Diamonddust

I knew we were getting a J-Tex match, but I had no idea it was that one. I HOPE HOPE HOPE they show where Sting injures his knee on the attempted run-in and completely throws NWA's/WCW's plans into chaos.

Hart even said he'd be willing to relinquish the belt the night after Survivor Series. Still, Nitro had an hour advantage on Raw at the time so Bischoff could still rub it in McMahon's face. It all boiled down to the fact Bret didn't want to lose the belt in his home country to Shawn Michaels. He would have agreed to lose it to the Brooklyn Brawler before Shawn.

That is and always has been a blatant lie. Real simple answer to that: don't let Bret take the belt home with him. Let the company carry it from town to town. Hey presto, him throwing it in the trash on WCW is no longer possible. Vince is way too smart not to have thought of that. I think Vince was more worried that Bischoff was simply going to announce that the reigning WWF Champion had signed with WCW. It wasn't so much about the belt itself (Although Vince probably had the Alundra Blaze debacle in his head), but the thought that Bischoff was going to rub in the fact he signed away the WWF's champion. As a result, the belt had taken off of Bret.

That was unexpected

It's all coming together nicely... Landell is gone by this point... freeing J.J. Dillon to go with Tully Blanchard after he drops Baby Doll, which is the final piece of the puzzle. If my calculations are correct, we should get the official formation of the Horsemen in either November or December as it took place in January 1986. It would sure be nice if 24/7 started showing World Wide Wrestling..! Now that was a HOT show. The crowd was always into the matches bigtime!! I just wish the WWE would give Bill Watts' ex-wife whatever see wants in order to secure the Mid-South library. I'd love to see those shows.

It's all coming together nicely... Landell is gone by this point... freeing J.J. Dillon to go with Tully Blanchard after he drops Baby Doll, which is the final piece of the puzzle. If my calculations are correct, we should get the official formation of the Horsemen in either November or December as it took place in January 1986.

I've always been intrigued by Meltzer saying that he has the true inside story of Montreal but can't reveal it until a certain unnamed person passes away. Just throwing something out there... Pat Patterson maybe? I know the story that's been told is that he was intentionally kept in the dark due to his loyalty to Bret, but maybe he played a part we don't know about.

Not sure if this has been done before, but I was curious to see the reaction to the following question: What do you consider some of the most important/influential matches of all time? When I say important/influential, I mean a match that had a big impact on future events, changed the direction of a company, or influenced things a great deal down the road. Throwing out some of the obvious ones to start: Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels, Survivor Series 1997: Do I need to explain this one? One of the most pivotal moments in modern wrestling history. Kind of hard to believe we're coming up on the 10 year anniversary. Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin, Wrestlemania 13: The match that officially ushered in the mega-push of Steve Austin, turned Bret Hart heel for good, and showed the world that it's alright to cheer for someone acting like the biggest heel of all time. So much of what the WWF/E became in the late 90's stemmed from this match. Hulk Hogan vs. The Iron Sheik, 1984: The start of Hulkamania and start of the 2nd Golden Age of Wrestling. Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon, Wrestlemania X: The genesis of the the death-defying high spot workers that caught on like wildfire in the late 90's. Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, and Ole Anderson vs. The Great Muta, Buzz Sawyer, and The Dragon Master, Clash of Champions X: You might be thinking what the hell am I smoking, but hear me out. This is the match where Sting injured his knee trying to get inside the cage. As a result, Sting's program with Flair, which had a lot of heat due to the Horsemen's heel turn earlier that night, had to be put on hold, and WCW/NWA was forced to rely on Lex Luger to turn face and carry the company in the interim. As a result, no one bought the idea that Luger had a chance, and they saw him as just a placeholder. Sting comes back in July, wins the belt (Although it was a foregone conclusion that he would), and limps into the Black Scorpion angle. If that injury did not happen, things would have been very different in my opinion.

Both men went down... looked like they were about to do the double knock-out finish. Match still happening.

Which would mean they have something else in store. The womens match won't go more than 10 minutes, and I don't see the prison match doing more than 15-20.

My money is on Orton walking out of Chicago with the belt tonight.

Kennedy would have had HUGE (albeit cheap) heat tonight if he had came out in a Packers jersey.

HHH wins.

Let's see... HBK/Taker - 97 Austin/Taker vs. Kane/Mankind - 98 (match never officially started) Taker/Mankind - 98 Kane/Mankind - 98 Taker/Bossman - 99 HHH/Cactus Jack - 00 Angle/Austin/Taker/Rock/HHH/Rikishi - 00 HHH/Jericho - 02 Brock/Taker - 02 HHH/Nash - 03 HHH/HBK - 04 HHH/Batista - 05 Taker/Orton - 05 DX vs. Vince/Shane/Big Show - 06 I don't know if you'd count the kinnel match between Bossman/Snow from Unforgiven 99. It did feature the cell. It looks like Taker and HHH have been in it the most. Weird how they have never fought eachother 1 on 1 in a HIAC That should be WM24 The Hell in the Cell is basically Taker and HHH's "match". If one of them isn't involved in the match, you're not going to get a Hell in the Cell stipulation.

I'd also throw Austin vs. McMahon, February 1999 in as well. The "biggest" feud of the day actually comes to a head in the ring... also featured the debut of the Big Show.

You're right... I couldn't remember if that happened the week before KOTR or the night after.

I think it had to do a lot with where the shows were booked. The first Sid/Shawn match took place at Survivor Series '96 in Madison Square Garden. The New York fans ripped Shawn a new one, and they even cheered with Sid got to Lothario. Turn that around for the rematch - Royal Rumble '97 in Shawn's hometown of San Antonio. There was no way Sid was going to get any face heat in that one.

Hulk Hogan vs. Goldberg: WCW gives away a potential multi-million dollar match on free television to win a night in the ratings war... the WWF/E leaves them in the dust for good a couple months later.

Two I forgot that are forever linked: Shawn Michaels vs. Diesel, Madison Square Garden, 1996: The match that resulted in the Clique incident, which had a huge impact on future events, including... Steve Austin vs. Jake Roberts, King of the Ring 1996: What was looked at as a replacement King of the Ring in the wake of HHH comes a legendary catch phrase and the first sign that this whole "Stone Cold" character might just be something special.

10 years since... and the 1st Hell in the Cell is still probably the best match in the series. Granted, the 2nd is pretty memorable as well.

Here's a question: Would you put Undertaker/Mankind - Hell in the Cell on the list?

I do see the other side of this debate as well, but this put Wrestlemania on the map. Hogan's slam and subsequent win gave it an 'oomph', and to this day, there's unquestionably an aura to Wrestlemania that doesn't exist at other shows, and much of that can be attributed to the main event. Very good point.

I was about to put Hulk/Andre on the list. I see that match from both sides: 1. - It was influential enough to draw the biggest crowd ever 2. - What did it influence or change after the fact? I'd put it on there as the peak of the 2nd Golden Era so we'd have a nice beginning, middle, and end: Hogan vs. Sheik Hogan vs. Andre Hogan vs. Warrior

On top of that, the 6 Man Main Event at Bash at the Beach 1996... the NWO is born, and the biggest heel turn of all time occurs.

Isn't the 91 show where they had the "Ref Cam", which basically saw the referees wear helmets with cameras on top of them?