10 Hugely Underrated WWE WrestleMania Matches
Viva Las Vegas (!)
The God tier of WrestleMania matches is occupied by one industry-changing bout that also happened to be the very best held in the history of North American pro wrestling: the Submission match between Bret Hart and Steve Austin at 'Mania 13 elevated the art and eventually business alike through its sheer structural genius.
Underneath that tier is one comprised of mere classics. The epic fought between Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker at 'Mania 25 was a war of physicality and psychology. Never before had the Undertaker unloaded his arsenal with such force, nor had an opponent sold it with such conviction - and the space between moves was even more dramatic. Bret executed a pacing masterclass opposite brother Owen at the show's 10th birthday, escalating his motive from reluctance to fury. On the same show, Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon literally weaponised the entire premise of a WWF presentation, influencing the very crux of WWE in the process. Shawn proved himself as adept at the purer form of the art 11 years later in a match rich in both mechanics and emotion at 'Mania 21.
Underneath those classics is a sort of B+ tier of bouts, ranging from Triple H's admission of technical inferiority in the face of Daniel Bryan at 'Mania XXX to his levelling up to legends at 'Mania XXVIII.
The enduring appeal of the Show of Shows is that it boasts matches upon matches of brilliance, many obscured by its stupendous standard...
10. The British Bulldogs Vs. The Dream Team - WrestleMania II
The temptation to revisit the entire chronology of WrestleMania is tempered by the idea that we'd prefer to pretend III was I; the original was momentous in influence but middling at best in quality, and the second undermined the promised spectacle, diluting the glamour and sapping the respective crowds with staggered action. Leave it to the Chicagoans to drum up some noise, and leave it to the Dynamite Kid to bump like a lunatic, to shine a light through the grim darkness of the pants production set-up.
Even revisited through a 2018 lens, the pace, intensity and dynamism of the Kid remains astonishing as he leaves Greg Valentine gassed and prone for Davey Boy Smith to blast him with a standing suplex. The shoddy reserved list ring actually accentuates the match; bouncy but loud, every bump is soundtracked by a shotgun blast - and this borders on the rapid-fire with the Bulldogs at their most boisterous. Far brisker and inventive than the timeframe suggests - the Hammer’s inverted Tombstone still warrants and wince - this is a real heel showcase reel for the underrated Valentine, who plays the vicious pr*ck with aplomb.
Brutus Beefcake is largely a passenger - but that only underlines the intelligence of the layout.