Wrestlemania is creeping up on us day by day and I for one am still not excited about it, outside of one match (Punk/Taker) nothing grabs me we're getting 2 rematches that we didn't ask for and a uninspiring undercard. Regardless Wrestlemania is meant to be the stage where wrestlers show how great they can be but that doesn't always happen hence this list, I'm highlighting my personal top 15 worst Wrestlemania matches of all time. Now a quick warning for some reason I can't embed the videos in this article so the best you get are the links but hey if you can't click a link 1) you wouldn't be here and 2) you're a whole other level of lazy and I'm impress but you wouldn't know that.
15) HHH vs. Randy Orton for the WWE title-Wrestlemania 25
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXEmYr3GZZs
This match had many problems. The first was that it had been done to death already at the time WWE were obsessed with putting Cena, HHH and Orton together in some combination as the top feud, sadly no matter the combination these guys often found it hard to get on the same page. Not saying they always had bad matches but the majority of the time the matches were lacklustre to me at least. The second problem was going in HHH could lose the title by DQ which would have worked if he was the heel but he was the face. The biggest problem though was the fans were spent, this went on last after Shawn Michaels and Undertaker put on a classic. But having said all that it was really a match that lacked that main event classic feel rather than a bad match.
14) Eddie Guerrero vs. Test-Wrestlemania 17
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYrtPv1cY24
Wrestlemania 17 is seen as one of, if not the best, Wrestlemania ever and it was a fantastic show. This match would come off as probably the worst on the show surprising to see Eddie's name on a Worst of list but it really wasn't his fault. The match was fine up until Test trapped his foot in the ropes and that killed the match. Test was once pencilled in to be the WWF champion and it's stunning to see how far he fell, this would be his last Mania even though he was on the roster till 2007/2008.
13) 10 Diva Tag-Wrestlemania 26
This match is really an example of the Wrestlemania problem. WWE want to put so many people on Mania to give them a pay off but we get matches like this. Huge tag matches that last a matter of minutes and is literally everyone hitting their finishers, in a recent interview Kofi Kingston said "I've literally had a Wrestlemania match were the entrance lasted longer than the match". The reason I put this on the list is because of Vickie Guerrero's disgusting frog splash, Eddie would be ashamed.
12) Jake Roberts vs. Rick Martel in a Blindfold Match-Wrestlemania 7
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXkpHpAByE8
Blindfold matches are never good, this gets a break for me as it was the first one and the crowd were so hot it worked well but it was still a pretty bad matches at the end of the day. For those who don't know Martel "blinded" Roberts with his arrogance and they built for months to this match so at least it had a reason and my guess is that Jake killed it in promos leading up, I mean come on he's Jake Roberts and that guy could talk.
11) Great Khali vs. Kane-Wrestlemania 23
Wrestlemania 23 was meant to see Hulk Hogan vs. the Big Show to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Hogan's bodyslam on Andre the Giant they planned to recreate that spot in the same city. Sadly Hogan had a falling out with Vince and was never brought back to WWE and by sadly I mean thankfully, so instead we got this train wreck and the slam was inserted here. It didn't come off as special as Kane wasn't that much smaller than Khali. Combine that with the fact Khali has always been awful in the ring and Kane isn't that great either it results in well this.
10) Boogeyman vs. Booker T & Sharmell-Wrestlemania 22
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNNFTYNzf7A
This was really a one on one and I still don't get why they added Sharmell outside the end freak out. Boogeyman at best was a stupid gimmick that lasted too long he was awkward in the ring and while Booker has put on some great ones he has to be in there with the right guy. Little story in one of their matches Boogeyman broke Booker's nose during a tie up spot, that shows how bad he was and thankfully he's gone.
9) Undertaker vs. Kane-Wrestlemania 14
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksXvZwAHt4Q
These 2 have never had good chemistry and yet this is a program that WWE kept going to. I still don't understand the people who want to see one more from them at Mania because it would "tie up the story" while there is no story left to be told. Anyways to this match it was built great it must have been a year plus of story but sadly the match didn't do well in the ring, they tried protecting Kane a bit too much and this really came off as a feud ender instead of their first match.
8) Hulk Hogan vs. Sid Justice-Wrestlemania 8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kENNhkSslmA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqQTPefRwqM
In 1992 Hulkamania was really beginning to die fans were turning on him and in fact at the Royal Rumble near the end the fans were booing Hogan and cheering Sid. But he was Hulk Hogan so his ego wouldn't let that be, this was the main event when it shouldn't have been and this was both men's last match with the company for a big period of time. The 2 just didn't click and there was a spot near the end that shouldn't have happened, Sid kicked out of the leg drop and Papa Shango missed his cue and ran down late. So the main event was a DQ for some reason and the only highlight was the Ultimate Warriors return after the match.
7) John Cena vs. JBL for the WWE title-Wrestlemania 21
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDWeMEum7GU
This got voted by the fans of Powerslam as the worst match of that year. Cena at the time was an awful wrestler, I give him credit he's improved a great deal from these days and while JBL was a great heel he wasn't a great worker. These 2 just didn't click and I don't think they ever did outside of their I Quit match a couple of months later. But regardless of the match Cena was over and this was his first title win, watching him collapse into the crowd was a great moment looking back, if he did that these days he probably wouldn't come back without injuries.
6) HHH vs. Booker T for the World title-Wrestlemania 19
This match was based around racism, only HHH could get away with that. No one believed in Booker as a challenger, no one really wanted to see this match and it was during the time when Triple H was the champion and he was facing the most random names and just beating them. What really hurt this match was the finish as Booker looked insanely weak, HHH would hit the Pedigree from out of nowhere and it took him about a minute to crawl over and pin Booker. Wrestlemania 19 is another one in the line of greatest Mania's ever but this isn't brought up in those arguments.
5) Jerry Lawler vs. Michael Cole with Steve Austin as Special Referee-Wrestlemania 27
At the time Cole was being pushed as a big heel sadly he was just more annoying than an effective heel. Lawler is one of the greatest of all time but he couldn't save this match as Cole was just a chubby announcer at the end of the day, no matter what you added to the match it couldn't help. Combine that with the anonymous GM reversing the decision and having Cole win made this match ridiculous.
4) Sable vs. Tori for the Women's title-Wrestlemania 15
Imagine if you will 2 models being thrown out there to wrestle and that's pretty much what this match was. Sweet lord this was awful, so much was botched and the heel was more over as a face than the face was. They even messed up a ref bump. It stuns me to see how far women's wrestling has come when compared to these 2. It came off as 2 women who didn't even want to wrestle (Sable especially) and they just wanted to be that hot women on TV.
3) Undertaker vs. Giant Gonzalez-Wrestlemania 9
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT-oS79P-9Q
The streak is now this holy grail in wrestling terms but Taker had another streak when it came to Mania and that was having the worst match on the show. Taker has had some really bad showings at the biggest stage of them all and it's amazing to see how drastically he's improved over the years. Gonzalez on the other hand was literally a case of "Wow he's big" he got signed because he was a legit giant who couldn't play basketball. I would have loved to see him vs. Khali as that would be so bad it becomes good.
2) Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar with Steve Austin as special ref-Wrestlemania 20
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BXFVvUGkDw
This was a big match at the time but it didn't live up to the hype. Outside the crowd being awesome this match sucked. Both men were leaving WWE after this show and the fans knew so they expressed their opinion and most pros could ignore that but for some reason these 2 let the crowd take over. Lesnar was a fantastic worker at the time and it's amazing to see the crap he dished out for his last match (at the time). Both didn't want to be out there and the only saving grace was Austin stunning both after.
1) Bret Hart vs. Vince McMahon in a Street Fight-Wrestlemania 26
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5P3_VRrdFs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9XxTNV4z_M
This was basically a one sided squash and one that didn't work. It was meant to be Bret finally getting revenge but you began feeling sorry for Vince as everyone (most of the Hart family were out there) took shots at him and killed him. And when you add that to the fact Bret physically couldn't bump you have to question why would you book this match? You should have had both managing someone, hell the Hart Dynasty team were out there have Bret manage them. The only time the fans cared was when Bret teased the Sharpshooter, probably because they knew when it was on this match would end. Thankfully Shawn Michaels and Undertaker had their rematch on this show otherwise I would have switched off the show.
Well that's my top 15 worst. Let me know what you think and what yours are as everyone's should be different. Keep an eye out as next time I'm doing the best matches in Wrestlemania history and you'll be glad to hear there's more good than bad.
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