10 Wrestlers Who Quickly Rebounded From WrestleMania Losses

9. Yokozuna – WrestleMania IX

Losing the WWE Title only minutes after you won it would be humiliating enough, but Yokozuna was defeated in mere seconds after an impromptu challenge from Hulk Hogan as WrestleMania IX came to a close, looking like a chump in the process. It was expected that Yokozuna’s career would then take the path of most monster heels to fall to the power of Hulkamania, falling back down the card after having being shown to be nowhere close to in the same league as Hogan. However, that’s not what happened, as Yokozuna would get a re-match against Hogan at the inaugural King of the Ring PPV a couple of months later (back in the day when there wasn’t a Pay Per View every 3-4 weeks). Yokozuna would proceed to not only defeat Hogan and regain the WWE Title, he would do so by crushing Hogan with his very own legdrop finisher. That would be the last appearance of Hogan in WWE for nearly a decade, and Yokozuna would go on to hold the title for the rest of the year, defeating challengers like Lex Luger and The Undertaker along the way.

http://wrestlingrecaps.com/2012/05/25/reliving-a-title-run-7-yokozuna-as-wwf-world-champion-93-94/ Source: wrestlingrecaps.com

8. Steve Austin – WrestleMania 13

Everyone usually forgets that Steve Austin lost his epic match with Bret Hart at WrestleMania 13, passing out while in Hart’s Sharpshooter submission hold. Hart thought that by finally defeating Austin, he would end the long-running feud and be able to return to his goal of regaining the WWE Title that he had lost a year prior. However, while Hart would eventually be successful in his quest, winning what would turn out to be his final WWE Title over that summer, it was Austin who earned the ultimate victory. Austin rode the sympathy from the crowd into becoming the hottest babyface character that pro wrestling had ever seen, and while he was unsuccessful in his first ever one-on-one shot at the WWE Title as The Undertaker’s first title defense after winning it at WrestleMania, Austin would become an unstoppable juggernaut over the ensuing months. By the time WrestleMania XIV rolled around, Austin was the biggest star in the industry, and he carried WWE on his back into a golden age of prosperity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUaenYfauPU Source: YouTube.com

7. The Rock – WrestleMania 2000

So, with Steve Austin down with a serious neck injury, The Rock became the biggest star in the company, gaining momentum as WrestleMania approached, and looked to be the guy to end the McMahon-Helmsley Era for good. Things looked even better for him when Vince McMahon returned, full of righteous fury at his duplicitous daughter, and aligned with The People’s Champion. And then Vince turned on him at WrestleMania, and Triple H became the first heel in WWE history to leave WrestleMania with the WWE Title. Fortunately, this was all just a delaying tactic by WWE, who had postponed the inevitable Triple H-Rock singles match from WrestleMania in favor of the “A McMahon In Every Corner” gimmick. The Rock would get another shot at Backlash, and this time, thanks to some intervention on his behalf by the injured Austin, would end up pinning Triple H and winning the WWE Title. Of course, then he would lose it again at Judgment Day and get it back at King of the Ring (because the Attitude Era was crazy), but the point is, eventually, he did actually bring an end to the McMahon-Helmsley Regime and ended up as champion in the process.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2415221-wwe-classic-of-the-week-the-rock-vs-triple-h-from-backlash-2000 Source: bleacherreport.com

6. John Cena – WrestleMania XXVII

By now we know that nothing stops John Cena, least of all a humiliating loss to The Miz in the main event of WrestleMania. Yes, that really happened, The Rock was involved, it made no sense. We don’t want to get into an argument about whether or not The Miz deserved to be WWE Champion in the first place (he totally did), but by WrestleMania, he was basically a non-factor, and the writing was on the wall for his title reign, and his time in the main event. Cena, because he can overcome anything on a long enough timeline, would recover from this ridiculous loss (technically, he lost twice, first by double countout and then via pinfall) and win the title from The Miz in a Triple Threat Steel Cage match at Extreme Rules barely a month later. After failing to beat Cena in an “I Quit” match (which consisted of Cena taking a ridiculous 2-on-1 beating from Miz and Alex Riley, at one point being handcuffed to the ringpost and hit with kendo sticks, and still winning the match because he never gives up and yadda yadda yadda), Miz disappeared from the top of the card for good, and Cena would hold the WWE Title for several months before losing it to CM Punk in a match nobody probably remembers at the Money in the Bank PPV.

http://www.cagesideseats.com/2014/3/12/5402486/ranking-wrestlemania-main-events-worst-to-best-25-john-cena-vs-the-miz Source: cagesideseats.com

5. Vince McMahon – WrestleMania 23

At WrestleMania 23, Vince McMahon suffered the ultimate indignity. Not only was his hand-picked Superstar, Umaga, defeated by Donald Trump’s champion, Lashley, Vince had his head shaved in the middle of the ring by Trump, Lashley, and Steve Austin. Few men would dare show their face again, but Vince is nothing if not a terrible human being bent on revenge, so he was right back on TV, with a variety of head coverings ranging from dapper fedoras to truly inexplicable do-rags, seeking some way to get back at Lashley for his defeat. And boy, did he come up with one hell of a plan, booking Lashley into a 3-on-1 handicap match against Umaga, Vince, and Shane McMahon for the ECW Championship. Vince would end up getting the pin and, by the rules of the match, becoming ECW Champion as a result, quite a turnaround from being humiliated at WrestleMania. Admittedly, it was a booking decision which didn’t make a lot of sense, but did allow him to basically bury the last remnants of the WWE revival of ECW mattering even a little bit (Lashley would eventually win the belt back, but immediately vacated it when he was drafted to Raw).

http://www.thesportster.com/wrestling/top-15-times-wwe-disgraced-a-championship/?view=all Source: thesportster.com

4. Randy Orton – WrestleMania 25

Hey, remember when Randy Orton was basically demolishing Triple H’s family, including his father-in-law, brother-in-law, and wife? And how he got doctors to declare him not responsible for his heinous actions due to a very real medical condition (Orton didn’t actually have it, but Intermittent Explosive Disorder actually exists)? Well, if you remember that, you’ll also remember that a vengeful Triple H soundly defeated Orton in the main event of WrestleMania 25, in a bad match where Triple H would have lost the WWE Title had he been disqualified or gotten counted out. With the Orton problem now dealt with, Triple H would go on to a long and prosperous title reign where actually, we’re just kidding, Randy Orton got another match with Triple H at the very next Pay Per View and won the title, then put Triple H out of action for several months with an injury. So, yeah, the bad guy ended up getting everything he ever wanted a month after the allegedly virtuous babyface put him down on the biggest possible stage. And people wonder why WWE gets accused of not being able to tell good stories.

http://www.cagesideseats.com/2014/3/14/5421572/ranking-wrestlemania-main-events-worst-to-best-23-randy-orton-vs-triple-h Source: cagesideseats.com

3. Hulk Hogan – WrestleMania X-8

Another match where people often forget who actually won, the classic bout between The Rock and Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania ended with Hogan losing cleanly to the People’s Elbow, while the live crowd’s reactions turned him from the despised leader of the New World Order back into the founder of Hulkamania. Following the unanticipated fan support for Hogan’s return to WWE, Vince McMahon decided to strike while the iron was hot, and instantly awarded Hogan a shot at Triple H’s newly-won Undisputed Title. Then, somehow, Hogan managed to defeat Triple H and win a WWE title for the first time since 1993. Unfortunately, fan reaction quickly cooled when it became apparent that Hogan was years past his physical prime and simply couldn’t keep up with WWE’s younger Superstars anymore. However, it’s hard to fault WWE for thinking they could ride a Hogan nostalgia wave to some easy ratings points and PPV buys, based on how much crowds initially seemed to absolutely love having Hogan back in WWE.

http://www.thesportster.com/wrestling/top-15-oldest-wrestlers-to-win-the-world-title/?view=all Source: thesportster.com

2. Bret Hart – WrestleMania X

Sometimes, wrestlers haven’t even waited until WrestleMania ends to find a way to make up for a huge loss earlier in the evening. In the case of Bret Hart, he went into his match against his brother, Owen Hart, knowing that even if the worst happened and he failed to defeat Owen, he would still have a shot at the WWE Title in the main event. The fight with Owen was really just an exhibition match designed to ensure that both Hart and whomever won between Lex Luger and Yokozuna would both wrestle the same number of times on the show. But the match was personal, extremely so, and Bret ended up waging a lengthy war against his brother, which ended when a single mistake gave the surprising win to Owen. However, Hart rallied later in the night, despite having already competed in a grueling battle with Owen and facing the much larger Yokozuna in his second match of the show, defeating the mammoth wrestler and emerging victorious as the new WWE Champion.

http://www.wrestlingforum.com/wwe-ppv/1161194-wwe-com-30-superstars-30-biggest-wrestlemania-moments-ever.html Source: wrestlingforum.com

1. Seth Rollins – Wrestlemania 31

Speaking of wrestlers who didn’t wait long to bounce back from a WrestleMania loss, Seth Rollins has to take the cake for rebounding in the most dramatic fashion possible. In the second match of the show, Rollins entered a match with long-running nemesis Randy Orton, who was looking for revenge against Rollins for stabbing him in the back and being a major factor in Orton’s removal from The Authority. In a surprisingly good match, Orton ultimately got the upper hand on Rollins, finishing things with one of the most spectacular RKO finishers ever delivered. Rollins would suffer greatly during his match with Orton, but he would end the night by getting the last laugh. During the main event, a match between Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, Rollins saw an opportunity and pounced, running in during the match to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase, taking advantaged of two weakened foes to steal away a victory and the WWE World Heavyweight title. It was one of the most shocking moments in WrestleMania history, and the best example possible of how losing at WrestleMania can lead to much bigger things, sometimes sooner than anyone could believe.

http://www.pwpnation.com/seth-rollins-wwe-2015-2/ Source: pwpnation.com