After some surprises in a Top 50 countdown of the greatest WrestleMania matches ever, WWE have picked a winner.
WrestleMania 41 comes our way this weekend as the latest instalment of wrestling’s biggest ever show emanates from Las Vegas.
‘WrestleMania Vegas’ will be held across two nights on Saturday, April 19 and Sunday, April 20, and takes place at Allegiant Stadium in Nevada, the 65,000-capacity home of NFL team the Las Vegas Raiders.
The great and good of WWE’s present day will be on hand to entertain huge crowds across both nights, the entire weekend building up to a mammoth Sunday main event between John Cena and Cody Rhodes.
Roman Reigns, Logan Paul, CM Punk, Seth Rollins, Charlotte Flair, Rhea Ripley, Rey Mysterio and AJ Styles will all also feature during the gigantic weekend of wrestling as WWE celebrates both itself and wrestling as whole with the industry’s biggest show.
In-keeping with the billing for such an epic event, WWE have upped its own grandeur level by counting down its Top 50 Greatest Ever WrestleMania Matches.
Quite how or by whom the list has been complied isn’t known but on Wednesday, after several weeks of anticipation – with a new match dropping into the countdown roughly every day – WWE finally landed at its top choice, and some aren’t happy about it.
While epic outings like Hulk Hogan’s iconic win over Andre the Giant at WrestleMania 3 and Stone Cold Steve Austin’s thrilling victory over Bret Hart at ‘Mania 13 feature loftily, the top gong has gone elsewhere.
For the first of their WrestleMania double header, Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker have been given the ultimate recognition – their outing at WrestleMania 25 in 2009 topping the whole pile.
Undoubtedly, the match was a masterpiece as two legends collided on WWE’s biggest stage. Over 70,000 watched on at Reliant Stadium as the pair flew around the ring exchanging moonsaults, finishing moves, submission holds for over half an hour before Taker finally saw off the challenge of the Heartbreak Kid with another Tombstone.
That extended his legendary WrestleMania streak to 17-0 and, while they went at it again the following year in what proved to be Michaels’ final match before retirement (barring an unthinkably bad cameo return in Saudi Arabia years later), it’s their first meeting that WWE has hailed the best of the bunch.
Understandably, many fans applauded the choice, but some were livid on social media, insisting other matches deserved the No. 1 spot.
“Better than Austin and Bret at Mania 13? Not a chance,” blasted one fan on X, referring to the Austin-Bret match that came in at number two ahead of its induction to the Hall of Fame this weekend.
Another hissed: “Over hyped garbage. Bret vs Stone Cold is better,” while a third chimed in: “Fix this garbage list.”
A further user hit out: “Absolutely f****** no,” but another, more balanced in their disagreement, levelled: “I would switch [Number] 1 and 2 however can’t argue the greatness of this match.”
Given Michaels’ billing as ‘Mr WrestleMania’ in his prime and Undertaker’s formidable streak, which finished at 22-5 following a final 2020 battle with AJ Styles, there are perhaps no better pair to share the honour of having wrestled WrestleMania’s greatest match ever.
Top names like Randy Savage, Edge, Ric Flair and Ronda Rousey all feature elsewhere in WWE’s countdown: it’s now up to the class of 2025 to make a dent in the list – which you can read in full below:
WWE’S TOP 50 GREATEST WRESTLEMANIA MATCHES EVER
1 – The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels – WrestleMania 25
2 – Bret Hart vs Stone Cold Steve Austin – WrestleMania 13
3 – The Rock vs Hollywood Hulk Hogan – WrestleMania X8
4 – Randy Savage vs Ricky Steamboat – WrestleMania 3
5 – The Rock vs Stone Cold Steve Austin – WrestleMania X-Seven
6 – Roman Reigns vs Cody Rhodes – WrestleMania 40
7 – TLC II – WrestleMania X-Seven
8 – Hulk Hogan vs Andre The Giant – WrestleMania 3
9 – Ultimate Warrior vs Randy Savage – WrestleMania 7
10 – Ronda Rousey vs Charlotte Flair vs Becky Lynch – WrestleMania 35
11 – Bret Hart vs Owen Hart – WrestleMania X
12 – Razor Ramon vs Shawn Michaels – WrestleMania X
13 – Stone Cold Steve Austin vs The Rock – WrestleMania 19
14 – Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels – WrestleMania 12
15 – Hulk Hogan vs Ultimate Warrior – WrestleMania 6
16 – Charlotte Flair vs Rhea Ripley – WrestleMania 39
17 – Kurt Angle vs Brock Lesnar – WrestleMania 19
18 – The Undertaker vs Triple H – WrestleMania 28
19 – Sasha Banks vs Bianca Belair – WrestleMania 37
20 – Roman Reigns & The Rock vs Cody Rhodes & Seth Rollins – WrestleMania 40
21 – Ronda Rousey & Kurt Angle vs Triple H & Stephanie McMahon – WrestleMania 34
22 – Kurt Angle vs Shawn Michaels – WrestleMania 21
23 – The Undertaker vs CM Punk – WrestleMania 29
24 – Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Kevin Owens – WrestleMania 38
25 – Roddy Piper vs Bret Hart – WrestleMania 8
26 – The Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels – WrestleMania 26
27 – Randy Savage vs Hulk Hogan – WrestleMania 5
28 – Daniel Bryan vs Triple H – WrestleMania 30
29 – Edge vs The Undertaker – WrestleMania 24
30 – The Usos vs Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn – WrestleMania 39
31 – Charlotte Flair vs Becky Lynch vs Sasha Banks – WrestleMania 32
32 – Randy Orton vs Daniel Bryan vs Batista – WrestleMania 30
33 – Ric Flair vs Randy Savage – WrestleMania 8
34 – Shawn Michaels vs Ric Flair – WrestleMania 24
35 – Daniel Bryan vs Kofi Kingston – WrestleMania 35
36 – Becky Lynch vs Bianca Belair – WrestleMania 38
37 – The Undertaker vs Triple H – WrestleMania 27
38 – Eddie Guerrero vs Kurt Angle – WrestleMania 20
39 – Gunther vs Sheamus vs Drew McIntyre – WrestleMania 39
40 – Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns (vs Seth Rollins) – WrestleMania 31
41 – The Undertaker vs AJ Styles – WrestleMania 36
42 – Mick Foley vs Edge – WrestleMania 22
43 – John Cena vs Shawn Michaels – WrestleMania 23
44 – Seth Rollins vs Triple H – WrestleMania 33
45 – Batista vs The Undertaker – WrestleMania 23
46 – Mr T & Hulk Hogan vs Roddy Piper & Paul Orndorff – WrestleMania I
47 – Goldberg vs Brock Lesnar – WrestleMania 33
48 – The Rock vs John Cena – WrestleMania 28
49 – Sting vs Triple H – WrestleMania 31
50 – Cody Rhodes vs Seth Rollins – WrestleMania 38
