The Single Worst Match From Every WrestleMania Card

We’ve already given you the single best match from every WrestleMania card. Now it’s time to provide you with the worst matches. We want to acknowledge that sometimes a performance suffers because those involved weren’t given ample time. Sometimes, WWE will use celebrities that can make something more of a spectacle than a match. Of course, sometimes matches just suck too. Naming the single worst match from every Wrestlemania event is likely a little easier than finding the best.

To be fair, we are not going to say that we as writers are capable of doing any better in the ring. At least those involved in these matches can rest knowing that fact. However, we have been watching for years and can properly evaluate if a match is good or not. Therefore, we feel qualified to say that these are the worst matches in WrestleMania history. Of course, we should point out that some of these events had a stacked card with good matches throughout, so we are not going to completely hate on all of them.

One more thing to be aware of. Unlike our best matches from WrestleMania events article, we will not be adding a runner-up for each section. We feel discussing one match is more than enough. With that bit of information out of the way, let’s get on with it!

WRESTLEMANIA I: KING KONG BUNDY vs SPECIAL DELIVERY JONES

We think that one could amply describe this match as “what the f%#% was that?” This match was a cool 25 seconds long and that is about it. Seriously, that was the whole thing. Was it a gratifying 25 seconds? Not in the least. Was it a thrilling or intriguing 25 seconds? No.

However, was it actually 25 seconds? Yes. That’s all we can tell you. We’d love to dive into more here, but it wouldn’t be worth it. For those wondering, King Kong Bundy (managed by Jimmy Hart) beat Special Delivery Jones. This isn’t shocking, as Bundy was a relatively well-known figure at the time. Yet we should mention that Bundy has never been known for having 5-star matches or for putting on clinics in the ring. Therefore, it makes sense that this was so short.

That said, one can see how it landed on our list for the single worst match from every WrestleMania card.

WRESTLEMANIA II: ADRIAN ADONIS vs UNCLE ELMER

It seems Jimmy Hart is heavily connected to some stinkers in WrestleMania history. While Hart is mostly known for managing guys like Hulk Hogan, he technically managed several “blah” performers too. We can picture Hart yelling at his client, Adrian Adonis. Probably saying something like: “I’ve got places to be, baby! Let me get out of this match in record time. The crowd will love it, baby! I’m the Mouth of the South!”

In our head, we’re pretty sure around here that this is how every Jimmy Hart conversation went down. He relentlessly talks about himself, and it seems like he has tried to cut every obligation short somehow. At least when it involves his lesser-known clients. To be fair, Adrian Adonis was a stud. Known for his flamboyant character, he was similar to a 1990s Goldust or guys like that.

The pairing with Hart made a ton of sense from an optics perspective. Adonis sadly died far too young, but his style was far ahead of its time and he could have been a much bigger name if he did not pass in his mid-30s. WWE seemed to have big plans for Adonis after WrestleMania II, which is why he won this match in just three minutes. However, it was kind of a stinker…mostly due to Uncle Elmer. That said, we felt we had to add it to our single worst match from every WrestleMania list.

WRESTLEMANIA III: BUTCH REED vs KOKO B. WARE

Woof. This one was tough. We here at the WrestlingHub really love Koko B. Ware. We also believe in the Killer Bees, but this match was not it.

That’s okay because it was still a match at WrestleMania, and that’s great. Also, Koko is still king, and that’s awesome too. It just so happens that this match sucked. Also, if you took an extended bathroom break you would have missed it. Yeah, it was that short. Funny enough you wouldn’t have missed anything. How’s that for a head-scratcher?

It just was not worth discussing. That said, there are far better matches you can find involving Butch Reed & Koko B. Ware. We recommend checking those out and ignoring this one as much as possible.

WRESTLEMANIA IV: RANDY SAVAGE vs BUTCH REED

We love “Macho Man” Randy Savage. He’s one of the greatest of all time and landed in the WWE Hall of Fame for that exact reason. Butch Reed on the other hand? He’s quickly becoming the “Mr. WrestleMania” of disappointing matches. This disproves the age-old theory that being a world-class worker means you’ll get a great match out of anyone.

Savage was just in one of the greatest WrestleMania matches of all time at WrestleMania III. Then he’s suddenly in the worst match at WrestleMania IV? That is clearly not the fault of Savage, but his opponent. Considering Savage has had some absolute classics with people that most fans couldn’t name with 100 tries. The Reed/Savage match was so bad that you could create a conspiracy theory around the idea that the two men specifically tried to make it this bad.

We can imagine Reed walking up to Savage before their match, saying: “Hey, last year you had THE match of the night. How about this year you give them the opposite?”

We seriously can buy into the idea that this was the plan. Of course, we cannot ask either man so we’ll probably never know now. That said, this match was part of the First Round of the Tournament that took place that night for the vacant WWE Championship. Savage would win this match and the rest of the ones he had that evening to capture the title. Most of the matches at this event were short, with the longest being about 15 minutes.

WRESTLEMANIA V: THE BUSHWHACKERS vs THE FABULOUS ROUGEAUS

This match bucks what was a pretty steady trend for the single worst matches from every WrestleMania up to this point. Most of those bad matches were pretty short. Yet The Bushwackers vs The Fabulous Rougeaus did not have the issue of time. In fact, that had a solid 10 minutes…which was a ton of time for a WrestleMania match at this point in history. Yet most feel no amount of time could help this match.

It was simply awful. However, it should be noted that when doing research for this article, this writer came across an interesting YouTube headline. It read: “Bushwacker Luke on Why He Jostled Ray Rougeau’s d*ck at WrestleMania V.”

We think that this is all we need to mention for you to understand how this match landed on our list. Any questions? None? That is probably for the best.

WRESTLEMANIA VI: BAD NEWS BROWN vs RODDY PIPER

Some assume that Piper did not want to be pinned. He was notorious for this type of thing back in the day, as he often refused to be pinned in the ring. Whenever he was beaten, he usually only allowed bigger-name guys to pin him clean. He might also allow those he liked to do it too, which should probably tell you what he thought of Bad News Brown. Regardless of whether Piper chose this finish on the fly or if it was decided ahead of time, the match was completely forgettable.

This is pretty odd because Piper’s matches at big events are rarely forgotten. One can see now how this landed on our single worst matches from every WrestleMania list.

WRESTLEMANIA VII: THE TEXAS TORNADO vs DINO BRAVO

This match had two legendary names in the ring. We have “The Texas Tornado” Kerry Von Erich up against Dino Bravo. On paper, you’d expect this to be a pretty good match. Yet it ended up being a stinker. Our boy Jimmy Hart is back for this one too, as he is managing Bravo.

This was yet another three-minute match. Of course, Hart may have been offended that it also went another 11 seconds beyond that three-minute mark.

We have no idea why this keeps happening, but here we are.

Part of the issue with this match was with Tornado. Von Erich had a motorcycle accident in 1986, where he was badly injured. He dislocated his hip and badly injured his leg. His foot required surgery along with the overall leg. Apparently, Kerry decided to start walking on the foot prematurely and reinjured it. This caused doctors to amputate his right foot. That took him down the road of using painkillers, which he badly abused.

He’d continue to wrestle with a prosthetic foot, but he’d never be the same in the ring.

He participated in this match with Bravo with a prosthetic, which was probably tough enough. The sad part is that it would be the only WrestleMania he participated in. A few years later, he took his own life after numerous issues with the law and heavy drug abuse. We recommend that you check out Kerry Von Erich before his accident because this isn’t the man who needs to be remembered. He was far better than this performance.

WRESTLEMANIA VIII: HULK HOGAN vs SID VICIOUS

There is so much lore and crazy stuff involved in this match that it might rival the Lord of the Rings saga at times. This is such a weird match.

First off, we have Hulk Hogan. This is WrestleMania, so Hogan on the card in the main event is not crazy to see. Yet we now also have Sid Vicious here too? One could see why Vince McMahon liked Sid at the time. He was a big dude who could move pretty well in the ring. However, he is notably a pretty bad worker in the ring and a terrible promo.

There were so many issues in this match.

Papa Shango was late to the ring at the end of this match. Hogan’s leg drop was highly “protected” at the time. No one kicked out of it who wasn’t considered an equal to Hogan, and few ever had that honor. However, Shango’s lateness to the ring forced Vicious to kick out of the Hogan finisher.

The match then ends with a disqualification. That’s right, a WrestleMania main event ends with a DQ rather than a decisive decision. Just imagine if Roman Reigns vs Cody Rhodes II ends with a DQ and a Bloodline beatdown on Cody. Could you imagine the uproar of hatred?!?

Ultimate Warrior returns randomly, as he seems to have disappeared for a while up to that point. He was there to make the save for Hogan to end the show.

What’s so crazy about this is that the match placement ultimately made no sense. Randy Savage vs Ric Flair took place in the middle of the show for the WWE Championship. It was a great match too! Hogan/Vicious had no real stakes worthy of the main event slot.

WRESTLEMANIA IX: THE UNDERTAKER vs GIANT GONZALEZ

We all love The Undertaker, right? The very fact that he was able to get anything worth mentioning out of an absolutely terrible worker like Giant Gonzalez was a big achievement on his part. However, this is the worst Undertaker match at WrestleMania by a large margin. WrestleMania 9 was a pretty terrible card overall, so one might not think was the worst match on that card. Doink vs Crush took place on this card for one.

The Money Inc. vs Mega Maniacs match was horrible, but our friend Jimmy Hart stood out there for 18 minutes of crap this time.

Still, to us, Undertaker/Gonzalez was the worst match. The Deadman has spoken about this match before, one time telling Sam Roberts:

“That whole thing took years off my career. I would be in much better shape now if I could’ve skipped that one program. As physically demanding as it was, it was twice as much mental strain because you have Bret and Yokozuna going out and having these great matches. Obviously, you want to be mentioned in the same breath as those guys and it was just not possible. It was survival every night trying to figure out what he could do, and it took me to try and make chicken salad out of chicken crap.”

We must point out that this was part of a larger program. This means he faced Giant Gonzalez more than once, so one could see why The Phenom hated working with the man. While his words were brutal, that match was a hard watch. It truly was chicken crap served up to the entire viewing audience. The crazy part is that it could have been far worse.

WRESTLEMANIA X: BAM BAM BIGELOW & LUNA VACHON vs DINK & DOINK

We’re very happy that Bam Bam Bigelow had a big WrestleMania moment the following year at WrestleMania 11, where he was in the main event. However, at WrestleMania 10, he had to take part in a mixed tag team match. He and his partner Luna Vachon would face Dink & Doink.

Seriously, those were the names. We did not just make random sounds that toddlers would like. Honestly, picking this match as the worst one was a bit difficult because Lex Luger vs Yokozuna took place at this event. It would end in DQ after 15 minutes, then Yokozuna faced Bret Hart later that night where he lost. Both men fought twice that night.

Yet we picked Bam Bam Bigelow & Luna Vachon vs Dink & Doink mostly because it felt like it was totally forgettable. We could remove it from the card and literally no one would notice. If anything, it only gave the card a little filler so that Bret Hart could get a little extra rest before working in the main event. Of course, they only offered 6 minutes of rest but still.

Despite having a few matches to pick from, in the end, we decided this belonged on our single worst matches from every WrestleMania list.

WRESTLEMANIA XI: THE UNDERTAKER vs KING KONG BUNDY 

Honestly, you have to feel bad for The Deadman. He went for several years in the 1990s having some of the worst possible opponents one could offer him. It was as if Vince was playing a prank on the man. He made Undertaker fight several giants of the time. King Kong Bundy was at least a notable name in the pro wrestling scene well before this match. Therefore, working with Bundy probably was not as tough as working with Gonzales for The Phenom.

The sad part is that Undertaker was an incredible athlete for a man his size but could not really show that off in these matches. It was yet another instance where Taker had to make chicken salad out of chicken crap. It is amazing to see how impressively he evolved over the years after these types of rivalries. While King Kong Bundy might have been a legend already at this point, he was far past his prime and it showed.

The weirdest part about this match was that it had a special guest referee. They brought in the Major League Baseball Umpire Larry Young to be in this spot. We won’t discount how good Young was as an Umpire. He was part of a lot of memorable moments in baseball. Yet this is pro wrestling…why in the world is he here?!? I mean, we know the lockout happened around this time, but why bring an Umpire in?

WRESTLEMANIA XII: THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR vs HUNTER HEARST HELMSLEY

The “Forrest Gump” of professional wrestling couldn’t make this a memorable moment. This was Ultimate Warrior’s return to professional wrestling. Well, his third or fourth at this point…it’s hard to keep up. Hunter Hearst Helmsley, the man we know today as simply Triple H, was Warrior’s opponent for the return match. This match lasted officially 1 minute and 39 seconds. Seriously, that was it.

Of course, this was the same event where Shawn Michaels faced Bret Hart in the one-hour Ironman match. This meant that most matches on the lower card had to be 10 minutes or less so that they saved most of the show for Hart & Michaels.

Later on, Warrior shed light on what happened that evening in an interview. He claimed that Hunter came up to him with all of these ideas and he shot them down. Saying that this is the return of the Ultimate Warrior, so Hunter will hit him with his finisher, and Warrior will kick out. Then he’ll hit him with a press slam and splash, then go home. That was the type of mindset Warrior had back then. Which is probably why most of his matches did not go very well.

Warrior said in that same interview that, in his eyes, every main event wrestler in WWE were just B-Team Players compared to him. To be fair, Warrior was a notable name, and bringing him back would help the card. The guys at the top had not been there for very long so they did not have the chance to be as big as Warrior yet. Funny enough, Warrior’s return to WWE was pretty short-lived…just like this match was.

WRESTLEMANIA XIII: THE UNDERTAKER vs SYCHO SID

How in the world Sid Vicious made it back to the WrestleMania main event again is beyond our understanding. However, at least we have The Undertaker in this one to sort of hold the match together. The only problem is that this is now the Sycho Sid Era for Sid Vicious, and that was kind of a shoot nickname. The man truly did have something wrong upstairs.

However, this match would not end in a disqualification like the last WrestleMania main event Sid was in. Mostly because this was a No-Disqualification match, which should have helped make this a good match.

This match is memorable though, but not for the best reason. We didn’t want to talk about it. We think it’s childish and immature, and it’s not dignified. Okay, do you really want us to have to write it out for you? Fine, Sid pooped his pants during the match as it was coming to a close. Is this the main thing that made this match bad? No.

According to many wrestlers, this happens from time to time. It’s just something you have to live with, but it still needs to be acknowledged. Even had it not happened, this was still a weird match.

However, this is just an example of the kind of career Sid had. There were always promises of big moments, but something often felt lacking. Ironically, that describes Sid in this match perfectly. It was not the worst match in history at this event. However, this is a list of the single worst matches from every WrestleMania. It is clear that at WrestleMania 13, this was the worst match.

WRESTLEMANIA XIV: 15 TAG TEAM BATTLE ROYAL

We’d list all the competitors, but honestly, it’s a lot. Also, you could have skipped this if you had something else to do for eight minutes and 19 seconds. This match had nothing good happening at any point. It was just a complete cluster of a match.

We had to crap on this match because we know that it’s a long-standing thing to get as many performers as you can on the WrestleMania card. We’re happy these guys were able to get on the card. However, the end result was just a complete and utter mess that ultimately no one cared about. The crazy part is that this was not even for the WWE Tag Team Championships. It was made to decide the #1 Contenders for the titles.

Also, it’s weird to do a tag team battle royal. How does that work exactly? It can’t be every man for himself because you have a partner there. Again, we understand the concept of this match. Yet the result wasn’t good on what was a perfect card historically, especially for that time in WrestleMania history. This was really the kickoff of the Attitude Era for many people, so it was nice to see a strong card at this event.

That said, you can see how the tag team battle royal made it onto our list of the single worst matches from every WrestleMania list. Oh and unsurprisingly, the Road Warriors/Legion of Doom won the match. Sunny was probably the best part of the whole thing.

WRESTLEMANIA XV: BUTTERBEAN vs BART GUNN

It seems like WWE did not think through a lot of this. To set this up, WWE saw its roster size grow immensely and felt a shootfighting tournament could be set up to help put some of these guys on the map. They called the event Brawl for All, and only those who volunteered took part. Going into the event, most felt that Dr. Death Steve Williams was going to win due to his legitimate background. He was a noted football player and amateur wrestler before going into professional wrestling.

Williams entered the tournament but lost to Bart Gunn by knockout. In fact, Bart Gunn won the whole tournament to the surprise of everyone. No one knew Bart was this tough and capable as a boxer. He won Brawl for All, and soon after he was attacked by Dr. Death. Williams’ manager, Jim Ross (yes, Good Ole’ JR), told Gunn that he would be facing Butterbean at WrestleMania.

At the time, Eric “Butterbean” Esch was one of the best fighters on the planet, with a record of 43-1-1. He participated in Boxing, Kickboxing, and MMA throughout his career. Eric finished his career with 97 wins across all three. Due to being one of the top fighters on the planet, the WrestleMania 15 match made total sense, right? Obviously not.

The Brawl for All match was also a legitimate fight, which is why Butterbean knocked out Bart Gunn in 35 seconds. Because obviously!

Sable vs Tori was a terrible match on this card too. However, nothing surpasses Butterbean/Gunn. Unless you genuinely hated Bart Gunn for some oddly specific reason, there is nothing to like about this contest. It was horrific. We’re all dumber for having watched it.

WRESTLEMANIA XVI: T&A vs HEAD CHEESE

You might think it is childish, but the best part about this match was actually writing out “T&A” and “Head Cheese.” Those were two actual team names. Of course, we’re firmly in the Attitude Era, so this was par for the course at this point.

While we don’t usually take much stock in Dave Meltzer’s ratings, we should point out here that he accurately gave this match “0.25 stars.” That’s an incredible mark and pretty spot on if we’re being honest.

It’s a shame that this match was so bad because no one in this match would be considered a bad wrestler. Test and Albert made up T&A while Al Snow and Steve Blackman made up Head Cheese. Trish Stratus, who was very new to the business, was managing T&A. This kind of made sense, as the team ended up really always being about her in the end.

She did not compete in this match, which is why she’s likely the best part about it. Stratus looked amazing and is perhaps the reason the match even saw the 0.25-star rating from Dave at all.

This entire card was missing quality matches in many places, but this match was particularly dreadful. Leading to the reason it made our cut for the single worst match from every WrestleMania list.

WRESTLEMANIA XVII: GIMMICK BATTLE ROYAL

The sad part is that all things considered, this was one of the better WrestleMania cards in history. It had Jericho/Regal, the most notable tag team TLC match, Undertaker/Triple H, and so much more. That said, it was easy to pick the Gimmick Battle Royal as the worst match on this card.

We know what you’re thinking. How can we possibly give a bad score to a match that featured BOTH Doink the Clown & The Gobbledy Gooker? We understand your frustration, and we did not think it would be possible either. However, those are the breaks.

At least WWE had the presence of mind to capitalize, even for a moment, on their history of some terrible gimmicks. It sort of highlighted how far they had come from some of the incredibly stupid, and even campy gimmicks of the past. At least they had The Iron Sheik win the match. We’re glad Hulk Hogan was not around, because we all know Sheik would want to take that jabroni down.

WRESTLEMANIA XVIII: MAVEN vs GOLDUST

We’re very happy to see Maven having so much success with his popular YouTube Channel. We recommend checking out his videos as he takes you on fun trips down memory lane. He also gives the viewers inside information on wrestlers, events, and matches. Along with breaking down some stuff for fans.

Maven has always been an interesting story in the world of pro wrestling. He was a teacher who tried out for the first season of WWE’s Tough Enough reality competition show. The guy showed promise and won the whole thing. He hit the WWE in a major way when he eliminated The Undertaker from the 2002 Royal Rumble match. Of course, The Deadman did not like this and proceeded to beat the holy H-E-Double Hockey Sticks out of the man.

However, by WrestleMania 18, WWE wanted to get him on the card. This is why they set up a Hardcore Title match between him and Goldust at the event. Maven was the champion heading into the event too. Honestly, we all know the rules of the hardcore title. This is why WWE decided to pretty much make the title the running theme of the show to add filler throughout. Maven/Goldust merely started things and was over in just a few minutes.

Spike Dudley interfered and pinned Maven to capture the title, starting a chase for the gold all night long.

The overall Hardcore Title stuff throughout the show was really fun though. Everything was so fun and helped to offer people a palate cleanser between matches while also being super entertaining. However, Goldust/Maven was pretty blah on one of the greatest WrestleMania cards in history.

WRESTLEMANIA XIX: THE UNDERTAKER vs A-TRAIN & THE BIG SHOW

There is a story behind this match, which is what makes things so ironic here. Initially, this was supposed to be a tag team match with A-Train & Big Show taking on The Undertaker & Nathan Jones. However, Jones was clearly not showing as much promise as WWE wanted. They initially put him with The Deadman to help with some of his larger issues. As another big man, Taker could potentially fix some of the glaring issues Nathan was showing.

Yet we were headed into WrestleMania and Undertaker felt Jones was still not ready. Thus, WWE pulled an attack angle on Jones which took him out of the match.

Undertaker has been responsible for some of the best matches in WrestleMania history. Yet he needs proper dance partners to work with, and he did not get that with A-Train and Big Show. It did not help that this was no longer a tag team match but rather, a handicap match against Undertaker.

This helped to continue his streak, but it also felt like they just wanted him on the card. They didn’t have anything for him to sink his teeth into though. What’s more concerning is that they gave these guys almost ten minutes to tell a story we wish they had finished in four.

No hate for the legends in this match. Sometimes, the best-intentioned contest doesn’t work out the way you hoped it would. Still, on a card that was essentially pretty good, something had to fall to the bottom of the list. This was the one that landed there, there’s no question about it. Which is why it made it onto our list for the single worst matches at every WrestleMania.

WRESTLEMANIA XX: GOLDBERG vs BROCK LESNAR

This match requires a bit of backstory, just so you know possibly why this match turned out so bad. Obviously, the influence of the fans certainly played a part here. For those who don’t know, both Brock Lesnar and Goldberg were done with WWE. Both planned on leaving the company after this match. To ensure that WWE would at least see them together before both were gone forever from WWE, the company felt putting them together made the most sense.

However, when the news came out about both deciding to leave, they needed to try and save the match. This is why they brought in “Stone Cold” Steve Austin to be the Special Guest Referee. Nothing could save this though. This would have been a dream match on paper during this era, but both men were so done with their time in WWE that neither really gave a crap. It showed big time.

This writer feels that putting them together was fine and understandable. After all, if they are leaving then why not give us the “dream match” before they’re gone? They could have worked their butts off to give the crowd the best match possible to end their careers in WWE on a high note. Instead, you could see that the crowd’s reaction drained the life out of them and they just decided to go through the motions. It felt like they were working out rather than performing for the fans.

It was a big match for a card like WrestleMania 20, but it failed to deliver. Resulting in it landing on our single worst match from every WrestleMania list.

WRESTLEMANIA XXI: AKEBONO vs THE BIG SHOW

Honestly, it was a close call here. Trish Stratus vs Christy Hemme was pretty bad. However, Big Show vs Akebono certainly took the cake here. Heck, we’re pretty sure they took ALL the cake before this match-up. WWE has a history of booking themselves into some weird situations when they bring gimmicks into things. Big Show has often been used in these spots mostly because he has been such a good team player for years. Yet this match with Akebono was crazy.

For those unaware, it was technically presented as a shoot fight but it was actually planned to go exactly as it did. The match was a Sumo Wrestling contest, in which Akebono was a professional. Akebono is Hawaiian and managed to reach the rank of yokozuna. This is the highest rank in the world of Sumo. Akebono was the first non-Japanese wrestler to ever achieve the honor. He won 11 Sumo Wrestling Championships throughout his career too.

However, Akebono had retired from Sumo and jumped into professional wrestling. That led to this bout with Big Show, another large man who likely could have done well in the sport himself.

We do not know why this match happened. Akebono retired from Sumo in 2001, so there was nothing to gain for Sumo nor was there anything to gain for Akebono or Big Show. Obviously, Show lost this match because clearly, Akebono was a dang professional in the art of Sumo. It is still a head-scratcher match and it feels like WWE did not think it through at all.

WRESTLEMANIA XXII: TORRIE WILSON vs CANDICE MICHELLE

Torrie Wilson is a WWE Hall of Famer, so she obviously did a lot right throughout her WWE career. However, she has a very complicated history with her wrestling career, which she has discussed in interviews. You can tell she still seems conflicted about her time. She loved traveling the world, even getting physical in the ring and entertaining millions.

Yet, as she told journalist Chris Van Vliet, she came up in the Diva Era in WWE. Which meant being objectified a lot. Meaning she was part of many bikini contests, lingerie contests, bra & panties matches, etc. You name something where she could have very little clothing on, and she probably had to do it. She did not like having to do a lot of these things and felt pretty terrible about it. It is easy to see why looking back, knowing she could have likely been a good wrestler if properly trained.

Perhaps, if trained well, she may have had a Trish Stratus-like career.

This is what landed us here, the Playboy Pillow Fight match. This match actually lasted nearly 7 minutes…we’re serious, they were given that long. Candice Michelle, ironically, would go on to have a relatively solid in-ring career with WWE that allowed her to win the WWE Women’s Championship. Torrie was never given that type of opportunity.

While Torrie has some scars from those days, we hope she knows how beloved she still is by her WWE universe. There are a lot of problematic things about her career, but we were glad to have her there.

We understand this match was never meant to be a technical classic, but still. That’s why it easily lands on our list for the single worst match from every WrestleMania.

WRESTLEMANIA XXIII: THE GREAT KHALI vs KANE

We wouldn’t have done our job as wrestling writers if we didn’t acknowledge The Great Khali on the worst matches list. This one was a no-brainer. Khali was great at so many things like being tall, being called “great,” and having long hair. End of list. Most would never claim Khali was a good professional wrestler. In fact, he is perhaps one of the worst we’ve ever seen.

By the way, did you know this man has a training school in India? Yeah, Khali training people seems hilarious to us too. However, he isn’t leading the training…thank Zeus. This is where we’d get people like “Shanky” Singh from.

Khali, again, isn’t known for his wrestling skills. Sometimes, when you are wrestling, that’s an essential skill to possess. We know that’s crazy talk, but we think it is kind of important.

Kane, on the other hand, is one of the best big men in the history of pro wrestling. If you thought that this would be a situation where Kane would pull the best out of Khali, you were wrong. This was impossible for any man, even someone with a hotline to dark forces.

Khali’s problem was that he was big and didn’t move well—at all, not even a little bit. We can’t fault a guy for not having Rey Mysterio’s grace and athleticism. I mean, who does? Still, it does make it hard to wrestle when you don’t move well. Khali stumbled his way into a win over Kane in a little over 5 minutes of heart-stopping action.

Fine, we’ll stop beating up on Khali. We assume he always tried his best and gave his all. Plus, we really did love his performances in The Longest Yard & Get Smart.

WRESTLEMANIA XXIV: BETH PHOENIX & MELINA vs ASHLEY & MARIA

WrestleMania 24 is one of the better cards for a WrestleMania event, so it is sad that we have to point to any match as the worst. This match was trouble from the moment it was announced. We had Beth Phoenix & Melina facing off with Ashley Massaro & Maria Kanellis. It was a “Playboy BunnyMania Lumberjill” match. What in the heck does that mean?

WWE still had a partnership with Playboy, which pretty much ended after this point as WWE wanted to be firmly TV-PG. A partnership with Playboy would not be good for the “family” side of this. Thus, this would be the last association with Playboy at WrestleMania and they ended it exactly where it began. With a whole lot of BS.

The name aside, the women wore the type of things you’d expect for this match. Since it was a Lumberjill match, several other WWE Divas surrounded the ring.

Every woman involved in this match deserves their flowers for having to take part in it. Especially someone like Beth, who knew she was better than this type of nonsense from the start. It lasted right at 5 minutes and directly followed Shawn Michaels vs Ric Flair. Talk about a tough act to follow!

With all that being said we also have to acknowledge that this match was a mess. It didn’t accomplish much except to give us a change of pace and allow us to get ready for the rest of the card. We don’t need to explain much further why this made our cut for the single worst match at every WrestleMania list, right?

WRESTLEMANIA XXV: MISS WRESTLEMANIA BATTLE ROYAL

Honestly, this match still ticks us off more than anything else. It was classic Vince McMahon idiocy though. The old man knew how to ruin a moment for the ladies better than pretty much anyone who ever existed. This was billed to be a big deal for the women of the past and present, where we’d crown the official Miss WrestleMania via battle royal rules.

It was the 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania, so it made sense to have a match like this on the card. Even if it was not going to be the best match ever. You’ll notice that there are notable absences for the match. Such as Trish Stratus, Lita, Stacy Keibler, Sable, etc. The only real notable name from the past that took part was Sunny, who most people credit with being the “Original Diva.”

It is likely many were called, but turned down the appearance. They probably did so after WWE told them their plan for the finish.

At the time, Santino Marella was jealous that he was not getting as much attention as his on-screen partner, Beth Phoenix. He was jealous the women were getting attention at all because he could beat them all right? That led to the introduction of his “sister,” Santina Marella.

This meant Santina would be added to the match. Ms. Marella went on to win the battle royal, and we still hate the move. The match was a brutal watch already but this just made us want to punch through our TV.

WRESTLEMANIA XXVI: BRET HART vs VINCE McMAHON

We all know Vince McMahon might have been crazy enough to do some absolutely insane things, but we all know he was a terrible in-ring performer. Vince was well past his ability to do much good inside the ring by WrestleMania 26. Sure, he’s working with Bret Hart and it pains us to add any Hart match to the single worst match from every WrestleMania list.

However, Hart retired from full-time in-ring competition in the early 2000s. He also had two strokes after this. Hart was no longer at the same level he was before. While most technical wrestlers are able to work longer due to their style, Hart had a big uphill battle very few others had to deal with.

Hart’s overall body of work is legendary, and we have the utmost respect for him. Sadly, this match was absolutely horrible.

It was supposed to be the culmination of the Montreal Screwjob. That situation helped to define the “Mr. McMahon” character during the Attitude Era. It also took place as Bret Hart was leaving WWE for WCW. Hart never returned to WWE, as he suffered a brutal concussion at the hands of Bill Goldberg. Bret isn’t bitter about that though, right? He also had a motorcycle accident a couple of years later and then the strokes happened. Hart just wasn’t the same.

They did their best with a formerly great wrestler who couldn’t move anymore, pitting him against an aging owner who could never move that great in the first place. It was exactly what you’d expect. The story for this match wrote itself, but sometimes you need more than that to pull this off. We never got that here.

WRESTLEMANIA XXVII: MICHALE COLE vs JERRY LAWLER

If you expected this match to be a WrestleMania classic, then we’d love to have some of what you’re smoking. This article revolves around the single worst match from every WrestleMania. Therefore, you’d wonder how this match landed on our list when on the same card, Snooki of Jersey Shore fame wrestled.

At this point, Michael Cole had become a “heel” announcer. This is pretty weird to see in the person who is supposed to be the lead announcer of a show. The color commentator might get away with that type of thing but the lead announcer? No. That does not work very well, yet that is exactly what WWE did. His broadcast partner Jerry “The King” Lawler wanted to finally shut him up.

In a match where “Stone Cold” Steve Austin was the special guest referee, we’d see these two men battle it out.

This match was given 13 minutes & 48 seconds. This is nearly as long as the CM Punk/Randy Orton & Miz/John Cena matches and went longer than the Edge/Alberto Del Rio, Rey Mysterio/Cody Rhodes matches.

We know that sometimes you need a popcorn match or a change of pace match between bigger matches. However, this match was sandwiched between Punk/Orton & the Undertaker/Triple H classic.

We’re not sure if WWE did some calculation for how long people needed to go to the bathroom or get drink refills. However, nearly 14 minutes for this match was an eternity. What if this match was the same length as Snooki’s? Perhaps it would not have been as bad. Either way, we’re hoping nothing like this ever happens again.

WRESTLEMANIA XXVIII: SHEAMUS vs DANIEL BRYAN

Going into this event, most people felt this was going to be one of the best matches on the card. Seriously, we were all expecting the two to tear down the house because they had that type of talent. They have had incredible matches throughout their respective careers. Both men are still having great matches to this day. You have these two, in their prime, on a WrestleMania card. It had the makings of a classic we’d talk about for years.

On top of that, they opened the show and it was for the World Heavyweight Championship. The Rock vs John Cena was going to be the main event, but that opening match is one of the best places on the card. Sheamus and Daniel Bryan came out, both looking ready to go for an hour if they needed to. Bryan kissed his kayfabe girlfriend AJ Lee as the bell rang, you know, for luck.

Then Sheamus hits Bryan with the Brogue Kick. 1….2….3, it’s over.

The match lasted 18 seconds.

There were a few bad matches on this card, but nothing hurt us worse than this one. It was clearly a dumb booking decision by Vince, but it would do a lot for Bryan. Fans felt he deserved better and began to get behind him more and more. It led to the start of the YES! Movement, so perhaps we needed this match to get Bryan into the main event of WrestleMania 30. Who knows?

Either way, we’re sure you understand how this made our list of the single worst match from every WrestleMania.

WRESTLEMANIA XXIX: MARK HENRY vs RYBACK

The best thing we can say about this match is that it is a better watch than anything on Ryback’s YouTube Live Streams. It’s far better than reading anything from his insane Twitter/X posts. However, this was a terrible match and had nothing good going for it in the slightest.

Ryback is known to have struggled to find chemistry with almost everyone he worked with. Even CM Punk had to do everything in his power to have a decent match with him, which often led to Punk getting hurt. Honestly, the best part of a Ryback match in his WWE career was the times The Shield jumped in to stop them.

Ryback claims he is looking to be cleared to return to the ring by WrestleMania 71. WWE has to obviously meet his long list of demands though. We feel this seems reasonable if we’re living in the land of crazy people. After all, who wouldn’t want to see Ryback’s boring and awkward wrestling matches again?

We feel bad for Mark Henry in this match. He is a future WWE Hall of Famer and was still able to go pretty well at this point in his career. Sadly, this was 8 minutes of our lives we’ll never get back.

WRESTLEMANIA XXX: THE VICKIE GUERRERO INVITATIONAL MATCH

Honestly, let’s give WWE credit for a second. The WrestleMania 30 card was great overall and it was such a solid event that it’s hard to hate on any match. Even this match, the Vickie Guerrero Invitational, wasn’t horrible. It just wasn’t nearly as good as everything else on the card.

We see this as a theme that will begin to emerge as it becomes increasingly difficult to find truly terrible matches like those we saw from previous cards. If anything, the matches just won’t be “as good” as others. While this match was not great, we never thought it would be. It was a match meant to get as many women on the card as possible, which is nice to see. However, matches like this usually end up being pretty bad.

Still, getting on the WrestleMania card is important professionally and financially. Thus, we feel bad dumping on it as it was never intended to be a featured match to get the world talking.

AJ Lee ended up winning this match, which made sense. She was thought to be the only great all-around WWE Diva the company had at the time.

WRESTLEMANIA XXXI: AJ LEE & PAIGE vs THE BELLA TWINS

We have a similar problem that we had with the last card. This match ends up winning for the worst match on the card, but it doesn’t deserve hate. It’s not a bad match if we’re being honest. We need to keep a few things in mind. This match actually has 4 Hall of Famers. The Bella Twins already made it in, but AJ Lee & Paige are clear future WWE Hall of Famers.

The action in this match is pretty good, and would technically be her second to last match. The following night on RAW was the official last match of her WWE career. It is worth mentioning that if this match was not on the card, our choice would have gone to Undertaker/Bray Wyatt. This is wild, but unfortunately true.

This match just didn’t do a lot for us. Again, it’s not a bad match. It just isn’t great.

WRESTLEMANIA XXXII: BROCK LESNAR vs DEAN AMBROSE

We felt a bit bad about adding the women’s tag match to our list for WrestleMania 31. However, we do not feel bad at all for adding Brock Lesnar/Dean Ambrose from WrestleMania 32 to our list. Even Ambrose (now known as Jon Moxley) hated this match and has openly discussed how much it sucked.

He spoke about this in various interviews, he spoke about it on the Stone Cold Podcast:

“I went to the ring that night pretty pissed off, but then I really started to enjoy…as I walked to the ring. I had no idea what was going to happen. Went out there with not much of a plan, so to speak. I felt like I was pulling teeth to turn that match into something epic and so forth.

Artistically, Brock didn’t want to do anything, if we’re going to be perfectly honest. Brock’s gonna Brock. He’s all about Brock [and] I had a vision for that match to be the craziest thing imaginable, you know what I mean, and I was trying to pitch everything to everybody and had every idea. I put so much effort in and so much work in, and other people did too, and I was met with laziness.

I kept thinking at the end of the day, once we get in the ring, it’s all going to be okay. We’ll figure it out once we get in the ring. We went out there, whacked each other with weapons, I got suplexed a bunch of times.”

It is difficult to say much more here. If you watched that match, you walked away from it feeling dejected and let down. Ambrose certainly was, and it’s crazy too. Brock had the chance to help “make” Dean that night. However, he was too selfish and seemed upset that he was not in the main event like he was the year prior.

WRESTLEMANIA XXXIII: RANDY ORTON vs BRAY WYATT

This was sad to see. By WrestleMania 33, Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton were involved in what was technically a 7 to 8-month program. Orton joined the Wyatt Family at one point and would pretty much follow Bray wherever he wanted. We thought Randy lost his mind but he was playing Wyatt the whole time. He would then win the Royal Rumble match that year. However, the following month Wyatt won the WWE Championship inside the Elimination Chamber.

Orton was going to face another champion, forcing WWE to find someone to face Wyatt. Orton would then pull a fast one shortly beforehand and challenge Bray. AJ Styles would have been Wyatt’s opponent if Randy had not decided last minute to face Bray. That would be one of the main things that led to the AJ Styles/Shane McMahon rivalry and WrestleMania match. It was a nice story and build….but then we’d get to the match itself.

It was a terrible match. We loved Bray’s creative mind and the characters he created. However, not every match can deliver perfectly outside of the mind. This is an issue among creative wrestlers because sometimes there is just too much put into things.

This match was just horrible. It lasted 10 minutes and never could get us interested. While this was not the best WrestleMania card for WWE, this match stood out among the rest. We really expected more from it, which is probably why there is such disappointment here. Two incredible workers were in this match and you assumed they’d deliver. They never could, and it resulted in a lackluster affair. We were just glad when it ended.

WRESTLEMANIA XXXIV: BRAUN STROWMAN & NICHOLAS vs THE BAR

WrestleMania 34 offered a card full of bad matches. There was the fatal fourway involving Bobby Roode, Randy Orton, Rusev, & Jinder Mahal. There was the random, squash with John Cena & The Undertaker too. Heck, Brock Lesnar/Roman Reigns was not beloved by fans either. However, we did not hate this match honestly.

That left us with this match. Braun Strowman has long been an issue for the tag team division because he hates having a partner but he likes to hold gold. This led to a weird moment where The Bar (Sheamus & Cesaro) must face Braun and well, we didn’t know. He did not have a partner. By the time the match was about to start, Strowman needed someone.

That was when he asked the crowd if they wanted to be his partner, so he was about to pick a random fan to be his partner apparently. He then decided to pick a 12-year-old kid named Nicholas out of the crowd. Braun pretty much destroys The Bar on his own, with Nicholas getting the win with Strowman to become officially the youngest champion in WWE history.

We did not hate the moment, but the match was blah at best. Plus, Nicholas was a terrible champion as he gave it up the next night on WWE RAW to “focus on school.” Psh, you were a champion, kid! School is for suckers!

WRESTLEMANIA XXXV: BARON CORBIN vs KURT ANGLE

There is a lot of lore behind this. Kurt Angle, the WWE Hall of Famer, wanted to come back to WWE to work a few matches. Yet he knew he did not have many left in him because his body just couldn’t handle it any longer. He also was not about to go back to abusing painkillers again, so he felt that he had to end his career at WrestleMania 35.

He requested to work with John Cena. Vince McMahon refused and said he could have Cena next year, but Angle knew he did not have another year in him. Therefore, Vince forced him to work with Baron Corbin. The two were in a rivalry anyway, so it made sense.

Corbin is a solid worker, known for keeping his opponents safe in the ring. However, he does not light up the ring. Angle deserved to work with someone at his same Hall of Fame level. Ric Flair had Shawn Michaels and Michaels had The Undertaker. Why not give Kurt who he wants?

We did not hate the idea of Kurt helping another wrestler by putting them over and eating a pin. Plus, beating Angle in his last match is a nice thing to have on your resume. Yet it did not have to be Corbin. Why not Chad Gable? He could have given Kurt a match that would have been far better.

Angle was noticeably not the same when he stepped in the ring with Corbin. Kurt needed someone to bump well for him. Baron just isn’t the type of guy that can do that impressively. On top of that, this match felt like it was being squeezed onto the card. Kurt deserved better than being in a match that was treated as an afterthought.

WRESTLEMANIA XXXVI: ELIAS vs KING CORBIN

We need to be fair upfront here. This was the Pandemic WrestleMania. It was weird all around and that was not entirely the fault of WWE.

However, Elias vs King Corbin was just…ehhh. Honestly, it sucked and there isn’t any other way to say it. It was a weird match, and that is compared to the other weird matches that took place on this card.

Despite the odd circumstances, the card was pretty good. This was the first WrestleMania to have two nights, and both of these nights were relatively solid for what this show was. WWE did the best they could to give us an entertaining show despite the craziness going on in the world.

Sadly, some matches just did not work. Elias/King Corbin is the prime example of that issue.

WRESTLEMANIA XXXVII: RANDY ORTON vs THE FIEND

Most fans will tell you this card felt uneven. The card had some absolute classics, then randomly we’d get some so-so matches. However, then we’d get this one.

It was probably one of the weirdest things we’ve ever seen.

The whole match lasted 5 minutes and 54 seconds. We have to thank WWE for taking pity upon us because ending it just before the 6-minute mark was merciful, truthfully.

You never know when it comes to a Bray Wyatt match. Sometimes his creative mind gets in the way. Other times, others get in the way and change up his ideas and warp them into something he never intended, which was one reason Bray wanted out of WWE. Wyatt was such a highly intelligent, creative performer. He was a solid worker who was capable of putting on great matches.

Maybe it’s the Orton connection, we’re not sure. Yet this match turned out horrible. Honestly, this match was the definition of trying too much.

The match ended with Alexa Bliss coming out of a box, with a crown that seemed to be causing some liquid (likely supposed to be blood) to flow liberally down her face. It seemed like the idea was that Bliss’ character took away The Fiend’s power and made him vulnerable. Thus allowing Randy Orton to defeat him.

Behind the scenes, Wyatt was dealing with a lot of depression. His friend Brodie Lee (Luke Harper) passed shortly before this and he took it incredibly hard. However, Wyatt believed in the “show must go on” mentality. It’s just that one could tell he was not ready to be back and that probably contributed to how bad it was.

WRESTLEMANIA XXXVIII: MR. MCMAHON vs PAT MCAFEE

This match had a lot of good matches. Honestly, a match that should not have worked like Johnny Knoxville vs Sami Zayn ended up being one of the best parts of the entire show. However, we’d now get to this abomination.

Pat McAfee, a former NFL Punter and current host of the Pat McAfee Show as well as then-SmackDown color commentator, developed a rivalry with Austin Theory. This was an interesting rival to have, as Theory was chosen by Vince McMahon to be the next big thing. Mr. McMahon wanted to see Theory get a big win over Pat, but somehow McAfee pulled off the miracle win.

Pat got a little too cocky and called out McMahon. Vince being Vince did not want to take that and took off his suit to take part in a match. Theory attacked Pat before anything would get going and then Vince kicked a Dallas Cowboys football into Pat’s face to get the win. It was his first match since 2012 and his first WrestleMania match since 2010. It lasted slightly over 3 minutes…and it could have been shorter.

McAfee has proven to be pretty solid in the ring, but this was never going to be a true match. Vince was now 76 years old and could barely take even small bumps anymore.

The best part of this match was when it ended. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin came out and stunned everyone in eyesight. Pat was then caught on camera drinking a beer while halfway knocked out on the arena floor.

WRESTLEMANIA XXXIX: SNOOP DOGG vs THE MIZ

While some might think we’re being haters for putting this match on the list, we added it with affection.

First off, this was never supposed to take place. The plan was to have The Miz fight a returning Shane McMahon. However, Shane would do a nice jump over Miz and upon landing, would hurt his knee. This happened almost immediately. He tore his quad, proving he is his father’s son.

They still needed to fill some time, so our boy, WWE Hall of Famer Snoop Dogg, was there to save the day. He punched out Miz and did a Rock-like elbow drop to get the win in just over 2 minutes. This was quick improvising, to a point where it was hard to tell if this was or was not the plan.

You could make the case alone that Snoop’s improvising here, not being a wrestler, removes this from the worst match consideration. However, would this match have been any better if Shane never got hurt? Miz/Shane has been fun in the past but Miz was meant to go down quickly, as the match was never meant to be a true match worthy of our time.

Therefore, Snoop doing his thing may have made things turn out better. We have to give Miz an “A” for Effort. However, the only other match that could have been in the “worst” spot is the Women’s Tag Title Fatal Fourway, and it was far better than this.

Either way, Snoop became a guy WWE will probably turn to for years to come just for his quick thinking at WrestleMania 39.