wrestling / Columns

The Magnificent Seven: The Top 7 WrestleMania Performers With Only One Loss

March 27, 2017 | Posted by Mike Chin
The Undertaker WWE Image Credit: WWE

For years, The Undertaker was celebrated like no other WWE star on account of his undefeated streak at WrestleMania. The luster of that particular accomplishment was marred, of course, when The Dead Man lost to Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 30. But if the years to follow have proven anything it’s that The Undertaker wrestling at WrestleMania still matters. So, while it’s tough to compete with an unblemished record, what about having just one loss to your name?

This countdown ranks performers who have suffered exactly one loss at WrestleMania, and ranks them based on solely on their WrestleMania performances. While it’s tricky, I aimed to strike the balance between quality of in-ring performance and level of kayfabe accomplishment so that considerations like the magnitude of matches could play a factor. Only main card performances were in consideration—both for ranking purposes and for determining eligibility (so, for example, losing on the pre-show does not count toward someone’s ‘Mania losses for the purposes of this article). I also, more arbitrarily, elected to count only performers who have had three or more WrestleMania matches. Three provided a somewhat more level playing field to compare guys, as opposed to figuring whether or how to rank someone like Sting who had just one match to go off of.

#7. Lex Luger

Lex Luger’s three WrestleMania outings ran the gamut. His first time out, at WrestleMania 9, he was an upper card heel who got the better of Mr. Perfect with a dubious pin fall (the ref didn’t see Perfect’s feet were on the ropes). The second year, he lost to Yokozuna via a spurious debut when guest referee Mr. Perfect (returned from an extended absence) seemed to hold a grudge from the year before. Finally, Luger had his one decisive outing the next year, when he and Davey Boy Smith cleanly defeated The Blu Brothers.

While Luger was nevera virtuouso in the ring, his three matches did nicely encapsulate his high profile WWF run, going from rising heel to main event face to the tag ranks in what we can only assume the WWF intended as the final act of his career (though his run with the company ended even sooner than expected when he defected to WCW a half year later).

#6. Shane McMahon

When Shane McMahon returned to WWE last year, the surprise was electric, and he was immediately plugged in to challenge The Undertaker at WrestleMania. One plot point WWE may have under-utilized at the time: while The Dead Man had suffered his first WrestleMania loss two years earlier, McMahon was actually going into this match undefeated at the show of shows.

Mind you, Shane-O-Mac’s undefeated status was far less formidable than The Undertaker’s had been. His “streak” consisted of just two matches. The first a tainted win over X-Pac, gifted to him by Triple H as he turned heel. The next, while more noteworthy, came over one of WrestleManias biggest kayfabe losers, Vince McMahon (who has never won at ‘Mania).

Shane earns this spot for playing his part gamely, and putting his body on the line purely for the entertainment of the fans, when he was never under any obligation to. His war with his father was a sports entertainment-heavy classic, masterfully overbooked and full of plunder. His WrestleMania 32 leap from the top of Hell in a Cell, while arguably gratuitous, nonetheless created a big-bump spectacle the likes of which the Cell hadn’t reall seen since the Attitude Era.

#5. Roman Reigns

Reigns has only had four matches at WrestleMania. While the first two were six-man tag efforts, the latter two were world title main events that closed down shows.

While six-plus competitor tag matches at ‘Mania tend to be forgettable affairs, designed to wedge guys onto the card, things were different for Reigns as part of The Shield. The three-man unit got a mini-showcase opposite The Big Show, Randy Orton, and Sheamus at WrestleMania 29, opening the show. The match wasn’t an all-time classic by the trio’s standards, but was a fair enough encapsulation of the fluid team work that made them so good. The next year, they got less time to work with, but were able to look all the more dominant, annihilating Kane and The New Age Outlaws in short order, at the forefront of the group’s face turn.

And then came WrestleMania 31. I’m in the camp that thought Reigns was vaulted into the main event too soon. While hindsight tells us, with his head issues, it was better that Daniel Bryan not challenge Brock Lesnar, that was the scenario I (and plenty of other fans) wanted at the time. Just the same, Reigns’s showing in this match did a lot for him in establishing as a guy who both in kayfabe and reality could stand up to Brock Lesnar’s brutality and put on a heck of a match, before Seth Rollins entered the proceedings and gave us all a satisfying ending—not the heel monster continuing to dominate, nor Reigns pulling off the impossible victory, but a very heelish, yet very satisfying third option (which handed Reigns his only WrestleMania loss to date).

On paper, you’d think WrestleMania 32 would be Reigns’s best night at ‘Mania of all—winning the main event, not to mention the world title, not to mention beating the legendary Triple H clean. The match was a bit of a snooze though, at the end of a bloated card. While the finish was a career moment for Reigns, the match left a bad enough taste in my mouth to leave Reigns here in the number four spot.

#4. Razor Ramon

When you think about the WrestleMania legacy of Razor Ramon, most of it comes down to one match—WrestleMania 10, versus Shawn Michaels, in the WWF’s first live broadcast, and first true canon Ladder Match (Bret Hart had worked the gimmick with Michaels on at least one house show, and the matche was released on home video but it generally wasn’t recognized in storylines, at least at the time). While I’m in the camp that doesn’t feel the match holds up that well twenty-three years later, it was revolutionary for its time as a hardcore, high-flying spectacle that was wildly influential on WWE programming moving forward.

In addition to that one brilliant performance, Ramon had fair enough efforts opposite Bob Backlund the year before and Jeff Jarrett the year after. He returned to WrestleMania after the Monday Night War for one last go-round, this time going up against Stone Cold Steve Austin. It was a bit of an awkward match up because, as big of a star as Scott Hall was, he was no Austin, and predictably enough the Texas Rattlesnake Stunned him to score the victory, even overcoming outside interference from Kevin Nash. The net effect was The Outsiders looking second rate next to Austin, and contributing to the nWo having its legs cut out from under it before the group could really get any momentum in WWE.

#3. Seth Rollins

I can understand arguments that Rollins should rate more evenly with Roman Reigns on a countdown like this, given that the two were largely equal contributors in their shared first two ‘Mania six-man tags, and Reigns has stronger main event credentials at The Showcase of the Immortals.

I’m giving the nod to Rollins here, though, largely for his work at WrestleMania 31. He absorbed his lone WrestleMania loss early in the card, in the match of the night with Randy Orton, featuring a spectacular pop-up RKO finisher out of a Curb Stomp attempt. From there, while Rollins’s participation in the main event was limited to a Money in the Bank run-in, he played his part to a tee, and provided one of the all-time most electric moments in WrestleMania history when he stole the world title out of nowhere, pinning Reigns.

#2. The Ultimate Warrior

Though he’s not known for great in-ring performances, The Ultimate Warrior had his two very best showings at WrestleMania in back-to-back years. First, he defeated Hulk Hogan in a masterfully booked face versus face main event. The next year, he competed in one of the most dramatically satisfying matches in WrestleMania history, defeating Randy Savage in a match for which the loser was forced into retirement. While you can argue that the booking and Warrior’s dance partners deserve at least as much credit as the man himself, he held up his end of the bargain on those two nights, and from a kayfabe perspective, they were nights that helped elevate him to legendary status.

Add to those two big nights victories over Hercules and Triple H, plus a loss to Rick Rude in a decent Intercontinental Championship bout, and you have a WrestleMania record that compares well to just about anyone’s.

#1. The Undertaker

If you were expecting anyone else in the number one spot—well, I don’t know what to tell you. When you talk about who is the all-time greatest WrestleMania performer, I’d argue only Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker really belong in the conversation (for the record, with Randy Savage, Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, and John Cena behind them). Narrowing the criteria to guys with just one WrestleMania loss, The Undertaker is the only guy worthy of consideration.

No, The Dead Man’s early WrestleMania matches, nor his most recent bouts with Bray Wyatt and Shane McMahon were anything to write home about. But his two matches with Shawn Michaels belong in any discussion of top twenty WrestleMania matches, period; his trilogy with Triple H, was rock solid; and his stand-alone matches opposite Randy Orton, Kane (the first time) Edge, CM Punk, and Ric Flair were each highly entertaining on their own merits. Add onto that a main event win over Sid, and a cavalcade of other upper mid-card victories and no one comes close to matching The Phenom. Ironically, his lone WrestleMania loss was also one of his least impressive matches at the show—a fact obscured by the sheer shock value of the finish. Of course, the fact that The Undertaker saw through the latter stages of that match after enduring a concussion means it was less a bad performance than a testament to the man’s toughness and experience that he was able to carry on at all, let alone against Brock Lesnar’s bruising offense.

In WrestleMania lore, there’s only one Undertaker, and he’s easily my top pick for best WrestleMania performer with only one ‘Mania loss to his name.

Who would you add to the list and how would you order them? Let us know what you think in the comments.

Read more from Mike Chin at his website and follow him on Twitter @miketchin.