In leading up to what is being billed as the biggest WrestleMania of all time, I thought it would be fun to look at the 10 greatest performers in Mania history using a points method. Over the next several weeks leading up to the big show, we’ll go from number 10 up until we reach the top spot. Along the way, I’ll also point out a few wrestlers who just missed making the list and why they didn’t.
To come up with the list, I created a points system and with the help of Chris “Mookie” Harrington, the top 10 point getters are my top 10 performers. The point system is 1 point for each of the following:
Appeared in a match
Won a match
Appeared in a title match (any title)
Won a title match (any title)
Appeared in a singles World title match (including WWF, WWE, World and WWE World Heavyweight titles)
Won a singles World title match
Appeared in a main event
Won a main event
Appeared in the best match on the show, according to Dave Meltzer’s star ratings
Appeared in a Match of the Year
If you’ve missed any of the previous weeks:
#10 – The Rock (35 points); Honorable mention Steve Austin (33 pts)
#9 – Edge (36 points); Honorable mention Chris Jericho (32 pts)
#8 – Kane (37 points); Honorable mention The Big Show (28 pts)
#7 – Randy Savage (38 points): Honorable mention Ted DiBiase (22 pts)
#6 – Bret Hart (39 points): Honorable mention Yokozuna (26 pts)
5) “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels (53 points)
I’m sure Michaels would be on the top of many people’s personal top 10 Wrestlemania lists. He very well may have been on the top of my list if he hadn’t have been inactive for so many of his peak years. Regardless of where you think he should place, nothing can take away his amazing run of matches and memories at the “granddaddy of them all”.
Like his long-time rival Bret Hart, Michaels started out as a tag team wrestler which is how he made his WrestleMania debut, way back at WrestleMania V, teaming with Marty Jannetty as The Rockers. They lost to the Twin Towers team of Akeem and the Big Bossman in a fun undercard match that really gave no sign of what was to come for the future HBK.
At WrestleMania VI in Toronto, the Rockers again lost a mid-card match to another well-established tag of the era, The Orient Express of Pat Tanaka and Sato. The Rockers picked up their first Mania win the following year in Los Angeles as they beat Bobby Heenan’s team of The Barbarian and Haku (who later became the Faces of Fear in WCW).
Over the course of the next year, Michaels turned on Jannetty in a memorable angle on WWF Superstars and began his run as a singles wrestler. Accompanied by new manager Sensational Sherri, Michaels kicked off his WrestleMania singles career with a win over El Matador (Tito Santana) in Indianapolis. At WrestleMania IX, in a somewhat mediocre show, Michaels had his first match of the night when he retained his I-C title despite losing via countout to Tatanka.
At WrestleMania X in MSG, Michaels and Razor Ramon stole the show with a 5 star ladder match where Michaels lost his I-C title to “The Bad Guy”. It was the obvious match of the night and finished runner-up for the Match of the Year in the ’94 Wrestling Observer awards. He split up with bodyguard Diesel later that year, and at WrestleMania XI, the two had the match of the night when Michaels came up short in a match for Diesel’s WWF World title.
The following year, Michaels had his first main event when he and Bret Hart had an Ironman Match for the WWF title and Michaels fulfilled his lifelong dream in capturing the title in what was again the match of the night. He was out the next year with an injury to his smile, but returned at WrestleMania XIV in Boston and dropped the WWF title to “Stone Cold” Steve Austin in the main event — another match of the night.
Michaels retired after the Austin match but remained with the company, making sporadic appearances over the next few years before returning in 2002 at SummerSlam to face Triple H. He became a semi-active regular after that and made his return to a Mania ring in Seattle the following year where he beat Chris Jericho in another match of the night.
At WrestleMania XX in MSG, he faced Chris Benoit and then-champion Triple H in a triple threat match for the WWE title which Benoit won. That was the match of the night and another runner-up for Match of the Year in the Observer awards.
The next year in Los Angeles, Michaels lost a submission match to Kurt Angle but again, it was the match of the night. That match fell just short of winning the Match of the Year in the year-end Observer awards. His incredible run of scoring the best match of the night came up just short at WrestleMania 22 in Chicago when he beat Vince McMahon in a no holds barred match.
In Detroit at WrestleMania 23, Michaels was back in the main event challenging for John Cena’s WWE title. Cena retained in a 4 star match that was again ¼ star short of the best match of the night. He had a memorable match the next year against Ric Flair, retiring the “Nature Boy” as per a pre-match stipulation. It wasn’t the match of the night but it had a moment that no one who saw it will ever forget as Michaels whispered “I love you” before superkicking Flair to score the win. Despite getting just 3 ½ stars from Dave Meltzer, the match finished runner-up to another Michaels match (against Chris Jericho) in the year-end awards.
There was no doubt who had the match of the night or the Match of the Year in 2009 as The Undertaker beat Michaels in Houston at WrestleMania 25. It was not the main event but the two world title matches that followed it had no chance of winning over the crowd in the home state of both Taker and Michaels. They rematched the next year with bigger stakes as Taker beat HBK in a Streak vs. Career no DQ match in the main event of Mania 26 in Glendale, AZ. In his final career match, Michaels again earned the Match of the Year as well as the match of the night — 21 years after his Mania career began.
He had far more success than anyone could possibly have envisioned when he started as half of a pretty-boy tag team in the late 80s. By the time he retired, he was known as Mr. WrestleMania. He’s stayed true to his retirement stipulation since that 2010 match while all but one of the people above him on this list have stayed active. Regardless of his place on this ranking, he goes down as probably the best in-ring performer in the history of the biggest event on the wrestling calendar. Michaels earned his rightful spot in the WWE Hall of Fame the following year, 8 years after being voted into the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame.
Michael’s WrestleMania record:
5-11 overall
1-5 in title matches
1-3 in World title matches
1-4 in main events
8 matches of the night
2 matches of the year
Honorable Mention: Daniel Bryan (25 points)
Bryan Danielson, aka Daniel Bryan, trained at Shawn Michaels’ wrestling school during Michaels’ first retirement. He turned heads right away and became the best wrestler in North America in the mid-2000s before finally getting a shot in WWE the same year Michaels retired. As anyone reading this is aware, he retired from active competition just over a month ago but still managed an impressive WrestleMania resume.
Bryan has the unique distinction of having been in a title match at every WrestleMania he wrestled on.
WrestleMania 27 – went to a no-contest with Sheamus in a lumberjack match for the US title
WrestleMania 28 – lost his World Heavyweight Championship to Sheamus in a singles match
WrestleMania 29 – with Kane (as Team Hell No) retained the WWE World tag team titles with a win over Dolph Ziggler and Big E Langston
WrestleMania 30 – beat Triple H to earn a spot in the main event WWE World Heavyweight title match. Beat Bautista and Randy Orton in the main event to win the WWE World Heavyweight title in the match of the night
WrestleMania 31 – won the I-C title in a ladder match that also featured Champion Bad News Barrett, R-Truth, Dean Ambrose, Luke Harper, Dolph Ziggler and Stardust