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Post by theironyuppie on Mar 27, 2023 1:24:26 GMT -5
I would say Liv this year would be one. Went from nearly winning the Rumble in which she lasted over an hour to repeatedly getting bitched out for weeks and used as job fodder for the Mania title challengers (Asuka and Rhea) before barely eking onto the card as part of a nothing multi person tag match. I'm not evne sure I'd say that she was nearly winning the rumble... yeah she was one of the last people in... but... like she didn't do anything in the match, and was more or less just kinda there for the entire thing.
She was in for 61 minutes and runner-up in the (very good) finishing sequence, but she was less active in the match than Rhea, who got 7 eliminations as well as taking big bumps throughout.
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Post by ThankGodForSidJustice on Mar 27, 2023 3:04:07 GMT -5
I would say Liv this year would be one. Went from nearly winning the Rumble in which she lasted over an hour to repeatedly getting bitched out for weeks and used as job fodder for the Mania title challengers (Asuka and Rhea) before barely eking onto the card as part of a nothing multi person tag match. I'm not evne sure I'd say that she was nearly winning the rumble... yeah she was one of the last people in... but... like she didn't do anything in the match, and was more or less just kinda there for the entire thing. She was runner up and came very close to eliminating Rhea when they were the last two. I don't know how you couldn't consider that close to winning. She also had a couple of eliminations including a fairly big one of Bayley. I mean yeah she wasn't as much of a force as someone like Rhea was but I wouldn't say she didn't do anything either.
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Post by ThankGodForSidJustice on Mar 27, 2023 3:10:23 GMT -5
John Studd in 1989. Goes from winning the Rumble to being used as a special referee in the Jake versus Andre match. Earthquake in 1991. Top heel and feuding with Hogan at the start of the year to beating Greg Valentine in a nothing match. I'll always argue early Rumbles had different standards compared to today and, in this case, winning wasn't supposed to guarantee a match at Wrestlemania. As for Earthquake, Valentine had just left Jimmy Hart's group. So there was at least a small story that Earthquake was getting revenge on a deserter. But ultimately, as you point out, the match was irrelevant. I know the Rumble wasn't as big as it would be in later years however it was still a pretty big win for him especially when you consider the star power in that match (Hogan, Savage, Andre, Dibiase etc.). So to follow that up by just being a referee in another match I would say is a big drop. I wonder if the original plan was for Valentine to face Honky Tonk Man in a battle of former partners before Honky left. Granted he left in like January however they booked more in advance back then. Although I guess I don't know where that would've left Earthquake. Only other opponent that would've made sense was Tugboat (who was strangely left off the show) and they would end up being partners in a few months so you couldn't do that either.
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msc
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Post by msc on Mar 27, 2023 4:19:30 GMT -5
Iirc plans for Studd had already changed by then due to his declining health. He wasn't around much longer in the WWE after mania.
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Post by Cvslfc123 on Mar 27, 2023 5:36:35 GMT -5
Rikishi had quite a downfall between late 2000 and WrestleMania.
He was in the main event of Armageddon 2000.
He entered the Royal Rumble at number 30 and was in the last 5.
At No Way Out Him and Haku interfered in the Tag Team Triple Threat match to cost Undertaker and Kane
Then at WrestleMania he didn't appear at all.
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Post by ThankGodForSidJustice on Mar 27, 2023 6:00:00 GMT -5
Rikishi had quite a downfall between late 2000 and WrestleMania. He was in the main event of Armageddon 2000. He entered the Royal Rumble at number 30 and was in the last 5. At No Way Out Him and Haku interfered in the Tag Team Triple Threat match to cost Undertaker and Kane Then at WrestleMania he didn't appear at all. He was out with an injury so I wouldn't count that. It was rumored that they were originally going to do a tag match with him and Haku against Undertaker and Kane.
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Post by Pipe_Bomb2k13 on Mar 27, 2023 6:00:01 GMT -5
Rikishi had quite a downfall between late 2000 and WrestleMania. He was in the main event of Armageddon 2000. He entered the Royal Rumble at number 30 and was in the last 5. At No Way Out Him and Haku interfered in the Tag Team Triple Threat match to cost Undertaker and Kane Then at WrestleMania he didn't appear at all. Rikishi had injured eardrum before Mania that year which explains his absence. Lex went from title match with Yokozuna to facing the Blu Brothers in a random tag match.
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Post by dangerousdanpotato on Mar 27, 2023 14:05:52 GMT -5
Kurt Angle was WWF Champion at No Way Out 2001. Once he lost the belt it became apparent they had no plans for him and the match with Benoit was slapped together with the angle commencing on the Raw before WrestleMania. Thankfully it didn't need a big build as the simple story was effective and obviously the pair put on a great match.
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asuka007
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Post by asuka007 on Mar 27, 2023 14:30:47 GMT -5
I'm not evne sure I'd say that she was nearly winning the rumble... yeah she was one of the last people in... but... like she didn't do anything in the match, and was more or less just kinda there for the entire thing. She was runner up and came very close to eliminating Rhea when they were the last two. I don't know how you couldn't consider that close to winning. She also had a couple of eliminations including a fairly big one of Bayley. I mean yeah she wasn't as much of a force as someone like Rhea was but I wouldn't say she didn't do anything either. She also was eliminated in large part because she was blinded by Asuka’s mist
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Post by Citizen Snips on Mar 27, 2023 15:19:20 GMT -5
Kurt Angle was WWF Champion at No Way Out 2001. Once he lost the belt it became apparent they had no plans for him and the match with Benoit was slapped together with the angle commencing on the Raw before WrestleMania. Thankfully it didn't need a big build as the simple story was effective and obviously the pair put on a great match. It’s kind of funny that Angle had like a year-long super push and then they just forgot to book something for him at Mania until a week before the show.
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Post by Lizuka #BLM on Mar 27, 2023 18:43:20 GMT -5
Not as dramatic as some of these but Batista going from being the runner-up in the Elimination Chamber in 2008 to facing Umaga in a short, nothing match that only existed to get him on the card was pretty bad.
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Post by thechase on Mar 28, 2023 10:27:53 GMT -5
Kurt Angle was WWF Champion at No Way Out 2001. Once he lost the belt it became apparent they had no plans for him and the match with Benoit was slapped together with the angle commencing on the Raw before WrestleMania. Thankfully it didn't need a big build as the simple story was effective and obviously the pair put on a great match. It’s kind of funny that Angle had like a year-long super push and then they just forgot to book something for him at Mania until a week before the show. It happened twice to Kurt. In late 2001 through to February 2002 he was always a top contender in the world title picture or a major main event player, at No Way Out 2002 he beat Triple H for the right to headline against Jericho....then the next night he lost a rematch to HHH and lost that number one contender status, then by 'Mania he was wrestling Kane in a fairly average outing for both.
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Post by captaincheapshot on Mar 28, 2023 10:46:12 GMT -5
Mankind went from WWF champion to having a match halfway through the show to see who will referee the main event title match at Wrestlmania XV.
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The Kevstaaa
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Post by The Kevstaaa on Mar 28, 2023 22:43:30 GMT -5
Kurt Angle beat Triple H in a #1 Contender's match at No Way Out 2002 and then worked Kane in a meaningless match at Mania X8. Mankind went from WWE Champion in 1999 to a match to be a referee at WM XV. Umaga and Batista were in World Title Chamber matches before facing each other in that brand warfare gimmick in 2008. Kozlov and Mike Knox were also in chambers in 2009 and off the card at WM XXV. Cody and Goldust were super hot acts in late 201-early 2014 but ended up in the Andre battle royal at WM XXX.
But yeah, Scott Steiner is the worst case of this.
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Cranjis McBasketball
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Post by Cranjis McBasketball on Mar 28, 2023 23:27:49 GMT -5
Iirc plans for Studd had already changed by then due to his declining health. He wasn't around much longer in the WWE after mania. I think his health was ok, his wanting to deal with Andre's shit was all run out though.
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Cranjis McBasketball
Crow T. Robot
Knew what the hell that thing was supposed to be
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Post by Cranjis McBasketball on Mar 28, 2023 23:29:47 GMT -5
Mankind went from WWF champion to having a match halfway through the show to see who will referee the main event title match at Wrestlmania XV. That was HBK's doing. He convinced Vince that a Mania main event has always been and always should be a one on one match, since the original plan was Rock vs. Austin vs. Foley. HBK had no such problems at Mania 20 when he was, for no reason at all, inserted into the main event.
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Post by clc on Mar 29, 2023 10:56:56 GMT -5
Wrestlemania 35. Asuka was Smackdown Woman's champion. She made Becky tap at the Royal Rumble. Defended the title at Fastlane. Loses the belt to Charlotte on a random Smackdown match less than 2 weeks before Wrestlemania. She got demoted to just another body in the Women's Rumble match on the pre-show.
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Post by XaviersSS2015hair on Mar 29, 2023 10:57:15 GMT -5
Mankind went from WWF champion to having a match halfway through the show to see who will referee the main event title match at Wrestlmania XV. That was HBK's doing. He convinced Vince that a Mania main event has always been and always should be a one on one match, since the original plan was Rock vs. Austin vs. Foley. HBK had no such problems at Mania 20 when he was, for no reason at all, inserted into the main event. And just one short year later the main event would feature not 3, but 4 people. Lol
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Post by Citizen Snips on Mar 29, 2023 11:21:20 GMT -5
That was HBK's doing. He convinced Vince that a Mania main event has always been and always should be a one on one match, since the original plan was Rock vs. Austin vs. Foley. HBK had no such problems at Mania 20 when he was, for no reason at all, inserted into the main event. And just one short year later the main event would feature not 3, but 4 people. Lol Also overlooking the fact that the very first Mania main event was a tag team match.
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Post by Jindrak Mark on Mar 29, 2023 11:52:09 GMT -5
Randy Savage being the runner-up in the 93 Royal Rumble and before that in major matches at the previous Survivor Series, Summerslam and Wrestlemania only to be left off the Mania 9 card and doing commentary.
2 years later another Rumble runner-up British Bulldog went the distance and looked like he had the match won which you'd think would result in a decent push afterwards but he had a nothing match beating a jobber team at Mania 11.
Vader in early 1998 was still really over and hadn't been fully jobbed out yet. He was in the semi-main event of No Way Out with Kane and it may have been the first competitive Kane match were he didn't basically squash his opponent but even being booked pretty strong Vader then didn't make the Mania card.
Big Show interfered in the main event of No Way Out 2001 for some reason, laying out both Rock and Angle, but it wasn't any kind of main event push as he was in a (fun) Hardcore title match at Mania X7.
Benoit in 2003 had that classic match with Angle at the Rumble then teaming with Brock to beat Team Angle in a handicap match at No Way Out with him getting the winning fall but his Mania match was a forgettable tag title one.
Hardcore Holly got his infamous main event push in early 2004 with a WWE title match at the Rumble and they kept him pretty strong with a win over Rhyno at No Way Out but he wasn't on the Mania XX card. This was I believe the longest Mania ever at the time too and they really tried to cram everyone in somewhere but they had nothing for the guy who was supposed to be a top contender just a month or two earlier.
It was his own fault things got screwed up but Jeff Hardy was getting the push of his life in late 07/early 08 with an IC title win, a WWE title feud then booked super strong in the chamber at No Way Out and was set to win MITB at Mania 24 but he got suspended and was pulled from the card.
Drew McIntyre had a great showing in the world title chamber match in 2011 which was probably his best performance during his first WWE run but it didn't result in any kind of push and he was in the pre-show battle royal at Mania 27.
Luke Harper had a big match with Orton at EC and was involved in a lot of WWE title related stuff with Orton/Bray/Cena/AJ for a bit but then his only role at Mania 33 was the pre-show battle royal.
Dean Ambrose won the main event of the post-Mania PPV in 2019 then wasn't on Mania 35 as his contract was running down.
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