Ranking the 5 Best and Worst WWE WrestleMania Main Events of Last 20 Years
There is a certain level of pressure that comes with being in the WrestleMania main event for WWE, a pressure that Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns are sure to feel over the next week as they prepare to headline this year's extravaganza, live from SoFi Stadium in suburban Los Angeles.
Some rise to the moment, thriving on the pressure as they enter their names in eternity by way of epic, timeless encounters. Others shrink under the bright lights, unable to meet expectations for one reason or another.
Over the last two decades, WWE has produced its fair share of both.
In preparation for the April 2 blockbuster between The American Nightmare and The Tribal Chief, relive these five best and worst main events of the last two decades, ranked according to their overall quality.
Worst, No. 5: The Rock vs. John Cena (WrestleMania 29)
1 of 10
"Once in a Lifetime" proved little more than a marketing tagline as WWE followed up its hugely successful WrestleMania 28, headlined by a dream match between John Cena and The Rock, by booking the same match in the same spot on the card the next year.
The result?
A contest that paled in comparison to the original.
Rock and Cena rolled through the greatest hits, the former noticeably in pain after tearing his abdomen and adductor off the bone. The crowd was not nearly as hot for the action, either, because they recognized it for what it was: a manufactured passing-of-the-torch moment they had no interest in embracing.
Cena got his win, those inside East Rutherford, New Jersey's MetLife Stadium booed and everyone else was left with one burning question: why the hell didn't CM Punk vs. The Undertaker main event?
Is the match as bad as others on this list?
No, but it is the stubbornness of WWE to produce the sign of respect from Rock to Cena and the fact that the match simply did not need to exist that earns its place on this countdown.
Best, No. 5: Brock Lesnar vs. Kurt Angle (WrestleMania 19)
2 of 10
Take two former world-class amateur wrestlers, give them 20 minutes on the grandest stage in professional wrestling, and the odds are they will tear the house down.
That is exactly what happened in 2003 when Kurt Angle defended the WWE Championship against Brock Lesnar in a dream match that doubled as the culmination of The Next Big Thing's unparalleled rookie year.
Not only was the match an instant mat classic that highlighted the skills of both men, but it was also a showcase for Angle's toughness and determination.
Weeks before the hotly anticipated match, it became clear that the 1996 Olympic gold medalist's neck was in bad shape and in need of surgical repair.
Bad enough shape that one wrong bump could have resulted in devastation, as revealed in the 2004 documentary film, The Mania of WrestleMania.
Despite this, Angle did not miss a beat. He and Lesnar had the definitive match fans had hoped for, complete with a jaw-dropping finish that saw the latter badly miss a Shooting Star Press but still manage to finish the match with his arm raised in victory.
A phenomenal display of professional wrestling at its best, with a defining performance from Angle and one of those many first-year highlights from Lesnar.
Somehow, despite featuring one Hall of Famer and another on his way there, this feels like a match that has been overshadowed and underrated in the two decades since it capped off one of the greatest WrestleManias of all time.
Worst, No. 4: Roman Reigns vs. The Undertaker (WrestleMania 33)
3 of 10
The Undertaker did not belong in the ring at WrestleMania 33 in 2017.
He most certainly did not belong in there against the young face of the company in Roman Reigns, who was still struggling to find acceptance in that role.
It is something The Deadman readily admitted in his Undertaker: The Last Ride docuseries.
Injuries and age had slowed him, resulting in disjointed spots due to poor timing. He simply could not keep up with the future Tribal Chief and the result was an uncomfortable watch for both the fans in attendance and those watching around the world.
It was not a good match, certainly not the one The Phenom wanted to give Reigns, nor was it the one he deserved. Factoring in everything that happened after it, with him leaving his gear in the ring, a symbolic gesture of his last match, the unsatisfactory nature of the main event was amplified tenfold.
Luckily, history tells us Reigns would be just fine while Undertaker would eventually have the WrestleMania sendoff befitting his legendary career.
Best, No. 4: Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins vs. Brock Lesnar (WrestleMania 31)
4 of 10
Absorb and advance.
It was the strategy of 2015 Royal Rumble winner Roman Reigns as he took to the squared circle for his WWE Championship match against Brock Lesnar. Take all that he could from Lesnar, let The Beast wear himself out, then launch a comeback that would, hopefully, earn him the top prize in the industry.
For three-quarters of the main event of WrestleMania 31, it worked.
Reigns took an ass-kicking of epic proportions, but seized an opening just in time to execute part two of his plan. Except, someone else had a plan of their own; one that also called for absorbing and advancing.
Earlier in the show, Seth Rollins lost to Randy Orton. The reigning Mr. Money in the Bank, though, took the loss and advanced, rushing to the ring as both Reigns and Lesnar lay unconscious in the main event of the biggest show of the year and handed over his coveted championship opportunity, turning the one-on-one marquee bout into a Triple Threat Match.
Within moments, Rollins was the WWE champion, capturing the title in one of the most shocking and unforgettable conclusions in WrestleMania history.
The Architect ruined his former Shield teammates' coronation, jumping him to the top of the industry and sparking a rivalry that continues, on and off, to this day.
The story told by Reigns and Lesnar was good enough to earn consideration as one of the best 'Mania main events of the last two decades. Add in the stunner, and a finish that fans still speak of fondly, and you have a match that leapfrogs others of similar quality to make the top five.
Worst, No. 3: Drew McIntyre vs. Brock Lesnar (WrestleMania 36)
5 of 10
It really is a shame that Drew McIntyre's name appears on the 'worst' countdown.
The Scottish Warrior rode a wave of momentum into the 2020 Royal Rumble, ended Brock Lesnar's 13-elimination performance and sent The Beast packing en route to winning the whole damn thing and earning a WWE Championship opportunity at WrestleMania 36.
Then, the COVID-19 pandemic happened and life as WWE knew it changed.
Gone was any plan the company had to hold WrestleMania as scheduled. Instead of Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, the show would emanate from an empty, cramped WWE Performance Center. There would be no fans, no pomp, and no circumstance as the company took every precaution to ensure a safe environment while still producing the annual extravaganza.
McIntyre would still battle Lesnar, but the match would be a shell of what it likely would have been. The Scottish Warrior defeated Lesnar in under five minutes of a match that featured a number of finishers before one last Claymore put a nail in the title reign of The Beast Incarnate.
The match was more of a formality than a worthy main event and it showed.
Unfortunately, things would not get better for McIntyre, who missed out on the magic and momentous occasion of winning his first WWE title on the grand stage. The pandemic would alter WWE production for the next year and as a result, he never once performed in front of fans as the WWE champion.
Best, No. 3: John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels (WrestleMania 23)
6 of 10
John Cena may have been the guy entering WrestleMania 23 in 2007, but he had one more test to pass to really take his spot among the upper echelon of professional wrestling. That test came in the form of a dance with Shawn Michaels on the grandest stage.
With 80,103 fans watching inside Detroit's Ford Field, Cena faced a defining moment in his career in a match that was never supposed to happen.
Cena was originally slated to battle Triple H for the second, consecutive year but a torn quadriceps forced The Game to the sidelines. Michaels slid into the challenger role and his first WrestleMania main event since 1998.
Together, they created magic, taking the live and viewing audiences on a rollercoaster ride of emotions, thanks to a series of dramatic near-falls, reversals and counters that left them guessing as to which man would finally land the blow that netted them the title.
Cena eventually tapped Michaels out, overcoming a leg injury that the Heartbreak Kid exploited consistently over the course of the match. The challenger was aggressive, the champion resilient and the result was a story that was easy to follow but elicited a reaction regardless of which competitor one was rooting for.
Worst, No. 2: John Cena vs. The Miz (WrestleMania 27)
7 of 10
John Cena vs. The Miz may have been the match-up on the card, but it was hardly the attraction for fans. Instead, it was the war of words waged by Cena and the host of WrestleMania 27 in 2011, The Rock.
So much so that the focus of the audience was not on the match between the biggest star in the company and a WWE champion lacking in main event credibility as The Miz was at that point in his career but, rather, on the inevitable interference by The Great One.
Cena and Miz slogged through a match, their so-so in-ring chemistry on full display while fans waited with bated breath for the moment the host of the show would rear his head and get involved.
He did, laying out Cena and ensuring that Miz, now concussed following an ugly bump on the cold concrete of the arena floor, would retain his title.
It is not a match that has gotten better with time. If anything, the most memorable moment of the entire ordeal has proven to be the superb video package, set to Nas' "Hate Me Now," that preceded Miz's entrance.
When the two Superstars had the opportunity to meet again on the WrestleMania stage six years later as part of a Mixed Tag Team Match also involving Nikki Bella and Maryse, they proved their first encounter was not an anomaly.
Best, No. 2: Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker (WrestleMania 26)
8 of 10
At WrestleMania 25 in 2009, Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker delivered one of the greatest matches in professional wrestling history. One year later, with interest in another showdown between the iconic competitors high and Michaels toying with retirement, the decision was made to run it back in Glendale, Arizona.
Expectations were almost impossibly high given the quality of the instant classic from a year earlier. Realistically, there was no way they were going to eclipse that match or even match it and they did not try.
The sequel was heavier in storytelling, with the build focusing on Michaels' determination to prove he could end The Phenom's unbeaten WrestleMania streak. So much so that he put his career on the line.
The buzz of the crowd, the emotional rollercoaster, the physicality, and, yes, the dramatic near-falls came together to create another classic match that differed from the original while packing an impactful gut punch of a finish.
Undertaker had the opening to put Michaels away and end his career but hesitated. He didn't want to. The respect between them was such that he could not bring himself to voluntarily end the career of one of the best to ever lace a pair of boots.
Michaels, defiant in the face of a run he knew was over, mocked The Deadman's signature throat slash gesture and slapped him. It was the only motivation Undertaker needed as he put his opponent away with one more emphatic Tombstone.
A beautiful match that feeds off of the facial expressions and body language of the performers involved.
Worst, No. 1: Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar (WrestleMania 34)
9 of 10
Sometimes too much of a good thing can, in fact, be a bad thing.
A no good, very bad thing.
Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar found that out the hard way in 2018 at WrestleMania 34 when they worked one of the worst main events in the nearly four-decade history of The Showcase of the Immortals.
The layout was jacked, with Lesnar taking entirely too much of the offense, leaving Reigns to sell, sell, sell without much in the way of hope spots or babyface comebacks to build drama. Then there was the incessant need for the two of them to throw the same one or two moves at each other over and over again until they lose all meaning by the time they have kicked out of them approximately six times each.
Sure, the concept is probably that of a heavyweight boxing match in which the fighters throw haymakers until one lands a punch that puts the opponent on the canvas. That is a great basis for a match but when it is literally the only thing going on for the entirety of it after fans have already seen something similar to that between the same two men before, it is going to fail miserably.
It could not have possibly failed any worse than it did in New Orleans.
So frustrated by what went down in the match was Lesnar that he walked right through the curtain, threw the Universal Championship at Vince McMahon and walked right to the locker room without as much as a word.
The match was a disaster, one that is a real blemish on the careers of both men and whoever sent them to the ring with the idea that it would work.
Fans were already tired of the company's reliance on those two guys to headline shows, were exhausted after a long show, and what they were presented in a match considered to be the biggest of the calendar year was sub-par.
Reigns and Lesnar would improve on it significantly four years later, but the stink of that 2018 match will linger for some time.
Best, No. 1: Chris Benoit vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Triple H (WrestleMania 20)
10 of 10
The greatest Triple Threat Match in WWE history occurred in the main event of WrestleMania 20, when Chris Benoit and Shawn Michaels challenged Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship.
Benoit won the 2004 Royal Rumble by going the distance and becoming the first man since HBK to win the match from the No. 1 spot. Michaels and Triple H were embroiled in an intensely personal feud over the red brand's top prize.
With those two stories at play, the Superstars set out to deliver a match befitting its placement on the card and the men involved. They did, wowing the audience with a contest that embraced known tropes of the Triple Threat Match while also featuring the three competitors interacting among themselves at once.
At one point, it appeared as though sworn enemies Triple H and Michaels would work together to put an end to Benoit's boyhood dream of capturing the top prize in WWE but the resilient, tough, Rabid Wolverine would overcome a double suplex through the announce table to fight his way back into the match and, ultimately, tap The Game out with the crossface.
The action, the layout, the stories at play, and the athleticism of all three men help elevate this match beyond the typical triple-threat schlock that fans had been privy to before this. The fans were so invested in Benoit's story, not to mention hopeful that Triple H would finally drop his title, that it was easy to get them to invest emotionally in what was going on.
The heat, the intensity and the drama of the closing seconds elevated this instant classic beyond every other three-way match-up in company history and provided the all-timers with a match that reflected their abilities.
The match has understandably been lost to the annals of time thanks to the circumstances surrounding Benoit's final days, and some may take exception to its inclusion on the list at all, but it is of such high quality that it really does warrant at least one watch (or re-watch) to appreciate the performances of Michaels and Triple H, if nothing else.
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