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've mentioned before here in the series that you won't find too many old WrestleMania matches on this list, and when I say "old" I'm talking about anything from the first 15 WrestleMania events. I consider myself a fan of '80s wrestling, but let's be honest: those early installments were painful to sit through. They had historical significance, sure, but when I watched all 30 WrestleManias last year, those were the most difficult to endure, especially as someone who has no emotional attachment to them. That said, I have a soft spot in my heart for Ultimate Warrior's WrestleMania matches, or at least his encounters with Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage. I already discussed Warrior vs. Hogan just a few days ago, but I liked the Warrior vs. Savage match from WrestleMania 7 slightly more. For a WrestleMania I didn't care too much for, this was a mach I absolutely loved and still enjoy watching back from time to time, if only to remind me of why both men are among my favorite legends in WWE history.
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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. As we enter the top ten on my illustrious list, this is where we get to the nitty-gritty and my ultimate favorite WrestleMania matches. I know it may seem strange for this match to be slotted 20 places higher than Daniel Bryan vs. Triple H from the same WrestleMania, but there was just something about this matchup that stood out as special to me, and it's not hard to see what that special something was. I've said it before in this series and I'll say it again: it was storytelling at its finest. I already recounted the Bryan saga from SummerSlam to WrestleMania 30 and all the run-ins he had with The Authority in those eight months, so I'll stray away from repeating myself here. Rather, I'll attempt to do the best I can when it comes to breaking down this bout and each of the highlights that made it a favorite of mine. A small amount of Superstars can say they have pulled double duty at WrestleMania, but the elite few that have reeked the benefits in a big way. Daniel Bryan followed in Bret Hart's footsteps from almost two decades earlier. 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. And we're back with another bout from one of the greatest WrestleManias since the dawn of the new millennium, this time looking at its amazing main event between Batista and Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship. Anyone who knows me well enough would know that I'm a sucker for a stellar story, and this match had just that. Any match that has a long and organic build-up and a satisfying payoff is solid in my book, but there was something about their feud I found extremely endearing. Of course, the original plan for the WrestleMania 21 main event was to have Randy Orton win back the world title from Triple H after Evolution ousted him from the group in August 2004. He was going to be the breakout babyface and complete his chase by regaining the gold on the grand stage, but as is usually the case in wrestling, plans changed. Officials noticed Batista, not Orton, was the one who was winning over the masses, so they went with him as the next "guy" instead. 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. As you have probably noticed by this point in the series, there aren't many matches from the early installments of WrestleMania. There were a handful of classic contests, but they are far and few between, and even then I don't consider all of them favorites of mine. For example, and please don't burn me at the stake for this, but Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat will not be a part of "WrestleMania Recall." To say it was an amazing match is an understatement, but it's simply not one of my favorite 'Mania matches. This matchup between Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior, however, is among the elite on this exclusive list. WrestleMania 6 isn't looked back on too fondly as being a stellar show, but of the first ten WrestleManias, I enjoyed it more than most of the others. The Canada crowd was raucous for a majority of the evening, and although there were an excessive amount of matches on the card, the near-four hour extravaganza was worth it for the exhilarating main event championship clash. |
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