10 Wrestlers Who Didn't Peak In The WrestleMania Main Event

8. Triple H

Jericho Jericho
WWE

WrestleMania main event:

Most of them aren't good.

The vast majority of HHH's 'Mania main events in fact subvert that old "where legends are born" pitch, because his various colossal bores muddy his legacy as a "great". His 'Mania 25 match with Randy Orton made a gigantic silicone-enhanced t*t of WWE's definitive "we make movies" rhetoric through its piss-poor grasp of dramatic escalation; his 'Mania 21 bout with Batista, while effective, was the worst and most tedious of a very good star-making trilogy; at 'Mania 32, a decade later, he ignored any and all stylistic shifts to work yet another methodically solid main event with Roman Reigns to significantly less success.

He peaked as a sh*thouse at WrestleMania 22, if that counts.

REALLY peaked as a performer at:

Royal Rumble 2000. Holy sh*t, did the Game look like a God of war in his Street Fight with Cactus Jack. It was a perfectly balanced performance; he sold Jack's sadism but overcame with strategic brilliance to craft a seminal WWF weapons match, one so powerful that it tweaked a blueprint to which WWE's gimmick genre is still indebted. It was a masterpiece of gore and emotion - a classic Fed layout worked with a level of brutality that was far more powerful and germane than gratuitous.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!