10 Times WWE Fans Were Elated At WrestleMania
The grandest of the grand.
Honourable mentions are vast.
This is WrestleMania.
Even as WWE continues to haemorrhage viewers, the company remains capable of casting the old magic that made it, of convincing fans that they aren't merely loyal to a set of initials and beautiful, subjective memories that aren't honoured in the present.
Kofi Kingston's WWE Championship win over Daniel Bryan last year was a true moment of euphoria; the immense artistry of the struggle and the love shown to him in the aftermath fused the dream match and feel-good sentiment that has shaped 'Mania's unparalleled legend. The best of the Undertaker's Streak, with its pulsating, true epics, generated the elation only elite athletic performance enhanced by the most compelling of stories can generate. In its long-term reward and ultra-dramatic in-ring contests, in many ways, those years distilled what it means to dedicate one's personal time to professional wrestling.
Even the atmosphere elicits this feeling. Even matches that put the mid in midcard are enhanced by the beautiful, big-time presentation. It's WrestleMania. Even the most jaded of fans still spend thousands upon thousands for the pilgrimage.
If it doesn't quite feel like the greatest show on earth anymore, it wasn't just a tagline with which to sell it.
10. The Yes! Movement Arrives
In which Daniel Bryan emerged from a dumbass onslaught of attrition to reign as WWE World Heavyweight Champion.
The events of SummerSlam 2013 framed him as the wronged man, but there was no past tense about it. He was a transitional champion half-pushed to heat up Randy Orton, a bizarre and telling - definitive - indication of the gulf between promoter and public. This became clear in the autumn, throughout which WWE flipped through its rolodex of f*ck-finishes to gradually remove Bryan from the main event picture. WWE attempted to reinforce the message we innocently received as an underdog narrative: he was, in fact, a B+ player. The fans projected that narrative back onto WWE through defiance. Batista wasn't the top man. John Cena Vs. Randy Orton wasn't the top match. It was Bryan or nothing, and the ultimate schadenfreude What If? is now asked of the planned Orton Vs. Batista main event. It was so untenable as to be fascinating.
This struggle was condensed on the night. The second of his two classics had to override the eerie atmosphere that hung in the air following the death of the Undertaker's Streak.
Bryan's exceptional main event performance, an intoxicating blend of gutsy melodrama and in-ring strategy, shifted the funeral into a wake into a celebration, as the fans celebrated what was as much their victory as Bryan's.