The 34 best WrestleMania matches ever

#18: Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage (WrestleMania 5)

This was a match over a year in the making. It was the culmination of a great friendship and a bitter breakup involving that most personal of all matters for two proud men - a woman. The woman in question, Miss Elizabeth, made it clear that she wanted to help both Hogan and Savage, adding confusion and drama before the bell even rang.

Throughout the match, Savage used every underhanded heel tactic imaginable to halt whatever momentum his challenger would build, including the liberal use of eye rakes that left Hogan bleeding from the eye.

When the action went to the outside, things got complicated, as Elizabeth's confusion over who to help only seemed to further Savage's cause, leaving the crowd in suspense. Strangely, Savage would demand she leave the ringside area, even though she'd been of inadvertent help to him.

Savage still retained the advantage though, as his turnbuckle double axe handle drove Hogan into the steel railing. Suddenly, the challenger was also dealing with a throat injury. Things looked finished for Hogan when Savage successfully went to the top rope and dropped the elbow.

Hogan, however, kicked out in emphatic fashion and began to hulk up. We would call this bad selling today, but the crowd loved it back then. Soon, Savage's year-long title reign was at an end and Hogan was once again champion.

The ending was cliched, but by the standards of its time, it was a brutal match, and it came after a great build.