Ranking WrestleManias is harder than ranking matches.

A great match can exist in isolation. A great WrestleMania needs something more.

It needs the atmosphere. It needs stakes. It needs several matches worth remembering after the main event ends. Most importantly, it needs to feel consequential. The best WrestleManias change something: a new star takes control, an era closes, an audience finally gets its payoff or WWE produces a moment that immediately becomes part of wrestling’s permanent vocabulary.

That is the standard here.

I’m considering match quality, depth of the card, historical significance, storytelling, atmosphere and rewatchability. A WrestleMania doesn’t have to be flawless—none of them are—but its peaks need to be extraordinary and the complete event needs to matter.

WrestleMania 42 was part of the discussion. Roman Reigns defeated CM Punk for the World Heavyweight Championship, Cody Rhodes retained against Randy Orton and WWE reported more than 106,000 combined attendees across the two nights in Las Vegas. It may age extremely well. Four months later, however, I’m not ready to place it ahead of shows whose influence we can evaluate over decades.

So, through WrestleMania 42, here are my ten greatest WrestleManias ever.

10. WrestleMania III — 1987

There have been better wrestling cards.

There may never be a more important WrestleMania.

Hulk Hogan against Andre the Giant gave WWE the sort of larger-than-life image it would spend decades trying to recreate: the champion, the giant, the enormous stadium and the body slam that became wrestling mythology.

Yet WrestleMania III earns its place on more than spectacle. Randy Savage and Ricky Steamboat produced a match generations of wrestlers would study, with precision and pacing that feel remarkably modern when revisited.

WrestleMania III demonstrated the scale this concept could reach. Without that success, it is difficult to imagine WrestleMania becoming the annual institution it eventually became.

Defining moment: Hogan slams Andre.

Best match: Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat.

9. WrestleMania X — 1994

Sometimes two outstanding matches are enough to carry an entire event into history.

WrestleMania X had both.

Owen Hart beating Bret Hart in the opening contest remains one of WWE’s best examples of using a match to tell a family story. Owen didn’t merely hang with his celebrated older brother. He beat him.

Later, Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon turned the ladder from a piece of equipment into a wrestling genre. WWE itself credits their Intercontinental Championship match with helping redefine high-risk competition.

Then the show returned to Bret.

After losing the opener, Bret Hart defeated Yokozuna in the main event to become WWE Champion, giving WrestleMania X a beginning-middle-end structure very few WrestleManias have matched.

It is imperfect between those landmarks, but its best material is timeless.

Defining moment: The locker room celebrates Bret Hart.

Best match: Razor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels.

8. WrestleMania 21 — 2005

This was WWE changing generations in real time.

John Cena defeated JBL for the WWE Championship.

Batista defeated Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship.

Two wrestlers who would become pillars of WWE’s next era left Los Angeles as world champions. WWE also introduced the Money in the Bank Ladder Match, with Edge winning the inaugural version, while Kurt Angle and Shawn Michaels delivered the night’s wrestling masterpiece.

Even the presentation worked. The Hollywood movie-trailer parodies gave WrestleMania 21 a personality instead of merely giving it a location.

Cena’s title match was shorter and less dramatic than one might expect looking back, but the total package mattered enormously.

WrestleMania 21 didn’t simply showcase WWE’s future.

It crowned it.

Defining moment: Batista finally defeats Triple H.

Best match: Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels.

7. WrestleMania XXIV — 2008

This may be one of the deepest WrestleMania cards that isn’t regularly mentioned among the absolute best.

Shawn Michaels ending Ric Flair’s WWE career provided the emotion.

Undertaker and Edge provided an excellent championship main event.

CM Punk won Money in the Bank.

Randy Orton unexpectedly retained the WWE Championship against Triple H and John Cena.

And Floyd Mayweather vs. Big Show accomplished the difficult task of making a celebrity attraction feel worthy of WrestleMania without overwhelming the wrestling around it.

The outdoor setting in Orlando also gave XXIV a visual identity that separates it from almost every WrestleMania before it.

The card had some dead space, but the important matches repeatedly delivered.

And the sight of Michaels reluctantly telling Flair goodbye before the final superkick remains one of WrestleMania’s most emotionally effective conclusions to a match.

Defining moment: Shawn Michaels ends Ric Flair’s WWE career.

Best match: Undertaker vs. Edge.

6. WrestleMania 31 — 2015

WrestleMania 31 entered with questions and exited with one of the greatest endings WWE ever booked.

Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns were beating each other senseless when Seth Rollins sprinted down the enormous Levi’s Stadium ramp, cashed in Money in the Bank and transformed a singles main event into a Triple Threat Match.

Rollins pinned Reigns.

WWE had pulled off the Heist of the Century.

That finish sometimes overshadows how entertaining the rest of WrestleMania 31 was.

Randy Orton’s counter into an RKO against Rollins produced another enduring highlight. Daniel Bryan won an Intercontinental Championship ladder match. John Cena ended Rusev’s undefeated run. Sting finally wrestled a WWE match against Triple H, even if the match itself became more Monday Night War nostalgia than it needed to be.

The daytime stadium presentation initially looked strange.

By sunset, it looked magnificent.

And then Rollins started running.

Defining moment: Seth Rollins cashes in.

Best match: Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns—eventually featuring Seth Rollins.

5. WrestleMania XXX — 2014

Few WrestleManias have contained two moments as emotionally opposite as WrestleMania XXX.

First came silence.

Brock Lesnar pinned The Undertaker.

For 21 WrestleManias, Undertaker had never lost. Suddenly the enormous Superdome looked as though everyone inside had received terrible news simultaneously.

Then came celebration.

Daniel Bryan began the night by defeating Triple H just to qualify for the main event. He finished it by defeating Randy Orton and Batista and becoming WWE World Heavyweight Champion. WWE’s official results confirm that Bryan wrestled both ends of the central story while Lesnar became the first man to defeat Undertaker at WrestleMania.

That’s WrestleMania at its most effective: enormous emotional swings with consequences people remember years later.

There are better cards bell-to-bell.

There are very few better stories.

Defining moment: Daniel Bryan raises both championships amid a sea of “YES!” chants.

Best match: Daniel Bryan vs. Triple H.

4. WrestleMania XL — 2024

WrestleMania XL benefited enormously from becoming a two-night story rather than merely a two-night event.

Night One ended with The Rock and Roman Reigns beating Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins, ensuring Sunday’s championship match would take place under Bloodline Rules.

Night Two paid everything off.

John Cena appeared.

The Rock appeared.

The Undertaker appeared.

Seth Rollins returned wearing Shield gear.

And eventually, after three Cross Rhodes, Cody pinned Roman Reigns and ended one of the defining championship runs of the modern WWE era.

Normally I resist main events that become cameo parades.

This one earned it because those appearances were attached to years of WWE history. The chaos wasn’t replacing the story. The chaos was the story—Roman Reigns had accumulated enemies and relationships across his entire reign, and eventually all of that history came crashing into the ring.

Elsewhere Sami Zayn ended Gunther’s historic Intercontinental Championship reign, and the weekend contained enough quality wrestling to support its spectacular finale.

WrestleMania XL gave WWE the ending it had declined to provide one year earlier.

That made the payoff even louder.

Defining moment: Cody Rhodes finishes the story.

Best match: Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns.

3. WrestleMania 39 — 2023

If we’re judging pure two-night consistency, WrestleMania 39 has an argument for No. 1.

Night One is especially remarkable.

Rhea Ripley and Charlotte Flair produced an outstanding Women’s Championship match. Seth Rollins and Logan Paul wildly exceeded celebrity-match expectations. Rey and Dominik Mysterio turned family drama into spectacle.

Then Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn defeated The Usos in one of the most emotionally satisfying tag-team matches WWE has ever presented. ESPN later selected WrestleMania 39 as its best wrestling event of 2023.

Night Two brought another masterpiece when Gunther, Drew McIntyre and Sheamus attacked one another with barely restrained violence.

Then came Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns.

The match was superb.

The result remains divisive.

Cody losing prevented WrestleMania 39 from delivering the catharsis that WrestleMania XL eventually supplied, and that keeps 39 from my top two.

But bell-to-bell?

This is modern WrestleMania operating near its ceiling.

Defining moment: Sami Zayn hits Jey Uso with the final Helluva Kick.

Best match: Gunther vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Sheamus.

2. WrestleMania XIX — 2003

Look at the top half of this card.

Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho.

Hulk Hogan vs. Vince McMahon.

The Rock vs. Steve Austin.

Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar.

Four matches that could each headline a major event.

Michaels and Jericho produced a brilliant wrestler-versus-idol story. Rock finally defeated Austin at WrestleMania in what became Austin’s final match for nearly two decades. Lesnar and Angle somehow maintained an elite main event even after Lesnar’s horrifying missed Shooting Star Press.

There is an obvious blemish: Triple H defeating Booker T after a feud whose racial components made the eventual outcome especially difficult to defend. That prevents me from calling XIX a perfect show.

But the wrestling depth is absurd.

You could remove one of its three biggest matches and still have a WrestleMania-worthy top end.

For years, XIX was my favorite WrestleMania.

Then there is Houston.

Defining moment: The Rock finally beats Steve Austin at WrestleMania.

Best match: Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho.

1. WrestleMania X-Seven — 2001

Sometimes the obvious answer is obvious because everyone has spent 25 years trying to find a better one.

WrestleMania X-Seven remains the standard.

It arrived at precisely the right moment. WWE’s Attitude Era was at maximum cultural strength. The roster was absurdly deep. The crowd inside Houston’s Astrodome was electric before the first major moment even occurred.

Then the card delivered.

Triple H and Undertaker fought through the stadium.

Shane McMahon and Vince McMahon turned an overbooked family feud into wonderfully ridiculous sports entertainment.

Kane, Raven and Big Show produced memorable hardcore chaos.

And TLC II—with Edge & Christian, the Hardy Boyz and Dudley Boyz—became one of WrestleMania’s defining stunt spectacles.

Then Steve Austin and The Rock walked out.

WWE announced an Astrodome crowd of 67,925 and, at the time, called WrestleMania X-Seven its highest-grossing live event ever.

Austin vs. Rock felt enormous because it was enormous.

The ending—Austin aligning with Vince McMahon—remains debatable. In hindsight, I think it was the wrong long-term decision. The audience did not want to reject Austin, and the heel turn helped close an era that perhaps still had some life in it.

But that criticism almost strengthens X-Seven’s historical position.

WrestleMania X-Seven feels like the finale of something.

The Attitude Era had reached the mountaintop, WCW had just fallen, two transcendent stars were fighting for the championship in Texas and WWE appeared completely untouchable.

We’ve had bigger stadiums.

We’ve had more elaborate stages.

We’ve had two-night cards with more talent.

We’ve had individual matches that were better.

We have not had another WrestleMania where the talent, crowd, moment in history, match depth and atmosphere aligned this perfectly.

Twenty-five years later, everybody is still chasing it.

Defining moment: Steve Austin and The Rock stare across the ring before the main event begins.

Best match: Steve Austin vs. The Rock.

The Final Ranking

Just missed: WrestleMania 22, WrestleMania 25, WrestleMania 28, WrestleMania 35, WrestleMania 38 and WrestleMania 42.

The argument is half the fun. WrestleMania III may be the most important. WrestleMania 39 may have the deepest modern card. WrestleMania XL may have the greatest closing spectacle.

But if I have one WrestleMania to show somebody what this event can be at its absolute best?

I’m putting on WrestleMania X-Seven.

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