10 Best Ever WrestleMania Follow-Up Pay-Per-Views
Memorable sequels to WWE's flagship event.
When the dust settles around yet another WrestleMania, all eyes turn to what lays ahead on the WWE calendar. Whether it was In Your House, Backlash, or Extreme Rules, there have been plenty of worthy sequels to WWE's 'Showcase of the Immortals', some of which have even outshined WrestleMania itself.
While the follow-up to WrestleMania has largely become a crutch to promote rematches from the marquee event (instead of properly blowing them off at the 'end' of the WWE season), sometimes those rematches prove memorable. Topping their WrestleMania counterparts has proven tricky, but with higher stakes, the April and May rematches have provided satisfying conclusions to a number of storylines.
Like any other pay-per-view, the WrestleMania follow-up is as good as its best matches and storylines. If two or three matches rate very favorably, chances are you can call it a winner. If a few storylines are resolved in satisfactory ways, even better.
This list is only for events from 1996 onward; in the years where WWE put out a lighter pay-per-view output, events like King of the Ring and SummerSlam would technically be follow-ups to WrestleMania. This is only for the events that took place three or four weeks after WrestleMania, when the memories of the grandest stage are still mostly fresh.
10. Backlash 2005
WrestleMania 21 was a hard act to follow, but the Raw brand that was mostly compelling in 2004-05 supplemented the Hollywood showcase well. Among the best matches of the show were Edge's win in a last man standing match over Chris Benoit, and Shelton Benjamin retaining the Intercontinental title in a see-saw battle over Chris Jericho.
Hulk Hogan worked an enjoyably formulaic tag team bout with Shawn Michaels, defeating Muhammad Hassan and Daivari in something out of 1980s Techicolor glory. Batista retained his World Heavyweight title over Triple H in a match that was on par with their average WrestleMania encounter, but they'd top it with a Hell in a Cell bloodbath two months later at Vengeance.