Help Me Expand My Wrestling Repertoire

[Garth 0]

As someone who started watching wrestling regularly as of January 2000, I feel like I have missed out on a lot of great wrestling. I was hoping some of you guys here might be able to help me out by suggesting either matches/angles/whatever in the history of wrestling that would be essential viewing. For example, I can count the number or Bret Hart matches I've seen on one hand. This needs to be rectified. What with living in the era of youtube/dailymotion/pwtorrents I have no excuse not to get more to grips with wrestlings history.

 

I know I could easily hunt down some stuff on my own, I would just like to hear from some other fans what they consider to be essential viewing. Ideally I would like suggestions to include the key moments in the build up to matches. I feel it would be far better to be able to put anything I watch into context rather than simply watching standalone stuff.

 

 

[The Buzz 0]

My personal suggestions based on guys I like would be to track down early Sting matches such as the matches vs Flair, Rude, Vader, Cactus Jack, and Muta. Hell, go track down his three matches with Regal from the early 90s, you should be able to find all three if you can find one. Even some of his stuff in the late 90s vs Goldberg, DDP(Monday Nitro in 99 or 00), Bret Hart(WCW Mayhem). Sting has never really lost his athletic ability, but used it to his advantage in the early 90s. His work in the late 80s to mid 90s, the crow angle, and his stuff in TNA are why he's my favorite wrestler.

 

 

The Cactus Jack vs Vader matches are all pretty interesting to watch. They were different from a lot of what was going on back in the early 90s.

 

Steven Regal(William) in the 90s was a treat to watch even though his recent work is fun to watch as well. His brawls and matches with the Belfast Bruiser(Finlay) are all fun to watch.

 

I believe Ricky Steamboat and Rick Rude had a good 30 minute Ironman match at one of the Beach Blast ppvs.

 

I have more suggestions that I may post, hope I helped.

 

 

[Boner Kawanger 0]

The 1992 Royal Rumble is the single greatest performance by an entire company in one match. Everybody from Flair to Heenan shine. You have to see Hogan/Warrior from WrestleMania VI. WrestleMania VII for Flair/Savage at least. The whole show is one of my favorites. Then WrestleMania X for Bret/Owen, the LADDER MATCH, and you can see Bret Hart finally get the moment he deserved for once in his life. Then, for historical purposes, find Bash at the Beach 1996 (at least the main event, but try to track down the whole show). I think something important happened at King of the Ring 1996. and the '95 KOTR is historically bad and the place where Vince noticed how big ECW was. Find some coked out Macho Man and Hogan promos from the 80s. I suggest the one after they form the Megapowers and Hogan's promo against Hercules. Then move on to Flair and the Horsemen. And then just get the Bret Hart, Ric Flair, and any other wrestler DVDs.

 

I'm probably going to keep coming back and editing this.

 

EDIT: Or just get WWE 24/7.

[Guest cobainwasmurdered]

Anything Meltzer gave 5 stars http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Meltzer#Rating_system

[King Kamala 0]

Some essential shows that readily available on DVD (this is assuming you guys got the WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Royal Rumble Anthologies in the U.K.)

 

WrestleMania III (There really isn't any great wrestling outside of Steamboat-Savage but it's a fun card from top to bottom)

 

WrestleMania VIII (Another really fun card. The last of the old school WrestleManias)

 

WrestleMania X (If you want to see more Bret Hart- this is the show for you. Plus you've got the famous ladder match and an appearance by Burt Reynolds!)

 

WrestleMania XIV (An iconic show. Again maybe not one of the greatest shows-workrate wise but a fun card from top to bottom. Perhaps the peak of the Attitude era)

 

SummerSlam '92 (Not sure if you'd have seen this- seeing how it's the biggest wrestling show to ever take place in the U.K. Good card, fantastic atmosphere)

 

SummerSlam '98 (Another iconic show from The Attitude days. Probably my personal favorite from the era. Great MSG crowd)

 

Royal Rumble '92 (You could probably ditch the mostly forgettable undercard and just watch The Rumble itself, which is one of the most entertaining matches I've ever seen)

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

WWE shows to seek out:

 

WM III

WM VI

Royal Rumble '92

WM VIII

Summerslam '92

WM X

WM XIV

Summerslam '98

 

I'll have to think a little more about WCW and ECW stuff because I don't remember the show names as easily.

 

EDIT: Ha, I should have read Kamala's post first.

[Bix 0]

Starting with stuff you can get via completely official and legal means (everything here is also available from Netflix, with some of the Wrestling Gold family of stuff available via "Watch Instantly" streaming):

 

Pick up some Memphis. The TV formatting and wrestling style (lots of great brawls and epic main events) will be easy to get into if you're used to this decade's WWE stuff. Maybe start by picking up the Wrestling Gold DVD set at retail to get started as it's cheap and has a good amount of quality Memphis footage, with alternate commentary by Jim Cornette & Dave Meltzer to give all sorts of fun historical info. Some is edited but it's a good start. I was hooked by seeing some of the same matches on old VHS tapes from the same company. The 2nd box from the same company has 2 Smokey Mountain Wrestling DVDs and some OVW, which is newer ('90s and '00s respectively) wrestling booked by Jim Cornette to have a similar feel to Memphis and Mid-South (and these also have Cornette/Meltzer alternate commentary tracks).

 

Speaking of Mid-South, they have 2 official retail releases available that have some good stuff:

http://www.dvdpricesearch.com/cgi-bin/dvdc...p;tmpCart=75547

http://www.dvdpricesearch.com/cgi-bin/dvdc...p;tmpCart=82806

 

The Watts family sells a lot of Mid-South footage at http://www.universalwrestling.com but they have no compilations besides the retail ones, just a lot of full TV episodes and house show footage, so it's not the best place to start.

 

Oh, and back to Memphis for a second. There's the Andy Kaufman "I'm From Hollywood" documentary that covers the Lawler feud. Though the timeline is messed up at times and they skip a lot, it's a blast to watch. Netflix has the out of print version with "My Breakfast With Blassie" on the B side of the DVD.

 

There's also a solid "Best of the Von Erichs" DVD that's out of print. (All of the commentary has been removed, though)

 

Of course, there are also the various WWE releases of older footage. The Flair sets, Pillman set, Bloodbath set, '80s stars set, and Andre the Giant re-release are a good start.

 

----------------------------

 

Now, for the less official means of procuring footage.

 

Memphis is an odd duck. The masters are spread out all over the place and the actual owners don't seem to care about others doing anything with it. There's a lot available from your regular burnt DVD traders/sellers. If you want something a little more structured:

 

Highspots has some releases they've put together that are endorsed by Cory Maclin of the current Memphis wrestling. They're pressed dual layer DVDs (not burnt) and the video quality varies, but there is some good stuff on them. So far, they've released:

 

Classic Memphis Wrestling - 70s Arena Footage

Classic Memphis Wrestling - Jerry Lawler vs Andy Kaufman

Classic Memphis Wrestling - Strangest Matches and Wildest Brawls

 

For the DVDVR '80s polls, Goodhelmet has put together a big set for the voting process. Full of great stuff and while it's recorded in LP mode to minimize the the number of discs, most of the stuff holds up ok. Enough people are participating that you know you're not being ripped off or anything.

 

Rick at 70s-TV.com has a bunch of stuff, largely consisting of compilations that he's put together. The matches are clipped at times but even when they are, his discs and sets are great overviews. He's sold stuff on eBay for years and is very reliable.

 

Jerry Lawler's website sells older versions of Rick's comps as well as DVD conversions of some of his old home videos.

[HarleyQuinn 0]

In terms of early Monday Night Raw periods...

 

May 1993 - July 1993: You get the "classic" HBK/Jannetty (2 matches in May and July) & Kid/Razor matches. You also get the KOTR build up for the 1st ever tournament and Yokozuna & Hogan. For the most part, this period features the growing heel HBK as IC Champion, Yokozuna starting his dominance post WrestleMania, and the engaging Ramon vs. 1-2-3 Kid feud.

 

February 1994 - April 1994: Heel Owen before & during WrestleMania. You also have The Quebecers & Johnny Polo dominating the tag scene along with HBK & Diesel further cementing themselves as heels. You also have the Bret/Luger/Yoko saga up to WrestleMania.

 

May 1995 - August 1995: Shawn Michaels starting to really come on in the ring as a face. You have Diesel as WWF Champ along with the Tag reign of Yokozuna & Owen Hart.

[KCC 0]

Wow man, you missed a lot of great stuff. I would personally recommend checking out any WCW PPV from 1999 (except Spring Stampede) as well as WCW Fall Brawl 1998 (considered by many to be one of the best PPVs of the last 10 years).

 

If WCW doesn't float your boat, try such shows as Wrestlemania IX, 11 and 13 (skip the Bret Hart match on 13 but watch the other two. Great stuff). Also, the In Your House that featured the Bulldog/Diesel main event from 1995 was recently on WWE 24/7 and is a PHENOMENAL show. Check it out. From the same year, King of the Ring 1995 was an unforgettable show as well (featuring Jerry Lawler vs. Bret in a HILARIOUS match that you have to see to believe).

 

That should get you started, and I'm sure you'll be begging for more after watching all of it.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

My two favourite shows from 96-2000 are Wrestlemania XIV and Heatwave '98. I'd strongly recommend both.

 

Wrestlemania 13 is forgettable, but Hart-Austin is my favourite match ever. Though it's already been mentioned, my second favourite match ever is the 92 Rumble.

 

Also, if you're approaching it fresh, Wrestlemania VII isn't bad. Warrior-Savage was an insanely fun match to watch.

[PILLS! PILLS! PILLS! 0]

Honestly, I would recommend getting your hands on every WrestleMania. Even the ones that are not that great are fun to watch. The event serves as a "state of the union" type deal as far as what was going down in the WWF at that time, what the atmosphere was like, etc. Well worth it.

 

Watts era WCW (mid 1992-early 1993) is really good too.

 

I am also on the Foley bandwagon:

 

Two excellent Michaels/Mankind matches- one from Mind Games and the other from RAW is WAR on 08/11/97, I believe.

 

Foley and The Undertaker had a beautiful, but forgotten, match at IYH: Revenge of the Taker from April 1997.

 

RAW is WAR from MSG in September 97 was just awesome. HHH/Cactus was tremendous. Lots of good TV on this show as well.

 

A match that I have touted before was the HBK/Diesel vs. Razor/Kid tag team title match from the Action Zone in November 94 (forget the exact date). Well worth tracking down.

 

Some of the Starrcade shows from the 90's are pretty good.

 

Starrcade 92 is Watts at his finest. A good Simmons/Dr. Death match, Vader vs. Sting King of Cable finals and Battlebowl as well. Windham/Pillman vs. Steamboat/Douglas is good too.

 

Starrcade 93 features the last great main event in the history of the show, as Ric Flair puts his career on the line in a match (in Charlotte, NC) against Vader for the WCW World Championship. Love this match.

 

Starrcade 95 is the World Cup of Wrestling, with WCW vs. New Japan Pro Wrestling. Every bit as awesome as it sounds, with Eddy Guerrero vs. Shinjiro Ohtani, Alex Wright vs. Koji Kanemoto, Chris Benoit vs. Jushin Liger and other great matchups.

 

Starrcade 96 features a not-so-great main event, but the undercard more than makes up for it. Lots of work from the Cruiserweight Divison with a little help from some imported talent.

 

Spring Stampede 94 is also an excellent show. Flair/Steamboat revive their old rivalry and The Nasty Boys against Cactus Jack and Maxx Payne streetfight is just brutal.

 

Also, get Slamboree 94. The tag team street fight from this event is even better. And Terry Funk/Tully Blanchard is loads more fun that you would think.

[Timmy8271 0]

I'd get the whole run of Clash of the Champions. If not the whole run, then Clash 1 for sure as it has a historic Sting/Flair match and other good matches.

 

And I don't know how much you like Lucha but if you want to get into the style, When Worlds Collide is a good place to start. You have Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, 2 Cold Scropio, Tito Santana and others.

[Diamonddust 0]

Wow man, you missed a lot of great stuff. I would personally recommend checking out any WCW PPV from 1999 (except Spring Stampede) as well as WCW Fall Brawl 1998 (considered by many to be one of the best PPVs of the last 10 years).

 

If WCW doesn't float your boat, try such shows as Wrestlemania IX, 11 and 13 (skip the Bret Hart match on 13 but watch the other two. Great stuff). Also, the In Your House that featured the Bulldog/Diesel main event from 1995 was recently on WWE 24/7 and is a PHENOMENAL show. Check it out. From the same year, King of the Ring 1995 was an unforgettable show as well (featuring Jerry Lawler vs. Bret in a HILARIOUS match that you have to see to believe).

 

That should get you started, and I'm sure you'll be begging for more after watching all of it.

 

I wrote up a whole response to the fact you mentioned not watching Hart/Austin at WM13 before I really read the rest of this post.

 

Good list.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

Wow man, you missed a lot of great stuff. I would personally recommend checking out any WCW PPV from 1999 (except Spring Stampede) as well as WCW Fall Brawl 1998 (considered by many to be one of the best PPVs of the last 10 years).

 

If WCW doesn't float your boat, try such shows as Wrestlemania IX, 11 and 13 (skip the Bret Hart match on 13 but watch the other two. Great stuff). Also, the In Your House that featured the Bulldog/Diesel main event from 1995 was recently on WWE 24/7 and is a PHENOMENAL show. Check it out. From the same year, King of the Ring 1995 was an unforgettable show as well (featuring Jerry Lawler vs. Bret in a HILARIOUS match that you have to see to believe).

 

That should get you started, and I'm sure you'll be begging for more after watching all of it.

 

I wrote up a whole response to the fact you mentioned not watching Hart/Austin at WM13 before I really read the rest of this post.

 

Good list.

 

I did the same thing.

[Black Lushus 0]

Did Meltz stop watching the WWE after 1997? Maybe that Wiki list just needs updating? He REALLY hasn't given a 5 star rating to ANY other matches after Shawn/UT HIAC?

[PILLS! PILLS! PILLS! 0]

Did Meltz stop watching the WWE after 1997? Maybe that Wiki list just needs updating? He REALLY hasn't given a 5 star rating to ANY other matches after Shawn/UT HIAC?

 

That is the primary reason why I don't take Meltzer's opinion very seriously.

[Black Lushus 0]

Did Meltz stop watching the WWE after 1997? Maybe that Wiki list just needs updating? He REALLY hasn't given a 5 star rating to ANY other matches after Shawn/UT HIAC?

 

That is the primary reason why I don't take Meltzer's opinion very seriously.

 

I just read it again...nothing before 94 either. Wow, usually guys like him cream over Savage/Steamboat and Hart/Bulldog. Interesting.

[bob_barron 0]

Did Meltz stop watching the WWE after 1997? Maybe that Wiki list just needs updating? He REALLY hasn't given a 5 star rating to ANY other matches after Shawn/UT HIAC?

 

What WWF/E matches do you think deserve ***** post HIAC though?

 

Meltzer is obviously a harsh grader and is not just going to dish out 5 easily.

[Black Lushus 0]

I don't know bob, just asking the question. You don't think there have been ANY? At ALL?

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Did Meltz stop watching the WWE after 1997? Maybe that Wiki list just needs updating? He REALLY hasn't given a 5 star rating to ANY other matches after Shawn/UT HIAC?

 

That is the primary reason why I don't take Meltzer's opinion very seriously.

 

I just read it again...nothing before 94 either. Wow, usually guys like him cream over Savage/Steamboat and Hart/Bulldog. Interesting.

To throw this around, what are the missing ***** matches. I can definitely see arguments for HHH/Cactus Jack, but nothing since '97 that absolutely HAS to be ****. Personally I have a few on my list, but no sure things.

 

Savage/Steamboat I've seen arguments here as well, though I think it gets five due to historical significance. The Slaughter/Sheik boot camp match is *****, but that might just be a matter of a match review not existing.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Funny that Barron asked the same question more or less simultaneously.

[bob_barron 0]

Triple H v. Benoit v. HBK stands out for me, but that's because I was there, and the emotion for that match was off the charts. Meltzer gave it ****3/4.

 

He also gave Triple H v. Cactus Jack RR streetfight. ****1/2

 

Those two are up there for me.

 

He gave Steamboat-Savage ****1/2 and Bret-Davey ****1/4

[Black Lushus 0]

The matches you guys mentioned did spring to mind...sorry, my brain is slow today, I'm sure if I thought about it I could figure on at least two or three more post 97.

 

Curious, what did he give Warrior/Savage at WM7? Did he rate the 92 Rumble at all?

[bob_barron 0]

****1/4 for Warrior-Savage

 

***3/4 for Rumble.

 

Meltzer doesn't seem to be a big Rumble fan

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

HHH/Cactus is the only one I'd have at ***** for post-'97 WWF. I've always liked Rock/Austin from X-7 (even with the finish) and Angle/Benoit from the '03 Rumble. I can see the arguments against both of those though.

 

HHH/HBK/Benoit is a great from an emotional standpoint, but I've never been overly impressed with triple threat matches. The pacing is usually poor and a lot of the spots are really contrived.

[PILLS! PILLS! PILLS! 0]

I consider Michaels/Angle from WrestleMania 21 to be deserving of a five-star rating. But no, **** 3/4 is all it gets. Fuck you, Dave.

[bob_barron 0]

HBK-Angle is one that divides a lot of people, I know on this board it caused a lot of debate.

 

The pacing is usually poor and a lot of the spots are really contrived

 

I felt HBK-HHH-Benoit was able to differ from that. HBK superkicking Benoit while he had HHH in the Sharpshooter...I was about to rush the ring.

 

Angle-Benoit also got ****3/4. I think at times Meltzer is just paranoid about awarding the full 5

[foleyfanforever88 0]

HBK and Angle are my two favorite wrestlers to watch in the ring, so I have no problem giving their WM21 match five stars.

[Frosty 0]

In my opinion there have been alot of shit listed here, that unless you are a DIE HARD fan and wanna see the whole card for historical purposes, then you'll be bored to shit watching a good chunk of all the stuff listed here (ex: All the Wrestlemanias, or pretty much any whole card, cause especially in the WWE there was alot of the 80's and 90's stuff that was pure crap, to go along with the handful of matches that were good.)

 

Some feuds and matches that I would recommend checking out are:

(Keep in mind that theses might not all be killer matches, but they are at least entertaining)

 

 

Raven vs. DDP vs. Benoit in the mid/late 90's

 

Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio (WCW Halloween Havoc - Las Vegas, Nev. - 10/26/1997) (Alot of the WCW Cruiserweight Division from the NWO era is good to watch) The Rey and Eddie DVD's are good places to try some of this stuff out.

 

Benoit vs. Booker T (Best of 7 for the TV title) is a great watch.

 

Chicago Street Fight for the WCW World Tag Team Championship: Cactus Jack & Maxx Payne vs. The Nasty Boys (Spring Stampede, April 17, 1994) - is great in regards to older Cactus Jack ( this is on Foley's Greatest Hit's and Misses DVD)

 

ECW also released a "Best of Cactus Jack" DVD that has alot of great interviews Mick did in ECW as well.

 

The Bret Hart (Best there is, was and ever will be...), Undertaker (Tombstone) and Flair (Ultimate Ric Flair Collection) are also awesome sets if you'd like a taste of the history of either of those wrestlers along with some good matches. In fact, pretty much any multi-disc set the WWE has released on anyone should have a t least a few great things to watch.

 

 

[HarleyQuinn 0]

You can search Daily Motion and type in WCW Saturday Night.

 

Specifically the era from 1991 - 1993 (You have Ric Flair & Arn Anderson, Sting & Lex Luger, Ricky Steamboat, Steve Austin & Brian Pillman, Cactus Jack, and Vader along with solid wrestling from guys like Shane Douglas and Dustin Rhodes).