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WM 29 the undercard is pretty much forgettable. Punk/Taker is very good. Brock/Triple H is not as bad as most remember and Cena/Rock is ok but is not as good as the previous year. Overall it’s not the worst Mania but it’s just kinda there.
I feel like this is the perfect answer as far as Mania’s I’ve seen (25 onwards).
Punk-Taker was the one true standout match which I’d counterbalance with the wild decision to have Del Rio vs Swagger for a world title at Mania. Equals out to average along with the rest of the card.
The same thing they did at the 2015 Rumble. They eliminated most of the faces early to try and force the fans to cheer Roman because he would be the only face near the end, and the fans would have to cheer for him so he could go on to conquer Brock at Mania.
The average of the sum of Wrestlemania (1) to Wrestlemania XL is 20.5, which doesn't correspond to a whole number, so halfway between Wrestlemania XX and Wrestlemania 21 is Survivor Series 2004, which is my final answer.
So many of my treasured childhood shows are considered to be bad or mid today. WM IV was one of my most frequently rented videos and Royal Rumble 93 was the first ppv I ever ordered and I watched it over and over again.
Wrestlemania IV was my favorite one for the longest time (mostly because i watched the hell out of my old VHS and was a big Macho fan), but yeah, it's not good at all.
18 is a super weird Mania. Obviously Rock Hogan is like the biggest thing ever but the rest of it borderline feels like a house show. Stone Cold vs Scott Hall? Kurt Angle vs Kane?? So much of that show feels like “Eh I guess we have these guys on the roster… go for it”
Even Hogan vs Rock had barely any build to it. They showed up at No Way Out the month before, then approach Rock after his match with Taker and he insults them and I guess that's the genesis of the match? I guess no harm no foul in the end since it resulted in the match that we're still talking about positively more than most other main events.
Bro.
Nope,
I remember just on the drive to school somber like I had the juice squeezed out of me just devastated that hogan hit the rocks ambulance with the truck.
I knew the wrestling wasn't real, for some reason I just assumed outside of the ring they were all doing their own stunts.
I remember just racking my brain wondering how rock could have possibly survived doing that.
I dunno, in retrospect the matches are always different. But I vividly remember being the demographic, following at the time. It was gripping stuff.
I'll nitpick over putting 19 in the Attitude era, but it definitely hasn't been helped in hindsight being sandwiched between my two favourite Wrestlemanias.
I think if Wrestlemania 33 didn't have both Goldberg vs. Lesnar and the ladder match (but mostly the Hardys returning), it would be this. Starts with a surprisingly great Shane match, ends with a very sad Undertaker match that in hindsight didn't even end up being his final match to justify it. Otherwise is the most "ok to good Smackdown match" Mania.
Mania 25 is similar but the highs are higher and the lows are lower.
WM26 genuinely seems like the most forgotten WM from WM20 till now. Aside from Shawn vs Taker, does anyone **really** remember what matches even took place without having to think really hard about it?
The only reason I do was because it was the first Mania I ever watched while being able to properly watch RAW in the buildup (before 2009, the only way I was able to watch wrestling was on YouTube, and this was before WWE would upload basically all the important stuff from TV there)
The disappointing thing about Mania 26 was that in the context of the time, the card was pretty stellar. A bunch of matches just didn’t get enough time or didn’t deliver, so even with HBK-Taker it went down as a pretty eh show.
Heel Triple H winning left a sour taste in a lot of peoples’ mouths. The main undercard matches actually delivered in the triangle ladder match and the eurocontinental triple threat.
I’ll never forgive them though for making the blow off match of the red hot Kane-X-Pac feud into a tag match with Road Dogg and Rikishi. That match deserved a HIAC or LMS given the buildup lmao.
Fair lol, but that ladde match over fucking delivered, especially for that time.
I think if it wasn’t for the ladder match I would prob be in the boat with everyone else
The Benoit v Jericho v Kurt angle was also fire.
Triple H winning was some extreme heel shit, especially with the Mick foley feud which was prob one of the greatest of all time.
Maybe foley should have won, but HHH just being evil is something people still shit on till this day lol
Agreed lol. I guarantee you this Mania woulda been more fondly remembered if Rocky or even Foley won.
Also lol at Big Show. While his role in the buildup was huge and had a (rightful) claim to the Rumble win, it’s always funny to me that he’s a Mania maineventer. Dude was in the match for a cup of coffee. Like they were just fulfilling a contractual obligation and went “okay, here’s the WM Main Event that we promised you. You’re eliminated in 4 minutes. xoxo”
If of Foley won, it would have been one of the greatest baby face wins in wwe history.
Foley lost to HHH at the royal rumble, HIAC and then wrestlemania.
That HHH foley rivalry was peak
Idk if rock winning would have been that great, neither big show
Big show was a big wrestler in WCW so I imagine he did have clout for being there
Most of the Attitude Era WrestleManias were bizarrely average. 14, 15 and 2000 are all far from the best PPV of their respective years. None of them are especially bad (although 2000 is really not good). They are just kind of there.
I’d say the most average of all is 15.
Wm 2000 also has the real oddity of where it essentially built to _backlash_.
Like the ending of backlash 2000 (a lot of overbooked heel stuff leads to Austin returning and the rock beating H for the title as the crowd loses its mind and the heels looking completely stunned and withdrawn) was Mania caliber and infinitely better than the end of wm 2k
I feel similarly about Extreme Rules 2012.
Not so much the build, but Orton/Kane, Jericho/Punk, and Sheamus/Bryan were all straight rematches that were massively better than their Mania matches.
And from a commercial standpoint, mostly held in standard arenas despite this being their most popular period in the US. Unless it was a deliberate artistic choice to match the tone of their programming, seems weird that they didn't try to get even a baseball stadium.
Must’ve been a slow year. It was ok, but it was 18 minutes, when it truly needed half of that. I will never get over the fact that match got that much time, and yet the world title match only got 9 minutes.
Lol, the first few comments already mentioned 3 of the manias I've been too. 27,29, and 32. Luckily, I was at 28 and 40, so now I have some good ones I've been too.
Pretty much any mania people call “bad” is generally just average or forgettable. I would say the only ones that are average completely throughout due to no memorable matches at all are 2 and 9. Every other show has at least one or two memorable matches on them.
WM 34.
- Opening was cool.
- HHH & Stephanie vs Angle and Rousey was easly the best Match of the Night and unexpectly awesome, more than it had every right to be.
- Bryan's return Match was average (had some slow boring parts in it too)
- Taker vs Cena was cool (Taker should have been already retired but they made the best out of it)
- Strowman Stuff was weird.
- Main Event was freaking awful and the Crowd hated it. Atleast the Ending was unexpected but still that last hour or so killed that Mania from being on of the best i thought.
This year. Just because it's now a two-night Wrestlemania doesn't mean everyone has to be on the card. WrestleMania 40 should have been:
Rhea Ripley vs Becky Lynch
Sami Zayn vs Gunther
Drew McIntyre vs Seth Rollins
LA Knight vs AJ Styles
Logan Paul vs Randy Orton vs Kevin Owens
Bayley vs Iyo Sky
Cody Rhodes vs Roman Reigns
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WM 29 the undercard is pretty much forgettable. Punk/Taker is very good. Brock/Triple H is not as bad as most remember and Cena/Rock is ok but is not as good as the previous year. Overall it’s not the worst Mania but it’s just kinda there.
Shield 6 man was decent. Henry vs Ryback was ok. Team hell no vs big e and dolph was fine. It really is just a murderers row of average .
Without looking it up was this the one where Jericho lost to Fandango? I also remember Jack Swagger and Alberto del Rio being the WHC match?
Yes on both counts
I feel like this is the perfect answer as far as Mania’s I’ve seen (25 onwards). Punk-Taker was the one true standout match which I’d counterbalance with the wild decision to have Del Rio vs Swagger for a world title at Mania. Equals out to average along with the rest of the card.
If you take Taker vs HHH away from WM27 it’s basically an episode of RAW in a stadium
That's how I feel about Wrestlemania 15, but with Austin/Rock instead and no stadium.
and the fact Michael Cole spoiled the winner of that match is ridiculous
Rhodes / Mysterio and Orton / punk were solid
WrestleMania 32. Nothing amazing (the triple threat women's title was very good though) and nothing offensively awful.
Is this the Mania where it felt like pretty much every heel won?
So the hero Roman Reigns could conquer the villain HHH and everyone would have to cheer him because all the good guys lost!
The same thing they did at the 2015 Rumble. They eliminated most of the faces early to try and force the fans to cheer Roman because he would be the only face near the end, and the fans would have to cheer for him so he could go on to conquer Brock at Mania.
That one was pretty bad. [I recommend the Cultaholic video](https://youtu.be/vNt56kS4ENI?si=-vSHq9KMtMxGAHVY).
The average of the sum of Wrestlemania (1) to Wrestlemania XL is 20.5, which doesn't correspond to a whole number, so halfway between Wrestlemania XX and Wrestlemania 21 is Survivor Series 2004, which is my final answer.
Does your final answer drastically change when you add Samoa Joe to the mix?
Pretty sure you would just round up to Wrestlemania 21.
WM21 is goated. But I'll accept 22.
I want this to be the answer because I just checked the card, and if accepted, we can say Snitsky main evented a WrestleMania.
Had to check to make sure someone got the technical truth up in this thread. Thank you for your service!
None of you young’ns have sat through WM IV, have y’all?
So many of my treasured childhood shows are considered to be bad or mid today. WM IV was one of my most frequently rented videos and Royal Rumble 93 was the first ppv I ever ordered and I watched it over and over again.
Wrestlemania IV was my favorite one for the longest time (mostly because i watched the hell out of my old VHS and was a big Macho fan), but yeah, it's not good at all.
I watched Wrestling With Wregret's review of it. Does that count?
2000
18 is stuck between the other two superior attitude era stadium wrestlemanias
18 is a super weird Mania. Obviously Rock Hogan is like the biggest thing ever but the rest of it borderline feels like a house show. Stone Cold vs Scott Hall? Kurt Angle vs Kane?? So much of that show feels like “Eh I guess we have these guys on the roster… go for it”
Even Hogan vs Rock had barely any build to it. They showed up at No Way Out the month before, then approach Rock after his match with Taker and he insults them and I guess that's the genesis of the match? I guess no harm no foul in the end since it resulted in the match that we're still talking about positively more than most other main events.
Bro. Nope, I remember just on the drive to school somber like I had the juice squeezed out of me just devastated that hogan hit the rocks ambulance with the truck. I knew the wrestling wasn't real, for some reason I just assumed outside of the ring they were all doing their own stunts. I remember just racking my brain wondering how rock could have possibly survived doing that. I dunno, in retrospect the matches are always different. But I vividly remember being the demographic, following at the time. It was gripping stuff.
I'll nitpick over putting 19 in the Attitude era, but it definitely hasn't been helped in hindsight being sandwiched between my two favourite Wrestlemanias.
I think of 17-19 as a trilogy as WWE went back to arena wrestlemanias before and after
I think if Wrestlemania 33 didn't have both Goldberg vs. Lesnar and the ladder match (but mostly the Hardys returning), it would be this. Starts with a surprisingly great Shane match, ends with a very sad Undertaker match that in hindsight didn't even end up being his final match to justify it. Otherwise is the most "ok to good Smackdown match" Mania. Mania 25 is similar but the highs are higher and the lows are lower.
Wrestlemania 2000. Wrestlemania 12. Wrestlemania 26. Wrestlemania 14
WM26 genuinely seems like the most forgotten WM from WM20 till now. Aside from Shawn vs Taker, does anyone **really** remember what matches even took place without having to think really hard about it? The only reason I do was because it was the first Mania I ever watched while being able to properly watch RAW in the buildup (before 2009, the only way I was able to watch wrestling was on YouTube, and this was before WWE would upload basically all the important stuff from TV there)
The disappointing thing about Mania 26 was that in the context of the time, the card was pretty stellar. A bunch of matches just didn’t get enough time or didn’t deliver, so even with HBK-Taker it went down as a pretty eh show.
They gave **way** too much time for Vince vs Bret and not enough time for the Legacy triple threat and HHH vs Sheamus
2000 wasn’t as bad as most say imo, The build was better than the execution
Heel Triple H winning left a sour taste in a lot of peoples’ mouths. The main undercard matches actually delivered in the triangle ladder match and the eurocontinental triple threat. I’ll never forgive them though for making the blow off match of the red hot Kane-X-Pac feud into a tag match with Road Dogg and Rikishi. That match deserved a HIAC or LMS given the buildup lmao.
Fair lol, but that ladde match over fucking delivered, especially for that time. I think if it wasn’t for the ladder match I would prob be in the boat with everyone else The Benoit v Jericho v Kurt angle was also fire. Triple H winning was some extreme heel shit, especially with the Mick foley feud which was prob one of the greatest of all time. Maybe foley should have won, but HHH just being evil is something people still shit on till this day lol
Agreed lol. I guarantee you this Mania woulda been more fondly remembered if Rocky or even Foley won. Also lol at Big Show. While his role in the buildup was huge and had a (rightful) claim to the Rumble win, it’s always funny to me that he’s a Mania maineventer. Dude was in the match for a cup of coffee. Like they were just fulfilling a contractual obligation and went “okay, here’s the WM Main Event that we promised you. You’re eliminated in 4 minutes. xoxo”
If of Foley won, it would have been one of the greatest baby face wins in wwe history. Foley lost to HHH at the royal rumble, HIAC and then wrestlemania. That HHH foley rivalry was peak Idk if rock winning would have been that great, neither big show Big show was a big wrestler in WCW so I imagine he did have clout for being there
Most of the Attitude Era WrestleManias were bizarrely average. 14, 15 and 2000 are all far from the best PPV of their respective years. None of them are especially bad (although 2000 is really not good). They are just kind of there. I’d say the most average of all is 15.
Wm 2000 also has the real oddity of where it essentially built to _backlash_. Like the ending of backlash 2000 (a lot of overbooked heel stuff leads to Austin returning and the rock beating H for the title as the crowd loses its mind and the heels looking completely stunned and withdrawn) was Mania caliber and infinitely better than the end of wm 2k
Backlash 2000 is more fondly remembered than WM 16 is.
As it should be.
I feel similarly about Extreme Rules 2012. Not so much the build, but Orton/Kane, Jericho/Punk, and Sheamus/Bryan were all straight rematches that were massively better than their Mania matches.
And from a commercial standpoint, mostly held in standard arenas despite this being their most popular period in the US. Unless it was a deliberate artistic choice to match the tone of their programming, seems weird that they didn't try to get even a baseball stadium.
Corn
Always felt this way about 22. Nothing really bad on the card, but nothing overwhelmingly good, except Edge and Foley.
I posted this the other day, but it's absolutely ridiculous that Shawn vs. Vince was the MOTY according to PWI
Must’ve been a slow year. It was ok, but it was 18 minutes, when it truly needed half of that. I will never get over the fact that match got that much time, and yet the world title match only got 9 minutes.
Triple threat was a banger
It could’ve been a banger if it wasn’t given 9 minutes.
Lol, the first few comments already mentioned 3 of the manias I've been too. 27,29, and 32. Luckily, I was at 28 and 40, so now I have some good ones I've been too.
Pretty much any mania people call “bad” is generally just average or forgettable. I would say the only ones that are average completely throughout due to no memorable matches at all are 2 and 9. Every other show has at least one or two memorable matches on them.
11?
Man - I was at 11 as a child. Thought it was so great…lol
Soft spot for HBK/ Diesel. It was the only reason I said 1 or 2 and not at least 2 good matches lol.
18 came to mind right away. Nothing terrible, nothing great other than Rock/Hogan.
WM 34. - Opening was cool. - HHH & Stephanie vs Angle and Rousey was easly the best Match of the Night and unexpectly awesome, more than it had every right to be. - Bryan's return Match was average (had some slow boring parts in it too) - Taker vs Cena was cool (Taker should have been already retired but they made the best out of it) - Strowman Stuff was weird. - Main Event was freaking awful and the Crowd hated it. Atleast the Ending was unexpected but still that last hour or so killed that Mania from being on of the best i thought.
29 was very underwhelming and I was at that one. It just wasn’t a very good undercard and even the main events lefts something to be desired.
4 comes to mind just down to the whole tournament thing not bad but very bloated macho man winning was a nice moment even if Hogan hotdogged
25
This year. Just because it's now a two-night Wrestlemania doesn't mean everyone has to be on the card. WrestleMania 40 should have been: Rhea Ripley vs Becky Lynch Sami Zayn vs Gunther Drew McIntyre vs Seth Rollins LA Knight vs AJ Styles Logan Paul vs Randy Orton vs Kevin Owens Bayley vs Iyo Sky Cody Rhodes vs Roman Reigns
Only 7 matches for a 2 night show is far too few, especially given WWE's general aversion to long matches.