10 WWE Wrestlers Cursed At WrestleMania
Not every wrestler looks forward to 'Mania: just ask CM Punk or Daniel Bryan!
For both those within the professional wrestling world and the diehard fans who love watching their favorites from the comfort of home or the exhilaration of ringside, WrestleMania is seen as one of the major pinnacles on a performer’s career and, in many cases, is viewed as a measure of success within the industry (although a bit of that has changed in recent times).
If you want to gain maximum exposure, the event with a household name was a good way to do it.
But even some of the most formidable grapplers have had a run of bad luck at or around ‘Mania. Although much stress comes with it, ‘The Grandest Stage of Them All’ is generally a time of high hopes, dreams coming true, and excitement.
Conversely, for these poor souls, it can be a multi-month-long source of unparalleled dread.
From lacklustre outings to just plain bad luck, many wrestlers have fallen short of their ambitions at ‘The Mecca of Sports Entertainment.’ A few have been able to wash off the springtime hex, but others haven’t been so fortunate and have remained cursed at WrestleMania...
10. Braun Strowman
Poor Braun Strowman. It was all so simple. He was a giant, and all WWE needed him to do was giant stuff. Alas, the company even messed that one up somehow.
For a better understanding of how WWE handled him, one needs to look no further than his WrestleMania appearances. His win-loss record is nothing to fuss over, but his booking leaves much to be desired.
Aside from picking up the strap from Goldberg at WrestleMania 36, Strowman has been thrown to the wolves on a yearly basis rather than given a compelling feud to make him come off as a brick castle. Even his win against Bill was a last-minute decision.
At WrestleMania 33, all the big man was left to do was compete in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. The following year, he selected referee John Cone’s son Nicholas as his tag team partner after randomly becoming the number one contender for the Raw Tag Team Championships. Despite winning, the reign was meaningless. At 35, Strowman was once again relegated to André match, although this time he won.
While ‘The Monster Among Men’ scores the occasional victory at WrestleMania, he rarely enters with a thought-out narrative, and his accomplishments rarely have a long-term bearing on regular programming. As of late, there have been rumblings of a Strowman vs Shane McMahon bout at ‘The Grandest Stage of Them All,’ which further goes to show that WWE has no idea what to do with their resident giant.