This is the fifth year of the Voices of Wrestling staff poll for the best matches of that year’s WrestleMania weekend.
In 2022, Ring of Honor Supercard of Honor’s The Briscoes vs. FTR took the top spot in the poll, easily beating out WrestleCon Mark Hitchcock Memorial Super Show’s Bandido vs. Speedball Mike Bailey and GCW Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport 8’s Biff Busick vs. Jon Moxley.
In 2023, WrestleMania Sunday’s Drew McIntyre vs. Gunther vs. Sheamus bout for the Intercontinental Championship edged out ROH Supercard of Honor’s Eddie Kingston vs. Claudio Castagnoli for the ROH World Championship and Komander vs. El Hijo del Vikingo for the AAA Mega Championship.
In 2024, ACTION Wrestling DEAN~!!!’s Demus vs. Mad Dog Connelly’s dog collar match took first place. This was followed by Mark Briscoe vs. Eddie Kingston and Kyle Fletcher vs. Lee Johnson, both at ROH Supercard of Honor.
We also debuted the best show poll in 2024, with ACTION Wrestling’s DEAN~!!! Taking home the win. ETU vs. Dragongate: Unlock the Unexpected took second.
In 2025, DGUSA x Pro Wrestling Revolution The Gate of Revolution took the top two spots, with Ben-K, Hyo & Kzy vs. ISHIN, Kota Minoura & Shun Skywalker taking first and Aero Panther & Fight Panther Jr. vs. Arkangel Divino & Ultimo Maldito for the PWR Tag Team Championship placing second. Luke Jacobs facing Michael Oku for the PROGRESS World Championship on PROGRESS Chapter 179: PROGRESS Las Vegas rounded out the podium.
For 2025’s best show poll, DGUSA x Pro Wrestling Revolution The Gate of Revolution unsurprisingly easily won, with Deadlock Pro Title Fight in Vegas taking second.
The rules are the same as before: the match or show must take place in or near the city hosting WrestleMania. This year’s WrestleMania weekend ran from Monday, April 13, beginning with MicroMania Midget Wrestling, through the April 20 episode of Monday Night Raw.
Voters voted for their top three shows of the weekend, which received points on a 5-3-1 basis, and their top ten matches of the weekend, which received points on a 14-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. -Fred Morlan (The Good, The Bad & The Hungee)
Show of the Weekend
The Best Show of WrestleMania Weekend 2026
With 10 ballots cast, only two shows appeared on half of these ballots, and just one show appeared on six of them.
Honorable Mentions
- Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling Live in Las Vegas – 1 point – Audio Review
- Game Changer Wrestling MDK Fight Club – 1 point – Audio Review
- Game Changer Wrestling Gringo Loco’s Wrld on Lucha – 1 point – Audio Review
- Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling Multiverse – 1 point
- STARDOM American Dream 2026 – 4 points – Audio Review
- ACTION Wrestling We Gambled Away the Graphix Budget – 5 points – Audio Review
- Marvelous Women’s Pro Wrestling – 7 points – Audio Review
- New Japan Pro Wrestling El Desperado Presents Death Vegas Invitational – 11 points – Written Review
#3
CMLL at Palms Slam Fest
12 points
Highest vote: 1st place
“Despite a card that was reshuffled late in the process, CMLL at Palms Slam Fest provided a deep card with great action buoyed by a fantastic performance in the middle of the card by the veterans Blue Panther and Ultimo Guerrero. The show also featured two strong tag matches with Capitan Suicida & Flip Gordon against El Sky Team’s Neon & Mascara Dorada, as well as the main event of Mistico & Templario against Angel de Oro & Hechicero.” -Fred Morlan (The Good, The Bad & The Hungee)
#2
New Texas Pro Wrestling: Sin City Stampede
13 points
Highest vote: 2nd place
“I had several recommended matches on this show and while a few matches disappointed me (mainly Dimitri Alexandrov vs. ISHIN) there was enough good to more than outweigh the matches that didn’t land. I really enjoyed the Danny Orion vs. Bryan Keith main event, Adam Priest vs. Dustin Nguyen was a blast, 1 Called Manders and Timur the Great was a beautiful tribute to beef, and the Scramble match on this show was a rare Scramble that I really enjoyed, featuring a must-see prospect in Prince Kxiruki.” -Rich Kraetsch (FlagshipPatreon.com)
#1
West Coast Pro Wrestling: West Coast vs The World
30 points
6 first-place votes
“The runaway show of the weekend for me. Yes, it featured the best match of the weekend but also a top-to-bottom card, as my travel partner this weekend put it: all killer, no filler. The lone match that didn’t deliver was the West Coast Pro World Title match between Vinne Massaro and Thomas Shire. Otherwise, everything else on the show was worth your time, and I thought it was pretty comfortably the best show of the weekend. It’ll lose some buzz because it didn’t stream live, but I’m hoping it can re-ignite some passion for the weekend when it does drop.” -Rich Kraetsch (FlagshipPatreon.com)
Match of the Weekend
The Best Match of WrestleMania Weekend 2026
12 ballots were cast; one omitted spots 6-10.
Honorable Mentions
1 point
- Danny Jones vs. Tim Bosby, ACTION Wrestling We Gambled Away the Graphix Budget
- Capitan Suicida & Flip Gordon vs. Mascara Dorada & Neon, CMLL at Palms Slam Fest
- Alec Price & Jordan Oliver vs. Ben-K & Hyo vs. Los Hermanos De La Jungla, Dragongate: The Gate of Sin City
2 points
- Gunther vs. Seth Rollins, WWE WrestleMania 42 Saturday
- Danny Orion & Shimbashi vs. Jordan Saint & Robert Martyr, Pandemonium Pro Wrestling: Whatever, Forever
3 points
- Bryan Keith vs. Danny Orion, New Texas Pro Wrestling: Sin City Stampede
- Big Daddy Mo vs. Monica Monroe, Colorado Wrestling Connection: CWC vs The World
- Arez, Gringo Loco, & Vengador vs. Hyo, Kzy, & Yuki Yoshioka, GCW Gringo Loco’s The Wrld on Lucha
4 points
- Erick Stevens vs. Fuminori Abe, GCW Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport XV
- Brock Lesnar vs Oba Femi, WWE WrestleMania 42 Sunday
- Dimitri Alexandrov vs. ISHIN, New Texas Pro Wrestling: Sin City Stampede
- Bishop Kaun, Ricochet & Toa Liona vs. Kevin Knight, Michael Oku & Mike Bailey, WrestleCon Mark Hitchcock Memorial SuperShow
- Sakura Hattori vs. Suzume, TJPW LIVE in Las Vegas
5 points
- WWE Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match, WWE WrestleMania 42 Sunday
- Masashi Takeda vs. Pete Dunne, GCW Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport XV
- Karl Greco-Malenko vs Mad Dog Connelly, ACTION Wrestling We Gambled Away the Graphix Budget
- 1 Called Manders vs. Thomas Shire, Hybrid x PWU Midnight Xpress
6 points
- Ghetto Gauntlet, ComptonMania: VegasMania
- Angel de Oro and Hechicero vs. Mistico and Templario, CMLL at Palms Slam Fest
7 points
- Brodie Lee Jr. vs. Joey Janela, GCW Joey Janela’s Spring Break X
- Darian Bengston vs Timothy Thatcher, ACTION Wrestling We Gambled Away the Graphix Budget
- The Invisible Man vs. The Sandman, GCW Joey Janela’s Spring Break X
9 points
- Hechicero vs. Jonathan Gresham, Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling: MULTIVERSE
- Bear Bronson & Mr. Danger vs. Hayabusa & Masato Tanaka, GCW MDK Fight Club
10 points
- Daisuke Sasaki & Gedo vs. Gringo Loco & Joey Janela, New Japan Pro Wrestling El Desperado Presents Death Vegas Invitational
11 points
- Aaron Solo & Alan Angels vs. Jiah Jewell & Seabass Finn, West Coast Pro West Coast vs. the World
12 points
- CM Punk vs. Roman Reigns, WWE WrestleMania 42 Sunday
13 points
- 1 Called Manders vs. Timur the Great, New Texas Pro Wrestling: Sin City Stampede
15 points
- Dragon Kid, Kzy, & Yuki Yoshioka vs. ISHIN, Madoka Kikuta, & Yoshiki Kato, Dragongate: The Gate of Sin City
16 points
- Athena vs Rina, STARDOM: American Dream 2026 in Las Vegas
- Andrew Cass, Dragon Kid, Shimbashi vs. Cosmo Orion, Epydemius Jr & Starboy Charlie, New Texas Pro Wrestling: Sin City Stampede
17 points
- Mark Davis vs. Masato Tanaka, WrestleCon Mark Hitchcock Memorial SuperShow
18 points
- Miu Watanabe vs. Miyu Yamashita vs. Mizuki, TJPW LIVE in Las Vegas
19 points
- Bandido vs. Galeno del Mal, WrestleCon Mark Hitchcock Memorial SuperShow
#10
Johnnie Robbie & Mio Momono vs. Sareee & Takumi Iroha
Marvelous Women’s Pro Wrestling
20 points
Highest vote: 1st place
Cagematch: NR
“From the general reaction I’ve seen and heard from others at the building, I think I ended up being higher on this match than virtually anyone else. But there’s really no match type I love more than a short and incredibly stiff joshi sprint, which is exactly what this was. As hard as you may think Sareee in particular hits people when you see her on TV, I promise it doesn’t even do her justice compared to when you’re watching it from the second row. And on top of everything else, the cool little one-night story with Johnnie Robbie dropping her West Coast Pro title to Mio Momono just hours earlier in the main of their show, only to have to come back and team up with the woman who beat her in this main event, really played out super well. A lot of American major league wrestling these days really overdoes the act-ING of it all, and this is the exact sort of situation that could have gotten really corny played by the wrong person. But Johnnie was great at just letting her frustration and annoyance simmer under the surface, whether it was sharing a shaky handshake with Mio before the opening bell or sarcastically yelling “come on CHAMP!” from the corner while Mio was getting her ass beat at the time. All of it came together to produce a match I’ll remember being at for a very long time, and my overall favorite match of WrestleMania weekend out of the eight shows I attended. I’m not sure when the Marvelous show is going to emerge at this point, but make sure you check this one out when it does (although really the whole show was great).” -John Carroll (Wrestling Omakase)
#8 (tied)
Johnnie Robbie vs. Natsupoi
Pandemonium Pro Wrestling: Whatever, Forever
23 points
Highest vote: 2nd place
Cagematch: NR
“Enjoy Johnnie Robbie now, she’s not going to last on the indies much longer. She’s a phenomenal worker who gets better every time I see her, with an unbelievable presence, a great look, and a real drive to be a difference-maker in this business. She was up against standout Joshi Natsupoi here, and these two, as many predicted, delivered a hell of a performance. Robbie continually countered Natsupoi’s speed with her blend of slick reverses, solid submissions, and strong strikes. They worked this like a sprint, never stopping, never letting the crowd catch its breath. If you don’t know the name, learn it. Johnnie Robbie is going to be a Star.” -Rich Kraetsch (FlagshipPatreon.com)
#8 (tied)
Alpha Zo vs. LaBron Kozone
West Coast Pro West Coast vs. the World
23 points
Highest vote: 3rd place
Cagematch: 7.38 on 23 votes
“Sometimes you just need to see two big motherfuckers fuck one another up. And that’s exactly what we got here. LaBron Kozone, one of the best workers in America right now with a great look and obvious big and small room charisma, had a comically-low number of bookings this weekend, but old ass Attitude-era relic Gangrel had like 4. Make it make sense. Anyway, these two are very similar in builds and styles, and decided to embrace that, but having a match that featured two bulls chopping the hell out of one another, dropping one another on their necks, and at one point doing standup martial arts? It all worked. Brady, who joined me on the recap of the show, had a great point: these guys had a Top 5 match of WrestleMania Weekend and probably did like three or four moves total and took a handful of bumps each. Wrestling is very simple! Stop making it harder than it needs to be.” -Rich Kraetsch (FlagshipPatreon.com)
#7
Brick Savage vs. Mad Dog Connelly
Game Changer Wrestling: Effy’s Big Gay Brunch 2026
24 points
Highest vote: 3rd place
Cagematch: 7.24 on 20 votes
“This was a gosh darned bomb dropping on Effy’s Big Gay Brunch. For a few minutes, this place was Armageddon. There was a hoss fight!
Can you have a break-out match at 37? Brick Savage first got on my radar in 2024 when he had a good hoss fight with Jake Something for the DPW World title at New Texas Pro Lonestar 5. Here, he had another good, high-energy, zero-downtime slugfest with Mad Dog Connelly, one of the premier brawlers in the American indies today. In a finer world, we’d see a rematch before a more appreciative audience than the one this match had at GCW Effy’s Big Gay Brunch 11. At the very least, my ears will perk up the next time I hear that Brick Savage is on the card.” -Kim Wong (Wrestling With Thoughts)
#6
Adam Priest, Fuminori Abe, & Minoru Suzuki vs. Erick Stevens, Jonathan Gresham, & Zack Sabre Jr.
ACTION Wrestling We Gambled Away the Graphix Budget
26 points
Highest vote: 3rd place
Cagematch: 7.89 on 26 votes
“One of the many reasons I bailed on the Gringo Loco World on Lucha show was this once-in-a-lifetime, only at WrestleMania Weekend style match. While the work itself wasn’t on the level of an all-time great WrestleMania Weekend match, it was a super fun party match and the type of match that should be more regular during WrestleMania Weekend as opposed to low-effort, shitty scrambles and bullshit deathmatches. Alas, thank you to ACTION with some help from PRODUCE for this one. Adam Priest continued to his great weekend (more on that later), and seeing Sabre Jr. and Minoru Suzuki in a small room having the time of their lives was a blast. Don’t go into this match expecting Match of the Year level work, but definitely give it a try for the top-tier stooging from Greshman, Abe’s strong kicks and great presence, and a little bit of British humor from Sabre Jr.” -Rich Kraetsch (FlagshipPatreon.com)
#5
Johnnie Robbie vs. Mio Momono
West Coast Pro West Coast vs. the World
30 points
Highest vote: 3rd place
Cagematch: 8.05 on 21 votes
“Mio Momono & Johnnie Robbie put on a great match in the main event of the West Coast vs. The World show, with Momono proving she’s one of the best workers in Japan and Robbie putting forth a strong claim to being the best indie worker in the States. They both did a great job getting the crowd working with intense, fast-paced work. These two deserve to be on bigger stages.” -Fred Morlan (The Good, The Bad & The Hungee)
#4
Fuminori Abe vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
New Japan Pro Wrestling El Desperado Presents Death Vegas Invitational
41 points
Highest vote: 3rd place
Cagematch: 8.08 on 106 votes
“Abe vs. ZSJ is a match that sounds like it’d be more at home on Bloodsport than on a show called “Death Pain Invitational,” even with the branding of New Japan Pro Wrestling on the event and the underlying speculation that this match could be a tryout for Abe in NJPW. What they delivered was an intense combination of hard strikes and submission work that meshed tremendously well together into a highlight match of the week.” -Fred Morlan (The Good, The Bad & The Hungee)
#3
El Desperado & Jun Kasai vs. Masashi Takeda & Rina Yamashita vs. Matt Tremont & Nick Gage
New Japan Pro Wrestling El Desperado Presents Death Vegas Invitational
67 points
Highest vote: three 1st place votes
Cagematch: 8.13 on 107 votes
“Six of the top deathmatch wrestlers of the past 15 years came together for a dream match that delivered. This was one of the few matches (WrestleMania included) that felt worthy of the weekend. From the second the entrances started, the room was buzzing. The crowd knew it was seeing something special that it would never see again. Make no bones about this one – this is an all-out deathmatch sprint for 15 minutes, an absolute spotfest by the best at their craft. The returning Nick Gage looked ferocious, returning to his glory after a few rough years. This is not a deathmatch I’d recommend for non-deathmatch fans like some others, but if you are a fan and respecter of the genre, this one is a must-see.” -Kevin Hare (TheWrestling101.com)
#2
Chris Hero vs. Senka Akatsuki
West Coast Pro Wrestling: West Coast vs The World
90 points
Highest vote: four 1st place votes
Cagematch: 8.86 on 76 votes
“Just as we all predicted when we were looking ahead to the weekend, the best match would be a Chris Hero intergender match against a member of the Marvelous roster. We all saw it coming a mile away!
But seriously, what a moment and a match this was. For those unaware, Senka was scheduled to face Dani Luna in one of my most anticipated matches of the weekend. Luna had a personal issue, so she was out, and the company announced a very special “Exhibition” match in her place. Senka was the breakout wrestler of last year’s WrestleMania Weekend in an emotional, heartfelt match against Aja Kong that saw the young trainee survive the onslaught of the Joshi legend. The match featured a now-legendary kickout at 1 that made MEET Las Vegas erupt. The sky was the limit for what Luna and Senka could put together this year. It didn’t happen.
When we got to the building, there was a buzz about who this mystery opponent could be. Some thought perhaps her trainer, Chigusa Nagayo, would wrestle her; it was only a five-minute exhibition, and she could easily do that even at her older age. Nobody would’ve been upset by seeing a Joshi legend step in against Senka once again.
What we got was another semi-retired legend stepping in and stepping up: Chris Hero.
Hero rolled out of bed (quite literally, maybe, as he was wearing a hoodie, sweatpants, and orthopedic shoes), entered the ring to his all-time great theme music, and had the match of WrestleMania Weekend.
Similar to last year’s match with Kong, this match was centered around the sympathetic Senka taking an absolute beating from Chris Hero and refusing to go down, to give up, or even let the pinfall count reach 2. Hero didn’t take it easier on the young Joshi prodigy either, nearly taking her head off with a Yakuza Kick and hitting her with a piledriver with just seconds to go in the match, not with the intent on pinning her (there wasn’t enough time left in the match) but just to prove a point and be an asshole (complimentary).
That Hero was able to again, roll out of bed, and have this good of a match is probably a poor reflection on the current state of the indies but could also just be a realization that Hero is one of the best to ever do it and when you’ve reached that level, you’ll always have IT and folks, Chris Hero fucking had IT tonight. The building was buzzing as the match hit its five-minute time limit. After some convincing, Hero agreed to five more minutes. It was during this overtime period that Senka got her first bursts of offense and had the crowd thinking that she might be able to put Hero away. She couldn’t. Hero won, and after ignoring Senka’s attempts at respect after the end of the first five minutes, Hero bowed to Senka and held her hand up high as the Bizarre Bar lit up like it hadn’t all weekend. Go out of your way to see this one. Undisputed best match of the weekend, and nothing else is close.” -Rich Kraetsch (FlagshipPatreon.com)
#1
Blue Panther vs. Ultimo Guerrero
CMLL at Palms Slam Fest
92 points
Highest vote: four 1st place votes
Cagematch: 8.29 on 72 votes
“Blue Panther and Ultimo Guerrero combined to not only put on a great match that stood out as one of the highlights of 2026’s WrestleMania Weekend, but also worked harder than anyone else the entire weekend. UG & Panther didn’t only try to put on a great match, but they looked like they would have died in the Pearl Theater to deliver for that crowd. When two men with a combined age of 119 are visibly putting in more effort than the vast majority of the other workers in Vegas, including at WrestleMania, maybe it’s time for some soul searching.” -Fred Morlan (The Good, The Bad & The Hungee)
