10 Ways WWE WrestleManias From The New Generation Era Have Aged Poorly
By 1994, WrestleMania was an established phenomenon. The unequivocal and undisputed king of professional wrestling. No matter what else was going on in WWE, or any other promotion, every year, all eyes descended on The Grandaddy Of Them All. For the most part, all of the follies of those first few Mania events was expunged, and the formula was down pat.
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It was still the New Generation Era, however. So while WrestleMania was always looked forward to, during this time, there was plenty that fans groaned about then, now, and forever. No matter how good a show the WWE put on, there are always moments that just don’t hold up.
10 WrestleMania 11 - Undertaker Vs. King Kong Bundy With Larry Young As Referee
It’s no debate or secret that plenty of the early matches of The Undertaker’s WrestleMania Streak were less than subpar. That also meant coming up against The Walking Condominium, King Kong Bundy. Bundy was past his prime from when he main-evented the show nine years prior. But it was the guest referee that also no longer makes sense. At the time Larry Young was a MLB Umpire not working thanks to the Umpire lockout. As far as a 'Mania match is concerned, it’s a big head scratcher.
9 WrestleMania 11 - Bret Hart Vs. Bob Backlund
Considering WrestleMania 10 closed with Bret The Hitman Hart in his rightful place as WWE champion, going heads up against Bob Backlund the following year was an out of left field choice. It also didn’t help that the guest referee was Roddy Piper, just like he was in the prior year’s main event.
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On both occasions, the announcers tried to play up a possible animosity from their match at WrestleMania 8, but nothing ever came of it. As for the I Quit match, the ending to this day is confounding, with Backlund squealing something unintelligible and Piper calling for the bell.
8 WrestleMania 12 - The Warrior’s Return
Heck, five seconds after The Ultimate Warrior squashed Hunter Hearst Helmsley, the match aged poorly. As it was happening, the match aged poorly. Say what you will about The New Generation Era, but this is when workrate began to get better and better. That left dingbats like The Ultimate Warrior who didn’t know how to work out in the cold. Or at least it should have, especially since there was zero blood left to drain from the stone.
7 WrestleMania 13 - The Main Event
If the WWE Championship is on the card, it should in theory always close out any show, let alone a WrestleMania. So it’s totally understandable that Sycho Sid defending against The Undertaker should have closed out the show. Never mind all of the backstage mishegoss about smiles lost and vacant titles, the true main event of that show, even before it happened, was Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Bret Hart in the Submission Match. But once fans saw the instant classic, it was clear that no other match was going to top it.
6 WrestleMania 10 - The Falls Count Anywhere Match
From WrestleMania 2 through WrestleMania 8, Macho Man Randy Savage generally had the performance of the night - for seven straight Mania events! After falling back to a commentator role for Caesar’s Palace, The Macho Man would return to the ring for WrestleMania 10. He would take on his friend-turned-rival Crush in essentially a Texas Death Match. Despite their friendship backstage, the two lacked chemistry and the strange ending was one of the low points of the show.
5 WrestleMania 10 - The Fink Gets A Rug
Nowadays, there’s a bajillion different products that men (and women) can use in an attempt to regrow their hair. More often than not, continued use does in fact yield results. However, in the mid-nineties, it was easier and cheaper to get a hairpiece. Cue Sy Sperling, the president (and also a client) of The Hair Club For Men would gift Howard Finkel with one of his patented rugs, and it was unveiled at WrestleMania 10.
4 WrestleMania 12 - The Iron Man Match
Yes, you read that correctly. The highly regarded main event of WrestleMania 12, the Iron Man match between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels has aged fairly poorly over the years. For one, like any Iron Man Match, the time limit hampers it because if you know the match is supposed to last an hour, than you know nothing truly exciting is going to happen until the final moments.
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So while the match did have peaks and valleys and was certainly good to watch - it isn’t a match that lends itself to a lot of re-watching and certainly not the best match Bret and Shawn ever had.
3 WrestleMania 13 - The Sultan Vs. Rocky Maivia
For a career as prolific as The Rock’s and even Rikishi’s, this match is a dud for both of their careers. Unfortunately it happened on The Grandest Stage Of Them All. Neither The Sultan or Rocky Maivia were getting over as characters and someone thought the cure for that was pairing them together in a match. Those people were wrong and things didn’t get better when the Iron Sheik, Bob Backlund, and The Soul Man Rocky Johnson got involved.
2 WrestleMania 10 - Bill Clinton Impersonator
In 1994, America was still falling in love with then-President Bill Clinton. He instantly became one of the biggest Presidents for comedy and impressions. For some reason, WWE wanted to have “the President” attend WrestleMania 10.
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Because of the lackadaisical schedule the leader of the free world has, he has the opportunity to drop everything, charter Air Force One and head to a WWE event.
1 WrestleMania 13 - The “Co-Main Event”
As far aging poorly is concerned, Ahmed Johnson somehow being wildly over fits that bill - what were we fans thinking? At WrestleMania 13, he was gearing up to take on The Nation Of Domination, and he wasn’t doing it alone. Chicago’s adopted native sons, The Legion Of Doom returned to support Ahmed in his battle and even brought him spikes to wear. The match was passable, but considering it was considered the co-main event, passable wasn’t good enough for WrestleMania.
