WrestleMania Recall, Match #21: Evolution vs. The Rock 'n' Sock Connection, WrestleMania 203/11/2016 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 I mentioned in my article highlighting Chris Benoit vs. Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels earlier in the week, watching WrestleMania 20 in its entirety on the WWE Network was a draining experience. At five hours long, you'll find yourself constantly zoning in and out. The fact the undercard wasn't overly exciting didn't help matters, with the exception of this matchup pitting Randy Orton, Batista and Ric Flair against Mick Foley and The Rock in a 3-on-2 Handicap match. While browsing the wide selection of WrestleMania matches available on onDemand three years ago, I came across this contest for the low price of $1.99, and after having already seen everything else they had to offer, I decided to give it a purchase. And I'm glad I did, because as you can tell from its placement on its list, it has become a WrestleMania guilty pleasure of mine. Not for its amazing in-ring action, but rather for its incredible entertainment value.
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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. I don't think I would go so far as to say that WrestleMania 2000 is one of the worst installments of all-time, but I'd be lying if I said it was even close to being among the greatest or my personal favorites. And it's strange, too, because the year of 2000 on the whole was actually exceptional for WWE, especially in the absence of the injured Stone Cold Steve Austin. The Rock and Triple H dominated the main event scene for the better part of the year and were constantly trading the WWE Championship back and forth, but somehow it never grew tiresome. Kurt Angle also rose to prominence in 2000, but the exhilarating tag team division was what really took the year by storm. By WrestleMania 2000, Edge and Christian and The Hardy Boyz had already been feuding for months on end, a rivalry that included an incredible Ladder match for the services of Terri Runnels in late 1999. It can be argued it was that match that put all four men on the map, but in my opinion, it was this iconic contest that marked a new and more exciting age of tag team wrestling in WWE. WrestleMania Recall, Match #23: Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Benoit, WrestleMania 203/9/2016 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. You won't see this match on any WWE.com list ranking the greatest WrestleMania main events of all-time, no matter how much it deserves to be on there. Thankfully, this isn't WWE.com, nor is this to place to comment on Chris Benoit as a person or the terrible tragedy that ended his life and his family's lives. Rather, this post will be looking at the amazing ascent of one of the greatest wrestlers to ever compete for WWE, a man who fulfilled a dream at WrestleMania 20 when he won the World Heavyweight Championship in a Triple Threat match against Triple H and Shawn Michaels. But before we get there, let's look back at the events that led us to that point. The seeds had been planted for Benoit winning the 2004 Royal Rumble weeks ahead of time, so even though it didn't come as a major surprise, it was still a remarkable moment and a major deal. WWE was finally going to give someone that Kevin Nash would have called a "vanilla midget" years earlier a chance to headline WrestleMania for the world title. Then why was Michaels involved? Did officials not think that singles match between Benoit and HHH would sell on its own? 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. All right, let's get it out of our systems now: WrestleMania 27 is one of the worst installments of all-time. There, I said it! And I'm not disputing that opinion, either, I tend to agree with it. I've said plenty times in the past that 2011 was my favorite year in wrestling as a fan (before 2015, that is), but that doesn't necessarily mean WrestleMania that year was great. In fact, it was quite awful, but I would be remiss to call the entire card complete trash. Say what you will about the mediocre main event between John Cena and The Miz or the train wreck that was Michael Cole vs. Jerry Lawler, but Randy Orton vs. CM Punk was terrific. I remember reading shortly after the event that Orton and Punk were mad about getting pushed down the card, and it's hard to blame them. They had a hell of a match (which I'll discuss momentarily) and nothing else came close. It was also one of the few feuds on the show that I cared about and had been built rather well by and large. Punk said himself in his own documentary that he should have been in Miz's spot that year against Cena, but he definitely made the most of what he was given instead with Orton. |
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