WWE WrestleMania Moments That Will Live in Infamy Forever

WWE is preparing to put on the 40th edition of WrestleMania this weekend in Philadelphia, so many fans are looking back at the first 39 years of this monumental event.

This is far and away the biggest pro wrestling event every year. Fans travel from all over the globe and spend thousands of dollars to attend what is essentially WWE's version of the Super Bowl.

Over the last four decades, hundreds of Superstars have competed at 'Mania, dozens of titles have changed hands and a handful of names have entered legendary status thanks to special WrestleMania moments.

We all remember Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart going over 60 minutes at WrestleMania 12, and who could forget when Brock Lesnar broke The Undertaker's undefeated streak 10 years ago?

The Rock and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin had a trio of famous fights, giants have been slammed, underdogs have overcome the odds, and a child even won a tag team championship with Braun Strowman.

For every great and memorable moment, though, there is also a dud that is hard to forget. It may be something as simple as a match result or a moment that had people scratching their heads in confusion.

Before WWE heads to Philly for WrestleMania 40, let's look at a few of the not-so-great moments from the past 39 years.

Santino Marella Wins Women's Battle Royal

For a long time, women's wrestling was seen as a novelty because WWE and other big promotions never took it seriously. In fact, there have been years at a time when WWE didn't even have an active women's title for women to hold.

The Women's Revolution was kick-started by fans reacting negatively to the company's poor booking and creating an online movement. Many see the arrival of Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair on the main roster as the day things began to turn around, or at least that is WWE's version of the story.

Before that day in 2015, though, WWE was still treating the division as a sideshow, and few moments makes that clearer than Santino Marella winning the Women's Battle Royal at WrestleMania 25 while posing as his own fake twin sister, Santina.

It made a mockery of women's wrestling and was an insult to the intelligence of fans watching at home.

This was designed to be funny, and maybe it was to some people in 2009, but it was one of many moments that sticks out as being in poor taste for multiple reasons.

The Undertaker Hangs Big Boss Man

The Undertaker is easily the Superstar most associated with WrestleMania due to his undefeated streak that spanned more than two decades, but not every match was a banger.

One that stands out for all the wrong reasons is his Hell in a Cell match against Big Boss Man at WrestleMania 15. It was one of many victories for The Deadman, but it was also one of the ones that WWE almost never references.

Just look at WWE's retrospective of the event above. You only get a quick glimpse of this match, and none of it included the worst part.

Not only did the one fall short of expectations, but it also ended with Taker hanging Boss Man from the cage. It was the closest thing we've seen to a staged murder on WWE TV.

Everything about this was underwhelming, and the finish made things even worse. Some fans may have enjoyed this at the time because the Attitude Era was full of nonsense like this, but it's not remembered fondly these days.

Whatever Alexa Bliss Was Doing Here

Bray Wyatt was one of the most unique and creative minds to ever come through WWE. He was responsible for a lot of what made his character work, but sometimes you could tell management pushed for ideas that ended up going nowhere.

One moment from Wyatt's career that won't be on many "Best Of" lists was his showdown with Randy Orton at WrestleMania 37. The leadup to the match had fans hoping for some kind of big moment, so expectations were high.

The contest itself was strange enough due to the red lighting WWE was using, but it's not actually anything from Orton or Wyatt that made this bout bad. It was what happened toward the end with Alexa Bliss.

She appeared on top of a large Jack in the Box with black liquid all over her head and face. The Fiend was distracted long enough for The Viper to hit an RKO for the win.

After Bliss and Wyatt disappeared into the dark, the fans in attendance loudly booed what they had just witnessed. It's still one of the most baffling booking decisions in WrestleMania history.

Bret Hart vs. Vince McMahon Was Not the Move

Bret Hart returned to WWE in 2010 after many years away to settle his issues with Vince McMahon and Shawn Michaels, which seemed like an impossible scenario for a long time following The Montreal Screwjob 13 years earlier.

The Hitman and HBK had an emotional exchange in the ring, but McMahon and Hart eventually entered a storyline feud that culminated in a match at WrestleMania 26 involving several members of the Hart family.

With the Canadian legend no longer able to compete properly due to injuries and McMahon advancing in age, they were unable to have anything remotely resembling the quality of wrestling for which Hart was famous.

The fight they had was The Hitman's final WrestleMania match. While it gave Hart one more victory at The Showcase of the Immortals, it wasn't representative of his iconic career.

He would go on to work several more bouts in a limited capacity, usually in tag team situations such as his SummerSlam 2010 match with 13 other wrestlers, so at least the McMahon bout wasn't his farewell performance.

Bret Hart Gives Hulk Hogan His Blessing

Sadly, The Hitman is involved in two items on this list, but this one is in no way his fault.

Following Hart's loss to Yokozuna at WrestleMania IX, the new champion's manager, Mr. Fuji, issued an open challenge to any American. Naturally, Hulk Hogan jumped at the opportunity.

There was a brief moment when an injured Hart appeared to give The Hulkster the go-ahead to challenge for the title he had just lost.

In the eyes of many fans, this moment is a perfect representation of the entire WrestleMania 9 pay-per-view. We don't even need to get into how bad Giant Gonzalez vs. The Undertaker was.

The era of Hulkamania was already winding down and fans were starting to want something new. So, even though he was still a popular babyface, this outcome was poorly received by many.

This event was strange from top to bottom, and it had little to do with the togas the announcers were wearing. Having Yokozuna hold the title for less time than it takes to cook a frozen pizza just so WWE could take the belt off Hart and put it back on Hogan was a bad decision then and still is today.

Bart Gunn Gets Knocked Out by Butterbean

Brawl For All will be remembered as one of the strangest experiments WWE has ever attempted. It was even covered in the fourth episode of Season 2 of Dark Side of the Ring. That's how wild it was.

Bart Gunn won the tournament, surprising many people in the process. His toughness eventually earned him an offer to join All Japan Pro Wrestling, but before he could do that, he was put in a boxing match against the world-famous Butterbean at WrestleMania 15.

Putting aside that WWE was putting on a shoot fight once again, this was a complete mismatch from the start. Butterbean was a professional boxer with a successful career going up against a much smaller fighter with far less experience in a boxing ring.

Gunn may have put down the likes of JBL, The Godfather, Steve Williams and Bob Holly, but the former world champion prizefighter knocked him out in 35 seconds.

It was not a pretty bout by any means. Gunn came into the ring looking confident, and you could almost see the realization set in that he was in over his head moments before he took his first knockdown.

The former Smoking Gunn beat the count back to his feet to continue the fight, but it was already over. You could see how dazed he was, and when Butterbean landed the final blow, he fell over motionless and completely unconscious.

WrestleMania 15 had a couple of bright spots, but this wasn't one of them.

The New York Section of WrestleMania 2

WrestleMania 1 was a huge success for WWE, but it was also a massive gamble.

The company may not have survived had it not done well, but it decided to go even bigger for WrestleMania 2 to see if it could keep riding the wave of success.

Every 'Mania has taken place in one venue except for this one. WWE decided to try hosting the event in three cities at once. For fans watching at home, it was an experience unlike anything we had seen before or since.

For fans in those three arenas, things were wildly different. Each city got to see four live matches while the rest of the show aired on screens in the arenas. So essentially, you were paying for one-third of a live show and a movie-like experience for the other two-thirds.

If all of the matches had been stellar, this may not have been such a big issue, but take a look at the card and match times for New York and see for yourself how underwhelming it was.

New York:

• Don Muraco vs. Paul Orndorff (count-out in 4:10)
• Randy Savage vs. George Steele (5:10)
• Jake Roberts vs. George Wells (3:15)
• Mr. T vs. Roddy Piper (boxing match 13:14)

This totals exactly 25:49 of wrestling, and more than half of that was a kayfabe boxing match between an actor and a pro wrestler. Imagine paying good money for a ticket to the biggest show of the year and this was all you got to see live.

Chicago had almost exactly the same amount of in-ring action, but at least fans there got to see a wacky Battle Royal with a bunch of pro football players. Los Angeles was the site of the main event, so that is where Hogan defeated King Kong Bundy in an 11-minute contest.

New Yorkers definitely got the short end of the stick that night, but at least they got to see a couple of legends like Savage and Steele, even if it was only for five minutes.

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The seven moments and matches on this list all stand out for different reasons, but trying to pick the most infamous moment in WrestleMania history is like asking what everyone wants on their pizza. You are going to get different answers from everyone and you will spend longer talking about it than the length of an average 'Mania before coming to a consensus.

This wasn't a ranked list because trying to decide why one moment is worse than another is almost impossible, but these are definitely seven of the most memorable for all the wrong reasons. Which one sticks out in your mind as the worst?