What's the worst wrestlemania of all time?

[The Brain]

I’m surprised that someone would mention WM8 as the worst. I thought this was a great mania. Both the world and IC title matches were excellent. Both delivered on hype, drama, and action and are all time classics in my opinion. The opener was very good and the tag titles and Taker vs. Jake were solid. I agree the main event was terrible but I think it was saved by the surprise return of The Ultimate Warrior. I know my opinion about WM15 being the worst isn’t a popular one but this really surprised me. To each his own. I’m not going to tell you that you should have liked it if you didn’t. I have WM8 a lot closer to the top of the list than the bottom.

 

[byrnside]

Wow, Wrestlemania VIII? Probably one of my all-time favorites, Piper vs. Bret is one of the best matches ever in my opinion. Although I do agree someone definitely dropped the ball on Hogan vs. Flair, Sid vs. Hogan was a pretty cool match, and we also wouldn't have the classic that is Savage vs. Flair.

My least favorite has to be Wrestlemania 2000. As was already brought up previously by The Brain, it was just simply a pay per view, hardly a Wrestlemania. Not to mention 3/4 of the main event was fought on [I believe] the RAW from the week before.

 

[wrestling89]

Wrestlemania 7 and 11 are co-holders of the worst of all time title. Out of those two, there was Savage-Warrior, Jenny Mccarthy, and a whole lotta suck.

 

[The Brain]

Wrestlemania 7 and 11 are co-holders of the worst of all time title. Out of those two, there was Savage-Warrior, Jenny Mccarthy, and a whole lotta suck.

How dare you sir? WrestleMania VII was awesome. The main event was an angle where people’s real life emotions transferred over to wrestling. No one has ever had as much heat as Slaughter did in 1991. Randy Savage vs. Ultimate Warrior was nothing short of epic. It was an awesome career ending match between the top two stars not named Hulk Hogan. Savage’s reunion with Elizabeth was one of the best moments in mania history. The IC title match featured a surprise appearance by Andre The Giant in his final mania. The Nasty Boys beat the Hart Foundation in a great match for the tag titles. It was the last time the Harts would be a regular tag team. The streak began as the Undertaker pummeled Jimmy Snuka to become the phenom. After over three years of being abused Virgil finally broke away from Ted Dibiase to the fans’ delight. The blindfold match, while admittedly corny, got a great reaction from the crowd.

WrestleMania VII had some great matches, memorable moments, fantastic hype, and a hot crowd. If the show went down exactly as it did but was held at the outdoor Coliseum in front of 100,00 people like originally planned, I guaran-damn-tee it would be remembered as one of the all time greatest manias.

 

[wrestling89]

WrestleMania VII was awesome.

are you serious?


I'll give you some. Like I said, EXCEPT for the Warrior-Savage match (which was ridiculously huge) there was nothing. You are right in that, there is no WWF history without these two in it and it was awesome. After that, let's look at the card.

Hogan - Slaughter: GOod, but way too predictable. Even as a pre-teen at this time, I kind of had enough of the Hogan on top after every PPV.

Perfect - Bossman: Two of my favorites back in the day, but the match wasn't that great. It was heartbreaking to see Andre in the match because he was already a shell of his former self.

Undertaker - Snuka: I'm sure that MANY people had enough of Snuka in 91. Clearly he was a jobber to the stars for a while at that point. Yeah the Undertaker streak started there, but the actual match was horrible. Who could believe that the 91 Snuka could compete with The Undertaker?

Jake - Martel: Hey, again two of my favorites. But if you watched the NWA in 88, you already saw that horrible "blindfold" concept with Sullivan-Garvin.

I am not saying WMVII didn't have it's good points, I mean anything with Gorilla and Bobby on commentary has to be somewhat entertaining right? There were some memorable moments on the show.

But seriously, line it up with other Wrestlemanias. That one was at the bottom with 11. WM 2 and 9 were also not far behind.

 

[The Brain]

are you serious?


I'll give you some. Like I said, EXCEPT for the Warrior-Savage match (which was ridiculously huge) there was nothing. You are right in that, there is no WWF history without these two in it and it was awesome. After that, let's look at the card.

Hogan - Slaughter: GOod, but way too predictable. Even as a pre-teen at this time, I kind of had enough of the Hogan on top after every PPV.

Perfect - Bossman: Two of my favorites back in the day, but the match wasn't that great. It was heartbreaking to see Andre in the match because he was already a shell of his former self.

Undertaker - Snuka: I'm sure that MANY people had enough of Snuka in 91. Clearly he was a jobber to the stars for a while at that point. Yeah the Undertaker streak started there, but the actual match was horrible. Who could believe that the 91 Snuka could compete with The Undertaker?

Jake - Martel: Hey, again two of my favorites. But if you watched the NWA in 88, you already saw that horrible "blindfold" concept with Sullivan-Garvin.

I am not saying WMVII didn't have it's good points, I mean anything with Gorilla and Bobby on commentary has to be somewhat entertaining right? There were some memorable moments on the show.

But seriously, line it up with other Wrestlemanias. That one was at the bottom with 11. WM 2 and 9 were also not far behind.

Actually I understand where you're coming from. I am well aware that I rank WM7 much higher than most people do. I stand by my comment that it was an awesome mania but I see why people think otherwise. I thought the strong hype and hot crowd helped make some average matches seem better than they were. It will always be a favorite of mine and rank high on my list. While I understand that you don't agree I think ranking it at the bottom is pretty harsh. I think it at least should fall somewhere in the middle.

 

[Chris1-16]

Wrestlemania 15 is the worst. The Rock simply wasn't ready for a match of that magnitude in early 1999 and I much rather would have had Austin vs. Undertaker instead. Everything else on the card was boring as they had to have Hell In A Cell to hide Bossman's weaknesses. 1998 and 2000 were great but 1999 was terrible. Only thing great about that year was HHH starting to come into his own as a heel.

It wasn't that The Rock wasn't ready, it's just that it was really still Austin vs. Vince McMahon.

Also I'll agree that XV was horrible.

 

[dd23beatlesfan1]

are you serious?

I am not saying WMVII didn't have it's good points, I mean anything with Gorilla and Bobby on commentary has to be somewhat entertaining right? There were some memorable moments on the show.

But seriously, line it up with other Wrestlemanias. That one was at the bottom with 11. WM 2 and 9 were also not far behind.

How can you rank Wrestlemania VII which at least had one of the all-time classic Mania matches (a top 20 candidate for sure) behind two Wrestlemanias that don't have a single matchup in the top 50?

Wrestlemania IX had an awesome theme and one of the best arenas in WM history, but unfortunately it did not deliver on the match department.

Wrestlemania 2 was absolutely atrocious. It had four decent matches (one might crack the top 50) with the Bulldogs/Dream Team (actually a good match), the NFL/WWF battle royal, Hogan/Bundy in the cage, and the boxing match. But none of those matches even compare to Savage/Warrior, nor Hogan/Slaughter. You may not like Hogan in the main event, but it was still a good match.

I agree with the Brain, in ranking the first 10 Wrestlemanias I would put VII around 5-6. It was certainly better than WMs II, IX, and XI. And XV as well.

 

[ejc8710]

Ahhhh I always love talking about worst wrestlemania's so here is mine Wrestlemania 12 hands down and if anybody know's why Razor Ramon wasnt on this wrestlemania plz let me know ? but here we go

Six man tag. Vader, Owen Hart and The British Bulldog vs Yokozuna, Jake Roberts and Ahmed Johnson I really dont know why they found it funny to put all these guys in a six man tag when yokozuna could have had a great match with any 3 guys owen bulldog or vader or you could of had ahmed johnson vs owen hart.

Stone cold vs Savio Vega An ok match but to be honest this match could have been done on superstars or raw really wasnt wrestlemania worthy just another time kill


The Ultimate Warrior vs Triple H Ahhhh this has to be triple h's worst wrestlemania match if not worst match of all time warrior makes this stupid return in a 30 sec match on the biggest show of them all to be honest i dont even know why vince brought back warrior during this time triple h could of had a way better match with someone else

The Undertaker vs Diesel The only good match on this peice of shit card say what you want about kevin nash during this time but he really did put on some great matches during this time and had good matches on 2 of the worst wrestlemania's of all time and undertaker should have had a run with the title during this time .

Roddy Piper vs Golddust Ughhhhh faceplam omg this had to be one of the stupidest things ive ever seen in wwe really you have a taped match at wrestlemania and what makes it worst wwe shows footage from one of the most known police chases of all time the oj simpsons chase and they say its piper in the chase going to the arena this was a low point for piper even worst then his match with jerry at king of the ring

Bret hart Vs Shawn Already talked about this one in another thread

 

[mr.nobody]

Wrestlemania 9 hands down...... 11 had diesel/Michaels..... 2 had the battle royal for mainstream appeal.... 7 had one of the greatest matches of all time for WM... 15 was bad I agree but Austin vs rock n Shane vs xpac was better than anything on WM 9. Don't care if it was outside or not..... best thing about WM 9 was the potential they had with evil Doink but wwe n Matt Bourne ruined that

Razor was suspended he was suppose to face goldust for ic belt.... Hollywood brawl was thrown together. Piper wasn't suppose fight at all but they had no one else not even a heel to turn babyface for him

 

[SCrooked1]

Wrestlemania 15 is the worst. The Rock simply wasn't ready for a match of that magnitude in early 1999 and I much rather would have had Austin vs. Undertaker instead. Everything else on the card was boring as they had to have Hell In A Cell to hide Bossman's weaknesses. 1998 and 2000 were great but 1999 was terrible. Only thing great about that year was HHH starting to come into his own as a heel.

Austin/Rock was probably the only highlight of the show, how could Rock "not be ready for a match of that magnitude"?

Unless you mean by wrestling skills, that was considered the "main event style" at the time.

 

[TheSammichEater]

You guys have listed some sheer snoozfests for real. Manias that I can name off the top of my head that were "tragic" are 9, 11, 15, 16, 18, 22, 23, 26 and wait for it.....27. This is going to be perhaps the most craptastic mania known to man. After UT/HHH, theres absolutely nothing to be interested in except maybe Sheamus/Bryan. You know its bad when two of your better talents are in a 6 person tag match with Snooki. I'm normally geeked for mania but not this year at all. How many manias are we gonna have to see Cena winning the title and what not. As a "fan", I shouldnt be held hostage to watch one match while the others stink it up to the max.

I just loved the fact that the one match you were looking forward to wasn't even on the main card. It's a shame. Cause this year's Mania really was awful. Why end the main event of the biggest show of the year with a Double Count Out, restart and interference win? That's just DUMB. I was excited about any of the other matches either. HHH v Taker was too boring, all Taker Mania matches are cause you know he'll win. Cole v Lawler was a dumb idea. I simply hate Snooki.

 

[mr.nobody]

Agree bout 27 except UT/hhh match..... but 9 was horrible at least in 27 they were trying to build new heels so it can't be that bad they took a chance

 

[RicoLen]

Heh first click on this thread, and I really thought I was gonna see a bitch-fest about WM27, I guess I probably would have had the thread been created after WM27.

IMO WM2 was terrible. I started watching wrestling with WM3, and after 7 (my personal favorite) I went back to watch 2 on video... I have yet to keep my eyes open long enough to watch every match. 9 was forgettable (btw I don't care what the record book says, Undertaker did NOT win that match, that's a f**king technicality I walked away from that match feeling like a kid today would feel if he watched Stone Cold beat the everloving crap out of John Cena), 11 I kinda liked actually, 15 was meh, but 2... sorry Brain, but I'll go to bat against 2 any day over 15.

Everyone talks about Undertaker hanging Bossman after the match. Rock vs Austin, whether you personally like it or not is considered the best trilogy of Wrestlemania matches ever. And I frequently hear people talk about how great X-Pac vs Shane was too. Now personally, I'm with you that 15 was one of the worst, but dude, it ain't got crap on WM2.

 

[AnthonyM4]

IMO 13 was the worst. Just an unspectacular show. It felt more like an in your house ppv than wrestlemania. Other than Austin/Bret everything else was bad. The main event was horrible(one of the worst in mania history). The worst IC title match in wm history happened on this show too. The opening match was meaningless. The tag title match had a stupid ending and I don't know why they had two heel teams going at it? In the Chicago street fight, it looked like Ron Simmons was smiling at one point after Ahmed bodyslammed him. The main event of this show was supposed to be HBK vs Bret Hart in a rematch of the previous year, but he "lost his smile" a month before and didn't even wrestle on this show!

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

Austin/Rock was probably the only highlight of the show, how could Rock "not be ready for a match of that magnitude"?

Unless you mean by wrestling skills, that was considered the "main event style" at the time.

I agree that The Rock and Austin was the highlight of the Night but, then again, WMXV was a pretty weak show so that isn't saying much.

If I can intrude I would say that Austin and The Rock was the best option they could have for WMXV's main event. But then we they a year shy from loosing HBK and Bret Hart so they didn't really have any established main eventers at the time.

As for the match, it was fun brawl but it was nothing more. You can even argue that it was a botchy match with Austin not even contacting Rock's gut before the final stunner and Rock messing up a pinfall. It's probably hearaled by some as a great match because of what was to come rather than what it was at the time.

 

[Dagger Dias]

This topic seems to come up a lot. I will give a bottom tier rather than just one in my answer. The worst Wrestlemania was 11 because the entire card other than Michaels VS Diesel sucked, and it of course had the infamous Bam Bam VS Taylor match main eventing it. There was next to nothing good about it. Wrestlemania 9 is not far behind it with another very weak card, a strange theme, and an absolutely bogus ending. Rounding out the bottom tier is Wrestlemania 27, the worst modern Wrestlemania. Terrible show with bad matches and outcomes other than Taker VS Trips or Edge VS Del Rio. It was a waste of money to order and it only sold as well as it did due to The Rock hosting it.

 

[mancpenguin]

Wrestlemania 9 - the whole theme of the event, pretty much every match was terrible too. I can't recall a decent match from it - so many bad events in it. The IC title match was a count out/DQ - the tag team title match was a DQ finish. The Undertaker match was a DQ match against his worst opponent at Mania ever. And the worst ending to a Wrestlemania ever ! I can't think of anything good to say about it at all.

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

Anyone ever go back and watch the early manias? Besides the main matches, they fuckin suck. Ever watch 16 straight 7 minute punch/kick/bodyslam matches? Well if you ever want to, that's basically what Manias 4 and 5 are. So about 90% of boring, repetitive suck and 10% of dramatic awesome.

11 sucked pretty bad but the WWE was really depleted and didn't know which way to go at that point. 15 and 16 sucked because the attitude era was based on crazy jerry springer shit catered to crack babies with short attention spans.

I think the more recent manias that people dislike are disliked because of people's high expectations and I think the older ones get a pass because of nostalgia. I mean, you had fucking squash matches at the early Manias; and I don't mean like "well known star loses to other well known star" I mean "no named asshole loses to huge dude for no fucking reason".

 

[Poop Master Flex]

For my taste I would have to go with Wrestlemania 9 as the all time worst wrestlemania.

I've seen them all (as most on here probably have) and for myself the only thing entertaining about that show was watching Bobby Heenan ride a camel backwards, when thats the best thing about a Wrestlemania you know its bad.

Lets see a bunch of lack luster matches, an abortion of a Undertaker/ Giant Gonzalez match, a boring Hogan match, and a surprise ending that disappointed me to no end. By that time Hogan was pretty much done in the WWE, there was no reason for him to be champ, WWE already changed and Hogan being champ made everything feel the same again. Most of all, Hogan at the time lost most of his drawing power, most were sick of Hogan by that point.

HBK vs. Tatanka wasn't bad, neither was the Steiners vs. Headshrinkers but other than that the matches and event itself was hollowed out and depleted.

You can say there were a lot of bad WM's like 13, which would have been my pick except for that Austin vs. Hart match that was amazing on so many levels.

 

[Meat Boy]

I think that it is very easy to say that that Wrestlemania 27 might have been the worse one ever I'm happy I streamed that I would have been better off putting that money in a wood chipper I mean the main event was The Miz vs John Cena there match wasn't that good and was a typical Raw match and The Rock did shit. I thought Shawn Michaels should have beat Cena the year they main evented Wrestlemania hasn't been that good since 21. Wrestlemania 9 was pretty bad too

 

[relentless1]

im gonna go out on a limb and say that, maybe not the worst but pretty low down imo was wm 4, the tourney was BORING and the only saving grace was Macho Mans performance; grat wrestler that he was but even as a Hogan mark i feel he hogged the spotlight, ruining Savages moment, a real dip in quality if you ask me, especially if you compare to the one before and the one after it.

 

[HBsam31]

I just watched the wrestlemania anthology, and I gotta say they one that entertained me the least was mania XX. The MSG crowd really let me down as they just didnt seem into it, and Maybe it was because there was nothing much to entertain them either. The triple threat title match was good but i don't generally like those type of matches for the title at mania. Taker kane was ok but takers win was pretty predictable and decisive. Cruiserweight open was not so good. Eddie and angle was mediocre, and to be truthful Eddie in the ring never really entertained me. Dont get me wrong he is an all time great but a tad overrated in my book. I think there were worse manias that XX but for me it was the one that stands out as bad.

 

[justtxyank]

Actually I understand where you're coming from. I am well aware that I rank WM7 much higher than most people do. I stand by my comment that it was an awesome mania but I see why people think otherwise. I thought the strong hype and hot crowd helped make some average matches seem better than they were. It will always be a favorite of mine and rank high on my list. While I understand that you don't agree I think ranking it at the bottom is pretty harsh. I think it at least should fall somewhere in the middle.

I also think people are too harsh on WM7 and I think a lot of it is revisionist thinking with the "I was tired of Hogan" mindset that I don't really think existed for the most part at the time.

Hogan-Slaughter was awesome to me. The Gulf War was going on and I had a father who was in Kuwait when Saddam invaded. I had always loved Slaughter and him turning on his country infuriated me. I don't think I was ever a bigger fan of Hulk Hogan than when he beat Sgt. Slaughter that night.

I'd put 7 ahead of WM 1, 2, 4 and 8 at the very least. The Savage-Warrior match was epic and Hogan-Slaughter was awesome. I also like Nastys vs The Hart Foundation.

For me, Wrestlemania 2000 was the worst.

Main Event was stupid, overbooked and too many people, especially when two of the competitors were obvious non-factors.

5 of the 9 matches were tag matches (either 2 vs 2 or 3 vs 3) and most were thrown together tag teams. I'm not a believe in big ppv events having thrown together tag matches throughout the card.

 

[robinkom]

To this day, the worst one for me was WrestleMania XI. I didn't like then and I maintain that opinion. The whole Lawrence Taylor/Bigelow match was complete trash, I always hate it when celebrities or athletes from other industries get involved in actual matches. It infuriated me more because Bam Bam Bigelow was always a favorite of mine and I thought it was insulting that he had to work a match with a football player. Then there was the performance by TLC, a musical act I've never liked, and the weak Main Event with HBK & Diesel and the undertone of Pamela Anderson and Jenny McCarthy... too much pop culture getting involved for the the show, not enough engaging feuds and match-ups.

WrestleMania 13 "Heat!" is a close runner-up. Aside from the Bret Hart/Stone Cold match, which started to tarnish my childhood fandom of the Hitman, the show was unremarkable and very low-key in presentation; Though I believe this was one of the low financial points for the WWF at the time.