Which WrestleMania Is Underrated?

[The Brain]

Often on this forum we read comments about the best WrestleManias. 17, 3, 14, and 19 are usually brought up. I’d like to know which manias you think are underrated. Which ones are either never discussed or are thought of as bad but you think are among the better manias. Before I list mine I’d like to mention one thing. Today marks my three year anniversary on this forum. Over three years one can find himself repeating a lot of the same thoughts and ideas. I’m about to do that here. I figure there are many people who haven’t read a lot of my prior posts especially since we’re getting new members every day. If you’ve read me discuss this before bare with me or skip ahead to your own response.

In my opinion the most underrated WrestleMania is WrestleMania VII. I rarely read anyone discussing this among the best manias and I don’t know why. It was an awesome event. I’d even go so far as to call it a top five mania. During the early years of mania there were a lot of matches on the card. About half of them had a good build and storyline and the other half was mostly filler. It was a formula that worked at the time. The half of the WM7 card that had storylines had a very strong build. Let’s take a look at some of the things that happened at WM7.

The Hart Foundation dropped the tag titles to the Nasty Boys. The build wasn’t anything spectacular but the tag titles were still very important at this time. The match was very good and the crowd was hot (the crowd was hot throughout this entire event which added to its greatness). This is significant as it would be the last time the Hitman and Anvil teamed up as regular partners. It was the end of one of the all time great teams.

Jake Roberts and Rick Martel settled their six month feud in a blindfold match. It gets criticized for being a lame gimmick match but it was unique and the crowd totally bought into it. They had a great time trying to guide Roberts through the match.

The Undertaker beat Jimmy Snuka in his mania debut and buried his first victim of the now legendary streak.

After years of abuse Virgil finally stood up to the evil Million Dollar Man. He instantly won the respect of the fans and they rallied around him in this inspirational underdog story.

The Big Bossman had spent months working his way through the Heenan family and at mania he finally got his shot at the crown jewel of the family. The highlight was the surprise appearance by Andre The Giant. We hadn’t seen Andre since WM6 and he was not announced to appear at WM7. It would turn out to be Andre’s last mania appearance.

Randy Savage vs. The Ultimate Warrior in a career ending match was one of the all time great mania matches. The hype was off the charts and everyone involved told a perfect story. This was an outstanding match and a great example of what a big time mania match should be. Savage’s reunion with Elizabeth remains one of my favorite mania moments to this day.

I think WM7 receives some undeserved hate because of the main event. People don’t respect Sgt. Slaughter as a mania main eventer. Andre, Savage, and Warrior were certainly a tough act to follow as a mania opponent for Hogan. I’m not saying Hogan vs. Slaughter was as big as any of those matches but it was a good main event at the time, especially considering the storyline. Before Hulkamania took over the WWF Sgt. Slaughter was the most popular star. He was the ultimate wrestling patriot and the fans loved him. Shortly after Hogan joined the company Slaughter disappeared. When he returned the fans were shocked to see he turned his back on his country during a time of war. It was natural that the real American Hulk Hogan challenged the turncoat for the title. I don’t think people here give Slaughter enough credit for how popular he was in the WWF during the pre mania years. It’s not like he was just a random guy given a turncoat gimmick. If it was just anyone it wouldn’t have mattered as much. Slaughter turning on the US was unthinkable. There was nothing wrong with this as a mania main event.

I know most people won’t agree with me that WM7 is a top five mania but I’m standing by it. What WrestleMania do you feel is underrated and doesn’t get the appreciation it deserves?

 

[RendarSelin]

I'm sure all the fanboys will attack me for this one, but I always thought WrestleMania 21 was underrated and underappreciated. From start to finish, the card was awesome, action packed, and provided great moments.

Edge winning the first Money in the Bank Ladder Match, a great opening contest between Tag Team Champions Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero (the start of the I'm Your Papi feud), the amazing Kurt Angle VS. Shawn Michaels match, Undertaker continuing the streak against then-"Legend Killer" Randy Orton, and the first World championship victories for the Doctor of Thuganomics John Cena and Evolution's Batista. Althought it may be seen as the start of the John Cena era of WWE, I thought the card was solid, entertaining, and (at the time) shone a bright light on the future of the WWE. Plus, I always thought the movie trailer spoofs were particularly entertaining, especially Undertaker as Dirty Harry, Kurt Angle and Christy Hemme as Harry and Sally, and of course, John Cena and JBL re-enacting the classic climax scene from A Few Good Men, one of my personal all-time favorite movies.

Great topic, Brain, like always!

 

[badnewzxl]

WM9 gets a LOT of heat and I don't understand why. I thought it was a pretty decent show; the Steiners v. Headshrinkers easily had the best match

 

[HBKperfect23]

I agree 7. It had the show stealer (Savage/Warrior), a good tag title match, and very well built main event that consisted of two guys who werent great technically but could tell a hell of a story. The Rockers/Haku-Barbarian match was pretty good and I even liked Mountie/Santana. Roberts/Martel would have been better without the blindfolds but it was still pretty good.

I have mixed feelings about 21: The storylines were great. Batista and Triple H had a perfect storyline and was a good match. JBL/Cena was built very well with JBLs cabinet interfering in every match. So they interfer in meaningless matchs but not in the title match? They needed this match to last a lot longer. HBK/Angle, exactly what you would expect from these two, even had a good build up. IMO, Kurts best match ever. Eddie/Rey was a great opener.

Not sure if its underrated, some people put it high, other people dont. Wrestlemania 8. IMO the best ever. Bret/Roddy was amazing, Savage/Flair was great (Flairs best WWF match), Mr Wrestlemanias first singles match, Roberts/Taker: two of the best storytellers ever, Main Event was built well and had a surprise ending. Wish Owen/Skinner got more time.

 

[HBKperfect23]

WM9 gets a LOT of heat and I don't understand why. I thought it was a pretty decent show; the Steiners v. Headshrinkers easily had the best match

Tag match of the year. I agree about 9. I enjoyed it. Great/different atmosphere. HBK/Tatanka was pretty good too.

 

[jokernaut]

yeah wm21 was seen as great but not talked about for some reason. its one of the best wrestling manias and really launched the careers of edge, cena and batista

 

[ProWrestlingFan]

Wrestlemania 21

One of the Greatest Wrestlemanias of all Time. Everything was great about Wrestlemania 21 from Promos to Wrestlemania itself.

Money in the Bank Ladder Match : The First Ever Money in the Bank Ladder match took place at Wrestlemania 21 which was great. It was the best Money in the Bank Ladder match in my opinion.

The Legend (The Undertaker) vs The Legend Killer (Randy Orton) : Undertaker's match with Randy Orton was also great and many thought that Randy Orton would actually end the streak at Wrestlemania. It didn't happen but the match was pretty good.

Kurt Angle vs Shawn Michaels : Two of the greatest wrestlers of all time against each other provided what was a 5 Star match in my opinion.

WWE Championship - JBL vs John Cena : JBL vs John Cena was an okay match. Would have been better if it lasted a little longer but still the buildup to this match was great.

World Heavyweight Championship - Triple-H vs Batista : HHH vs Batista was great. The buildup to this match was historic and the match itself was pretty good. I don't care if anyone disagrees but I enjoyed the match.

Wrestlemania 21 had everything from great Wrestling matches (Kurt Angle vs Shawn Michaels) to Special Attraction matches (The Big Show vs Akebono ) to great Storyteliing matches (JBL vs John Cena and HHH vs Batista). Overall Wrestlemania 21 was great and should be considered one of the Greatest Wrestlemania of all Time.

Wrestlemania 21 Highlights :

[YOUTUBE]dKP5VsLTJPo[/YOUTUBE]

 

[18dionlyone]

Wrestlemania 19.....my all time fav mania i love it more then the "untouchable" mania 17...if you havent seen it go back and watch it i mean from the opening bell to Rey Mysterio and Matt Hardy fighitng for the cruiserweight title to Hogan vs VKM to the underrated booker T vs HHH for the world title to my personal all time fav mania main event Brock Lesnar Kurt Angle...Just an all around great mania but i feel is overlooked

 

[Killercam]

I'm gonna say 4. It paved the way for the king of the ring ppvs. Plus there have been manias such as 15' 16 or 20 that could have used the same format for the event. Although it should have been an 8 man tourney. This would actually be a great concept for all manias. I know you want to bill one or two main events, but imagine what you could do with the rosters and an 8 man tourney when mania rolls around. It would kill the rumble but until 93 the rumble winner didn't get a shot at the title. It was only implemented to get Yoko in the title match anyway. I don't think it was intended to be that way for the long term. Besides, having the Rumble winner get a shot at Mania handcuffs things most of the times. If you did the tourney you could still find time for ic, tag, diva titles and your typical celeb attraction match. I'm just glad Savage won it and not the Hukster

 

[THTRobtaylor]

I agree with 7, but 6 also is pretty close. I loved how in those days EVERYONE got a match at Mania, even if it was a 2 minute squash loss. Look at the talent who appeared on this show and-

Hogan, Savage, Slaughter, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker... With the exception of Slaughter, they ALL held the World title over the next few years!

Add to that guys like Davey Boy who within 2 years was wrestling the joint best match of all time and the guys like Jake, Martel, Perfect and Mountie who played crucial parts in future pushes and you have perhaps the most stacked wrestlemania ever in terms of talent.

Comes to something when today you have former World Champions not even on the card yet 3 weeks out... WWE really should go back to this format, shorter matches but more of them!

 

[horns1331]

I think the most underrated Wrestlemania has to be Wrestlemania 8. Start to finish it is one of the few major pay-per-views that I can watch over and over again and never get tired of it. From HBK vs Tito, the Natural Disasters vs Money Inc, Undertaker and Jake, Owen vs Skinner, Hogan vs Sid (with the surprise return of the Ultimate Warrior), and two of the classic championship matches ever between Rowdy Roddy Piper and Bret Hart and Macho Man vs Ric Flair, there never seems to be a dull match. I know everyone wanted Hogan/Flair, but the buildup with Flair and Perfect having the photos of Miss Elizabeth and Macho defending the honor of his new wife made for a amazing championship match at Wrestlemania. And how can anyone not love Piper/Hart for the intercontinel championship. Those are the matches that you feel lucky to get to have witnessed, whether live, on pay-per-view or on VHS.

 

[TheWrestlo]

Wrestlemania XV never really gets much attention in my eyes, great opener between bob holly billy gunn and al snow, they coulda got WAY more outta the tag title match, butterbean and bart gunn was a waste of time Mankind vs. BS was alright, but the four corners IC match made up for those, kane vs. triple h was good up until the end, mcmahon vs. xpac was a good match, HIAC was exciting for me (just to c if undertaker remained undeafeted) then u got the badass main event between SCSA and the rock amazing match with a good finish for austin to get his 3rd WWF title

 

[ProWrestlingFan84]

Wrestlemania should be the most awesome event of the year and sadly when a main event or last match leaves an awful taste because it wasn't what the masses thought should happen or the main event was just straight up bad it can sometimes unjustly make the whole event deemed as bad.

Sometime last year I watched WWE's The True Story of Wrestlemania and it had me thinking exactly of what I felt is a Mania event that for whatever reason they felt was poorly done and I loved which is Wrestlemania 8. It up and down had a really good card aside from the double main event, the opening event between Shawn Micheals and Tito Santana was a pretty good match. Undertaker and Jake the Snake was also a pretty good match.

 

[rokuma]

Wrestlemania XII....

Wait, wait....Hear me out on this one...

You had one of the greatest matches of all-time (HBK vs Bret - Iron Man Match), you had a solid six man tag opener with Vader/Bulldog/Owen vs Ahmed Johnson/Jake/Yokozuna, you had slightly before Austin 3:16 "Stone Cold" Steve Austin vs Savio Vega (good feud at the time), Ultimate Warrior's return, Undertaker vs Diesel (underrated and a good feud the time), and Piper/Goldust in the memorable Hollywood Backlot Brawl which was surprisingly good. There may not have been many matches, but the Bret/Shawn match more than made up for it. Highly underrated Wrestlemania in my opinion.

 

[Mr. HD]

I realize a lot of people are gonna say WrestleMania 21 is underrated, and I agree, but I'm gonna do what I do best and go against the norm and choose WrestleMania 16 (WrestleMania 2000)

People really don't like this ppv for reasons I don't know why. I know we didn't have Stone Cold and The Undertaker, but let's look at this for a second.

Every match did what it was supposed to do.

The matches that were least entertaining got the least amount of time:

Al Snow & Steve Blackman vs T & A, D-Lo & Mark Henry vs Boss Man & Bull Buchanan, and Chyna & Too Cool vs The Radicalz.


The filler matches were pretty damn entertaining:

The Hardcore Battle Royal, Terri vs The Kat, and DX vs Kane & Rikishi.


And matches that were expected to be good, delivered and DID NOT disappoint:

The 2 Fall Triple Threat for the IC & European titles, the Triple Threat Ladder Match for the Tag Titles, and the Fatal 4 Way WWF Championship.


This WrestleMania had pretty much everything. All the titles were on the line, they had the entertainment and it set the tone for the stars of the future if you really think about it.

Angle, Benoit, and Jericho put on a great match and exhibited what a awesome wrestling match is in their first WrestleMania. That night put all 3 guys in a different light.

The Triple Threat Ladder Match really put the tag team division on a whole other level. The Hardyz/E & C/Dudleyz took the ball and they put on one of, if not, the best TLC Matches in WWE History. There was nowhere to go but up for these teams.

And then there's the Main Event that gets a whole lot of flack. People kept saying they wanted The Rock vs Triple H. But when you really look at it, the concept behind the match was great. When was the last time we saw 4 WWE superstars each represented by a McMahon in a match for the WWE Championship? The weeks, the build up to this match was great. HHH and Stephanie taking over RAW, Shane aligning with Big Show, Vince making his grand return, Linda reinstating Mick Foley. I think the idea was simply amazing.

And also, Big Show and Mick Foley were eliminated rather quickly in the match, which left Rock and Triple H battling for a good 20-25 minutes. So, in a way, everybody got what they wanted.

This WrestleMania gets a lot of bad reviews because Austin and Undertaker weren't a part of it, but IMO, it did just fine.

 

[mr. jomo risin]

I always considered this to be underrated WM. Most people seem to bash this event and I can't see why. This one got me back into wrestling randomly after an 8 year hiatus. I was in awe! It remains one of my favorites still. I mean what's not to like?

HHH v Cena for the strap was a solid main event.
Mick Foley v Edge! Holy Shit!
HBK v VKM (Misuse of Shawn but wow did the huge spots make up for it)
MITB 2 is one of my favorites (I loves Flair's role)
Taker v M Henry (Ehhh- but atleast it was a casket match)
Angle v Orton v Mysterio- WHT (short but good)
A descent STANDARD! tag team title match, maybe the best womens title match I've ever seen and a little natural filler that saw Booker T getting wormed by the Boogeyman. (lol-ahh the boogeyman)

22 def the most underrated as noone has even mentioned it yet. (so far anyway), but just for the record i'd go 19,17,14,24(shit shoulda picked this one),22,7,4,8,23,3,21,10,12 and the rest deserve some serious editing and mixed tape cut.

 

[Steve0904]

I don't think this WM is underrated by many people, but I may be wrong and nobody has mentioned it yet so I'll go ahead and say WM 20. This was a pretty solid card IMO.

Cena-Big Show for the US Title was a nice starter because believe it or not Madison Square Garden was totally into Cena rapping at the time. He won via underhanded tactics as a face and everybody loved it.

Next came a pretty good tag team fatal 4 way match. After that was Christian vs Chris Jericho with the heel turn from Trish coming at the end. Solid match overall.

Rock n Sock Connection vs Evolution was next. Nice to see Rock n Sock together again and Evolution won so that was a huge rub for Batista and Orton.

Evening Gown Match was next. Torrie and Sable vs Stacy Keibler and Miss Jackie. Good to bring the crowd down from the high of seeing Rock n Sock and great for getting my testosterone going.

Cruiserweight invitational was a really good match.

Goldberg-Lesnar sucked the hind tit, no sugarcoating that one

There was a tag match between another 4 teams. Can't remember this match that well honestly, but it had 4 pretty solid teams especially at the time.

The last 3 matches were all fantastic IMO. First was Eddie Guerrero vs Kurt Angle for the WWE title. Match was really good and Eddie cheated to win just like Eddie would. Untied his boot so that when Angle put the Ankle Lock on it came off which surprised Angle and Eddie got a roll up win immediately after.

Taker-Kane was probably the worst of the last 3 matches, but it had a great storyline and was still a pretty good match.

Then of course the main event triple threat for the WHC. Three great performers put on a five star match IMO. Sometimes triple threats and/or fatal 4 ways can be one big clusterfuck, but this was far from that. Just awesome.

Then I think everybody knows what happened. Chris wins and Eddie comes out. They hug and that moment just hit me hard.

As I said, I don't know how truly underrated this WM is, but no one's mentioned it yet and I thought it was great. Only one really bad match on the card (and that one really was terrible), but all in all a great card I think.

 

[EastCoastFan]

Brain, I agree with you about WM 7. I remember watching that one and enjoyed the show overall.

Just one thing: the Big Bossman faced Curt Hennig (the I-C champ) that night, not Andre the Giant.

 

[ajsw316]

I think the most underrated Wrestlemania has to be Wrestlemania 8. Start to finish it is one of the few major pay-per-views that I can watch over and over again and never get tired of it. From HBK vs Tito, the Natural Disasters vs Money Inc, Undertaker and Jake, Owen vs Skinner, Hogan vs Sid (with the surprise return of the Ultimate Warrior), and two of the classic championship matches ever between Rowdy Roddy Piper and Bret Hart and Macho Man vs Ric Flair, there never seems to be a dull match. I know everyone wanted Hogan/Flair, but the buildup with Flair and Perfect having the photos of Miss Elizabeth and Macho defending the honor of his new wife made for a amazing championship match at Wrestlemania. And how can anyone not love Piper/Hart for the intercontinel championship. Those are the matches that you feel lucky to get to have witnessed, whether live, on pay-per-view or on VHS.

this is one of my favorite wm's as well, the bret hart roddy piper match is great, and the flair savage match is a classic, the onley reason this mania is not a classic is the dumb main event, hogan and sid?

 

[thebrownmenace]

How has no one said Wrestlemania 24? Finlay vs JBL was unexpectedly good, it had a solid Money in the Bank with some awesome spots (Morrison's ladder moonsault WTF), Batista vs Umaga did it's job, Kane made history by beating Chavo in seconds, HBK vs Flair was epically emotional, Randy finally got his time to shine over HHH and Cena, and Mayweather put on the best performance ever seen from a celebrity at Mania.

To top it all off, Edge and Taker put on what I consider the most underrated main event in Mania history. Honestly, nobody ever expected Edge to end the streak. Sorry Edge.

 

[HBKistheHOF]

This is all opinion so I don't mean to lesser anyone else's opinion but I don't think any Mania 4-9 could be considered a great mania or "top 5" of all time. I appreciate and love some of the older ppv's and mania's but it got VERY lackluster during those years. Weakest 5 year span by FAR!

I would agree and say Mania 24. Extremely underrated main-event, Edge and Taker were amazing! I think people forget cause after came HBK and HHH. That MitB might just be my favorite ever too. and No one will ever forget HBK and Flair(I fell like Flair just devauled it by not staying retired.) The Worst FULL(not 2 sec.) match that night was either Batista and Umaga or The WWE Champ Triple Threat which suprised for once.

Also Mania 18 is somehwat overlooked just cause everyone think of it as Rock vs. Hogan, when I think it was HHH and Jericho who stole the show and the entire under card was good w/ Kane vs. Angle and Taker vs. Flair.

 

[The Brain]

Brain, I agree with you about WM 7. I remember watching that one and enjoyed the show overall.

Just one thing: the Big Bossman faced Curt Hennig (the I-C champ) that night, not Andre the Giant.

Looking back at my post I see I wasn't clear. I know Bossman faced Hennig. Andre made a surprise appearance during that match to help Bossman from Heenan's interference. Andre hadn't been seen since WM6 and there was no indication he would be at WM7. His appearance was completely out of the blue and really added to the show in my opinion.

 

[willross]

Probably WM15 and WM22 are the most underrated events.

WM15 was shock WM for me. 5 turns occurred that night. Big Show went face, Chyna went face, HHH went heel, Chyna went heel, and Kane went face. The card had some solid matches, nothing that jumps out but there wasn't a bad match on the card, everything was about a 3 - 4 star match.

WM22 was pretty damn good. Money in the Bank II, Triple Threat Title match, Cena/HHH, HBK/Vince, Edge/Foley.....great show. This solidified HHH as being a guy who does what is right for business, jobbed for the 3rd straight year to the rising star, tapped for the 2nd time in 3 yrs.

 

[Dmbfantomas]

Wrestlemania VIII in a runaway, for me.

Yeah sure, the Hogan match had one of the stupidest endings of all time, but most of the other matches more than made up for it.

Taker v Jake the Snake is one of PAINFULLY few good early Undertaker Wrestlemania matches.

Bret v Piper is a top 10 Wrestlemania match for me. The build for it was great, and it was Bret really stepping into his own.

The 8 man tag was short and sweet. Not terribly good, but also not terrible.

The only thing wrong with Savage v Flair was that it didn't go on last. A top 5 WM match for me, and a top 20 match of all time IMO. Savage winning dirty was incredible.

Tatanka v Martel again, not that good, but not all bad. Nice and short, too.

Natural Disasters v Money Inc. gets a lot of hate, but I love it. Great tag match.

Owen v Skinner is lol, but we needed filler.

Hogan v Justice is what I think leaves such a sour taste in everyone's mouth about this WM, and what ruins it for a lot of people.

Is it the best? Of course not. But I'd say it is the most underrated.

 

[I am Mr. Excitement]

I have to say WrestleMania 19 and 20 are the most underrated in the 2000's. I mean the card for WrestleMania 19 was great Brock vs Angle, HHH vs Booker T, and obviously the show stealer that night HBK vs Y2J. WrestleMania 20 in my mind was very underrated because this card was great too with the return of the dead man gimmick for undertaker vs kane, Angle vs Eddie G (RIP) and the show stealer of that night the main event Benoit (RIP) vs HHH vs HBK i think the most underrated WrestleMania match in history. And you wouldnt imagine that Eddie and Benoit would be standing in the ring together at the end of WrestleMania and two of the greatest performers to ever step foot in the ring would be gone just a few years later.