4: Randy Orton vs Batista vs Daniel Bryan WrestleMania 30
One of the greatest three way matches in WrestleMania history is a match which like the Becky Lynch story covered earlier, was not intended to happen. Daniel Bryan was a fan favourite who the fans wanted to win the Royal Rumble and wanted to see in the main event of WrestleMania, and because of fan support it happened.
Bryan was a favourite of the fans from his intro in the original version of NXT, when the accomplished indie star was paired with The Miz as a mentor, who obviously Bryan could out wrestle in his sleep. Then Bryan was fired the day after his main roster debut for simulating strangling the announcer Justin Roberts with his tie. This didn’t sit well with advertisers and the obvious connection that could be made to the Chris Benoit murders which WWE have done everything they can to distance themselves from.
Fan support for Daniel Bryan would see him rehired later that summer, and despite the feeling that the WWE always gives Bryan the short straw that didn’t stop him eventually becoming a World Heavyweight Champion. This sign of support from the office was undone when Bryan then lost the title to Sheamus in the opening match of WrestleMania 28 in mere seconds.
This lead to fans supporting Bryan more and more (and no this was not some master plan by the WWE to get Bryan over) and by WrestleMania 30 the WWE Universe were convinced it was Bryan’s time. Then the Royal Rumble happened.
It was announced that Dave Batista would return to the company after an absence of a few years and it was obvious that WWE planned for him to come back and win the Rumble. Fans were already fed up of part time wrestlers coming back for WrestleMania main event pay days and rejected Batista, and even booed poor Rey Mysterio when they realised that as the final entrant in the Royal Rumble, their pick in Daniel Bryan wouldn’t even be in the match.
Fan support for Bryan went wild and in the end the WWE had to give in and creating a story where either Daniel Bryan or Triple H would get an opportunity to be added to the main event of WrestleMania to compete with Randy Orton and Batista. The Triple H route would have had the obvious Evolution call back, but fortunately the WWE saw sense and not only did Bryan defeat Triple H at WrestelMania, but he also won the three way to take the championship at WrestleMania 30.
3: Chris Benoit vs Shawn Michaels vs Triple H – WrestleMania 20
The main event of WrestleMania 20 was an incredible three way match between Champion Triple H, Shawn Michaels and Royal Rumble winner Chris Benoit. Benoit has obviously gone down in history for the tragic final days of his life when he killed his wife and son, before taking his own life, and this fact makes watching any Benoit match difficult to fully appreciate without that fact lingering over it.
Take that fact away and what you have here is one of the best wrestling matches, and possibly the best three way match to main event a WrestleMania. Benoit winning the World Heavyweight Championship was followed by one of the most memorable WrestleMania moments, when he was joined in the ring by long time friend Eddie Guerrero who had retained his WWE World Title earlier that evening. In storylines the two were on different WWE brands – Raw and Smackdown, and had most recently been rivals, but all of that was put aside as the two friends celebrated in a rain on confetti. This WrestleMania moment took on extra meaning and importance when Eddie passed away 18 months later, but unfortunately is unlikely to ever be repeated on WWE TV after the death of Benoit.
