WWE WrestleMania’s 10 worst moments: Undertaker losing his streak to Brock Lesnar, THAT shooting star press and Stone Cold Steve Austin turning heel
Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels was one of the greatest matches in WWE history but it was not even a headline fight
WRESTLEMANIA isn’t just WWE’s biggest spectacle in sports-entertainment.
It’s also home to some of the company’s greatest botches and booking disasters – mistakes forever etched into the annals of wrestling history.
With WrestleMania 33 just weeks away, SunSport takes a look back at some of the worst mistakes to ever take place on WWE’s grandest stage.
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10. Bray Wyatt Loses To John Cena - WrestleMania XXX – April 6, 2014
Going into ‘Mania, the Wyatt Family were the hottest new act in WWE. They had a barnstormer against the Shield at Elimination Chamber and were tipped as the next big thing.
A win against Cena at WrestleMania would have meant everything to Bray at that point in his career – whereas a loss would have meant nothing to Cena.
But Super Cena got the win regardless. It killed Bray’s momentum and kick-started years of uneven booking for the Wyatts – something they’ve still not recovered from three years later.
9. Jack Swagger Wins Money In The Bank - WrestleMania XXVI – March 28, 2010
The problem with having two top championships is that mid-carders – workers who should be nowhere a world title – end up as champions.
The worst offender is Jack Swagger, who was nowhere near over or ready enough for a title run when he won MITB.
What didn’t help was the fact Swagger couldn’t get the briefcase off the hook.
He fumbled around with it for an embarrassingly long time (edited from the Network version). He cashed in for a lukewarm title run but never reached those mediocre heights again. No wonder he asked for his release last week.
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8. Nothing Happens At The Biggest WrestleMania Ever - WrestleMania 32 – April 3, 2016
WrestleMania 31 had delivered one of the most spectacular twist endings – Seth Rollins hijacking the main event to leave as WWE Champion.
It set a self-defeating precedent for WWE. The next year fans were expecting something huge.
The biggest matches –Triple H versus Roman Reigns, and Undertaker versus Shane McMahon – were in danger of falling on their faces if WWE didn’t deliver some major twist.
Would Roman win over fans with a surprise Shield reunion? Would Sting appear to finally face down ‘Taker? Erm, no.
In fact, everything played out rather predictably – leading fans to hail WWE’s biggest ever show a disaster.
7. The Hitman’s Revenge - WrestleMania XXVI – March 28, 2010
Thirteen years after the “Montreal Screwjob”, Bret “Hitman” Hart returned to WWE – and faced Vince McMahon.
But Bret, who’d had health problems and was bound by an insurance policy that paid out after his career-ending concussion, could barely work.
But Vince, though not exactly a mat technician, could sell for the Hitman – and the rest of the Hart mob, who were at ringside.
The result was 11 painfully awkward minutes of the Harts mercilessly beating up the 64-year- old Vince.
It was so bad that Vince – the evil chairman who’d screwed Bret – actually looked sympathetic.
6. Three Venues, One Terrible Show - WrestleMania 2 – April 7, 1986
Vince’s idea to follow up WrestleMania was to stage the event across three locations with each venue getting its own marque main event match.
Roddy Piper fought Mr T in New York, Hogan battled King Kong Bundy in Los Angeles, and NFL stars joined a 40-man battle royal in Rosemont, Illinois.
From a production standpoint, it must have been a logistical nightmare.
From a fan’s standpoint, it was just a dreadful show – disjointed, stacked with terrible matches, and crammed full of pointless celebs.
There’s a reason WWE never tried to repeat this gimmick – it was awful.
5. Hulkamania Runs Wild (Again) - WrestleMania IX – April 4, 1993
With the age of jacked-up superstars Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior over, it was up to fresh-faced champ Bret Hart to lead WWE into a new era.
But at ‘Mania IX Bret lost his title to Yokozuna – fair enough, Yoko was a monster and cheated – prompting Hogan, who’d competed in an earlier tag match, to arrive on the scene.
Never one to shy away from the spotlight, the Hulkster had an impromptu match with Yoko.
He defeated the new champ in 20 seconds for his fifth WWE title reign – a major step backwards for WWE.
4. ‘Taker and Michaels Don’t Go On Last - WrestleMania 25 – April 5, 2009
There aren’t many criticisms to throw at Undertaker and Shawn Michaels’ incredible match at ‘Mania 25.
But someone in the back (Vince) must have been kicking himself for not making it the main event.
The match was so good – arguably the greatest match in ‘Mania history – that it exhausted the fans and killed the rest of the event.
Consequently, the main Triple H versus Randy Orton main event played to near silence. (Of course, Trips is used to that by now.)
WWE resorted to rushing a crane camera over the crowd to try and rile them up, but they barely raised a smile.
WWE learned from its mistake the following year by making ‘Taker and HBK’s rematch the main event.
3. Brock’s Shooting Star Press - WrestleMania XIX – March 30, 2003
There’s been speculation for years about who’s responsible for this one.
John Lauranaitis, Jim Ross, and Kurt Angle have all been blamed.
But there’s only one man responsible for the most spectacular botch in WrestleMania history – Brock Lesnar.
In the closing moments of his WWE Championship match again Angle, the 280-pounder climbed the ropes to perform a Shooting Star Press – a dardevil backflip splash more synonymous with cruiserweights.
With Angle too far across the ring, Lesnar misjudged and landed on his head.
It’s amazing that he could walk again, let alone finish the match and win the WWE title.
2. Austin Turns Heel - WrestleMania X-Seven – April 1, 2001
Fans get all gooey-eyed about ‘Mania 17 but forget the build-up was pretty shoddy (the Attitude Era had peaked a year earlier).
The show also closed on one of the biggest mistakes in wrestling history – Stone Cold Steve Austin joining forces with Vince McMahon and turning heel.
Austin and Vince should have known better – there wasn’t a single fan around the world who wanted to boo him.
Stone Cold might have defeated The Rock that night and walked out as WWE Champion but his star aura was never the same again.
1. The Streak Is Broken - WrestleMania XXX – April 6, 2014
Not just the biggest booking mistake at WrestleMania, but in WWE history.
By 2014 The Undertaker’s 21-year undefeated streak at ‘Mania had become more important and untouchable than the WWE Championship.
Handing the victory to Brock Lesnar – who’d already been beaten by John Cena and Triple H since returning – made little sense.
Knowing that any streak-conquering heat was passed to Goldberg, it makes even less sense.
The match itself was a car crash, with a concussed ‘Taker barely capable of keeping up. But it was worse than WWE could have imagined – causing irreparable damage to Undertaker and WrestleMania, its two greatest creations.