Ranking the 15 Greatest WWE WrestleMania Matches of the Last Decade

Between what's been rumored and what's already on tap, WWE WrestleMania 35 is expected to boast a star-studded card from top to bottom. The bar has been set high for amazing matches at the Showcase of the Immortals based off what we've seen at previous installments.

WrestleMania is the one night of the year when everyone goes all out in an attempt to steal the show. It has more eyes on it than any other event on the WWE calendar, so the Superstars take full advantage of that by putting forth their best efforts and making the most of whatever they are a part of.

Only an elite few matchups end up being barn burners that are talked about for years to come. Whether it's the stories being told or the performances of the athletes involved, certain contests are just meant to happen on The Grandest Stage of Them All so they can be properly showcased to the world.

The past 10 WrestleManias, in particular, have hosted a slew of spectacular outings that will be forever remembered as all-time classics. Not every installment has been astounding, but fans can cherry-pick at least one above-average encounter from each event and enjoy them for their sheer brilliance.

Ahead of what is sure to be a remarkable WrestleMania on April 7, let's look at the 15 best matches to take place at The Show of Shows in the past decade and rank them for their buildup, drama, story, in-ring action, crowd reaction and aftermath.

It may seem strange that a match that failed to surpass the five-minute mark is cracking the list of best bouts in recent WrestleMania history, but if you watched Brock Lesnar vs. Goldberg from WrestleMania 33 in its entirety, you would agree with its inclusion in this piece.

In rekindling their rivalry in late 2016, Lesnar and Goldberg successfully erased the sour taste they left in the mouths of fans with their WrestleMania XX debacle. Goldberg's quick victory over Lesnar at Survivor Series put The Beast Incarnate in chase mode in the months that followed, leading him to challenge Goldberg for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania 33.

The idea of two part-timers competing for a full-time title was hardly compelling on paper, but it was the explosive in-ring action that made this match such a spectacle.

Shortly after the bell rang, Lesnar laid out Goldberg with several suplexes in an attempt to get the early advantage. It wasn't long after that Goldberg battled back and hit his opponent with a scintillating spear, the same maneuver he used to put away his archrival five months earlier in under two minutes.

It was a total hoss fight from start to finish, with both behemoths ensuring every second was must-see thanks to their unmatched physicality. In the end, all it took was one emphatic F5 to earn Lesnar his long-awaited win over Goldberg, as well as his first universal title reign.

Despite the brevity of the bout, this was everything it needed to be and so much more.

In 2012, a match that had previously been fantasized by fans for years finally became a reality. One year removed from when The Rock cost John Cena the WWE Championship, the rivals were booked to go head-to-head in the main event of WrestleMania XXVIII and settle their score once and for all.

From trash-talking to a one-night-only alliance, Rock and Cena had experienced everything both as friends and foes leading up to WrestleMania. Although the crowd was torn on which Superstar they wanted to win when the event arrived, there was a clear bias toward The Great One in Miami because of the ties he had to the city.

Electricity was in the air when the two stood across the ring from one another, and everyone in attendance was buzzing. It was far from a technical masterpiece, but the larger-than-life aura the outing had was unlike anything fans had seen before.

Prior to that point, Cena had overcome every obstacle put in front of him, but Rock was a different threat all together. He hadn't competed in a one-on-one match in nearly a decade—and it showed—but he had a counter for everything Cena threw at him.

In the final few moments of the matchup, Cena's confidence got the better of him when he went for a People's Elbow and was met with an abrupt Rock Bottom that sent the fans into a frenzy.

Cena's clean loss to Rock was shocking, and the visual of Cena sitting on the stage, contemplating his career as Rock celebrated his victory, was breathtaking.

As a standalone moment, Rock's triumph over Cena was incredible, but WWE couldn't help itself and just had to ruin the allure of this once-in-a-lifetime encounter by holding a rematch the following year.

A quality multi-man match is hard to come by at WrestleMania these days, but this seven-man ladder extravaganza for the Intercontinental Championship delivered in spades.

Bad News Barrett walked into WrestleMania 31 as the intercontinental champion, but the odds of him retaining his title were slim to none. After all, every one of his challengers that night staked their claim at the championship in the weeks preceding the pay-per-view, and it was apparent they were willing to go to great lengths to capture the gold.

Stardust, Luke Harper, R-Truth, Daniel Bryan, Dean Ambrose and Dolph Ziggler either had history with the strap or were looking to win it for the first time. Either way, this tremendously talented crop of competitors was right at home in this environment.

Granted, there wasn't much of a story told in this contest, but the whole point was to kick off the event on a high note (both literally and figuratively), so it did its job in that respect. Everyone had their moment to shine, and the crowd was invested in the action.

Highlights included Harper putting Ambrose through a ladder, Barrett laying out everyone in sight with Bull Hammers and Bryan and Ziggler ripping it up whenever they went at it.

Bryan was the perfect choice to go over and restore honor and importance to the once-prestigious prize, but an unfortunate injury halted his momentum soon after WrestleMania.

Regardless of the aftermath, The Show of Shows fittingly started the same way it ended the year prior, with the entire audience throwing their hands up in the air while screaming "Yes!"

Upon Asuka's arrival on WWE's main roster in the fall of 2017, fans started to speculate what dream matches we would see first. After she won the women's Royal Rumble match, though, only one opponent made sense for her at WrestleMania 34: Charlotte Flair.

Flair had been running rampant over the SmackDown Live women's division for months and had been beating everyone who stepped up to vie for her SmackDown Women's Championship with ease. Asuka was the perfect person to contend for the title that night considering she was undefeated and had already wiped out Raw's women's scene.

It was a meeting of two Superstars who were anxious to etch their names into the record books, and given it was title versus streak, something had to give. Although Asuka was riding a wave of momentum heading into the event, The Queen was overcoming challenge after challenge during her historic championship reign.

The Flair family scion put forth an exceptional effort while Asuka successfully delivered on the grand stage. It was an exhilarating affair all the way through, especially whenever it looked like The Empress of Tomorrow's long-standing streak was in jeopardy of being broken.

Sure enough, Flair tapped out The Empress in shocking fashion before receiving a raving endorsement from Asuka afterward. It wasn't the result many may have wanted, but it was the best women's singles match in 'Mania history.

Two years before she snapped Asuka's streak, Charlotte Flair walked into WrestleMania 32 as the Divas champion, a title she had held since September 2015. She had been dominating the division from the moment she arrived on the main roster nine months earlier, but this was easily her biggest test to date in cementing her legacy as one of the greatest female competitors the company has seen.

Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch made their main roster debuts the same night Flair did, but their career trajectories were different. They spent most of that time sitting on the sidelines, watching the Divas Revolution pass them by. But when WrestleMania season started, they were determined to take the title from their fellow NXT alum.

The stakes were raised when, earlier that evening, it was announced that the Divas Championship would be officially retired in favor of the all-new WWE Women's Championship. Thus, this Triple Threat match would determine the inaugural champ, giving all three ladies extra motivation for wanting to come out on top.

At various points, WrestleMania 32 felt like it would never end, but Flair, Lynch and Banks stole the show with their phenomenal performance. The frantic pace was fun to follow, and it was refreshing to see the spotlight cast on the women for a change.

The only thing working against the outing was Ric Flair's constant interference on his daughter's behalf. In fact, he aided her to victory, but at least the ending furthered the story of Banks being in chase mode and planted the seeds for their feud later that year.

The theme of tremendous Triple Threat matches continues with this show-opening gem for the Intercontinental Championship from WrestleMania 34.

No one has been more synonymous with the intercontinental title in the past decade than The Miz, who regained the gold from Roman Reigns at Raw 25 in January 2018. From there, he set out on a mission to make the belt as prestigious as possible, which included an anticipated title defense against Seth Rollins and Finn Balor at The Show of Shows.

Despite having the odds stacked against him, Miz was confident his "never-ending Intercontinental Championship tour" would resume coming out of the event. Additionally, bad blood had previously been established between Rollins and Balor, so any one of them could have reigned supreme.

Balor may not have been sporting his Demon garb, but he was still at the top of the game and came close to clinching the title on several occasions. Rollins, who was riding high from running the gauntlet on Raw that February, had an equally impressive showing and had the crowd behind him every step of the way.

The bout consisted of non-stop action and multiple attempts by Miz to retain his title via underhanded tactics. His shenanigans backfired, however, and resulted in Rollins becoming the new intercontinental champion.

Opening matches are important in setting the tone for an event, and thanks to these three, WrestleMania 34 got off to a stellar start.

After The Undertaker beat Shawn Michaels at back-to-back WrestleMania events, it was unknown who would be next to challenge The Streak until Triple H accepted the open invitation in epic fashion on the February 21, 2011, edition of Raw.

The Game could have said it was his goal to avenge The Heartbreak Kid's retirement by breaking The Streak. Instead, he was fully focused on targeting Undertaker's vulnerability and using that to his advantage so he could end the undefeated run for himself.

The two produced something totally different than 'Taker and Michaels from the two years previous, with Triple H desperate to defeat The Deadman. From steel chairs to his signature sledgehammer to three Pedigrees, nothing was able to earn The Game victory, and the crowd gasped in amazement every time Undertaker kicked out.

Even more impressive was that they were able to top their WrestleMania match from 10 years earlier, when both guys were still in their primes. The bout benefited from the No Holds Barred stipulation, which allowed them to work a slower (yet more methodical style) and tell a compelling story.

Undertaker scored a rare submission victory that night, but it was Triple H who walked out of the arena on his own two feet. The Phenom, on the other hand, had to be carted up the ramp and be accompanied by medical personnel, setting the stage for a WrestleMania rematch one year later.

Ronda Rousey exploded on to the WWE scene with a bang when she crashed the end of 2018's Royal Rumble pay-per-view. The next month, she officially signed her WWE contract and was given the opportunity to choose what her WrestleMania match would be.

Considering the immense amount of buzz she was getting from mainstream outlets, it would have been easy for Rousey to vie for either the Raw or SmackDown Women's Championship in her debut match. Instead, she wished to work her way up the ladder and wait to contend for gold until she deemed herself worthy.

Besides, it was more logical for her to settle her score with The Authority's Triple H and Stephanie McMahon from three years earlier. She decided to team with Kurt Angle, who also had a beef with the nefarious power couple at the time, and wanted nothing more than to embarrass them under the bright lights of WrestleMania.

Fans' expectations were fairly low ahead of the event given Rousey's inexperience, making this match all the more special. She looked incredibly comfortable between the ropes upon tagging in for the first time and had no trouble taking the fight to both Stephanie and Triple H.

It was a roller-coaster ride of a bout that could have gone either way (lest we forget, WWE has spoiled Superstars' WrestleMania debuts before). The crowd went wild when Rousey locked in her patented armbar on Stephanie and forced her to tap for the hard-fought win.

The Rowdy One's first WWE matchup couldn't have been booked better.

By 2013, it had become commonplace for someone to vow to break The Undertaker's undefeated streak at WrestleMania, only to fall short.

The predictability of his 'Mania matches hurt overall interest in his feuds after a while, but to his credit, CM Punk did everything in his power to make you think he was capable of defeating The Deadman on the one night of the year he had always proved to be immortal.

On paper, Punk vs. Undertaker was a marquee match, but The Voice of the Voiceless made things personal when he took shots at the late, great Paul Bearer and stole Undertaker's iconic urn. He even flashed a grin while waiting in the ring for The Phenom to make his WrestleMania entrance, helping him feel like a viable threat to The Streak.

Going into the event, there were questions of whether Undertaker's health was up to snuff, so perhaps Punk was the perfect opponent for him. It didn't need to be a mat classic to be entertaining; rather, Punk could carry him through most of the match and keep the focus on himself with taunts he stole from 'Taker.

Their back-and-forth bout was exactly what WrestleMania 29 needed because up to that point, the show had been painfully average. With the drama, story and emotion all there, the crowd responded accordingly by providing an electric atmosphere for this matchup.

Punk's loss was never in doubt, but they went out there determined to have the best bout on the card and succeeded in doing just that. It was a fantastic final 'Mania match for The Second City Saint, who left the company less than a year later.

The main event of WrestleMania XXX would have looked a whole lot different if fans didn't voice their frustration with the WWE product at the time.

Based off the lay of the land in early 2014, all signs seemed to point to Royal Rumble winner Batista challenging Randy Orton for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XXX. But that was a match almost nobody wanted to see, and throwing Daniel Bryan into the mix made things significantly more intriguing.

Orton and Batista established a soft alliance prior to the pay-per-view, so essentially, their objective was to prevent Bryan from becoming champion by any means necessary. This included them teaming up on WWE's resident Yes Man at various points throughout the bout, in addition to calling upon Triple H and "crooked referee" Scott Armstrong to get involved and ensure Bryan didn't walk away with the title.

These three competitors had the tough task of getting everyone in attendance back into the action after Brock Lesnar broke The Undertaker's undefeated streak and killed the crowd earlier in the evening. It wasn't until halfway through that they won them over and had them biting on every near-fall.

Not even a Batista Bomb-RKO combo through the commentary table was enough to keep Bryan down. He eventually battled back, kept Orton at bay and secured the Yes Lock on Batista in the middle of the ring.

The Animal was hesitant to tap out, but succumbing to defeat was his only option. One of the biggest underdogs in WWE history had finally prevailed, and with Michael Cole on commentary proclaiming it was "a miracle on Bourbon Street," you couldn't help but feel the energy and emotion in the Superdome.

It was clear at the end of their WrestleMania XXVII match that although The Undertaker may have won the battle against Triple H, he definitely did not win the war. He appeared to be vulnerable for the first time in his career, giving The Game the impression that with one more shot at The Streak, he could get the job done.

Shawn Michaels was way more involved in the buildup to this bout than he was leading into WrestleMania XXVII, and it was soon announced that he would serve as the special guest referee. Add in the Hell in a Cell structure (which both 'Taker and Triple H had a rich history with) and the legendary Jim Ross on commentary, and you had yourself what would come to be known as the End of an Era match.

The cell's entrance music as it was lowered to the ring gave everyone chills. Similar to their previous encounter, they were less focused on giving fans a great wrestling matchup than they were a story-filled spectacle.

Triple H spent the majority of the bout on offense, beating down The Deadman with vicious steel chair shots and imploring him to stay down and give up. Even Michaels was reluctant to ring for the bell because he didn't want to see The Streak end that way (if at all).

At one point, Undertaker locked The Heartbreak Kid in his Hell's Gate submission hold, and regardless of whether it was accidental, The Deadman got what was coming to him in the form of a Sweet Chin Music-Pedigree combo.

It was one of the closest near-falls in the history of The Streak, and the crowd's reaction was reflective of that. Undertaker soon returned to his feet and hit The Game with a second Tombstone Piledriver to bring his undefeated streak at WrestleMania to a whopping 20-0.

That would have been a beautiful ending to the careers of both men had they decided to hang up their boots for good after the show.

Daniel Bryan competing for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XXX was what fans wanted to see, but in order to earn his spot in the main event title match, he had to beat his archnemesis Triple H.

Their rivalry could be traced back to SummerSlam 2013, when The Game turned on Bryan and cost him the world title against Randy Orton. That was what led to the formation of The Authority, and Bryan had been the biggest thorn in their side ever since.

Triple H was originally slated to face CM Punk at 'Mania, but with Punk leaving without a trace in early 2014, Bryan was able to swoop right into that spot. Truth be told, he made more sense as The Game's WrestleMania opponent given their bad blood because it also allowed him to finally give him his comeuppance.

It was a brilliant move by WWE to have their match open WrestleMania XXX (at least after the grand beer bash between Hulk Hogan, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and The Rock anyway). Triple H was more motivated than usual to have a hold-for-hold wrestling match, while Bryan was his usual excellent self and sold wonderfully for all of The Game's hard-hitting offense.

Fans could feel the animosity between the two, and The Authority's increasing frustration with Bryan's resilience the longer the match lasted was a nice touch. Bryan's kick-out following the Pedigree was the ultimate endorsement from The Cerebral Assassin before he won in clean fashion.

Triple H's post-match attack on Bryan teased that The Beard wouldn't be able to take part in the main event, but as previously discussed, he did and triumphed.

Circumstances are everything, especially when a WrestleMania main event is set to feature a part-time champion on his way out of the company and a natural heel miscast as a babyface because of the company's agenda.

Roman Reigns' Royal Rumble win in 2015 largely generated a negative reaction from fans who would have rather seen virtually anyone else headline WrestleMania 31 with WWE world heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar.

WWE had obviously been building toward Reigns vs. Lesnar since SummerSlam 2014, but a vocal portion of the fanbase didn't believe The Big Dog was ready for that type of main event-level push. In retaliation, they booed The Big Dog for the entire Road to WrestleMania and refused to buy into the company's narrative that he could be a conquering hero.

Days ahead of WrestleMania, it was revealed that Lesnar had re-signed with WWE for another three years, bettering his chances of successfully retaining his title versus Reigns. It was thus a lot less likely that the crowd would reject their match and instead enjoy for what it was: a fight for the ages.

Out of the gate, Lesnar began putting Reigns through the wringer with a series of suplexes and dished out a world of pain on his opponent. The Big Dog endured three F5s and kicked out of them all, begging viewers to ask what it was going to take for The Beast to beat him.

Before they could get their answer, Seth Rollins' music hit out of nowhere, and the crowd instantly rose to its feet. From the entranceway, The Architect made a beeline toward the ring with his Money in the Bank briefcase in tow and declared he was cashing it in right then and there.

This created mass confusion among everyone in attendance, and within a minute or so, Rollins had captured the title by successfully pinning Reigns following a Curb Stomp. His "heist of the century," as JBL called it on commentary, was nothing short of brilliant and concluded an unbelievable WrestleMania main event.

After being overlooked for the main event slot at WrestleMania XXV, The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels were ready to make magic once again at WrestleMania XXVI—this time with no disqualifications and both men putting something important to them on the line.

Michaels wasn't the same following his heartbreaking loss to Undertaker at the 25th installment of WrestleMania, and he believed his long list of accomplishments meant nothing unless he handed The Deadman his first defeat on The Grandest Stage of Them All.

It was only after he cost Undertaker the world heavyweight championship that The Deadman granted him his rematch under the condition Michaels would agree to retire from the ring if he failed to end The Streak for the second the year in a row.

The desperation made Michaels that much more dangerous, and in what turned out to be his last match for more than eight years, he pulled out all the stops. The psychology he and Undertaker implemented into their epic encounter was fascinating to watch, especially whenever The Phenom showed pity toward his opponent in the same way HBK did to Ric Flair when he retired him two years earlier.

While the writing was on the wall from the beginning that this would be Michaels' swansong, a number of fans were still of the belief that he would pull out the seemingly impossible by breaking The Streak and remaining an active member of the roster. There was nothing he could have done differently to change the outcome, but he deserved to be commended for giving it everything he had and then some.

It should be noted that it took a rare jumping Tombstone for 'Taker to beat Michaels, so at least he went down defiantly and with his integrity intact.

Undertaker paid his respects to the future WWE Hall of Famer afterward before allowing Michaels to soak in the adulation from the audience as he made the somber walk back up the ramp one final time.

You know what they say about sequels, though...

Over a decade removed from their last one-on-one outing at Royal Rumble 1998, The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels were primed to make history again, this time on the grand stage of WrestleMania.

It's amazing to think this match almost never happened. Both guys were involved in totally different programs at the time (Undertaker with Vladimir Kozlov and Michaels with JBL), but thankfully plans changed and they were put on a collision course toward WrestleMania XXV.

The story behind the bout was that while Undertaker was undefeated at The Show of Shows, he had never beaten Michaels one-on-one. They also played up the religious aspects of their characters in the lead-up to the event, so anticipation was at an all-time high going in.

Fans had lofty expectations for their long-awaited encounter, yet they somehow managed to shatter them. There was a big-fight feel in Reliant Stadium in Houston as soon as the bell rang, and the crowd was with them every step of the way.

Both legends pulled out virtually everything from their arsenals in an attempt to emerge victorious, but nothing worked. Michaels even got desperate at one point and tried to win by count-out (following a failed dive to the outside by 'Taker), but The Phenom powered through the pain and remained resilient.

It was only after a second Tombstone Piledriver that Undertaker was able to put Michaels down for the three-count. Not everyone may have realized it back then, but the WWE Universe had witnessed an instant classic that is regarded to this day as the greatest WrestleMania match of all time.

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, is an Endicott College alumnus and aspiring journalist. Visit his website, Next Era Wrestling, and "like" his official Facebook page to continue the conversation on all things wrestling.