Thursday, MARCH 25 - 11:31 A.M. (CT)

I always enjoy "Best of" and "Worst of" columns, and with WrestleMania 26 just days away, I thought I would write one myself. We'll start with the "worst WrestleMania events" and I'll post my picks for "best WrestleMania events" shortly. Debating these is always fun and you are welcome to offer your take at dotnetrich@gmail.com whether you agree or disagree.

5. WrestleMania 13: Sure, this event had Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin, but that was about it. The main event of Sid vs. The Undertaker was weak. Shawn Michaels had taken the event off so he did not wrestle. The rest of the card was forgettable at best.

4. WrestleMania 1: Spare me the "But it was the first one, so it gets a pass" arguments. Sure, the concept was revolutionary at the time and today as well. I get that. However, the actual event pretty much sucked. The pre-match promos were amongst the worst ever and to this day, Brutus Beefcake vs. David Sammartino is still one of the worst matches I have ever seen. On top of that, Hulk Hogan did not defend the WWE Champion (a one-on-one match with either Roddy Piper or Paul Orndorff would have been great) and Mr. T was gassed within the first couple minutes of the main event. The original WrestleMania was also a year away from having Bret Hart and Randy Savage on the card.

3. WrestleMania 9: I may be in the minority here, but I really liked the Coliseum setup, but the show was horrible. Bret Hart and Yokozuna worked the best match they could, but Yoko, despite being a very good worker, was still limited in a long main event match. Hulk Hogan winning the WWE Championship that night was both nauseating and ridiculous.

2. WrestleMania 2: First of all, the three separate locations really screwed over all of the live fans because they all got a partial show. Hulk Hogan vs. King Kong Bundy in the cage was fine, but the rest of the matches were very rushed. The tag team title match was decent and The Dynamite Kid took a legit shot to the head. He was out of it. Finally, the announcing was atrocious.

1. WrestleMania 11: Here is the "winner." Sure, Shawn Michaels was in the WWE Championship match, but it was against Kevin Nash. The "main event" featured Bam Bam Bigelow losing to football legend Lawrence Taylor. This is also the WrestleMania that Bret Hart still avoids like the plague, as he faced Bob Backlund on this show. One thing I don't ever need to see at a WrestleMania is a kid from "Home Improvement" celebrating in the ring with the victorious WWE Champion.

Just missed the list: WrestleMania 7, WrestleMania 8, WrestleMania 16.

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