10 Times WWE Totally Flawed WrestleMania
Wrestling the Undertaker IS the main event, Punk!
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00:00As the latest row to WrestleMania begins to pick up a bit of steam, it'd probably be
00:05wise for Papa H to take a minute in between his father-in-law booking big meaty men slapping
00:09meat on the grandest stage, and largely dropping the ball when it comes to his women's division
00:13to remind himself what can happen when things don't go exactly according to plan at the
00:18show of shows. Or rather they do, but that plan just suuuuucked.
00:23So I am Gareth from WhatCultureWrestling and these are 10 times that WWE botched WrestleMania.
00:2910. Roman's reign is booed into existence, WrestleMania 32
00:33When it comes to the 32nd show of shows, it's hard to mention that 2016 WrestleMania without
00:38feeling a little bit underwhelmed. Despite boasting one hell of a women's showcase
00:43over a newly rechristened belt, the majority of the card just felt like a bit of a letdown
00:47really. So it strangely felt a little bit appropriate that this all-round underwhelming
00:51lacklustre show went out on one hell of a sour note.
00:54This wasn't a case of the company just getting completely caught off-guide either, they knew
00:58what was going to happen, they had Roman Reigns, the person who was getting booed in every
01:01single arena that he walked into, up against Triple H, who was literally just anybody but
01:06Roman Reigns. There was a chance here though before this
01:08event just to pivot ever so slightly and put Dean Ambrose into the mix, maybe in a three-way
01:13or just have him vs Roman for the WWE Championship. But did they take this lifeline that would
01:17have helped alleviate all the negativity that was no doubt going to be present in the stadium?
01:21Of course they didn't. Instead, Reigns' WWE World Championship reign
01:24was crammed down folks' throats, and they more than let WWE know about it.
01:28Hey, but at least all involved learned from their mistakes a year later though, right?
01:329. Not Letting The Deadman Rest In Peace – WrestleMania 33
01:36Now it was evident on the road to WrestleMania 33 that The Deadman, The Undertaker, was not
01:41at his absolute best, was he? Because just taking one look at the way he entered that
01:45Royal Rumble showed you that this man had a dodgy hip and should have been nowhere near
01:48a wrestling ring. That, and the fact that he was tasked with trying to get over a person
01:52who again, had been booed for an entire year, made any real hope of a critically acclaimed
01:56showing like the ones he'd had all the way through WrestleMania 23 to WrestleMania 30
02:02pretty non-existent. But WWE saw this man at the Royal Rumble and were still only all
02:05too happy to throw him into the show of shows, and the end results were as painful to watch
02:10as they likely were to produce. Taker struggled throughout, and Romans did
02:14much of the literal and physical heavy lifting, and it was just really excruciating, wasn't
02:18it? And making matters that little bit worse,
02:20Roman Reigns himself said that he didn't want to win this match, he even requested
02:23to lose it, but WWE weren't having any of it, they wanted Roman to win, so he did, so
02:27The Undertaker lost in what was looking like his final match, and it was all just a bit
02:31depressing. And it also kickstarted Mark Calloway's
02:33three year mission just to try and go out on one hell of a high, and we all remember
02:37what happened at Super Showdown, so I'm going to blame this. This is what started
02:40that. 8. Hulkamania foolishly runs wild at WrestleMania
02:449 Has there ever been a more disappointing
02:46conclusion to the show of shows than what went down at WrestleMania 9? The answer is
02:51no, or maybe not, because there is a lot more entries on this list.
02:54After shockingly overcoming the babyface hero Bret Hart in the main events of WrestleMania
02:589, Yokozuna was your new champion. And this was a pretty bold move, because you had this
03:02big titanic heel beating the babyface at the end of WrestleMania, and people were like,
03:07what, a not happy ending? What a move! And this felt like it could have been a fresh
03:11new era for WWE going forward, only until it quickly became known that it wasn't going
03:16to be this, because Hulkamania was going to run wild, brother.
03:19Yep, that's right, WWE reverted right back to good old tried and tested Hulkster over
03:23here, and things just all got very strange, didn't they? Because yes, Hogan had issued
03:28a challenge earlier that night to the winner of Bret Hart vs Yokozuna for the WWE Championship,
03:33but nobody in their right mind thought that was going to happen straight after Bret Hart
03:36had salt thrown in his eyes and he got pinned. And then Hogan won the whole thing in like
03:39next to no time at all, and even dodged the salt that somehow fell Bret Hart, making Bret
03:43look even more foolish. This entire thing was silly, stupid, it didn't help anyone.
03:48And making matters that little bit worse, instead of doing the favours back to Hart
03:51like he said he would apparently further down the road, he chose to drop the belt back to
03:55Yokozuna at King of the Ring, rendering this entire thing pointless. What a pointless waste
03:59of time.
04:007. Trying to follow The Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels, WrestleMania 25
04:05Some incoming clashes have instant classic written all over them. So rather than trying
04:09to follow something like, I don't know, Hulk Hogan vs The Rock at WrestleMania 18,
04:13the smart move would have probably been just to end WrestleMania with something that was
04:16always going to be as huge as this. But of course, WWE foolishly decided to do the complete
04:21opposite to that. They put him on like third to last, then he had a women's match and
04:24a world championship match, and they both didn't feel anywhere near as special, the
04:27crowd was zat, because they just had Hulk Hogan vs The Rock. And did WWE learn from
04:31their mistakes a whopping what, seven years later? No they did not, because if you've
04:35been watching this video, they do not learn.
04:37And on this occasion we have The Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 25, and
04:41they put on an absolute masterpiece, a clinic, a masterclass if you will, and they're always
04:46going to because look who these people are, look who's involved in the match, but WWE
04:50didn't have the foresight to see that this was going to happen, so what did they do again?
04:54They put two matches on after this classic. They put two, you had the world championship
04:58and the WWE championship, and of course they both just sank. They did not do anywhere near
05:02as well as they should have done. Triple H himself even sat backstage, looked at Randy
05:06Orton and went, you know what, I think we're in trouble, yes they are, yes they were, it's
05:09all moulding into one because my mind is melting again. Thankfully the penny did finally drop
05:13a year later because they put these two bad boys on last, because who is going to follow
05:17this?
05:186. The ref counts Ronda's shoulders after a never-ending show, WrestleMania 35
05:22After having to sit through what was shaping up to be the longest pay-per-view in all of
05:26WWE history, it's safe to say that many of the fans inside of MetLife Stadium were rather
05:30exhausted at the thought of having to sit through yet another match. But of course the
05:34stars involved in that first-ever all-women's main event were so damn talented that they
05:37somehow managed to get everybody back on board because Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch and Charlotte
05:41Flair know what they're doing. One person who sadly did not know what they were doing
05:44though when it came to this closing stretch of this epic main event for the ages was the
05:47referee because he had one hell of a botch, didn't he?
05:50As the match reached its final stages, we had Ronda Rousey with Becky Lynch on her shoulders
05:54for the Piper's Pit, but then when she went for the move, Becky reversed it. And as she
05:58went to pin her shoulders to the mat, Ronda's shoulders clearly were off the mat. They weren't
06:02there for a minute, but the refs started counting anyway. So like for the first one
06:05and a half, her shoulders were nowhere near the mat, and then she got them to the mat,
06:08it was all a bit clunky, and even the commentators were like, does that count? We're doing that?
06:12Okay, let's go with it. Now of course everyone knew coming into this event that Becky was
06:15going to come out with all the belts, the winner takes all the title, everything else.
06:18We just knew that because that's where the story was going. But the nature of just the
06:21all-round botched finish has led to WWE pretty much no-selling the nature of what actually
06:25went down. They just don't really talk about it. They go, yeah, Becky won at WrestleMania.
06:28People say, how? And they go, no, no, no, it's not important. And just as another little
06:32detail, referee Rod Tapata was also fine because he meant to call these matches as
06:35a shoot, and he did not in this moment, and Vince McMahon was not impressed.
06:395. CM Punk still doesn't get his main event, WrestleMania 29
06:44In another case of WWE's refusal to buck the obvious, coming back to bite them squarely
06:48on the ass, the decision to not give CM Punk the WrestleMania main event he so desired
06:53definitely ranks as one of the biggest botches in company history. Had Vince McMahon and
06:57Cole just found a way to squeeze Punk into that main event of WrestleMania 29 alongside
07:02The Rock and John Cena, then maybe there's a world where Punk would've just stayed put.
07:06He would've got his main event. He'd think, you know what? I'm happy with this. I've done
07:09the thing I wanted to do. I'll stay here. I'll earn some money and earn WWE loads of
07:13money too.
07:14But rather than just injecting some best in the world into this weird twice-in-a-lifetime
07:18lie, the call was instead made to just chuck good old Phil into a match with The Undertaker
07:22that was classed as a quote-unquote main event by Triple H and Vince McMahon.
07:27And then we got The Rock vs. John Cena again, but this time for the WWE title, because that
07:30promised an even better match than we got the first time around. Spoiler, it did not.
07:34Undertaker and The Chipmagnet most definitely put on a show-stealing performance, because
07:38of course they didn't look at these two people.
07:40But there's still no getting around the fact that Punk had once again seen his WrestleMania
07:43dreams evaporate before his very eyes, and this all definitely played into his decision
07:47to leave WWE right at the start of 2014, that and the fact that Vince McMahon thought, you
07:51know what? I did that to him last year. This year, I'll put him in a match with Triple
07:54H. What could go wrong?
07:564. The Wrong Women Walk Out On Top – WrestleMania 36
08:00An entirely bizarre set of evenings for more than a few reasons. The Performance Center
08:04show of shows, aka WrestleMania 36, did at least come with a fair amount of fun, and
08:09that was really needed at the time because remember? Global pandemic, crying in my pyjamas
08:13every single day and eating way too much ice cream at 9 o'clock in the morning.
08:16However, it did still come with a few painful reminders that Vince McMahon simply did not
08:20care no matter what was going on in the world at this moment in time. He did not care what
08:24he wanted, he was still going to do whatever the hell he wanted because Vince gonna Vince.
08:27Heading into that year's showcase of the immortals, NXT darling Shayna Baszler and
08:31Rhea Ripley would definitely be in position as two people who could be the future of the
08:34company, and they were two people that everyone was very much behind because they were fresh,
08:37they were sparkly, we'd seen them in NXT and we thought, you know what? These two ladies
08:41can fly. And as they were both set to take on horsewomen at the show of shows, it definitely
08:45felt like a passing of the torch moment was about to go down. But oh, how wrong we were.
08:49The two black and gold sensations were both defeated across the two nights, with Becky
08:52Lynch winning yet again with a roll up because that's just what she does at WrestleMania.
08:56Now at least Ripley did find a way to get herself back on track after having her momentum
08:59completely derailed by whatever the hell that was when she lost to Charlotte Flair and lost
09:03her NXT Championship. Whereas Shayna Baszler is yet to really fully recover from being
09:07rolled up on the grandest stage of them all and having her WrestleMania moment stolen
09:10away by the men.
09:113. Too Many McMahons
09:14While it initially seemed like a fairly straightforward main event at WrestleMania 2000, very quickly
09:18turned into one of the most overbooked pieces of foolishness ever to grace the show of shows.
09:23After winning that year's Royal Rumble, albeit a little bit controversially, The Rock looked
09:27set to go one-on-one with his longtime rival Triple H on the grandest stage of them all.
09:31And at this moment in time, Triple H was arguably the biggest heel in the company, Rock was
09:35the biggest face, it just made sense. But that would have been a bit too easy, wouldn't it?
09:39The attention was ultimately pulled away from this twosome and The Big Show was thrown in
09:42there and Mick Foley too because we just need more people and more stars and more star power
09:47because that's how Vince's brain works.
09:50And in addition to just overloading the actual in-ring action that was going down in between
09:54the ropes, they put a McMahon in every corner because nothing sells a WrestleMania like
09:59four McMahons.
10:01Now admittedly, giving Mick Foley the WrestleMania main event spot that he definitely deserved
10:05after putting his body on the line and putting it through hell for years and years and years
10:09was a nice touch, we all love that. It's just a shame that it got thrown into such
10:12an overstuffed and just sour taste contest.
10:16And this was all complete with a typical headline-stealing Vince McMahon swerve because
10:19of course it was, and Triple H won the thing so he had a heel coming out on top in WrestleMania
10:24in the main event for the first time ever just to really sour-slash-sweeten the deal
10:28whatever way you want to put it.
10:29So what could have been one of the strongest show-of-show closers of all time turned out
10:32to be little more than a McMahon-obsessed mess.
10:35Number two, Austin's deal with the Devil ends an All-Timer on a sour note.
10:39WrestleMania X-Seven
10:41Despite quite possibly sitting as the greatest WrestleMania of all time, the way that
10:46WrestleMania X-Seven ended still has many fans scratching their heads to this day.
10:50So in the main event, you had Stone Cold Steve Austin versus The Rock. This was the second
10:53time they were going at it at WrestleMania, they were long-time rivals, they were the
10:56biggest stars in the company, but the plan going into this was to somehow turn Stone
11:00Cold Steve Austin heel in his home state.
11:04Stone Cold Steve Austin, biggest babyface of all time, the hero, the face of the company,
11:09turn him heel in his own backyard.
11:11Stone Cold could have punched a baby in the face and give the middle finger to the American
11:14flag inside of the Astrodome and he still would not have been booed.
11:19This was Stone Cold Steve Austin.
11:20But did that stop WWE from insisting on going through with one of the worst decisions in
11:24WWE history and turning the bionic redneck on the WrestleMania stage in the main event?
11:29No it did not.
11:30Not even the sight of Austin sharing a beer with his long-time mortal enemy Vince McMahon,
11:34the boss, the Devil himself, could get people to boo him because they loved him because
11:38it's Stone Cold.
11:39I don't know how many times I've got to say it, this was Stone Cold.
11:42Even Austin himself has admitted in years gone by that if he could go back, if he could
11:45jump into a time machine now, he would change things, he would call an audible because you
11:49could hear the noise in that stadium, that arena, that moment.
11:52They were not booing Stone Cold.
11:54They did not hate him, so why not just lean into it and make an incredible WrestleMania
11:57moment?
11:58That's just what you do.
11:59And hell, if he did jump into that time machine, he might have been saved from the absolute
12:02failed experiment that was the Stone Cold Steve Austin heel turn in General Two.
12:06Number one, all of it, WrestleMania 27.
12:10It may have come equipped with the return of the People's Champion and one hell of
12:13a war between The Undertaker and Triple H, but outside of those few occasional highlights,
12:17WrestleMania 27, when you think about it, when those words get thrown into a conversation,
12:21you get chills, I get chills, I get shivers, I'm shivering right now.
12:24Stuffing the biggest event on the calendar with a frankly disturbing amount of nothing
12:29matches.
12:30And these range from Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler doing whatever the hell that was, to
12:34the weird Snooki nonsense when they had that six-person tag match with Snooki from Jersey
12:39Shore.
12:40Snooki was there.
12:41The stage was then well and truly set for a truly horrific main event that everyone
12:45remembers for all the wrong reasons.
12:46Because despite walking out of the show of shows with the WWE Championship in a match
12:50that involved him and John Cena, a disturbing concussion and the fact that Rock got involved
12:54with the match late on completely overshadowed The Miz's massive win, with the attention
12:58then swiftly turning to The Rock vs. John Cena at next year's WrestleMania.
13:02Yep, that's right, the most important main event of the year was little more than an
13:07angle to set up the following year's WrestleMania.
13:10A waste of time, talent and energy from pretty much start to finish.
13:14To class this as the greatest botch of them all would be a bit of an understatement, wouldn't
13:18it?
13:19So that has been our list of any other times that WWE botched the grandest stage of them
13:23all, the show of shows, the showcase of the immortals.
13:25Then let us know all about them in the comments section right down below and don't forget
13:29to like this video, share it and subscribe to all things WhatCulture Wrestling and follow
13:33myself on Twitter at GMorgan04 and follow everyone here at WhatCultureWWE at WhatCultureWWE
13:39because that's what we're called on Twitter, WhatCultureWWE, go and find us.
13:42And be sure to enjoy all of the other WrestleMania content that we have dropping around my lovely
13:46face at this point.
13:47If you've not already voted on the Ultimate WrestleMania card, go and do that if it's
13:50not already been decided, I never know when these videos are going to drop.
13:53In the meantime, just be good to yourself and let us enjoy this road to WrestleMania
13:57because I want to see my Brock smash into Enomous and I'm going to smile and pop a beard
14:01just for that.