We all know WrestleMania is one of the biggest spectacles of the year and has been since March of 1985. Older fan or newer fan, WrestleMania has given us all reasons to love the WWE. Here is Part 1 of the Top 10 WrestleMania’s of all time:
10. WrestleMania XII – 1996
The only reason this is at number 10 is because if you think about it, there was only one standout match. That match would be the one hour Iron Man match between the “Heartbreak Kid†Shawn Michaels and Bret “Hitman†Hart. This was huge at the time, Bret Hart and HBK were the two biggest stars in the WWF and this had “Dream Match†written all over it.
If there was another match that had an impact on the event, it would have been Diesel vs. The Undertaker. A match between two big guys isn’t exactly the most entertaining type of match but it was surprisingly decent. I wish I could mention Ultimate Warrior’s return against Hunter Hearst Helmsley but the entrance for the Ultimate Warrior alone was longer than the actual match thus making it a complete dud.
9. WrestleMania 22 – 2006
WrestleMania went “Big Time†in 2006 when the 22nd event rolled up. There were a few matches that made this event worth watching.
The Money in the Bank match between Rob Van Dam, Ric Flair, Shelton Benjamin, Finlay, Matt Hardy and Bobby Lashley had some high spots as expected. Even Ric Flair took a nice bump off the ladder. It’s not the most memorable MITB but it was one of the highlights of this event. The Hardcore match between Mick Foley and Edge was sort of a reminder to Foley’s ECW days. The moment that stood out the most in this match was the spear through the flaming table.
Shawn Michaels and Vince McMahon’s No Holds Barred match may have just been a 20 minute ass whooping for Vince McMahon but this was fun to watch. This match also was the first to signify the return of D-Generation-X when Michaels did the crotch chop on top of a ladder. This was talked about from this night until the night DX reunited on Raw.
Triple H vs. John Cena for the WWE Championship was a pretty solid match all around. Neither individual has amazing in ring skills but they did a good job of getting the crowd into it. This was the first time I can remember hearing the crowd going back and forth with “Let’s go Cena! Cena sucks!†chants. This match also gave a hint at D-Generation-X coming back after Triple H did the crotch chop.
8. WrestleMania IV – 1988
This Mania didn’t exactly have a match that was considered a classic but the tournament format gave it a different feel and was quite unpredictable at the time. President Jack Tunney vacated the WWF title after Andre the Giant won it and tried selling it to the “Million Dollar Man†Ted DiBiase.
This led to the 14 man tournament at WrestleMania which consisted of some of the top names in the WWF at the time. Once Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant’s match was ruled a double disqualification, it was anybody’s game.
“Macho Man†Randy Savage and the “Million Dollar Man†breezed through the tournament and battled in the final round. The two Superstars had a great 10 minute bout which had Savage winning the title in the end. Randy Savage was already over big time but this gave a nice boost to his career. Savage was one of the top baby-faces in the WWF until early 1989 when he turned on Hulk Hogan and broke up the Mega Powers.
7. WrestleMania VIII – 1992
Coming off a huge Royal Rumble win, Ric Flair was now the WWF Champion. At WrestleMania VIII, he defended his title against “Macho Man†Randy Savage. Flair received a lot of heat going into this match after he threatened to show certain photographs of Miss Elizabeth if he won the match. This only made fans want to see Savage tear apart Flair even more. Randy Savage won the title from Flair in the end in what is considered a classic match.
The Undertaker and Jake “The Snake†Roberts match was short but was fun to watch. It was a back and forth bout until the last couple of minutes which consisted of Undertaker giving a Tombstone Piledriver to Roberts on the concrete floor outside of the ring. Undertaker’s legendary WrestleMania streak went to 2-0 after this bout.
Bret Hart vs. Rowdy Roddy Piper for the Intercontinental title is another classic match from this extravaganza. This was just pure wrestling from the first bell to the bell Piper almost clocked Bret with and to the final deciding bell. These two Superstars really made you believe they wanted that Intercontinental title. This match literally had blood, sweat and tears put into it. Even Bobby Heenan’s commentary was fantastic for this match (“What the hell, use the bell!â€). Bret Hart won the title when he used the turnbuckle to reverse the sleeper hold and into a pin. We don’t get to many great Intercontinental title matches anymore nor do we get too many Intercontinental title matches at all. If you’re looking for a great IC title match, this is the one to check out.
The main event of the night was Hulk Hogan going up against Sid Justice. This match isn’t phenomenal by any means but it was a good way to end the show. This was just your usual Hulk Hogan match until Harvey Wippleman interfered and caused a disqualification. Papa Shango, who missed his cue to interfere earlier, came out and beat down on Hogan with Sid. This whole match was then overshadowed by the return of the Ultimate Warrior who came down to the ring to save Hogan. This got an enormous pop from the crowd as the Ultimate Warrior had not been seen since SummerSlam 1991.
6. WrestleMania XIX – 2003
Safeco Field in Seattle hosted one of the greatest WrestleMania’s of all time. The card for this event was superb and it truly showed if the WWE puts the effort in, you’re going to get one hell of a show.
Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho may have, if not, stolen the whole show. This match, just like Piper/Bret from WrestleMania VIII was all heart and determination. These two had been feuding for a couple of months going back to the Royal Rumble match. HBK had the number 1 entry that Chris Jericho wanted. Jericho came from behind and attacked Michaels and threw him over the top early in the match. This would all lead to their WrestleMania match that HBK would go on to win.
The Street Fight between Hulk Hogan and Mr. McMahon was slow (C’mon, they were both over 50 years old) but fun to watch. This whole feud was based around, who made who, meaning did Hulkamania make Vince McMahon or did Vince McMahon make Hulkamania who he is today? Rowdy Roddy Piper came back during this match and hit Hogan with a pipe but Hogan still ended up winning this brawl in the end with a nice Leg drop to McMahon.
WrestleMania XIX would be the third and final time The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin went at it. Stone Cold got the better of The Rock in the first two bouts at WrestleMania XV and X-7. This match gave X-7 a good run and may have even surpassed it. Nobody expected to see Rock hit the Stunner on Austin and Austin hitting the Rock Bottom on Rock. Things like that can really thrill the WWE fans because you don’t see them very often. You know moments like that are going to be saved for WrestleMania or one of the other big 4 Pay per views. In the end, The Rock broke his losing streak to Austin by giving him 3 Rock Bottoms for the win.
WrestleMania finished off with Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle fighting for the WWE Championship. This match will forever be memorable because this was an energetic match from start to finish. One of the biggest highlights of this match was Lesnar doing a Shooting Star Press off the top rope. Lesnar botched it but seeing a wrestler the size of Brock Lesnar coming off the top rope like that is incredible. When you see something like that, you ask yourself, what else can happen in this match? Angle tried to pin Lesnar after the botched move but Lesnar kicked out. The match finished only moments after as Brock Lesnar hit the F-5 on Angle and a new WWE Champion was crowned.
Be sure to look for Part 2 in the next couple of days, numbers 5 through 1 will be revealed. Until then, stay classy.
