Posted in: Doctor's Orders
Doctor's Orders: The Road to WrestleMania Countdown (#71 - #85)
By The Doc
Feb 9, 2015 - 12:36:19 PM



Welcome back to the Road to WrestleMania 31. Hundreds of men and women have performed on the grandest stage over the course of its rich history. For the next few months, we will celebrate them all…from worst to best. Anyone who has ever had the honor of competing on a Mania card has joined an elite group of pro wrestlers. I salute them all. Now that we're into the Top 100, the criteria becomes more specific. Great performances, headlining positions, the fondness with which a wrestler is held in the memories of fans across the world, victories in major bouts with high stakes, and the like jump to the top of the ranking hierarchy. Number of appearances takes a backseat to quality of appearances in a more pronounced manner. And it's not just about matches; it's about the prominence of role. Enjoy the Countdown!


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Snowman is a genius



QUESTION OF THE DAY (22): What match do you feel is the most overrated in WrestleMania lore?


85. Vickie Guerrero
84. Jerry “The King” Lawler
84. Mr. Kennedy
82. “Bad Ass” Billy Gunn
81. Tito Santana
80. Shelton Benjamin
79. “Sensational” Sherri Martel
78. Demolition
77. Ron “Farooq” Simmons
76. Rob Van Dam
75. Chyna
74. “The British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith
73. Big John Studd
72. Brutus Beefcake
71. Mark Henry


Day 22: We Can Drive it Home…With One HeadLine


77. Ron “Farooq” Simmons



For the bulk of his WrestleMania career, Ron Simmons was an Acolyte. He and JBL’s “APA” was like the Powers of Pain equivalent in the second golden age of tag team wrestling, which meant they were relevant, but not overly so. So, most of Farooq’s Mania matches were undercard bouts and he only won once (a six-man tag at Mania 17) in numerous tries. The APA was, basically, a side show, rarely in the forefront and mostly in the background. In fact, with the exception of one match, Farooq’s biggest night at Mania came long after he had retired when he was enshrined in the WWE Hall of Fame in 2012. Yet, that one exception is the reason he’s in this position. His wrestling characterization of the Black Panther Party, the Nation of Domination, created quite a stir in 1996 and 1997 and, though it most famously was used as the vehicle to further The Rock’s career, Farooq was its militant leader for its most important Mania appearance. At WrestleMania 13, Farooq’s N.O.D. did battle with their chief original rival, Ahmed Johnson, flanked by the Legion of Doom. The Chicago Street Fight was the third biggest match on the card, which carries historical weight no matter the depth of the roster at the time.

76. Rob Van Dam



Rob Van Dam could have used a standout mid-card match on his WrestleMania resume. When you consider some of the matches that he had during the early part of his WWE career and then compare it to what he did at “The Show of Shows,” it’s hard not to wonder. The best match that he produced was his debut for the Intercontinental Championship against William Regal. It was far less than ten-minutes long and, though it maximized its time, it hardly compares to the work he did at other, lesser events. Many might counter that his best work was in the second Money in the Bank Ladder match, but splitting the credit for the bout’s success with five other people points me back in the “Vs. Regal” direction. Unquestionably, winning Money in the Bank is the reason why he’s this high (no pun intended) up the list, though. That was one of the top accomplishments of his entire career, considering the stature of that briefcase in the modern WWE lexicon. He really didn’t do much else, frankly. He should have been in a Tag Team title match at XIX, but they cut it last minute. He was in one of those lousy Fatal Fourway Tag titles matches a year later and then there was the ECW Originals thing at Mania 23. RVD’s Mania reputation was built on winning the IC title and MITB.

75. Chyna



Degeneration X made a lot of stars. Hopefully, WWE Network is helping those of you who didn’t live the Attitude Era to gain a better sense of just how big a star DX made out of Chyna. Damn, was that girl a force to be reckoned with in those days. To hear HBK and HHH tell the story of how they brought her in is fascinating. They just wanted to do something different. She was different. Nobody had ever had a manager quite like her. Wrestling history has proven that people latch onto something unique, so it didn’t take long for Chyna to become one of the biggest stars of the era. At Mania, she helped a young Triple H win his war with Goldust and later helped him, as a member of DX, beat Owen Hart while antagonizing Sgt. Slaughter. Then, she helped him turn on DX in a massively underrated night-long story at Mania XV, during which she actually faux-turned on the Corporation to set-up the DX Army. So, before she ever stepped into the ring, she was very accomplished for her exploits outside of it. She competed at both Mania 2000 and Mania 17, winning the Women’s Championship from Ivory at the latter in as well-hyped a Women’s title feud as you’d ever see.

74. “The British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith



There is a good reason why you’re seeing so many prominent tag team wrestlers from the 1980s show up on the list lately. It was a substantial piece of the puzzle for the overall success of the WWE product during Hulkamania. The separation between the top of the card and the top tag team was still substantial, but the entire roster was at such an elevated level as compared to what we see today. There’s a wide chasm between where a duo like the Usos would rate against the British Bulldogs, even though their place in the hierarchy is relatively similar from era to era. Davey Boy was the breakout singles star from the team that famously won the Tag Team Championships in dramatic, critically acclaimed fashion at WrestleMania 2. His singles success never translated to the grand stage, though. So, the bulk of Smith’s contributions to Mania were as the focal point of the tag division, first with the great Dynamite Kid and later with Owen Hart. Both teams were marvelous, though the Bulldogs were iconic. All three are wrestling tragedies, sadly, but for a moment let’s remember Davey Boy as the biggest European wrestling star of all-time outside of Andre the Giant. The highlight of his Mania career was the main-event of the Chicago portion of Mania 2, which remains one of the greatest tag team matches in WWE history.

73. Big John Studd



Not a single Mania in history has been a one match show. It would not have been a “Super Bowl of professional wrestling” had that been the case. Sure, some cards have been more dependent on a single match’s success, but there has always been diversity. Perhaps not a card full of main-events; definitely an event full of relevant matches. At the first Mania, most of the credit for success rightfully went to the participants in the heavily promoted tag team match featuring Hogan, Piper, etc., but do not underestimate the contributions of Andre the Giant and his rather large rival, “Big” John Studd, himself a Hall of Famer. Studd and Andre’s “Body Slam Challenge” was not the sort of spectacle that holds up particularly well against the test of time, but back then it was an attraction worth seeing. The incomparable Bobby Heenan certainly helped the situation, as his antics were always entertaining, but Studd was a mammoth that did his job in creating doubt that the beloved Giant would pull off the victory. Studd would go onto be a standout performer in the heavily advertised Battle Royal at Mania 2, famously eliminating and then being eliminated by NFL star, William Perry. It was those two accomplishments that earned him such a high position, as his only other appearance was as a special ref for Andre’s match with Jake Roberts in 1989 (right before which he had won the ’89 Royal Rumble).

72. Brutus Beefcake



In a land of giants, would it be fair to call Brutus Beefcake the “X-Pac” of the era that preceded the Monday Night Wars? He has essentially been ignored throughout the course of the last 15 years, relegated to a status reserved for Sean Waltman as a talent that road the coattails of his friends, particularly the biggest star in wrestling history, Hulk Hogan. Is that fair, though? Just as with Pac, Beefcake did have a very accomplished career without help from his pals. The criticism probably applies more in WCW than it does in WWE, where Beefcake was a successful Tag Team Champion and one quarter of the most critically acclaimed, non-gimmicked tag team match in WrestleMania history – Dream Team vs. Bulldogs at Mania 2. He then had a solid run as a singles wrestler for many years using “The Barber” persona. He wrestled for the IC title at Mania IV, he grappled with Ted Dibiase at Mania V, and he was the first man to make Mr. Perfect’s win/loss record imperfect. On top of all of that, he teamed with Hogan in one of the top matches at Mania IX – arguably THE top match given Hulk’s status. So, perhaps it is time that we stop perpetuating the false thought process that Beefcake was a joke. He wasn’t. Well, I mean, he was a wrestling hair stylist, of sorts. Eh, bear with me…

71. Mark Henry



If you’d have asked me to write this list after the first half of Henry’s career, it would have been many weeks ago that we’d seen his name pop up. Alas, he is one of the rare superstars to have been far more accomplished in the second half of his WWE tenure, making his first several years pale in comparison. I watched his first WWE match. It stunk. I watched for years as he continued to stink, no matter the gimmick (including the one where he promoted his “stank”). Though I will always remember him injuring Dave Batista and costing me the chance to see Kurt Angle vs. Undertaker at Mania 22 in Chicago, I will give credit to the guy for turning his career around at right about that same time. His match with Taker at Mania far exceeded expectations and served as a bit of a turning point. I’m not sure if it took him several years to change the general perception of his talents or it simply took him another few years to build on what he started in 2006, but Henry rounded into a more than solid big man in the last half decade, peaking in 2011 but missing the chance to capitalize on it for Mania. That has largely been the case for much of his career – missing Manias. He either wasn’t good enough or wasn’t healthy enough. Yet, what he has done – particularly being one of the Streak defeats during the run where the Streak was a defacto Mania headliner – has been impressive.


Day 21: Ladders, Managers, Announcers, Briefcases, and Dumpsters


85. Vickie Guerrero



Though she only wrestled one match – a multi-woman tag match at WrestleMania XXVI in which she earned the pin – Vickie Guerrero made her presence felt on multiple occasions at WrestleMania in various capacities. Most notably, she was a focal point in two of Edge’s four World Championship storylines. It was her run as Smackdown General Manager that the Rated R Superstar exploited to regain the title leading to his WrestleMania XXIV clash with Undertaker. God, that was hilarious looking back on it. A year later, she had an affair with Big Show, which John Cena revealed to the World in a convoluted story that gave some backing to the rumor that Cena was originally supposed to wrestle Hulk Hogan (nixed due to physical issues). She also made an appearance back at WrestleMania 22, standing in for her departed husband, Eddie, when he was acknowledged on stage as a 2006 Hall of Fame inductee. Up until her retirement after last year’s WrestleMania, she had appeared in all but two Manias since 2006, with her two most prominent roles eclipsing her female (and most of her male) peers who actually performed.

84. Jerry “The King” Lawler



He barely qualifies for the Countdown thanks to one of the worst WrestleMania matches of all-time with Michael Cole, but his presence at the “Show of Shows” has been consistent and pronounced for the bulk of its history. He added color commentary for the first time at WrestleMania X, really making his presence felt in support of Owen Hart in a match against mutual rival, Bret Hart. Lawler was always fantastic when it came to antagonizing the Hitman and advocating his enemies. His role shifted in the Attitude Era when he slowly began shifting away from being the heel commentator to being more a voice of the fan, echoing the excitement of much of the male fans, particularly as it pertained to the women. His youthful exuberance was an apt representation of the target audience. Since the late 90s, he has been a consummate babyface, providing silly jokes and attempting to find the right balance between a serious nature and his comedic timing, but he’s been the most enduring voice in the history of WrestleMania, to date.

83. Mr. Kennedy



Throughout the course of this project, I would flip through my pages of wrestlers listed and find my eyes set on Kennedy. “OK, now is the time to rank him,” I’d say to myself. Then, I’d remember that he won the most stacked Money in the Bank Ladder match of all-time – and the only MITB match to, by my estimation, be one of the top 4 matches on a Mania card - and change my mind. Well, I cannot wait any longer. That lone accomplishment on the grand stage was a big one, barely enough to override the fact that he never actually cashed in the opportunity, that his only other contribution to Mania was another Ladder match appearance, and the general fact that he turned out to be a massive disappointment once he left the mid-card. So, here he lands. Not bad for a guy who got over by saying his name really loud. Hey, all kidding aside, I was a Kennedy fan. I was reviewing Velocity for LOP in the summer of 2005 when he made his debut and was very impressed with his gimmick and his finisher. I advocated for him to get a shot at glory before most and was stung by his lack of success. The picture of me and him, taken by LOP’s PEN15 at Mania 22, is in my man cave.

82. “Bad Ass” Billy Gunn



Billy Gunn got pushed a couple of spots ahead of Road Dogg for his work pre-Dogg as a Tag Team Champion with Bart Gunn. When the Smoking Gunns made their debut, he instantly stood out as a hyper athletic talent. As a kid, the USWA had a southern babyface named Billy Joe Travis. Gunn reminded me of him. He hit it big as the Bad Ass member of the New Age Outlaws / Degeneration X. Though not overly charismatic, his gifts were perfectly utilized and he got over like rover. LOP’s top new columnist, Maverick, said something a while back that I completely agree with: WWE gave up on Gunn’s singles push in 1999 way too soon. While a young fan during the Attitude Era, I always thought Gunn was destined for more than he achieved. I was there when he won the King of the Ring tournament in 1999 and was surprised that his headlining status was merely a one-off. His Mania career largely mirrors Road Dogg’s and, technically, James had more appearances, but Gunn was just a little bit ahead of his partner in my book.

81. Tito Santana



Tito Santana holds the distinction of having wrestled and won the very first match in WrestleMania history. For that alone, he would be historically significant. However, he was also a staple of the early WrestleMania Era. He was an Intercontinental Championship holder and a frequent challenger. He was a Tag Team Champion on multiple occasions and never too far from contention. In fact, he and Hulk Hogan are the only two wrestlers to have been featured on each of the first eight WrestleMania cards, so though his record was paltry and he never had a match on the marquee, he was – through 1992 – as consistent a grand stage presence as anyone. Probably his biggest matches on the grand stage were as part of the tag team, Strike Force, with Rick Martel. They unsuccessfully defended the Tag Team titles against Demolition at Mania IV, but – like Hogan and Randy Savage – continued a storyline begun in Atlantic City the following year at the same venue for Mania V. Martel grew jealous of Santana while nursing a neck injury inflicted by Ax and Smash. That attitude reached the boiling point against the Brain Busters in 1989, prompting Martel to abandon Tito. Santana never really had a bad match.

80. Shelton Benjamin



I’ve been a wrestling fan for three decades. Shelton Benjamin is the most athletic pro wrestler that I’ve ever seen. I absolutely loved watching that guy during his near decade-long WWE career, during which he frequently shined on the WrestleMania stage in Money in the Bank Ladder matches. Much like Tito, Shelton maintained a consistent presence for a number of years, missing out on just one Mania from XIX to XXVI, but his performances were in higher profile situations. Before Money in the Bank, Shelton was a tag team specialist defending the championships in his debut and following up with an attempt regain them, but it was the new take on the Ladder match concept that truly made him a star. Only his Raw match with Shawn Michaels in 2005 joins the conversation for Shelton’s most significant contributions to the squared circle. Edge may have invented the “Mr. Money in the Bank” story arc, but Benjamin was the guy that popularized what the in-ring component of the match looked like. He flew through the air with the greatest of ease and set the tone for a gimmick that now has its own PPV. There will only ever be imitators in MITB; Shelton was the innovator.

79. “Sensational” Sherri Martel



The “Sensational” Sherri was an accomplished grappler and a former Women’s Champion, but it was her role as a manager that made her iconic. As much credit as Bobby Heenan gets for being, essentially, the blueprint for how to manage in WWE, a close to equal amount of it should go to Sherri. Bold as the following statement may be, I personally have grander memories of Martel managing “Macho King” and a young “Boy Toy” than I do of the Brain’s managerial exploits. Sherri was utterly phenomenal from 1990-1992. At WrestleMania, she shined as bright as any manager or valet ever has, particularly at Mania VII when Savage’s career was on the line against Ultimate Warrior. She was as vile and dastardly a villain as the WWE had ever seen. Her deplorable actions against the Warrior (and, later, Elizabeth) was the stuff of antagonistic legend. Martel’s turn as the Heartbreak Kid’s cougar sidekick lover was phenomenal if for no other reason than how different it was than her “Queen” role. Sherri had range. She qualified because of her participation in a mixed tag match against Dusty Rhodes and Sapphire and I’m glad that she did. This list wouldn’t have felt complete without her. RIP.

78. Demolition



There have been two golden ages of tag team wrestling in WWE and you would be hard-pressed to make a convincing argument against Demolition being the most successful of the first. I say “convincing” because there is a case for numerous duos from the 1980s. Often, Demolition gets left out of the conversation. The longest reigning champions who dominated the division from 1988-1990, when the cycle usually lasted just a year for most of their peers, and they get frequently passed over in favor of the Bulldogs, the Hart Foundation, or the Rockers? I don’t think so. Not in my book. Ax and Smash (and Crush) won three straight Tag Team Championship matches at WrestleMania, defeating Strike Force to start their record-long reign at IV, successfully defending against the Powers of Pain and their former manager, Mr. Fuji, at V, and regaining the titles from Andre the Giant and Haku at VI. No other team in WWE history can duplicate that run of victories on the grand stage. That their matches were bordering on headliner status also says something about them. They were big stars. We may live in a wrestling world that best appreciates the critical success stories, but let us not forget about the kayfabe dominance of Demolition.