Mania Mistakes: Ranking the Worst 10 Main Events of All-Time

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For those who kept up with my "Rewriting WrestleMania" series that ended just past Monday after WM31, this is somewhat of an extension of that. I'm interested in hearing everyone's opinion on the 10 worst Mania main event matches of all-time, and what you would have booked instead to have fixed it. I've looked at my "Rewriting" series again and ranked the worst 10, and would like you to as well. There are some that are extremely obvious, but maybe some of you really hated certain Manias that others loved. I noticed a lot of differing opinions in the responses to my rewritten Mania shows. Some might have loved this year's main event between Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns, which became a triple threat of course with Seth Rollins; while some might have hated it because Rollins didn't pin the champion like every other cash-in in WWE history. So post your worst of all-time below. Here are mine, but first here's one that just missed the list (the replacement main events are in bold).

Honorable Mention - WrestleMania - Hulk Hogan & Mr. T vs. "Rowdy" Roddy Piper & "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff"

More like a dishonorable mention, but hey. While the first Mania main event might be an obvious one in some people's minds, it just barely got off the hook for my worst 10. It should have absolutely been just a 1-on-1 between Hulk Hogan vs. Roddy Piper, but back in 1985 I can completely understand the reasoning behind including as many stars as possible with the entire "Rock & Wrestling" era that was happening.

#10 - WrestleMania VII - Sgt. Slaughter vs. Hulk Hogan

I noticed in my "Rewriting Mania" series that a lot of people wouldn't change a thing about WM7, but my personal view is that the main event should have truly been Ultimate Warrior vs. "Macho King" Randy Savage" for the WWF Championship. I didn't agree at all with Warrior dropping the title to Slaughter at the 1991 Royal Rumble. Hogan and Slaughter could have still happened, but it didn't need to be the last match on. Even with the Gulf War going on at the time, it would have still been the absolute perfect ending to the ppv if Liz had run down that aisle after Savage had been pinned and reunited with him.

#9 - WrestleMania XIX - Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar

Though I didn't have anything particularly against this match, I thought it was definitely missing that certain something and wasn't quite main event caliber. This was one where they could have done much better, by booking Hulk Hogan vs. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Both men were misused at this Mania in my opinion. Austin faced The Rock for the 3rd time and Hogan faced Vince McMahon, which were both entertaining matches, but not absolutely necessary. Austin vs Hogan would have been epic, even bigger than Rock/Hogan the previous year.

#8 - WrestleMania XXII - John Cena vs. Triple H

This is one of those Manias that just disappointed on nearly every level. There were very few bright spots: Edge spearing Mick Foley through a burning table, RVD winning the MITB briefcase, and Shawn Michaels putting Mr. McMahon through a table (with a trashcan over his head no less). The rest of the card was very stale. So what should have headlined WM22? Kurt Angle vs. The Undertaker for the World Heavyweight Championship. These 2 put on a fantastic bout at the previous ppv, No Way Out, and I'll never undertstand why it wasn't saved for Mania. Taker puts his undefeated streak on the line and Angle puts up his World Title. It would have been perfect. Instead, Taker faced Mark Henry in a casket match and Angle dropped his championship in a triple threat match to Rey Mysterio. What were they thinking?

#7 - WrestleMania IX - Bret "Hitman" Hart vs. Yokozuna

This was an absolutely awful WrestleMania without question. We all know the ridiculous ending where Hogan came down to the ring to tend to Bret Hart, who had just been defeated by the '93 Royal Rumble winnner Yokozuna. Mr. Fuji would then challenge Hogan to an impromptu match, and of course Hogan would win his 5th championship 22 seconds later. Seriously? Bret Hart deserved better. He should have been the Rumble winner and go on to challenge the WWF Champion. "Macho Man" Randy Savage vs. Bret "Hitman" Hart would have been a terrific way to go. Savage could pass the torch onto Bret, who would be the next face of the company for the next several years. In my opinion, Savage shouldn't have lost the title back to Flair after WM8, who lost to Hart in October. Savage deserved to retain and headline another Mania before leaving the company a year later. Why was Savage kept on the sideline, doing commentary, when he was still more than capable of putting on a show-stealing match. A very close runner-up for me would have been Ric Flair vs. Mr. Perfect, or even Bret Hart - with Flair dropping the title and agreeing to leave WWF if he lost. Curt Hennig always deserved his moment in the spotlight, and this was a great opportunity to create Perfect's WrestleMania moment after turning face the previous fall.

#6 - WrestleMania XVI - Triple H vs. Mick Foley vs. Big Show vs. The Rock

Mania 16, yet another disappointment. There was not a single 1-on-1 match on this entire card, which is exactly what we should have seen in Triple H vs. The Rock. I respect Foley as much as anyone else, but he and Big Show should have just had their own match. If it absolutely had to be a fatal 4-way, Big Show should have been replaced by Chris Jericho. A McMahon was in the corner of each participant, which is likely the biggest reason that the match was booked the way that it was. Rock and Triple H's rivalry is one of the best in WWF/E history, as they battled as the head of each of their stable (The Nation and DX respecitively), they battled for the IC Title, and finally here for the biggest prize of all. Their careers mirrored eachother so much that it was scary. Here was the perfect time to culminate it and put Rock over as new champion, instead of allowing Hunter to retain. Why they decided to have Rock go over the next month at Backlash instead of on the grandest stage is beyond me.

 

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#5 - WrestleMania XXIX - The Rock vs. John Cena II

One of the worst decisions in WWF/E history was to put The Rock against Cena at Mania yet again, after they had faced eachother the previous year at WrestleMania 28; dubbed "Once in a Lifetime", remember? CM Punk should have never dropped the championship after becoming the longest reigning WWE Champion in nearly 30 years. Punk held the title for an incredible 434 days before The Rock defeated him at the Rumble, but I felt Punk should have gone into Mania (his reign would have reached 504 days by this point) and defended against the 2 men that he had been intertwined in a feud with since the previous July. CM Punk vs. The Rock vs. John Cena in a triple threat would have been the right call, with Cena going over. Though Punk's match with Taker stole the show, this was still the right time for Punk to finally be dethroned, as he would take a leave of absence until June's Payback ppv.

#4 - WrestleMania XXI - Triple H vs. Batista

I think this was a very solid Mania card other than the main event. Guerrero vs. Mysterio, Edge wins the first MITB contract, Taker vs. Orton, Cena vs. JBL, and a classic in Angle vs. Michaels. However, the main event did absolutely nothing for me as I'm not a fan of Batista at all. In fact, the WM30 main event almost made the list also, with me removing Batista, but that's another story. As we all know, this was unfortunately the last WrestleMania for the late great Eddie Guerrero. He faced Mysterio a lot in 2005, including at SummerSlam. I think at, Mania we would have all benefited from a Eddie Guerrero vs. Shawn Michaels match for the World Heavyweight Championship instead. In my "Rewriting WrestleMania" series, I took Angle and had him defend the WWE Title against Cena. What about the Angle/Michaels classic? Why change that? Because I actually had that match already happening at WM19. Imagine Eddie having the best match of his life against Shawn Michaels in his last Mania before his untimely death. It would have been a great way to remember him.

#3 - WrestleMania XI - Lawrence Taylor vs. Bam Bam Bigelow

A lot of people would consider this the worst of all-time and WM11 the same. I couldn't argue with either of those statements. The reason I didn't was because the roster at this time was extremely weak, and there wasn't exactly a match that could have been booked to blow the roof off of the Hartford Civic Center. Celebrities in WrestleMania matches are almost always a horrible idea. This one was not the exception. And the fact that they put it on last, after Diesel and Shawn is just absolutely mind-boggling to me. Bret "Hitman" Hart vs. The Undertaker is the main event I would have booked (with Bret vs. Owen a very close 2nd), with Bret coming in as champ and dropping it to Taker after a 1-year reign. He should have never lost it to Backlund; who then lost it to Diesel. I know they wanted Nash to be the new face, but winning the tag team, IC, and WWF Championships within his first year in the ring was a bit overboard. Diesel could have won the title from Taker around SummerSlam or so, and lost it back to Bret in time for the Iron Man match at WM12 to still happen without a hitch. Would Bret vs. Taker have fixed WrestleMania XI? Doubtfully, but I don't think anything really would with the available roster in 1995.

#2 - WrestleMania XXVII - The Miz vs. John Cena

WM27 from Atlanta was undoubtedly the worst WrestleMania in the last decade. It's usually nice to see a new guy get a chance at the spotlight, but The Miz? He's just not main event material. The Rock had returned to WWE before this to announce he'd be hosting Mania, which I suppose they thought would save this God-awful event. It was a three-way feud between Rock, Miz, and Cena, which I thought should have been the match that went down instead of Rock strictly hosting. Unfortunately, this turned out to be the sight of Edge's final match of his career, when he defeated Royal Rumble winner Alberto Del Rio to retain the World Title in the opener. The main even in my opinion deserved to be Randy Orton vs. CM Punk, who had battled in the middle of the card. This was an outstanding feud and the match should have been given more time, but was still very good with the time they were given. Orton should have come in to WM27 as WWE Champion and never dropped it to Miz. CM Punk should have won the Royal Rumble in 2011. He had dominated the event with the New Nexus, even having time for breaks to grab a microphone and cut promos. Then of course Cena entered and cleaned house.

#1 - WrestleMania VIII - Hulk Hogan vs. Sid Justice

I'm sure this one comes as no surprise to you. The debate still goes on to this day why Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan for the WWF Championship never happened at WM8. The details are somewhat fuzzy, but I'll try to run down the events of late 1991/early 1992. First, Flair of course showed up in WWF with his "Real World's Heavyweight Championship belt" that was blurred out anytime he appeared on television wearing it. Flair would interfere in Hogan's match vs. The Undertaker at Survivor Series, sliding a chair into the ring for Taker to tombstone Hogan on, allowing him to get the win. The championship was declared vacant and WWF President Jack Tunney announced that the winner of the Royal Rumble would be new champion. Flair drew #2 and lasted a full 60 minutes, last eliminating Sid Justice, who had previously eliminated Hogan. We all remember Hogan and Justice arguing in the ring with a slew of officials in between them. Hogan was still declared the #1 contender initially, so the set up was there. Then suddenly, Hogan would have rather wrestled Sid Justice than go for the championship, and Flair's challenger was changed to "Macho Man" Randy Savage. I was very young at the time, but I think I have that all right - if not, feel free to correct me. Now, the Savage/Flair bout was excellent, but Savage should have been wrestling Jake Roberts. WM8 had the potential to be one of the very best of all-time. In my "Rewriting WrestleMania" series, I had the following matches take place: Flair vs. Hogan, Ultimate Warrior vs. The Undertaker, Randy Savage vs. Jake Roberts, Roddy Piper vs. Bret Hart, Money Inc vs. Legion of Doom, Sid Justice (remaining a face) vs. Shawn Michaels, British Bulldog vs. The Mountie, Natural Disasters vs. Nasty Boys, Tatanka vs. Papa Shango, and Big Bossman vs. Repo Man.

Thanks for reading. Please feel free to comment and/or post your Worst 10 WrestleMania Main Events.

 

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Honorable Mention:
- WWE Championship: Hulk Hogan vs. The Ultimate Warrior (Wrestlemania VI): I was never a huge fan of Warrior (or Hogan for that matter) & I think the match is a little overrated these days.
- WWE Championship: Bret Hart vs. Yokozuna (Wrestlemania IX/X): As much as I love Bret & the "New Generation" era, this match-up never screamed Mania main event to me.
- WWE Championship: The Undertaker vs. Sycho Sid (Wrestlemania 13): Sid was never a great worker & this match was clearly out-shined by Austin/Hart.
- WWE Championship: John Cena vs. Triple H (Wrestlemania 22): Just wasn't that amazing of a match & they've had several others to choose from. Also I'm not big on WM rematches & I'd take the Triple Threat with Orton over this match.

10.) WWE Championship: Triple H vs. Randy Orton (The 25th Anniversary of Wrestlemania): I really like the match-up but in reality it wasn't that great of a match, especially when it had to follow HBK/Taker & the entire build-up to this match led us to think it'd be a crazy brawl... not a super slow technical match we'd seen of RAW several times already from these too.

9.) WWE Championship: Triple H w/Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley vs. The Rock w/Mr. McMahon vs. Mick Foley w/Linda McMahon vs. The Big Show w/Shane McMahon (Wrestlemania 2000): Simply a giant cluster that was crammed in between two the most beloved Wrestlemania main events of all time. This match is the reason we won't see anything more than a Triple Threat in the main event of Mania ever again.

8.) WWE Championship: The Rock vs. John Cena (Wrestlemania 29): I already mentioned how I'm not a big fan of rematches at Mania & considering I never really cared to see this match in the first place the year prior, I was less than thrilled to say the least. I only place it higher than the previous year's match because it was slightly better IMO & the title was also in the mix which added a little something to the feud. Also as much as I would have rather seen a Triple Threat with Punk involved, I loved Punk/Taker, so I don't know what else they would've done with Rocky & Cena that year.

7.) The Rock vs. John Cena (Wrestlemania XXVIII): As stated above, I didn't care much for the match-up, the match, the feud, the build, the rematch, etc. etc. etc. I would have rather seen Punk/Jericho as the main event of WM 28.

6.) WWE Championship: The Miz w/Alex Riley vs. John Cena (Wrestlemania XXVII): I'm not a Cena fan & it was just kind of an extra lame WM main event thanks to The Miz. Also just like the 1st Captain America movie, the entire thing is nothing but a giant sneak peek/trailer for the following year's production.

5.) Steel Cage Match for the WWE Championship: Hulk Hogan vs. King Kong Bundy (Wrestlemania 2): This match wins points in my book for being the 1st WWE Title defense at the Grandest Stage Of 'Em All & for being the only Steel Cage match to be take place at the show as well. At the same time, it's one of the Mania main events I've re-watched the least & hardly remember much from. Also it kind of get's forgotten because WM 2 was rather lackluster & forgettable, it was a show clearly built off of gimmicks (like holding the event in 3 separate locations) because WWE was still figuring the whole Wrestlemania phenomenon out & the only memorable things about the show as a whole are the gimmicky parts. So overall, definitely not the worst but pretty "meh" in my book.

4.) WWE Championship: Sgt. Slaughter vs. Hulk Hogan (Wrestlemania VII): Just sort of a boring, paint by the numbers match that one would expect to see on Saturday Night's Main Event or something back in the day. This match wasn't as much bad as it was just bland & forgettable. Also this match was coming kind of at the tail end of Hogan's reign as face of the company & I think the fans were finally wanting something a lot more new & fresh.

3.) Hulk Hogan vs. Sid Justice (Wrestlemania VIII): As mentioned, Sid isn't a very good worker & I'm not a big Hogan fan. Not to mention this match-up just isn't very intriguing to me personally & there was an excellent WWE Title bout that year that should have been the main event match.

2.) Hulk Hogan & Mr. T w/Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka vs. "Rowdy" Roddy Piper & "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff w/Bob Orton Jr. (Wrestlemania): I know it's the 1st Mania main event ever but frankly I just don't find it all that entertaining. Also it loses points in my book for the title not being present anywhere in this match (or the entire card) & I don't care for the fact that the 1st Mania main event was a tag team match, most likely the last & only time that'll ever happen.

1.) Lawrence Taylor vs. Bam Bam Bigelow (Wrestlemania XI): Hands down the worst Mania main event ever! It only had one actual wrestler in it, no other Mania main event is so horrible that it can say the same thing. I've heard fans use the expression "So & So could have a match with a Lawrence Taylor" instead of "...have a match with a broom" because that's what Bam Bam did, had a Main Event match at Wrestlemania with a certafied broom & I don't like to insult brooms.