10 Times WWE Fans Were Elated At WrestleMania
1. Shawn Michaels And The Undertaker Remind Us Why We're All Here
Shawn Michaels Vs. the Undertaker wasn't a crucial match. It wasn't of fundamental importance to the fortunes nor future of the company.
It was transformative in the worst possible way - make a second cover, do not sit there mystified, you absolutely did not land a move as effective as the Streak-era Tombstone, you tumbling d*ckweed - but it was one of the greatest WWE matches ever because it just felt like it.
It was a match that released wave upon wave of dopamine in those watching. It told a simple, graduating story of back-and-forth drama, earning the tropes so many matches have cannibalised since through the respective legacies each man brought to the Grandest Stage. This was the man who put on the greatest WrestleMania match versus the man who never lost at WrestleMania; Michaels and 'Taker fought in a pulsating battle to chip away at those legacies, the brilliance of which allowed for relentless big spots and kick-outs, all of which were paced immaculately to convey the idea that there was no separating these two men. Men is the key word; that much-imitated "shocked kickout face" put over the idea that Shawn's resilience had reduced the Dead Man to mere, mortal status. A masterpiece of action and psychology, this, simply was life-affirming.
Our thing was art, and our favourites could do it forever.