Obviously, the main focus of my blog (and sporting life as a whole) are mainstream sports, specifically college football and basketball. However, my sport fanaticism is actually rooted in wrestling which I began to follow around the age of 5. The process of cheering on “good guys” as I called them (aka babyfaces) and cheering against “bad guys” (heels) prepared me for a life of boisterously cheering for and against various teams. Now, my eight year old son is going through his own “wrestling phase”, and in honor of the Bad Blood Premium Live Event that we are attending together in Atlanta, I am publishing a series of wrestling rankings on this blog. The first of these such columns is a ranking of the greatest Wrestlemanias of all-time. This is an updated version of an article I published on this blog during Covid when I was ranking anything and everything related to the world of sports. Please feel free to comment or debate.
| Greatest Wrestlemanias | ||
| Notes: | ||
| 1 | Wrestlemania III (1987) | Hogan vs. Giant in main event; Savage vs. Steamboat was legendary match |
| 2 | Wrestlemania XIV (1998) | Stone Cold beats Shawn Michaels |
| 3 | Wrestlemania VI (1990) | Hogan vs. Warrion in one of the great title matches ever |
| 4 | Wrestlemania XVII (2001) | Stone cold vs rock rematch and loaded card with tons of stars |
| 5 | Wrestlemania X (1994) | first-ever ladder match in WWE history |
| 6 | Wrestlemania XVIII (2002) | Weak main event but loaded undercard |
| 7 | Wrestlemania XXX (2014) | Undertaker’s streak ends; Daniel Bryan’s Cinderella run to championship |
| 8 | Wrestlemania IX (1993) | memorable outdoor event |
| 9 | Wrestlemania XL (2024) | Cody Rhodes completes the story in awesome main event featuring cameos by the Rock and Undertaker |
| 10 | Wrestlemania XIX (2003) | Lesnar vs Angle Main Event; card also featuring Rock/Stone Cold, Hogan, Michaels |
| 11 | Wrestlemania V (1989) | too many matches but really good main event |
| 12 | Wrestlemania I (1985) | good main event with lots of celebs |
| 13 | Wrestlemania XXII (2006) | Cena vs HHH main event; raucous arena atmosphere but last wrestlemania in arena |
| 14 | Wrestlemania XV (1999) | Rock vs. Stone Cole main event |
| 15 | Wrestlemania XIII (1997) | Stone Cold vs. Bret Hart submission match was epic despite lackluster main event |
| 16 | Wrestlemania VII (1991) | Hogan vs. Sgt. Slaughter |
| 17 | Wrestlemania XXXIX (2023) | Beginning of Rhea Ripley dynasty; Cody Rhodes Cinderella run ends with loss to Roman Reigns |
| 18 | Wrestlemania XXIV (2008) | Undertaker vs Edge main of event; Floyd Mayweather makes guest of appearance |
| 19 | Wrestlemania XXIII (2007) | Cena vs Michaels main event; Donald Trump makes guest appearance |
| 20 | Wrestlemania XXVIII (2012) | Rock vs Cena main event |
| 21 | Wrestlemania XXXV (2019) | Kofi Kingston wins title |
| 22 | Wrestlemania XXXIII (2017) | Undertaker’s farewell match |
| 23 | Wrestlemania XXXVIII (2022) | Stone Cold return match in Texas was memorable |
| 24 | Wrestlemania XII (1996) | hour long main event between Hart and Michaels is boring |
| 25 | Wrestlemania XXXVI (2020) | No fans put a damper on things but they stil had some cool concept matches. |
| 26 | Wrestlemania XXXII (2016) | too long and overdone |
| 27 | Wrestlemania XXV (2009) | Undertaker vs Michaels was epic match but main event was weak and no celebs |
| 28 | Wrestlemania XX (2004) | Triple threat main event featuring Michaels, HHH, Benoit |
| 29 | Wrestlemania XXXI (2015) | most overrated Wrestlemania; triple threat title matches have been overdone |
| 30 | Wrestlemania XXVII (2011) | The Miz vs John Cena main event |
| 31 | Wrestlemania XXXIV (2018) | Rhonda Rousey debut |
| 32 | Wrestlemania XXXVII (2021) | Weird to open event with WWE championship match. Roman Reins wins lackluster main event. |
| 33 | Wrestlemania XVI (2000) | card lacks star power; Triple H wins main event |
| 34 | Wrestlemania XXVI (2010) | Undertaker vs Michaels main event |
| 35 | Wrestlemania XXI (2005) | Weak main event |
| 36 | Wrestlemania VIII (1992) | Hogan vs. Sid Justice is underwhelming main event |
| 37 | Wrestlemania XXIX (2013) | repeat main event of Rock vs. Cena lacked luster |
| 38 | Wrestlemania XIV (1988) | tournament takes way too long and is poorly formatted |
| 39 | Wrestlemania II (1986) | terrible idea with using three different venues |
| 40 | Wrestlemania XI (1995) | no good matches and terrible main event |
Ramblings of the Ultimate Sports Sentimentalist 