While we are currently on the road to WrestleMania, there is always time for a little love in the WWE. Whether it be the hilarious Great Khali Kiss Cam segments or any various backstage moments the WWE has always had a connection with Valentines’ Day.
Over the years the WWE has always managed to do a little something when the day of love and chocolate comes around. As with most things WWE, the segments/matches they put on on Valentines’ Day can either be very good or go terribly wrong. Since Valentines’ Day is about hope, love and what may be let us not worry about the bad and just focus on the good.
Below we will take a look at some of the most memorable moments from the WWE on Valentines’ Day.
5: Feb.14th, 1998 – The Big Show Makes His Debut
Austin and Mr McMahon were deep into their feud when the St.Valentines Day Massacre pay-per-view rolled around. After winning the Royal Rumble, Mr McMahon forfeited his right to go to Wrestlemania, which in turn gave Austin the main event slot. Austin then stated that he would put up his Wrestlemania right if Vince would meet him in a steel cage match on Valentines’ Day.
The match was better than anyone could have imagined. It was never going to be a wrestling classic but with the steel cage gimmick, Austin and McMahon were able to showcase a very suitable brawl. There is a particularly brutal table bump by McMahon that is a highlight of the contest. It was so bad that Vince broke his tailbone on the table.
When it looked like Austin has victory all but in the bag, a man of tremendous size broke through the ring canvas and attacked Austin. This big man, as most know by now, was Paul Wight, who later became known as simply The Big Show.
This marks the first time the Big Show made an appearance in the WWE. Since then he has gone on to a career that spanned nearly 20 years. He has been in the main event of Wrestlemania, feuded with every big name in the industry, and held 18 championships. One day he will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame and all of this started with a shocking debut on Valentines’ Day.
4: Feb.14th, 2017 – Bray Wyatt v Cena v A.J Styles (WWE Championship Match)
Bray Wyatt’s WWE Championship reign was a mere two days old when he was forced to defend it. On the first Smackdown Live after the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, where Bray won the title, Bray was basking in the glory of the ‘You Deserve It’ chants. This was short-lived as John Cena, followed by A.J Styles came out to demand they be the first to receive a title shot. Then Smackdown Live commissioner, Daniel Bryan, makes his way out to inform Wyatt that he will be defending against both men in a triple threat match later that night.
Wyatt was deep into an angle involving Randy Orton and Luke Harper so it made sense when Harper appeared and attacked Wyatt pre-match and take him out for a good 5 minutes.
Once Wyatt was out of the way Cena and Styles went to town on one another. They are both world-class athletes so it should come as no shock that their mini-match was great.
After Cena and Styles put quite the beating on each other Wyatt reentered the match and we got around 10 minutes of a fairly good triple threat match. It was very hard-hitting as mostly high-impact moves were used but this made sense. It was a television match and they were not given a lot of time so hitting a lot of high-impact moves is a good way to keep the fans invested in the match.
The finish came with Wyatt retaining his championship by pinning Cena. This should come as no shock as Wyatt was destined for a Wrestlemania showdown with Royal Rumble winner Randy Orton.
3: Feb.14th , 2014 – Randy Orton v Cesaro
Randy Orton was in the middle of his Authority endorsed run as the WWE World Heavyweight Champion leading into the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view. The angle at the time was involving Daniel Bryan’s pursuit of Orton’s title more than the match between the Swiss Superman and the Viper. However, both men were entered into the Chamber match a mere 6 days after this love day edition of Smackdown so it was a no-brainer to have them face off.
The match was your typical television main event, not much to write home about. Orton was doing some great heel work throughout the match. He works much better as a heel so this was great to see, especially against Cesaro. Orton is known for phoning in when he is not fully invested in a match so the fact that he is working well against Cesaro says something.
The finish came, surprisingly, when Cesaro nailed a top powerbomb on the champ and followed up with a Neutralizer for the pin.
As was stated earlier, this was your typical television match but the match itself is not the memorable part of the evening.
For years Cesaro was known as the one man in the WWE who never received the push that he deserved, Cesaro really does deserve some love. It was great to see him go over the World Champion and with his win at the Andre the Giant Battle Royal at Wrestlemania it looked as if this was going to happen. Unfortunately, the WWE dropped the ball with Cesaro as they always have.
2: Feb.14th, 2011 – The Rock Returns to the WWE
Leading into Wrestlemania 27 the WWE had told the world that they got themselves a host for the biggest show of the year. They promised us all that this host would be the most electrifying host and they delivered when on the Valentines’ edition of Raw the Rock made his return. It was his first appearance on live WWE television, pre-taped promos aside, in nearly seven years.
While the return was great it did overshadow the main event of Wrestlemania between WWE Champion the Miz and John Cena. The Rock returning took the focus away from the Miz and put it on the pending issues between the Braham Bull and John Cena. This continued at the Showcase of the Immortals when the Rock interfered in the main event to cost John Cena the match.
While it was unfortunate that his return worked out the way that it did, it was still a great moment to see the Rock come back to WWE. Since then he has made sporadic appearances on WWE television, which continues to this day. He really does love the company.
1: Feb.14th, 1999 – The Rock v Mankind (Last Man Standing Match for the WWE Championship)
The Rock and Mankind had been feuding over the WWE Championship since the Survivor Series of the previous year. The Rock turned heel at the event to screw Mankind out of the championship and since then they had fought in every type of gimmick match imaginable. Since there was some ambiguity over every match that they had fought in the Last Man Standing match was booked to once and for all determine the better man.
Earlier in the night, on Sunday Night Heat, The Rock tried to injure Mankinds’ knee, so the beginning of the match saw the Brahma Bull focussing on the knee of Mankind. The rest of the match saw the two men brawling in and around the ring which was typical of your Attitude Era match. With The Rock and Mankind, any match is going to be passable, both men were the best workers in the company at the time, and clearly had a love for the business.
One of the glaring issues that come’ up with this match is the finish. The match was booked to clear up all of the screwy endings that had been happening between the two men over the previous few months. Unfortunately, they suffered the fate of many Last Man Standing matches when they knocked each other down for the ten-count. It is a cheap way out of the Last Man Standing match, and one that always gets my blood boiling.
Regardless of its cheap ending the Last Man Standing match on Valentines’ Day is one of the best matches that has occurred on the famous day of love.