 By Graham "GSM" Matthews
Here on WrestleMania Recall, I will be ranking my top 31 favorite matches in WWE WrestleMania history. A new installment will be posted every day in the month of March, culminating with my No. 1 favorite match on Thursday, March 31st, mere days before WrestleMania 32. Each article will offer an in-depth look at each match and an analysis of why it is among my favorites. One of my earliest memories as a wrestling fan was being extremely excited for the impending clash between John Cena and Batista at SummerSlam 2008, which occurred soon after I started watching WWE in mid-2008. As someone who wasn't aware at that time of how their careers paralleled from WrestleMania 21 onward, WWE did a terrific job of catching me up and getting this viewer hyped for their SummerSlam clash. Mind you, this was the same show that featured Edge vs. The Undertaker inside Hell in a Cell, so it was a stacked card from top to bottom. They first encountered each other at the 2008 WWE Draft when John Cena reigning supreme in a draft pick match led to The Animal returning to Raw. They went on to win the World Tag Team Championship together (a reign that lasted one week) and had a hell of a match at the biggest party of the summer that I consider to be one of my favorites in the event's history. Batista emerged victorious in clean fashion, but would Cena have won had Batista not legitimately injured his neck following a brutal Batista Bomb?
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 By Graham "GSM" Matthews
Here on WrestleMania Recall, I will be ranking my top 31 favorite matches in WWE WrestleMania history. A new installment will be posted every day in the month of March, culminating with my No. 1 favorite match on Thursday, March 31st, mere days before WrestleMania 32. Each article will offer an in-depth look at each match and an analysis of why it is among my favorites. It was just two days ago I looked at Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair from WrestleMania 24, and now we return to that same show for another favorite WrestleMania match of mine: Edge vs. The Undertaker for the World Heavyweight Championship. All due respect to John Cena and Shawn Michaels, but Undertaker should have headlined WrestleMania 23 with Batista. Not only was he technically guaranteed the main event slot by way of winning the Royal Rumble match, they stole the show, and now he had the chance to do it again with Edge. Undertaker vs. Batista was an exciting clash of titans, but what I loved so much about this bout was the story going into it. Was there ever any doubt that Undertaker was going to extend his streak to 16-0 at WrestleMania and clinch his second World Heavyweight Championship? Not really, but WWE definitely did an excellent job of planting that seed of doubt into the minds of fans. Edge was on absolute fire at this time and deserved to close out the biggest event of the year with The Deadman.  By Graham "GSM" Matthews
Here on WrestleMania Recall, I will be ranking my top 31 favorite matches in WWE WrestleMania history. A new installment will be posted every day in the month of March, culminating with my No. 1 favorite match on Thursday, March 31st, mere days before WrestleMania 32. Each article will offer an in-depth look at each match and an analysis of why it is among my favorites. How foolish of me to forget that this match was even a part of my extensive list. While writing the installment on the Triangle Tag Team Ladder match last week, I neglected to mention that you would be seeing the WrestleMania 17 rematch, better known as TLC II, later on in the series given that I enjoyed it slightly more than the original. If you thought that was an incredible match, you are in for quite the treat when you tune into this iconic contest from WrestleMania 17. I noted in that aforementioned article that the crowd didn't seem to be ready for what they were about to witness that night in Anaheim, for the chaos that was set to ensue. But before the bell rang in Houston, the Astrodome was rocking. I'm sure part of their enthusiasm can be contributed to the amazing spectacle that was WrestleMania 17, but it was mostly due to fan anticipation being so high. How were The Dudley Boyz, The Hardy Boyz, and Edge and Christian ever going to be able to top themselves from WrestleMania 2000 and SummerSlam?  By Graham "GSM" Matthews
Here on WrestleMania Recall, I will be ranking my top 31 favorite matches in WWE WrestleMania history. A new installment will be posted every day in the month of March, culminating with my No. 1 favorite match on Thursday, March 31st, mere days before WrestleMania 32. Each article will offer an in-depth look at each match and an analysis of why it is among my favorites. I freakin' love WrestleMania 24. It would have been my first WrestleMania as a wrestling fan (instead of the lousy WrestleMania 25) had I not started watching regularly almost two weeks later. Needless to say, watching it back every year is always enjoyable. Fair warning: this isn't the last match from that WrestleMania you'll see on this list, simply because there are just so many great ones. This bout in particular, however, is exceptional for its emotion, storytelling and drama. In November 2007, Ric Flair declared on Raw that he would never retire before being confronted by Vince McMahon, who said that the next singles match he lost would be his last. This made every Flair match from that point forward must-see. It couldn't have come at a better time, either, because Flair was largely an afterthought on WWE programming in the months leading up to his retirement. That sounds strange for a legend such as Flair, I know, but at least he knew his place and was putting people over in the twilight of his career.  By Graham "GSM" Matthews
Here on WrestleMania Recall, I will be ranking my top 31 favorite matches in WWE WrestleMania history. A new installment will be posted every day in the month of March, culminating with my No. 1 favorite match on Thursday, March 31st, mere days before WrestleMania 32. Each article will offer an in-depth look at each match and an analysis of why it is among my favorites. Remember when I said that fans didn't know they were witnessing history at WrestleMania 2000 during the first ever Triangle Tag Team Ladder match? Well, that was the case with this contest as well. The Money in the Bank Ladder match, which made its debut at WrestleMania 21, was merely WWE's way of getting everyone on the card that year. Chris Jericho I believe revealed in his second book that the match was originally going to be for actual money, but a future world title opportunity seemed to make more sense. It was a logical prize because everyone involved had a realistic chance of winning. Each of the six competitors, which included Jericho, Chris Benoit, Kane, Shelton Benjamin, Edge and Christian, had either already been world champion or were on the brink of becoming world champion. Not to mention throwing ladders into the mix makes any match more exciting and that all of the aforementioned Superstars had excellent chemistry together, so it was the perfect storm. |
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