WRESTLING RELATED BLOG BECAUSE I'M GOING TO WRESTLEMANIA!!!! (part 6)

Okay, I swear I'll do some regular, non-wrestling blogs coming up, but those of you that know me know that I had to do it. Everyone has a favorite match on each show. So here it is:



Barnes' Favorite Match from Each Wrestlemania


WM I- Hulk Hogan and Mr. T vs. Rowdy Roddy Piper and Mr. Wonderful Paul Orndorff- The first Wrestlemania was known mostly for its celebrity involvement than in-ring action. What do you expect with such pop culture icons like Mr. T, Liberace, and Cyndi Lauper hanging around? The crowd dug the main event because they loved Hulk, hated Hot Rod, and were intrigued at B.A. Baracus making an in-ring debut.


WM II- WWF Tag Team Championship Match: British Bulldogs vs. Dream Team- One of the greatest tag teams in the '80's finally got it's due beating the "dream" tandem of Greg "The Hammer" Valentine and Brutus Beefcake. It's hard to find a bad Bulldog match due to the power wrestling of Davey Boy Smith and the then-unique flying style of the Dynamite Kid and this match stuck out in an otherwise mediocre wrestling card.


WM III- WWF Intercontinental Championship Match: Macho Man Randy Savage vs. Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat- This match has been hailed by many as the best match WWF/WWE ever had and is studied by would-be wrestlers. Great wrestling and great build-up to a satisfying end of Steamboat winning the title and avenging his "life-threatening injury" caused by the hands of the evil Macho Man caused many to consider this match the standard in wrestling.


WM IV- Ravishing Rick Rude vs. Jake "The Snake" Roberts- The fourth Wrestlemania was a show-long tournament for the vacant WWF title with many short matches. Rude and Roberts was great little fight that had vendetta involved and was a battle of awesome mustaches. Both men worked the crowd to enjoying this match despite the conclusion: a time limit draw.


WM V- WWF Title Match: Hulk Hogan vs. Macho Man Randy Savage- The Mega Powers explode! Savage's unfounded jealousy of his valet, Miss Elizabeth, paying attention to Hogan caused a rift between them. One time friends, Hulk and Macho feud over WWF title with Elizabeth in a neutral corner and were able to get the crowd going, leading to another Hogan WWF title reign.


WM VI- Title for Title: WWF Champion Hulk Hogan vs. Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior- This match was one of the first moment in which the WWF had two babyfaces (good guys) fight one another. This allowed the fans to pick sides. Who are you with? The Hulkster or the Warrior? This match, while not a mat classic, had the crowds attention and the fan interaction going. This was supposed be Hogan passing the torch to Warrior as the next big thing in wrestling. Things didn't go as planned however.


WM VII- Retirement Match: The Ultimate Warrior vs. Macho King Randy Savage- This match is probably the best in Warrior's career. Savage was a heel (bad guy) during this latest run and the match was exciting, had the crowd engaged, and had Warrior pin Savage cleanly, thus retiring him. This also had a storybook ending with the Savage reuniting with Miss Elizabeth.


WM VIII- Intercontinental Title Match: Bret "Hitman" Hart vs. Rowdy Roddy Piper- This match had great mat wrestling, good psychology, and gave a crowd a memorable finish in Hart pinning Piper cleanly. At this point, Piper had not been pinned in a WWF ring so this gave the young Hart a great push into stardom.


WM IX- Intercontinental Title Match: Tatanka vs. Shawn Michaels- This Wrestlemania is considered the worst Wrestlemania ever and even I have to agree. However, in this stinkfest Michaels and Tatanka presented a quality match. Too bad that this was opening contest and show turned sour afterward.



WM X- Owen Hart vs. Bret Hart- The match between the two brothers was a great way to kick off Wrestlemania's tenth anniversary. Great technical wrestling along with Owen's unexpected upset set up a great feud that lasted the whole summer of 1994 and then some.


WM XI- WWF Title Match: Diesel vs. Shawn Michaels- A weaker Wrestlemania card featured two real life friends duking it out and delivering a great contest. The build toward the match was weak being that the babyface was a giant and the heel was man dwarfed by most of the roster, but the two delivered and made Shawn look like a legitimate threat to the big belt. While Diesel got his hand raised, it would only be a year later when the wrestling landscape changed.



WM XII- 60 Minute Iron Man Match for the WWF Title: Bret "Hitman" Hart vs. Shawn Michaels- The main event for this Wrestlemania had little to do with muscles. Hart and Michaels are both considered the best technical wrestlers of all time. Fans would argue over who was more superior a performer than the other. The winner would be the person who had the most pinfalls or decisions within a one hour period. Two lesser competitors would have trouble delivering great action and crowd attention from bell to bell, but both guys delivered. The match went into overtime with Michaels capturing his first World title after both men finished 60 minutes without a decision.

WM XIII- Submission Match: Bret "Hitman" Hart vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin- This was one of the matches that made me want to be a wrestler. The unexpectedly brutal contest was ended when a bloodied Austin passed out while in Hart's Sharpshooter submission hold. At the beginning, the fans cheered for their hero, Hart, but in the end the crowd and cheers belonged to the never-say-die Austin. This was one of the few time in which the hero and villain switched roles mid-match and succeeded.

WM XIV- Undertaker vs. Kane- When two wrestlers over 6'5" and just a hamburger away from 300 lbs. fight each other, it usually ends up being disappointing. Both men are usually lumbering. Both men usually get out of breath and are slow. In their prime, Kane and Undertaker are anything but usual. I proclaim this to be the best "big man" match ever with consistent quick brawling, power moves, and an occasional top rope move. 'Taker retained his undefeated Wrestlemania winning streak, but fans saw a star being born in Kane as he kicked out of 'Taker's Tombstone piledriver.

WM XV- WWF Title Match: Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. The Rock- The two stars of the late 1990's squared off and had the crowd from bell to bell with great psychology, brawling, and charisma. Both men would later state in interviews that they brought out the best in one another and in this match you can see this to be true.


WM 2000- Triple Threat Match for the Intercontinental and European Championships Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit vs. Chris Jericho- This was the Wrestlemania debut for all three men. Olympic Champion Angle's lost both his Intercontinental and European titles without even being pinned. With stiff shots, great technical wrestling and non-stop action, this match would be a standard from three-way matches to come with Benoit winning the first fall becoming Intercontinental Champion and Jericho winning the second fall for the European title.

WM XVII- TLC II for the WWF Tag Team Championship- Edge and Christian vs. Hardyz vs. Dudleyz- This was the second Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match featuring all three teams from the first TLC match from the previous summer. This match went all out and had all three teams taking high bumps from the top of the ladders and getting banged up from pillar to post with tables and chairs. While the match was mostly spectacle, the wrestlers were creative using the implements granted to them and once again, stole the show at what many consider to be the best Wrestlemania card ever.


WM XVIII- No Disqualification: Undertaker vs. Ric Flair- In a great wrestling card that featured Triple H vs. Chris Jericho and The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan, why in the world would I pick Undertaker vs. Flair? Flair had been on hiatus and hadn't wrestled in a number of months; many wondering if The Dirtiest Player in the Game still had it. Of course, the Nature Boy did and the Dead Man helped. I picked this match because it was lost in the shuffle with the two main events getting the most press and promotion. Flair showed that he can still captivate a crowd and Taker was able to brush off whatever rust Flair had. Hell, the match had a brief cameo with Arn Anderson running in and doing his patented spinebuster for the first time in years. Taker got the win but fans saw that the Nature Boy was alive and well.

WM XIX- Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho- Jericho was pegged as "the next Shawn Michaels" a few years after his debut. Michaels is promoted as "the legend who can still go." Put the two together, you have a show stealer. The two of them displayed great technical wrestling, high flying moves, and great false finishes. The crowd went wild and gave both men their due after this mat classic.

WM XX- Triple Threat Match for World Heavyweight Championship: Chris Benoit vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Triple H- This was and is still the best three way match in WWE. Great in-ring action, consistent and energetic false finishes and the then-feel-good ending of Benoit winning his only WWE World Championship made this a great way to send the crowd home happy with a fairy tale ending. Unfortunately, the real life tragedy of Benoit's double murder-suicide has overshadowed and tainted this moment, but looking at the match as a stand-alone it still holds up.

WM XXI- Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels- Michaels and Angle stole the show with Michaels' showmanship and Angle's great technical skill. Both men pulled out all the stops and presented the best match on the card. This match would allow for quality rematches throughout the rest of the year with both men ending up on an equal playing field.

WM XXII- Hardcore Match: Edge vs. Mick Foley- Most hardcore or garbage matches nowadays trade psychology, storytelling, and time for crowd reaction for bloody, high risk spots. This match reminded wrestlers how hardcore matches should be done. The bloody spots mattered, the weapons were milked to their fullest, and the match told a great story of a hard-fought battle. This match cemented Edge as a main event star and Foley got his "Wrestlemania moment" when Edge speared him through a flaming table for the pin.

WM XXIII- World Heavyweight Title Match: Undertaker vs. Batista- Okay, I'm flip-flopping. Taker vs. Big Dave could be considered the best big man match ever. Taker delivered as he usually does and Batista proved to his critics that he can have an exciting 20 minute contest and not rely solely on power moves and brawling. Both men felt cheated that they were asked to do this match in the middle of the card so they retaliated by having the best match on the card. This one was incredibly tough to follow. Kudos to you both. Oh, and Undertaker won.


WM XXIV- ?????- I don't know which match will be the best on this card. The Money in the Bank Ladder Match never disappoints and Edge vs. Undertaker for the World title might be the darkhorse candidate. I personally look forward to Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels the most because can't seem to have a bad match and Flair is rumored to be retiring after this show, so both men want to give The Nature Boy a great send off. I guess I'll have to wait a week to find out in person.