Pruett’s Blog: WWE WrestleMania Main Event Rankings (Part 3): The ten good but not great WrestleMania main events

By Will Pruett, ProWrestling.net Co-Senior Staffer (@itswilltime)

WrestleMania has a surprisingly high batting average when it comes to main events. This is a list of numbers 11-20, but these matches in no way suck. Heck, even the king of bad WrestleMania main events manages to have some semi-good ones here!

My favorite parts of this installment are the surprises. The matches with no or low expectations that left you feeling positively joyful at the end of the (likely long) WrestleMania night. Some of these matches show wrestlers coming into their own or finding themselves, just barely approaching their prime. Some of these matches have legends returning to make a little more magic.

Wrestling! It’s neat!

WrestleMania Main Event Rankings – The 10 worst WrestleMania Main Events

WrestleMania Main Event Rankings – The 15 most mid WrestleMania Main Events

#20 – Triple H vs. Batista for the World Heavyweight Championship – WrestleMania 21

When Triple H is determined to put someone over, he really does the thing well. Batista was receiving a push meant for Randy Orton and proving that he truly belonged in the main event scene. Triple H was reaping the rewards of years of build for the Evolution faction by finally watching it dissolve. This match is a masterclass in what Triple H did well as a wrestler.

At his worst, he overindulged and was over-serious. Here, Triple H reached into the Ric Flair bag of tricks and was a perfect sniveling but tough coward. It’s a balance for a wrestler to strike, but somehow he did it.

For Batista, this match was the crowning achievement that was never meant for him. Like I said, this was Randy Orton’s push. Some odd booking that lead to pulling the trigger early on Orton also lead to Orton not being ready for this moment at WrestleMania. Batista, who entered WWE as (Reverend) D-Von Dudley’s sidekick, climbed to the very top of the mountain and proved he belonged. While so much of this match was about Triple H doing the right thing really well, Batista was the guy to do it with.

Batista was great here. Triple H was great here. This was a very good match.

#19 – Steve Austin vs. Kevin Owens – WrestleMania 38, Night 1

I am generally against old wrestlers returning out of nowhere to main event WrestleMania. But every rule has an exception or two and Steve Austin deserved this curtain call and this match was a blast. Shout out to Steve Austin for taking some absurd money to main event WrestleMania in his home state and not to make an appearance on one of WWE’s many Saudi blood money shows.

This started as a promo segment on a stadium show, but became a full Attitude Era-esque walk and brawl. Owens was the ideal opponent for Austin as he could carry the heavy promo lifting needed going into the show.

Seeing Austin get a chance to return in Texas and have a real final match was just nice given the depressing way Austin’s career faded out. That moment when Austin takes his first bump in the match – from a suplex – on the stadium floor blew my mind. At the moment I said “yep, we’re going for it” and go for it they did.

The two night WrestleMania opened up more main event opportunities (which one wrestler in particular is benefiting from this year in his buy one get one free main event extravaganza) and more chances for true surprises. This is one of them and, as you’ll see here and in the next list, more great matches are coming. Night one of WrestleMania has a downright magical hit rate.

#18 – Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant for the WWF Championship – WrestleMania 3

Some matches are more important than they are good. Some matches meet the moment of a WrestleMania main event and help define it, even if they are imperfect. Sometimes you just want to watch a big balding man slam a bigger man after a lot of build up!

Hogan and Andre is one of the most important matches in WrestleMania history, but far from the best. That did not matter to the crowd, who invested in every second of this, despite the far-too-long show preceding it. 78,000 people were there solely for Hulk Hogan getting revenge on Andre the Giant for pulling his necklace off. And he did it!

It’s hard to figure out how to rank certain matches here, which obviously achieve their goals, but are a downright slog to re-watch. I don’t think this match really hits that magical status many believe it to have. Sure, it was good, but it was the basic Hulk Hogan match, perhaps with a little extra from Andre. And the basic Hulk Hogan match is mostly boring.

#17 – Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels in an Iron Man Match for the WWF Championship – WrestleMania 12

This match, for a long time, was held up as the true classic of WrestleMania and friends, it is not. It’s fine! The last 20 minutes are actually really fun. The overtime segment is perfectly good! But the first 40 minutes of this match are so much nothing that it hurts. This is not a classic of the genre, but an example of why early falls in Iron Man Matches matter. Going all 60 minutes without a single fall was forfeiting a storytelling device they really needed.

Bret and Shawn are capable of better and would have at least one better match than this (with a worse ending). The entire concept of an Iron Man Match at WrestleMania is not great though. WrestleMania should sell itself – “the showcase of the immortals” and all that – so you shouldn’t need a major gimmick in the main event. Additionally, promising fans that a match will go an hour is a perfect way to make sure fans don’t invest in the first 55 minutes. While most modern WrestleManias include an hour or more of boredom, this one did not have the time to spare.

This match is notable, but not worth legendary status. The last 20 minutes make it worth a watch and warrant its place on this list.

#16 – Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes in a Bloodline Rules match for the WWE Undisputed Universal Championship – WrestleMania 40, Night 2

One year later and we have a return match at WrestleMania. This one is like the original, but with even more run-ins! We got appearances from Jimmy Uso, Jey Uso, Solo Sikoa, John Cena, The Rock, Shield-coded Seth Rollins, Biker-coded Undertaker, and Paul Heyman. It was a lot.

In fact I would argue it was too much. WWE needed a finale for the forever title reign of Roman Reigns and they poured it on super thick. The build up to this match was a total mess with The Rock’s Final Boss character emerging out of a failed attempt to shoehorn his way into the main event itself. It was weird, but dynamic.

This match is significantly worse than their original encounter at WrestleMania 39, Night 2 because the drama is all from the outside, not from the two wrestlers in the ring. It felt like a season finale for all of WWE up to this point, with stars from over 30 years appearing for a moment or two. There was a lot happening and, to me, you lose track of the actual match within it. Rhodes’ celebration at the end is notable, as is the end of Reigns’ forever title reign, but the forced “Paul Levesque Era” branding of it all takes away from the impact of the wrestlers in the ring as well.

This was also a WrestleMania ending in zero, which means we had a new fan favorite standard bearer hoist the main title in the company.

#15 – Undertaker vs. AJ Styles in a Boneyard Match – WrestleMania 36, Night 1

When it comes to WrestleMania surprises, this one is truly amazing. Cinematic matches were still new to many of us and we were doing our best to get by in a worldwide emergency. In that truly awful and scary time, the Boneyard match brought us closer together. What is a boneyard? I still do not know, but I know an old farm is involved. Is it the old farm from the pre-WrestleMania 27 vignettes? I still don’t know, but I doubt Sting is there.

What do I know? AJ Styles (and Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson) gave Undertaker his last great match and allowed him to finally Rest in Peace (honestly I am so sorry for this joke. I’m trying to delete it I swear)…

A cinematic match would never work quite as well as this one and WWE would create some truly awful stuff over the course of the pandemic inspired by this effort – but on that night in 2020 we went to the boneyard together. And it was beautiful.

#14 – Hulk Hogan vs. Ultimate Warrior for the WWF Championship and Intercontinental Championship – WrestleMania 6

The passing of the torch for Hulk Hogan would have made this a great moment, but instead Warrior was upstaged. This is a very good match and an example of match layout mattering almost more than the wrestlers themselves. This was about the construction of the match itself.

This match had no right to be as enjoyable as it was (and still is) but here we are. A babyface vs. babyface encounter is actually tough to pull off. Too many things can go wrong when fans are split. And in this era, no one was taking the soft heel role just to get through the match. This 22 minute match is really a triumph from two wrestlers who tended to work in short sprints.

Imagine how great this match could seem if Ultimate Warrior had ever been a decent person in wrestling after this.

Hogan at WrestleMania would never be as good as he was here until WrestleMania 18. Warrior would never hit the high notes he could in this match again.

#13 – John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels for the WWE Championship – WrestleMania 23

I would love this match more if they didn’t have a better match a month later on Raw. I know that’s awful to say, but Cena and Michaels had a really good match here, but saved the great stuff for their one hour classic on Raw.

This match was not supposed to be the main event of this show. Triple H suffered a leg injury that kept him from a rematch with Cena that was the originally planned main event. Michaels was not The Heartbreak Kid here, but the 2006-era D-Generation X mascot. With glowsticks and all, he performed admirably, but seemingly not for himself.

Cena was in his second WrestleMania main event in a row and this time was in the ring against a real babyface, not just someone the fans liked more. The goal of this was cementing Cena as WWE was still trying to play off the rejection of their top babyface as a phase and not a trend. This was also the show that saw WrestleMania return to stadiums on a permanent basis. After taking three years to play Madison Square Garden, Staples Center, and Rosemont, WWE played a real NFL stadium and never looked back.

While I enjoy the pomp and circumstance of WrestleMania, when I want to see these two wrestle, I seek out the Raw match. It’s just better.

#12 – The Rock vs. Steve Austin in a No Disqualification match for the WWF Championship – WrestleMania 15

The first of their trilogy and their worst WrestleMania match. And it’s still really good. Steve Austin was on top of the world and WWF spent the better part of 1998 figuring out what to position against him. We heard the word “cahoots” more than a person should as 1998 went on and WWF ran through every combination of Undertaker and Kane with Austin.

Finally a new secondary star could be made as Rock became the preferred corporate champion and WrestleMania 15 became the clash of Rock and Austin. Rock came into this match with legitimacy loaned to him by Mick Foley, who spent the fall and winter trading the title with Rock and making him more important with every match.

This match is filled with all of the trappings of its time, including an over-involved Vince McMahon. There’s so much more to say about these two, but it’s best if I leave that for their next match.

#11 – Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes for the WWE Undisputed Universal Championship – WrestleMania 39, Night 2

The night was perfect for a title change. We had just learned WWE would be merged with UFC. The stadium was still buzzing from night one’s virtually perfect show. It felt like the end. WrestleMania would never look better or bigger. This was the show to crown a standard-bearer in WWE and bring an amazing title reign from Roman Reigns to a close. The moment was perfect – except it wasn’t. And that made it better.

While it felt like THE moment to crown Rhodes, WWE made the highly unconventional and surprising move to have him lose the main event and have Reigns stand tall to end the night. WrestleMania is traditionally a babyface’s night. It took 16 years for a heel to end the night raising a title in the air. It’s where stories end, not where they are continued.

This little bit of surprise, along with some perfectly timed interference from the original Bloodline and Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens, created a truly beautiful main event under the lights at Sofi Stadium. The enduring image of Cody Rhodes sitting dejected with a rubber chicken while Roman posed on the ramp haunted us all for a year. WWE did it right with WrestleMania 39, even though it felt wrong when it happened. This felt like The Empire Strikes Back after night one gave us Star Wars. We would have to wait a year for the Ewok Celebration to close WrestleMania 40, but in the end they all would sing Yub Nub together.

Next time on this list – #10-#1 – The best main events in WrestleMania history! Listed! For you!

Will Pruett writes about wrestling and popular culture at prowrestling.net. To see his video content subscribe to his YouTube channel. To contact, check him out on Bluesky @itswilltime, leave a comment, or email him at itswilltime@gmail.com.