'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Once upon a time, the main event of WWE WrestleMania was always the selling point to make fans want to buy the pay-per-view. Sure a strong undercard was always very important too, but the main event is what was supposed to make fans really want to tune in.
Apparently, Vince McMahon himself sometimes doesn't get this memo. Over time the main event has surprisingly become less important, with some very unpopular choice of matches being selected to close the show. Whether it be a match or even just one superstar involved, this is five times that WrestleMania had the wrong main event.
#5 Triple H vs. Randy Orton - WrestleMania 25
Triple H and Randy Orton had a very long on again/off again feud between 2004 and 2009. So by the time WrestleMania 25 rolled around, they had already fought in almost every match a superstar can have in WWE. Yet we were supposed to be entertained by a regular one-on-one match between them after they had previously had a Cage match, several Street Fights and not one but two Last Man Standing matches over the previous two years.
To have made matters worse, the match actually had a pretty good build-up, to the point where you really wanted to see Triple H beat the holy hell out of Orton. But stupidly, a stipulation was added that 'The Game' would lose his WWE Championship to Randy if he got disqualified. The match itself was passable at best, but everything that a WrestleMania main event shouldn't have been. It also didn't help that Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker wore out the Texas audience in their 30-minute classic earlier on the show.
#4 Hulk Hogan vs Sid Justice - WrestleMania VIII
Hulk Hogan was the biggest WWE star of the 1980's, and probably all of wrestling. Ric Flair was the biggest star of the 80's of the rival, NWA. Nobody ever thought it would happen, but in 1991, Ric Flair left the NWA after a major fall out with boss Jim Herd and signed with the WWE, and suddenly the biggest dream match in all of the wrestling was about to become a reality... Until it didn't.
WWE did indeed have plans for the match even teasing it with stare downs between the two on television. So why didn't the ultimate dream match happen?... Well in early 1992 WWE's live event attendance was getting pretty small and Vince McMahon decided to try bringing it up by booking a tour featuring Hogan vs Flair in the main event of each night. Surprisingly, this did little to help attendance figures. WWE then got cold feet with the match happening as the main event of WrestleMania and scrapped it.
Instead, we got Flair vs Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan vs Sid Justice. This was just wrong. Now it wasn't a total loss as Flair vs Savage was a great match, but Hogan vs Sid wasn't and no one will ever convince me that Hogan vs Flair was not the right main event. I really don't know how WWE thought that Hogan vs Sid would pull in a better number than Hogan vs Flair.
To make matters worse, the match between them ended in a disqualification, yes, the main event of WrestleMania ended in a DQ.
#3 Triple H vs Roman Reigns - WrestleMania 32
Alright so here is the thing, I actually really like Roman Reigns, yes I am a man in my 20's and I like 'The Big Dog'. Even so, I still shared the many frustrations of everyone else when Roman won the number one contender's match over Brock Lesnar and Dean Ambrose, to face Triple H in Dallas for the WWE Championship.
As much as I have always liked Roman, I also know, based on his reaction every week, that he is not 'The Guy'. Maybe someday, after a dominant heel run, he can become a bigger face, but that is not today. Going into WrestleMania, I knew he would be booed right out of the building, and being present there in person, I can safely say that this reaction was far worse in person than for those watching from home. Roman was booed so badly that you would have thought he was the big bad heel in this one. Triple H and Stephanie McMahon did everything they could to get Roman cheered, even Steph calling every single fan in the arena 'unworthy peasants' as she made her entrance. Again, nothing helped, especially since overall the match itself was pretty piss-poor.
WWE can be as proud as they want to be about WrestleMania 32 being the most successful event they have ever produced. But everyone else will remember it for having about 90,000 of the 100,000 + in attendance loudly booing as the show went off the air.
#2 The Rock vs John Cena - WrestleMania 29
Every single week, for an entire year from 2011 - 2012, on every single episode of RAW and Smackdown, WWE promoted The Rock vs John Cena at WrestleMania 28 as being 'Once In A Lifetime'.
That is one of two reasons why their match at WrestleMania 29 makes this list. Overall the match itself wasn't that bad, it was nowhere near as entertaining as their first clash at WrestleMania 28, but it was passable overall. Simply put it is the mere fact that their first match was promoted for so long as 'Once in A Lifetime' that it makes this list. The Rock vs John Cena II happened for two reasons. Firstly, WrestleMania 28 had been the most successful WWE event ever up to that point and Vince McMahon attributed this to The Rock vs John Cena, and he was probably right for the most part. However, it was the fact that the match was to only ever happen once as to why it was so successful. Vince also felt that he owed John a win over The Rock for allowing Rock to take the win in the first match between them. The second reason why this match is here is that of how predictable it was that John would win, as we all knew he was owed that win.
Former WWE star CM Punk voiced his frustrations over the match, saying it would have been better if he was added into the mix as a triple threat, and he is probably right.
#1 Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Lawrence Taylor - WrestleMania XI
The very first WrestleMania would feature the main event of Rowdy Roddy Piper and 'Mr Wonderful' Paul Orndorff vs. Hulk Hogan and Rocky III and A-Team star Mr. T. The experiment certainly worked as WrestleMania 1 was a great success, but the following ten would prove that they didn't need a celebrity so close to center stage to make it an incredible event.
Apparently, the WWE still had other feelings by the time WrestleMania XI rolled around in 1995. If it was going to happen again at any point, it is not surprising it happened in 1995, the worst financial and critically successful year in WWE history. Now it wasn't all entirely bad, the late Bam Bam Bigelow was one of the greatest big men in wrestling history and deserved a main event spot at WrestleMania, so at least he got that, and Lawrence Taylor gave one of the best celebrity wrestling performances ever, possibly the best ever in one-on-one terms. Even so, a football player had no place in the main event of the biggest wrestling show of the year, especially in a one-on-one match that was designed to give WWE some desperately needed positive media attention.
What makes matters worse is that Shawn Michaels and WWE Champion Kevin 'Diesel' Nash had arguably the best match in all of 1995 at WrestleMania earlier in the show. The match was so good that it most certainly should have been the main event.
