Best match from every WWE WrestleMania event in history

WrestleMania XV

Steve Austin vs. The Rock

I really hope you weren’t expecting The Undertaker vs. Big Boss Man or the Brawl For All finals in this spot. Obviously kidding but those were a couple of the matches at WrestleMania XV that really had a disappointing card. Luckily, the WWE Championship match between Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock was able to save the show at least a little bit. By this time, Austin had become the biggest star in the world but The Rock had become a star in his own right and there was no other main event that this show could’ve had. And while this wasn’t their best WrestleMania match of the three that they would end up having, it was still enough to take the best bout of the night.

This was never going to be a technical wrestling classic as Austin had become more of a brawler at this stage of his career and the No Disqualification stipulation told us that this was what it was going to be, especially with the whole Vince McMahon storyline happening as well, who was out to be the special guest referee with Mick Foley being “injured”. But commissioner Shawn Michaels brought out Mike Chioda as the ref since he was the only one who could do that apparently. I guess being the owner didn’t mean anything but we’ll roll with it. Austin and Rock brawled right from the beginning and took the action into the crowd and up the ramp for a while, with both men getting in some nice spots, including a very dangerous-looking backdrop to Austin that could have broken his leg. They finally made their way back to the ringside area and Austin delivered two elbows onto Rock on the Spanish announce table, which is what it took for it to finally break.

After about 10 minutes, they finally got in the ring and Rock delivered a quick Rock Bottom but couldn’t get the three count. A big chair shot from Austin accidentally took out Chioda (it was pretty vicious and kudos to him for taking it) and Austin then took a shot of his own as new referee Tim White entered the mix. But Rock could still only get a two count here. He got another one shortly thereafter and got frustrated so he hit White with a Rock Bottom, knocking him out of the match. Austin hit a quick Stunner and Earl Hebner came in to count but we only got a two count. That brought Vince back to the ring and he took out Hebner and he and Rock began the double team but Foley came back to even things up to set up the finish, which was a nice sequence that ended with Rock taking another Stunner and losing the title. I didn’t think the multiple referees were all that necessary but this was the Vince Russo part of the Attitude Era so that was bound to happen. Again, this wasn’t their best but it was still pretty fun.