Just for the sake of arguement...

[Guest RickyChosyu]

I don't know if this has been done before, or not, but I thought it would be good discusion to list our MOTY picks for each year since 1992, since that's roughly the farthest back I can go, having not seen enough of the years prior to rank the best matches. Keep in mind, this is NA only since (I believe) this folder is supposed to leave out anything outiside that. Anyway, I would rank mine like this:

 

'92: Liger v. Pillman, Superbrawl II

'93: Sting v. Vader, Superbrawl III (yes, I have seen more than just the Superbrawl's from these years)

'94: Hart v. Hart, WM X

'95: Michaels v. Ramon, Summerslam

'96: Hart v. Austin, Survivor Series (haven't seen the blow away Rey/Juvi match from Tijuanna that is said to be better)

'97: Guererro v. Misterio, Halloween Havok

'98: Foley v. Austin, Over the Edge

'99: Benoit/Malenko v. Raven/Saturn, Bash at the Beach

'00: Foley v. HHH, Royal Rumble

'01: Benoit v. Austin, Smackdown! from Edmonton

'02: Guererro v. Van Dam, Judgement Day (haven't seen the Ring of Honor three-way that is said to be better)

 

Anyway, the flood gates are open, and I'm afraid of what murky waters may rise...

[Guest kingkamala]

92: Wargames: Dangerous Alliance Vs Stinger's squadron

93: HBK Vs Marty Janetty Raw 5-19-93

94: Michaels Vs Ramon Ladder match

95: Michaels Vs Jeff Jarrett IYH 2

96:Bret Hart Vs Austin Survivor Series 96

97:Michaels Vs Taker Badd Blood

98:Rock Vs HHH Ladder match Summerslam(Dodges flaming garbage)

99: Bret Hart Vs Benoit Nitro 10-4-99

00: Cactus Jack Vs HHH street fight Royal Rumble 2000

01: Austin Vs Rock From Wrestlemania X-7

02: Lynn Vs Low Ki Vs Psychosis Vs Styles NWA TNA week 2

[EL DANDY~! 0]

1992-Wargames-DA vs. Sting's Squadron

1993-Vader/Flair-Starcade

1994-Michaels/Ramon Ladder Match

1995-Raven/Richards vs. Pitbulls-2/3 falls Double Dog Collar

1996-Hart/Austin-Survivor Series

1997-Hart/Austin-Wrestlemania

1998-Hmmm...I'm going to go with an underdog pick with this one...Raven/Benoit-Souled Out

1999-Benoit/Hart Nitro

2000-Foley/HHH Street Fight

2001-Benoit/Jericho vs. Austin/HHH

2002-ROH 3-Way-2/22

[Guest godthedog]

92-bret v. davey, summerslam

93-bret v. flair, boston garden house show

94-bret v. owen, summerslam

95-bret v. diesel, survivor series

96-hbk v. mankind, mind games

97-bret v. austin, wrestlemania

98-eh...austin v. dude love i guess

99-benoit-malenko/raven-saturn, spring stampede

00-triple h/jericho, fully loaded

01-oh man this is tough...i juggle between the raw tag match, austin/angle from summerslam & the angle/benoit cage match

02-angle/edge, judgment day

[Guest RickyChosyu]

Since this is all in the name debate, I'd like to add my thoughts:

 

I've never gotten the Michaels/Jarret hype at all. I thought it was ****'s at most, and not really a MOTYC at all. In regards to '97, I really don't understand how Michaels/Undertaker can even be put in the same ballpark as Austin/Hart and the previously mentioned Rey/Eddy, which smoke the hell out of it. Michaels' masturbatory bumping may have been what he thought made a match better, but it didn't make matches good enough to top the greatest NA match of the '90's.

 

I also really don't like the Flair/Vader match at all. Vader has carried some old men to amazing matches before. This wasn't one of them.

 

godthedog, aren't you leaving out Austin/Benoit? That ranks way higher than the matches you listed for 2001, in my mind.

 

At least none of the TLC matches managed to worm their way in here. *Knocks on wood*

[Guest bob_barron]

92- WarGames

93- Sting v. Vader SupIII

94- Bret v. Owen WM X

95- Eddy v. Ohtani Starrcade 95, Bret v. Diesel SurS95

96- Bret v. Austin

97- EDIT- oops forget Bret v. Austin. I'll put that over HIAC

98- TIE- Rock v. HHH Summ98, Foley v. Austin OTE98, DDP v. Benoit Sup8

99- Rock v. Foley (dont remember the awesome stuff from Spring Stampede)

00- TLC

01- uhhhhh Y2J/Benoit v. HHH/SCSA

02- RVD v. Eddy MSG Ladder

[Guest RickyChosyu]

00- TLC

 

DAMMIT!!!!

[Guest bob_barron]

Sorry Ricky-

I love that match. But like TLC is #1 with HHH v. Foley, HHH v. Rock from JD and HHH v. Y2J hovering right up there.

[Guest godthedog]

godthedog, aren't you leaving out Austin/Benoit? That ranks way higher than the matches you listed for 2001, in my mind.

to be as fair as i could, i had to leave it out. i only saw it that one night on tv, and i was watching purely as a mark rooting for my boy, not really paying attention to the match itself on its own merits. i also watched angle/austin purely as a mark for the first time, but i've been able to watch it several times since & step back to appreciate what it was doing without getting caught up in the feeling. to be fair i'd have to see austin/benoit again, & i haven't been able to do so. i've tried looking on kazaa for the last 2 weeks for it (as that's where i found the raw tag match & cage match), but no luck. if you know a way i can get it cheap/free...or hell, a way i can get ANY of the other stuff from benoit's demigod run in 2001 i'd love to know.

[Guest godthedog]

to everyone:

 

why is austin/hart considered to be better than michaels/foley? is it just because of the ending?

 

austin/hart is a great old school match, but michaels/foley was totally nonformulaic and the entire atmosphere through the match was of total chaos, where anything could happen. it had this constant "oh shit" feeling running through it, and the strongest & darkest atmosphere of any match i've ever seen. the fact that michaels & foley did it flawlessly and that it was so far from the norm seems (at least to me) to make it better than austin/hart, which, although was performed almost flawlessly by both men, was doing the same thing that scores of great matches before it had done.

[Guest Kotzenjunge]

(based on what I've seen, which is pretty much all WWF/WWE)

 

1992: Piper/Hart

1993: Janetty/Michaels

1994: Michaels/Razor(ladder match)

1995: Michaels/Razor(ladder match)

1996: Hart/Austin

1997: Taker/Michaels(HITC)

1998: Austin/Dude(Over the Edge)

1999: Rock/Mankind(Last Man Standing)

2000: Cactus/Trips(Street Fight)

2001: Benoit/Jericho(ladder match)

2002: Angle/Edge(Judgment Day)

 

Like I said, matches I've actually seen, not that I've only heard of.

 

Fo sheez,

Kotzenjunge

[Guest alfdogg]

1992 - Bret-DBS, SummerSlam

1993 - Didn't really see much...for now, I'll say Flair-Vader from Starrcade

1994 - Bret-Owen, Summerslam

1995 - For now, I'll say the SummerSlam ladder match, but I also liked Pillman/Mero and AA/Flair from Fall Brawl, I'll have to compare those

1996 - I missed the two matches that godthedog mentioned...I'll go with Rey/Dragon from WW3, but I still haven't seen the Liger match from Starrcade, I'll compare those two with Benoit/Malenko from Hog Wild

1997 - Eddy/Rey, Halloween Havoc

1998 - Rey/Kidman/Juvi, Starrcade

1999 - Bret/Benoit, Nitro

2000 - HHH/Foley, Royal Rumble

2001 - Benoit/Jericho, Royal Rumble

2002 - RVD/Eddy, RAW ladder match

[Guest BionicRedneck]

92: WarGames

93: Sting Vs Vader, Superbrawl

94: Hart Vs Hart, WrestleMania

95: Michaels Vs Ramon, Summerslam

96: Hart Vs Austin, Survivor Series

97: Hart Vs Austin, WrestleMania

98: Love Vs Austin, Over the Edge

99: Benoit/Malenko Vs Raven/Saturn, Spring Stampede

00: Jericho Vs HHH, Fully Loaded

01: Benoit Vs Austin, Smackdown!

02: The Rock Vs Chris Jericho, Royal Rumble

[Guest Dmann2000]

to everyone:

 

why is austin/hart considered to be better than michaels/foley? is it just because of the ending?

 

austin/hart is a great old school match, but michaels/foley was totally nonformulaic and the entire atmosphere through the match was of total chaos, where anything could happen. it had this constant "oh shit" feeling running through it, and the strongest & darkest atmosphere of any match i've ever seen. the fact that michaels & foley did it flawlessly and that it was so far from the norm seems (at least to me) to make it better than austin/hart, which, although was performed almost flawlessly by both men, was doing the same thing that scores of great matches before it had done.

I must echo the sentiments of godthedog here, I like Austin vs Hart a lot, but I will watch Michaels vs Mankind more, so I give it the nod for 96

 

Plus I'm huge Foley mark

 

as for the rest:

 

1992- Tough one, I love WarGames 92 but I can watch Royal Rumble over and over and never get bored. Is it the best technical match, of course not it's a damn battle royal, but my enjoyment of it is almost out-of-body.

 

1993- Bret Hart vs Mr. Perfect KOTR 93, main reason I was their live. Kudos to Cactus Jack vs Vader too

 

1994- where to begin, Michaels vs Ramon, Hart vs Hart (both WM X and the cage at SummerSlam) Flair vs Steamboat (from WCW Saturday night, better than Spring Stampede) The Klig tag match, Hart vs Backlund, Cactus/Payne vs The Nasty Boys, Hard to decide. Oh I'll be different and give it to Hart vs Backlund just cause that match needs more exposure.

 

1995- Not a great year but there was Michaels/Ramon II, Guererro vs Malenko (Hostile City Showdown), Flair vs Anderson. I give the nod to Mullet man and Mr. Charisma

 

1997- Again, just to be different I'll go Bulldog vs Owen, European title finals

 

1998- Dude Love vs Austin, no question

 

1999- rewatched Hardys vs Edge/Christian again recently and I love it more than all the spotfests that came after

 

2000- Cactus vs HHH- Hunter meet bladejob, Foley meet thumbtacks, everyone meet 27 minutes of AWESOME

 

2001- Love Austin vs Rock, Love Benoit vs Austin in Edmonton, Love Rock vs Jericho, but I'll go with Benoit vs Jericho ladder match from Royal Rumble just cause that crazy mofo Benoit dived into a swinging chair headfirst.

 

2002- Sigh, it hasn't been that great this year, I did like Eddie vs RVD ladder, but I'll give it so far to Rock vs Jericho from the Rumble

[Guest Jericholic82]

I agree, TLC didn't do much for me. It was just a big spot-fest

anyways here are my picks:(Note from what I have seen)

 

1990: Hogan vs Warrior WM6

1991: Warrior vs Savage WM 7 , Perfect vs Bret summerslam a close second

1992: Savage/Flair WM 8 (I never saw wargames yet)

1993: UMMM don't rmember much, I'll say Perfect/Flair loser leaves town from RAW

1994: HBK/Razor (If only cuz it changed wrestling, but I like Bret vs Owen too)

1995: HBK/Razor 2 (Better than the first)

1996: Rey Mysterio vs Psychosis Bash at The Beach (Great Opener, I thought Bret/HBK was good but kinda boring )

1997: Austin/Hart (No Doubt, a solid-gold angle, close second goes to the 10 man tag from Canadian Stampede)

1998: Rock vs HHH Ladder match SummerSlam 98 (the match that MADE The Rock)

1999: Foley/Rock Royal Rumble I quit (hey you have to give it to Foley with all he went through in this match)

2000: Cactus/HHH Rumble (My favorite match of the recent era, close second is their HIAC Match, also LOVE the iron man between Rock/HHH)

2001: Tough one, but I'll say HHH/Austin No Way out just an intense brawl (Second goes to Rock/Austin WM 17 the best match these two ever had and a nice shocking ending too, Austin/Angle from Summerslam comes in third, BTW although the Tag match from RAW was good, I think many of you overrate it, simply do to the markout factor involved: Jericho/Benoit being elevated)

2002: I am drawing blanks on this one since I didn't see Summerslam, but I guess I'll go with Flair vs Austin in Austin's last WWE TV Match for historical reasons, (RVD/Eddy was very good)

[Guest Big McLargeHuge]

to everyone:

 

why is austin/hart considered to be better than michaels/foley? is it just because of the ending?

 

austin/hart is a great old school match, but michaels/foley was totally nonformulaic and the entire atmosphere through the match was of total chaos, where anything could happen. it had this constant "oh shit" feeling running through it, and the strongest & darkest atmosphere of any match i've ever seen. the fact that michaels & foley did it flawlessly and that it was so far from the norm seems (at least to me) to make it better than austin/hart, which, although was performed almost flawlessly by both men, was doing the same thing that scores of great matches before it had done.

MY reasons for rating Austin/Hart higher than Micheals/Foley:

 

#1) The Austin/Hart fued was better at that point. And Austin was the only one doing the talking. Michaels/Foley was another "throw a challenger at Shawn, and see what happens" type deal. The Mind Games surprised me by being great, but I had no real reason to care about the match.

 

#2) I rate Bret/Austin higher personally, because it was a wrestling match. Shawn/Foley was incredible, but as I look back, I see that it was probably the beginnings of what would become the Sports Entertainment formula (Austin/Hart at WM solidified that later on). It was just amped up 10 fold. And I personally get frustrated when amazing/mind blowing pure wrestling matches are looked over for anything involving a ladder, tables, etc. See also Hart/Hart from WMX being over shadowed by the Ladder Match and Benoit/Austin almost completely ignored in favor of the 3 stages of hell match at NWO in 2001. But this is in regards to marks who love anything where someone almost gets killed.

 

#3) Austin/Hart had an almost epic feeling half-way through the match. In the beginning it was mid-carder Austin against Legend Hart. Towards the end, both were desperate for the win. Plus, if you wanna see Jim Ross in one of his finest moments, watch this match.

 

In a nutshell, I thought Bret/Austin told a way better story in there. That's not to say I think HBK/Foley was shit. It's probably the best (along with Austin/Rock from WM 17) Sports Entertainment match ever, IMO.

 

I'll post my list later on, once I get to think about it.

[Guest Angle-plex]

92: WarGames

93: Sting Vs Vader, Superbrawl

94: HBK vs Razor Ramon, WrestleMania

95: Michaels Vs Ramon, Summerslam

96: Hart Vs Austin, Survivor Series

97: Guerrero vs Mysterio, Halloween HaVoc

98: Love Vs Austin, Over the Edge

99: Austin vs Rock, Backlash

00: Cactus Jack vs Triple H, Royal Rumble

01: Austin Vs Triple H, Now Way Out

02: The Rock Vs Chris Jericho, Royal Rumble

[Guest wolverine]

1994: Bret vs. Owen 3-20-94

1995: Michaels vs. Hall 8-27-95

1996: Dragon vs. Misterio Jr. 11-24-96

1997: Guerrero vs. Misterio Jr. 10-26-97

1998: No pick

1999: No pick

2000: Rock vs. Benoit 7-23-00

2001: Benoit vs. Austin 5-29-01

2002: No pick

[EL DANDY~! 0]

SOMEBODY tell me why Austin/HHH from NWO 01 was better than anything Austin did against Benoit...PLEASE!!!

[Guest wolverine]

Austin vs. HHH from No Way Out was nothing but shitty, boring brawling in my book. It's like a *** match at best that somehow gets pimped as being close to ***** by some. Sorta like Koji Kanemoto vs. El Samurai 6/97.

[Guest RickyChosyu]

Short Answer: It's not.

 

Anyway, Wolverine, if you haven't see Spring Stampede '99, I would check it out, as I remember Benoit/Malenko vs. Raven/Saturn being really, really fun, and better than Bret/Benoit, which is the only other real MOTYC that year from NA. If anything, you'll like it because it's fucking COOL and Benoit and Malenko bring the chain wrestling and light-garbage spots that actually WORK like no one else. Benoit dives face-first into a chair to hurt people, and then blades for hell of it. This was the match that made Benoit my favorite wrestlers three years ago.

 

As for your pick of Rey/Ultimo for '96, I thought it was really well-worked and way brilliant at combining the NJ Juniors formula with Rey's unique Mortan-influenced lucha style. However, it seemed like it had at least another five minutes in it, if not more, and despite Rey's awesome selling, for the amount of time he spent on the recieving end, he went down too easilly. I guess it just seemed too one-sided. I need to see it again, I suppose. Oh, and of course there's that Rey/Juvi match from Tijuana that Tim pimps all the time. I need to track that one down.

[Guest MrRant]

I won't go into it but NWO 2001 HHH vs. Austin is mine because I was there live to feel the atmosphere and that sends it over the top for me.

[Guest goodhelmet]

'92: Liger v. Pillman, Superbrawl II

'93: Sting v. Vader, Superbrawl III (yes, I have seen more than just the Superbrawl's from these years)

'94: Hart v. Hart, WM X

'95: Michaels v. Ramon, Summerslam

'96: Hart v. Austin, Survivor Series (haven't seen the blow away Rey/Juvi match from Tijuanna that is said to be better)

'97: Guererro v. Misterio, Halloween Havok

'98: Foley v. Austin, Over the Edge

'99: Benoit/Malenko v. Raven/Saturn, Bash at the Beach

'00: Foley v. HHH, Royal Rumble

'01: Benoit v. Austin, Smackdown! from Edmonton

'02: Guererro v. Van Dam, Judgement Day (haven't seen the Ring of Honor three-way that is said to be better)

'92: Liger v. Pillman- i still haven't seen the complete version of this match. anyone have a copy? from what i have seen, i'll go with bulldog-bret from SS'92

 

'93: Sting v. Vader, Superbrawl III- i like this match but it's not one of my favorites. For '93, I'm more fond of the flair-hart title switch from smack em whack 'em

 

'94: Hart v. Hart, WM X- i agree. great fucking match. if you switched it out with the SS cage match i wouldn't complain.

 

'95: Michaels v. Ramon, Summerslam- once again, i like this match but it's not one of my all time favorites. you could probably throw in some of the great malenko-eddy classics from ecw but don't ask me which one.

 

'96: Hart v. Austin, Survivor Series - another one that i didn't like as much as others. I'm going to go with mankind vs. hbk.

 

'97: Guererro v. Misterio, Halloween Havoc- great fucking match! i would choose this over hell in a cell anyday

 

'98: Foley v. Austin, Over the Edge- i don't think so but was there any really great matches in NA this year?

 

'99: Benoit/Malenko v. Raven/Saturn, Bash at the Beach- another decent choice BUT not my favorite of the year. i had to go with bret-benoit simply because it was the most emotional 30 minutes i have ever seen on free tv. the match was great and it was a tribute to owen... a fitting one at that.

 

'00: Foley v. HHH, Royal Rumble- not my favorite by any stretch. having seen regal- vs. benoit, i can't place anything else above that.

 

'01: Benoit v. Austin, Smackdown! from Edmonton- this was also my moty for 2001 so rock on my brother!

 

'02: Guererro v. Van Dam, Judgement Day (haven't seen the Ring of Honor three-way that is said to be better)- well watch the ROH shows already. the 3way from the first ROH and low ki vs. american dragon from ROH2 are worlds better than anything the fed has produced this year. maybe angle vs. benoit can change that at unforgiven but those ROH matches fucking rule the earth. that's no exaggeration either.

[Guest RickyChosyu]

I haven't seen the Flair/Hart title change or the Iron Man match, but I've heard the title change isn't too hot. Considering '93 was the year that Flair's old man status became apparent, I'm not too hot on tracking down his work for that year.

 

'95's best match was Michaels/Ramon. Malenko/Guererro may have done more tricked out juniors stuff than hardly anyone had seen before, but Michaels and Ramon out-shined them. If you were to nominate any Malenko/Guererro match for MOTY, it would be from Hostile City Showdown, by the way. The only other notible encounter they had in ECW was the fairwell 2 out of 3 falls match, which isn't that great.

 

I can understand why some people would put Michaels/Foley above Hart/Austin, but the two matches are more similiar than you think; Michaels/Foley just had the crazy bumps to make it seem edgier. At its core, Michaels/Foley was just a great match that got the most out of both guys and made even their ridiculous bumps make sense. For what it did, however, I thought Hart/Austin accomplished more, both in storytelling and pure work. It had less down-time and less repetition.

 

'98 wasn't a good year, frankly. Besides Austin/Foley, there was Raven/Benoit and....well, nothing, really.

 

Bret/Benoit was emotional, but as match, it wasn't as good as the tag from Spring Stampede. The matwork was nice to see, but beyond that, it didn't differentiate itself from a normal match for either man. It was also rather apparent that Bret was going to win, which hurt the drama for me. Benoit/Malenko vs. Raven/Saturn not only had great, dramatic build, but a finishing run that blows away anything I've seen from that year. The last five minutes are just incredible, with the match feeling like an intricate game of chess, with each team trying to use their stand-by weapons to win (tables and chairs for the face team, Double A for the Horsemen). Great fucking match.

 

And yes, I need to see the ROH shows. I loved Dragon/Ki from last year, so I'm looking forward to seeing a re-match.

[Guest BionicRedneck]

Bret/Benoit was more of an exhibition. You knew who was gonna win (an how) etc. It was beautifully executed at times, but I would have enjoyed it more without the commentators talking shit and the adverts.

 

Malenko/Benoit vs. Saturn/Raven was awesome, and is one of my fave matches.

[Guest wolverine]

The Benoit/Malenko vs. Raven/Saturn has gotten some high praise on the internet, but Meltzer rated it ***1/2 for some reason. Hmmm....

[Guest RickyChosyu]

As usual, it's good to get a secondary opinion with Meltzer, since his star ratings seem to be all over the place. ie: Rating Samurai/Kanemoto TOTSJ '97 *****.

[Guest wolverine]

Yeah, I'd like to see that match. So far for 1999, my overall list goes like this:

 

1. Aja Kong vs. Meiko Satomura (GAEA 9/15/99) ****1/2

2. Mariko Yoshida vs. Mika Akino (Arsion 1/17/99) ****1/4

3. Kawada/Taue vs. Kobashi/Akiyama (AJPW 1/7/99) ****1/4

4. Mariko Yoshida vs. Mikiko Futagami (Arsion 4/14/99) ****1/4

 

Note: Numbers 1 & 2 are the best matches in each company's history IMO.

[Guest RickyChosyu]

I would highly recomend it. Juvi/Blitzkrieg is real fun, too.

 

I'd still like to know why you picked Rey/Ultimo for '96, by the way.

[Guest wolverine]

It was either that one or Hart-Austin. I guess I went with the style I prefer more (NJ juniors style). They are both awesome though. I'm not as high on Shawn-Foley as I used to be, so that goes down a bit.