40 Of The Most Cringeworthy WrestleMania Moments Of All Time

WrestleMania 37 was all beautifully set up at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, and ready to go. Until the heavens opened, that is. The subsequent storm led to big-screen messages telling fans to head to the concourse of the stadium, and more egregiously, some really bad improv and pointless re-shows of old videos. Apparently, WWE chief Vince McMahon hadn’t considered the chance of rain in notoriously stormy Florida.

WrestleMania 19 should have been Brock Lesnar’s breakout moment in the WWE. But in the title match with Kurt Angle, it almost led to an unwanted break of another kind — his neck. Yes, Lesnar had climbed on the top rope to perform his signature Shooting Star Press. But when he performed the acrobatic standing backflip he misjudged his jump, landed on his head and only narrowly avoided breaking his neck. A really painful-to-watch moment in WWE history.

It was WrestleMania 7, and WWE legends Jake “The Snake” Roberts and Rick “The Model” Martel were finally facing off in a ring match after a long feud. But the match itself was a weird mess. Both Roberts and Martel were wearing black hoods over their heads. They struggled gamely around the ring, trying to find and fight each other. But it was obvious to every man and his dog that they actually could see through the mesh. Oh dear.

It was WrestleMania 6, and surprisingly, veteran sitcom star Mary Tyler Moore was sat ringside watching. Must be a big wrestling fan then, Mary? Erm, if the impromptu TV interview with her is anything to go by, probably not. When queried about her attendance and several stars, Moore muttered something about athleticism and theater in one of the most awkward moments in WWE history.

WrestleMania 11 wasn’t the success that it should have been. No, the 1995 event was beset by sound problems. For starters, the “America the Beautiful” performance was more “America the mute,” as no one could hear it. The backstage interviews fared no better, with zero audio in segments with commentators and celebrity guest, actor Nicholas Turturro. At least the WWE corporation re-recorded the commentary for the video release.

John Cena had just defeated The Miz and Maryse with Nikki Bella at WrestleMania 33. But then he suddenly got all soppy, and got down on one knee to propose to his real-life girlfriend in the ring. What should have been a sweet moment between them ended up being a bit of a cringe-fest, and the romance sadly wouldn’t last.

Poor Batista. He was making a much-anticipated comeback to WWE after years of injuries. But as he entered the ring to face Triple H at WrestleMania 35, Batista suffered an amusing, but rather embarrassing setback. After slamming the metal steps with his hands and confidently approaching the ropes, he managed to trip over them while clambering into the ring. Oh dear.

Surely one of the worst WWE story arcs was the feud between Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler. The commentators’ conflict would come to a head at WrestleMania 27, leading to a slew of embarrassing promos, forced interpersonal drama, and an ignominious contest in the ring. Get back behind the mics, guys, and leave the grappling to the pros.

This one is a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment of shame. It was WrestleMania 27, and John Morrison, Trish Stratus and Snooki — yes her, and no, we have no idea why either — had just defeated Dolph Ziggler and LayCool in the ring. But when Stratus went to hug it out with Morrison, he left her hanging — all because of his jealous girlfriend and fellow wrestler Melena. Morrison later disappeared from WWE, so may regret the moment as much as our eyes do seeing it.

One of the most painful to watch fights in WrestleMania history occurred at the ninth edition, back in 1993. It saw The Undertaker up against Giant Gonzalez — a lumbering novice in a bizarre nude outfit. The former would later pan the fight like almost everyone else, telling the NotSam podcast “It was bad on so many levels.” Ouch!

“America the Beautiful” is a stirring song when it is done right — but that certainly wasn’t the case at WrestleMania 14. No, for some reason, the WWE bigwigs allowed the D-Generation X band to murder the song with a truly horrible, nu-metal take on it. This was a time when that much-maligned genre was all the rage in the USA. Not with this crowd though: they drowned it out with boos. Ouch.

Another WrestleMania, another shameless tie-in. This time, at WrestleMania 27, Mick Foley, Captain Keith Colburn and Santino Marella were roped in to effectively promote the TV show Deadliest Catch. They did so by taking part in a crab-eating contest, during which humor was in short supply. For some reason, they all ended up punching the meat, before Ron Simmons arrived to yell his “Damn” catchphrase. Weird.

Boo! That’s the audible noise that poor Brock Lesnar and Goldberg could hear ringing in their ears at WrestleMania 20. Why? Well, it seems word had got out to the New York crowd that the two wrestlers were quitting WWE, and they let them both know how they felt about it. Goldberg won in the dire match that received additional points for awkwardness via guest referee “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, who strangely stunned them both at the end.

Oh, the Funkasaurus: what a character he was — infamous for arguably one of the most unfunny moments in WrestleMania history. Joined by his dancing valets the Funkadactyls, the wrestler performed a daft dance to his awful theme song “Somebody Call My Momma.” Then his alleged mom suddenly arrived and did an even more embarrassing wiggle.

WrestleMania 18 kicked off with one of the shortest — and most controversial matches — in its history. It pitted Sheamus against Daniel Bryan, and the length of the fight matched the edition of WrestleMania it took place in — 18. Not minutes, though. Seconds. Yes, a brogue kick and an easy pin to win for Bryan in well under a minute. Cue the boos from the crowd, and probably from plenty of people who had paid for it on PPV at home.

Here’s the worst reason for a feud in WWE history: a Japanese shampoo commercial. Yes, Edge and Booker T had fallen out prior to WrestleMania 18 in 2002 over an ad, and they squared off in the arena at the event. The match was peak cringe and rightly ridiculed, with fans holding up signs reading “They’re feuding over shampoo,” and even commentator Jim Ross acknowledging this and the ridiculousness of the storyline.

With his raunchy rap rock and combative personality, Kid Rock is a polarizing figure at the best of times. But it appeared most of the crowd at WrestleMania 25 were fairly united in their disdain for — or at least indifference to — the singer. That’s because, when Rock put his mic up towards the crowd in order for them to sing his single “Bawitdaba,” he was greeted with a deafening silence. How embarrassing!

Looking back at it, WrestleMania 20 was not a high point for women’s wrestling. There was the degrading “Playboy Evening Gown” scrap for starters. But arguably even worse was the shaming “Belt vs. Hair” match. This saw future WWE Hall of Famer Molly Holly take on Victoria, and the former’s defeat saw her inexplicably have to endure having her hair shaved off by her rival. But why?

WrestleMania 9 was widely panned, largely due to the return of a certain Hulk Hogan. Hulk surprised the audience at Caesar’s Palace by turning up during the Bret Hart vs. Yokozuna title match. He received the nod from a defeated Hart to go in and challenge Yokozuna for the belt. And in an excruciating 25 seconds or so — involving some comically mis-thrown salt, a basic close-line and a leg-drop — he succeeds. Hulkamania, which no one had ordered, was back in WWE, albeit briefly.

For some mysterious reason, WWE bigwigs brought in actress Susan Saint James to provide guest commentary at WrestleMania 2. Perhaps not surprisingly, the Kate & Allie star wasn’t an ideal summarizer for WWE. In fact, it seemed as if she had never seen a wrestling match in her life until that huge event. Poor Saint James had zero knowledge, and seemed to only be able to offer an “uh-oh” every time there was a bit of action.

When Nikolai Volkoff began bellowing out the Russian National Anthem in America at WrestleMania 3, you just knew something was going to kick off. As it happened, noted American patriot “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan would enter the fray, but only to prove what a dunderhead he was. You see, Hacksaw came out to stop the singing and shouted “This is America! The land of the free!” Erm, perhaps you should let Volkoff sing then? Freedom of speech, and all that.

WrestleMania 25’s most disconcerting moment was undoubtedly the crowning of “Santina” as Miss WrestleMania following a Battle Royale. That’s because Santina was not one of the numerous talented female wrestlers on the WWE books, but male grappler Santino Marella dressed as a woman. The whole storyline succeeds in being both offensive and embarrassing. What were the WWE bigwigs thinking?

Here’s a weird one from WrestleMania 7. Regis Philbin is dispatched to interview Japanese wrestlers Kitao and Tenryu. But the language barrier is too much, given the grapplers don’t speak much or any English, and Philbin no Japanese. Still, rather than cut short the segment and move on, the commentator inexplicably decides to start shouting out Japanese car manufacturers, bellowing out “Toyota!” and “Isuzu!” at the dumbfounded men. Facepalm.

You may remember Butterbean from when he beat up Johnny Knoxville in a department store in Jackass: The Movie. But the burly, bald-headed boxer had previous in the entertainment realm: knocking out Bart Gunn at 1999’s WrestleMania 15 in the Brawl For All match. The bout is remembered for the uncomfortable feeling of seeing a totally overmatched man given an absolute pasting. Poor Gunn was sparked out in 34 seconds, by the way.

Vince McMahon and the WWE have made numerous attempts to cross over into different fighting disciplines. One such attempt was the sumo match between noted exponent of the art Akebono Tano and wrestler The Big Show at WrestleMania 21. But although it might have seemed a good idea on paper, in reality the matchup was a hugely uncomfortable watch.

Run-DMC are undoubtedly a legendary group, and their place in hip-hop history is assured. But the New Yorker’s turn at WrestleMania 5 was not their finest hour, shall we say. The trio churned out a ropey rap apparently written in five minutes, that offered little but generic mentions of bodyslams, piledrivers and the like. For our money, the worst bit was the “Who’s gonna lose?” call-out. Ugh.

Also at WrestleMania 5, there was an unfortunate yet embarrassing moment for Hacksaw Jim Duggan. Whilst grappling with Bad News Brown in an entertaining brawl, something drifted out of Hacksaw’s nose. It was a giant booger. Eww! Summarizer Jesse Ventura even brought it up, but the wrestler carried on with it smothered in his beard, eventually winning the match.

The meeting between WWE head honcho Vince McMahon and the legendary Bret Hart at WrestleMania 26 is part-sad, part-humiliating. Sad because it features a well-past-his-sell-by-date great unable to perform any of his signature athletic moves, due to copious injuries and even a stroke. The humiliation was supplied by McMahon’s antics, plus the dumb storyline of the Hart family members seemingly backing up Vince before suddenly turning on him. Thankfully, a Sharpshooter tag brought an end to the embarrassment.

The WWE has always pushed the boundaries of good taste, crossing them on numerous occasions. One time the company went miles over said lines was at WrestleMania 12. At the 1996 event, they actually had a match called “Hollywood Backlot Brawl.” The match was between Goldust and Roddy Piper, and featured an offensive parody of O.J. Simpson’s Ford Bronco car chase, plus Goldust being bizarrely stripped down to lingerie. Yuck!

By the time the first WrestleMania came around, The A-Team’s Mr. T had developed an unhealthy disdain for his upcoming opponent “Rowdy” Roddy Piper. Feeling disrespected, the actor made sure to cross the line from carefully scripted action, instead choosing to deliver a very much unscripted beat-down on Piper. The fight was not surprisingly a very uneasy watch. But we pity the fool who disrespected T like that.

As far as lame promos go, this one from WrestleMania 8 takes some beating. It features Virgil alongside Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Big Boss Man and Sgt. Slaughter. Virgil is wearing a mask over his nose, and says: “I wear this mask to protect my nose. But who's going to protect YOUR nose?” But instead of striking fear in his opponents, he only succeeded in bringing the cringe.

It was WrestleMania 30, and veteran wrestler Hulk Hogan had returned to the WWE fray to open the show. But in his introduction, Hulk made an awful gaffe. He greeted the crowd at the Pontiac Silverdome, when he was actually in the BMW SuperDome in New Orleans. The Silverdome is in Michigan, Hulk, you dummy! The WWE legend was booed by the public, and mercifully mocked by “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and “The Rock.”

The instant-replay debate at WrestleMania 7 was so bad that it was cut from the network airing and subsequent VHS and DVD releases. But it aired on the original live Pay Per View, and stank the joint out. So, basically Vince McMahon hosted a debate about instant replay with Paul Maguire and George Steinbrenner, and humor was totally absent. Eventually, we cut to an instant replay of the debate, with the Bushwackers as referees covered in VCR tape. Lame!

Now, The Ultimate Warrior could provide some epic speeches and tirades when the time demanded it. But the promo he did for WrestleMania 6 was not one of those occasions. No, instead the fighter offered an impassioned but degrading rant about his upcoming opponent Hulk Hogan, in which he bizarrely called for him to crash the plane in which he was heading to WrestleMania, after fighting with the pilots. Say what?

Women’s wrestling has come a long way since WrestleMania 22. Back then, there was a pillow fight match between Candice Michelle and Torrie Wilson, centered around the fact the pair were appearing in Playboy around that time. Teen boys may have liked this bit, but for the rest of us it was peak cringe. Particularly the parts where Michelle had Wilson’s dog pushed in her face, and Wilson had a copy of Playboy shoved into hers.

Not surprisingly given its longevity, the WWE has boasted some great characters, and more than a few annoying ones. Doink was surely in the latter category. The irritating clown fought against Crush at WrestleMania 9, and was losing handily until another version of himself suddenly emerged from under the ring. Between them, the two Doinks overpowered Crush, hitting him out cold with a mannequin arm to win. Cringe.

In early 2003 a Super Bowl commercial aired for Miller Lite that featured two scantily clad female actresses, Kitana Baker and Tanya Ballinger, in a scrap. The WWE was keen as ever to seize on the pair’s popularity with men, inviting the ladies in to take part at WrestleMania 19. Baker and Ballinger would duke it out in the specially created “Women’s Catfight Challenge Match.” Stacy Keibler and Torrie Wilson were involved too, but the daft match and its objectification was wholly shameful.

Another weird idea the WWE had was to bring in Family Feud’s Ray Combs in as a guest ring announcer. This happened at WrestleMania 8, and Combs proceeded to flog to death his “survey said” gags, until there were no more left. Actually, there wasn’t really any in the first place. Painful.

It was WrestleMania 28, and Maria Menounos was fighting alongside Kelly Kelly against Beth Phoenix and Eve Torres in a tag team match. Suddenly, a brown mark on Menounos’ pants became noticeable to fans. The ex-E! News host was later adamant it was derived from Torres’ makeup, but some cruel observers have suggested that she had maybe got a little too scared in the ring.

Around the time of his acclaimed, Oscar-nominated turn in The Wrestler, Mickey Rourke was invited to WrestleMania. But Rourke’s appearance at the 25th wrestling extravaganza was watered down and ultimately plain embarrassing. The precious actor was scared he’d be hurt in a mooted battle with Chris Jericho, so backed out just weeks before. Jericho instead took on Roddy Piper, Jimmy Snuka and Ricky Steamboat, defeating them all before being unconvincingly punched out by Rourke, who had clambered nervously into the ring.