5 Greatest WrestleMania main events of all time

WrestleMania is undoubtedly the Grandest Stage of Them All. When a Superstar walks down that aisle, they know that they have to give a hundred percent of their emotion into their match. They have to make the fans feel everything they are feeling, both emotionally and physically.

Performing on WWE's biggest show of the year is an honor in its own right. Closing the biggest PPV of the year and taking part in the main event of WrestleMania takes things to a whole different level.

In its 34 years of rich history, the main event matches have featured WWE's most legendary performers including Andre the Giant, Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker, The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin.

With another WrestleMania set to take place in two months, we take a look at 5 matches that are on the top of the list. The matches making it to the list are based on the in-ring quality as well as their historical significance.

#5 Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels, WrestleMania 12

The Pre-match stare down!

This was a 60-minute Iron Man match. This match was something nobody has ever seen or heard of before then.

Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart have talked about this match so many times, as they feel this match couldn’t have gone any better, and for it going into overtime made it even better in the end. It was a good back and forth between the two greats, and we didn’t see a pinfall in the normal 60 minutes of this match.

In the final seconds, Hart had Michaels in a sharpshooter, and everyone though Michaels was going to tap right then and there. That didn't happen as the match went into overtime and HBK won the WWE title by hitting his signature maneuver.

The match was hyped perfectly with the interviews between the two. Shawn Michaels made his famous entrance where he came down from the rafters. Everything was just built perfectly including the overtime period due to the match being tied after 60 minutes.

The days of Ric Flair, Harley Race, and Dusty Rhodes were gone. The match between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels was another passing of the torch of sorts.

#4 Chris Benoit vs Shawn Michaels vs Triple H, WrestleMania 20

Benoit and Eddie celebrating in one of the greatest WrestleMania moments.

WrestleMania 20 was held in Madison Square Garden, New York. The event included a few good matches, but the show seemed rushed. Easily the best wrestling match of WrestleMania 20 was Triple H versus Chris Benoit versus Shawn Michaels for the World Heavyweight Championship.

This was one of the two main event matches that took place that night. In the other match, Eddie Guerrero retained the WWE Title against Kurt Angle in the second best match of the night.

This match brought three of the best WWE athletes together in the ring. Three guys, arguably all at the top of their games, all with a chip on their shoulder and all with the pressure to Main Event WrestleMania.

The crowd was engaged and fixated on the ring because as takedowns, pull outs, and signature moves seemingly changed the outcome from one moment to the next.

Chris Benoit came out of the match-winning his first championship title, World Heavyweight Champion. It was a moment of glory for Benoit who had worked many long years to get to this moment in his wrestling career.

Chris Benoit shared the final moments of glory and history with Eddie Guerrero, who had just won the WWE Championship.

#3 Steve Austin vs Shawn Michaels, WrestleMania XIV

Mike Tyson walking out the victorious Austin off the arena!

The build to this match, which included Mike Tyson, was a big step in WWE's boom that lasted for three years. This WrestleMania generated a buy rate of 730000, which was the most bought WrestleMania since WrestleMania V.

HBK, despite his bad back, was refusing to lose to Stone Cold Steve Austin in this match. Legend has it that the Undertaker had to threaten Michaels with physical harm to get him to lay down to lose this match.

Going into the match, Michaels back was so bad that at times it seemed as if he could not even bend and Austin's neck had been a concern since SummerSlam 1997.

Despite those factors, the two Superstars put on a very respectable match. The only thing that somewhat taints it is the fast count by Tyson, but Austin somehow survived that to become a huge main eventer, don't you think?

#2 The Rock vs Steve Austin, WrestleMania 17

This headliner generated the biggest buyrate of the past 17 years!

The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin have met at WrestleMania several times, but this encounter was the main event of WrestleMania 17 with personal drama, pride, and the WWF Championship title on the line. This match was billed by WWF as "The match both men need to win, and neither can afford to lose."

The Rock was the WWF Champion and to make matters worse Vince McMahon assigned Austin's wife, Debra, to manage The Rock. Austin wanted the WWF Championship title and was out for revenge in a match that was personal, outrageous, and a no disqualification match.

Going into the match, The Texas Rattlesnake was the audience favorite, as the event was held in Houston, Texas.

Both men fought viscously, but after numerous blows to the head and intervention by McMahon. The Rock lost consciousness, the match, and the WWF Championship

#1 Andre the Giant vs Hulk Hogan, WrestleMania 3

The biggest match in Wrestling history!

When Jesse Ventura claimed that this was the biggest match in history, it was not hyperbole. It can be argued that this WWE title match at WrestleMania III was the most important match ever up to that point.

WWE had built Andre as an undefeated (which was not officially true), and unstoppable machine and his heel turn in order to get his shot at Hogan's title was classic. So we had an "undefeated" Superstar (for 15 years no less) and the champion for three years going one on one to settle a grudge born out of Andre's jealousy for Hulk Hogan.

There were, however, downsides in terms of calling this an all-time important match. Firstly, the match were not great from an in-ring standpoint. Secondly, the match went towards establishing Hogan as a star; the problem with that being Hogan was already a bigger star (or close to it) than Andre at that point, which meant that the job the match was supposed to do was already done.

However, this same match was the main event of the Pay-Per-View that showed that wrestling had arrived. Even if the 93,000 people that WWE stated attended the event was overstated, there was still well over 80000 people there, and a lot of them were there to see the ultimate clash of the Titans.