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Post by CM Tusk on Dec 2, 2021 16:43:21 GMT -5
Who, in your opinion, has the most impressive list of opponents at Wrestlemania? For sake of argument, we aren’t counting battle royals here. Some of the bigger choices:
Cena: Show, JBL, Triple H, HBK, Orton, Edge, Batista, Miz, Rock, Wyatt, Rusev, Undertaker
Undertaker: Snuka, Snake, Giant, Bundy, Diesel, Sid, Kane, Bossman, Triple H, Flair, Show, A-Train, Orton, Henry, Batista, Edge, HBK, Punk, Brock, Wyatt, Shane, Roman, Cena, AJ
Rock: Sultan, Shamrock, Austin, Foley, Triple H, Show, Hogan, Flair, Orton, Batista, Cena, Rowan
HBK: Sato, Tanaka, Haku, Barbarian, Tito, Tatanka, Razor, Diesel, Bret, Austin, Jericho, Triple H, Benoit, Angle, Vince, Cena, Flair, Undertaker
Hogan: Piper, Orndorff, Bundy, Andre, Macho, Warrior, Slaughter, Sid, Dibiase, IRS, Yokozuna, Rock, Vince
Angle: Jericho, Benoit, Kane, Brock, HBK, Orton, Mysterio, Triple H, Stephanie, Corbin
Brock: Angle, Goldberg, Triple H, Undertaker, Roman, Seth, Ambrose, McIntyre
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Post by The Brain on Dec 2, 2021 16:47:44 GMT -5
Definitely Hogan
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Post by Evil Abed on Dec 2, 2021 16:50:39 GMT -5
Hard to choose, do you go for longevity but also likely to have some stinkers in there (i.e. Taker v Gonzalez) or do you go for a shorter opponent resume but a lot more name value?
I think I’m probably going to go Taker just because he was able to have high profile matches with guys across so many different eras or wrestling. To me that longevity plus staying at the top of the marquee is the most impressive thing to me.
Brock would have probably been second, just for the fact that he main evented his first ever Wrestlemania. How many guys can actually claim that outside of Wrestlemania 1?
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Ohtimate Wahriah
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Post by Ohtimate Wahriah on Dec 2, 2021 16:55:01 GMT -5
Savage had an impressive run.
Steamboat at 3
4 matches at WrestleMania 4
Then he wrestles Hogan, Warrior and Flair right in a row.
He also discretely wrestles in the Heavyweight Title match in 3 of 4 Manias in a row.
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Post by Nivro™ on Dec 2, 2021 16:55:59 GMT -5
Hogan is hard to beat
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Ohtimate Wahriah
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Post by Ohtimate Wahriah on Dec 2, 2021 17:02:31 GMT -5
I’m on the flip side with Taker. He never had a match at Mania with one of the big stars of the time.
Taker never wrestled Hogan, Warrior, Savage, Hart, Austin, Rock, Foley…he just BARELY got Cena and even then, it was a stinker and FAR past it’s sweet spot. It was more like a segment than a match.
Takers WrestleMania opponents were always middle of the road. The only BIG stars he wrestled were HBK, Flair and HHH and aside from Mania 17 with Hunter, those were nostalgia matches that far exceeded expectations. Flair was on the back 9 by the time he got around to Taker, definitely not a marquee match with the nWo at that Mania like Austin & Rock had.
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Post by CM Tusk on Dec 2, 2021 17:12:35 GMT -5
Edge had a pretty impressive group himself. Especially considering he was out 9 years.
Hardys, Dudleys, Booker, Jericho, Christian, Benoit, Kane, Benjamin, Foley, Orton, Kennedy, Punk, Finlay, Undertaker, Cena, Show, Del Rio, Roman, Bryan
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Post by jason88cubs on Dec 2, 2021 17:50:39 GMT -5
Hogan
Macho had decent list to
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Post by MKSavage on Dec 2, 2021 20:06:41 GMT -5
Has to be Hogan. But I'd like to add Macho to the list: he faced Hogan, Warrior, Dusty and Flair in consecutive Mania's, which are probably the 4 biggest stars of the 80s (Hogan and Warrior for the WWF and Flair and Dusty for the NWA). He also wrestled Steamboat, DiBiase, and Valentine.
I'd also like to throw in Bret; he faced the Bulldogs and Tito at WM3, Honky and Hammer at WM5, Nasty Boys at WM7, Piper at WM8, Yokozuna at WM9, Owen and Yokozuna at WM10, Backlund at WM11, HBK at WM12, Austin at WM13 and Vince at WM26? He was also in two battle royals at WM2 and WM4 and was the last person eliminated in both matches. The only negative against his run was facing the Bolsheviks at WM6 but they did beat them in 20 seconds.
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Post by Mongo Bears on Dec 2, 2021 21:32:36 GMT -5
Hogan.
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Post by CM Tusk on Dec 2, 2021 22:04:28 GMT -5
Think I’m going with Orton
Rock, Foley, Undertaker, Angle, Rey, Edge, Punk,, Matt, Jeff, Kennedy, Booker, Triple H, Cena, Cody, Ted Jr, Kane, Roman, Dean, Seth, Bryan, Batista, Bray, Jinder, Roode, Rusev, AJ,
Even if you take out the weak links, that’s 19 former World Champions. Outside Austin, he faced off against five of the six biggest stars of the Attitude Era. Most of the big stars of the Ruthless Aggression Era.
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Post by Scott! on Dec 3, 2021 6:17:57 GMT -5
Although I wouldn't say it's the most impressive list/record, I think Kane has faced a lot of really interesting people at Wrestlemania. He's also part of Undertakers streak and his matches while not the most memorable per say, it's interesting to look at the guys he has been in the ring with.
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Post by hbkbigdaddycool on Dec 3, 2021 14:01:29 GMT -5
I am gonna go with Triple H on this one.
His first Wrestlemania match with with Ultimate Warrior, then he had the likes of Goldust, Owen Hart, Kane, Rock, Mick Foley, Big Show, Undertaker, Jericho, Booker T, HBK, Benoit, Batista, Cena, Orton, Sheamus, Undertaker, Lesnar, Bryan, Sting, Reigns, Rollins, Angle, Rousey....
That is a pretty sold list from front to back!
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Post by TheSystem 1.5 on Dec 3, 2021 14:14:59 GMT -5
I’m on the flip side with Taker. He never had a match at Mania with one of the big stars of the time. Taker never wrestled Hogan, Warrior, Savage, Hart, Austin, Rock, Foley…he just BARELY got Cena and even then, it was a stinker and FAR past it’s sweet spot. It was more like a segment than a match. Takers WrestleMania opponents were always middle of the road. The only BIG stars he wrestled were HBK, Flair and HHH and aside from Mania 17 with Hunter, those were nostalgia matches that far exceeded expectations. Flair was on the back 9 by the time he got around to Taker, definitely not a marquee match with the nWo at that Mania like Austin & Rock had. Diesel, Orton, Edge, Kane, HHH, Batista |
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Post by jason88cubs on Dec 3, 2021 14:21:00 GMT -5
I am gonna go with Triple H on this one. His first Wrestlemania match with with Ultimate Warrior, then he had the likes of Goldust, Owen Hart, Kane, Rock, Mick Foley, Big Show, Undertaker, Jericho, Booker T, HBK, Benoit, Batista, Cena, Orton, Sheamus, Undertaker, Lesnar, Bryan, Sting, Reigns, Rollins, Angle, Rousey.... That is a pretty sold list from front to back! Yea to be honest that is pretty strong |
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Post by Ohtimate Wahriah on Dec 3, 2021 14:22:13 GMT -5
I’m on the flip side with Taker. He never had a match at Mania with one of the big stars of the time. Taker never wrestled Hogan, Warrior, Savage, Hart, Austin, Rock, Foley…he just BARELY got Cena and even then, it was a stinker and FAR past it’s sweet spot. It was more like a segment than a match. Takers WrestleMania opponents were always middle of the road. The only BIG stars he wrestled were HBK, Flair and HHH and aside from Mania 17 with Hunter, those were nostalgia matches that far exceeded expectations. Flair was on the back 9 by the time he got around to Taker, definitely not a marquee match with the nWo at that Mania like Austin & Rock had. Diesel, Orton, Edge, Kane, HHH, Batista I’m not saying NO big stars, but he never wrestled THEE big stars. For example, in each of those instances who he DIDNT wrestle was Shawn or Bret at 12 Cena or Batista at 21 Cena at 24 Austin at 14 HHH was arguably his biggest marquee match but in all instances, HHH wasn’t the guy at those times When he faced Batista at 23, Cena was clearly the guy He’s wrestled top guys, just never THEE top guys at those Manias |
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Post by Evil Abed on Dec 3, 2021 14:25:39 GMT -5
Diesel, Orton, Edge, Kane, HHH, Batista I’m not saying NO big stars, but he never wrestled THEE big stars. For example, in each of those instances who he DIDNT wrestle was Shawn or Bret at 12 Cena or Batista at 21 Cena at 24 Austin at 14 HHH was arguably his biggest marquee match but in all instances, HHH wasn’t the guy at those times When he faced Batista at 23, Cena was clearly the guy He’s wrestled top guys, just never THEE top guys at those Manias The problem with this logic is that if you did book Taker against most of these guys on those Wrestlemania cards, either you’re killing the streak or killing your next big star. Taker was still arguably 2nd highest match on a lot of those cards. |
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Post by Ohtimate Wahriah on Dec 3, 2021 14:40:24 GMT -5
I’m not saying NO big stars, but he never wrestled THEE big stars. For example, in each of those instances who he DIDNT wrestle was Shawn or Bret at 12 Cena or Batista at 21 Cena at 24 Austin at 14 HHH was arguably his biggest marquee match but in all instances, HHH wasn’t the guy at those times When he faced Batista at 23, Cena was clearly the guy He’s wrestled top guys, just never THEE top guys at those Manias The problem with this logic is that if you did book Taker against most of these guys on those Wrestlemania cards, either you’re killing the streak or killing your next big star. Taker was still arguably 2nd highest match on a lot of those cards. That’s fair. I don’t know that it’s necessarily KILLING them, he beat his fair share of guys and it didn’t hurt them too bad. I do feel like Orton took the worst defeat and should have been the guy to beat Taker, but yea, the streak came with a price I guess. Taker was always relegated to the other match, rarely the top one. Also, I’m not saying there isn’t a valid reason he wasn’t wrestling the top guys, I’m just stating he wasn’t haha. |
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Post by Evil Abed on Dec 3, 2021 14:47:43 GMT -5
The problem with this logic is that if you did book Taker against most of these guys on those Wrestlemania cards, either you’re killing the streak or killing your next big star. Taker was still arguably 2nd highest match on a lot of those cards. That’s fair. I don’t know that it’s necessarily KILLING them, he beat his fair share of guys and it didn’t hurt them too bad. I do feel like Orton took the worst defeat and should have been the guy to beat Taker, but yea, the streak came with a price I guess. Taker was always relegated to the other match, rarely the top one. Also, I’m not saying there isn’t a valid reason he wasn’t in the top matches, I’m just stating he wasn’t haha. I agree that if it was Orton (which I think is one of the first times the streak was actually used as a storyline plot point) he would have been the best option but I think his own ego/youth probably got in the way of that. I remember on WWE Untold they said something to the effect of Orton decided to party all night the night before and missed their match rehearsal because he overslept or something along those lines. So I’m sure if they were on the fence about whether or not he should be the guy before, his immaturity definitely pushed him out of the win column with that stunt. I think if you look at Shawn/12, Austin/14, or Cena & Batista/21, if he goes over any of those guys it does a severe amount of damage to them. There’s some guys at Mania that you kind of wonder like “Oh are they really gonna give the belt to Rey at 22?” Or “Will this actually be Benoit’s year to finally win the big one?” With Shawn, Austin, Cena & Batista it was almost a foregone conclusion that this was “Their Year”. |
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Post by Ohtimate Wahriah on Dec 3, 2021 14:57:57 GMT -5
That’s fair. I don’t know that it’s necessarily KILLING them, he beat his fair share of guys and it didn’t hurt them too bad. I do feel like Orton took the worst defeat and should have been the guy to beat Taker, but yea, the streak came with a price I guess. Taker was always relegated to the other match, rarely the top one. Also, I’m not saying there isn’t a valid reason he wasn’t in the top matches, I’m just stating he wasn’t haha. I agree that if it was Orton (which I think is one of the first times the streak was actually used as a storyline plot point) he would have been the best option but I think his own ego/youth probably got in the way of that. I remember on WWE Untold they said something to the effect of Orton decided to party all night the night before and missed their match rehearsal because he overslept or something along those lines. So I’m sure if they were on the fence about whether or not he should be the guy before, his immaturity definitely pushed him out of the win column with that stunt. I think if you look at Shawn/12, Austin/14, or Cena & Batista/21, if he goes over any of those guys it does a severe amount of damage to them. There’s some guys at Mania that you kind of wonder like “Oh are they really gonna give the belt to Rey at 22?” Or “Will this actually be Benoit’s year to finally win the big one?” With Shawn, Austin, Cena & Batista it was almost a foregone conclusion that this was “Their Year”. I think we’re in total agreement but coming at it from different sides haha. I agree with you, I was talking in regards to strength of schedule to use an NCAA term for Takers Mania opponents. This is a conversation of whether or not Taker SHOULD have gone over the top guys which I whole heartedly agree he should not have! The original point was as far as opponents go, I don’t think Taker faced the best opponents at WrestleMania and my point was, he rarely if ever faced the top guys at WrestleMania. The conversation were having now, I agree with you. I wouldn’t have had Taker go over the young guys haha, I’d rather the streak have ended before we knew it was a thing, Hell, I was rooting for Diesel at WrestleMania 12 lol. But that’s beside the point. In regards to Orton, yea I remember reading that SO many times back then that he was always on the verge of being fired for A B or C reason. He was very unreliable at that time, I do think there is truth to him being the guy that beat Taker and he blew it. It derailed him for me to lose to Taker and it didn’t really do anything for Taker, that was Ortons time to win and Takers to lose. |
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