Six of the Best – WrestleMania I to X

Seeing as we’re just over a week out from WrestleMania 35, I decided that I’d start putting Six of the Best together for the WWE’s premier event. Due to there being so many WrestleMania events, I’ve decided to split the lists into three categories, those covering WrestleMania’s 1 to 10, those covering WrestleMania’s 11 to 20 and those covering WrestleMania’s 21 to the present day.

Hopefully I’ll be able to get all three articles up before this year’s Mania event. It might take a bit longer than that as I’ve got a LOT of wrestling to watch for this one, but I’ll do my best. This section had by far the biggest shortlist, which is either a comment on the general quality of WrestleMania’s during this period or a comment on how much I personally enjoyed the events covered in this timeframe.

As always, these are just my own personal picks. This isn’t supposed to be some sort of objective list or anything. If I leave out a match that you think warrants inclusion, then please feel free to put it down in the comments section below. As with previous lists, I’ll be listing the matches in chronological order.

So without further to do, let’s take a look at Six of the Best for WrestleMania’s 1 to 10

WrestleMania III
Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat Vs Macho Man Randy Savage

A rather easy inclusion to start us out with. My only real issue with this match over the years is that it really never feels like a grudge match to me, which I always kind of felt it should be following Savage nearly killing Steamboat with the ring bell. Instead it’s a high class technical wrestling bout and Savage barely goes after the throat at all except for a few token moments. It just never feels like the match it should have been, even if the match it turned out to be is an absolute classic in its own right.

Despite this however, it’s impossible to deny that this isn’t a wonderful exhibition of top level wrestling from two of the greatest of all time on possibly the biggest show of all time. The wrestling is crisp, the counters are on point and the action is almost non-stop, as Savage and Steamboat put together a match that would inspire generations of wrestlers to come.

Not only did the match bring closure to the Savage’s feuds with both Steamboat and George Steele, but it also laid the groundwork for his eventual face turn as well. I still don’t think I would go the full five stars for it, but I’d settle on ****1/2 at this point, which is nothing to be sniffed at. I get the argument that it couldn’t really be a brutal fight because Steamboat would be DQ’ed and it was supposed to be the blow off, but then again why didn’t they go all out and make it No DQ to really pay off the issue between the two?

Regardless, this match really was revolutionary and it still holds up as a fantastic technical wrestling collision to this day. Go watch it if you’ve somehow gone this far into your wrestling fandom without yet doing so.

WrestleMania VI
Title for Title
Ultimate Warrior Vs Hulk Hogan

We go from a technical wrestling clinic to something completely different, but no less enjoyable. People weren’t packing out the Toronto Sky Dome back in 1990 to see Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior trade arm drags and head locks, they came to see two super heroes clash in an epic battle, and an epic battle is what they got. Seeing the crowd go wild just for a test of strength, and being totally transfixed on two men essentially standing still and grimacing is something to behold even today.

I’ve occasionally seen pro wrestling compared with ancient Greek mythology, in the sense that the larger than life characters found within the pseudo sport that we love draw parallel with the Gods of Mount Olympus. Indeed, I think WWE even outright stated this in one of Freddie Blassie’s show opening monologues once. This clash between Hogan and Warrior is one of those matches that I think compares well with that analogy. Hogan and Warrior colliding is almost like a battle of two higher entities. It’s two immortals clashing on both a spiritual and physical level.

Just about everything in this match plays out perfectly. Both men get visual pin falls, both men get a relatively even amount of offense in and ultimately The Warrior’s eventual victory comes from him catching Hogan rather than pummelling him into defeat. I just don’t see how you could take a match with these two in it and make it better. Yes, there’s a fair deal of smoke and mirrors going on here, but when you get to the meat of things the story of the match is what makes it so engaging and so gripping. Hogan and Warrior truly are on the same level as each other and their match eventually comes down to Warrior being just that little bit quicker on the draw.

What lives with me the most in this match is Jesse Ventura, a long time detractor of The Hulkster, being so impressed by Hogan’s post-match display of sportsmanship that he is actually moved to say “You know I do believe Hulkamania will live forever!”

At that stage, Hogan had won even despite losing.

WrestleMania VII
Retirement Match
Ultimate Warrior Vs Macho King Randy Savage

This match is not only the greatest match of Warrior’s career but you could also argue that it would be near the top for Savage as well, as he busts his backside in what he perhaps genuinely thought was his final match at the time. What I love so much about this match is that Warrior not only walks to the ring instead of his usual sprint to highlight how intense he is, but he actually shows self-doubt at one stage when he can’t put Savage away. The fact that Warrior honestly starts to doubt whether he can win is such a great touch to the narrative, as it’s something you’d never expect from a character like his.

Savage is superb in this one, going out of his way to be as despicable as absolutely possible. He goes the whole hog in trying to get Warrior over too, by allowing Warrior to kick out of a glut of elbow drops and letting Warrior get the eventual match winning pin fall by standing on him. I really love the finish, as Warrior just keeps shoulder charging Savage until he just can’t go on anymore. It’s a flat finish in a lot of ways, but that’s kind of the point. The only way Warrior could end the career of a man like Savage was to literally drain him of every ounce of fight he had left in his body. The ending is perfect for the story both men are telling.

And if the match itself wasn’t great enough, the post-match angle where Savage reconciles with a tearful Elizabeth is a WrestleMania Moment™ before such a phrase even existed. This match is just fantastic and I love it mightily.

WrestleMania VIII
Macho Man Randy Savage Vs Ric Flair

Randy Savage’s story arc from WrestleMania V all the way up to WrestleMania VIII is one of the best in WWF history. Top of the world as WWF Champion, Savage’s jealously and paranoia caused him to blow apart The Mega Powers team with Hulk Hogan and also caused him to cast aside Elizabeth for the much more evil and skankier Sensational Sherri. However, it wasn’t until he reconciled with Elizabeth that he was finally able to get to the top of the mountain again, as a direct result of defending her honour against the slimy Nature Boy.

Flair’s constant claims that Elizabeth used to be with him before getting together with Savage was great stuff, as you could see that Flair was having an absolute blast with it all. “She was MINE before she was yours” became an often repeated line long after the feud had come to its conclusion. And it all plays into the match as well, where Savage comes out of the traps at 100 miles an hour in a quest for revenge, which leaves Flair bleeding and on the back foot. However, Flair is also able to make that work to his advantage, as Savage eventually tires due to over exuberance and pure rage, which allows Flair to pick him apart.

When all looks like it is lost, Elizabeth comes down to ringside to provide Savage with moral support. Despite having Savage all but beat, Flair just can’t resist hot dogging now that Elizabeth is at ringside, and that momentary second of Flair just being Flair allows Savage to catch him with a roll up to take the title. Elizabeth doesn’t even need to get physically involved either. Just by merely existing she creates the opening Savage needs to prevail after years of not being able to win the title without her in his corner. If that isn’t great story telling, then I don’t know what is.

WrestleMania X
Owen Hart Vs Bret Hart

This would still be my pick for the greatest opening match of all time, as Bret Hart makes a star of his little brother in one night by putting him over clean as a sheet on the grandest stage of them all. Owen really is a fantastic heel in this match, drawing unreal heat just for his entrance alone and being the despicable little dirt bag that you just want to pop in the mouth.

The build up to the match is fantastic as well, with Owen getting increasingly jealous of being in Bret’s shadow, leading to him eventually kicking his leg out from under his leg to go heel and start a run that would see him win the King of the Ring later in the year before rematching with Bret at Summer Slam. The wrestling in this match is absolutely superb, with both men being fantastic wrestlers, but everything has an edge to it. It’s exactly what you’d expect a match between two brothers to look like, as they get the balance between mat wrestling and fighting just right.

This really is an absolute classic in my opinion and a match I can heartily recommend. Owen is a fantastic heel and Bret is wonderful babyface and both men are such talented wrestlers that the match is as close to perfect as you could possibly get. I still enjoy coming back to watch this one and I’ve watched it countless times. I’d put this high on the list of greatest matches in WrestleMania history. Seriously, if you’ve not watched this then you’re really missing out. Go watch it now, fly you fools!

WrestleMania X
Ladder Match
Razor Ramon Vs Shawn Michaels

From a fantastic pure wrestling match we go to an amazing brawl, as Razor Ramon and Shawn Michaels revolutionise the ladder match and set the bar for every one on one ladder match going forward. Contrary to belief, this was not the first ever ladder match in the WWF, with Michaels and Bret Hart actually having a great one with one another back in 1992. However, this was the one that brought the match to prominence, and it’s still a fantastic match to this day.

You could have this match today and it would still be one of the best matches on any given show. Not only does it have big spots of people falling off ladders, but it also has sustained selling and a genuine intensity to it. Razor’s contribution is often unfairly downplayed when it comes to this match. Yes, it is Michaels who takes the bigger bumps, but Razor plays his part well and doesn’t look out of place in the same ring with Michaels at all.

Ultimately it was Michaels who came out of this one the bigger star, even though he eventually lost, with his splash from the top of the ladder in particular becoming a scene that was replayed on WWF/E television for many years to come. I think it might genuinely be impossible that anyone who is reading this article won’t have seen this match, as it almost always finds its way onto compilation DVD’s due to being such a great match.

The one-two punch of Bret/Owen and Michaels/Razor automatically makes WrestleMania X one of the best ever. The rest of the card could be geese procreating and the show would still be an instant thumbs up. That’s how good those two matches are!

Honourable Mentions

Hulk Hogan and Mr. T Vs Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff (WrestleMania), The British Bulldogs Vs The Dream Team (WrestleMania 2), Roddy Piper Vs Adrian Adonis (WrestleMania III), Demolition Vs Strike Force (WrestleMania IV), Rick Rude Vs Ultimate Warrior (WrestleMania V), Hulk Hogan Vs Randy Savage (WrestleMania V), Brutus Beefcake Vs Mr. Perfect (WrestleMania VI), Davey Boy Smith Vs The Warlord (WrestleMania VII), The Nasty Boys Vs The Hart Foundation (WrestleMania VII), Hulk Hogan Vs Sgt Slaughter (WrestleMania VII), Bret Hart Vs Roddy Piper (WrestleMania VIII), Tatanka Vs Shawn Michaels (WrestleMania IX), The Steiner Brothers Vs The Headshrinkers (WrestleMania IX),