A return to my childhood

Tonight is Wrestlemania 25 live in Houston. Back when I was younger, I used to love wrestling. I go back to the days of Hulk Hogan, Macho Man Randy Savage, The Ultimate Warrior, etc. I've watched more greats like Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock. However, around 2002-03, I haven't been a serious wrestling watcher. At that point, the WWF became the WWE (which in it of itself is less appealing), they split the rosters between Raw and Smackdown, still had the awful Michael Cole working for them (and do to this day), and they brought in too many of the older WCW stars after the WWF bought them.

Since then, I have no regrets leaving wrestling as there hasn't been a great star since The Rock. Triple H is what he is, will always be underrated because he's not as popular, but a better villian. John Cena's a joke, Randy Orton has no charisma and The Undertaker and Shawm Michaels shouldn't be wrestling still. I always found Edge more enjoyable when Christian was his tag team partner and the Hardys did too many TLC matches for me to take Jeff Hardy serious. Add the fact that now so many wrestlers die before age 45, it made it easy to stop caring.

Even though I'm not the watcher of wrestling I once was, two events still peak my interest, Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania. The Royal Rumble match will always be enjoyable, no matter who's wrestling, because the rules are flawless. As for Wrestlemania, it's the Super Bowl of Wrestling and you hope to see a great moment occur as has happened in the past. Now if you want to read about the event itself, my friend Teddy from Sorts of Sports has the preview live from Houston. I, however, will offer a list of the ten best Wrestlemania matches, in chronological order with Youtube links.

WM 1- Hogan and Mr. T vs Rowdy Roddy Piper- started it all, gets on this list for that real alone
WM 3- Macho Man Randy Savage vs Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat- You know it's a great match when when it outshines a main event that I'm about to put next.
WM3- Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant- Arguably the most important match in the history of the WWF as the baton is passed to Hogan during arguably the greatest Wrestlemania ever
WM6- Hulk Hogan vs The Ultimate Warrior- Another passing the torch match as Warrior beat Hogan for the title; bonus points as a face vs face without a heel turn to result.
WM10- Shawn Michaels vs Razor Ramon- This was the first ladder match in the history of the WWF and both Michaels and Ramon put on a show and once again proved to change the sport, in a Jimmy Snuka jumping off the cage at MSG kind of way.
WM12- Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels- those two fought in the first Iron Man match in the WWF and there wasn't a fall for the whole 60 minutes. They fought to a sudden death fall in overtime and Michael hit Sweet Chin Music twice for the win. Also remembered for Michaels flying in to the ring from the rafters. If you only look at the match itself, not the aftermath, it's the best ever.
WM13- Bret Hart vs Steve Austin- Great submission match which started Stone Cold to stardom; iconic image of Austin's face dripping with blood. Greatest non-title match in Wrestlemania's history.
WM14- Shawn Michaels vs Stone Cold- Austin's first WWF title win with Mike Tyson as the special enforcer and Michaels fighting through a broken back to put Austin over.
WM2000- Edge and Christian vs The Hardys vs The Dudleys- started a series of TLC matches but this itself was a straight ladder match.
WM 18- Hulk Hogan vs The Rock- Match reuniting the wrestling fans of old and those of the current time.