TOP FIVE LIST (New Feature): All-time most iconic and great WrestleMania matches including Savage vs. Steamboat, Austin vs. Bret, Undertaker vs. Michaels, more

I’m sure this will create zero controversy and everyone will completely agree. It’s hard to really rate something in any definitive way that is ultimately, completely subjective. Stewart Copeland, of The Police, said that everyone listens to music for different reasons. Some like the hook, while others listen for the lyrics. Some just want a good groove, and he listens for the fills.

To take that analogy into professional wrestling, some of us watch for the moves, others characters. Some need a good story, while others just love a good car crash full of action. So what was my criteria? Mostly the iconic, but also everything else I’ve mentioned. With that loose criteria, my list of the top 5 WrestleMania matches.

5. Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels – Streak vs Career from WM 26

Which match do you choose? Also, why did I rate this so low? Many fans will cite one of these two matches as the best match to ever come out of the annual spectacle, and I would not argue them to be wrong. While the first match may be a better technical match, the drama of The Heartbreak Kid leaving his boots in the ring added the extra weight for me to tip the cap to this one. Shawn knowing he could do it. He had been in the ring and if he had one more shot, he knew he could end the streak of The Undertaker. These are two of the best storytellers that the WWE has ever had walk through their doors, telling a story of two legends both trying to end it with a string legacy. The respect of the two individuals for each other only made this better, as each wanted the other to look as good in the match as they did themselves.

4. “The Macho Man” Randy Savage (c) vs Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat for the Intercontinental Championship from WM 3.

This match was the default “greatest WrestleMania match” when I got into watching wrestling. I grew up in Oklahoma without cable in the early 90s. So the time that hooked me, while considered a decline in the business, was the early 90s, and specifically the WCW Worldwide syndicated show that was likely left from the buyout of the UWF. So watching Brian Pillman vs Justin Liger matches, I didn’t understand, after renting a WW3 tape of the event, how this was the best match from the biggest cards. Time will always provide context. What I didn’t know, was before their match, that wasn’t what wrestling looked like to a WWF fan at that time. Randy Savage was bringing a Memphis style, as well as things he had picked up as a second generation wrestler growing up in territories outside of WWF. Ricky Steamboat had been having matches like this one with many opponents for over a decade in the Carolina’s, most famously against Richard Flair. With this match, they elevated what could be done for a national audience and on the largest stage one professional wrestling event had at that time in history. The style evolved with that match. Unsurprisingly, it would not be the last time this happened.

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3. The Dudley Boys (c) vs Edge & Christian vs The Hardy Boyz – TLC Match for the Tag Team Championship from WM17.

The hardest decision for this list for me was which match that involved a ladder belongs here. Shawn Michaels vs Razor Ramon was another case of a new match being debuted that would evolve wrestling. While that is true, it did not ignite the spark that lit the business on fire like the TLC rematch. It added history from ECW with Spike & Rhyno joining the action, no shortage of amazing footage from 9 people who put their bodies at risk, and made six hall of fame wrestlers’ careers that night. The only downside is that there were many imitations that happened that was only about the brutality of the matches, and many careers could argue have been shortened because of the popularity of this match style. I’m only here to argue the merit of this match, and it belongs in the WWE Hall of Fame now that they are awarding that honor to matches in future years.

2. Ric Flair vs Shawn Michaels – Flair’s Career on the Line from WM 24.

There will never be another career like the one Ric Flair had. The industry changed too much, and he was the man on top through that change. To defend a title with the prestige that the NWA World Championship held at that time that gets defended in so many different companies made him truly be seen as a “World” champion and not a promotional champion. Then you have Shawn Michaels, who’s athleticism in his moves and story-telling match psychology together makes him top many of fans’ list as the best performer ever in professional wrestling. Shawn’s love of Flair was going to make sure that Shawn was going to make his hero look the best he can look in this match. While I had my issues with the angle leading to the match, it was very memorable and we still see the “I’m sorry, I love you,” line referenced in matches. A near perfect send off for potentially the best to ever lace up a pair of wrestling boots.

1. Bret “The Hitman” Hart vs “Stone Cold” Steven Austin – I Quit Match With Special Referee Ken Shamrock from WM13.

This year it was announced that matches will start being honored at the annual Hall of Fame ceremony. The first induction will be this match, and this was the absolute best choice. Steve Austin had been growing in popularity with the fans. The 90s was an anti-authoritarian era where middle fingers were raised and inappropriate language was used. Generation X coming to age disrupted American pop culture standards. MTV was rebellious & Jerry Springer filled daytime television with topics and lifestyles that were taboo a generation prior. Austin was the wrestling personification that the industry needed. Bret Hart had been losing fans, because in an Information Age, we were learning that a squeaky clean image was often hiding things, and the world wanted authenticity. Bret hated the direction and let the crowd, at least in the United States, turn him heel, and the heel turn happened within this match, while Austin came out of the match the hottest he had ever been, and as a full-blown babyface, taking him to the top of the company. Business started turning around with this match. WrestleMania 13 was not even considered a great WrestleMania, but rather the spark that made the company huge by WM 14. If what we are watching now was built on the back of Hulk Hogan, Austin and Hart were the stability added to the industry to make it last for generations.