Wrestling's Top 50 Matches

[Guest C3THIR]

In 1985, wrestling was put on the map. For 20 years, wrestling produced TONS of amazing matches, be it WWE, WCW, ECW, TNA ROH, or any other company. Here, I have documented the Top 50 matches between this period of time. Keep in mind, these are all by matter of opinion. With that, expect the first match (#50) to be posted shortly.

[Guest C3THIR]

 

50. AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe (Turning Point 2005)

 

Some people will disagree with me having this match on the list so soon after it's happened, but it was an amazing match. It was the last amazing match I witnessed before the end of 2005, so in my eyes, it fits. It's better than a lot of the matches on this list that were ranked higher, but it's recognized at number 50 simply because in a year, it may or may not be a part of such a list.

 

Joe and AJ Styles told a great story in this match. An amazing story which kept me glued to my set. You can say Joe carried the match, but it's not true. He did his role, and so did Styles. Both made the other look amazing. An incredibly stiff match, full of "oooh" and "ahhh" moments. I am not going into play by play for these matches, but rather explain why I liked them.

 

As I said, both Styles and Joe told a story that not many other people can do to perfection. The match had a great ending, and it was very powerful. There was never a point in the match where I sat back to rest. I was glued. Hooked. They had me, and didn't let me go. In the end, Samoa Joe defeated AJ Styles by knockout, and became the NWA X-Division Champion. Great match, and probably the last great match of the year 2005. My pick for #50.

 

Match Rating: ****

[Guest C3THIR]

 

49. Sting vs. Cactus Jack (Beach Blash 1992)

 

Even before ECW, it was the first time that a wild match such as this was showcased on a huge, national level. Back in the days of smiling baby faces, and run-of-the-mill type bad guys, this crazed, ugly psychopath, Cactus Jack comes along and wanted to destroy the handsome young WCW Champion. The fans didn't know how to react to Cactus Jack, but in this match, that all changed.

 

Sting took on Cactus Jack, in a Non-Title match, on the Beach Blash pay per view. The match was only 12 minutes long, but everything made sense. Sting and Cactus didn't have to sell their injuries believably, because they were really taking hard bumps and blows. Foley and Sting put on a damn good show this night, and I recommend viewing this match if you haven't. It's on the Mick Foley's Greatest Hit's and Misses DVD for those who care.

 

In the end, Sting defeated Cactus Jack with a springboard flying lariat on the staging area. This was nowhere near as extreme as Cactus Jack would get in the future, but it was definately the match that made people open their eyes and say, "Wow, this guy really is special". Foley made a lot of people proud to be his fan that night. This is just one of "those" matches. Awesome contest.

 

Match Rating: ***1/4

[Guest C3THIR]

 

48. Bret Hart vs. Bob Backlund (Survivor Series 1994)

 

This is one of the most forgotten matches in WWE history. Backlund had come back to the WWE over 10 years since the last time he had been seen in a ring, and he hadn't lost a step. These two put on a technical classic, the likes of which nobody had seen before. Owen Hart was in Backlunds corner, and Bulldog was in Bret's corner.

 

Bret had Backlund in the Sharpshooter, and Owen did some interference to get him out of it. Bulldog chased Owen around and when Owen ducked, Davey Boy flew into the steel steps and was knocked out. Bret saw this and yelled at Owen, but Backlund came from behind and slapped on the Crossface Chickenwing. Owen feigned remorse and tried to convince his mother to throw in the towel for Bret. "He's my brother! Please! He's my brother!," he screamed. Stu took the towel because he knew better, but Helen ended up snatching it away and throwing it in, ending Bret's reign as champion, and giving Backlund the title for the first time in 11 years.

 

The story behind this was Owen Hart. Bret and Owen had been feuding all year long in one of the best feuds EVER witnessed, and when Helen threw in the towel, Owen immediately broke his remoseful demeanor and began laughing, knowing he screwed his brother out of the WWE Title. Backlund was the man, until two days later when Diesel obliterated him at a Madison Square Garden House Show. This match not only had a decent pace, but told an AMAZING story.

 

Match Rating: ****1/4

[Guest C3THIR]

 

47. Jushin 'Thunder' Liger vs. The Great Sasuke (1994 J Cup Finals)

 

This was the second semifinal match of the J-Cup tournament. The J-Cup was a tournament put together by Liger to showcase the best Junior Heavyweights in wrestling. This was the first one, and subsequent J-Cups have taken place in 1995, 2000, and 2004. Sasuke received a bye in the first round and defeated El Samurai in a tougher than expected battle in the second round to get to this point. Liger, however, was in his third match here, having defeated a tough, but young and inexperienced, Hayabusa in the first round. He then defeated another FMW star, Ricky Fuji in the second round. The winner would face “Wild Pegasus” Chris Benoit in the finals. The crowd is alive for this classic from the Sumo Palace. Wow, I hope I got all that right.

 

The match was action backed as could possibly be. Highflying, wrestling, everything. This is one of the best matches, hands down, ever. And I've only seen it once. In the end, Sasuke defeated Liger. With this win, Sasuke moved not only into the finals of the J-Cup, but into the hearts of the Japanese fans as well. Sasuke had been only mildly famous before this, as Michinoku Pro was only a regional promotion. Him going over Liger was a huge deal, and made him a national hero.

[Guest C3THIR]

 

46. Randy Savage vs. Ultimate Warrior (WrestleMania 7)

 

With their careers on the line, Randy “Macho Man” Savage and Ultimate Warrior definitely meant business in this WrestleMania classic. Further illustrating the significance of the match, Ultimate Warrior slowly made his way to ringside as it was one of the only times he didn’t sprint to the ring and shake the ring ropes.

 

Warrior continued his focus and intensity throughout the match, as he went with a startling slow and methodical pace, absolutely punishing Savage. Warrior slipped up, though, and missed a charge into the corner that sent him to the floor. Sensational Sherri took advantage of a distracted referee and laid in some more punishment. Savage followed the Warrior to the floor and sent him into the ring post. The action soon returned to the ring and Savage stayed on the offensive. After a couple of near falls, Savage went to the top rope and hit his patented flying elbow. To make sure he had the Ultimate Warrior down, Savage hit an amazing four more flying elbows!

 

Any mortal man would not have survived such an onslaught, but the Warrior drew power form all of his Warriors in the crowd and shockingly kicked out of the five elbow drops. The Warrior then rode his momentum and went on the offensive hitting his Gorilla Press Slam and splash, but then Savage inexplicably kicked out at two.

 

After a brief comeback attempt by Savage, the Warrior sent Savage out to the floor twice with two huge spears, sent him back in, hit a flying shoulder block, sending Savage into retirement in an instant classic. After the match, Queen Sherri put the boots to Savage, upset that he had lost and embarassed her. In one of the most touching things ever in WWE, Miss Elizabeth ran down and saved her former man as the crowd and fans at home shed tears of happiness. This was one of only two amazing matches that Warrior had in his career. And it's definately a must see match.

 

Match Rating: ****1/2

[Guest C3THIR]

 

45. Kenta Kobashi vs. Kensuke Sasaki (July 18, 2005)

 

This is probably THE stiffest match I have ever seen. If it isn't, then it ranks up there. An AMAZING match. Some of the moves they do, you'll NEVER see in the US. A great 25 minute match, full of stiff suplexes, stiff kicks, punches, and everything else. Some say it was Susaki's best match of 2005, and possibly of his career. The match started with massive intensity, and it was an intensity that NEVER died throughout the entire match.

 

In the middle, Kobashi took charge and completely obliterated Sasaki with a HUGE half dragon suplex and dropped Kensuke directly on his head. I thought he was dead or had a broken neck, but he came back for more. He was up, and got hit with HUGE stiff lariats. The end came with a very intense finish. Kobashi destroyed him with 5 spinning back elbows to the temple, and then knocked him completely out with a HUGE lariat that rivals the Clothesline From Hell. After the match, they shook hands, and the people went home happy. As did I. This match was amazing, and a definate must view. It was this match that hyped me to see exactly how stiff Joe/Kobashi would be. Needless to say, I wasn't disappointed.

 

Match Rating: ***1/4

[Team Angle Pusher 0]

Nice dude, keep it up

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

Impressive, though-provoking, wist inducing and agreeable thus far.

 

What exactly is the criteria for it?

[Guest wildpegasus]

Like I said before thank for the list. I love countdowns.

 

This is gonna be real interesting to see how your choices compare to mine. The picks have already peaked my curiosity.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

Why are some of the higher ones given a lower star rating like ***1/4?

[iggymcfly 0]

All I can say is that HHH/HBK better be in the Top 5.

[Guest TheGreatWesuke]

Why are some of the higher ones given a lower star rating like ***1/4?

 

Because, like he said, it's a matter of his own opinion... not the star rating that Meltzer gave it.

 

Lot's of people crap all over Mankind-Undertaker Hell in a Cell and give it maybe *, but you can't deny the emotion and the impact that it had on the industry... and for that matter, both men's careers.

[Guest C3THIR]

 

44. The Rock vs. Mankind (Royal Rumble 1999)

 

This was an amazing match, and the best from the Mankind/Rock series. They had been feuding since The Rock turned heel at Survivor Series 1998 and became the Corporate Champion. They had match after match with each other until finally on the first Raw of 1999, Mankind defeated Rock for the WWE Title and it was one of the most electric moments EVER in WWE history. This was their 5th major match of their series, and it was a classic.

 

Handcuffs, tables, chairs and of course, great mic work all came into play. It was an INCREDIBLY entertaining match. Foley and Rock were both at their best for this match. Foley even took a 12 foot dive off of a balcony. However, what this match is most remembered for is the unbelievable amount of horrid chair shots that Foley took to the head. Some 15 chair shots upside his head, busting him open the hard way and causing him to bleed like crazy.

 

This match is even further immortalized by the movie Beyond The Mat where it's shown that Foley's wife and kids are at ringside crying and screaming after every chairshot. The match was simply put, a brutal contest which ended via a very wise "screwjob" and a way to get the feud to go further. This match was an amazing effort, even before the 15 chairshots came into play. It was here that Rock finally shined as a main event player, and showed the world that he could carry the title. He ended up winning the match, the title and Foley went to Disneyland the next day with his head looking like a mummy.

 

Match Rating: ***1/2

[Guest C3THIR]

 

43. Ultimate Warrior vs. Hulk Hogan (WrestleMania 6)

 

This classic encounter was billed as the Ultimate Challenge. Hulk Hogan came in as the WWE Champion and Ultimate Warrior came in as the Intercontinental Champion. Both championships were on the line in this winner-take-all match. The raucous Toronto SkyDome crowd was clearly torn, as they couldn’t seem to make up their mind on which Superstar to root for.

 

After a couple of stare-downs and tests of strengths, Hogan had the first major advantage in the match. After a backbreaker, a rear chin lock and a suplex, the Warrior started to make his comeback. He fought back with a series of power moves before going to the mighty bearhug. Hogan managed to fight out of it, but the Warrior eventually came back with the Gorilla Press Slam and the splash, but Hogan became the first person at that time to kick out of the Warrior’s finishing maneuvers.

 

Hogan then made another comeback and managed to hit the big boot, but his patented leg drop missed as the Warrior moved out of the way. Ultimate Warrior hit a second splash, and this time Hogan coudn ’t get up, as the Warrior became both the Intercontinental and WWE Champion. After the match, in a showing of good sportsmanship, Hogan handed over the WWE Championship as the two Superstars embraced in the center of the ring capping off another WrestleMania classic.

 

Match Rating: ***

[chaosrage 0]

Ok, the list was going fine until the last one. Whoever gave Hogan/Warriors 3 stars is being generous. The match was fucking awful. There was nothing to it but an excruciatingly long test of strength, punches, a long felt like it was on for 10 minutes headlock, and a bearhug. Seriously one of the worst matches of all time. As bad as the second Hogan/Warrior match was, at least they do more than you know, like 3 moves. For the list to recover after Hogan/Warrior, HBK/Bret ironman would have to be #1.

[Papacita 0]

Saying it's one of the worst matches of all time is a stretch. I always thought it was pretty good and fairly well laid out. Unless we're counting historical significance though, I wouldn't place this above Warrior/Savage, but like he said it's all a matter of opinion anyway, so it's all good.

[Guest C3THIR]

 

42. CM Punk vs. Samoa Joe (June 12, 2004)

 

Anyone who likes Ring of Honor knows that Samoa Joe and CM Punk are two of the best to ever step in an ROH ring. While Samoa Joe was the longest reigning ROH Champ from 2003 until 2004, he defended it against everyone put in his path... Including, CM Punk.

 

This was the third match in their series of AWESOME matches in 2004, and this one like previous encounters, ended in a 60 minute time limit draw. It's amazing for many reasons, but when I first viewed it, Samoa Joe's energy stuck out to me. The match never had a dull moment, and words really can't describe this match. CM Punk and Samoa Joe had an awesome bout here, hands down.

 

Match Quality: ****2/4

[stahl 0]

Match Quality: ****2/4

 

2/4's eh?

[Guest C3THIR]

(Yes, I realize how retarded that is. I made a boo-boo.)

 

 

41. Samoa Joe vs. Kenta Kobashi (Joe vs. Kobashi)

 

This was in many eyes, the best match to ever be produced in Ring of Honor history. Anyone who believes that, MAY be correct. In what was a completely stiff, brutal and hard hitting match, Kenta Kobashi defeated Samoa Joe. These two immediately began the match chopping the living daylights out of each other. There is no doubt that the next day, their chests where completely raw.

 

Samoa Joe and Kenta Kobashi had the people the arena on their seats. It's definately one of the best matches I've ever seen, and in the eyes of any Ring of Honor fan, a standard in wrestling matches. Anyone who is a fan of wrestling should definately view this match.

 

Many saw this as a 2005 match of the year. While that honor may not be worthy or true, it IS one of the best matches of the year, and my pick for the 41st match of the past twenty years.

 

Match Quality: ****

[chaosrage 0]

Wait, are those your star ratings or Meltzer's or someone else's? If they're yours, then why do you have 3 star matches ahead of 4 star ones?

[iggymcfly 0]

I'm pretty sure that he's giving the star ratings out based purely on match quality, and the actual rankings are taking into account historical significance and hype as well.

 

Thus, even if Hogan/Warrior was shitty from an in-ring perspective (which it certainly was, I think ** would be generous), to a whole lot of people it was the only match that mattered that year, and for that it merited a mention.

[Guest wildpegasus]

Ok, the list was going fine until the last one. Whoever gave Hogan/Warriors 3 stars is being generous. The match was fucking awful. There was nothing to it but an excruciatingly long test of strength, punches, a long felt like it was on for 10 minutes headlock, and a bearhug. Seriously one of the worst matches of all time. As bad as the second Hogan/Warrior match was, at least they do more than you know, like 3 moves. For the list to recover after Hogan/Warrior, HBK/Bret ironman would have to be #1.

 

I don't know if you were a fan at the time but you had to be to understand the match. This was BIG and I mean big. This was (and it was built up like this too) superman vs superman, the two biggest , charasmatic and completely indestructable faces pairing off againt each other in the newly formed Skydome in front of at least 60,000 people. This was the up and coming Ultimate Warrior (when compared to Hogan, Warrior was already established as unbeatable) against Hulkamania. A force that had never been defeated cleany. Everyone was talking about this. It was mentioned on the radio. When I went to the school the next day people were talking about it in the hallways. Even my mom was interested in the result. She even watched the match. You get the picture. There really hasn't been a match this big since.

 

As far as the match goes (and I am starting to forget it) it's structured well as it feeds off what I talked about in the previous paragraph. It's a really smart and very good match.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

Wait, are those your star ratings or Meltzer's or someone else's? If they're yours, then why do you have 3 star matches ahead of 4 star ones?

 

That's essentially what I was trying to understand.

[AboveAverage484 0]

Okay, here's how I've always looked at star ratings: You can't judge matches from other promotions against each other, IMO. So what I do is I take a match (Bret vs. Owen from WMX) that sets the standard for the company. It gets five stars, everything else done by that company in that certain time span gets 4.75 stars or lower. For example, few ECW matches would even reach 3.5 stars, let alone 5 stars based against everything else in the wrestling world, but by its own standards you can more easily rate matches. This is probably confusing so I'll just stop.

[Hawk 34 0]

I like this, good concept and good execution of short but detailed reasoning.

 

Although I must say Joe/Kobashi is severely low-rated here so I'm really curious to see what places ahead of it.

[AboveAverage484 0]

I think people make a big deal out of Kobashi/Joe because it's mother fucking Kobashi wrestling in America against one of our top workers. But I don't know, I don't think it was CLASSIC or anything.

[godthedog 0]

hey, look. just like at dvdvr, he registered with the forum just so he could post this list. i love it when that happens.

[Jebus 0]

Ok, the list was going fine until the last one. Whoever gave Hogan/Warriors 3 stars is being generous. The match was fucking awful. There was nothing to it but an excruciatingly long test of strength, punches, a long felt like it was on for 10 minutes headlock, and a bearhug. Seriously one of the worst matches of all time. As bad as the second Hogan/Warrior match was, at least they do more than you know, like 3 moves. For the list to recover after Hogan/Warrior, HBK/Bret ironman would have to be #1.

 

I don't know if you were a fan at the time but you had to be to understand the match. This was BIG and I mean big. This was (and it was built up like this too) superman vs superman, the two biggest , charasmatic and completely indestructable faces pairing off againt each other in the newly formed Skydome in front of at least 60,000 people. This was the up and coming Ultimate Warrior (when compared to Hogan, Warrior was already established as unbeatable) against Hulkamania. A force that had never been defeated cleany. Everyone was talking about this. It was mentioned on the radio. When I went to the school the next day people were talking about it in the hallways. Even my mom was interested in the result. She even watched the match. You get the picture. There really hasn't been a match this big since.

 

As far as the match goes (and I am starting to forget it) it's structured well as it feeds off what I talked about in the previous paragraph. It's a really smart and very good match.

 

Well said, Pegasus...

 

You can say Hogan vs. Andre also had big time hype but THAT match was fucking awful. In contrast, Warrior vs. Hogan still holds a special place in some fans' hearts...like me. As far as the actual match goes, I happen to agree with the *** rating for Warrior vs. Hogan. Add the amazing atmosphere surrounding it and you got a match that's at least worthy to be on the list.

 

Good list so far. You can be anal and argue about the placements so far but at least the selections make sense. I can say that I've definitely enjoyed all the matches listed...save the 1 or 2 I haven't seen.

 

I'm just gonna add that some people really find Bret / HBK dull as hell and would be really disappointed if it was #1. Personally, I like it but definitely not as much as others do.

[Guest C3THIR]

I've been at DVDR since September, and even prior to that, and someone passed me the link to this board to post it because they said it'd get a lot of discussion. Is that a crime? No.