WWE likes to emphasize celebrity involvement at WrestleMania as much as possible. In recent years, non-wrestlers have been involved more and more in the show, with some editions having them compete in matches. Floyd Money Mayweather at WrestleMania XXIV, Maria Menounos at WrestleMania XXVIII, Snooki at WrestleMania XXVII, the list goes on. But what all these matches have in common is that they were never the closing main event match, because that should be reserved for the top stars of the WWE. Which is more anyone can say about WrestleMania XI, which featured Bam Bam Bigelow facing off against NFL linebacker Lawrence Taylor. For reasons beyond understanding, Vince thought that an American football player was more worthy of headlining WrestleMania XI than the 1995 Royal Rumble winner Shawn Michaels and then-WWF Champion Diesel. Furthermore, Bigelow was one of the few big men who, like the Undertaker, could work well and had a lot of agility, yet he lost to a man who had little wrestling experience (if any), and who managed to make Bigelow look weak by kicking out of all of his biggest finishing moves. If anything, this was a big lesson for WWE, because they learned to never allow a non-wrestler to main event their show. Having Taylor defeat Bigelow hurt the Superstars image, because an outsider was made to be a bigger star and a better athlete than they were. While some have argued that Taylors involvement mightve brought some positive feedback for WWE, its certainly one if their biggest WrestleMania regrets to date.
Alexander Podgorski is a writer for WhatCulture that has been a fan of professional wrestling since he was 8 years old. He loves all kinds of wrestling, from WWE and sports entertainment, to puroresu in Japan.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Queen's University in Political Studies and French, and a Master's Degree in Public Administration. He speaks English, French, Polish, a bit of German, and knows some odd words and phrases in half a dozen other languages.
