Wrestling the Undertaker IS the main event, Punk!
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00:00 As the latest row to WrestleMania begins to pick up a bit of steam, it'd probably be
00:04 wise for Papa H to take a minute in between his father-in-law booking big meaty men slapping
00:09 meat on the grandest stage, and largely dropping the ball when it comes to his women's division
00:13 to remind himself what can happen when things don't go exactly according to plan at the
00:18 show of shows.
00:19 Or rather they do, but that plan just suuuuucked.
00:23 So I am Gareth from What Culture Wrestling and these are 10 times that WWE botched WrestleMania.
00:29 10.
00:30 Roman's reign is booed into existence - WrestleMania 32
00:33 When it comes to the 30 second show of shows, it's hard to mention that 2016 WrestleMania
00:38 without feeling a little bit underwhelmed.
00:40 Despite boasting one hell of a women's showcase over a newly rechristened belt, the majority
00:45 of the card just felt like a bit of a letdown really.
00:47 So it strangely felt a little bit appropriate that this all-round underwhelming lacklustre
00:51 show went out on one hell of a sour note.
00:54 This wasn't a case of the company just getting completely caught off-guide either, they knew
00:58 what was going to happen.
00:59 They had Roman Reigns, the person who was getting booed in every single arena he walked
01:02 into up against Triple H, who was literally just anybody but Roman Reigns.
01:06 There was a chance here though before this event just to pivot ever so slightly and put
01:10 Dean Ambrose into the mix, maybe in a three way or just have him vs Roman for the WWE
01:15 Championship.
01:16 But did they take this lifeline that would have helped alleviate all the negativity that
01:19 was no doubt going to be present in the stadium?
01:21 Of course they didn't.
01:22 Instead Reigns' WWE World Championship reign was crammed down folks throats and they more
01:27 than let WWE know about it.
01:28 Hey, but at least all involved learned from their mistakes a year later though, right?
01:32 9.
01:33 Not letting the Deadman rest in peace - WrestleMania 33
01:36 Now it was evident on the road to WrestleMania 33 that the Deadman, the Undertaker, was not
01:41 at his absolute best, was he?
01:43 Because just taking one look at the way he entered that Royal Rumble showed you that
01:46 this man had a dodgy hip and should have been nowhere near a wrestling ring.
01:49 That and the fact that he was tasked with trying to get over a person who again had
01:52 been booed for an entire year made any real hope of a critically acclaimed showing like
01:57 the ones he'd had all the way through WrestleMania 23 to WrestleMania 30 pretty non-existent.
02:03 But WWE saw this man at the Royal Rumble and were still only all too happy to throw him
02:06 into the show of shows.
02:08 And well the end results were as painful to watch as they likely were to produce.
02:12 Taker struggled throughout and Romans did much of the literal and physical heavy lifting
02:16 and it was just really excruciating wasn't it?
02:18 And making matters that little bit worse, Roman Reigns himself said that he didn't want
02:22 to win this match, he even requested to lose it, but WWE weren't having any of it, they
02:25 wanted Roman to win so he did, so The Undertaker lost in what was looking like his final match
02:29 and it was all just a bit depressing.
02:31 And it also kickstarted Mark Calloway's three year mission just to try and go out
02:35 on one hell of a high and we all remember what happened at Super Showdown so I'm going
02:38 to blame this.
02:39 This is what started that.
02:41 8.
02:42 Hulkamania Foolishly Runs Wild At WrestleMania 9
02:44 Has there ever been a more disappointing conclusion to the show of shows than what went down at
02:48 WrestleMania 9?
02:50 The answer is no.
02:51 Or maybe not because there is a lot more entries on this list.
02:54 After shockingly overcoming the babyface hero Bret Hart in the main event of WrestleMania
02:58 9, Yokozuna was your new champion.
03:01 And this was a pretty bold move because you had this big titanic heel beating the babyface
03:05 at the end of WrestleMania and people were like "what, a not happy ending?
03:09 What a move!"
03:10 And this felt like it could have been a fresh new era for WWE going forward, only until
03:14 it quickly became known that it wasn't going to be this because Hulkamania was going to
03:18 run wild brother.
03:19 Yep, that's right, WWE reverted right back to good old tried and tested Hulkster over
03:23 here.
03:24 And things just all got very strange.
03:27 Because yes, Hogan had issued a challenge earlier that night to the winner of Bret Hart
03:30 vs Yokozuna for the WWE Championship, but nobody in their right mind thought that was
03:34 going to happen straight after Bret Hart had salt thrown in his eyes and he got pinned.
03:38 And then Hogan won the whole thing in like next to no time at all and even dodged the
03:41 salt that somehow fell Bret Hart, making Bret look even more foolish.
03:44 This entire thing was silly, stupid, it didn't help anyone.
03:48 And making matters that little bit worse, instead of doing the favours back to Hart
03:51 like he said he would further down the road, he chose to drop the belt back to Yokozuna
03:55 at King of the Ring, rendering this entire thing pointless.
03:58 What a pointless waste of time.
04:00 7.
04:01 Trying to follow The Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels, WrestleMania 25
04:04 Some incoming clashes have instant classic written all over them.
04:08 So rather than trying to follow something like, I don't know, Hulk Hogan vs The Rock
04:12 at WrestleMania 18, the smart move would have probably been just to end WrestleMania with
04:16 something that was always going to be as huge as this.
04:18 But of course WWE foolishly decided to do the complete opposite.
04:21 They put them on third to last, then you had a women's match and a world championship
04:24 match and they both didn't feel anywhere near as special.
04:27 The crowd was zat because they just had Hulk Hogan vs The Rock.
04:30 And did WWE learn from their mistakes a whopping what, 7 years later?
04:34 No they did not because you've been watching this video, they do not learn.
04:37 And on this occasion we have The Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 25 and they
04:41 put on an absolute masterpiece.
04:43 A clinic, a masterclass if you will.
04:46 And they were always going to because look who these people are.
04:48 Look who's involved in the match.
04:50 But WWE didn't have the foresight to see this was going to happen so what did they
04:53 do again?
04:54 They put two matches on after this classic.
04:56 They put two, you had the world championship and the WWE championship and of course they
05:00 both just sank.
05:01 They did not do anywhere near as well as they should have done.
05:03 Triple H himself even sat backstage, looked at Randy Orton and went, you know what, I
05:07 think we're in trouble.
05:08 Yes they are, yes they were.
05:09 It's all moulding into one because my mind is melting again.
05:12 Thankfully the penny did finally drop a year later because they put these two bad boys
05:15 on last because who is going to follow this?
05:17 Number six, the ref counts Ronda's shoulders after a never-ending show, WrestleMania 35.
05:22 After having to sit through what was shaping up to be the longest pay-per-view in all of
05:26 WWE history, it's safe to say that many of the fans inside of MetLife Stadium were rather
05:30 exhausted at the thought of having to sit through yet another match.
05:33 But of course the stars involved in that first ever all-women's main event were so damn
05:37 talented that they somehow managed to get everybody back on board because Ronda Rousey,
05:40 Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair know what they're doing.
05:42 One person who sadly did not know what they were doing though when it came to this closing
05:44 stretch of this epic main event for the ages was the referee because he had one hell of
05:49 a botch didn't he?
05:50 As the match reached its final stages we had Ronda Rousey with Becky Lynch on her shoulders
05:54 for the Piper's Pit but then when she went for the move, Becky reversed it.
05:57 And as she went to pin her shoulders to the mat, Ronda's shoulders clearly were off the
06:01 mat.
06:02 They weren't there for a minute but the ref started counting anyway so like for the first
06:05 one and a half her shoulders were nowhere near the mat and then she got them to the
06:08 mat, it was all a bit clunky and even the commentators were like does that count, we're
06:11 doing that, okay let's go with it.
06:13 Now of course everyone knew coming into this event that Becky was going to come out with
06:15 all the belts, the winner takes all the title and everything else, we just knew that because
06:19 that's where the story was going.
06:20 But the nature of just the all-round botched finish has led to WWE pretty much no-selling
06:24 the nature of what actually went down.
06:26 They just don't really talk about it, they go yeah Becky won at WrestleMania, people
06:29 say how and they go no no no it's not important.
06:31 And just as another little detail, referee Rod Tepater was also fine because he meant
06:34 to call these matches as a shoot and he did not in this moment and Vince McMahon was not
06:38 impressed.
06:39 5.
06:40 CM Punk Still Doesn't Get His Main Event - WrestleMania 29
06:43 In another case of WWE's refusal to buck the obvious coming back to bite them squarely
06:48 on the ass, the decision to not give CM Punk the WrestleMania main event he so desired
06:53 definitely ranks as one of the biggest botches in company history.
06:56 Had Vince McMahon and Cole just found a way to squeeze Punk into that main event of WrestleMania
07:00 29 alongside The Rock and John Cena, then maybe there's a world where Punk would have
07:05 just stayed put, he would have got his main event, he'd think you know what I'm happy
07:08 with this, I've done the thing I wanted to do, I'll stay here, I'll earn some money
07:12 and earn WWE loads of money too.
07:13 But rather than just injecting some best in the world into this weird twice in a lifetime
07:17 lie, the call was instead made to just chuck good old Phil into a match with The Undertaker
07:22 that was classed as a quote unquote main event by Triple H and Vince McMahon.
07:26 And then we got The Rock vs John Cena again but this time for the WWE title because that
07:30 promised an even better match than we got the first time around, spoiler it did not.
07:33 Now Taker and the chip magnet most definitely put on a show-stealing performance because
07:38 of course they didn't look at these two people.
07:40 But there's still no getting around the fact that Punk had once again seen his WrestleMania
07:43 dreams evaporate before his very eyes, and this all definitely played into his decision
07:47 to leave WWE right at the start of 2014, that and the fact that Vince McMahon thought you
07:51 know what, I did that to him last year, this year, I'll put him in a match with Triple
07:54 H, what could go wrong?
07:56 4.
07:57 The Wrong Women Walk Out On Top - WrestleMania 36
08:00 An entirely bizarre set of evenings for more than a few reasons.
08:03 The performance centre show of shows, aka WrestleMania 36, did at least come with a
08:08 fair amount of fun, and that was really needed at the time because remember?
08:11 Global pandemic, crying in my pyjamas every single day and eating way too much ice cream
08:15 at 9 o'clock in the morning.
08:16 However, it did still come with a few painful reminders that Vince McMahon simply did not
08:19 care no matter what was going on in the world at this moment in time, he did not care what
08:23 you wanted, he was still going to do whatever the hell he wanted because Vince gonna Vince.
08:27 Heading into that year's showcase of the immortals, NXT darling Shayna Baszler and
08:31 Rhea Ripley would definitely be in position as two people who could be the future of the
08:34 company and they were two people that everyone was very much behind because they were fresh,
08:37 they were sparkly, we'd see them in NXT and we thought, you know what, these two ladies
08:40 can fly.
08:41 And as they were both set to take on horsewomen at the show of shows, it definitely felt like
08:45 a passing of the torch moment was about to go down.
08:47 But oh how wrong we were.
08:49 The two black and gold sensations were both defeated across the two nights, with Becky
08:52 Lynch winning yet again with a roll-up because that's just what she does at WrestleMania.
08:56 Now at least Ripley did find a way to get herself back on track after having her momentum
08:59 completely derailed by whatever the hell that was when she lost to Charlotte Flair and lost
09:03 her NXT Championship.
09:04 Whereas Shayna Baszler is yet to really fully recover from being rolled up on the grandest
09:08 stage of them all and having her WrestleMania moment stolen away by the men.
09:11 3.
09:12 Too Many McMahons
09:13 While it initially seemed like a fairly straightforward main event at WrestleMania 2000, very quickly
09:18 turned into one of the most overbooked pieces of foolishness ever to grace the show of shows.
09:23 After winning that year's Royal Rumble, albeit a little bit controversially, The Rock
09:26 looked set to go one-on-one with his long-time rival Triple H on the grandest stage of them
09:30 all.
09:31 And at this moment in time, Triple H was arguably the biggest heel in the company if Rock was
09:34 the biggest face.
09:35 It just made sense.
09:37 But that would have been a bit too easy, wouldn't it?
09:39 The attention was ultimately pulled away from this twosome and the big show was thrown in
09:42 there and Mick Foley too because we just need more people and more stars and more star power
09:47 because that's how Vince's brain works.
09:50 And in addition to just overloading the actual in-ring action that was going down in between
09:54 the ropes, they put a McMahon in every corner because nothing sells a WrestleMania like
09:59 four McMahons.
10:01 Now admittedly, giving Mick Foley the WrestleMania main event spot that he definitely deserved
10:05 after putting his body on the line and putting it through hell for years and years and years
10:08 was a nice touch.
10:09 We all love that.
10:10 It's just a shame that it got thrown into such an overstuffed and just sour taste contest.
10:15 And this was all complete with a typical headline-stealing Vince McMahon swerb because of course it was
10:20 and Triple H won the thing.
10:21 So he had a heel coming out on top in WrestleMania and the main event for the first time ever
10:25 just to really sour slash sweetened the deal, whatever way you want to put it.
10:29 So what could have been one of the strongest show of show closes of all time turned out
10:32 to be little more than a McMahon obsessed mess.
10:35 Number two, Austin's deal with the devil ends and all time are on a sour note.
10:39 WrestleMania X-Seven.
10:41 Despite quite possibly sitting as the greatest WrestleMania of all time, the way that WrestleMania
10:46 X-Seven ended still has many fans scratching their heads to this day.
10:49 So in the main event, you had Stone Cold Steve Austin versus The Rock.
10:52 This was the second time they were going at it at WrestleMania.
10:55 They were longtime rivals.
10:56 They were the biggest stars in the company.
10:57 But the plan going into this was to somehow turn Stone Cold Steve Austin heel in his home
11:03 state.
11:04 Stone Cold Steve Austin, biggest baby face of all time, the hero, the face of the company,
11:09 turn him heel in his own backyard.
11:10 Stone Cold could have punched a baby in the face and give the middle finger to the American
11:14 flag inside of the Astrodome and he still would not have been booed.
11:18 This was Stone Cold Steve Austin.
11:20 But did that stop WWE from insisting on going through with one of the worst decisions in
11:24 WWE history and turning the bionic redneck on the WrestleMania stage in the main event?
11:29 No it did not.
11:30 Not even the sight of Austin sharing a beer with his longtime mortal enemy Vince McMahon,
11:34 the boss, the devil himself, could get people to boo him because they loved him because
11:38 it's Stone Cold.
11:39 I don't know how many times I've got to say it, this was Stone Cold.
11:42 Even Austin himself has admitted in years gone by that if he could go back, if he could
11:45 jump into a time machine now, he would change things, he would call an audible because you
11:49 could hear the noise in that stadium, that arena, that moment.
11:52 They were not booing Stone Cold.
11:54 They did not hate him.
11:55 So why not just lean into it and make an incredible WrestleMania moment?
11:57 That's just what you do.
11:58 And hell, if he did jump into that time machine, he might have been saved from the absolute
12:02 failed experiment that was the Stone Cold Steve Austin heel turn in General 2.
12:06 1.
12:07 All of It WrestleMania 27
12:10 It may have come equipped with the return of the People's Champion and won hell of
12:13 a war between The Undertaker and Triple H.
12:15 But outside of those few occasional highlights, WrestleMania 27, when you think about it,
12:19 when those words get thrown into a conversation, you get chills, I get chills, I get shivers,
12:23 I'm shivering right now.
12:24 Stuffing the biggest event on the calendar with a frankly disturbing amount of nothing
12:29 matches.
12:30 And these range from Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler doing whatever the hell that was, to
12:33 the weird Snooki nonsense when they had that six-person tag match with Snooki from Jersey
12:39 Shore.
12:40 Snooki was there.
12:41 And he was there and well and truly set for a truly horrific main event that everyone
12:44 remembers for all the wrong reasons.
12:46 Because despite walking out of the show of shows with a WWE Championship in a match that
12:50 involved him and John Cena, a disturbing concussion and the fact that Rock got involved with the
12:54 match late on completely overshadowed The Miz's massive win.
12:57 With the attention then swiftly turning to The Rock vs. John Cena at next year's WrestleMania.
13:02 Yep, that's right, the most important main event of the year was little more than an
13:06 angle to set up the following year's WrestleMania.
13:09 A waste of time, talent and energy from pretty much start to finish.
13:14 To class this as the greatest botch of them all would be a bit of an understatement, wouldn't
13:18 it?
13:19 So that has been our list of the many other times that WWE botched the grandest stage
13:22 of them all, the show of shows, the showcase of the immortals.
13:25 Then let us know all about them in the comments section right down below and don't forget
13:28 to like this video, share it and subscribe to all things WhatCulture Wrestling and follow
13:33 me on Twitter @GMorgan04.
13:40 And be sure to enjoy all the other WrestleMania content that we have dropping around my lovely
13:46 face at this point.
13:47 If you've not already voted on the Ultimate WrestleMania card, go and do that if it's
13:50 not already been decided.
13:51 I never know when these videos are going to drop.
13:53 In the meantime, just be good to yourself and let us enjoy this road to WrestleMania
13:56 because I want to see my Brock smash into Enomous and I'm going to smile and pop a
14:00 beard just for that.