411’s WWE This is Awesome Report: Most Awesome WrestleMania Moments: Volume II

-Back with another episode of this series and we go back to the WrestleMania well. Here is my recap of Volume one. Let’s get to it!

-Greg Miller is out host and is in his fancy This is Awesome studio. He gives us a quick recap of Volume I: Hogan/Andre at WM III, Cena/Rock at WM XXVIII, Hart/Austin at WM 13, TLC II at WM X-Seven, Rock/Hogan at WM X-8, Shawn/Taker at WM XXV (I was there), Brock/Taker at WM XXX, Seth Cashes In at WM 31, Becky/Charlotte/Ronda at WM XXXV, Kofi-Mania at WM XXXV, and Roman/Brock at WM XXXVIII.

-Opening talking head section as they hype WrestleMania XL. GUNTHER brings up how something out of box happened at WrestleMania X, XX, and XXX. Of course they mention Bret winning, and Bryan winning, but apparently the out of box thing at XX was Eddie beating Kurt. Again, I don’t need them mentioning Benoit, but why even bring up how WM XX had something similar to how X and XXX ended? Everyone talks about Cody/Roman and if he can finish his story.

WWF Intercontinental Title: Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat
WrestleMania III

-YES! Everyone can have Flair/Steamboat, but I will always prefer this match Woods goes over the story where Savage crushed the throat of Steamboat with the ring bell and Steamboat had to learn how to speak again. Cheesy, but awesome! Kofi says it was the greatest bad guy against the best good guy! Dragon says they wanted to steal the show! Jesse Ventura: “This is one of the greatest matches I have ever seen.” That wasn’t Jesse trying to sell the match on commentary as you could tell he was in awe of what he was seeing. Kofi calls it poetry in motion! It can’t be overstated how influential this match was and how many wanted to be wrestlers after watching it.

-Peacock commercials!

WWF Title vs. WWF Intercontinental Title: Hulk Hogan vs. The Ultimate Warrior
WrestleMania VI

-Again, YES! Though as I have mentioned before, I ran home crying after watching this match at my friends house (I was 8). Heads exploded all through Hutchinson Elementary School when this match was announced for WrestleMania. Rollins talks about how good vs good didn’t happen often. Ciampa says it is insane to him and he isn’t sure you could put two better guys against each other. They have a tremendously epic match that was carried early by Hogan as Warrior blew himself up. Hogan misses the leg, and Warrior gets the splash and the win. Rollins calls it the match of his childhood. Sam Roberts says Warrior was being pushed to fill the top spot of Hogan. Didn’t work out that way though.

WWF Intercontinental Title: Ladder Match: Razor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels
WrestleMania X

-So far this list is crushing it! Shawn says it all started with him getting in trouble. Shawn gets stripped of the IC Title, and another Belt is made and Razor wins that one. Shawn comes back with his belt so they hang both and someone has to climb a ladder to retrieve both. Ciampa brings up how there were stories of Ladder Matches in Canada and it was Bret’s idea, but this was the first ladder match brought to the masses. Gargano’s mind as a child could not comprehend this match. Kofi talks about all the crazy moves they did, and I am sure it had his imagination running wild. This match ruled! HHH says that whether you were a fan or not a fan, you would watch that match and say it was cool. Sam says this is what the young fans wanted from wrestling going forward. Shawn and Razor walked, so Jeff Hardy could kill himself in future ladder matches for our entertainment.

-Peacock commercials!

WWF Title: Iron Man Match: Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels
WrestleMania XII

-This match isn’t as good as you remember or are led to believe. All credit in the world to them going an hour plus, but each man’s refusal to lose a fall killed what makes an Iron Man match work. I can see what they were going for, but as many have noted, it would have been better if they just had a regular match that happened to go over an hour. With that said this was one of the first Manias I recorded and I watched this match countless times. I can remember the high moments and sometimes I can recall the commentary when I rewatch. Nattie calls the match iconic as we see Bret get the sharpshooter in the final minute. No winner as they hit the hour, so Bret feels he has retained as it was on Shawn to beat him. Gorilla Monsoon orders the match to continue in sudden death OT. Shawn quickly hits two superkicks, tells the ref to tell Bret to get the fuck out his ring, and the boyhood dream comes true. Sam says it is her favorite match of all time. Eh, I would take every match on this list so far over that one.

The Rock vs. Steve Austin III
WrestleMania XIX

-Austin had defeated Rock at WM XV and X-Seven, so Rock needed to proof he could beat Austin at WrestleMania. This was better than XV, though not as good as X-7. Hollywood Rock was awesome though and they played the hits here while giving us a crazy entertaining match ever after Austin was in the hospital. Big E says it was like watching SuperMan vs. BatMan. I don’t think their mom’s share the same name. Corbin is cheesing as he talks about the match, so you can tell he was a massive fan. He brings up Rock’s sell of The Stunner and it is a thing of beauty. Austin goes out on his back though we didn’t know it was his last match he would have for 19 years. Great stuff on what may still be the most loaded single day WrestleMania card of all time.

-Peacock commercials!

Shawn Michaels vs. Kurt Angle
WrestleMania 21

-Another one of my Top Favorite Matches of All Time. I love this match so much, and gave it **** when I reviewed it years ago. Gargano says Shawn is his favorite wrestler of all time, which I think we all know by now. SEXY KURT! Johnny sings along and it’s still fantastic! Kurt Angle is so awesome! This match had so much hype that people thought there was no way they could live up to it, and then they went and topped anything we could expect. I have been watching Manias on Peacock on a loop even when I fall asleep and I made sure when this match popped up, I stopped what I was doing and made sure I watched the entire thing. Just a beautiful match that is up there with Steamboat/Savage.

World Heavyweight Title: HHH vs. Batista
WrestleMania 21

-Umm, not sure about this one being included. WrestleMania 21 was great, but the knock was both World Title Matches didn’t deliver while the under card was strong. Now the results were right with Cena and Batista being set up as the future, but neither match was anything special. HHH did the right thing on this night and continued to do the right thing the rest of the summer as Batista beat his ass every time they wrestled including a fantastically bloody and brutal Hell in a Cell Match. HHH putting Batista over so strong is why Batista always said he wanted his retirement match to be against HHH and you knew he would put him over to pay him back. This as also a case where the WWE listened to the fans as they rallied behind Batista when it seemed like Orton was being pegged as the man to dethrone HHH. Batista says he broke down and cried after the match and says it was perfect.

World Heavyweight Title: Kurt Angle vs. Randy Orton vs. Rey Mysterio
WrestleMania 22

-What I remember about this match, besides Rey winning, is they were given under 10 minutes and crammed as much as they could into it. Still no clue why this match was given so little time. This was after the passing of Eddie Guerrero so they ran with the story of Rey winning The Royal Rumble in Eddie’s honor and you had to pay it off with him winning at WrestleMania. Fun match and again, it was fast paced because they were trying to do as much as they could in the little time they were given. Six other matches on the card were given more time than this match including JBL/Benoit and Taker/Henry. Rey gets the win and celebrates with Chavo and Vicki! Rey: “You carry him with you.”

Hell in a Cell: HHH vs. The Undertaker
WrestleMania 28

-This is the 4th match on this list I gave *****. Some love this match and others think it was so slow with too much melodrama from Shawn. I am sucker for a match like this as it played off previous matches and continued a story that goes back to Shawn having to retire Flair at Mania XXIV. Taker beat Shawn three years earlier, and then retired him a year after that. HHH come calling, so Taker beat him too but left on a stretcher. HHH wanted another shot and Taker played mind games by pitting HHH against Shawn. I actually thought this was leading to HHH putting his career on the line, but much like Mark Henry he had a lot left in the tank. Shawn is the special ref and only added to the match. This was just a war where they hit each other hard until only one man could stand. That sweet chin music into the Pedigree is one of the greatest near falls you will ever see. Shawn emoting in the corner as he realize he nearly played a factor into who won is great. HHH tries to fight but has nothing left and Taker put him down with The Tombstone. Then they all hug and go out like men after beating the tar out of each other. JR: “It’s as if these three men know they will never be in the same place, at the exact time in this environment.” Then a Saudi Prince called! All jokes aside, this match was spectacular.

WWE Women’s Championship: Charlotte Flair vs. Sasha Banks vs. Becky Lynch
WrestleMania 32

-The Divas Title gets retired as The 4 Horse Women started to get called up to the Main Roster and the division was never the same. These three had the match of the night which is the first time the women stole the show at WrestleMania. Becky notes they all the same passion and vision and wanted to make people care about women’s wrestling. Baron says they will always be known as the women that put women’s wrestling on the map. Charlotte’s moonsault to the floor! Roberts says it is one of his favorite women’s matches. Charlotte gets Becky to tap as Ric holds Sasha from making the save. Eight years later, Sasha and Ric are in AEW, Charlotte is injured, and Becky is fighting at WrestleMania for a Championship once again.

-Greg Miller wraps things up!

-Next time: Most Awesome SmackDown Moments!

-Strong list which shows how great and deep Mania moments run. They could easily do a Volume III as there is a lot more to cover. I am sure we will likely get another episode this time next year. This show is all about the nostalgia so it will always be a winner with me. Just for fun, here is how I would rank the 10 matches on this list based on personal preference.

1. Steamboat/Savage
2. Angle/Michaels
3. Razor/Shawn
4. HHH/Taker
5. Warrior/Hogan
6. Rock/Austin
7. Bret/Shawn
8. Becky/Charlotte/Sasha
9. Rey/Angle/Orton
10. Batista/HHH

Thanks for reading!