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10 Biggest WTF Moments In WWE WrestleMania History

It's the Grandest Mistakes Of Them All!

"Every major sport has their special event. The NFL has the Super Bowl, Major League Baseball has the World Series, the World Wrestling Federation has WrestleMania." That 'Mania X8 promo doesn't half get me going, you know. The Undertaker, Chris Jericho, Ric Flair and Triple H get the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end like a #FinFreeze in the Antarctic.

You know what else gets me going? Mistakes. What's better than seeing the rich and famous falling flat on their face - metaphorically or otherwise - on the biggest nights of their respective careers?

I've said it before and I'll say it again - WrestleMania is like prom night for our favourite WWE Superstars. They don't want to end up in a pool of alcohol, vomit and self-pity like I did all the way back in 2007, they want to be the belle of the ball on a night where everything goes as well as humanly possible. You can walk into the event the cock of the walk, with one little slip leaving you the proverbial feather duster for the rest of eternity. Those WrestleMania Moments, man - they last several lifetimes no matter who you are and what you do. Just ask Brock Lesnar the poor, neckless, hunk of meat.

Of course, some of these WTF Moments are contextual rather than just laughing at the misfortune of others. I'm not that cruel. Here are the 10 biggest in WrestleMania history!

10. Brock Lesnar's Shooting Star Press-ish - WrestleMania XIX


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Brock Lesnar hit this move roughly 124,574,433 times during his stint in WWE's developmental territory, OVW.

"How about doing that thing you used to do on the Grandest Stage Of Them All?"

"No problem..."

Whoops!

This was the planned finish to the main event of WrestleMania XIX but it went horribly wrong. Brock set Kurt Angle too far out, and in an attempt to make up the difference in the distance he forgot he had to rotate so much and landed on the back of his head. How he didn't snap his neck and see his own head rolling across the mat is a miracle - and that's before you take into account the fact he got up from this and hit the third F5 of the match to bring home the bacon.

Quite frankly, Brock Lesnar is the luckiest man alive. He's lucky his body is made of steel rather than flesh, he's lucky he landed the way he did without causing serious damage, and he's lucky he's so massive and hard that not too many people bring this up when he's around.


9. The Hardy Boyz Return - WrestleMania 33


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I know there were a few 'DELETE!' chants just after The New Day announced the tag team triple threat was being made a Fatal 4-Way but I feel those were out of sheer hope rather than expectation.

In a digital age where the rest of the world knows what you had for breakfast - probably because you posted a picture of your Frosties on Instagram, you sad bastard - Matt and Jeff Hardy were somehow able to keep their shock WWE return under wraps.

I guess this moment was helped by the goings on of the night prior, where the two ageing brothers took part in a Ladder Match against The Young Bucks. The brutality of that match, and the fact their bodies have around 25 years of professional wrestling on them each meant the chances of them doing anything on 'Mania night in the fans' eyes was minimal.

They did so, however. Oh my God what a noise.

What's more, not-so-Broken Matt and almost Brother Nero won the Raw Tag Team Championships - the noise inside that arena, man. It would have taken the paint off of Wallace and Gromit's rocket ship!

8. The End Of Hulkamania - WrestleMania VI


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Or so we thought...

WWE, Vince McMahon and Hulk Hogan all knew that Hulkamania was coming to an end. The pops, while still massive, weren't as big as they once were; fans were getting a bit fed up of the same old messages of 'eat your vitamins and say your prayers BROTHER BROTHER BROTHER MEAN GENE!'

Two huge title reigns over a six-year period was enough in the eyes of an ever-growing section of the fanbase, with The Ultimate Warrior earmarked as Hogan's natural successor. So, with a period away from the ring to make a movie on the horizon for The Hulkster, WWE sounded out WrestleMania VI as the site for a passing of the torch from a giant of the business to a mere pretender.

Warrior beating Hogan, at the time, was a huge WTF Moment. Hands down it was the most significant victory in the history of the company at that point in time. The sight of those red and yellow shoulders being pinned to the mat for the count of three was a completely alien sight to all fans who had lived through the Hulkamania years - even if, of course, those shoulders lept up off the mat half a millisecond after the ref's hand hit the mat for the final time. That ego, brother, still runnin' wild!

Warrior's push as 'the guy' wouldn't have the desired effect of course, but such is the power of hindsight. At the time though, this was absolutely mental.

7. 18 Seconds - WrestleMania XXVIII


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Let's take away the power of hindsight for this one. Just take yourself back to 1 April 2012 and think about how you felt when Sheamus defeated Daniel Bryan inside 18 seconds to take his WWE World Heavyweight Championship.

I'll tell you how you felt because I felt it too: limbs were all over the shop, blood was boiling, we were all very pissing angry, weren't we?

The guy deserved a lot more than what he was offered here, and it's a bit of a shame WWE can claim it was part of their master plan of creating an organic, fan-driven movement behind the biggest babyface we've seen since Stone Cold Steve Austin. Even though he was an established main event player, it still felt - to me at least - that WWE weren't sold on Bryan being part of the upper echelons of their card.

But hey, it all worked out well in the end didn't it?


6. Roddy Piper's Attire - WrestleMania VI


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This picture hasn't aged well, has it? I'm sorry you had to see this today but it's a huge WTF Moment of WrestleMania's distant past.

Believe it or not, 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper WASN'T using this attire as a tool for heat. He was the babyface of the piece in this match against Bad News Brown - people cheered this... the '80s were really weird.

There was some method behind this certifiable madness, however - questionable methods, but methods all the same. Piper painting half of his body black was a way of getting around his opponent's shortcomings on the mic. He'd do half of a promo looking one way, and the other half looking the other with all of that lovely black paint on show.

Within seven seconds of pitching this idea to Vince McMahon, the Mac daddy replied: "I love you." Isn't that nice while being rather sinister at the same time?

The best part about all of this was the fact that Hot Rod couldn't get the paint off his body after the match meaning he had to negotiate airports with half of his body painted black. It's a wonder he got anywhere other than the local hospital where he should have been chained to a bed, mistaken for being an absolute madman!

5. The Big Boss Man's Public Hanging - WrestleMania XV


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I kid you not, dear reader. Big Boss Man, or Big Bossman, was hung from the back of his neck in the middle of the ring at WrestleMania XV.

Somehow, despite being killed right in front of our very eyes, the biological father of all three members of The Shield lived to tell the tale. I don't know about you but when I've seen people being strung up by their necks before, I've not been able to ask them how it was because they're PISSING DEAD!

What were they thinking?!

The night did need saving from 'Taker's point of view after what has to be his worst GSOTA match this side of Giant Gonzalez. Why they tried to save it with something that couldn't save a word document is beyond me. This made an already terrible segment of the biggest show of the year laughably bad.

(If you're wondering, kids. Boss Man (Bossman) had a loop attached to his SWOT vest that old Deadman shoved a hook through. He wasn't really up there by his neck.)

4. Hogan Slams Andre - WrestleMania III


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I know seeing Andre The Giant being slammed was nothing new by the time WrestleMania III rolled around but it was a first for a lot of people and I'm not going to rob them of their fun.

This was even the second time Hulk Hogan had completed the almighty heave himself, with the first happening at Shea Stadium in 1980 at WWE's biggest show of the year before WrestleMania existed. However, that was like scoring a worldie in the park with your pals, while the 'Mania three scoop was like netting in front of 52,000 at St James' Park - it's the one where you actually make people believe you did something outrageous because they see it with their own eyes and can't argue back, you see.

What possibly remains the most iconic moment in WrestleMania history is also one of the biggest WTF Moments. Nobody lifted Andre in WWF back then - apart from Hulk, that is.


3. Seth Rollins Cashes-In - WrestleMania 31


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Roman Reigns was well on his way to having his arse handed to him by Brock Lensar - honestly, he was. They try and rewrite history by saying he was on the brink of winning the WWE title before this moment took place, but he wasn't. Brock was dominating him.

I don't know why I'm making such a big deal about this. This has nothing to do with THE BIG DOG. It's all about The Architect, who produced arguably the best finish to a WrestleMania ever by cashing in his Money In The Bank contract on an unassuming Large Canine.

Both Roman and Brock were laid out inside the ring before Rollins came down to make their singles bout a Triple Threat. A short back and forth and a Curbstomp later - a "thank you so much" to his pal audibly caught on camera during the fall to boot - and Rollins won the big one for the first time in his career. He then carried the company on his back all the way through to November until his leg quite literally gave way from the pressure.

Never has the calling of an audible on WWE's part tasted so sweet. Vince McMahon was hell-bent on making his little doggy the undisputed top guy back then but thankfully listened to the fans and created a WrestleMania Moment to end all WrestleMania Moments.

We're back to square one now. Roll on Sunday...

2. Stone Cold Sells His Soul To The Devil Himself - WrestleMania X-Seven


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Nobody wanted to see this happen, but it did. Even Stone Cold Steve Austin himself wishes he could go back and redo this moment, Stunning Vince in order to remain the edgiest babyface since Edge's babyface days.

The Texas Rattlesnake did warn us, so we shouldn't have been shocked. He told us he'd do anything to beat The Rock and win back his WWF Championship - but not even Mystic Meg saw this one coming after three years of fighting against Vince McMahon. He was still the biggest babyface in the company, he was the hometown hero at WrestleMania X7 - he was so wholesome, so pure...

Down the boss came to assist in the assassination of Rocky, completed after roughly 700 steel chair shots all over his Brahma Bull-shaped body. Austin had sold his soul to the devil himself, the unthinkable happened - I'm starting to hyperventilate just thinking about it.

However, the turn didn't have the desired effect. Fans simply didn't want to boo a man so wholesome, so pure; so even though he produced what I believe to be the best work of his career as an utter arsehole, Austin was still getting positive responses as fans couldn't bring themselves to turn on a bloke who turned on them on the grandest stage of them all.

Wrestling's a funny old game, isn't it?

1. Lesnar Ends The Streak -WrestleMania XXX


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I don't care what happens from here on out, we've already seen the single biggest result in the history of professional wrestling take place. It won't get any bigger than WrestleMania XXX. Never again will one single competitor embark on an undefeated streak at WrestleMania that lasts for going on a quarter of the century. It just won't happen.

To see that Streak end in such devastating fashion is just all kinds of WOW - I think about it sometimes and simply can't believe it's actually happened. It was never supposed to end. NEVER!

How I Met Your Mother released their controversial ending that really did confuse and anger many who saw it. The following Sunday, The Undertaker’s undefeated streak ended and I'm not saying the two are related but f**k you HIMYM for knocking The Deadman off his game and costing him the best Streak in wrestling!

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Ross Tweddell

Written by Ross Tweddell

Written and video journalist for Cultaholic Wrestling | twitter: @rossonrasslin | instagram: @rossonrasslin