Favorite WWE Free-TV Match

[Guest Anglesault]

Rescue 911! LOL

[Guest Trivia247]

Favorite Normal Match I have many.... One sticks out in my head

 

HHH vs Kaientai and Brooklyn Brawler.

[Guest Johnny Blaze]

You all forgot the best free tv match ever.

Bret/Benoit (the Owen tribute match)

[Guest Mattdotcom]

But this is WWF, so no one mentioned a WCW match, although legally we could.

 

Favorite:

Raw 2000 Ten-Man Tag

 

&

 

Gimmick:

TLC III

[Guest Kid Kablam]

Gimmick: Cage match Angle vs Benoit

Reg Austin/HHH vs enoit/Jericho

[Guest BionicRedneck]

Gimmick: Hmmmm, probably TLC III

 

Non-Gimmick: Benoit Vs Austin from Edmonton was WWF MOTY, IMO

[Guest Brian]

Owen Hart vs. Bulldog from Germany, finals of Euro Tournament

[Guest BigPoppaKev]

Gimmick: TLC 3

 

Normal: Benoit/Austin from Smackdown in Edmonton.

 

Notice Benoit is in both of those matches?

[Guest Vitamin X]

And the pointless Benoit marking begins in this thread....

[Guest Will Scarlet]

Normal match: Jericho/Benoit vs. Triple H/Austin made me mark out for the first time in years, so I will go with that one.

 

Gimmick: I am not sure if it counts as a gimmick match, but I always liked the Empty Arena match between Rock and Mankind from Halftime Heat, I believe.

 

Honourable mention: Al Snow vs. Road Dogg -Hardcore match, Tajiri vs. Undertaker from Smackdown from last year, I believe, and Dreamer/RVD from last week's Raw.

[Guest BionicRedneck]

And the pointless Benoit marking begins in this thread....

What pointless marking? All he said was Benoit was in both, and its true.

[Guest RickyChosyu]

Easilly Benoit v. Austin from Edmonton. One my favorite WWF matches ever, and easilly the best free TV match that will come out in a long, long while.

[Guest TheyCallMeMark]

Edge/Misterio/Cena v. Benoit/Guerrero/Angle for me sirs.

[Guest Flyboy]

Edge/Misterio/Cena v. Benoit/Guerrero/Angle for me sirs.

I capped that match, and I have it on my hard drive.

[Guest papacita]

I've got a lot of favorites:

 

Regular:

 

Flair/Perfect retirement match from 93

 

Michaels/Jannetty (Janetty wins the belt)

 

HBK/Austin Vs Bulldog/Owen (Memorial Day 97)

 

Bret Hart/Hakushi (July 95)

 

Gimmick:

 

TLC III (which I thought was MUCH better than TLC II)

 

That's all I can think of.

[Guest Vitamin X]

And the pointless Benoit marking begins in this thread....  

What pointless marking? All he said was Benoit was in both, and its true.

It was unnecessary to point it out, as it was pretty obvious to everyone he was in both.

 

Sorry I just hate it how we call ourselves smarks but yet we totally mark out for Benoit, since I have never really seen him do anything great outside of working with Austin and Jericho. His Angle matches were pretty decent, but other than that, nothing really exciting. I never saw much of his WCW work, either so maybe that's what I'm missing out on...?

 

And besides those matches weren't just Benoit, TLC 3 was great because of the amazing chemistry between Edge/Christian and the Hardyz. The Dudleys know how to work a crowd as well, so that got the heat necessary, and then add in Jericho and Benoit, and it was jsut insanity. Also mind you, Benoit barely did much of anything in that match, as he had "injured ribs" and then took credit for Jericho's work by getting the belts. Toothless Bastard.

[Guest MaxPower27]

I'm going with the majority here:

 

Non-Gimmick

 

Chris Benoit v. Steve Austin

 

Gimmick

 

Angle v. Benoit in a cage on Raw.

[Guest bob_barron]

Non-Gimmick-

Ow my Quad Part I

 

Gimmick-

TLC3

 

Notice how Chris Jericho was in both of those matches? (Ducks flame from vitamin x)

[Guest RickyChosyu]

Sorry I just hate it how we call ourselves smarks but yet we totally mark out for Benoit, since I have never really seen him do anything great outside of working with Austin and Jericho. His Angle matches were pretty decent, but other than that, nothing really exciting. I never saw much of his WCW work, either so maybe that's what I'm missing out on...?

 

And besides those matches weren't just Benoit, TLC 3 was great because of the amazing chemistry between Edge/Christian and the Hardyz. The Dudleys know how to work a crowd as well, so that got the heat necessary, and then add in Jericho and Benoit, and it was jsut insanity. Also mind you, Benoit barely did much of anything in that match, as he had "injured ribs" and then took credit for Jericho's work by getting the belts. Toothless Bastard.

Umm, everyone is a mark, in some way. If you aren't a mark, you aren't a fan. I'm sure there are plenty of self-proclaimed "smarks" who don't like Benoit, and, get this, Benoit IS NOT the greatest wrestler ever! Nope, definitely not in my eyes. Does that mean I'm not a smark? Of course not. You're getting mixed up in semantics and it's just so pointless. Oh well.

 

In my humble opinion, none of the TLC matches were that great, and that one in particular was a little flawed in the way they tried to pull it off. That match had nothing to do with "working the crowd" everything to do with "EXTREME spots~!." I consider the former to be something done with smart work, not sick bumps. Benoit and Jericho know how to do that too, so it's not as if they were counting on others to take the bumps for them. The whole TLC formula is that everyone bumps. A lot. And everyone looks dead. In that respect, they pulled their weight as well as anyone. It's not as if there's a whole lot of depth to matches like that, aside from Benoit doing the injury angle, which made no sense in a match where MUCH worse bumps had been taken, anyway (both that night and in the past). Regardless, Benoit played his role as well as could be expected, as did everyone else. There was no "taking credit for work" as that match rarely gets one TEAM over above the rest, let alone one tag partner over another. Everyone bumps, people cheer for the bumping, and that's it. Who wins means shit, and, if anything, Benoit just looked like a puss for doing a stretcher job to such a (relatively) weak bump.

 

I've said it before, and I'll say it a billion times: Watch the matches. He's great because he has (errr...had) great matches. He carried Jericho to very good matches. Same with Angle. He was really great against Austin. He's had great matches through his entire career. That's all you need to know.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

since I have never really seen him do anything great outside of working with Austin and Jericho. His Angle matches were pretty decent, but other than that, nothing really exciting. I never saw much of his WCW work, either so maybe that's what I'm missing out on...?

If you're largely unfamiliar with him in WCW, then I'll assume you haven't seen him in Japan, if that's the case, not only are you missing out, you're REALLY FUCKIN' MISSING OUT.

 

Anyway, normal match: Austin vs. Benoit from Smackdown is probably on the top of my list, but there's other matches that belong up there as well, for instance:

HHH/X-pac/Benoit/Saturn/Malenko vs. Cactus/Rock/Rikishi/Too cool

Amazing match with INSANE crowd heat and workrate from hell. NO slow spots.

Shawn Michaels vs. Owen Hart, concussion match.

Owen vs. Bulldog, Euro title tourney finals.

 

Gimmick matches:

Benoit vs. Angle in a cage is tops, definitely. ****3/4 in my book.

TLC III was okay, but those matches lose their lustre every time I watch them.

Funk vs. Foley, hardcore match from RAW 98. Awesome brawl.

[Guest Si82]

Well I'm going for:

Normal:

The Rock, Mick Foley, Too Cool & Rikishi vs. D-X & The Radicals (Raw)

Triple H vs. Chris Benoit (Smackdown!)

Steve Austin vs. Chris Benoit (Smackdown!)

 

Gimmick:

Steve Austin vs. Bret Hart (Streetfight: Raw)

TLC III (Smackdown)

[Guest Brian]

Bret Hart vs. Chris Benoit, Nitro

 

Come on, we're all part of the same history now. This was the last great one-on-one, no gimmick wrestling match.

[Guest notJames]

Straight-up, non-gimmick

Canadian Violence Connections v. Two Man Power Trip (RAW, May 2001)

a.k.a. Ouch My Quad

 

Gimmick: actual match

TLCIII (Smackdown, whenever it was)

 

Gimmick: repercussions of match

Bret Hart vs. Psyco Sid, WWF Title Steel Cage (RAW, Feb 1997?)

- Bret wigs out, curses on live TV, precursor to Austin/Bret WMXIII and Hart Foundation reformation, Attitude era, etc.

 

Guilty pleasure

RVD/BookDust/Dudleyz v2.0 nvs. nWo/Benoit/Guerrero (RAW, July 2002)

a.k.a. Ouch My Quad Part Deux

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

My 5 Favorite:

 

TLC III

Undertaker/Mankind Strap Match

Austin/Michaels vs. Bulldog/Owen

Benoit/Austin

The Rock/Austin Cage Match

[Guest TheyCallMeMark]

I capped that match, and I have it on my hard drive.

 

If only my modem wasn't a 56k piece of S I might get that from yeh on Hotline! Haw haw, maybe I'll use one of my computer geek friends at school.

 

Was that match as good the second time? I swear I was marking out like crap and so was my dad. It's rare we both like a match equally, but that was certainly a hit. It's my dad's favourite match -ever-.

 

I forgot to put my gimmick match, but probably the Austin/Regal strap match, the Jericho/Edge cage match or maybe a Dudley/Hardeyz table match.

[Guest Flyboy]

I capped that match, and I have it on my hard drive.

 

If only my modem wasn't a 56k piece of S I might get that from yeh on Hotline! Haw haw, maybe I'll use one of my computer geek friends at school.

 

Was that match as good the second time? I swear I was marking out like crap and so was my dad. It's rare we both like a match equally, but that was certainly a hit. It's my dad's favourite match -ever-.

It was a good match, but it wasn't 'all that' to me. The match is only around 18 MB, but it has no audio.

 

Plus, I think that BookerDust, UT, Rock Vs. UnAmericans/Hunter was much better.

[Guest godthedog]

And the pointless Benoit marking begins in this thread....

i find it funny that someone thinks the pointless benoit marking out is inappropriate after 20 posts of the pointless edge hating.

[Guest RickyChosyu]

Bret Hart vs. Chris Benoit, Nitro

 

Come on, we're all part of the same history now. This was the last great one-on-one, no gimmick wrestling match.

I think Benoit/Austin should be cast in the same light, personally. However, Benoit/Bret was definitely Bret's last trully great match, and probably the last great thing produced by WCW.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Bret Hart vs. Chris Benoit, Nitro

 

Come on, we're all part of the same history now. This was the last great one-on-one, no gimmick wrestling match.

I think Benoit/Austin should be cast in the same light, personally. However, Benoit/Bret was definitely Bret's last trully great match, and probably the last great thing produced by WCW.

If we're counting WCW as well, then Bret/Benoit wins my vote. A perfect match. BUT if we're counting WCW, and since the topic is free tv matches, don't we have to include ALL the Clashes by default?

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

If we count WCW then there are ***** tag matches at early Clash of the Champions that blow away Austin/HHH vs. Benoit/Jericho, and ME's that are better than Benoit/Austin.