Biggest Wrestlemania Drop-Off in WWE History

[D-Man]

I admit I had to do some research but going from a cage match with Hogan for the title to a little person match against Hillbilly Jim may not be a bigger drop off than Sarge but it is one of the bigger drops.

That being said, I though that match was great when I was a kid.

Easily my vote, as well.

If you could put yourselves in the mindset of 1986 (good luck to the young people,) following up the single, greatest televised wrestling event of that era (Wrestlemania 1) was a tough act. WWE needed a perfect foil to Hogan's dominance and popularity and that time period called for the largest wrestlers in the world to be the only formidable challengers to Hogan's title. Vince was obsessed with BIG men at that time, regardless of how awful they were in the ring. If I recall correctly, the only big man on the roster that hadn't challenged Hogan yet (and whose character wouldn't suffer) was King Kong Bundy.

Truth be told, it was a great choice. For the build, Hogan was trampled by Bundy during a match against Don Muraco and (kayfabe) had some of his ribs shattered from numerous Bundy-avalanches. Bundy then challenged Hogan for his title and a steelcage match was set for WM2. The match was pretty much sub par (but exciting for that time period) and helped make the event successful.

Fast forward to one year later and (arguably) the most important and remembered Wrestlemania of all time and Bundy went from main eventing a 'Mania to participating in a mixed tag match between the team of Hillbilly Jim, Haiti Kid (dwarf wrestler) and Little Beaver (dwarf wrestler) who faced the team of Bundy, Little Tokyo (dwarf wrestler), and Lord Littlebrook (dwarf wrestler) which ended in a DQ as a result of Bundy attacking one of the dwarf wrestlers when rules stated he was only supposed to wrestle Hillbilly Jim while the dwarves could only wrestle each other. These strange rules and horrific ending made for both a disappointing, yet hilarious ending.

It's crazy to believe that Bundy headlined Wrestlemania just a year prior against the first worldwide, wrestling superstar in Hulk Hogan. I just can't see any drop-off being that severe for anyone else in history.

 

[FromGlasgow]

First name that came to my mind before even reading the full question was King Kong Bundy, In my opinion he didn't have to just job to anyone then disapear just for having one loss against Hogan, The mainstream attention Wrestlemania 1 main event got the Wrestlemania 2 main event must have been a hard act to follow but I believe they both had an enjoyable match, I'm surprised I never hear Bundy's name when all the hall of fame rumours come up as being big enough to main event a Wrestlemania should be reason alone for an induction as every other person including managers involved in the first 10 Wrestlemania main events are all in the hall of fame now except Bundy.
Others I can think of are The Miz who also had quite a drop but both have been mentioned by others.

 

[Dagger Dias]

It's hard to argue against those who stated Bundy or Sarge regarding the older events. For the more recent Wrestlemania events it would have to be Miz. As much as I hated that match (and the whole event itself other than Trips VS Taker) it still happened. Miz defeated John Cena at Wrestlemania 27 in the main event to retain the WWE Championship. He went from defeating one of the best of all time at the final match of Wrestlemania 27, to being part of a 12 man tag team match at Wrestlemania 28.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

I think Flair probably should be in there... Because they didn't even do the "loser leaves town" match at Mania... but on free TV... that's the guy who went into Mania 8 as World champion, didn't have a match at Summerslam, won and lost the title again in a NON TV match to Bret Hart and then got eliminated from The Rumble/Lost a loser leaves town on free TV.

Vince clearly wasn't making any money off Flair... to be fair to Flair (Heenan rocks) there was the inner ear thing... but ultimately Vince let him go off to WCW, even if he couldn't wrestle rather than keep him around to job out at Mania 9 to Hennig - with the rub thaty would have given Mr.Perfect... That's a hell of a drop off.

You could add in Jake Roberts too... big match at Mania 3 with celeb involvement (was probably JUST 3rd on the card over Piper/Adonis) against Honky Tonk Man... to being out in a double DQ/Countout in the title tourney at 4...

 

[Dmbfantomas]

Yokozuna went from having FOUR WORLD TITLE MATCHES (winning two of them) over the course of two Manias with two Hall of Famers and another guy that belongs there, to being in a tag title match against Billy and Bart fucking Gunn.

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

A little more recently:

Bray Wyatt went from wrestling Undertaker at 31 to not even getting a match at 32.

The Miz went from beating John Cena in the main event at 27 to competing in a filler 12-man tag match at 28.

Chris Jericho went from wrestling CM Punk for the WWE Title at 28 to losing to Fandango at 29.

With those in mind, King Kong Bundy and Sgt. Slaughter are still the two best choices.

 

[Goldie]

I think I'd agree with Sarge. From fueding with Hogan for the WWF title to lining up against Repo Man in a year!
However Sarge had rapidly been demoted down the card 6 months earlier.
At survivor series '91 he was brought back with Jim Duggan, Tito Santana and Texas Tornado (babyfaces who job to midcard heels) to take on the bottom of the barrel heels (Skinner, Berzerker, Hercules, Col, Mustafa).

He was hard to accept as a babyface after berating America and portraying an Iraqi supporter... particularly distasteful as he was championing Saddam whilst real life American troops were being killed.

It was a fast fall from grace for Sarge (in terms of place of on the roster).
3 months after fueding with Hogan at Summerslam.


Not sure if this has been mentioned... but Randy Savage was in the title matches WM4 and WM5- only to compete in a midcard match vs an ageing Dusty Rhodes at WM6

 

[ShinChan]

Sorry for the bump.

Here's a newer entry. Dean Ambrose. From Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania 32 to Baron Corbin at the Pre-show of Wrestlemania 33. I don't know if it's the biggest Wrestlemania dro-off but it's a very significant one.

The fact that many wrestlers were injured for Wrestlemania 32 also signifies how Ambrose got Brock Lesnar. On the other hand, Wrestlemania 33 was full of big match-ups.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

It's unfair to blame Ambrose for that - this year they had nearly ALL the talents they didn't have last year back and the new ones who've gotten big in the last year. Can you say Ambrose/Corbin was "relegated" to the pre-show? Not sure you can, just as you can't say Neville and Aries were... there was just too many good match-ups to do without basically eliminating the pre-show (which they should do...) Add to that guys like Samoa Joe, American Alpha etc couldn't get proper matches and you see that there were a lot of guys who had to take a lower spot this year.

I think WWE realitizes they've screwed up with Ambrose, hence the move to RAW and the Shield potential reinvetion... They can get him back to being a top guy, but it'll take another couple of years...if he can "get the band" back together, even with a Roman heel turn in there - they can rebuild him as the sympathetic face. Unless of course the "punishment for marriage" thing is real.

Sarge was interesting, in that he was only ever really hired for that one run on a short term thing...once the show got downgraded cos of the death threats, it seemed a mistake to continue with it..especially when it cost them guys like Rude who could have done more with the "one off" Mania title run. His drop off was pretty much guaranteed and programmed in - even if they'd spun it as "penance" for his rejecting America... you couldn't see him as a legit main eventer after.

Fans forgave him well enough, but like with Kerry Von Erich, you could see they'd been brought in for a specific, short term gig (replacing the replacement (Davey Boy) for the IC Title at Summerslam 90) rather than a long run... and their face didn't fit after it rather than any particular fall from grace.

 

[HeenanGorilla]

Sarge was interesting, in that he was only ever really hired for that one run on a short term thing...once the show got downgraded cos of the death threats, it seemed a mistake to continue with it..especially when it cost them guys like Rude who could have done more with the "one off" Mania title run. His drop off was pretty much guaranteed and programmed in - even if they'd spun it as "penance" for his rejecting America... you couldn't see him as a legit main eventer after.

I think your point about the purpose of their previous run being a legit reason is quite valid. Sarge was going to have a big drop off from VII-VIII because of it. DiBiase, however, did not have to drop from IV-V the way he did. That gimmick was great, but should have been better. The gimmick/program having an effect is absolutely true. Good point!

The death threat thing though...come on. Low ticket sales + Vince's ego = "death threats" and venue change.

 

[harrythem]

I have to go with Sid. From main eventing WM8 and being seen as THE next big thing to not even being with the company by the time Summerslam 92 rolled around, let alone WM9.

He did it again a few years later too, main eventing WM13 through to not surviving to Summerslam 97 and not even being employed by Wm14..

Such a fuckwit that man

 

[DIReviews]

I'd put King Kong Bundy at the top of the list, but Miz and Sarge are up there too.

 

[GhettoV1]

Macho Man went from working vs Ric Flair at WrestleMania 8 to sitting in the announcers booth at WrestleMania a year later.

 

[Wrestlingaholic]

Some very valid points here. Bundy, Yokozuna, Savage and Slaughter certainly seem the biggest drops. Personally I'd probably vote for Slaughter, as all the others at least had a program heading into Mania or a reason for being positioned where they were. Savage, for example, had been commentating on Monday Night Raw since it debuted in January 1993, it made sense for him to commentate at Wrestlemania IX, especially as that's where Vince saw his future lie (even though Savage v Hart for the title would have been a world class main event)

With regards to some other names mentioned, one person said Rey Mysterio, who Main evented 22 but did not appear in 23 or 24. Same as Bray Wyatt who did not wrestle on 32's card. Both were injured, so were unable to compete, therefore cannot be considered for this list. Similarly Shawn Michaels, who 'lost his smile' (13), was injured (14) and retired (26), hence why he didn't appear at subsequent Manias.

As for Sid Justice, I can't speak for his second run, but his first was his fault: as I understand it, he failed a drugs test on a European Tour just after Wrestlemania 8, and did not accept suspension, instead handing in his notice. Strange man. So his last match was about two weeks after 'Mania, losing to the Undertaker in England (on the UK Rampage '93 card), which is probably the quickest a non-retired wrestler has gone from main eventing Wrestlemania to leaving the company!

 

[LBGetBack]

Bret Hart at Wrestlemania 11 could get some consideration. He wrestled for the title in the main events at both WM 9 and WM 10. At WM 11, he wrestled Bob Backlund in a submission match. The way WWE used Bret in '95 was pretty baffling. Since they were going Diesel-Michaels for the title, they should've just went with a rematch with Owen. Putting the blowoff match to their feud at Mania would've been fitting as it was a great and long feud.

 

[thebarber]

Paul Orndorff. Main events the first ever Mania, and at 2, curtain jerking vs Magnificant Muraco in an often forgotten match