EDITOR'S NOTE: The original intention was publish this series at the PlaceToBeNation.com however due to time constraints I have decided to start publishing on my own here at RidingSpaceMountain.Blogspot.com. Eventually, all blogs will cross-posted to PlaceToBeNation.com. In addition, I want to remark that this first blog was about double what I intended the word count to be and I will be working on being more concise without losing any information. Please bear with me as the series is getting off the ground. Thank you very much!
Hey yo Stud Muffins & Foxy Ladies,
“In the beginning was the Word…”
A suitably dramatic
way to start the “Pro Wrestling Love” series at the Place To Be Nation wouldn’t
you say! I have always favored the written word because as the author I can
constantly refine verbiage to best convey the intended message. However, I do
bear in mind Voltaire’s advice that “The search for perfection is the enemy of
good.” For far too long, I have procrastinated on writing this series in an
effort to have perfect, complete information on pro wrestling’s voluminous
catalog of matches, which is a foolhardy notion. Now, the Greatest Match Ever
Project (hosted at gwe.freeforums.project.net) has given me the impetus to
write this now or I shall forever have to hold my peace on subject near and
dear to my heart: What is the Greatest Pro Wrestling Match of All Time?
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| I Love Pro Wrestling! This picture always makes me smile! :) |
Keiji Mutoh coined the term “Pro Wrestling Love” and I have
selected it as the title of these series of articles because I love pro
wrestling. It is pure and simple. I want to celebrate pro wrestling in all its
forms throughout time and the globe. The tone of these articles will be
positive praising the men and women that craft amazing stories through body language
that is universal and timeless. Superficially, this seems like a facile task
since I will be discussing the Greatest Matches of All Time. However, when you
are discussing the Greatest Match of All Time being hypercritical is only
natural. The stakes are higher and the passion is greater. When you truly,
deeply love something as much as I love pro wrestling, the thoughtful criticism
is a sign of affection because I care that much.
My goal for these articles is to increase awareness of great
pro wrestling to as many people as possible. If just one person comes away from
these articles watching a match they never seen before, then I have done my job
because whether they love it or hate it they will have expanded their knowledge
of pro wrestling. My favorite moments recently as a fan is discovering these
hidden gems and exposing them to the world. Who can forget when I lost my mind
over an obscure AJ Styles vs Bobby Roode match (Final Resolution 2011) and made
everyone on ProWrestlingOnly.com watch it. (FYI, you should totally drop what
you are doing and watch that now because AJ gives the single greatest selling
performance ever. Don’t worry I will wait for you to come back. You watched it?
Wasn’t it amazing?) As a wrestling fan now, that’s what I live for and I am
really excited for this project.
I am Martin “Superstar Sleeze” Boulevard and a pro wrestling
fan for over twenty years now. I am Superstar Sleeze on ProWrestlingOnly.com.
You may have heard before on the “Titans Of Wrestling” where I was nicknamed
the “Teen Titan” and you may have heard me on my now-defunct podcast “Tag Teams
Back Again”. You can follow me on Twitter and Instagram, @superstarsleeze and you
can send me any feedback there.
The expected format will be I will discuss the twelve or so
greatest matches from a promotion over a five year period. First, I will
discuss a broad theme about pro wrestling psychology pertinent to the matches
that will be discussed in the article. Then, I will explain why I selected this
specific five year period. Then I will give a brief overview of the promotion
and the prominent wrestlers at the time in that promotion. Each five year
period will be broken into two articles, six matches per article. The reviews
will be 5-7 sentences each and will focus on the narrative of the match and
what makes the match special. Full reviews can be found on the ProWrestlingOnly.com forum. Simply go to the folder of the Month/Year, find the match and you will be able to read my full review of the match.
The first period I selected was the World Wrestling
Federation from 1993-1997. There may be no better understood era of a pro
wrestling promotion than the WWF in the mid-90s. That’s exactly why I chose it
to be the first subject. It is a common touchstone that all wrestling fans no
matter if you are a WWE-only fan or a fan that watches FUTEN and Black Terry
tapes we all have an opinion on it. If you are going to being reading my
opinion throughout this series, it is good to know where I stand on canon
before we venture off into the hinterlands of pro wrestling. Even though, I
think this is the most well-characterized era of pro wrestling, I think I still
found a couple hidden gems in the #7-#12 range. I will freely admit that the
top six is the usual suspects, but they are the usual suspects for a reason.
To me, 1993-1997 is a natural time epoch in the history of
WWF as a transition between the Hogan era (Hogan leaves in June of 1993) and
the Attitude Era (Austin wins the title in March of 98). This era is sometimes
dubbed the “New Generation” and it is basically the Bret & Shawn era. In
January of 1993, Bret Hart is the World Wrestling Federation Champion and
November of 1997 he “loses” the championship to Shawn Michaels in the infamous
Montreal Screwjob. In the interim, Bret and Shawn are consistently spotlighted
as the best pro wrestlers in the company even in the midst of the year-long
Diesel World Title Reign. It will be noted that 11 out of 12 the matches
selected have either Bret or Shawn in them. If I was to do a Top 25, 24 of the
matches would have either Bret or Shawn in them. That’s how dominant they were
from a “workrate” (for a lack of a better term) perspective .
I watched and reviewed a total of 72 matches from this era.
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| Blah blah blah...will you get on with the countdown already? |
Honorable Mentions:
The Best of Non-Bret,
Non-Shawn Matches:
Marty Jannetty vs
Doink The Clown - WWF RAW 6/21/93 2 Out Of 3 Falls
WWF World Tag Champs
Marty Jannetty & 1-2-3 Kid vs Quebecers -WWF MSG 1/17/94
Marty & Doink are unsung great midcard wrestlers in
1993.
The Best of 1993:
Bret Hart vs Mr.
Perfect - WWF King of the Ring 1993
Bret Hart vs Doink The
Clown/Bret Hart vs Jerry Lawler - Summerslam 1993
No matches from 1993 made the Top 12 and I wanted to make
sure they were represented. These are the two best and I think Bret vs Perfect
match from KOTR ’93 is the WWF Match of the Year from 1993.
Great Tag Team
Matches of The Era:
Bret Hart & Davey
Boy Smith vs Owen Hart & Bob Backlund - WWF Action Zone 2/26/95
WWF Tag Champions
Owen Hart & British Bulldog vs Shawn Michaels & Steve Austin - WWF RAW
5/26/97
Only one tag team match made my Top 12 so I wanted to give
some love to the other great tag team matches from the era.
The Last One Out:
Shawn Michaels vs Mankind - WWF RAW 8/11/97
This is just a randomly great, out of control, insane brawl
that never gets talked about enough and really just misses the cut. It came
down to this or the HHH vs Catcus street fight and I gave the nod to the
latter.
Top Twelve Matches of World Wrestling Federation from 1993-1997
#12. Cactus Jack vs Hunter Hearst Helmsley – RAW 9/22/97 Falls Count
Anywhere
The best non-Bret, non-Shawn match of the era is a Falls
Count Anywhere match between Cactus Jack and HHH. Foley was such an integral
part to making HHH a star in both 1997 and 2000. In ’97 they feuded after
Helmsley defeated Mankind for the King of the Ring. 1997 saw the Faces of Foley
come to light as they humanized the Deranged Mankind and explained his
childhood love of wrestling. That led to
the debut of Dude Love and then ultimately the return of Cactus Jack to a
wrestling ring, which is announced via an amazing video package where Foley
plays all his characters simultaneously thanks to some TV magic. Dude Love
calling “Mankind” always cracks me up. HHH does a great job selling Foley coming out
as Cactus Jack as a total “shit his pants” moment.
I like my brawls short and sweet. It should be a burst of
violent adrenaline not a drawn out war of attrition. This match maximizes its
time and efficiently dishes out brutality. It is the Greatest Hits of Cactus
Jack in one action-packed ten minute match. Cactus supplying both the offense
and the bumps. Shoutout to Chyna for being really awesome in this. She was
great in creating the dynamic to give Helmsley a fighting chance in this
because the match demanded that Helmsley be a bumping coward in this match. They
came up with a creative way to neutralize her by having Cactus shove Triple H
who ended up colliding with Chyna into the steel steps. The finish was superb.
Cactus uses his brutal bump, the Nestea Plunge (basically banging the back of
his head really hard on metal or concrete) to make you believe he is ripe for
the Pedigree, but instead turns it around by hitting a monster piledriver through the table. Excellent,
energetic plunder-based brawl that made Foley feel like a huge star.
#11. Bret Hart vs “Stone Cold” Steve Austin – Revenge of The Taker
1997
A hidden gem hiding in plain sight. It is BRET HART VS STONE
COLD IN 1997 why don’t people talk about this more? Does it pale in comparison
to Wrestlemania XIII’s submission match? Of course, but 99% of matches do that
does not make this any less special. The backstory is that this a month after
the Mania match and the feud has not been settled.
Stone Cold’s selling in this match is superb. For a trash
talking, ass kicker, selling is actually a pretty difficult thing because
vulnerability can be seen as undercutting Austin as the TOUGHEST SOB. However,
you cannot be the TOUGHEST SOB in history if there is no pain to overcome. This
is what Austin does so expertly well in this match is convey vulnerability, but
also his grit in struggling with the pain: collapsing on piledriver attempts,
lunging forward constantly, yelling in agony. He is in a tremendous of pain,
but goddmanit there is no quit in him. Of course in my estimation there is no
one better in the history of North American wrestling better at grinding down a
body part than Bret “The Hitman” Hart. He is impeccable in control of match
offensively because of his wide arsenal of offense, his excellent execution (he
deserves the nickname) and his sound psychology. I have noted in the past that Bret
matches can be very neatly segmented. If Bret is on offense, he is on offense
and you are his ragdoll. When Bret is selling, his opponent is on offense and
Bret will ragdoll for you. That being said the transitions will usually be good
just inside a segment there is no sense of struggle. Austin because of his
tenacious, energetic style forces Bret's hand. So many times Austin will just
charge or throw a wild punch. It is not even that much of a hope spot, but it
is a spot that forces Bret to eyerake or to kick at the bad knee to
re-establish control. Austin keeps Bret honest and I love that.
The narrative was excellent with the ultra-hot, energetic
opening from Austin. The hook of the match is that Bret is able to re-injure
Austin’s knee because Austin was trying to attack Bret with a chair, but as
Austin & Hebner were fighting over the chair this afforded Bret the
opportunity to dropkick Austin from behind bump Hebner and then attack Austin’s
knee. Austin was screwed over by his own propensity for violence. I describe
how great the heat segment is in depth in the above paragraph. What they do so
well in the finish stretch is protect their finishes. In Kayfabe, Austin has
try for the Stunner. In reality, he was not booked to win so you cant hit the
Stunner. Instead, he attempts it and Bret holds onto the top rope for dear
life. It was Bret’s selling tenaciously holding onto that rope that made the
spot fantastic and enhanced the Stunner that much more. By the same token, Bret
has to go for the Sharpshooter, that won him the Wrestlemania match. Here the
cool spot is that Austin whacks Bret in the face with his own metal knee brace,
the very knee brace Bret ripped off to inflict more damage. Thus the symmetry
that goes back to Austin & chair is revisited here. The finish is Austin
wants Bret to submit to his own move: the Sharpshooter, how humiliating would
that be! The Hart Foundation bails him out by bum-rushing the ring. In the
post-match, Austin attacks the knee of Bret Hart with a chair to give him a
taste of his own medicine. The job would be finished the following night on RAW
when Austin would savagely destroy Bret’s knee in a street fight putting him in
a wheel chair. Besides the DQ finish, this is just excellent wrestling and my
hot take is that this is actually a better wrestling match than their more
heralded Survivor Series 1996 which I found well-worked, but pedestrian at
times.
#10. WWF World Heavyweight Champion Bret Hart vs The Undertaker
One Night Only 1997
Lets keep the Bret Hart love rolling. This is generally
considered to be the last great match of Bret’s WWF career. Bret defeated
Undertaker for the Championship at Summerslam in one of my all-time favorite
angles when special guest referee Shawn Michaels accidentally nailed the
Undertaker with a steel chair. This is the Championship rematch and happens on
a special UK PPV.
As we will see later in this countdown Bret is a master at
working with a bigger opponent in Diesel and here it is not much different. He
tries different strategies early (throwing punches/brawling, speed and taking
off a turnbuckle pad), but none work against the Man From The Dark Side and
eventually he eats his patented running chest-first bump into the exposed
turnbuckle! Then…
Just by Bret Hart kicking Undertaker's knee, there is a
massive reaction. That embodies pro wrestling to me. It is not about the crazy
flips or modified suplexes. It is about caring about your favorite wrestler and
telling a story where you are building to an outcome. Eventually, Bret earns
full control when Undertaker’s knee slams into a turnbuckle on a missed charge.
Bret is a Great White that smells blood in the water. Like I said in the Austin
match, there is no one else I rather watch grind out a match than Bret and his
control segment on the Undertaker’s knee is a thing of beauty. Undertaker for
his part sold so well and really peppered in those hope spots to make Bret
continue to earn this control segment. The finish stretch featured great logical
escalation with smart transitions. I thought the finish itself was pretty cheap
but that was to be expected as Undertaker as a strong babyface could not lose
clean. This match really demonstrates how great Bret Hart is on offense and how
great Undertaker can be at selling. The red-hot UK crowd really helped this
match and we see later in the countout how they really put another match over
the top. This is a great exhibition of minimalist wrestling and how a simple
kick to the knee can get a massive reaction.
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| What do you mean Shawn is taking the next three slots? |
#9. WWF World Tag Team Champions Diesel & Shawn Michaels vs
Razor Ramon & 1-2-3 Kid Action Zone 10/30/94
The sole tag team match to make the countdown pits Kliq vs
Kliq as Tag Champs Shawn & Diesel defend against best friends Razor &
Kid in a barnburner of a tag match. This takes right before the Diesel &
Shawn split that would lead to Diesel monster babyface push and being the WWF
Champion for a year.
Shawn was my MVP of the match. After years being in the Rockers, he
was great at turning around all the shit that was done to him and throwing
right back as a heel. He was doing so much great apron work in this: feeding
Razor, using a blind tag to set up heat, constant cheating. It was a really
masterful heel tag work performance and I thought he was the one directing
traffic. When it came time to get his ass kicked, he threw himself all over the
place for Razor and Kid. He was basically their tackling dummy. I think all
four guys impressed, but I would go with Shawn as my MVP.
What really impressed me was the strong understanding of
fundamentals. The babyface shine is such a critical, yet oft overlooked portion
of a match. It is so crucial in giving a reason for the fans to believe their
heroes have a chance. I am a sucker for a babyfaces to hit a finish early (Razor
Edge) and not get the pin in tag situations because you have the easy out of
the partner breaking it up. Kid was so awesome with is nearfall barrage. Who
the hell was this Kevin Nash flying all around? Razor, an against the grain
pick for face in peril, takes heat off a cheap tag and then the liberal amounts
of cheating, this heat segment was one of the all-time great tag team stretch
runs with really strong psychology. Razor worked the face in peril well. Diesel
was shockingly awesome at offense in this match. Michaels accidentally
superkicking Diesel was great angle advancement, it gets Sweet Chin Music over
as a killer move (remember it was a relatively recent move and to have the Big
Man go down for 5 minutes really sells it as a game-ender) and also it got
Razor/Kid back in it. Kid was a killer
hot tag. I thought Shawn Michaels showed
why he is one of the all-time greatest wrestlers here, awesome command of
psychology from beginning to end especially that sleeper after the hot tag to
grind the Razor/Kid fast break to a halt. The Kid’s top rope leg drop is one of
the all time great babyface false finishes. The Sleeping Giant is stirring and
OUT OF NOWHERE NAILS KID WITH A BIG BOOT! Michaels covers 1-2-3! Serious
contender for best WWF tag match of all time.
#8. WWF European Champion The British Bulldog vs Shawn Michaels
One Night Only 1997
This is a bold claim and I probably going to eat my words
but I think this is the greatest heat-seeking match of all time. Shawn Michaels
is at his prickly prick best here in the UK pissing off the crowd against their
native son and hugely popular hero, The British Bulldog. Shawn making out with
about 5 girls on his way to ring is just so sleazy and so perfect to get him
nuclear heat throughout the match. We discussed how much I loved the shine in
the previous match and you will find a pattern as you read more and more of my
reviews. The beginning of matches really, really matter. A strong shine is one
way to really kickstart a match. When you have the raw power of the Bulldog and
the pinball bumping machine in the Heartbreak Kid, you have a recipe for
success. Shawn bumps like a madman for Davey Boy at the outset of the match.
The whole time I was pumping my fist and I wanted Shawn to get his. It was a
magnificent opening to a match. Everything Shawn tried was thrown back in his
face, beautiful, high-end wrestling displaying the high wrestling IQ of Shawn
Michaels. Then Rick Rude comes out who liberally interferes in the match to
give Michaels the advantage a perfect heel move to transition. Shawn Michaels’s
biggest flaw is his lack of offense and they play this smart with a very short
heat segment. This triggers HHH & Chyna to come out for even more insurance
for HBK. We move from nuclear heat to HYDROGEN BOMB HEAT!
British Bulldog goes for his trademark running powerslam on
the floor, but he slips and wrenches his right knee, which has a brace around
it. SWEET CHIN MUSIC! Rude & HHH ram the railing into the knee as the fans are
just trying to fight against them by holding the railing back. THAT IS PRO
WRESTLING! That spot gets me every single time. So powerful. Shawn
Michaels rips off the knee brace and throws it at Bulldog’s wife and terminally
ill sister, what an asshole. The ending with the figure-4 is so over the top,
HHH & Chyna have HBK’s hands for extra leverage and just when Davey Boy is
gonna turn it, Rude cleans his clock and he passes out from the pain. The crowd
is a near riot and is just pelting D-Generation X with garbage. It is really
annoying the Hart Foundation did not get any licks in during the save. It felt
so empty after Shawn was such an unmitigated douche to Davey Boy, his family
and this crowd. You wanted some semblance of comeuppance. I have been on record
before saying as much as I love to think about and analyze pro wrestling, pro
wrestling should not exist in the mind, but should hit you in the gut. This
match is an emotional tour de force that hits you right where it hurts.
#7. WWF Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon vs Shawn Michaels
Wrestlemania X Ladder Match
An iconic and supremely influential match that has stood the
test of time. It is one of the most famous matches in WWF canon and is
something that almost every WWF fan has seen. Of all the matches, I have talked
about so far, this is the most famous and most important. What the WWF does
better than any pro wrestling company ever is creating singular moments in
wrestling matches that will stick with you forever. I am not going to list the
moments of this match, but we all know the spots I am talking about. So what
saves this match from just relying on simple nostalgia is two things: the
violence of the ladder spots and the way they build drama. From the opening
salvo of the Michaels baseball slide into the ladder into Razor until when
Shawn rides the ladder down onto Razor, they ladder is incorporated into almost
every spot organically and for maximum damage. The iconic matches may last
forever, but when re-watching a match it is the struggle of two men trying to
win and overcome pain that makes the match immortal.
In addition, I think what this match does really well is
building drama. What I think is most interesting about this match is that it
builds drama in a radically different way than most matches build drama. Most wrestling matches build drama through the
shine/heat/comeback formula. A traditional comeback builds drama through the
fire of the babyface overcoming the odds of the heat segment and then there is
a couple twists and turns before the finish. Razor did not make a fiery
comeback. The drama was that getting up that damn ladder was so damn difficult.
It feels like the drama of real sports. Shawn was not especially nefarious in
this match and Razor was just in an early hole. As he dug himself out, it was
not this comeback that whips you into a frenzy, but rather you are intrigued
how somebody will actually be able to win this match. I love the finish: Shawn
knocked off the ladder, tied in the ropes as Razor slowly climbs to become the
undisputed Intercontinental Champion is one of the all-time great finishes.
This WWF classic remains timeless.
Tune in next time for the top six! Currently Shawn leads Bret 3-2, will Shawn end up with more matches in the Top 12 overall than Bret? Who will get the coveted number one spot? All this and much more in Pro Wrestling Love vol. 2!
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