Just because it's WWE's biggest show of the year, does not mean that every match will deliver. In fact, it's safe to say that every WrestleMania has presented fans with a dud or two - yes, even X-Seven. You'd think that Vince would have mastered the formula by now, but he insists on presenting his vision of wrestling that focuses on "sports entertainment," which can often produce controversial results.
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Whether it was questionable booking, poor in-ring performances, predictable and boring outcomes, or just a lack of built interest in the story, these WrestleMania matches failed to capture the imagination of fans. With 2020 still relatively new, we look back at the worst 'Mania matches of the past decade.
10 WrestleMania XXVI: Bret Hart Vs. Vince McMahon
The year was 2010 - also the year hell froze over, apparently, as Bret Hart was not only back in the WWE family, he was actually competing in matches. It's crazy to think about given the history with Vince McMahon and a certain Montreal incident.
WrestleMania XXVI had a few missteps, like the opening tag team match between ShowMiz Vs. Truth & Morrison, and the 10-Women's Tag Match that featured Vickie Guerrero, but both matches were just 3 minutes long, hardly enough time for fans to get passionate. This match felt like an eternity, as old man Bret beat up senior citizen Vince for 11 awkward minutes.
9 WrestleMania XXVII: Michael Cole Vs. Jerry "The King" Lawler
WrestleMania XXVII featured a match with Snooki, an 8-Person Tag that lasted under 2 minutes, and arguably the worst main event in 'Mania history. However, the biggest offender was another match between two non-wrestlers that went on for far too long.
"Stone Cold" as the guest ref couldn't save this terrible encounter, as Jerry Lawler and Michael Cole (two announcers) went at it for 13 long minutes. If "The King" had won, maybe this wouldn't be so frowned upon. But he didn't win his only WrestleMania match, did he?
8 WrestleMania XXVIII: Sheamus Vs. Daniel Bryan
WrestleMania XXVIII was an uneven event. It's main event matches all delivered, so fans see it a bit through rose-colored glasses, but the undercard was seriously lacking. Kane and Randy Orton bored the crowd for 10 minutes, Maria Menounos and Kelly Kelly pulled out a "stinkface", and Big Show won the IC title just because.
The most egregious out of all these, though, was the World Heavyweight Championship match. Sheamus won the Royal Rumble and was facing off against Daniel Bryan. On paper, this match should have been awesome, especially as the opening bout of WrestleMania. Instead, 18 seconds happened, and the fans were robbed.
7 WrestleMania 29: Mark Henry Vs. Ryback
WrestleMania 29 wasn't one of the good ones, not because it didn't provide solid matches, but because it was completely unmemorable and predictable. John Cena got his revenge against The Rock in their "Twice in a Lifetime" rematch. Triple H wasn't retiring anytime soon, so he beat Brock Lesnar. Alberto Del Rio was World Champion, and he was defending it against Jack Swagger - nothing about that screams WrestleMania.
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Ryback was one of the final two participants in the Royal Rumble, following his fumbled main event run. Surely, he was going to defeat Mark Henry at 'Mania? Nope. The two hosses under-delivered big time, punctuated by a confusing win by Henry.
6 WrestleMania XXX: 14-Way WWE Women's Battle Royal
Poor AJ Lee. She was way ahead of her time, and deserved a better showcase for her talents at WrestleMania. Nothing says "Creative has nothing for you" more than random battle royals, even at The Grandest Stage of Them All.
Luckily, AJ Lee actually won the match and retained her Divas Championship. It was unsurprisingly disjointed, as WWE's battle royals usually are. Not helping the fact was the lack of serious contenders for Lee, featuring only a handful of women that could match her wrestling ability.
5 WrestleMania 31: AJ Lee & Paige Vs. The Bellas
Not that this match was really that bad, but it was ultimately forgettable. The Bellas (especially Nikki) had improved, and AJ Lee and Paige were great, but it wasn't enough to keep this match from taking the last spot on what many consider is the last great WrestleMania (basically before they became marathon events lasting 6+ hours).
Fans got to see an excellent ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship, Rusev's tank, a daytime Undertaker entrance, Rusev's tank, a nostalgia-filled clash between Sting and Triple H, Rusev's tank, and an awesome main event between Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar, accentuated by Seth Rollins' historic MITB cash-in... and Rusev's tank.
4 WrestleMania 32: League Of Nations Vs. New Day
This is another case of a WrestleMania not necessarily being bad when it comes to the in-ring product, but delivering no significant moments because the buildup and booking were so lazy and predictable. It's just... sort of there. It happened, and everyone moved on.
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While the main event sucked all life out of an already-deflated crowd, and Baron Corbin won the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal in a snooze-fest, we ultimately went with New Day Vs. League of Nations as the worst match of the night. It should have been for the Tag Team titles to add a little more drama, but this lackluster match gets lost between the entrances and the post-match angle involving legends.
3 WrestleMania 33: Randy Orton Vs. Bray Wyatt
The story going into this match was actually pretty good. Randy Orton had infiltrated The Wyatt Family, caused an implosion, won the Royal Rumble and was challenging Bray for the WWE title he conveniently won for Orton to take from him.
The execution of it all was terrible, though. Not only was the match really poor in terms of in-ring performances, WWE tried to sports-entertain the audience by flashing bugs and worms and others "scary stuff" on the ring mat. To say this wasn't well-received is an understatement.
2 WrestleMania 34: Braun Strowman & Nicholas Vs. The Bar
Poor Sheamus and Cesaro. We can't even say we understood what WWE was trying to do here, as Braun picked a random child from the crowd (actually the son of a WWE ref) and brought him in to win the Raw Tag Team titles from The Bar.
We could've gone with The Undertaker Vs. John Cena, which wasn't very good, but at 3 minutes long, it provided a shocking squash that will be talked about for many years. This was a one-day stunt that barely impacted anything... unless Nicholas somehow returns and beats Sami Zayn for the IC Championship at WrestleMania 36.
1 WrestleMania 35: Baron Corbin Vs. Kurt Angle
We fully understand Kurt Angle's limited abilities after years of injuries, but there was still a story that could've been told here beyond "jerk heel retires legend" in 6 mediocre minutes. WWE Creative should've done a better job of coming up with a new storyline once Jason Jordan went down - Angle's rumored and more fitting opponent at WrestleMania 35.
The in-ring was poor, and the emotional impact just wasn't there. No one is saying Angle's retirement match should've matched Ric Flair's at 'Mania XXIV (leave the memories alone) or HBK's at 'Mania XXVI (bald Michaels seems like a dream), but fans and Kurt deserved something better than that.
