NOTE FROM JAKOB: This post was originally written in 2010. I updated it this weekend with some ranking changes and the inclusion of the last three WrestleMania events.
Okay, I’ll admit it. I’m a wrestling buff. If you’re reading this, you likely know that about me already. I’m not ashamed of it. I know it’s fake, and I don’t watch it like it’s real. I watch it like I watch NCIS or any other television show; that being, there is a plot, and I like to see what route they take to get from Point A to Point B. For us wrestling fans, it’s about time for our Super Bowl, WrestleMania. Though I hoped that I would have attended one of these events live by this point, that will have to wait. What will not have to wait, however, is my brief rankings and explanations for the rankings of the previous WrestleMania events.
29. WrestleMania XI (1995, Hartford, CT): There were absolutely no redeeming qualities to this event. From sound difficulties to a main event that featured an agile midcard big man in Bam Bam Bigelow jobbing to an NFL athlete, the event was miserable. Every match dragged unnecessarily, and each good athlete seemed to be paired with someone who was awful.
28. WrestleMania XXVII (2011, Atlanta, GA): This event was absolutely baffling. From the Royal Rumble winner (Alberto Del Rio) facing the World Heavyweight Champion (Edge, in the last match of his career) in the curtain-jerker to Michael Cole vs. Jerry Lawler getting 15 minutes?!? and STILL having a screwy ending, this event featured one misstep after the other. Not even The Rock's attendance at the show could save it from being completely abysmal. The only redeeming qualities of the show are the vastly underrated CM Punk vs. Randy Orton match and Cody Rhodes' phenomenal performance in his masked gimmick.
27. WrestleMania 2 (1986, NYC, LA, Chicago): Whoever thought that it was a good idea to host the event from three locations probably lost their job shortly thereafter. Not only did it mean that the attending fans paid a fair amount of money for a partial card, but it also meant that the announcing teams were cluttered by B-List celebrities who knew absolutely nothing of the product. The only reason this event beats out the above events is because it was simply less offensive.
26. WrestleMania 29 (2013, East Rutherford, NJ): Rock/Cena I worked. Rock/Cena II did not. If you have ever played a WWE video game and set it to "infinite finishers", then you too could probably recreate this match. What makes this show ranked so low is how utterly predictable it was. Sure, Undertaker matches are predictable. That's what happens when you book a guy to win 21 times in a row. But the rest of the show did not need to be that predictable. Most matches were decent, but there were no true standouts outside of the Undertaker match.
25. WrestleMania 22 (2006, Chicago, IL): I don’t know what it is, but when WrestleMania comes to Chicago, it leaves much to be desired. From a Money in the Bank match that featured two guys a bit too old to be in ladder matches to a handicap squash match won by The Boogeyman to a far too predictable win for the Undertaker against Mark Henry, this event suffered from miss after miss. Don’t even get me started on the Rey Mysterio win and title reign or the Pillow Fight.
24. WrestleMania 12 (1996, Anaheim, CA): The WWF’s talent pool by Spring 1996 was so depleted that they called upon their two top draws, Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart, to go at it for over an hour in the first Iron Man match. While that match was for the most part a masterpiece, it was unfortunate that the two of them did not go at it for the entire show. The rest of the event was, for all intents and purposes, a waste, especially the recycled street footage of the “car chase” of Rowdy Roddy Piper and Goldust.
23. WrestleMania 25 (2009, Houston, TX): Some shows get judged by the quality of their matches, while others get judged by the sensibility of the results. This show had a truckload of nonsense, starting with the fact that they hailed it as the "25th Anniversary of WrestleMania" despite it actually being the 24th anniversary. There was absolutely no reason this event should have been as awful as it was. From wasting time with a Kid Rock concert to a clustered Battle Royal (which both made the card over a far more interesting Tag Title unification bout), the show was one comedy of errors after another. Honestly It singlehandedly killed the momentum of the Triple H/Randy Orton feud. The Shawn Michaels/Undertaker bout was a classic, but its placement before the two title matches sapped the crowd of emotion for those following matches, which in turn made the matches seem worse than they were.
22. WrestleMania 13 (1997, Chicago, IL): The highest-ranking of the Chicago events. Michaels missed the event due to “injury”, and the card was only saved by the classic submission match between Bret Hart and Steve Austin, the match which really cemented Austin’s place among the industry’s elite. While the Undertaker/Sid main event was not miserable, this was more or less a one match card.
21. WrestleMania IX (1993, Las Vegas, NV): I’ll be honest… I probably should rank this event lower than #19, but it was so bad it was amusing. The first outdoor WrestleMania, the event was full of non-finishes (Michaels/Tatanka, Beefcake and Hogan/Money Incorporated, Undertaker/Giant Gonzales). However, the non-finishes made a whole lot more sense than the rest of the booking. Doink the Clown beat Crush thanks to help from a second Doink, and Hulk Hogan ended the show as WWF Champion by winning a match he wasn’t even scheduled to compete in! If anything, this WrestleMania is ranked where it is as an example of how not to book a WrestleMania.
20. WrestleMania I (1985, New York, NY): This one has its spot primarily for its legacy as the first event of its kind, but let’s be honest. Though the event was full of celebrities, it was also full of subpar in-ring action and horrible production value. The backstage interview segments are laughable. Thankfully the WWF cleaned this up, and there was already a marked difference by 1987.
19. WrestleMania IV (1988, Atlantic City, NJ): Critics have panned this event for being the WWF’s equivalent of a Jerry Lewis Telethon. This event was marked by a ridiculously long title tournament that eliminated the top two contenders (Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant) in one fell swoop. Randy Savage and Ted DiBiase put on good performances in the finals of the tournament, but they would have been better served had the tournament included 8 participants instead of fourteen.
18. WrestleMania XV (1999, Philadelphia, PA): I had a hard time getting into the event when I watched it, but the action was solid and the winners made sense. What did not make sense, however, were the abundance of heel and face turns that happened over the course of this show. I understand that the Attitude Era was more gray than black and white, but as an unattached fan, it was difficult to follow along. Austin getting the upper hand over The Rock and Vince McMahon was by far the highlight of the event.
17. WrestleMania 2000 (2000, Anaheim, CA): This was such a weird event. Featuring no mano a mano bouts other than the waste of time between The Kat and Terri Runnels, it lacked the big event feel of other WrestleManias. The two out of three falls match for the European and Intercontinental titles was entertaining, but the rest of the event did not deliver. The absence of the Undertaker did not help.
16. WrestleMania V (1989, Atlantic City, NJ): I originally had this event ranked higher, but it really wasn’t all that good. I enjoyed Demolition’s win over the Powers of Pain and Rick Rude’s surprising victory over the Ultimate Warrior, but the rest of the event was lackluster, and that doesn’t include the Piper/Morton Downey Jr./Brother Love segment. Perhaps the best aspect of the show was its showcasing of the very strong tag team division, though it still boggles my mind that they put the Bushwhackers over the Fabulous Rougeau Brothers.
15. WrestleMania VII (1991, Los Angeles, CA): Quite honestly most of the in-ring action was subpar. When the best match features the Ultimate Warrior as a participant, it says something about the whole event. That said, it featured a few feel-good moments which helped to distract from the event’s substandard action.
14. WrestleMania XXVIII (2012, Miami, FL): I probably like this WrestleMania more than most. Sure, the "match" between Sheamus and Daniel Bryan was frustrating, but the show moved on after that. The top three matches on the card went well. Cena/Rock worked, if only because it was so nice to see The Rock in a WWE ring once again. It was an average WrestleMania that deserves its spot right in the middle of this list.
13. WrestleMania XIV (1998, Boston, MA): The event did not have a lot of matches on the card, but I think it helped the quality of the event by eliminating filler. The showdown between Kane and The Undertaker (to me at least) put the undefeated streak at its most vulnerable. The Intercontinental bout booked Ken Shamrock perfectly as the intense beast, and the main event between Austin and Michaels (and involvement of Mike Tyson), while not technically as good a match as the two could have had thanks to Michaels’ back, was a great moment for the figurative passing of the torch.
12. WrestleMania 23 (2007, Detroit, MI): The event was largely unmemorable, but inoffensive. The company relied on old pros The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels to hold their own in the main events against more recent stars in John Cena and Batista. Sure, there was a lot of filler, but aside from Kane vs. The Great Khali, the filler worked.
11. WrestleMania III (1987, Pontiac, MI): This event happened days before I was born, and yet it is still often referenced or shown in highlight packages twenty three years later. The Hogan/Andre bout, though not a technical masterpiece like a Dean Malenko/Chris Benoit match, was a huge moment for the WWF and gave the company even more momentum going forward. This event did have its technical masterpiece in the form of the Ricky Steamboat/Randy Savage bout, which was so good that the two were allegedly lectured backstage for overshadowing the rest of the show.
10. WrestleMania XXVI (2010, Glendale, AZ): An excellent event from top to bottom, it featured the retirement of Shawn Michaels and the WrestleMania return of Bret Hart after a 13 year absence. While I liked the event very much (especially the undercard), it started to drag midway through the event. I wish I could've been there to see it as originally planned.
9. WrestleMania XXIV (2008, Orlando, FL): A vastly underrated event, the event was good because it seemed like everyone was where they should have been on the card. It featured Ric Flair’s best match in years (which, coincidentally, was his final WWE match to date) and a very solid main event of the Undertaker vs. Edge. Randy Orton’s surprising victory over Triple H and John Cena was an excellent twist, and Floyd Mayweather did his part to entertain in his match against the Big Show.
8. WrestleMania VI (1990, Toronto, ON, Canada): I like this event for a variety of reasons. One, it was the first face vs. face main event in WrestleMania history, and Hogan actually put someone over. It was the first time since Hogan’s match against Andre that there was a match with that big time atmosphere. Also, it was the site of Demolition’s last great moment of glory as well as Andre the Giant’s last hurrah and farewell from active competition.
7. WrestleMania 21 (2005, Los Angeles, CA): The culmination of some great storylines. It featured the completion of Batista’s rise to the top in perhaps the greatest face turn of the decade as well as the end of JBL’s reign of terror as WWE champion at the hands of John Cena. The first Money in the Bank ladder match delivered, as did Angle/Michaels and Orton/Undertaker. My greatest hang-ups with the event were the dreadful Trish Stratus/Christy Hemme match and the sumo competition between the Big Show and Akebono. Don’t get me started on trying to have real sports competitions in the scripted atmosphere of the WWE.
6. WrestleMania VIII (1992, Indianapolis, IN): I love WrestleMania VIII because you could feel a changing of the guard in place. From Hogan’s “last match” to great performances by Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels, the card really seemed fun. Randy Savage’s return to the top and the Undertaker’s first WrestleMania as a fan favorite added to the pleasure.
5. WrestleMania X-8 (2002, Toronto, ON, Canada): The first event that featured main event superstars acquired after the WCW purchase, this event showcased greatness at virtually every step. Rock/Hogan really explains it. That said, the main event of Chris Jericho against Triple H was horribly built up, as it took the champion (Jericho) and pushed him to the backburner of Triple H’s feud with Stephanie McMahon. A classic that could’ve gone #1 had the main event delivered.
4. WrestleMania X (1994, New York, NY): I have fond memories of watching this event as a seven year old rooting for my hero Bret Hart to regain the WWF championship. Back then I did not realize how great his match at the beginning of the show was with his brother Owen, but I did realize how ahead of its time the Shawn Michaels/Razor Ramon Ladder Match was. Throw in an entertaining Falls Count Anywhere match between Randy Savage and Crush as well as the long-awaited moment of Hart regaining his title after Yokozuna slipped off the ropes, and this event goes from solid to a classic.
3. WrestleMania X-7 (2001, Houston, TX): The culmination of the Attitude Era. The company seemed to outdo itself at every turn from the Kurt Angle/Chris Benoit technical spectacle to the TLC match to the all-out war between the Undertaker and Triple H. Austin/Rock II did not disappoint and provided the fans with a major swerve, but I felt the ending was overdone. All in all, still a classic.
2. WrestleMania XX (2004, New York, NY): My personal favorite, as it occurred during the time period where I first started to watch again. It was a star-studded card that featured nearly every big name the company had to offer. The buildup was great, and the matches (for the most part) delivered. The company made a concerted effort to involve nearly all its contracted talent. The reason this event fell to #2 is because I felt that Undertaker vs. Kane II was all too predictable and that Goldberg/Lesnar was a huge letdown, especially since both men left the company shortly thereafter.
1. WrestleMania XIX (2003, Seattle, WA): This one is ranked at the top because nearly every match had an important “feel” to it. It featured old favorites such as Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and The Rock and new blood like Brock Lesnar. Shawn Michaels’ return to the grandest stage of them all against Chris Jericho was another excellent match. While I disagree with how the Booker T/Triple H match played out, I felt the rest of the show was full of hits.
I'm honestly more excited for WrestleMania XXX than I have been for any WrestleMania since WM 25. As has been the tradition since WM 26, I will be watching the event at my uncle and aunt's house. While I still hope to make it to a WrestleMania live one year, it has become one of my favorite traditions. This event could turn out to be one of the best. I guess we shall see.
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