As the WWE travels down the road to WrestleMania 31, it is a time to reflect on how the biggest event on the WWE calendar has shaped careers, provided memories that will last a lifetime and has been a showcase for the greatest bouts and rivalries in the history of the company.
Countdown to WWE WrestleMania 31: 3 Best Moments From WrestleMania XIX (19)
Over the next month, Sports World News will delve into each of the first 30 WrestleMania events and reflect on the best moments in each edition of the WWE's linchpin event.
After celebrating two decades of WrestleMania, the WWE adopted a movie theme at the show and young Superstars were about to take the next step toward immorality at WrestleMania 21.
Countdown to WWE WrestleMania 31: 3 Best Moments From WrestleMania XX (20)
WrestleMania 21 emanated from the Staples Center in Los Angeles and had the tagline "WrestleMania Goes Hollywood," taking place in front of 20,193 fans on April 3, 2005. The WWE used movie parodies to build toward the event and the arena even had a red carpet in the aisle leading to the ring and other Hollywood symbols throughout the arena.
Here are our three best moments from WrestleMania 21:
Honorable Mentions: Randy Orton had a great match with The Undertaker at WrestleMania 21 that featured some solid buildup with "The Legend Killer" going after The Streak. A highlight of the match saw Orton reverse a chokeslam into an RKO while at the end of the encounter, 'Taker stood tall after hitting a Tombstone to improve to 13-0. Also on the show, Rey Mysterio competed against Eddie Guerrero in a fantastic opening match that proved to be Guerrero's final bout at the landmark show. Mysterio ended up winning the contest, which would have been better if he didn't have issues with his mask throughout it.
3) New Stars Are Born: John Cena and Batista started working their way up the WWE ranks and just a year after making their WrestleMania debuts, they rose to the main event level by the time WrestleMania 21 came around.
Cena was having his issues with John Bradshaw Layfield, who was running the SmackDown brand on the back of a 280-day reign with the WWE Championship heading into the biggest show of the year.
The WWE used their contrasting backgrounds to build a story between the two Superstars and in the end, Cena hit the FU on JBL and won his first of 15 Heavyweight Championships. Cena biting the title to make sure it was real was also a nice touch.
As for Batista, he won the 2005 Royal Rumble Match after last eliminating Cena and turned babyface, opting to leave Evolution and use his title shot to face Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 21.
"The Animal" and "The Game" were both busted open in their back-and-forth clash and Batista hit Triple H with the Batista Bomb to win his first World Heavyweight Championship to conclude a match that lasted over 21 minutes. Batista would go on to win six WWE World Heavyweight Championships.
These wins were notable because it launched the careers of two major main event players that would carry the WWE for the next several years, including Cena, who is still the No. 1 face in the business. These moments were huge, but the matches weren't as good as the rest of the card.
2) Money in the Bank Goes Hollywood: The Money in the Bank Ladder Match has its own pay-per-view now, but that wouldn't be possible without the first edition of the gimmick match at WrestleMania 21.
What was good about this bout rather than the later installments is it contained just six men in it, so it didn't suffer from overcrowding or overbooking.
The match featured RAW superstars and included Edge, Chris Jericho, Christian, Kane, Chris Benoit and Shelton Benjamin, who always shined in these matches, but was never booked to win one.
The winner of the bout would be guaranteed a contract for a WWE Championship shot at anytime in the next year.
The clash had several epic spots, including Benjamin hitting a T-bone suplex on Edge off the top of the ladder and using the apparatus as a ramp to jump off of another ladder.
This bout is also notable because it was won by Edge and became the jumping-off point for the "Rated 'R' Superstar's" run to the top of the WWE and eventual Hall of Fame career.
The Money in the Bank match was innovative, especially the concept of what the prize is, and it also helped shape Edge's career.
1) Angle-Michaels in a Five-Star Hollywood Classic: Kurt Angle and Shawn Michaels fought one of two interpromotional (RAW vs.SmackDown) matches at WrestleMania 21 in what to this day holds up as one of the greatest bouts in the history of the WWE's cornerstone event.
The teeter-totter affair lasted over 27 minutes as both Superstars gave it their all in front of a crowd that was awed by the display they were seeing from the two.
There was drama throughout the match as well with near-fall after near-fall and neither man could gain the upper-hand and control of the match for very long.
The two wrestling Superstars eventually had a dramatic sequence at the end of the bout when Angle was relentlessly applying his ankle lock on Michaels and the "Heartbreak Kid" did everything he could to get out of it, but the Olympic gold medalist held the hold like a rabid animal.
Finally, after a valiant effort, Michaels was forced to tap out to Angle's hold and the bell sounded on one of the greatest matches in the history of WrestleMania. The match showed why Michales is dubbed "Mr. WrestleMania and why Angle was one of the best pure athletes to ever set foot in a WWE ring.
Looking Ahead: With the WWE going to two of the three sites of WrestleMania 2 (New York for XX, L.A. for 21) in consecutive years, it completed the trifecta by bringing WrestleMania 22 to Chicago as John Cena and Triple H prepared to clash head-on. We'll look at that on Friday.
Rank-O-Mania: As we go through each year, we will rank each WrestleMania as it comes along. WrestleMania 21 was a great edition of the event as Superstars were made out of John Cena and Batista and the undercard featured some amazing matches in Angle-Michaels, Money in the Bank I, Guerrero-Mysterio and Orton-Taker. If the quality of the two Heavyweight Championship bouts was a little bit better and the sumo wrestling match between Akebono and Big Show didn't happen, this card could contend for best edition of the show ever. Still, it is very good and finds itself between WrestleManias III and XIV in sixth place.
1) WrestleMania X-7
2) WrestleMania XIX
3) WrestleMania X
4) WrestleMania VI
5) WrestleMania III
6) WrestleMania 21
7) WrestleMania XIV
8) WrestleMania VIII
9) WrestleMania XX
10) WrestleMania VII
11) WrestleMania X-8
12) WrestleMania V
13) WrestleMania XV
14) WrestleMania 2000
15) WrestleMania XII
16) WrestleMania IV
17) WrestleMania 13
18) WrestleMania I
19) WrestleMania XI
20) WrestleMania IX
21) WrestleMania 2
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