The 41 Best Matches of WrestleMania 33 Weekend - The Top 10

I am about five months younger than WrestleMania. After 30 years of being a wrestling fan, I made my first trip to WrestleMania out in San Jose/San Francisco for WrestleMania 31. It was pretty damn incredible. I know that makes me a giant nerd, and I am totally cool with that. Wrestling doesn't need to be cool, because it is hilarious and occasionally awesome. Two years later, it came to Orlando, and since that is less than two hours away, I knew that I would be making my second WrestleMania trip. Starting on Thursday, I saw WrestlePro, the WrestleCon Supershow, NXT Takeover, and of course, WrestleMania 33. Although I may be a nerd about wrestling, even I have to tap out after four nights of events, so I chose not to go to Raw or Smackdown. But I still saw a hell of a lot of wrestling, and finally we have made it to the top ten, featuring former best friends, wrestling royalty, and the best tag team action I have ever seen in my life.

10. Wrestlemania - Raw Tag Team Championship Triple Threat Ladder Match - The Hardy Boyz def. Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson (c), Cesaro and Sheamus and Enzo Amore and Big Cass
I’m not even a big Hardy Boyz guy, but still, the entrance and how excited the crowd was really added to this match. It was shorter than I expected, but each team got to show off their prowess, and when the Hardys came out, there was no doubt that they were going home with the titles. It was a fun match all around, and there was no way a match with Cesaro wasn’t going to make my top 10.

9. WrestleMania - United States Championship Match: Kevin Owens def. Chris Jericho (c)
I feel like this is the match that most unfairly will not be remembered down the line. It was a really good match but didn’t quite live up to the Rollins/HHH or Styles/McMahon matches, and it also ranks behind another match that was pure spectacle. It was really well done throughout, and it was enjoyable from start to finish. It’s only hope of being remembered is one finger on the rope, but there was so much more to this match that was done really well. It was just really tough to follow up that Styles/McMahon match as the crowd was still recovering during the first half of this match.

8. Wrestlecon Supershow - ACH, Big Mike Elgin and Mascarita Sagrada def Trevor Lee, David Starr and Caleb Konley
This match started off the Supershow, and it started it off on the right foot. ACH brought the charisma, Elgin brought the power, and Mascarita Sagrada brought the mini. Lee, Star, and Konley were ideal heel foils, and together they put on a fast-paced match that had nonstop action.

7. WrestleMania - Universal Championship Match: Brock Lesnar def. Goldberg (c)
Earlier I mentioned how I’m a sucker for a good hoss fight, and that is why this match is way too high in my rankings. This match wasn’t even five minutes, but it was everything I could have hoped for. Just nothing but Spears, Jackhammers, German Suplexes, and F-5s. It was the match that it needed to be.

6. NXT - SAnitY def. Tye Dillinger, Roderick Strong, Kassius Ohno and Ruby Riot
This was probably the most pleasant surprise of the weekend, as this match was fantastic. It was nonstop action, and no disrespect to No Way Jose, but it was greatly helped by Kassius Ohno. Tye Dillinger may have taken the loss, but when he got the hot tag, he looked like a star, and like most of Dillinger’s run as the Perfect 10, the wins and losses don’t matter, the moments do, and I hope he keeps tenning his way through Smackdown.

5. WrestlePro - Cody Rhodes def. Brian Cage
Some guys are destined to be stars, and Cody Rhodes seems like one of those guys. I’m not sure if anyone benefitted more from leaving WWE and going the independent route, as he has been absolutely tearing it up no matter who he gets matched with. He’s really embraced the independent lifestyle as he’s busy signing autographs and taking pictures. But yeah, Cody Rhodes is fantastic in the ring, and he’s able to fully show his capabilities since he doesn’t have the chains of the WWE holding him back. Also, as I mentioned yesterday, Cage is super awesome too.

4. WrestleMania - Seth Rollins def. Triple H
Since he’s been in WWE for so long, primarily as a heel, people forget how good Seth Rollins is at wrestling. Triple H only has 1-2 matches a year, and he knows how to make them count. You’re going to see a lot of kickouts from finishers, although this one one didn’t rely on that trope nearly as much as past matches. It was great. If you didn’t enjoy it, that really stinks for you.

3. WrestleMania - AJ Styles def. Shane McMahon
I came in absolutely positive that I would not like this match. As much as people love to build up Shane McMahon, he is not a good wrestler. But I have to give him this, this was the best wrestling he’s ever done. He actually had some chain wrestling in there that looked pretty smooth. But AJ Styles is incredible. Like, I could go in there and maybe have a 3 star match with AJ. I don’t know how, because I don’t know anything about how to wrestle, but he’d find a way, just like he found a way to have the best match at WrestleMania with Shane McMahon.

2. NXT - Tag Team Championship (Triple Threat Elimination Match): The Authors of Pain (c) def. DIY and The Revival
This might be WWE’s match of the year, and yet it’s not number one on this list? I don’t know, man. I think if I watched these both back on video, this match could definitely be number one, but part of it is the experience of being there, and that is why this match is only number two. But yes, this match was incredible. Like, wow, it was so good. I was giggling like a child at how awesome it was to see guys teaming up to try to take out the Authors of Pain, and somehow AoP overcoming it all to dominate. You really need to see this match.

1. Wrestlecon Supershow - Team Ricochet (Richocet, Jason Cade, Sami Callihan, AR Fox and Desmond Xavier) def Team Ospreay (Ospreay, Lio Rush, Drew Galloway, Ryan Smile, and Marty Scurll)
But there is nothing that was going to beat this 10-man tag match. Was it a better wrestling match? Well, it’s tough to say. You can’t build months of animosity at a one-off show, which is something that the NXT tag match had going for it, but you can’t suspend disbelief and just have fun at a WWE show, which is something that this match took full advantage of, as it broke into a full-on dance-off. There was so much incredible acrobatics during this match that there is no way that I could list it all. Ospreay and Ricochet did their incredibly athletic choreographed number, which I have to say, is even more incredible in person. For those that think that isn’t wrestling, suck an egg. But yeah, the entire crowd was exhausted after this match, so it was good that they had intermission afterwards, but it took about halfway through the battle royal before the crowd regained their strength. It was so damn sweet, and that is why it is in its rightful place at the top of my WrestleMania Match Rankings.

The 41 Best Matches of WrestleMania 33 Weekend - 20-11

I am about five months younger than WrestleMania. After 30 years of being a wrestling fan, I made my first trip to WrestleMania out in San Jose/San Francisco for WrestleMania 31. It was pretty damn incredible. I know that makes me a giant nerd, and I am totally cool with that. Wrestling doesn't need to be cool, because it is hilarious and occasionally awesome. Two years later, it came to Orlando, and since that is less than two hours away, I knew that I would be making my second WrestleMania trip. Starting on Thursday, I saw WrestlePro, the WrestleCon Supershow, NXT Takeover, and of course, WrestleMania 33. Although I may be a nerd about wrestling, even I have to tap out after four nights of events, so I chose not to go to Raw or Smackdown. But I still saw a hell of a lot of wrestling, and we have now made it to the top half of the rankings, with 20-11, featuring a whole lot of hot ladies action and a battle royal.

20. NXT - Aleister Black def. Andrade “Cien” Almas
My biggest issue with this match is that I was way too hyped for it. I had heard great things about the man formerly known as Tommy End, and Andrade Almas is my jam. It was still a good match, but since I know these guys can do more, it was still disappointing. But special shoutout to adjusting the chin before the execution kick by Black. That is sweet.

19. Wrestlecon Supershow - Angelico and Jack Evans def Sammy Guevara and Flip Gordon
It was when Angelico came out that I realized that I think I have seen every major male character from Lucha Underground wrestle outside of Mil Muertes and Drago. So that’s nice. Honestly, Flip Gordon was the only guy I hadn’t heard of, and he was super impressive, so good for you, Flip Gordon. The match was a lot of fun, followed the basic tropes of tag team wrestling, and the good guys (although I’m not sure if you can ever call Jack Evans a good guy) prevailed.

18. NXT - Women’s Championship -- Asuka (c) def. Ember Moon
This match was a total come-down match after the amazing tag match at the NXT show, but it still told a solid story, and both wrestlers got their offense in. They had me believing that a new champion would be crowned, only to take that moment away. That’s frustrating in a good way.

17. Wrestlecon Supershow - Bobby Lashley def Jeff Cobb
Hoss fight. I will always support a good hoss fight.

16. Wrestlecon Supershow - Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy def Rey Fenix and Pentagon Jr
I honestly don’t think this match was much more than five minutes, but it was nonstop action. They didn’t really take any breaks, and they didn’t waste any time with any tags, as all four guys just kind of battled it out. It wasn’t anything super special, but it was a fast-paced, fun match, and sometimes that’s all you need.

15. WrestleMania - Raw Women's Championship Fatal 4-Way Elimination Match: Bayley (c) def. Charlotte Flair vs. Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax
This match probably deserves to be higher, but the endings were incredibly goofy in person. Since they didn’t get the turnbuckle all the way off, it looked like basic moves turning into pins. But outside of that, it was pretty great. Nia Jax got to be a total hoss, and Charlotte showed why she is the most physically gifted woman on the roster. WWE, especially at Mania, understands how to pace an exciting match with lots of people in it, and this was no different, and it could have been ten spots higher if the turnbuckle had come off and I understood what was going on during the match.

14. Wrestlecon Supershow - TLC match: Brian Cage def Johnny Mundo
I will always fully support Johnny Mundo, even if he is repeatedly giving the crowd the finger. I guess I also realized that I will also always support Cage who is a physical freak who seems to always put on good matches. This was a good match that bumped up to very good due to the fact that Brian Cage powerbombed Taya off the top rope through a table, and then Johnny Mundo speared Melissa Santos through a table. Also, there was a damn Steiner Driver, the most brutal/totally awesome move in wrestling.

13. WrestleMania - WWE Cruiserweight Championship Match: Neville (c) def. Austin Aries
This was a great way to start off the matches at WrestleMania. Aries has been great since coming back from injury, and good for him for being the first guy ever to benefit from being injured as it gave him an avenue to show his personality before showing off his wrestling skills. That’s super complimentary, but still, Aries can’t hold a candle to Neville who is doing his damnedest to drum up interest in the Cruiserweight division. Still, Neville’s so good that he can transition back out of the Cruiserweight division back into the Heavyweight division with little trouble. I mean, don’t sell him beating Brock Lesnar, but it’s pretty easy imagining Neville beating guys like Seth Rollins, Finn Balor, or Kevin Owens to become a champion.

12. Wrestlecon Supershow - 20 man DDT Ironman Title Battle Royal
This thing was just loaded with a ton of talent, and a ton of hilariousness, and Battle Royals are always awesome, and since this was done as Royal Rumble style with guys entering every minute, it was even better. This one didn’t disappoint. It started off with Joey Ryan taking on Colt Cabana, and that got followed with the slow-motion tactics of Kikutaro, which did not work as well as he would have liked. Matt Striker lasted about 30 seconds, so about twice as long as his wrestling career in WWE. Then you had the legends come out with 2 Cold Scorpio legitimately hurting himself, Billy Gunn taking a ton of steroids, but god bless him, he looks great. Shane Douglas is most definitely not on steroids. Kevin Thorne is still vampirey, but not nearly as awesome at it as Gangrel who just seemed really happy to be there. Hurricane Helms was handing out chokeslams like they were candy until he ran into Abyss. Oh yeah, and Mr. Hughes was there, and he still sucks, but his sunglasses stayed on the entire time. Somehow all of these paled in comparison to #20, one half of The Rockers, Marty Jannetty, who could barely make it to the ring because he was so hammered. The crowd got a “Marty’s Wasted” chant, and Jannetty couldn’t stop giggling. Gangrel had to gently drop him out of the ring just so he wouldn’t hurt himself. It looked like Joey Ryan would find a way to retain after he flipped Moose out of the ring using nothing but the strength of his penis, but he got surprised by Swoggle who threw him out to become the HeavyMetalweight champion.

11. NXT - NXT Championship -- Bobby Roode (c) def. Shinsuke Nakamura
So this match wasn’t destined to be some life-altering classic match. Bobby Roode is a good wrestler, but he’s a much better performer than actual wrestler. Shinsuke can tear it up with the right opponent, but he’s another guy that’s more of a performer than a wrestler. Still, this match was as good as it was going to get with these two. They had me legitimately believing the nearfalls and surprised/disappointed (just because I knew that Shisnuke was leaving) at the ending. Shinsuke’s gone, and Roode reigns supreme on NXT.

The 41 Best Matches of WrestleMania 33 Weekend - 30-21

I am about five months younger than WrestleMania. After 30 years of being a wrestling fan, I made my first trip to WrestleMania out in San Jose/San Francisco for WrestleMania 31. It was pretty damn incredible. I know that makes me a giant nerd, and I am totally cool with that. Wrestling doesn't need to be cool, because it is hilarious and occasionally awesome. Two years later, it came to Orlando, and since that is less than two hours away, I knew that I would be making my second WrestleMania trip. Starting on Thursday, I saw WrestlePro, the WrestleCon Supershow, NXT Takeover, and of course, WrestleMania 33. Although I may be a nerd about wrestling, even I have to tap out after four nights of events, so I chose not to go to Raw or Smackdown. But I still saw a hell of a lot of wrestling, and today we move on to part two with some ECW staples and a surprising person going hardcore.

30. WrestlePro - World Champion Bobby Wayward def. Anthony Bowens, Sonjay Dutt and Matt Macintosh 

This was a good match, but I'm a whore for name recognition. Obviously, I knew Sonjay Dutt but hadn't heard of the other three guys, and it's hard to get totally invested in brand new guys unless they do something insane. It was still a good match but probably not a memorable one.

29. WrestleCon Supershow - Low-Ki def Shane Strickland

This match was good but also a little disappointing. I kept waiting for it to really hit that next gear, and it kind of stagnated with good chain wrestling but never the craziness that I would have expected. The ending was good, but I would have liked to see more offense from Strickland to take the match up a notch.

28. WrestleMania - Roman Reigns def. The Undertaker

I was never an Undertaker guy, so this match didn't exactly do it for me. It was fine, and as fine of a match as you can expect from someone who realistically should have retired five years ago. Roman won; that was the right decision, and I'm happy he did it in convincing fashion, but his five-word promo on Raw will be far more memorable than anything from this match.

27. WrestleMania - John Cena and Nikki Bella def. The Miz and Maryse

So this was the most cookie-cutter wrestling match of the weekend, but The Miz kind of saved it by making it a lot of fun. The end was never in doubt, but sometimes charisma can carry a rather nondescript wrestling performance. Good for Miz. Also, it's tough to top the evidence that true love exists.

26. NXT - Oney Lorcan defeated El Vagabundo
All anyone is going to talk about this match is that El Vagabundo was actually Elias Samson the whole time, but this was actually a pretty good match, even without the enjoyable stupidity of El Vagabundo. But yeah, El Vagabundo is great. I've been way higher on Elias Samson than most people, so I think he's finally got everything he needs to become loved by the NXT Universe.

25. WrestlePro - The Blue World Order def. Team WrestlePro
Yo, Stevie Richards is still in great shape. Although I don't think I'm quite ready for DDP Yoga yet, my fitness journey will inevitably lead me to DDP Yoga. The Blue Meanie looks exactly like you would expect, and Nova, well, let's just say he got off the Simon Dean plan and got on the Jimmy Dean plan. Was this some amazing match? No, but it was fun, and Team WrestlePro had Mario Bokara, a super proud Croatian, who, as a fellow Croat (25%, yo), was my favorite wrestler. I wasn't even an ECW guy, but this match worked for me.

24. WrestlePro - Swoogle def. Grado
I had zero expectations in this match, but it was actually pretty damn good. Grado is stupid and fun, and Swoggle got to play the tough guy and hit a bunch of German suplexes. As Broken Matt Hardy would say, it was "Wonderful." My biggest issue is that I had "Like a Prayer" stuck in my head for the next two days. I forgot how catchy that damn song is.

23. WrestlePro - Ryback def. Colt Cabana

So a lot of guys that leave the WWE for the indy scene, like Cody Rhodes, Drew Galloway, Johnny Mundo, etc. take their games to the next level when they are given a chance to shine. You're really only allowed to do so much in the WWE, and a change of scenery greatly helped those guys show how unbelievably talented they are. With Ryback, you get what you get. That's not a knock on Ryback, but he's your classic WWE big guy wrestler. He's going to deliver his power moves, throw a flying cross body when things get crazy, but never give you any holy shit moments. That's what this match was. Colt Cabana made it fun, but Ryback was going to win and he did, finally getting revenge on CM Punk blasting him on the Art of Wrestling.

22. WrestlePro - Jeff Cobb def. Fallah Bah
I am so high on Jeff Cobb it's ridiculous. Even if I didn't know anything about his Lucha Underground work, the dude is a former Olympic Wrestler, and that alone makes me know that this guy could become a huge star. He is so stupid strong that it is absolutely awesome to watch him wrestle. He took on Fallah Bah who looked to be near 400 pounds, but Cobb still powered him over in a suplex. Also, Fallah was pretty entertaining as Cobb was trying to knock him down, and he heartily replied, "No, no, no." The only thing catchier than, "Like a Prayer' is yelling "No, no, no" anytime you disagree with something.

21. WrestlePro - Brandi Rhodes def. Joey Ryan to win the DDT Ironman Heavymetal Title
Brandi Rhodes is a very attractive lady. That does not make her a great wrestler. But it’s not like she’s spent years crafting her talents on the indies, so she is what she is for right now, which is not good, but she may get better. Still, Joey Ryan is the perfect foil for any female opponent as he’s good enough in the ring for any move to happen, and he can add entertainment outside of the wrestling to keep fans entertained. Still, this match came down to one thing, Brandi Rhodes getting dropped on thumbtacks. Obviously, when thumbtacks came out, everyone expected Joey Ryan to be dropped in them, but they did a swerve, and there was a split second of silence before everyone erupted in cheers. Plus, she ended up overcoming all of that to submit Joey Ryan to win the HeavyMetal Title.

The 41 Best Matches of WrestleMania 33 Weekend - 41-31

I am about five months younger than WrestleMania. After 30 years of being a wrestling fan, I made my first trip to WrestleMania out in San Jose/San Francisco for WrestleMania 31. It was pretty damn incredible. I know that makes me a giant nerd, and I am totally cool with that. Wrestling doesn't need to be cool, because it is hilarious and occasionally awesome. Two years later, it came to Orlando, and since that is less than two hours away, I knew that I would be making my second WrestleMania trip. Starting on Thursday, I saw WrestlePro, the WrestleCon Supershow, NXT Takeover, and of course, WrestleMania 33. Although I may be a nerd about wrestling, even I have to tap out after four nights of events, so I chose not to go to Raw or Smackdown. But I still saw a hell of a lot of wrestling, and here are the beginning of my rankings, working from worst to 31st.

41. WrestleMania - Randy Orton def. Bray Wyatt

This match could have reached its ceiling of unmemorable garbage, but instead, they decided to be memorable which turned a boring match into a laughably bad match. I don't know what projecting maggots, worms, and cockroaches on the mat of the ring was supposed to do, but whatever it was, it didn't work, for the crowd or Wyatt. Honestly, at first, I was kind of angry about how bad it was, but looking back in a year or ten, I think I will be glad I could say I was there for one of the dumbest ideas in wrestling history. 

40. NXT - Peyton Royce defeated Aliyah 

This was a match taped for the weekly NXT show. Outside of Peyton Royce hitting a Perfect Plex, I remember nothing about this.

39. WrestleCon Supershow - Sandman def Joey Ryan to win the DDT Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship

I mean, I thought an active Sandman was as bad as that guy could look, but no, he looked far worse as he made his six minute entrance to the ring. By just walking by me, he made our entire section smell like a bar, which was kind of impressive. But he beat the King of Dong Style with one kendo stick strike to the head to become the new HeavyMetalWeight Championship.

38. WrestlePro - Chris Payne def. Tommy Dreamer

This was a Falls Count Anywhere match, and those are always kind of terrible, because you can't see most of the action. It's nice for the people in the cheap seats, but I ponied up the extra $15 for reserved seating, so it didn't benefit me any. I don't know, Tommy Dreamer has never done it for me, although he seems like a real nice guy. This match wasn't bad, but it was a nostalgia match where I didn't really care about any of the nostalgia.

37. WrestleCon Supershow - Joey Ryan defeats Swoggle to win the DDT Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship
This preceded the Sandman match, and it's higher just to see the highest of highs for Swoggle turn to the lowest of lows for him.

36. WrestlePro - CAQ def. Craven Varro

Craven was like a heavy metal rocker, as he had long hair, and was skinny enough to be on copious amounts of drugs. Speaking of, CAQ was a mental patient who barely felt pain. CAQ won to stay undefeated, so I felt like I was seeing the early stages of a Goldberg-like streak. 

35. WrestlePro - The Taboo Crew def. Team Espana and Apple Corps

I really liked the Apple Corps, get it, like the Marine Corps, mostly because they kept screaming Apple Corps, and I like when people yell easy things that I can also yell. But maybe the most important part of this match is that each team had a manager, and all of the managers got involved in cat fights, even though one of them was a fella in a cat fight. The Taboo Crew were also fun enough where I wasn't disappointed in their victory.

34. WrestleMania - Intercontinental Championship Match - Dean Ambrose (c) def. Baron Corbin

A lot of people wanted to majorly shit on this match, but I didn't find it offensively bad. It was a Dean Ambrose match, what did you really expect? It was fine.

33. WrestlePro - Beefcake Charlie won a Scramble Match

Well, the internet was not great at getting me the information on what guys were in this match, but Beefcake Charlie is a fat guy in a pink singlet, and because of that, he was a crowd favorite and deserved to win. there was also a guy that dressed up as a Power Ranger who probably had the most long-term potential in the match. This was a very good indy match for unknown guys, but it's kind of tough to compare to some of the top notch talent that was involved in a lot of the other matches.

32. WrestlePro - Tag Team Championship - The Heavenly Bodies def. Da Hit Squad

This was a fine tag match, where Da Hit Squad came out hot and destroyed everything in sight. Then they ran out of gas late in the match, and The Bodies were able to win. Still, the biggest highlight was Impact Wrestling Tag Team Champions, LAX, coming out and wrecking house on everyone, and then Konnan cutting a promo. I'm never going to be mad at the K-Dogg showing up.

31. NXT - Heavy Machinery defeated The Bollywood Boyz 

These are two tag teams that I like way more than I should. Seriously, that Bollywood Boyz entrance where they mimic a camera is amazing. Also, if you can't get behind Heavy Machinery, I don't want to be your friend. Fat guys doing fat guy stuff and having fun with it will always put a smile on my face.

The 39 Best Matches From WrestleMania 31 Weekend

I went to WrestleMania for the first time this year, and it exceeded every expectation that I could have possibly had for the experience. Sure, I could nitpick here and there, but overall, every single event that I went to was pretty awesome. Yes, Axxess was unorganized, but I met Hulk Hogan, and it gave me and Big E a chance to reminisce about picking up chicks at the Field House during our time at the University of Iowa. Meanwhile, I went to not one, not two, not three, but four wrestling events from Friday-Monday. Every night was something different with NXT on Friday, WrestleCon on Saturday, WrestleMania 31 on Sunday, and Raw (with a dark match and Superstars taping) on Monday. There is no perfect way to recap the weekend, but I saw a lot of incredible wrestling, and although the matches were very different, they provided a ton of great moments, and even the worst of the bunch were fine.

39. Prime Time Playas vs. Adam Rose and Heath Slater - Raw (Dark Match)
Things I learned during this match:
1. Heath Slater and Adam Rose are a tag team, I guess?
2. They do not sell bottles at the SAP Center.
3. They didn't open half of their concession stands despite having a sold out crowd in the arena. Whoever is running that arena did a piss poor job.
4. The Prime Time Players won, I think.

38. Fandango vs. Jack Swagger - Superstars
Fandango wrestled Jack Swagger. Fandango hit his finisher. He danced with Rosa Mendes before and after. This is a match that happened.

37. R-Truth vs. Luke Harper - Superstars
This is another match that happened, but it gets rated slightly higher because R-Truth seemed like a nice guy at Axxess.

36. Jason Jordan vs. Bull Dempsey - NXT
Jason Jordan was referred to as a jobber during the whole match. They apparently all forgot his great run as the tag team partner of Tye Dillinger. Who is Tye Dillinger? Aw, crap, nevermind. Anyway, Jordan showed some good power in throwing around Dempsey in some suplexes towards the end of the match. He surprisingly won, but it's not too surprising, since it is just Bull Dempsey.

35. Baron Corbin vs. Rhyno - NXT
A pretty blah match that Corbin won. Baron Corbin has great size for NXT so he can be dominant, but I don't see where he fits at the next level. Rhyno kind of had the same story in ECW where he can be impressive against small opponents, but then you see real big guys, and it loses some luster. Corbin won, but Rhyno hit him with the Gore afterwards, so everyone went home happy.

34. Stardust vs. Damien Mizdow - Raw
It was another fine match. There really isn't much to it, but Mizdow is way over, so he got the win, even though Cody Rhodes is awesome and should be in a much better position, because the dude had his wife hand out cookies as they left his photo in the Elimination Chamber at Axxess.

33. Rusev vs. Goldust - Raw
Rusev crushed Goldust. Rusev is pretty great, so even though it was a pretty blah squash match, it is still entertaining to see Rusev crush.

32. Havok vs. Tessa Blanchard - WrestleCon
Havok is not a lady to be trifled with, like seriously, she would absolutely crush me. Tessa is the daughter of an original Horseman, so that makes it an even matchup as far as I was concerned. It was a solid match which told the classic tale of giant using power versus speed and determination. The power dominated and eventually, the power won out, and Havok took out Tessa.

31. Cedric Alexander vs. Brian Kendrick - WrestleCon
This was a fine match, but nothing really grabbed me about it. It followed up a mixed tag match that we'll get to later that was one of the best matches I saw all weekend, so it was a tough act to follow.

30. Bayley and Alexa Bliss vs. Dana Brooke and Becky Lynch - NXT
Dana Brooke still flexes a lot, and Becky rocks harder than most people can imagine, but Alexa Bliss has glitter, and Bayley was in her hometown. I think Bliss is stepping up her game in the ring. She was still probably only the third best wrestler in there behind Bayley and Lynch, but it was good to see her start closing the gap. Overall, it was a fine, safe, women's match where the crowd really amped things up with their love for Bayley and freaked out when she hit the Bayley-to-belly suplex.

29. AJ Lee and Paige vs. The Bella Twins - WrestleMania
This was a necessary match. It wasn't going to tear the house down, but it wasn't meant to. It was meant to give people a chance to breathe. It was a totally fine women's match that was enhanced by being at WrestleMania.

28. Solomon Crowe vs. Calisto - NXT
This was a fine wrestling match, but I am not in on Solomon Crowe, so it kind of takes me out of his matches. I want to like him, and giving him a submission finish instead of that stupid splash is a step in the right direction, but I'm not buying Crowe yet. Calisto is great, and it was a good match, but it didn't really grab me.

27. Disco Inferno vs. Mr. TA - WrestleCon
This was the first match from WrestleCon, and I honestly couldn't believe that Disco Inferno was opening the show, because I thought they would save him as he was such a big name. This may be a sign that I love late-era WCW more than I should, but damn, Disco will always be a star in my opinion. Mr. TA was a Teaching Assistant, and he put up a good fight. There really wasn't too much special about this match, but Disco did win it with a Chart Buster, which Stone Cold stole and named a Stunner. The match wasn't anything special, but Disco danced afterwards, so he gets bumped up a few points for showmanship.

26. Man Scout, Jake Manning vs. Matt Striker - WrestleCon
So, on pure wrestling, this probably has to go last place, but somebody in the crowd told Striker to stick to commentary, and Striker stopped the match, got a mic, and went on a tirade that included telling the guy that he looked like Bill DeMott's abortion. After that, he kicked a man who was dressed up as a boy scout in the gut and hit him with The Pedigree. There may have only been about ten seconds of wrestling, but I was thoroughly entertained, so nice work, Matt Striker.

25. The Hardy Boys vs. RVD and Sabu - WrestleCon
This was a hardcore match, so there were lots of cheap weapons being used. This match ranks this high almost purely based on nostalgia and the venue. Like seeing The Big Show at Mania was nothing, but if Big Show had been at WrestleCon after some time away from WWE, I would have freaked out and automatically given it a top-5 ranking. I honestly never really cared about these guys out of early RVD being pretty cool, but seeing them here made it a lot more fun. Still, it was a hardcore match. It was disorganized, and eventually it ended.

24. Undertaker vs. Bray Wyatt - WrestleMania
This is a nostalgia pick as nothing really great happened in this match. For two guys that I am just not that into, their is still a mystique when it comes to The Undertaker. People are really happy Undertaker didn't get concussed, but that is a pretty low bar to clear for me to get pumped about another match for next year. Still, the spot where Bray Wyatt did the spider walk and then had Undertaker sit up was a good spot that gave me a good chuckle, and it's Taker at Mania, I don't think I'm allowed to put it below Disco Inferno.

23. Seth Rollins, Big Show, and Kane vs. Randy Orton, Ryback, and Roman Reigns - Raw
This match wasn't bad, but it was horribly disappointing. The first two hours of Raw were hot fire. The third hour was just waiting for something big to happen. This entire 6-man tag match was just waiting for some big debut or run-in, but it never came. Another thing that hurt it was the crowd doing the wave and chanting, "We are awesome," two of the douchiest things a crowd can do at a wrestling event. If WWE did have something cool planned, I wouldn't blame them if they just decided to wait a week and give it to a crowd that actually is there for the show instead of to be the show. As for the match, it was fine. Ryback getting The Big Show up for the Shell Shock was cool to see, but nobody outside of Ryback gave a shit about this match, and I really can't blame them.

22. AJ Lee, Paige, and Naomi vs. Brie and Nikki Bella and Natalya - Raw
This match was actually solid, but the crowd really took a turn for the worse during this match. They were pretty positive up until this point, but they turned on the Divas hard, as they called out the five ladies who are in relationship with wrestlers by insinuating that they perform oral sex on their significant others. If you are trying to make the point that wrestling fans are the lowest common denominator of human beings, this is a pretty good example. I'm blaming the chants for causing AJ's retirement, and I believe that CM Punk can travel through time, saw this happen, and retired a year earlier. But the ladies put on a solid match, but it wasn't NXT level good.

21. Murphy and Blake vs. The Vaudevillains vs. Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady - NXT
This was the big hope that maybe they would do a title change as Enzo and Big Cass are majorly over with the NXT crowd (and Carmella is majorly hated). The Vaudevillains are over as well, and nobody is really sure what is going on with Murphy and Blake. I have no idea what their gimmick is, but they are actually putting together the tag wrestling side of things. It was just a good tag match with some decent spots in there. Nothing special, but the crowd was way into it, so it added a lot of fun. Unfortunately, no title change.

20. John Cena vs. Dean Ambrose - Raw
I'm in the minority where I'm not really into Dean Ambrose. He's fine, but I don't find him particularly compelling with this character. He was far more interesting as a member of The Shield as opposed to the lunatic/stupid person he is now. Still, they put on a really good match for two guys that I'm just fine with and have no strong opinions on. It had a lot of good action, and I will admit that I'm happy that Cena is going to just keep going up against surprise challengers.

19. Curtis Axel vs. Neville - Raw
I'm very excited for Axtreme Rules, but Neville dominated this match. He hit a bunch of high spots and delivered exactly what he should have. It was a quick squash, but hopefully it leads to Neville getting pushed into a higher tier of opponent where he can really shine in full matches.

18. Chris Hero, Drew Gulak, Brian Myers, Tommaso Ciampa, James Storm, and Abyss vs. Colt Cabana, Matt Sydal, Big Zeke, Tommy Dreamer, Bubba and D-Von Dudley - WrestleCon
This match was a lot of fun, but the big issue is that 10 guys standing on the apron made it really hard for half of the audience to see what was happening in a lot of the match. Still, putting this many former WWE guys in a single match brought a lot of nostalgia and fun. It wasn't meant to be the best wrestled match of the night, it was just meant to be fun, and at the end, everyone got their spots, and it was a very fun match. It might have moved up a couple spots if Big Zeke's sweatpants hadn't blocked a lot of it for me, but it was still enjoyable.

17. ACH vs. John Morrison - WrestleCon
I had heard of him but never seen ACH before, because I have zero Indy street cred. But I was way too excited to see the guy who used to be Johnny Nitro, although I was slightly disappointed that he was not accompanied by Eric Bischoff. This match had a lot of Lucha elements to it, and it made things really fun. Also, ACH was stealing Stone Cold's shtick, and Morrison was stealing HBK's. It was a good back and forth match where I wasn't sure what was going to happen until Morrison hit the Starship Pain and won the match.

16. Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal - WrestleMania
It's a 30-man battle royal. That is incredibly fun to watch. I will admit that with that many guys in there, it can be a little tough to follow the storylines, but WWE knows what they're doing and gave guys enough separation from the crowd of wrestlers to tell fans, "Hey, look over here" for anything developing. It was stupid for the most part, but any time you give me Cesaro feats of strength, I'm going to be a big fan, and I had no issue with The Big Show winning it this year.

15. Jack Evans vs. Aerostar vs. Andrew Everett - WrestleCon
I have to admit that I didn't know a single one of these guys before the match. I think they knew that, and they worked incredibly hard to put on a fun show. There was a lot of high flying and some nasty bumps during the match. They kept an incredibly high pace, and Aerostar won it with a top rope Canadian Destroyer, so yeah, safety was definitely not their number one concern.

14. Finn Balor vs. Adrian Neville - NXT
This was a very good match, but I think I had too high of expectations for it. During Axxess, I thought they put on a better match (I'm not including Axxess matches, because there were a ton of them, and they rarely had my full attention). Still, it was a good match, and Balor came out as The Beast which was really cool. Those two guys can go, and they are probably both ready for the big show. Neville is now up there, and Balor is ready anytime they need some fresh blood.

13. The Ascension and Tyson Kidd and Cesaro vs. New Day and Lucha Dragons - Raw
This match was about as awesome as the WrestleMania tag match. The Ascension being involved after they have already been castrated from having any impact hurts them quite a bit, but having Calisto around, especially working with Cesaro, is something that is very awesome. Sure, it's completely ridiculous that he did a backflip off of Cesaro's shoulders, but those are the type of moment that make wrestling awesome. In the end, it ranks below the Mania tag, because of Sin HuniCara being involved.

12. Triple H vs. Sting - WrestleMania
Yeah, the match was just fine. It was great considering the ages of the two guys involved, but it was a fine wrestling match. But seeing the nWo, especially Hogan, come strutting out and fighting DX was just a really fun moment. That's the beauty of wrestling; it's not always about what happens in the ring, as what happens around the match is just as important. Was it stupid? Of course, but that's what makes pro wrestling so enjoyable.

11. Tyson Kidd and Cesaro vs. Usos vs. New Day vs. Los Matadores - WrestleMania
Cesaro is my favorite wrestler, so I will support anything he does. Also, Tyson Kidd and I shared an in-depth conversation about BK Chicken Fries at Axxess, so I'm pretty cool with him too. This was the first match of Mania, and it had a ton of energy and gave everybody a chance to shine. Clearly, Cesaro was depended on to shine brightest, but there were a lot of good spots, and it helped give the crowd energy for Mania, despite about half of the crowd still working their way through the gates/concessions to their actual seats. I'm very happy I got there early and didn't miss a second of this match. Before Mania, I said that I probably wouldn't yell much as I was already losing my voice. This match ended that plan, and I don't regret it a bit.

10. John Cena vs. Rusev - WrestleMania
Rusev entered on a tank in what will probably be my favorite entrance ever. Also, Rusev always has good matches and Cena puts it together when it matters. It was a fun match that may not have provided a magical moment, but it was super enjoyable throughout, and that's an important and underrated aspect of good wrestling.

9. Dolph Ziggler vs. Daniel Bryan - Raw
I think this match may make it higher on a lot of people's lists, and I thought it told a great story, but I can still only get it to this number. This was much more of a fight than a wrestling match, and although that was highly entertaining; there is practically nothing better than these guys getting in there and wrestling. The crowd gave this match a standing ovation during the match for what they were doing, so yes, it was totally great, and you will never hear me complaining about headbutts as headbutts are awesome. This was a great match, but it was not the greatest match I saw this weekend.

8. Hideo Itami vs. Tyler Breeze - NXT
This was the first match on the NXT card, and although the crowd was hot going into it, this took it to another level. Hideo Itami is somebody who is still putting it together on television, but that due is the hottest of fire in person. Tyler Breeze seems like just a goofy gimmick, but he puts on really good matches. He's not quite on the indy-darling level of Zayn, Owens, or Balor, but he's right below that. Like in all of Itami's matches, people wanted him to use the GTS, since he was using it before Punk but has yet to use it in the WWE. They teased it, but Breeze escaped. They went back and forth, and it led to Itami going into psycho strike mode which is super fun to watch in person. Then he put Breeze up for the GTS again, and the crowd rose to their feet, because they had never teased it twice. Sure enough, he hit it, and the crowd went ballistic. I'm still smiling about seeing him hit that GTS. It was a good match up until that point, but seeing the first GTS in person definitely bumped it up to greatness.

7. Randy Orton vs. Seth Rollins - WrestleMania
Even without that insane RKO, it was a great match that had a lot of great spots and tons of excitement. Rollins is about as sure of a thing that the WWE has right now, and Orton will always put on great matches against great wrestlers. It was a great match, and we can never forget that this happened.

6. Roderick Strong, Kazarian, and Christopher Daniels vs. AR Fox, Ricochet, and Jushin Thunder Liger - WrestleCon
This match was truly the best of both worlds from WrestleCon. It had the nostalgia with guys like Liger and Christopher Daniels who have been around forever but are still very entertaining (And bonus for Daniels and Kazarian going full cosplay as the Legion of Doom). And it had the up and coming stars in AR Fox and Ricochet who can just do ridiculous things and put on an awesome show. I had heard great things about Ricochet and he delivered, but AR Fox did some things that made my jaw drop. It was just good, fast-paced wrestling where everybody got some spots, and there was rarely a chance to catch your breath. Probably the best wrestling match of WrestleCon, but not quite the most entertaining one.

5. Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte - NXT
If you would have told me that I would have loved a women's match by far over every other match I saw on a card a year ago, I would have thought you were crazy, but the NXT Women's division has changed that, and Sasha and Charlotte put on an absolutely awesome match. It was high-paced, back and forth action that totally made sense and kept me on the edge of my seat the entire match. Also, it was a great decision to give Sasha the clean win, because she's The Boss, legitimately, her wrestling is next level, and if she won the Divas Title tomorrow and didn't lose it for two years, I guarantee it would be awesome.

4. Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins - Raw
So the fact that this wasn't technically a match that ever started hurts it a little bit, but this was still totally awesome. Being there in person and being promised a World Title match got me pumped beyond belief. Pro wrestling is so wonderful in that you can get lost in the moment, despite knowing that it is scripted. Seth Rollins walking into the ring and going right up to Lesnar and raising the belt in his face made me believe that Lesnar was literally going to rip his head off and throw it into the crowd. And then Rollins bowing out of the match because his foot hurt from too many curb stomps. It was perfect. Then Lesnar goes on a rampage, and when Rollins does a backflip out of a German suplex and then kicks Lesnar in the face, he has that moment where he thinks that he can handle Lesnar, except he looks up and realizes that nothing hurts The Beast. It was all pitch-perfect. Rollins escapes, and then Lesnar destroys everything in sight, and he proves that he is probably the greatest pro wrestler alive, because everything is more important with him doing it.

3. Wade Barrett vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Stardust vs. Dean Ambrose vs. R-Truth vs. Luke Harper - WrestleMania
I think this match is getting overlooked because all ladder matches are great, but this match really was awesome. Everybody got their chance to shine in the match, and there were plenty of "Holy shit" moments. I didn't think there was any chance that Barrett would suplex Stardust off the ladder, but it sure happened. And, even though I was cheering for Ziggler, the ending was absolutely fantastic, because headbutts are the best.

2. Zane Riley and Caleb Konley "The World's Dudest Tag Team" vs. Candice LeRae and Joey Ryan "The World's Cutest Tag Team" - WrestleCon
What are usually the worst wrestling matches? Mixed tag matches. You can't get in a tag rhythm, and everything ends up stilted and boring. But OH MY GOD, this match. The World's Cutest Tag Team comes out to The Darkness's "I Believe in a Thing Called Love." And do you know why one team is known as the World's Dudest Tag Team? Because Zane Riley is just a dude, with a beard, dressing in women's wrestling gear. That means it wasn't just guys against guys and girls against girls; it was a goddamn free for all, and it was one of the most wonderful things I have ever seen. Candice LeRae straight up GOES. Somebody called her female John Cena, and they weren't wrong, but she does more risky moves and nothing can stop her. At one point, she grabbed Konley by the balls to do a balls suplex off the top rope, but Riley came in and grabbed her like a bowling ball with his thumb up her butt and a finger in...well, you know, and then Joey Ryan came in and got the whole thing started by lifting up Riley and everyone went tumbling back for a huge superballsplex involving everyone. I thought the match was over at one point, and that was only the halfway point of the match, as they just kept doing high spots, and I was all in on this match. The World's Cutest Tag Team won, because Joey Ryan is awesome, and Candice is an unstoppable force, God, this match was so awesome.

1. Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns, and eventually vs. Seth Rollins - WrestleMania
There were people who cried their eyes out about Roman Reigns got to main event WrestleMania. They did it, because he wasn't ready, yet they all wanted him to win the Royal Rumble the year before when it came down to him and Batista. Anyway, Brock Lesnar is the greatest thing in pro wrestling and him and Reigns told an awesome story that I was totally into. Lesnar just a dominant beast welcoming Reigns to suplex city, while Reigns is too stupid to stay down. Finally, Reigns gets a glimmer of hope and finally gets some offense on Lesnar for Seth Rollins music to hit and him to come sprinting down, putting in a great 40 time, to make the match a triple threat. Rollins curb stomps Lesnar, but it's not enough, and then he gets put up for an F-5, only for Reigns to save him with a spear. Rollins thanks Reigns with a curb stomp to him and gets the pin. The crowd went insane for Rollins, who yes, everyone realizes is a total heel, but also realizes that the guy has been the best thing on Raw for the last six months. Rollins, not Reigns, is the champion that we want to boo. Wrestling fans can boo him vigorously while still appreciating everything he does. It was an incredible moment.

I saw a ton of incredible wrestling during WrestleMania weekend, and honestly, if I saw a live card with the ten lowest ranked matches on this list, I still would have thought it was a pretty solid card. But in the end, there could only be one match at the top of this list, and that is the main event of WrestleMania. It's the pinnacle of the wrestling year, and it delivered beyond my wildest expectations. I waited 30 years to go to my first WrestleMania, I'm not going to wait that long before attending my second.