Top Five Greatest WWE WrestleMania Celebrity Appearances
Best of the 'Mania celebs.
Follow us on YouTube (TheSportsCourier) and Twitter: @DaSportsCourier
You may also like: Worst Celebs in WrestleMania history
WWE Retro Reviews: Unforgiven 2002
Wrestling's Most Unlikely World Champions
History of WWE King of The Ring
By Jorge Estrella
Last time, we looked at some of the worst celebrities at past WrestleManias.
Now it’s time to look at the very best in the history of big event.
5. WrestleMania 14, 15, 16: Not Pete Rose!
Everything about baseball legend Pete Rose’s appearance at WrestleMania XIV was awesome. First, he comes out and appears to be in a half drunken stupor. The fans are cheering him and then he begins to rip apart the Boston crowd in epic fashion. Next thing you know, Kane comes out and tombstones him, while JR screams out “No! Not PETE ROSE! No! That's Pete Rose. Pete Rose just got Tombstoned!!” It’s hearing sentences like that make me love pro wrestling.
That should have been all, but Pete Rose is Pete Rose and he came back for more at WrestleMania XV--this time under the guise of a chicken suit. He attempted to extract revenge on the "Big Red Machine" by attacking him as entered the ring for his match against Triple H. What resulted was a yet another tombstone.
The Rose saga continued at WrestleMania XVI, this time with Rose using decoy chicken suit. Once again, his plan backfired and Kane chokeslammed him for his troubles.
Sure, these moments didn’t generate too much publicity, but damn were they entertaining. Who didn’t want to see Rose, the man that bet on baseball, get a tombstone piledriver? In 2004, Rose was inducted into the celebrity wing of the WWE Hall of Fame. The event garnered much media attention, as this is was probably the only time he'd be inducted in any sort of Hall of Fame.
4. WrestleMania XXIV: A GIANT Knockout
WrestleMania has a history of featuring boxers/boxing matches, and in the case of Mr. T vs. "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, it doesn’t always work. But using a boxer in the right circumstances can be a huge help to the event--especially if it's one of the most famous--and infamous athletes in the world. In 2008, Big Show made his return to WWE, appearing to be in the best shape of his career. He kicked off his second WWE run by getting into an altercation with one of the biggest names in all of boxing, undefeated WBC champion Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr., at the February 2008 WWE No Way Out pay-per-view
The stage was set for WrestleMania with the angle, that saw Mayweather legitimately bloodied Big Show's nose. At WrestleMania XIV, these two men would be competing in not a boxing bout, but a wrestling match. Tons of media attention here. The match was well received and while Big Show lost the match, it was done in heelish fashion (Mayweather used brass knuckles). This match, along Ric Flair’s last in-ring WWE appearance, brought in record-breaking attendance numbers.
3. WrestleMania 4, 5, 23: Here Comes the Money
Donald Trump holds a distinction of being involved with WrestleMania in a way that most celebrities aren’t. In 1988, on the heels of an epic WrestleMania III, Trump decided he wanted a piece of that pie and did so by hosting WrestleMania IV in Atlantic City, which became the first and only city to host back-to-back WrestleManias.
However, this was not the end of the Trump-McMahon working relationship. By 2007, Trump had become a household name for his zany billionaire antics and exploits much like Vince McMahon on "The Apprentice," so it was only natural that the two men challenged each other, in what was dubbed “The Battle of the Billionares. Thankfully, the actual wrestling was left to wrestlers in Intercontinental Champion Umaga and ECW Champion Bobby Lashley. The interaction between both billionaires certainly created a buzz in the media world. The added stipulation of it being a hair vs hair match then really grabbed everybody's attention. Both men had their trademark hairstyles (and each came with it’s own conspiracy whether not they were rocking toupees).
