Hello everyone and welcome the next and final edition of Relentless J’s WrestleMania Countdown.  We are 3 days away from the biggest Pay Per View of the year, WrestleMania!  After a week hiatus I’m back with my #1 match, I messed up on the timing, I wanted the countdown to lead up to WrestleMania, which would explain why there was no countdown last week, just to recap.

#5: Hulk Hogan VS The Ultimate Warrior: WrestleMania 6

#4: Bret Hart VS “Stone Cold” Steve Austin: WrestleMania 13

#3: Tables Ladder & Chairs 2: Edge & Christian VS The Hardy Boyz VS The Dudley Boyz: WrestleMania 17 (X-Seven)

#2: Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat VS “Macho Man” Randy Savage: WrestleMania 3

And now for my number one match of WrestleMania…  Anyone who knows me, knows I am a HUGE Shawn Michaels mark, so I’m picking the match that had my all time favorite WrestleMania moment.

March 31st 1996.  Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, California, Shawn Michaels VS Bret Hart in a 60 minute Ironman match for the WWF Championship.

WM12

This match was guaranteed to last 60 minutes, the first time in history where two men were put in a 60 minute televised match.  Shawn Michaels stole the show during his entrance, instead of coming out from the back, he came to the ring hanging from the rafters, almost zip lining to the ring.  This got the crowd going right off the bat, and with a great crowd, any match can be made better, the crowd during this match made Bret VS Shawn one of the greatest, easily.  For 60 minutes you had two men who could definitely “go” and go they did, at the end of the 60 minutes, Bret had Shawn in the Sharpshooter for close to a full minute, Shawn refusing to give it up, the bell rang signaling the end, Bret would take his title and head up the aisle until…  “The 60 minute time limit has expired, HOWEVER this match has been ordered to continue, UNDER SUDDEN DEATH RULES!  There MUST be a winner!”  And with that, the match would continue, Bret being none to pleased.  Bret would go after Shawn for a bit, Shawn would hit Sweet Chin Music out of nowhere, both men going to the mat, both men would get to their feet, Sweet Chin Music #2!  Out of nowhere, 1..2..3!  And that was all she wrote, and in the words of Vince McMahon on commentary “The boyhood dream has come true for Shawn Michaels!”  Those words and the raw emotion from Shawn after that match as he held the WWF Championship for the first time were absolutely priceless and to this day, still gives me goose bumps.  Hands down, my favorite WrestleMania moment of all time, and anyone who is, was or ever will be a fan of professional wrestling should definitely check out this match if they haven’t already, definitely one of the greatest WrestleMania moments of all time, for ANYONE.

I hope you enjoyed this column, and I hope you’ve enjoyed the past 5 (6?) weeks, hopefully I can find something else to write about on the site, I’m sure I’ll be writing something again sometime fairly soon, thanks for reading!