YMMV / WrestleMania

• And You Thought It Would Fail:
  • Shane McMahon in the later years (2016 and beyond), multiple times. Many critics would have thought that Shane, being the owner's son, would be getting nothing more than a place in the pedestal, despite being an aging non-wrestler. However, each of the matches at this point have received key positives. WrestleMania 32 had the infamous fall from the top Hell in a Cell, never before done. WrestleMania 33 had him paired with AJ Styles, which turned out to be a much better match than expected and turned Styles face as a result. WrestleMania 34 was icing to the cake for Daniel Bryan's return done right. WrestleMania 35 had some brutal spots. WrestleMania 37 also shows him falling off the top of the steel cage to the ring. Regardless if people expect Shane to take a dangerous high spot as predictable, one cannot deny the bravery and respect to give the fans that wow factor.
  • Ronda Rousey's first match at WrestleMania 34 was predicted to be a botch fest from a number of people, with many thinking she would be unable to transfer her skill set to Professional Wrestling. The match ended up being a contender for match of the night, and many of those detractors enjoyed the match and weren't afraid to admit they were wrong about her. While by no means perfect, it proved Ronda has genuine wrestling talent. Her next WrestleMania pay-per-view, 35, also made history of being the first-ever celebrity with a championship to main event it.
  • WrestleMania 36: The event in general. Many weren't sure if the company should've still hosted the event considering the pandemic, and when they revealed that they were still going to host it via stitching together pre-taped matches and segments that would be broadcast over two nights, fans were skeptical over the final product. It turned out to be one of the better WrestleManias over the last few years, with some even calling it the best since WrestleMania 31. Two matches in particular were praised for both unique execution and great entertainment value during this time:
    • Going into the event, there was a lot of uncertainty surrounding the Boneyard Match between The Undertaker and AJ Styles. While the build was good, the Undertaker's matches for the last few years generally haven't been the best and many weren't sure if even AJ (oft-regarded as this generation's Shawn Michaels) could get a good match out of him. Not helping the matter is that, since the announcement of the match, no one was exactly sure what a Boneyard Match was (including the participants).^note It turned out to be a Buried Alive match that took place at an actual graveyard WWE allayed these fears...by filming it as a campy horror-esque cinematic vignette in the vein of the Broken Universe and Lucha Underground. By the time it was over many were unironically calling it the greatest WrestleMania main event ever.
    • John Cena vs. "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt in a "Firefly Funhouse Match" had the fans nervous if it would be like the infamous "House of Horrors Match" Wyatt had with Randy Orton three years ago. To people's surprise, it was more like a vignette that has multiple references to WWE, deconstructing John Cena's career and a lot of meta Mind Screw as if it was something filmed by David Lynch or an episode of Black Mirror. The consensus was that the crowd was loving this at the end, and could give the Boneyard Match a run for its money.
  • Bad Bunny at WrestleMania 37. Considering he was a celebrity was not that much related to the wrestling world, many were skeptical of how well his performance was going to be. It didn't help that the booking leading to his WrestleMania match was widely panned by critics and fans, mainly due to the fact that his weekly airtime stole the spotlight to much of the current roster who didn't make it to the show. When the match occurred, however, Bad Bunny's performance exceeded expectations as it showed that he really took the effort to fight. Bad Bunny has love and passion for pro wrestling and it shows: performing the Falcon/Broken Arrow in sync with Damien Priest, jumping off the top rope, and the use of the dangerous Canadian Destroyer has received critical acclaim with fans stating it's the best celebrity wrestling match ever (even outshining Ronda Rousey's three years prior!). Even Randy Orton, who has acquired a reputation for being an outspoken critic of celebrities who claim that wrestling is fake, gave praise to Bad Bunny for taking the initiative and view the WWE world in their eyes.
  • For WrestleMania 38, few could have predicted, and even bemoaned the thought, but the likes of Logan Paul, Johnny Knoxville and Pat McAfee gave a performance that not only did they not hamper the show, but added to the experience. Similar to Bad Bunny, many fans weren't enthusiastic about Logan Paul's tag team match with The Miz against Rey Mysterio and his son. However, Logan excelled both in the physical feats and acting like a Heel, using Eddie Guerrero's Frog Splash and Three Amigo suplexles like a pro. At the end of the match, fans admitted he also had potential to be a wrestler. Johnny Knoxville vs. Sami Zayn was a baller of a time, thanks to Knoxville willing to take bumps, the involvement of the other Jackass groups and more importantly, the comedy landed in spades, as the crowd were loving every minute of it. Pat McAfee had the entire arena in the palm of his hands from the get go, showing off his committment and athleticism to the business to the large hype crowd, showing why exactly he is one of WWE's best signings in years.
• Author's Saving Throw:
  • The news that the SmackDown Women's Championship match at 33 was going to be put on the kick-off show got a huge amount of backlash. The news even prompted Diva Dirt to write an editorial about WWE's perceived bias against the SmackDown women's division. WWE quickly moved the match to the main show.
  • The Cena vs. Taker Squash Match at WrestleMania 34 can be seen as this to the incredibly negative reception to Taker's match against Roman Reigns last year and his initial retirement after losing. Normally it wouldn't be this as people had been clamoring for the Cena/Taker dream match for years, and having it as a Squash Match is the exact opposite of what they would've wanted; but after Taker's match at 33, they were just happy Taker had a chance to redeem himself from that disastrous bout. That, and Cena got squashed, pleasing the many who dislike him almost as much as Reigns.
  • After an increasing number complaints that the events were simply too long following each WrestleMania from 32 to 35, the positive reception WrestleMania 36 being split across two nights due to COVID-19 protocols led to subsequent events being split across a weekend.
• Broken Base:
  • WrestleMania 12 is fairly divisive on its own, but the main event (the Iron Man match between Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels) is easily the most argued part. Either it was a legendary fight to the end between two workers on the top of their game, or it was one of the most boring matches in the entire WWE library (given that it's an Iron Man match, where the goal is to score the most pinfalls over the course of an hour, with a pinfall grand total of one, in overtime).
  • WrestleMania 29 got this hard. It was either a fun event with enough action to keep you entertained, or an incredibly disappointing mess laden with predictable outcomes, video packages and generally mediocre main events. Most of the matches in the event itself were this, too. In fact, the only match that was near-universally praised was CM Punk vs. The Undertaker.
  • Post-WrestleMania XXX, fans are heavily fractured over the streak ending. Adding onto that, Brock Lesnar being the one to do it broke the base even further. It didn't help that the match itself wasn't the best, especially when The Undertaker faced CM Punk the previous year in a match that, while a lot of fans of both wrestlers agree wasn't the best of either men's careers, was absolutely amazing by comparison.
  • WrestleMania 33: Triple H vs. Seth Rollins. Was it an awesome display of heart and talent by Seth Rollins, finally averting Stephanie McMahon's Karma Houdini status and featuring two of the best talents in the business? Or was it a dull, boring slog that proved both Triple H and the main event style he used should have retired a long time ago, and was far from Rollins' best performance?
  • WrestleMania 34: Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns. A finally welcome subversion of the Creator's Pet saga, or dragging out a controversial title reign even longer? Even further exacerbated by a match that elicited chants of "this is awful" at the main event of WrestleMania.
  • Roman Reigns once again retaining his title at WrestleMania 39 by defeating Cody Rhodes became massively controversial near instantaneously.
• Critic-Proof:
  • WWE as a whole is not, as television ratings, attendance numbers and buy rates noticeably rise and drop with fan reception to the product, which reviews increasingly act as a microcosm of as fans themselves get on media platforms as critics. WrestleMania, on the other hand is, as no matter how bad WWE does anywhere else, WrestleMania numbers tend to stagnate at worst, though they've usually increased over the years (even during years when ticket sales for everything not WrestleMania dropped off).
  • The Hulk Hogan vs. André the Giant at Wrestlemania III is highly remembered even among non-fans, but it was given a negative four star rating by The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, and was voted "Worst Worked Match of the Year" by the same publication.
• Discredited Trope: WrestleMania XXVI featured Bret Hart vs. Vince McMahon in a No Holds Barred Match. In the late 1990s, this might have actually been an interesting confrontation; in 2010, with Vince in his 60s and Bret in no shape to actually wrestle (thanks to the combined effects of his career-ending concussion in 2000 and a stroke he suffered a few years later), what we got was Bret and the Hart family giving Vince an over-ten-minute beatdown. Bret delivered 12 chairshots to a downed Vince (one for every year he was out of WWE following the Montreal Screwjob) before finally putting Vince in the Sharpshooter like everyone wanted. The match was widely panned by wrestling critics, especially for its length, depriving other matches of ring time. Another handicap was the new PG rating. Just about all of Vince's best-received matches were entertaining because he's willing to let the other guy do anything to him. Without the option to all but murder Vince, it's infinitely harder for him to pull off an entertaining fight.
• Ending Fatigue:
  • 32 managed to find time for a completely pointless Rock segment that managed to push the show into overrunning the 6 hour timeslot on its own, and then Triple H and Roman Reigns both got elaborate entrances, by which point the show was 10 minutes over and the main event hadn't even started yet, and would go on for 27 minutes. The crowd was already irate after half of them missed the first 4 matches due to issues getting into the building, but the obnoxiously stretched out ending pushed them into outright revolt.
  • 34 was the longest Mania ever, even more so because they actually got all the fans into building for the pre-show this time. And almost everyone is united in believing it was just too damn long. Several superstars actually complained about it, with the crowd during the highly anticipated Shinsuke Nakamura vs. AJ Styles match near dead, and in open revolt by the time of Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar.
  • Averting this is speculated to be one of the reasons why the company decided to keep WrestleMania spread over two nights after the COVID-19 Pandemic forced this issue for 36. On top of minimizing the number of personnel for each night and giving wrestlers at least one night of much needed rest, it also ensures that the crowds won't be worn out after being forced to sit through five to seven straight hours of content.
• Fan Nickname:
  • Combined with Fun with Acronyms, fans took to name the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal (which was introduced at WrestleMania XXX) by André's real-life name, rendering it the André Roussimoff Memorial Battle Royal - or ARMBAR.
  • Similarly, when the Wrestlemania Women's Battle Royal was briefly^note before fans raised hell with WWE's sponsors Snickers named the Fabulous Moolah Battle Royal, it became FUBAR.
    • It's new nickname after its renaming is given as WOMBAR (Women's Battle Royal) or WOMBAT (Women's Battle Royal).
  • WrestleMania 32 has been nicknamed "InjuryMania" due to several prominent stars being sidelined with injury, screwing up plans and shooting a lot of the build down the drain. Among these stars is John Cena, who will be missing the event for the first time in his career. Even one of the performers headlining said Mania, Roman Reigns, had to be written out for a couple weeks so he could get surgery for a deviated septum, causing him to miss a significant portion of the build. By that point, the only full-time main event talent was Dean Ambrose, and since his opponent, Brock Lesnar, was a part-timer who was only booked for a couple more appearances, Ambrose had to carry the show by himself by starting a mini-feud with Triple H, technically a part-timer but one who showed up on TV every week. It would end up subverted slightly in Cena's case. While he did not have an actual match at the said event, he did manage to appear and give The Rock a hand in dealing with The Wyatt Family, all to a MASSIVE pop.
  • Thanks to the multitudes of twists that dotted the WrestleMania 34 event, fans and detractors alike have immediately called it "Swerve-o-Mania"
  • Bad Bunny's Canadian Destroyer on John Morrison was quickly renamed "Bunny Destroyer". That one became official in the WWE 2K games.
  • WrestleMania 39 and XL have been called WWE Infinity War and WWE Endgame due to the parallels of Cody Rhodes trying to defeat the juggernaut that is Roman Reigns. In 39, he failed to defeat Reigns, akin to Thanos wiping out half of all life throughout the universe. Meanwhile, XL Night 2 has the likes of previous wrestlers who have been the victim of the Bloodline (like John Cena and Undertaker) arriving to save the day. To cement the parallels, Cody Rhodes plays the role of Captain America due to his American Nightmare attire, Jey Uso as Thor who had to face his trauma of the Bloodline and his brother in particular, and Seth Rollins ended up being Iron Man who sacrificed himself so Rhodes had an opening, even donning his Shield outfit as "armor" and the steel chair in his hand was the Infinity Gauntlet. Continuing the parallels, Undertaker could be considered Hulk (the one who slams Rock to the ring akin to a Hulk Smash) and Cena is Scarlet Witch (a powerhouse who tried attacking Rock before he got injured but managed to put away Solo). Meanwhile, Reigns and Rock both share dual roles as Thanos. Thanos' strongest offense was the Infinity Gauntlet whereas Reigns has his Superman Punch and the Rock and Thanos have bald heads and are considered the biggest threat the Avengers had to face (like Rock calls himself "The Final Boss"). Jimmy and Solo could be seen The Children of Thanos, with Jimmy also playing the role as Loki due to his deceitful nature while preying on his brother's sympathy, and Paul Heyman is The Other, who acted as Reigns' hype-man. On a non-related Cody Rhodes moment, Cory Graves calls the women in the six-women tag team match of XL as "The Avengers of the Women Division."
  • Both Money In The Bank cash ins during WrestleMania — Seth Rollins at 31 versus Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns and Damian Priest at XL after Drew McIntyre defeated Seth Rollins — are called "The Heist of the Century" due to both of them appearing at the right moment when someone wins or is about to win the Championship.
• Fanon Discontinuity: The infamous WrestleMania 32 is so reviled by fans (to the point that it won that year's Gooker Award) that many pretend the event never happened. In fact, the extreme negative reception the event received seems to have caused the company to move it into semi-Canon Discontinuity, as most of the booking afterwards either ignored or negated its results and was more geared towards pleasing the fans, such as turning Seth Rollins face (admittedly several months after his return) and finally making Dean Ambrose WWE World Heavyweight Champion at Money in the Bank 2016.
• Girl-Show Ghetto:
  • Prior to the Women's Evolution, WrestleMania was often a bad time for women's wrestling fans. As the "Diva Era" took off, WWE began favoring Fanservice matches or else quantity over quality. Multi-Diva tag matches or Lumberjill matches became the norm - with predictably very little time given. The Divas Championship was introduced in 2008 and not defended at a WrestleMania until six years later, and all of the women's titles went 12 years (2006-2018) only being defended on the show in either gimmick matches or cramped multi-woman matches, most of which were thrown together with little or no buildup. 29 was especially terrible, where the only match featuring women was a mixed tag match that got cut from the broadcast at the last minute. Things do seem to be changing as of 31 but time will tell.
  • Heavily averted by XIX, 22, 32, 34, 37, 38, 39 and (to some) X8 - as they featured some of the more beloved women's matches in the event's history (quite a lot of people think Charlotte vs Asuka was the best match of the night at 34). XX zig-zags this—while the women's title match was viewed as a disappointment, the resulting moment of Molly Holly having her head shaved was viewed as a highlight of a disappointing event. These days, there are at least three women's matches with plenty of storyline buildup and longer match times nowadays as the women even main-evented 35.
• Growing the Beard: After two somewhat underwhelming installments, it was WrestleMania III that put 'Mania on the map to become the spectacle it is today.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero came out on top at WrestleMania XX as World Heavyweight and WWE Champions. After nearly twenty years of trying to reach the pinnacle of his profession, Benoit made Triple H tap to the Crippler Crossface in a Triple Threat with Shawn Michaels. Benoit's post-match celebration with Guerrero - then the WWE Champion - was a sight many smarks cried tears of happiness over. Then Real Life stepped in: the next three years ruined the image forever. It was harkened back upon positively after Guerrero's death in 2005. But after Benoit's double Murder-Suicide in 2007, WWE has attempted to pretend Chris Benoit never existed.
  • During the Andre the Giant memorial battle royal at Wrestlemania 33, JBL's mention that as long as Luke Harper stayed healthy, he would have more Wrestlemania moments becomes this after Harper passed away in 2020 at the age of 41.
  • The sight of Roman Reigns getting bloodied by Brock Lesnar during the main event of WrestleMania 34 becomes this after Reigns revealed many months later that his leukemia^note For those who don't know, it's cancer in the blood cells resurfaced (he beat the disease into remission eleven years prior).
  • John Cena proposing in the ring to Nikki Bella after their mixed tag match against The Miz and Maryse. Despite being a heartwarming moment at the time, the couple announced their split in 2018 - by all accounts still very much in love but being unable to make their different priorities in life work to be together.
  • During the Boneyard Match at 36, The Undertaker attacks Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, and after he sets the barn on fire they aren't seen again after that, leading to many jokes about them being dead. Less than two weeks later, they were unexpectedly released amidst a gigantic wave of layoffs, meaning that that essentially was the last that viewers would see of them again...for a couple years, anyway, as they made a surprise return in October 2022 to back up AJ once more.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Due to taking place in Los Angeles, WrestleMania 21 had a heavy Hollywood gimmick around it. The event is best known for, among other things, cementing John Cena and Batista as main eventers, who would later go on to have successful film careers in the mid-to-late 2010s in the style of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. This is made even more hilarious when one considers the commercials for the event, which featured wrestlers doing parodies of famous films; Batista, alongside other wrestlers, took part in a Taxi Driver parody by doing impressions of the film's "You Talkin' to Me?" line, and Batista was ultimately the only one to nail it (albeit not before some confusion resulted in a Who's on First? routine). Eventually, he even worked alongside Taxi Driver star Robert De Niro in Heist (2015). Similarly, Cena's commercial has him and his 'Mania opponent JBL re-enacting the "YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!" scene from A Few Good Men. Cena's acting debut has him starring in the similar military-based film The Marine.
  • Any time Beth Phoenix has competed at the event, she has been the higher ranking star in her match and come out to someone else's music. At XXIV, she was Women's Champion and came out to Melina's. At XXVI she was the top face but came out to Eve Torres's. And at XXVIII she was the Divas' Champion and once again came out to Eve's.
• Just Here for Godzilla:
  • Many, many wrestling fans have gotten to the point where they only watch WrestleMania for The Undertaker's Streak match - and it doesn't help that every WrestleMania since WrestleMania XXV (the first Undertaker/Shawn Michaels match for WM) have had his match considered the best match of the night (and at times the only match worth watching). If the reception for his match with Bray Wyatt was any indication, it seems that The Streak being broken hadn't slowed it down, either.
  • WrestleMania 13 is largely considered the "one-match show", as it had one match that is considered both one of the best in professional wrestling history, and one of the starting points of the company's Attitude Era: the submission match between Bret Hart and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. As for the rest of the card? Yeah, nobody talks about those matches.
• Memetic Badass:
  • Nicholas, the ten year old kid that won the Raw Tag Team titles with Braun Strowman at Wrestlemania 34.
  • Bad Bunny (a musician, we should remind you) became a fan favorite after his stellar match against The Miz and John Morrison at WrestleMania 37, culminating on him pulling a Canadian Destroyer on Morrison. Fans were already stating that if he ever wants to stop making music, he had a career in wrestling.
• Memetic Loser: Maryse was solidified as the ultimate Faux Action Girl as of her mixed tag match at 33. Her stepping into the ring for the first time since returning as a valet was hyped up immensely, with social media and commentators talking about how much she had been training. She ultimately does very little in the match, and any big moves Nikki does are suspiciously sold by The Miz instead. Not helping matters was John Cena dressing her down the week before the show, pretty much calling her entire career useless—and her lack of participation in the match just seemed to validate his claims.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • The shocked fan◊ wearing a Daniel Bryan "Just Say Yes" shirt^note His name is Ellis Mbeh, by the way. who witnessed Undertaker's defeat at WrestleMania XXX. Ironically, he was rooting for Lesnar to win, meaning he was shocked for a totally different reason.
  • Everything having to do with the RAW Tag Team Title match at 34.
  • Titus O'Neil's reaction to the Firefly Funhouse Match because it mirrors everyone else's. Better yet everything about said Firefly Funhouse Match became a Fountain of Memes, with fans comparing it to something directed by David Lynch (particularly Twin Peaks) or Black Mirror.
  • This screencap from the Boneyard match between The Undertaker and AJ Styles became a popular object labeling format in mid-2020.
  • Triple H never forgets.^Note Cody Rhodes failing to defeat Roman Reigns for the WWE Undisputed Universal Championship at WrestleMania 39 is believed to be in retaliation of Cody destroying a replica of Triple H's throne at AEW Double Or Nothing. It didn't help that Triple H would defend the decision at the media scrum following WrestleMania.
• Misaimed Fandom: WrestleMania X8's "dream match" between Hulk Hogan (in his "Hollywood" persona) and The Rock. Despite being a heel, Hogan got more cheers from the crowd than The Rock. Rock turned this to his advantage, as he decided not to fight it, and basically turned heel in mid-match, and then turned back once the match was over.
• Most Wonderful Sound: A very common trope for any WrestleMania, but the return of Shawn Michaels, Mick Foley, and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin at WrestleMania 32 deserves extra mention.
• Newer Than They Think: The WWE Hall of Fame was originally held before the King of the Ring event in its first two years, and Survivor Series in its third. It wasn't turned into a WrestleMania tradition until 2004 (the twentieth show).
• Overshadowed by Controversy: WrestleMania XIX was considered by most means a great show, with a classic main event between Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle, a show-stealing battle between Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels, the long-awaited encounter between Vince McMahon and Hulk Hogan, and the final match of the Rock/Austin WrestleMania trilogy in what would be the latter’s final ever match. However, one match that people would rather forget would be the battle between Triple H and Booker T for the World Heavyweight Championship. The build-up to the match consisted of Triple H characterizing Booker with racist stereotypes of African Americans, such as talking about his real life arrest record, referencing the stereotype of blacks being violent criminals, or telling Booker to do Spinaroonies at his order, referring to how black entertainers in the Jim Crow era were often patronized by their white audiences. He even stated that people like Booker, implying African Americans, don’t deserve to be world champion. While all of that is bad in itself, what really makes this feud so hated is the fact that Triple H won the match, and waited a full minute after hitting his finishing move to pin Booker (although this was more because it took him more than half a minute to recover as Booker T had been legitimately injured by the move).
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: At WrestleMania XX, Brock Lesnar vs. Goldberg more or less stank the joint up because of multiple issues, mainly due to both men already making it clear that they were done with WWE afterwards. It would go on to be considered one of the worst matches in Mania history. 13 years later at WrestleMania 33, however, both men managed to give a performance that more than redeemed themselves at the showcase of the immortals. Sure the match was less than five minutes, but that was all they ever really needed.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • Diamond Dallas Page was the Honky Tonk Man's driver during his entrance at 6.
  • CM Punk was part of John Cena's entoruge in the latter's gangster-inspired entrance at 22.
  • Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks, and Alexa Bliss were Triple H's masked consorts during his entrance at XXX.
• Rooting for the Empire:
  • Triple H has gotten this twice while main eventing this event as a heel. The first time was against John Cena at WrestleMania 22, when Cena was at his most hated. The second time was ten years later at WrestleMania 32 against Cena's company-chosen successor, Roman Reigns, who somehow managed to become more hated than Cena ever was. Unfortunately for the fans, he lost both times.
  • Several fans had this reaction for 31's Divas tag team match featuring the face team of A.J. Lee and Paige against the heel Bella Twins. If it happened a year or so before, the former team would have been clearly the heroines, being fan favorites, while the latter at that time were seen as everything that was wrong with the Divas division. However, by the time of 31 the former team came across as Designated Heroes in their promos, claiming they were automatically better than the twins because they weren't girly, while the Bellas had considerably improved. It was also very hard to sympathise with AJ in particular, who had taken many months off, stopped working house shows and not done any of the additional PR work that talent usually did (that the Bellas and Paige had done). One promo from Nikki was even rumored to be a Worked Shoot calling AJ out for her lack of interest in the division. This was underlined in Cewsh Reviews.
    Cewsh: Two of the people here have been carrying this division on their backs for over a year now, and have grown so much in that time that they have to be among the premier female talents on the main roster right now. Their matches have been consistently high quality, their feuds have generated more than cursory interest from a fanbase who usually doesn't give Divas the time of day, and they have really shown that they may be the cream of the crop for this generation of Divas. The other two are AJ and Paige."
• Shocking Moments:
  • Of course, the end of The Undertaker's then-undefeated streak at WrestleMania XXX.
  • Between Roman Reigns challenging Brock Lesnar for the WWE title, and Sting wrestling his first WWE match, the last thing on people's minds at WrestleMania 31 was Seth Rollins cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase and winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
  • Most people were aware that Ronda Rousey was going to be attending WrestleMania 31. Nobody knew she was going to be involved in an angle.
  • Shane McMahon going up to the top of the Hell in a Cell against The Undertaker at WrestleMania 32. Several minutes of "What is he doing?" reactions from the fans watching him ascend the cage was one thing, but seeing Shane make the Sign of the Cross on himself before trying to an elbow drop on a downed Undertaker, who got out of the way stunned everybody.
  • Bad Bunny's wrestling debut in Wrestlemania 37, particularly how he performed a Canadian Destroyer on Morrison. To make it even more shocking, Bad Bunny is mostly known as a musician.
• Signature Song: There are some common ones for any event. For rock songs, it's likely either "My Way" (X-Seven) or "Ladies and Gentlemen" (23). For rap songs, it's "Wild Ones" and "Good Feeling" (28). "Celebrate" became this for both (XXX and 34, coincidentally both were in Louisiana).
• So Bad, It's Good:
  • The Undertaker's match with Giant Gonzalez at 9. Sure, Gonzalez was quite the Fashion-Victim Villain and basically an up to eleven predecessor to The Great Khali... But the idea itself (a 7-foot monster vs. an 8-foot monster) was still epic, and we did get some Narm/Narm Charm from it.
  • Braun Strowman's tag team title match with Sheamus and Cesaro at 34, in which he chose a ten-year old fan from the stands named Nicholas ^note  Actually the son of referee John Cone, if you were wondering as his partner and subsequently won the titles with him. Normally this would have smarks decrying the devaluing of the RAW Tag Team Titles (and make no mistake, there were still a few who reacted like this, most notably "Stone Cold" Steve Austin), but the majority, including the live crowd, actually found the situation hilarious, mainly due to how seriously the wrestlers took the match (at one point Cesaro even started trash talking Nicholas); for those watching at home, the hilarity was doubled thanks to the commentary, in which Michael Cole, Jonathan Coachman, and especially Corey Graves lampshaded the absurdity of the entire situation. Nicholas eventually would gain Memetic Badass status from this alone.
• Special Effects Failure: At WrestleMania XIV, Kane's iconic tombstone of Pete Rose actually very clearly just has Kane falling to his knees with Rose's head never touching the apron. While that was understandable,^note Piledrivers can cause serious injury or even death if not performed properly, as Stone Cold Steve Austin can attest to thanks to Owen Hart botching the move at SummerSlam 1997 the camera angle could have done a better job of covering that up.
• Sophomore Slump: WrestleMania 2 was just as experimental as its predecessor, being simulcast in three cities: Los Angeles, CA; Uniondale, NY; and Rosemont, IL. Weak matches with sub-par workers (a few which lasted less than fifteen moves) and cheap finishes, combined with an overreliance on celebrity power and many viewers who didn't fully understand the product, led to an overall bland show. And Susan St. James saying "Uh-oh..." to the point where it became a Verbal Tic for her.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: The vast majority of women's wrestling fans would have preferred a singles match between Trish Stratus and Michelle McCool at 27 - as opposed to a mixed tag. Dolph Ziggler's involvement at least made storyline sense given he'd wrestled with LayCool before, but John Morrison was even more of a spare part than Snooki (not helping matters was his rude behavior towards Trish, which was allegedly because he felt Melina should have been in the match). According to the women involved, the match's time got completely cut and they were told to wrap it all up in about three minutes.
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring:
  • WrestleMania 32 started with Zack Ryder (who, while respected by the fans, wasn't remotely in the title hunt) winning the Intercontinental Championship in a Ladder Match, giving him the WrestleMania Moment he always wanted.^note Apparently, this wasn't even part of the plan. All six participants knew that whoever won was dropping the title to The Miz the next night anyway, so WWE didn't particularly care who won. It was the wrestlers themselves who decided to put it on Ryder, so the only bright spot of the evening almost didn't happen. This was followed by heel after heel winning, often cleanly.
    • Then-WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day were beaten by The League of Nations (in a non-title match). When Wade Barrett praised his other three teammates (Alberto Del Rio, Rusev and Sheamus) as the best "three Superstars" in the company, cue "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, and Mick Foley coming to the ring and beat them up. They then helped the New Day to their feet... and then Austin beat one of the New Day up (Xavier Woods). While it was nice to see Austin, Michaels and Foley again, this stunt harmed the credibility of both teams, as they were beaten by aging (albeit still respected) has-beens.
    • Hot new acquisition AJ Styles fought Chris Jericho. Styles was recently hired and paid main event-level money for his contract, and Jericho was for quite some time best used shaping new talent. Jericho won cleanly.
    • Dean Ambrose vs Brock Lesnar in a "No Holds Barred Street Fight". In the days proceeding the event, both Mick Foley AND Terry Funk gave Ambrose their signature weapons (A barbed wire-wrapped baseball bat and a chainsaw, respectively). Not only did Lesnar No-Sell all Ambrose's attacks, but the only time the match was even remotely going in Ambrose's favor was when he hit Lesnar with a nut shot... from behind. And said momentum lasted less than two minutes before Lesnar flattened Ambrose, cleanly. It's considered one of the worst matches of Ambrose's career, although almost everyone puts the blame on Lesnar, who simply didn't give a shit about the match and wasn't willing to work with Ambrose at all to try and make anything of it, a sentiment Ambrose stated to also have felt months after the match.
    • They made a big deal that an "all-new" Women's Championship^note "All-new" because it does not share the same title history as the original WWE Women's Championship that was retired in 2010. Later renamed as the Raw Women's Championship after the return of the brand extension and the creation of the SmackDown Women's Champion. was being introduced to replace the Divas Championship.^note Ironically, replacing the original Women's Championship was the reason the Divas Championship was made in the first place. Charlotte won a triple threat to win the renamed Women's Championship by having her father Ric Flair cheat to help her, just like pretty much every other title defense she'd had since winning the Divas Championship.
    • The Undertaker fought Shane McMahon in a match that came with a very confusing storyline beforehand: Shane had returned to WWE for the first time since 2009 to confront his father Vince and sister Stephanie in regards to how they run the company, which alone was seen as a Crowning Moment of Awesome. Vince then made a deal with Shane that he would gain control of Raw from the much-maligned The Authority if he could win a match of his choosing at WrestleMania. After Shane accepted, Vince named The Undertaker as his opponent. Fans' reaction to Vince's choosing was basically a Flat "What", given the lack of an alliance between Vince and Undertaker, and the storyline never explained why 'Taker would wrestle a match as the de facto Heel to help Vince against Shane; despite 'Taker's claims that he worked for no one, he went along with it, while Shane seemed to lampshade it by asking why 'Taker would be one of his father's "puppets." Apparently they eventually realized that the match needed some stakes, so Vince added another stipulation; that if 'Taker did not win, it would be "his last WrestleMania," implying that he'd have to retire, but even then it felt a bit flat, since 'Taker had already been mostly-retired for years at that point. Then, at WrestleMania, The Undertaker defeated Shane. So Shane didn't gain control of Raw, right? Wrong. The following night on Raw, Vince, claiming that Shane was supposedly upstaging him with his strong fan support (which, admitedly, Shane had at the time), allowed Shane to run Raw that night anyway, and Shane was then allowed to continue controlling Raw for another three weeks after that, basically rendering the whole thing pointless. Thus, the Authority was disbanded in a confusing payoff after three years of tormenting the viewers.
    • The André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal was won by Baron Corbin, a midcarder Heel from NXT, WWE's developmental system. Cleanly. Granted, the fans were more forgiving in this instance, as Corbin was at least a fresh prospect; one may have noticed that most of the heels winning so far are not only heels but also older talent (or involved older talent in the women's title case).
    • The Rock came out to announce the legitimately record-setting (but still exaggerated) attendance. Then The Wyatt Family comes out to essentially heckle him, only for him to beat Erick Rowan in literally 8 seconds. When the somehow still supposed-to-be intimidating Wyatts surround Rocky, John Cena came out to "rescue" him. Because the last time they threw in the Rock and Cena at WrestleMania for no good reason turned out amazing. Just ask CM Punk!^note Ironically, the fans were actually happy to see Cena, and he ended up getting one of the biggest pops of the night. This was for two reasons: 1. Cena had a great 2015, both in wrestling and out of it, and having to deal with Roman Reigns while he was out made them more appreciative of him and 2. His appearance meant the segment was almost over.
    • Finally, the main event that no one (other than Vince McMahon) wanted: Triple H vs Creator's Pet Roman Reigns. First, they give Triple H an incredible Evil Is Cool intro, followed by Reigns... coming down the ramp, followed by a special effect to the ring that was supposed to look like it "shattered", but they botched the timing. The match itself, while not terrible by any means, just fell flat, as the outcome couldn't be more obvious if it appeared with flashing captions on the screen, with Reigns winning cleanly. Even if fans had wanted Reigns to be WWE Champion (which was the one thing they really, really didn't want), they'd be disgusted from the rest of the show. While declaring it the worst 'Mania ever is clearly hyperbole, it could easily rank in the bottom 20% or so.
  • The main event of WrestleMania 33 between The Undertaker, one of the biggest legends in the industry's history, and Roman Reigns, maybe the biggest Creator's Pet in the company's history. Most people knew (or at least suspected) this could've been the Undertaker's final match, and very few people wanted Reigns to be the one to retire him, so when Reigns did indeed put down the Undertaker, the match more than anything would have ended up being a depressing end to a storied career...at least until Undertaker came out of retirement the following year at WrestleMania 34 and squashed John Cena.
• Tough Act to Follow:
  • The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan at X8 proved to be this. Chris Jericho and Triple H even pushed for that to go on last, feeling it was the true main event.
  • Up until age and injuries caught up to him, The Undertaker's matches almost always caused this trope.
    • The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels at 25 made it practically impossible for any match that proceed it to follow it up. Again, Triple H felt this, when he entered backstage with both Taker and Shawn resting up, throwing his WWE title aside and said "How the fuck am I supposed to follow that?". Poor Hunter. Unsurprisingly, their rematch at 26 was the main event, helped by the fact that it was going to be Shawn's retirement match.
    • Ironically, Triple H ended up being Taker's opponent for the next two Manias and ended up upstaging every other match on their respective cards just like Shawn's first match with Taker did. For 27, it was arguably the only match worth watching; for 28, it flat-out almost killed the crowd dead to the point that it took CM Punk vs Chris Jericho to wake them up again (and even then, Punk and Jericho had to build up to that, with the crowd only coming fully alive again in the closing minutes of their match). The only reason their second match didn't main event like it arguably should have is because that Mania was being headlined by John Cena vs. The Rock.
    • CM Punk vs The Undertaker would have been this on any other night. However, much like 27, almost every other match on the card for 29 was extremely lackluster (the exception being the always-decent Daniel Bryan match). General agreement is that their match was the only match worth watching. This match was also the last truly great wrestling match Undertaker had at this event — while later matches had memorable moments, the actual matches themselves were pretty mediocre. The only exception to that was the Boneyard Match Taker had with AJ Styles at 36 (which turned out to be his very last match ever), and that wasn't a wrestling match so much as a cinematic vignette.
  • Mickie James vs Trish Stratus at 22 was this to the women's match at 23. Featuring what would end up becoming the final 'Mania appearance of a veteran star (Trish) and the crowning of a new era star (Mickie), a match involving a Playboy cover girl and a woman who had only just started being treated like a serious wrestler (after having become mostly known for her Fanservice-ladden ring entrance) was just not going to cut it, especially since it only lasted about three minutes.
  • To the surprise of many, the mixed tag match between Ronda Rousey and Kurt Angle vs. Stephanie McMahon and Triple H was this for 34. It was one of the best matches of the night (with the only other match even close to its quality being the SmackDown Women's Championship match between Charlotte Flair and Asuka). Even Dave Meltzer felt that the rest of the show couldn't live up to her match.
  • After the Boneyard Match of Wrestlemania 36, people were thinking this was the fate of the Firefly Funhouse Match. Needless to say, people have now placed the match in equal positioning to the Boneyard Match. The title TATF fell to the main event of Drew McIntyre vs Brock Lesnar.
  • In 38, Logan Paul had big shoes to fill in the celebrity match after Bad Bunny's excellent performance. However, he managed to be just as good as Bunny with how he acted as a total heel and excellent use of Eddie Guerrero's signature moves. The same could be said to Johnny Knoxville and Pat MacAfee with their matches, but both of them were able to hold their own and leave the fans wanting more.
• Unexpected Character:
  • While John Cena himself at WrestleMania 35 wasn't that unexpected, the fact that he brought back the Doctor of Thuganomics gimmick was a pleasant surprise to everyone, to the point where there was a very noticeable pop when his "Basic Thuganomics" music started playing.
  • Not many people expected Stephanie McMahon to open up Night Two of WrestleMania XL as she resigned shortly after her father came back temporarily behind the scenes and hasn't been seen since.

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