10 Fascinating WWE WrestleMania 28 Facts

It remains one of the biggest bones of contention among fans in WWE history, Sheamus flooring Daniel Bryan with a Brogue Kick to win the World Heavyweight belt in an 18-second opener. Fans fumed, but were nowhere near as livid as Bryan and Sheamus themselves. After getting bumped from the main show one year earlier, the two were looking forward to showing everyone why they should not have been pushed aside.

Instead, this was what they had to work with, and there was no changing the office's mind. Bryan eventually recovered from the indignity, thanks in large part to the fans rallying behind him, loudly refusing to accept their hero as anything less than a top-shelf guy.

Sheamus, however, wasn't so lucky. His babyface character was one-dimensional enough, and he was about to crush a true darling for many vocal viewers. He understood that he was going to come out of it the true bad guy, and indeed he struggled to find traction for the remainder of his time as a babyface. If anything, the short-sighted booking harmed him far more than it did the man he beat.