humanoid92

I like this one a lot, Rrrsh. I'm also a mark for Savage/Flair, and I like that you tried to get guys like Steamboat, Dynamite and the Busters on the card. I like the Piper/Goldust and Rock/Hogan strategy as well. And the 2000 match that I like to call TLC 0. No-brainer. I had the same problem with Jericho. You can't use 2000 for him because it blows two titles and two other awesome workers. Can't use X-7 because it's for the IC Title and that's a stacked card. Can't use him at X-8 because Rock/Hogan is a no-brainer and it's for the Title, can't use him at XX because Christian is in those ladder matches, and can't use him at 21 because Money in the Bank uses up too many other quality guys. So the only option is vs. Michaels (a match I love) but Shawn has way too many other options to go with. I like what you did with Day 1 and Day 2, and what CM Funk did with his card. I'm going to have to go back, make my final decisions and make something like that. One thing I just noticed though: You used Matt Hardy against Mysterio and in the Triangle Ladder Match, which is a no-no.

Good cards thus far. I appreciate the responses. I decided to try again and go with a different Savage match and a different Michaels match to see if I could get better results. Here we go: I: Hulk Hogan & Mr. T vs. Roddy Piper & Paul Orndorff II: Corporal Kirchner vs. Nikolai Volkoff (Flag Match) ......ouch III: IC Title: Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat IV: British Bulldogs & Koko B. Ware vs. The Islanders & Bobby Heenan V: Strike Force vs. Brainbusters VI: Brutus Beefcake vs. Mr. Perfect VII: Virgil vs. Ted DiBiase VIII: Tatanka vs. Rick Martel IX: Steiner Brothers vs. Headshrinkers X: Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart XI: Lawrence Taylor vs. Bam Bam Bigelow XII: Ultimate Warrior vs. Triple H 13: Legion of Doom & Ahmed Johnson vs. Faarooq, Crush & Savio Vega XIV: Undertaker vs. Kane XV: WWF Title: The Rock vs. Steve Austin 2000: Tag Team Titles: Edge & Christian vs. Hardy Boyz vs. Dudley Boyz (Triangle Ladder Match) X-7: Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle X-8: Women's Title: Trish vs. Jazz vs. Lita XIX: Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho XX: Rock, Mick Foley vs. Ric Flair, Batista & Randy Orton 21: Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Guerrero Some key decisions this time: Rock and Flair in the same match eliminates both Undertaker/Flair and Rock/Hogan from X-8, which leaves the women's match as the only choice (I'm not about to waste Austin on Hall and Angle on Kane). I'd have much rather had Austin/Rock from X-7 instead of XV but Angle/Benoit smokes anything on the other show. I could have gone Piper/Goldust or Undertaker/Diesel for 12 and switched 14 to Taka/Aguila and 1 to Andre/Studd, but whatever. I'm still not satisfied with this card; this exercise was much easier 6 or 7 years ago before Shawn's latest matches, Angle's contributions, the X-7 supercard and Rock/Hogan. Back then, Savage/Flair, Shawn/Razor and Bret/Austin all fell into place nicely (Savage/Flair eliminates Savage/Steamboat, which means Shawn/Razor gets the IC match, which takes out all of Bret's other WM classics [8, 10, 12] and leaves the Austin match) but now there are too many other factors. Hmmm... maybe I should try again sticking with those three matches as my starting points. Bah. There's a million different ways to go.

Here's what I came up with, even though I don't really like it. I: Andre the Giant vs. Big John Studd ($15,000 Bodyslam Challenge) II: Terry & Hoss Funk vs. Tito Santana & Junkyard Dog III: Tom Zenk & Rick Martel vs. Don Muraco & Bob Orton IV: Ricky Steamboat vs. Greg Valentine V: Mr. Perfect vs. Blue Blazer VI: Jake Roberts vs. Ted DiBiase VII: Ultimate Warrior vs. Randy Savage (Career Match) VIII: Jim Duggan, Sgt. Slaughter, Big Boss Man & Virgil vs. Nasty Boys, Repo Man & Mountie IX: Steiner Brothers vs. Headshrinkers X: Intercontinental Title: Razor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels (Ladder Match) XI: Lawrence Taylor vs. Bam Bam Bigelow XII: Undertaker vs. Diesel 13: Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin (Submission Match) XIV: Light Heavyweight Title: Taka Michinoku vs. Aguila XV: European Title: X-Pac vs. Shane McMahon 2000: Tag Team Titles: Edge & Christian vs. Hardy Boyz vs. Dudley Boyz (Triangle Ladder Match) X-7: Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle X-8: The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan XIX: World Heavyweight Title: Triple H vs. Booker T XX: Brock Lesnar vs. Goldberg 21: Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Guerrero I don't even really like this card. I should try again. My reasoning in the beginning was: One of the two classic IC Matches (3, 10) needs to make it and one of the two classic WM 10 matches needs to make it. Considering Wrestlemania III has a deep card, and going with the IC Title Ladder Match at 10 frees up Bret for 13, which has an otherwise weak card, I went that way. Only problem is it takes away any possibility of Shawn/Angle, Shawn/Jericho, or Shawn/HHH/Benoit. I haven't used a WWF/E Title Match for some reason. I wanted to do Savage/Flair, but then Savage/Warrior is out and I picked the latter so I could save the Title match. I wanted to use the Evolution/Rock N Sock tag match from XX, but then Rocky is out and that kills X-8. Using Undertaker at XII hurts too. The only other real alternative from that card that wouldn't kill off a bunch of guys (Bret, Shawn, Austin, Warrior, HHH, Owen, Bulldog, Jake, etc) is Piper vs. Goldust, which was barely even a match. I guess I could use that and go with Undertaker vs. Kane from XIV or Undertaker vs. Orton from 21... If I went with Taker/Orton, I could use Eddie/Angle at XX (I haven't used a WWE Title Match yet) and change X7... to... I guess Vince/Shane... except then I'd have to take Shane out of XV and use something pathetic like Holly/Snow/Gunn for the Hardcore Title or Mankind vs. Big Show. Yikes. See? Hard stuff. I guess it all depends on which major matches you decide to use and the rest falls into place from there.

There wasn't a ton of build up. Bulldog had only been a heel for a few months at that point and had challenged Diesel for the Title at the previous IYH. Bret did commentary for that match to help set up his Survivor Series match with Diesel, where he won the Title. The Bret/Bulldog match was Bret's first PPV Title defense. It was too soon for a Diesel rematch (they tended not to run the same main event 9 times in a row back then) and there were pretty much no top heels to deal with. Undertaker and Shawn were faces and were in line for shots at the next two major PPVs. Yokozuna was no longer taken seriously, and the only other heel that could have been a legit challenger was Owen, but that had been done to death. The lack of heels was still a problem after Shawn first won the Title a few months later; after going over a departing Nash, he was thrown into a program with the Bulldog. By the middle and end of '96, Vader, Sid, and Austin had been established, but for awhile there the top of the card was hurting on the heel side. Anyway, they basically just played up that Bulldog was a legitimate challenger and had beaten Bret before and could do it again. A few weeks after the IYH match, they showed it in its entirety on an episode of Raw, which I remember being really excited about since I had missed it on PPV.

It really all depends on the list of criteria. I tried to rank my top 20, but after awhile I realized I didn't even know what I was doing. If it's purely on historical significance, matches like Hogan/Andre and Hogan/Rock should make it. But if it's just workrate alone, they shouldn't. Then there are some matches that are quality and were main events, but don't really have any significance. For instance, I like Flair/Savage more than Rock/Austin (X7) but the former was forgotten about a few months later, and the latter pretty much put the exclamation point on a successful era for the company. So which should be higher? Also, I find it difficult to put a whole lot of stuff from after '98 on the show because even though it's still Wrestlemania and they still usually have a big-time feel, it's just not the same as it used to be. There's too much exposure now with 12-16 PPVs a year, and the same guys interacting every week on TV. Yet there are more really good workers now and a better chance of getting really good matches on each card. Shawn/Angle from last year was really good, but nothing else really stood out to me. Money in the Bank was exciting, but I find it hard to consider it so highly because ladder matches were just so played out by that point. Eddy/Angle from WM 20 was a great match and should probably be on the list, but again, it just didn't seem like a really big deal to me. I actually loved HBK/Jericho from WM 19; that's the one recent WM match that felt like a really big match to me, probably because Shawn hadn't been back full-time for very long at that point and there was something compelling about seeing Jericho in that position. I also find it hard to rate the TLC-type matches against each other. People say the X7 match was better, but 2000's was really good too and 2000's made more of an impact since it was the first time we saw such a match. I like your list because you give credit to Savage/Flair and HBK/Jericho but some of the newer matches are a little high for my liking. I agree with what you said about Benoit/Angle/Jericho. It was a really good match but the heatless crowd and the bizarre European Title being decided second kind of hurt it. WM Matches I feel are generally overrated: Austin/Rock. All of them. Yes, X7 was by far the best, but I don't understand where all this ***** talk comes from. It was a really good match but no way was it a classic. Maybe I need to re-watch it again, but I wasn't blown away by it at the time. XV had a good storyline but the match itself I thought was pretty boring and followed the standard Attitude main event brawl formula. XIX was just kind of pointless and the result was a foregone conclusion. Bret/Austin. I'm Bret's biggest fan and I completely understand the significance of this match. Love the storyline, and this is definitely still a top 10 WM match. But when everyone automatically puts this at #1 I scratch my head. I'm glad you only had it at #6. Undertaker/Flair. It's just nothing special. Pretty slow and uneventful. Though I'll admit I've only actually watched this one once. I just don't feel compelled to ever watch it again. Benoit/Angle. Again, I think it's an awesome match, I just thought it was overrated at the time. I remember the next day people were going nuts over it. It's a really good match that helps the card a lot but I don't see it as a ****+ classic that a lot of people pimp it as. Maybe this is another one I should re-watch. WM Matches I feel are generally underrated: Jericho/Regal. NOT that's a better match than Benoit/Angle and not that it's a masterpiece. After all, it only gets like 8 minutes. Still, something about this match feels special to me. It was just a perfect opener for that card and the right guy went over. Just an all around feel good match. Brainbusters/Strike Force. Again, not a **** match, but still good stuff. This one is remembered more for its ending, but before that there was some pretty solid wrestling going on. Twin Towers/Rockers from the same show is remembered much more (and I like that match a lot too) but at the expense of this one. Shawn/Diesel. This entire card gets forgotten, with good reason, but this was easily the match of the night. I know people complain about the psychology being backwards (the underdog little guy challenger was the heel) but I thought that made for a unique match. No one remembers this now, but a lot of people thought Shawn was going over here, and a lot of people got behind him as a "cool heel". Since it wasn't the final match on the card, it really felt like he might pull it off. Exciting match with some legitimate near falls. I liked this just as much as their brawl the following year that gets endless praise. Bret/Piper. It gets a solid amount of love, but to me it's easily top ten. A perfect little story packed into 12 minutes, with an actual meaningful ref bump and an innovative finish. Enhanced a lot by the commentary and the classic pre-match interview. This isn't a typical "classic match" but to me it is one. Shawn/Tatanka. Not a classic by any means, but a solid opener. The non-finish hurts it a little and I could have done without the Sherri/Luna stuff. It may be pretty basic stuff, but everything is really solid, and the story of Tatanka's undefeated streak against Shawn's IC Title is pretty good. Shawn is great in this match. Anyway, like I said, I find it hard to blend historical value, main events, and workrate to blend into one list that makes any sense, so here's a list of my personal favorite top WrestleMania matches: 10) Wrestlemania 2000: Edge & Christian vs. Hardy Boyz vs. Dudley Boyz Unique match at the time that felt like a big deal as it was happening. The right team went over. If they had only done one of these types of matches instead of three more in the next year-plus, this would probably be remembered as much more special. Instead, they kept topping themselves, which made for good fun, but set an impossible standard. 9) Wrestlemania XIX: Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho The wrong guy went over, yeah, but that doesn't even make me hate this match. Great performance. For some reason I like seeing Jericho in domes. Maybe because it's he always used to go on and on about how much he loved Savage/Steamboat and I think it's cool to see him in a similar big match setting. I don't know. 8) Wrestlemania 13: Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin Awesome brawl and storyline. I just happen to like everything else higher on my list a little bit more. 7) Wrestlemania VII: Randy Savage vs. Ultimate Warrior Incredible storyline. The stipulation, Warrior walking to the ring, the tights, the five elbows, the Warrior questioning his gods, the out of nowhere finish, Sherri, Elizabeth... just really exciting stuff with an ending everyone can love. 6) Wrestlemania X: Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon Watching this live, you knew you were watching something special. The best part is that the reason for the match made perfect sense within the storyline. Great story. 5) Wrestlemania XII: Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels I've made posts defending this match before so I have nothing more to say. 4) Wrestlemania VIII: Bret Hart vs. Roddy Piper Already wrote about this one too. 3) Wrestlemania VIII: Randy Savage vs. Ric Flair This is how you make things feel chaotic. Heenan, Monsoon, Flair, Hennig, and Savage are all perfect here. It didn't even seem like a big deal that we never got Hogan/Flair because this delivered so well. 2) Wrestlemania III: Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat There's nothing I can say about this one that hasn't already been said. 1) Wrestlemania X: Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart Plain and simple, this match (and storyline) made Owen's career. I used to be able to predict a fair amount of things the WWF was going to do, but somehow it never crossed my mind that Owen might actually win this match, what with all the focus on the Title picture. THIS was an upset. I just remember watching this with my friends live and being so shocked that Owen pulled it off. He had pretty much been a jobber up until that point. These days, I don't even think it would be possible to book an upset as meaningful or beneficial as this. And the storyline was perfect. Owen finally beat Bret, and proved himself to the world... and then two hours later Bret regains the Title, and he's #1 all over again. They don't do storylines like this anymore. My favorite.

I couldn't agree more. I hate it when guys just trade finishers back and forth, use each other's finishers, etc. Finishers shouldn't be the only way to end matches; otherwise, what's the point of everything else? Matches like this established that matches could actually end out of nowhere, which makes near falls mean something. Unlike today, or especially the Attitude era, when guys would go through the motions of trading near falls, but the crowd didn't buy it at all because every match ended with a finisher or interference. The point is to pin the guy's shoulders to the mat- one way to do that is to knock him out, and one way to do that is to trap him. Pinning combinations are traps. Some of the universally agreed best matches ever have pinning combination for finishes: Bret/Bulldog, Savage/Steamboat, Bret/Owen, Bret/Perfect (KOTR), Bret/Piper, Bret/Austin (SS), etc. There are a lot more memorable ones too. I think I actually prefer matches that don't end with finishers sometimes because they're less predictable, and makes the pinfall that much more dramatic. As for the Bret/Bulldog Summerslam match, I don't think it made Bulldog look weaker because he didn't win it with the running powerslam. If anything, it makes him seem smarter and more resiliant. His finisher didn't work but he found another way to get it done. The finish made sense. All it took was Bulldog anticipating that one move and countering the sunset flip and Bret was trapped. As for the original topic, I think both matches are incredible but I'll always take the Summerslam one over IYH. The storyline was awesome, it was really the first time there was a "Hart family" storyline, it was for the IC Title, Bret finally got to end a show, it put both the winner and loser over huge, 80,000 people, Wembley, big time PPV, Heenan on commentary, Diana, etc. One of my favorite entrances by Bret too. He just looked so cool... this was when he really felt like a huge star. I love a lot of the spots in this one too; like the double clothesline into the grapevine into the sharpshooter, the waistlock counter to the floor, Bulldog's big comeback, the finish, etc. I like that they did a different type of match at IYH while still playing up their past. The powerslam on the fun was awesome, and the blood made it memorable. Great match in its own right, but I don't think anyone bought that Bulldog had a legit shot at going over so the outcome was kind of a foregone conclusion. There's just no way it could have topped Summerslam for me.

I'm just glad I'm not alone. I'm not sure if it's my #1, but I'm sure it'd be in my top ten.

Those are all fair points, and I don't really disagree. Like I said, I think the Judgment Day match is a great match in its own right. I just don't like it when people automatically dismiss the WM 12 match after watching the Judgment Day one. I'd be curious to know if the same people that knock WM 12 were doing so when the PPV went off the air. I never heard such negativity about the match until way after the fact when A) people have tried to argue that they didn't want to keep putting each other over because of backstage politics and B) this 2000 match came along and did things differently. My post was really just about providing a counterpoint to all the praise the JD match gets. If you want to look at it from a certain perspective it's just as easy to criticize that match as it is to criticize the WM 12 match. I totally agree with your statement that HHH/Rock were able to trade so many falls without it being that big of a deal. In my other posts, one of the points I made was that their match was perfect for the context in which it was held- the era of six week title reigns, main eventers getting pinned all the time, etc. This is fine for their match. It just bothers me when people suggest Shawn/Bret was no good because it wasn't as high scoring. If they had done something similar as Rock/HHH, it would have seemed out of place at the time. Like you said, 6-5 and 1-0 are both exciting games. They're just different types of games. I love both matches. I don't know why they both can't be remembered as classics. As far as the finish goes, yes, I would have liked to have seen a clean finish, but to tell you the truth I didn't have a huge problem with the Undertaker. I just think its hypocritical when typical smark-types (not directing this at you, just the general consensus) will bash pretty much anything that doesn't have a clean finish, yet they shit on a match like WM 12 and praise this one. So that's always confused me. I wouldn't argue with anyone that prefers Rock/HHH. That's fine. But to say Bret/Shawn is garbage is ridiculous (again, I'm not saying that you are the one saying this; it's just seemed to be the online consensus for a long time now).

Good list thus far. There's a few things I would have done differently, but that's to be expected in a list like this. Unless I overlooked it, I don't think you've listed Savage/Flair from WM 8 yet. If that's the case, I assume it will be in the top 20, which is refreshing to see. One of my favorite matches ever, and one that doesn't get enough respect. Flair and Perfect's ridiculous cheating, Savage's awesome selling of the knee injury, Flair's bladejob, the chaos with Elizabeth and all the officials, the dome atmosphere, the out of nowhere finish, Heenan having a heart attack in the booth, the ranting Heenan and Perfect did afterwards even though Flair was somehow really calm. That match had it all. Total chaos. And then Gorilla spends the entire next match ripping on Heenan. Awesome. People that shit on the Bret/Shawn Iron Man has always been one of my pet peeves. These must be the same people that love the DH. Just because Rock and HHH had a high scoring match four years later doesn't detract from this one. As soon as they announced Rock/HHH would be an Iron Man Match I remember thinking they'd do a high scoring match just to be different from WM 12. I like the Rock/HHH Iron Man a lot for the same reasons everyone else does, but I still like Bret and Shawn's more. If you go to a baseball game that goes ten innings and the score ends up being 1-0, you probably just saw a hell of a game. Who cares if there weren't a million runs scored? I'll take a 1-0 game over a 15-14 game any day. Besides, what's often overlooked is that I think the basic idea for Bret/Shawn was to do a throwback match to the era of one hour broadways (except of course with the decisive ending in overtime). It was totally believable that Bret/Shawn would go an hour without scoring a fall because they'd both been in long matches before. People complain about the slow start, but it's perfect psychology within the context of the match. They know they're gonna be out there for an hour and don't want to lose the important first fall, so they don't take a lot of high risks and pace themselves. Smart wrestling. Then as it progressed and it became apparent that the first fall just might win the whole thing, they started turning it up and going all out. That match built beautifully. You also have to remember that the Rock/HHH match was in a time period when fans were used to very short matches. Most TV matches from '98 and '99 were two minutes long (thank you, Russo). Even though Russo was gone by 2000 and the style of the shows was beginning to shift, the effect of this was still lingering. Look at the length of most Raw matches in 2000. Main events were usually 7 or 8 minutes and rarely did a midcard match go 5 mintues. At that point, fans would have shit on a match that went 25 or 35 minutes between falls. Plus they wanted to do something different that had never been done before. That's fine and it made for a great match but it doesn't effect the awesomeness of Bret/Shawn. The era also affected the match in other ways. Decisions in Rock/HHH came off DDTs and sleepers and everyone praises that just because it's different. Now I admittedly like this psychology because it makes sense and builds up the idea that moves other than finishers can do damage, and that they're fatigued from being in there for so long that they're being beaten with moves they normally wouldn't lose to. But in the context of the WWF at that time, one could easily make the argument that this made them look very weak. When you've got guys like Val Venis and D'Lo Brown kicking out of DDTs every week on Raw and no one's been beaten with a sleeper since the 80s, it's easy to argue that this sort of thing hurt any sort of perception of "invincibility" either guy may have had going. The DQ and countout decisions are another example. The bit with HHH intentionally taking a DQ by delivering a chairshot, then getting a pin to get the fall back and weaken the Rock in the process was praised as smart psychology. That's fine; it was unique and did make some sense (although why not just keep doing that repeatedly?). But how does no one have a problem with DQs playing such a big role in a Title match? I especially don't see how people tolerate the ending. I see people criticise matches and bring them down a notch "because of the finish" all the time. Well, Bret/Shawn had a clean, dramatic finish. This match had the Undertaker inexplicably running in, trying to pull off a poorly timed clusterfuck, and the match and title winning fall was decided by DQ. How is that at all a satisfying ending to the viewer? Especially after you've just invested an hour of your time watching them go at it with no prior outside interference? One last thing no one mentions: Your new Champion got beat 5 times during the match. Something like this would have been unacceptable even as late as 1996. Where's the logic in that? We're gonna have our new champion job five times in the match where he wins the Title? Please. That's a total product of the Russo era. In '98, '99 and still in 2000, the Title was switching hands every six weeks and main eventers were pinned on TV all the time (usually once a week in Raw main event tag matches). So by that point it was no big deal for top guys to take falls that often. That's why their match worked. But before the Attitude era, no booker ever would have jobbed one of their top guys three or four times in one night like that, even if they were just trading falls with another main eventer. It just wouldn't have been considered smart. So basically, the Rock/HHH match was a product of its time where it was acceptable to have that type of match. It suited their style, the company's style, and the way the fans had been conditioned. And in a way, because we'd already seen a match like Bret/Shawn that was 1-0, it made perfect sense for them to do this type of match. But that's no reason to shit on Bret/Shawn, because it was brilliant in its own right, and was so without relying on wacky falls, high scoring, DQs, and a run-in finish. So yeah... I'd like to see the WM 12 Iron Matn get a lot more respect.

Agreed. It's bullshit. When you have one of the first entrants last all the way until the end and win it every other year, it cheapens the whole thing. Rey could have come in at 20 and it would have been just as effective. He doesn't have to be the iron man too. #1, #2, and #3 have won it plenty of times now, yet no one from the 6-15 range ever does anything. Rey could have been #12 and looked just as good. The whole #1 and #2 hang around until the end is so played out. Carlito's performance would have been put over a lot more as well if it hadn't been for this booking. Instead it's meaningless. And since when do #1 and #2 have to be established guys every year? The numbers are supposed to be random, right? Why can't guys like Matt Hardy and Murdoch be 1 and 2? I did like that they threw some star power into the 5-12 slots, which are usually dead weight. But the 1-2 thing has got to stop. One of these years, I want to see them do something so unorthodox just to shake it up and try to re-establish the idea that "anything can happen." Like have the ring get cleared out around #24 except for one guy. Then he eliminates #25 in a minute, #26, #27, etc until it's just him and #30 in there. Kind of like Diesel in '94 but at the end of the match.

As far as names that have already been mentioned go, Kid, Jannetty, Bulldog, Bigelow, and Razor deserve a lot of credit. Hennig and Savage were still alright when they were around in '93. Ditto for DiBiase. IRS was a decent midcard heel. Good for what he was. Tatanka wasn't terrible before the heel turn. The Steiner Brothers were good while they lasted. The Bob Backlund heel turn somehow worked. Goldust was a really interesting gimmick at first. Mankind debuted in '96 and immediately beat the Undertaker, which was pretty shocking. I loved Jeff Jarrett's originial shtick and his feud with Razor. He was a really good IC Champ. Marc Mero had some really good matches with HHH and Austin his first year. Johnny Polo was funny. 96 and 97 also saw the rise of Steve Austin. I know business was down for these years, but I think 93 and 94 were awesome years as far as storylines and in-ring action. And '96-'97 as at least interesting to look back on because they were getting their ass kicked and trying new things.

1) The winner of the 2006 Royal Rumble will be: Rey Mysterio 2) Who will be the "Ironman" of the 2006 Royal Rumble? Carlito 3) Who will last the shortest amount of time in the ring? Super Crazy 4) Who will get the most eliminations? (If there is a tie, you get your points) Lashley 5) Who will be the last man eliminated? Orton 6) Will the winner be from Smackdown or Raw? Smackdown Three point questions...pick the man who will be in the Royal Rumble the LATEST (not who lasts the longest) out of the two choices below: 7) Orlando Jordan 8) Shawn Michaels 9) Shelton Benjamin 10) Kane 11) HHH 12) Rey Mysterio 13) Rob Van Dam 14) Randy Orton 15) Chris Masters 16) Joey Mercury One point questions: 17) Who will draw #'s 1-4? Matt Hardy, Benjamin, Johnny Nitro, Viscera 18) Who will be the last four men in the ring? Mysterio, Orton, Michaels, Kane 19) Who will be the last RAW superstar eliminated? Kane 20) Who will be the last Smackdown superstar eliminated? Orton 21) Who will draw #'s 27-30 (One point for each correct person) Masters, Booker, Animal, Flair 22) True or False: We will see a Boogeyman/Undertaker showdown False. 23) True or False: We will see a surprise return sometime during the Rumble True (Goldust). 24) True or False: Somebody in the Rumble match will blade False. 25) True or False: Vince McMahon will interfere in the Rumble True. TIEBREAKER QUESTION: Give the exact time this year's Rumble match will last: 62:09

I'm not sure I understand that logic. Lots of times wrestlers job on TV before going over in big matches at the PPV. Jericho jobbed to Austin on the Raw before he became the Undisputed Champion. If anything it makes more sense. Henry beating Rey, but Rey winning the Rumble makes them both look strong because now Henry has a legitimate reason to think he can be the #1 contender. But if Rey had won on Smackdown and wins the Rumble, he's the only one that benefits. Sure, it's even-steven booking, but that's they way they've operated for years now. In the Jericho example from above, Austin saved face because he had already beat him and logically led to a rematch. Plus, it made Jericho's more of a surprise. If Rey is going to win the Rumble (and I'm not saying he is) he's going to do it as an underdog, not as a favorite. So why should they build him up with a bunch of wins first? He's not a big guy, he's not unstoppable. Now that they've established him that way, that would make a Rumble win that much more special. That said, I still find it hard to believe they'll have him win it. Of course, I also found it hard to believe they'd be dumb enough to have a lame battle royale to declare a new champion when they easily could have put the vacant title on the line in the Rumble match, so who knows what they're doing.

Ray Stevens

As I'm sure most of you do, I love the concept of the WWE's wrestler-specific DVD sets. I love the Bret and Flair sets, and have been meaning to pick up Benoit's and Eddie's. But even though I love these sets, I can't help but wonder if they could be so much more. What I'm about to suggest might seem a bit excessive, but let me ask you this? Ten years ago did anyone expect all these seasons of TV shows would be so easily available to us? There was a time when the idea of people spending money on Full House Season Two or Boy Meets World Season Four would have seemed absurd. But here we are. It's the DVD age. I think the WWE should take full advantage of it. Bret Hart's DVD set is pretty good. A fair amount of the essentials are there, like Summerslams with Perfect and Bulldog, and Wrestlemanias with Owen and Austin. And they make an effort to include some lesser known stuff like the Hakushi match, the Owen Action Zone match, the early tag matches from MSG, etc., and that's fine. But with a mere three disc set for someone that had a career like Bret's, there's bound to be so much that's left out. You don't see Seinfeld releasing a DVD of their top ten episodes. They put all the episodes out. That's all I'm asking for; an effort to be more complete. That's not to say I think every single freaking match he ever wrestled should be on there. But I think for legends like Bret there should be more of an effort to include a more comprehensive view of his career. Bret's DVD has no mention or footage of so many of his career highlights, including: the two Tag Title victories, the IC Title victory over Piper, the first WWF Title win over Flair, the huge second title win at MSG, the King of the Ring win, the Royal Rumble win, the Title win over Undertaker, the Iron Man match with Shawn, the Cage Match with Owen, the Survivor Series match with Austin, the Canadian Stampede win, etc. And there are no explanations of major storylines, such as the Bret/Owen family feud, the start of the Bret/Austin stuff, all the Bret/Shawn stuff, and the reformation of the Hart Foundation. Anyone that bought Bret's DVD probably already knew about a lot of those things, but they probably were also hoping to be able to re-live them. For a true complete Bret Hart DVD, all those career highlights, the Hart Foundation era, Title wins and losses, KOTR and Rumble wins, major PPV matches, the family feud, etc. should be covered in detail. And it would be nice to see some "rare gems" on there as well, instead of only the major events which many people have already seen at some point. It would be a real treat to be subjected to some "new" Bret footage from old Superstars, Primetimes, Coliseums, MSG cards, Raws, etc. With the WWE's extensive history and tape library, there's no reason why this shouldn't be possible. And while a proposed set like this would surely sell for three times the price of the current Bret set, I can't imagine that it would cost much more to produce, since they already have all this footage at their disposal. Of course this treatment should only be given to a special few. Bret, Flair, and Michaels immediately come to mind. Maybe Benoit. Few others from the modern era have such long and storied careers. The thing that would make these sets so good is that guys like this have had such long careers and have been involved with so many different types of matches, eras, storylines, and promotions. The structure of wrestling in the 80s and early 90s was so much different than it was today, and it would be fun to see that era resurface on DVD. These days there are no "rare" matches. No MSG/Boston Garden shows that are recorded, no Coliseum Video matches, no television specials. That's why I wouldn't be able to see a set like this work for someone like HHH, or as great as he is, Kurt Angle. All of their best stuff is from easily accessible PPVs and primetime weekly television shows. Today's homogenized WWE just isn't as fun. For example, what "rare" Kurt Angle matches exist? There are none. But with Bret, there's Dynamite Kid footage from Stampede, the Ladder match with Shawn, a match with Tiger Mask II from Japan, an old match with Hennig from MSG, the phantom Title switch against the Rockers, and even Terry Funk's "retirement" match. With Benoit, there's a ton of rare stuff from Japan, his early WCW days, and even the Pillman Memorial Show match against Regal. But today's wrestlers are magnified and over-exposed from day one. And they usually wrestle the same style night after night. I think comprehensive DVDs for Bret, Flair, Shawn, Benoit, etc. would be a great way to celebrate the time when wrestling wasn't so stale, and the long versatile careers of a select few.

47. Jeff Jarrett 48. Christian 49. Ricky Morton

I vaguely remember that plan. Did it ever end up happening on Smackdown? For some reason I'm able to picture Brock trapped in both the anklelock and crossface at the same time and having no choice but to tap out... but I honestly don't know if that's just my imagination or it really happened. Wow.

I'm not the biggest fan of triple threats, but every now and then there are some awesome ones (WM XX, WM 2000, to name a few). Of course triple threats didn't really become prominent until ten years ago. I can't help but think that had certain combinations gotten the chance to partake in triple threats in the late 80s/early 90s, they could have been awesome. I think it would be really interesting to see how classic wrestlers like Flair, Savage, Steamboat, Bret, Hennig, etc. would have incorporated their styles and solid psychology into a three way match. I think their matches would have been a lot different than most of today's that rely on a couple of high spots to take one guy out of the match while the other two go at it. So what are some triple threat matches from the past that you would have liked to have seen? Here are some on my list to get things started: - Steamboat vs. Savage vs. Flair The thought of this is what inspired the thread. I couldn't stop thinking about this match, with Savage as the tweener, and all the cool spots they could have done. For the finish, I'd have Savage pin Flair after dropping the flying elbow onto him while he has Steamboat in the Figure 4. - Hogan vs. Savage vs. Flair - Hogan vs. Warrior vs. Savage Three big time names. - Rockers vs. Hart Foundation vs. Brainbusters Looks incredible on paper. - Rockers vs. Hart Foundation vs. Demolition - Rockers vs. Hart Foundation vs. Legion of Doom Could have been good. - Bret vs. Owen vs. Bulldog - Bret vs. Perfect vs. Shawn - Razor vs. Diesel vs. Shawn

I vaguely remember that plan. Did it ever end up happening on Smackdown? For some reason I'm able to picture Brock trapped in both the anklelock and crossface at the same time and having no choice but to tap out... but I honestly don't know if that's just my imagination or it really happened. Wow.

Would it really end up costing $200 though? I was thinking more along the lines of $80-$100 which is still a whole lot of money, yes, but if people are willing to spend $35 for crappy PPVs every month and another $20 when those same PPVs then come out on DVD every month, I think it would still sell well. I admit that I don't know anything about how the DVD editing process works. Does it really cost a shitload of money to edit out the WWF mentions and digitally restore all the footage? I still don't understand why they can't say "WWF" in all the old footage. That was the name of the freaking company for all those years. It was called that in 1989. Why should they have to alter footage from 1989 that mentions WWF? Makes no sense. Stupid pandas.

This is an example of a DVD collection I would put together for Bret Hart: HART: The Complete Collection *Main Feature: In-depth 2-3 hour interview with Bret, covering his career in detail* Part I: Ups and Downs Disc One: - Hart Foundation vs. British Bulldogs: Tampa, FL, 1/26/87, Superstars - Hart Foundation vs. Strike Force: Syracuse, NY, 10/27/87, Superstars - Hart Foundation vs. Demolition (2 out of 3 Falls Match): Philadelphia, PA, 8/27/90, Summerslam - Hart Foundation vs. Nasty Boys: Los Angeles, CA, 3/24/91, Wrestlemania VII - Bret Hart vs. Mr. Perfect: New York, NY, 8/26/91, Summerslam - Bret Hart vs. The Mountie*: Springfield, MA, 1/17/92 - Bret Hart vs. Rowdy Roddy Piper: Indianapolis, IN, 4/5/92, Wrestlemania VIII - Bret Hart vs. British Bulldog: London, England, 8/29/92, Summerslam Disc Two:** - Bret Hart vs. Ric Flair: Saskatoon, SA, Canada, 10/12/92, Primetime - Bret Hart vs. Yokozuna: Las Vegas, NV, 4/4/93, Wrestlemania IX - Bret Hart vs. Yokozuna, New York, NY, 3/20/94, Wrestlemania X - Bret Hart vs. Bob Backlund (Submission Match): San Antonio, TX, 11/23/94, Survivor Series - Bret Hart vs. Diesel (No Holds Barred Match): Washington DC, 11/19/95, Survivor Series Disc Three: - Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels (Iron Man Match): Anaheim, CA, 3/31/96, Wrestlemania XII - Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin vs. Undertaker vs. Vader (Fatal Four Way): Chattanooga, TN, 2/16/97, In Your House: Final Four - Bret Hart vs. Psycho Sid: Nashville, TN, 2/17/97, Raw - Bret Hart vs. The Undertaker (Special Ref: Shawn Michaels): East Rutherford, NJ, 8/3/97, Summerslam - Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels: Montreal, QU, Canada, 11/9/97, Survivor Series Bonus Disc:*** (Stampede and WCW Title Matches) - Bret Hart & Keith Hart vs. Raul Castillo & Fidel Castillo: Stampede, 11/12/78 - Bret Hart vs. Norman Frederich Charles III: Stampede, 10/14/78 - Bret Hart vs. Dynamite Kid: Stampede, 6/1/79 - Bret Hart & Keith Hart vs. Dynamite Kid & Lochness: Stampede, __/__/80 - Bret Hart vs. Leo Burke: Stampede, __/__/80 - Bret Hart vs. Bad News Allen: Stampede, 10/17/82 - Bret Hart vs. Diamond Dallas Page: Salt Lake City, UT, 7/20/98, WCW Nitro - Bret Hart vs. Lex Luger: Fargo, ND, 9/13/98, WCW Thunder - Bret Hart vs. Diamond Dallas Page: Chattanooga, TN, 11/30/98, WCW Nitro - Bret Hart vs. Bill Goldberg: 10/25/99, WCW Nitro - Bret Hart vs. Chris Benoit: Toronto, ON, Canada, 11/21/98, WCW Mayhem - Bret Hart vs. Bill Goldberg: Baltimore, MD, 12/20/99, WCW Nitro *This occured at a house show, but footage of the pinfall was shown at Royal Rumble 1992, so video, though not of the greatest quality, does exist. If the entire match is unavailable, the clips documenting the Title change would be sufficient. **There’s a small amount of room for more extras (promos, interviews, reflections, etc.) on the second disk. ***I'm unaware of the length of the Stampede matches but if they're as long as I think they are, all these matches would probably be unable to fit onto this disc. However, many of the Stampede matches may not exist in their entirety and only include the finish. So while some matches might be clipped due to time issues or tape issues, the above matches should at least be represented on the disc, even if they are not able to be shown in their entirety. Part II: All in the Family Disc One: - Hart Foundation vs. British Bulldogs: New York, NY, 7/13/85, MSG - Bret Hart vs. British Bulldog: Worcester, MA, 4/23/87, Superstars - Bret Hart vs. British Bulldog*: Calgary, AB, Canada, 12/15/95, Stu Hart Retirment Show - Bret Hart vs. British Bulldog: Hershey, PA, 12/17/95, In Your House - Bret Hart vs. Jim Neidhart*: Green Bay, WI, 8/31/94, TV Taping - Bret Hart vs. Jim Neidhart*: Montreal, QU, Canada, 10/21/94, Jacques Rougeau Retirement Show - Bret Hart & Owen Hart vs. The Steiner Brothers: Florence, SC, Coliseum - Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Bruce Hart & Keith Hart vs. Shawn Michaels & The Knights: Boston, MA, 11/24/93, Survivor Series Disc Two: - Bret Hart & Owen Hart vs. The Quebecers: Providence, RI, 1/22/94, Royal Rumble - Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart: New York, NY, 3/20/94, Wrestlemania X - Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart (Lumberjack Match): Portland, ME, 8/17/94, Coliseum - Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart (Steel Cage Match): Chicago, IL, 8/29/94, Summerslam - Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart: White Plains, NY, 9/28/94, Action Zone - Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart (No Holds Barred): Stockton, CA, 3/13/95, Raw - Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart: New Haven, CT, 11/18/86, Raw Disc Three: - Bret Hart & British Bulldog vs. Owen Hart & Jim Neidhart: Bushkill, NY, 11/7/94, Raw - Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart** (European Title Tournament semi-final): Hamburg, Germany, 2/25/97, Raw - Bret Hart & British Bulldog vs. Vader & The Patriot (Flag Match): St. Louis, MO, 10/5/97, Bad Blood - Bret Hart, Owen Hart & British Bulldog vs. Steve Austin, Undertaker & Dude Love (Flag Match): Halifax, Nova Scotia, 7/21/97, Raw - Bret Hart, Owen Hart, British Bulldog, Jim Neidhart & Brian Pillman vs. Steve Austin, Legion of Doom, Goldust & Ken Shamrock: Calgary, AB, Canada, 7/6/97, Canadian Stampede Bonus Disc:*** (Owen Hart Tribute) - Owen Hart vs. Tatanka: Baltimore, MD, 6/19/94, King of the Ring - Owen Hart vs. 1-2-3 Kid: Baltimore, MD, 6/19/94, King of the Ring - Owen Hart vs. Razor Ramon: Baltimore, MD, 6/19/94, King of the Ring - Owen Hart & Yokozuna vs. The Smoking Gunns: Hartford, CT, 4/2/95, Wrestlemania XI - Battle Royal w/ Owen Hart: Brandon, MN, Canada, 10/23/95, Raw - Owen Hart & British Bulldog vs. The Smoking Gunns: Philadelphia, PA, 9/22/96, Mind Games - Owen Hart vs. British Bulldog (European Tournament Final): Berlin, Germany, 2/26/97, Raw - Owen Hart vs. The Rock: Omaha, NE, 4/28/97, Raw - Owen Hart vs. Chris Benoit****: Johnstown, PA, 6/7/95, TV Taping - Bret Hart vs. Chris Benoit (Owen Hart Tribute): Kansas City, MO, 10/5/99, WCW Nitro *I'm unsure about the availability and quality of video footage for these three matches, though I suspect there is sufficient footage from the retirement shows. I'm also unsure about the length of the two Neidhart matches, but I doubt they exceed twenty minutes. If that is the case, there should probably be enough time for all the matches on this disk, but given these variables, one of them can be eliminated. **I know this was acknowledged on Raw, but unsure if it ever aired. It occurred on a tour of Germany, so I'm not sure if it was actually recorded. If not, obviously, it would not be included. Either way, this disc would be a little light, but there are plenty of extras that could be included, such as the Hart Family's history, video footage of the Hart House in Calgary, the on-screen re-uniting of the Hart Foundation, etc. ***This disc also includes comments from other wrestlers about Owen, his career highlights, promos, his Slammy Award victory, the King of the Ring coronation ceremony, a Tribute video, etc. ****This match occurred at a TV Taping, but wasn't necessarily recorded, as it was a WWF tryout match for Benoit. If unavailable, this can be replaced with one of Owen's early WWF matches, another Bulldog/Owen Tag Title defense, or perhaps a rare Owen match from Japan (if they can acquire the video) or Stampede. Part III: The Foundation Disc One:* - Hart Foundation vs. British Bulldogs: Philadelphia, PA, 4/27/85, PRISM TV - Hart Foundation vs. British Bulldogs: New York, NY, 9/23/85, MSG/Coliseum - Hart Foundation vs. British Bulldogs: Boston, MA, 11/1/86, Coliseum - Hart Foundation vs. British Bulldogs (Non-Title): South Bend, IN, 11/19/86, Superstars - Hart Foundation vs. British Bulldogs (2 out of 3 Falls): South Bend, IN, 4/28/87, SNME - Hart Foundation vs. British Bulldogs: New York, NY, 7/25/87, Primetime Disc Two: - Hart Foundation vs. Killer Bees: Boston, MA, 2/8/86. NESN - Hart Foundation vs. Killer Bees: New York, NY, 2/17/86, MSG - Hart Foundation vs. Killer Bees: Philadelphia, PA, 9/18/87, PRISM TV - Hart Foundation vs. Rougeau Brothers: Boston, MA, 9/10/88, NESN - Hart Foundation vs. Rougeau Brothers: Boston, MA, 10/8/88, NESN - Hart Foundation vs. Rougeau Brothers: New York, NY, 10/24/88, MSG - Hart Foundation vs. Rockers: Springfield, MA, 8/29/89, Primetime - Hart Foundation vs. Rockers: New York, NY, 11/25/89, MSG - Hart Foundation vs. Rockers: Austin, TX, 4/23/90, SNME - Hart Foundation vs. Rockers: Tokyo, Japan, 3/30/91, Wrestlefest Disc Three: - Hart Foundation vs. The Islanders: Toronto, ON, Canada, 11/16/86, All-American - Hart Foundation vs. Twin Towers: Duluth, MN, 5/17/89, Primetime - Hart Foundation vs. Powers of Pain: Niagra Falls, NY, 6/27/89, Primetime - Hart Foundation vs. Powers of Pain: Ft. Myers, FL, 1/23/90, Primetime - Hart Foundation vs. Orient Express: Chattanooga, TN, 1/8/91, Challenge - Hart Foundation vs. Earthquake & Dino Bravo: New York, NY, 3/15/91, MSG - Hart Foundation vs. Legion of Doom: Biloxi, MS, 3/12/91, Coliseum - Hart Foundation vs. Rhythm N Blues: Indianapolis, IN, 10/29/90, Superstars - Hart Foundation vs. Power & Glory: London, ON, Canada, 12/13/90, Coliseum Bonus Disc: (Hart Foundation on PPV) - Battle Royale: Chicago, IL, 4/7/86, Wrestlemania II - Hart Foundation & Danny Davis vs. British Bulldogs & Tito Santana: Pontiac, MI, 3/29/87, Wrestlemania III - Battle Royale: Atlantic City, NJ, 3/27/88, Wrestlemania IV - Hart Foundation vs. Demolition: New York, NY, 8/29/88, Summerslam - Hart Foundation & Jim Duggan vs. Rougeau Brothers & Dino Bravo (2 out of 3 Falls): Houston, TX, 1/15/89, Royal Rumble - Hart Foundation vs. Rhythm N Blues: Atlantic City, NJ, 4/2/89, Wrestlemania V - Hart Foundation vs. Brainbusters: East Rutherford, NJ, 8/28/89, Summerslam - Hart Foundation vs. Bolsheviks: Toronto, ON, Canada, 4/1/90, Wrestlemania VI - Hart Foundation, Koko B. Ware & Dusty Rhodes vs. Ted DiBiase, Undertaker & Rhythm N Blues: Hartford, CT, 11/22/90, Survivor Series - Hart Foundation vs. Nasty Boys (Foundation's last match): New York, NY, 7/1/91, MSG - New Foundation (Owen Hart & Jim Neidhart) vs. Nasty Boys: Austin, TX, 12/4/91, Primetime - New Foundation vs. Orient Express: Albany, NY, 1/19/92, Royal Rumble *There's a lot of room for more extras (promos, interviews, reflections, etc.) on the first disc. Part IV: Showtime (Bret's PPV Matches) Disc One: - Bret Hart vs. Skinner: Austin, TX, 12/3/91, Tuesday in Texas - Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels: Richfield, OH, 11/25/92, Survivor Series - Bret Hart vs. Razor Ramon: Sacramento, CA, 1/24/93, Royal Rumble - Bret Hart vs. Razor Ramon: Dayton, OH, 6/13/93, King of the Ring - Bret Hart vs. Mr. Perfect: Dayton, OH, 6/13/93, King of the Ring - Bret Hart vs. Bam Bam Bigelow: Dayton, OH, 6/13/93, King of the Ring - 1994 Royal Rumble*: Providence, RI, 1/22/94, Royal Rumble Disc Two: - Bret Hart vs. Diesel: Baltimore, MD, 6/19/94, King of the Ring - Bret Hart vs. Diesel: Tampa, FL, 1/22/95, Royal Rumble - Bret Hart vs. Bob Backlund (I Quit Match): Hartford, CT, 4/2/95, Wrestlemania XI - Bret Hart vs. Jean Pierre Lafitte: Saginaw, MI, 9/24/95, In Your House - Bret Hart vs. The Undertaker: Fresno, CA, 1/21/96, Royal Rumble - Bret Hart vs. Diesel (Steel Cage Match): Louisville, KY, 2/18/96, In Your House - Bret Hart vs. Psycho Sid: West Palm Beach, FL, 12/15/96, In Your House: It's Time Disc Three:** - Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin: New York, NY, 11/17/96, Survivor Series - Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin: Chicago, IL, 3/23/97, Wrestlemania XIII - Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin: Rochester, NY, 4/20/97, In Your House: Revenge of the Taker - Bret Hart vs. The Patriot: Louisville, KY, 9/7/97, In Your House: Ground Zero - Bret Hart vs. The Undertaker: Birmingham, England, 9/20/97, One Night Only Bonus Disc: (The Jerry Lawler Feud) - Bret Hart & Owen Hart vs. Jerry Lawler & Jeff Jarrett: Memphis, TN, 8/16/93, USWA TV - Bret Hart vs. Doink: Auburn Hills, MI, 8/30/93, Summerslam - Bret Hart vs. Jerry Lawler: Auburn Hills, MI, 8/30/93, Summerslam - Bret Hart vs. Jerry Lawler: Stockton, CA, 3/13/95, Raw - Bret Hart vs. Hakushi: Syracuse, NY, 5/14/95, In Your House - Bret Hart vs. Jerry Lawler: Syracuse, NY, 5/14/95, In Your House - Bret Hart vs. Jerry Lawler (Kiss My Foot Match): Philadelphia, PA, 6/24/95, King of the Ring - Bret Hart vs. Issac Yankem: Pittsburgh, PA, 8/27/95, Summerslam - Bret Hart vs. Issac Yankem (Steel Cage Match): Grand Rapids, MI, 9/25/95, Raw - 1997 Royal Rumble*** *Shown from Bret's entrance until the finish, which is about 15 minutes. **There's room for extras (promos, interviews, reflections, etc.) on Disc Three. ***Shown from the Bret Hart/Jerry Lawler confrontation to the finish. Part V: Buried Treasure (Rare Gems) Disc One: - Bret Hart vs. Dynamite Kid (2 out of 3 Falls)*: Stampede - Bret Hart vs. Dynamite Kid (Ladder Match)*: Stampede - Bret Hart vs. Rene Goulet: New York, NY, 1/25/85, All-American - Bret Hart vs. Ricky Steamboat: Boston, MA, 3/8/86, NESN - Bret Hart vs. Randy Savage: Seattle, WA, 11/11/87, SNME - Bret Hart vs. Bad News Brown: New York, NY, 4/25/88, MSG - Bret Hart vs. Ted DiBiase: Odessa, TX, 3/8/89, Primetime Disc Two: - Bret Hart vs. Mr. Perfect: New York, NY, 4/24/89, MSG - Battle Royale w/ Bret Hart: Hamilton, ON, Canada, 5/1/89, Coliseum - Bret Hart vs. Mr. Perfect: Wheeling, WV, 10/2/89, Primetime - Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels: Ft. Myers, FL, 1/23/90, Challenge - Bret Hart vs. Tiger Mask II: Tokyo, Japan, 4/13/90, Coliseum - Bret Hart vs. Honky Tonk Man: Indianapolis, IN, 10/29/90, Survivor Series Showdown - Hart Foundation vs. Rockers (2 out of 3 Falls)**: Ft. Wayne, IN, 10/30/90, SNME Taping - Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels (Ladder Match): Portland, ME, 7/21/92, Coliseum - Bret Hart vs. Virgil: Terre Haute, IN, 10/27/92, Superstars - Bret Hart vs. Papa Shango: Terry Haute, IN, 10/27/92, SNME - Bret Hart vs. Yokozuna (Steel Cage Match): Augusta, ME, 12/15/93, Coliseum Disc Three: - Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels (Steel Cage Match): Utica, NY, 12/1/93, Coliseum - Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels: Fayetville, NC, 1/12/94, TV Taping - Bret Hart vs. Bob Backlund: Ocean City, MD, 7/3/94, Superstars - Bret Hart vs. 1-2-3 Kid: Bushkill, PA, 7/1/94, Raw - Bret Hart vs. Jeff Jarrett: Houston, TX, 1/9/95, Raw - Bret Hart vs. Hakushi: Louisville, KY, 7/24/95, Raw - Bret Hart vs. Goldust: Stockton, CA, 1/22/96, Raw - Bret Hart vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley: Cincinnati, OH, 2/19/96, Raw - Bret Hart vs. Terry Funk: Amarillo, TX, 9/11/97, Terry Funk Retirement Show Bonus Disc:*** - Bret Hart vs. Ric Flair (Marathon Match): Boston, MA, 1/9/93 - Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart (Marathon Match): Long Island, NY, 7/9/94 *I'm not positive that video footage of these entire matches exist, but at the very least portions of them do. **This is the phantom Title switch when the top rope broke. Even though it was supposedly terrible and never saw the light of day, I think it would be neat to see. ***This isn't actually feasible and I wouldn't expect them to be included. As far as I know, only fan-cams of these matches exist, and the WWE would never use footage like that. It's too bad they didn't record these matches themselves.

I find tons of stuff from the WWF from the 93-94 era to be underrated. Summerslam 93 has good matches left and right. Razor/DiBiase was pretty good, Steiners/Bodies was awesome, Shawn/Perfect was good (even though it was a disappointment), and the 6 man tag was solid. The Bret/Lawler stuff was amazing. And even the main event, while a regrettable idea, wasn't terrible. I've always thought the '95 Rumble was underrated too, probably because of the abbreviated Rumble match. But even so, the Shawn/Bulldog start to finish storyline was cool and the undercard is tremendous. Bret/Diesel and Jarrett/Razor were excellent and the tag match was way better than it sounds on paper. KOTR 93 and KOTR 94 are both incredible too, despite the stupid Piper vs. Lawler match. A lot of the stuff from the WWF in 1998 and some of 1999 is overrated. "Shock TV" and "Attitude" may have been a successful strategy and a perfect format for Raw, but a lot of the PPVs don't age very well. I agree with what was said about the HHH/Austin brawl from No Mercy but that's far from the only match from that era that's guilty of mindless brawling. For the better part of 2 years it seemed like most PPV Main Events followed the same tired formula. Token brawl on the floor, then a convoluted clothesline over the barrier so they can brawl through the crowd for 5-10 minutes, back down the aisle towards ringside, 5 minutes in the ring, back to the floor so they can break the Spanish announcers table and back in the ring for the finish, which usually involved a bunch of outside interference. Just awful. Not to mention the fact that finishers and outside interference became the ONLY ways for a match to end. There was never any suspense for any other near falls. And to top it off, for most of '98 the undercard sucked and was never given any sort of time. A lot of those shows age terribly.

Indeed I was. I love that match. How about this one from early 95: Bret vs. Diesel vs. Backlund. Probably would have sucked but the storyline was there.

Agreed. I think they actually did that on a bunch of house shows/TV taping dark matches. Or maybe it was Bret-Shawn-Sid. Or maybe it was both. I can't remember. Savage vs. Steamboat vs. Honky Tonk Man would have been interesting in mid 87 after Honky took the IC Title off Steamboat and Savage turned face.

Somehow I'm convinced we'll see TBS/Kane vs. Carlito/Masters for the Tag Titles. There probably won't be enough room on the card to give Carlito or Masters high profile singles matches, but you know they'll want to give them something important to do.