WrestleMania the show, is judged by how good the matches are.  But as a whole, WrestleMania the event, is also judged by the build of its matches.  Because after all, the build is what get eyes to the TV, and fans to the arenas and stadiums on WrestleMania Sunday.

The first WrestleMania had a big build that housed not just one, but two matches, as their paths intersected.  Throughout the back half of 1984, and into 1985, the Rock N' Wrestling Connection brought buzz to the WWF, and helped expand it from a regional territory, to a national powerhouse.  Wendi Richter, Cyndi Lauper, Hulk Hogan, Rowdy Roddy Piper, and Mr. T help make the first WrestleMania what it was.  Selling out Madison Square Garden, and selling over a million tickets at closed circuit locations around the world.

To quote the pivotal line from Field of Dreams, "If you build it, they will come."

And from there, the builds came.  Whether it was Hulk/Andre, the Mega Powers Exploding, The Ultimate Challenge, Iron Mike, Rock/Austin, The Streak, The Retirements, Once In A Lifetime, The YES Movement, or many others, To get people to tune in or attend, you need to give them a good reason to.

What were your favorite WrestleMania buildups?

Well nothing from this year I'll tell you that.

Honestly, one of the best builds in recent memory was Brie vs Stephanie. I thought the build up was one of the best buildups I'd ever seen. It really catpulted the women's movement into the ME at the time before the Horsewomen of NXT, showed that Brie could stand on her own and the match was no slouch either which was a nice surprise.

I'm talking about builds for WrestleMania only.

Brie vs Steph was at SummerSlam iron maiden!

I think Wrestlemania 19 featured the best collection of built matches I can remember. Jericho and Michaels was obviously a highlight with Jericho now claiming to have surpassed his idol HBK. The Rock trying to avenge his two previous Mania losses to Austin, and Angle using WGTT and his brother trying to hold off Lesnar following his Royal Rumble win (and who had helped Kurt win the WWE title to begin with).

I think Wrestlemania 14 had the best overall build with 3 being a strong runner up. As for an individual match....

Undertaker vs. Kane- Wrestlemania 14 was the first thing that came to mind. With all due respect to Hogan/Andre and Hogan/Warrior this was the ultimate WWF clash of the titans imo. The whole half-year long build was great and after Taker's return on the 3/2/98 episode of Raw I was ready to throw all my dimes at WWF.

I'll do a Top 10(ish) in chronological(ish) order.

Hogan vs. Andre (3)- I had only been watching wrestling a few months and totally bought into the mythology behind the match like Andre being undefeated for 15 years and never having been slammed.

Wrestlemania 4 Tournament- The most hyped I had been for any 'Mania until 14. I had been watching a year and already noticed certain patterns. Namely how Hogan never lost. My kiddie brain couldn't even imagine a WWF Universe without Hogan as champion. And then he lost! WWF was now a brave new world where anything really was possible. I genuinely believed everybody in the tournament had a shot to win. World Champion Dino Bravo? If only!

Hogan vs. Warrior [6]- Was bigger than Hogan/Andre and much bigger than Hogan/Savage to young me. The playground buzz was through the roof. Both men had only been pinned once in three years. And both were under extremely shady circumstances. Now I typically hated the fact that a nuclear bomb wouldn't be enough to keep either man down for a three count. But put them together and you have magic. Who will prevail? What will it take to put either guy away? Will they fight forever?

Undertaker vs. Jake (8)/Undertaker vs. Diesel (12)/Hardcore Legends vs. New Age Outlaws (14)- I was a heel fan growing up. Rarely did I back the babyfaces in big matches. Rarer still did I want the babyfaces to extract sweet, sweet revenge against reprehensible rat bastard heels. Yet that was the case in all three of these matches. I was out for blood. Wanted the good guys to destroy the biggest jerks in the company during their respective eras.

Mr. Perfect vs. Narcissist (9)- Like a midcard Hogan/Warrior where I had trouble imagining a loser. Perfect was Heenan's old guy who had turned good on him and Flair. He had previously been my favorite wrestler. Narcissist was Heenan's new guy and my new favorite wrestler. Both guys were red hot. Perfect had just sent Flair packing. Narcissist was undefeated and knocking out guys left and right with his dreaded forearm. While Narcissist was my guy, I could never hate on Perfect. Especially not after those epic vignettes with him being perfect in a variety of sports. Great build and definitely among the most hyped I had ever been for a 'Mania match.

Benoit vs. Michaels vs. HHH (20)- Benoit's long quest for the WWE/World Championship is one of my favorite storylines WWE ever did because it mirrored my own feelings toward "The Crippler." I was all gtfo when that "vanilla midget" was feuding with The Rock over the title. Like it actually offended me that WWF would book this boring midcard for lifer in WWF Championship matches against The Rock. I came around on Benoit (again. I did like him a lot in 95-96 WCW...as a midcarder) when he feuded with Austin in 2001. Now I was like "Benoit as WWF Champion wouldn't be the worst thing in the world." Then came Benoit cutting the lone good promo of his life about how badly he wanted to be WWF championship followed by Eddie screwing him out of a potential title shot in an awesome Smackdown 4 Way. That was followed a month later by the epic Angle match at Royal Rumble 2003. Now I'm like "Benoit needs to be champ one day." And after the awesome December 2003 Smackdown match with Brock now I'm all "OK, this is getting ridiculous now. Benoit MUST be champ one day. Make it happen! Take my dimes!" And then it did! Hooray! All was right in the wrestling world.

Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels (21)- This had been my big dream match for like two years so I'd have been invested even with no build. But this had a super fun build with Angle bringing back a bunch of people from Shawn's past and being hilarious and awesome as was Kurt's style.

Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair (24)- Flair's last match (which we all knew it was going to be) was the lone time I (briefly) contemplated attending a Wrestlemania.

Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels (25)- Had been my dream match since their awesome encounter at Royal Rumble 2007. Kudos to WWF for being patient and keeping these guys separated for as long as they did. It allowed the anticipation to build and build. So when they finally did pull the trigger on Mr. Wrestlemania vs. The Streak I was super hyped like it was the RTWM 14 all over again.

How short our memories are when we forget just last year...

Apr 5, 2018 1:18:02 GMT CM Punk'd said:

I'm talking about builds for WrestleMania only.

Whoops! My daughter keeps telling me to get tested for Alzheimer’s. She might have a point. ☹️

Apr 5, 2018 4:00:38 GMT iron maiden said:

Apr 5, 2018 1:18:02 GMT CM Punk'd said:

I'm talking about builds for WrestleMania only.

Whoops! My daughter keeps telling me to get tested for Alzheimer’s. She might have a point. ☹️

She doesn't know shit. I've been forgetful since like 27. Wait until she works full-time and has kids and see how much she remembers. You can tell her I said that.

Rock v Austin Wrestlemania 17. This promo alone.

Batista/Mr. H was one of the best angles ever.

As far as shows go, while Wrestlemania XX had a fan-fic feel about it, the WWE really did an excellent job of promoting the show. It seemed like they started advertising it a lot, with guys wearing Wrestlemania XX shirts in December and the sign featuring prominently. Maybe I could be misremembering, but I can't remember any build up beforehand where the sign was featured so prominently. Nowadays, it's all you need for a build. You look to the sign and bam, you've got yourself 1-1 with the Undertaker.

However, in terms of individual builds, there was nothing better than the original Andre vs. Hogan. That was a dream match before dream matches ever existed and while they bent the truth, it really felt like the clash of the titans. Before this, Wrestlemania was a barebones wrestling show filled to the brim with a bunch of hokey celebrity cameos, here it became the superbowl of wrestling.