again, but I hear ya on that one.”
Corrigan: “Yeah, that was the big buildup and then they barely wrestled. It was sort of a bait and switch.”
WrestleMania 29
Jimenez: “Rock vs. Cena 2: Second time in a lifetime. That’s part of the reason why I wasn’t excited about it. Seeing it once was great, but I didn’t really care to see a rematch for the title. I remember the whole Alberto Del Rio buildup as him being a face against Jack Swagger. I just didn’t feel that Del Rio had it as a face. And Triple H beating Brock Lesnar. Yeah, there’s that.”
Corrigan: “29 is also on my list for all the reasons you mentioned. Plus, I was there and the weather was terrible. There was just no excitement in the air because it was such a predictable card. The only exciting match was CM Punk vs. Undertaker and there were several times during that match where you thought, ‘holy crap, The Streak is going to end!’ Of course, that wouldn’t happen for another year. As for Rock and Cena, on paper it makes sense to do the rematch since the first one was so huge. But this time it was so predictable because you knew Cena was going to win.”
Jimenez: “I guess they were looking for that passing of the torch moment. The buildup to the first one took a year and it was so exciting because we hadn’t seen Rock in that space for at least a decade.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6VUYU0auTk
WrestleMania XV
Corrigan: “The last time WrestleMania came to Philly was the first Rock vs. Austin main event. And that’s all this show has. Boss Man meets Undertaker in the Hell in a Cell and it goes on and on and nothing happens. Then they hang the Boss Man!”
Jimenez: “Yeah, you couldn’t do that today.”
Corrigan: “It was a very Vince Russo WrestleMania. Triple H and Chyna turned twice in the same night. Shane McMahon was wrestling X-Pac for the European Title. In retrospect, it’s funny to look back on because the company was so hot at the time and this was their big show.”
Jimenez: “Being a Philly homer, I didn’t want to put it on my list. There was weird booking like Billy Gunn going for the Hardcore Title and Road Dogg going for the IC Title after they spent months chasing the other title. The flip flopped for no reason. The hype was pretty cool, though. My dad took me and a friend to some sporting goods store to see The Rock.”
Click here for their picks for the greatest WrestleManias ever.
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