For WWE fans, WrestleMania is often described as being comparable to Christmas. There is months of anticipation ahead of the event itself. Then it arrives and, within what feels like about 20 minutes, it’s over for another year. And sometimes, the build up overshadows the big day.
While WWE’s fixation on manufacturing moments that can be ceaslessly replayed on ‘Best of…’ listicle shows may not endear them much to the purists, the fed has made a healthy habit over the years of making the moments matter by condensing the hype around them into addictive three-five minute hype packages that can make even the most mundane of builds feel WrestleMania worthy.
But there have also been plenty of those most magical of intersections where the build, hype and match have all delivered in spades. Where the adrenaline has been coursing through the veins for weeks on end before a bell has even rung. And just moments before the contest reaches the ring at the Grandaddy of ’em All, there’s the cutaway, a beat kicks in from a band who, 97% of the time, you would never, ever willingly listen to but now they’re earworming their way into your Spotify Wrapped forever more because they scored the final throes of anticipation for a WrestleMania dream match.
Much like Sylvester Stallone and Survivor taught us throughout the 1980’s, the montage makes everything. Who cares who won or lost, when the nu-metal accompanied highlight reel hits, we’re all winners.
But with such a stacked roster of montages to pick from in the annals of WrestleMania, which ones make the cut for being considered among the greatest of all time? Ahead of ‘Mania 41 in Las Vegas at the end of this week, I thought I’d try my hand at piecing together a card full of winners.
So, in no particular order…
The Undertaker vs Kane – WrestleMania XIV
Boy howdy did Paul Bearer earn his WrestleMania pay day with this one. An absolute doozy of a performance from the late, great Percy Pringle, who’s hysterical howls punctuate Kane’s debut months of destruction. “Kane told me. Kane told me. Kane is alive, Undertaker!” Goosebumps so big The Rock doesn’t even need to slap his forearm for them. Kane’s introduction gave us our first genuine humanising of the Undertaker character, who had felt vulnerable ever since Bearer’s initial betrayal of him in 1996. Now The Deadman was emotionally ransacked, unwilling to fight the younger brother he thought had been burned alive during his childhood.
We finally had our emotional meathooks in The Undertaker while being presented with a new rampaging monster at the same time. All against the backdrop of blood and thunder biblical opera. The match may not have been a classic (although still a very solid effort) and the wrong man arguably won (this was pre-The Streak being a thing and a dominant victory would have worked perfectly at setting Kane up even further as an unstoppable force of evil) but even so, the hype video is undeniable and encapsulates the conflict and turmoil that was present throughout this seminal programme for both men.
Daniel Bryan vs HHH – WrestleMania XXX
This being 11 years old hurts my head quite a bit. But regardless of being over a decade removed from YESleMania, and despite having zero affinity for Imagine Dragons (no offense, lads), this package makes me want to Busaiku knee a plate glass window into a million shards. It is dumbfounding to remember that the original creative direction for Bryan heading into this ‘Mania was to be him facing Sheamus, even after his defeat of John Cena at SummerSlam 2013 and series of matches with Randy Orton following that. For the myriad of faults with WWE’s creative during this era, correcting course on Daniel Bryan and going with the will of the people was one of the wisest moves they ever pulled.
It is also often forgot just how much of a relief it was to see Triple H enter full blown Cerebral Assassin heel mode again after over seven years away from the role. It brought so much to the story and even more to this scintillating few minutes of hype that preceded one of the most emotionally charged WWE Title victories in history.
John Cena vs Bray Wyatt – WrestleMania XXX
Not only did the minds in charge of WWE’s editing suite have me listening to Imagine Dragons on a loop, but they also got me having actual feelings about a song Eminem released in the year of our lord 2013? That is supreme work. I remember watching this and being convinced Cena was about to be put on the shelf in a glorified squash. He’d roar into the opening minutes, hit Bray with everything and then Wyatt would just eat him alive. Obviously that didn’t happen and Cena would instead be squashed, dissected and pulverised by Brock Lesnar four months later at SummerSlam in 2014. But for a few beautiful minutes, we had Bray Wyatt Exorcist walking into WrestleMania, in the bayou, looking like he had the whole world in his hands and that he was about to end John Cena’s. A helluva work and another reminder of why Bray Wyatt is so sorely missed.
Vince McMahon vs Hulk Hogan – WrestleMania XIX
OK, look. Two deplorable, grotesque human beings. No doubt. But a poignantly scored montage, chronicling the highs and lows of Vincent Kennedy McMahon and Hulk Hogan’s personal and professional relationships amid the battle for the soul of Hulk-a-Mania, bookended by Mean Gene Okerlund’s narration? Hell yeah, brother!
Ric Flair vs Shawn Michaels – WrestleMania 24
A hype video not even an ill advised cash grab in TNA or heart attack inducing’Last Match Ever’ promoted by his podcaster son-in-law 15 years later could ruin. Ric Flair may not have yearned for retirement in 2008, but he was given it (at least momentarily and, in fairness, completely within WWE confines) in the most spectacularly fitting of circumstances at WrestleMania 24. ‘Leave The Memories Alone’ by Fuel is, of course, an atrocity of mid ’00s alt-metal ballad, but that little stinker was on a loop throughout April of 2008. The result of this match was never really in any doubt, but the pre-match video package provided the belief that maybe, just maybe, Naitch would rediscover enough magic for one more night to enjoy another famous victory.
Bret ‘The Himan’ Hart vs Stone Cold Steve Austin – WrestleMania XIII
A video that perfectly encapsulates the match it was promoting. While certainly not the greatest of all time like the match was, the stripped back, no frills approach to the promo behind Hart and Austin’s ‘I Quit’ match was an ideal fit for what was to come from both men once the bell rung. Pure, unadulterated hatred and disrespect, highlighting the changing of the guard and Bret’s disillusionment with the new era of WWF Superstar at the time (in reality, of course, Hart loved working with Austin and rated him highly). This match didn’t need a slickly edited package scored by a post-grunge or alt-metal outfit. It just needed the raw venom of both competitors.
Shawn Michaels vs The Undertaker – WrestleMania XXVI
“You don’t understand. If I can’t beat you at WrestleMania, I have no career.” This is how you set up two old Texan gunslingers going at it one last time (just ignore THAT Saudi Arabia tag match, OK?). Their best years may be behind them in 2010, but The Heartbreak Kid and The Deadman are still a guaranteed great time at WrestleMania, as their jaw dropping classic the year before, in their home state, proved. A year later and Michaels’ desperation to prove himself one final time was the dominant theme of the return match. If he could no longer be the man who could perform the impossible, then who was he? Also, by far a superior use of ‘Running Up That Hill’ than Stranger Things managed with the Kate Bush original.
Roman Reigns vs Cody Rhodes – WrestleMania XL
The main event of the biggest WrestleMania of all time deserved a suitably enormous pre-match video package. And last year, in Philadelphia, Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns (with more than a few supporting cast members) wrote a final chapter worthy of finishing any story. With an additional year of Roman’s generation defining run to cover since their initial, heart breaking meeting at WrestleMania 39, WWE traversed Roman’s dominance and Cody’s journey back to the main event in admirable fashion. Cody’s struggle to prove himself, to live the Dream, to finally bring the WWE Title to the Rhodes family contrasted exquisitely with Roman’s arrogance after almost four years at the head of the table.
The Rock’s involvement obviously took this feud into another dimension altogether, but for the final showdown between two wrestling legacies, with the game’s biggest prize on the line, with Cody’s previous failure gnawing away at him, the table was set perfectly with a five minute package that has actually slipped under the radar as a quiet classic of the genre. Perhaps because the build itself had been so other worldly and because fans were so desperate just to get to the final three count and see Cody realise his Dream, the masses overlooked this one, but go back and enjoy it several times this week. The only drawback is not utilising Philadelphia for a Rocky inspired training montage with Cody sprinting through the streets of the City of Brotherly Love, but you can’t win ’em all.
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs The Rock – WrestleMania XIX
“So whaddya say, Stone Cold? Whaddya say?” Cue ‘Crack Addict’ by Limp Bizkit. Cue another stone cold classic of a hype vid to close out the greatest rivalry WrestleMania has ever seen. No WWE Titles this time. Just pride. Just respect. Just guys being dudes. Two of the greatest of all time having one final dust up before one rides off to Hollywood and the other stomps a mudhole into the sunset.
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs The Rock – WrestleMania X-Seven
“I will give you every drop of sweat, every drop of blood, every ounce of energy I have. You are going to get the absolute best of The Rock, at WrestleMania.”
“I need to beat you Rock. I need it more than anything you can ever imagine. There can be only one World Wrestling Federation champion. And that will be, Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin. With all due respect.”
The two biggest stars in WWE history. Head-to-head in the main event of the most memorable WrestleMania of all time, capping off the most popular era pro wrestling has ever seen. With Fred Durst and the lads going absolutely hog wild on the soundtrack. A moment in time that will never be replicated. Will we see the old friends and foes have one more round in Las Vegas, this weekend?
Featured Image Credit: WWE
