WrestleMania is the biggest event on the WWE calendar, period. Over the past three decades, WWE has built up a monument of fond memories when it comes to the pay-per-view.
The battle between Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania 3, the legendary streak of Undertaker, the retirement of Ric Flair, and many more come straight to mind whenever the grand spectacle comes knocking at our doors.
But all these are the good parts that WWE wants us to remember. Alternatively, there are moments and matches that WWE wants us to forget and this list is going to take a look at those unfortunate ones.
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So here are ten things about WrestleMania that WWE wants us to forget.
The Santina effect
There is nothing wrong in having a multiple-diva match at WrestleMania. It is a great way to get all the divas on the card and if it's a battle royal, it would be a bit more entertaining as well. This was probably the motive when WWE booked a Divas battle royal at WrestleMania XXV.
The entrances of the divas were forgettable, to say the least, and the match itself had nothing worth remembereing.
In the end, Santina came out winning the match. The problem here was, unless you didn’t get it, Santina was Santino Marella dressed up as a woman. Everyone claimed that Santina was the sister of Santino and this made things that much more ridiculous.
WrestleMania 2
After the success of WrestleMania I, WWE was expected to put together a grander second edition. Apparently, the company wanted to do something entirely different with WrestleMania 2 and had the pay-per-view in three different venues.
Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Rosemont Horizon and Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena were the three venues, and each venue consisted of a main event and an undercard.
It was a one hour show at each of the venues and apart from a boosted ticket sale, there was nothing notable with the new experiment. People who paid their money to be at one venue had to be satisfied with a one hour show and watched the remaining two hours on the big screens.
The concept, thankfully, was not repeated again.
Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar match
On one side we had Goldberg – a superstar that helped keep the ratings of WCW in tact once NWO cooled down. On the other side, there was Brock Lesnar, arguably one of the most protected monsters in the WWE history.
A match between these two at a stage like WrestleMania made everyone drool. Add in Steve Austin as the special guest referee and the chances of this flopping were nil. At least, that is what WWE assumed.
Both Goldberg and Lesnar knew that they were heading out of the WWE shortly after their match and this made them sleep through most of it. The fans were not at all invested in the match and started chanting for Austin at the middle.
It was a wasted opportunity from WWE's side and the match is hands down a bad mark in the illustrious WrestleMania history.
Hogan pinning Yokozuna
WrestleMania 9 would go down in the history books as one of the worst WrestleManias ever. It had some awful matches on the card and at the same time, it had matches that did not live up the lofty expectations.
The main event saw Yokozuna face Bret Hart for the WWE championship. Yokozuna came out winning the bout, but once he got the belt on his hand, Yoko and his manager Mr. Fuji immediately challenged Hulk Hogan to a match.
Hogan accepted the challenge and in just 20 dumbfounding seconds, defeated Yokozuna with his trademark leg drop to walk away with the championship. Hogan would not appear on television for a long time and when he returned eventually, he dropped the title.
Talk about meaningless title reigns.
Fandango defeating Chris Jericho
Fandango had a lot of hype leading up to his debut. The WWE creative team was apparently so high on him that they delayed his debut till WrestleMania. And if this wasn’t enough, Fandango was given Chris Jericho as his first opponent.
Having the opportunity to face Jericho at the grandest stage of them all for your debut wasn’t a small thing.
And the best part was, Fandango went on to win his match. His career seemed to be heading in the right direction at that point but it soon went downhill. Fandango is no more than a jobber at this point and his win against Jericho has nullified without much use.
Undertaker hanging Big Boss Man
The legendary streak of The Undertaker saw some classic encounters. His two-match saga with Shawn Michaels was simply epic while the Hell in a Cell match against Triple H was another classic.
But not all of Undertaker's WrestleMania matches are worth remembering.
At WrestleMania 15, Undertaker faced off against the Big Bossman inside Hell in a Cell. A Hell in a Cell match at WrestleMania comes along with a lot of expectations but this one fell flat.
It didn’t even pass the 10-minute mark and to make matters worse, after the match got over, Undertaker hung the Big Boss Man to the cell and lifted it up. A gruesome scene in the current PG environment.
CM Punk having the best match of the night
Not being able to headline WrestleMania was one of the reasons why CM Punk left WWE. He revealed this during his podcast with Colt Cabana and if we look back at WrestleMania 29, CM Punk did have a point.
Punk claimed that he had the best match of the night with Undertaker at the show when WWE allowed John Cena vs. Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson II to headline the event.
The second edition of Cena vs. Rock did not even live up to the quality of the first match and ended up being an utter disappointment. Punk pointing out the same was a blow to WWE and the match that Punk had with Undertaker is something WWE would want us to forget.
18 Seconds of Daniel Bryan
Daniel Bryan, while he was an active performer, was one of the best wrestlers in the whole industry. Bryan came into WWE after spending quality time on the independent circuit but was never given the push that he deserved in his initial days in WWE.
Bryan did make his way to the top at WrestleMania 30, but by then, WWE subjected Bryan to some questionable booking.
One such booking came at WrestleMania 28. Bryan – the defending World Heavyweight champion, faced off against Sheamus in a high profile match. The stakes were clearly high and WWE could have put together a solid match between the two.
However, WWE had other plans. They made Sheamus win in just 18 seconds and shocked the whole WWE Universe, who were clearly expecting something much better.
Mickie passes the limit
Mickie James and Trish Stratus are arguably the two stand-out divas in WWE history. And when these two locked horns back at WrestleMania 22, WWE expected it to be a passing of the torch moment for Mickie.
The company was apparently high on her at that point and letting her win the Women's championship from Trish Stratus was the right way to go.
The feud was solid and the match was good as well, but there were a lot of sexual undertones to the match. WWE projected Mickie as a stalker of Trish and to cement this, Mickie grabbed the private parts of Trish and went on to lick her finger.
This was not a scripted moment and Mickie did get some heat for the same.
WrestleMania 20 Main event
WrestleMania 20 had one of the best Triple Threat matches in wrestling history as its main event. Triple H, Shawn Michaels and Chris Benoit fought it out for the World Heavyweight championship, and to this day, the match is treated upon as the benchmark for triple threat matches.
Benoit came into the match as the winner of the Royal Rumble Michaels and Hunter were having a cold blooded feud.
Everyone expected Benoit to be the underdog but things were different. Benoit had an equally important role in the match and at the end of the day, he went on to script a historic win at the pay-per-view.
Despite the greatness that the match projected, WWE would want us to forget about this match due to the Chris Benoit tragedy.
