The biggest Wrestlemania build up that didn't pay off

[JDX]

Wrestlemania 26 as a whole was hyped to the moon and only two matches didn't suck. 1) Edge vs Y2J was decent (not good or bad, decent) and HBK/UT 2 (it was great but didn't have the same spark as the 1st). Everything else sucked so bad. But here's my list

Vince/Hart at WM26: this easily grabs the top spot of the WMs I've seen live. This was a total travesty. Eleven minutes of bitter, greedy, physically and emotionally broken people doing something inside a wrestling ring (I can't even think of a proper word to describe what happened in that "match") Just thinking about it made me cringe just now.

Big Show/Mayweather at WM24: This turned Show face when it wasn't supposed to. Ten guys, chairs, chains, and brass knuckles against Show and Mayweather is the face? Uh right. The only thing I liked was Show's promo at the next SD where he congradulates everyone who beat him. Classy Mr. Show, very classy.

I'm not if this meets the criteria but the 2 main events for WM 9: Yokozuna beats Bret in 9 minutes then Hogan comes out and supports his buddy and beats Yoko in 21 seconds. That dog won't hunt Mon Senior.

 

[The Brain]

id have to say warrior and hogan title for title !!! these guys both can put on a show however togther they keep trying to one up each other and ended up tripping over each other several times during the match. at the end you could tell hogan was butt hurt buy having to raise the warriors hand but the wwe wanted him to pass the torch to him beliving hogan was about over as a number one guy boy where they wrong.

Are you one of those fans who doesn't understand ring psychology and is only satisfied if a match has a bunch of meaningless flips and high spots? Hogan vs. Warrior is one of the finest examples of great storytelling there has ever been.

HHH Vs Orton at Wrestlemania 25. Awesome build and then it turned into one of the biggest string of fuckups in booking history.

Mistake 1. Putting Undertaker Vs HBK on before
I mean, really? I know it's tradition for the title match to go last but this was the match everyone wanted to see. Crowd was tired after and cranky because...

Mistake 2. The match was dreadful
Punch, kick, kick, punch, pedigree, finished

Mistake 3. HHH should not have won
Orton had massive momentum going into that match, it was the match he supposed to finally solidify his status and get the title but... what's this? Oh no here comes The SHHHovel, it's all over for Orton!

Mistake 4. Orton gets the cheap win soon afterwards.
Making fans once again question why the hell it couldn't have happened at the big event, and why HHH can't lose clean.

I'm with the majority who were disappointed with Triple H vs. Orton but not for the reasons you've listed.

1. The match should have been the main event. I realize following Taker vs. HBK is no easy task, and yes the crowd was a bit worn out by the end of the show, but Triple H vs. Orton was built as the main event and rightfully went on last.

2. The match itself wasn't great but I wouldn't say it was dreadful.

3 & 4. Saying Orton should have won is a reasonable argument but I don't think the outcome ruined the match.

The real problem was the booking of the match. I'm all for a good one on one match without interference but others should have been involved in this. Legacy and the McMahons should have been at ringside. Not from the start, but they should have gotten involved. Rhodes and Dibiase were Orton's cronies and they should have tried to interfere. This could have prompted Vince and Shane to come down and eventually for the four of them to chase each other off. Then Stephanie should have come down and slapped Orton getting her revenge. The match was built on the emotion of Orton tormenting HHH's family but when it came time for the payoff all of that was ignored.

I'll present a different match for this thread. Randy Savage vs. Crush from WM10 was a major bust. I've often said Savage was the original Mr. WrestleMania. He always put on a good show at the big event. The feud with Crush was intense and the new falls count anywhere stipulation was intriguing. Unfortuanately the match was a failure. Savage got pinned right away for the first fall and they never established a good flow to the match. Too bad after so many good performances Savage's last mania was a bust.

 

[deadtaker]

Hogan vs Andre part 2 at wrestlemania 4 was just disappointing. They spent a whole year building up the feud and they go out in the Tournament at wreslemania and end in a double disqualification.

The Lesner-Goldberg match was boring as hell. They both left right after and I guess they didn't want either to look any good. Goldbergs bread and butter was being able to just destroy people and overpower them. Brock was a guy you just wouldn't believe Goldberg would destroy.

 

[dman1373]

HHH vs Randy Orton is the most recent to come to mind for me. Awesome feud with intense build up that just ended with a piss poor match out of both guys.

Brock vs Goldberg was garbage and I blame them both as well as Vince. Neither guy was remotely interested in wrestling at the time and the match should have just been scrapped altogether.

Jeff vs Matt was awful because well Matt is just awful. This is the internets fault though because it was supposed to be Christian in this spot but because everyone on the nets knew this Vince changed the plans to Matt at the last minute and ruined what could have been an awesome Hardys vs E&C final TLC match instead.

To say jeff vs. matt was a bad match is just ridiculous. That match was a very good match with a rushed ending. To put it in your top three is just crazy.

Everyone else has seemed to hit it on the head. Vince vs. bret, goldberg vs. lesnar, triple h vs. orton, and those are it.

 

[Rampage Bentley]

I KNOW I am going to get flamed for this one, but I don't care.

Taker vs. HBK - Streak vs. Career.

I'm not saying that it was a bad match, quite the contrary, but with all the hype it had combined with it falling (in my opinion) FAR short of the first one.... it really wasn't all they made it out to be. ESPECIALLY since it took the main event spot.

You can tell me I'm crazy and how great of a match it was, I won't disagree, I think it fell short of its hype

 

[orton0384]

HHH Vs Orton at Wrestlemania 25. Awesome build and then it turned into one of the biggest string of fuckups in booking history.

Mistake 1. Putting Undertaker Vs HBK on before
I mean, really? I know it's tradition for the title match to go last but this was the match everyone wanted to see. Crowd was tired after and cranky because...

Mistake 2. The match was dreadful
Punch, kick, kick, punch, pedigree, finished

Mistake 3. HHH should not have won
Orton had massive momentum going into that match, it was the match he supposed to finally solidify his status and get the title but... what's this? Oh no here comes The SHHHovel, it's all over for Orton!

Mistake 4. Orton gets the cheap win soon afterwards.
Making fans once again question why the hell it couldn't have happened at the big event, and why HHH can't lose clean.

-------------------------

I've seen mention of Brock Goldberg. That was entertaining, for all the wrong reasons. It was still cool seeing them in the same ring, they had the decency to keep the match short and it wasn't a main event so I wasn't so disappointed.

This is not a hHh bashing thread but I will admit I took a bit of amusement at your assessment of that match. I'm lying. I loved it! I wholeheartedly agree with you on this. To have him win at Backlash the way he did was just counterproductive to letting people believe he was truly an excellent well deserving heel and star in general because he couldn't deliver at the Big One. I can think of another thrid generation superstar who couldnt prevent the shHhovel as you put it dig him out of legitamacy.

My most disappointing Wrestlemania moment/match came at Wrestlemania XX. Not for the match you think. Though Goldberg/Lesnar was awful we all knew that Mr. Mcmahon would not let these two go out well and it comes down to their wrestling style which in and of itself is VERY limited. I knew a terrible outcome was to come of this when steve Austin was named guest ref. Now if these two had a gimmick match perhaps it could have been better with no restraints. But thats a theory.

The match. Triple Threat for the World Heavyweight Championship. Why? Because there was no need for it to be a triple threat match in my view. I love Shawn Michaels however, he was NOT needed in the match. To me it served as a way of saying "Chris, your not good enough. We're giving it to you. But this is just an obligitory reign your getting." Sort of like "Goldberg, Lesnar you boys suck. Your leaving. Theres not a lot of starpower here. We're putting Steve in your match top help make it seem ok." I feel as though a hHh Benoit only match would have been more solid and given Chris more legitamacy.

 

[Disturbed]

I'll mention Batista vs Triple H at Wrestlemania 21. Not saying it was bad but it didn't live up to the hype. Batista turned on Triple H and chose to stay on Raw and face him at Mania. It even had Flair involved. Anything involving Flair promos is pretty good. Now these two did however put on one hell of a match at Vengeance that year in HIAC.

 

[nightmare]

I'll present a different match for this thread. Randy Savage vs. Crush from WM10 was a major bust. I've often said Savage was the original Mr. WrestleMania. He always put on a good show at the big event. The feud with Crush was intense and the new falls count anywhere stipulation was intriguing. Unfortuanately the match was a failure. Savage got pinned right away for the first fall and they never established a good flow to the match. Too bad after so many good performances Savage's last mania was a bust.

just watched that ppv last weekend & was thinking the same thing. very dissappointing match that should have been booked with more thought. i liked the end, but thought savage should have ran back & kicked him or taunted him before he dropped. crush getting the first fall so fast & doing nothing with it was terrible. just seemed clunky & a waste of time.

 

[LitasRevenge79]

I will say, the JBL v Mysterio at WM 25. It could've been amazing between such a hi-flier like Rey, who showed up dressed like the Joker from Batman, and quite a powerhouse like JBL. Only to be lost in like 21 seconds?! Then to have JBL just quit right after that. That was quite a let down for me.

Another one was the Kane v Chavo match at WM 24 for the ECW belt, all of 8 seconds. You could've had ANY kind of crazy thing happen with Kane in the ring. But no...he chokeslams Chavo and its all over in 8 seconds!! Talk about filler and no substance.

Those were my choices for biggest let downs.