Enjoy
11: ROH Super Card of Honour 1
This show is from Wrestlemania weekend in 2006 and has two
of the greatest matches I’ve ever seen on it. One is a 6 man tag match
featuring wrestlers from a Japanese company called “Dragon Gate”. The match is
insane with all sorts of high spots and crazy head drop moves. My MOTY for 2006
in fact. The main event is Daniel Bryan facing Roderick Strong. They go for
nearly an hour and it’s one of the finest bouts I’ve ever seen. Two classic
matches on one show. The rest of the card is the usual ROH stuff, but the two
main events make it amazing
10: WWF Royal Rumble 2001
The Rumble match on this show is fantastic. Kane is dominant
and eliminates 11 guys on route to making the final two. Honky Tonk Man makes a
cameo and takes a guitar to the face. Steve Austin bleeds so much you’d think
he’d need a transfusion. One of the best Rumble’s ever. Under card is amazing
too with Jericho and Benoit having
perhaps the best ladder match of all time. Kurt Angle and HHH have a great
title match too. All in all, perhaps the best Rumble from top to bottom ever.
9: WCW Spring Stampede 99
Best show WCW did during the Monday Night Wars in my
opinion. Opener is Blitzkrieg Vs Juventud Guerrera in what is a contender for
best opening match of all time. From that we go to Hak Vs Bam Bam Bigelow in
what is perhaps the best hardcore match WCW ever put on. Benoit and Malenko
team up to face Saturn and Raven, stealing the show in the process. Even the
matches you’d think would suck (Disco Inferno Vs Konnan) are still a lot of
fun. It’s amazing to watch a show this good, when you consider how horrid the
product was in general during this time.
8: ECW The Doctor is in 96
One of ECW’s best arena shows. Main Event is Rob Van Dam Vs
Sabu in a stretcher match, which may be their best match together. Mountains of
crazy spots and some actual psychology to boot. This was also Chris Jericho’s
last ECW show as he takes on Scorpio in a near fall fest that never fails to
excite. Shane Douglas and Pittbull #2 have a match that is straight out of
Memphis as Douglas hits Pittbull with everything not tied down in an effort to
steal a win. There’s an insane tag title four way dance featuring The Gangsta’s.
Louie Spicolli and Johnny Smith also have a solid match on the under card.
Great show that highlights why ECW was so popular in it’s heyday.
7: TNA Unbreakable 2005
This was TNA’s last pay per view before getting on Spike TV.
The build up for the show had been online only and had actually been some of the
best TV that the company had ever done. Raven and Rhino take part in a great
match that harkens back to their Hardcore Title Feud back in 2001. Bobby Roode
and Jeff Hardy have a pretty good match, which was the first time they’d really
tried to push Roode to any level up the card. But the highlight is the main
event. A triple threat match between Samoa Joe, AJ Styles and Christopher
Daniels. Simply put, this is one of the greatest matches that I’ve ever seen in
my life. All 3 men were “on” in this one. I can’t do this match justice, you
just have to see it. There is no shortage of huge moves and unique double teams.
Each man has a role to play (Joe as the monster, Daniels as the conniving heel,
AJ as the gutsy face) and all 3 do it to a level of perfection that I don’t
think I’ve ever seen them do as well before or since. An all time classic that
elevates a very good show to an excellent one.
6: WWF Backlash 2000
The WWF had countless classic shows in 2000 but this would
be my pick of the litter. All things considered, Wrestlemania 2000 was a relative
disappointment, so WWF needed to rebound with a great show, and boy did they
EVER! From top to bottom, I think only one match is bad on this show and
everything else is perfect for what it needs to be. The opening match (Edge and
Christian Vs Road Dogg and X-Pac) gets the crowd pumped and features some great
action. The match between Dean Malenko and Scotty 2 Hotty is probably the best
Light Heavyweight Title match the WWF ever did, featuring great psychology and
story as Malenko attacks Scotty’s legs to slow him down. The 6 man hardcore
match is zany fun that doesn’t outshine the other matches. Big Show Vs Kurt
Angle is a comedy match that is
genuinely funny (Big Show dresses as Hulk Hogan and NAILS it!). The Dudley Boyz
(The z makes it cooler) finally put Trish Stratus through a table after weeks
of trying (Turning themselves face in the process). Jericho and Benoit beat the
ever loving crap out of each other in a hard hitting semi-main. And then there’s
the main event. Good grief. The Rock and Triple H have a match that pulls at
every part of your emotions. The Rock is perfect as the hero who has the odds
stacked against him. The story is timeless and the match is a classic. One of
the greatest shows ever
5: WCW Wrestle War 92
Old School WCW here people. This show is just one of those
shows that is chicken soup for the traditional wrestling fans soul. It’s a show
that features not just great wrestling but also one of the best violent main
events of all time. WWF/E’s greatest gimmick match may just be Hell in a Cell.
It’s the match that carries the most reverence in WWE’s litany of stipulation
matches (At least it used too anyway before they watered the concept down in
recent years). WCW’s answer to that match was The War Games. The War Games
featured two rings surrounded by a giant cage. Two teams of 4 or 5 competed in
it with a member from each team entering after time intervals. It was traditionally
one of the most bloody and violent matches the company had. I think the War
Games from Wrestle War 92 might be the best War Games match ever. Some may disagree
but I honestly think that none of the others are as good as this one. It
features Bobby Eaton, Steve Austin, Rick Rude, Sting, Barry Windham amongst
others (How’s that for an all-star cast?). It’s bloody, it’s violent, it’s
drenched in drama and I could probably watch it every day of my life. Just
epic, epic stuff. The rest of the show holds up though. The Steiner Brothers
face Tatsumi Fujimami and Takayuki Iizuka in an excellent tag team match that has
great technical wrestling and hard hitting suplexes. Brian Pillman and Tom Zenk
have an excellent match too that features a good story, being that both men are
friends as the match starts. A great show that I always enjoy watching.
4: Pro
Wrestling NOAH Tokyo Dome Show 2004
Oh my.
Words fail me on this one. The early parts of this show are solid, if
uneventful, but the second half will rock your world back and forth! Where do
you start with some of the matches on this one? First off, you have Yoshinobu
Kanemauru Vs Jushin Liger, which would be a MOTN on any other sane show, as
exciting as it is. It’s not even the second best match on this show. KENTA and Marufuji
defend their tag titles against Kendo Kashin and Takeshi Suigara in a brilliant
match, which may honestly get better every time I watch it. Great double teams
and the makeshift pairing of Kashin and Suigara work so well together that they
actually make you believe they can win against the established champs.
Wrestling legends Mitsuharu Misawa and Keiji Mutoh face off for the first time
ever in a hard hitting tag encounter. However, the main event is what steals
the show. Kenta Kobashi and Jun Akiyama beat two shades of nonsense out of each
other in one of NOAH’s most epic main events. Kenta Kobashi is the reigning GHC
World Champion and shows in this match why his reign may be the best ever.
Heart stopping near falls and incredibly scary looking head drops. This match
may be NOAH’s greatest match, and that’s saying A LOT! Don’t like Japanese
wrestling? You will after this, you’ll have no choice.
3: WWF
Wrestlemania III
This show
just makes me happy. Every time I watch it, I find something new about it that
I liked that I didn’t recognise the first time around. Some of the matches are
bad but are saved more than not by the excellent crowd, who seemingly pop for
everything. Everyone has gushed over how great Randy Savage Vs Ricky Steamboat
is. Everyone has dissected the Hogan Vs Andre match. Yes, it’s a horrid
wrestling match. It may be one of the most awful matches ever, but I don’t
care. The actual wrestling may suck but the story is brilliant. Hogan is on the
defensive from the first 30 seconds onwards and spends the whole match trying,
and failing, to get any traction against the monster. Finally, he manages to
get the Giant off his feet and they go home almost immediately after. I don’t
care who you are, you have to admit that the booking of this match is
spectacular. The show itself is just so much fun. There’s such a feeling of
optimism about it. The crowd are having the time of their lives and you can’t
help but get wrapped up in it. It’s that optimistic joy that grabs you and
holds you to its bosom. Wrestlemania III just makes me happy. I look at that
crowd and listen to them cheer and it raises my heart above the trees. One of
the best of all time
2: WWF
Wrestlemania X-Seven
Similar to the NOAH show, this one is a slow starter but the
second half is the best the WWF has ever done. Any show with the following list
of matches can only be classed as one of the greatest in my eyes. You’ve got
Chris Benoit Vs Kurt Angle, Shane McMahon Vs Vince McMahon, TLC II, Triple H Vs
The Undertaker and Stone Cold Vs The Rock. I mean, good Christ alive, has there
ever been a show that loaded where all the matches actually deliver?
Unbelievable stuff. The only downside is the way the show ends. Stone Cold wins
the title but becomes a villain in doing so. Vince McMahon and Stone Cold
shaking hands is the moment the Attitude Era died. I think it’s all been down
hill since. That being said, this show is awesome. We may never see it’s like
again.
And finally!
1: ECW Heatwave 98
I love this show. It only has 6 matches and I love every
single one of them. I could recite this whole show in my head from start to
finish. The opening match is Jerry Lynn Vs Justin Credible and they go hell for
leather. No one ever got the best out of Credible like Lynn did. Justin
Credible owed his main event run in ECW to Lynn. Lynn selflessly made Credible
look like a star every time out. This match is no exception. Lance Storm and
Chris Candido keep the momentum going and then Masato Tanaka and Mike Awesome
steal the show! Seriously, I almost crapped my pants the first time I saw the
Tanaka Vs Awesome match from this show. I think it would be impossible to get
across just how much I enjoy this match. There have been better matches, but I
just love it. The combination of the hot crowd and the fact that both men are
letting it all hang out make this one of the all-time ECW classic matches. The
show follows it with Rob Van Dam and Sabu Vs Hayabusa and Jinsei Jinzaki. This
match goes about 5 minutes too long but does have some good spots in it. Taz
and Bam Bam Bigelow face off next and have a really intense brawl that has an unforeseen
and unforgettable ending! The main event is an insane 6 man tag match featuring
The Dudley Boyz against Tommy Dreamer, Sandman and Spike Dudley. A crazy brawl
that involves, amongst other things, a blow up doll getting piledriven, Spike
diving off a ladder to the outside and a run in from “The Original Gangsta” New
Jack. This show never fails to excite me. It has 6 matches that are all unique.
You have a fast paced opener, followed by a much more old school technical
match, followed by an insane Japanese Hardcore Match, followed by a tag team
spot fest, followed by an intense scuffle with a “big fight feel” and finishing
up with an insanity filled 6 man brawl. My favourite show ever!
What’s yours? I’d love to know!
No comments:
Post a Comment