Pro Wrestling Love vol. 51: The Best of WWE 2005-2009 (John Cena, Batista, Randy Orton, Shawn Michaels)

Hey Yo Stud Muffins & Foxy Ladies,

Pro Wrestling Love vol. 51:

The Best of World Wrestling Entertainment 2005-2009

Objective:  Break up the Greatest Match Ever Project (hosted at http://gweproject.freeforums.net/) into more manageable chunks to help me build my Top 100 List for the project.

Motivation: Contribute to the discussion around these matches to enrich my own understanding of pro wrestling and give a fresh perspective for old matches and even hopefully discover great pro wrestling matches that have been hidden by the sands of time.

Subject: This fifty-first volume of Pro Wrestling Love is the beginning of the Top 12 countdown of the best matches to take place in WWE between 2005-2009. The year 2005 saw John Cena & Batista win the World Championships at Wrestlemania heralding the beginning of a new era. Even though stylistically there would be a lot of aesthetic holdovers from the Attitude Era, in terms of new main eventers Cena, Batista along with Randy Orton and Edge were the vanguard of a new truly 21st century generation. However, they were supported by Attitude Era stars Shawn Michaels, HHH, The Undertaker, Kurt Angle (until 2006) and Chris Jericho. The reason I chose 2009 as an ending year is because 2010 WWE lost a lot of this previously mentioned support structure. The year 2010 saw Shawn Michaels go into retirement, HHH & Undertaker went into semi-retirement, Jericho left and it was Edge's last full year. The year 2010 saw a complete overhaul in the WWE main event scene.  You can revisit past Pro Wrestling Love Volumes at ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com. You can check out the full version of these reviews in ProWrestlingOnly.com by going to the forums and finding the folders associated with the date of the match.

Contact Info: @superstarsleeze on Twitter, Instagram & ProWrestlingOnly.com.

Honorable Mentions

WWE Women's Champion Trish Stratus vs Mickie James - WrestleMania XXII
Beth Phoenix vs Melina - WWE One Night Stand 2008 I Quit Match
WWE Women's Champion Beth Phoenix vs Candice Michelle - WWE No Mercy 2008

A trio of great divas matches from this era proving that great women's wrestling in the USA existed before 2014. I highly recommended Beth Phoenix vs Melina I Quit Match which I included in my Top 100 Greatest WWE Matches of All Time as a personal fun pick to spruce up the bottom part of my list. It is a truly excellent match and it is Beth Phoenix playing human pretzel-maker with the ultra-supple Melina.

Ric Flair vs Shawn Michaels - WrestleMania XXIV
Shawn Michaels vs Chris Jericho - Judgment Day 2008
Shawn Michaels vs Batista - One Night Stand 2008 Stretcher Match
World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho vs Shawn Michaels - No Mercy 2008

It is truly amazing at his age that Ric Flair has such a great retirement match. This not just nostalgia talking that is a legitimately great match. It also spawned Shawn Michaels' third career year. Most people live for one career year, but Shawn has had three: 1986, 1997 and 2008. Of course was incredible is that each year is in three different decades and also three different roles. In 1986 he was pretty boy babyface in the Rockers vs Rose & Somers, in 1997 he was a King Prick heel in D-X and in 2008 he was the elder statesman having the last great blood feud in WWE history with Chris Jericho and an underrated feud with Batista that spun off of the Ric Flair match. Every Shawn Michaels perfromance from WrestleMania XXIV to No Mercy 2008 (including the Summerslam angle) needs to be watched to full appreciate the greatness of this run.

John Morrison vs Evan Bourne - WWECW 4/14/09
World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk vs John Morrison - Smackdown 6/26/09
WWE Intercontinental Champion Rey Mysterio vs John Morrison - Smackdown 9/4/09

The biggest revelation of going back and re-watching all this WWE wrestling from 2005-2009 is that John Morrison is a fucking great wrestler. If he could cut a halfway decent promo, he would be a megastar. I thought he would be abother Kofi-lite wrestler, but the dude kicks ass and has great escalation and psychology. There are probably a ton of John Morrison hidden gems waiting to be uncovered.

World Heavyweight Champion Batista vs Triple H - WWE Vengeance 2005 Hell In A Cell
WWE Intercontinental Champion Ric Flair vs Triple H - WWE Taboo Tuesday 2005 Steel Cage
Triple H vs Umaga - Cyber Sunday 2007 Street Fight
World Tag Team Champions Rated RKO vs D-Generation X - New Year's Revolution 2007

Depending who you are, you either are totally surprised that Triple H did not have a match that made my top 12 or that just makes total sense. The Game was not without great performances as the four match above can attest to, but he did not have anything was truly classic. The best match of the bunch was the Batista Hell In A Cell match, BUT if you want a hidden gem that no one talks about check out the Umaga brawl from Cyber Sunday 2007 it is randomly great.

ECW Champion Jack Swagger vs Christian - WWECW 2/24/09

Ahhhh yes, the match that got so much hype that we all thought Jack Swagger was the next big thing in pro wrestling. Well 11 years later, maybe he can make something of this Moxley program in AEW (lets see how that sentence ages). This match ages really well. One of the greatest cat & mouse matches you will ever see. Swagger looks like a killer and Christian looks like the wrestling genius that so many claim he is.

Eddie Guerrero vs Rey Mysterio - WWE Judgement Day 2005
Eddie Guerrero vs Rey Mysterio - Great American Bash 2005
The feud where the uber-popular, wickedly charismatic Eddie Guerrero was desperately determined to get him to hate him. He actually made it work. It is testament to himself and to Rey for making it happen. The "Who's Your Papi" shirt during the Dominic portion of the angle was great. Seeing Dominic all grown up this past year was so weird. Brock threw that boy around that was awesome. They had an all-time classic during this feud, but these are worth a watch.

Chris Benoit vs William Regal - Velocity 7/16/05
Simply awesome.

Hulk Hogan vs Shawn Michaels - Summerslam 2005
I always heard that Shawn treated this match as a joke, but I dont think he did at all. This was wicked fun. I loved the build to this match so much when I was a teenager in 2005. Shawn started channeling 1997 Shawn and it was awesome! This was Shawn Michaels doing a 1989 Hulk Hogan as the big bumping stooge heel. This is the match Mr. Perfect should have had with The Hulkster. The key difference was that Michaels got the offense and cheated his ass off to add to the drama. He was not just a pinball for Hogan but he through relentless cheating actually looked poised to defeat Hogan

World Heavyweight Champion Batista vs Undertaker - Wrestlemania XXIII
Hoss sprint! These two decide to do the Kentucky Derby of Mania matches and just have an awesome bomb-throwing sprint! It is famous deservedly so!

World Heavyweight Champion Kurt Angle vs Undertaker - WWE No Way Out 2006
Chris Benoit vs Finlay - Smackdown 5/5/06
Chris Benoit vs Finlay - WWE Judgement Day 2006
WWE Champion John Cena vs Edge - WWE Unforgiven TLC Match

The year 2006 was NOT represented at all on this list so I grouped all these matches together as they were the best from otherwise lean year. Originally Cena vs Edge made my Top 100 WWE Matches, but going back and watching some matches from 2007 and reviewing my reviews, I have to say it just misses the cut, but I do think that is an all-time great feel good victory for Cena against his best archrival until Punk.

The Top 12ish Best Match of WWE 2005-2009

#12. (TIE) WWE Champion Randy Orton vs Shawn Michaels - Survivor Series 2007

Greatest Randy Orton match ever? I think most would say the Catcus match from Backlash 2004, but I think this one is definitively better. Is there anything else? While I do think Orton was great in this match, it was of course really the Shawn Michaels show. Some context: as an offshoot of the D-X vs Rated RKO feud in the beginning of 2007, Orton punted HBK to give his summer school vacation. Michaels came back in October and challenged Orton for the championship at Cyber Sunday, but Orton punched him in the balls to get intentionally DQ'd. So in the rematch, if Orton gets DQ'd he loses the title, BUT Michaels cant use the Superkick. This forces Michaels to wrestle a different type of match.

There is a lot to love in the first ten minutes of this match. Michaels uses a ton of vice grips (cravat, front chancery) on the head and neck of Orton to control him and attempt to get an early pinfall. The hallmark of this was how tenacious HBK was applying these holds. Really controlling Orton and driving the knees into his head. Orton did a great job selling it all. It also shows that Michaels is going to try to win by taking it to the ground and outwrestling Orton. Orton's counter was punching him right in the face on a break in the corner. Great heel wrestling from Orton here. Then trying to goad Michaels into Superkicking him; Michaels fakes him out and chops him. Orton was really good at selling these fake out spots as Michaels knowing that as much as I love ground wrestling and tight psychology the live crowd needs something to pop them and so he hits a baseball slide and an Asai Moonsault, but the spots are really organic well set up because Orton bites so hard on the pump fakes. So many wrestlers knowing that they are going be faked out just go through the motions, but here Orton makes you believe that he believes he will be hit by the pump fake. Good stuff. Loved Orton rolling through a crossbody for two and then immediately decking him with a European uppercut. I loved the urgency there. Michaels shine ends with a Sharpshooter. Ten years since Montreal at this point. (I cant believe it has been TWENTY years as of this writing!). Crazy to think Michaels would be wrestling Bob Orton's kid for the championship ten years after the Screwjob. The Sharpshooter gets a good reaction of course. From there, Orton thumbs HBK in the eye and snaps his neck across the ropes. Great heel transition. Really good organic set up to the Hangsmans DDT. Orton has a solid punch and an amazing European Uppercut. I am starting to like him ten years after the fact. This is where the match does down a notch. First the customary Orton resthold and then the very basic Michaels comeback. The Michaels comeback requires both wrestles to go through the motions rather than feel it. Loved Orton's dropkick to stymie the comeback. Shawn's gets melodramatic after his elbow drop tuning up the band but it is a fake out to get a small package. Meh, overthinking it there. Just go for the pin. Too elaborate of a ruse. Then again I hate the whole I need to wait for my opponent to stand before I hit my big move. After this, the match gets awesome again. Michaels goes for submissions (Crossface, Anglelock) and Orton tries to punt his head off. Good stuff. The finish is awesome. Orton goes for the RKO, but Michaels pushes him off, hesitates on Superkick and that slight hesitation leads to BANG RKO~!

First half was awesome, tenacious Shawn Michaels ground wrestling and Orton playing the heel really well. Great timed spots and sound psychology. Falls a little off the rails with some overly cinematic Michaels stuff, but comes roaring back with Michaels pugnaciously going for a submission victory but falling prey to the RKO when his instincts takeover to hit Sweet Chin Music. Magnificent. ****1/2

#12. (TIE) WWE Champion John Cena vs Shawn Michaels - Wrestlemania XXIII

Once Shawn Michaels was committed to wrestling as the heel in this match, this was excellent and a top flight performance by both wrestlers. Michaels is clearly at a size and power disadvantage, but he is accustomed to that and he chooses to battle this by taking out one of Cena’s wheels. Now, Cena is never out of any match because he has a puncher’s chance. Similarly, Michaels can always fall back on Sweet Chin Music. It is Cena’s ability to avoid Sweet Chin Music that pays dividends, but when he gets hit with it the question becomes can he bounce back? The weakest part of the match is the beginning, which I thought Michaels took way too much of it. 

Michaels wants a handshake with his co-Tag Team Champion. Cena hesitates so he slaps him. Cena takes some wild swings, but Shawn ducks. Shawn punches and a big chop sends Cena reeling. Michaels is in Cena’s head and using speed. HBK is the veteran and even though Cena has been champion for 20 of the past 24 months, there is a lot of pressure to vanquish a former champion like Michaels. Michaels outwrestling Cena with headlocks and again ducks punches and punches of his own and chop. Cena is clearly frustrated. HBK looks to build some speed and finally Cena nails a big clothesline. They establish Cena’s power game is Cena’s key to victory. Big Boos for that clothesline. Michaels hiptosses Cena from ring to the floor and then Asai Moonsault. This is way too rough of a start for Cena.

HBK goes full heel here and the match kicks into a next level goes into heat segment with chops in corner and then big sledge to the straight leg., Goes to work on the leg with great selling from Cena all the usual stuff from HBK (chopblocks, ropes wrenching, kicks). Really fucking well done. Great selling by Cena and there is some really cool corner work. They spend a couple minutes just in one corner with Cena trying to battle out and Michaels trying to suffocate him. I loved the chess moves here. Cena starts landing bombs and always has a punchers chance. Big one sends Michaels tumbling back, but he bulrushes Cena back into the corner to trap him there. Cena fights back for survival. Michaels tries to drive the shoulder again, but Cena collapses to the side and Michaels head strikes the post and is bleeding. Awesome transition! Michaels is wobbly. Cena recovers and smokes him with a big clothesline. Here comes that big power Cena offense getting on top and ground n pound. Big boos. Shouldertackles. Knee is messed up. Five Knuckle shuffle. Michaels avoids FU. Michaels is now desperate and thinks the match is slipping through his fingers so he pulls the trigger on Sweet Chin Music, but nails the ref. Cena looks FU, nope, DDT. This levels playing field between the bloody HBK and exhausted Cena. 

Michaels hits a PILEDRIVER ON THE STEPS! Total Mark Out by me! No ref, here comes one running down the ramp and only a two count. Michaels does his comeback sequence now. Michaels sneering and looking mean as hell. He wants to polish Cena off with Sweet Chin Music. Massive Cena clothesline turns the tide! Big time slugfest and Cena nails the FU, but only two. He wants to up the ante with the super FU, but Michaels knocks him off top rope. Crossbody, roll through FU NO! I totally bit on that as the finish. Michaels lands on his feet and tries Sweet chin music, but Cena ducks. Now Michaels is off balance making him vulnerable for the STFU. There is an awesome struggle that leads into a HBK cradle, but a missed Enziguri finally leads into the STFU. That should have been the finish. The STFU struggle was really well-done. Yes, that is criticism #2 they long just a bit too long. Ref and Cena argue and BANG! Sweet Chin music, Michaels down and he crawls over for only a 2 count. They take an 8 count to get back up each leaning on the other for a long time. This is clearly Shawn’s flair for the dramatic shining through. Cena tries the FU, no, but applies a good-looking STFU for the win.

Excellent chess match that stayed true to both men’s character. I have no clue what was up with the beginning as it was way too much Shawn and the match did not seem to climax at the right spot. There was a lot more heat for the first STFU. The long double count late in a match is a cool idea to milk a spot, but the whole leaning against each other and then rather pedestrian final finish sequence did compare as well as the previous STFU stretch. The knee psychology was awesome and the stretch run was totally engrossing. Too many issues to be match of the year, but still an excellent match. ****1/2

#11. John Cena vs Batista - Summerslam 2008

Terrific match, exactly what I needed to see to remind me how great a big match player, John Cena is. Total Dome, Clash of the Titans style match that if it happened in the Tokyo Dome or at WrestleMania would be more fondly remembered. Honestly, I am surprised this is not more well-known. I think ever since 2005 or so there has been a problem with the WWE's myth-making machine in dubbing matches as classics. In the 90s, the WWF drilled in the fans heads which matches were the classics, but I think that has sort of subsided over the years. It is a real shame that awesome matches like these are forgotten rather than celebrated.

The beauty of this match is the parallel lives these men have led, both winning their first championships at WrestleMania XXI ushering in the modern era. Cena was the standard bearer for RAW and Batista was the face of Smackdown. They did a great job keeping them apart for three years. That was the great thing of the brand split is allowed them to create their own dream matches. Just needed to wait 3-5 years and voila fans would be pumped to see a match of this magnitude. Just watching them make their entrances felt electric. It feels like the pinnacle of this era of the WWE. I thought the match they worked was pitch perfect.

Face vs face matches work best when there is a lot of symmetry and eveness. This match had it in spades. The way they each had one slam a piece. They each had one suplex a piece. They had the same number of pin attempts. On top of that, these are two faces known for their power. You add in that Clash of Titans feel. The power game being on display. I love how this match is worked around finisher attempts. Going for a finisher is dramatic. You know the match could end. It creates a moment of chaos. If he hits it, he could win. But the possibilities are even more exciting if he doesn't. Going for a finish will freak your opponent out as he scrambles to evade it. This opens him up to be clobbered once he has wriggled free. So even though you don't hit it, you can take command of the match we see this with Batista going for the BatistaBomb early, Cena evades, but eats a clothesline. Going for a finish is also a gamble. You are committed to the move, but you don't know your opponent will react. Batista's evasion of the FU leads to him chopblocking the knee and leading to a kneecrusher and a figure-4. Going for that finish early left John Cena open. Great psychology.

On top of that, amazing selling here from Cena that reminded me of his ability to be a great sympathetic babyface. I thought out of the kneecrusher and in the figure-4 he did stupendous. The FU, where he FUs him over the top rope after the figure-4, fighting through the pain and fighting through Batista having the ropes is a beauty. You know Cena is toast and he needs this move if he wants to have a chance at all. It is a great BIG highspot for these two behemoths.

Now they trade comeback routines. In a match structured like this, I love it. It feels big and important. John Cena gets the STFU as a good symmetrical counterpart to Batista's figure-4. Then as he is going for the FU, Batista drops down into a rear naked choke. At first, I loved this counter. It was both sudden and unexpected (never seen Batista use that). Unfortunately, it was quite possibly the worst, loosest "choke" I have ever seen. They tried to zoom in at first you could see that a huge gap between Batista's arm and Cena's neck. They quickly zoom out and try their best to find a shot of this shitty chinlock. The way Cena sells it after it is released is amazing. The choking and he is disoriented. BANG! SPEAR! You are so focused on Cena and then you are totally caught unaware by the spear as is Cena. Loved the suddenness there.

Then use one of the ultimate Clash of the Titans moves...the backward reverse of the powerslam (think of how Sting/Rude reverse the tombstone) and Cena hits an FU out of that! WOW! Cena goes up top they slug it out. Cena goes for that legdrop and eats a Powerbomb. Thought this was the finish given how this is where they say he was injured. Kickout. Wow I bit so hard on that and I popped just like the crowd. Cena eats another BatistaBomb for three.

I dig it. I think the first kick out makes Cena look legitimately strong but they immediately go to the finish which feel definitive. It was an even match all the way. Cena went high risk and he go caught that simple. It was a simple power match that Cena took next level with his selling and each having that superstar presence. One of the best matches of this era and one of the best BIG, Clash of the Titans, Dome type matches of all time. 

#10. Batista vs Shawn Michaels - Backlash 2008

I want someone to watch this match and then look me in the eye and tell me that Shawn Michaels is not a GOAT contender. Goddamn he was fucking awesome in this match. Maybe I am mistaken, but I have never heard anyone talk up this match. I figure it gets overlooked for the phenomenal series between Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho that this very feud spawns. Before, I get into the match, I want to point out how great of a job they did here with the storytelling. I am an avid fan of soap operas and I think this one of the few times in the last 15 years that WWE really nailed soap opera storytelling. The Ric Flair retirement is a big deal and is going to affect wrestlers in different ways. It was great to spin a feud off of that event. You have Batista who is pissed, almost in mourning, that his mentor is no longer around and it is all Shawn's fault. Shawn says it would have been a disservice to the Nature Boy to let him win. He won the match fair and square and it was time for Nature Boy to ride off into the sunset. Then you have Chris Jericho with his career renaissance as a shit-stirrer, claiming that Shawn is a gloryhound and revels in the fact that he is the man who retired The Greatest of All Time. Then Jericho goes one step further to claim that Batista isn't grieving Ric Flair's retirement, he is angry that he did not get the honor to do it himself. This is great shit! It continued to be amazing throughout the rest of the year. Kudos to all those involved!

There are many facets that make this a great match but I think the one that is the most essential is the grittiness and the amount of struggle in this match. Struggle is something that WWE has lacked throughout its history. WWE matches tend to be every neat. I am in control and then you are in control. Wrestlers don't force their opponents to earn their offense more often than not. I have learned to love other aspects of WWE, but at the end of the day this will be why All Japan or JCP/WCW will always rank ahead of the WWF/E overall. I thought this match had that sense of struggle. That real burning desire to best your opponent in an athletic contest.

On top of that, this is nominally face vs face, which I always think is a very unique and implicitly interesting matchup. It can go in so many directions. You don't know who is going to play the heel in the match and how it will evolve. In addition, I think Shawn Michaels does incredible job playing to Batista's strengths. You mix this all together you arrive at what is match of the year contender for WWE in 2008.

Shawn does a great job early on establishing the power game of Batista. He is trying to attack Batista head on and makes no headway. Batista is shaking him off and just charging. Shawn chop blocks and then switches gear immediately to attack the left arm of Batista. A lot of reviewers would make a point to let you know Shawn and Batista fucked up the initial attempt at the short arm scissors. People make mistakes. We are human. It is how you react to the mistakes that matter. Shawn drives his knee repeatedly into the tricep of Batista. He forces his will on Batista to apply that short arm scissors. In fact it is better that it happened this way because he had to EARN the short arm scissors. If you have ever watched a Shawn Michaels match against Davey Boy Smith, you know why he uses this spot. This spot ultimately to establish the power game of his opponent. Interesting wrinkle here, Batista deadlifts Shawn, but they tumble over the top rope and there is even more wrenching action on the arm. As Batista is selling really well, Shawn shoves him bad arm into the post. After that, it is Dick Murdoch-like clinic on torturing a man's arm. It is tenacious and gritty. Batista is trying to use his power game to regain control, but due to a bad wing, he cant capitalize and Shawn with pitbull determination continues to attack the arm. I loved his hanging armbar over the ropes. This what I am talking about with struggle. Batista is fighting back, but Shawn is fighting through it all. Batista finally string together some power moves like the Samoan Drop and the Oklahoma Slam, but when he lifts up Shawn for the BatistaBomb, his arm fails him and Shawn comes down with the Crippler Crossface. Excellent! I marked out. It was right there when I realized I was watching a classic unfold. Batista makes the ropes and Jericho forcefully yanks Shawn off of Batista. Staredown. They do a great job making Shawn earn his comeback sequence (even though it is not a comeback in this case). Kip-up-SPEAR! Great spot. Shawn knocks Batista off the top and hits the Elbow Drop. Tune up the band and SPINEBUSTER! Loving these hope spots for Batista. One arm Ultimate Warrior rope shake and One Arm thumbs down. Batista is totally committed to selling the arm. Batistabomb, Shawn wriggles free, but twists his knee or perhaps he loses his smile momentarily. :P

Jericho backs Batista off. Michaels gets up and BANG! Sweet Chin Music. Great finish that plays into Jericho's new honest man character that would unveil in the coming weeks. Batista's power game vs Shawn's attack on the arm was a glorious story. Batista sold so well and Shawn was very selfless in establishing Batista's power game that everything melded perfectly. The home stretch was awesome with the big Batista moves stopping Shawn short. Shawn realized even with all his strategizing that Batista's power was too much so he had to dig deep in his bag of tricks and pull out a shady move to get the win. Highly recommended to watch. 

#9. WWE Champion John Cena vs Shawn Michaels - RAW 4/23/07

Shawn Michaels wrestles his ode to the NWA World Championship match without being the World Champion. At first, this kinda miffed me. Why is Cena acting like an upstart challenger. Telling Michaels, he is the close to beating him with the STFU on three occasions or the FU. Then I remember Cena is still being established. Winning the Championship in 2005 is one thing, staying there is another. Cena needs to prove everyone especially the veterans, he is no fluke. I think thats what this match is about. Michaels is not wrestling as Flair or Race. This is not a big bumping performance. This is a subtle heel Jack Brisco or Lou Thesz performance that even his archrival and king of the subtle heel, Bret Hart would be proud of. 

Michaels begins as an aggressive challenger working wristlocks and fireman carrys to try to gain an advantage and each time it is summarily countered almost into STFU, three times to be exact and each time Cena lets HBK know he is this close to beating him. Shawn, frustrated, slaps Cena and Cena responds with a big right hamhock. Thats the end of Act 1. Establishes Cena is not a big, dumb oaf. That he will not be intimidated by the moment or by wrestling. He can counter and is sure of himself. Shawn's opening strategy of taking the fight to Cena almost backfired three times and he needs to switch gears. 

Act II really establishes the Cena power game. This is a much better version of the Butch Reed vs Ric Flair side headlock matches. Cena and Reed have a lot in common in terms of build, presence and offensive ability. One thing that I often am disappointed about in First Wave John Cena (2005-2010) is that he wrestles a Lawler or Savage babyface style meaning he rushes into taking heat and then just makes a triumphant comeback. The shine is so critical in getting the audience invested and fired up. Going right to the heat segment is like going right into the breakdown of a song. This match we really get to see Cena shine and establish that power game. You get the sense of Cena's strength advantage and that HBK is in for a long night. Cena works the headlock, clothesline and shouldertackles well and more importantly Michaels sells it well especially when outside of the hold. I like HBK using roughhouse counters like a reverse elbow sound well by Cena and Michaels sells the damage of the headlock well even at this point. This is not a strong enough transition and Cena hits a big, meaty clothesline. Michaels out of desperation tries for Sweet Chin Music but he is no position to surprise the dominant Champion who evades and hoists Michaels up and almost hits an FU if it was not for the ropes. Thats the end of Act II which is Cena's shine through the power game climaxing with Cena almost hitting the FU. 

Act III as one would expect is when we transition to a heat segment. One issue I have with First Wave Cena (2005-2010) is that he tends to oversell at the beginning of the heat segment. He does not have levels or a gradual way of selling. You would have thought Cena had endured 10 minutes of brutal torture after just a couple Michaels chops. This is unfortunate. A strong transition is what is needed. It turns out that they were not going into heat, but rather Cena was overacting. It is called a register, brutha. Cena uses that power game to catch Michaels and turn into a powerslam, then a Fisherman Suplex and then a Throwback. All gaining minor nearfalls to build the drama. Shawn Michaels hits a swinging neckbreaker which is a lame transition and they lose me going into some Boo/Yay, FIghting Spirit stuff for no reason. Flying Burrito. I guess they are just going for it. Double Count for drama which is good, kip up. Top rope elbow of course, it is too early for Sweet Chin Music so he settles for a backslide, which is odd. Cena misses a shoulder tackle. Now thats a strong transition. Cena takes a hard bump on the mat and skids to the floor.  Michaels shoves Cena into the steel steps to cement his advantage and create a weakness in his arms. I like that Michaels did some of his normal comeback stuff early to make the fans believe this could end at any time and then organically create the hook for the heat segment proper with the shove into the steps. There were some efficiency issues (boo/yay) and Cena overselling issues, but some strong moments. Michaels hitting the big elbow signals to fans this could be over any minute. The Cena missed shouldertackle is a great transition and the steel steps sets up the effective heat segment. 

Act IV does not go as long as I would liked. Shawn did a great job torturing the arm. We werent quite at Dick Murdoch but that is in part due to the fact that it was cut short in my opinion. Shawn varied his attack and Cena did a great job selling. Before you know it we went into the typical Cena comeback sequence. I did like Cena yelling at his arm to fucking shape up before the Fist Drop. He even hit the FU and only two. 

Act V is Cena working the back with big power offense. Running the back into the post, bearhug. As is typical in big Cena matches when the FU fails he hits the Top Rope Leg Drop to the back of the head for two. Michaels gets a sunset flip powerbomb as the playing field is levelled and we enter the last phase of the match. 

Act VI is right after the double count by the ref...Cena goes for the STFU which Lawler lets us know is how Shawn lost at Mania. Good commentary King I had forgotten that. Michaels evades and shoves Cena off the apron onto the announce table. HBK wants to go to for that iconic spot from the Mania match where he piledrives Cena on the steel steps but Cena backdrops him on his bad back. Back in the ring, Cena finally locks in the STFU. Rope break. Good STFU, looked like a choke rather than two forearms across the face. Michaels goes for Sweet Chin Music but Cena has it scouted. Cena wants FU but Michaels creates separation for Sweet Chin Music! He does not cover immediately. Cena needs the ropes to avoid the 3 count. I liked the symmetry between the STFU and Sweet Chin music there. JR telegraphs the finish when he reminds us that this is non-title. I didnt know. As soon as I think I wonder if Michaels wins, he lands on his feet on a FU and BANG! Sweet Chin Music and collapses on top of Cena. 

This is a good representation that wins and losses to a certain extent dont matter. Shawn gets his win back from Mania. Cena never had the rubber match to go up 2-1 but Cena still is a way bigger star than Shawn ever was. Cena is a big star because he won when it mattered most and had a very high winning percentage. My point is that it is not that wins and losses matter or don't matter, it is context and the story being told that matters. The result of the match has long since been forgotten but what is left is a match everyone remembers as a classic. Now it is not like Dolph Ziggler going out proclaiming he is going to steal the show. This is a match where each man is trying to win and the by-product is entertainment as opposed to Ziggler whose goal is to entertain the fans. 

It is weird to call a 55 minute match rushed but it kind of was. I think theres a lot of things they could have flesh out. I think they did a really great job at the beginning. Michaels proved himself to be great at working on top in the 21st Century and I think he could have done more with the arm. I did like the story of Cena pummeling Michaels but Shawn always had a puncher's chance because of Sweet Chin Music. I watched this 2-3 times before and I knew I liked it but didnt think I loved it so I left it off my top 100 WWF/E matches of all time. This match totally belongs up there and I know exactly which match it will replace (Backlund/Valentine October 1981 that finish is dreadful). Awesome NWA Championship style match.

#8. WWE I-C Champion Chris Jericho vs Rey Mysterio - The Bash 2009 Title vs Mask

Even in 2009, Jim Ross occasionally had a good phrase, here he says "Has the nine lives of Rey Mysterio run out?". I think that is a perfect summation of the identity of Rey Mysterio, who as the smaller man in every match has to use high risk offense to stay competitive. When you are wrestling on the edge of a razor you have to be resilient because the high risk offense will be used against or you will crash and burn. I think there is no better wrestler in history at peppering in hope spots than Rey Mysterio. What separates Rey Rey from the spot monkeys is that he allows himself to fail. Some of these high risk moves are going to turned into tilt-a-whirl backbreakers, Codebreakers (what a spot) or the Walls of Jericho. He needs to be resilient enough to withstand that in a kayfabe sense. But in a working sense, he is secure enough in his ability and connection with the crowd that he does not always have to hit his offense and that his moves not always being successful makes for a more compelling match. I will say Rey Rey's selling and bumping is his bread and butter, but I don't think he gets enough credit for his offense and move selection. Jericho was on fire early on, I thought he lost a bit steam towards the end as he was more focused on hitting big spots, but early he was a great dick heel. I loved how he adapted to wrestling Mysterio by playing a big heavyweight. You really felt the weight of Jericho, which you don't usually see. They skipped the shine when Jericho hurled Mysterio into the barricade in a nasty spot. Mysterio always took a nasty fall from the apron on a baseball slide. The way Mysterio sets up his hope spots by creating that separation and then banging a couple off were great and another thing that separates him from the spot monkeys that shoehorn their spots into a match. That is the best split-legged moonsault I have ever seen and I hate the split-legged moonsault. The story of the end of the match was Rey going to live or die by the sword. He would hit a spectacular move only to be caught in a precarious predicament the next moment. It was a great roller coaster ride. It was here I thought Jericho's stellar character work disappeared and Mysterio was generating all the energy. The finish as a great play off their match from the previous month where Jericho swipes Mysterio's mask, but this time Mysterio is wearing another mask and is unphased. He is able to hit 619 and drop the dime.

Fantastic match! Jericho hit out of the park early and when he sort of came down (Jericho was very clean throughout the match, that was in reference to his character work), Mysterio picked up the slack. This is a perfect example of Mysterio's impeccable psychology and breath-taking moves. The finish was roller coaster of drama with Rey Rey looking like he was doomed on several occasions only to prove he can take a lickin' and keep on tickin'.

Rewatched this match because I forgot everything about it. The Codebreaker spot got me again (lol!). I love when I forget a spot and get to mark out all over again. I agree with myself that is the best split-legged moonsault I have ever seen and I still hate the split-legged moonsault.

Things I noticed this time around was that the Rey senton splash to the outside was awesome and a great transition to the mini-Rey comeback. I don't think this was as Rey driven as I said in my previous review. I think Jericho continued to use his weight late into the match. Great catch and powerslam late into the match. I loved the counter to the spinning Argentine Backbreaker which was a great payoff to the previous match. All the Boston Crab counters were money and the crowd was super into them. I loved the powerbomb from the top by Jericho and following up with the feet on the ropes. Really terrific finish stretch. Still a classic. 

I am really excited to watch this a third time because I totally forget the Codebreaker spot again! :P

#7. WWE Champion Randy Orton vs John Cena - Breaking Point 2009 I Quit Match

At first, I was like what is the big deal this is just the usual John Cena vs Randy Orton match. Then Orton started stomping Cena's head on the steel steps. I was like that is pretty violent. Then Orton busted out the handcuffs and cuffed him to the ropes. Well that's definitely escalating thing. Then he hung him up on the post and the match got good, real good. This is the WWE at its cinematographic best. Orton pouring water on Cena so he doesn't pass out. A defiant Cena spitting the water back in Orton's face when he asks him if he quits. Orton whacking Cena as hard as he can with Singapore Canes to the exposed ribs leaving some of the nastiest cuts and bruises on Cena's body. Cena punting him in the balls. This was just great, over the top action movie ass kicking. The verbal selling of Cena was off the charts great in this match. His facial expressions too really captured the agony and helplessness of the situation. Orton did a great job writhing in pain after the ballshot. Orton gets a chair shot to the head and then another one. The way Cena flexes his entire body from the body almost like he is being electrocuted has to go down as one of the single greatest moments of selling in wrestling history. Orton misses with a chair shot and Cena knocks him down. He has the key. Cena cuffs Orton to himself meaning Orton has nowhere to run, nowhere to hide! CENA UNLEASHES THE FURY! We are talking some Jerry Lawler shit right now. WHERE HAS THIS CENA BEEN! These big hammock rights and all the energy this is what Cena should be. Orton does get an RKo as his last gasp. Then he tries to drag Cena to the key. Great drama here with the crowd finally coming alive. Cena ends up overpowering him and wrapping the chain around him such that in the STFU Orton is basically choking himself out. Orton says I Quit!

Beginning of the match being very pedestrian & run of the mill means this is not *****. I thought the finish was good, but could have been great if the metal of the cuff was around Orton's mouth but that's a nitpick. Now let me gush. Cena's selling was truly special. You could argue that he was not selling those Cane shots because they were a fucking shoot. Holy shit! I think the crowd was not reacting because this was not a conventional wrestling match with spots. It was closer to an action movie torture scene. Where Orton had Cena totally helpless and was just torturing him to get him to say I Quit, to break his spirit and rob Cena of his pride. Cena NEVER GIVES UP! They came up with a good way to get Cena the keys and then Cena just DESTROYED Orton! Really unique presentation until pretty much any wrestling match I have ever seen. Kudos!

Woman O Woman Wont You Marry Me Now: Ric Flair & WCW Nitro from April 1996-June 1996

“I stayed up all night throwing touchdown pass after touchdown pass and LOOK at my wide receivers [Woman & Miss Elizabeth]” – “Nature Boy” Ric Flair, WCW Nitro May 13, 1996

I Got The Whole World In My Hands

I got wicked sick about a month ago (bacterial sinus infection, not COVID-19) and I needed something mindless to watch as I spent an hour at a time transforming my bathroom into a steam room. I settled on watching old episodes of Nitro. I grew up on Nitro from 1997 on and there is something so nostalgic about the show, the announcers, its set and the wrestlers that I love going back to it whenever I just want to watch something that makes me feel good. Since I started watching in July of 1997, I like going back and checking out the older episodes because it gives me the same feel, but at the same time being new to me.

I decided to start with Nitro after Uncensored because it was the end of the silly The Alliance To End Hulkamania (read: Horsemen & Dungeon of Doom) storyline, but still before Scott Hall’s debut on May 27th. So I was intrigued what WCW’s landscape was like during this, what was the main story and who were the major players.

I was pleasantly surprised at how fun the Nitro was from Uncensored up to Bash at the Beach so this from March 26, 1996 to July 7, 1996. Nitro was a one hour show up until May 27th when it expanded to two hours. When it expanded to two hours is when they introduced Tony Schiavone and Larry Zbyszko as the hour one announce team and Eric Bischoff and Bobby Heenan as the hour 2 announce team. When I was growing up, Tony was the consistent thread through an episode along with Mike Tenay, but they would rotate Larry Z and Bobby Heenan out. This would not be a bad idea for WWE to try especially with the 3 hour RAW. The other fun they did is that they shoot off pyro at the beginning of hour 2. It felt like a party on Nitro. I cant remember which guest on Austin’s podcast said it but he said what makes AEW’s Dynamite stand out is that it feels like a party. I think that’s one of things WCW did really well in the early days of Nitro. It was so fresh and exciting. You couldn’t wait to see what happens next and this had stood the test of time as the show still feels very fun to watch. Besides the atmosphere, the other thing that made Nitro so much fun to watch were the colorful characters and it also helped that Hulk Hogan was gone for the bulk of this period.

Uncensored was main evented by Hulk Hogan & Randy Savage beating eight grown men in an absurd cage match which I have not seen. I actually now want to watch the build for it because I think the Ric Flair and Kevin Sullivan promos leading up to it would be gold. Hulk Hogan would stick around for three more weeks with his last appearance on Nitro being April 15th where he would defeat Kevin Sullivan & Arn Anderson (remnants of Horsemen/Dungeon Alliance) in a handicap match, intimidated Woman & Miss Elizabeth, humiliated Jimmy Hart and owned The Giant. It all felt very disgusting, ego-driven and stale. It was easily the worst part of WCW during this time period. It was very forced and so transparent that it was desperately trying to overcome Hogan’s shortcomings as top babyface by putting him over every top heel besides Flair all at once on Nitro. Once, he left Nitro never felt like that again. The show was dynamic and interesting and it all ran through one man: Ric Flair.

“O, Mean Gene, how it is hard to be humble!” – “Nature Boy” Ric Flair, Spring 1996 pretty much every single Nitro

Ric Flair started this campaign as the WCW World Heavyweight Champion and ended this campaign winning the US Heavyweight Championship from Konnan. The month of April was built around his feud with The Giant which was a part of the overarching Horsemen vs Dungeon of Doom, heel vs heel feud. Slamboree was built around him and Randy Savage, mortal enemies teaming in the Lethal Lottery. Great American Bash was sold on Ric Flair teaming with Arn Anderson against the Football Players, Steve “Mongo” McMichael & Kevin Greene. It was not until Bash at the Beach that he took a backseat to the Outsiders. He did all this alongside his valets, Woman & Miss Elizabeth, who he affectionately called “The Girls”.

What a trio these three were! It was such a great old school heel act. It was just about being an asshole. Ric Flair was such a greedy, delusional, vain, and low-down cheat; it was awesome. He reveled in spending Miss Elizabeth’s alimony from Macho Man Randy Savage. He taunted the football players (Steve “Mongo” McMichael & Kevin Greene) for being half-man he was and that Debra was really lusting after him, not the other way around.  He loved flaunting to the world that he got to spend time in the company of such beauties. “O Woman O Woman wont you marry me now!”
A lot of people say post-WWF heel Ric Flair became a caricature of himself. He did become more over the top and more of a supervillain during his time in mid-90s WCW. He lost all volume control in the 1990s and became very loud all the time. One funny thing I really enjoyed about this Flair run he would sing a couple lyrics every promo out of tune and it always popped me. It was fun and wrestling is missing that fun. He cheated a lot more and relied a lot more on tricks and gimmicks. During every match, Woman would cheat nonstop to garner the victory from hot coffee (which was preposterous), to high heel shoes, to a well-timed kick to Konnan’s gonnads, Woman was always there to help the Nature Boy to victory and Flair always tied it off with having his foot on the ropes. It is easy to believe Flair had become a shell of himself, but I disagree with this notion as I still feel Flair was one of the more fleshed out characters in pro wrestling.

Well he was not wrong! WOO!

The one thing that really stood out about WCW during this time period is that they did not do much in terms of building storylines around their wrestlers. Instead they would book a match and let the fact these two characters were colliding sell itself. This only works of course if the characters sell themselves. I think in WCW’s landscape that was true. They were lucky in the fact they inherited 5 main event stars (Hogan, Savage, Flair, Sting & Luger) from the 1980s with well-defined and easily distinguishable characters. I think unlike the others Flair actually kept his character fresh in the 90s. He stopped hanging around the Horsemen so much and started hanging around “The Girls”. He cheated more than ever because he was older and more than ever was trying to hang onto past glory. He was leaning more into the playboy aspect of his character than ever before. It all centered around a very important idea in Ric Flair’s mind and that is what a man ought to be. That’s how he taunted Randy Savage & the Football players he would go after their manhood because his own manhood is so near & dear to him.

If there is one thing I recommend above all else from this time period is go watch all the Ric Flair promos with Mean Gene from this era with Woman’s fingers crawling up Mean Gene’s shoulder, Flair shouting incessantly and Miss Elizabeth wondering what the fuck she has gotten herself into, it all works together in one awesome heel package. It is easy to overlook Miss Elizabeth but she is essential in all this. Even when Randy Savage was a heel, Elizabeth was the reluctant babyface. She didn’t help him cheat. She was being pressured by her insane, jealous husband. For her to turn heel was absolutely shocking at the time. It was clearly dwarfed by Hogan turning at Bash At The Beach, but it was crazy that girl next door betrayed the Macho Man and hooked up with the loathsome Nature Boy. Unfortunately, her lack of acting chops did not afford them as strong of a follow through, but her mere presence with the Nature Boy made the heel act feel like a main event act.

The only major fumble during this run of Nitro (besides the aforementioned Hogan burial of the Dungeon of Doom) was that Ric Flair was not allowed to go in front of the live crowd in Charlotte, NC on June 24th. As was customary for Nitro, the announcers would run down the card at the outset of the show, spontaneously and organically a thunderous “We Want Flair” chant rung out. During the Horsemen (Anderson/Benoit) vs Rock N Roll Express match, the Rock N Rolls were BOOED and they chanted “We Want Flair” (the previous week, it was insane how over Arn Anderson was against the American Males, Horsemen Country was a very real thing). They chanted “We Want Flair” during Randy Savage’s match and during Carolina Panthers’ Kevin Greene’s promo. I know Ric Flair was a heel at the time, but fucking hell how did you rob these people of Ric Flair. The pop would have been huge. At the end of this episode, the Outsiders invade with baseball bats causing Sting & Lex Luger to lose the WCW World Tag Team Titles to Harlem Heat in a triangle match (also including the Steiner Brothers). If the Horsemen confronted them, they would have needed a new roof on the arena because that crowd would have blown it off. I really felt bad for those people even in 2020 because they so desperately wanted to see Ric Flair and they were robbed that. The kayfabe reason was that he was under guard in his locker room safely away from Savage & Greene. There are times to respect kayfabe and there are times to give the fans what they want and this was a time to give them what they wanted.



This is already going much longer than I expected, but hell there was a lot that happened in these three months. Lets keep the ball rolling with the Horsemen. In April when Ric Flair was either teaming with or facing The Giant, it felt like the Horsemen were not a thing. Anderson was hanging around the Dungeon, Benoit was on tour in Japan and Pillman had left the company. So it felt like Flair and The Girls was what was left and that was no Horsemen. After Flair dropped the title to The Giant, his focused was renewed on Savage and also Debra McMichael, wife of Steve Mongo McMichael. They reintroduced Ric Flair & Arn Anderson as a tag team and they would face McMichael & Greene at Great American Bash with Randy Savage in the corner of the football players and Bobby The Brain Heenan in the corner of the Horsemen. This was the last appearance of the classic Bobby The Brain character. He was always so great in his interactions with Flair and there is a great moment on the Nitro after Great American Bash where The Brain is being chased by the Macho Man and he does his classic over the top rope leap to floor. Wow! The Brain still had it then. With the New World Order looming, it was our last chance to see classic Brain.

In parallel, Kevin Sullivan was attempting to maintain his alliance with the Horsemen because he feared that when Hogan returned he would gunning for him and he wanted allies. However, Benoit thought he was a snake and wanted to end the alliance. Sullivan thought Benoit was like Pillman weak and undeserving of being a Horseman. Anderson was caught in the middle and made it seem like he was siding with Sullivan, but ended up turning on Sullivan at Great American Bash during the classic Benoit/Sullivan brawl that ended up in the men’s bathroom (“Tony there’s a lady in men’s bathroom”-Dusty). Finally, we get the Mongo heel turn when Debra comes out with a Haliburton full of money and bashes Kevin Greene’s head in with the briefcase. It felt like the Horsemen had all the momentum in the world. Of course, this would all be squandered in deference to the New World Order. The Horsemen of the 90s is something that would have kept Nitro hot and done well, but Hulk Hogan turning heel is on whole other world, brutha. Horsemen were correctly sacrificed, but still this was a great run for Ric Flair and proof positive that he could hold down the fort basically by himself while Hogan was away for three whole months.

I am going to do the rest of this in bullet format.

• Macho Man delivered some great unhinged promos during this time trying to get in the building. His best was after beating Hugh Morris and getting up in the Turner suit’s grill. Most of his matches were 90s Savage formula matches. Long heat segment and short comeback with the Elbow for the win. I thought the matches against Fit Finlay (Belfast Bruiser) and Greg Valentine were his best. He had a match with Flair after Great American Bash and he has had better, but it was fun. It was the blow off to the feud as they were transitioning Savage into his role as top babyface against the New World Order. The feud deserved a better, more climatic ending.
•  The Giant was the World Champion during the bulk of this time period. He slowly got better as a promo but was still trying too hard to be menacing and knowing what we know now about The Giant just wasn’t who he was as a person. They worked really hard to get the Chokeslam over. I liked how he would chant “Chokeslam” in the background of a Sullivan or Jimmy Hart promo to get it over. They did a great job playing up his size as the reason behind his confidence.
•  Kevin Sullivan & Jimmy Hart it is amazing how these two were such huge acts in the middle of the 1990s. They would fade into the background after the New World Order, but after Ric Flair these were your top two heels in 1995 and 1996 which is crazy to think about. Sullivan had not had a big time run on top since Florida and Jimmy Hart always played second fiddle to Heenan in WWF so it had been since Memphis that he was a top heel manager. Good for them, but crazy they got a second run on top. Sullivan, probably cause he was booking, cut the most story-driven promos and if you were smart you knew where a story was going based on a Sullivan promo.
•  Lex Luger & Sting – I think they could have done so much with the Lex Luger character. The whole he is a babyface with Sting and heel with everybody else is so good and it is so real life. There are so many people that have kinda scummy friends/family members, but we put with them because we love them and we try to help them change.  Also because nobody is all good or all bad. However, I just felt like they dropped the ball with Luger more often than not. I wanted them to play up the relationship with Jimmy Hart more. Slamboree and Great American Bash were main evented by Giant World Championship defenses even though both PPV was sold on Ric Flair angles and matches. They did so little to build these matches up. They put more effort into John Tenta leaves the Dungeon of Doom and takes on Big Bubba Rogers storyline than these. I liked The Giant chokeslamming Lex Luger through the table a week before his Slamboree defense against Sting. That was a hot, crazy angle especially for 1996 and really put the chokeslam and Giant over. They do the interesting finish where Luger/Hart are handcuffed together and they are tussling over the Megaphone and it ends up cracking Sting in the head. Did Luger mean to hit Sting or was it an accident? However, this all got erased by the New World Order when everyone had to go babfyace. Again, a big missed opportunity. The Great American Bash match between Giant vs Luger, had almost no build. It was just Chokeslam vs Torture Rack which is a solid story but they could have leaned into more. They had a much better match at Starrcade 1996 so check that out instead. Finally, there was a random mini-push of Steven Regal right before Great American Bash. Regal had the awesome series with Finlay including the very novel and cool Parking Lot Brawl. Then Regal slapped Sting in an interview segment and gets a match with Sting. Regal & is Bluebloods go over some midcard babyfaces but he loses to Sting at the Bash and is shunted back down the card. Very peculiar.
•  “Diamond” Dallas Page, the only man outside the Big Six (Hogan, Savage, Flair, Sting, Luger and Giant) to get a consistent push during this time period was Dallas. Page is such a try hard I love it. You tell him to be a heel. He is a fucking heel. He is such a scum bag. The king of the gimmicks. Don’t tell Page less is more because he will tell you less is just less, brutha! He won the Lord of the Ring Battlebowl ring which everyone wanted to call the Lord of the Rings and would trip over themselves not to say. He had the chains, the sunglasses, the cigar, the Self Hi-Five, the weird psychedelic thing he did with his hands. He oversold everything. He bumped like a cartoon. He made funny faces. He made a royal horse’s ass out of himself. It was all so fucking glorious! He wanted to be the biggest scummy, clown heel of all time and he just rocked it. Watch the Craig Pittman match for his most over the top performance but pretty much every DDP match from this time period is so entertaining because of how much effort he puts into the match. That’s why I love DDP and I will always rank him in my Top 100 wrestlers of all time because no one and I mean no one tries harder than Diamond Dallas Page.
•  In terms of great matches well there are the obvious ones:
• o Fit Finlay vs Steven Regal – Nitro April 29th Parking Lot Brawl
• o Dean Malenko vs Rey Mysterio – Great American Bash 1996, my pick for WCW Match of the Year 1996
• o Rey Mysterio vs Psychosis – Bash at the Beach 1996
• o Chris Benoit vs Kevin Sullivan – Great American Bash 1996 Fall Count Anywhere
•  The not so obvious ones include
• o Ric Flair vs The Giant -Nitro March 25th
• o Ric Flair vs Lex Luger – Nitro April 1st you feel like you transported back to 1988
• o Nasty Boys vs Public Enemy – Nitro April 15th Fucking insane brawl. Knobbs and Saggs still the hell out of Public Enemy, I wish that the Nasties got a run in ECW. They would have ruled that tag division
• o Eddie Guerrero vs Chris Benoit – Nitro April 22nd not as good as their 95 stuff but it is Eddie vs Benoit
• o Dean Malenko vs Jushin Liger – Nitro May 6th
• o Ric Flair vs Eddie Guerrero – Nitro May 20th
• o Faces of Fear vs Lex Luger & Sting- Nitro May 20th, watch this one! Barbarian was the best worker in 1996 that no one talked about. He should have been pushed to the moon.
• o Ric Flair & Arn Anderson vs American Males – Nitro May 27th , the best of the “Flair & Anderson get ready to take on the Football players so we put them in a bunch of tag matches” matches. Perfect Horsemen psychology
• o DDP vs Craig Pittman – Nitro May 27th I love DDP and this was such a DDP match so over the top. So many fun spots. DDP rules!
• o Ric Flair & Arn Anderson vs Rock N Roll Express – Nitro June 3rd It is Flair vs orton, you cant go wrong!
• o Ric Flair & Arn Anderson vs Sting & Lex Luger – Nitro June 10th. In 1988, this would have been the biggest thing ever. Still good craic as the Irish would say.
• o Arn Anderson & Chris Benoit vs American Males – Nitro June 17th just watch this to see how fucking over Arn Anderson is.
• o Randy Savage vs Ric Flair – Nitro June 17th not their best match but it is the blowoff to their epic 1995-1995 feud so worth seeing.
• o Dean Malenko vs Rey Mysterio – Nitro June 17th not as famous as their July8th Nitro match but this one is still very good and Mysterio’s debut on the show.
• o The Giant vs Scott Steiner – Nitro June 17th The Giant’s best title defense of his reign. Great rib selling by Scotty and a focused attack by the Giant. They build the comeback well and Steiner’s suplexes are impressive and pop the crowd.
• o Eddie Guerrero vs Barbarian – Nitro June 24th The night where Barbarian got more over with crowd because of his workrate than Eddie. Push Barbarian!
• o Arn Anderson & Chris Benoit vs Rock N Roll Express – Nitro June 24th The Horsemen are so over in Charlotte that Rock N Rolls get booed! Arn vs Morton, you cant go wrong!

Pro Wrestling Love vol. 47: Best of World Championship Wrestling 1988-1990 (Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat, Terry Funk)

Hey Yo Stud Muffins & Foxy Ladies,

Pro Wrestling Love vol. 46:

The Best of World Championship Wrestling 1988-1990

Objective:  Break up the Greatest Match Ever Project (hosted at http://gweproject.freeforums.net/) into more manageable chunks to help me build my Top 100 List for the project.

Motivation: Contribute to the discussion around these matches to enrich my own understanding of pro wrestling and give a fresh perspective for old matches and even hopefully discover great pro wrestling matches that have been hidden by the sands of time.

Subject: This forty-sixth volume of Pro Wrestling Love is the beginning of the Top 12 countdown of the best matches to take place in Jim Crockett Promotions/World Championship Wrestling from 1988-1990. In 1988, for all intents and purposes, pro wrestling became a duopoly of World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling. World Championship Wrestling was born out of a series of mergers and acquisitions between the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida, Kansas City and Mid-South Territory (Oklahoma, Mississippi, Louisiana). In 1988, it was still under Jim Crockett Promotions with Dusty Rhodes in charge of operations, but by the end of the year Dusty was ousted as booker and Jim Crockett sold to Ted Turner which formally changed the name to World Championship Wrestling. The year 1989 is generally considered the apogee of American Pro Wrestling as Ric Flair had probably the greatest single calendar year in the history of the business of pro wrestling between his two feuds with Ricky Steamboat and Terry Funk. The year 1990 was marred by multiple poor booking decisions and pissed away the great booking capital afforded by 1989 and the great young talent (Lex Luger and Sting) waiting in the wings. The year 1990 is a good stopping point because 1991 sees Ric Flair leave WCW.   You can revisit past Pro Wrestling Love Volumes at ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com. You can check out the full version of these reviews in ProWrestlingOnly.com by going to the forums and finding the folders associated with the date of the match.

Contact Info: @superstarsleeze on Twitter, Instagram & ProWrestlingOnly.com.

The Peanut Butter & Jelly of Pro Wrestling: The Package vs Naitch, Luger ,Flair!

Top Six Matches of World Championship Wrestling 1988-1990

#6. NWA US Tag Team Champions Midnight Express vs Fantastics - Clash of the Champions I

FUCKING AWESOME! Have loved this match for years nothing has changed, it is fucking incredible! If it was not for the Dusty Finish, this would be my choice for the greatest US tag team match of all time. I don't understand why it never gets *****, probably due to the finish who care they fucking deserve it! I almost feel like I don't need to write a review because everyone and their mother knows about this match and its sheer awesomeness. The energy and urgency is unreal. This is pro wrestling! This is what it gets me going! I will tell you what really added to this viewing watching the Pro match from the night before (3/26/88) which is a standard Southern tag with a big upset by the Fantastics in their debut. It really adds to that opening brawl. What a brawl! I was remarking on twitter the art of brawling is lost. I implore young talents to watch this, It is RAUCOUS MAYHEM! Then once it settles into a tag the party don't stop! Eaton is great taking that stooge bump. THE HOLY SHIT TRANSITION! Blind tag -> Total Elimination! Midnight Express are Gods and we are just mortals. I remember during the drop toehold and elbow sequence saying out loud "Bobby Eaton is fucking great!". Stan Lane's kicks looked awesome. Lane got mean in this too. Raking the eyes during the heat segment. Love that spot where Cornette holds up the table and they bash Roger's head into it. Fulton is great in trying to help Rogers, but hindering him at the same time. I forgot to mention there is a point in the opening brawl where Fulton hits such an awesome right to Eaton. Eaton punishing Rogers on the outside with bodyslam and bulldog on table was awesome. Rogers makes the tag but ref does not see it. I cant believe I forgot to mention Greensboro was MOLTEN for this throughout the match. Fulton is being impeded by the ref. Cornette is bashing Rogers with the racquet. Fulton basically says FUCK YOU AND TOSSES THE REF!!! CROWD LOSES THEIR SHIT! Cornette blitzes Eaton by accident with racket and Fulton clobbers Corny. ROCKET LAUNCHER~! TOMMY YOUNG 1-2-3!!!!!! Dusty Finish! BOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Awesome post-match brawl with MX kicking some Fantastics ass DOUBLE FLAPJACK and then they WHIP HIM LIKE THE DOG HE IS! Corny likes it! He really likes it! Rogers saves with chair.

INSANE!!! The heat from the crowd and from the wrestlers just WOW! Everyone was turned to fucking 11! Love that brawl and what a heat segment. JUST WOW! Loved Fulton's reaction to the ref, the Rocket Launcher! It was important for MX to get some heat after losing the upset and then the visual Rocket Launcher loss so kicking ass at the end really adds heat to the rematch!!! Everybody stop being so damn stingy with your snowflakes! Writing this review, I actually think this is the greatest US tag match in history. 

#5. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Terry Funk - Great American Bash 1989

I have been blessed to have seen the best. Man alive, what the hell do you say about this match that has not already been said through the decades. I mean Goddamn. I love Flair's entrance reminds me a lot of Starrcade 1993. The way he clenches his fists and his face dripping with emotion. You know you were in for a treat. No wrestling, baby, this here is a fight to the death. Love the ringside brawling and love that Flair gets the lion share of this match. He has to earn it. Funk is ripping him with chops and punches, but to steal a phrase from the American Dream, "This is the lickin' you get for the lickin' you gave" and Flair opens a can of whoop ass on Funk. Funk gets a slight reprieve by pulling Flair into the post, but on this night Flair would not be denied.  The vertical suplex from the apron to the floor was a spot you teased but these two deliver. Then there is the famous neck for neck psychology as Flair becomes an evil chiropractor trying to unscrew Terry Funk's head from his body. Everything Flair does directed at Funk's neck. Kneedrops and of course not one, but two piledrivers. Thats the lickin you get for the lickin you gave. Funk has been selling great from jump coming up with new ways to sell all this. We get the faces, the hands cramped and contorted, the spasms, the falling ass first out of the ring just every way Funk can put over that Flair has kicked ass and wrecked his neck. Here we go...after all this punishment doled out it is time for the Figure-4. Thats when Funk blasts Flair with the branding iron drawing blood. Now we kick it into the heat segment and that means going after Flair's injured neck (the famous piledriver on the table angle that set up this match). We get that very piledriver, but Flair is thankfully near the ropes. Funk gets the bright idea to really end Flair's career by piledriving him on exposed concrete. Talk about high drama. Flair backdrops out, phew. There is a great moment where Funk kinda just dives on Flair from the apron and nixes the head and neck. Flair just starts hollering and grabbing his ear. It is just classic awesome Flair selling. Here's a part I had forgotten. Funk refuses to win the match by pinfall. Instead, he repeatedly hits swinging neckbreakers on Flair, but is calling for him to submit. Gary Hart wants him to take the pinfall but he wont. It looks like they already knew they wanted to do the I Quit match. Flair finally breaks Funk's control by busting him open with the branding iron. Thats the lickin you get for the lickin you gave. Flair is rip roaring now. He comes in hot with a big high knee but misses. Up until Flair's branding iron shot, I remembered everything but I totally blanked on the finish. I thought Muta triggered a DQ. It is actually a clean finish. Funk goes for the spinning toehold, but Flair breaks free for the figure-4 and then Funk inside cradle and reversed for Flair to win. You couldnt go with a decisive blood feud finish, but it seems like an odd choice for the finish to be so technical. Still it was nice to Flair as a babyface get a win in his comeback match to a huge pop. So I am not going to decry the finish. Now Muta comes in and sprays Flair with the green mist. I am not going to go blow by blow but this may be the greatest post-match brawl in pro wrestling history Sting makes the save and it is just on like Donkey Kong. Flair looks like Father Christmas with the red blood and green mist as he cuts a killer promo to send us home. Easily a Top 100 match of all time. High energy, amazing selling, hard hitting, big time drama, huge babyface appeal of Flair making his comeback, this match has it all.

#4. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Ricky Steamboat - Chi-Town Rumble

What a crowd! There have been hotter crowds, but this crowd really lent a real sports feel to this match by how they were reacting. They cheered a Steamboat headlock takeover. The Steamboat double chop early was an electric moment and the following nearfall was treated like a big deal by the crowd. Every nearfall was getting big reactions and they were all on their feet for the finish. Of course, the reason why the crowd was so damn invested was because it was two of the greatest wrestlers of all time going toe-to-toe for the World's Heavyweight Championship. Ric Flair gave an absolutely masterful performance. It is incredible how well he sells in the early part of the match to shine that babyface up, but it also sets up his desperation heat segment. This was a great example of the three-pronged Flair strategy: breaking momentum on the outside, crowding in the corner and creating movement to cause mistakes. As Jim Ross said, "The Dragon was breathing fire tonight!". Steamboat was always one step ahead of the Nature Boy. Flair would BLAST him with a chop and he would fire two right back. In a battle of quickness, he was always getting the upper hand. What really sent Flair to the hills were all those pinfall attempts he was racking up early. In the shine segment, Steamboat was great, but I thought Flair took it to the next level. The transition was Flair dragging Steamboat outside into his domain and ramming him head first into the railing, clawing the eyes and hitting such a tremendous chop it had the Chicago Bears sitting ringside marking the fuck out. Flair is so good at turning the violent streak on in his heat segment. Loved the Steamboat hope spot on the roll through that got a great pop again a crowd totally 100% invested in the match. Flair, who has been freaking out about these nearfalls, pouncing on Steamboat and immediately putting him in the figure-4. EXCELLENT PSYCHOLOGY! I don't like to complain in these reviews, but anyone who says Flair does not have psychology can suck it. Steamboat is money during the heat segment as he rallies the crowd behind him. If Flair is the better seller during a babyface shine, it is Steamboat's selling that takes the heat segment to the next level. Amazing, how the wrestler underneath is dictating the energy of the match! In the post-modern world where offense rules the roost, that never happens anymore and that's why crowds are not 100% invested like this amazing Chicago crowd. Steamboat tries to make his last stand firing back with chops but Flair looks to have an insurmountable lead as they take a big tumble over the top rope onto the floor. Flair is throwing suplexes and is in command. He just cant put the Dragon away and Flair gets frustrated pushing the ref around and jawing with the crowd. Then we see the rays of hope as Steamboat starts building momentum with a string of nearfalls. Steamboat comes roaring out with a flying karate chop. All of sudden, Flair is on the defensive and it looks like Steamboat will hit the flying bodypress that got him the pinfall victory on Flair in January and the visual pin at the Clash. Except, he wipes out the ref! OH NO! Flair with the trunks, but no ref! STEAMBOAT CRASHES AND BURNS ON THE FLYING BODYPRESS Flair goes for the Figure-4, inside cradle and Steamboat wins the World Championship!

Given Crockett's past, the finish has you believe something screwy is going to happen, but Steamboat does win the championship to a huge pop. It was almost like swerving on the swerve, so that finish is put this decisively behind Clash VI for me, but I have this above Wrestlerwar. Spectacular match! Both wrestlers hit it out of the park! Those chops exchanges, HOT DAMN! Flair knocked this one out of the park, he did all the right things every single time. Steamboat's selling carried the day set himself up for a hot comeback. My knock against Steamer will always be offense on the comeback, but they did such a great job building up the flying cross body and his cradles that it felt super hot and you were totally invested through his selling. Incredible pace! Easy, easy top 50 match of all time if not higher. 

I just rewatched this and I think that this match does so well is be so competitive without being "my turn, your turn" everything is earned. It is two combatants just throwing everything they have at each other. There is no waiting for the other to make a comeback you gotta go take it. It also never feels like a blowout. Steamboat takes an early lead but Flair is a master of breaking momentum. I like gradualism of the heat segment with Steamboat slowly losing that fire as the match wears on only to finally break through. If there is one flaw in the match it is the transition to Steamboat's comeback. To me this is the pinnacle of 80s workrate. I think there are better examples of Flairism as a style as this tones down a lot of the Flairism tropes in favor of being a workrate spectacle. We talk 5, 10 minute sprints, these two had a 20+ minute sprint. Insane!

#3. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Terry Funk - Clash of the Champions IX

I am so glad I watched this at 14. The Ric Flair DVD collection came out in 2003 and never had I wanted something for Christmas so bad. Honest to God, I had a great childhood, but I dont remember one Christmas gift I got before 2003. Thats not an indictment on my childhood that's an indictment on the fact I just dont really care for material things. To me this represented everything I wanted: a chance to finally see everything I had read about. For me, this was my absolute favorite match on the set. I have probably not watched this match in 8 years, but you wouldnt have known because I was calling every spot before it happened and lapping it up with a spoon. Flair jumping on Funk's back by the guardrail gets me everytime. Pumping my fist in the air. Slamming Funk's head into the table and then of course the iconic spot when Funk slides across the table headfirst into the chair. It was a great brawl. Was it missing blood? Sure, but I thought they more than made for it with the intensity and stiffness of their shots. After the first heat segment when Flair goozled Funk, Goddamn! It was on like Donkey Kong! The way he rifled him with chops. Then Funk fell out of the ring before Flair was done with him. Flair gave chase. The look in Flair's eyes, boy, he looked like a Man possessed. Funk was selling like a million bucks for him. Funk was great on offense. Using the thumb in the eye early during one of their scraps on the mat gave him the advantage early. My all-time favorite pro wrestling insult has been and always will be "egg-sucking dog". I have no fucking clue what it means but I pop everytime I hear Funk say it. I love that is a thumb to an eye or a Gary Hart distraction that always get Funk the advantage. The microphone berating from Funk is awesome. Remember the wreck, remember your neck. A chance to say I Quit before the Piledriver and then bang! Piledriver. Flair is such an amazing verbal selling, the greatest of all time. I will say you know what didnt feel as big this go-around was the piledriver on the floor. I think there should have been more pause to add weight to it. Maybe even some Funk mic time. Flair comeback is glorious and just a showcase of what makes him great with all the vim and vigor you expect out of the Nature Boy. I love how when Flair grabs the foot of Funk and begins to drag it to the ropes the entire arena COMES ALIVE! You know you are fucking over when you can just drag a man by his foot and the crowd goes nuts. Funk delays the inevitable but Flair applies the Figure-4 and wins the match! 

Fun fact because I have only seen this on my DVD set, I had never seen the post-match! Great post-match. I knew Gary Hart berates Funk, but I never saw him kick Funk in the knee and then Flair jumps Hart. Here comes Muta & Nagaski only for Sting to save. Then Luger comes out tussles with a fan for the chair and waylays the faces. Excellent set up for the ill-fated Ironman tournament at Starrcade 1989. They really screwed the pooch with the double turn. They should have built to Luger as the number one heel for at least all of 1990 if not 1991 too and then built to Luger vs Sting in either 1991 and 1992 as Sting's ascent. Luger should have been a money heel champion.

In 2003, this was the greatest match I have ever seen. I dont I hold it in as high regard anymore, but still a mortal lock for the Top 100. I prefer this to the GAB match, which is excellent, but this has the more decisive finish. The brawling in the GAB is more physical and bloody, this is more chaotic and with the bigger spots. Five Letters, Two Words, I Quit. 

#2. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Lex Luger - Starrcade 1988

NWA/ WCW Match of the Year, 1988

As great as the Total Package was in this match, Ric Flair was the undeniable man in this match. Understanding who the Nature Boy was in between those ropes as the NWA World Heavyweight Champion. A lot of this was covered verbally during Part 1 of Fair to Flair, but lets go through the minutia using this match as a case study.

The match begins with Flair cocky as ever going so far as to taunt the Total Package. At one point, he gets down on one knee and flexes! Flair’s goal early on is psych out the inexperienced challenger and assert himself. You see crowd Luger in the corner, but Luger’s immense power overwhelms him and sends him flying out of the ring. Now, Luger poses to a massive pop, which is a great payback spot as Flair is left doubting himself rather than the other way around. The key to Flair is that he is always going to try to win the match legitimately at first. He is only apprehensive right now, not out and out desperate. The key difference to me between Flair and Harley Race is that Flair makes you earn your shine because Flair is going to apply a hammerlock, throw a chop and try a back elbow, but the challenger fights through this offense and when they gain the upper hand it is more meaningful. Now Flair is going back to the core of his strategy: breaking the rhythm of his opponent. The challenger is going on a fast break and the crowd is hot. Flair uses the ropes like a basketball team would use a timeout. Luger can taunt all he wants, but Flair is in command. Of course, Flair can’t win the match either this way he can only slow Luger down. Now, he moves the second phase of his two-pronged strategy leverage his superior cardiovascular stamina to defeat powerful, muscular Lex Luger. He tries to turn into a track meet by coming off the ropes and we see Luger do a really IMPRESSIVE leapfrog. Luger is ready to use power via a shoulder tackle to thwart the Nature Boy. Big Press Slam! Flair is in the ropes and it is not looking good.

Luger begins to try break down Flair via the arm and Flair’s verbal selling is great. He whips Flair hard into the turnbuckles who takes it shoulder first. Here comes Flair with his perpetual motion offense of chops and shoulderblocks to stop the bleeding, but nothing is working on the challenger. Finally, about ten minutes in, Flair finally thumbs Luger in the eye. For ten minutes, Flair try to best Luger and could not. Out of desperation, he finally resorted to nefarious tactics. That’s beautiful storytelling. Flair goes to his number one weapon, the chops. JR gets in a good point about chops as wearing down the opponent. Incredibly, he does NOT take it to the logical football analogy of running up the middle in the first quarter for 2-3 yards, but keep pounding the ball up the gut so that it turns into 5-7 yards in the fourth quarter. The chop is a similar strategy and in addition it is evacuating the air out of Luger’s lungs, which plays into Flair’s overall strategy. Remember, we are only ten minutes into this contest, so when Flair chops Luger they have an effect, but they have taken their true toll on the Total Package yet. The result is one of the MOST ELECTRIC NO-SELLS of all time with Luger coming out of the corner looking like a million bucks and the crowd and me losing their shit. Flair retreats to the outside and admittedly due to small ringside area things do get a little awkward with Luger trying to navigate his way to get Flair and then he wrenches Flair’s arm around the railing.

Another Flair strategy is use of shortening the distance like a boxer would or what could be called crowding when he takes Luger from the armbar into the corner. Flair is an underrated puncher and I have always thought his punches look nasty. Flair tries to combat Luger’s power by using the ropes to get a running start to increase his momentum and add some wallop to his blows. Luger at this stage of the game is a Flair-seeking missile and will not be denied. I love the suplex back in the ring as it is just the perfect babyface move. Oh, you want to try to run from me, let me bring you in the hard way. Luger misses his big elbow and lets out quite the yelp. Flair pounces with a short kicks to abs and now using that running start to really topple Luger. He throws Luger to the outside for a hard, hard fall. He attacks Luger using the railing. This is when Flair is at his sadistic best. He slows down the pace and really grinds his opponent down. Kneedrop and double footstomp! This is offense that allows him to recover without expending too much energy, but at the same time non-kayfabe allows the heat to sink in and for Luger to sell. Luger gets his second wind so Flair immediately goes back to trying to create movement, but ends up in a sleeper! Again Luger earns the comeback fighting through his chops and then winning the criss-cross exchange! Flair hits a back suplex counter. He realizes he can not waste anymore time and goes for his one surefire home run, the figure-4. INSIDE CRADLE! Only two. Flair crashes down with a elbow to stymie Luger. You feel his hold on the match is tenuous at best. He wants to go up top to get some free velocity and really crash down on Luger, but he gets caught with the superplex, awesome nearfall. Luger now applies the figure-4 as a slap in the face and as a strong match-ender spot.

Flair gets the ropes and now here comes the Luger home stretch. Luger accidentally hit the ref on the backswing of his punch. He gets a top rope crossbody for two only because the ref was out of position. Backslide that’s how Kerry beat Flair. Flair takes the flip in the corner. Luger suplexes him back in and PRESS SLAM! The challenger is pouring it on. Now it is up to JJ to do what Flair can’t break his momentum. Luger is on a fast break so putting himself into harm’s way distracts Luger. Flair trips Luger up and goes full psycho smashing a steel chair into the knee of the Total Package. Flair goes to town on the knee. This is an absolute clinic of how to work the knee and how to sell a knee both psychically and verbally. Flair Figure-4! Time to test the mettle of Lex Luger, who like a real man reverses the pressure. Flair is right back to the knee. He goes up top to try win the match with a cross body, but gets caught in a press slam. Luger was able to fight through pain for that one moment, but the pain is too much has to crawl to Flair and can’t capitalize. Flair desperate just throws him out of the ring. Sunset Flip by Luger! That’s how Garvin won the title. Flair tries one of those running, jumping forearms, but just bounces off Luger! It is hot baby! Luger fighting through the pain hits the clotheslines and powerslams to set up for the torture rack. In my probably my favorite finish of all time, Luger hoists up the champion only to have his knee give out and Flair lands on top, puts his feet on the ropes and wins the match.

WOW! Incredible match and one that I hope I did justice. I really don’t think I can in all honesty it is something that needs to be watched. Everybody seems to like the Wrestlewar match, which I think is an all-time classic, but I have this a notch above. Clearly, the Starrcade finish is better than the Wrestlewar finish. This told an absolutely incredible story and just stayed so true to both characters. The selling was just pitch perfect. I have always seen this match ranked ****1/2. I can’t go below ****3/4 and right now I can’t think of a reason not to go the full monty. For my money, this is the perfect Flair vs power wrestler match. It is Flair’s best power wrestler opponent, Luger, putting a great selling and offensive clinic. His timing on those no-sells was great. Flair gave a heel performance in this match that I don’t know has ever been topped. I am going *****, but would love to hear arguments to the contrary.

#1. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ricky Steamboat vs Ric Flair - Wrestlewar 1989

NWA/WCW Match of the Year, 1989

I think the thing that has stuck with me most about this match since first seeing it in 2003 was Jim Ross' call. This is the NWA where we wrestle. He really made this feel like a contest. Even though, try to contend pro wrestling is more of a shoot than amateur wrestling was a little much. 

It has been so long since I watched the Trilogy together and I expected this to be a distant third, but it is not and it feels really unique. This is the most physical of the three matches. This feels more like a Ronnie Garvin match with lots of chops and firefights. Flair is going for big heavy blows early and often. The Dragon returns with slashes of his own. They play off the Double Chickenwing submission with Steamboat going after the arm. Great arm work by Steamboat it is varied and tight. Flair does a great job selling it in and out of the holds. Flair looks to use the Chop to get out of the hold and back in control, but each time Steamboat fires back and overwhelms the Nature Boy. I loved the bit where Flair hiptossed Steamboat and just his body language made the spot feel huge. The crowd reacted as such. It is amazing that with the right characters, a simple hiptoss can feel like a high spot. Flair misses the elbow drop and Steamboat goes back to the arm. Towards the end of the first half of the match, Flair goes to what I believe is his best strategy and that is throw the man out of the ring. The first time Steamboat lands on his feet and furiously comes back in and fires back. The second time, Flair uses a running Steamboat's own momentum against and hurls him over the top rope and he takes a nasty spill. Flair takes advantage of this bu chopping him over the railing and punishing him on the outside. It should be noted Flair has not begged off yet probably because he is turning babyface at the end of the match and wants to look strong. He is wrestling a very physical style and this has been a great hard-hitting match through the first half. 

Flair yields his position as King of the Mountain to come back out against Steamboat on the floor, but the Dragon roars back. Blistering the Nature Boy with chops. Flair Flip and Steamboat catches him running down the apron. Flair's saving grace is Steamboat takes another high risk as the Dragon leaps and Flair moves and Steamboat hits the top rope and falls to the floor. Now Flair in his element. He measures Steamboat and really kicks his ass. Great chops and punches. The kneedrop. Butterfly Suplex. Great pins. Steamboat tries to lunge but gets hotshotted that was an awesome hope spot turned into a cutoff. Steamboat is too close to the ropes to cover as as Flair argues with the ref he puts his shin on Steamboat's throat. Great stuff! Steamboat chops hard and as Flair falls he picks the ankle of the weary Steamboat and pulls him outside and does more damage namely a suplex to the floor. This is an amazing heel Flair performance. They pick up the pace in the ring. Whipping everyone into frenzy and they pay it off with the bump I always remember the out of control crossbody where they both tumble to the floor. PRESS SLAM! Steamboat is feeling it! The Dragon is Breathing Fire! SUPERPLEX! DOUBLE CHICKENWING! GREAT SEQUENCE! High Drama! Flair scrambles for the ropes and forces the break. I love the spot where Steamboat is poised for either a top rope chop or top rope crossbody and Flair falls into the ropes jostling them and causing Steamboat to take a nasty spill hurt his leg. This entire match so much of Flair's offense is set up by Steamboat's mistakes or happenstance. Now Steamboat's leg is hurt for the master of the Figure-4 it is almost too easy. Flair zeroes in on the leg and suplexes him back in. FIGURE-4! Rope break. There is a great sequence where Flair has the foot. He is pounding on the knee as Steamboat is chopping him. It feels like this gargantuan struggle. ENZIGUIRI! The Dragon looks poised for a comeback. Lifts Flair up but his knee gives out and Flair cradles him 1-2-3! Amazing match!

For some reason, I came in thinking this would be #3 but I think this is my #1. The Chi-Town Rumble is the great pure workrate sprint with crazy ending and Steamboat winning the big one, but it does lack the physical edge. The Clash match is the great, lengthy, classic championship match but there are lulls in it and it is a bit messy down the stretch. This has all the tightness of the Rumble match, the psychology of the Clash, but the added physicality of a Flair/Garvin. Gun to my head: WrestleWar, Chi-Town Rumble, Clash. All are ***** and really no matter how you rank it, it doesnt matter they all rock.