King James Presents: List It! - Top 10 WrestleManias!

[Hoss]

I recall back in the day and maybe still, WWE had its List It! feature, filled with multiple lists of any and everything. Well, I figure this General Wrestling section which I used to mod had been looking a little lackluster, so in an attempt to spark some interest and interaction, I'll begin a series of my own personal List It!'s, beginning with this one. Right in time for the annual big daddy of them all, I'll be listing my 10 favorite WrestleMania events of ALL-TIME!

FYI, I have seen every WrestleMania to date. Some I haven't seen for a while, some I've watched just this afternoon! (WrestleMania 13)

How this is going to work is I'm going to make 10 posts, from 10 to 1, counting down my favorite Mania's and why. I very much urge you to give me your input, whether you agree or not. Hopefully this can be a start of a regular thing that I do in this section about a variety of topics! My head is already swirling with ideas. Such as Top 10 Favorite Gimmicks! Top 10 Scariest Superstars! Top 10 Favorite Title Reigns! Top 10 Worst PPVs! Top 10 Ugliest Diva's! And so on and so forth. They won't always have to do with WWE, but this one obviously is WWE exclusive!

So I'm going to post number 10 soon and I hope you all can look back on that particular WrestleMania and share some memories or comments that you may have concerning it, and I hope this can be a really fun thread as King James Presents:

List It! - Top 10 WrestleManias!​

 

[Postman Dave]

I look forward to disagreeing with you.

Seriously though, good idea, I'll be commenting.

 

[Petty]

I'll be in on this.

 

[Hoss]

Number 10
WrestleMania VIII​

I will begin this list with a classic WrestleMania from the year of 1992: WrestleMania VIII live from Indy! How can I phrase the reason I like this event? Well, it’s kinda like why I love Reese’s peanut butter cups. I get the best of both worlds with the peanut butter and chocolate. Likewise I get a sweet double header main eventer here on this PPV, with each of them receiving equal amounts of build and importance factor.

I like the matches for different reasons though, of course. The first main event is Ric Flair vs Macho Man for the WWF Championship. Wow, does it get much better? You’ve got two of the most well rounded wrestlers ever, if not THE most well rounded with in-ring skills that match their astronomical charisma. I remember liking the build to this match back when I was doing a little studying on this event a couple years ago. I watched the WWE TV that lead to this event and I thought it was really well hyped despite the fact that Mach wasn‘t originally supposed to be the challenger for Flair‘s gold at this event, and rather, Hogan was supposed to be. Nevertheless, come time for the event, it didn’t disappoint. I love this match from top to bottom. It comes in as Mach’s second best Mania match after his affair with Steamboat and Flair’s second best after his HBK match. In my heart though, it was this show’s best match, still. I credit that to Flair’s killer blade job (which is seen on camera) that lead to a blood bath in the ring. Anyways, Savage wins the WWF title in a glorious moment.

The second main event that actually ended the show is a controversial one with a botched ended despite a really good contest between two mediocre wrestlers. I’m talking about Sid Justice against Hulk Hogan! I don’t even like watching either of these guys wrestle typically, but they muster up an almost not too bad match here. It really impressed me a lot when I watched it again recently and it’s a fitting show-closer and main event no matter how much everyone else hates it. I mean, it wasn’t good, but since it’s Hulk vs Sid, it had to be the show ender. And the ending forces it to be the last match of the night.

Papa Shango was supposed to come in and break up the pin on the leg drop but since he was probably backstage trying to rally up some hoes, he missed the spot, which forced Sid to kick out of the famed leg drop, and resulted in Harvey jumping on the apron, causing a DQ. The ending is humorously bad really. Especially because all Harvey does is jump on the apron before Earl disqualifies Sid! But Shango eventually hits the ring, leading to the return of one of my favorite characters of all-time (sue me) THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR! These moronic Indianans soon forget the botched ending and go ape shit for The Warrior who comes and saves his old rival, The Hulkster!

In the aftermath, Shango has a terrible feud with Warrior who seems to ignore all the paranormal things that Shango does to him and eventually Hulk leaves to be a big shot actor before returning for WrestleMania IX.

Some nice gems in the undercard include the show-opener between Tito Santana, or El Matador, and a young Shawn Michaels! Taker vs Jake The Snake is up there as one of Taker’s better Mania matches from earlier in the streak, also. It sure beats the Superfly and Giant Gonzales matches. The real show stealer for me is Bret Hart vs Roddy Piper for the Intercontinental Championship which was made even better by the really well done pre-match interview. Sweet match right there and I think the second best match on the card after Naitch vs Mach. I advise you check that one out.

All in all, WrestleMania VIII opens the door to some of the more mistake filled Manias that would come up in the mid-90’s as this one was plagued with more than one booking mishaps, botches, and talent related blunders. But it wasn’t the most flawed event and featured strong undercard matches (Natural Disasters vs Money, Inc was pretty lame though) and good main events that set the pace for a good few months of WWF television and one of my favorite SummerSlam events of all-time that August!

Watch

Macho Man vs The Nature Boy (***½)
Bret Hart vs Roddy Piper (***½)
El Matador vs Shawn Michaels (**¾)

Avoid

The Natural Disaster vs Money, Inc (½)
Owen Hart vs Skinner (N/A)

Match of the Night

Macho Man vs The Nature Boy

Promo of the Night

Flair and Perfect call Mach a cheater while Savage celebrates his title win like a whackjob

Tonight's MVP

Macho Man of course, with The Warrior being the runner-up

 

[Postman Dave]

Never watched any of this show, so it's unfair for me to pass comment. Great read though.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Wrestlemania 8 feels like the first Mania that lacked something. It's mostly just a two match show with a completely underwhelming undercard and a main event that was easily the worst of the first ten Manias. The two sole highlights being the amazing IC Title match (Personally, my choice for MOTN) and rather good, but poor booked finish of the WWE Title match. For whatever reason, Sid Justice vs Hulk Hogan doesn't have the legacy it seemed destined to have in 1992. Even though Hogan had had a couple of disappointing matches at Wrestlemania up to this point, each of them had some fairly large importance. This didn't. Perhaps the blame goes for what happened to all of those involved in the main event. With Wrestlemania in the books, Hulk Hogan would more or less end his full-time WWE career for the 90's. Justice ended up leaving prior to the Warrior program beginning. Papa Shango failed to impress officials enough to make him into a top star. Lastly, Warrior would be gone before the year was up.

More than anything, it's a Wrestlemania where it feels as if it was booked at the last minute. Besides the obvious Hogan/Flair match, there's plenty of other matches you could have expected after Rumble, but we didn't get them. Matches like Savage/Roberts, Taker/Sid, Jannetty/Michaels, Money Inc/LOD and something with the British Bulldog would have greatly helped the show. Instead, we got Jake's lackluster farewell, the Natural Disasters' failed babyface run, Bulldog being bumped off of the show at the last second, a pointless bout with Owen Hart, and the first of three straight tag title matches that would end in a non-finish.

The WWE dropped the ball big time with Wrestlemania 8.

 

[Sabretooth]

I gotta agree with Horrorfan.

Bret/Piper was good as was Flair/Savage. However I feel Flair/Savage was a bit overrated and the only great match was Bret/Piper. The rest of the card sucked. The Hogan/Justice match was pretty bad. When you have two lackluster wrestlers in terms of wrestling ability fighting each other, it's never good. The Taker/Roberts match also sucked. All it did was show off Undertaker's "powers" and make jake look like a moron. This was the first 'Mania besides IV that Hulk wasn't in the WWF Title match and unfortunately his opponent didn't help the matter. The Flair/Savage match should have been the main event but just like WWE does with John Cena today, they made Hogan the star over the title. Coupled with the fact that Hogan/Flair should have been the title match all along makes for annoyance in us fans.

It had a good two matches (the IC Title match being great) and that's about it. Hogan's first non-WWF Title involvement didn't go well, Taker/Jake was almost a squash, Tito/Shawn was too short to be special and the rest of the matches sucked.

I didn't like it

 

[Hoss]

Number 9
WrestleMania IV​

This one’s bound to be met with some resistance, but I really loved Mania IV. I’m going to keep this addition short and sweet too.

The central theme of the event was a 14-man tournament to declare a new WWF champion after Andre beat Hogan and sold the belt to DiBiase. Of course the title was vacated and somehow Jack Tunney figured the appropriate way to crown a new champion was a 14-man tournament.

Well the only problem I have with that is that a tournament with 14 participants is just moronic. That meant Hogan and Andre both got a BYE here, but ended up facing each other in the 2nd round anyways. May as well have them face each other in the opening round and then give the winner a BYE. However, the match ends in a draw ultimately which gives Ted the BYE in the third round. Jake Roberts and Rick Rude also fight to a time limit draw which gives The One Man Gang a second round BYE.

Would it have been too much to ask the WWF to make it a 16 man tourney and cut it out with all the BYE’s? Sheesh.

Anyways, eventually, it comes down to MACHO MAN against The Million Dollar Man in the finals. This is a great WrestleMania main event no matter what you people think. It isn’t the greatest slobber-knocker and Hogan’s involvement waters down Macho Man’s glory, but the action is well paced and who can’t love seeing Savage win the WWF title?

What this succeeds in doing is setting up an awesome WrestleMania main event next year between The Hulkster and Macho Man. It also makes sure that the event is crammed with plenty of WRESTLING. The tournament offers plenty of fun match ups and a there’s a pretty entertaining battle royal to start the show, won by Bad News Brown with Bret Hart being the final elimination. I think it’s a good little sneak peak into what will become and illustrious career for Hart.

Even though there were a fair share of cheap endings and Andre vs Hulkster was a dud, there are enough entertaining match ups and fulfilling action to carry this one.

Watch

Battle Royal (**1/2)
Greg Valentine vs Ricky Steamboat (***1/2) - Steamboat leaves for NWA after this
Greg Valentine vs Macho Man (***)
Demolition vs Strike Force (***)
Macho Man vs Ted DiBiase (***)

Avoid

Dino Bravo vs Don Muraco (1/2)
Ted DiBiase vs Don Muraco (1/2)
Hercules vs The Ultimate Warrior (1/2)
Hulk Hogan vs Andre The Giant (N/A)
Macho Man vs One Man Gang (N/A)

Match of the Night

Greg Valentine vs Ricky Steamboat

Promo of the Night

Andre playfully chokes Bob Uecker. We see this clip quite frequently since then.

Tonight’s MVP

Macho Man of course

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

The Taker/Roberts match also sucked. All it did was show off Undertaker's "powers" and make jake look like a moron.

Jake was leaving, so in theory, that's exactly what should have happened.

The Flair/Savage match should have been the main event but just like WWE does with John Cena today, they made Hogan the star over the title.

It had nothing to do with Hogan. Sid's contract promised him the main event slot at Mania.

Well the only problem I have with that is that a tournament with 14 participants is just moronic. That meant Hogan and Andre both got a BYE here, but ended up facing each other in the 2nd round anyways. May as well have them face each other in the opening round and then give the winner a BYE. However, the match ends in a draw ultimately which gives Ted the BYE in the third round.

I don't see what's bad about making it a fourteen match tournament. Hogan and Andre both have claims to being the legit World Champion. So both men are given byes because of that. Out of everyone in the tournament, they have a lot more claim to the title than anyone else. There's been plenty of other tournaments in the States and Japan that followed a similar mindset.

Would it have been too much to ask the WWF to make it a 16 man tourney and cut it out with all the BYE’s? Sheesh.

It's safe to say there were a couple of byes because of the time restraints. Had they had a sixteen man tournament without any byes, the tournament matches alone would have been 15 matches. That's already long by old Wrestlemania standards of having a dozen matches or so. In addition, they still had to involve the IC and tag titles. From there, they wanted to have a few more matches too. In a four hour show, you can only have so many matches without killing the time length of each match.

If they had to do a tournament, an eight man (Of if need be, a six man tournament) would have been the way to go. The much more condensed tournament would have probably included Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Jim Duggan, Ted DiBiase, One Man Gang, Bam Bam Bigelow, Randy Savage and either Rick Rude or Butch Reed.
---

Really though, Wrestlemania 4 just flat out sucks. The idea of building a Wrestlemania around a long tournament is a poor idea. The main problem is that you're buying a PPV without a good idea of what's on the show. What's the main event? Who knows. Who are the four guys fighting to be in the main event? No idea. It's the same reason why the King of the Ring always drew pisspoor buyrates. How are you supposed to market a show when you can't even say what will be on the show beyond a few matches? Worse yet, you're going to end up with a ton of matches without any sort of backstory. Those types of matches do not sell well.

Tournaments can be fine if there's plenty of great matches. The Super J Cup '94, WM 4 is not. Out of all of the tournament matches, none of them are really noteworthy for being good. There's a few moderately good bouts, but most are ether acceptable (DiBiase/Savage) or downright terrible (Rude/Roberts). The biggest annoyance to me is that Ted DiBiase and Randy Savage are fighting over the World Title without either beating Hogan/Andre. Right away, you're making it clear that the new World Champion is a paper champion because the real champion (Hogan) and the disputable champion (Andre) weren't beaten. To make matters worse, their tournament finals is 2 1/2 stars at best. Yet, the final SNME before Mania produced an AWESOME DiBiase/Savage match that was a MOTYC for the WWE. So you could have easily skipped the PPV and just watched the free SNME to see a hell of a better show with a superior main event.

That and for many other reasons is why Wrestlemania 4 sucks.

 

[Hoss]

Number 8
WrestleMania XIV​

Now to the Mania that I think might have had overall the best title matches of all-time on it. WrestleMania XIV chock full of matches that looked great on paper and lived up to the hype come show time. Title matches include The Hardcore Legends vs The New Age Outlaws, Owen Hart vs Triple H for the Euro title, The Rock vs Ken Shamrock for the IC title and Shawn Michaels vs Stone Cold for the WWE title. Oooh and a little easter egg in the form of TAKA Michinoku vs Aguila for the LHW title.

The show starts off in semi-entertaining fashion with a 15 tag team battle royal. Talk about a farcry from today’s WWE, where we’re lucky to have 1.5 tag teams running at one time, am I right? Anyways, LOD wins after beating The New Midnight Express. Not a good match, nor was it needed on the card, but it doesn’t detract from the event. Actually, it entertained me, so I think it achieved its purpose.

From there we are treated to Aguila (aka Essa Rios) vs TAKA Michinoku. TAKA is the defending champion. This match happens to be very fun to watch. Filled with action top to bottom. Add in a better storyline (or a storyline at all) and this thing could be a real crowd pleaser. TAKA wins with one of my favorite finishers of all time - The Michinoku Driver. The Rock gives a hell of a promo....

[video=youtube;-2QUZ9T_KhI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2QUZ9T_KhI[/video]​

....and then Triple H beats Owen Hart in a well worked, well booked, well paced match.

Another underdog comes up big for the show next, as Mero and Sable vs Goldust and Luna tears down the house. Sure, I’m a sucker for Johnny B. Badd and Goldust, but what makes this match so great is how much the crowd eats up the action between Sable and Luna. Looking back I’m really impressed at how much Mero and Sable got over.

Ken Shamrock puts the wallerin’ on The Rock. The match is short, but action packed. Ultimately, Ken makes Rock tap to the ankle lock after beating up every member of The Nation and HIS MAMA! Shamrock was an animal. Unfortunately all the ass whooping he puts on everybody, including the refs, leads to a reversed decision. Rock gets the gold, but not the glory in this case.

Hey even the tag title match is entertaining. I still remember the awesome segment where the Outlaws closed the dumpster on Chainsaw Charlie (aka Terry Funk) and Cactus Jack (aka.. Mick Foley...?) and threw them off the stage. Really well sold by King and JR. This match gets ugly and goes all over the arena. Some serious ass kicking goes on during this stretch between Ken’s roid rage and this no DQ match. The Hardcore Legends show they still got it and wallop them young whippersnappers in the Outlaws.

Kane vs Taker - what can I say. Decent match. Drags a lot as the big fellas get pretty tired. Not great to me though. Probably the most boring match on the show to me so far. I didn’t really like Kane back in those days though. I didn’t think he could wrestle. And to be fair, he gave me good reason to think that.

Main event time. What can you say? Awesome feud with an awesome build. HBK vs SCSA, Mike Tyson refereeing. The stuff hits the fan here. Brutally entertaining with great selling and great drama. It’s in my top 5 Mania main events without a doubt and for good reason. This thing is nearly flawless. It’s especially inspiring when you consider how HBK was having chronic back issues heading in and still worked this bad boy. This is the beginning of Austin’s dominance atop the WWE.

Really a glorious PPV. Its hurt only by the fact(s) that at this point, there were only 3 major draws in the company: Taker, Michaels, and Austin. Triple H and The Rock still weren’t at that point of packing arenas so the starpower wasn’t very well distributed. On top of that, there was only 1 match that really tore down the house, while the rest was just above average. I still really love watching this Mania because everything is at least good, but there’s only a small amount of great.

Watch

Aguila vs TAKA Michinoku (**1/2)
The Hardcore Legends vs New Age Outlaws (***)
Shawn Michaels vs Steve Austin (****1/2)

Avoid

None!

Match of the Night

Shawn Michaels vs Steve Austin

Promo of the Night

Rock is interviewed by Gennifer Flowers

MVP of the Night

Gotta be Stone Cold

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

My opinion on Wrestlemania 14 has changed since I began rewatching 1998 Raws. Basically, the build-up to the show was pretty poor. They spent so little time hyping Michaels vs Austin, instead focusing on Austin/Tyson and starting the McMahon/Austin program. The build-up was pretty similar to Cena/Miz from WM 27. The IC Title match suffered due to the WWE spending less time focusing on the feud and more time with the Rock/Faarooq program. Honestly, it felt like they were building up to a Rock/Faarooq match at Mania than Rock/Shamrock. The Euro Title was fine, but I hated how they had Owen win the belt from Goldust, only to have him drop the belt back to Hunter before Mania. The Light Heavyweight Title didn't have ANY build-up. Taker/Kane was fine, but they had Taker talk too much. The two build-ups that were actually damn fine were the mixed tag and tag titles matches.

When it comes to the show, you liked the event a lot more than I did. For me, you either had poor matches (Battle royal, Rock/Shamrock, Taka/Aguila) or enjoyable three star range good matches (Austin/Michaels, Taker/Kane and Mixed tag). I'm not nearly as big of a fan of the main event as you were. It's good and Michaels certainly earned some respect due to the back, but it can't hold a candle to their KOTR 1997 match and that even had a poor finish.

Since I recommended DiBiase/Savage SNME over the WM main event, I'll continue that by recommending TAKA vs Pantera from IYH No Way Out of Texas. It's a hell of a great forgotten gem that actually told a story. Way better than Taka/Aguila.

 

[Hoss]

I'm beginning to wonder if you can be pleased, but I'll continue to give it my best shot. My gut tells me you still won't be on board with my next pick but maybe the one after will suit your fancy. We'll see.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Ha, maybe you just need to pick the right Mania to praise. There's a few I really love.

 

[Hoss]

Out of the 25 other possibilities, one of the remaining 7 should hopefully cut it.

 

[Horrorfan_1986]

Looking forward to your post about Wrestlemania 9. :