TJR Blog: WrestleMania Reviews By The Numbers (And Stars)
WrestleMania was a very good show last Sunday night. A lot of people liked it. We didn’t all expect it to be an amazing show by any means, but WWE deserves a lot of credit for pulling it off and delivering a memorable show that we’ll never forget. Now that a week has gone by, it’s time to look at some historical WrestleMania numbers.
Since I have reviewed all 31 WrestleManias in great detail (you can find them here) I thought it would be cool to look back at them by using some numbers based on all the reviews that I did.
As most of you know, I use star ratings to review matches. It’s something that Dave Meltzer has done for many years and it’s really subjective, but I like it for reasons like this where it allows me to rank them. If you only say that a match is “great” or “very good” that doesn’t really specify things. The scale goes as high five stars. I also use quarter stars to break them down even more. Honestly, if people want to argue with me about a rating I really don’t fight it too much. One person’s of a four star match is another person’s two star match. It’s all personal opinion. Another way to say it is a five star match is like a A+ or 10/10 whereas four stars out of five is like a A or 8/10. The star rating system isn’t for everybody, but it works for me.
Trying to find out some interesting stats based on the match reviews wouldn’t have been easy. Lucky for me, a great TJR reader named John Harper put together a very detailed Excel spreadsheet that has all kinds of stats on it. Thanks to John compiling the info, I’ll break it down by category and under each category offer some thoughts on the stats presented. Let’s get to it.
Most 5* Matches:
Only four wrestlers have had multiple 5* matches at WrestleMania:
Shawn Michaels – 4
The Undertaker – 3
Steve Austin – 2
Bret Hart – 2
I’ve given ten WrestleMania a rating of five stars out of five. Sometimes I get feedback from people saying my ratings are too nice and others say I’m too harsh. It’s no surprise that Michaels is first because he’s arguably the best in-ring performer in WWE history. The other names aren’t much of a surprise either.
Multiple #1 Star of the Show:
Shawn Michaels – 7
Randy Savage – 5
Steve Austin – 3
Triple H – 2
The Rock – 2
Hulk Hogan – 2
Kurt Angle – 2
Once again no surprise that Michaels is first. Savage is there because in the first ten WrestleManias he was one of the best in-ring performers and he absolutely stole the show when he was able to have big matches.
Most 4*+ Matches
There are 17 wrestlers that have had more than three 4*+ matches:
Shawn Michaels – 9
The Undertaker – 7
Edge – 7
Triple H – 5
Bret Hart – 4
Kurt Angle – 4
The Rock – 4
Steve Austin – 3
Randy Savage – 3
Ric Flair – 3
Randy Orton – 3
Batista – 3
Chris Benoit – 3
Chris Jericho – 3
Christian – 3
Jeff Hardy – 3
Matt Hardy – 3
Hey look it’s Shawn Michaels again. It’s not like they call him Mr. WrestleMania for nothing. Edge’s name being that high doesn’t surprise me because he really performed well on the big stage and he’s here for his work in tag matches, multi-man matches and singles matches with some of the biggest names as well.
The 10 Worst Matches in WrestleMania:
Minus 2 Stars (-**)
The Undertaker vs Giant Gonzalez – IX
25 Diva Battle Royal – XXV
Minus 1 Star (-*)
Big Show vs Akebono (Sumo Match) – XXI
The Boogeyman vs Booker T -XXII
Al Snow and Steve Blackman vs Test and Albert – XVI
Michael Cole vs Jerry Lawler – XXVII
The Undertaker vs Big Boss Man (Hell in a Cell) – XV
The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers vs The Bushwhackers – V
The Fabulous Moolah vs Velvet McIntyre – (Women’s Title) – 2
Crush vs Doink the Clown – IX
It’s hard to really rank these and I don’t go negative stars too much, so that just shows bad I thought some of these matches were. I’ve put Undertaker vs. Gonzalez as the worst because it really is one of the worst matches I’ve ever seen. There are some worse ones that were shorter, but this one just felt extra bad because they gave them more time for some reason. That divas battle royal was atrocious too. I love Undertaker, but seeing his name twice on here makes me sad. Not his fault they put him in crap matches.
The Best WWE/World Title Matches
Seven matches have had a ****1/2 rating or above that are for a major title:
The Rock vs Stone Cold Steve Austin (No DQ Match) – X-Seven (*****)
Triple H vs Chris Benoit vs Shawn Michaels (Triple Threat) – XX (****3/4)
Kurt Angle vs Brock Lesnar – XIX (****3/4)
Randy Orton vs Batista vs Daniel Bryan (Triple Threat) – XXX (****1/2)
Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels (Ironman Match) – XII (****1/2)
Edge vs The Undertaker – XXIV (****1/2)
Ric Flair vs Randy Savage – VIII (****1/2)
That shows that WWE really does an excellent job of putting together big time matches at a WrestleMania. That’s seven times out of 31 WrestleManias where there are truly elite matches. Maybe they should have more, but that’s still an impressive amount.
Top 5 Intercontinental Title Matches
Shawn Michaels vs Scott Hall (Ladder Match) – X (*****)
Randy Savage vs Ricky Steamboat – III (*****)
Roddy Piper vs Bret Hart – VIII (****)
Hulk Hogan vs The Ultimate Warrior – VI (***3/4)
Bad News Barrett vs Daniel Bryan vs Dolph Ziggler vs Stardust vs Luke Harper vs R-Truth vs Dean Ambrose (Ladder Match) – XXXI (***3/4)
Ranking those top two is difficult. Both are five star matches and they are completely different. It’s weird seeing Hogan/Warrior there as a IC Title match, but that title was on the line too.
Top 5 Tag Team Title Matches
The Dudley Boyz vs Edge and Christian vs The Hardy Boyz (Triple Threat Tag Team TLC Match) – X-Seven (*****)
The Dudley Boyz vs Edge and Christian vs The Hardy Boyz (Triple Threat Tag Team Triangle Ladder Match) – XVI (****1/4)
The New Age Outlaws vs Mick Foley and Terry Funk – XIV (***)
The Hart Foundation vs The Nasty Boys – VII (***)
The Dream Team vs The British Bulldogs – 2 (***)
Seeing that actually disappoints me because it just shows that there hasn’t been an epic WrestleMania tag team match in regular format. The first two are a TLC match and a Ladder Match. The other three are regular tags, but none are really that great. WWE should really focus more on the tag division to put on an awesome tag match at a WrestleMania. It’s a shame that it hasn’t happened yet.
Here’s that complete listing of all my WrestleMania reviews in the order that I ranked them listed with the main event and the score out of 10.
WrestleMania 17 – Steve Austin vs. The Rock (10/10)
WrestleMania 19 – Brock Lesnar vs. Kurt Angle (9.5/10)
WrestleMania 21 – Batista vs. Triple H (8.5/10)
WrestleMania 30 – Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton vs. Batista (8.5/10)
WrestleMania 20 – Chris Benoit vs. Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels (8/10)
WrestleMania 31 – Seth Rollins vs. Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns (8/10)
WrestleMania 10 – Bret Hart vs. Yokozuna (7.5/10)
WrestleMania 28 – The Rock vs. John (7.5/10)
WrestleMania 23 – John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels (7.5/10)
WrestleMania 24 – The Undertaker vs. Edge (7.5/10)
WrestleMania 26 – The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels (7.5/10)
WrestleMania 22 – John Cena vs. Triple H (7/10)
WrestleMania 8 – Hulk Hogan vs. Sid & Randy Savage vs. Ric Flair (7/10)
WrestleMania 25 – Triple H vs. Randy Orton (7/10)
WrestleMania 3 – Hulk Hogan vs. Andre The Giant (7/10)
WrestleMania 14 – Steve Austin vs. Shawn Michaels (7/10)
WrestleMania 18 – Triple H v. Chris Jericho (6.5/10)
WrestleMania 7 – Hulk Hogan vs. Sgt. Slaughter (6.5/10)
WrestleMania 29 – John Cena vs. The Rock (6/10)
WrestleMania 6 – Ultimate Warrior vs. Hulk Hogan (6/10)
WrestleMania 16 – Triple H vs. The Rock vs. Mick Foley vs. Big Show (5.5/10)
WrestleMania 12 – Shawn Michaels vs. Bret Hart (5.5/10)
WrestleMania 15 – Steve Austin vs. The Rock (5/10)
WrestleMania 11 – Lawrence Taylor vs. Bam Bam Bigelow (5/10)
WrestleMania 27 – The Miz vs. John Cena (5/10)
WrestleMania 1 – Hogan/Mr T vs. Piper/Orndorff (4.5/10)
WrestleMania 4 – Randy Savage vs. Ted Dibiase (4.5/10)
WrestleMania 13 – The Undertaker vs. Sycho Sid (4/10)
WrestleMania 5 – Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage (4/10)
WrestleMania 2 – Hulk Hogan vs. King Kong Bundy (4/10)
WrestleMania 9 – Hulk Hogan vs. Yokozuna (2/10)
As a reminder, you can view all 31 of my WrestleMania Reviews in a special section on TJRWrestling.net any time you want.
Thanks again to John Harper for his help.
That’s all I have for now. If you have any questions or comments, post them below. Thank you.
Email mrjohncanton@gmail.com
Twitter @johnreport