WWE’s 25 Greatest Pay-Per-Views of All Time
By Tim Sherry
credit: wwe.com
16. Wrestlemania XX
Unquestionably, Wrestlemania XX in 2004 had some faults. For one, and much like most Mania’s since, it was way too long. There were 12 matches and at least 3 of them had absolutely no business being on the show and no bearing on long term story lines in the company. Those easily could’ve been eradicated and not only would that not have bothered anyone, it probably would’ve helped with the overall presentation. It was almost like the WWE just wanted to make sure they got every single person on the roster involved, and they basically did.
However, what Wrestlemania will undoubtedly be remembered for was the night that two of the sports biggest all-time underdogs successfully cemented their legacies as two of wrestling’s greatest superstars. That night in New York City, Eddie Guerrero out-dueled Kurt Angle in a fascinating battle, retaining his WWE Championship, and Chris Benoit captured the World Heavyweight Championship by way of one of the greatest professional wrestling matches in WWE history in a triple threat match with Shawn Michaels and Triple H. The latter of these two matches still holds up today, in my opinion at least, as the greatest Wrestlemania main event of all time and unquestionably the greatest triple threat match ever.
Outside of those two matches, the Chris Jericho/Christian match was very good, and the Legacy versus The Rock N’ Sock Connection was a ton of fun. But the best part of the night was the ending which saw the two world champions and best friends for the better part of two decades, share a teary embrace in the center of the ring. A sold out Madison Square Garden got to witness what may very well go down as the most emotional Wrestlemania moment of all time.