Your Favorite Wrestlemania Opening Match

[Decarow]

Dang, I got to this too late lol.

But mine is Eddie vs Rey. Not only because it was a great match, but it was the start of one of the greatest rivalries in WWE recent history. The best part: nobody really saw it coming (or atleast getting that extreme).

 

[y2jvaljcasta]

You know I was gonna say the MITB Ladder match at WM 23 but then I was reminded on the Belfast Brawl with JBL and Finlay that I LOVED!! I forgot that I was really blown away by this match! It really surprised me because FInlay doesnt really do anyhing for me but I thought this match was reallywell done!

 

[IrishCanadian25]

Dear god some of you people are young.

Wrestlemania 10. Bret Hart vs Owen Hart in a rivalry match, a technical classic, and still one of the great upsets in the history of professional wrestling. Owen getting the clean win over his brother, who had a title match later that night, in the opening match of the biggest Wrestlemania in years at Madison Square Garden? HOLY HELL! Instant Classic!

 

[Mitch Henessey]

Wrestlemania VI Rick "The Model" Martel VS Koko B.Ware

I saw this match some where a few months back, and I really liked it. I've always been a fan of Rick Martel. This guy had a great look, and put on some good matches every now and then. I never did and never will care for Koko that much, but this match was pretty solid, and it was nice to see Martel get a win at the big show.

 

[Tenta]

Dear god some of you people are young.

Wrestlemania 10. Bret Hart vs Owen Hart in a rivalry match, a technical classic, and still one of the great upsets in the history of professional wrestling. Owen getting the clean win over his brother, who had a title match later that night, in the opening match of the biggest Wrestlemania in years at Madison Square Garden? HOLY HELL! Instant Classic!

Which is partially why it doesn't get my vote as the opening match. Sure, it was a classic, but it completely went against the standard of what an opening match should be. The way I see it, an opening match should be a good match, but it should never be the best match on the card (And arguably, it was. I know the Michaels/Razor ladder match was fantastic, but plenty of fans like Hart/Hart more.) Rather, it's an energetic match that is meant to get the crowd on its feet, but not get it too sucked in to the energy. You don't want your opening match to upstage the rest of the card, regardless of who's working it. It really weakens the value of the card after it, and the crowd gets a lot of its energy sucked out of it before the bigger names and matches come up. Consider Crush and Randy Savage a victim of Hart/Hart. A good to great match that often gets forgotten, because most people only remember the opening match. It wound up being Savage's last Wrestlemania match, and to some extent, it weakened what was a legendary character and made it seem as though the crowd was no longer into him.

All that said, my vote is Shawn Michaels and Tito Santana from Wrestlemania VIII. A quick, energetic match between two fantastic wrestlers, to get the crowd ready for the rest of the card to come. Shawn was really starting to come into his own as a heel, and Tito was the perfect guy to put him over at Wrestlemania, proving himself to be the professional we all know and love. It didn't suck the energy out of the crowd, and didn't get them too aborbed to care about the rest of the card. It was a short, sweet match to put over a rising star, and liven up the crowd. A perfect definition for what an opening match should be.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Bret Owen was great, but it just looked like it had been put together over 20 years... they'd probably had been planning that match forever... looking back it takes a little shine off it for me as it clearly wasn't as spontaneous as some other matches...

I always liked Orndorrf v Muraco at WM2 going to the No Contest but overall I'd say the best was probably Jericho v Regal from WM 17... it was a great contest and Jericho's title win was a strong blast off for the crowd...

 

[TLC]

I'm not going to choose Hart vs Hart as everybody else has and I would like to differ from them and Tenta also provided some good reasons. Anyway one of my favourite opening matches at Wrestlemania was the "Belfast brawl" between JBL and Finlay. It was a great choice of an opener as it got the fans into it, it was an exciting match and didn't go on too long, it had all the key things that an opening match should have. These two may not be fantastic wrestlers but they can put on an exciting brawl which this was.

Another match that I thought was good was Cena vs Big Show for the United States championship at Wrestlemania 20. It was a great bout and a lot better than I expected it to be. It was Cena's first WM and he put a great show on and it got be right into the show and was a really good opening bout for a great WM.

 

[XgringolocoX]

I gotta go with Owen and Bret. I loved how Owen got the win, and then had to see his brother win the title later that night. Classic.
And the first match should be as good as can be. It's up to the guys following to up thier game. The ladder match did just that IMO. They upstaged the main event.
Coming close behind is the Cena/BigShow match. Now, don't start hatin yet. This was during Cena's initial rise when folks actually liked him. His winning the US title electified the crowd and lent a real feel good atmosphere to kick the event off. JOb well done.
I'm also a big fan of the MITB kickin off the show. If it was mid card I think I'd be too restless to properly give the opening bouts my full attention. I'd be thinkin about who the next MITB winner is gonna be. This match is also usually a feel good opener when guy like RVD, Hardy, Punk (2st time) have won it.