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Best Successful Heel Championship Defenses


Hagan

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Foley won the blowoff during his 97 feud with Hunter. Although even there I'm pretty sure he got wrecked by DX on their first night together shortly after that and there was no follow up because he transitioned to the Kane feud. 

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My pick would either be Rick Rude retaining against Ricky Steamboat for the WCW US Title at SuperBrawl II or Chris Jerico winning the Title vs. Mask match against Juvy at SuperBrawl VIII.

I would've enjoyed SST defending against Steve Cox / Michael Hayes for the WCCW Tag Belts more if the SST had won clean but Michael Hayes must be protected at all costs even when he jobs out.

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Another vote for Triple H v Cactus Jack 2000, honestly if that feud had bombed I dare say Triple H's run would've amounted to nothing. He took everything Cactus could throw at him and came out on top by the skin of his teeth and both guys were stronger for it

EDIT: LOL at Cactus Jack 2000, the lame reboot you never knew you wanted

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Cactus Jack 2000 totally sounds like a syndicated action show that would be on in between Pamela Anderson's VIP and Andromeda. 

A lot of the heat Foley had with Hunter for awhile seemed to generate from Triple H downplaying Foley's importance to getting him over and establishing him as a credible main eventer.

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13 hours ago, BEN! said:

Austin/Benoit from SmackDown (May 31, 2001) in Edmonton.  I think it's Austin's best match as a heel.

Is that the one where Benoit gives him about 100 German suplexes? That one was crazy.

In regards to the Taker/Jeff Hardy match, I would argue it ruined Taker as a heel because then he came back down and put the kid over...thus killing his heel heat and just becoming the tough old vet that fights anyone.

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Brock vs Taker HIAC No Mercy 2002 and Kane vs Taker at Night Of Champions 2010 come to mind. 

Brock/Taker just felt like a fight, brutal and ugly in a way that WWF/WWE matches never did. Brock pinning Taker felt like a bigger deal than when he pinned Rock, who everyone knew was out the door. 

Kane's run from first announcing Taker was in a coma to HIAC was a period I loved. Taker returning too early and being overwhelmed by Kane at Summerslam. Then at NOC Taker goes full Super Saiyan 3 from the start, hoping to finish his brother early. The following angle with Undertaker recruiting Paul Bearer to get extra power was really good. But the actual match went way too long and was the start of HIAC not meaning anything. 

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11 hours ago, Victator said:

Kane vs Taker at Night Of Champions 2010 come to mind. 
 

This is a good shout here. Were it not for my friend and I challenging each other to rank the top 10% of matches from every ppv a couple years back, I would've forgotten this match entirely (and most of 2009 to mid 2011 WWE). Now I wouldn't recommend re-watching too much NoC which is consistently a dire show, but this match was exactly the kind of forgotten classic you hope to find every once in a while in this sort of endeavor. It has to be Kane's best singles match ever.

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My absolute fave is Gorgeous Jimmy Garvin's American Heavyweight title defense versus Gentleman Chris Adams  (WCCW #89, air date  09?10/83 on the Network) when thee Gorgeous One and his belt are saved only by the time limit. Bill Mercer does a ringside interview with an exhausted GJG slumped in the corner (and a tearful Sunshine), who says he has nothing left to prove and will end his open challenge. Just great - it got both men over and really advanced an amazing feud. Highly recommended. Both he and Tully Blanchard could do the effective heel champs who resorted to cheating to beat worthy opponents, and remain in-ring threats.

- RAF

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10 hours ago, thee Reverend Axl Future said:

My absolute fave is Gorgeous Jimmy Garvin's American Heavyweight title defense versus Gentleman Chris Adams  (WCCW #89, air date  09?10/83 on the Network) when thee Gorgeous One and his belt are saved only by the time limit. Bill Mercer does a ringside interview with an exhausted GJG slumped in the corner (and a tearful Sunshine), who says he has nothing left to prove and will end his open challenge. Just great - it got both men over and really advanced an amazing feud. Highly recommended. Both he and Tully Blanchard could do the effective heel champs who resorted to cheating to beat worthy opponents, and remain in-ring threats.

That was a great match!

I thought the tremendous WCCW TV match with Rick Rude (c) outlasting Steve Simpson was for the WCCW World belt, but it was non-title.

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5 hours ago, nate said:

So little Ric Flair in this threqd.

And why is that, you think? Because it's tough to pull just one match to nominate, or because for a lot of his reigns as a heel, there was no real expectation that anyone was going to clip him and take the belt? In reading a lot of these, it seems like folks are picking matches where the expectation was that the babyface should probably end up winning the title, but didn't.

I personally really enjoy Flair's work, but I have found myself getting to a point where I don't really seek out anything of his that I haven't seen because so much of his stuff was the exact same match night in and night out.  His matches are just so formulaic, that I can't seem to get more than a handful to stick out in my mind. I know they were all good, but nothing jumps right out at me as something that I would hold above any of the stuff mentioned so far that I have seen.

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1 minute ago, grilledcheese said:

And why is that, you think? Because it's tough to pull just one match to nominate, or because for a lot of his reigns as a heel, there was no real expectation that anyone was going to clip him and take the belt? In reading a lot of these, it seems like folks are picking matches where the expectation was that the babyface should probably end up winning the title, but didn't.

I was thinking specifically about his time limit draw with Windham.

But the other point you make is solid as well.

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16 hours ago, nate said:

I was thinking specifically about his time limit draw with Windham.

But the other point you make is solid as well.

Honestly I was having a hard time thinking of successful heel Flair title defenses. Which shames me a bit, but I honestly can't think of any beyond something like beating Jimmy Garvin in the cage at the 87 Bash. He had very good squashes vs Mike Jackson and George South. 

Actually I just remembered him beating Brian Pillman on TV. That was a great match. 

Arn Anderson beating Shane Douglas to retain the TV belt. 

Barry Windham successfully defending the US belt against Brad Armstrong. 

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If you haven't already, you all need to check out Flair's title defense against Brett Sawyer in Portland from October 1982. It's probably the closest he's ever come to coming across as a pure asskicker.

For non-US bouts, Jim Breaks vs. Johnny Saint is a good choice. It's chippy the whole way through, but it reaches another level once Saint goes up a fall. When Breaks realizes his belt is in serious danger, he goes berserk and just beats the fuck out of Saint until the referee has to stop the match.

Also, Vader vs. Jun Akiyama from All Japan in 2000.

 

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