MR/RV WrestleMania Main Events

[Kneeneighbor]

It is Monday and WrestleMania is just around the corner. Its time for the Mount Rushmore and Death Valley of WrestleMania Main Events. We will put 4 Main Events in each. I am only considering matches billed as the Main Event so as much as it pains me no Rock v Hogan on Mount Rushmore and no Hulk v Yoko in Death Valley. This one should generate some good conversation so let's get to my lists.

Mount Rushmore:
WM3 Hogan vs Andre- for me this was the first time I was really locked in to WrestleMania. The feud played out on Pipers Pit for weeks and despite Andre being old and Hulk not being a great worker this match wails.
WM5 Macho v Hogan- Perhaps the greatest story telling in WWF history. The Mega Powers, the crooked ref, Million Dollar Man buying the belt. All of it lead to this.
WM6 Warrior v Hogan- It terms of work rate one of the best matches in both guys careers. The Hulkster in me was devastated when my little brother's guy came out on top.
WM14 SCSA v HBK- Tyson helped this one along. Props to an injured HBK who put someone over instead of just forfeiting a title again.

Death Valley:
WM8 Hogan v Sid- It was the main event that no one wanted to see. The ending was a cluster fuck.
WM11 LT vs BamBam- I am not sure why this got top billing. It also confuses me now looking back and wondering why BamBam in this spot. None the less, two thumbs down for a Main Event.
WM2000- A Macmahon in every corner. Woof. Side note I am not a fan of 3 way or 4 way matches.
WM2 Hogan v Bundy- Of all the fat guys Hogan ran into Bundy never worried me. Even watching back through all the old Championship Wrestlings in the last year he just doesnt come off as a major threat.

[Kdestiny]

Wasn't LT/BamBam at 11?

Bam Bam was a big dude who could help LT look good and Loeb threatening m I thought it was fine and definitely not as bad as Miz/Cena, Hogan/Slaughter, or Reigns/HHH just off the top of my head.

Austin/Rock 2 definitely should be Mt Rushmore along with HBK/Taker from 26 as well. I'll think of what my list would look like a bit later.

[Kneeneighbor]

Wasn't LT/BamBam at 11?

Bam Bam was a big dude who could help LT look good and Loeb threatening m I thought it was fine and definitely not as bad as Miz/Cena, Hogan/Slaughter, or Reigns/HHH just off the top of my head.

Austin/Rock 2 definitely should be Mt Rushmore along with HBK/Taker from 26 as well. I'll think of what my list would look like a bit later.

Indeed it was 11.

[Donald Pleasence]

LT vs. Bam Bam is one of my favorite Mania matches. Definitely shouldn't be on DV

[Kneeneighbor]

LT vs. Bam Bam is one of my favorite Mania matches. Definitely shouldn't be on DV

As a match it was fine. But it had no business being the main event of the biggest show of the year.

[Kdestiny]

As a match it was fine. But it had no business being the main event of the biggest show of the year.

How are we measuring this then? Are we measuring it as what should've been the Main Event? If so, then it should be up there. Though I would argue that a heel/heel title match would've been a tough sell in the main event as well.

My Rushmore would probably include... Austin/Rock WM 17, HBK/Taker WM 26, Warrior/Hogan WM 6, and probably Bryan/Orton/Batista WM 30

Death Valley is Hogan/Yoko (I am absolutely including this shambles of a decision) WM 9, Hogan/Sid WM 8, Hogan/Slaughter WM 7, and Reigns/Triple H WM 32

I judge these just by what was the best finish to the show as well as how memorable and how good they were as well.

[Kneeneighbor]

How are we measuring this then?

How ever you want. It is your Death Valley.

[Donald Pleasence]

Rushmore:

HBK vs. Hart - WM 12
Angle vs. Lesnar - WM 19
Warrior vs. Hogan - WM 6
Taker vs. Styles - WM 36

DV

Yoko vs. Hogan - WM 9
Sid vs. Taker - WM 13
Sid vs. Hogan - WM 8
Hogan vs. Slaughter - WM 7

And Sid has to be top 5 of my favorites lol

[Kneeneighbor]

Sid Taker was also on my short list for Death Valley.

[MTR]

MR
Hogan vs Andre historic value here
Hogan vs Savage the build to this match was one of the greatest builds ever
HBK vs Hart great iron man match
KO/Sami vs Usos just part of another great story

Honorable mentions: Becky/Charlotte/Rousey for historic reasons ; Hogan/Warrior because lets me real one of the better matches either one of them had

DV
LT vs BamBaM
Hogan vs Bundy
Hogan vs Sid
Piper/Wonderful vs Hogan/Mr T

[Nash Diesel]

Yeah I'm definitely in the boat that despite how good of a performance LT had, it should've been co-main under Diesel v. Shawn.

MR
Hogan v. Andre WM 3-Most iconic match of all time
Hogan v. Savage WM 5-Greatest feud of all time
Austin v. HBK WM 14-A true passing of the torch moment
Chris Benoit v. Triple H v. HBK WM 20-Greatest main event in terms of wrestling in Mania history.

DV
LT v. Bam Bam WM 11-Had no business being the main event
Hogan v. Bundy WM 2-Feud was cool but the match sucked and so did Bundy
Triple H v. Randy Orton WM 25-A prime example of why people not only hated Triple H but were bored to shit with Orton
Yoko v. Hogan WM 9-Dumb ending, made no sense even when I was kid I hated this match and pretty much the entire ppv. 2 and 9 are arguably the worst Manias ever.

[Kneeneighbor]

I agree with those of you who have WM9 Yoko Hogan on your list. I didnt count it because of reasons but if it were eligible it would be the number 1 with a bullet.

[Donald Pleasence]

WM 11 is odd for me cause it's one of my favorite PPVs since I was there live, but I acknowledge it's a pretty bad PPV in hindsight. Gotta get in your 12 year old heads for that one I suppose. Best day of my life, until my wedding day at least.

Switching LT/Bam Bam and HBK/Diesel around wouldn't have made the PPV any better

[Kneeneighbor]

I know they used Bam Bam because he was able to walk LT through everything but he really was just a mid car guy at that point. I just think it belonged in the mid card. It still would have gotten hype from the sports outlets in the mid card that it got in the main event.

[Nash Diesel]

I agree with those of you who have WM9 Yoko Hogan on your list. I didnt count it because of reasons but if it were eligible it would be the number 1 with a bullet.

I think it's eligible but then again, I didn't count Drew McIntyre v. Big Show even though it was recorded on the same day as Mania after he beat Brock.

WM 11 is odd for me cause it's one of my favorite PPVs since I was there live, but I acknowledge it's a pretty bad PPV in hindsight. Gotta get in your 12 year old heads for that one I suppose. Best day of my life, until my wedding day at least.

Switching LT/Bam Bam and HBK/Diesel around wouldn't have made the PPV any better

11 was not that bad though. The only 2 matches that I thought sucked were Bundy/Taker and the Allied Powers v. the Nazis I mean Blue Brothers lol. The fact I didn't know until years later that the Blue Brothers had the white power vibe makes this match a little weird like it was literally World War 2 in the ring lol.

But you had Diesel/Shawn in a classic. Bret/Backlund I Quit with Piper, Razor v. Jarrett, the return of Yokzuna teaming with Owen. It was just such a lowpoint in wrestling, 1995 was rough.

I know they used Bam Bam because he was able to walk LT through everything but he really was just a mid car guy at that point. I just think it belonged in the mid card. It still would have gotten hype from the sports outlets in the mid card that it got in the main event.

Exactly. The match could've opened the show it would've been met with the same response. Salt N Pepa out there was odd lol. But I'm a fan. 11 is one of the lower ranked Manias, and rightfully so to an extent. Just a weird transition for the WWF. All the guys who were names for the most part didn't really put anyone over on their way out to WCW. Guys like Bret, Diesel, and Shawn needed those wins against guys like Hogan and Savage not Typhoon and IRS.

[Kneeneighbor]

Macho is an interesting topic. Ws he still under contract for WM11? Either way, I have seen a lot of people talk about how he was wasted at the end and they should have had him wrestling etc. We know Vince talked about him as the Babe Ruth, legacy guy. With all of that said do we know if using him would have helped? Would he have been willing to put other guys over? I don't know the answer to that but I think its a leit question. I know Crush takes a lot of criticism but Macho beating him right at the start of his heel run didn't do much for anyone at WM10.

[Nash Diesel]

Macho is an interesting topic. Ws he still under contract for WM11? Either way, I have seen a lot of people talk about how he was wasted at the end and they should have had him wrestling etc. We know Vince talked about him as the Babe Ruth, legacy guy. With all of that said do we know if using him would have helped? Would he have been willing to put other guys over? I don't know the answer to that but I think its a leit question. I know Crush takes a lot of criticism but Macho beating him right at the start of his heel run didn't do much for anyone at WM10.

He left the WWF in late 1994 so he wouldn't have been around at WM 11. I know Savage wanted to work a year long program with Shawn Michaels. He was a huge fan of Bret too. IDK if Savage ever had a reputation of not wanting to put people over. That's the thing...Savage wasn't really saying he should be WWF champion but he still could bring name value and help elevate guys. Vince doesn't even make sense if the idea was that Savage was getting too old or whatever because Backlund was 2-3 years older than Macho and he put the belt on him.

Back in the 80's you had basically Andre passing the torch to Hogan, Bruno worked a bunch of IC matches with Macho which helped established Macho, and there's other guys. Guys like Bret, Shawn, Diesel, they kind of had to build everything back up because the super established names were not around.

[Fanny Batter]

The Rushmore has to have Hogan/Andre, Hogan/Savage and Rock/Austin 2 based on scale. I feel it's hard to include anything from the last 20 years or so because the game's won and it's always going to be a larger than life event because of what's come before, the house has been drawn. Hogan vs. Andre cemented it's legacy as the industries biggest event over Starrcade etc, Hogan vs. Savage was massive and would have filled any stadium, and Rock/Austin closing that show, return to stadiums, put 'Mania on top again after the 'next one up' mentality after the PPV expansion. I guess reluctantly I'd put Batista vs. Triple H, as I think how hot that was shelved the idea of ever returning to arenas after getting the already announced next one out of the way.

Quality wise though, triple threat from 20, Michaels/Undertaker, Lesnar/Reigns and Usos/KOZayn.

Death Valley would be Lesnar/Reigns 2, Reigns/HHH, Undertaker/Sid and, harshly, Lesnar/McIntyre. First 2 were tired, boring matches on overlong cards in an era where the brand sold the show and people had no interest in those matches. Taker/Sid was scrambled together with Shawn out and had no business at the top of the marquee. The latter is harsh as the match was building quite nicely pre-COVID, but it's the only main event to play out in actual silence.

[Kneeneighbor]

XX was fun but as a traditionalist I couldn't put a 3 way in my Mount Rushmore.

However in a fantasy booking world how fire would WM7 main event of Hogan v Warrior v Savage have been? I know WWF wasn't running 3 way matches back then but I get a little aroused just thinking about it. Macho could have done the majority of the work and it would have allowed Hogan and Warrior a chance to catch their breath as it went.

[Nash Diesel]

It's definitely fair to put Lesnar/McIntyre on the DV list. That Mania....ugh. Without Cena/Wyatt and Taker/Styles it's damn near impossible to rewatch. Maybe 5-10 years from now if I'm still alive I'll be able to watch it in it's entirety.

[Donald Pleasence]

Pretty sure I watched Strowman vs. Goldberg 50 times

[Kneeneighbor]

I loved Goldberg during the streak. Anything since then has been unwatchable.

[Nash Diesel]

3 matches we should've had but I understand why we didn't: WM 18 Austin v. Hogan. WM 19 Austin v. Goldberg. WM 20 Austin v. Brock if Austin could've stretched it one more year but he probably would've died or been paralyzed.

[Kneeneighbor]

In retrospect, I wouldn't give up Hogan vs Rock for Hogan vs Austin. That is one of my favorite matches of all time. I only wish Hogan would have come out on top but I understand why he didn't. I am not sure the crowd has the same electricity if you put Austin in there instead of Rock.

[Tainted Eclipse]

Rock/Hogan is a stone cold classic. I'd consider ranking it my #2 Mania match behind Austin/Hart. The first Reigns/Lesnar would be close.