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Welcome back to the Road to WrestleMania 31. Hundreds of men and women have performed on the grandest stage over the course of its rich history. For the next few months, we will celebrate them all…from worst to best. Anyone who has ever had the honor of competing on a Mania card has joined an elite group of pro wrestlers. I salute them all. Great performances, headlining positions, the fondness with which a wrestler is held in the memories of fans across the world, victories in major bouts with high stakes, and the like will shape the top of the ranking hierarchy. Number of appearances takes a backseat to quality of appearances in a more pronounced manner. And it's not just about matches; it's about the prominence of role. Enjoy the Countdown! QUESTION OF THE DAY (38): Angle vs. HBK is my favorite Mania match of all-time; what is yours? 20. Vince McMahon 19. Andre the Giant 18. The Million Dollar Man 17. CM Punk 16. The Big Show 15. The Ultimate Warrior 14. Batista 13. Chris Jericho 12. Kurt Angle 11. Randy Orton 13. Chris Jericho ”I am a multifaceted, talented, wealthy, internationally famous genius.” In this day and age – and I would consider “this day and age” to have started back when the Attitude Era ended in 2001 – it is wrestling’s Holy Grail to main-event a WrestleMania. The title gets passed around more and people can curiously rise “above the championship.” So, Mania is the be-all, end-all. I’m happy that Chris Jericho is one of the chosen few during the latter half of “Showcase” history to earn the last match at the biggest event of the year. Much like with Edge, Kurt Angle, and Daniel Bryan, I think it would be a shame had Y2J never gone on last. Because he went on last, he reaches a very respectable spot on this Countdown. And it was really that match with Triple H in Toronto that started the best part of his career in WWE. It may not have been the most glorious match, but it was important to establishing a certain credibility that he’s never lost. Nobody could take away from him the fact that he defended the Undisputed Championship at Mania X-8. Subsequently, he went into incredible matches with the likes of Shawn Michaels and CM Punk with a standing that comes only from such an important accomplishment. To me, his main-event with Trips with his “first ever Undisputed Champion” claim. That’s probably just me, but that’s the way that I see it. It was that accomplishment that allowed him to be on-par with Michaels in 2003 for their fantastic clash that has aged like a fine wine over the years. Putting the title match with Trips and the showstealer with Michaels together, he had the credibility to come back and give Punk a helluva challenge at arguably the biggest WrestleMania of all-time in 2012. Before, after, and everywhere in between, Jericho has excelled at Mania. He had a great match with Christian in 2004 that I consider to be one of the top 5 best mid-card matches in Mania lore. He also co-invented the Money in the Bank concept, which deserves a ton of praise considering its current place in the historical lexicon. I also want to give credit where it’s due for his match with Edge at Mania XXVI. For me, that was a big deal. Throw in his bout with Fandango two years ago, the triple threat in 2000, and his commendable work with aging legends in 2009 and Jericho has an excellent Mania resume. Cheers to the guy. 12. Kurt Angle ”The pursuit of athletic excellence, sportsmanship and international goodwill is plenty noble.” If I could pick one wrestler to come back and have a final run in WWE, it would be Kurt Angle. A buddy of mine who actually introduced me to LOP would probably laugh at that. When I came back to watching wrestling after an Attitude Era-induced hiatus, I thought of Angle as merely a guy who could throw a good punch and do little else. That was in 2001. Forgive me if I was a little off of my game at spotting talent back then. A year later, Angle had become one of my favorites of all-time. I loved watching that man perform. He was such a natural. He was one of the few wrestlers I’ve ever seen that was capable of having a five-star caliber match in under 20-minutes. Enough of the Olympic Hero lovefest… Angle had one of the best four year runs in Mania history, challenging for or achieving Match of the Night in headlining bouts at three consecutive WrestleManias from XIX to 21. During that stretch, he defended the World Championship and WWE Championship one time apiece and challenged for the WWE title, as well. I absolutely love his match with Brock Lesnar in 2003. It was one of the most emotional matches that I’ve ever watched. I wrapped up a lot of time in Angle’s success that year. I took great pride in seeing him earn his lone Mania main-event. The fact that he wrestled the match with Brock despite severe neck damage made me very happy to be a member of the IWC. I would imagine that said match was quite good to someone who simply had a kayfabe understanding of what was happening, but those in-the-know about his pre-match situation surely benefitted from the emotional connection to watching a man wrestle with his life literally on the line. Time has been kind to his match a year later with Guerrero. I really enjoy watching that match nowadays, sitting back and appreciating it for the style in which it was wrestled that much better fit the modern era than the one from when it took place. Of course, as mentioned in past Mania series, Angle vs. Michaels is my all-time favorite WrestleMania match. Never before had I placed such high expectations on a match and they delivered. The fact that my first live Mania experience saw Angle defend the title in Chicago was icing on my wrestling fan cake. Come back, Kurt…”One more match! One more match!” Make it true! Make it damn true! 11. Randy Orton ”It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.” I don’t know about you, but I think that Randy Orton’s position barely removed from the top 10 is as obvious as the sky is blue when the sun shines. Recalling that the emphasis for this list is placed on the totality of your WrestleMania accomplishments, the only thing that The Viper really has not done is have a match that nobody can dispute as “Match of the Year” worthy. Many a good match can be found on his resume – his first bout at Mania with Evolution against Rock and Sock was a helluva match that flies under the radar, for instance – but he lacks that truly epic performance. There’s still time for that. Orton has proven to be nothing if not resilient in his decade-long headlining run. His place in the company hierarchy has waxed and waned with the mistakes that he has made, but he has always managed to work his way back up to the top, culminating in last year’s main-event WWE World Heavyweight Championship defense. Mania XXX was all about Daniel Bryan’s ascent and The Streak being conquered, but Orton – like his namesake – slithered through the grass and earned another huge accolade. To be honest, I thought the triple threat match that saw him lose the title without being pinned was the finest match in his Mania career to date. There’s a lot to like about what Orton has done at Mania, earning two main-events, another World title shot, and a successful WWE title defense to go along with the very first match based on ending The Streak, the aforementioned match with Foley and Rock, a stellar mid-card match with CM Punk in 2011, and a card-enhancing 10-minute bout with Kane the year after. It was the kind of resume that put him just ahead of Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle, despite #12 and #13 having a pair of matches each that eclipsed anything that Orton has offered. The scary thing is that Orton wrestles such a safe style that he could easily end up being similar to his mentor, Triple H, who also suffered from a lot of paper and financial success early on before offering several critically acclaimed performances later in his career. Orton is about to turn thirty-five. Realistically, he could be around for quite a bit longer. He seems like a lifer, so he hasn’t reached his limit. 16. The Big Show ”The great workmen of history have been men who believed like giants.” Paul Wight is not just a larger than life athlete – the largest in the world, in fact. He is a brilliant wrestling mind. Though celebrated mostly for being one of the few giants in pro wrestling lore, he is never celebrated nearly enough for his intelligence and work ethic. He should be. Big Show could have coasted for his entire career on being bigger than everyone else. He still would have gotten opportunities galore because of it. Yet, he wouldn’t be the man he is if he had continued to put forth the kind of lackadaisical effort that landed him in the dog house back in 2000. When he debuted in WCW, he was given the moon when he’d earned hardly a blade of grass on earth. WWE taught him that he could not expect to be handed everything on a silver platter. He was handed quite a bit, main-eventing his second Mania (2000) after a prominent debut (XV), but he did not put forth the necessary energy to maintain his spot. So, they took it away. He had to scratch and claw his way back to the top. It took him eight more years to get back to the position he once held. In between 2000 and 2008, Show endured a plethora of mid-card matches, some of them more important than others. He lost a Hardcore title triple threat in 2001, was left off the card altogether in 2002, took the dive for Undertaker in 2003 and John Cena in 2004 for perhaps the two most famous jobs of his Mania career, showed far more of his anatomy than anyone cared to see in a Sumo match in 2005, and opened the show in a Tag Team Championship defense in 2006. Not exactly lighting the world on fire for a guy who faced Mick Foley, Triple H, and The Rock in his first two WrestleManias during the height of the Attitude Era. Right before he left in 2006 for a two year hiatus, though, he worked his tail off for smaller audiences on ECW and earned the respect of a lot of people who hoped he’d one day return. When he did come back, slimmer and with a better plan to keep himself healthy, he was outstanding. His match with Floyd Mayweather was the top attraction at Mania 24 and was an utterly fascinating performance. Dare I say it was one of the greatest matches in Mania history that nobody talks about. He followed that with another impressive outing in the World Heavyweight Championship match at the 25th Anniversary. These last few years, he’s transitioned to a role he’s quite suited for as a glorified enhancement talent, but he’s earned his place in Mania lore. 15. The Ultimate Warrior ”The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” Ultimate Warrior was painted with a controversial brush for many years by WWE. Thankfully, they rectified that situation a year ago when Warrior was the headlining inductee into the Hall of Fame class of 2014. Sadly, he died three days later. It was one of the most heartbreaking moments of my wrestling fandom, right up there with the sudden passing of Eddie Guerrero. I’m very happy that we got to see Warrior and WWE mend fences before his death, though. It would have been a stain of Randy Savage proportions if that had not happened. Warrior is one of the greatest icons of the WrestleMania Era…and it’s almost solely because of what he did at WrestleMania. That’s what makes him unique to his peers. Most stars will excel at Mania, but still accomplish quite a bit outside of it, winning such accolades as the King of the Ring or Royal Rumble. Yet, Warrior made his name at the place where names aren’t just made, but are etched in stone for all eternity. He didn’t get off to the best of starts, clumsily fumbling his way through performances at Mania IV and V, respectively, that gave WWE Home Video plenty of fuel for the fire that they started with the “Self Destruction” DVD. By Summerslam ’89, he turned the corner. Thus, at Mania VI when he was set to clash with Hulk Hogan in the classic “Title for Title” match, he was more than ready to embrace the opportunity. To say he knocked it out of the park that year and the year that followed would be the understatement of the young century. Some critics like to downplay the matches that Warrior had with Hogan and Macho Man in 1990 and 1991, but both stand the test of time as unbelievably dramatic and well-executed masterpieces; each holding up very well against modern epics. His kayfabe accomplishments at Mania are numerous and important. He defended the Intercontinental Championship at V, became the only person to defeat Hulk Hogan for the WWE Championship at Mania VI, temporarily ended Macho Man’s career at VII, returned as the surprise “show saving” star at VIII, and made another “headlining” comeback at XII. 14. Batista ”Physicality is going to have a bearing [where] you get. And if you think differently, you're in the wrong business.” It may never have been consistent, but Dave Batista amassed quite the WrestleMania resume in the last decade. His debut at Mania XX was a headlining match as part of the stable thats implosion ultimately earned him his status as a star that competed in World Championship matches four times and went on last twice. His physique is what set him apart and, for the longest time, people thought that it was all that he had. He was not overly impressive in his Mania debut and he was less than stellar in his first main-event a year later in winning the World Heavyweight Championship from Triple H. Something changed for him in 2007, though. Getting snubbed for the final match on the Mania 23 card really seemed to rub him the wrong way. In his match with Undertaker, he displayed abilities in the ring and a psychological understanding of what he was doing that had only on rare occasions been previously shown. The match with Taker was named by many the 2007 Match of the Year. His remaining bouts at Mania that prominently featured him in headlining matches continued the quality standard that he set at 23. I have always, personally, been a big fan of his match with John Cena at WrestleMania XXVI. It would have been a shame for those two not to have wrestled on the grandest stage. They made the most of their opportunity and had a very good match that has gotten lost in the shuffle among the best of the last decade. While certainly not a top contender for best match, it belongs on the outside looking in on the discussion (which is not a bad place to be given some of the epic matches we’ve seen since 2005). He received a lot of hate last year, but he more than held up his end of the bargain in the triple threat match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and did the right thing in tapping out to Daniel Bryan to close the show. We might have even been talking about Batista later on had it not been for a couple of untimely injuries. He was all set to wrestle Randy Orton for the World title at Mania 22, but had to relinquish the strap and the chance to main-event for a second straight year. Fast forward three years and he looked poised to face Cena in the top match at Mania 25, but his recovery time from a torn muscle had him come back one night after Mania. 20. Vince McMahon ” People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. The leader leads, and the boss drives.” The first member of the top 20 was almost put in a higher spot on numerous occasions. Think of what Vince McMahon has done for pro wrestling. He has been involved in them all. He invented the concept. He was often its voice in the early days, as visible a non-character for the first 14 years as anyone. Yet, what made him a candidate for the top 20 and beyond was his transition to the ultimate heel persona in wrestling history. With money, power, and respect to burn, he became the antagonist that provided a foil to the most popular storyline in the history of pro wrestling. He was the boss and, increasingly, everyone knew it as of the late 1990s. When they started acknowledging it on TV, it changed the way the game was played. Touches of reality were interwoven within the fabric of the storylines…and Vince excelled in his new role. He believed everything that he said about Steve Austin when Stone Cold began his unexpected, yet meteoric rise in 1997. Austin wasn’t supposed to be the number one guy or even in the top 5, probably. He was supposed to be upper echelon, at best; never the main attraction. The Corporation that developed in reaction to Austin’s character was a brilliant on-screen use of real life influence over the roster. And it made for fascinating TV. Then, Vince started actively engaging in major Mania matches. Shockingly, he only once failed to deliver in four bouts. Be it against Shane McMahon in the unlikeliest of classics, a thoroughly enjoyable match with Hulk Hogan, or a brilliant scrap with Shawn Michaels, Vince made it happen when he booked himself to wrestle. His horribly booked match with Bret Hart in 2010 aside, McMahon has always made the most of his in-ring time at Mania. Of course, he has also made numerous appearances in other ways since he became one of the top villains in wrestling lore. He was outstanding throughout Mania XV. He got a little carried away at Mania 2000, but it all worked out in the end. I thought he was hilarious in his role in the Battle of the Billionaires, as well. At the end of the day, Vince McMahon has been a superlative figure in Mania history in more ways than one and is well-deserving of his place in the top 20 of all-time. 19. Andre the Giant ”Bigger than we have been: more courageous, greater in spirit, larger in outlook.” Unless you’ve been watching wrestling for forty years, you were never able to see Andre the Giant do what earned him the reverence of his peers. Before his body started to break down, Andre was an incredible performer, capable of feats of athleticism that modern fans would equate with the things that Big Show can do. Quality of matches was certainly a factor in compiling this list. Though it was all from memory and not exactly clinical in its statistical execution, this Mania Countdown did put a premium on 4-star caliber matches. Personally, I have rated Andre’s match with Hogan a lot better than most. I think it’s absolutely unfair to treat that match like something it wasn’t. If you rate it for what it was, it was absolutely awesome. I spoke about this with the Smartbreak Kid, the writer of last year’s LOP induction column for the Andre-Hogan classic at Mania III, on “The Doc Says” podcast and we defended the critical marks that we each gave the match, citing the story told and the sheer size of the audience that it drew (both on TV and fledgling PPV). You can’t ignore the obvious. No, Andre could barely walk, but he offered the people one of the most unpredictable, legendary matches in wrestling history despite his physical condition. Don’t praise HBK and Angle in one breath and denounce Andre in the next. Their respective performances were all very similar. Andre vs. Hogan was clearly the reason why the Giant would rank so highly on this list, but he was one of the biggest stars of the early Manias even before the third installment. Hogan vs. Piper plus Mr. T and Cyndi Lauper (and other celebs) sold Mania 1, but Andre’s reputation and the Body Slam Challenge certainly didn’t hurt ticket sales. Having Andre the friekin’ Giant as a secondary draw for the first two Manias was an incredible luxury for WWE. He helped lay the foundation with what he did at Manias 1 and 2. Then, he stacked 93,173 people and a 10.2 buyrate worth of boards and bricks on his massive back and helped build the WrestleMania franchise at Manias III (and IV). Given his physical state during the 80s, that was pretty astounding. He remains one of the top 10 biggest stars in the history of WWE. 18. The Million Dollar Man ”When I was young I thought that money was the most important thing in life; now that I am old I know that it is.” In my book released last year during Mania season, I glowingly referred to Ted Dibiase as one of the greatest wrestlers of all-time that never got a chance to show us the fullest extent of his talents. It was just a different era, Hulkamania. Matches were shorter and there wasn’t quite the demand for classic matches that there is today. It was not until Bret Hart became “The Man” that the expectations shifted to “you better give me a 20 minute match or two, WWE, or I’m going to be upset.” The critical community has grown immensely since the 1980s. Million Dollar Man would’ve thrived today, especially as an in-ring performer. The best match that he ever had on the grand stage was his Mania VI Million Dollar Championship bout with Jake Roberts and it wouldn’t crack the top 50 on most lists for greatest matches in Mania history. The ability was always there, but it’s hard to have a classic match when you’re singles matches never eclipse 15-minutes. It’s like asking Leo DiCaprio to tell a 5-star story on the big screen in less than an hour. That’s tough. Loved the match with The Snake, though. Critical acclaim was not a hallmark of Dibiase’s work at Mania, but he sure did accomplish a lot. At his first Mania, he main-evented a tournament that came about because of his character’s actions. The WWE Championship was vacated after he paid off the referee to throw a title match between Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant, and then attempted to buy the title from Andre. It played out on TV about as perfectly as it could have. He lost the final at Mania to Randy Savage in the biggest match of his career. From then on, he embarked on a series of stellar mid-card feuds, headlining about every other year in matches featured in smaller fonts on the marquee. He had the great feud and match with Jake, then a great feud that peaked at Summerslam (not Mania) in 1991 with Virgil, and then ended his in-ring career at Mania with a Tag Team Championship defense at Mania IX. As Money, Inc, he and IRS battled Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake in one of the top 3 matches that year. He also factored in prominently in the Mania XI main-event, leading Bam Bam Bigelow and the rest of his “Million Dollar Corporation” stable against NFL Hall of Famer, Lawrence Taylor. 17. CM Punk ”In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different.” Hopefully, the negative energy that a lot of fans hold toward CM Punk has faded by now. Frankly, his was a career worth celebrating, no matter if it ended abruptly without a chance for us to say a proper goodbye. As fans, we all want that opportunity, but rarely is a parting of ways amicable in the short-term. Usually, it’s only later that we can evaluate “break-ups” more objectively. Reflecting back, I don’t think CM Punk owes us anything. He was, for about three years, one of the biggest stars in the industry. He came in a decade ago with a lot of hype and I am happy to report that, as one of his early detractors who didn’t see what all the fuss was about, he ultimately lived up to the hype. CM Punk is a legend. Don’t believe me? Just check his statistics. Not once was he in an insignificant, throwaway WrestleMania match in seven appearances. In three Money in the Bank Ladder matches, he was the last man knocked out once and the winner twice (the only man to win two of them). Then, in the dying days of the brand split, he wrestled Rey Mysterio in the most prominent mid-card match at Mania XXVI. In his final three years on the grandest stage, he headlined with Randy Orton, successfully defended the WWE title against Chris Jericho, and became the last victory in Undertaker’s famed “Streak.” Every single match earned critical acclaim, the latter three being heralded across the wrestling universe as anything from borderline classic to all-time classic. I saw three of those seven matches live and loved them all. Money in the Bank IV is my favorite MITB match. The bout with Orton was excellent, in my opinion. They told a great story. I often refer to it as one of the most epic matches in WrestleMania history that wasn’t intended to be so (joining Christian-Jericho, Piper-Bret, and Edge-Foley). If I so desired, I could probably write a 6,000 word column solely about the CM Punk vs. Undertaker match. God, I adore that match. I could pop that into the Blu Ray player right now and get lost for the next 40 minutes. Punk’s career would not have been complete without a match like that at Mania. The psychology, the selling, the near falls, and every little detail in between was about as good as it gets in pro wrestling.
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