5 times the WWE got the main event of Wrestlemania right
It’s become quite the pastime of WWE fans and critics alike to point out when the company gets things spectacularly wrong. In recent years, those people have certainly had a lot of ammunition to play with.
But it wouldn’t be the WWE if it didn’t occasionally made us despair, and the reason we get so angry about it is because, like a parent of a bright but lazy school child, we know they can do better!
When the WWE has a talent on their hands that they want to make a star, Wrestlemania is the place to do it.
Any wrestling fan worth their salt ought to be able to list the 32 Mania main events from start to finish, and within that list, there are those matches that make us reflect on just how perfect they were. Here are five examples of when the main event of Wrestlemania exemplified expert storytelling:
(I have not included Wrestlemania 30 here because I don’t see that as great storytelling – rather the WWE being backed into a corner and forced to act, despite the fact that it was STILL the best thing to do).
#1 Shawn Michaels vs. Bret Hart – Wrestlemania 12
After the departure of so many main event talents from the past, the mid 90’s was not a particularly successful or entertaining time for the WWF.
Of those years, perhaps 1996 was the darkest. Not only were the company experiencing fan disengagement, and the after effects of a steroid PR disaster, but WCW, the rival wrestling company from the South were really starting to build something special.
Soon the company would be forced to battle not only WCW but the insanely popular NWO as well. What do you do in times of crisis? You turn to your most trusted allies and ask them to put everything on the line for you.
Also read: Top 10 WrestleMania performers of all time
That is exactly what Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels set out to do at Wrestlemania 12. This match was perfect for a number of reasons.
They were by far and away the most talented duo on the roster, there was already some real life backstage animosity brewing between them – making the match that much more compelling – and they both perfectly represented the direction the company was looking to take.
Gone were the huge, muscle bound guys that you automatically associate with steroid abuse, and in came the small, nimble athletes that told a tremendous story through their in-ring work.
To hammer home this point, the company decided to put them in a 1-hour Iron Man Match, a very risky move but which ultimately paid off. These guys were artists at a time when the company desperately needed something to smile about.