10 WWE Worst WrestleMania Gimmick Matches

Bob Backlund made a surprise return to WWE in 1992, and acquitted himself surprisingly well. While his straight laced character didn’t initially fit the colourful era, he made the necessary adjustments and even briefly held the world title.

Within that run, though, is this dud, an I Quit match against Bret Hart that stands as one of the Hitman’s few WrestleMania clunkers. The two technically gifted grapplers feel like a good fit, but the match quickly descends into a sequence of holds and counters delivered at a creeping pace. It’s less an I Quit match than a masterclass on how to use submissions to bore a crowd.

It’s made surreal by the presence of guest referee Roddy Piper, who queries the competitors as to whether or not they wish to quit far too frequently, and at a level of enthusiasm way out of whack with the match itself.

Bret Hart wins, which is the right call, but Backlund doesn’t even say “I quit”, instead just garbling something indecipherable into Piper’s mic. It’s easy to see how this could have been good - unfortunately, in practise, it isn’t.