No one was ever better on the mic than The Rock! He was my #7.
My #5 is....wait for it....Shawn Michaels. He has had plenty of great WM performances, and his ladder match with Scott Hall led to TLC & MIB WM matches. That's why he's top 5.
But, had he done this @ the 1st 3 WM's, then he's higher on the list. That's not his fault, but 3 of my top 4 made WM was it is today.

wow this 1 has me stumped how can u put the rock at 5 just look at the byrate he brought in the 5 WM he mainevented and I don't see your boy getting passed the torch by hogan as a matter of fact your boy lost to him at summerslam the rock is definately top 3 and is 1 of the main reasons that WM has gotten back to it's glory and that WCW is out of business today that fact and you tell me is their any Mania rivalry is great as Rock & Austin i don't know maybe you could tell me I think any Rock/Austin Match up would get a better byrate than any Micheals match except maybe the Flair match and thats a big maybe and thats only because everyone knows that this was gonna be flairs last match if they would have just another match that was on the card people would not have cared as much.

Kevin,

Make Shawn Michaels #1 if for no other reason that to see how many posts it generates!!!

We had our 5 and 6s reversed, simply because I value longevity (that and the only match of the Rock's I ever watched was WM16).

Why does it take so long for the comments to actually be posted?

RESPONSE FROM KE: Because they have to be approved before they go up, and sometimes they are approved in bunches.

dude, I know shawn is your #4 and i understand you love shawn michaels but this is pretty ridiculous. you have to be special to fight the biggest star in wwe history 3 times at wrestlemania. you talk about placement on the card. shawn, like bret's first 5 wm were nothing. matches with jericho,mcmahon, and ricflair at 50plus yrs arent really big no matter what any fan says.

it must be the mark in you. who is next??? stone cold? first off shawn and bret's early wrestlemanias pretty much match. meaningless tag matches to intercontinental matches to both whining about being world champ during a down period of the business. shawn has an edge because of what he has done after his back injury but if bret was 8, shawn shouldnt be much ahead and knowing where this list is going, you are going to have #1 hulk hogan #2undertaker and #3 shawn michaels which is ludacris. granted shawn is a better wrestler than the rock and stone cold, but when it comes to star power and placement and drawing cash, shawn cant be ahead of them.

I think you're wrong Kelly.

I think 'Taker is going to be next. His undefeated record at 'Mania is great, but his matches don't stand out. Opponents and match quality will keep him from being higher.

Austin will be 3rd. His matches with Bret, Shawn, Rocky were all memorable. He'll fall behind HBK and Hogan because they had more Mania appearances and just as much, if not more, impact at Mania.

Hogan will be first because he main-evented, what, the first 8 Manias? And somehow won the title at IX.

Shawn is Mr. Wrestlemania for a reason. Hogan main-evented a lot, but Shawn's matches had substance. He should be #1. I know it won't happen.

Shawn Michaels has a MUCH better WrestleMania resume than Bret Hart. PWI has named SEVEN of Shawn's WrestleMania matches Matches of the Year, plus a few more in top 5. First great ladder match and Ironman match. Ric Flair retirement match. Carrying the likes of Kevin Nash and Vince McMahon to great matches. These are facts. Show me the memorable and classic Undertaker matches and moments - there aren't too many at WrestleMania, despite the record. His main event match against in '97 vs. Sid Vicious was a snoozer and last year against Edge was about as good as HBK-Cena in '07, which isn't even one of Michaels matches of the year. (their hour-long RAW match won the 2007 match of the year).

The Rock's placement is just about right.

This is what is bad about rap. Ludacris is the stage name of Chris Bridges. I am sure Kelly meant ludicrous.

Kevin-

Did you ever consider adding Vince McMahon to the list?

His matches against the likes of Shane, Hogan, and the involvement in the hair angle with Trump are more memorable Wrestle Mania moments than anything guys like Big Show or Jake Roberts ever did.

RESPONSE FROM KE: I agree that Vince would be high on the list. But when I outlined the criteria, I wrote: "Only wrestlers were eligible for the list. Celebrities and non-wrestlers (i.e. Vince McMahon) were not considered."

The most electrifying man, the people's champ, The Rock....No wonder people still talk a lot about him 5 years after his retirement from the WWE as if he was still on the roster. This guy was special in many ways. He certainly deserves to be in the top 5. He will forever be in the hearts of the true WWE fans.By the way, why is there no comment on HHH? I did post one yesterday.

RESPONSE FROM KE: I think your comment was posted.

Based on Kevin's criteria, I think my top 4 are:
4. Shawn Michaels
3. Undertaker
2. Austin
1. Hogan

I think the sheer number of matches Taker has had and how it's defined his career puts him above Shawn. I think Austin and Hogan battle it out for #1, but in the end, without Hogan WrestleMania doesn't exist.

The Rock was the perfect mix of entertainer and wrestler. His promos were some of the funniest I've ever seen. I remember a match of his where he grabbed a mic and started commentating during the match - awesome.

I can just sense your top 4 in this precise order:

4. Undertaker
3. Stone Cold Steve Austin
2. Hulk Hogan
1. HBK

Everyone places importance on different aspects of performance and Rock was fantastic on the mic and had a huge influence in the popularity of the Attitude era. But he was (like HHH) a solid worker and no better, he had great showmanship and charisma and could draw big. He ticks most ofthe boxes, but no longetivity and no really stellar match quality, albeit his bouts with Austin were always good to watch. I still think HBK deserves top spot, purely because he ticks more boxes than anyone else, even without being the same box office draw of Rocky, Austin or Hogan.

C'mon, Bossman!!

Kevin,

I'm really enjoying your list. Had guys at 5-7 on my list except it went Rock@ 7, Savage 6 and HHH 5.

Should be fun to see the rest.

I would say this is about right for the People's Champion. His impact on the business only falls behind Hogan and Austin (and not by much), but his relatively short main event/big match resume will keep him behind guys like HBK and Undertaker. Those three matches with Austin were huge, and despite their placement on the card, there's no question his matches with Hogan and Austin at WM 18 and 19 respectively were the true main events and selling points of those PPVs. The match with Hogan can stand toe to toe with any WM match in terms of star power and anticipation, and helped to revive Hulkamania.

I had totally stopped reading your 25 wrestler list since the day you put Bret at #8. But I think I have to comment on this one. Kevin, no offence but I think your list is pretty biassed. You have different yardstick for every wrestler. I don't care what you write about why shawn should be no. 1, but one thing is for sure. Shawn can never match upto the Rock when it comes to buyrates and impact on the whole business, and I mean in a positive way.

RESPONSE FROM KE: The yardstick is not different for every wrestler. I thought I explained the criteria pretty clearly at the start of the list. There are four separate elements. Some guys are stronger in some than others.

I actually do take offense to anyone saying I'm biased. It's just my opinion based on the criteria I have laid out. Whether or not a guy is one of my personal favorites has nothing to do with it. If that was the case, Rock would be higher than No. 5 and Jericho sure as heck would be higher than No. 17.And some other guys would be lower.

Once you get to the 5-8 spots, they're all so close, it really doesn't matter.

My predictions on 4 through 1:

4. Undertaker
3. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin
2. Shawn Michaels
1. Hulk Hogan

UT has been in 16 Wrestlemanias, but he's only headlined twice, I think. If the match with Michaels is as good as everyone hopes, it'll be the match of the night. Hogan main evented every Wrestlemania from 1 through 8, and then had the "impromptu" match with Yokozuna after he defeated Bret Hart at WM IX. Anyone that is the main event at 8 or 9 straight WM's deserves to be #1.

For the superstars remaining, this is a very good spot to put The Great One.

Interestingly, Shawn has never had a match with The Rock, yet it seems that since the Bret Hart fiasco, several people are itching to know where Shawn will be placed on this list--not Hogan, not Austin, not 'Taker. He's in the minds of everyone on this blog, just like he is with 'Taker. That, alone, sounds like impact to me, and might, by itself, warrant him being number one.

I also think it's important for people to realize that, whereas some wrestlers might be a favorite because they're likable, some wrestlers might be someone's favorite because they are the best in the business. In that case, it's pretty hard to come down on someone for REALLY liking a wrestler who can stake claim to being the greatest when that wrestler has backed it up. I have two favorite wrestlers-one, I simply like because he's likable, and the other who I believe is the total package; no one is better than him. In the case of the latter, if I created a list and placed him as the all-time greatest, maybe it's because I think he's the best, and not necessarily because he's my favorite. He might very well be my favorite because he's the best, which is my case.