Connor McGrath
Over the course of the event’s near thirty year history, WrestleMania has produced countless classic matches. But for every Shawn Michaels/Razor Ramon Ladder Match and Steamboat/Savage that’s included in highlight packages every year, there’s another nearly as good match that’s fallen through the cracks of time. Today, we profile five great WrestleMania matches you might have forgotten about.
The Junkyard Dog and Tito Santana Vs The Funk Brothers- WrestleMania 2
Our first match comes from the much maligned second edition of WrestleMania. WrestleMania 2 got off to a horrible start with the New York segment of the show so I can imagine why people were so turned off but the final segment of the show in Los Angeles actually salvaged the show somewhat. And the highlight of that segment was a wild brawl between Junkyard Dog and Tito Santana and The Funk Brothers. Whoever paired these guys together was a genius. The Funks and Tito Santana were some of the best workers of the era and JYD…well, JYD wasn’t a great worker but he did have boatloads of charisma and he could still work somewhat at this point. Plus Terry Funk sold JYD’s offense terrifically. And really you could throw almost anybody with the other three and it wouldn’t hinder things. These four produced an unpredictable match that spilled all over ringside and almost kind of seemed like a precursor to ECW. Ultimately, the preeminent crazy brawlers, The Funk Brothers prevailed but the fact that they left WWF shortly after (and Tito and JYD began their gradual descend down the card) is probably what made this match slightly obscure. But longtime fans will know that this match is nearly as good as WrestleMania 2’s other classic tag team match (The Dream Team Vs The British Bulldogs)
Ricky Steamboat Vs Greg “The Hammer” Valentine- WrestleMania IV
Here’s another match that was kind of overshadowed by what happened after the match. Wrestling fans were salivating at the possibility of Ricky Steamboat and Randy Savage having a rematch of their classic WrestleMania III in the quarterfinals of the WWF World Title tournament at the next year’s Mania. That match probably should have happened but instead, WrestleMania IV turned out to be the quiet swansong for Steamboat’s first WWF run. However, Steamboat did have a very good last match in the first round of the tournament against Greg “The Hammer” Valentine before The Dragon’s inauspicious exit. Steamboat and Valentine’s styles were well suited for each other. In fact, it was kind of the closest thing that WWF ever got to having Steamboat and Ric Flair wrestle in their company. This match wasn’t quite on the level of those matches (very, very little is!) but it is an underrated gem that’s obscured not only by the fact Steamboat left too soon afterward but by the fact that Valentine would be on the downward slope of his career not too long after this.
Shawn Michaels Vs Tatanka- WrestleMania IX
Shawn Michaels IS Mr. WrestleMania so it’s inevitable that something is bound to get lost in the shuffle of his classic matches at WWE’s annual mega event. That something, in my opinion, is his early classic against “The Native American Warrior” Tatanka that kicked off the much maligned ninth edition of WrestleMania from Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. Michaels was defending his Intercontinental Title and was just on the cusp of solo superstardom. At the time, it seemed like the then undefeated Tatanka was headed for big things too and the two produced an immensely fun match to kick off WrestleMania IX. My only complaints about this match were that it was a little bit too long and that both guys were so hot at the time that it didn’t really make sense for either of them to eat a pin on the biggest show of the year so we got a schmozz finish. A schmozz is fine if it pays off down the road with a rematch but Shawn Michaels ended up going right into a feud with Mr. Perfect while Tatanka would feud with Bam Bam Bigelow. This would actually be the Native American Warrior’s last in-ring appearance at WrestleMania. For Michaels though, this was only a sneak peak of the great things to come from HBK at WrestleMania. In fact, he had a match at the WrestleMania after this that I recall was pretty decent…
The Undertaker Vs Diesel- WrestleMania XII
The Undertaker’s had so many great matches at WrestleMania over the past twenty three years that it’s hard to remember a time where an Undertaker match at WrestleMania did not equal an automatic instant classic. In 1996, however, Undertaker’s WrestleMania rep while unblemished in the loss column, was not exactly known for great matches. That changed at WrestleMania XII when Taker had his first truly great Mania match against “Big Daddy Cool” Diesel, a guy who has never been known for having good matches with anybody other than Shawn Michaels or Bret Hart. The storyline setting up the encounter was compelling but you couldn’t blame hardcore fans for thinking the match wouldn’t live up to the hype. The Undertaker’s previous two Mania matches (at IX against Giant Gonzalez and at XI against King Kong Bundy) had been the lowlight of the show. Many thought the match would be a more sizzle than steak spectacle before the Shawn Michaels-Bret Hart guaranteed classic main event. While this match might not have matched the technical wrestling skills in the main event, some would argue that Undertaker-Diesel was the more entertaining match. Taker and Diesel had their work boots on and they put on a great match. Undertaker had always been a great character but WrestleMania XII was one of the first times we were able to see that he was a great wrestler too.
Evolution Vs The Rock N Sock Connection- WrestleMania XX
It’s hard to imagine a match featuring five World Champions would be considered a forgotten gem but the 3 on 2 match between Evolution (Ric Flair, Batista, and Randy Orton) and The Rock N Sock Connection of The Rock and Mick Foley isn’t widely remembered. This match was overshadowed by the two memorable and classic World Title matches (which are sadly more remembered for the tragic endings for the winners of said matches) and the infamously terrible Goldberg Vs Brock Lesnar super-match. It’s too bad because this tag team match is the definition of fun. It’s fun to see The Rock and Ric Flair go against each other. It’s fun to see Mick Foley return to the ring after a four year layoff. Even if Foley himself was letdown with this match and felt like it wasn’t his undisputed WrestleMania classic moment (that would happen two years later against Edge at WrestleMania 22). It’s fun to see the stars of ’90s WWF square against the future stars of ’00s WWE. The always entertaining Madison Square Garden loudly laps up every minute of this match. Eventually, the future (and past) of WWE in Evolution prevailed over the current titans, The Rock N Sock Connection and the torch was passed. It was a great WrestleMania moment but perhaps one that’s been a bit overshadowed by the five men’s other Mania matches.
Hope you enjoyed this stroll down WrestleMania Memory Lane. Stay tuned next week as I continue the WrestleMania theme with The Five Count: Biggest WrestleMania Matches That Didn’t Happen. A look at matches scheduled for WWE’s Biggest Show of the Year that were scheduled but for some reason or another, never made it to the big stage.
