The 23 Most Cringe Wrestlemania Moments Of All Time
BuzzFeed
·18 min read
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Wrestlemania is often considered to be the biggest annual event in the entirety of professional wrestling, as WWE captures headlines and orchestrates dream matches for loyal viewers and lapsed fans alike.
But for a show that emphasizes every memorable match and sensational spectacle, Wrestlemania has hosted a treasure trove of unintentionally strange, uncomfortable, and cringey moments that live on in infamy. With Wrestlemania 38 right around the corner, I've tracked down more than 20 of those moments so you, too, can revel in some sports entertainment schadenfreude.
1.Brock Lesnar's Shooting Star Botch (Wrestlemania 19)
2.Mickey Rourke Drops Out and Knocks Out (Wrestlemania 25)
3.Molly Holly's Shaved to Save Her Match (Wrestlemania 20)
4.The Miller Lite Girls Bring Their Catfight IRL (Wrestlemania 19)
5.Rain Descends Upon Wrestlemania (Wrestlemania 37)
6.The Undertaker vs. Giant Gonzalez (Wrestlemania 9)
7.Hogan Ruins Wrestlemania at the Superdome (Wrestlemania 30)
8.Big Show Goes Sumo vs. Akebono (Wrestlemania 21)
9.Mr. T and Roddy Piper Work Themselves Into a Shoot (Wrestlemania/Wrestlemania 2)
10.The D-Generation X Band Slaughters “America the Beautiful” (Wrestlemania 14)
11.Bart Gunn vs. Butterbean (Wrestlemania 15)
12.The Dance of the Funkasaurus (Wrestlemania 28)
WWE / Via Giphy
Without any context, here we go: Controversial wrestler Tyrus, previously known as Brodus Clay, was randomly rebranded as the Funkasaurus during his tenure at the WWE, given a pair of dancing valets known as the Funkadactyls, and bestowed with an over-the-top theme song "Somebody Call My Momma," which formerly belonged to a WCW wrestler named Ernest "The Cat" Miller. With no match on the Wrestlemania 28 card, Clay was saddled with a dance segment with a dancer in a "Momma" costume, dancing with the Funkadactyls for seemingly no reason.
This surreal segment was allegedly on the chopping block at the pay-per-view until Clay's friend, John Cena, decided to browbeat WWE chairman Vince McMahon into keeping the bizarre and senseless number on the show in its entirety.
Where to Watch: You can watch this clip on Peacock.
13.The Battle of the Announcers (Wrestlemania 27)
14.The Wrestlemania That Almost Wasn't (Wrestlemania 36)
15.Mary Tyler Moore Does Not Care About Wrestlemania (Wrestlemania 6)
16.Brock Lesnar vs. Goldberg vs. The Crowd (Wrestlemania 20)
17.Hogan Ruins Wrestlemania at Caesars Palace (Wrestlemania 9)
18.John Cena on Bended Knee (Wrestlemania 33)
19.Roddy Piper vs. Goldust: Art Imitates Life (Wrestlemania 12)
20.Santino Marella Is Miss Wrestlemania (Wrestlemania 25)
21.The Undertaker Commits a Murder?! (Wrestlemania 15)
WWE / Giphy
There are a lot of banned phrases in the WWE, most of which correlate with the personal vocabulary choices and desired branding from Vince McMahon himself. But chief among them are "murder" and "kill," with any performer talking about ending another wrestler's life often being met with scorn. But there's a difference between saying it and doing it, and WWE really went there at Wrestlemania 25, after a slog of a match between The Undertaker and The Big Boss Man was capped off with the former stringing up the latter with a noose in front and hanging him from the rising cell above them.
Of course, the whole thing is gimmicked, and the late Ray Traylor wasn't actually harmed in the stunt, but for a company that trades in the marvel of choreographed violence, the depiction of a hanging on their biggest show of the year was truly baffling and unexpected.
Where to Watch: You can watch this clip on Peacock.
22.Roddy Piper Goes Too Far vs. Bad News Brown (Wrestlemania 6)
WWE / Giphy
In a match that has been essentially scrubbed from the internet following the WWE Network's sale to Peacock in 2021, Roddy Piper, known for his provocative and brash promotional stunts during his feud, challenged former Olympic medalist Allen James Coage, then known as Bad News Brown, to a match at Wrestlemania 6. While the feud was relatively tame for the most part, Piper went wildly off the rails on the day of the event, painting himself in half-blackface as to further instigate his interracial opponent. The move was received poorly back in 1990 and has only received more (rightful) criticism in the years that followed, but remained on the pay-per-view in its streaming versions until it was effectively erased from history last year, though those interested can comb the internet to find clips from the maligned match.
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