10 WWE WrestleMania Matches That Had To Follow Something Infamously Terrible

10. John Bradshaw Layfield Vs. John Cena Following Big Show Vs. Akebono (WrestleMania 21)

What else did WWE realistically expect when they put The Big Show in sumo attire in a body-shaming exercise couched as a WrestleMania spectacle against Akebono?

A flawed celebrity/special attraction match that had more going for it before the match than during, the contest required fans to give a toss about the import (they didn't), buy into an imagined dislike between the large lads (they didn't) and care about the result (they did... but only because The Big Show fell clean out of the ring in something the presentation was happy to let you think looked a bit silly).

It was the opposite of sumo in a sense in that it was a WWE-brand "let me up" before the John Cena/John Bradshaw Layfield showdown, but it was too effective. Fairly well trained hardcores in Los Angeles had barely plugged into the moribund Championship battle before Cena shrugged off some Layfield attacks and planted him with a match-winning FU in the most pedestrian of torch-passings between one man who didn't have the prestige to hand it over and another that suddenly didn't look ready for it.

WrestleMania 21 is a diverse and dynamic show for the most part, but two dead spots going back-to-back undercut what had otherwise been approaching all-timer status.