It’s been a little while since I’ve gone back to the Showcase of the Immortals and taken a look at the matches that you should go out of your way to take in. In fact, it’s been quite a task. Which should be obvious because I’m posting this after Wrestlemania this year and I still haven’t caught up to the current year’s event. In due time.
If you want to go all the way back to the beginning and do a weekend binge of Wrestlemania’s best, you’ll find the other articles here: PART 1 PART 2
XXI – 2005
Wrestlemania went Hollywood and gave us some of the best vignettes the company ever shot in all of the movie parodies. My personal favorites were Booker T and Eddie Guererro doing Pulp Fiction and John Cena and JBL’s take on A Few Good Men. Both world titles changed hands in a night of passing the torch. Neither of those matches were really that memorable though and the WWE Title match was seemingly cut short for the World Heavyweight Title bout. There are still a few reasons to check this one out. I can also say that the set looked amazing, thought it was far simpler than the massive productions that we’re used to now. It’s also interesting to think about but Wrestlemania 21, 16 years ago was the last time the event was held in a traditional arena. From here on out, it will be football stadiums and domes for the Showcase of the Immortals.
MUST SEE MATCHES
- Edge v. Chris Benoit v. Chris Jericho v. Shelton Benjamin v. Christian v. Kane – Money in the Bank Match
- The first ever MITB match, Kane’s entrance featuring burning ladders on the stage was a very nice touch. The groundwork for every multi-man ladder match was set here. I also forget how over Benjamin and Benoit were at this time. Shelton with the first of a series of amazing performances in these types of matches. Subsequent MITB matches at Mania would get crazier and more brutal and more high spotty, but it all began here.
- Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels
- An absolute mat classic. HBK works a headlock on Kurt for nearly five minutes to start this one off. While that sounds basic, it is masterfully done and sets us up for the rest of the journey on this one.
FINAL GRADE : C+
Right down the middle for me with a little more to the good than the bad. There was plenty that you’ll want to fast forward through (i.e. the sumo match) but there’s still plenty to be entertained by as well, not to mention the historic moment of the first-ever Money in the Bank match
XXII – 2006
I remember watching this one live, on a barstool with a group of friends. I was just wrapping up my first senior year in college and bars around here still showed pay-per-views. It was a cool experience to have an entire bar pop for Rey’s title win and the entire Foley/Edge match. As for the rest of the card,
MUST-SEE MATCHES
- Money in the Bank match – Matt Hardy v. Shelton Benjamin v. Rob Van Dam v. Bobby Lashley v. Finley v. Ric Flair
- Not gonna lie, this one is probably gonna be on the list every year for me going forward. If the car crash matches aren’t your thing, at least watch for Shelton Benjamin once again doing insanely athletic things with ladders. And maybe a little bit for the 57-year-old Flair doing his share of bumping off a friggin ladder.
- Hardcore Match – Mick Foley vs. Edge
- OH MY GOD!!!
FINAL GRADE: C-
Compared to the previous year, the peaks aren’t enough to outweigh the valleys. The good here through is really good.
XXIII – 2007
20 years later, Wrestlemania returns to the Motor City. Aretha Franklin even returned to give a stirring performance of ‘America The Beautiful’. The theme for this year’s Mania signaled the turn the company was making to a more family-friendly product: “All Grown Up”. I mean, technically, Mania was all grown up two years ago when it could have finally bought itself a beer. But throughout the show, the headliners all got to do the “when I was a kid” production promo. This was also the first time that “ECW” would be represented at a Wrestlemania, with CM Punk in the MITB match and a forgettable 8-man tag match between the ECW Originals and the New Breed. Speaking of forgettable, Kane vs. Great Khali! There wasn’t much to the ECW Originals vs. New Breed match but there could have been. I think it just didn’t get enough time. Well, the Battle of the Billionaires match hits a little differently in 2021, and while you could say its worth the spectacle, it also took up like a half hour all together.
MUST SEE MATCHES
- Money in the Bank match – CM Punk vs. Edge vs. Randy Orton vs. Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Finlay vs. Mr. Kennedy vs. King Booker
- The first 8-man MITB match took the huge spots from the last two years and ramped it up as Jeff Hardy tried to murder Edge, CM Punk got hard wayed about 20 seconds in, Hornswoggle took a Green Bay Plunge off a ladder. It was a ridiculous opener.
- World Heavyweight Championship: Batista (c) vs. The Undertaker
- These two behemoths told a hell of a story in a 15 minutes title match. It was one of the first times that you legitimately felt that the Streak was in jeopardy. And you cannot pass up the moment when Taker wins the belt. Ford Field came unglued.
- WWE Championship – John Cena (c) vs. Shawn Michaels
- I think this is one of the more forgotten Mania main events and that’s a shame as this is a much better match than I remember. I was actually going back and forth over whether this was a must-see, but every time it would slow down and I wanted to write it off, Cena and Michaels pulled out something to inject more energy back into it. I will always hate the finish, because I have always hated Cena’s STF. A good chunk of Detroit wanted to see Shawn leave with the belt, and while they were disappointed, they got to see a tremendous story play out in the ring.
FINAL GRADE: B+
I didn’t remember this show being as good as it is when I first sat down to rewatch it.
XIV – 2008
The first outdoor Wrestlemania since 1993, the 24th edition took place at the Citrus Bowl and pretty much set the stage for 12+ years of giant Manias in football stadiums. I also believe this was the first Mania broadcast in HD, but don’t hold me to that one. I also remember this year as having more memorable moments than in recent years, for the good and the bad (ahem, Taker’s pyro).
The Belfast Brawl was exactly what you’d expect and it thankfully wrapped up the Hornswoggle as Vince’s son saga. Speaking of, Swoggle was over as hell, completely forgot about that. Speaking of completely forgotten about, your special hostess for the evening… Kim Kardashian. Batista v. Umaga is exactly what you’d expect: two large humans smashing into each other, and rest holds in a 7-minute match. It took me longer to write this sentence than the ECW Championship lasted for. I will also point out that John Cena’s entrance with the marching band playing him to the ring was actually really cool. Florida liked the band, Florida did not like Big Match John. A very muted entrance for the game. We’d have to wait a few years for Mad Max Game. Triple H has the spray tan in full gear, which becomes obvious when they get a close up of his hands when he has Cena in a crossface. The match is surprisingly submission based and a pretty well built triple threat match, but is also surprisingly short given the stage its being featured on. Big Show is once again used in a special attraction match and does an incredible job carrying his encounter with Floyd Mayweather to a decent match. It’s a spectacle and there’s a lot of pantomime here. I guess honorable mention it for the spectacle but after seeing it once, I have no interest in seeing it again. It does pick it up for me personally to see Show chop the hell out of a truly horrible human being.
MUST SEE MATCHES
- Money in the Bank: Chris Jericho vs. CM Punk vs. MVP vs. Carlito vs. Mr. Kennedy vs. John Morrison vs. Shelton Benjamin
- You can’t not look away from a car crash and the bar just kept getting raised in this yearly feature. Plus, Punk’s first Wrestlemania moment.
- Career Threatening Match: Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels
- This has to be one of the most emotional matches in Mania history, even with a relatively short build. So it’s worth the watch for the historical significance, but it turns out that it’s a pretty good match. Michaels gave Flair everything he deserved in what we call thought really would be Ric’s last in-ring encounter. I mean, c’mon… “I’m sorry. I love you.”
- World Heavyweight Championship: Edge (c) vs. The Undertaker
- The build for this one was tremendous, so there was some fear that the match would not live up to the hype. But that is not the case at all. Edge gets a lot of offense in early, but things kick up into a second gear when Taker starts his comeback. They told a great story, with Edge finding ways to counter everything Taker threw at him, emphasizing the fact that Taker had never beat Edge. When he finally broke through and claimed the world title, it was an explosion.
FINAL GRADE: C
This event was the definition of a roller coaster ride. You get the epic highs of the main event and Flair vs. HBK, then hit the lows of Batista v. Umaga. There were not great matches that were entertaining (Belfast Brawl) and matches that were just not entertaining (Playboy Bunnymania Lumberjill match). It rates right down the middle for me. Which is fine for a regular PPV but is a little concerning when it happens at your biggest event of the year.
XV – 2009
The silver anniversary of Wrestlemania takes us to Houston. The last time Wrestlemania came to Houston, they put on arguably the best Mania card in the history of the event. There’s always a different, bigger feeling around these anniversary Manias.
See below on the opening and then… WWE Hall of Famer…. Kid… Rock… and Houston does not care. He’s here to play out the participants of the Miss Wrestlemania Battle Royal and… that was a clusterfuck. We are still years away from this company taking the women’s division seriously and even with the talent that’s on the roster at the time, this is a stark reminder of that. Seriously, this is a four hour show, it did not need a halftime show one match in. Jesus, even the announce team gave up on trying to keep up with what’s going on. Sunny was in this match and it meant nothing. Torrie Wilson, Rosa Mendez, Gail Kim, Mickie James and Michelle McCool all took really bad looking falls out the ring and it was barely acknowledged. Then there’s the fucking finish and everyone playing dumb as to what just happened. I don’t know if that was the worst match in Mania history but it has to be close and there were many ladies in that match that deserved so so so much better. There wasn’t much to the Intercontinental title match, but stop to check out Rey Mysterio’s Joker cosplay gear. It was noteworthy for being JBL’s final singles match in the company and what a heel’s way to go out. The main event had a seriously emotional build, if it was anyone else they were trying to make faces. But when you spend a decade building the McMahon family as the ultimate heels, it’s hard to buy the turn. Especially since Triple H as a face has never truly worked until he retired from the ring. Worse, the main event of the biggest show in the company’s history up to that point was slow, plodding and ultimately underwhelming. It’s HBK and Taker we think about when we think about this card for a reason.
MUST SEE MATCHES:
- Money in the Bank match: CM Punk vs. MVP vs. Finlay vs. Mark Henry vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. Christian vs. Kane
- First and foremost, you have to love Finley bringing back his old Belfast Bruiser ring jacket for the event. Seriously, look it up. It’s so ridiculous, it’s amazing. It’s been very cool to see this match evolve over the years based on the participants. Mark Henry did some good work here, Finlay has a great segment in the middle of the match, Shelton Benjamin once again did Shelton Benjamin things, Kofi Kingston looked great, so much good in a match here that could have very easily gotten stale after enough permutations.
- 3-on-1 Handicap elimination match: Chris Jericho vs. Ricky “the Dragon” Steamboat & Rowdy Roddy Piper & Superfly Jimmy Snuka
- There are two reasons this match is worth your time. 1. The payoff of great storytelling. 2. To marvel at the athleticism of a 50-something Ricky Steamboat and the entertaining match he and Jericho had in the last segment of this encounter. I’m looking forward to seeing their one-on-one encounter at Backlash ‘09. And wait… is that Frank Shamrock chilling with Mickey Rourke in the front row?
- Extreme Rules: Jeff Hardy vs. Matt Hardy
- What a tremendously physical brawl these two had. The buildup was… a bit much, with Matt intimating that he burned his brother’s house down, but the payoff was the Hardys doing what the Hardys do on the biggest stages
- Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker
- There’s nothing that I can say that will do this match justice. You knew it was going to be here.
FINAL GRADE: C
This card hosts the greatest match in the history of the show and that’s probably what it will most be remembered for. And there are a few things here (coughcoughMissWrestlemaniabattleroyalecough) that can be fast forwarded through every time. But there are still several matches worth going back for, even some that may not the best in terms of in-ring work but still told an interesting and engaging story. It all balances out for a card that I would but right in the middle if you’re ranking them top to bottom.
XVI – 2010
Wrestlemania heads to the desert to kick off the last decade and Glendale, Arizona. The then University of Phoenix Stadium reportedly lobbied to get Wrestlemania into their building pretty much from the opening of the stadium. They did not make the mistake of a year ago in Houston and made the main event Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels, Streak vs. Career (lol).
At least the Tag Team titles made it to the main card this year, after the unification match couldn’t make it last year. I totally forgot that Morrison and Truth ever tagged together, just like they forgot to give this match any time on the card. They tried to get as much as they could into the 3 minutes they were given, but there was no time to get a potentially decent match going. Up next, it’s the implosion of Legacy as the story of the match was blatantly tipped when it was made a triple threat and not a handicap match. No one was surprised when DiBiase and Rhodes turned on each other and Orton was able to come away the victor. Wonder if Randy was immediately taking time off after Mania and asked to go on second so he could start his vacation early. Despite what I said about last year’s Money in the Bank match, I think they overdid it this year. Too many people, too many ladders, too many botches, a few ill-conceived spots. Triple H and Sheamus was there and it was a clean match. It’s still weird to watch events in this era when I was completely out of the product and see a babyface Triple H. It still doesn’t compute. Punk and Rey had a good match going. I mean, Matt Stryker’s commentary was a bit much but they really should have gotten more than just six minutes. The no holds barred match was actually hard to watch. From what was actually happening in the ring to the swerve from the Hart family, just not good. Props to Vince for taking the Hart Attack on the floor but this is 11 minutes that felt like 41 and not in a good way. After the World Heavyweight Title match, we got the comedown that was the 10-diva tag match; another reminder of how far the division has come since the Divas days, even with talent like Mickie James, Beth Phoenix, Gail Kim, Michelle McCool and of course the brightest star of them all in the ring, Vicki Guerrero, involved. It was a match so bad, it makes you feel bad for the good workers involved. Along with Bret/Vince, this would be my 2nd zero star match on the night if I gave out ratings like that. The WWE Title match is a far different style than the first title match and not as much to my liking. Batista and Cena had a perfectly fine match, but nothing that stood out to me as being that different than, really either man’s standard main event match. Two big muscle guys do big muscle guy things. I am amused to hear the crowd flip the script at the biggest show of the year and boo the face and cheer the heel. It’s not to the level that say, Chicago, would do. But it’s pretty obvious that the boos are starting to push out the ‘Let’s Go Cena’ chants. And finally our main event, the most anticipated rematch in Mania history.
MUST SEE MATCHES:
- World Heavyweight Championship: Chris Jericho (c) vs. Edge
- A damn good, back and forth match that managed to tell a pair of stories at once. The lead-in around the spear was great, they worked both that and Edge’s return from injury into a hard-hitting match. The post-match stuff I could have done without but, gotta sell that rematch next month.
- Career vs. Streak – Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker
- I have to say that despite being kind of underwhelmed by most of the show, I had goosebumps before the hype package for this one started. Two of the greatest to ever step in the ring main eventing the biggest show of the year. Much like last year, there isn’t much that I can say that can do this match justice. An excellent match with such a great build and a great historical impact (yes, Shawn would wrestle again, but never on the grandest stage of them all) making this well worth your time.
FINAL GRADE: B-
A show that was lead by its three biggest matches. Of course Taker and Shawn had a massive pull on this one, but the World Heavyweight Title match was solid with a surprising finish, and the WWE title match was solid to good. The undercard was full of stuff that was much the same. Solid matches, some pretty good and only the one that would make you groan. If you want an honorable mention to look back at, I’d go with Punk v. Mysterio. Overall, a good Wrestlemania
XXVII – 2011
Finally Wrestlemania has come to Atlanta. See what I did there? Because the Rock was the host of the event, you see. For me, this is the first Wrestlemania in a long time that I had nothing to do with when it happened. I was completely out of the product by now and didn’t even have a passing curiosity to take in this event. So let’s see if The Most Electrifying Man in Sports Entertainment can lend some of his massive amounts of charisma and jack this show up in my first viewing ever.
To kick it off, we get our host and Atlanta is all in for The Rock. No pun intended, but 11 years later you can still feel the electricity from that night. But, uh, why is the Tesseract just floating above the ring? The Rock with a pretty good promo to kick off proceedings where he takes a shot at John Cena, but you get the feeling that he’s dragging this out a little bit. Like he could have wrapped things up before taking a drink of the People’s Water.
The first action on the night is for the World Heavyweight Championship as Alberto del Rio challenges Edge for the title. And before the match even starts, I want to put Michael Cole through a wall. Heel Michael Cole was one of the worst ideas the company had for years and he is beyond grating at this point. It’s not a ‘I hate him’ kind of heel heat, it’s a “I don’t want to hear him anymore so I’m changing the channel.” When there’s a single wrestler that you can’t stand, you can just look away until something you want to see comes on. When it’s the literal voice of your company, it drives people off no matter what they’re watching. Odd to open a show with a world title but a good match regardless. They told a great story around the injured arm of Edge and Del Rio trying to his the cross arm breaker. I’m assuming that with the post-match destruction of the challenger’s car, he was to at some point take the belt off of Edge, but he’d never get that chance as Edge would be forced by a neck injury to retire the next night on Raw and we wouldn’t see him again for nearly a decade.
Ah yes, the Dashing Cody Rhodes, hiding his disfigured face behind… a clear face mask. This is what you’re going back to eh? Alright. Rey Mysterio rocking the Captain America attire and holy shit, barely 2 matches in and I want to shut this off. I cannot stand Cole. The match did feature a very cool stalling superplex from Rhodes to Mysterio. They told a good story with a good match around the masks and braces being worn. But it’s almost un-told by Cole. Up next, the Corre takes on the makeshift team of Kane, Kofi Kingston, Santino Marella and the Big Show, with the Corre dripping with gold, holders of the Tag Team champions and the Intercontinental Champion. That also means those titles are not being defended tonight, which is… just great. That match was quick, rather dirty and needlessly made three of your company’s champions look like total chumps and… goddamnit, Santino… just dammit.
Backstage to The Rock and Eve Torres in an awkward interview thing and Mae Young wants the Rock’s dick and can we just move on please. Well, it was a long way to get a Rock-Stone Cold face off. In a rare moment of long-term storytelling, Randy Orton and CM Punk face off after costing each other title matches. We got a great bit of build for this one, hopefully the match can live up to it. Backstage to the more of the Rock, this time with Mean Gene and… Pee Wee Herman? What in the serious fuck? And our next match is… ah fuck, it’s Cole v. King. Well, at least we get Booker T and Jim Ross on commentary. Cole cuts a basic heel promo on JR and The King on the way to the ring and he’s not a bad mouthpiece. He would be a great heel manager. But the problem is, he’s the fucking voice of the company. He’s supposed to be the straight man for guys like the King to play off of. You need a voice of stability to give your product a legit feel, a presentation. Heel Cole was one of the worst choices the company made in the era. The King does everything that he can in the ring with a guy that doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing, but he can’t save this. Even with Swagger on the outside to interfere, there is no reason this should have been a 15 minute match. Cody and Rey could have used that extra time to take their match into another gear. But no, creative books this “epic”. And the worst part, the worst part is that they reverse the obvious and correct decision of King winning with the anonymous Raw GM BS and this horseshit continued for another month. Following the excellent Taker/Triple H match, we need the comedown and that is delivered by the 6-person intergender tag match that got John Morrison so much heat over his post-match non-celebration with Trish Status. That sentence is legitimately far more interesting than the match itself. Main event time as The Miz defends the WWE Championship against John Cena holy fucking shit is Cena’s enterance unbelieveable over the top ever for Big Match John at Mania. Now, I don’t know how much of the end of the match was changed or sped up because of the Miz’s seeming concussion when he was speared over the barrier. But the ten minutes before that were pretty boring. Naturally, The Rock’s totally unforeseen and out of nowhere *wink* interference was something I never saw coming but couldn’t save this one. It was the sacrificing of one main event to build another’s, which doesn’t make sense to me but what do I know.
MUST-SEE MATCHES:
- Randy Orton vs. CM Punk
- Yes, the match lived up to the hype. These two told a great story as part of the bigger, well-done storytelling to get here with an old school, very physical showdown. Orton actually found someone where he can work as a face against and it makes all the sense. Come for a great counter to the RKO from Punk, stay for the finish.
- The Undertaker v. Triple H
- Of course, you have to see all of their Mania encounters. Their first meeting at X-7 is an Attitude Era classic, and this one is no different. Ignore the length, this one is worth the half hour.
FINAL GRADE: D
The combination of the main event and Michael Cole brings this show way down in my eyes. Outside of about 3 matches, there isn’t a ton of stuff here worth going back to.
Quick guide to the must-see matches:
- 21 – Money in the Bank match: Edge vs. Chris Benoit vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. Christian vs. Kane vs. Chris Jericho
- 21 – Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels
- 22 – Money in the Bank match: Matt Hardy vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. Ron Van Dam vs. Bobby Lashley vs. Finlay vs. Ric Flair
- 22 – Hardcore match: Edge vs. Mick Foley
- 23 – Money in the Bank match: CM Punk vs. Edge vs. Randy Orton vs. Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Finlay vs. Mr. Kennedy vs. King Booker
- 23 – World Heavyweight Championship: Batista (c) vs. The Undertaker
- 23 – WWE Championship: John Cena (c) vs. Shawn Michaels
- 24 – Money in the Bank match: Chris Jericho vs. CM Punk vs. MVP vs. Carlito vs. Mr. Kennedy vs. John Morrison vs. Shelton Benjamin
- 24 – Career Threatening match: Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair
- 24 – World Heavyweight Championship: Edge (c) vs. The Undertaker
- 25 – Money in the Bank match: CM Punk vs. MVP vs. Finlay vs. Mark Henry vs. Kofu Kingston vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. Christian vs. Kane
- 25 – 3-on-1 Handicap match: Chris Jericho vs. Ricky Steamboat, Roddy Piper & Jimmy Snuka
- 25 – Extreme Rules match: Jeff Hardy vs. Matt Hardy
- 25 – Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker
- 26 – World Heavyweight Championship: Chris Jericho (c) vs. Edge
- 26 – Career vs. Streak: Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker
- 27 – Randy Orton vs. CM Punk
- 27 – Triple H vs. The Undertaker
The Finisher 