Comments on: 25 Greatest Matches in Wrestlemania History

25 Greatest Matches in Wrestlemania History

Trurl — Sun, 06 May 2012 10:23:17 -0800

25 Greatest Matches in Wrestlemania History

25. Kurt Angle vs. Chris Jericho vs. Chris Benoit (WM 16) 24. John Cena vs. Triple H (WM 22) 23. Roddy Piper vs. Bret Hart (WM 8) 22. Shawn Michaels vs. Diesel (WM 11) 21. Mick Foley vs. Edge Hardcore Match (WM 22) 20. Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho (WM 19) 19. Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit (WM 17) 18. Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair (WM 24) 17. Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar (WM 19) 16. Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Benoit (WM 20) 15. Ultimate Warrior vs. 'Macho Man' Randy Savage (WM 7) 14. Triple H vs. Undertaker (WM 27) 13. Shawn Michaels vs. Kurt Angle (WM 21) 12. Hulk Hogan vs. Ultimate Warrior (WM 6) 11. The Rock vs. 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin (WM 17) 10. The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan (WM 18) 9. Edge/Christian vs. Hardy Boyz vs. Dudley Boyz TLC Match (WM 17) 8. Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant (WM 3) 7. Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart (WM 10) 6. Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon (WM 10) 5. Ricky Steamboat vs. Randy Savage (WM 3) 4. Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels (WM 26) 3. Bret Hart vs. 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin (WM 13) 2. Shawn Michaels vs Bret Hart Iron Man Match (WM 12) 1. Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels (WM 25) This pre-Wrestlemania 28 list will need to be revised in the wake of the Undertaker vs. Triple H Hell in a Cell Match.

By: box

box — Sun, 06 May 2012 10:36:52 -0800

And the 25 worst.

By: aheckler

aheckler — Sun, 06 May 2012 10:40:46 -0800

My Sunday afternoon is ruined. Thank you. :-)

By: jonmc

jonmc — Sun, 06 May 2012 10:42:04 -0800

*clobbers thread with folding chair*

By: Doktor Zed

Doktor Zed — Sun, 06 May 2012 10:43:37 -0800

Not a single one of them can compare to any of those from that apogee of athleticism and kayfabe, the Inter-Gender Wrestling Champion of the World, Andy Kaufman.

By: Cyrano

Cyrano — Sun, 06 May 2012 10:49:20 -0800

I hope however thought up pairing Triple H's enterance with Motorhead is richer than fuck.

By: Kandarp Von Bontee

Kandarp Von Bontee — Sun, 06 May 2012 11:05:33 -0800

I hope however thought up pairing Triple H's enterance with Motorhead is richer than fuck. That would be Tripper himself, probably whilst air-guitaring naked in front of several full-length mirrors with the bosses' daughter writhing around his legs in a Boris Vallejo-like scene of macho absurdity.

By: GenjiandProust

GenjiandProust — Sun, 06 May 2012 11:06:45 -0800

No one can beat Baron von Raschke in my heart. He is the Claw Master, and these young'uns just cannot compete.

By: Ghostride The Whip

Ghostride The Whip — Sun, 06 May 2012 11:13:09 -0800

Bah god jonmc brought that chair outta nowhere! The chaos! The carnage! Where is the ref?!

By: Trurl

Trurl — Sun, 06 May 2012 11:21:36 -0800

Jon Cold! Jon Cold!

By: starman

starman — Sun, 06 May 2012 11:25:37 -0800

26th greatest

By: flarbuse

flarbuse — Sun, 06 May 2012 11:34:02 -0800

I can't remember which match it was, but my all-time favorite was the one where the winner starts out kicking the other guy's ass, only to quickly have the tables turned on him and find himself at the mercy of that other guy. That other guy then gets the winner on his back and is just to about to pin him when the winner miraculously escapes and winds up pinning the other guy. It was awesome.

By: box

box — Sun, 06 May 2012 11:44:49 -0800

Man, I saw that match, and it was a travesty! The referee completely missed the one guy's obvious cheating!

By: item

item — Sun, 06 May 2012 12:12:23 -0800

No Hulk Hogan and Mr. T vs Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff from WMI? No Hulk vs King Kong Bundy cage match from WM2? Related, the decent indie wrestling doc Card Subject to Change recently popped up on Netflix streaming. Kamala's in it, so there's that. Not quite as good (or as heartbreaking) as Beyond the Mat (also on Netflix instant), but good nonetheless.

By: item

item — Sun, 06 May 2012 12:40:37 -0800

Come to think of it, I've been watching way too much wrestling lately, both classic and modern. I was raised on the Von Erichs and WCCW at the Sportatorium (also the venue I first saw the Beastie Boys play in). My brother would take me to the free Saturday morning matches that'd be broadcast that night on channel 11. They usually featured a bunch of nobodies, with the main event being one or two local superstars (usually one of the then-surviving Von Erich brothers) against a semi-nobody, or if we were lucky a star from another region's circuit. Lots of fond memories, especially considering my brother (who was eight years my senior) and I really had a hard time getting along, primarily because he was the only bully figure in my life. He was obsessed with wrestling, keeping notebooks of stats and taping every match. No surprise, either, as from what I can remember he really had no friends all through junior high and high school. I still remember, 25 years on, what a dump that place was. The weird smells, the weirder people, but I loved it. We'd get there early in order to gain ringside seats, then we'd pick ourselves out on TV that night when the match would air. I felt like I was as big of a star as the pasty, freckled wrestlers trying to break into the sport.

By: Saxon Kane

Saxon Kane — Sun, 06 May 2012 13:34:41 -0800

Proud to say that I saw #9 & #19 live in person!

By: Saxon Kane

Saxon Kane — Sun, 06 May 2012 13:36:45 -0800

Oh, #11 too!

By: Ghidorah

Ghidorah — Sun, 06 May 2012 15:02:37 -0800

What?! What's that?! That's Trurl's music! What's he doing here?! Oh, putting up an awesome wrestling post. Carry on. Even though you're a sick human being!

By: deezil

deezil — Sun, 06 May 2012 15:09:50 -0800

I would definitely place the Taker/Triple H match from this past WrestleMania in the top 25. The story it told about two men that laid it all on the line and the one man tasked with deciding the fate of his best friend versus the person who retired him was compelling. But then you have to decide which match to throw out, and that's just unpossible.

By: Kandarp Von Bontee

Kandarp Von Bontee — Sun, 06 May 2012 16:53:40 -0800

Taker vs Trip should be disqualified on the grounds that great in-ring storytelling should not involve lengthy periods of three guys standing around for several minutes spouting scripted dialogue. Just the next logical step, I guess, in the overproduced TV-centric ethos of a wrestling company implicitly ashamed of wrestling.

By: The Gooch

The Gooch — Sun, 06 May 2012 18:08:34 -0800

The inclusion of Andre the Giant vs. Hulk Hogan from Wrestlemania 3 costs this list any credibility (though they do acknowledge the match wasn't "excellent", which is an understatement of epic proportions). The match may have been historically important in terms of having drawn the largest wrestling crowd in North American wrestling history, cementing the WWF's position as the dominant player in the wrestling industry, etc., but as far as quality the match is pretty widely regarded as having been the drizzling shits and it certainly hasn't gotten better with age.

By: SpiffyRob

SpiffyRob — Mon, 07 May 2012 08:52:18 -0800

Same reaction here, The Gooch. It does my heart well when "Greatest" is the superlative of choice used for lists like this, because it allows one to disagree with any of inclusions (and this one is as appropriate as any for this) with: "Great meaning large or immense/We use it in the pejorative sense."