Most Important/Influential Matches of All Time

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Not sure if this has been done before, but I was curious to see the reaction to the following question:

 

What do you consider some of the most important/influential matches of all time? When I say important/influential, I mean a match that had a big impact on future events, changed the direction of a company, or influenced things a great deal down the road.

 

Throwing out some of the obvious ones to start:

 

Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels, Survivor Series 1997: Do I need to explain this one? One of the most pivotal moments in modern wrestling history. Kind of hard to believe we're coming up on the 10 year anniversary.

 

Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin, Wrestlemania 13: The match that officially ushered in the mega-push of Steve Austin, turned Bret Hart heel for good, and showed the world that it's alright to cheer for someone acting like the biggest heel of all time. So much of what the WWF/E became in the late 90's stemmed from this match.

 

Hulk Hogan vs. The Iron Sheik, 1984: The start of Hulkamania and start of the 2nd Golden Age of Wrestling.

 

Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon, Wrestlemania X: The genesis of the the death-defying high spot workers that caught on like wildfire in the late 90's.

 

Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, and Ole Anderson vs. The Great Muta, Buzz Sawyer, and The Dragon Master, Clash of Champions X: You might be thinking what the hell am I smoking, but hear me out. This is the match where Sting injured his knee trying to get inside the cage. As a result, Sting's program with Flair, which had a lot of heat due to the Horsemen's heel turn earlier that night, had to be put on hold, and WCW/NWA was forced to rely on Lex Luger to turn face and carry the company in the interim. As a result, no one bought the idea that Luger had a chance, and they saw him as just a placeholder. Sting comes back in July, wins the belt (Although it was a foregone conclusion that he would), and limps into the Black Scorpion angle. If that injury did not happen, things would have been very different in my opinion.

[Steviekick 0]

Hogan/Sting at Starcade 97.

They had a super long build up to this match that was wasted with a really awful finish. WCW never recovered.

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

[Guest]

Fingerpoke.

 

Hogan/Warrior, the end of the Golden Era.

[CanadianChris 0]

Shane Douglas vs. 2 Cold Scorpio, NWA world heavyweight title tournament final, 1994. The birth of Extreme Championship Wrestling.

[TheFranchise 0]

Jackie Gayda.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

I don't know if this really counts, but I'd consider Austin/Rock as the end of the Attitude era. An exclamation point if you will.

 

I'm astonished Hulk-Andre hasn't been mentioned.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Ric Flair/Kerry Von Erich, Christmas 1982

 

Hulk Hogan/Nick Bockwinkel, Super Sunday 1983

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I don't know if this really counts, but I'd consider Austin/Rock as the end of the Attitude era. An exclamation point if you will.

 

I'm astonished Hulk-Andre hasn't been mentioned.

 

I was about to put Hulk/Andre on the list. I see that match from both sides:

 

1. - It was influential enough to draw the biggest crowd ever

 

2. - What did it influence or change after the fact?

 

I'd put it on there as the peak of the 2nd Golden Era so we'd have a nice beginning, middle, and end:

 

Hogan vs. Sheik

Hogan vs. Andre

Hogan vs. Warrior

[HarleyQuinn 0]

I'll nominate the 1993-05-27 Raw: Shawn Michaels vs. Marty Jannetty match. Set the stage for the "big feel" events/matches and that "anything can happen" feel on Monday Night Raw and later Monday Nitro.

 

1995-11-20 Raw: Shawn Michaels vs. Owen Hart (Collapse angle). Further cemented the above as well as setting the stage for Shawn Michaels' run from the Royal Rumble to WM12 and as a result of WM12, we saw Bret Hart move on to Steve Austin and culminate in Survivor Series 1997.

 

1998-01-18 Royal Rumble: Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker. Exacerbates Shawn's back injuries that had been cummulating during his career, leading to both his "retirement" and the changing of the guard to Steve Austin's WWF Title reign and the 'height' of the WWF.

[cabbageboy 0]

To be honest I think Raw already had the anything goes vibe after the Perfect/Flair loser leaves town match. That was on maybe the 3rd Raw ever too.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

What did it influence or change after the fact?

 

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

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Hulk Hogan/Nick Bockwinkel, Super Sunday 1983

 

I was about to mention this. If Hogan goes over here and Hulkamania runs wild in the AWA the wrestling landscape today would be completely different.

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What did it influence or change after the fact?

 

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

 

Very good point.

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Here's a question:

 

Would you put Undertaker/Mankind - Hell in the Cell on the list?

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For me personally, yes I would. I remember having the notion going into that PPV that something crazy was going to happen, but I didn't end up ordering the PPV. Next night I see this crazy shit on Raw and kicked myself for having not seen it. I ended up getting SS 98 soon after, and I bet a lot of other people did too.

 

As far as Hogan winning the AWA title goes, there was more to his departure than just that. If anything he might have held the title, still gotten pissed at Gagne over money, and left with the belt.

[zappafrank 0]

Cena/Kennedy, 10/1/07 RAW

 

Savage/Steamboat, WM III

 

Austin/Owen, SumSlam 97

 

Hardyz/E and C, No Mercy 99

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Two I forgot that are forever linked:

 

Shawn Michaels vs. Diesel, Madison Square Garden, 1996: The match that resulted in the Clique incident, which had a huge impact on future events, including...

 

Steve Austin vs. Jake Roberts, King of the Ring 1996: What was looked at as a replacement King of the Ring in the wake of HHH comes a legendary catch phrase and the first sign that this whole "Stone Cold" character might just be something special.

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Austin vs Michaels from WM14. This officially kicked off the Austin era, which would help them eventually win the ratings war with WCW and drive WCW out of business.

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Sting vs Goldberg Slamboree 1999- The match was a decent bout, and not something that stands out as a classic or anything. But I look at it like this. Your two biggest babyfaces fighting on a pay-per-view should draw some buyrates, should probably draw a buyrate, and should probably have a pretty clean finish unless one is turning heel. To my knowledge it did none of the above, which showed me at the time that WCW was being poorly managed, and needed some big help.

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

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Stepping outside of American wrestling:

 

Art Barr/Eddie Guerrero/El Hijo Del Santo vs Fuerza Guerrera/Fishman/Blue Panther from 1993 is huge in mexico because it started one of the greatest groups ever and reignited a fire in Lucha Libre in Los Gringos Locos.

[WhenDanSaysJump 0]

Dude Love/Austin @ Over The Edge 98.

 

Set the tone for intricately booked Attitude-era brawls.

[Papacita 0]

I'll nominate the 1993-05-27 Raw: Shawn Michaels vs. Marty Jannetty match. Set the stage for the "big feel" events/matches and that "anything can happen" feel on Monday Night Raw and later Monday Nitro.

I agree with cb that Raw already kinda had that feel, but this was the night that really cemented it. However, you can't throw Shawn/Marty in there without mentioning the Kid going over Razor. The former was the better match, but I think Kid's upset had more impact in the long run.

[HarleyQuinn 0]

2001-11-18 Survivor Series - Trish Stratus wins the vacant Women's Title over Lita, Molly Holly, Jacqueline, and Jazz. From late 2001-2004 (and into 2005) there is an underrated and strong Women's Division in the WWE similar to the IC Title during the mid 90's. The WWF(E) is the only major company to have a strong woman's division of this magnitude in the US.

 

The following all were making an impact during that time frame: Trish Stratus, Molly Holly, Victoria (The Austin/Rock/HHH of the division IMO in terms of all three always being around the title at some point), Lita, Jazz, Jacqueline, Gail Kim, Stacy Kiebler, and Torrie Wilson with Ivory on the outskirts.

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Stone Cold Steve Austin Vs. Vince McMahon, Raw, April 1998, Philadelphia. This angle and tease led WWF Raw is War to win the ratings from Nitro for the first time in a year and a half.

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Stone Cold Steve Austin Vs. Vince McMahon, Raw, April 1998, Philadelphia. This angle and tease led WWF Raw is War to win the ratings from Nitro for the first time in a year and a half.

 

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

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Hogan/Warrior.

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Rocky Maivia beating Hunter Heart Helmsey for the IC Title in 97. Had that not happened, would Die Rocky Die have occured? Would The Rock have ever been born?

 

HHH/HBK vs. LOD. The Outlaws come out and join in the beatdown, foreshadowing the new D-X that'd become such a big part of the WWF.

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Booker T versus Buff Bagwell on Raw in Tacoma. So vociferously rejected by the fans that it changed the entire direction of the ill-fated Invasion.