10 Biggest Challenges WrestleMania Has Ever Faced

4. The Monday Night Wars - WrestleMania 13

True Story Of WrestleMania
WWE Network

WrestleMania 13 is largely viewed as one of the absolute worst WrestleManias ever - and rightly so, for 90% of the event was total trash.

Of course, Bret Hart and Steve Austin put on one of the greatest matches in WWE history at the 1997 'Mania, but that was the only good thing to come from the PPV.

Why was WrestleMania 13 so downright awful, then? Well, that's down to a couple of major challenges facing WWE at that time.

One obvious challenge was the fact that the event's long-planned Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels main event rematch was scrapped due to Shawn having a questionable injury. But while losing its biggest match was clearly going to hurt WrestleMania 13, the biggest challenge to the company at that time was the competition provided by Ted Turner's World Championship Wrestling.

By the time that WrestleMania 13 took place in March '97, the Monday Night War was well underway - and it wasn't looking great for the World Wrestling Federation.

The end of 1996 and start of 1997 saw Monday Night Raw hitting record lows as WCW Nitro constantly triumphed in this ratings battle. Vince McMahon's organisation would eventually win out in this war, but at the time of WrestleMania 13 the WWF was getting pummelled each and every week.

The affect of WCW's dominance on WrestleMania 13 can be seen in the cold, hard numbers, with the 1997 event standing as the only time in history that a WrestleMania wasn't a sellout. Instead, fans were far more interested in the ongoing rivalry between the recently-returned Sting and the nWo over in WCW.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.