Best and Worst WrestleMania Builds

[JaymeFuture]

For this week's podcast, since it is that time of year we're looking to discuss the Best and Worst WrestleMania builds ever done, looking at the run-ups to the biggest show of the year and breaking down what did and didn't work, and want to know your personal suggestions.

So, with that said, when you look back over the years, what do you consider to be the best and the worst "Road to Mania" periods, with the strongest or weakest build-ups/hype jobs for Mania, and why? Select one for each, the more explanation the better, and as always the best contributions will be read on the show and discussed.

So which Mania's get your vote, the ones that did or didn't work for you, and why?

EDIT - The show is now available here: https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/download/zjhwrf/SCG_Radio_149_-_The_Best_and_Worst_WrestleMania_Builds_Ever.mp3

[flyonthewall2983]

 

In retrospect I like this promo video a lot. Maybe one of the very few times they ever built a match on athletics alone as there was no major angle leading up to it (though this was going to be the start of one, thus Bret storming out of the ring at the end of the match). 

 

 

This one speaks for itself. It encapsulates everything the Attitude Era was about, at what was undoubtedly it's very peak before veering off into a new direction post-WCW. The role Jim Ross plays in both of these is not to be understated either, it is major proof why he was the voice of the company during this time. 

[PeteF3]

I thought the Rock-Austin X-7 build would be near the top spot for Worst Builds, actually. Shoehorning Debra into the thing was pure death. I think it gets overly romanticized because a.) The match was great and historical, and b.) They had the sense to shitcan the Debra stuff before the event, which was the right move but also made the build even choppier and more haphazard. This match seemed like the start of the WWF deciding that having two huge stars face off wasn't enough and they had to overthink things to death.

[Migs]

1 hour ago, PeteF3 said:

I thought the Rock-Austin X-7 build would be near the top spot for Worst Builds, actually. Shoehorning Debra into the thing was pure death. I think it gets overly romanticized because a.) The match was great and historical, and b.) They had the sense to shitcan the Debra stuff before the event, which was the right move but also made the build even choppier and more haphazard. This match seemed like the start of the WWF deciding that having two huge stars face off wasn't enough and they had to overthink things to death.

Yeah, in retrospect the X-7 build is on the level of the Becky-Ronda build where they had to all these twists to create "intrigue" when the intrigue was already there. (Although it's place in history is one reason I think the build to this year's main event will mostly be forgotten in time - the match will deliver and the fact that they did dumb things to fill TV time won't matter anymore).

Wrestlemania 2000 is the example where the match doesn't save the messy build. The obvious story there was for Rock to avenge his partner (maybe with Mick in his corner), but it ended up being about McMahons. No one likes that match.

On the flip side, I'd say the 1997 build, messy as it was at the time, kinda works for what they get to. All the twists and his response to them really cement Bret as a heel, Austin gets elevated, the Final Four match is absolutely great, and it pays off in a classic (which is the real main event, anyway).

[Mrzfn]

If we're talking show build instead of individual match build, I'll pitch XX as a top contender. You get:

-Benoit with an epic Rumble win leading to a character motivated jump to become the wildcard in the already storied HHH/HBK feud, with strong development between the three of them from January to March.

-Undertaker/Kane as a payoff for a big angle all the way back in November, with a pretty effective build from January to March considering Taker wasn't even around.

-Eddie at his hottest as miracle champion against Angle fresh off a great heel turn, which was actually quietly set up as early as January and executed really well in February.

-Evolution/Foley dating back to November with a really nice slow build featuring a lot of moving parts, with seeds planted even earlier in the year and some dynamite segments along the way.

-Christian/Jericho, which had roots all the way back in October or earlier with the Jericho/Trish angle burning along slowly through a lot of twists and turns and Christian working first subtly then overtly as a major antagonist.

-Cena/Big Show, which also built directly out of Survivor Series and incorporated a lot of different characters bits that fed into Cena becoming a bigger and bigger star.

-Even Goldberg/Lesnar, which had seeds planted all the way back in November and developed really well through January and February. It fell apart somewhat after that since Goldberg stopped coming to work, but even then Lesnar carried on with some strong character stuff to the end and they did their damndest to work Austin in in a meaningful way.

 

The event itself isn't the best Mania ever, but from Survivor Series '03 all the way up to the show itself there's a lot of surprisingly layered and meaningful build that helped the matches feel important. If they hadn't thrown on an extra hour and filled it with filler matches, and if Goldberg/Lesnar hadn't bombed, I think it'd be remembered as an all time great show.

[sek69]

WM 3 was great too. You had several well built angles/feuds all paying off on one show:

 Andre turning heel and confont the unbeatable hero Hogan in what was a match no one thought would ever happen.

Ricky Steamboat heroically coming back from having his throat crushed by the evil Macho Man (with the bonus of George Steele's unrequited love for Elizabeth)

Former villian Roddy Piper embracing the fans while taking revenge on Adrian Adonis trying to steal his talk show segment

Evil Ref Danny Davis facing off against the people he screwed out of their titles. 

[peachchaos]

Pretty sure I was more hyped for WM 14 than anything ever in life.

Mike Tyson was in D-Generation X. Stone Cold was obviously winning the title. Shawn Michaels was working paralyzed.

The year long build to Undertaker finally facing his dead brother. 

Owen getting revenge on D-X for Montreal.

The dumpster match and the introduction of the hardcore style. 

 

[Alucard]

Really liked the build to 26. Taker/Shawn perfection and Bret/Vince, while the match was what it was, the build was a ton of fun. Two of my all time favorite video packages

 

 

 

[CarpetCrawler]

Hogan and Bundy for WrestleMania 2 was... certainly something.

The week before the Saturday Night's Main Event on the syndicated TV they allude to a mysterious attack that left Hulk on a stretcher, and then on the weekend TV of that SNME, they have Bundy walking around in interviews and on Piper's Pit bragging about the attack that Vince basically tells us we'll see later that night.  Just weird to see Vince basically admit that the show was taped well in advance.  Even Hogan films local area interviews talking about the attack but acting like he just has some minor pain that he can handle.  There's a great/hilarious interview where Hogan talks about seeing police in the arena crying as they were loading him onto the stretcher.

Then on the weekend TV shows up to WrestleMania, the match is barely mentioned or advertised at all.  They spend most of the weekend TV hyping the NFL Battle Royal, which I agree was the better match to promote, but there's at least 1-2 episodes of Championship Wrestling where Hulk isn't even mentioned at all.  The Mr. T-Piper boxing match gets more coverage than Hogan-Bundy.  And like, I get it, because mainstream attention was entirely on the NFL player involvement, but then the weekend before the show they have Hogan wrestling Moondog Spot with his ribs taped.  He then proceeds to remove the tape and no-sell most all of Spot's shots to the ribs to indicate that there's absolutely nothing wrong with his ribs, all leading to squashing Spot in like a minute.  Even Bruno and Vince on commentary almost marvel that Hulk is very much OK.  They literally build Bundy's attack as having done nothing and him having no chance against Hulk in the cage.

Even right before the cage match Vince and Susan St. James are discussing the match and every single time Vince tries to build up Bundy as possibly winning Susan shuts it down immediately every single time.  "Not a chance!!  No way it's gonna happen!!".

[PeteF3]

7 hours ago, peachchaos said:

Pretty sure I was more hyped for WM 14 than anything ever in life.

Mike Tyson was in D-Generation X. Stone Cold was obviously winning the title. Shawn Michaels was working paralyzed.

The year long build to Undertaker finally facing his dead brother. 

Owen getting revenge on D-X for Montreal.

The dumpster match and the introduction of the hardcore style. 

 

This. When I was watching the '98 Yearbook I was amazed all over again at how effective the WM14 build was, and not just the main event. Even Sable's in-ring debut was a big deal and it turned out to go as well as it possibly could (probably too well, leading to them going back to it way too often). Tyson got eyeballs on the product, but Vince helped engineer the MNW turnaround by sheer laser-like focus while WCW was, as usual, all over the map.

WrestleMania III was also a brilliantly booked top-to-bottom card. Literally every single match served a specific purpose--either blowing off a feud, heating up an existing or new one, or establishing new stars. And sometimes all of the above. 

[Downend2005]

The build to the main event of wrestlemania 5 between Macho Man Randy Savage and Lust Hogan is still one of the best stories that the WWF/WWE has ever told. Otherwise known as ‘Randy was right’, this year long build of the evil Hogan’s grand plan to engineer an title shot at the biggest show of the year worked a treat. Hogan already had poor form for being a terrible friend to Andre the Giant and Paul Orndorff, so maybe Randy should have known better in hindsight, but this story just goes to show how devious Hogan truly was. 

The story began even before wrestlemania 4, when Hogan saved Savage from an attack from the Hart Foundation in late 1987 after being begged to by Elizabeth, followed by THE handshake which solidified Randy’s face turn. 

Then at Wrestlemania 4 Savage won the WWF Title following an assist from Hogan and the build began in earnest.

Gradually over time the relationship between Savage and Hogan became more and more unstable. Hogan began to act more flirtatiously towards Elizabeth, even insisting that she also manage him in matches on Saturday Nights main event.

The Mega Powers won at summerslam 1988 and when Elizabeth took her skirt off you could easily see the lust that Hogan had in his eyes. I’m positive that he also gave her a sneaky tap on the ass when Savage wasn’t looking too.

The Mega Powers were the sole survivors at Survivors Series 1988, and Hogan again made a play for Elizabeth, hugging her and twirling her round right in front of her man, when he had just been beaten down for ages whilst Hogan was resting in some handcuffs.

Hogan then eliminated Savage from the Royal Rumble on purpose like the true friend that he was.

Then at Saturday Nights Main event, Savage finally snapped when he accidentally collided with Liz, and Hogan abandoned the match to try it on with her and show her his 24 inch python in her confused state backstage. I’m frankly surprised that Randy didn’t snap sooner. But from that moment Hogans plan was complete. His fear of the increasingly popular Savage caused him to first befriend him, and then systematically turn him into a jealous, paranoid heel so he could get a title shot in an era where face vs face matches didn’t happen. He even managed to turn Savages missus against him, which would play into his hands at Mania 5 as Randy couldn’t fully focus on his title defence and hence he lost to the Luster.

In all seriousness though, Savage versus Hogan was a masterful build, with Ventura especially on commentary being excellent planting the seeds of doubt about Hogans intentions, and Randys increasing papanoia playing out perfectly. The match was to that point the best main event in wrestlemania history, and the fact that it ended in the same building where Randy won the title was fitting.

The builds to modern day Mania main events are so messy and all over the place (see 2019) that it’s easy to forget that they were at one time capable of some of the best and most compelling builds in Wrestling history.

[Boss Rock]

Mania 30 remains my favorite and the most invested I've ever been in a wrestling storyline. Bryan's whole saga, even if a lot of it wasn't intended due to Punk leaving, is still some of the greatest storytelling I've ever seen.

 

[Mrzfn]

I'll strongly second those shouting out the Wrestlemania III build, that was incredibly strong for all of the important matches.

[funkdoc]

Think a big reason the WM X-7 build is remembered so fondly is that video package - probably the best use of Limp Bizkit in any piece of media ever, and also arguably WWE’s best video package ever.

It’s similar to WM6, where the build was actually godawful but people only remember the staredown at the Rumble. Two of the worst, i think...

[Stiva]

It was an excellent match but they really did a Ham-fisted job of the Mayweather/Big Show build too

[C.S.]

I'll be (probably) the lone defender of the WrestleMania 8 build.

Yes, there was a messy transition from Hogan vs. Flair (then considered the dream match to end all dream matches) to the "double main event" of Hogan vs. Sid and Flair vs. Savage. Somehow, WWE managed to make Hogan-Sid seem like a dream match (even if the end result was utter shit) and Savage vs. Flair a nasty feud. "Elizabeth was mine before she was yours! Woooooo!!!"

And let's not sleep on that amazing Piper vs. Bret face vs. face build and match for the IC Title.

Plus, fun pairings like Undertaker vs. Jake and Shawn vs. Tito.

Of course, the night ended with the epic return of the "fake" Ultimate Warrior (lol) - because the real one died, according to schoolyard chatter.

I was thoroughly sports-entertained leading into Mania 8.

 

[El-P]

1 hour ago, C.S. said:

I'll be (probably) the lone defender of the WrestleMania 8 build.

No, because I have fond memories of it too. Probably mostly because it was the very first time I would get to see Mania and it was very special to me back then. I don't think I really got the same build anyway, since the french TV show (which was weeks behind) was just Superstars + some MSG-TV and Toronto house show matches sometimes (Shawn Michaels vs Virgil from MSG was the main event of the last show before Mania 8). So yeah, probably not the whole actual build (we didn't get the big angles on TV), but I loved it back then.

[peachchaos]

The build to 8 is some of the best for that era, and a sentimental favorite of mine too. Everyone seemed to enjoy it upon rewatch for the yearbooks. There were some different directions they could have gone with all the hot feuds coming out of 1991, but what they churned out was highly entertaining. 

Best press conference ever. Both Sid and Savage's reactions to the announcement are top notch.

edit: also how they built Sid up as a contender to Hogan by just having him stretcher all of his wimpys is gold

[C.S.]

31 minutes ago, El-P said:

No, because I have fond memories of it too. Probably mostly because it was the very first time I would get to see Mania and it was very special to me back then. I don't think I really got the same build anyway, since the french TV show (which was weeks behind) was just Superstars + some MSG-TV and Toronto house show matches sometimes (Shawn Michaels vs Virgil from MSG was the main event of the last show before Mania 8). So yeah, probably not the whole actual build (we didn't get the big angles on TV), but I loved it back then.

I'm almost sorry you didn't get the U.S. build, because the Flair-Savage feud even incorporated WWF Magazine - one of the few (only?) storylines ever to do so. It was rad!

[SomethingSavage]

2 hours ago, C.S. said:

I'll be (probably) the lone defender of the WrestleMania 8 build.

Yes, there was a messy transition from Hogan vs. Flair (then considered the dream match to end all dream matches) to the "double main event" of Hogan vs. Sid and Flair vs. Savage. Somehow, WWE managed to make Hogan-Sid seem like a dream match (even if the end result was utter shit) and Savage vs. Flair a nasty feud. "Elizabeth was mine before she was yours! Woooooo!!!"

And let's not sleep on that amazing Piper vs. Bret face vs. face build and match for the IC Title.

Plus, fun pairings like Undertaker vs. Jake and Shawn vs. Tito.

Of course, the night ended with the epic return of the "fake" Ultimate Warrior (lol) - because the real one died, according to schoolyard chatter.

I was thoroughly sports-entertained leading into Mania 8.

 

Absolutely. Not my all-time favorite Mania, but it belongs in the conversation when you start talking about the entire card like that.

I was a total Bret mark through & through, so they fucking got me with the IC Title setup. I bought the high fever excuse and was absolutely gutted to find out he'd lost the belt. So the most basic buildup around him fighting a "family friend" to get his belt back was all I needed.

Good point about Sid/Hogan feeling larger than it had any right to around this time. But that's the charm of Sid. The guy feels, functions, walks, talks, and operates strictly as a top guy. Fuck overanalyzing his matches. The guy's a believable, unhinged monster just bodying dudes left & right. Sid was the anti-Hulk. He was Arkansas' answer to Ivan Drago.

Excellent shout on the way Flair/Savage came together so quickly and seamlessly. Slick Ric targeting Liz and triggering Randy was the only way to go. Plus this feud forever gets bonus points with me, because it was done very well in both the WWF and then WCW. Liz as the damsel is classic, but Liz & Woman as Ric's sister wives is something else altogether & an awesome, perverse maturation of the grudge.

[Stuttsy]

On 3/26/2019 at 5:17 PM, CarpetCrawler said:

Hogan and Bundy for WrestleMania 2 was... certainly something.

The week before the Saturday Night's Main Event on the syndicated TV they allude to a mysterious attack that left Hulk on a stretcher, and then on the weekend TV of that SNME, they have Bundy walking around in interviews and on Piper's Pit bragging about the attack that Vince basically tells us we'll see later that night.  Just weird to see Vince basically admit that the show was taped well in advance.  Even Hogan films local area interviews talking about the attack but acting like he just has some minor pain that he can handle.  There's a great/hilarious interview where Hogan talks about seeing police in the arena crying as they were loading him onto the stretcher.

Then on the weekend TV shows up to WrestleMania, the match is barely mentioned or advertised at all.  They spend most of the weekend TV hyping the NFL Battle Royal, which I agree was the better match to promote, but there's at least 1-2 episodes of Championship Wrestling where Hulk isn't even mentioned at all.  The Mr. T-Piper boxing match gets more coverage than Hogan-Bundy.  And like, I get it, because mainstream attention was entirely on the NFL player involvement, but then the weekend before the show they have Hogan wrestling Moondog Spot with his ribs taped.  He then proceeds to remove the tape and no-sell most all of Spot's shots to the ribs to indicate that there's absolutely nothing wrong with his ribs, all leading to squashing Spot in like a minute.  Even Bruno and Vince on commentary almost marvel that Hulk is very much OK.  They literally build Bundy's attack as having done nothing and him having no chance against Hulk in the cage.

Even right before the cage match Vince and Susan St. James are discussing the match and every single time Vince tries to build up Bundy as possibly winning Susan shuts it down immediately every single time.  "Not a chance!!  No way it's gonna happen!!".

I never realized this and it is very wild to read. I always thought the initial attack on Hogan at Saturday Night's Main Event came off great and I love the pre-taped interview with Hogan before the match, lifting weights tentatively with Hillbilly, testing out the strength of his ribs. If asked, I would have said Bundy v Hogan had a great build based on that so this is very fascinating to hear. I need to watch the Championship Wrestling shows on the lead in to Mania 2.

[Cornette's racket]

I’d agree with the description of the mania V build between hogan and savage. It’s just done so well. As was said it’s not messy and it worked. I loved the comment from Ventura during the entrances where savage as champion comes out first about the champion normally coming out second. He also calls hulk “lust Hogan” which is great. 

[joeg]

V is probably my favorite, it took place over two years, first starting in 87 when Hogan saved Savage turning Savage babyface was great. Then a year and a half later the way Savage turned on Hogan was great. It was logical and at the the same time made Savage look like a controlling jealous prick.

I liked the build for Wrestlemania 30... It started at the Summerslam before with HHH pedigreeing Bryan then continued through the fall with Bryan and Orton feuding then Batista got thrown in the mix at the Rumble then we had the big payoff to all of it at Mania. The payoff was just amazing in part because after a year of Bryan chasing most people half expected it not to go anywhere. I know I was one of those people who saw summerslam and thought there is never going to be a payoff to this. So the satisfying conclusion was a shock. Plus the build up to Brock vs Taker was great. So the top 3 matches all had a really great build up. 

I've liked the build up to this year's main event ever since the brawl where Becky got her face caved in back in November.

 

 

 

 

[JaymeFuture]

SCG Radio returns this week as we discuss the Best and Worst WrestleMania Builds Ever! Taking your nominations and feedback, we discuss the standout hype jobs on either end of the spectrum, from the dizzying highs of WrestleMania 14, 5 and 3, to the horrifying lows of 9, 11, 31 and 18, and even the creamy middles that stood out to you such as 20, 21, 17 and 8, we look at all the hot angles and promos going in, break down the make up of what makes a great build that stands the test of time, and look at the issues WWE was dealing with in each instance. A really fun show and a great way to celebrate Mania week - check it out!

https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/download/zjhwrf/SCG_Radio_149_-_The_Best_and_Worst_WrestleMania_Builds_Ever.mp3

[ohtani's jacket]

I am surprised that nobody mentioned Wrestlemania X. I have always had a soft spot for that Wrestlemania as it was right when I got back into wrestling, but the Owen vs. Bret build on top of the Bret/Luger/Yokozuna build, Shawn vs. Razor, and even Crush vs. Macho Man, is pretty good considering how depleted the roster was compared to previous years.