Matches that rule, but don't get pimped heavily anymore?(or never in some cases)

[Chorros]

Owen Hart vs. Shawn Michaels on Raw 12/29/97

 

 

I remember watching this match and being on the edge of my seat thinking Owen might actually win.

Damn it! The whole Owen-DX feud was grossly bad booked; not the slightest payoff after months of a scrappy face defying the odds stacked against him. An Euro title lost at Wrestlemania XIV wouldn't had hurt new leading man, somehow on the verge of breaking-out Hunter one bit,

[Charlie M.]

Test vs Kane 2001.  I remember going into this thinking it would suck but it was surprisingly good:

 

Shawn Michaels, Sid & Ahmed Johnson vs Vader, Owen & Bulldog from International Incident 96.  Great six man tag from a show barely anyone saw.

[DreamBroken]

Rey/Kidman vs WGTT was fucking great.  Actually, that whole Vengeance show is criminally overlooked.  So much fun on that show.

 

Agreed, that's always been one of my favorite tag matches and that show ruled.

[Johnny Sorrow]

Christ, I loved Benoit and Malenko back then and even I was booing at my TV when they kept on going and going with the overtimes. The bikers were digging it at first but it went too fucking long. Call a fucking audible and play to the crowd.

And the best MXE was Condrey and Eaton, by far. And I love Eaton and Lane, but Dennis and Bobby were perfect.

[Sky Blue Sam]

Watch the frigging Can-Am vs Funks match already. It's all about them not seeing Zenk on their level and then no longer trusting Martel as part of the fraternity after he gets pissed about it.It is awesome.

I reviewed this match for my blog a year or so back when I reviewed a Zenk comp... The Funks start off playing face, showing mutual respect to Zenk and Martel, but early signs of frustration show when the younger team manage to keep up with them on the early exchanges. The first sign of the Funks' heeling comes when Dory repeatedly throws Zenk outside the ring (with some big bumps taken by Zenk) to be thrown back in by Terry, only for Terry to give Zenk an atomic drop (almost hitting a cameraman) before throwing him back in, to the rage of Martel. Martel begins to brawl with Terry outside, while Dory works over Zenk on the inside, hitting a nice piledriver for two. Martel comes in on a hot tag, following a reversal of Dory's spinning toe hold, and Terry does everything in his power to draw the ire of the crowd and make Martel look good: he runs away from Martel all around the ring, cowers in the ropes and offers a handshake in an attempt to placate Martel. Martel, as a good face, accepts the handshake, but the audience knows that Terry can't be trusted. So when Terry tries to double-cross on a clean break, and Martel avoids contact, the crowd erupts and a two count off a crossbody gets a huge pop. Zenk is brought back in with his own crossbody for two, but Terry rolls him up for three. Good tag affair with plenty of heat, the fired-up babyfaces meshing well with the sneaky heels.

[Craig H]

Wrestlemania X-7 is full of matches that don't get nearly enough love. I'm probably in the minority, but I really liked the HHH vs Undertaker match and thought it was rock solid. The other great match from that card is Test vs Eddie. Eddie works the match like such a dickhead, showing why he's a pro, and Test shows off why a lot of people thought he was going to have a deep run in him, as opposed to dying young. Test also absolutely fucking smokes Eddie with a big boot, and you get the bonus of Saturn's weird ass hat and Malenko's awful taste in fashion, like he stole that shirt from Uncle Leo's closet.

 

http://youtu.be/VYrtPv1cY24

 

Huh, weird, can't embed videos now...

 

And now, randomly, I can...

[Brian Fowler]

X-7 was just a really fantastic show from top to bottom.

[Craig H]

I know you think Spring Stampede is the best show of all time, and I certainly can see why, I think X-7 is just a tad better.

[HumanChessgame]

Oddly enough what I remember most about Wrestlemania 17 is Kane, Raven, and Big Show chasing eachother on golf carts during the Hardcore Title match.  Raven later mentioned in a shoot interview that when he wrecked his cart it came within inches of taking out one of the main power cables of the arena.

[SirSmUgly]

Wrestlemania X-7 is full of matches that don't get nearly enough love. I'm probably in the minority, but I really liked the HHH vs Undertaker match and thought it was rock solid. 

 

I really enjoy that match, actually. I liked the chokeslam off the stage and the false finish with the Last Ride ----> sledgehammer attack -----> two-count had me really good, I admit. Especially considering that I went in sure that the Undertaker was going to win. It's probably my second-favorite Undertaker WM match next to the also underrated casket match with Mark Henry. 

[Big Z]

 

STEINERS VS. GORDY/DR. DEATH, CLASH OF CHAMPIONS 19 -- This was part of the NWA Tag Team tournament they held. This was a surprise match that came about because Doc and Gordy supposedly attacked someone or whatever. This is like 45 minutes of what feels like amateur wrestling but with punches. It's so friggin' good and brutal. The end of this RULES, too.

 

.....

 

STEVIE RICHARDS VS. SABU -- I forget what ECW shows this was at but this is legend. Stevie's the lost great worker of his era. Stevie was still in his Winger belly shirt era and the most disrespected guy on the roster. Here he's taking on The Homicidal, Suicidal, Genocidal madman in his prime in what looks, on paper, will be a squash of historic proportions. But something else takes hold. Stevie actually gets serious and gives Sabu all he can handle and more -- including hitting Sabu with what was then the nastiest Superkick of all-time. (Shawn Michaels/Shelton Benjamin since surpassed it.) Stevie doesn't get the 1-2-3 after that and knows his doom is here. Just great, simple storytelling.

 

That entire Clash is good, but that MVC vs Steiners match is awesome.  If I'm not mistaken, the PPV rematch shortly after that is even better. 

 

The backstory was that this was a tournament for the brand new NWA World Tag Team Championship (the Steiners were the WCW Champs).  Doc & Gordy drew the Australian team in the first round, which were a father & son team - the O'Deas.  If you enjoy violent squashes, then this one is for you, as Doc absolutely murdered old man O'Dea with a backdrop driver.  Doc & Gordy advanced to face the winner of Steiners/"Los Boricuas" farther down the line.  However, tragedy befell, and someone mauled Los Boricuas backstage, and the Steiners advanced by forfeit.  Bill Watts didn't want to deprive the fans of a Steiner match, so he booked the tournament match for that night! 

 

 

The Clash 19 match was awesome, but the Beach Blast '92 match sucked (relative to the match they should have had, not trading mat holds in a badly telegraphed 30 minute broadway). Absolutely love the Steiners, but their 1992 was badly uneven. Along with Beach Blast borefest, you had the disappointing Anderson/Eaton match at SuperBrawl. On the flipside, I loved Wrestle War match against Fujinami and Iizuka. They never seemed to totally mesh with Watts style/booking, and this was easily their worst year stateside during their peak 1989-1994 run.

 

To add a match of my own, here is Pillman and Liger against Koloff and Steamboat from Great American Bash 1992:

 

http://www.tunesbaby.com/dm/?x=x3enz1

 

http://www.tunesbaby.com/dm/?x=x3eobc

[DreamBroken]

Here's some of my favs

 

Always loved this one from 08. 07-09 Hardy is one of my all time favorite runs and this match was one of my favs from 2008, one that isn't talked about much.

 

 

Fun tag from SD 2/29/08 as I never get tired of Khali head chops. I miss Batista.

 

 

And one more from 08, always my fav Kane/Punk match with a nice finishing stretch. Definitely miss ECW.

 

 

which reminded me of this, one that does get a decent amount of love here. Just a perfect blowoff, brilliant match with a super hot crowd. Everything finally clicked for these two and it remains one of my favorite matches of both guys. For all the talk of Morrison being no good on the mic in his last few years, I loved his mic work as ECW champ. Probably should rewatch their 09 SD series too.. haven't seen those since they aired but remember really liking them a lot.

 

http://youtu.be/wgAJKAOHYAE

[The Natural]

I'll second DreamBroken's picks of Punk/Morrison (best match they ever had with each other) and Hardy/Michaels.

 

---

 

1997 was a terrific year for wrestling with so many great matches: Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin at WrestleMania 13, Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Guerrero at Halloween Havoc and Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker in the Hell in a Cell at In Your House 18: Badd Blood. The following gets my vote as the best Fatal Four Way in the history of the company:

 

 

 

 

[Go2Sleep]

For some reason, this match always gets overlooked in the Edge/Matt feud. The cage match was more epic for sure, but for me, this is the match that really sums up the feud. Just raw brutality from both guys and oozes that gritty, realistic vibe the whole program was going for. The momentum-change spot is suitably nasty, and Edge's strikes never looked better.

 

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x24q4r_edge-vs-matt-hardy-wwe-summerslam_sport?search_algo=2

[DreamBroken]

I know you think Spring Stampede is the best show of all time, and I certainly can see why, I think X-7 is just a tad better.

 

WWE.com agrees, with their new list of the 15 greatest PPVs ever

 

Honorable Mentions: WWE SummerSlam 1991, WWE WrestleMania X, WCW Great American Bash 1996, ECW Barely Legal, WWE Backlash 2000, WWE Invasion, WWE SummerSlam 2002, WWE Badd Blood 2004

 

15. WWE Survivor Series 1995

14. ECW Heatwave 1998

13. WWE Backlash 2009

12. WCW Bash at the Beach 1996

11. WWE Extreme Rules 2012

10. WWE In Your House: Canadian Stampede

9. WWE No Way Out 2001

8. ECW One Night Stand 2005

7. WWE SummerSlam 2013

6. WCW Great American Bash 1989

5. WWE WrestleMania III

4. WCW Spring Stampede 1994

3. WWE Royal Rumble 2000

2. WWE Money in the Bank 2011

1. WWE WrestleMania X-7

[The Natural]

Just read that article and I like nearly all the picks. No Mercy 2001 and No Mercy 2002 not even getting honourable mentions is wrong.

 

Bad Blood 2004Although its rollicking undercard included a fun Intercontinental Title duel between Randy Orton and Shelton Benjamin, Bad Blood 2004 is chiefly remembered for hosting perhaps the best Hell in a Cell Match ever, Shawn Michaels vs. Triple H.

 

Credit: wwe.com

 

Bullshit.

[J.T.]

That is obviously a fucking typo.

[Brian Fowler]

How do you misspell "most boring" so fucking badly?

[Big Z]

That list is missing both SuperBrawl II and SuperBrawl III, even if I am admittedly partial to that era WCW. SuperBrawl II had the awesome Pillman/Liger and Austin/Zbyszko vs. Rhodes/Windham matches, a good Rude/Steamboat and shocking good Z-Man/Van Hammer vs. Ricky Morton/Vinnie Vegas match, plus a decent 10 minute Sting/Luger match. 

 

SuperBrawl III is probably better, at least from a match quality perspective, with every feature match save Dustin Rhodes/Maxx Payne and Windham/Muta being well above average. Besides the awesome Sting/Vader strap match, you have the fun Cactus Jack/Paul Orndorff street fight, the excellent Scorpio/Benoit match, the fun Hollywood Blonds vs. Bagwell/Watts match with the crowd cheering the heels, and a great old school southern tag with Rock 'N Roll against Lane/Pritchard. I actually like the Bulldog in WCW, and his extended squash against Bill Irwin was a perfectly fine showcase.

 

Both cards are ton of fun, and proof that WCW existed pre-Hogan and frankly was better for it.

[Newb82]

Heatwave 98 might be the best ECW PPV ever, but it's not even close to the 14th best ever. Backlash 2009 is a pretty good show, but SummerSlam 2009 smokes it.

[Newb82]

Back on topic, the HBK/UT match at Ground Zero to set up Badd Blood is awesome too. Possibly the best WWE match to end with a no-contest ever.

[doubtingELDANDY]

I always loved the Slaughter Hogan Desert Storm match from MSG. It might not hold up today but for that era it was particularly violent. I can't remember seeing much blood in the WWF in the early 90's, so seeing both guys bleed was awesome. Also cool to find out years later Slaughter was infamous for a similar match from MSG years earlier. This probably should have been on the MSG dvd, surely it is on some other WWE dvd?

[Victator]

Heatwave 98 is not close to the best ECW PPV ever.

[Matt D]

I always loved the Slaughter Hogan Desert Storm match from MSG. It might not hold up today but for that era it was particularly violent. I can't remember seeing much blood in the WWF in the early 90's, so seeing both guys bleed was awesome. Also cool to find out years later Slaughter was infamous for a similar match from MSG years earlier. This probably should have been on the MSG dvd, surely it is on some other WWE dvd?

 

it holds up

[Newb82]

Heatwave 98 is not close to the best ECW PPV ever.

 

I haven't seen them all, but I do remember liking Anarchy Rulz '99 & Massacre on 34th Street (next-to-last-PPV) too. The only things I didn't like about Heatwave were the finish to Taz/Bigelow and the tag title match going waaaaaaay too long. I'd have to watch them all again to rank them.