WrestleMania 24 was a criminally underrated event as a whole. It’s quite surprising, especially given that the card was as stacked as it was. From the start to finish, the incredible WrestleMania was action-packed. What they lacked in celebrity starpower compared to Donald Trump the prior year, they made up for with the appearance of Floyd “Money” Mayweather, who took on The Big Show in a successful effort.
It was the second year after WWE made the permanent shift to stadium shows. They had done many of them in the past, but in the mid-2000s, WWE decided to host shows in smaller venus for some reason. It was understandable for WrestleMania 20, because they wanted to go back to Madison Square Garden, the original venue for the show of shows. However, 21 and 22 ended up taking place in smaller venues as well, and after 23 saw a whopping 80,000 people turn up, WWE knew that there was no turning back for them.
Despite all the iconic moments, it’s the massive crowd that makes WrestleMania what it is, and WWE went to Orlando in the Citrus Bowl to host the 24th edition of WrestleMania. The card is most notable for being Ric Flair‘s WWE retirement match. He was inducted a night prior to the WWE Hall of Fame, an honor he would receive on more than one occasion.
That was, in many people’s opinion, the match of the night, and it’s understandable to see why. While Randy Orton, John Cena and Triple H did put on a fantastic WWE title match, it didn’t match the emotion and storytelling of Michaels vs Flair. After all, if Flair lost, he would be forced to retire. And that’s exactly what happened. Even when Flair made his way in the Citrus Bowl, he was on the verge of tears. When Shawn Michaels said “I’m sorry, I love you”, hit the sweet chin music and pinned Flair, The Nature Boy had visibly broken down, knowing that it would be the last time that he ever heard the hand hit the canvas next to him inside a WWE ring.
Edge, knowing very well of the possibility that Flair and Michaels would steal the show, did the best thing possible to make sure he didn’t put extra pressure on himself – he simply didn’t watch the match. It’s funny to think, because a year later, when The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels stole the show at WrestleMania 25, Triple H and Randy Orton both saw the match and knew very well that they couldn’t top the two legends, and their match was further squandered. One would think that had they followed the same approach as Edge, they probably would have been able to somewhat salvage their match (though the stipulation could have been better).
Either way, Edge had a big chip on his shoulder. In his own words in an interview with Sports Illustrated, he said:
It’s interesting, I never got stressed before wrestling matches. I always felt completely confident that I had done everything I could do, all my mental preparations when I sat down and envisioned the match, so I never felt stressed.
But that is the one that if someone said, ‘What is the pinnacle of your career?’, then it would be main-eventing WrestleMania against The Undertaker.
He would say in other interviews that WrestleMania 24 was complete validation of his career and all the hard work that he had put in. To be in the main event of the show of shows against a legend of the caliber of The Undertaker was no easy task. Edge knew that he was being put in that spot for a reason, and he gave everything he had in one of his career-great matches.
The two proved to have great chemistry together, and the match had all the perfect makings of a WrestleMania main event. Edge, the defending champion, played the role of a heel to perfection, with his Edgeheads Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins also making an appearance, albeit to get chokeslammed on the outside. Even so, Edge had come closer than most people before him to ending the streak, and there was belief among some fans that he would actually do it.
At the time, The Undertaker’s WrestleMania streak was at its peak, and he had an air of immortality about him at the show of shows. Through nefarious tactics and such, Edge would come close but ultimately fall just short in an attempt to end the streak. It’s believed that he was considered to be the person to end the streak, but so was Kurt Angle, Mark Henry, and even Randy Orton.
Ultimately, The Undertaker prevailed in a very worthy main event, one that’s not spoken about enough. They had an instant classic contest, and they would even main event SummerSlam that year in a non-title match. As always, they would deliver.
