10 WWE WrestleMania Matches That Infuriated The Fans

10. Daniel Bryan Vs. Sheamus - WrestleMania XXVIII

Daniel Bryan Sheamus WrestleMania 28
WWE.com

The most famous 18 seconds in the history of WrestleMania? Quite possibly. The opening match of WrestleMania XXVIII shocked the world, and not in a good way. Daniel Bryan went into it as the reigning World Heavyweight Champion, ready to defend his title against Royal Rumble winner Sheamus. It could have been a classic, but it consisted of a kiss, a Brogue Kick, a three-count.

The crowd was understandably furious. Sure, there was an initial pop, but that was more in shock at what had just happened than anything else. The crowd was firmly in Bryan’s corner, with a mass of ‘YES’ signs visible to the hard camera, and the humiliation of their hero did much to dampen the energy at what was then the highest-grossing pay-per-view in company history.

This was the beginning of the Yes! Movement. From this awful low, Bryan went on to become the most beloved babyface of the modern era, an organic superstar and then some. WWE apologists have often cited that the company knew what it was doing when they squashed him in just 18 seconds, but the reality is this match did little more than infuriate an entire audience.

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Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.