Worst in the World: The Miss WrestleMania Battle Royal-WrestleMania 25

 Special thanks to Connor Ewens for suggesting this match. If you'd like to see a match covered on the Worst in the World, leave a comment down below.

A little over two months ago at WrestleMania 37, we saw four different women's matches take place. All four matches had been built up on TV, and all four of them had some kind of stakes attached to them, whether that be a championship or a title shot. This might seem like an odd thing to praise. After all, a match with a story, stakes, and build is the bare minimum for wrestling in general, let alone matches at WrestleMania. However, when it comes to the women's division in WWE, that hasn't always been the case. And not even just in the Attitude Era, I'm talking about the early 2000s up until about 2016.

I've ragged on the booking of women's wrestling during the Attitude Era (both in the WWF and WCW) more than a few times here, but I've rarely talked about the period after that and how, as a whole, it's not much better than the Attitude Era. Nowhere is this better shown than how women were booked for WrestleMania. There are some occasions where a women's title match at WrestleMania had an actual build (Trish Stratus vs Mickie James at WrestleMania 21), but those are the exceptions. For a while, it seemed like the only requirement for getting a title shot at the Showcase of the Immortals was whether or not you were on the cover of Playboy. Sometimes they wouldn't even bother with a title match and just have a Playboy-themed multi-woman match.

And then came the Divas Championship, a title that looks more like an accessory for a wrestling-themed Barbie than a championship belt. At WrestleMania XXX, AJ Lee defended the Divas Championship. It was the first and only time the title was defended at WrestleMania. It had existed through seven WrestleManias. The top prize for women in the company at the time couldn't even get defended on the biggest show of the year. Instead, we'd get a match where just about all the women on the roster are thrown together in one 10-man tag. Or, in the case of WrestleMania 25, a battle royal. It's time to talk about the Miss WrestleMania Battle Royal.

On paper, a battle royal celebrating 25 years of women's wrestling sounds fine. However, if you look past that, the problem immediately arises. For starters, "Miss WrestleMania." It's a meaningless title. You don't get anything for winning it outside of a tiara and a sash. No title shot or anything like that. Hell, both the women's champions at the time (both the Women's & Divas Championships were active) are in this match. Second, it's the Divas era of women's wrestling, which means that the in-ring work takes a backseat. You'd be hard-pressed to find a Divas match that goes over five minutes. And honestly, the worst part about all of this is that there was really good women's wrestling in 2009. Madison Eagles, Sara Del Ray, and Cheerleader Melissa were all active in the US, Candice LeRae was just getting her start, and Asuka (then Kana) and Meiko Satamura were tearing it up in Japan. But all those great wrestlers were overshadowed in the mainstream by the fact that the largest wrestling promotion in the world was still doing stuff like...this.

Before the match, we get a performance from Kid Rock. And by "performance" I mean A WHOLE GOD DAMN SET. Kid Rock proceeds to perform for EIGHT AND A HALF MINUTES. The match hasn't even started and I already want to pull my hair out. Normally I don't skip things, even if their entrances or pre-match shenanigans, but I refuse to listen to Kid Rock for eight straight minutes. You can't make me do it. Midway through song #5 (I looked it up, I didn't even listen to any of it and I'm still just as annoyed), the Divas start making their way out from the back. That's right, they don't even get an entrance. They have to awkwardly saunter out and grind all over Kid Rock in the middle of his performance.

Hell, there's a good chunk of competitors who don't even really get an entrance because the production keeps cutting to wide shots. For shame.

So, here are our competitors:

• Alicia Fox
• Beth Phoenix
• The Bella Twins
• Eve Torres
• Gail Kim
• Jackie Gayda
• Jillian Hall
• Joy Giovanni
• Katie Lea Burchill (Winter in TNA)
• Kelly Kelly
• Layla
• Maria
• Divas Champion Maryse
• Women's Champion Melina
• Michelle McCool
• Mickie James
• Molly Holly
• Natalya
• Rosa Mendes
• Sunny
• Tiffany (Taryn Terrell)
• Torrie Wilson
• Victoria
• And last but certainly least...Santina Marella.

Yep, Santino Marella in drag is back to piss on my hopes and dreams. But even if you take out Santina, just look at that line-up. Where are the big names? No Lita, no Ivory, no Jacqueline, no Jazz. Trish Stratus was apparently approached to be in this, but the lack of any actual booking for the match left her wanting nothing to do with it. Molly Holly is cool, obviously, and I guess Torrie Wilson and Sunny are nice to see, even if Sunny was never a wrestler to begin with. Victoria is technically a return, but she'd only left WWE three months before this, so it's barely a return at that. And that's it. They wanted Trish Stratus and ended up with Jackie Gayda and Joy Giovanni. Seriously, find me a person who can remember a single Joy Giovanni match, and you'll have brought me either a liar or someone who knows about profightdb.com. And what did the ones who returned get? Nothing. No special entrances, no announcement by Lillian Garcia or Justin Roberts, they barely even get mentioned by the commentators during the match. Tiffany gets more pomp in her entrance than any of the returning Divas solely because she's the last one out and gets to dance with Kid Rock for as long as she wants.

I don't know if that's a reward or a punishment.

Once Kid Rock finishes, the match starts as soon as Justin Roberts starts running down the rules. Layla gets eliminated before he's even finished. The worst part about that is the only reason I know that it was Layla is because Jim Ross chimes in about 30 seconds after it happened. And hell, at least she got mentioned. I counted two women who get eliminated with zero mention whatsoever early in the match. The first elimination that actually gets acknowledged as it happens is Rosa Mendes, who gets chucked through the middle rope and damn near kills herself in the process.

She literally takes the same bump the Undertaker takes later in the night and the camera barely catches it. 

We get our first mention of Sunny being in the match. Quite the fruitful return, am I right? She is quickly eliminated soon after, and the commentators make zero note of that. Torrie Wilson literally gets dumped out of the ring right in front of the commentators and it takes them a good 20 seconds for anyone to be like "Oh hey, it's Torrie Wilson" while Jerry Lawler pervs over her. Maria gets dumped out by Victoria, which is the second elimination the commentators make note of as soon as it's happened. That's two out of the first six, and that's only counting the ones that even I could see. Gail Kim goes for an actual spot in this match, eliminating Jillian Hall with a hurricanrana, but loses her grip on the top rope and eliminates herself, with Jillian landing on top of her in the process.

Success is not an option and effort is punished in this match.

Beth Phoenix starts to go on a tear, eliminating Eve, Tiffany, Kelly Kelly, Molly Holly, Maryse, and Katie Lea Burchill in quick fashion. Eve & Burchill get zero mention of their eliminations. The commentary team is finally alerted to the presence of Santina Marella as the Bella Twins eliminate Victoria. Poor. They are quickly tossed out by Phoenix as we're down to the final 5; Phoenix, Marella, Melina, Michelle McCool, and Mickie James. The actual Divas square off while Marella waits in the corner. Phoenix & Melina fight in the corner while McCool and James square off, with James hitting a hurricanrana, only to get caught with a boot when she goes to the top rope. McCool goes for a superplex, but James blocks it. The two brawl on the top rope until they tumble to the outside. Meanwhile, Melina dives onto Phoenix off the top rope, but Phoenix regains the upper hand and tries to Glam Slam Melina over the top rope. Melina manages to avoid elimination and hook Phoenix with her legs, only for Santina to shove both women out of the ring for the win.

Candice Michelle presents the tiara and sash as Justin Roberts announces "her" as the winner. Santina celebrates in the ring with a dance as Phoenix is pissed at ringside.

The Verdict

Fucking awful. Not a single redeemable thing about it. Even if you take out the Kid Rock concert that replaced the entrances and the fact that a comedy act in drag won the only women's match at WrestleMania, it's still absolutely terrible. The match is completely unfocused. Multiple women get eliminated with zero acknowledgment from the commentators. Some of them don't even get that luxury, as they get dumped out without the camera even focusing on them. A couple of the returning Divas don't even get their presence mentioned until they're eliminated. Hell, Joy Giovanni doesn't even get mentioned at all. The only reason I know she was in this match is because profightdb.com says so. And even if you ignore all that, there's nothing to talk about. You can count the number of actual spots in the match on one hand. One of them is Rosa Mendes' nasty bump, which was probably an accident, and another was Gail Kim's hurricanrana, which was botched. The only other notable moments happen at the very end, and aren't anything really worth noting. This is an absolute pile of a match, and I'm so glad WWE has moved beyond this piss-poor era of women's wrestling.

Rankings (Best to Worst)

1. Rick Rude vs Jake Roberts-WrestleMania IV
2. Too Much vs Al Snow & Head-King of the Ring 1998
3. Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns-Greatest Royal Rumble
4. Ernest Miller vs Norman Smiley-Fall Brawl 1998
5. Shane McMahon vs Eric Bischoff-SummerSlam 2003
6. The Tag Team Gauntlet-Extreme Rules 2010
7. Randy Orton vs Bray Wyatt-WrestleMania 33
8. Vampiro vs Sting-Great American Bash 2000
9. T&A vs Head Cheese-WrestleMania 2000
10. Triple H vs Sgt. Slaughter-D-Generation X: In Your House
11. Konnan vs One Man Gang-SuperBrawl VI
12. Ultimate Warrior vs Hercules-WrestleMania IV
13. Rick Rude vs Hawk-Clash of the Champions XXV
14. Shelton Benjamin vs Viscera-New Year's Revolution 2006
15. Steve McMichael vs Reggie White-Slamboree 1997
16. Lars Sullivan vs Lucha House Party-Super Showdown 2019
17. Alexa Bliss vs Bayley-Extreme Rules 2017
18. The Tag Team Fatal 4-Way Match-WrestleMania 13
19. Tag Team Battle Royal-WrestleMania XIV
20. The Chamber of Horrors-Halloween Havoc 1991
21. The Natural Disasters vs Money Inc.-WrestleMania VIII
22. Ivan Koloff vs Paul Jones-Clash of the Champions IV
23. ODB, Taylor Wilde, and Roxxi vs The Kongtourage-Genesis 2009
24. Ivory vs Tori-SummerSlam 1999
25. Giant Baba vs Bulldog Bob Brown-WrestleRock
26. The Reverse Battle Royal-Impact! (10/26/2006)
27. Jerry Blackwell vs Boris Zhukov-SuperClash II
28. Nikita Koloff vs Bobby Eaton-Bunkhouse Stampede
29. Alex Wright vs Steve McMichael-Halloween Havoc 1997
30. The Great Khali vs Kane-WrestleMania 23
31. Savio Vega vs Crush vs Faarooq-Ground Zero: In Your House
32. The Shockmaster vs Awesome/King Kong-Starrcade 1993
33. Total Divas vs Other Divas-Survivor Series 2013
34. The Oddities vs Kaientai-SummerSlam 1998
35. Hulk Hogan vs Sid Justice-WrestleMania VIII
36. Paul Ellering vs Teddy Long-Capital Combat
37. Dusty Rhodes vs Big Boss Man-Saturday Night's Main Event (10/31/1989)
38. Konnan vs Scott Hall-Fall Brawl 1998
39. Tyson Tomko vs Stevie Richards-Unforgiven 2004
40. Kane vs The Great Khali-SummerSlam 2009
41. Rick Steiner vs Scott Steiner-Fall Brawl 1998
42. Hollywood Hogan vs The Giant-Hog Wild
43. Hollywood Hogan vs The Giant-Souled Out 1997
44. Dustin Rhodes & King Kong vs Awesome Kong & The Equalizer-Battlebowl
45. Finlay & Little Bastard vs The Boogeyman & Little Boogeyman-No Way Out 2007
46. Jake Roberts vs Andre the Giant-WrestleMania V
47. El Gigante vs Nailz-G1 Climax 1994 (Day 1)
48. Yokozuna vs King Mabel-In Your House 4
49. Dusty Rhodes vs The Honky Tonk Man-SummerSlam 1989
50. Sting & Hawk vs Meng & Kurasawa-Clash of the Champions XXXI
51. Hulk Hogan vs Randy Savage-Uncensored 1998
52. Al Snow vs Big Boss Man-Unforgiven 1999
53. Mickie James vs Ashley-Royal Rumble 2006
54. Antonio Inoki vs The Great Antonio-NJPW Sumo Hall Show (12/8/1977)
55. Christy Hemme vs Big Fat Oily Guy-Against All Odds 2007
56. British Bulldog & Jim Neidhart vs The Dancing Fools-Fall Brawl 1998
57. Stevie Ray vs Konnan-World War 3 1998
58. Vampiro vs The KISS Demon-Bash at the Beach 2000
59. Team WCW vs nWo Wolfpac vs nWo Hollywood-Fall Brawl 1998
60. Vampiro vs Oklahoma-Starrcade 1999
61. Big Swole vs Penelope Ford, Rebel, and Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D.-AEW Dynamite (8/27/2020)
62. Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant-WrestleMania III
63. Jinder Mahal vs Randy Orton-Battleground 2017
64. Van Hammer vs Terrance Taylor-Clash of the Champions XVI
65. Junkyard Dog vs Moondog Spot-Wrestling Classic
66. Chris Jericho vs "Goldberg"-Fall Brawl 1998
67. Roman Reigns vs The Undertaker-WrestleMania 33
68. The Undertaker vs Goldberg-Super ShowDown 2019
69. Hiroshi Wajima vs Tom Magee-All Japan Pro Wrestling 1988
70. Jim Duggan vs Big Boss Man-Royal Rumble 1990
71. Meng vs Jim Duggan-Uncensored 1995
72. Jim Steele vs The Equalizer-SuperBrawl IV
73. The Undertaker vs Giant González-WrestleMania IX
74. Sting vs Tony Palmore-Battle 7
75. D-Generation X vs Brothers of Destruction-Crown Jewel
76. Wendi Richter vs Leilani Kai-WrestleMania
77. Goldberg vs Brock Lesnar-WrestleMania XX
78. Edge vs Triple H vs Vladimir Kozlov-Survivor Series 2008
79. Kevin Sullivan vs Dave Sullivan-SuperBrawl V
80. Steve McMichael vs Brian Adams-Road Wild 1998
81. Scott Hall vs Roddy Piper-SuperBrawl IX
82. Boris Zhukov vs Paul Samson-Beach Brawl
83. Roddy Piper vs Hollywood Hogan-Halloween Havoc 1997
84. Kane vs The Great Khali-Breaking Point
85. Hollywood Hogan & Dennis Rodman vs Diamond Dallas Page & Karl Malone-Bash at the Beach 1998
86. PN News & Bobby Eaton vs Steve Austin & Terrance Taylor-Great American Bash 1991
87. Scott Steiner vs Sid Vicious vs Jeff Jarrett vs Road Warrior Animal-Sin
88. Hollywood Hogan vs Roddy Piper-SuperBrawl 1997
89. Batista vs The Great Khali-SummerSlam 2007
90.  Sable vs Tori-WrestleMania XV
91. Super Invader vs Todd Champion-WrestleWar 1992
92. Brock Lesnar vs Cain Velasquez-Crown Jewel 2019
93. King Kong Bundy & Jim Neidhart vs Yokozuna & Jake Roberts-Heroes of Wrestling
94. Sid Vicious vs The Nightstalker-Clash of the Champions XIII
95. The 8-Divas Tag Match-Survivor Series 1999
96. The Fabulous Freebirds vs The Renegade Warriors-Halloween Havoc 1990
97. The Knockouts Gauntlet-One Night Only: Live! 2016
98. AJ Styles vs Frank Trigg-No Surrender 2008
99. Rick Rude vs Masahiro Chono-Halloween Havoc 1992
100. Mike Awesome vs Vampiro-Halloween Havoc 2000
101. Bray Wyatt vs John Cena-Extreme Rules 2014
102. Brothers of Destruction vs KroniK-Unforgiven 2001
103. Mabel vs The Undertaker-King of the Ring 1995
104. Wendi Richter vs The Fabulous Moolah-The Brawl to End it All
105. David Flair vs Kimberly Page-Mayhem 1999
106. The Truth Commission vs The Disciples of Apocolypse-Survivor Series 1997
107. Daffney vs Miss Hancock-Bash at the Beach 2000
108. The Bushwhacker vs The Fabulous Rougeaus-WrestleMania V
109. Randy Orton vs "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt-WrestleMania 37
110. The Beverly Brothers vs The Bushwhackers-Royal Rumble 1992
111. Teddy Long vs Eric Bischoff-Survivor Series 2005
112. Greg Valentine vs George Steele-Heroes of Wrestling
113. Abdullah the Butcher vs One Man Gang-Heroes of Wrestling
114. Major Gunns vs Miss Hancock-New Blood Rising
115. The Miss WrestleMania Battle Royal-WrestleMania 25
116. Bradshaw & Trish Stratus vs Christopher Nowinski & Jackie Gayda-RAW (7/8/2002)
117. Triple H vs Scott Steiner-Royal Rumble 2003
118. Goldberg vs "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt-Super ShowDown 2020
119. Santina Marella vs Vickie & Chavo Guerrero-Extreme Rules 2009
120. Kevin Nash vs Scott Steiner vs Goldberg-New Blood Rising
121. Hollywood Hogan vs The Warrior-Halloween Havoc 1998
122. Mr. T vs Roddy Piper-WrestleMania 2
123. The Royal Family vs Clowns R' Us-Survivor Series 1994
124. The House of Horrors Match-Payback 2017
125. The Blacktop Bully vs Dustin Rhodes-Uncensored 1995
126. Team Dos Caras vs Team El Canek-Leyendas Mexicanas 2017
127. Pat Patterson vs Gerald Brisco-King of the Ring 2000
128. The Wyatt Swamp Fight-The Horror Show at Extreme Rules
129. The Four Doinks vs Team Bigelow-Survivor Series 1993
130. Sting vs Jeff Hardy-Victory Road 2011
131. Bret Hart vs Mr. McMahon-WrestleMania XVI
132. Oz vs Tim Parker-SuperBrawl
133. Brock Lesnar vs Braun Strowman-Crown Jewel 2018
134. Brock Lesnar vs Ricochet-Super ShowDown 2020
135. The Mighty Maccabee vs The Iron Sheik-Maccabiah Mania II: Shekel Slam
136. Van Hammer vs Doug Somers-Halloween Havoc 1991
137. Ultimate Warrior vs Andre the Giant-Saturday Night's Main Event (11/25/1989)
138. Jeff Jarrett vs Sting-Halloween Havoc 2000
139. The Doomsday Cage Match-Uncensored 1996
140. Kane vs The Undertaker-Judgement Day 1998
141. Rebel vs Shelly Martinez-One Night Only: Knockouts Knockdown
142. Kaitlyn vs Maxine-NXT (10/19/2010)
143. Sabu vs The Sandman-November to Remember 1997
144. Seth Rollins vs "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt-Hell in a Cell 2019
145. Michael Cole vs Jerry Lawler-WrestleMania XXVII
146. The Bushwhackers vs Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff-Heroes of Wrestling
147. James Storm vs Chris Harris-Lockdown 2007
148. John Laurinaitis vs John Cena-Over the Limit 2012
149. Hulk Hogan vs The Giant-Halloween Havoc 1995
150. Ultimate Warrior vs Goldust-In Your House 7
151. Los Villanos vs Los Psycho Circus-Triplemania XXIII
152. Jenna Morasca vs Sharmell-Victory Road 2009

Thanks for reading! Be sure to share if you enjoy and leave any suggestions for matches you'd like to see covered in the Worst in the World in the comments. Next time, I'll go from WWE to WCW and look at what was supposed to be one of the most iconic moments in the company's history, but ended up being politics-induced nonsense. Until then...