Which Wrestlemania was better 14 or 15?

[CM Steel]

Both Wrestlemania 14 & 15 were during the peak of the infamout attitude era. They were both Wrestlemania's with an attitude! With Stone Cold Steve Austin headlining both of those Wrestlemania's. Plus they both had appearances from future WWE hall of famer Pete Rose too...

Following those two WM's, Wrestlemania 16 (2000) had to be the worst WM of all-time! For various reason's. But WM 17 made up for that one ending WM's during the attitude era.

So in your opinion. Which Wrestlemania was better 14 or 15?

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

WMXIV by a mile or heck 10 miles. 14 had a better buildup, better stories leading to the event, and some huge pay offs Taker finally going one-on-one with Kane, Austin winning the title, Shamrock winning the war but not the title, and the dumpster match. All were highly invested long term feuds. Plus the atmosphere and matches were way better.

XV - had insane booking. Gunn in the Hardcore Title Match and Road Dogg in the IC Title? The worst HIAC match in history, and a main event full of botches.

 

[HBsam31]

14 was better by far. It had the better build with the better matches. Austin HBK alone was better than all of Mania 15. 15 seems to be regarded as one of the worst all time. I would say 14 is somewhere in the middle. A lot of long term feuds were addressed at Mania 14. We had Taker Kane and the dumpster match and of course HBK/Austin. Just a better show from top to bottom.

 

[The Brain]

WM14 was far and away better than WM15. The hype and the build to mania is almost as important as the action. 14 had a tremendous build whereas 15 fell flat. Besides the battle royal and cruiserweight match every match at 14 had a lot of hype and a lot of time put into the angle. 15 just felt kind of thrown together and had a bunch of ridiculously lame Russo type swerves. 14 is probably close to the top of my mania list (top half anyway) while 15 is all the way at the very bottom as the worst mania of all.

Which mania do you think was better, Mack_Swagger?

 

[MTL722]

Anybody saying 15 was better than literally ANY Wrestlemania I'd challenge to sit and watch it all the way through. Its quite the challenge. Undertaker VS Big Boss Man was a HIAC that went under 10 minutes. I dont even need to say anything else about that.

You also had Shane McMahon beating X-Pac for the European title, 2 DQ finishes, and Butterbean Vs Bart Gunn in a boxing match that last 34 seconds. Not to mention Sable Vs The Kat got more time than the tag team championship match did.

And how on Gods green earth anybody can call Wrestlemania 16 the worst WM ever is astounding? The Triangle ladder match between the Hardys, Dudleys, and Edge and Christian alone was better than Wrestlemania 15

 

[HBKistheHOF]

Wrestlemania XIV wasn't all that good, but it was waaaaaaay better than XV. XV is the worst wrestlemania of all time by a mile. I'd put XV lower than IX and XI even.

I think this is a little pushing it. First off I think Mania XIV was that good! I'd agree that Mania XV was worse than Mania IX because there are some parts of Mania IX I really enjoy but I don't think it was worse than Mania XI. There are even a couple, like Mania I or Mania 2000 that I would even put equal to Mania XV.

Wrestlemania XV felt very rushed & thrown together. Also, while most might disagree with me, I don't think we needed 3 Austin/Rock matches at Mania. I think it should have been Austin/Taker for the title at Mania XV & have Rocky fight HHH or Foley or someone. Mania XV had a decent Kane/HHH match but the rest was sub-par undercard matches & the worst HiaC to date.

Wrestlemania XIV not only had an awesome main event(that could have been one of the greatest matches of all time if HBK wasn't hurt), it had an amazing build up for the match. As well as the first Kane/Taker Mania match, a great European title match between Owen & HHH, a solid IC title match between Rocky & Ken Shamrock, & some good tag team & mixed tag team action.

So while I wouldn't go as far as to say Mania XV was the worst of all time, it was DEFINATELY worse than Mania XIV!

 

[Mr. HD]

I'm gonna go with everybody else and say WM 14 was better than WM 15.

The only reason why WM 15 was at least decent was because of the break-up of DX during the X-Pac/Shane match and the Rock/Austin main event. Everything else was a mess. The Hell in a Cell was bad, I still don't know why they switched Billy Gunn and Road Dogg out of their respective storylines, and everything else was just....Idk weird. 15 was bad, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that it was the worst WrestleMania of all time.

WM 14 was a great show. The 15 team battle royal to start, Kane vs Undertaker, Rock vs Shamrock, HHH vs Owen, the first and only time The New Age Outlaws wrestled as a tag team at WrestleMania, and of course the whole Austin/HBK/Mike Tyson scenario for the main event. WM 14 pretty much ushered in the Attitude Era.

 

[TheChosen1]

I'm partial to 14 because I was there. 14 took the city of Boston over for a week. Boston crowds are as crazy as Philly, NYC and abroad. Also- It was HBK's last match for years and the beginning of Austin's super stardom.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

And how on Gods green earth anybody can call Wrestlemania 16 the worst WM ever is astounding? The Triangle ladder match between the Hardys, Dudleys, and Edge and Christian alone was better than Wrestlemania 15

But that's one match in a "heatless" card were we also had to sit through a catfight, two throw away tag team matches, a gimmped DX vs. Kane and Rikishi, and a throwaway main event that took up 1/3 of the PPV.

Rock/Big Show/Triple H/Foley was one of the least anticipated main event in WM's history. Partly because it was seen as just another multi-man WWF Title match that we have been seeing since Summerslam 1999. I don't think anyone was excited for this match even Jerry Lawler looked uninterested in commentary.

WM16 was not the worst Wrestlemania but it's right down there with XI, IX, and XV. It's so strange that in the WWF's most prolific and profitable era they were 50/50 at delivering a good WM.

 

[Nate DaMac]

14 was the first Wrestlemania I'd ever seen live (on TV) so I'm probably a bit biased. I actually have the old VHS laying around here somewhere. I've watched it since a few times and while it doesn't really hold up too well, it was booked very well. Austin beating Michaels for the title which may be one of the best "Passing the Torch" moments ever, Kane and Undertaker finally meeting, and hell, one of my favorite parts was LOD returning in the opening Tag Team Battle Royal. I was a huge mark for those guys.

I saw WM15 live (again, on TV) as well, but I've never re-watched it. I probably dug it as a kid but now I can't see myself taking the time to find out.

 

[CM Steel]

WM14 was far and away better than WM15. The hype and the build to mania is almost as important as the action. 14 had a tremendous build whereas 15 fell flat. Besides the battle royal and cruiserweight match every match at 14 had a lot of hype and a lot of time put into the angle. 15 just felt kind of thrown together and had a bunch of ridiculously lame Russo type swerves. 14 is probably close to the top of my mania list (top half anyway) while 15 is all the way at the very bottom as the worst mania of all.

Which mania do you think was better, Mack_Swagger?

I don't know to tell you the truth, that's why I made this thread to get a good idea of it. Both WM 14 & 15 were good. But if I had to choose one it would have to be...Wrestlemania 14, I guess.

It was the last Wrestlemania that we would see "Mr. Wrestlemania" Shawn Michaels in a match if at all. He was not in the best shape back then. And I liked most of the matches on that card except for Mero/Sable vs Goldust/Luna. And Mike Tyson was the icing on the cake for the main event bout between the future WWE hall of famers.

Wrestlemaina 15's card wasn't through together like people say it was. We got to see the first Hardcore title match at that years mania. Butterbean boxed at that years mania which we could have saw with Mike Tyson a year before at WM 14. No light-heavyweight/cruseirweight action that year. And yeah the hell in a cell match between the Undertaker and the Big Boss man was just to sell more tickets and buyrates.

Wrestlemania 16 (2000) was bunk! I don't care who disagrees with me on that. Even though I loved the Godfather's entrance with rap legend Ice-T!

But if I had to give up an answer, it would have to be WM 14 from Boston, MA.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Wrestlemania 14 was quite a bit superior to Wrestlemania 15. It was a highly entertaining card from top to bottom and one I look back very fondly of. I still have my old VHS tape of it from when I was a kid and recall watching it again in its entirety with my college buddies a couple of years back when we were bored one weekend, we noticed that it has aged well. The best matches easily were the Taker VS Kane match and the main event between Shawn Michaels and Stone Cold with Tyson as the special guest enforcer.

Wrestlemania 15 wasn't really that memorable, other than the Stone Cold VS Rock match, and even that wasn't as good as their other encounters. I wouldn't call it one of the worst Wrestlemania events but it's nowhere near as good as 14. Michaels' last Wrestlemania performance for many years, Stone Cold's title win, Kane VS Taker, Tyson's involvement.... So many great things about Wrestlemania 14 put it far above Wrestlemania 15 in quality. Wresltemania 14 also didn't have any bad matches, one cannot make the same argument for Wrestlemania 15.

 

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

I would give the edge to XIV as most (if not all) on here have. Both title matches were good. But after that is where XIV stands out. There is nothing on XV's card that comes close to Taker v Kane at XIV. Even after that you have Trips v Owen and Rock v Shamrock which were solid matches as well.

While I always laugh looking back at the promo's for XIV which claim it to be x-rated. It still was a better card than XV.

 

[dd23beatlesfan1]

To the best of my recollection, I'm one of the few people on here that has defended Wrestlemania XV as being at least, a decent Wrestlemania. Wrestlemania XV was basically a bigger hyped, extended Monday Night Raw of that era, which at the time I loved. It really depends on whether you were a fan of that period of wrestling. If you really enjoyed the exciting, but chaotic, sloppy booking style that was the Attitude Era, then you'll probably enjoy Wrestlemania XV for what it was. It's probably not a show that holds up very well, but it was a certainly a show of it's time, and at the time I enjoyed it immensely. While I think it's in the bottom 10 of all the Wrestlemanias, I certainly don't consider it the worst (Wrestlemania XI is still the worst ever). Wrestlemania XV wasn't about the matches on the card, it was about the overall show, and while it was chaotic, and even sloppy, and certainly lacking in great matches, it was an entertaining show at least.

With that said, Wrestlemania XIV is BY FAR a superior event, and IMO still to this day, one of the greatest ppv events in the history of WWE. There have been other ppv events that were more consistent with matches, but few events were able to combine, good, logical booking, with classic matches, and influence and impact on the history of the company. Wrestlemania XIV was the official kick-off of the Attitude Era. In a thread a few months ago, discussing the greatest ppv events in WWE history, I mentioned about Wrestlemania XIV, that while watching it, you truly felt you were watching the dawning of a new era in the company. With most ppv events that are important on the company's history, you go back years later and say "yeah, it was a pretty important show," but few you could genuinely say that as you were watching it. Wrestlemania XIV was one of those ppv events. Taker/Kane (IMO the best "big man/giant" wrestler match of all-time) and HBK/Stone Cold are amongst the best matches in Wrestlemania history, and the rest of the card was solid too with HHH/Owen Hart, Rock/Shamrock, the 15 team battle royal (I enjoy all battle royals, no matter how insignificant they may be), and a great gem of a light heavyweight match between Taka Michinoku and Aguila. Wrestlemania XIV, isn't just vastly superior to Wrestlemania XV, it's one of the best Wrestlemanias ever (top 5 for sure), and one of the best events in the company's history (top 10 probably).


So in short, though Wrestlemania XV isn't amongst the worst ppv events in history, it's certainly nowhere near the level of Wrestlemania XIV.

 

[Killercam]

Obviously 14 was better. Better build, better crowd, etc. However, I think 14 was booked as good as it could have been at the time, 15 definitely wasn't and if it would have been the changes would have looked something like this (had it been booked properly it would have been better)

WWF Title- Rock - Foey
SCSA - Vince (Ref: HBK)
HIAC - Taker - Kane

I'll explain: Vince and Austin was the logical main event for this one, of course they used it the month before to sell the ppv for Feb but this was a feud that should have cumulated at Mania (besides Vince went on to fight the likes of Hogan, Bret and HBK at
Manias. Let Vince use Big Show as his secret weopan for the match. HBK could be the ref as a face (with everyone wondering would he screw Austin). In the end Vince should have went over (no heelish turn from HBK) but he somehow gets screwed over , probably just using help from Big Show. Vince winning sets up Austin winning the rematch later on

Rock vs Foley should have been used to end the show with Foley going over, maybe even with help from Austin

Taker Kane. This should have been the third time these two hooked up with it still being a relatively fresh match. You had Taker going over at 14 in the first one, you let Kane come back and win the "inferno" rematch, then have the build up for HIAC to settle the score at Mania with obviously Taker going over

Those changes would have set up other changes ofcourse, what do you do with HHH being the main one, but this one had a lo of potential and ended up being just flat out awful.

 

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

XIV gets some bonus points for the outfit that Sunny was wearing. I was 14 at the time and I remember thinking if they had a camera angle straight down her chest you could probably see it all because of the way her spiked bra looked from the front.

14 year old me wasn't very bright.