Robbie’s Top 20 WrestleMania Moments – 8. The Greatest Of All Time Says Goodbye
Sup yo? If you’re unaware, I’ve been doing a blog per day leading up to WrestleMania where I talk about my personal favorite 20 Mania moments of all time. Keep in mind I’m 18, so a lot of my picks will be on the more recent side.
8. The Greatest Of All Time Says Goodbye
As an 11 year old in 2010, when Shawn Michaels so desperately challenged The Undertaker to a rematch at Wrestlemania, I had a sinking feeling in my stomach. Silly, I know, but I was fully aware of where the angle was going. My favorite wrestler was about to retire. I think he’d talked about it in interviews, his career winding down, and he was doing some really ridiculous kid-friendly DX stuff to appeal to his own kids, so I knew it was coming, just not this quickly.
The cause of the challenge was Shawn and Taker winning the Slammy Award for Match of the Year, and HBK being not happy about winning an award for losing a match. It was pretty well thought out. The Undertaker declined this challenge, and at the time, was the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Michaels had one shot at getting his match with The Deadman, and that was winning the Royal Rumble. At this point in the storyline, I thought for sure that’s how they would set up the match. The fans would hate anything else! Shawn’s determination to win the 30-man Rumble and end The Streak caused a serious rift between him and tag partner Triple H, and even caused them to lose the Unified Tag Team Championships.
Shawn was thrown out of the Royal Rumble after making it to the final 4, and the returning Rated R Superstar Edge won, which the crowd in fact loved. The Heartbreak Kid went insane, superkicking referee after referee, and losing his mind over that 17-0 number. At the Elimination Chamber pay per view, where The Undertaker was defending his title one last time before Mania, Michaels popped up out of the structure’s floorboards and gave him a Sweet Chin Music heard ’round the world. Chris Jericho covered The Undertaker, and was the new champion. Because of this, The Undertaker accepted Shawn’s WrestleMania challenge on one condition…if he were to win, Michaels would have to retire.
This is all wrapped up in one of my favorite video packages in history:
The Streak match main evented over both title matches, and deservedly so. Few matches have had such a “big fight feel” and standard to live up to, but this one did. I don’t think is was as good as their classic at WrestleMania 25, but then again I don’t think any professional wrestling match ever has. This came about as close as it could have, and at many points made me believe Shawn would win. I was holding out hope that this wouldn’t be the last time I saw someone who was a childhood hero to me do his thing. Obviously it was, and I cried.
The following night on RAW, he had a speech about as emotional as Flair’s, and ya boy cried again.
A running theme in these wrestling blogs is me crying, and if any of you shitheads want to tell me there’s something wrong with how often the graps make me cry, I’ll meet you in the fucking UFC Octagon.
IT’S STILL REAL TO ME DAMMIT!!!
Catch up on the list:
20. Butterbean Knocks Bart Gunn Into Another Dimension
19. The Term “Divas” Is Abolished As The Women Steal The Show
18. Hogan V. Vince: 20 Years In The Making
17. Edge Spears Mick Foley Through A Flaming Table
16. The Undertaker Pulls Off The Greatest False Finish Of All Time
15. The First Ever Ladder Match On The Grandest Stage Of Them All
13. Rey Mysterio Wins Gold In Honor Of Eddie Guerrero
12. Tables, Ladders, And Chairs, Oh My!