Worst booked Wrestlemania card

[hellod245]

I was just watching some of the old wrestlemania matches and was thinking of some of missed opportunities by wwe. Numerous time in the past wwe had some great talent on their roster but almost every time wwe/f blew their opportunity with them. I am not talking about worst WM matches or worst WM event. It is about when wwe/wwf had a strong roster filled with popular stars but instead of making it a monumental wm card wwe wasted the opportunity and gave us a semi good WM event with that talent. Some of the famous instances we know were Flair/hogan at WM8, Austin/Hogan at WM18, and I always wondered that after so many years in the same company together we never get to see Taker/Austin, HHH/Austin, Taker/Angle, Taker/Mankind and Taker/Rock at wrestlemania.

For me the worst booked wrestlemania card was WM20 at MSG. WWE had some great talent like brocklesnar, goldberg, rock, taker, hhh, hbk, mic foley, ric flair on their card but what we got was a lackluster card with only main event saving the grace of that show. They got everything right with the main event of hhh/hbk/benoit. It got people emotionally invested as everyone wanted to see benoit winning that big one finally and I praise them for booking that match. But everything else on the card kinda seemed like thrown together. Lesnar/Goldberg was a mistake everyone knew they were going out of the company that night so why put those 2 together? It took everyone's interest out of the match and fans were chanting for Austin who was guest referee in the match lol. Then they put Undertaker's return as deadman on the card and let him squash Kane in only 6 minutes. His entrance was longer than the actual match. The last thing that still puzzles me is putting Rock in a tag team match. I understand they wanted to put evolution over but why not have Rock go one on one with Orton(winning with batista's help) and book a dream match between foley and flair as hardcore match. Their rock n sock vs evolution match was total waste of time. Orton won wwe tittle after a few months of WM so it was sure wwe was considering him splitting from evolution in future so why not book him in one on one match with Rock to give more exposure as singles wrestler. I still cant think why wwe booked those big money matches the way they were booked. So give me your thought on what u guys think is worst booked WM card ever.

 

[Wrestling4life]

I completely agree with the wasted card at wrestlemania 20 seeing that they had such a deep roster. But I would have to go with wrestlemania 19. Mostly because they had such a great chance to have a dream match in Austin vs hulk Hogan which in my opinion would have been 10 ten times better than Hogan and rock the year before. Also I belief austin/rock should have went on last no matter if it was the title or not. Also Booker should have went over that night.amAlso they could of had bigger matches like Hbk/Rock and a Y2J/HHH rematch. Justt my opinion on how they could made that event better and well surpass wreztlemania 17

 

[TheChosenOne10]

I disagree with some of your points about WM20, though I do agree it could have been booked better. I thought the Evolution vs. Rock n Sock worked well and did what it was meant to do. Orton got over, Rock didnt look weak and it set up an awesome and career changing match at Backlash for Orton & Foley.

The Undertaker match made sense, there wasnt a way for it to go besides that. It had to be Kane he faced, and they arent gonna go that long in a match anyways. Taker couldnt look weak, he had to be dominant and no one really cared about the match. It was about Taker returning and getting revenge.

The Lesnar/Goldberg match had so much potential and because of the internet and bad booking it was horrid. Yes the match shouldnt have happened since their contracts were both expiring. They should have been used to put over some other guys. But the names involved were what mattered. They were two big draws going one on one with one of the biggest names as teh special ref. This is the match that needed the most work, I think people would have gotten over them leaving if they were able to have a real match.

But besides what you mentioned the card also had a solid opening match with Cena and Show, which was the first time Cena picked up Show (which was a cool moment in his career) and it was the beginning of his massive push. And the card also had a great WWE Title match with Eddie and Angle.

 

[j.beaner]

I may catch some heat for this but i gotta say Wrestlemania IX was poorly booked.
The Stars: Hulk Hogan, The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Mr. Perfect, Yokozuna, Randy Savage, Razor Ramon, & Lex Luger
The Potietial: I wanted to see Bret Hart vs Hulk Hogan Mono E Mono, and i understand that there were ego differences ect. but i think that wouldve been great at that time, in that place. Undertaker shouldve been booked higher up on the card, and not in a match with Giant Gonzalez. If there was a sliver lining it was that Yokozuna was thrusted into a main event spot.

 

[d_henderson1810]

I completely agree with the wasted card at wrestlemania 20 seeing that they had such a deep roster. But I would have to go with wrestlemania 19. Mostly because they had such a great chance to have a dream match in Austin vs hulk Hogan which in my opinion would have been 10 ten times better than Hogan and rock the year before. Also I belief austin/rock should have went on last no matter if it was the title or not. Also Booker should have went over that night.amAlso they could of had bigger matches like Hbk/Rock and a Y2J/HHH rematch. Justt my opinion on how they could made that event better and well surpass wreztlemania 17

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The reason that Hogan and Austin didn't work was because Austin turned it down both at WMX8 and WMXIX.

Austin didn't want to fight Hogan at WMX8, because he saw Hogan as selfish and would overshadow him in the match, like Hogan ended up doing with the Rock, where Hogan drew all the attention to himself, and not his opponent as well.

At WMXIX, I understand Austin not doing it then as well. The Rock was leaving, and wanted to fight Austin one more time, as they had a good working relationship. Also, Austin's neck was almost gone (he had been in hospital the previous night, and was lucky to be wrestling at WMXIX at all). He wanted to wrestle someone who he trusted would look after him in the ring, and be safe, and he trusted the Rock to do that. Austin didn't trust Hogan at all, so there was no way he was going to have what turned out to be his last match become more about Hogan putting himself over. Besides, Austin-Rock had been great business before (especially at WMX7), so they tried it again, and Austin's neck was looked after.

Do you notice that most of the potential matches you listed involve Hogan vs ....... That just shows that maybe Hogan has been too selfish and built too many bridges, that certain guys refuse to work with him. When that happens, there is little Vince can do about it, and the fans miss out. This is what happens when egos get involved.

 

[Wolf Pac]

Be realistic, Austin didn't want to work with Hogan, so there's no chance that match could've happened at either WM X8 or WM X9, and Austin vs. Rock III was the right way for Austin to go out. And the WWF had booked Hogan vs. Flair on house shows but they didn't go down well with the crowds, so they made the right decision booking Flair vs. Savage and Sid vs. Hogan although Sid vs. Hogan should've had a different ending and maybe the rest of the card could've been changed around aswell but I don't know enough about the roster in 93, so I'll leave that Mania be.

Wrestlemania X8 wasn't bad but there are some matches I would've changed like Kurt Angle vs. Mr. Perfect, Kane vs. Kevin Nash and Austin vs. HHH for the Undisputed Championship. Austin didn't wanna work with Hogan and he felt he should've gotten a better opponent than Scott Hall, so I'm sure he would've been satisfied with facing HHH instead and putting him over. They had unfinished business from last year, where Austin blamed him & talked trash about him for costing them the Tag belts the previous year when he got injured, and they had a few confrontations with each other on RAW and in the Royal Rumble match early that year, so HHH vs. Austin would've made for a better revenge story for HHH. As for Scott Hall, well they could've just had a babyface Chris Jericho vs. Scott Hall.

Wrestlemania XX wasn't bad either, they could've just done with some changes aswell like Rey Mysterio vs. Ultimo Dragon, Foley vs. Orton, Rock vs. HBK, Goldberg vs. Undertaker, and Brock Lesnar vs. HHH even though it happened this year at Summerslam but it would've been a much better match if it happened at this time. Benoit could've just won the World Title off Kurt Angle and Eddie could've defended the WWE Title against a heel Booker T or it could've gone the other way around.

I'm not sure how people feel about Wrestlemania 13, I liked it, but that still could've used some rebooking anyway like Owen vs. Bulldog for the European Title, Rocky Maivia vs. HHH vs. Goldust for the IC Championship, a babyface Sid vs Mankind (psycho vs. psycho), Undertaker vs. Vader to finish their feud from Royal Rumble that year, and Austin vs. Bret for the WWF Championship.

I'd pick Wrestlemania's 15 & 11 for the worst booked cards. WM 15's booking was sloppy and it seemed like the matches were just thrown together at the last minute. The only match that seemed to matter on WM 15 was Austin vs. Rock. And at WM 11, Bret, Owen, Luger, Bulldog and some others could've been used for better matches, and Hakushi could've been added too. Matches I think would've been better for Wrestlemania 11 would be Luger vs. Bulldog, Owen vs. Hakushi, and Bret vs. Taker for the WWF Championship. Diesel vs. Shawn didn't need the WWF Title belt on the line since they were former friends who had just split up by the point, Yokozuna could've teamed with King Kong Bundy to face the Smoking Gunns for the WWF Tag Team Titles or Yoko could've faced King Kong Bundy and Smoking Gunns could've defended the Tag Titles against The Blu Brothers. As for Bob Backlund, well he could've faced Jerry Lawler in a Legends match.

 

[Airehk]

Wrestlemania 2000 was the worst booked and presented — bar none. The main event was bland as it felt like a No Mercy or Unforgiven. Kane teamed with Rikishi for some reason to take on Road Dogg, but not Billy Gunn but X-Pac for some reason. The intercontinental match was a winner. Jericho, Benoit and Angle? Can't go wrong. Too Cool with Chyna for some reason took on the Radicalz which is shrug worthy. Terri Runnels (who isn't a wrestler in my book) vs the Kat to settle Moolah and Mae Young's BS — PASS! Then we have the TLC, WOO! T&A vs Head Cheese? Was Sunday night heat that booked up? Then the Hardcore Battle Royal which was fun, but pointless as it was mainly involved in the Holly's. Finally Godfather and D'Lo was Bossman and Buchanan which is forgettable, even with Ice-T.

The aesthetics were piss poor as well. The poster had no effort put into it, comparable to a local rap act and the stage/titantron was hardly visible.

Worst booked Wrestlemania? I think so.

 

[TheHitMark-SirJoseOle]

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The reason that Hogan and Austin didn't work was because Austin turned it down both at WMX8 and WMXIX.

If that's true then too bad for Austin because The Rock surely benefited from wrestling The Hulkster at Mania, Rock was going to continue being the name that he was, but hey beating the face of wrestling's 80's boom and a major player in its 90's resurgence only helped his character's status. Period. Steve Austin could have gotten the very same honor had he chosen to take on Hogan, that's if he was ever really considered to go up against Hogan in the first place. I'm not going to buy into every IWC rumor I hear in regards to this. If you choose to be that gullible, well that's your prerogative.

Austin didn't want to fight Hogan at WMX8, because he saw Hogan as selfish and would overshadow him in the match, like Hogan ended up doing with the Rock, where Hogan drew all the attention to himself, and not his opponent as well.

I call bullshit, complete bullshit on this one. The crowd went all out for Hogan and cheered him on, of course Hogan being who he is perpetuated and fed off that reaction, but the majority of people in that audience chose to cheer their heads off for the guy, there's only so much "manipulation" one can do in a situation like that. The fans clamored for Hogan, plain and simple.

At WMXIX, I understand Austin not doing it then as well. The Rock was leaving, and wanted to fight Austin one more time, as they had a good working relationship. Also, Austin's neck was almost gone (he had been in hospital the previous night, and was lucky to be wrestling at WMXIX at all). He wanted to wrestle someone who he trusted would look after him in the ring, and be safe, and he trusted the Rock to do that.

That's a fair point and assessment, that could very well be true. Either way, it was a decent WrestleMania outing, but considering the fact that this was not a rubber match, (Austin won the first two meetings at Mania anyway)...The Rock's winning was anti-climatic since his role in WWE was drastically reduced by this time. Anyway, that's for another post

Austin didn't trust Hogan at all, so there was no way he was going to have what turned out to be his last match become more about Hogan putting himself over. Besides, Austin-Rock had been great business before (especially at WMX7), so they tried it again, and Austin's neck was looked after.

I couldn't disagree with you more, Hogan's a trained professional and a man that could carry himself in the ring, with Austin's neck being as bad as it was (since he hasn't wrestled in almost a decade I've a good feeling it truly was) he was taking a risk no matter who he wrestled. Get your head out of your proverbial arse for christ's sake.

Do you notice that most of the potential matches you listed involve Hogan vs ....... That just shows that maybe Hogan has been too selfish and built too many bridges, that certain guys refuse to work with him. When that happens, there is little Vince can do about it, and the fans miss out. This is what happens when egos get involved.

I believe the parlance you're looking for is "burnt" too many bridges, not built. And if you want to talk about egos, let's not forget about Steve Austin himself this is the same guy that walked out on the WWF twice, if I remember correctly. I mean I think a lot of that is built on storyline, but I could be wrong. Make any excuse you want but the IWC loves to justify his actions by saying "Well Stone Cold didn't want to job to Brock Lesnar because it would have been a hotshotted angle and that's a match only intended for pay per view." I say blah blah blah on that, let's look at it this way, since Austin's neck injury and year long hiatus his momentum was never the same. Sure, he won the World Title a couple of more times in the early 2000's but with the continued career renaissances of guys like The Undertaker, the rise of Triple H to the World Title division, and the continued momentum of The Rock, Steve Austin was no longer at the same level by this time.

Having him lose to Brock Lensar would have done nothing to hurt anyone, it would have only continued to build Brock's rise in WWE, I'm by no means a Brock Lesnar fan but Hogan was willing to take the storyline beating of his life from this behemoth, and yeah he didn't do it on a pay per view, big deal. He still did the job to Lesnar, much like he had done in regards to wrestling the likes of Kurt Angle, The Rock and The Undertaker. In fact, Hogan tapped out to Kurt Angle, that should tell you something..."BROTHER".

Anyway, I get it that you're not a Hogan fan, not the end of the world. But honestly man, get over your drivel laden posting...Hogan is not the first nor is he the last to have an ego or to have a less than savory personal life. In fact, we can always cite Steve Austin's domestic situations to emphasize that point.

Again, I must say that I think your opinion on this matter is ridiculous, plain and simple.

My personal pick for a less than well booked WrestleMania would be WrestleMania 27, any time a WrestleMania event is booked and a celebrity match with the likes of a Z-lister like Snooki is the penultimate match, then you know you have a steaming pile of shit for a WrestleMania match, and then The Rock has the main event with The Miz and Cena restarted. Give me an f'n break...

 

[Jerichoholic8894]

I'd say WrestleMania 19. First and foremost Booker T should have went over Triple H in the WHC match. That was a HUGE momentum killer for Booker.

Then Austin-Rock 3 should of finished the show IMO, now I can understand why some wouldn't agree, this is just my honest opinion.

This was the WORST Undertaker WM in my opinion. Handicap match vs Big Show/A-Train?! and Nathan Jones was supposed to be Takers partner? C'mon man! Undertaker should have had a feud with Chris Beniot. With that leaves out Rhyno, but Los Guerreros vs Team Angle is a much better match than the 3 way including Benoit/Rhyno

Kane/RVD vs Morley/Storm shouldn't have happened (Was on Sunday Night Heat). Kane/RVD vs Dudley Boyz(Who were left off the card) should have happened on the main card.

My Final WM19 card:
Stone Cold-The Rock
Undertaker vs Chris Benoit
Brock Lesnar vs Kurt Angle
Triple H vs Booker T
Hulk Hogan vs Mr.McMahon
Rey Mysterio vs Matt Hardy
Los Guerreros vs Team Angle
Kane/RVD vs Dudley Boyz
Trish Stratus vs Victoria vs Jazz

 

[EastCoastFan]

Many people agree that WM 20 was a lackluster card overall, but it at least had the phenomenal main event of HHH vs. HBK vs. Benoit, much in the same way WM 13 wasn't that great, but it at least had Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin.

My pick goes for WM 9. Bad enough that they did the impromptu title match at the end with Hogan walking out as champ, but looking back on it, there's not one match that really stands out from it for me, and I've seen every WrestleMania.

 

[thebarber]

interesting topic. Without anybody actually knowing the behind the scenes reasons for cards looking the way they did, it is hard to comment without this becoming a fantasy thread. Wrestlemania 18 stands out as a poorly booked card. I mean, the Taker vs Flair story was done to perfection. Steve Austin point blank refused to work with Hulk Hogan, this is fact. Hogan was willing to put Austin over, but Austin refused to work Hogan, so Rock was chosen and history suggests the better decision was Hogan vs Rock. HHH vs Jericho was booked disgracefully, the 1st undisputed champion was booked to look so inferior and idiotic, it was the most obvious result in WWE history. Hogan vs Rock should have went on last. Booker T vs Edge and Angle vs Kane were poorly slapped up matches that could have had better stories. With Mr Perfect having returned earlier, a Hennig vs Angle match could have been great.Brock could have had his in ring debut instead of coming out the following night. An initial match and domination of Kane on the card would have opened alot of eyes early. Booker T could have been in the IC Title match with Rvd and Regal. My Wrestlemania 18 card:
MAIN EVENT
THE ROCK VS HOLLYWOOD HULK HOGAN
WWE UNDISPUTED CHAMPIONSHIP
CHRIS JERICHO VS HHH

UNDERTAKER VS RIC FLAIR
KURT ANGLE VS MR. PERFECT
WWE IC TITLE
RVD VS BOOKER T VS WILLIAM REGAL
BROCK LESNAR VS KANE

The rest of the card I would leave, Austin can stay in his mid card spot, he deserved it after scrapping Vinces grand plans of Austin vs Hogan

 

[Jerichoholic8894]

Actually, mine may be WrestleMania 2000 instead of WM19. I honestly can't remember one match besides the Fatal 4 Way. I''m pretty sure the Dudleyz, Hardys and E&C did something also. Kinda had the feel of a casual PPV.

 

[hellod245]

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The reason that Hogan and Austin didn't work was because Austin turned it down both at WMX8 and WMXIX.

Austin didn't want to fight Hogan at WMX8, because he saw Hogan as selfish and would overshadow him in the match, like Hogan ended up doing with the Rock, where Hogan drew all the attention to himself, and not his opponent as well.

At WMXIX, I understand Austin not doing it then as well. The Rock was leaving, and wanted to fight Austin one more time, as they had a good working relationship. Also, Austin's neck was almost gone (he had been in hospital the previous night, and was lucky to be wrestling at WMXIX at all). He wanted to wrestle someone who he trusted would look after him in the ring, and be safe, and he trusted the Rock to do that. Austin didn't trust Hogan at all, so there was no way he was going to have what turned out to be his last match become more about Hogan putting himself over. Besides, Austin-Rock had been great business before (especially at WMX7), so they tried it again, and Austin's neck was looked after.

Do you notice that most of the potential matches you listed involve Hogan vs ....... That just shows that maybe Hogan has been too selfish and built too many bridges, that certain guys refuse to work with him. When that happens, there is little Vince can do about it, and the fans miss out. This is what happens when egos get involved.

Austin hand picked Rock for WM19 coz of his neck issues. He knew one wrong move could paralyze him and he did not trust anyone else on the roster but The Rock. I guess that eliminated the opportunity of having Rock/hbk match. I did not complain about WM19 coz it still gave us some monumental moments like Mcmahon/Hogan, Austin/Rock (even if it was 3rd time it will be special even if its their 30th time) and HBK/Y2j (coz of their similar career paths.) WM gave us a couple of dream matches so I did not complain about that. But with almost same card we got nothing at WM20

 

[ProWrestlingFan]

Wrestlemania 19 was awesome. Anybody who says Wrestlemania 19 was "poorly booked" hasn't seen it or doesn't know anything about Wrestling.

Now to the point of the thread, Wrestlemania 27 was the worst booked Wrestlemania.

The whole Wrestlemania was an overhyped disappointment.

Edge vs Alberto Del Rio was a bad opener. The match was very average.

The 8 man Tag-match sucked.

Undertaker vs HHH was slow paced "spot-fest" as some IWC posters on this forum call it.

Cena vs Miz was the main-event of a Wrestlemania? Really? Really?

The whole card was poorly booked. Worst Wrestlemania ever in my opinion.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

11 is the worst for me, closely followed by 9 (hopefully it's the right thread this time mods...)

11 was piss poorly booked from top to bottom, Shawn's run to the title match was weakly built, he won the shortest ever Royal Rumble from #1... but the guy who was #2 was also last eliminated. So Shawn's acheivement was virtually nothing, he lasted less time than Flair from #3 or even Bob Backlund in 93.

The match with Diesel was even worse but more on that later.

The Allied Powers v The Blu Brothers? Really? That was the best they could have come up with for opponents? That WM was the moment that Lex's WWE career ended and Davey's kinda began, but only if he went heel. But they put Owen and Yoko over the Gunns for the title? Even the most rudimentary booking would say put Yoko and Owen v The Powers for the titles as all 4 guys had feuded and worked over the last year. For the wrinkle have DBS turn heel on Lex that night. But we got 2 horrible matches instead.

Bret was criminally used on this show, how he didn't spot the writing on the wall then is beyond me. I have nothing against Bob Backlund, he did really well when he returned in 93-95 (and I still think they need him to manage Rhode's Scholars) but he was not the right opponent for Bret at Mania. They had the right guy in Hakushi, but they binned that (classic) match till In Your House? They could have launched Hakushi into the stratosphere at Mania, even in a losing effort he could have pushed Bret to his limit and started a proper long term rivalry. But no again, morons (The Kliq) were running the show at that time.

IC title match, meh? Razor Ramon v Jeff Jarrett - Pre-heel turn for 1-2-3 Kid and pre-lipsynch scandal Jarrett. I never bought Jarrett as a contender, much less IC champ during those days. Could they not have started the Kid's heel turn a few months earlier and had Kid v Razor in a Ladder match? or maybe use some of the talent that DIDN'T get on the card like Tatanka or IRS or SID!

So you have a top level talent like Sid, wasted as a bodyguard to Shawn Michaels...when Shawn supposedly has Pam Anderson on his arm. Did Shawn want "an entourage"? I know Pammy turned him down for Diesel but Sid was so pointless in that match. He against Razor, good match.

Taker v Bundy - less said about this the better. As much respect as I have for Taker, this period is nothing to be proud of for him. The streak is built on being fed worthless talent like Bundy and the match was another waste. They went with Sid 2 years later, again he could have worked here... or if you are going to feed Taker someone, make it a wily veteran rather than a poor worker whose only relevance was a loss 9 years prior and squashing midgets 8 prior. Again, could they not have had DiBiase's Tatanka, IRS etc against him... maybe a gauntlet match with all 3? Far more interesting.

So we come to the title match... This did more to damage Diesel than any other match. He had won the title and had a pretty strong showing against Bret at The Royal Rumble. This match reeked of self interest, ego trips and showed Shawn at his worst (till the Hogan match). Shawn made sure the spotlight was on him the whole match and he did little to help his "friend" get over as champion. Maybe he was pouting that he wasn't gonna win the belt as the last 2 Rumble winners had... maybe he and Nash thought it would be a great match and their "chemistry" just wasn't there as they thought. But you can see in this match, this is the moment Diesel starts to not only look weak as a champion but uncomfortable in the WWF. It's also the moment that the inmates clearly began to run the asylum.

The problems go back to that Rumble win I talked about, Shawn was the weakest EVER guy to win the Rumble and go to Mania, there was no "build" to speak of and Davey's achievement was equal by seconds. Could they have gone with a Triple Threat? Sure, I think it would have worked and made the match a lot more interesting. A year later Davey ended up Shawn's first and best opponent anyway. Shawn v Bret would have been a better match up while Diesel took on Davey or even Razor title for title.

LT v Bam Bam - Being from the UK, most of my fellow brits wouldn't have heard of LT... but as I'd followed Gridiron I knew. It was an interesting moment when he and Bigelow had their fight at the Rumble, not as mindblowing as maybe the other side of the pond and it didn't make the "real" news like Austin/Tyson did. But once the match was on it was quite exciting. We hadn't had a proper celebrity match since Mr. T and LT was going in there alone, against the odds.

The match itself, while clearly the most choreographed since Savage/Steamboat was actually good! It stunned a lot of people how natural LT was and brought to the fore how strong a worker Bigelow was. What let it down was the "gangs" at ringside... we didn't need Mongo McMichael and Reggie White and the Corporation, indeed if they were gonna be there why not have them face off in a tag match earlier on the show.

While the finish was not "jaw dropping" it was realistic, a big unit like LT coming off the ropes with a forearm would knock nearly anyone out, and it did Bigelow, who sold the loss like a true main eventer. He knew he'd not only just made more money than he ever had or would again, but knew he'd mainevented his only ever WWF PPV (he later said he "got out" before the Kliq started messing with him) and that was smart on his part.

 

[Jonyboyuk2]

WrestleMania 9 and WM 11 for me. WM 9 - could have been better from an in ring point of view. HBK could and really should have had a clean win over Tatanka or vise versa. Giant Gonzalez was a poor concept from the start. Money Inc V Mega Maniacs was set up brilliantly. Just a poor finish to the match. Lex Luger v Mr Perfect was poor and should have been better. Crush v Doink? I loved it as a kid. But it was a weird thing to do at a WM. Bret should never have lost to Yokozuna. But he did and Hogan came out - I had gone from being a Hulkamaniac to a Hitman fan. I was displeased.

WM 11 - I didnt care about Lawrence Taylor. He was unknown to anyone outside the USA. Loved the Yoko and Owen mystery partner twist. HBK v Diesel bombed because it made HBK a babyface when he was meant to be a bad guy. Bob backlund v Bret hart was Brets worst WWF ppv match ever - because it was a flawed concept.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

WrestleMania 9 and WM 11 for me. WM 9 - could have been better from an in ring point of view. HBK could and really should have had a clean win over Tatanka or vise versa. Giant Gonzalez was a poor concept from the start. Money Inc V Mega Maniacs was set up brilliantly. Just a poor finish to the match. Lex Luger v Mr Perfect was poor and should have been better. Crush v Doink? I loved it as a kid. But it was a weird thing to do at a WM. Bret should never have lost to Yokozuna. But he did and Hogan came out - I had gone from being a Hulkamaniac to a Hitman fan. I was displeased.

WM 11 - I didnt care about Lawrence Taylor. He was unknown to anyone outside the USA. Loved the Yoko and Owen mystery partner twist. HBK v Diesel bombed because it made HBK a babyface when he was meant to be a bad guy. Bob backlund v Bret hart was Brets worst WWF ppv match ever - because it was a flawed concept.

The Kliq famously derailed Tatanka's win over Shawn at 9. That was my 2nd worst show but some of the match-ups themselves were actually quite good, if the execution was bad. Perfect v Luger was the biggest disappointment of the night, 2 guys who were legit fighting for position cancelling each other out.

The Doink fued was supposed to be The Bulldog, but Diana opened her trap saying he was being relegated to "working with a clown". That hurt Doink and Davey, though Crush was as good a worker as he was ever going to be at that point.

The return of Brutus was itself enough for Hogan, for him to then get involved later was a massive own goal from WWF, especially as Hogan was in "black eye" mode (allegedly from Randy in one story). That explains the missing part of this match, it needed some macho madness in it. Savage was wasted as an announcer, he would have been a perfect referee for this match or it could have been a 3 man tag with Razor and Randy... Or even Randy v Razor!

As ever it's easy to look back and say this would have been better, but at the end of the day the WWF survived these bad shows so they can't have been unsuccessful... just creatively poor.

 

[Phil]

Wrestlemania 2, 11 and 27 are the worst WM's in my point of view, with Mania 11 being the worst of them all. The ppv just sucked throughout, sorry even the HBK-Diesel match was average at best, the crowd was flat and the in-ring stuff was nothing special so just another typical Nash match. Like the previous post states, Lawrence Taylor wasn't a well known athlete/celeb outside the USA and didn’t have huge coverage in the UK so that was hard to get into. I respect he didn't completely suck in the match though so fair play to him. The I-Quit match was painful, I really admire both Hart and Backlund but this match again was average at best. Bret's second to worst outing at a Mania, just my point of view. Neither of the two tag matches where that fantastic, people will only remember Yokozuna coming out as a surprise to tag with Owen to wrestle the Guns. Crappy opener will Allied Powers, Hall/Jerrett was again average.. Bundy vs Taker. Watching the 20-0 Blur-ray of Taker, this and the cell match are the shittest two out of his Mania career.

Now Wrestlemania 27 for me is the worst Mania in the past decade, easily. It sucked. I apologise but it just plain sucked. Orton vs Punk stole the show in my opinion, Taker vs HHH was by far the worst match out of their three Mania matches, but still they told a good story and it was a solid match. Cody vs Rey was about putting Cody over on the big stage, nothing more really. The other 5 matches that come to mind all had meaningless finishes or where pointless matches to be on the card in the beginning. The main event should always finish clean at a Mania ALWAYS, regardless if it sets up a feud. Sorry but Edge's last match with Del Rio was average too. A lot of gap fillers on this show with many un-memorable moments, bollocks to the Cole/Lawler match, the Snooki match was shit, The Corre match lasted about 5minutes and the main event was over-shadowed by the guest host.

I'm going to leave Mania 2 alone because it was of a time, and they where still clearly finding their feet on the whole PPV issue. Filming in 3 different cities... I felt the 'biggest matches' on that card where a dissapointment. Just my opinion and I really didn't enjoy the show at all. Great to see Tommy Billington and Davey Boy win the belts though.

 

[crippler]

WWE did drop the ball with some possible Wrestlemania matches:

Hogan vs Flair They had the chance before WCW but never pulled the trigger on it. Would have been a huge mania match at the time.

LOD vs Demolition would have been a huge tag team match at wrestlemania weather it was for the titles or not.

X-pack (1-2-3 kid)vs Owen Hart A match that could have stole the show

MR.Perfect vs Bret Hart The rematch from the Awesome Summerslam match would have stole the show of any wrestlemania card it was on

Ravishing Rick Rude vs Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat This could have been a great match both guys can make a average wrestler look good could have people talking for years like the wrestlemania 3 Randy Savage vs Ricky Steamboat match did

 

[Wald]

It's between two for me, Wrestlemania 2000 is the obvious pick and people have touched on it in this thread already. To produce a Mania as poor as that one in the hottest time in the company's history was practically criminal. It highlights a problem with the WWF at the time, they actually started booking poorly around 1999 (which was an awful year quality wise) but people didn't pick up on it because they were so hot and WCW was floundering so badly.

Anyway it is either that one or Wrestlemania VII for me. This was an equally hot time in the company's history, granted it was starting to cool but it was still mega popular at the time.

First thing to touch on is the length of the card. 14 matches in total is nuts, particularly when you dilute the card so match with meaningless matches like Earthquake vs Greg Valentine. No-one cared about those two by this stage and no-one wanted to watch them. Then you get backstage problems or politics derailing what should have been the actual card. Let's get to the stars:

Stars: Hulk Hogan, Warrior, Macho Man, British Bulldog, Hart Foundation, Rockers, Demolition, Legion of Doom, Slaughter, Jake Roberts, Mr Perfect, Texas Tornado, Undertaker, Big Boss Man and the Million Dollar Man.

Look up the actual card here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania_VII

It was actual madness to keep some of these people apart or book them the way they did.

Hogan vs Slaughter should have been a side attraction, it didn't need the title involved as it was the USA vs Iraq anyway. Keep the match, drop it to the middle of the card and lose the title from it.

Savage vs Warrior was the hottest feud in the company and should have been for the title. The story was even building to that with Warrior refusing Macho a shot at the belt. Keep the match and still have Savage put his career on the line for a shot at the gold. Have this as your main event.

The Legion of Doom vs Demolition was a no-brainer, instead they get kept apart in two meaningless matches. Have them face off in a best of 3 falls match up to determine once and for all who the best team is. It doesn't even need the tag titles as those would have been served better in a

Rockers vs Hart Foundation match. Two of the most popular teams with kids going for the belts. It could have been a classic. The Nasty Boys only got over in the WWF after they cheated the Harts out of the title, you could still pull that match off on a Saturday Night Main Event after Wrestlemania to have them face the Legion of Doom for the belts at Summerslam and leave Bret free to go singles.

Jake Roberts vs Martel was a lot of fun but I can't help but think Jake Roberts vs Undertaker would have been a better way to get the newcomer over and start the Undertaker off with a better received win on his Wrestlemania debut.

Ted DiBiase vs Virgil probably still happens if I'm honest, even if I think it's a bit of a waste of DiBiase.

Bulldog vs Warlord & Perfect vs Boss Man seemed like filler, particularly when Boss Man only won on DQ. Have Bulldog vs Perfect for the Intercontinental title, it's a much more exciting match up between two guys whose styles could have mixed well together.

I think it's in the filler matches where this card falls down. Like I said, 14 matches was too much and it made for some odd pairings. We have 7 matches above so book two filler between guys who might mesh together. I'm thinking Texas Tornado vs Rick Martel and a 6 man tag to get some more names on the card. Something like the Big Boss Man, Tito & Koko B Ware vs Haku, Barbarian & Warlord

 

[THTRobtaylor]

It's between two for me, Wrestlemania 2000 is the obvious pick and people have touched on it in this thread already. To produce a Mania as poor as that one in the hottest time in the company's history was practically criminal. It highlights a problem with the WWF at the time, they actually started booking poorly around 1999 (which was an awful year quality wise) but people didn't pick up on it because they were so hot and WCW was floundering so badly.

Anyway it is either that one or Wrestlemania VII for me. This was an equally hot time in the company's history, granted it was starting to cool but it was still mega popular at the time.

First thing to touch on is the length of the card. 14 matches in total is nuts, particularly when you dilute the card so match with meaningless matches like Earthquake vs Greg Valentine. No-one cared about those two by this stage and no-one wanted to watch them. Then you get backstage problems or politics derailing what should have been the actual card. Let's get to the stars:

Stars: Hulk Hogan, Warrior, Macho Man, British Bulldog, Hart Foundation, Rockers, Demolition, Legion of Doom, Slaughter, Jake Roberts, Mr Perfect, Texas Tornado, Undertaker, Big Boss Man and the Million Dollar Man.

Look up the actual card here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania_VII

It was actual madness to keep some of these people apart or book them the way they did.

Hogan vs Slaughter should have been a side attraction, it didn't need the title involved as it was the USA vs Iraq anyway. Keep the match, drop it to the middle of the card and lose the title from it.

Savage vs Warrior was the hottest feud in the company and should have been for the title. The story was even building to that with Warrior refusing Macho a shot at the belt. Keep the match and still have Savage put his career on the line for a shot at the gold. Have this as your main event.

The Legion of Doom vs Demolition was a no-brainer, instead they get kept apart in two meaningless matches. Have them face off in a best of 3 falls match up to determine once and for all who the best team is. It doesn't even need the tag titles as those would have been served better in a

Rockers vs Hart Foundation match. Two of the most popular teams with kids going for the belts. It could have been a classic. The Nasty Boys only got over in the WWF after they cheated the Harts out of the title, you could still pull that match off on a Saturday Night Main Event after Wrestlemania to have them face the Legion of Doom for the belts at Summerslam and leave Bret free to go singles.

Jake Roberts vs Martel was a lot of fun but I can't help but think Jake Roberts vs Undertaker would have been a better way to get the newcomer over and start the Undertaker off with a better received win on his Wrestlemania debut.

Ted DiBiase vs Virgil probably still happens if I'm honest, even if I think it's a bit of a waste of DiBiase.

Bulldog vs Warlord & Perfect vs Boss Man seemed like filler, particularly when Boss Man only won on DQ. Have Bulldog vs Perfect for the Intercontinental title, it's a much more exciting match up between two guys whose styles could have mixed well together.

I think it's in the filler matches where this card falls down. Like I said, 14 matches was too much and it made for some odd pairings. We have 7 matches above so book two filler between guys who might mesh together. I'm thinking Texas Tornado vs Rick Martel and a 6 man tag to get some more names on the card. Something like the Big Boss Man, Tito & Koko B Ware vs Haku, Barbarian & Warlord

I disagree with 7 and that the matches were filler. Judging older WM's by today's standards doesn't work.

There were a lot of active wrestlers in the WWF at the time, and a lot of guys to whom being on Mania was their one big payday of the year. The beauty of TV squashes in those days was that you rarely saw equally matched superstars fight on TV and PPV was where ALL the matches we now take for granted week in week out took place.

So Greg Valentine v Quake for example was a "big match" for its time. Valentine was a storied veteran AND a former member of the Hart Stable so there was a point to it. That the match was short and a squash (literally) was not a problem as it build Earthquake up for his feud with Jake and Valentine was gone after Summerslam.

Santana putting someone over became a tradition, at 7 it was Mountie, at 8 Shawn. It wasn't a filler match. Warlord v DBS and Bossman v Perfect were proper feuds that played out over time and had their end at Mania, indeed Bulldog originally WAS slated to face Perfect 6 months earlier but he got hurt and Bossman got the gig instead of the Rude feud.

By your measure, Taker v Snuka was filler... it clearly wasn't it was the Mania debut of a major player against a legend. The nearest matches you could say to filler were Kerry v Dino Bravo and Rockers v Barbarian and Haku but those were matches in a flourising midcard division rather than meaningless.

There was a lot of WM7 to be sure, but virtually all the matches meant something and progressed storylines or careers. The only one that went totally nowhere was Demoliton v Kitao and Tenyru as it was basically the end of the Demos and Vince's Japanese experiment failed (if only he'd signed Muta when he had the chance...)

 

[Aquaman6686]

I can't understand the hate for WM19 and WM20, I thought they were two of the best by far.

My pick is WrestleMania 27. The matches were mediocre at best (with the exception of Edge/Del Rio, and Undertaker/HHH), there weren't enough title matches, and more importantly the match order seemed to have been determined completely at random.

The card should have been booked like this:

1 - Cody Rhodes vs. Rey Mysterio
2 - The Corre vs. Kane, Big Show, Santino Marella, & Kofi Kingston
3 - Michael Cole vs. Jerry Lawler
4 - John Morrison, Trish Stratus, & Snooki vs. Dolph Ziggler & LayCool
5 - Randy Orton vs. CM Punk
6 - WWE Championship: The Miz vs. John Cena
7 - No Holds Barred Match: Triple H vs. The Undertaker
8 - World Heavyweight Championship: Edge vs. Alberto Del Rio

 

[justin71]

WM 27 was pretty bad because of besides Triple H/Taker no real stand out matches. The worst is a tie between WM 2, 4, and 9 for almost all the same reasons no stand out matches, but with 9 you has the dumbest ending in all of PPV history. I with the exception of WM 2(Bulldogs vs Valentine/Beefcake) all of the matches had a horrible undercard. WM 13 was a slap together for the main event, but all in all forgivable...

 

[Sexcellence of Sexecution]

This thread needs more hatred for WrestleMania 2000, so I'm here to provide it.

WrestleMania 2000 did not feature a single one-on-one match with the exception of the Kat fight between The Kat and Terri Runnels. The Fatal-4-Way main event had the feel of a B PPV main event, which is indicative of the feel of the show overall. The best match of the night was the triangle ladder match with Edge & Christian, the Hardys and the Dudelys, but aside form that there was pretty much nothing even remotely memorable. In the end, BackLash 2000 had more of a WrestleMania feel than WrestleMania 2000. At BackLash it was the Rock one-on-one with Triple H for the WWF Title, the McMahons tried to screw over the Rock but Austin made his return, the crowd poo'd their pants, and the Rock won the belt. The show closed with Austin and Rock toasting the WWF Championship and having a stare down that would foreshadow the epic main event of WrestleMania 17. That sounds like something that should probably have happened at WrestleMania 2000.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I'd say that Wrestlemania 27 was the worst booked card. It was the worst in recent history without a shadow of a doubt and it's a contender for the worst in the history of the Wrestlemania brand, at least as far as the booking is concerned. Sheamus & Bryan should have opened the show rather than be the pre-show event. Edge & Del Rio should NOT have opened, any other spot could have been fine. Santino's APPLE stable defeating The Corre in a match shorter than Taker's entrance was beyond ridiculous; and WWE wonder why The Corre were not over.... Cole should have had Swagger represent him in the match against Lawler.

Morrison & Ziggler should have gotten a match of their own rather than get involved in the Snooki & Laycool match. Cena should have defeated The Miz. Nexus could have gotten involved in the Punk & Orton match rather than having been punted one member per week by Orton, they deserved to be on the card and could have gotten involved on Punk's behalf or even faced The Corre in place of Santino's APPLE. Finally, I would rather have seen Ted face Cody in a match bringing up their Legacy history rather than the Cody & Rey match.

The only match on the entire card that they got right was Triple H VS Undertaker, and even with that one they ignored the fact that they had faced each other before. Wrestlemania 27 has some type of booking issue with every single match on the card, other than the tiny issue of ignoring history with Trips/Taker. That's awful for any PPV, let alone Wrestlemania. Other than maybe Wrestlemania 11 or 9, it has to be 27. It's the worst in recent memory and one of the most poorly booked shows I have ever seen. I legitimately apologized to my guests at my PPV party that night about the show sucking, to this day that is the only PPV party where I have had to do that.