Best match from every WWE WrestleMania event in history

WrestleMania XIX

Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho

This was a very tough call to make as well, possibly the hardest decision on this entire list. WrestleMania XIX had some great matches that included the third and final bout between The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin, which would turn out to be Austin’s final match, as well as the fantastic main event for the WWE Championship pitting Kurt Angle against a young Brock Lesnar. And while both of those matches were great and the decision may have been different here if Lesnar had hit that Shooting Star at the end, I have to go with Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho here.

This was Shawn Michaels’ first match at WrestleMania in five years. He returned the year before at SummerSlam for an epic battle with Triple H and could now match up with guys we’d dreamed of seeing him wrestle for years, one of those being the man who idolized him for so long, Chris Jericho. They really played up the similarities between the two and the buildup for this match was done quite well. As for the match itself, they worked a great back and forth at the start with some technical wrestling that turned into Jericho just slapping Michaels across the face and HBK responding with a punch. After a quick run on the outside, they ran some more great sequences in the ring with each man reversing holds on numerous occasions before heading back to the outside where Y2J locked in a Walls of Jericho and started focusing in on the back.

Jericho got him back in the ring and went for one of his cocky pose pins that really got the crowd into it. After Michaels reversed a DDT into a back drop, both men were down for the eight count but instead of HBK getting a forearm and kipping up, it was Jericho emulating him instead and doing it himself. But Shawn kipped up right after him in a very cool spot and the action only got better from there. They traded rollup pin attempts in a nice sequence and this nearly turned into Ricky Steamboat vs. Randy Savage with all of the two counts. Absolutely loved it. After slapping on the Walls of Jericho, Y2J later hit his own version of Sweet Chin Music for another near fall. After trading a few shots, Michaels went for his own version of the Walls but decided on a slingshot instead. They head up the ropes and Michaels reverses a suplex into a crossbody for another two count. Michaels heads back to the top but Jericho throws the ref into the ropes, causing Shawn to lose his balance. Jericho goes for a superplex but Michaels reverses that one as well and hits the elbow from the top. He tunes up the band and goes for Sweet Chin Music but Jericho turns it into the Walls and holds it for about half a minute before Shawn reaches the ropes.

Jericho yelled at the ref after the break and turned right around into a superkick but that only got a two count as well. Great near fall there and the crowd really thought that was it. Jericho recovered long enough to send Michaels into the buckles for another nice back bump and seemed to be in control once again but HBK cradled him up for the three count in the great surprise finish. What a great battle this was and it was only made better afterwards when after the two embraced and you really thought that might be it, Jericho hit him with a kick to the groin to keep his heel heat. Great match. Great finish.