Most & Least Predictable Mania Main Events

[The Brain]

Over the years WrestleMania has given us many great main events. Despite the hype and quality of the match the outcomes are often very predictable. I’m not saying that as a complaint or criticism, and the predictable outcomes don’t take away from my enjoyment of the match. That’s just the way it is. Some were more predictable than others, and although much more rare, there were a few that weren’t predictable at all. In your opinion what were the most predictable and least predictable main events in WrestleMania history. I’ll give you my top three for each.

Most predictable: This is tough to narrow down. As I said many were predictable, but to narrow it down to three I had to be supremely confident in the outcome. These are matches I would have bet my bottom dollar on (although during the time of some I barely had any dollars at all). That’s the level of confidence I’m looking for rather than even a confident prediction.

3. WrestleMania I: With Hulkamania at its peak and Vince taking such a risk with the first WrestleMania was there any chance Hogan was going to loose here? Mr. T was the hot shot celebrity brought in to further hype the card. Hogan and T were everywhere leading up to WM1. They were on everything from the Tonight Show to SNL and everything in between. I don’t think Mr. T was coming in to take a loss. With all the hype and celebrities in attendance at what Vince wanted to be his signature show, I think it’s safe to say he wanted the fans to go home happy.

2. WrestleMania XIV: Austin 3:16 was the hottest thing going since Hulkamania. The WWF was entering a new era, the attitude era, and it was obvious that Stone Cold Steve Austin was going to be the leader. Add that to the fact that it was well known HBK was injured and I’d say the outcome was rather obvious.

1. WrestleMania VII: Real American hero and WWF icon Hulk Hogan against turncoat Iraqi sympathizer Sgt. Slaughter just after the Gulf War. Did anyone, ANYONE, think there was any chance in hell Hogan wasn’t walking out with the belt? Do I need to explain this any further? Without a doubt this was the most predictable main event in mania history. (And I’m not saying that’s a bad thing.)

Least predictable: This is actually a little easier to rank because there aren’t too many that were unpredictable.

3. WrestleMania IX: I almost disqualified this from my list due to the results. The advertised main event was Bret Hart vs. Yokozuna. It was a tough challenge, but I figured Hart was being established as the new top guy and a win against a monster like Yoko would solidify him. On the other hand with Hogan back it would be reasonable to think Yoko might take the title and set up a future showdown with Hulk. Then again, mania had never ended with a heel winning so that lead me back to Bret. There was no way to figure that Hogan would be the one to actually walk out with the belt that night. The Hogan factor is what almost made me disqualify this, but even without Hogan the outcome wasn’t completely obvious.

2. WrestleMania 16: I don’t think many thought Big Show or Foley had much of a chance in the fatal fourway, but it could have easily gone to The Rock or Triple H. The Rock was incredibly popular. With Austin injured he was easily the top face in the company. Triple H was the top heel and the champion going in. After 15 years a heel had still not left mania with the title. Everything pointed at the Rock walking out as champion. I’d guess most people predicted he would win. I’m sure Triple H successfully defending shocked a lot of people.

1. WrestleMania 22: Looking back this may not seem all that unpredictable, but at the time it was. This was the first meeting between John Cena and Triple H. Cena was the champ and top face in the company. Triple H was the top heel. Seems like an obvious Cena win. Except nobody wanted Cena to win. We’re used to the Cena backlash now, but in early 2006 we still weren’t sure what to expect from it. Triple H was on the verge of a face turn and back then it was reasonable to think the backlash against Cena would turn him heel. Also the title changed hands in the mania main event nine out of the previous ten years. The only time it didn’t was when the heel Triple H successfully defended. The Cena hatred is still present today, but not nearly as vocal as 2006. I was at WM22 and I can tell you the overwhelmingly majority of fans were behind Triple H. People were shocked when he tapped out. I remember saying I knew he was going to win, but I’m a little surprised he actually did. That translates into I had no idea who was going to win. The crowd reaction and unpredictability made that a fun match.

Those are my choices for most and least predictable WrestleMania main events. I’d like to point out that I only went with the actual main events (last match) despite WWE’s efforts to tell us there are multiple main events every year. What are your thoughts and opinions?

 

[The Idiot]

I'll try and keep it short so I'll do 2 of each.

Least predictable:

Wrestlemania IV

Very hard to predict a tournament. Many thought a Hogan/Andre rematch was bound to happen. Instead we get Savage/Dibiase. Of course that's a little easier to predict but looking at this before the tournament started, yeah it was a tough prediction.


Wrestlemania VI

Warrior/Hogan...seems like I've been talking about this match all week in the 20 year anniversary thread. First time ever there was a babyface match...and it was really hard to see anyone beat Hogan. At the same time, the way they built up the Warrior...it was hard to see him losing too.


Most predictable:

Wrestlemania VII

Definitely have to agree with you here. There was no way the All-American Hulkster was losing to Slaughter in the middle of the Iraqi war.



Wrestlemania XI

Come on. Bigelow beating Lawrence Taylor? Are you freakin serious? No way in HELL that would ever happen. Especially with the build up from the Royal Rumble. By the way...this was the shittiest main event in wrestling history.

 

[NXTrookie2013]

theres too many predictable moments (not that they take away from wrestlemania), but im going to say some unpredictable moments:

wm 17: stone cold heel turn

wm 20: the disater that brock lesner vs goldberg became

wm 25: unification of tag team titles becomes a dark match, not sure if this counts, but wwe decided to make this a dark match at the last second so it barely seems like the unification of the tag team titles ever happened

wm 26: jack swagger winning MITB, as far as i know, almost everyone was pulling for christian, some even for kofi or mvp

i hope i'm not the only one who found some of these moments shocking

 

[Checkmate]

Before I begin, I'd immediately exclude any event that had a celebrity involved. Obviously, they wouldn't be brought in to lose, so predictability almost became certainty.

Most Predictable:

Wrestlemania 21: Batista vs Triple H

The entire angle was a setup for Batista to win here. He was insanely over, just won the Royal Rumble, and was being booked as the next "next big thing". If Triple H won, the whole booking process would have meant nothing.

Wrestlemania 14: Stone Cold vs Shawn Michaels

This was more of the internet at work. Everyone that knew Michaels was hurt pretty much knew the outcome of the match. Not much else to say here.

Least Predictable:

Wrestlemania 17: Stone Cold vs The Rock

This wasn't predictable because of the who as so much the how. Mcmahon helping Austin win the title was pretty much out of left field, considering the history between the two of them.

Wrestlemania 16: Fatal Four Way

The booking all pointed to the Rock winning here. Yet, he didn't. In what would become a classic McMahon double cross, Triple H won the title in one of the few heel endings to a Wrestlemania.

Wrestlemania 6: Hogan vs Warrior

Just by watching the match, this one could have gone either way. Hogan was THE guy in the WWF, and really didn't lose at Wrestlemania (only by a double DQ to Andre by this point). The Warrior winning was more of a coin toss than a foregone conclusion.

Wrestlemania 4: Macho Man wins the tournament

This is another one where anyone probably would have put money on Hogan. Not until the double DQ with Andre did Savage even become a factor. Yet, Savage was more of a dark horse through the entire event, with Ted Dibiase playing the major heel that looked to be taking the title home.

That's what I've got for now. Good thread.

 

[THEMIZISTRULYAWESOME22]

I think WM27 Threw up some candidates.

Least Predictable - Chris Jericho(c) defeats Edge- it shocked me as the big build up since RR was for returning edge, however the build up to the match itself was lackluster to say the least, maybe a factor, also edge may not have been fully healed to be new champ, i did though fully expect edge to win as many chams have done min work to recover eg. Undertaker.

Most Predictable - Bret Hart Defeats Vince McMahon, this is one of the rare occasions in mania when you know exactly how the match will finish let alone who wins,

Undertaker Defeats HBK - Everyone to a man knew that it was 18-0, so clear that if it went to Shawn you could have thrown this in the unpredictable category.

 

[Spidey Revivey]

I'm just going to throw in a few Main Events that haven't been mentioned upon me writing this that I thought was unpredictable and..predictable.

Unpredictable
Randy Orton vs. Triple H: I remember many fans that were angry over HHH's win over Orton. Lots of people thought this would be Randy's biggest break- main eventing Wrestlemania with his new Punt finisher in-tact. They successfully built him up by making him take out the McMahon Family, along with Stephanie that recieved the ire of a babyface 'H, and The Game beats him.

Predictable
John Cena vs. JBL: MOST predictable match that I have ever witnessed. Anybody with a little bit of wrestling knowledge knew WWE was ready to push Cena to the moon, and against a guy that held onto the belt for a year, it was the easiest bet a bookie could've handled.

Just a few; I wanted to be a little different.

 

[Spidey Revivey]

I think WM27 Threw up some category.

I think you mean WM26. And I do agree with you on several I thought were easy calls:

We all knew Bret was goin to make Vince tap out in the Sharpshooter.

We all knew the divas match was going to have its share of botches...thanks Vickie...

And we all knew Taker would end Michael's career, though they have done a good job in making it watchable.

As for unpredictability, that had to go to Jericho's win over Edge. I think it's been years since a Rumble winner left Wrestlemania empty-handed.

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

Most Predictable:
1. Wrestlemania III- Hogan vs. Andre: During this time period, a face HAD to win, especially if it was Hulk Hogan and if it was happening in the WWF. The whole build up had Andre as Goliath, and Hogan as David (weird, with Hogan being a giant himself). Hogan had to slay the best, no question. Storyline took importance above "what was owed." I think we all agree that Andre deserved a WWF championship run, but Hogan had to win this match. No doubt about it.

2. Wrestlemania VII- Hogan vs. Slaughter: This could be the most predictable of all. NO WAY was Slaughter winning this match. The whole Anti-American thing basically closed the book on this one. If Slaughter would have won, on the biggest stage of them all, it would have looked ridiculous. Hogan, the American hero, was easily the no-brainer here.

Wrestlemania 12- Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels: The WWF had made it pretty clear between Mania 11 and 12, that HBK was going to be their next "big" superstar. What better way to get him over than having a face vs. face match with their best guy? Would have been anti-climactic for Bret to win this one. This was almost a lock, in my eyes.

Wrestlemania 14- HBK vs. Steve Austin: Steve Austin was the hottest thing since Hulk Hogan. They had to give this guy the strap. Shawn had transitioned from biggest face to biggest heel...because Austin took that spot from everyone on the roster. Next to Hogan beating Slaughter, this was the biggest lock for me.

Wrestlemania 23- John Cena vs. HBK: Hated the outcome, rooted for HBK all the way, but knew he would lose. This was the clearest case of one guy putting over another since Austin vs. HBK at Mania 14.

Least Predictable

1. Wrestlemania IV- The Tournament: I remember watching this on VHS, and having NO clue who would win the thing. Watching it now, I am still shocked. Not that Savage wasn't due for a title, but more so that Hogan wasn't in the finals...still shocking.

2. Wrestlemania 9- Bret Hart vs. Yokozuna w/ Hogan winning/ruining the match- This had never happened before, and hopefully won't happen again. Hogan seemed to be OK with his mid card role.... I guess not.

3. Wrestlemania 17- The Rock vs. Steve Austin- I had read all of the rumors about Austin turning heel... I guess I just didn't want to believe it. These were the two biggest names in the sport, and I just wasn't sure how this would end. Great build up, and it's always great when you have no clue who will win.

 

[nish2231995]

I thought that one of the wwe's biggest shocks was jericho winning against edge.The build up was screaming edge since the promo of edge in his home being interrupted by Chris Jericho.

Another enormous shock and dissapointment was CM punk winning money in the bank twice. Not to take anything away from CM punk, but we needed a different winner for WM25.

From WM 23 or 22, we see mr kenedy winning money in the bank also being a shock, to me at least.

Having bret hart vs shawn michaels go overtime became a suprise

Bret hart vs VInce was screaming bret being the winner

 

[The Aussie Invasion]

I'll Make This Short and Do 2 of Each, All 4 Will Be From 2000 Onwards.

Most Predictable

WrestleMania XXIV, HBK vs Ric Flair, Career Threatening Match:- EVERYONE knew what the outcome would be. With Flair getting the Grand Sendoff, HoF induction the night before, huge November-March winning-streak to keep his career alive, I didn't expect it to end with Flair telling Shawn to SuperKick him though.

WrestleMania XXVI, Bret Hart vs Vince McMahon, No Holds Barred Match- Bret wouldnt've come back to the WWE to lose at WrestleMania, And McMahon being defeated via the Sharpshooter was also predictable

Least Predictable

WrestleMania X7, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin vs The Rock, No DQ, No Countout Match For The WWF Championship- Austin had defeated The Rock at WrestleMania XV (15) so I expected The Rock to get this one back, but like all matches it was 50/50, but what I NEVER expected was "Stone Cold's" Heel Turn.

WrestleMania 23, HBK vs John Cena, WWE Championship Match- At the time, it was 50/50, I wasn't sure who would win and any of my friends weren't either. It was a great match. But looking back on it now it was very obvious that Cena would be victorious.