10 Worst WWE Roads To WWE WrestleMania
2. WrestleMania X-Seven
Lost in the admiration of WrestleMania X-Seven as the perhaps the greatest ever professional wrestling event is that the build towards the main event, in particular, was flat.
Flat might not be the fairest word. At no point did the prospect of the second Steve Austin Vs. The Rock WrestleMania match seem less enticing - but installing Debra as a source of discord was a curious decision. She couldn't act, but that wasn't really the problem. Austin Vs. The Rock didn't need a superfluous and artificial layer to generate drama; it was a meeting of the most over stars in wrestling's most over era. Debra's blank facials and colourless personality sapped the electricity from those confrontations, which were contrived as a result of her damsel in distress posturing.
Elsewhere, the otherwise excellent build towards the Vince Vs. Shane McMahon novelty match was blighted by the unpleasant sight of the lecherous boss man ordering Trish Stratus to bark like a dog. Vince embarked on this affair, which led to son Shane's challenge, when his wife Linda entered a comatose state. Vince ordered Trish to apologise for being a useless woman - in "dog language!" - and then ordered her to strip. It was ghastly stuff in a gripping story which spanned several months and incorporated a raft of supporting players and yet more unmissable twists.
It was an aberration, even if the intervention of Sky Sports, who refused to broadcast the angle, rendered it so. But it was a potent reminder that, at the company's critical and commercial peak, the rot had set in.
"This is sad," Jim Ross opined on commentary. It was worse than that.