It’s been a while since we have done one of these things but since WWE is doing the celebrating 25 years of The Game deal over the last few weeks I figured now is as good a time as any.
Since I haven’t been in the ranking game in a while remember that these are just my OPINIONS. If they match yours? Great. If not? Cool. Got it? Awesome. We will be ranking these things from worst to first.
23: WrestleMania XIX- World Heavyweight Championship v Booker T
Do I really need to tell you why this thing ranks last? As a match it was find but sort of boring but the thing that drops it to the bottom with a bullet is the racist ass angle they set this thing up with. THEN to top it off the heel went over in a situation that they definitely shouldn’t have. If you are a HHH hater then this match is probably one of the reasons why.
22: WrestleMania XII- v Ultimate Warrior
Nothing to this one. HHH got squashed and the Pedigree was no sold by lifetime malcontent Warrior.
21: WrestleMania 13- v Goldust
Ugh, Goldust was somehow half the wrestler that he is now and HHH’s offense was still 90% using his knee. Just not good.
20: WrestleMania 32- WWE World Heavyweight Championship v Roman Reigns
This was just too damn long. The first go around I had been drinking for like seven straight hours and just fell asleep so maybe that was on me. The second time however was in the middle of the day and this thing still could have lost 20-25 minutes. This is one of those things where HHH tried to force an epic where it just wasn’t going to happen.
19: WrestleMania XV- v Kane
Just an odd match and the last as a babyface fun loving HHH for a long time. Kane was kind of a tweener in this and that didn’t help the match dynamic at all. Just a blah match on really an overall blah show. This was really only notable for Chyna tuning face to heel 36 times in one night. Oh, and Pete Rose.
18: WrestleMania XXVI- v Sheamus
Do you remember this feud? I barely do. The match was fine but my lord who gives a shit. Next.
17: WrestleMania 31- No Disqualification v Sting
Can’t blame HHH for this one. Sting looked old as hell. This was another thing that was booked to go too long. Luckily the match was halfway redeemed with all the run ins and gaga but not enough to move it up the list any further. Oh, also Sting’s entrance should have been at night.
16: WrestleMania XXV- WWE Championship (If HHH had been DQ’d or Counted out he lost the title) v Randy Orton
A match that should have been a wild brawl was rendered toothless and sluggish do to the dumb ass no DQ rule in place on HHH. Another example of a match going too long and in the wrong spot on the wrong card. You couldn’t follow Shawn and Taker without a gimmick.
15: WrestleMania 35- No Hold’s Barred (HHH’s career on the line) v Batista
Dave sure lost some of the zing off his fastball in this one. Yet again (and I hate to harp on this) it was just too long for the athletes involved to be able to tell a good exciting story. Most of this list would be better served to be at least 10 minutes shorter and this definitely isn’t an exception to that. Although, Dave’s nose ring being ripped out was kind of cool.
14: WrestleMania 29- No Hold’s Barred (HHH’s career on the line) v Brock Lesnar
That stipulation sounds familiar. HHH had to win this in storyline but as far as being best for the company? This was dumb as hell. HHH was coming off two great matches against Undertaker and this one just didn’t hold up against those very well. Plus it stunk of politics.
13: WrestleMania XIV- European Championship v Owen Hart
I know, I love Owen too but this was just there. HHH was just not GOOD at this point and the way they set the match up Owen had zero chance of pulling something great out of him. More watchable than the stuff above but nowhere near how good HHH would get.
12: WrestleMania 33- Non-Sanctioned v Seth Rollins
I dug the entrance and the match wasn’t bad. Still too long and not up to the standard of some of the other matches on the list though. At least the right guy one.
11: WrestleMania XXIV- WWE Championship Triple Threat v John Cena v Randy Orton
Now we are right outside the top 10 and from here on out everything is starting to rise above the boring crap that has plagued most of this list so far. All three guys were good in this but nothing that would make it an all time great or anything.
10: WrestleMania 2000- WWE Championship Fatal 4-Way Elimination v The Rock v Big Show v Mick Foley
This was, now say it with me…too long. It also had two too many people in it and over-complicated what should have been what should have been a sure fire amazing main event like we got at the next month’s Backlash show.
9: WrestleMania X8- WWE Undisputed Championship v Chris Jericho
Once again, this should not have went on last and the crowd died because of it. The match was fine but a worn out crowd and Jericho coming in as just a puppet for Stephanie killed any hope they had of ending the show on a good note.
8: WrestleMania 22- WWE Championship v John Cena
Here we start getting into the matches that I really enjoyed or outright love. The crowd was deeply against Cena in this and in the Game’s corner so the hot crowd lifted what really may have been just an average in ring contest just by sheer force of willpower.
7: WrestleMania 21- World Heavyweight Championship v Batista
Another example of a show where HHH puts over someone to try and make them. They would have better matches in the ensuing months but you can’t deny that this win helped launch big Dave in a huge way. You can argue that Drax was made into a Marvel Legend by this one match. Or don’t, what do I care?
6: WrestleMania X-Seven- v The Undertaker
This is the first of 3 Undertaker matches on this list and as you can tell I think highly of all of them. This was the “worst” of the three in my opinion but in no way is that a bad thing, hell you could probably switch them around and I’d be cool with it. This is just my list and here we are. Good shit pal.
5: WrestleMania XXVII No Holds Barred v The Undertaker
I was live for this one and it was awesome. I know that people complain about the multiple kickouts or whatever but I can tell you that the 60K plus folks in the Georgia Dome didn’t care one bit. This was an instant classic and still one of my favorite live matches.
4: WrestleMania 34- Mixed tag w/Stephanie McMahon v Kurt Angle/Ronda Rousey
Still the best match of Rousey’s career and one of the best tag matches in Mania history. Other than Stephanie getting a bit too much offense in this hit every mark the exact way it should have. Everyone looked like a million bucks because if this thing and they didn’t feel the need to make it 45 minutes for no reason.
3: WrestleMania XXVIII- Hell in a Cell v The Undertaker
Maaaaaan did I like this one. Both guys were on top of their respective games and Shawn’s reactions during the closing moments were priceless. If this was the official end of the Attitude Era they could not have picked a better match to go out on. All time great right here.
2: WrestleMania 20- World Heavyweight Championship Triple Threat v Chris Benoit v Shawn Michaels
Still one of the greatest triple threat matches I have ever seen in my life. If the Benoit shit had not went down (as in he not become a crazy murderer that is burning in hell if it exists) this would still be talked about by most in reverent tones today. Once again even though he would get the belt back before the end of the year, HHH did the right thing here in a classic.
1: WrestleMania XXX- Winner is inserted in Main Event v Daniel Bryan
This is it. The story, the match, the athletes everything clicked on this one night in New Orleans. Daniel Bryan went from great to legend in his performance on this night and some of that has to be put at the feet of HHH doing the right thing in the right way. Clean as a damn sheet.
There you go, that’s my list. How do my rankings match up with yours?
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