|
Welcome back to the Road to WrestleMania 31. Hundreds of men and women have performed on the grandest stage over the course of its rich history. For the next few months, we will celebrate them all…from worst to best. Anyone who has ever had the honor of competing on a Mania card has joined an elite group of pro wrestlers. I salute them all. As we get closer to the Top 100, the criteria has shifted to favor more appearances and something that stood out amongst those appearances, be it involvement in a celebrity angle, a tremendous match, a historically important accolade, and the like. Enjoy the Countdown!  Snowman is a genius QUESTION OF THE DAY (16): Is WrestleMania your favorite annual wrestling event or does something else suit your fancy? 135. Dolph Ziggler 134. Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka 133. One Man Gang / Akeem 132. Adrian Adonis 131. Lita 130. The Barbarian 129. Earthquake 128. William Regal 127. Vader 126. Bad News Brown 125. Carlito 124. (Tie) Victoria, Jazz, and Molly Holly 121. Lay Cool 120. Hardcore Holly 128. William Regal God Save the Queen and God Bless William Regal… In The WrestleMania Era, I wrote of my adoration for Regal’s unique style. Nobody else in modern wrestling lore has employed chain wrestling and brawling in the beautiful combination that has Sir Regal, the former Commissioner, General Manager, IC Champion, King of the Ring, and Tag Team Champion. He only had two matches at Mania and, for my tastes, he was able to showcase his exceptional skills against just Rob Van Dam at Mania X8. Sure, he had the chance to open the show a year earlier, too, battling Chris Jericho for the IC title, but I thought that there was a noticeable lack of chemistry between Regal and Y2J. Regal and RVD jelled quite a bit better, leading to a much better performance. The finish at Mania 17 was sloppy and ill-timed, while the entire performance seemed to click a year later. I always enjoyed watching Van Dam work with someone who had a stiffer offensive set like Regal. In addition to his two matches, he had several other cameo appearances, including unofficial spots where he showed up in the video promos for prominent headlining bouts. We need more William Regals in modern WWE. 127. Vader Unquestionably, Vader should have achieved more in WWE. I made the argument in The WrestleMania Era that he should have been the one to main-event WrestleMania 13 with Undertaker, as he had pinned Taker at the Royal Rumble and had the credibility from a pretty impressive first year in WWE to back it up. Alas, Vader was a two-hit wonder at Mania and neither match was particularly groundbreaking. He benefitted at Mania 12 from the fact that so few matches took place, making the 6-man tag bout that showcased him more important by default. A year later, instead of wrestling in the World title match as he could have, he wound up competing in a Tag Team Championship match with Mankind as his partner. Another card with very few matches, Mania 13’s tag title situation was far more important by default. You could never deny Vader’s presence on the show. That much is unquestionable. 126. Bad News Brown Bad News Brown was a journeyman tough guy who looked like a legitimate threat despite joining the WWE at an advancing age of 44. He once backed down Andre the Giant, who had apparently made a racist comment that Bad News got so worked about that he stopped the tour bus that they were riding and challenged Andre to a fight in the street. He was one of those talents that had a certain credibility just by the sight of him, which WWE recognized and often pushed him because of. He won the Battle Royal at WrestleMania IV. WWE’s rumored thought-process had been to get him involved in the main-event as potential Hogan or Savage fodder, but it never materialized. His highest point came two years later when he wrestled Roddy Piper in the infamous match where the Hot Rod painted half of his body black. Brown finished his WrestleMania career undefeated with one victory and two ties (from count outs and no contest). 125. Carlito Triple C was one of my favorite mid-card acts of the Brand Extension Era. His apple-spitting act was hilarious and, at one point, I was absolutely positive that he was going to be main-eventing PPVs by the turn of the decade. As mentioned before, I wasn’t the best talent scout back then. He could go. He had the goods. He could talk and he could wrestle in a variety of styles. It’s a shame that he didn’t make it. His first appearance at Mania was a memorable one. It was unscheduled, but significant. He interrupted Steve Austin and Roddy Piper at Mania 21’s Piper’s Pit segment. He was in the curtain-jerker the following year, unsuccessfully vying for the Tag titles with Chris Masters. Two years later at Mania XXIV, he made probably his most significant contribution in what I feel is the best Money in the Bank Ladder match. That gimmick was built for mid-carders needing to make an impression. After his match with Ric Flair got bumped from the Mania 23 card in 2007, Carlito needed to bounce back with a strong performance in 2008. He did just that. A few of his spots were noteworthy, including the Back Cracker off the ladder and his springboard from the ropes to the mid-ring ladder. Impressive stuff. He again got bumped in 2009 and I think that was it for his motivation. He had formed an entertaining tag team with his brother and they were unifying the two sets of Tag Team titles, but they couldn’t muster a spot on the main card when a concert by Kid Rock that nobody bought Mania to see took up ten minutes. 124. (Tie) Victoria, Jazz, and Molly Holly Bear with me for a minute, here. I think if you asked the likes of Trish Stratus and Lita, pretty much the most celebrated females in modern wrestling history, who they thought were in the secondary class behind them on the list of influential women of the WrestleMania Era, I suspect you’d find that the likes of Victoria, Molly Holly, and Jazz would make their short list. They were three pioneers during a time when athleticism and beauty were blended together to create a hybrid of what was celebrated in the past and what is often criticized today. Jazz was Women’s Champ at Mania X-8, competing and defeating Trish and Lita in a triple threat match and representing the anti-Diva movement, to a large degree. Victoria defended the title at Mania XIX against Jazz and Trish, dropping the title to Stratus to conclude a lengthy, division-enhancing feud that took the Canadian to the next level of her illustrious career. Molly Holly put the title on the line at Mania XX in a high profile Hair vs. Hair match against Victoria, losing the belt and her locks in the process in an admirable public display of support for cancer patients going through chemo. Previously, Molly had won the Hardcore title in the night-long “saga” at Mania X-8. Together, they were the backbone of the women’s division until Trish and Lita skyrocketed women in wrestling to its modern height. You want to argue their placement? Let’s go. I have largely had nothing but disdain for women’s wrestling in my fandom, with very few exceptions. These three were exceptional. 121. Lay Cool Believe it or not, the entertaining duo that acted as top heels of the Diva’s division for two years have a combined 11 appearances at WrestleMania to their names. Layla has one more than Michelle McCool with six. That’s a lot of Manias during what has been a very cyclical period in women’s wrestling. Personally, I think it’s a shame that Lay Cool happened when there wasn’t much being offered by the females in WWE. I think they would have done much better with today’s crop. I know that was just a few years ago, but there’s a stark contrast in talent level between then and now. Lay Cool was very good at what they did and I believe that they’d be thriving if they had hit their peak today. Not much of their work has been all that important, but at Manias 26 and 27, they were the focal points on the heel side, including being the antagonists in a celebrity-driven angle with Snooki and a returning Trish Stratus in 2011 (again, celeb interaction boosts rankings). The rest of their collective appearances have been in battle royals or as lumberjills, with the exception of last year’s match that gave Layla the one additional appearance and nearly had me giving her a spot of her own. At the end of the day, when I think of one, I think of the other. 120. Hardcore Holly I had to do a double take when I searched through Hardcore Holly’s fifteen year WWE tenure to find that he had only competed in three WrestleManias – all during the Attitude Era when he was at his peak. That’s fascinating to me. I left him off the earlier part of the list because he’d been around for so long. You know, it’s easy to skip by him when he’s been around for exactly half of your wrestling fandom. Yet, all the while, he only competed at Manias XIV through 2000. Basically, he owned the Hardcore title at Mania for exactly one half of its Mania defenses. He won it at Mania XV, defeating the ever-popular DX member, Billy Gunn, in a triple threat match also involving Al Snow. Then, in 2000, he won the 15-man Battle Royal (with its unusual format) to once again become the mainstream face of the Hardcore division during its peak years. I’ll say this about Holly and those of similar ilk – he was helped quite a bit by his association with wrestling’s most celebrated generation. Had he done what he did ten years ago instead of fifteen, I doubt he’d be in this position. 135. Dolph Ziggler Ziggler is an interesting case study in modern Mania history. His resume looks a lot like that of the relevant mid-carders from days gone by. He has been involved in a celebrity angle, a couple of gimmick matches built for guys like him who deserve to be on the card but for whom creative had nothing else prepared, and has carried an accolade quite noteworthy in the modern era – the Money in the Bank briefcase – into a Mania. All the while, not a single Mania has gone by with anyone reasonably thinking of his name in association with the Mania at which he appeared. He’s been there, but that’s about it. For a guy who prides his character on “stealing the show,” he hasn’t done anything close to the sort. Nevertheless, he’s made numerous appearances and, if you try to rate those appearances against his peers, it’s easy to give him a little more credit because he’s an ever-increasingly over talent amidst a period in WWE history when all of the genuinely over talents seem to end up as headliners. Or is the fact that he’s not a headliner despite being over a reason to knock him down a peg? The conundrum that is Dolph Ziggler, ladies and gentlemen. One thing is for sure: not many mid-carders in Mania history can say that a huge part of an 80,000 member audience chanted their names during a World title match, as was the case for Ziggler in 2013. 134. Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka Here’s our latest legendary wrestling figure and Hall of Famer who didn’t do all that much at WrestleMania. Snuka would have been a top 100 or higher wrestler if Mania had first occurred in 1983 instead of 1985. There were not too many bigger stars in the industry in the early 1980s than Superfly. Be it as a babyface or a heel, he was the real deal. His aerial prowess would be routine today, but it was innovative back then. At Mania, though, he was pretty much an enhancement talent. He put over Rick Rude in 1990 and, more famously, did the honors for Taker to begin “The Streak.” He also came back in 2009 to take part in Chris Jericho’s storyline with the WWE Legends. His biggest achievement on the grand stage was his “back-up” role for Hulk Hogan and Mr. T at WrestleMania. He was well-hyped in that position, thus (like Bob Orton before him) earning his position. 133. One Man Gang / Akeem The African Dream… Here was a big man that found a life beyond babyface fodder to become an entertaining addition to the roster for a couple of years. With Slick, the Doctor of Style, by his side, One Man Gang burst onto the scene as a monster heel in time for WrestleMania IV’s title tournament. His semi-final appearance earned him his spot on the list. He laid down for Macho Man, but not before disposing of Bam Bam Bigelow en route to a bye to the final four. What a thrill that must have been. Have I mentioned how hard I mark for that tournament? The transformation to Akeem was randomly hilarious wrestle crap from the Hulkamania era. Famously, the character was another WWE attempt to poke fun at Dusty Rhodes (“The American Dream”). The way he jived about the ring was eerily similar to Dusty. As I recall, it didn’t go over so well with some people, but I didn’t care. I thought he and Slick were an amusing combo. He and Big Bossman formed the Twin Towers soon afterward and defeated The Rockers at Mania V. They eventually split up for a match at Mania VI that pushed Bossman into the babyface role that he occupied successfully for several years. 132. Adrian Adonis My favorite basketball writer, Bill Simmons, does a yearly column for Grantland in which he ranks the top “NBA League Pass” stories to follow, enticing his readers to pay greater attention to things that they may not have otherwise. If I were to do the same for the WWE Network, I am quite confident that I would put “Adrian Adonis” as one of the top 25 reasons why you would appreciate the Network for its video library. The effeminate character was not groundbreaking in the way that Goldust was years later, but he followed the pattern that had been long ago established by Gorgeous George to become one of the most underrated stars of his generation, allowing him to become famous for his WrestleMania III clash with a then-retiring Roddy Piper. A few years back, I put together a list of the most underrated Mania matches, on which Adonis vs. Piper was one of the top 10. Adonis was great at drawing heat and a personality like his is always a welcome addition to any era. It has a ceiling, as has been proven throughout the modern era, but that type of character often owns the mid-card, locking down an upper tier spot as a heel. 131. Lita This particular WWE Hall of Famer found a new way to stand out from her peers during a period when the likes of Sunny and Sable had led the way to her eventual rival, Trish Stratus, becoming the “standard” for females in pro wrestling. Lita, in many ways, outclassed them all. She was relatable to a larger portion of the audience. Young female fans like AJ Lee identified with Lita’s character and look and became inspired to chase their dreams. Men still dug her, too, as she offered a different take on the “Diva.” With her tattoos and her punky style of dress, she offered the target demographic (teenage males during the Attitude Era and beyond) a unique option. Yet, it was not just her character and appearance that separated her from the pack. She could do things in the ring that her fellow women’s division members would not even attempt. Her first Mania, for instance, was during the X-Seven classic TLC II match, which saw her unleash a hurricanrana. She was also known for her moonsault, which she would employ a year later in trying to win the Women’s Championship at X-8 in Toronto. Unfortunately, Lita only had the one chance to showcase her in-ring abilities at Mania, as injuries knocked her out of action during her prime on multiple occasions. She found a way to stay relevant, nonetheless. She was so over, be it as the anti-diva, top babyface amongst the ladies, or as the vixen that helped Edge to the top of the mountain, that WWE always found a spot for her. 130. The Barbarian In the first golden age of WWE Tag Team wrestling, The Powers of Pain were one of those second-tier teams that made a considerable impact on the division. Their storyline with Demolition was historic. People often talk about the Austin-Hart match from Mania 13 and praise it for the double turn. Barbarian and Warlord pulled off a double turn with Demolition back in 1988. Mr. Fuji managed the Champions, Ax and Smash. He thought he could make a better investment in the Powers of Pain. It was OK; the fans wanted to cheer Demolition. The Powers of Pain headlined Mania V with the Tag Championships up for grabs, accordingly. Barbarian, a skilled quasi-big man who was part of the Polynesian crew of pro wrestlers two decades ago, would then become a fixture in pro wrestling for many years, taking on various personas, but not before rounding out his WWE tenure with a victory over Tito Santana at Mania VI and a loss to the Rockers with Haku at Mania VII. 129. Earthquake Quick! Name two things that are pretty scary that would fit as monikers for a former sumo wrestler that spits like a big gummed, large teethed kid with braces and a retainer when he talks. Earthquake? Check. The Shark? Check. In WWE, John Tenta was the Earthquake. He followed a formula created in the late 1980s to find massively framed grapplers to battle the top heroes. Debuting in a squash of Hercules at 1990’s Mania VI, he would go onto get fed to Hulk Hogan later that year, but surprisingly endure in the years that followed. It was as if he was the “hoss” put on retainer by WWE in case they needed a big man to battle one of their top guys. He squashed Greg Valentine at Mania VII to get some of his momentum back after losing to Hogan. He rebounded well enough to become a Tag Team Champions as one half of the Natural Disasters in 1992. They feuded with Money, Inc. at Mania VIII. Earthquake wrestled one more legitimate Mania match, squashing Adam Bomb at Mania X, before concluding his “Show of Shows” career as a participant in the Mania X-Seven Gimmick Battle Royal. Between 1994 and 2001, he competed in WCW as “The Shark.”
|
