Top 10 WrestleMania Opening Matches

I’ve always believed that every wrestling card has two important matches. The first would obviously be the main event, featuring what the fans theoretically came to see. The second would be the first match. If you capture the fans’ attention with the first match, you’ve got them hooked for whatever ends up following. That’s why I’ve always believed that if you’re not going on last, you should go on first.

WCW had that philosophy, whether they knew it or not. Tons of their PPVs started off with excellent Cruiserweight matches to entertain the fans at a high level and get them hooked for the rest of the show. It took awhile for WWE to get there, but they figured it out.

Today, we’re looking back at the ten best WrestleMania opening matches.

10. AJ Styles vs. Shane McMahon (WrestleMania 33)

They say that a truly great wrestler could have an exceptional match with a broomstick. Now, Shane McMahon in 2017 was slightly better than a broomstick. He wasn’t the most athletic wrestler out there, but he was in very good shape and was just as willing to do crazy things as he was back in the early 2000s. That was always the Shaneo Mac formula. He wasn’t known for having catch-as-catch-can wrestling masterpieces, but you could always count on a few big stunts to amuse the masses.

AJ Styles had already had a phenomenal fifteen months since entering WWE. While he had been a top star wherever he went, people still wondered if AJ could become a top star in WWE. He put those doubts to rest fairly quickly, winning the WWE Championship and having classic matches with John Cena. Some were skeptical about Styles being booked against Shane at WrestleMania, while others saw it as what it became: AJ Styles having a great match and establishing himself as a top guy in WWE. Shane did do a couple of stunts, but for the most part this was a really good wrestling match that got the crowd hyped for what was to follow.

9. Seth Rollins vs. Brock Lesnar (WrestleMania 35)

Heading into WrestleMania 35, there was a pretty strong debate ongoing over which match should main event the show. Most public sentiment was in favor of it being the three-way between Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch & Charlotte Flair for the Raw & SmackDown Women’s Championships. Had WWE gone with their standard operating procedure and had the biggest men’s singles championship match go on last, it would have been Seth Rollins vs. Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship. Since Rollins vs. Lesnar didn’t go on last, it went on first.

The match portion of this only went 2:30, as Lesnar beat the crap out of Rollins for awhile outside the ring. Lesnar hit multiple suplexes & threw Rollins all over the place. Rollins looked like he was dead by the time the bell rang and Lesnar threw more suplexes in the ring. A low blow by Rollins while the referee was down changed the momentum, and the title changed hands after a superkick & three stomps. This wasn’t one of those five star wrestling classics, but it got the crowd excited as much as anything else could have and served as a great start to WrestleMania 35.

8. Zack Ryder vs. Kevin Owens vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. The Miz vs. Sami Zayn vs. Sin Cara vs. Stardust (WrestleMania 32)

As we all know by now, WrestleMania is largely about Moments. WWE Superstars hope to have their biggest victories on the biggest stage. If anybody in WWE could have used a WrestleMania Moment by the time 2016 rolled around, it was Zack Ryder. After getting over with fans via an entertaining YouTube show and winning the US Championship during 2011, Ryder spent most of the next few years out in the WWE wilderness. He’d go long periods of time without winning a single match on television, or even being featured on one of the main shows. Many of us forgot he was still on the roster until he started appearing on TV in the build for WrestleMania 32. Even then, he was presented as an afterthought that didn’t have much chance of beating anybody.

Which made his victory in this ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship even more of a WrestleMania Moment. Nobody in their right mind was picking Ryder to go over in a match that featured six other wrestlers getting bigger pushes than him at the time. That’s the thing about a ladder match though, crazy things happen and weird people can come out on top. This match was also notable for Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn making their WrestleMania debuts in a match against each other. Go figure.

7. Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Guerrero (WrestleMania 21)

Speaking of Owens & Zayn, their careers have been intertwined in a manner similar to how Rey & Eddie kept finding their way to each other. At this point in 2005 they were WWE Tag Team Champions, having won the title from the Basham Brothers. Rey & Eddie’s friendship started to strain thanks to Eddie’s nephew Chavo, who over the course of a few weeks managed to sow the seeds of distrust between the two. Chavo told Rey not to trust Eddie due to some losses Eddie had against Rey followed to their team-up, while he reminded Eddie of his previous failures against Rey. That sneaky Chavo was able to convince Eddie that he needed to challenge Rey at WrestleMania. Eddie spun it in his own way to Rey, that they needed to go out there and steal the show.

Rey & Eddie got to open up WrestleMania 21, which ended up being one of the most memorable WrestleManias of the era. On a lot of nights, Rey vs. Eddie would have stolen the show. That didn’t happen, but they did have a fantastic match worthy of living up to their previous masterpieces. The one thing that bugged me about the match? Rey’s mask. He had some sort of problem with it and you could see him fiddling with it the entire time they’re doing the match. One of those small things that once you notice you can’t get over it. Other than that, it was good stuff.

6. Daniel Bryan vs. Bad News Barrett vs. Dean Ambrose vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Luke Harper vs. R-Truth vs. Stardust (WrestleMania 31)

The previous year saw Daniel Bryan opening the show in a match with WWE Championship implications. (Spoiler Alert: That match might be discussed later in this column.) It’s tempting to see his involvement in an Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match a year later as a demotion, but I doubt Bryan saw it that way. Especially considering that Bryan had been out of action for most of the past year due to a neck injury. The whole neck injury brings up the question of why the hell WWE had Bryan out there in a ladder match soon after he returned, and the fact he didn’t wrestle for too long after this match doesn’t make that idea sound better.

If we can observe all of this in a vacuum and not worry about the after-effects, it was a darn good show featuring some of the most fun wrestlers of the time period. Luke Harper was out there doing dives. I personally think it’s hilarious that Stardust appears in this column twice.

5. The Rockers vs. Barbarian & Haku (WrestleMania VII)

#OnThisDay in 1991: WWF Wrestlemania VII PPV: The Rockers defeated The Barbarian & Haku. pic.twitter.com/mYD3dYq7VK

— Allan (@allan_cheapshot) March 24, 2018

Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty would no longer be a tag team by the end of 1991. The Rockers had a tremendous run through the AWA & WWF, but had pretty much reached their ceiling by the time WrestleMania VII rolled around. The writing was on the wall, sooner rather than later they’d split up. As for Barbarian & Haku, they weren’t really a regular tag team. Just two monsters managed by Bobby Heenan, who’d be taking his full-time talents to the announce booth within the next few months.

There wasn’t going to be an extended series of matches with these teams over championships. This match makes you wonder what could have been. Rarely has there been a better example of “big heel team vs small face team” psychology. Everything that everybody did made sense in the context of the match. Barbarian & Haku were perfect monsters, Shawn & Marty had tremendous teamwork and had the fans believing in them. The Rockers getting the win via a bit of luck & ingenuity was a great way to start a show.

4. Charlotte Flair vs. Rhea Ripley (WrestleMania 36 Night Two)

I mentioned in my list of the Top 13 First-Time Major Championship Wins at WrestleMania that most of the stuff from the Pandemic Era wasn’t exactly my cup of tea. WrestleMania 36 especially suffered from the lack of crowd. Sure, it led to interesting concepts like the Boneyard Match & the Firefly Funhouse Match, but it also had a lot of regular wrestling matches in a small building with zero people. The opening match of WrestleMania 36 Night One was a women’s tag team match where the wrestlers tried to use basic tag team psychology and rally invisible fans. The work was fine, but a bit awkward.

The women entrusted with opening Night Two had a better idea. Charlotte Flair & Rhea Ripley are two of the most physically gifted female wrestlers in the history of WWE. They look & act like wrestlers that could beat the crap out of anybody in front of them, regardless of gender or size or whatever. The story was the veteran, Charlotte, winning the Royal Rumble and opting to challenge Rhea for the NXT Women’s Championship because she wanted to face somebody new. Becky Lynch & Bayley held the Raw & SmackDown Women’s Championships at this point, and had wrestled Charlotte numerous times. Rhea was all about it, and it was a good way to get the NXT brand involved in WrestleMania.

The reason this worked was because Charlotte beat the hell out of Rhea’s knee. Rhea fought back hard, but at the end of the day it wasn’t enough. They went out there and told a story that actually worked better because you could hear their struggle and weren’t distracted by the riff-raff. I also have to tip my hat to the WWE brass since they eventually got around to continuing this story after some bumps in the road. Rhea’s main roster road hasn’t been perfect, but it’s definitely gotten closer to perfect lately with her involvement in the Judgment Day. Now we wonder if she can knock off the Queen at WrestleMania 39.

3. Mr. Kennedy vs. Edge vs. Jeff Hardy vs. King Booker vs. Randy Orton vs. Matt Hardy vs. CM Punk vs. Finlay (WrestleMania 23)

I’ve mentioned in previous articles that I’m done with ladder matches. This is probably reflected in the rankings here, as I tend to underrate any ladder match I watch because the gimmick has been run into the ground. I know there’s an audience for them, so I don’t really blame the promotions for booking them…it’s just not my deal. Money in the Bank is another gimmick that’s been run into the ground for me, but regular folks still seem to like. I’ve seen way too many MITB winners be treated like excrement for months but suddenly become champions that we’re supposed to accept.

Before Money in the Bank became a PPV/PLE, it was a gimmick match for WrestleMania. It was a fairly good time, and typically featured some of the top folks in WWE. This match serves as a great example, as seven of the people in this match are either already in or deserve consideration for the WWE Hall of Fame. The other person (Mr. Kennedy) won the match and seemed to be in line for a push that would have put him on that HOF path. Things didn’t go well for him. Things did go well for him in this match. Too many spots to list here that led to a match that’s well-remembered to this very day. Which is more than can be said for most ladder matches within the past five years.

2. Daniel Bryan vs. Triple H (WrestleMania XXX)

Early 2014 was a very interesting period for WWE. Some people came back. Other people left. It seemed like the idea for the WM main event was Randy Orton vs. Batista, which wasn’t terrible considering Batista’s star power. Except for the fact that the hardcore WWE fans had gotten invested in Daniel Bryan, and would reject any idea that didn’t involve him in the main event. Also, WWE managed to book Big Dave into the ground pretty quickly upon his return, and didn’t make him seem like a saitiable alternative to the favorite of the hardcore fans.

The YES Movement was in full effect. Love for Bryan from the masses resulted in Triple H agreeing to wrestle Bryan at WrestleMania, where the winner would be added to the Orton vs. Batista match. Of course, H being added to that match for an Evolution three-way would have made all the sense in the world, adding to the drama. The first match affecting the last match almost always ensures a good show.

The problem with most Triple H WrestleMania matches after 2000 or so? They went too long. Triple H always had to get his heat in, long after the point where a comeback would have gotten the proper reaction. We don’t like to admit this now since he should have been the Booker of a Year, but it was the common sentiment back in the day. This match went a little long, but it still worked. Triple H had to get his heat back afterward, but it still worked. Bryan got to do his thing, and got to do his thing again later that evening.

1. Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart (WrestleMania X)

I usually want a babyface to go over at the start of a WrestleMania. It gets the fans excited & ready for what’s to come. There are very few exceptions, and this is one of them.

Later on in life, I realized how much Owen Hart was respected by the smart wrestling fanbase. As a kid that grew up on early-1990s WWF, I only knew him as Bret’s younger brother. Bret was a constant in singles title scenes, Owen was floundering in the tag team division and not really making a mark. When the Hart family drama started in late-1993, I thought Bret was doing Owen a favor by even involving him in a team. Which if Bret’s account is to believed (I don’t know why it wouldn’t be), he did everything he could to involve Owen over their brother Bruce.

Owen turned on Bret at the 1994 Royal Rumble, and Bret ended up in a tie with Lex Luger at the end of the Royal Rumble Match. It was decided that a coin flip between Bret & Lex would decide who faced Yokozuna first at WrestleMania X. Whoever lost would have to face another opponent prior to meeting the winner of the first WWF title match in the main event. The winner wouldn’t matter, but it would make things fair as far as folks having to wrestle two matches.

Lex got to face Yoko first, so Bret got to wrestle his brother Owen before facing the winner of Lex/Yoko. I don’t think most WWF fans thought Owen had a chance in hell, so imagine their surprise when Owen countered a victory roll into a three count on Bret after a perfectly-wrestled match. Then when Bret defeated Yoko at the end of the night, all Owen could do was look on in despair from the entranceway. Owen had finally defeated his big brother, but Bret was still on top of the world at the end of the night. As Vince McMahon would say, “THAT’S SUCH GOOD SHIT.”

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