8: The Rock vs Stone Cold Steve Austin WrestleMania 15
The first in the trilogy of WrestleMania matches between The Rock and Steve Austin is an absolute classic. After a dodgy initial babyface gimmick which saw the fans completely turn on the Rock, the Rock was able to become one of the fastest rising stars in WWE history when he found his footing as a cocky heel with the Nation of Domination. Within a short while he took over as the leader of the group and soon enough he was aligned with Vince McMahon and the Corporation and became World Champion which when you look at where his career was even one year earlier would have been inconceivable.
The Rock was the perfect opponent for Stone Cold Steve Austin, and with the fans fully on Austin’s side the fans went wild as Mr McMahon tried every dirty trick and interfered to beat down Austin in a thrilling match. Eventually Austin would find an ally in Mankind who would appear to help even the playing field and in his classic home made referee shirt would count the three for Austin to go 1-0 over The Great One at WrestleMania.
7: Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns vs Seth Rollins – WrestleMania 31
Roman Reigns was the challenger at WrestleMania against Brock for the WWE Championship. Brock was at the height of his dominance having ended the Undertaker’s winning streak at WrestleMania the year before. And yet somehow neither man walked out as champion.
After the concept of the Money in the Bank briefcase had been around for many years, the WWE were able to shock fans with a use of the briefcase that had never came up before. It was often the case that someone would cash in the money in the bank contract moments after a wrestler had won a match, either to win or retain a championship, but no one had ever run in mid-way through a match before to cash in.
Just as we were reaching what felt like the end and Roman was going to triumph over Lesnar suddenly Seth Rollin’s music hit and he ran down the long entrance ramp like a bullet out of a gun. Attacking both Lesnar and Reigns Seth looked to pick up a quick victory, but was caught by the dominant Lesnar who set him up for the F-5. Reigns stopped this with a spear to Brock and was then nailed by Seth who took the opportunity to capture the WWE title in one of the most shocking ends to a WrestleMania that has ever happened.
