Ranking all 35 WrestleMania endings

The ending of a WrestleMania goes a long way in in effecting how fondly that particular edition of the Show of Shows is remembered. That makes sense. Last impressions matter a lot. Now that it's been the better part of a week, we can more clearly see how the most recent ending stacks up with the other 34.

Much like the Showcase of the Immortals and WWE in general, WrestleMania endings have had their ups and downs through their 35 years of existence. Some have become icons of everything that is good about professional wrestling. Some have been the exact opposite, living on in infamy.

Which were the worst? Which were the best? Let's take a journey through time and see what we can find.

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#35 Lesnar's reign continues (WrestleMania 34)

For a year, we knew that WWE was building to this match. It wasn't a match anyone was looking forward to, but it just felt like an inevitability, like something we just couldn't stop, so we needed to sit and bear it. Vince McMahon was finally going to do what he wanted to at WrestleMania 31, where he chickened out at the last second. Roman Reigns would "slay the beast." At least the Universal Championship would be back on television again, we all thought.

And then, after a match that the fans in New Orleans loudly rejected, Vince chickened out again. The audience was shocked, but not in a good way. Nobody wanted to see Lesnar's reign continue. It's just that nobody was really interested in seeing Reigns end it, either.

It was a recipe for disaster, and disaster is what we got. Brock Lesnar walked out to little enthusiasm. A battered Roman Reigns walked out to no sympathy. Recency bias might be a factor here, but I simply can't find another alternative - this was easily the worst WrestleMania ending of all time.

#34 Hogan, Sid Justice, Papa Shango, etc. (WrestleMania 8)

To think that we were originally scheduled to finally get the long awaited clash between Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair and then we got this instead. While Ric Flair had an excellent match with Randy Savage earlier in the night (which should have been the main event), the Hulk Hogan vs. Sid Justice match was poorly received. Unfortunately, this was the lead in to the ending of WrestleMania 8, so we need to remember it.

After a lackluster match, we got the infamous entry of Papa Shango, which again threw things into chaos and forced a rewrite of the ending. This was one of the first signs that the WWF was in decline.

And to think at the time that this was billed as Hulk Hogan's last match. That wouldn't turn out to be the case. He would soon find himself involved in yet another infamous ending to a WrestleMania just a year later.

#33 Illusions shattered (WrestleMania 32)

The road to WrestleMania 32 was a pale imitation of Daniel Bryan's battles with The Authority two years earlier. There was no fan revolt in favor of Roman Reigns, no matter how hard WWE wanted to make it so. The brass failed to learn that the Yes Movement had formed in response to handpicked company favorites like Roman Reigns. Where Daniel Bryan had legitimately gotten the fans' adoration, there was no reason to think this way about Roman Reigns.

The result was a disastrous WrestleMania 32 main event. The match with Triple H was poorly received, and it led to an anticlimactic ending, where the hero had to pretend that everyone was happy and sharing in his triumph, when they in fact were not.

Professional wrestling relies on illusions and this main event shattered them. Though not as poor as what would come two years later, it was easily one of the worst WrestleMania main events and endings in the Show of Shows' history.

#32 The false finish of all false finishes (WrestleMania 9)

WrestleMania 9 is often considered the worst installment in the series' history. The controversial ending often cements this opinion. Depending on your view of Hulk Hogan, you might rank this higher (or lower). The crowd at the time certainly loved it - and that's the one thing that's saving it from being ranked at the very bottom, as far as I'm concerned.

It was still incredibly contrived, though. Shunting aside the popular Bret Hart for the sake of Hogan squashing Yokozuna following the salt from Mr. Fuji just felt like the kind of screwy angle we so often hate seeing on Raw these days. It certainly didn't feel worthy of a climactic WrestleMania ending.

It proves that WWE's booking problems have often plagued the company. It was silly in hindsight, too, as Hogan would be on his way out of the company mere months after this moment.

#31 An angle to forget (WrestleMania 7)

WWE usually doesn't refer to the WrestleMania 7 main event for a reason - the storyline where Sgt. Slaughter was turned into an Iraqi sympathizer to exploit the Gulf War was panned as being one of the most poorly-done angles in the company's history. True, Sergeant Slaughter got a lot of heat in the moment, and Hogan got cheers for defeating him that night, but it was a bad look for the company and remains a bad look to this day.

Thankfully, the match itself wasn't terrible. Hogan would have much worse matches in his career, but the entire atmosphere leaves a bad taste in one's mouth. The crowd was the only thing that truly saved it from being ranked even lower. At least the "good guy" was cheered in the end as he was supposed to be, and the angle was thankfully lost to the sands of time.

#30 The celebrity goes over (WrestleMania 11)

Like WrestleMania 9, WrestleMania 11 is usually considered one of the worst. The debate usually comes down to those two. This main event is one of the reasons why.

Lawrence Taylor actually performed better than we might have ordinarily expected. The match with Bam Bam Bigelow was by no means brilliant, but it was far from the catastrophe that it could have been. It also got mainstream press coverage, so in isolation, it was a success.

But that was indeed the problem - that an outside celebrity needed to go against a midcarder to get that coverage. The main event simply felt underwhelming, to say the least, and it was a clear signal that the glory era was over. WWE would struggle in the ensuing years to regain relevance. This felt like throwing something at the wall and hoping it would stick. And it didn't.

#29 Underwhelming everything (WrestleMania 25)

This match was always going to be behind the 8 ball thanks to the legendary Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels match that had taken place earlier, but it managed to exceed low expectations. The angle heading into this contest was actually nuclear, but the climax just fell flat, with uninspired action and an uninspired ending.

Randy Orton was doing some great work heading into the match, but it wasn't paid off at WrestleMania. Instead, we simply got another generic Triple H ending, and his title reign would continue for a short time longer for no discernible purpose.

At least there wasn't a fan revolt against this match as at WrestleMania 32, but this was insipid by the standards of the supposed Grandest Stage of Them All. Most people don't even remember this match today. That's probably a good thing. At least it won't live in the deepest infamy like WrestleMania 9, 32, and 34.

#28 Hogan retains in a rough cage match (WrestleMania 2)

The second edition usually ranks near the bottom of WrestleMania ranking lists. There are good reasons why. Obviously, the decision to hold the event in three separate venues was a disastrous one, but the card itself was also lackluster. The main event was true to form, with Hulk Hogan taking on the recently deceased King Kong Bundy inside of a steel cage.

The action left a lot to be desired, and unlike the following year, didn't have the spectacle to make up for it. Hogan's tremendous popularity was the saving grace, if one could be found.

Vince McMahon is just lucky that this wasn't the main event the year prior, because if it was, WrestleMania might well have been a failure. Thankfully for the WrestleMania brand, this ending was sandwiched between the first success and the much more iconic ending the next year.

#27 "The Dark days have begun!" (WrestleMania 13)

One of the most forgettable WrestleMania main events in history (and one of the most forgettable cards, period, not counting that one match), we might still get starry-eyed, given that The Undertaker was involved in it.

Unfortunately, the match was such a drag that it muddied things. Psycho Sid tended to have that effect in his two WrestleMania main events. Despite his more or less veteran status by that time, Undertaker would nevertheless get much better in the years to come.

"The dark days have begun" was indeed an apt description, because the company looked like it was in freefall in 1997, and would only get worse from here, while WCW was pushing boundaries with its white hot nWo storyline. Save to say, respectable as he was, Undertaker wasn't going to be the man to turn the tide for Vince McMahon and his company.

#26 McMahon-a-mania (WrestleMania 16/2000)

Despite the fondness that we look back on the Attitude Era with, WrestleMania 2000 was not smooth sailing. Its main event was emblematic of a poor show. The product was so white-hot that it got away with this lackluster effort, but if it happened today, it would be panned.

The proper match between Triple H and The Rock, which is where things should have headed, never happened, and it instead became a fatal four way. The trend of McMahon overexposure that has haunted the company for years began at this time, with the addition of all four of them in each corner.

Shockingly, Triple H walked out with the title, becoming the first heel to do so in WrestleMania history. It was a deflating, pointless ending, though, as there was little left to gain with his title run. One wonders if the ending to Backlash less than a month later was supposed to be the true WrestleMania ending, but Austin wasn't fit enough for a cameo on April 2nd, 2000.

Such an ending would have saved WrestleMania 2000 and ranked high on the list, but alas, it wasn't to be.

#25 An ad in all but name (WrestleMania 27)

The main event of WrestleMania 27 is one of the most forgettable in the history of the Show of Shows. In truth, it was only an advertisement for the main event for the following year. As a result, this match ended anticlimactically and cheapened the WWE Championship in the process. The entire leadup, in fact, was an anticlimax, with The Miz being an irrelevancy ever since The Rock made his dramatic return that February.

I'm not sure what WWE could have done here, in all honesty. This was just one of those times where fate would turn against what was being seen on camera. There was no way that the company couldn't go in the direction of Rock vs. Cena once that option became available. The Miz was simply a casualty of circumstance. Things just wind up working out like that sometimes.

#24 It was better the first time (WrestleMania 29)

In contrast to the hype of their first match, few fans were interested in seeing the repeat. It felt derivative going in, and the match felt even more so. The first match wasn't a masterpiece by any means, but it had a glowing spectacle which hid its deficiencies. That spectacle was gone the second time, because we'd already seen it before.

There was also little doubt that Cena would win this time around, with the title being on the line and all. So it was, and Cena got that one final torch passed to him before his own career would start winding down.

In contrast to previous endings, there wasn't anything actively bad about this one, but it was far from inspired, and CM Punk's long title reign coming to an end to set this match up left a bad taste in many fans' mouths.

#23 The long "goodbye" (WrestleMania 33)

Should've just stayed gone.

The WrestleMania 33 main event was sad. In every way that Shawn Michaels' retirement match (well, kind of, let's pretend Crown Jewel never happened) was a celebration, this one was the opposite. The aftermath was memorable, though, as the Undertaker removed his coat and hat, broke kayfabe by kissing his wife, and slowly descended beneath the WrestleMania stage, never to be seen again.

Or at least that's how it appeared at the time. It was a sad way to end a WrestleMania (unlike the bittersweet ending to WrestleMania 26 seven years before), but poignant, and again, memorable, and perfectly within character.

Unfortunately, like many other times, this, too, was a false end to the Undertaker's career, soiling the legacy of this segment in the process. After seeing his matches in 2018, it would have been far better for him to have just left this as the final curtain.

#22 WrestleMania succeeds (WrestleMania 1)

It's easy to think of WrestleMania as being timeless today, but back in 1985, it was a tremendous gamble. Vince McMahon and the WWF could have gone under if the event didn't succeed. With that in mind, he made an unusual main event on the night. It wasn't for the title, but featured the champion, Hulk Hogan, teaming with Mr. T of Rocky III fame, against Roddy Piper and Paul Orndoff. Muhammad Ali and Pat Patterson were the guest referees.

Elsewhere, celebrities loaded the event, and the ending with Mr. T and Hulk Hogan standing tall was satisfying. It would be nothing special by today's standards, but it succeeded in doing what it needed to do at the time, and that should demand special recognition from fans today who might not have even been alive at the time this took place (which includes me, by the way).

#21 The champ retains (WrestleMania 22)

This is a mostly forgotten WrestleMania main event. Compared to the year which preceded it, it was lacking, and compared to the year that followed it, it still didn't hold up as well. Even so, there was nothing inherently bad about this match or ending.

People were getting a bit fatigued with John Cena even at this point, but there's no doubt that WWE made the correct decision in having Triple H pass him the torch here. The apogee and downright ridiculousness of the Super Cena era was still in the future. His run on top was still in its early stages and not entirely secure yet.

The match was average, leading to an average ending, but it was still a crucial crossroads for John Cena's career. This was in fact his first WrestleMania main event, and he did well enough in the role.

#20 Still the champ (WrestleMania 23)

WrestleMania 23 was the height of the much-maligned Super Cena era. Be that as it may, this was still a very respectable WrestleMania main event. Obviously, the presence of Shawn Michaels helped, but Cena was underrated in this match and displayed how he had grown as a performer since he rose to superstardom two years earlier.

Although it wasn't the most exciting of them, this was yet another torch passing moment in WWE history, where John Cena took it from one of the stalwarts in the company and would run with it for the next seven years. Making Shawn Michaels tap out was the definitive statement to that effect.

Neither very good nor very bad, this WrestleMania ending will no doubt be colored by how the viewer perceives John Cena, but the controversy surrounding the 16 time champion is what might cause fans to think this is worse than it was.

#19 The Game's triumph (WrestleMania 18)

Much like the situation seven years later, Triple H's "main event" title match was overshadowed by an earlier contest, this time The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan. Nevertheless, the crowd was surprisingly into this match. Mostly, it felt good to see Triple H get the title after he returned from his long injury hiatus. There was still a lot of goodwill there.

Unfortunately, the story was sullied by the divorce angle with Stephanie McMahon, which overshadowed Chris Jericho's own run as Undisputed Champion. That prevented the match and ending from being all that it could have been.

It helped that WrestleMania was a much shorter event back in those days, so the crowd wasn't completely tired by the end of it. If this angle had taken place in today's WWE, and after a long seven hours, I suspect the ending wouldn't have been as well-received as it was that night.

#18 Austin is champion again (WrestleMania 15)

Their first match is naturally overshadowed by their subsequent two, so this feels underwhelming in comparison. Nevertheless, this was an important milestone, for The Rock more so than Austin. Though he lost on the night, this angle solidified him as a top main event talent, capitalizing on his red hot rise in the back half of 1998. His babyface turn after WrestleMania was the final ingredient that he would need.

Obviously, the most notable thing about this build was the beer truck on the go-home show, which is more fondly remembered than either this match or, in fact, the entire WrestleMania that year, which has gone down in history as a dud. This match was the best of the night, though. The ending featuring Austin and Rock is its best quality, but better things were still to come from both of these men.

#17 The Man reigns supreme (WrestleMania 35)

Ordinarily, Becky Lynch's victory should have ranked higher than this, but the dead crowd, the mess of an angle with Charlotte Flair's involvement, the disappointing action itself, and most infamously, the botched ending send this decidedly downward. It was an unfortunate disservice to Lynch, who's rise must rank among the most meteoric in the company's history.

There was no doubt that it was the right call, and Becky going over Ronda was right as well, but the botch and the fluky rollup spoiled what could and should have been a much more iconic "WrestleMania moment." The feeling surrounding the first women's main event at a WrestleMania is that it was a disappointment, which is obviously something that the company would have liked to avoid. Unfortunately, the company largely shot itself in the foot yet again. If only it hadn't have overbooked this, it probably would have been the iconic moment it wanted.

#16 Brock Lesnar arrives again (WrestleMania 19)

Brock Lesnar is such a despised figure these days that it's easy to overlook his original WWE run from 2002 to 2004. During that time, Lesnar was well-received by fans and critics, and he reached his apogee alongside Kurt Angle in the main event of the mysteriously overlooked WrestleMania 19.

This was the match that saw Lesnar perform that infamous botched shooting star press that had him land on his head. Somehow, Lesnar got up and finished the match. He delivered one final F5 to win the WWE Championship for the second time. Afterward, he and Angle celebrated in the ring in what was another passing of the torch moment. Lesnar's rookie year, even to this day, is still probably the best in WWE history, with only his rival Angle in contention for that title during his own rookie year from 1999 to 2000.

#15 Hulkamania runs wild again (WrestleMania 5)

The Mega Powers explode angle was one of WWE's better uses of long-term storytelling, and while this ending wasn't as satisfying as seeing Macho Man Randy Savage finally get his crowning moment a year earlier, it was the proper conclusion for the story that was told, and the crowd ate it up. They just loved seeing their hero Hulk Hogan back on top with the title in his hand.

This ending probably wouldn't fly today, with the sudden Hulk up, but it was a good instance of 80's wrestling at its best. Fans were less cynical than they are today, and this was the feel-good ending common to the era.

This match is overshadowed by Hogan's more thrilling match with Ultimate Warrior a year later, but it's still something that any longtime wrestling fan appreciates and goes back to watch again from time to time.

#14 The reign of terror is over! (WrestleMania 21)

Triple H's two and a half year reign of terror, from September 2002, to when he was first awarded the World Heavyweight Championship, to WrestleMania 21, was a difficult time to be a wrestling fan. The boom of the Attitude Era was truly over, and WWE itself seemed uncertain about its future. Triple H was one of the big stars from the boom period, and it made sense that the company would keep him on top while it looked for a new way, but it was still rough.

Triple H's booking was all over the place, and his feuds with the likes of Randy Orton, Goldberg, and especially Scott Steiner, were ones to forget. Fortunately, Batista got over organically, and his betrayal of Evolution to finally end the reign of terror period was done as well as we could have hoped.

#13 "Macho Man's finest hour" (WrestleMania 4)

The ending was a bit of a letdown, given Hogan's assistance with dirty tactics to help Macho Man win the title, but it was still notable in several ways. It was Macho Man's first WWE title, which was well deserved after all the great matches he had been a part of in the company.

More importantly, this victory set up the Mega Powers Explode angle which would headline next year's WrestleMania. The two were close as kin at this point, but that wouldn't last. Even now, the Mega Powers angle is an archetype of long-term storytelling in wrestling.

Still, the slightly disappointing way this match ended, and the knowledge that this was an anticlimax of sorts which only set up the real climax a year later, means that this cathartic title win isn't remembered as fondly as some of the others in WrestleMania history.

#12 "The Undertaker's legend grows" (WrestleMania 24)

One feels like this WrestleMania would have had a more iconic ending if the Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair match had gone last. Nevertheless, this was an underrated main event that came after a well-told story that lasted nearly a year.

Since May of 2007, Undertaker's resentments against Edge simmered, and at WrestleMania 24, he finally got his revenge on the man who sneakily took the title from him. It was one of the better instances of long-term storytelling in WWE post-Attitude Era.

The climax of the match was thrilling in itself, with Undertaker of all people coming from behind to win his sixth world championship and extend his WrestleMania undefeated streak to 16-0. In a notable bit of trivia, it was also Edge's first pinfall or submission loss at a WrestleMania, so there was a certain streak vs. streak angle heading into this match.

#11 A surprise a year in the making (WrestleMania 28)

There was a lot of hype for this one, so much so that WWE spent an entire year building this match. For the first time ever, the main event of a WrestleMania was made a year in advance. The Rock would return to the ring for the first time in eight years to do battle with the man that replaced him as the biggest star in the company. It was a match fantasized about for years. And it was happening.

Despite the hype, almost everyone expected that John Cena would win. There was no way that Vince McMahon was going to have his ace lose to his former one, who had been gone from the company for the better part of a decade.

And then The Rock won.

There was jubilant celebration from fans who had grown tired of Cena, who had wanted to get those glory days back, the ones The Rock headlined. This was one last go-around for the Great One and everything he represented.

#10 "The boyhood dream has come true!" (WrestleMania 12)

To this day, the WrestleMania 12 iron man match is one of the most controversial main events on the Grandest Stage of Them All. Some fans laud its great display of technical wrestling between two of the best ring performers of all time. Other fans think that the stipulation wasn't used correctly - that the one fall in overtime meant that the match simply dragged on too long without much of a thrill, making it a chore to sit through.

Either way, the ending was an immensely satisfying one, with Shawn Michaels breaking through to finally win his first world championship. "The boyhood dream has come true!" That was perhaps the line that best epitomized WrestleMania as a whole at that point. It was supposed to be the place where dreams from childhood came true and this time, it came true for the Heartbreak Kid.

#9 Bret Hart is the guy (WrestleMania 10)

It was a long, winding road to get there, but Bret Hart finally secured his place at the top of the company at WrestleMania 10, when he defeated Yokozuna in revenge for the loss he took a year prior. During that time, Vince McMahon infamously tried to turn Lex Luger into the next Hulk Hogan, but failed to do so. The fans wanted Bret Hart and Bret Hart is what they got.

After the grueling match with Owen Hart earlier in the night, things didn't look good for Bret in the main event, but he would ultimately pull it off and win the WWF Championship once again. Lex Luger would in turn recognize him as the guy to carry the WWF brand.

Bret Hart would have his work cut out for him in the coming New Generation era, but that night was special for him and the fans.

#8 Austin makes a deal with the devil (WrestleMania 17)

Stone Cold has called this moment one of the worst mistakes of his career. When looking at the failures of the subsequent Power Trip and Invasion angles, it isn't hard to see why. In the moment, though, this was shocking. Everyone was talking about it.

It was the culmination of over a year's worth of storytelling. Since he was forced out to deal with an injury in late 1999, Austin was watching from the sidelines as The Rock was eclipsing his star. Austin needed to prove that he was still the biggest star in the industry by taking the championship from The Rock, and as he himself said in the promo package, he needed it "more than anything you can imagine."

His desperation was so overwhelming that he was even willing to "shake hands with Satan himself," as JR's brilliant commentary told it. In a different context, this could have led to something far better than it ultimately did, but if there were ever a moment in time that defined the "end of an era," this one was it.

#7 The passing of the torch? (WrestleMania 6)

It turned out that it wasn't, but at the moment, this felt like a seismic shift. Despite the hilariously poor work rate by today's standards, the fans in Toronto (future WWE Champion Edge among them) were crackling with excitement in this match.

In a shock moment, Warrior stopped Hogan's trademark comeback and barely beat him to become WWE Champion. Hogan, supremely disappointed, seemingly didn't know what to do. After some hesitation, he went outside the ring, got the title, and presented it to the new champion in a show of respect. It looked like a perfect passing of the torch moment.

Warrior ultimately didn't work out as the company's ace, so Hogan would have the title back in a year, but this match is rightly regarded as the end of the Golden Age and the boom of the 1980s. Hulkamania had passed its peak, and WWE would struggle to find a replacement for years afterward.

#6 The Austin era has begun! (WrestleMania 14)

The rise of Stone Cold Steve Austin wasn't meteoric. It took nearly two years for Austin to reach the mountaintop after his game-changing Austin 3:16 promo at King of the Ring 1996, and when he did, it was in the most satisfying, memorable manner possible.

There was still a lot of bad blood around Shawn Michaels after the Montreal Screwjob a few months earlier and WWE took advantage of this in sending him to WrestleMania as the antagonist to the rising star in Austin.

The Monday Night Wars were still raging and WWE hadn't won a night in nearly two years, so to promote its biggest event, Mike Tyson was brought in, and heading into the big show, he and Austin looked like they would be enemies.

That made Mike Tyson's turn at the end of the main event all the greater. Austin finally won his first WWE Championship and was endorsed by the Baddest Man on the Planet. A new era had begun and WWE would turn the tide of the war in a few months.

#5 The heist of the century (WrestleMania 31)

After the disaster that was the 2015 Royal Rumble, we saw a road to WrestleMania with fans decidedly unenthusiastic about the main event. Granted, compared to what would come three years later, Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns were having a banger of a title match. It was too late, though. Vince McMahon had pushed the panic button a few hours earlier.

In one of the most unforgettable moments in WrestleMania history, Seth Rollins ran down the long ramp with his Money in the Bank briefcase in hand. With both Lesnar and Reigns down, Rollins cashed in the contract, pinned his former Shield brother, and ran back up that ramp with the WWE title in hand.

In a rare moment of brilliance from Michael Cole on commentary, he called it "the heist of the century." The name stuck, and people now look at this moment as not only one of WrestleMania's best, but the best Money in the Bank cash-in of all time.

#4 Hogan slams Andre (WrestleMania 3)

As far as work rate goes, the match was poor, infamously earning Dave Meltzer's "worst worked match of the year" award in 1987. As far as spectacle goes, though, no other WrestleMania moment, Attitude Era included, matches this. This was a contest years in the making, with the dominant, popular champion in Hulk Hogan against the "undefeated" Andre the Giant.

Listen to the crowd as Hogan bodyslams Andre. Feel the electricity in the air. WrestleMania may have had its genesis two years prior, but this was its coming of age, and ever since this match and ending, it has been the undisputed flagship event for the company. This was the "WrestleMania moment" from which all other WrestleMania moments sprang and have tried to live up to, the measuring stick for every other Showcase of the Immortals.

Hogan's victory that night cemented his place as an icon.

#3 Finally, finally, my God finally! (WrestleMania 20)

A moment that was as euphoric in real-time as it has become foreboding in the ensuing years, Chris Benoit's celebration with Eddie Guerrero was the high point of both of their careers. After spending so long in the midcard across two different promotions, these two well-respected, well-traveled wrestlers were now standing in the ring as world champions at the end of a WrestleMania.

Unfortunately, only a little over three years later, both men would be dead, and Benoit would have committed a heinous crime that guarantees that the joy of this particular moment in time will never be mentioned on WWE programming again, and ensured that even when we think about it, it will always be tainted.

But we didn't know any of this on March 14th, 2004. We were just happy to see two well-respected men go over in thrilling matches and finally get that same respect from management. JR only added to the magic of the moment with his commentary, a sort of commentary that is sorely missed today.

#2 Goodbye, HBK (WrestleMania 26)

After witnessing an all-time classic, WWE fans had to come to terms with a bittersweet moment - the career of the legendary Shawn Michaels was over.

In everything from the match itself, to Undertaker's show of respect afterward, to Shawn Michaels' moment in the ring and his exit up that long, WrestleMania ramp, it was a perfect way to go out. It was a moment of triumph that at the same time tasted so, so bitter. It was a celebration of a great career while we all mourned for its loss at the same time.

It was perhaps the greatest way too end a career the industry had ever seen. We'll all just conveniently forget that embarrassment we saw at Crown Jewel a few months ago. Shawn Michaels' career truly ended here, at WrestleMania 26, and his goodbye was one of WWE's greatest-ever moments in time.

#1 A miracle on Bourbon Street (WrestleMania 30)

It was the culmination of months of antagonism, not just to Daniel Bryan, but to WWE's own fanbase, who insisted that their man do something better than having a throwaway match with Sheamus in the middle of the card.

Through twists and turns that were as much a test to the fans as they were to Daniel Bryan, the Yes Movement rallied. Daniel Bryan was forced into the main event through a fan revolt, but that didn't mean he would win.

When he finally did, it was a moment of catharsis unparalleled in WWE history. By virtue of Daniel Bryan's victory, fans too, felt like they had won. Everyone shared the spoils of the campaign in a euphoric burst that careened and permeated through the Mercedes Benz Superdome.

And shockingly enough, Michael Cole, usually the robotic voice of the company that had antagonized Bryan and fans for so long, was as overjoyed as everyone else. He did some of his career best work here, making the moment even more timeless.