WrestleMania 11 took place at Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, Connecticut in front of over 16,000 fans. This WrestleMania was a weird one for sure, but I think that wrestling as a whole in 1995 was just going through an odd slump. The boom that started in the 80s had officially slowed down and the WWE was in the process of building new stars, focusing on the “New Generation.” They tried to stack this event with popular celebrities of that time period—including NFL star Lawrence Taylor, who was in the main event of the show against Bam Bam Bigelow. So in that sense, it definitely felt like WrestleMania. However, the rest of the card felt like it could have been any other PPV during the year.

Undertaker versus King Kong Bundy isn’t one of Undertaker’s more memorable WrestleMania matches. Bret Hart, Razor Ramon, Owen Hart, Yokozuna, British Bulldog, and others were all on the card, but their matches didn’t feel any more special than something you’d get on an In Your House PPV. The WWE Championship match was Shawn Michaels challenging Diesel, but it didn’t have the same feeling as the following year when Michaels was going to challenge Bret Hart for the Championship. Big Daddy Cool celebrating with Pamela Anderson and Jenny McCarthy after defeating Shawn Michaels was cool I guess.

I also think a lot of people praise this event for Lawrence Taylor’s performance, but being a Canadian who never really got into American Football growing up, I’ll admit his performance was impressive, but I don’t have any emotional connection to Lawrence Taylor or the NFL. So it didn’t do much for changing my perspective of the event. He also defeated Bam Bam Bigelow, and I’m not sure that did anything for Bam Bam or the WWE. They had the celebrities, they had popular talent on the card and they had mainstream coverage, but it just didn’t connect for me. It’s actually pretty boring outside of the celebrity cameos.

WrestleMania 2 was a tale of three shows… literally. After the success of the inaugural WrestleMania, the WWE tried to up the ante by hosting WrestleMania from three different venues. The event took place with three different cards from the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, the Rosemont Horizon in Rosemont, Illinois, and the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena in Los Angeles, California. There was a combined attendance of 40,000 fans across all three venues. This was the first and only time the WWE pulled off a show like this and thankfully so. Hulkamania was still running wild and they had celebrities like Mr. T involved again, but that still couldn’t save this event from being just meh.

The New York portion of the card was headlined by a rivalry carried over from the first WrestleMania where “Rowdy” Roddy Piper challenged Mr. T to a boxing match. It didn’t matter how charismatic Piper was or how big of a star Mr. T was in 1986, this match was a letdown when it broke down into a pull-apart in the fourth round after Piper bodyslammed T. The Chicago card was headlined by the tag team titles being defended by The British Bulldogs against The Dream Team which didn’t scream main event, even when tag team wrestling mattered back then. However, this card also featured a battle royal involving a handful of NFL stars, which Andre The Giant ultimately won.

The Los Angeles show was headlined by Hulk Hogan defending his WWE Championship against King Kong Bundy in a steel cage, which seemed longer than it actually was and felt more like Saturday Night’s Main Event match than a WrestleMania main event. Of course, Hulk Hogan won as we were in the midst of Hulkamania during this era. This WrestleMania was a failed experiment but they would get it right the next year.

The first WrestleMania from the modern era just wasn’t good. It took place at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia in front of nearly 72,000 fans. The big story here was that The Rock had returned to the WWE to host WrestleMania after a seven-year absence from the company to become a box office star and globally known name due to his Hollywood career. I remember it being exciting that The Rock returned, especially when we all thought the surprise guest host was going to be Justin Bieber. The show had a few solid matches, but this was one of those shows that suffered overall by having a few bad matches on the card and a lame main event where the WWE Champion was barely the main focus. Regardless, the Georgia Dome was packed and they were hot for The Rock being back.

The card wasn’t complete garbage either. There were standout matches I liked, such as Cody Rhodes versus Rey Mysterio and CM Punk facing off against Randy Orton. This was also the show where Edge defended the World Championship against Alberto Del Rio to kick off the show. At the time we weren’t aware of it, but this would also be Edge’s last match for 9 years as he was forced to retire due to a severe neck injury that wouldn’t allow him to wrestle. The Rated R Superstar retained here and got to retire as World Champion. This show also had the memorable Undertaker defending his streak against Triple H match, where Triple H was trying to get retribution for Undertaker retiring his friend the year before. The Undertaker would defeat Triple H, but for the first time ever, the Phenom couldn’t walk himself out of this match, having to be carted out by paramedics.

The match between the announcers was a bust even though it was cool for Jerry Lawler to finally get his WrestleMania match after being with the company for so long—and Stone Cold appearing is always a plus. They had Snookie in a match for that celebrity factor of WrestleMania. Snookie teamed with Trish Stratus and John Morrison to face Ziggler and Laycool. Finally, the main event was The Miz defending the WWE Championship against John Cena. The Miz retained the title due to a lot of shenanigans involving The Rock. The overbooked main event was more focused on booking Rock-Cena for next year than focusing on the actual match they were having on this show. Overall, this WrestleMania is just one I don’t care to go back and watch. It just left a meh vibe to me to this day.

It was the peak of the Attitude Era and professional wrestling was popular as hell. WrestleMania 15 was coming to us live from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in front of 20,000 fans. The WWE had come back from losing the Monday night rating war with World Championship Wrestling and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin was their hottest star in professional wrestling. This WrestleMania was built around the feud between Steve Austin and Vince McMahon when McMahon would do whatever it took to make sure that Stone Cold wasn’t the WWE Champion. Vince McMahon had his Corporate Champion in The Rock and he wanted to keep it that way.

The show was definitely a victim of that crash course style of booking popularized by Vince Russo in the late 90s. Although I will never deny it made for great weekly television, it didn’t create a memorable WrestleMania. This had to be the WrestleMania with the most run-ins for sure. This show had all the characters we enjoyed during the Attitude Era and progressed their ongoing storylines, but nothing really seemed to stand out years later other than the main event. A lot of this card was forgettable and I actually forgot about a lot of it when watching it back. The only other most memorable thing was the infamous scene where the Undertaker basically sacrificed Big Bossman by hanging him in the cell, which nobody can forget for how ludicrous it was.

The matches were fun, but a lot of them were very short. Foley took a nasty bump on some chairs so bless him, Kane tombstoned Pete Rose for the second year in a row, the conclusion of the infamous Brawl for All took place on this event and X-Pac carried a green Shane McMahon through a pretty decent match. At the end of the day though, it was the main event with the story of Stone Cold finally reaching the mountain top again overcoming The Rock, Vince McMahon, and all the other obstacles that will be remembered. This was the first match of the Austin-Rock trilogy. Other than that, the show was decent and in tune with the product at the time.

I completely understand that the turn of a century and the new millennium were a big deal. I was alive for it and remember all the crazy things people thought were going to happen in the year 2000. Everyone jumped on the opportunity to use the millennium for marketing purposes and that is what led to this WrestleMania being called WrestleMania 2000. I think at the time I was with it, but I dislike it now. It’s confusing because people always need a minute to think when you say WrestleMania 16, and casual fans get confused when you say WrestleMania 2000. This was also the first Attitude Era WrestleMania missing two of its biggest stars that helped kick off the era in “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and The Undertaker, who were both out with injuries. It was also the first time the WWE Championship match wouldn’t be a singles match in WrestleMania history. Instead, it was a fatal-four-way match featuring a McMahon family member in every corner to create even more of a buzz. This took place at Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim in Anaheim, California in front of 20,000 fans.

There also wasn’t a singles match on this show with exception of the catfight, which really wasn’t a match. Triple H walked in the top heel champion facing off against a super over Rock, a formidable threat in the Big Show and the man he forced into retirement a month earlier in Mick Foley. They added to the main event by using the McMahon family, who became prominent dramatic characters on television in the last three years. Stephanie was in Triple H’s corner, Shane was with the Big Show, Linda was with Foley and Vince was in the corner of The Rock. Regardless, nobody thought that Triple H would walk out as the WWE Champion. As a matter of fact, I think EVERYONE thought this show was going to end with The Rock as the new WWE Championship. WrestleMania had always ended with the fan-favorite walking out of the event as champion to send the fans home happy, but that wasn’t the case here as Vince McMahon ended up turning on The Rock to help Triple H win, thus making history as a heel stood tall at the end of WrestleMania. It was weird, especially for the time, but hey someone had to do it first right?

The rest of this show was fun though with a lot of your favorite Attitude Era characters on the card, and Kane tombstoned Pete Rose again for the third time in a row. Lastly, the three-way ladder match between The Hardy Boyz, The Dudley Boyz, and Edge and Christian was a great precursor for the next year’s epic TLC.

Everyone will remember WrestleMania 36 due to it being the WrestleMania that almost didn’t happen. Originally meant to take place at Raymond James Stadium, the world was hit with the coronavirus pandemic, which led to the event nearly being canceled before the announcement of it being taped earlier at the WWE’s performance center and airing over two nights. It will always be remembered as one of the most unique WrestleMania’s of all time too because it had to take place in front of zero fans due to circumstances out of their control. I will always be grateful for them delivering two nights of quality sports entertainment during a weird time for everyone, even though a lot of the show was hard to watch and will be hard to watch back due to the lack of an audience. That is why it is so low on the list. It was really a bummer that this show was taken out of the stadium because the card for WrestleMania 36 was shaping up to be one of the best in years.

They did take advantage of not being in front of fans by giving us creative cinematic matches on this show for two matches, which most likely would have taken place in the ring if the show went on as regular. On night one we got a series of solid matches, such as Bryan versus Zayn, a three-way ladder match, Owens versus Rollins, and the cinematic Boneyard “retirement” match for Undertaker against AJ Styles. Roman was supposed to face Goldberg for the Universal Championship but when he decided he didn’t feel safe working, he was replaced by Braun Strowman who won the title two years too late.

On the second night of WrestleMania, we got solid matches such as Charlotte versus Rhea Ripley, Aleister Black versus Bobby Lashley, and the last man standing match between Randy Orton and Edge. This night also featured a cinematic match between The Fiend Bray Wyatt and John Cena, which was more like a creative dream sequence rather than a match. Drew McIntyre also finally got his moment winning the WWE Championship from Brock Lesnar in dominant fashion, but unfortunately, no fans were there to rejoice with him. That was the theme for the entire show. Things were good, but hard to enjoy fully with no fans other than the ones attached to the ceiling. I would highly recommend checking out the two cinematic matches though, as I believe this WrestleMania will always be remembered for those.

It was the one that started it all. The actual granddaddy of “the granddaddy of them all.” The inaugural WrestleMania took place at the mecca for the WWE, Madison Square Garden, in front of nearly 20,000 fans. The event was seen by over one million viewers through closed-circuit television, making it the largest PPV showing of a wrestling event on closed-circuit television in the United States at the time. This was Vince McMahon’s response to Jim Crockett Promotions’ “Starrcade” which was an annual super-show. However, McMahon brought in celebrities and nationally recognized athletes to draw in new and casual fans. This was a huge risk because celebrities were rarely brought into the wrestling world for the sake of trying to keep kayfabe alive and not expose the business. Celebrity guests in attendance included Billy Martin, Cyndi Lauper, Mr. T, Muhammad Ali, and Liberace accompanied by The Rockettes.

The WWE Championship was not defended on this show. Instead, the main event was Mr. T teaming up with WWE’s biggest star at the time and WWE Champion Hulk Hogan, along with Jimmy Snuka in their corner against “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff who had “Cowboy” Bob Orton in their corner. This was in the early days of Hulkamania in the WWE and the fans were excited to see their favorite superstar teaming with one of Hollywood’s biggest stars against such a dastardly heel in Roddy Piper and Hogan’s former friend Paul Orndorff. They even had Muhammed Ali as the special guest referee. The main event sold the show because the rest of the card was pretty lackluster.

The only other thing I remember from this event other than the celebrity appearances and main event was Andre the Giant throwing out cash to the fans after slamming Big John Studd. I don’t know why that visual always stuck with me. Overall, this event made it in this spot on this list because it was the first WrestleMania and the significance of the event can never be denied.

It was the first WrestleMania taking place outside of the United States, coming live from Toronto, Canada in the SkyDome in front of a record-setting 67,678 fans. I might get backlash for how low I put WrestleMania 6 on this list. This is where I remind you that this is a personal subjective list of my most and least favorite WrestleManias. I’m sure those of you who grew up around this era and during the build-up feel differently about this event than I do. I completely understand the hype of two mega fan favorites who were seemingly unstoppable and both champions facing off against each other being something you just had to be there for. My closest experience to it was the build-up of WrestleMania X7 with The Rock and Stone Cold, so I sort of understand. Regardless of how intriguing the “Ultimate Challenge” match between Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior was, I just found this show and the match itself underwhelming.

I always remembered feeling like this show had so many matches to get through and that the main event wasn’t even worth the wait. The Hulk Hogan-Ultimate Warrior match was voted Match of the Year by Pro Wrestling Illustrated readers that year and it makes me wonder if it was for anything other than the anticipation or just seeing Hulk Hogan lose at WrestleMania for the first time. I found the match to be slow, boring, and really exposing both legends’ limitations in the ring, especially the Ultimate Warrior’s. I’ll admit the staredown before the match started even got me excited, but then there was a test of strength that felt like it went on forever and I tuned out. Warrior picked up the victory and it seemed as if Hogan was passing the torch to WWE’s next babyface. However, the following year Hogan was in the main event again, winning the WWE Championship while Randy Savage gave Warrior a MUCH better match than this one.

The rest of this card will give you a nostalgia kick and some of the backstage promos, specifically Jake “The Snake” Roberts promo prior to his match, are great. Other notable things from this show were that Piper painted half of his body black, which has been controversial among fans, and Andre The Giant turned face again, turning on Heenan after three years. Regardless, this WrestleMania isn’t one I go back to watch frequently, but I understand if you disagree.

WrestleMania 13 was one of those one-match shows.  The New World Order had formed in World Championship Wrestling the Summer prior which had them winning the Monday Night Wars. The WWE was in this unique position where they were forced to grow and change its product. Rumor has it that the original plan was for Shawn Michaels to drop the WWE Championship against Bret Hart at this event, but he “Lost His Smile” and had a knee injury that forced this entire card to change. It was unfortunate, but it allowed the 18,000 fans in attendance at the Rosemont Horizon in Rosemont, Illinois, and the fans around the world to get one of the greatest matches of all time that changed the course of history. It truly planted the seeds for what would be known as the Attitude Era. This was also one of the first WrestleManias I vividly remember watching live—even though I watched the previous two live as well. Therefore it holds a special place in my heart.

I should preface by saying that Undertaker, Bret Hart, and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin are in my top five favorites of all time. I also should state that this may be a little biased because the submission match between “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and Bret “The Hitman” Hart with Ken Shamrock as the special referee is my favorite match of all time. The story being told in the Austin-Hart match was an example of why I call professional wrestling the greatest form of art and athleticism. The double turn at the end told the story of the times changing with the superhero good guy Bret Hart being pushed to his limit and the anti-hero Steve Austin being embraced by society as a good guy. The image of Stone Cold with a crimson mask locked in the Sharpshooter will forever remain iconic. If you have never watched this match, go watch it.

This show wasn’t overly booked with a ton of celebrities, but focused more on the talent they had at the time. The card wasn’t anything that would get you too excited other than the last three matches, which I always seem to enjoy more than others. I actually liked the Chicago Street Fight, which pitted the Nation of Domination against the Road Warriors and Ahmed Johnson. It was a hardcore brawl that was rare in the WWE in 1997. Lastly, Undertaker versus Sid wasn’t a classic, but I was sure excited to see Undertaker become the WWE Champion since he is one of my all-time favorites.

I’m sure a lot of you are surprised that this WrestleMania wasn’t lower on the list because many wrestling fans strongly believe that this was the worst WrestleMania of all time. In many ways, I completely understand why and agree. It was the first time the WWE hosted WrestleMania outdoors and they went all out. It took place at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada in front of 17,000 fans. Due to the venue of the event, they decided to go with a Roman Empire theme and dubbed this WrestleMania “The World’s Largest Toga Party.” A majority of the on-screen personalities—from Mean Gene, Jim Ross, and Bobby Heenan—were all in togas or some on-theme costumes. This was also the first year of the annual tradition where the Royal Rumble winner would get a shot at the WWE Champion at WrestleMania. Yokozuna had won the 1993 Royal Rumble and was set to face the fighting champion Bret “The Hitman” Hart in the main event on the show.

I personally really enjoyed this event more for the spectacle, theme, and environment of it all. I agree that the matches weren’t all that great. It was a bummer that Randy Savage was on commentary rather than wrestling, the Undertaker’s match with Gonzalez is one we would all like to forget and the finish of the show was ridiculous. However, I always just enjoy throwing this WrestleMania on randomly or to have on in the background while I’m working on stuff. I enjoy the commentary team of Ross, Savage, and Heenan too as they were three completely different personalities. The keyword is they were “personalities,” rather than straight-laced commentators. However, I still would have had the Macho Man wrestling. I also actually enjoyed the entire theme and thought it added to the ambiance of the event.

The main event had Bret Hart lose the WWE Championship to Yokozuna after Mr. Fuji got involved throwing salt in Bret Hart’s eyes. Following the match, Hulk Hogan came out in support of Bret Hart only to challenge and beat Yokozuna in an impromptu match to win the WWE Championship. I didn’t like this decision at all either, as I would have rather had the show go off the air with Yokozuna or Bret Hart as champion than the same Hogan must pose show we got with the 8 WrestleManias prior to this one. The fans were over Hulkamania at this point and a year later he wouldn’t even be at WrestleMania as he joined WCW.

It was the “Twice in a Lifetime” WrestleMania event. I say that because the once-in-a-lifetime match between The Rock and John Cena happened for a second time at this event. WrestleMania 29 took place from Metlife Stadium in New Jersey and had the third-highest WrestleMania attendance with 80,000 fans. The three major matches for this show were Triple H versus Brock Lesnar, Undertaker defending his streak against CM Punk, and of course The Rock defending the WWE Championship against John Cena. They creatively got to Rock-Cena two by having John Cena win the Royal Rumble while The Rock ended CM Punk’s 435-day championship reign on the same event. The biggest issue with this show was that the undercard was forgettable and the main event matches were super predictable.

I’ll be the first to say maybe I was a bit sour because I really believed CM Punk should have walked into this year’s WrestleMania as the WWE Champion. I also personally didn’t care too much for Rock-Cena Two and definitely did not think it needed to be for the WWE Championship. I would rather have had a triple threat where Punk defended the championship against Rock and Cena to change things up. Cena could have pinned The Rock to still get that W back for the redemption angle for Cena losing to The Rock the year prior. That all being said, Rock versus Cena wasn’t a bad match at all, but other than who won, I can’t differentiate the two matches they had.

CM Punk versus the Undertaker was my favorite match and the best match of the night by far. I found myself actually rooting for Punk, even though after four years of defending the streak against Triple H and Shawn Michaels, I didn’t see the streak ending here. Speaking of Triple H, he also got his redemption when defeating Brock Lesnar in a No Holds Barred match, although it was easy to predict once they added the stipulation that Triple H would retire if he lost. Other than that, the Shield made their WrestleMania debut, the World Championship was defended on WrestleMania for the final time and Fandango pulled a surprising upset victory on Chris Jericho, which I popped for because it was the one unpredictable thing on this show.

WrestleMania 5 was the night the Mega Powers exploded. It took place from Trump Plaza in Atlantic City, New Jersey in front of nearly 19,000 fans. This would be the second consecutive time WrestleMania would be held at Trump Plaza. It was fitting that the Mega Powers exploded in the same arena where they worked together to make sure the odds weren’t stacked against “Macho Man” Randy Savage in the finals of the WrestleMania 4 tournament to crown the new WWE Champion. The wrestling world anticipated this match as it had a year-long build and featured two of the most popular and charismatic stars of the 80s. People around the world wanted to know who would come out on top when the Mega Powers met after a year-long build-up of friendship and misunderstandings.

The event had 14 matches on the card and that was the major issue here. Although some of the matches were decent, it seemed to take forever to get to the highly anticipated main event. They seemed to have tried to get as many people on the card as possible, which seems to be the trend of today too. If you have a soft spot for the 80s and are looking for that era of WWE nostalgia, then you will definitely enjoy this show and disagree with where I ranked it. Honestly, I watched the tape of this show a ton of times growing up and enjoyed it myself. However, watching it back now as an adult, I realized how many of these matches didn’t need to be on the card. I also realized that Randy Savage was the babyface the entire time and the fans in the 80s were hypnotized by Hulkamania.

There are other things I’ll always remember about this show though, such as Andre The Giant being scared of Jake The Snake Roberts’ snake, Ultimate Warrior suffering his first loss when losing the Intercontinental Championship to “Ravishing” Rick Rude, and the Piper’s Pit segment with Morton Downey Jr and Brother Love. Unlike WrestleMania 6 though, the main event here was worth the wait as people wanted the blow-off to this story and Savage carried Hogan to one of his best matches. Hulk Hogan even kicked out of Savage’s flying elbow before hulking up for the usual Hogan finish to win the WWE Championship. It was a story well paid off on an overly stacked show.

WrestleMania 33 took place at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida in front of 75,000 fans. It was dubbed the “Ultimate Thrill Ride” and it set us on a roller coaster ride of emotions. How I felt when I first watched the show live to how I feel looking back at it are completely different. This was a WrestleMania where a lot of things happened that ended up meaning nothing a year later. The show was full of surprises and memorable moments, but most of them were rendered meaningless the next year. The thing was that these memorable moments weren’t just for storyline purposes or working towards some angle, but things that affected the talents’ real lives. The card was pretty solid with a ton to look forward to. I was upset I missed this one live as I had gone to WrestleMania the year prior and was planning to go to them all moving forward.

The show’s main event was a match between The Undertaker and Roman Reigns. I would jokingly call this the “yard match” as it was yet another legend passing the torch—or in Undertaker’s case—the keys to his yard to Roman Reigns. Undertaker did not look good in this match and it ended up being visibly sloppy. Following the match, the Phenom left his jacket, gloves, and hat in the ring to walk out of the arena in a way that made it seem as if we had seen him wrestle for the last time. The entire wrestling world speculated we just saw the Undertaker retire after this grand dramatic exit. That wasn’t the case as the Undertaker returned the very next year at WrestleMania to redeem himself for the way he looked in this match… or so I thought. He ended up wrestling a handful of times following this event.

Another thing that happened on this show was that John Cena finally asked for Nikki Bella’s hand in marriage by proposing to her in the center of the ring after their match against The Miz and Maryse. They never ended up getting married and are both happily married now to other people. That being said a few good things did happen, such as Goldberg and Lesnar redeeming themselves for their poor match at WrestleMania XX in a fun memorable match. The Hardy Boyz returned to the WWE to a massive pop from the crowd, who were genuinely surprised, AJ Styles and Shane McMahon had a match that exceeded expectations and they finally concluded the Seth Rollins and Triple H rivalry that had roots going back to 2014. Watching this show live, I felt like I missed out by not attending the show, but looking back at it, I didn’t miss much other than Hardy’s return.

It was the WrestleMania to crown a new WWE Champion as the title was vacated after a controversial finish to a match between Hulk Hogan and Andre The Giant for the championship. The WWE decided to go with a 14-man tournament for WrestleMania 4. This would be the first and last time the WWE would have a tournament headline a WrestleMania.  That is one of the things that will always make this WrestleMania stand out, but also one of the reasons a lot of people aren’t fans of this event. The event took place at the same place as the following year’s WrestleMania 5: Trump Plaza in Atlantic City, New Jersey in front of 19,000 fans. This was also the first WrestleMania that didn’t have Hulk Hogan competing in the main event, even though he was involved in it.

For those who follow my page, you know that “Macho Man” Randy Savage is my all-time favorite wrestler. Therefore, it shouldn’t be a surprise that I watched this WrestleMania a ton of times growing up. This event was built to solidify Randy Savage as a top star and he proved he was deserving of the spot. Savage and Elizabeth even went the extra mile by wearing different matching outfits for all four matches. The issue with booking a tournament, especially in an era where wins and losses still mattered, is that there were finishes like DQs, time-limit draws and even a double count-out to protect stars from taking a clean loss. The Hogan and Andre match in the tournament that people anticipated even ended in double DQ, allowing Ted DiBiase to get a bye to the finals. In the end though, with Hulk Hogan coming out to be in Savage’s corner to even the odds against Dibiase, Virgil, and Andre, in the finals of the tournament, Macho Man was able to capture the WWE Championship for the first time.

It was really a great moment and I think as a Savage fan that’s why I didn’t rank it lower. This show is a fun watch if you’re about that “Macho Madness” or a fan of this 80s era of WWE. Oooh yeah! Dig it!

Wrestlemania 37 was WWE’s second attempt at a two-night Wrestlemania and the return of the fans at a limited capacity for the first time in over a year due to the COVID 19 pandemic. This Wrestlemania was originally scheduled for Los Angeles at the new SoFi Stadium. However, due to the covid outbreak, Wrestlemania 36 which was originally set to happen in Tampa at Raymond James Stadium was relocated to the Performance Center so the WWE decided to still host the event in Tampa the next year. This Wrestlemania was attended by a little over 25,600 fans both nights. Both nights were a mixed bag of good and just okay. Night one had a delayed start due to an unexpected rainstorm so the production and lighting of the event weren’t as extravagant as night two. I felt like this added to the vibe of the show. It was that old smokey arena with regular ring posts and non led ring aprons. The focus was on the action in the ring and not all of the distractions from the production.

The first night had a historic main event between Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair for the Smackdown Women’s Championship. It was the first-ever time two black women were in the main event of Wrestlemania and the first time a singles match between two women was the main event. I have watched this match about 8 times and will remember this Wrestlemania for this match specifically. This match from bell to bell was a classic. The sound of the hair whip is unforgettable. Although this might be considered a Wrestlemania moment for Bianca Belair, it was a moment for both of them. They even won an ESPY for the match. Night one also featured a solid match between Rollins and Cesaro, a fun women’s tag team turmoil match, Lashley retaining his WWE Champions against McIntyre, a steel cage match, the in-ring debut of Omos, and one of the greatest celebrity in-ring appearances by Bad Bunny. Night two just didn’t hit as hard as night one which is the struggle with Wrestlemania being two nights. The main event was the triple threat between Roman Reigns, Edge, and Daniel Bryan for the Universal Championship. All three men had comeback stories which really added to the match. Roman had overcome Leukemia and Bryan and Edge both returned from early forced retirement. It was a really entertaining match. The rest of the night was just okay. Randy Orton and The Fiend was more of a segment than a match. Kevin Owens vs Sami Zayn and Sheamus vs Riddle were both solid. The women’s matches on this night were good but not on par with the classic the night before. I almost forgot Apollo and Big E even happened. There are only really three or four matches I would go back to watch from this one and three of them are from night one. Night one really outshined night two.

This was the first WrestleMania I attended as an adult. It was hosted in Dallas, Texas at the AT&T Stadium with a reported record-breaking 101,000 fans in attendance. This WrestleMania catches a lot of hate, but I think there was a lot good on this show. It was the WrestleMania event that had to follow 30 and 31, which left us with satisfying happy endings, whereas people were not on board with the Roman Reigns push that was going to close this show. Therefore, as long as Roman Reigns was in the main event, people were not going to be happy. It didn’t help that there were a plethora of injuries to top stars such as John Cena, Randy Orton, and Seth Rollins. Stars who played a major part in the previous two WrestleManias, such as Daniel Bryan and Sting, were both forced to retire prior to this show too. WWE did their best to still make this event feel like a big deal and I truly feel like they did an excellent job.

I agree that the main event between Triple H and Roman Reigns for the WWE Championship wasn’t the greatest and the match between Brock Lesnar and Dean Ambrose never lived up to expectations, but the rest of the card wasn’t so bad. The ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship was a blast and Zack Ryder winning was a pleasant surprise, even though I was rooting for Kevin Owens. AJ Styles made his WrestleMania debut facing off against the legendary veteran Chris Jericho in a solid match, even if the booking of the finish was surprising. The ground shook when the glass shattered for Stone Cold Steve Austin as he—along with Shawn Michaels and Mick Foley—gave us a WrestleMania moment with the New Day and League of Nations. The Rock made his presence known and had an impromptu match against Erick Rowan that lasted seconds. After the match, John Cena would make a surprise appearance to help The Rock fight off the rest of the Wyatt Family. Shane McMahon made his return to the ring against The Undertaker in a Hell in a Cell match. Although this match was slow at times, we did get to see Shane O’ Mac going for the Flying Elbow off the top of the 20-foot cell.

Honestly, as a fan who grew up during the late 90s, this show was a burst of nostalgia for me. The women had the best match on the card and stole the show. I personally think Sasha Banks, Charlotte Flair, and Becky Lynch could have been the main event of this show and the fans would have accepted it… if they stayed after Roman won the championship. I also still think this should have been Sasha Banks’ big WrestleMania moment, but it is what it is.

It was the night the boyhood dream came true. WrestleMania 12 took place at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, California in front of nearly 19,000 fans. The WWE was in the midst of the Monday Night Wars as major names who popularized WrestleMania, such as Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage, had jumped ship to World Championship Wrestling. They were deep into the New Generation era and the focus was now on Shawn Michaels as the next big star. The main event was a first-time-ever occurrence and definitely a risk for the WWE. It was a 60 minute Iron Man match between two of the company’s workhorses and leaders of the New Generation in Bret “The Hitman” Hart and “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels.

Whether you like this event or not is really based on whether or not you enjoy long wrestling matches. It also matters if you’re a fan of Shawn Michaels or Bret Hart because then you would appreciate the main event more. The two legends kept an excellent pace and told a great story. This was Shawn Michael’s night from his zipping entrance to achieving his boyhood dream by becoming the WWE Champion. There were a ton of great memorable spots in this match. The way the match ended in sudden-death overtime was a creative way to showcase how equally fought this battle was.

There were a ton of other memorable matches on this card, such as Undertaker facing off against Diesel and a returning Ultimate Warrior squashing a young Triple H. The parking lot brawl between Goldust and “Rowdy” Roddy Piper is also a treat and it’s something you should check out if you have never seen it. Regardless though, if you’re not into a 60-minute marathon of a wrestling match between two babyface superstars, this might not be the event for you.

WrestleMania 7 was a unique event for sure, but one I have watched a ton of times. This WrestleMania was originally scheduled to be held at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, but the WWF decided to move the event to the adjacent Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. It was originally reported that the event was moved due to actual threats of an attack due to Sgt Slaughter Iraqi sympathizer character while the Gulf War was actually going on. However, there were claims that later came out that the WWE changed venues due to initially low ticket sales as the Coliseum seated 100,000 people. There is no way to know how many tickets they actually sold but the final attendance in the arena was 16,000 fans. Bruce Prichard later mentioned that both statements were accurate as they initially were worried about the security of a larger venue if more tickets were sold. Regardless of the venue, the show is still memorable though.

In the main event, America’s hero Hulk Hogan faced off against the turncoat freedom-hating WWE Champion Sgt Slaughter to defend America’s honor and win the WWE Championship to send the fans home happy. However, the main event for many other fans and myself was the career-threatening match between “Macho Man” Randy Savage and the Ultimate Warrior. They told an amazing story within the match that was followed by a beautiful reunion between Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth. These two really stole the show for me and it’s a match I have watched A LOT. This was Ultimate Warrior’s best match and much better than the boring WrestleMania 6 match that gets a ton of praise.

There were 14 other matches on this card which included the Undertaker’s streak beginning with his Wrestlemania debut against Jimmy Snuka. There were also a ton of celebrities on hand for this show, whether appearing as spectators or having roles on the show, which was expected since it was taking place in Los Angeles.

WrestleMania 34 was a show that started off great and fell off somewhere in the middle. The card was stacked and a lot of cool things happened at this event, but the show didn’t leave a lasting impression after it was said and done. It’s been three years since the event and looking back at it, there isn’t a ton of intrigue for me to want to turn this event on to watch back. The show took place at the Mercedes Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana in front of 78,000 fans. I was in attendance for this show too, so my opinion on this show is a little biased due to enjoying my experience overall even though the show really fell flat. This was a three-match show whereas everything else just wasn’t good or was forgettable.

The three most memorable matches on the show were the opening triple threat match for the Intercontinental Championship, the Smackdown Women’s Championship match, and Ronda Rousey’s in-ring debut. The triple threat was between Finn Balor, Seth Rollins, and The Miz and kicked off the show hot. Charlotte Flair and Asuka had the best wrestling match on the card even though there are people who are still split on the decision to have Charlotte go over, thus ending Asuka’s undefeated streak. Ronda Rousey’s debut match, where she teamed with Kurt Angle to face off against Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, was just fun and the most entertaining match on the show. Rousey left looking like a star.

Another highlight was Daniel Bryan having his first match back after coming out of retirement when he teamed with Shane McMahon to face off against Owens and Zayn. The Undertaker also made an appearance a year after we all thought he retired to redeem himself for his last match by quickly squashing John Cena. He still did not retire after this. There was also the not-so-great, such as AJ Styles-Nakamura not living up to the hype, Braun Strowman winning the tag titles with a kid, and Brock Lesnar-Roman Reigns being a match where spots seemed like they were on repeat even though it led to an unpredictable finish.

It was the 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania. It took place from the Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas in front of 73,000 fans. This show is mainly remembered for the classic Shawn Michaels and Undertaker match, which is arguably the greatest match of all time to many fans. The match is highly acclaimed and also won Match of the Year by Pro Wrestling Illustrated readers. However, the rest of the card was booked like a supercard, but everything will be left in the shadows to the Undertaker and Shawn Michaels match. When I think of this WrestleMania, I literally just think about the one match. I also never really had any interest to go back and watch this WrestleMania back from start to finish.

There were two championship main events that were in a tough spot following Shawn Michaels and Undertaker on this card. There was a triple threat between John Cena, Edge, and Big Show for the World Championship, in which Cena won. The other championship match was between Triple H and Randy Orton for the WWE Championship. This match just never clicked and was disappointing in execution after having such a strong build-up. It also felt weird that Triple H retained here. There are a few reasons I feel that way, such as the choice to continue this feud after the event and Orton winning the belt the next month.

Realistically though, neither of these matches could follow Michaels-Undertaker, which should have gone on last. The undercard had an awesome extreme rules match between the Hardy brothers, CM Punk won in an entertaining Money in the Bank Ladder match and Chris Jericho won in a fun match against the legendary “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, Jimmy Snuka and Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat. The show is worth the watch if you have never seen it, but I’m not sure how many times you’ll watch it again after the fact.

WrestleMania 35 was a mixed bag with another stacked card featuring multiple first-time-ever occurrences, such as the women being the main event of WrestleMania for the first time in its history. The show took place from Metlife Stadium in New Jersey in front of 82,000 fans. I was in attendance for this WrestleMania as well. It was also REALLY long. Way longer than any wrestling event ever needs to be. The main event didn’t start until the next day, as it started after midnight eastern time. There were matches on this card that I forgot even happened. The show was filled with historic moments, but also confusing booking decisions. And did I mention that it was really long?

The peak of the show for me was Kofi Kingston winning the WWE Championship after Kofimania took off in the months leading up to WrestleMania. It was such a special moment seeing Kofi finally win the WWE Championship with all the fans behind him. Kofi Kingston was the first African-born WWE Champion and someone who had been with the company for a long time up to this point, consistently delivering with whatever he was doing. Daniel Bryan-Kofi Kingston gave us a solid match. I feel like a lot of us were drained after that match so everything that followed it suffered. There were some good matches that followed, such as Drew McIntyre-Roman Reigns, which was Roman’s first singles match back after battling leukemia, and the Triple H-Batista match, which was Batista’s retirement match that he wanted for years. Triple H finally got a win over Batista with the help of Ric Flair and Batista got to retire on his terms before leaving for Hollywood full time.

However, there were a handful of matches that happened after Kofi-Bryan that I totally forgot about, such as Samoa Joe-Rey Mysterio for the United States Championship and Demon Balor-Bobby Lashley for the Intercontinental Championship. Kurt Angle’s retirement match against Baron Corbin was what it was, but I wish he had a better opponent. I did however enjoy Angle’s post-match promo. The main event between Becky, Charlotte, and Ronda was historic, but the match itself was decent at best with what seemed like a botched finish. I also think everyone was just tired by the time Becky won the match. Earlier in the card, we had solid matches such as AJ Styles-Randy Orton, The Miz-Shane McMahon, and a couple of solid tag team title matches too.

WrestleMania 24 was a show that took you on a roller coaster of emotions and also had great involvement from celebrities relevant to the time, such as Floyd Mayweather, Kim Kardashian, and Snoop Dogg. This WrestleMania took place at the Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando in front of over 74,000 fans. This was the first WrestleMania to be held outdoors since WrestleMania 9. I always get a kick out of events that are held under the open sky, so I enjoyed this. They also used Red Hot Chili Peppers’ song “Snow,” which is one of my favorite songs and bands, so that made it memorable. This show had two major championship matches, a celebrity match, and a forced retirement that led to a ton of anticipation. It’s still enjoyable to watch back today.

The match most people remember this Wrestlemania for is the career-threatening match between Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels. If Flair lost, he would have to retire. This was the match with the dramatic “I’m sorry…I love you!” moment between Michaels and Flair before HBK pulled the trigger on the Sweet Chin Music that ended Ric Flair’s legendary career. Looking back knowing what we know about Ric Flair’s career following this event, the match lost some of its significance and wasn’t as good as I thought it was back then. The match still really holds up and is a great match for Ric Flair at his older age.

The major celebrity match was Big Show against Floyd “Money” Mayweather in a no disqualification match, which was really entertaining. The WWE Championship match was a solid triple threat match where Randy Orton defended the title against Triple H and John Cena, where Orton retained. The World Championship match was the main event of the show and it featured Edge defending the championship against The Undertaker, who still had never lost at WrestleMania. He didn’t lose here either and became the World Champion. The inter-promotional match between Batista and Umaga didn’t live up to the expectations I had for it, but Batista still won. The Money in the Bank matches on these WrestleManias are always worth checking out too.

Wrestlemania 38 took place in the AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas with over 75,000 in attendance each night. This was WWE’s third Wrestlemania that took place over two nights and the first one with full capacity since the world was hit by the COVID19 pandemic. I might be a little biased towards this one since it’s fresh in my memory and the last two Wrestlemania’s suffered due to the pandemic but this one was really fun. The card wasn’t that stellar on paper and the build-up was underwhelming. It featured celebrity matches, an advertised appearance by “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, and the winner-takes-all match between Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar that was being dubbed the “Biggest Wrestlemania Match of All-Time.” This show ended up being an unforgettable one by the end.

On night one, The Usos’ would retain their tag team titles and McIntyre finally used his sword to destroy the ring after defeating Baron Corbin. Influencer Logan Paul had an impressive showing teaming with the Miz to defeat the Mysterio’s. Bianca Belair won the Raw Women’s Championship in arguably the best match of both nights when she defeated Becky Lynch. Charlotte Flair found a way to defeat Ronda Rousey but it didn’t happen without controversy. Cody Rhodes made his triumphant return to the WWE after six years away from the company and being a founding father of AEW to have a classic match with Seth Rollins. It was a Wrestlemania moment that we’ll never forget. Lastly, the “KO Show” hosted by Kevin Owens with special guest “Stone Cold” Steve Austin turned into an impromptu match for the main event. The Texas Rattlesnake wrestled and won his first match in 19 years in the same city he had his first match. The night ended in a giant beer bash celebration.Night two kicked off with a triple threat tag team match where RKBro retained their tag team titles. Lashley surprisingly defeated Omos. Johnny Knoxville from “Jackass” defeated Sami Zayn in a super entertaining “Anything Goes Match” with some help from his friends and a lot of shenanigans. Sheamus and Ridge Holland quickly defeated The New Day. Sasha Banks and Naomi defeated three other teams including Zelina Vega and Carmella to win the Women’s Tag Team Titles. This would make Sasha and Naomi the first black tag team to win the Women’s Tag Team titles and it would be Sasha Banks’ first win at Wrestlemania. Edge and AJ Styles didn’t live up to expectations but had an interesting ending with Damien Priest. Pat McAfee defeated Austin Theory in a fun match which was followed by an impromptu match featuring Vince McMahon. McMahon would defeat McAfee in his first match at Wrestlemania since Wrestlemania 26 before “Stone Cold” Steve Austin showed up to stun everyone and drink beer. In a match we’ve seen at two other Wrestlemania events, Roman Reigns would overcome Brock Lesnar in an explosive but anticlimactic main event for both the WWE and Universal Championship titles. Both nights had their highs and lows but it was the best two-night Wrestlemania to date.

WrestleMania 14 was the show where the tide changed in the Monday Night Wars and the WWF began taking the lead in the ratings war. They had Mike Tyson as the big celebrity involved with this WrestleMania as the special enforcer for the main event and he played a role in the build-up, going face to face with “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and joining D-Generation X. The show took place from the FleetCenter in Boston, Massachusetts in front of a sold-out 19,000 fans. The fans were strongly behind Stone Cold and this was the unofficial beginning of the Austin Era. A lot of people also consider this the official beginning of the Attitude Era, although I feel like that started earlier in 1997. Regardless, this WrestleMania will always be held in high regard as the one that put the WWE back on the top of the mountain.

The main event was the last time we would see “Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels in the WWE ring as a competitor for four years. It was the official end of the New Generation and the beginning of the Attitude Era with Stone Cold Steve Austin defeating Shawn Michaels with the help of Mike Tyson. It was a perfect ending to a solid show. This show also featured the long-awaited brother versus brother match between The Undertaker and Kane. It was one of the greatest storylines in professional wrestling and it finally led to a match here at WrestleMania. This was also the first time Kane had a run-in with Pete Rose whom he tombstoned, starting the three-year tradition.

The undercard featured the return of LOD, Triple H-Owen Hart, The Rock-Ken Shamrock, and the memorable tag team dumpster match between the New Age Outlaws and hardcore team of Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie. This show felt completely different than the last three WrestleManias and showed that the times were changing.

WrestleMania 23 took place from Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan in front of 80,000 fans. This show featured the stars of Raw, Smackdown, and ECW. It was also headlined by three major matches: the WWE Championship match, the World Championship match, and the Battle of the Billionaires. Former President of the United States and WWE Hall of Famer Donald J. Trump was the major celebrity guest on this show. Donald Trump was embroiled in a feud with WWE owner and fellow billionaire Vince McMahon. This garnered a ton of mainstream attention and made this WrestleMania the most bought WWE Pay-Ver-View until WrestleMania 28 broke that record. It’s insane to think a former President played a major role in a WrestleMania.

When Vince McMahon and Donald Trump began feuding on WWE television, it led to them selecting superstars to wrestle on their behalf to settle their differences. Donald Trump selected Bobby Lashley while Vince McMahon selected Umaga. The stipulation was that the losing billionaire would have to shave their head. To make sure things were called down the middle, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin was the special referee. The match was entertaining and in the end, Vince McMahon ended up getting his head shaved while Donald Trump still ate a Stone Cold Stunner.

The WWE Championship match between John Cena and Shawn Michaels further validated Cena’s spot on the top of the wrestling world as he beat another absolute legend of the business at the grandest stage of them all. They had a great match and went on last, but I personally felt like the Undertaker-Batista match for the World Championship was a better match on this show. Undertaker captured the World Championship—I would have loved this to have gone on last, but either way, both matches were great. The other matches to check out are the Money in the Bank ladder match and the ECW Originals versus The New Breed tag matches. Although this show was a three-match card, all three matches delivered.

I watched this show when it aired live and bought the VHS when I saw it at the video store, which led to me watching this event a bunch of times. This was the second WrestleMania to take place in Toronto, Canada. The first one was WrestleMania 6 in 1990. This show also took place in the Skydome, but in front of 68,000 which beat the WrestleMania 6 attendance. This was the first WrestleMania after World Championship Wrestling was out of business. I know technically WrestleMania 17 happened days after WWE purchased WCW, but this was the first WrestleMania after WCW had been out of business for an entire year. 2002 ended up being this weird post-Attitude Era transitional year. This meant a lot of WCW’s former stars from the Monday Night Wars were on this show, such as the NWO, Booker T, Diamond Dallas Page, and Ric Flair. It led to some really big dream matches for sure.

It’s fair to say that the first match people think about when it comes to Wrestlemania X8 is the Icon vs. Icon match between The Rock and “Hollywood” Hulk Hogan. It was a match we never thought we would see, and many consider it to be one of the best representations of what professional wrestling is all about. The crowd controlled the narrative of this match as they were split down the middle for who to root for, while Rock and Hogan played to the crowd. The Rock was the good guy but Hulk Hogan was finally home in the WWE and appearing at WrestleMania for the first time since 1993, which got the fans behind him—even though he was the “bad guy.”

This match took so much energy from the crowd that the matches that followed, including the main event match between Chris Jericho and Triple H for the Undisputed Championship, really suffered. No matter how good that championship match might have been, it wouldn’t be able to capture that same magic as Rock-Hogan. Two other matches earlier in the card really stood out to me too, which were Undertaker-Flair and Steve Austin-Scott Hall. Hall and Austin was a decent match but it was special seeing them work together after the Monday Night Wars. If anything, Scott Hall’s selling for the Stunner is something you should go watch. The Undertaker helped Ric Flair find his confidence with a great match and the Arn Anderson run-in with a Double-A Spinebuster to Undertaker was an awesome moment. The matches top to bottom were solid and the thread throughout the show with the Hardcore title was fun too. At the end of the day though, Rock and Hogan owned this show.

WrestleMania 22 was the last WrestleMania intentionally held in a smaller traditional arena before every WrestleMania ended up in larger Stadiums for good. It took place from the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois in front of 17,000 fans. The card was stacked with 11 matches, four of them being major standouts. This WrestleMania featured the stars of Raw and Smackdown in a handful of unforgettable matches. I feel like this is another one of those WrestleManias that I watched a ton of times growing up. They really went all out for this show and it had a little bit of something for everyone. Whether you were looking for solid wrestling or hardcore wrestling, you got a bit of both.

The main event was the WWE Championship match between John Cena and Triple H, which was a classic competitive wrestling match. Cena still walked out as champion. Their entrances are what I remember most about this match when Triple H had a Conan The Barbarian-themed entrance and John Cena had an entrance that played off the 1940s Chicago gangster theme. The World Championship was defended by Kurt Angle in a triple threat match against Randy Orton and Rey Mysterio, in which Mysterio walked out victorious, winning his first World Title. Rey dedicated this entire run from the Royal Rumble to WrestleMania to the late Eddie Guerrero who passed away in November 2005.

The match I remember the most from this show was the hardcore match between Edge and Mick Foley. This was a brutal affair that ended with Edge spearing Mick Foley through a flaming table, officially giving Foley a WrestleMania moment that will live on forever. Another match that stood out to me was the no holds barred match between Shawn Michaels and Vince McMahon, which was really entertaining. The matches between Trish Stratus-Mickie James, the Money in the Bank ladder match, and the Casket match between Undertaker and Mark Henry are worth mentioning as well. This really was a supercard of a show.

It was supposed to be a once-in-a-lifetime event. That marketing campaign worked because the people tuned in. WrestleMania 29 took place at Sun Life Stadium in Miami, Florida in front of 78,000 fans. It was the highest-grossing PPV event in professional wrestling history at the time. The Rock was now one of the biggest stars in Hollywood and was competing at WrestleMania for the first time since 2004. John Cena had become both the WWE’s franchise player and synonymous with WrestleMania in the eight years The Rock was absent from the business. Cena had said some harsh things about how The Rock left wrestling for Hollywood, but now The Rock was back. The table was set for the ultimate showdown, the match was built up for over a year and the anticipation was real.

The “Once in a Lifetime” match between Rock and Cena was pretty good. It was great to see The Rock back at WrestleMania doing his thing and Cena brought the fight. It was shocking when The Rock picked up the win though. A lot of us thought it was going to be the passing of the torch moment. The Rock never raised Cena’s hand in acknowledgment. Instead, Cena sat in the entrance aisle disappointed with his loss while The Rock celebrated his victory. At this time, people began speculating that a rematch was inevitable, but nothing set in stone.

The other match that was highly praised on this card was the “End of the Era” Hell in a Cell match between Undertaker and Triple H. Shawn Michaels was the special referee which added to the drama. I was 100% sure that when Undertaker took the Sweet Chin Music and Pedigree back to back that the streak was over, but Undertaker eventually found a way to secure the victory. The storytelling of this match was tremendous. CM Punk continued his historic WWE Championship reign when he defeated Chris Jericho on this show in another solid match I think fans will enjoy. Sheamus beat Daniel Bryan in 18 seconds for the World Championship, which was shocking but disappointing at the same time. Regardless, the three main events matches in Rock-Cena, Undertaker-Triple H, and Punk-Jericho made this show.

It was “the heist of the century” that pushed WrestleMania 31 to the top ten of this list. WrestleMania 31 took place from Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California in front of 76,000 fans. When I think about this event, I always think about how the build-up to the show was pretty bad. I went into it with low expectations, but the show ended up exceeding expectations. The WWE was backed into a corner, yet made sure that WrestleMania felt special. This show was also one of the smaller WrestleMania cards, with only seven matches on the main card. Although, there were a few things I disagreed with on this show booking decision-wise, the moment at the end with Seth Rollins sent us all home happy. It was truly a moment that can never be replicated.

This WrestleMania will always be remembered for Seth Rollins cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase in the WWE Championship main event match between Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns, turning it into a triple threat and winning the title. The predictable outcome of the main event was that Roman Reigns was going to overcome The Beast and become the WWE Champion here. The fans weren’t with it as 2015 was the year the fans turned on Roman Reigns. The match ended up better than we expected, but Seth Rollins coming through with the heist of the century was the cherry on top. Seth Rollins also had a banger of a match earlier in the night against Randy Orton. Rollins may have lost, but the RKO that put him away was beautiful.

Sting also made his WrestleMania debut on this show, facing off against Triple H. It was special seeing Sting at WrestleMania, but after interference from the NWO and DX playing off the Monday Night Wars, Sting lost to Triple H. That was dumb and I still think Sting should have gone over on his only WrestleMania appearance. I’ll always stand by believing Sting’s first opponent should have been the long-awaited match against The Undertaker. The Undertaker faced off against Bray Wyatt and The Phenom went over, redeeming himself for his loss to Brock Lesnar the year prior. The Intercontinental Championship ladder match, the women’s tag match, and Cena-Rusev were all solid matches as well. The segment that teased The Rock and Ronda Rousey versus Triple H and Stephanie got the fans excited too. It was just a really enjoyable WrestleMania despite its few flaws.

WrestleMania 26 was a personal favorite of mine. In my real life, things were changing rapidly and this WrestleMania felt symbolic of change as we kicked off the new decade. All these long stories were coming to an end while opening up new beginnings for some, or goodbye for others. This event took place at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona in front of 72,000 fans. The card had a ton of memorable matches wrapping up feuds. There were three matches promoted as main event matches on this card, including both championship matches between Edge-Jericho and Cena-Batista. However, The Undertaker versus Shawn Michaels—where HBK’s career was on the line against Undertaker’s Wrestlemania undefeated streak—closed the show, rightfully so.

Shawn Michaels and Undertaker had arguably one of the greatest matches at WrestleMania 25. Shawn Michaels lost but became obsessed with ending the streak so much that he was willing to put his career on the line for another opportunity to beat the Undertaker. In a suitable follow-up to their previous match, The Undertaker ended Shawn Michaels’ career in a dramatic storytelling match. It was the match of the night as we said a bittersweet farewell to an absolute legend. John Cena defeated Batista for the WWE Championship in a great match between two of the leaders of the Ruthless Aggression era and Edge defeated Chris Jericho to retain his World Championship in another competitive battle between two Canadian legends.

Bret Hart made his return to WrestleMania after 13 years to face off against Vince McMahon. The match wasn’t the greatest, but to be honest, this was more of a segment. Bret and the Hart Family finally got their revenge on Mr. McMahon 13 years after the Screwjob. This was the last time Vince McMahon would wrestle at WrestleMania and allegedly he wanted this to be the end of the Mr. McMahon character on television. The undercard was really good too, with matches like Punk-Mysterio, the Money in the Bank match, Triple H-Sheamus, and Randy Orton facing off against his two former Legacy proteges, Ted Dibase Jr and Cody Rhodes. I really enjoyed this WrestleMania then and still do to this day.

WrestleMania returned to where it all began for WrestleMania 10. This was the first WrestleMania without Hulkamania involved in any way, but they delivered. The event took place from Madison Square Garden in New York in front of 18,000 fans. The celebrity guests were on hand from Donnie Wahlberg to Burt Reynolds. The main focus of this show was the WWE Championship and who the rightful contender was for the WWE Championship. Bret Hart and Lex Luger went over the top rope at the same time at the Royal Rumble, therefore they were both named winners of the match. They both earned championship matches at WrestleMania, which meant the championship would be defended twice on the show. This was the show to build up Bret “The Hitman” Hart as the leader of the New Generation, but many stars were made on this night.

Firstly, let’s talk about the greatest opening match in professional wrestling between Bret Hart and his brother Owen Hart. This was art and the finest showcase of wrestling. Owen Hart picked up the victory over his brother in this instant classic. Yokozuna walked in as the WWE Champion who was expecting to defend the championship twice unless he lost the belt in his first defense. Yokozuna successfully defended the championship against Lex Luger in a controversial fashion when special guest referee Mr. Perfect turned heel. In the main event, Bret Hart made up for WrestleMania 9 when he successfully defeated Yokozuna for the WWE Championship. “Rowdy” Roddy Piper was the special referee for this match to make sure there weren’t any shenanigans. The show ended with Bret Hart being celebrated by his peers as they raised him on their shoulders.

The other marquee match on this show was the “first-ever” Ladder Match between Razor Ramon and Shawn Michaels for the Intercontinental Championship. The Ladder Match was groundbreaking and ahead of its time. Lastly, Macho Man Randy Savage wrestled his last televised match for the WWE and performed at his last WrestleMania on this show in a Falls Count Anywhere match against Crush. Overall, the opening match, Ladder Match, and the celebration at the end alone make this one of the greatest WrestleManias of all time.

Staying with tradition one last time, WrestleMania XX returned home to Madison Square Garden for the anniversary event. This event took place in front of a sold-out 20,000 fans. It was the highest-grossing PPV event for Madison Square Garden. It really did feel like a celebration and the WWE really went big to make it feel like a must-see event. They were pushing new stars, bringing back old characters, and saying farewell to two major stars. We even got a clash of generations. There were two championship matches on this show and one of them included the ultimate underdog storyline, while the other one was a classic wrestling match between two of the greatest to grace the squared circle. Considering the circumstances surrounding Chris Benoit, people may have a hard time watching this event back, but the rest of the show still holds up as a memorable WrestleMania.

The main event was a triple threat match between World Champion Triple H, Shawn Michaels, and Chris Benoit, where Rabid Wolverine finally reached the mountaintop to become the World Champion. This match was incredible and the post-match celebration with Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit is an emotional moment between two longtime friends who reached the highest level of success at the same time on the grandest stage of them all. If you can still stomach watching Chris Benoit, this match is the one he is most remembered for.

The Undertaker returned to his Deadman character at this event after four years of being a more reality-based biker character. Kane helped Vince McMahon bury the Undertaker months prior in a buried alive match, so The Phenom rose from the dead and got revenge on his brother. It was short and to the point but to witness the Undertaker return to the dark side with Paul Bearer on his side again was special. Eddie Guerrero and Kurt Angle put on a classic wrestling match for the WWE Championship which Eddie retained in a cheating way that the fans would cheer him for doing. Goldberg and Lesnar had a match that stunk up the place as they were both on the way out of the company and the fans knew it. It was fun seeing them both eat Stone Cold Stunners after though. Randy Orton, Batista, and Ric Flair picked up a victory over The Rock N Sock Connection and John Cena defeated the Big Show, which showcased the future looking strong. There were other solid matches on this show too, such as Jericho-Christian and the Cruiserweight invitational. This show doesn’t disappoint.

Sometimes I feel like younger fans don’t appreciate WrestleMania 8 the same way we older fans do. The show deserves a lot more love than it gets. This event took place at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis, Indiana in front of 62,000 fans. Although most fans during the time thought we were going to get Ric Flair versus Hulk Hogan as the main event, WWE decided to go a different route. Instead, the show was headlined by two major main events rather than one. One was “Macho Man” Randy Savage facing off against “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair for the WWE Championship and his pride after Flair made claims to have a romantic history with Miss Elizabeth. The second main event was between “The Immortal” Hulk Hogan and his former friend Sid Justice, in what many thought to be Hulk Hogan’s retirement match.

This was the first time Ric Flair appeared at WrestleMania. To have Randy Savage be the second option of an opponent after Hulk Hogan isn’t bad at all. Personally, I think it’s an upgrade since, up to this point, Randy Savage had more memorable WrestleMania matches than Hogan. They gave us a helluva match where Randy Savage not only won the WWE Championship but also defended Elizabeth’s honor. He overcame all the shenanigans from Mr. Perfect who was in Flair’s corner and the Dirtiest Player in the Game himself. However, this was the first time since the inaugural WrestleMania that the championship match did not go on last, but the match between Hogan and Sid did instead. The match was okay, but the highlight of it was the Ultimate Warrior making his surprising return to come help Hogan fight off Sid and Papa Shango to close out the show.

The undercard was really solid on this show too. The Bret Hart-Roddy Piper Intercontinental Championship match is highly praised and one of my favorite matches of all time. They told a great story and the Hitman had his first of many WrestleMania moments, while this had to be Roddy Piper’s best match in the WWE in my opinion. The Undertaker appeared on his second WrestleMania, defeating a formidable foe in Jake “The Snake” Roberts. Imagine he lost here and there never was a streak. It could have happened. Tito Satana-Shawn Michaels wasn’t so bad either as this was HBK’s first WrestleMania as a singles star. Overall, I don’t think you’d be disappointed if you spent a Saturday or Sunday watching this event from start to finish. It had all the nostalgia you need along with some great wrestling.

This was the WrestleMania that set the bar and the pinnacle of the 1980s wrestling boom. It didn’t get any bigger than WrestleMania 3. This event took place from the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan in front of 93,000 fans. This was the largest recorded attendance of a live indoor event in North America at the time. Everybody wanted to see if Hulk Hogan could overcome his biggest threat to his WWE Championship yet in his former friend, the undefeated Andre the Giant. Gorilla Monsoon put it best when he dubbed this match the “Irresistible Force facing off against the Immovable Object.” This WrestleMania felt important unlike WrestleMania 2. The impact of this WrestleMania is felt today. This was the event that every other WrestleMania had to try to live up to in the years that followed.

Hulkamania was at its peak around WrestleMania 3. Andre The Giant did not come into the main event at 100%, as he started having more back problems at this point of his career. These two were still able to give us a really good match despite the disadvantages with Andre’s mobility. Andre let Hogan pick him for the scoop slam, which nobody had ever seen on national television. It was the slam that was heard around the world. For a lot of people, this was the first time they had ever seen the Giant get slammed and it made Hulk Hogan more of a made man in the eyes of the fans. This would also be Andre’s last really great WrestleMania performance as his health kept declining after this event. What Andre the Giant did for Hulkamania and the WWE on this very night will always be a huge part of why WrestleMania is the showcase of immortals. Andre’s memory will live on forever. The visual of the bodyslam will always be iconic.

Of course, there was the other match that stole the show, influenced so many superstars, and is arguably the greatest match of all time. That match was between “Macho Man” Randy Savage and Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat for the Intercontinental Championship. This was the workhorse match. If you haven’t seen this match before, go watch it now. It’s highly praised and rightfully so. Ricky Steamboat is on record describing this match as “the moment in time that defined me as a wrestler.” This was definitely the match that defined Randy Savage as a worker as well. Also, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper wrestled Adrian Adonis in what was supposed to be his retirement match, as he wanted to pursue a career in Hollywood. I’ll always remember the scene where Beefcake and Piper were cutting Adonis’s hair after the match. The celebrities were on hand too, such as Alice Cooper and Bob Uecker. The rest of the card is filled with 80s nostalgia, popular legends, and memorable moments. Watch this show if you haven’t before.

The time WrestleMania went Hollywood. I loved this WrestleMania. It took place from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California in front of 20,000 fans. The vignettes leading up to this event that parodied scenes of famous Hollywood movies will always be some of the best and most creative marketing pieces the WWE did to hype up WrestleMania. I loved the entire Hollywood theme for this show. Once again, I enjoy shows with themes. This WrestleMania, to me, was the beginning of a new era. It was still the middle of the Ruthless Aggression era, but the stars they started building in 2002 for the future finally reached the top of the card. It confirmed that the future was now. The two championship matches ended with two fresh faces winning world titles for the first time from seasoned veterans to lead the end half of the Ruthless Aggression era and the eras that followed. Those two young superstars were John Cena and Dave Batista.

The first of those two championship main events was a young, brash John Cena—with great new theme music—challenging John Bradshaw Layfield for the WWE Championship. JBL was on a long reign that felt like he was champion for the entire last year. I was actually a Cena fan and rooting for him here, so I was happy when he won the match. This would change later this same year when the Cena act started getting old to me. This was really the beginning of the end of me genuinely enjoying WWE for a handful of years when I look back at it. Honestly, watching this match back… it was a pretty boring match. The second championship match was the main event when “The Game” Triple H with Ric Flair his corner had to defend the World Championship against his former Evolution protegé Dave Batista, who came into the match with a ton of momentum. In a competitive back and forth match, Batista defeated Triple H, dethroning his mentor to become the World Champion for the first time on the grandest stage of them all. As someone who grew up a big fan of Evolution and all four members of the group, I had been on the Batista hype train since 2002 so this was a satisfying WrestleMania moment. I’m glad it was the main event.

Speaking of Evolution, former member Randy Orton tested his luck and made it a goal of his to end the Undertaker’s undefeated WrestleMania streak to stay true to his “Legend Killer” roots. This was one of the first WrestleManias where ending the streak played a major role in Taker’s storyline heading into the event. This was another one of the young stars the WWE had been building over the years working against one of the veterans on the roster. They had a great match; Orton looked like a star even though he lost. The match that stole the show had to be the highly praised dream match between Shawn Michaels and Kurt Angle. It was a damn near-perfect match, with a great combination of technical wrestling and showmanship. If you have never watched it, do yourself a favor and check it out. The undercard also had memorable matches like Eddie Guerrero-Rey Mysterio, the first-ever Money in the Bank match, and a sumo match between Akebono and the Big Show. Last but not least, there were also moments such as the surprise appearance from Hulk Hogan to save Eugene from Muhammed Hassan, and a Pipers Pit segment where Stone Cold and Roddy Piper traded words and then drank beers together after beating up Carlito. There really wasn’t a dull moment in this show.

WrestleMania XXX has to be the most memorable of the modern era. The tagline of the show was “let the good times roll,” but throughout this show, we felt all sorts of emotions. I can’t say they were all good due to one major thing that happened on this show. Overall, this show left us with a happy feeling due to the Daniel Bryan story. WrestleMania 30 broke the tradition of returning to Madison Square Garden every ten years as WWE wanted to continue having larger stadiums host Mania. This event took place in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana in front of 75,000 fans. Hulk Hogan kept referring to it as the Silverdome in the awesome opening segment that also featured appearances from “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and The Rock, but I can confirm this didn’t happen in the Silverdome folks.

This was the first time the fans could really say the outcome of WrestleMania was dictated by them. The fans had been behind Daniel Bryan for years now and wanted to see him be pushed to the top of the card, main eventing WrestleMania. When Batista returned and won the Royal Rumble, the fans made it clear they wanted Daniel Bryan in the main event of WrestleMania over Big Dave. The Yes Movement took off and the rest is history. The originally planned singles main event between Randy Orton and Batista was going to be a triple threat. Due to CM Punk walking out in January, Triple H didn’t have an opponent. Therefore, they came up with an angle where Bryan would face Triple H earlier in the night and the winner would be added to the main event. Bryan defeated Triple H in a great opening match where the fans were fully behind Bryan. In the main event, Bryan overcame the odds beating both Orton and Batista to become the new WWE World Champion. Daniel Bryan beat all three former members of Evolution in one night. This was a euphoric moment for the fans who stood behind Bryan because they all had a part to play in it. Michael Cole wasn’t wrong when he called this a miracle on bourbon street.

Besides the miracle on bourbon street, this WrestleMania will always be remembered for the Undertaker finally losing at WrestleMania, ending his undefeated streak in the hands of Brock Lesnar. By this time, I think we thought the Undertaker was going to retire with the streak intact, or that if it was going to be broken it would be by a superstar coming up rather than someone as established as Lesnar. When the referee counted the three to end the match, the entire stadium went silent in complete shock. The stunned reactions of the people in the live crowd told the story. Fans that were at the event live and fans at home thought it was some sort of mistake. The Undertaker got knocked out early in the match, suffering a severe concussion so rumors started swirling on the internet that it was a mistake or they called an audible last minute, but it’s been confirmed multiple times that the decision to end the streak was made hours before the show. There were four other matches on this card that were pretty good. John Cena faced off against Bray Wyatt in a match where I really think Bray should have gone over in. The Shield dominated Kane and the New Age Outlaws in a matter of minutes. AJ Lee defended the Divas Championship successfully in an open invitational and Cesaro won the “Andre the Giant Battle Royal,” when it still felt like it meant something. This WrestleMania was outstanding.

WrestleMania XIX took place at Safeco Field in Seattle, Washington in front of 54,000 fans. I was in attendance for this WrestleMania at a very young age and might be the reason why I hold it in such high regard. However, this show was truly a super-card that paid tribute to three different eras in its three main events. A rivalry dating all the way back to the first WrestleMania and the 80s wrestling boom was settled here between Hulk Hogan and Vince McMahon. The indirect farewell to the Attitude Era that dominated the late 90s took place as well, as we got “Stone Cold” Steve Austin facing off against The Rock one last time. Finally, to further embrace the current Ruthless Aggression Era, Kurt Angle defended the WWE Championship against Brock Lesnar in the main event. 2002 was a weird transitional year when things were changing often as the company was trying to find itself. I think of this WrestleMania as the event where they got all of their ducks in order, tied up their loose ends, and found their direction moving forward.

In the first of the three main events, Vince McMahon faced Hulk Hogan in a street fight. This was a demolition derby of a match where the fans were strongly behind Hulk Hogan. These two had had an off-and-on rocky relationship for years, but can both be credited for the wrestling boom in the 80s as they couldn’t have reached the level of success they did without one another. However, Mr. McMahon wanted to take all the credit and destroy Hulkamania, as he claimed to have created it. The match was full of drama and creative spots, such as McMahon performing a high spot off a ladder or “Rowdy” Roddy Piper making a surprise appearance. In the end, Hulk Hogan came out victorious in vintage Hogan fashion. The second of three main events was the final match of the Austin-Rock trilogy. The Rock was now a full-blown arrogant heel playing off his career in Hollywood and Austin had just returned after walking out on the company the prior year. The Rock wanted to do the one thing he never accomplished, and that was beat Austin at WrestleMania. They had an incredible back and forth match where it took The Rock three Rock Bottoms to finally defeat Stone Cold. At the time we didn’t know it because they kept it a secret, but this was Steve Austin’s final match as he retired from in-ring competition quietly after this. Finally, the main event between two decorated amateur wrestlers in Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship was a technically sound solid wrestling match. There were a ton of near falls and Brock Lesnar nearly hit a shooting star press but got knocked out by it instead. It was still impressive to see. When the smoke finally cleared, a second F-5 put Angle away for the three count. Angle raised Lesnar’s hand in victory after the match showing respect.

The rest of this card was pretty solid too. Rey Mysterio and Matt Hardy opened the show with a fast-paced Cruiserweight Championship match. Chris Jericho and Shawn Michales had an awesome match which Michaels won with a surprising roll-up counter. This was HBK’s first in-ring appearance at WrestleMania since WrestleMania 14. Triple H with Ric Flair in his corner defended the World Championship against Booker T in a match that slowed things down. I still think Booker T should have won this match, especially considering the build-up to the match. The Undertaker had a full-on Limp Bizkit performance for his entrance which was one of two Limp Bizkit performances on the show. The Deadman continued his undefeated streak as he beat Big Show and A-Train with the assistance of Nathan Jones. There was a solid Women’s Champion Triple Threat match where Trish Stratus won the title and a fun Three Way WWE Team Title featuring Los Guerreros, Benoit and Rhyno, and Team Angle. I can’t forget about the fatal four-way pillow fight between the Miller Lite CatFight girls and WWE’s very own Torrie Wilson and Stacy Keibler. This WrestleMania was a bit of a tribute show to different eras and will always be a significant one for me personally.

Houston, we have a problem. WrestleMania X7 took place from the Reliant Astrodome in front of 68,000 fans. It is commonly regarded as the greatest WrestleMania of all time. This was the peak of the Attitude Era—and the last WrestleMania I would consider being part of the era. The WWE had just officially ended the war against WCW in the weeks leading up to this event when they purchased the company to officially put them out of business. It made you wonder what direction the company would head into moving forward and if this new lack of competition would influence the results or the creative for WrestleMania in any way. This WrestleMania had one of the most anticipated main events in the second match between The Rock and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin out of their WrestleMania trilogy. However, this entire show top to bottom was stacked. I have no doubt that if you decided to take a few hours out of a free day to watch this event from start to finish, you would thoroughly enjoy it.

The main event between The Rock and Steve Austin was different compared to their first match at WrestleMania 15, as they both came into this match as super over babyfaces. This was the third time WrestleMania was headlined by two good guys facing off against each other, thus making the fans split down the middle on who to root for. The build-up to the match was incredible and the video package to Limp Bizkit’s “My Way” to hype up the match is arguably the best promo package ever made. Stone Cold had returned in the final months of 2000 after being out for a year due to neck surgery. The Rock popped off as the top fan favorite during that period. Both men were competing for that top spot and Stone Cold felt like he needed to win the championship to prove to himself that he was still the top guy. This match was an absolute brawl under No Disqualification rules. Throughout the match, you could see Austin getting more frustrated and desperate to win the match.  Everything changed when Vince McMahon appeared at ringside without any rhyme or reason. Soon enough it became clear that Austin and McMahon were working together as Vince began assisting Austin towards the finish of the match. Following a stunner and sixteen chair shots, Austin pinned The Rock to become the WWE Champion. Stone Cold confirmed his heel turn by shaking hands and sharing beers with his former nemesis for the entire Attitude Era.

The whole card is easy to watch. The Undertaker and Triple H had an absolute banger of a match—my personal favorite out of the trilogy of matches they had at WrestleMania. This was the first time these two faced off against each other in a singles match on PPV. The McMahons clashed in an extremely entertaining match when Shane defeated Vince in a street fight, featuring Mick Foley as the special referee. There were so many stories from the past 12 months that were paid off in this one match. The famous TLC match between The Hardy Boyz, The Dudley Boyz, and Edge and Christian took place at WrestleMania 17 too. These three teams really set the standard for TLC matches moving forward. This is that match you show your friends who rarely watch wrestling and they’ll even be entertained. The Gimmick Battle Royal was a treat and the triple threat Hardcore Title match between Kane, Raven, and The Big Show was a childhood favorite of mine. The rest of the undercard featured Jericho-Regal, Guerrero-Test, Angle-Benoit, Chyna-Ivory, and a six-man tag match with Tazz and APA facing off against the Right To Censor. All of those matches were as compelling as they sound and this really set the bar for how a WrestleMania should be booked effectively. If you haven’t watched WrestleMania 17, are you even a wrestling fan? It really is the greatest WrestleMania of all time.