10 WWE WrestleMania Matches That Had To Follow Something Infamously Terrible
8. Cody Rhodes Vs. The Big Show Following Mick Foley's Deadliest Catch (WrestleMania XXVIII)
Philanthropy might be the future of marketing according to Stephanie McMahon, but it'd be more than a bit charitable to say that Mick Foley's promotional tie-in with Deadliest Catch during WrestleMania was good brand representation for either side.
Messing around in sou'westers with Santino Marella (who else?), the 'Hardcore Legend' ate crab sticks as the 'Show Of Shows' swam the depths just to add two or three minutes of turgid content on to a show that already felt long enough.
Cody Rhodes' Intercontinental Championship match against The Big Show was one of those matches that made it onto the card thanks to good timing rather than particularly fantastic storytelling. The angle was good (Cody mocked Show for being something of a gag wrestler on the 'Grandest Stage' in order to justify why he thought he had a chance against the giant), but not great, and the match followed a similar pattern.
Like a lot of the future 'American Nightmare's work, it gains greater significance for what he'd do later in his career than whatever it could possibly summon at the time. WWE didn't realise the size of the catch when they had him, but he wouldn't prove deadly until he escaped the hook.