What is the Worst Wrestlemania?

[The Extract]

The title speaks for itself. So what do you feel has been the worst? To be specific, I am talking about the quality of the event, not how good the match card sounds.

IMO, Wrestlemania 9 has been the worst Mania ever. This was the card:

Dark Tito Santana defeated Papa Shango. Singles match 08:00

1 Tatanka (with Sensational Sherri) defeated Shawn Michaels (c) (with Luna Vachon) by countout. Singles match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship 18:13 One of the top 2 matches of the night.

2 The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott) defeated The Headshrinkers (Samu and Fatu) (with Afa) Tag team match 14:22 An ok tag match(at least for that days standard)

3 Doink the Clown defeated Crush Singles match 08:28 Not horrible, not great.

4 Razor Ramon defeated Bob Backlund Singles match 03:45 Not much need for this match, they should have given more time to the Undertaker match to give it a better end

5 Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase and Irwin R. Schyster) (c) defeated The Mega-Maniacs (Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake) (with Jimmy Hart) by disqualification Tag team match for the WWF Tag Team Championship 18:27 Pretty good match, but they shouldn't have two DQ endings in one PPV

6 Lex Luger defeated Mr. Perfect Singles match 10:56 I hated Luger's "narcisstic" gimmick

7 The Undertaker (with Paul Bearer) defeated Giant Gonzalez (with Harvey Wippleman) by disqualification Singles match 07:33 Dumbest ending to a Streak match

8 Yokozuna (with Mr. Fuji) defeated Bret Hart (c) Singles match for the WWF Championship 08:55 An okay match at best

9 Hulk Hogan defeated Yokozuna (c) (with Mr. Fuji) Singles match for the WWF Championship 00:22 This match had no good reason to be on the card IMO

Honorable mention: Mania 27

 

[2Sweet_4Life]

Without doubt WM27 worst mania ive ever seen. Miz vs Cena for the main event? Good one Vince- That'll put alot of butts in the seat.

 

[willross]

Without doubt WM27 worst mania ive ever seen. Miz vs Cena for the main event? Good one Vince- That'll put alot of butts in the seat.

Pretty sure the Mania did a nice buyrate and sold out a 75,000 seat stadium before anyone knew The Rock would be involved.

WM27 really wasn't bad, don't know why people are shitting on it for. Punk/Orton, Edge/Del Rio, Rhodes/Rey were great matches. Not to mention HHH/Taker II being a classic.

The worst WM is easily WM 11. Horrible card. They pulled the reigns on Bret/Backland by only letting them do submissions. HBK/Diesel was decent but probably looked better than what it was due to the rest of the card being complete garbage.



Honorable Mention: WM 9

 

[Lee]

Either Mania 1 or 2.

 

[Owen 3:16 says I just stole your Slammy!!]

WM 9 and WM 11.

WM 9 was not that very good, most matches ended with DQ or countouts. I felt bad for 'Taker for wrestling with a no talent wrestler in a body suit. Bret and Yoko was good but had a fucked up ending. I would like to see Bret retain his title and defend it against Hogan. It was BS how Hogan came down and won the title, he didnt deserve it!

WM 11 was really not that good. Shawn and Nash was good, Bam Bam and L.T was good. Bret and Backlund was great on paper but it sucked, it was not taking seriously cause Piper was on the mic and telling jokes (He was the ref for their "I Quit" match.) The PPV was having technical difficulties, some interviews you could not hear the audio.

 

[Southern Justice]

Worst is definitely Wrestlemania 11. Unwatchable. No redeeming qualities. Main event was Bam Bam Bigelow vs LAWRENCE F'ing Taylor. On top of that, the audio was crappy all night. So it was terrible on all fronts.

WM9 is first runner up. It would've been good if Hulk and Brutus won the tag titles and Tatanka won the IC belt. Since none of that happened, it was pretty lame. Not worth watching again.

Wrestlemania 27 also sucked. Bringing the Rock out for the first 15 minutes of the show sucked all the electricity out of the building. Everyone was all excited about the show starting, only to realize we had to listen to the Rock drone on about how great the show was going to be. Get to the action! Unfortunately, there was nothing memorable about that night. No major swerves or title changes, just a rock bottom on Cena and the Miz. Big whoop. Oh and lets not forget the 8-man tag featuring "The Core". I was greatly disappointed that I actually paid for that ppv.

IMO - Wrestlemania 28 was one of the best if not THE best. I was there. Amazing atmosphere, cool set, great card and multiple title changes. Those are the ingredients for a perfect ppv.

 

[Aeon Mathix]

It's a tie for me between 25 and 27. 27 had The Miz vs Cena for the WWE championship as the main event. That pretty much sums that one up. Triple H vs Undertaker II is not the classic its made out to be. Not even close. The whole ppv was nothing more than The Rock show and an angle to set up 28.

25 had Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels so it's better by a little bit. Other than that I legit apologized to everyone I invited over to watch that ppv.

 

[OutsiderDX]

WrestleMania 23 was miserable and the worst

It starts off with a MITB- The two most popular guys in the match where carted off half way through. 20 minutes of this match killed the entire crowd. Completely forgettable match

Then you have Kane vs Khali.- Yes Kane vs Khali! And Khali goes over. - this was a bad raw match at best.

Finally a real match is up next- Benoit vs MVP. Only this is one of the worst performance by Benoit, because MVP just controlled the match with wear downs. It was a horrible match.

Then we get Undertaker vs Batista- The imfamous "try to follow that!" statement by Batista. The only problem was, that match was forgettable and had no emotion.

ECW vs New Breed- just not WM material at that point

Lashley vs Umaga- This match was painfully long for an outcome every single person in the world knew. It was just like boring foreplay to get to the sex.

Chick match

Then Cena vs HBK- with Cena wrongfully going over. Cena playing super man and not selling a single thing.

I saw this in person and the crowd was so dead. There is not one single moment in this entire WM that i would ever want watch over on a dvd.

It could have been saved if they let HBK go over, but of course not.

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

WrestleMania 23 was miserable and the worst

It starts off with a MITB- The two most popular guys in the match where carted off half way through. 20 minutes of this match killed the entire crowd. Completely forgettable match

Then you have Kane vs Khali.- Yes Kane vs Khali! And Khali goes over. - this was a bad raw match at best.

Finally a real match is up next- Benoit vs MVP. Only this is one of the worst performance by Benoit, because MVP just controlled the match with wear downs. It was a horrible match.

Then we get Undertaker vs Batista- The imfamous "try to follow that!" statement by Batista. The only problem was, that match was forgettable and had no emotion.

ECW vs New Breed- just not WM material at that point

Lashley vs Umaga- This match was painfully long for an outcome every single person in the world knew. It was just like boring foreplay to get to the sex.

Chick match

Then Cena vs HBK- with Cena wrongfully going over. Cena playing super man and not selling a single thing.

I saw this in person and the crowd was so dead. There is not one single moment in this entire WM that i would ever want watch over on a dvd.

It could have been saved if they let HBK go over, but of course not.

Ha. WM 23 was the second best from top to bottom in the 2000's.

 

[HBKistheHOF]

As much as I am a HUGE mark for Mania undercard matches, EVERY Mania is measured by the main event!!!!!!!

So that makes this easy: WRESTLEMANIA 11

Lawrence Taylor vs. Bam Bam Bigelow is THE WORST!
and HBK losing in a sub-par match when we have all seen Diesel & Shawn go before, just pathetic.
WORST MANIA BY FAR!!!!!

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

I don't even care that the WM 11 main event involved Lawrence Taylor. It was a huge angle around that time and I thought deserved to be the main event. They did the best they could with the match and it was better than I assumed it would have been.

 

[DDelaware2009]

In general I try to be a positive person, and I enjoyed every WM i have seen - which is every one since WM 15. I defer to the older crowd for everything before that.

An observation I had: Wrestle Mania X8 had "worst" potential all over it EXCEPT for Rock/Hogan which saved it times a million- instead it was super memorable for all who witnessed it

WM26 wasn't terrible but the McMahon-Bret Hart match was SO BAD that it just is burned in my brain

Also, why does everyone get so caught up in the ending? Its SCRIPTED wrestling! So what if Cena went over HBK at WM23? Shawn puts EVERYONE over- its like he's performing his penance for being a ******* in his younger years. It was still a great performance by both.

 

[OutsiderDX]

The ending is part of the match. It either adds or detracts from the quality.

Would Austin / Hart be as good if Austin rolled up Hart?

Would Andre / Hogan been as epic if Andre pinned Hogan?

I just think WM 23 Cena vs HBK - HBK needed to go over to save the event.

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

WM1 and WM2 receive a pass, but they were awful.

I struggle with this question, and the answer often changes. At this point, I'm going with 11. Why? None of the matches were worth watching. Nash and HBK put on a more than decent match, but that was it. Backlund vs. Hart was weak, not even receiving ten minutes. WM9 was pretty awful, though.

 

[Dagger Dias]

11, 9, and 27 are the bottom tier. Wrestlemania 11 was absolutely awful other than the Michaels/Diesel match. Taylor should NOT have main evented. Wrestlemania 9 was barely better, the infamous ending to the main event was horrible and I won't even start on Taker's opponent that year. 27 is the worst modern Wrestlemania, it looked bad ON PAPER then the actual thing aired and it was awful for Wrestlemania standards. That is the only PPV party where I have ever apologized to my guests for wasting their time, it certainly was not worth spending that much money and dealing with that much trash in regards to the rest of the matches in order to see Taker VS Trips 2 which was honestly the only redeeming quality of the show.

Honorable mention goes to 2. There's a reason they never tried multiple locations again.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

The worst is hands down Wrestlemania 11 just on how none of the matches (except maybe 2) mattered at all and for the most part the match quality was atrocious. The only match anyone would care to see HBK vs. Diesel. Bob vs. Bret was honestly one of the worst matches I've seen. They can put on a good match but with Piper shoving a mic in their face every 2 seconds ("what da ya say?") just ruined it. It could have been a masterpiece and it wouldn't have mattered with the whole concept of the match.

LT vs. Bam Bam was better than expected but wasn't anything to write home about, Razor vs. Jarrett wasn't that good and everything else isn't worth remembering. If there is one to skip its this one.

 

[ABMorales787]

I'd go with 11 but I've never seen it. I'll go with Wrestlemania 25. Abysmal organization, crammed like hell, a match dropped from the card, terrible main event, Kid Rock and that Diva battle Royal. Taker vs HBK just keeps it from being an obvious choice despite how good that match was.

 

[Hard Hit Prince]

There is no way, but no way that WrestleMania 27 can be a part of the worst ever. It didn't looked bad on paper, most of the matches actually had a good build up to it and it was a very entertaining show. What a fanfare just because The Miz actually main evented it.

I can' think on others than WrestleMania IV and IX. The first one had a lot of matches, a lot of fillers that nobody gave a flying fuck about, just to see Randy Savage beating Ted DiBiase for the WWF Championship. The Hulk Hogan v. Andre The Giant rematch was a strong add to the card in the tournament, but only these four mentioned are worth watching. The second one didn't have anything with a proper storyline instead of Yokozuna v. Bret Hart and Giant Gonzales v. The Undertaker, and by the names you can guess that the matches sucked. But in my mind the thing that actually ruined it, was Hulk Hogan. I just hope that the rumor about Savage nailing a punch on him before the show is true, because he deserved it for the crap that he did here.

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

11, 9, and 27 are the bottom tier. Wrestlemania 11 was absolutely awful other than the Michaels/Diesel match. Taylor should NOT have main evented. Wrestlemania 9 was barely better, the infamous ending to the main event was horrible and I won't even start on Taker's opponent that year. 27 is the worst modern Wrestlemania, it looked bad ON PAPER then the actual thing aired and it was awful for Wrestlemania standards. That is the only PPV party where I have ever apologized to my guests for wasting their time, it certainly was not worth spending that much money and dealing with that much trash in regards to the rest of the matches in order to see Taker VS Trips 2 which was honestly the only redeeming quality of the show.

Honorable mention goes to 2. There's a reason they never tried multiple locations again.

22 and 25 were worse than 27. WM 19 wasn't all that great either.

 

[Dagger Dias]

There is no way, but no way that WrestleMania 27 can be a part of the worst ever. It didn't looked bad on paper, most of the matches actually had a good build up to it and it was a very entertaining show. What a fanfare just because The Miz actually main evented it.

It didn't look bad on paper? Let's have a look.

Dark. Sheamus VS Bryan (US Championship) - This looked like a good opener and a match I was wanting to see. Unfortunately that did not happen.

1. The Corre VS Santino's APPLE - Seriously? We could have gotten Corre VS Nexus to end the angle perfectly and we get THIS? I had more interest in the Michael Cole match. Seriously.

2. Edge VS Alberto (World Championship) - Looked like it would be a good match later on in the show, that didn't happen they made it OPEN. Looked fine on paper, but it ultimately did not meet expectations.

3. Rey VS Rhodes - I wasn't interested in this match going into the show.

4. Punk VS Orton - I wasn't that interested in this either. Both deserved better and I hated the build, Nexus were supposed to be out to take over not be jobbers for Punk....

5. Cole VS Lawler - Did ANYONE want to see this? Seriously.

6. Trips VS Taker 2 - I quote honestly did not want to see anyone get another rematch with Taker. This ended up saving the show, but still.

7. Snooki being involved whatsoever would have looked bad on paper no matter what she was doing.

8. Miz VS Cena (WWE Championship) - I had ZERO desire to see this match, my wife had boycotted WWE until Miz lost the title and I never thought he should have been champion. I gave the match a chance in the end but had no interest in it.

So there you have it. When only 2 matches interest me on paper, one of which never makes it onto the main card, that means the show looked terrible on paper. Plus you say it cannot be a part of the bottom tier? One need only take a look at the fact that only ONE match on the entire card was worth spending all of that money on. ONE!!!! This is NOT Wrestlemania quality. It belongs in the bottom tier with 11 and 9.

22 and 25 were worse than 27. WM 19 wasn't all that great either.

See above. 22 had its moments, as did 25. I'm surprised you didn't like 19. It's under-rated and one of the better modern Wrestlemania's. What did you not like about 22, 25, and 19; if I might ask?

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

Other than Foley vs. Edge which I still think is overrated and maybe John Cena vs. Edge, everything else was average. The triple threat WHC match was way too short given the three people who were in it and McMahon/HBK went way too long for my liking.

Other than Taker/HBK, everything else was hit or miss. The battle of the Hardys didn't hit that level that it could have went to.

I never got the hype WM 19 got. You got Shawn vs. Jericho and it was a great match. Booker/HHH was average and Angle/Lesnar is one of the least memorable main events in Wrestlemania history. They would have been better off having Hogan/McMahon last.

 

[Slowdude]

5. Cole VS Lawler - Did ANYONE want to see this? Seriously.

That was the main reason why i watched wm27. I just wanted to see Lawler kick Cole's ass for 10 minutes and it'd be over. Same deal as McMahon vs Bret from the year earlier. Why they felt the needed to over book it and drag it on...... and the whole reason that happened was because of Hornswoggle apparently.......

 

[Dagger Dias]

Other than Foley vs. Edge which I still think is overrated and maybe John Cena vs. Edge, everything else was average. The triple threat WHC match was way too short given the three people who were in it and McMahon/HBK went way too long for my liking.

Edge VS Foley wasn't over-rated in the slightest but you're entitled to that opinion. Cena VS Edge? I think you mean Cena VS Trips. I had more issues with who won the triple threat than I did with how long it went. I completely agree with you on Vince/Michaels, I didn't even want to see the match. An average card for 22 still defeats a bad card for 27 though.

Other than Taker/HBK, everything else was hit or miss. The battle of the Hardys didn't hit that level that it could have went to.

Right, but once again an average card is better than a bad one.

I never got the hype WM 19 got. You got Shawn vs. Jericho and it was a great match. Booker/HHH was average and Angle/Lesnar is one of the least memorable main events in Wrestlemania history. They would have been better off having Hogan/McMahon last.

19 got hype for being a fun show to watch. Angle/Lesnar wasn't bad, it definitely was fine as the main event and that's coming from someone who hated Lesnar's original WWE run. You've lost your mind if you think Vince/Hogan should have main evented. The world title needs to go on last, Flair even said so himself. One would think he knows a little more about how the business works than guys like us.

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

Apparently Vince hasn't heeded that advice in some cases. I don't agree with the world title always coming on last. To me, the biggest match in terms of buildup and storyline should go on last.

 

[Hard Hit Prince]

It didn't look bad on paper? Let's have a look.

Dark. Sheamus VS Bryan (US Championship) - This looked like a good opener and a match I was wanting to see. Unfortunately that did not happen.

Off all the card this one had zero build-up to it. In fact Sheamus was on a losing streak. Just because they can work a match, it doesn't mean that they should. They lacked the build-up.

1. The Corre VS Santino's APPLE - Seriously? We could have gotten Corre VS Nexus to end the angle perfectly and we get THIS? I had more interest in the Michael Cole match. Seriously.

So let me see.. You would actually make an heel v. heel matchup at WrestleMania? And please tell me why Husky Harris/Mason Ryan and McGillicutty deserved to be at "The Grandest Stage of Them All" in detriment of others like Kofi Kingston, Kane, Big Show and Santino Marella.

2. Edge VS Alberto (World Championship) - Looked like it would be a good match later on in the show, that didn't happen they made it OPEN. Looked fine on paper, but it ultimately did not meet expectations.

So if the match was second in line, you would have loved it. Is that what you are saying?

3. Rey VS Rhodes - I wasn't interested in this match going into the show.

This is BS, this rivalry was easily the 3rd best in the card. It had a four month build, a new Cody Rhodes persona that people actually cared about. He wasn't interested lol. The match was very good. It defined Rhodes career, so give me a break.

4. Punk VS Orton - I wasn't that interested in this either. Both deserved better and I hated the build, Nexus were supposed to be out to take over not be jobbers for Punk....

I just love your arguments. So you are saying that having Orton working a match while selling an injury from a two/three months rivalry was uninteresting but having Bryan & Sheamus on the card would actually please you. Go watch the gif again.

5. Cole VS Lawler - Did ANYONE want to see this? Seriously.

The only problem with that was the time they took, but I was fine with it because you know, Michael Cole was pretty over at the time. Jerry Lawler was actually screwed by him. Jack Swagger was involved in it and it looked like he was getting his career back on track again. The whole segment with Jack Swagger & Booker T and Stone Cold was actually very good and entertaining so I really don't get it. It had an incredible build to it, but obviously they just had to much time that could have been used on other match. But entertainment value counts.

6. Trips VS Taker 2 - I quote honestly did not want to see anyone get another rematch with Taker. This ended up saving the show, but still.

Still what? It was a classic bout. They gave it all in the ring, and they actually had **** 3/4 rating from Meltzer. Two legends that returned for that particularly match that probably ended in the best hell in a cell in WWE history this year. The whole Undertaker beatdown was awesome, awesome story told in the ring. Just this match puts WrestleMania 27 way up.

7. Snooki being involved whatsoever would have looked bad on paper no matter what she was doing.

What can we do? Since WWE actually started to get mainstream media attention that celebrities are involved in it, and almost every wrestlemania had one of these.

8. Miz VS Cena (WWE Championship) - I had ZERO desire to see this match, my wife had boycotted WWE until Miz lost the title and I never thought he should have been champion. I gave the match a chance in the end but had no interest in it.

So you and your wife are just haters for the sake of it. The Miz while WWE Champion never lost viewers in WWE Programming, in fact a segment with only him that was called "MizTory" actually gained over one million viewers, so please tell me that Miz is crap. The match had The Rock's involvement, that everybody wanted to see. It was history in the making, because first Cena lost for the first time ever in singles competition at WrestleMania, in this case against The Miz, and two, everybody wanted to know if Rock would screw Cena and he did. Re-watch the PPV and the build-up to it because that what you're saying is complete bullshit. EVERY MATCH HAD GOOD BUILDS SO IT MADE THE PPV ENTERTAINING. If you and your wife want to see wrestling just for the sake of it I recommend Ring of Honor or NJPW, AJPW, NOAH.

So there you have it. When only 2 matches interest me on paper, one of which never makes it onto the main card, that means the show looked terrible on paper. Plus you say it cannot be a part of the bottom tier? One need only take a look at the fact that only ONE match on the entire card was worth spending all of that money on. ONE!!!! This is NOT Wrestlemania quality. It belongs in the bottom tier with 11 and 9.

That's your point of view and if you actually bought the PPV and you still watched WWE Programming after that I have to highlight one word - HYPOCRISY