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The opening matches are supposed to set the tone for the rest of the night. If the show starts good, the rest might be as well. Daniel Bryan vs Triple H at WrestleMania 30 was a very good opening match. The rest of the show was good and had its moments.
Money in the Bank Ladder matches have started the event in the past and all were usually really good. To go old school, Bret vs Owen Hart at WrestleMania 10 was and is considered one of the greatest WrestleMania matches ever and it happened first instead of last.
Sadly, there have been a fair share of bad opening matches in the past and we are going to look at four of them in this list.
#4 Big Show & Kane vs Carlito & Chris Masters (WrestleMania 22)
WWE Creative missed the mark with Carlito and Chris Masters. Both men lasted until the end of that year's Elimination Chamber match which took place at the New Years Revolution PPV. It made both men look good, but then they were quickly gone from the main event to the opener.
Kane and Big Show were dominant as Tag Team Champions. WWE booked them to be monsters who could not be stopped. So, it was a bit obvious that they weren't going to drop the belts. Especially at WrestleMania where most of the faces usually go over.
Like most young and upcoming talent, WWE failed to capitalize on Carlito and Chris Masters.
#3 Tito Santana vs The Executioner (WrestleMania)
Yes, the first-ever WrestleMania had a disappointing opening match. The show opened with jobbers. Now Tito would go on to have a decent career, but he deserved better here. His opponent was a one-off gimmick that didn't last after this match. So, why book him there anyway?
WWE would take some time to get rolling as times were different back then. The Event was obviously successful but it could've done without this match. Basically, imagine Brock Lesnar facing Curt Hawkins at the start of a WrestleMania. Poor booking and a match that shouldn't be on the card. That pretty much summed up this one.
#2 The Miz & Big Show vs R-Truth & John Morrison (WrestleMania 26)
3 Minutes is all WWE gave this match. It could've been a dark match and we wouldn't have noticed. At this point, Big Show was moving from tag partner to tag partner. But pairing him with the Miz wasn't really that exciting. Miz wasn't at his best yet and Big Show had a much more enjoyable tag team with Jericho months earlier.
Looking at the rest of the card, this match didn't really fit in. Undertaker vs HBK, Edge vs Jericho and even Bret Hart vs Vince McMahon were matches that were right for the show.
Put this match on any episode of RAW or any other PPV and it would've been fine. Sadly, it was merely a time-filler.
#1 Sheamus vs Daniel Bryan (WrestleMania 28)
18 Seconds. WWE really kicked off their biggest event of the year with a squash match. Yes, there have been a few quick matches in the event's history, but never the opener. Whoever booked this did an awful job.
Both men faced each other a year earlier in a dark match. The two would meet a year later on the main show only to last 18 seconds. The two would have a much better match a month later at Extreme Rules, but it should've happened at WrestleMania.
Any die-hard wrestling fans should feel upset considering Bryan only had 18 seconds. But Maria Menounos, who isn't even a wrestler, got about 6 minutes. Awful.
