With Wrestlemania 30 right around the corner, my next few posts in the coming weeks will be Wrestlemania related. And my first one takes a look back at some of the greatest Wrestlemania matches, and trying to put together a card that would be great. Some would call it a “Super Wrestlemania.”
It’s a fun little game to play. And it can be difficult to put together a card, because you are going to have to leave out some really great matches.
The rules of the game are simple. Pick a 10 match Wrestlemania card. I was going to go for eight but I expanded it to ten since most Mania’s have that amount. But here are the rule you have to follow:
1. You can only use a wrestler once. A wrestler cannot appear on a list twice.
2. You can only pick one match from each Wrestlemania.
3. Each Title can be defended only once. For the purposes of this card, the World Title and WWE Title are two separate Titles. So you could have one World Title Match and one WWE Title Match.
4. Only one gimmick match per stipulation. So if you choose the TLC Match from WM17, you can ‘t choose a Money in the Bank match, I know they are different stipulations but the gimmick is still the same.
So with those rules out of the way, lets get to my Super card!
1. Wrestlemania 22: Trish Stratus (c) vs Mickie James for the Women’s Championship
-If I did the eight match card like I originally intended, I probably wouldn’t have included a women’s match. But a ten match card leaves some room for one. And this is probably the best of the bunch. I thought Wrestlemania 22 was a good show and the women’s match tends to get looked over at times. Of course, we know Mickie James went full on x-rated on Trish at some points. But the feud and build up were solid to it, and the crowd was completely into the character of Mickie James. Two of the best women’s wrestlers ever deserve some recognition and they get it here.
2. Wrestlemania 16- Edge & Christian vs The Hardy Boyz vs The Dudley Boyz in A Ladder Match For The Tag Team Championship
-You could put either this match on here or the TLC Match from Wrestlemania 17. Either one works. I chose the match from 16 because it was the first of the set of three ladder matches between these two teams. And I always usually side with the first when it comes to those things. The TLC at 17 was good as well. But the ladder match at 16 was something that had never been seen before and was a sign of great things to come with these three teams in the future.
3. Wrestlemania 25: The Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels
-Another match that would’ve been very tough for me to leave off the card. It is one of the best wrestling matches I’ve ever seen in my lifetime. There’s a reason Shawn Michaels is called Mr. Wrestlemania, and there’s a reason Undertaker always brings his A game to Wrestlemania. These two put on a classic at WM25. While there may have been more on the line at WM26, this one is better from a pure wrestling perspective. Plus, this is the first one and it is always tough for the second to duplicate it. For example, you knew at WM26 that HBK would kick out of the first Tombstone. You didn’t know that at WM25. Little things like that make this match better.
4. Wrestlemania 7: Randy Savage vs Ultimate Warrior
-One of my favorite Wrestlemania matches, and easily my favorite Ultimate Warrior match of all time. Randy Savage was a stickler for detail, and I’m sure he laid out this match numerous times with Warrior. The career ending stipulation didn’t end up sticking, but that didn’t takeaway from the emotion involved throughout the match. The ending adds to it as well with Elizabeth and Savage re-uniting, and it was a great way at time for Savage to go out.
5. Wrestlemania 10: Bret Hart vs Owen Hart
-It was tough for me to go back and forth between this match and Bret Hart vs Steve Austin from Wrestlemania 13. I started with one, then changed, then finally ended up with this match. What else could you ask for in an opening match at Wrestlemania? Quick near falls, fast paced action throughout the entire match. And you had the great little brother vs big brother story that played out here and almost all of 1994. Just a great match from a technical standpoint, and a nice coming out party for Owen Hart.
6. Wrestlemania 26: CM Punk vs Rey Mysterio
-The match itself just went a little over six minutes, but these two pulled out a quality three star match in the six minutes they were given. Rey and Punk had arguably the program of the year in the WWE in 2010. Punk was hitting his stride in the Straight Edge Society. His creepy singing of Happy Birthday to Rey Mysterio’s daughter was great. These two had longer matches in the coming PPVs, but they did a lot here with the little time they were given.
7. Wrestlemania 1: Hulk Hogan & Mr. T vs Roddy Piper & Paul Orndorff
-This match isn’t a technical masterpiece by any means. But the spectacle of everything involved here was great. You had so many celebrities involved. We tend to forget how big a risk Wrestlemania 1 was at the time, but it ended up paying off. And this main event was a large part of it.
8. Wrestlemania 29: The Shield vs Randy Orton, Sheamus and Big Show
-It was the debut of The Shield at Wrestlemania. Anyone who reads my reviews of RAW knows that I love six man Shield tag team matches. This one wasn’t one of their best, but it was still a darn good match. I was nervous when it was announced as the opener that The Shield might lose, but it was nice to see them go over. All six men involved did a good job in the ring and the ending played well into the face team’s distrust of one another.
9. Wrestlemania 24: Belfast Brawl- JBL vs Finlay
-This one is just a personal favorite of mine. Two veterans who beat the crap out of each other and got the crowd into the show. Add Hornswoggle into the match and there was just fun all around. Sometimes the best way to get the crowd into the match is with a variety of weapons and two guys beating the crap out of each other with them. And with two ring veterans like these guys, you could trust them to do that and keep it safe at the same time.
10. Wrestlemania 17- The Rock (c) vs Stone Cold Steve Austin for the WWF Championship
-These two had three great matches at Wrestlemania. All of them are great in their own right, but this one was the biggest one of them all. For a lot of people, this match signifies the end of the Attitude Era with Steve Austin turning heel and winning the Title with the help of Vince McMahon. The match was made No DQ beforehand and that added to the drama of the match. The match was just a brawl that incorporated both of these men’s past and you could actually feel the emotion of both me fighting for the Title.
So what would your card be?
Until Next Time,
Justin C
Follow Me On Twitter @JCWonka
