10 Opening Wrestling PPV Matches Better Than The Main Event

Main Event: Daniel Bryan vs. Batista vs. Randy Orton for the World Heavyweight Championship

"But...but D-Bry fulfilled his destiny and cemented his legacy in the main event!" you say. "The main event was the culmination of an overlooked fan base finally getting to see their guy win it all on the biggest stage of the year," you say.

And yes, that's all true. Seeing Daniel Bryan walk away from WrestleMania as the new World Heavyweight Champion was one of the greatest moments of the year, but just in terms of overall match quality, Bryan's opening bout against Triple H has the definitive edge here.

And that's precisely because the emotional beats of that opening bout were so strong. It was classic David vs. Goliath, with a dramatic, kayfabe-breaking buildup that drew fans in like few storylines had in recent years. It made every one of Triple H's moves sting a little harder, and every D-Bry rebuttal more electrifying.

The main event, while still a dynamic affair, lacked some of that extra absorption. There were too many stretches of Batista battling Orton -- which elicited audible groans from the crowd at various points -- and the interference from Triple H and Stephanie undercut the match's flow. And even though that Batista Bomb-to-RKO combo through the table was one of the coolest spots in WrestleMania history, there's just no surpassing the purely brilliant one-on-one action in the opener.