10. WRESTLEMANIA 21
WrestleMania 21 was a glaringly obvious step towards establishing a new generation of WWE Superstars.
The double main event saw a changing of the guard, with veterans Triple H and John Bradshaw Layfield handing over their respective world titles to Dave Batista and John Cena. The Undertaker put his iconic WrestleMania streak on the line against the “Legend Killer” Randy Orton.
The first ever Money in the Bank ladder match was built to slingshot a new main event star; something it accomplished quite well in Edge. While Kurt Angle was already a well-known name in pro wrestling, submitting Shawn Michaels felt symbolic, as if the greatest of all time was passing a torch to the next in line.
From an in-ring standpoint it’s the first half of WrestleMania 21 that makes it great. Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero, who at any point could be the best of friends or bitterest of enemies and I’d gladly give them all my money, opened the show with a fun match. The aforementioned ladder match was the first of its kind, and ultimately one of the best. I don’t think Orton and Undertaker necessarily blew anyone way, but their contest was solid and further solidified that Randy could hang. Angle and Michaels obviously stole the show, and produced not just the match of the night, but the best WWE match of 2005 and one of the best matches in WrestleMania history.
Unfortunately the main events under-performed, or this show would likely be among the top two or three cards on the list. JBL and Cena both need a 4-star performer to pull the most out of them in a high profile match, and didn’t really ‘click’ in the ring at this point. Batista and Triple H ended the night with a match that was just OK. Ultimately the signifance of those two matches is/was much bigger than the matches themselves.
