10 Best Ever WrestleMania Rematches At Backlash

2. Chris Benoit Vs Triple H Vs Shawn Michaels (2004)

Edge vs The Undertaker Backlash
WWE Network

Despite the obvious issues and difficulty in remaining objective about matches involving Chris Benoit, we do have to acknowledge that his coronation as World Heavyweight Champion at WrestleMania 20 in 2004 was one of the biggest moments for fans who felt that the former WCW star had long been overlooked.

Benoit won the 2004 Royal Rumble as a SmackDown superstar and crossed brands to challenge Triple H, opening up a plot thread that hadn’t existed before. Shawn Michaels found his way into the match, making it a triple threat at Mania. There, Benoit managed to make Triple H tap out to win his first and only WWE world title.

Triple H was traded to SmackDown after WrestleMania, which meant that HBK was awarded the role of first challenger. But then Hunter was traded back to Raw (for the Dudley Boyz and Booker T, read into that what you will), so the title match was once again made a triple threat.

This time, Benoit managed to make Michaels submit to retain the title. Of course, we all would remember these matches much more fondly had things happened differently, but even so, this was easily one of the highest-profile Mania rematches at Backlash.

Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.