10 Dumbest Ways WWE Promoted WrestleMania Matches
Entry #1 is "worth it"...
WWE mostly paves the Road to WrestleMania with narrative gold befitting its grand, "season finale" occasion.
Kurt Angle entered WrestleMania 21 on career-best form, as WWE's preeminent all-rounder of an entertainment machine, in a demented, sadistic and hilarious quest to prove that he was better than his opponent Shawn Michaels. He destroyed Marty Jannetty's ankle. He destroyed Sensational Sherri's ankle. He destroyed Shawn's entrance theme in a killer karaoke segment. Long live Stupid, Sexy Kurt. That sh*t was amazing.
Equally amazing was the epic story built ahead of WrestleMania XIV's clash between the Undertaker and his vengeful, terrifying brother Kane. It was a symphony of anticipation. The Undertaker's myth informed so much excellent television at his peak. It had grown to such a defining extent that, by 2010, Shawn Michaels lost his mind - and ultimately his career - in an awesome, emotional drive to end it.
The young children who lived through the sight of Jake Roberts' blinded, white eye in 1991 never forgot it as adults, nor did they forget the explosion of the Mega Powers, the greatest WWE storyline ever, with its searing realism, meticulous plotting and genuine, gripping nuance.
WWE mostly paves the Road to WrestleMania with narrative gold befitting its grand, "season finale" occasion.
Mostly...
10. The Rock Vs. Hollywood Hulk Hogan - WrestleMania X8
All the Rock and Hollywood Hulk Hogan needed, before their Dream showdown in Toronto, was to size one another up - to register the simplest, most understated body language.
This was very much the inter-generational Dream Match it was promoted as. All we needed was room to dream - particularly since the match itself required our imagination. We needed only to watch, as Hogan and Rock, having established their credentials as the biggest stars in company history, silently conveyed their star power to one another and the audience alike. Their sharing the same ring was enough to put over the occasion.
A pay-per-view poster incarnate, we needed only this to raise the goosebumps and contact our local pay-per-view carrier. It doesn't get more personal than risking one's amazing legacy to the guy they always said was more significant than you - the haunting ghost of the past, or the sobering reality of the present.
Less was more.
More was added.
So, so much more. Hogan drove a truck into an ambulance that was carrying Rock's already "crippled ass". This spot of attempted murder, so unnecessarily OTT, cheapened the occasion with residual Attitude Era hijinks and depicted the nWo as ageing, unimaginative hacks all too successful in their mission to poison the WWF.