Why WWE WrestleMania No Longer Has The Best Matches Of The Year
15. WrestleMania XIV To WrestleMania 2000: Lost In Attitude (II)
No match summarizes WrestleMania's problems in the Attitude Era better than the "McMahon In Every Corner" affair in 2000. Another typical fake good idea of the time, what is mind-boggling to consider is that this contrived, spineless and interminable main-event was sandwiched in between two belters: the Triple H vs Cactus Jack Hell In A Cell at No Way Out, and Triple H vs The Rock at Backlash.
It's not that WWF couldn't deliver on the biggest stage, it's as if they did not want to.
What's more, starting in 1995 with the In Your House series, the monthly pay-per-view formula saw WWF vastly extend its great match catalogue. In 1998 and 1999, PWI's award twice went to a match featured on another PPV: The Undertaker vs Mankind at King of The Ring, and The Rock vs Mankind at the Royal Rumble respectively.
WrestleMania was still the year's most important event in terms of prestige and overarching narratives, but one could basically skip it without missing WWF's best bouts. Thankfully though, that period didn't last long...