About a month ago, we teased you with some memorable Wrestlemania video montages.  Now, it’s time for the main event.  With Wrestlemania XXV coming up this weekend, what better time is there to look back on 25 years of amazing matches and moments that could only be provided on the grandest stage of them all. You’ll notice that there’s a slight bias to older Wrestlemanias because that’s what I grew up watching but these are all classic matches.

“Macho Man” Randy Savage vs. Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat – Wrestlemania 3
Wrestlemania 3 was literally the grandest stage of them all. The Pontiac Silverdome was filled with 93,000+ people in what was and still is an indoor attendance record. This match here, for Macho’s Intercontinental Championship, is often considered one of the best matches to ever happen at a Wrestlemania. According to Ric Flair, Steamboat doesn’t like talking about this match because Savage insisted the whole match was pre-scripted and rehearsed well in advance as opposed to the on-the-fly match writing style that Flair and Steamboat used in their famous matches.

Click here for part 2.

Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant – Wrestlemania 3
While Savage/Steamboat may have stolen the show, 93,000 strong poured into the Silverdome for one reason: The Irresistable Force meeting The Immovable Object. Hogan/Andre was the match that launched wrestling into the stratosphere and made it mainstream in sports and pop culture. Hogan slamming Andre is one of the most memorable images in the history of the world. This match launched Hogan as a mega-star and McMahon as a big money player. While the match wasn’t the most technically sound ever (and not even that night), no discussion of all-time Wrestlemania moments can pass this one over.

Full Match: Part 1, Part 2, Aftermath

Bret “Hitman” Hart vs. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin – Wrestlemania 13
This match is the one that propelled Austin to permanent main event status with the then WWF. The Austin/Hart match was a submission match (believed to be the first and only in Wrestlemania history). Hart and Austin were able to pull off a rare feat in this match which was the double switch. When Austin passed out from the pain and blood loss and Hart refusing to release the sharpshooter, Austin went from heel to face and Hart vice versa.

Full Match: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon – Wrestlemania 10
The first ladder match at Wrestlemania revolutionized this type of match. The ladder match had been used in a non-televised WWE between Hart and Michaels and in Stu Hart’s Stampede Wrestling but in those matches the ladder was just a tool to win the match. Michaels and Ramon (better known as the nWo’s Scott Hall) brought the ladder match to new heights (pun intended) by using the ladder as a weapon. Razor won the match but no one cared because they had just seen one of the greatest matches in Wrestlemania history.

Full Match: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan – Wrestlemania 18
As I said last month, this was suppposed to be a passing of the torch moment. The torch which Andre passed to Hogan was going to The Rock to lead the WWE forward as the next icon of the WWE. Hogan’s knee and ribs were battered all to hell but he pulled through to create another lasting Wrestlemania memory.

Full Match: Part 2, Aftermath

Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels – Wrestlemania 24
We all knew how this match would to turn out ahead of time but going into it we were all in denial. It seemed that the build-up to Wrestlemania and Wrestlemania weekend was a continuous tribute to The Man himself. Months before this match, Vince McMahon told Flair the next time he lost, he would be forced into retirement. The build-up we saw in last month’s post brought us to the inevitable final chapter in Naitch’s career. And though he might have been 59 years old when he walked that aisle for the last time, he’s still better than damn near anyone the WWE has now. Woo!
WrestleMania XXIV Ric Flair VS Shawn Michaels
(Sorry, the embedding doesn’t work for this video but I’m trying to find one that I can.)

Triple H vs. The Ultimate Warrior – Wrestlemania 12
This match marked the Wrestlemania debut for Triple H (then known as Hunter Hearst Helmsley), the WWE debut of Sable (who rose to fame as Marc Mero’s manager and three-time Playboy cover girl), and the re-debut of The Ultimate Warrior. Other than that, this isn’t a particularly noteworthy match. However, since Triple H will be appearing in a championship match in his 7th straight Wrestlemania (he missed Wrestlemania 23 with a quad injury), I thought it would be good to see how he started.

And if you’re looking for more Wrestlemania notalgia, you can take Mental Floss’ Wrestlemania Quiz Part 2.  For the record, my score was 16/16.