The main feud heading into the Wrestling Classic (although it wasn’t positioned in the headline spot) was the WWF Championship match between Champion Hulk Hogan and challenger, Rowdy Roddy Piper who had continued to feud post-Wrestlemania.
The strategy was a financial success for the company and it became a tried and tested formula that the promotion used to promote its events from that point onwards.
Wrestlemania 2 held the following year on April 7, 1986, drew an incredible 250,000 pay per view orders which is phenomenal when you consider that only a few million homes were wired for pay per view at the time.
That was followed by Wrestlemania III which drew over 78,0000 paying fans to the Pontiac Silverdome in Chicago and an unbelievable 400,000 pay per view orders for what remains one of the most famous main events in history between Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant.
Whilst those 1980s cards lacked engrossing in ring action, the 90s and the “New Generation” of main event performers such as Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels provided world class in ring performances in the headline slots as well.
In 2018, the entire card is built to engage interest in the product and the company is not so reliant on it’s headline acts to draw viewership, however, over the past 25 years at least, those main event bouts have brought the audience and also brought the action.
In the following slideshow, SK revisits the finest five WWE main events that have ever taken place on pay per view in the company’s long history.
#5 John Cena vs CM Punk (Money in the Bank 2011 - July 17, 2011)
In one of the greatest examples of one match being used to sell a show more than any other is the headliner for Money in the Bank 2011 which pitted challenger, CM Punk versus WWE Champion, John Cena with the gold on the line.
The atmosphere in Punk’s home state was electric as the crowd loudly roared him on to victory.
The feud had captured the public’s attention more than most in the past decade when WWE shrewdly decided to capitalise on Punk’s (real life) impending contract expiration by strongly hinting on television that he would leave the promotion regardless of the result of the bout.
Cutting a now legendary promo, Punk cut a “Pipebomb” on WWE, Cena and WWE management as he derided the company’s decision making and booking of himself and others and vowed to leave the company as the WWE Champion.
Over the following weeks, WWE Chairman, Vince McMahon frantically tried to get Punk to re-sign to no avail.
On fight night, Punk and Cena delivered a five-star classic, complete with near falls and thrilling action for its 34-minute duration delivering emotion and excitement by the bucket-load.
Not the most technically efficient match in history but one that is difficult to match for atmosphere.
#4 The Rock vs Stone Cold Steve Austin (Wrestlemania X-Seven - April 1, 2001)
Wrestlemania X-7 represented the peak of the famed “Attitude Era” of WWE and represented the beginning of the end of the company’s last boom period.
The headline match was responsible for pulling a then record one million pay per view orders as WWF Champion The Rock faced off with Stone Cold Steve Austin in “The Rattlesnake’s” home state of Texas.
The feud was an excellent one. Stone Cold who had been sidelined for 10 months due to spinal surgery had seen The Rock usurp him as the number one star in the promotion.
After losing a heavily hyped match with Triple H, a month earlier in a bout where he was supposed to gain revenge on the man who masterminded and orchestrated a plot to have him run over and end his career at the 1999 Survivor Series, an increasingly paranoid Stone Cold doubted whether he could defeat The Rock.
In a 28 minute stunner, Stone Cold threw everything he had at the Champion but could not put him down for the three count no matter what.
Both men utilized moves rarely seen in their repertoires as both dug deep in thrilling non-stop action as they pushed for victory.
After interference from former enemy, WWE boss, Vince McMahon and 16 chair shots to Rock, Stone Cold finally earned the match-winning pinfall.
Shaking hands and sharing a beer with McMahon post-match, Stone Cold had sold his soul for the WWF Championship.
#3 Kurt Angle vs The Undertaker (No Way Out 2006 - February 19, 2006)
The main event of No Way Out 2006 was a great example of a match wherein everyone watching knows the result beforehand, but the action is so riveting and back and forth that the viewer can suspend their disbelief and really believe that either man could win.
It was well known via wrestling dirt sheets and websites that Undertaker was heading for a collision with fellow behemoth Mark Henry at the next pay per view, Wrestlemania 22 and that Angle would enter that show as the defending World Champion.
For half an hour, World Heavyweight Champion, Kurt Angle battled with The Undertaker in a technical masterpiece filled with moves and counter moves and the match actually finished with a reversal as Angle skillfully countered a Triangle Choke into a pinfall earning the clean victory.
It was one of the finest matches of either man’s career which covers a lot of ground.
#2 Bret ‘Hitman’ Hart vs British Bulldog (Summerslam 1992 - August 29, 1992)
Rarely were matches built upon so much emotion in early 90s WWE as the encounter between brother-in-laws, Bret ‘Hitman’ Hart and The British Bulldog, Davey Boy Smith.
In storyline, the impending clash was said to have been divided the Hart family as Bulldog’s wife and Hart’s sister, Diana publicly declared she had no allegiance as far as who she wanted to win and other members of the Hart clan supported either Hart of Bulldog.
With Hart’s Intercontinental Championship at stake, the pair clashed in the headline position of the Summerslam 1992 card, above the WWF Championship match between WWF Champion, Macho Man Randy Savage and The Ultimate Warrior.
The pay per view was held at Wembley Stadium in London, England; staged on those shores to capitalize on the immense popularity of Bulldog in his home country.
With an electric crowd and incredible atmosphere, Hart and Bulldog put on a technical masterclass not seen in WWE main events at the time.
Hart relied on his wrestling skills, employing rest holds and submission manoeuvres whilst Bulldog kept to his trademark power game. It was a fascinating battle of wills throughout it’s 25-minute duration before the larger Bulldog countered a Sunset Flip to sit on Hart for the pinfall victory.
A new Intercontinental Champion was crowned and Hart’s performance so impressed WWE officials that he was booked to win the WWF World Championship six weeks later.
#1 Shawn Michaels vs The Undertaker (Wrestlemania XXVI - March 28, 2010)
In the culmination (or so it was believed at the time) of their 13-year rivalry, The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels clashed in the headline position of Wrestlemania XXVI in a match wherein Michaels’s career was on the line versus The Undertaker’s famed unbeaten Wrestlemania winning streak.
With both participants having so much at stake, the re-match from the previous year’s show-stealing Wrestlemania match between the two legends was even better.
Both men went for their signature moves early in the match and continued to trade big moves throughout the bout. Michaels targeted submissions on Undertaker’s injured ankle displaying superb psychology by employing an ankle lock, figure four leglock and crossface.
Michaels also kicked out of chokeslams and the Tombstone Piledriver. With the crowd eating out of the palm of their hand, Michaels’s attempted a fourth Sweet Chin Music super-kick but was countered into another chokeslam and Tombstone combination but again kicked out before the count of three.
However, a third Tombstone was finally enough for Undertaker to end Michaels’s career (for eight years at least). It was a match which was the perfect blend between storytelling and compelling in-ring action for all of its 30-minute duration.
The legacy of this match is so great that it led to matches between Michaels’s buddy, Triple H, and Undertaker and will lead to another next month when Michaels comes out of retirement to team with Triple H versus Undertaker and his brother, Kane.
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