40 Years Of Fascinating WWE WrestleMania Facts (Part 3)
4. WrestleMania XXVII - Poor Dean Malenko
WrestleMania XXVII was a rubbish show highlighted by a single great match, and even that - Undertaker Vs. Triple H - was the worst of the 'End Of An Era' four-chapter series. The build, too, was shocking outside of that initial silent confrontation. Triple H told 'Taker - with one eye on the developmental job, surely - that everybody in the back was terrible and that the only challenge they had left was with one another (even though they had already worked together extensively).
Now, the roster at the time might have been better had WWE actually booked one of the poor sods to work a 14 minute match at WrestleMania, and not Michael Cole.
The Michael Cole heel character was insufferable. As if the wrestling wasn't generic enough and the storylines weren't embarrassing enough, literally every second of television was ruined because the voice of the company was an obnoxious ass. There was no catharsis to be had, because Cole didn't even get his comeuppance at 'Mania XXVII. He won, and the programme evolved into a trilogy.
The first match was unbearable on every level. Oppressive, tedious heat, non-existent excitement, awful comedy. It was impossible for it to be good. It had Michael Cole in it, He can barely call a match much less work one.
In a perversely funny bit of trivia, producer Dean Malenko was put in the doghouse for failing to structure something worthwhile. The hell was he meant to do with a 14 minute Michael Cole match?!
That's literally the equivalent of a sous-chef getting a telling off for making a bad dish with dog turds.