The Top 10 Matches in Wrestlemania History

Share This Post

“Big Natural” Stoney Keeley, Poppa Bear, and “Nature Boy” Brandon Vick of The Colossal Tussle Podcast reminisce about their greatest matches in Wrestlemania history. The parameters for this list are simple – each SoBro submitted his personal top ten list, and we put ’em all together here. Read on.

Honorable mentions: Michaels-Taker from Wrestlemania XXV (Poppa Bear was the only one who submitted this match – shame on the rest of us for not including what many Internet nerds consider the greatest match of all time)…

…Austin-Rock from Wrestlemania X-Seven (Poppa Bear), Austin-Rock from Wrestlemania XIX (Nature Boy – honestly can’t go wrong with either of these Austin-Rock showdowns), Undertaker-Mark Henry from Wrestlemania 22 (This is one of Nature Boy’s personal favorite in case you haven’t heard him talk about it on pretty much every episode of Best Wrestlemania Ever), Michaels-Razor Ramon from Wrestlemania X (Poppa Bear), Michaels-Flair from Wrestlemania 24 (Nature Boy).

Now, on to the matches that two of us or all three of us placed on our lists.

10 (T). CM Punk vs. The Undertaker (Wrestlemania 29) – Well, yeah – how about that time Punk dumped Paul Bearer’s ashes all over the place? Pretty cool, huh? No? A bit too far? Well, hey – at least it made this match feel deeply personal.

This was ‘Taker’s final victory before The Streak ended and it was an all-timer. It should have been the main event.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSPdIpe3jWY]

10 (T). WWE Tag Team Championship, TLC II: Edge & Christian vs. The Dudley Boys vs. The Hardy Boyz (Wrestlemania X-Seven) – Wow….what can any of us even say about this match? It was a glorified demolition derby, as all of the Attitude Era tag team matches seemed to be.

This was arguably the best of these three teams’ encounters, and produced a moment that is replayed in every Wrestlemania hype package, when Edge delivered the Spear to Jeff Hardy off of a ladder.

9. Hell in a Cell: Triple H vs. Undertaker (Wrestlemania XXVIII) – I don’t know that there is a more physically and emotionally exhausting match in Wrestlemania history than the “End of an Era” showdown.

These two threw the kitchen sink at each other. Michaels serving as special guest referee added a strong dynamic to the match. This was The Undertaker’s streak at its utmost peak. False finish after false finish led fans to believe that streak was in jeopardy. Ultimately, the Dead Man prevailed, and all three men helped each other up the ramp.

8. Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels (Wrestlemania 21) – Yet another Wrestlemania dream match. Both men were on the WWE roster throughout the early 2000s, but where Angle was one of the faces of Smackdown, Michaels was one of the faces of Raw. Their paths wouldn’t cross until 2005, during an inter-promotional match in Los Angeles.

7. Career vs. The Streak: Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker (Wrestlemania XXVI) -Yep – we’re putting this one here, and I have no problem with it at all. The stakes were as high as they can get in a wrestling match. And, these two absolutely topped their match from the previous year.

This match actually headlined Wrestlemania that year – a rare occurrence when the Royal Rumble winner nor either brand’s champion got the main event slot. But, this match was certainly worthy of that honor.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZO5guP45itg]

6. WWE Championship: John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels (Wrestlemania 23) – Now, we’re getting into the six matches that all three of us included on our lists. I’m somewhat surprised to see this match here, to be honest.

You’re not going to find this in a lot of the Internet Wrestling Community’s top 10 lists, but the match was a classic main event. Actually, it’s arguably the best main event in Wrestlemania history.

The real trick here was the masterful job these two did of making us think Michaels was actually going to win. Some of the false finishes were so close that, for a moment, we all forgot this was smack dab in the middle of Cena’s epic championship reign.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB3K2EPlRTs]

5. Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart (Wrestlemania X) – Brother vs. brother in the opening contest of one of the greatest Wrestlemanias of all time. As if that wasn’t big enough, the story of this match started building months before the actual show.

It was all about Owen stepping out of his brother’s shadow and becoming his own man. While everyone thought Bret would win, Owen got the surprising win in a match that taught us all a little technical wrestling 101.

4. Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels (Wrestlemania XIX) – Hey, have you guys picked up on the fact that we’re all huge HBK fans? No? Okay – well, keep reading. It seemed like poor timing kept these two superstars apart. Michaels “retired” in 1998. Jericho came to the WWE in 1999.

Thankfully, Michaels returned to the ring in 2002. After a World Championship feud with Triple H, the WWE pulled the trigger on this dream match at Wrestlemania XIX in Seattle.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkRbCKTfkt0]

3. Intercontinental Championship: Macho Man Randy Savage vs. Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat (Wrestlemania III) – Many consider this to be the greatest wrestling match of all time, and it certainly stands the test of time. Even in 2017, this match is easy to consume and is the quintessential wrestling clinic.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxo6sr1DuAE]

2. WWE Championship, Iron Man Match: Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels (Wrestlemania XII) – It was long and emotionally tiresome to sit through, but if you could last the duration of the 60+ minutes, you received one of the two or three greatest payoffs in WWE history.

The main event of Wrestlemania XII had it all – pure, technical wrestling, high-flying action, and emotional storytelling. In the end, the boyhood dream came true for Michaels, who captured his first WWE Championship.

1. Submission Match: Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Bret Hart (Wrestlemania 13) – This match was incredible for several reasons. First and foremost, it was just a damn good display of wrestling. Second, Austin passing out from blood loss provided one of the most iconic moments in WWE history – “Blood from a Stone,” if you will. Look it up, they made t-shirts. Finally, it marked a changing of the guard of sorts.

No longer was the traditional babyface, Hart, cheered and revered as a heartfelt do-gooder. Instead, the crowd started to gravitate more towards the anti-hero, Austin. This match was the catalyst for the Attitude Era.

Poppa Bear is the lead SEC contributor for the SoBros Network, and serves as our resident expert on the human anatomy, fixin’ stuff, and tomatoes. Follow on Twitter: @SoBroPoppaBear

Stoney Keeley is the editor of the SoBros Network and covers the WWE for WrestlingNews.co. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley@WrestlingNewsCo

Brandon Vick is the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and star of Brandon’s Box Office In Your Mouth. Follow him on Twitter@SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.

Follow us on Twitter @SoBrosNetwork

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Get updates and learn from the best

More To Explore