Wrestlemania : The Best and Worst Moment of WrestleMania 26

WrestleMania 26 had a lot of historical significance on paper, including Shawn Michaels’ retirement match, Bret Hart wrestling his first match in nearly a decade, and a showdown between top stars of their generation, John Cena and Batista.

It wasn’t an all-time great WrestleMania, but the show did have its share of memorable moments. This article takes a look at the best and worst moments from the show.

Best Moment: Shawn Michaels asks The Undertaker to finish him

Shawn Michaels dared The Undertaker to end his career.

When Shawn Michaels challenged The Undertaker to a rematch from their all-time classic at WrestleMania 25, there was little question it would be good. Moreover, when the match’s stakes—HBK’s career vs. The Dead Man’s streak—crystallized, it felt like a worthy WrestleMania main event match.

Predictably, Michaels and The Undertaker delivered in a match that wasn’t quite as good as their outing the year before, but nonetheless impressed as an easy enough pick for the match of the night. The best moment of all came in HBK’s display of defiance at the end.

A beaten man, Michaels slapped The Phenom across the face and gave him the cut-throat gesture, about equal parts mocking The Dead Man, and daring him to finish off his career. The Undertaker complied with a jumping version of The Tombstone.

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Worst Moment: Bret Hart vs Vince McMahon gets over-complicated

Bret Hart vs. Mr. McMahon should have been short and sweet but got very complicated.

Bret Hart is an all-time great WWE legend and it was good to see him back in the WWE fold with all of the ugliness of the Montreal Screw Job behind him. A match between Hart and Mr. McMahon didn’t feel like a sure bet, though. Hart was not in any condition to work a full impact bout, and Vince McMahon was never a great worker and was well past his physical prime

The best we could hope for was a spring of a squash with Hart giving McMahon a few cathartic working punches before twisting him into submission via the Sharpshooter.

While those highlights were included in this match, the bout ran long and got way over complicated right out of the gate. McMahon called Hart’s family to the ring to tell the story that he’d bought them off to side with him against The Hitman. This turn felt pretty nonsensical, but things only got odder as Hart anticlimactically announced that actually, his family was on his side. All of this took what could have been a harmlessly fun nostalgic moment of closure to the Hart-McMahon story and made it one big, long, convoluted mess.