WrestleMania is the WWE’s biggest show of the year, and has been for the past thirty-two years, taking place at the very end of March or the very beginning of April. Ranking all thirty-one WrestleManias so far would take a lot of time, and would be very difficult to do.However, ranking the five WrestleManias of the modern era (2011-now) so far, in order of worst to best is quite easy, and this is a list that does just that. From WrestleMania XXVII in Atlanta to WrestleMania 31 in San Francisco, here is a ranking of these five WrestleManias in order of match cards, match quality, arena and impact.Who knows? Maybe WrestleMania 32 in a couple of months can be even better.
#5 WrestleMania XXVII (Atlanta, Georgia)
Kicking off the list is what is quite possibly the most beautiful WrestleMania stage of all time. It was unnecessarily flashy, and undeniably shiny, but that’s what made it so great.
Sadly, that might be the only good thing about this WrestleMania.
WrestleMania XXVII opened with a fine World Heavyweight Championship Match, where Edge retained against the winner of the largest Royal Rumble of all time, Alberto Del Rio. Cody Rhodes picked up a much needed win against Rey Mysterio in a decent match. Randy Orton and CM Punk put on a good display, where Orton came out victorious. And Triple H lost to The Undertaker in a stellar and brutal match. All this might sound good, and it was.
This WrestleMania was brought down due to its other matches. There was an out-of-place two-minute eight-man tag match in which Kane, The Big Show, Kofi Kingston and Santino Marella walked over The Corre. There was a random mixed tag team match featuring Trish Stratus just before the main event. Stone Cold Steve Austin was the special referee in a match featuring Jerry Lawler and Michael Cole, and there were even two dark matches. Yes, two dark matches at WrestleMania.
All of this, of course, came before the robbery that was the main event. John Cena would challenge for the WWE Championship against the champion heading into the show, The Miz. That isn’t even the worst part. The match ended in a double count out. A WrestleMania main event ended in a count out. After this, the host of the show, The Rock, came out and ordered that the match be restarted, this time in a no disqualification contest. This was only so that The Rock could attack Cena and cost him the match. What seemed more focused on going into this match was The Rock and Cena’s problems, and that, ultimately, was what the spotlight was on.
WrestleMania XXVII, worst of all, served as a placeholder for WrestleMania XXVIII.
#4 WrestleMania 29 (East Rutherford, New Jersey)
The set for WrestleMania 29 was spectacular. It featured a smaller, yet still huge, replica of the Brooklyn Bridge running though the entrance stage, with a skyline of New York in the background. The ring was surrounded by skyscraper structures, with a Statue of Liberty replica placed in the middle, above the ring.
WrestleMania 29 was in no means a bad show. In fact, it was a great show. It just wasn’t as impactful as the shows on either side of it in chronology. It opened with a great six-man tag team match in which The SHIELD demolished Randy Orton, Sheamus and The Big Show in their WrestleMania debut. The Tag Team Championship match was great as well, in which Team Hell No defended against Dolph Ziggler and Big E Langston, as was the World Heavyweight Championship match in which Alberto Del Rio retained against Jack Swagger.
Some matches did pull it down, such as Mark Henry defeating Ryback and Chris Jericho losing to Fandango, but the top three matches on the card truly defined the show.
The Streak went on to its peak at 21-0 when The Undertaker defeated CM Punk in what many thought was match of the year. It was a very well executed and performed match by both competitors. The second last match featured Brock Lesnar facing Triple H in a match where if The King of Kings lost, he would have to retire. Of course, he didn’t lose. Making use of the no disqualification stipulation, Triple H would go on the defeat the beast after a pedigree on the steel steps.
The main event, however, felt recycled. After advertising the previous year’s match between The Rock and John Cena as “Once In A Lifetime“, the fans got this match again the next year. It felt repetitive and also many didn’t like how The Rock had so much spotlight rather than the full time wrestlers on the roster. This match wasn’t as good as the previous year’s, mostly because The Rock had suffered a bad injury midway through.
Nobody’s ever going to forget the Raw following the show either.
#3 WrestleMania XXX (New Orleans, Louisiana)
The thirtieth annual WrestleMania had a set like no other. It took the show’s logo and made it as grand as possible. The image of those three purple X’s below the ever-inspiring WrestleMania logo is one that will not for forgotten for a long time.
This WrestleMania was like a tribute show, one for the ages, a new dawning in the WWE. It said goodbye to the old, welcomed the new, payed homage to the WrestleMania ten years before it, and indeed, shocked the entire world.
Going into the show, critics were on their toes about how the card seemed not worthy of the grand stage, but as soon as the spectacle began, all critics were silenced. It opened with the spine-tingling image of the show’s host, Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and The Rock, all standing in one ring, and of course, as usual with Austin, sharing a few beers.
The show hit immediately with the opening match. An eight month saga with The Authority and Daniel Bryan came to a climax with Triple H and Daniel Bryan squaring off, the winner being placed into the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match in the main event. The match was considered match of the year by many, with Triple H pulling out more than ever before, but ultimately Bryan triumphed, which, of course, since he had another match later in the night, was followed by an assault by Stephanie McMahon and Triple H.
The SHIELD walked over The New Age Outlaws and Kane in a three minute match, which, although short, opened up the SHIELD’s greatest run in their time, until they disbanded in June. The inaugural Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal was won by Cesaro after body slamming The Big Show over the top rope, similar to how Hulk Hogan slammed Andre at WrestleMania III. John Cena, who was in the midcard of WrestleMania for the first time in ten years, defeated Bray Wyatt who was making his WrestleMania debut, but looked strong in the match, and the match itself was highly entertaining.
Then came the shock of the night. Many expected Brock Lesnar vs The Undertaker to be a great match, with Undertaker naturally winning to maintain his undefeated Streak at WrestleMania. The exact opposite happened. Taker looked miserably out of shape, and the match, although the longest of the night, was terrible. The crowd was never into it, and the ending was just amplified because of this. After striking a third F-5, the entire Mercedes-Benz Superdome was silenced when Brock Lesnar kept The Undertaker down for a three count. The faces of disbelief on everyone in attendance were WrestleMania moments in themselves.
The Divas were sandwiched between The Streak ending and the main event, and nobody was into the match after the result of the previous bout. AJ Lee retained her Diva’s Championship against ten other women.
The main event was shadowing the main event of WrestleMania XX, in which Randy Orton defended his WWE World Heavyweight Championship against the Royal Rumble winner, Batista, and Daniel Bryan. As soon as the match got going, Batista and Orton teamed up and quickly took out Bryan. After a while, in a moment that reminded fans of Mick Foley not staying down after terrifying amounts of torture, Bryan refused medical attention and made Batista tap out to the Yes Lock.
The sight of Daniel Bryan overcoming all the odds was one to treasure for years to come. Too bad Bryan and his career took a downhill turn from there.
This WrestleMania was filled with more iconic moments than arguably any, but even this couldn’t compare to the top two, although it came very close.
#2 WrestleMania XXVIII (Miami, Florida)
Ignore the first hour, the rest of WrestleMania XXVIII was excellent.
The stage wasn’t as exciting as the previous year’s, with a simple abstract ‘WrestleMania’ placed above the entrance ramp, and a few palm tress thrown here and there, but the show outclassed the previous year’s in almost every way.
Sheamus defeated Daniel Bryan in eighteen seconds in one of the most forgettable World Heavyweight Championship matches ever, and this was followed by a poor match between Kane and Randy Orton, a decent match between Cody Rhodes and The Big Show, and a Diva’s tag team match featuring a celebrity.
What followed was magnificence. The longest match of the night was the ‘End of an Era’ match, between Triple H and The Undertaker, with Shawn Michaels as guest referee, in a rematch from last year’s WrestleMania, except this time, inside Hell In A Cell. The match managed to be better than the previous year’s, with the storytelling being masterful, and the involvement of Michaels being genius. The image of the three men embracing each other after the match is one that will always be in the fans’ minds.
Team Teddy losing to Team Johnny in a ten-man tag team match for the control of both Raw and SmackDown was a fun, quick match, which played filler until the last two matches.
The WWE Championship match at WrestleMania XXVIII featured CM Punk defending his championship against a returning Chris Jericho, in a match called match of the night by The Sun. It wasn’t as long as the other two main matches, but it was technically very sound, and sent the ‘wrestling purists’ home happy. Personally, this is one of my favourite matches ever.
The main event of WrestleMania XXVIII payed off for the one year build-up, which included completely wasting the previous year’s show to build up the match. The way it was set up was great, especially kicking into second gear from Survivor Series in November. The match went on for half an hour, but unlike their second match, was well-paced and the crowd was into it. The ending, in which The Rock came out victorious after John Cena failed using a People’s Elbow, was a pleasant surprise for the mature fans who probably would have rioted had Cena come out on top.
For the amount of sacrifice it took to set up WrestleMania XXVIII, at least it had payed off. But even this couldn’t beat the number one WrestleMania on this list.
#1 WrestleMania 31 (San Fransisco, California)
WrestleMania 31 was spectacular. There is no other way around it. It silenced all the critics and made every fan scream in joy. Unlike every other WrestleMania on this list, and quite possibly in history, there wasn’t a bad match. There simply wasn’t.
The show opened brilliantly with a seven-man ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship, in which fan-favourite Daniel Bryan came out on top after a series of headbutts with Dolph Ziggler atop a ladder. Bodies flew everywhere in this match, as Michael Cole said, including Luke Harper bending ladder in half with Dean Ambrose’s body.
The second match of the night featured Randy Orton defeating Seth Rollins after executing one of the best, if not the best, RKO’s of all time. The match was solid, but that wasn’t the end of Seth Rollins’ night.
Sting’s WWE debut was the third match on the card. Such a huge moment was so low down on the card. That says a lot about last year’s Mania. Both men had big entrances (With Triple H’s not even being subtle about the promotion of the new Terminator movie), and the match had been announced as No Disqualification, only to allow many nostalgic moments involving DX and nWo, all of which made the match even more interesting, with Triple H coming out on top. This was the longest match of the night.
The only Divas’ match on the card featured AJ Lee and Paige defeating Brie Bella and the Divas’ Champion Nikki, in a hard-fought and entertaining match. Like all years however, the Women’s match was sandwiched between two big singles matches.
Rusev and John Cena both entered in overly patriotic fashions for their United States Championship match, and that was only the beginning. Both men put on a good showing, with a controversial finish allowing Cena to pick up the win and the United States title.
After completely carrying the story on his bare back for two months, Bray Wyatt lost to the Undertaker after The Phenom made his first appearance since his Streak ended at the previous year’s event. He put on a better show than he did the previous year and looked in better shape, which is a promising sign for this year’s show, should he compete.
The main event, which was heavily criticised heading into the event, featured WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar taking on Roman Reigns, in a match which surprised most people as it was better than expected. It looked one-sided for most of it, but quickly turned into a bloody slugfest, to a point at which both men were down, and seemed a close match for each other.
Neither man would walk out with the championship.
Seth Rollins would show up with his Money In The Bank briefcase while both men were down, and pinned Roman Reigns to steal the title from Brock Lesnar. The entire internet lost its mind by the time WrestleMania 31 culminated, ultimately as one of the best, if not the best, WrestleManias of all time.
