The Last 10 WWE Road To WrestleManias, Ranked From Worst To Best
Whenever it comes around to the Royal Rumble season, the “Road To WrestleMania” gets under way, and it brings with it a certain special atmosphere that consumes WWE’s product. Big names make their comebacks, major stories drum up interest, and the intensity of TV just feels bigger and better.
That isn’t always the case though, as certain “Roads” to WrestleMania have been lackluster. The last ten years has seen a differing quality from year to year when it comes to programming. Some builds have seen some great storylines, whilst others have offered up some truly poor content.
10 WrestleMania 29, 2013
The feud between CM Punk and The Undertaker was incredible, but that is where the quality ends for the build to WrestleMania 29. People were tired of the John Cena vs The Rock saga, with the rematch having significantly less buzz too - Cena’s Rumble win was a notably bad and predictable moment.
The push of Jack Swagger as a World Title contender wasn’t well received, and many matches such as Chris Jericho vs Fandango, Team Hell No vs Dolph Ziggler & Big E, and The Shield vs Sheamus, Randy Orton & Big Show all felt thrown together at the last minute. The resulting show was among the worst ever.
9 WrestleMania 31, 2015
It must be noted that WrestleMania 31 exceeded all expectations and is by far one of the best WrestleManias ever, but the reason it exceeded expectations was due to the tragedy that was its build.
Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar played tug-of-war over the WWE Title, Sting and Triple H’s feud had little buzz, the Intercontinental Title multi-man feud consisted of people stealing the title in a comedic manner, and Bray Wyatt was made the carry the load for his match with The Undertaker all by himself. It was an awful build.
8 WrestleMania 36, 2020
The impact of the pandemic led to the spiral of WrestleMania’s build in 2020. Matches had opponents change at last minute, stipulations were changed, and the lack of fans sucked the heat out of several rivalries.
WWE did do their best, but due to some roster members not being available, there were several thrown together matches such as Aleister Black vs Bobby Lashley and Baron Corbin vs Elias which weren’t of a WrestleMania standard.
7 WrestleMania 38, 2022
Kevin Owens built up a feud with Steve Austin by himself, but it did feel awkward considering there was no match announced until the night. Seth Rollins’ lack of a match and mystery opponent was awkward too, as it lacked a lot of logic.
Becky Lynch and Bianca Belair did have a strong story going in, and the Raw Tag Title scene was very hot. For the most part though, WWE’s programming at this time wasn’t great, and things were booked on a week-to-week basis it seemed, rather than in advance.
6 WrestleMania 34, 2018
There were a lot of matches built up ahead of WrestleMania 34, though not all were great. AJ Styles vs Shinsuke Nakamura, Charlotte Flair vs Asuka, and Roman Reigns vs Brock Lesnar had a lot of underwhelming storytelling, despite the names involved.
John Cena calling out The Undertaker was a little peculiar, and storylines involving the likes of Nia Jax and Alexa Bliss weren’t overly compelling. Ronda Rousey’s debut was hyped up strongly, as was Daniel Bryan’s return to the ring.
5 WrestleMania 32, 2016
WWE’s number one feud between Roman Reigns and Triple H wasn’t landing with audiences and The Undertaker vs Shane McMahon match felt very random and weird at times.
The build to Dean Ambrose and Brock Lesnar was unique due to Ambrose getting advice from hardcore legends like Mick Foley and Terry Funk, and their rivalry had a lot of heat. In addition, the women’s triple threat match was booked like a huge deal, with Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, and Sasha Banks getting treated like stars ahead of the show. It was a mixed bag overall.
4 WrestleMania 37, 2021
The anticipation of WWE’s return to a live crowd drove a lot of the excitement during the Road to WrestleMania in 2021. Not everything was perfect, with the Raw Women’s Title scene a mess, Bianca Belair and Sasha Banks having too much comedy with Reggie, and Braun Strowman vs Shane McMahon being a hard-to-watch feud.
The likes of Roman Reigns vs Edge vs Daniel Bryan, Seth Rollins vs Cesaro, and Bad Bunny’s featured match all had simple yet effective storylines, with simple being better for the most part.
3 WrestleMania 33, 2017
There were a lot of big names involved ahead of WrestleMania 33, with Brock Lesnar, Goldberg, John Cena, Triple H, and The Undertaker all involved, so the lead-up to Mania was star-studded. Even though Bray Wyatt vs Randy Orton wasn’t a good match, their feud was built over quite a while with some good intensity. AJ Styles and Shane McMahon had a relatively strong build too.
The Women’s Title feuds were messy, but for the most part the show was built up fairly well.
2 WrestleMania 35
WWE successfully managed to establish three hot babyfaces during the Road to WrestleMania, as Kofi Kingston, Seth Rollins, and Becky Lynch all had huge support in their title pursuits.
Other feuds like Batista vs Triple H and Roman Reigns’ return to the ring were great too. Even the likes of the Andre The Giant Battle Royal had good focus with the bad blood between Colin Jost, Michael Che, and Braun Strowman.
1 WrestleMania 30
Daniel Bryan’s underdog story was the driving force behind the build to WrestleMania 30, with WWE at its hottest for years. Even though Batista’s Royal Rumble win started things in a bad way, it all turned out fine with a stunning build to the WWE World Title match.
Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker had a strong build, as did John Cena vs Bray Wyatt. There wasn’t too much wrong with any of the build-up for this WrestleMania, and it helped to result in a great show.
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