Views From The Turnbuckle: Ranking Every Wrestlemania From Worst To Best

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Wrestlemania is always billed as being the biggest and best event of the year. While that is not always the case, it is almost certainly always the most hyped. With that being said, not all Wrestlemania's are created equal, as some are amongst the best events ever to take place, while others have been downright embarrassing. In honor of the 30th Wrestlemania event taking place, here is a ranking, in reverse order, for every single Wrestlemania. Enjoy.

The Bottom of the Barrel

29. Wrestlemania 1
28. Wrestlemania 27
27. Wrestlemania 29

Wrestlemania I is an event that can almost not be defined by modern standards. The entire point of the show was to cross-brand wrestling with other forms of entertainment, and while it was a successful, watching it now it just seems overly dated and full of time wasting segments. The only above-average match on the card is Ricky Steamboat vs Matt Borne, and the main event, while having a great deal of cross-appeal, was pretty awful, with a still green Hulk Hogan teaming with an actor, to beat the two biggest heels in the company.

While the first Wrestlemania has the excuse that there was no real standard for it to live up to, Wrestlemania 27 has no such excuse. The main event, John Cena vs The Miz, didn't even go 15 minutes and had a false finish, and then The Rock got involved and it was just a disaster. Triple H vs The Undertaker was supposed to be the show stealer, but instead was just HHH beating up The Undertaker for 30 minutes, and then 'Taker getting the submission victory. Rey Mysterio vs Cody Rhodes was excellent, but Snooki also got a pinfall victory on the show and Michael Cole wrestled a 15 minute match, so this one gets a big thumbs down.

Wrestlemania 29 had the largest crowd in United States wrestling history, but all that ended up meaning was that WWE sent a lot of people home unhappy. The Undertaker vs CM Punk was exceptional, but other than that, the show was boring and predictable. Triple H showed why he probably isn't a main event performer anymore, somehow getting a bad match out of Brock Lesnar despite it being no disqualification and getting a ton of hype. The main event was essentially a worst version of the previous Wrestlemania's main event, with John Cena and The Rock both ending the match as faces and the fans turning up their noses.

Failing to Reach Mediocrity

26. Wrestlemania 4
25. Wrestlemania 5
24. Wrestlemania 26

Wrestlemania 4 is best remembered by being the event that Randy Savage won the WWF World Championship, but what most people forget is that the event was horribly long and boring up until the main event. Because the event encompassed an entire tournament, it had 16 matches on the card, and because there were 16 matches, almost all of the matches were short and had no time to deliver any quality. Rick Rude and Jake Roberts went to a 15 minute time limit draw, but the match they had was almost uncomfortably bad. While Savage winning the title was a pivotal point in wrestling history, the event he won it in was far from it.

Wrestlemania 5 was the culmination of the pseudo-real feud between Savage and Hogan. While Savage was the champion throughout the year, Hogan was still the number one star in the company, and he reclaimed his throne in a decent match in the main event. However, Wrestlemania 5 was plagued by two horrifically bad matches. Andre the Giant, on his last legs, just couldn't get the job done against Jake Roberts. That match was actually better than the abortion that was The Bushwhakers vs The Rougeau Brothers, which is probably the worst wrestling match in Wrestlemania and perhaps WWE history.

Wrestlemania 26 was an event that kind of marked a down period for WWE creatively. The event did have a really good main event, with Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker, and Edge vs Chris Jericho was a really solid WHC match. However, the WWE title match with John Cena and Batista felt thrown together at the last minute, there was a thrown together Divas match, and CM Punk and Rey Mysterio barely got 5 minutes to work.

Hogan Wins Again

23. Wrestlemania 9
22. Wrestlemania 7

Wrestlemania 9 was one of the more distinct Wrestlemanias because it had the whole Caesar's Palace theme, and most of it took place out in the sunshine, in a makeshift arena. Despite the different atmosphere, the event was a pretty run-of-the-mill show. Tatanka defeated Shawn Michaels in a really good opening match, but everything else ranged from mediocre to bad. Hogan came in at the end for some unexplained reason and won the WWF title in 30 seconds, only to lose it to Yokozuna a few months later, which was just a really weird and questionable decision.
Wrestlemania 7 is similar to Wrestlemania 25 and Wrestlemania 13 where an undercard match significantly outperformed the main event. After a ton of success in with Wrestlemania 6,

Wrestlemania 7 took a step back, as tickets sales were initially so poor that the event was moved from the Los Angeles Coliseum to a smaller arena. Randy Savage vs The Ultimate Warrior was fantastic, but the main event was pretty lame, ending the short-lived reign of the uber-heel Sgt. Slaughter.

The Attitude Duds

21. Wrestlemania 16
20. Wrestlemania 18

If there was ever a case for the Attitude Era being a little bit too crazy, Wrestlemania 16 would be exhibit A. There card was void of a standard one-on-one contest, and instead went with an endless array of gimmick matches. The main event really was thrown together at the last minute, and ended in disappointing fashion. It wasn't all bad though, the Triangle Ladder Tag Team match was of course, groundbreaking, and Chris Benoit, Kurt Angle and Chris Jericho had a really fine triple threat match.

Wrestlemania 18 had one of the best crowds, but overall the show was pretty average. Hogan vs Rock was an okay wrestling match with a great atmosphere. The main event was an okay match, but the undercard was filled with a slew of matches that didn't live up to the Wrestlemania hype. Steve Austin vs Scott Hall is best rememberd for Hall overselling the stunner, Undertaker vs Ric Flair was a street fight with Flair being in no shape to wrestle and RVD vs William Regal was too short.

Edging Towards Respectability

19. Wrestlemania 11
18. Wrestlemania 2
17. Wrestlemania 3

Nowadays, every time a celebrity shows up on Raw, fans complain about it taking away from the wrestling. Back in 1995, former football great Lawrence Taylor actually main evented the biggest event of the year. Despite having a reputation for having a less than stellar work ethic in the NFL, Taylor actually put in a lot of work into his match, and ended up having a pretty respectable outing against Bam Bam Bigelow. In addition, Diesel had probably the best match in his career against Shawn Michaels for the WWF world title. None of the other matches really stood out, but they also didn't stink up the place either.

Wrestlemania II was probably the most important wrestling PPV of all-time, as it really set the bar for what WWE, and other wrestling promotions could really do if they harnessed the power of PPV. The main event was solid, with Hogan giving one of his better efforts in a bloody cage match against King Kong Bundy. The show also featured the unwatchable Mr. T/Roddy Piper "boxing" match, but that was balanced out by The British Bulldogs vs Brutus Beefcake and Greg Valentine in one of the best tag team title matches in history.

Wrestlemania III had the largest (not really) crowd in WWE history, and still is the biggest wrestling event ever in the eyes of a lot of fans. Ricky Steamboat and Randy Savage had the best Intercontinental Championship match in history, and Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant, while not a technical masterpiece, was still an absolutely huge match. Roddy Piper vs Adrian Adonis and Hart Foundation vs The British Bulldogs rounded out the card solidly.

What are your five least favorite Wrestlemanias? Sound off below and make sure to visit WrestlingInc. Tomorrow for the top 15.