WWE has many PLEs on its schedule, but all pale compared to WrestleMania. WrestleMania has been the biggest show of the year since 1985. Its success was the reason WWE added more PLEs to its schedule and it remains the most important two nights of the year.
Now the fact that WrestleMania is the most important night of the year doesn’t mean that it always delivers. For every great WrestleMania, there have been those nights that are a huge flop. Nights that show WrestleMania as the worst show of the year.
Below we will look at times when WrestleMania was the best show in the year and when it was the worst.
Best: WrestleMania 17 – 2001
2001 was a banner year for WWE. We saw an influx of former WCW wrestlers enter the company, and the company saw record profits. They were also responsible for producing PLEs that were fantastic. Everyone was a home run, but none were better than WrestleMania.
WrestleMania 17 is often considered the best of all time and with good reason. There were three 5-star matches on the card with The Rock vs. Steve Austin, TLC, and Triple H vs. The Undertaker setting the bar.
They were followed by some great undercard matches featuring The McMahons going to war and Kurt Angle putting on a wrestling clinic. Top to bottom the card had no faults and set the tone for the year.
Worst: WrestleMania VIII – 1992
WrestleMania VIII was a what-if with WWE. Leading up to the show we were all salivating for a showdown between Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair. Unfortunately, due to various reasons, the company pulled an about-face and changed a good amount of the card. A change resulting in an underwhelming event.
Hogan and Flair were gone and in their place, Hogan and Sid Justice stunk up the place. This capped off a night filled with bad matches. There was a sprinkling of greatness on the card, but not enough to make up for the letdown. It was a card that was not too hard to beat when comparing the rest of the shows that year.
Best: WrestleMania XIX – 2003
2003 was the end of an era for WWE. The ‘Attitude Era’ was ending but that didn’t mean that there wasn’t any gas left in the tank. Men like Austin and The Rock put on another great match to close out their ‘Mania trilogy.
Hulk Hogan and Vince McMahon put a button on their ‘Golden Era’ issues and Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle put on a heck of a main event. Those matches were supported by one of the best undercards in WWE history.
WrestleMania was a stacked card, but that didn’t mean it had a hard time besting all other shows in 2003. The brand split was in full force and that stretched the roster thin. The single-branded PLE’s didn’t catch on, and the big shows didn’t wow anyone.
Worst: WrestleMania XI – 1995
The ‘New Generation’ Era was not one of great rewards for WWE. There were fantastic performers on the roster but the PLEs were not bringing it home. This was very apparent when WrestleMania XI came.
Outside of an, admitted, great WWE Championship match there wasn’t one good match on the card. There were some intriguing matchups but none that blew us out of the water. It was a night of C-List celebrity appearances and felt nothing like a WrestleMania. Not even a main event featuring Lawerence Taylor could save the evening.
Best: WrestleMania XXVIII – 2012
WrestleMania XXVIII was on the receiving end of one of the biggest builds in WrestleMania history. The Rock and John Cena’s ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ match was a massive deal and one that proved to be a very entertaining contest.
It was not the only fantastic match on the card, though, as HHH and The Undertaker put on one heck of a Hell in the Cell contest and CM Punk and Chris Jericho engaged in a severely underrated match. That is not to mention the Sheamus and Daniel Bryan opening match that started a movement.
What followed WrestleManiawas a year of underperforming PLEs. John Cena and John Laurinaitis main evented a show for crying out loud. It was not a well-booked year and this translated into poor PLEs that couldn’t hold a candle to WrestleMania.
Worst: WrestleMania XXVII – 2011
As great as WrestleMania XXVIII was, it was the one just a year before that stunk out the city of Atlanta. It was the night that started the build between Cena and The Rock but that was the only thing of note the entire evening. HHH and The Undertaker had a passable match, but it was at the bottom of their WrestleMania trilogy.
This was a night that didn’t feel like a WrestleMania. Sure, the Georgia Dome looked great, and the crowd was huge, but there wasn’t anything else to talk about. Once the ‘Summer of Punk’ took off, a few months later, the quality of the shows jumped drastically. It was a year that ended on a high note.
Best: WrestleMania X – 1994
In 1994 the WWE roster was thinning but there was still some gas left in the tank. Enough left to put on one of the best WrestleManias in history, and the best PLE of 1994.
WrestleMania X was a historic night for the company. It was the 10th edition of the ‘Showcase of the Immortals,’ and they did everything they could to make the night special. There were two standout matches with HBK vs. Razor Ramon and Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart tearing the house down. Outside of that, there were some entertaining undercard matches but not much of note.
What sets WrestleMania at the top of the 1994 mountain is the quality of every other show. There wasn’t a good show for the rest of the year. The feud between Owen and Bret Hart carried the company and those shows, but that didn’t make up for the shoddy undercards that littered every show in 1994.
Worst: WrestleMania 32 – 2016
The initial Roman Reigns experiment was an abject failure. Fans didn’t take to the new ‘Face That Runs The Place’ thus making WrestleMania 32 a flop. Reigns taking on Triple H was a match that no one wanted, and no one cared about. It also highlighted a night of matches that were uninspired and had no business being on a WrestleMania card. No match made the card feel special.
When WrestleMania was over WWE got their act together. They put together some great PLE including one of the best Extreme Rules in recent memory. They began to listen to the fans and didn’t book Reigns as an unstoppable force.
It was also a time when we got to see greats like Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, and Dean Ambrose get their shot at the main event. A much more palatable end to the calendar year.
Best: WrestleMania 21 – 2005
WrestleMania 21 was the dawning of a new era, in WWE. It was the year in which Batista and John Cena broke through to the main event. In two great matches, they prevailed and took their respective championships home.
It was also a night of fantastic wrestling as HBK vs. Kurt Angle and Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio put on clinics. Not to mention this was the first appearance of the Money in the Bank match, a WWE staple.
For the rest of the year, there were some good to great PLE but none that would match the critical and commercial success of WrestleMania 21. Most of the year was filled with ‘Super Cena’ and Batista vs. Triple H matches that we all got bored of.
Worst: WrestleMania VI – 1990
Sure, WrestleMania VI was a huge deal. The title vs title main event was a classic that saw Hulk Hogan pass the torch to The Ultimate Warrior. Unfortunately, outside of the main event, there weren’t any other matches worth watching. There were great wrestlers smattered all over the card, but most of their matches resembled something that one would see on a house show.
When we look at the other shows of the year, most were easily better than WrestleMania. None had the standout match that ‘Mania VI did but they put together a more solid show. The Royal Rumble was incredibly entertaining, and even SummerSlam and the Survivor Series were good to great. It is interesting to consider a WrestleMania that many are fond of not being the best of the year, but it’s the truth.
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