16 WWE Superstars Who Did Not Belong At WrestleMania

9. The Executioner

The Executioner's lone WrestleMania distinction is that he competed in the event's very first match, a squash loss to Tito Santana. A generic masked jobber, the man behind the mask was far more established than one would have assumed. "Playboy" Buddy Rose, a tremendous professional wrestler who made a name for himself in Oregon and Minnesota during the territory days, he probably deserved to perform on the card on his own merits. Instead, he was saddled with the most nondescript gimmick imaginable, his flirt with immortality shrouded behind a red and black mask that a six year-old kindergartner could have described at two in the afternoon. He did his job that night, bumping around for Santana and putting the top contender to the Intercontinental Championship over in front of a rabid New York audience. For a pro's pro who had been part of many a beautiful match in arenas across the globe, he proved incredibly unselfish. The Executioner belonged nowhere near WrestleMania and Rose belonged nowhere near the putrid masked gimmick, one night only or not.