10 Wrestlers That Shouldn't Have Lost Their WrestleMania Debuts

7. Jerry Lawler

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WWE.com

It's almost unbelievable that prior to 2011, Jerry Lawler had never competed in a match at WrestleMania. He made it quite clear at the close of 2010 that his two biggest career goals were to win the WWE Championship and wrestle at WrestleMania, and after falling short of capturing "the big one" at Elimination Chamber 2011, the only thing left to do was make his 'Mania in-ring debut.

As the old saying goes, you should be careful what you wish for.

There were rumblings Lawler might have a match with Alex Riley, the protege of his arch-nemesis The Miz, and although that doesn't look like a WrestleMania caliber contest on paper, it would have been a vast improvement over what we ended up getting. Lawler instead went one-on-one with his broadcast colleague Michael Cole.

Despite WWE's best efforts to make the match "must-see" by appointing Stone Cold Steve Austin the special guest referee and putting Jack Swagger in Cole's corner, it was a total train wreck and ultimately a waste of a half hour. To top it all off, Lawler lost the bout by disqualification when the Anonymous Raw General Manager reversed the decision, regretfully keeping the feud alive for a while longer.

Contributor
Contributor

Since 2008, Graham has been a diehard pro wrestling fan and, in 2010, he combined his passions for WWE and writing when he joined Bleacher Report. Equipped with a master's in journalism, Graham has contributed to WhatCulture, FanSided's Daily DDT, Sports Betting Dime, and GateHouse Media. Along the way, he has conducted interviews with wrestling superstars like Chris Jericho, Edge, Goldberg, Christian, Diamond Dallas Page, Jim Ross, Adam Cole, Tessa Blanchard, Ryback, and Nick Aldis among others.