20 Times WWE Had The Wrong Star Win At WrestleMania

17. Edge vs. Alberto Del Rio – WrestleMania XXVII

Alberto Del Rio was introduced to WWE in a big way. He beat Rey Mysterio in his first match, won the Royal Rumble in his first attempt and would challenge for the World Heavyweight Championship in his first WrestleMania. It seemed clear that WWE would continue this streak and have Del Rio fulfill his ‘destiny’ and defeat Edge for the title.

This turned out to be Edge’s final match (or so we thought), and the heat Del Rio would have gotten for not only defeating Edge for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania but doing it in the Hall of Famer’s final match, would have been enormous.

The match would have been the perfect opportunity to get Del Rio over as a legend star, and one of the top guys in the company. Edge should have put someone over on his way out of the company and into retirement, and here was the perfect place to do so. The win could have established Del Rio as a top guy.

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16. The Miz vs. John Cena – WrestleMania XXVII

WrestleMania XXVII was clearly not the best event for championship matches in the WWE, and John Cena should have bested The Miz to close out the show.

I am all for matches on a standard episode of Raw or Smackdown being used to set up major feuds. It can even be excused if a match at a second-rate pay-per-view is used as an angle for a bigger story. However, what is not acceptable is for a match at WrestleMania to be used as nothing more than a tool to kickstart another feud, especially not the main event of a WrestleMania where the WWE Championship is being defended.

This was the case here, with The Miz besting Cena only because the company wanted to set up Cena vs. The Rock at the following year’s show. Cena would go on to win the title the following pay-per-view, only going further to highlight just how pointless the decision was to have The Miz go over here.

In terms of The Miz, he was way out of his league here. Whilst he was good at being an annoying and manipulative heel, he was nowhere near the standard of Cena, and should not have been in the main event of such a show against a guy of Cena’s caliber, nevermind winning and walking out as champion. It wasn’t in the slightest bit believable.

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15. Randy Savage vs. Ultimate Warrior – WrestleMania VII

Whilst it appears that WWE makes more questionable booking decisions now than in years gone by, that does not mean that the company didn’t opt to have someone prevail at a WrestleMania before the Attitude Era when perhaps they shouldn’t have.

WrestleMania VII saw the Career vs. Career, Randy Savage vs. Ultimate Warrior clash. The match felt huge as a result of the immense star power of both of the performers. However, it is mind-boggling that Warrior prevailed at the expense of Savage, forcing the former WWE Champion to retire.

In the short time that followed Savage transitioned into commentary whilst Warrior continued to perform. However, four months later, Warrior had left WWE, after a fallout with Vince McMahon after the former demanded more money before wrestling in the SummerSlam main event. At the same time, Randy Savage was ready to come out of retirement to work a program with Jake Roberts. The fact that Savage defeated Ric Flair at the following WrestleMania showed at this stage that his career was far from over.

Whilst the Miss Elizabeth and Savage reunion was emotional and one of the greatest and most memorable moments in the event’s history, this should not have come at the expense of Savage losing at WrestleMania VII to Ultimate Warrior.

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14. Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns – WrestleMania 34

If I was asked to sum up this match in three words, I’d say it was ”delaying the inevitable”. When it was announced Roman Reigns would be challenging Brock Lesnar in the former’s fourth consecutive WrestleMania main event, everyone thought it was a foregone conclusion that Reigns would be walking out as the Universal Championship.

However, Vince McMahon opted to swerve the fans and have the rumoured UFC-bound Lesnar successfully defend his championship. This was just pushing back Reign’s coronation. We all knew that Reigns would best Lesnar at some point in the future, and WWE had a chance to do so here.

Just four months later the Universal Championship was being greatly devalued by never really being on TV. Considering Reigns won the title at SummerSlam months later, one has to ask why WWE didn’t just have Reigns win here.

• Wrong Winners
• WrestleMania
• Vince McMahon
• wwe

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