Monday, MARCH 30 - 10:57 AM (CT)

-WrestleMania XXV takes place this Sunday in Houston, Texas. For wrestling fans, this the equivalent of the week before Christmas for little kids. There is anticipation, excitement, and hope. Although the buildup to WrestleMania this year has not been as good as in previous years, that doesn't necessarily matter now as we close in on the big show.

-With WrestleMania just around the corner, I always start to reminisce about great moments of WrestleMania past. For me, it starts with WrestleMania III. I don't care what anyone says, to me, there were 93,173 people there that day. I was in the Astrodome for WrestleMania X-Seven and the amount of fans there seemed to be a lot smaller than the amount in Detroit that day.

Of course, Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant was the main event on that card and to this day, I do not think any match has equaled that one in terms of importance and magnitude. It was not a great match, or even a good match by any means, but that match just felt historic.

Back then, we did not see the main event guys on television every week, much less in the ring together. Hogan was the WWF Champion for three years running at the time and Andre was the man that could not be beaten. Adding Bobby Heenan to the mix just made it that much better.

This was also at a time where world title opportunities were not given out like Halloween candy. As Andre rode to the ring on that cool looking cart, Jesse Ventura asked, "Don't you think, in a fifteen year career, Andre deserves at least one shot at the title?" You felt like Andre could not lose, yet if he did, he may never receive another opportunity.

From the opening match staredown to that scary moment when I thought we were going to get a countout, the match had me on the edge of my seat. When Andre nearly pinned Hogan within the first minute and held up three fingers, both Heenan and Ventura were screaming, "Was that three? Was that three?"

I know times have changed and it is next to impossible to capture that particular lightning in a bottle, but that match did it. Of course, Ricky Steamboat vs. Randy Savage was the best actual match on the card. I still remember Jesse stating, "This is one of the best matches I have ever seen."

It's funny, looking back on that card, there were probably more bad matches than good ones, but that was the best WrestleMania of all time in my opinion, with X-Seven in a close second. Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker may not be Hogan vs. Andre, but it also might be as close as WWE will ever get.

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