9 Highest-Rated WWE WrestleMania Matches According To Dave Meltzer’s Star System

Following the double-header with Michaels, the streak’s peak years continued with a pair of matches against Triple H, starting with a No-Holds Barred win for The Undertaker at WrestleMania XXVII, and finishing with this ‘End of an Era' Hell in a Cell match one year on.

While Meltzer’s judging criteria tends to favour technical mastery as in the case of Bret vs. Owen or Michaels vs. Angle, he does occasionally bow to pure theatre, and that is exactly what this was as the last true mega stars of ’The Attitude Era’ wrote their final chapter together (if you ignore all of that Super Show Down and Crown Jewel nonsense).

Although the cell structure went largely unutilized, particularly by the standards of its two most celebrated exponents, Michaels as the Special Guest Referee was a crucial prop to cloud the fact that both men were far from their physical best at this point. Particularly ‘The Phenom’, who was feeling the ill-effects of several recent surgeries, while HHH had switched to a part-time schedule and only wrestled five matches in the prior 12 months.

HBK put in a typically show-stealing performance, caught in the dilemma of helping his friend to end the streak and the envy of not being the man to do it himself. There was always a cynicism that Triple H might be the one, because, well, it is Triple H after all, and when Michaels hit that Sweet Chin Music and went for the count, they had us all believing.

Similar to the WrestleMania XX triple threat, it is the post-match scenes which are most fondly remembered as the trio embraced on the entrance ramp. Meltzer awarded this one 4.75 stars - the most recent match from ‘The Show of Shows’ to receive this high a rating.