Top 25 Friday: A Wrestlemania Edition (part 1)

In honor of this weekend's big show, I thought I'd do a rundown of 'Mania past. Keep in mind that this list would probably change weekly... maybe even daily... but I went through each 'Mania and selected my favorite match from that show. Not necessarily the best match but my favorite. Also keep in mind that I haven't seen some of these shows in ages and I'm going off an admittedly dusty memory.

Enjoy!

Wrestlemania I
Honestly, with all the history behind it - Wrestlemania I didn't have very many matches to be all that nostalgic about. In fact, there were quite a few stinkers. But if I had to pick one, I'll go with the crazy spectacle that was the Main Event. Hulk Hogan & Mr. T teaming against Roddy Piper & Paul Orndorff. You had Snuka in one corner and Cowboy Bob in the other. You had Ali outside the ring as a guest ref. There was Billy Martin and Liberace and the Rockettes. It truly was a WWF/E scene to remember.

Wrestlemania II
The match quality in the second 'Mania increased a bit even though the "feel" of the event was a bit off since it was broadcast from three separate arenas. While the Steel Cage Main Event of Hogan and Bundy was memorable for a couple of reasons - a] it was the only traditional cage match in 'Mania history [although I thought that was where Orton/HHH was heading a few weeks ago] and b] it was the blowoff to the nice little feud that started when Bundy busted up Hogan's ribs. It's also notable because I vividly remember seeing the results in my local paper the next morning with a picture of Hogan on the ropes booting Bundy in the chest. But even with all that nostalgia, my favorite match of the night has to be the Bulldogs winning the tag titles from Valentine and Beefcake. Even as a kid, I knew the Bulldogs were something special but I didn't quite realize how ahead of their time they were for several years to come.

Wrestlemania III
Now THIS is historic. This is the first Pay Per View I ever ordered and we didn't even get it at my house. My Aunts had to order it for me at their house while my grandpa dragged us out to Palm Springs to see the Angels vs the Red Sox in a spring training game. I didn't get to watch the tape until a week or two later although I couldn't resist sneaking a peek at the results in the newspaper the next day. I LOVE just about every match on the WM3 card so I'm hard pressed to pick a favorite but if forced to, I have to forgo the epic encounter between Hogan and Andre and go for one of the greatest matches of all time in Steamboat vs Savage. That was the match that made me realize there was more to wrestling than Hulk Hogan style matches. I was already starting to be convinced by the Crockett NWA shows and this just was the icing on the cake.

Wrestlemania IV
Ugh. This wasn't a good show. It was probably more memorable for the matches we DIDN'T get to see in the tourney like Steamboat/Savage II rather than the ones that we did. In the end, I guess I'd pick Savage vs DiBiase but even that wasn't anything I'm dying to revisit anytime soon.

Wrestlemania V
Alright, I'll admit it. I was a sucker for the Megapowers and their blowup. I was so anti-Savage that I'm surprised I didn't try to burn my Macho Man t-shirt - yes, I had that purple/pinkish shirt and wore it proudly to a house show that year with a Savage/Honky Tonk cage Main Event. So, Hogan vs Savage in the Main Event with Liz in neither man's corner? I'm sold. It didn't hurt that was a hell of a match to boot.

Wrestlemania VI
This one's kind of a no-brainer as I can only recall one match on the show being any good at all. Hogan vs Warrior was a million times better than it had any right to be and Pat Patterson is cemented in my mind as a wrestling genius because of it. And yes, I was rooting for Hogan in this one and to this day will slow-mo that three count at the end because damn it, Hogan got the shoulder up!

Wrestlemania VII
Well, it's definitely not the Hogan/Slaughter Main Event that suffers the indignity of being the only Main Event in 'Mania history to actually PUT ME TO SLEEP while watching it live. Incredible. No, the easy winner on this one was the magnificent Warrior/Savage "retirement match." My god, I didn't think it was possible to drag a better match out of Warrior than Hogan had a year prior but Savage did it and did it with style. Everything about that match is just golden from the Warrior's amazing jacket he wore to the ring that my friend Brian and I insisted we'd wear to school if we owned it to the surprise appearance of Elizabeth to the multiple flying elbows to the tearful reunion. Absolutely magnificent.

Wrestlemania VIII
Sadly, Wrestlemania VIII will always be remembered more for the match we didn't get - Hogan vs Flair - tan either of the really good matches we did get. I think I'd put Hart vs Piper a notch above Savage/Flair on that one. While Savage/Flair had that really great Liz angle going, Hart vs Piper just played out so beautifully. That spot where Piper is going to crown him with the bell and then tosses it aside because he doesn't want to win that way? Gets me every time.

Wrestlemania IX
This is one of the only Wrestlemanias that I can honestly say it took me years to actually see and I have very little recall of the show at all. I DO remember sitting at home "watching" it on Scramblevision and WTFng my head off during the Hogan post-match angle in the Main Event. But if I have to pick a match... uhhh... well... I seem to remember the Steiners vs the Headshrinkers being nutty. I don't really know though. Probably the Mania I've seen the least amount of times.

Wrestlemania X
This is really a two match show and you always see very split opinions as to which match was better. While I love Bret/Owen, I'm going with the ladder match simply because at the time, I hadn't seen anything like it and was absolutely amazed at the things those two men were doing to each other with that ladder. That was a star-making performance for both of those guys that night at MSG.

Wrestlemania XI
Weird 'Mania. There's not much to be excited about on this one since the I Quit match with Bret and Backlund was a turkey after it looked so awesome on paper. Diesel and HBK was solid as well but truth be told, I've got to go with the LT/Bigelow match. I just had absolutely zero hope of it being any good going in but in true WWE spectacle fashion, they "worked it out, dawg" into something very memorable.

Wrestlemania XII
Probably the 'Mania I've seen the second least amount of times. It was a long time before I ever saw this one either as I had a lot going on at the time and just never got around to seeing it for quite a while. I know that HBK/Bret takes a lot of heat for not being a very good Iron Man match but I remember liking it when I saw it. I'd definitely put it above anything else on this show which is generally considered notable because it had the Mania debuts of Austin and HHH.

Wrestlemania XIII
This is actually a show that I like quite a bit and I think it's more than the one match show most people see it as. I dug a handful of matches including HHH/Goldust as well as the Chicago Street Fight but in the end, it is without question Austin/Hart that takes the win. It's right up there in the list of the very best Mania matches of all time so it's an easy choice for this one.

I'll end Part 1 of this right here and pick up with Part 2 in the morning...