The Greatest Match From Every WWE WrestleMania
The grandest matches from the granddaddy of them all!
The biggest weekend on the industry’s calendar, WrestleMania brings out the best in the business. It is, as we’ve been told many times, the grandest stage of them all; performers are expected to raise their games, and put on the matches of their careers.
This doesn’t always happen, of course - some thrive under the pressure, some don’t. But when the spotlight hits, the greats rise up and show out for the occasion. We’ve seen some of the WWE’s finest ever matches at WrestleManias over the years.
WrestleMania 36, for obvious reasons, is going to be a bizarre one. It’s hard to know how the lack of crowd is going to affect things, hard to guess just what the WWE has up its sleeve to mitigate this. We’ll have to wait and see.
In the meantime, that uncertainty shouldn’t stop us from celebrating one of the most exciting times of the year to be a wrestling fan. 35 years have garnered some amazing matches from legendary stars new and old. Some cards are stronger than others, but every year brings us something to celebrate, to remember...
35. WrestleMania I: Hulk Hogan And Mr. T Vs Paul Orndorff And Roddy Piper
They got one thing right from the off: WrestleMania is all about the spectacle.
The finale to the first show of shows would be considered overbooked even by Vince Russo: aside from Hogan and Piper teaming with Mr T and Paul Orndorff, you’ve got Mohammed Ali as special enforcer, Jimmy Snuka and Bob Orton on the apron, Pat Patterson guest refereeing, and for some reason Liberace ringing the bell.
For all that pomp, the match itself is surprisingly convincing as a brawl. Reported genuine bad blood between Piper and T (who, it should be said, does a great job for a non-wrestler) may contribute to this, but all parties crash into one another at any given opportunity, while Patterson and Ali try in vain to maintain order.
The finish descends into nonsense as Snuka and Orton get involved, the latter inadvertently clocking his own man to give Hogan the pin. Importantly, though, the crowd laps it up throughout. The makeup of WWE’s audiences would shift massively over the years, but for this assembly of casual onlookers out for a flashy good time, the match and the booking is ideal.