Top 10 Part-timer WrestleMania matches of all time
Part-timers have become progressively more important to the WrestleMania booking in recent years.
The perceived success brought on by increased exposure, and the star power these occasional performers are determined to bring, has cost regular Superstars a shot at cementing their own legacy.
Of course, just because they are part-timers taking up valuable real estate on the year’s biggest card, it does not mean that they have not produced good matches or at least sizeable buzz to sell the event before and after.
Here are the top 10 matches in WrestleMania history that have included part-timers.
#10 Undertaker vs Shane O’Mac
This is a hard one to argue for to kick things off.
WrestleMania ‘Dallas Cowboys Star’ last year looked like a catastrophe waiting to happen with all the injuries the big guns had suffered. The only truly big storyline involved the by-the-book rise of a big babyface against the evil corporate boss, or at least that was how the WWE wanted the fans to see it.
There was just no apparent reason to pick up the network and check out the company’s largest ever show. Sensing this looming disaster, they pulled out the mother of all trump cards left in their pack, and the prodigal son came spinning into the picture.
The reason why Shane McMahon felt the need to return after his six-year absence to wrestle again is still a mystery, to be honest. The decision for his old man to put him against the Undertaker in Hell in a Cell made even less sense, but boy did we buy in.
Also read: Top 10 WrestleMania performers of all time
Dangling the ultimate carrot that is the banish-McMahon gimmick (ironically prompted by another McMahon) was enough to fill the stadium and build the show around a potential final brawl-for-it-all that would send the Undertaker and Vince off into the sunset in grand style. This is not what they delivered.
Rather than offering a shocking result and/or spot-heavy match to close the show, ushering in a new direction to their weekly programming, they gave us a shocking drop and not much else.
If it did not take 30 minutes to see the end of this boring match, Shane diving off the top of the Cell and crashing into the table below might have resonated more.
The buzz was created but died out almost immediately, and with Shane getting on TV regularly post-Mania, the result and match ended up being largely meaningless. Still, it was a sick bump and at least drew the eyeballs in long enough to realise that they’re pushing Roman Reigns and that’s the end of that.