Now that we got the crap out of the way, let's get to what really makes WrestleMania, WrestleMania.

WrestleMania is tradionally, the culmination of many feuds.  The endgame.  The ultimate climax.  Might as well go out with guns blazing.

The result being in some of the greatest matches and cards not only in the history of WrestleMania, but of all time.

What are the matches and cards that make you stand up and yell "That Was Awesome?"

TO start, here are my favorites.

Starting with my Top 5 Matches.

1. Rock/Austin II (X-Seven)
2. Savage/Steamboat (III)
3. Michaels/Undertaker (25)
4. TLC II (X-Seven)
5. Austin/Hart (13)

And my Top 5 Cards

1. X-Seven
2. XIX
3. XXIV
4. 31
5. III

Your turn.

Best Cards

1. 17- You know you've got something special when a Benoit/Angle match is only the 5th best of the night.
2. 14- No all time classics but a solid show from top to bottom where every match delivered to some extent.
3. 20- Both World Title matches + the super fun Jericho/Christian and Evolution/Rock & Sock matches. Even Taker's return works as A Moment.
4. 3- One classic, lots of fun undercard matches that don't wear out their welcome, and a great overall feel.
5. 21- A polarizing one due to subpar World Title matches but HBK/Angle, the first & best MITB, and Taker/Orton make up for it.

Best Matches
*I'm basing this off a pair of lists I came up almost a decade ago- Best WWF Matches of the 80-90s and Best WWF/E Matches of the 2000s. It would likely change today. Like I could totally see myself putting something odd like Taker/Flair, Vince/Shane, or Vince/Hogan at #1 if I were to rewatch every 'Mania next week.

1. Bret vs. Austin- 13 (#3 match of the 90s)
2. Owen vs. Bret- 10 (#4 match of the 90s)
3. Michaels vs. Flair- 24 (#5 match of the 00s)
4. Benoit vs. Michaels vs. HHH- 20 (#6 match of the 00s)
5. Angle vs. Michaels- 21 (#7 match of the 00s)
*And just for fun....
6. Savage vs. Flair- 8 (#7 match of the 90s)
7. Razor vs. Michaels- 10 (#10 match of the 90s)
8. Austin vs. Rock- 17 (#10 match of the 00s)
9. Michaels vs. Jericho- 19 (#12 match of the 00s)
10. Warrior vs. Savage- 7 (#15 match of the 90s)

Not going to do a top 5, but I will say that the best WM match is:

Ultimate Warrior vs. Randy Savage

Best WM is....WM 19

Actually I'll re-do this.

III, X and XIV were the best Manias but a little before my time. So I'll qualify everything as WM2000 on.

Top 5 Manias

X-7 - It's the best PPV I've ever seen and an incredible send off for the Monday Night Wars. The WWE was so hot at that point in time and the stars all aligned for that particular Mania. Rock-Austin II remains the best Wrestlemania main event I've seen. Austin's intensity was through the roof and it's basically my litmus test as far as Wrestlemania main events go. HHH-Taker was bloated, but that spot where HHH countered the Last Ride with a sledge hammer was brilliant. McMahon vs. McMahon was the perfect sports entertainment match where they laid everything out well and got the most out of each spot. TLC II lived up to all the prior matches and was just a complete car wreck of a match with some of the stiffest chair shots I've seen. The hardcore match between Raven, Show and Kane was the closest I've seen any match resemble some of my finest WWE SmackDown Here Comes The Pain efforts. I still crack up at watching the referee ride shotgun as guys race around in buggies around the arena. Even the legends battle royale was great. Back then you didn't really see the WWF acknowledge it's roots all that often, so that dose of nostalgia was refreshing and it was booked right when everybody needed a breather. The only blemish of the show was the nu-metal theme it had going. It's aged the show, but the WWF was really trying to be hip so you can live with them living and dying by that sword.

XX - The show has aged even worse, but I would be lying if I pretended I didn't enjoy the show and have fond memories of it. This was the one show where I somehow was able to get the day off school and just spent the day reading up on Gamefaqs and other websites (possibly PW.com? the forum used to be hit and miss with me back in the day). The initial reaction was hilarious, from people shitting on Dragon slipping over his entrance to the outrage over Taker wearing a tank-top and all sorts of shits. As strange as it sounds, I thought the lows made the highs that much more meaningful and when Benoit-Eddie embraced to end the show, I could have moved on from Pro Wrestling and been perfectly content with everything I had seen. From watching Benoit kill it on random episodes of Saturday Night to finally winning the big one, it was like wrestling had come full circle. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the set which was awesome, especially when Kane came out and set the 'city' ablaze. It's also the only PPV I own on DVD, so for that reason alone, I've got to have it on here.

XXI - For better or for worse, it set in motion what the WWE was going to be. Both Batista & Cena went over, the Money in the Bank was a roaring success and The Undertaker's streak became a real talking point around this time. I always enjoy milestone shows like this and while I'm not high on any match outside of the Money in the Bank match, if you put Orton-Taker, HBK-Angle, Rey-Eddie together it makes for a fun show.

XXIII - I've told the story a few times, but I just had a big birthday bash to welcome in the Easter holidays and had a few stragglers left over from the party. A couple of them were into wrestling and remembered that Wrestlemania was about to come on, so we got our second wind going into the show. Around the time, I wasn't all that invested in what was going on, but the show really surprised me and we had a great time cheering on our boy Shawn Michaels and ripping into Trump for his awful stunner bump. The show never seemed to drag and despite going pretty hard the night before, somehow the show kept us wired enough to get through it.

XXX - I don't think any other TV show has made me feel more regret than Wrestlemania XXX. Through out Taker-Lesnar I was telling everybody that they should just get it over and done with because Taker looked bloody awful out there and I couldn't believe how bad the match was. I didn't believe in a million years they would actually end the streak and when they did...nobody said anything for 10 seconds. We just looked at each other, looked at the TVs, then looked at each other again and said WTF. I completely forgot they didn't play Lesnar's music afterwards which really added to it because at first we thought the referee had fucked up or Taker had called an audible. We were rocked and just couldn't believe what we saw. It made the rest of the show that more intense because we were really chanting Bryan on and were analysing all the twists and turns in the match. We 'correctly' agreed the best thing to happen to Bryan was that table spot because it would tap into his babyface hulk-up powers which maybe enough right at the death. Even then if memory serves they still tried to tease another finish which had us going. Just an enjoyable experience from top to bottom.

Top 5 Matches (2000 on)
Austin-Rock II
Benoit-HHH-HBK
Foley-Edge
Taker-Batista
HBK-Cena