Klassic Keith: The Top 20 WWF Matches Of The 90s

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The SK Rant: Top 20 WWF Matches of the 1990s.

My word you people are pushy. Okay, fine, HAVE IT YOUR WAY. Despite the pain that whittling some of my favorite matches EVER down to 20 will cause me and my loved ones, I’ve decided to capitulate and give into the slavering masses. BUT I JUST HOPE YOU’RE HAPPY.

Before we begin, once again, The Ground Rules:

I can only vouch for what I’ve seen. I’ve heard tons of good things about the Shawn Michaels v. Marty Jannetty match that won Match of the Year in 1993, for instance, but I’ve never seen it, so that’s disqualified right off the bat.

I like certain wrestlers much more than others, which will undoubtedly cause some bias in my opinions. Since this is an opinion piece, DEAL WITH IT.

I took forever to write this followup to the WCW piece because I’m an ARTIST and genius cannot be rushed. Unless a publisher sends me a sizeable cheque, in which case I will happily throw artistic integrity out the window and SMILE about it.

This is a list of the overall greatest WWF matches of the 90s, not necessarily just the best at one aspect, like entertainment or technical wrestling. So that’s why Hell in a Cell II got the heave ho, as well as Bret Hart v. Curt Hennig.

And away we go

****1/2 Matches:

We start with those matches that were freakin’ great, but suffered from being a rehash of an earlier match, overbooked, too short, hurt by on-the-fly rebooking and slow climbing, in that order. Other than those (fairly major) flaws, all these matches are excellent and well worth your time in seeking out.

20. Shawn Michaels v. Razor Ramon – SummerSlam ‘95 (8/27/95 – Ladder Match, IC Title)

Funny story about this match, in that as originally booked it was Shawn Michaels v. Sid, but the card was shaping up to be so bad that it was scrapped and floundering midcarder Razor Ramon was stuck back into the ladder match slot with Michaels again. That decision panned out well for the WWF, as this match won Match of the Year for 1995, more by default than anything else. From my review of the show

Ladder match, Intercontinental title: Shawn Michaels v. Razor Ramon. Shawn is the champion here, not Razor, for those of you who keep asking me about this one. This was scheduled to be Shawn v. Sid for the title up to about a week before the show, but Vince felt the card sucked as it stood, and wanted to add, you know, a good match. The Sid v. Shawn match *did* go off a couple of weeks later, and was the infamous “He pins the big guy with three superkicks” match that marked the debut of Eric “Mr. Tact” Bischoff’s guerrilla warfare tactics on Nitro. Dok Hendrix joins us for commentary, replacing the departing Jerry Lawler. Ramon ducks out of a superkick very early on. Ramon goes for the Edge early on, which Shawn escapes from. Things are even until Shawn gets whipped into the corner and takes a suicide bump over the top. They fight into the aisle where the ladder waits, but don’t go for it. Back to the ring, where Shawn takes an absolutely sick bump and gets suplexed to the floor, full on. No landing on his feet here. Ramon goes for the Edge again, but Shawn wiggles out. Ramon ducks the superkick and they nail each other for an early double-KO. Ramon recovers first and hits a blockbuster suplex off the top, and goes for the ladder. Shawn misses the baseball slide he hit at WMX, thus showing that Ramon has learned from the last match. Ramon goes for the belt, but Shawn dumps him off, then nails him with the ladder. Shawn climbs, but Ramon yanks Shawn’s tights down, and Shawn slips off the ladder and takes ANOTHER sick bump, wrenching his knee and getting it caught in the ladder. Ramon stomps on it, just because. He rams it into the ladder to further the damage, and clips Shawn’s knee with the ladder when he stands up. Then he slams Shawn on the ladder, right on his knee. Just brutal. Razor sets up the ladder, but Shawn can’t even stand up. So Ramon beats on the knee some more. Attaboy. Shawn kicks him into the ladder, but it doesn’t last long, as Ramon drops him knee-first on the ladder. Ramon absolutely dismantles the knee, ramming it into the apron and wrapping it around the post. He even works in an indian deathlock, which is just about the only place where it’s appropriate. Now back to the ladder, as Ramon drops it on Shawn’s knee. Ramon is drawing great heel heat here. He goes for the climb now, but gets knocked off by a flying Shawn. Ramon climbs again, but is followed and suplexed off by Shawn. Crowd is torn as to who to cheer for. Shawn sets up the ladder in the corner and whips Ramon into it, then again in another corner, and a forearm smash for good measure. And the crowd BOOS. Amazing. Shawn moonsaults off the ladder onto Ramon, which was somewhat blown by Ramon. Shawn to the top of the ladder, but misses the splash that he hit at Wrestlemania X. Notice how the one match builds on the other? The ladder is set up in the middle, and both climb it, and both go crashing off it, with Ramon ending up on the floor. Shawn charges him with the ladder and misses, ending up on the floor himself. Then, in an odd moment, Razor grabs the spare ladder from under the ring and brings it in. Shawn, meanwhile, climbs again, but gets Edged off the top of the ladder. Ramon moves first, setting up his own ladder. Shawn sets up his, and we have a foot race. Shawn superkicks Ramon off his ladder, but then falls off and takes a nasty bump. That didn’t look scripted. Ramon tries another Edge, but gets backdropped over the top and Shawn grabs the belt to retain at 24:56, after another aborted attempt. Shawn blew the ending twice, so minus a bit, but the rest was gold. ****1/2

19. Ultimate Warrior v. Randy Savage – Wrestlemania VII (3/14/1991 – Retirement Match). This match was blessed with not only amazing effort from both broken-down and fading Randy Savage, but amazing effort from roided-out and blown-up Ultimate Warrior, who had been seeing his star falling ever since winning the WWF title from Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania VI. In fact, as Wrestlemania VII approached with it’s anemic Hogan v. Evil Forigner gimmick as the main event, it was indeed this match that made the show at least halfway worthwhile to order. It came about because Savage challenged Warrior to a title match at Royal Rumble 91, and when Warrior refused (even with implied fellatio from Sensational Sherri offered – eewwww ) Savage sabotaged Warrior’s title defense against Sgt. Slaughter and cost him the belt. Classic wrestling angle, classic wrestling power match, and even the subplot was great. From my review

– Retirement match: The Ultimate Warrior v. Randy Savage. Bobby Heenan points out that Elizabeth is sitting ringside. Geez, she couldn’t even get front row. Warrior wisely decides to not run to ringside. Savage takes his top off, showing that he means business. Doesn’t help, as Warrior methodically destroys Savage in a manner totally unlike him. Savage comes off the top but gets caught by Warrior, and then, in an Eddy Guerrero-like moment, Warrior simply puts him down and slaps him. Ooooo, you could get shot for doing shit like that in Mexico. Warrior paces himself nicely, slowly beating the hell out of Savage. He finally goes high-risk and misses a cross-corner charge, sending him flying out of the ring, where Sherri abuses him. Has Sherri been drinking “Ass Bulk 2000” or something? Savage sends Warrior to the post and Sherri lays in more punishment. Warrior calmly comes back in the ring and clotheslines Savage out of his boots. Flying shouldblock misses and Savage gets two. Sleeper, and Warrior fights out, but they do the double-knockout bit. Warrior with a small package, but Sherri is distracting the ref. Savage decks Warrior from behind, bumping the ref in the process. But Sherri’s interference backfires and she knocks out Savage. Warrior chases her around, and gets cradled for two. Savage with a stun-gun and the running necksnap for two. Savage drops the big elbow! But it’s not enough, so he drops…FOUR MORE! Seriously, the guy drops five flying elbows on Warrior, just to be a dick. And it only gets two, which didn’t really matter at the time because Savage was supposed to be retiring anyway, so who cared if his move was ruined. Warrior re-energizes and blitzes Savage with the THREE CLOTHESLINES OF DEATH, then the Gorilla Press and splash. *That* only gets two, and now Warrior doesn’t know what to do. He has an epiphanic moment, as he talks to his hands, looking for advice. He starts to walk away from the match, but Savage jumps him from behind. That’s apparently good enough an answer for Warrior, as he moves out of the way of the double-axehandle, sending Savage crashing to the steel railing. He tosses Savage back into the ring and spears Savage, which puts Savage onto the floor. He does it again, sending Savage out again. Finally he throws Savage back in one last time, hits the shoulderblock, and places a foot on his chest to win the match. Warrior’s best match ever. ****1/2

– Extra-curricular activities that lend this match it’s legendary status: Sherri is, shall we say, somewhat miffed at her money source being retired, so she takes out her frustrations on the beaten and helpless Savage. Big boos for that. And then, in one of the great moments of wrestling, Elizabeth finally takes an active role, running out of the audience to make the save and sending Sherri running. Savage wakes up and realizes what happened, then finally reconciles with Elizabeth after two years, bringing tears to every woman (and some of the men) in the arena. Unbelievably great booking as both Warrior and Savage go out on top with a face pop. As a symbolic gesture, Savage holds the ropes open for Liz before leaving, which is Savage’s way of apologizing for years of abuse. See, sometimes it *can* be Shakespeare, kids. Don’t ever let ’em tell you different.

18. Taka Michinoku v. The Great Sasuke (7/6/1997 – Canadian Stampede). Now, years later we know that any suggestion of a usable Light-heavyweight division with Vince McMahon in charge is a sick joke on smart fans, but when this match hit, on the heels of the M-Pro guys debuting on American PPV via ECW’s Barely Legal, it took the WWF fans by storm, and made a star out of Taka. Of course, that was never the intention, as Sasuke was the guy who was supposed to get the rub and Taka was just some jobber he brought along. Once Brian Christopher was added to the division as Taka’s lead nemesis, you might as well have killed it right there. But this match still serves as a reminder of what might have been. From my review

– TAKA Michinoku v. The Great Sasuke. The idea was to push SASUKE as the light heavyweight champ, and Taka was just some jobber he brought along to make him look good. Funny how that one turned out. But first, Mick and HHH continue their brawl as they return from the dressing room and fight into the stands and the penalty box. Zen sighting #2 in honor of the match: “This is Workrate”. It was my goal in the pre-show planning session to make *the* definitive smart mark signs, and I think it worked. Feeling out process to start. Crowd seems a bit disinterested. Taka works on the arm but gets caught with a spin kick. Sasuke goes into a half-crab. Sasuke uses some stiff kicks, so Taka nails him and dropkicks him in the face, twice. KAIENTAI~! Sasuke backdrops Taka to the floor and follows with a tope. Both are down. Back in and Sasuke hits a viciously stiff kick combo, the last one right in the mouth, drawing the requisite “oohs” and “aahs”. Taka blocks a kick and legwhips him, then dropkicks him out of the ring and debuts the springboard plancha to a big pop. Beautiful camera work there. Back in and Taka reverses out of a german suplex and hits a rana for two. Sasuke comes back with a handspring elbow, sending Taka out. Quebrada (Asai moonsault) follows. Back in, Taka gets a belly-to-belly for two. Ohtani-like springboard dropkick gets the crowd going, and the Michinoku driver gets two. Taka goes upstairs and gets dropkicked coming down and a moonsault press from Sasuke gets two. Thunder fire bomb and tiger suplex finishes it at 10:00. Stars for everyone! We’re having a 2-for-1 special tonight! ****1/2 They would then proceed to TOP that match the next night on RAW, with Sasuke debuting the Space Flying Tiger Drop on North American TV, an event I was lucky enough to be there for this time.

As a note, I didn’t include the RAW rematch because I’ve only ever watched it live and it’s hard for me to rate a match properly, objectively or otherwise, when I’m there in the audience.

17. Undertaker v. Bret Hart v. Steve Austin v. Vader (Final Four, WWF title)

Another interesting case here, as this was set up by the whole Shawn Michaels temper-tantrum that resulted in him “losing his smile” and walking out of the WWF and vacating the WWF title in the process. By the way, if you want to hear a REALLY interesting idea for a main event finish, check out the Bret Hart shoot video from RFVideo, where he describes what he pitched to Vince McMahon for the Bret-Shawn rematch that was supposed to main event Wrestlemania XIII. Anyway, the match was set up when Steve Austin screwed over the other three guys in the Royal Rumble to win, and it became a title match once the WWF title was vacant. From my review

WWF title match: Vader v. Undertaker v. Steve Austin v. Bret Hart. Consider this a mini-Rumble where pinfalls count. Vader & UT pair off, as do Austin & Hart. Vader takes a chairshot early and starts gushing from around his eye. Meanwhile, Bret kills Austin. Back in and we switch as Austin hits a fluke Stunner on UT for two. Vader opens up on Bret as Austin & UT brawl on the floor. Vader takes out UT, so Austin goes after him, too, dropping the stairs on his head. They engage in a wild brawl as Vader bleeds all over the place. Switch again, Vader brawls with Bret and Austin takes UT in the ring. All four end up outside, then back in. Hart piledrives Austin for two. Vader misses the moonsault on UT. Austin & Bret try to throw each other out. More carnage. Bret & Vader have a wild slugfest that ends with Bret punching him right in the bloodied eye to knock him down. Ouch. Austin nearly pushes UT out to the horror of the crowd. UT tries to return the favor, then Bret does the deed himself, dumping Austin out about 18 minutes in. More on that later. Bret & UT slug it out, and Vader clips UT. Vader & Bret then go at it, and that goes badly for Bret. Vader goes upstairs and gets superplexed. Sharpshooter, but UT saves. Steve Austin limps back out to assault Bret some more. Meanwhile, Vader goes for the pump splash and UT sits up and casually pushes him over and out about 21 minutes in. That leaves Bret and UT. Chokeslam, but Austin is back again. UT tries to tombstone Bret, but Austin pushes them over. Bret snaps and goes after Austin, then UT goes after them both, and Bret sneaks out and pushes UT over and out to capture his fourth WWF title at 24:01. It would last 24 hours before he lost it to Sid on RAW the next night. ****1/2

As a followup, it was supposed to be Austin winning this match and dropping the title to Sid on RAW the next night, but he injured his knee mid-match so severely that the finish had to be re-booked to give the belt to Bret Hart instead.

16. HHH vs. The Rock – Summerslam ‘98 (8/30/98 – Ladder Match IC Title). This was the blowoff for the initial (heel) Rock v. (face) HHH feud, a situation which would sound ridiculous these days. The focal point of the match was HHH’s knee injury, and it turned out later that his selling was great because he really DID have a near-crippling knee injury. How about that? From my review

– Intercontinental title, ladder match: The Rock v. HHH. Slugfest to start. Both go for the finisher early but neither can hit it. HHH goes for the ladder first and it comes into play via Rocky. He makes the first try for the belt but HHH nails him from behind on the slow climb. HHH makes his own go for it but Rock yanks him down and he lands wrong on his ankle, injuring his knee. Rock works on it. Crowd is super hot. Rock drops the ladder right on the knee and then sandwiches the knee in the ladder and jumps on it a lot. Rock puts the ladder on top of the steps and the railing and drops HHH on it, right on his knee. Ouch. Rock goes for the belt but HHH barely gets there in time. Back out on the floor, and HHH gets slingshotten into the ladder. HHH gets the crap beaten out of him as he tries the Pedigree on the ladder on the floor, but Rock backdrops him on it. Henry tosses a backup ladder in because the first one is in bad shape. Rock does another slow climb as HHH fights off Mark Henry just in time to dump Rocky out of the ring. Baseball slide into the ladder right into Rocky’s face. Rocky bleeds. HHH makes his first attempt at the belt but gets dumped by the Rock. Rock sets up the ladder on the top turnbuckle and DDTs Hunter. Rocky climbs for the belt and Hunter follows him up the other side and we get the slugfest at the top. Hunter goes flying into the ladder on the turnbuckle, bounces off, and knocks the Rock off the ladder and onto the top rope. Rock grabs the ladder, but Hunter smacks him with a chair and beats the hell out of him with it. Rocky retaliates with a People’s Elbow on the ladder to a massive reaction. HHH back up and goes for the belt again, but Rocky pulls him off and hits the Rock Bottom to another massive pop. Rock back up the ladder again but HHH pulls him off and nails the Pedigree to yet another massive pop. Mark Henry then tosses a big bag of powder in his face and blinds him. HHH climbs but can’t see the belt. Another slugfest on top and Chyna runs in, ballshot to Rock, and he falls off, allowing Hunter to grab his second I-C title to a raucous ovation from the crowd. Rock is unconscious as D-X celebrates. Bold prediction: This match will *make* these guys’ careers. ****1/2

And in fact, this match DID make their careers.

****3/4 Matches:

Okay, next section, as we hit those matches were were essentially perfect, but just had that one fatal flaw that prevented me from going the full monty with them, whether it be selling, crowd heat, or a bad finish.

15. Shawn Michaels v. Bret Hart – Wrestlemania XII (3/31/1996 Iron Man, WWF title). The match that started all the bad blood that eventually destroyed Bret’s career. Bret was nothing but a lame duck champion, put there in order to job to Shawn in this match, something which he was very vocally bitter about at the time, and still is. Still, a great match. From my review

– WWF World title: Bret Hart v. Shawn Michaels. This is, of course, a 60-minute Iron Man match. Most falls win. A clock in the corner helpfully counts down the time and falls won by each. Mat wrestling to start. Bret works the headlock, burning up 7 minutes. Shawn tries the armbar as his time-waster of choice, working the arm.

– 10 minutes gone. Michaels takes Bret to the floor with a flying headscissors and Bret takes a breather. Back in, Shawn goes back to the arm. Matches like these make for easy recapping with all the slow stretches. Bret gets the headbutt to the groin and legdrop, then goes to the chinlock. I’m gonna resist fast-forwarding as long as possible. Shawn goes into a vicious wristlock but Bret doesn’t watch UFC, I guess, because he sells it like a resthold. Bret comes back and tries the Sharpshooter, then clotheslines Shawn to the floor. Bret lands in the lap of the timekeeper, but ducks a superkick and the poor timekeeper is down for the count (nyuk nyuk). Back in, to the chinlock. Bret is working the neck, Shawn the arm. Shawn clotheslines Bret, Bret returns the favor. Back to the chinlock. Must not fast-forward.

– 20 minutes gone. Shawn dropkicks him down, and back to the armbar. That turns into another cross-armbreaker and AGAIN Bret won’t sell. Hmph. To the hammerlock. Bret hammers him in the corner, but Shawn gives him a pissed-off knee to the gut and sends him shoulder-first to the ringpost. I sense some hostility there. Shoulderbreaker and double-axehandle to the shoulder, then hammerlock slam. Shawn “AA” Michaels? Bret fights back but Shawn hits a single-arm DDT and cross-armbreaker. Again, Bret won’t sell. Shawn goes into a NASTY standing armbar, but Bret hits a stungun to escape. Bret catapults him into the ringpost for two. Voila!, the arm injury is magically gone. That is SO unlike Bret. Something’s gotta be up there. I’ve seen him sell knee injuries for WEEKS, and within the story here Bret’s arm should be hanging dead at this point. Shawn misses a blind charge and gets pounded with an atomic drop and lariat for two. Bret gets a bulldog and goes to the top. Shawn tries to stop him, but Bret counters by driving his knee to Shawn’s head down to the mat, bumping the ref in the process.

– 30 minutes gone. Shawn powerslam gets two. Bret gets a piledriver for two. Shawn takes him down with a rana and sidebreaker gets two. Bret takes the pussy route to escape a superkick, running to the floor. That draws boos. Shawn follows with a SWEET tope. Back in, bodypress-reversal gets two for Bret. Backslide into small package gets two for Shawn. Fisherman’s suplex gets two. Sleeper uses up more time. Shawn puts Bret in the corner and charges, but Bret backdrops him over the top and Shawn takes his patented “HOLY SHIT” bump to the floor in suicidal fashion. Bret tosses him back in and wisely starts working on the back. He drives an elbow from the 2nd rope, then hits the backbreaker and legdrop.

– 40 minutes gone. Bret banzai drops him on the back and hits a backdrop superplex for two. Bret goes to the rear chinlock. Shawn sunset flips him for two. Bret puts him on top and tries another superplex, but Shawn blocks, then gets nailed coming down. Bret cross-corner whips him and Shawn goes over the top and nails Jose accidentally on the way down. They brawl on the floor and Bret whips Shawn into Jose again, and yells at Jose. What’s up with that? Back in, Bret gets a belly-to-belly for two. Bret hammers him down. Shawn escapes a suplex with a rollup for two. Bret kicks out and sends him to the outside, then follows with his tope suicida. Bret allows the ref to count Shawn out, but then changes his mind and suplexes him. Shawn reverses mid-move, but Bret reverses that and hits a nasty german suplex for two, then does a good ol’ beatdown.

– 50 minutes gone. Back to the chinlock. Double KO, and Bret gets a quick superplex and goes for the Sharpshooter. He changes his mind and goes into a half-crab instead. He starts the FIVE MOVES OF DOOM, but Shawn kicks him in the face to block the elbowdrop. Standing dropkick sends Bret to the corner, and Shawn comes off with a fivearm. Running elbow and double axehandle get two. Flying elbowdrop gets two. Doctorbomb and moonsault press get two. Flying rana gets two. Shawn goes up with one minute left, but gets caught with the Sharpshooter on the way down, and Bret holds on until the 60 minute time limit expires. The match is a draw.

– BUT WAIT! Gorilla Monsoon declares that there MUST BE A WINNER, so Bret comes back

– Overtime: Bret continues hammering the back, hitting a backbreaker, but Shawn gets Sweet Chin Music out of nowhere. He’s too tired to capitalize, and Bret does a half-hearted selling job. Shawn hits it again and that’s enough to put Bret out, and Shawn gets the pin and the WWF World title at 1:47 of overtime. ****3/4 Can’t go the full monty for this one because of Bret’s attitude problems, and the fact that there was about 5 different points where a pin or submission could have feasibly occurred, but neither guy wanted to job first. But the rest is AWESOME.

14. Owen Hart/Davey Boy Smith v. Steve Austin/Shawn Michaels (5/1997, WWF tag titles). This is course from RAW, and showed just how badly injured Shawn Michaels REALLY was. From my review in the King of the Ring 97 rant

WWF tag team title match: Owen Hart & The British Bulldog v. Steve Austin & Shawn Michaels. This is from May 1997, two weeks before King of the Ring. The angle is that Austin is feuding with the Hart Foundation, as is Shawn. But they don’t like each other much. The original main event of King of the Ring was supposed to be Bret Hart v. Shawn Michaels, but they got into a fistfight the week before this match and the WWF (rightly) felt that it was both too risky to let them wrestle at that point, and too stupid to waste a potential money-match with real-life heat on a nothing show like King of the Ring. This match would mark the first appearance of a Vince Russo trademark: “Wacky tag champs who fight when they’re out of the ring”. Big brawl to start here. Austin & Owen go in the ring, with Austin getting a quick slam and the second-rope elbow for two. HBK comes in with a top rope shot on Owen and he works the arm. Bulldog comes in, and overpowers Shawn. Shawn hits an eyepoke to counter and a rana to come back, then steals the ENZUIGIRI OF DOOM from Owen to tweak him a bit. It gets two. Austin comes in and lays a beating on Bulldog. Shawn & Steve make some quick tags and control. Austin takes a cheapshot and Owen pulls him out for some damage. Commerical break follows. We return with Austin & Owen going again. Vince: “Austin in the black tights”. Thanks, dude, I needed to be reminded there. Criss-cross and Owen gets a sleeper, countered with a jawbreaker. Hot tag to Shawn. Flying forearm to Bulldog, but Bulldog comes right back and presses Shawn onto the top rope crotchfirst. Shawn bails and Owen rams his back into the post. Back in, Shawn receives his own eyepoke, and a slingshot into the post for two. Powerslam gets two. Ref sends Austin out, and Owen hits an awesome gutwrench and legdrop for two. Owen goes to the chinlock, Shawn escapes but eats a belly-to-belly for two. Owen keeps getting in Austin’s face, and Austin keep losing his temper, allowing the Harts to pound on Shawn. Shawn gets a sunset flip, no ref. Bulldog rips his head off with a lariat for two. False tag to Austin allows more punishment for Shawn. Owen superplex attempt is blocked, and countered with a flying bodypress for two. Owen gets a leg lariat, but misses a blind charge. Hot tag to Austin, finally. Total carnage! I LOVE IT! Mudhole-stomping on Bulldog, but Owen blocks a stunner with a low blow. Ref escorts Owen out, HBK plays some sweet chin music for Bulldog, and Austin covers him for the pin and the titles at 12:24. The Hart Foundation swiftly lays in a total Shawn beating, as Austin casually walks away and finds Bret. Austin DESTROYS him until the other Harts make the save. This whole match and angle rank as one of the best segments EVER to air on RAW. ****3/4

13. Shawn Michaels vs Diesel – Good Friends, Better Enemies (4/29/96 – World Title). Easily Diesel’s best match ever, this was also his WWF swan song, as he of course chose to go out putting another Clique member over. He also chose to go out in a wild brawl, designed to show that Shawn could beat big men after all. From my review

WWF World title match: Shawn Michaels v. Diesel. This is the ultimate blowoff for their long-simmering feud, as Diesel was leaving for WCW and made it known that he was on one final run of destruction before he left. Shawn was hot off beating Bret Hart at WM12 and needed credibility. This is no-holds-barred. Shawn uses his speed to avoid Diesel, then dropkicks him out and hits a moonsault tope onto him. He steals a boot from Hugo Savinevich and nails Diesel for two. Diesel gets pissed and knocks Shawn onto the railing, then tosses him back in and absolutely wallops him. Shawn sells like he’s dead. Diesel keeps shooting evil glances at Vince. Jumping side slam nearly puts Shawn though the mat, then Diesel undoes his wrist tape and chokes out Hebner! He steals Earl’s belt and lays in some wicked shots on Shawn, then hangs him from the top rope and ties him there. As Shawn struggles to free himself, Diesel calmly grabs a chair and blasts Shawn. Back in for another solid chairshot. Lord, what a beating. One more, but Shawn ducks and Shawn gets the chair. That proves temporary, as a low blow gets two for Diesel. Diesel absolutely lays into him with forearms, sending him crashing to the floor. Vince keeps yelling at Shawn to “stay down”. Cool spot of the year: Diesel starts a long tradition, powerbombing Shawn through the announce table. He parades around with the title belt while Shawn, who is nearly dead, pulls himself out of the wreckage. Vince, his own microphone dead, does his usual awesome acting job, yelling “Just let it be over!” at Shawn. Shawn crawls to the ring, and finds a fire extinguisher, which he discharges into Diesel’s face. Flying forearm puts him down, and Shawn grabs a chair to even the odds. Two vicious shots follow, but Diesel won’t go down, and in fact hits the big foot to the face right away to KO Shawn. He takes too long, however, and Shawn escapes the powerbomb. Flying elbow sets up Sweet Chin Music, but Diesel calmly grabs his foot and rips his head off with a lariat. What is this, All Japan? He tosses Shawn out again and drops him on the railing, then gets inspired. He heads over to the front row and beats up Maurice Vachon, who is seated ringside, and STEALS HIS ARTIFICIAL LEG. Major, major heel heat for that. Shawn lowblows him, however, and steals the leg. He knocks Diesel cold with a shot from the leg, then waits for him to recover, warms up the band, and superkicks him for the pin to retain at 17:51. He didn’t win the match, he SURVIVED it. What a horrific beating and an AWESOME brawl. ****3/4 Shawn’s “in your FACE!” post-match celebration is amazing acting on his part, too, and it really makes the match.

12. Steve Austin v. Dude Love – Over the Edge 1998 (5/21/98 – World Title Match). This is essentially the defining match in the Austin v. McMahon feud, as Vince turned lovable Dude Love into his hired goon and sent him after Austin with every possible way to screw Austin over used to help him. This match features incredibly over-the-top on-the-fly stipuations as a result of a power-mad McMahon refereeing, and the format of the brawl has been used by nearly every WWF main event needing one since then. In addition, WCW has recently made a habit of ripping off the “on-the-fly stips” format, most notably in the Mike Awesome v. Lance Storm match last year, as well as this year’s Superbrawl Revenge. Although it probably wouldn’t raise too many eyebrows today, it is truly a match that changed wrestling and influenced it for years to come. From my review

WWF Title match: Steve Austin v. Dude Love. Words can’t even describe how brilliantly and meticulously scripted this must have been. Finkel reads off glowing words about Pat Patterson…on cue cards…to introduce him. Then Patterson kisses Gerald Brisco’s butt, including the name, address and phone number of the Brisco Brothers bodyshop (the number was spraypainted on the prop cars by the entranceway, too) and then introduces Mr. McMahon and Dude Love. He refuses to introduce a “bum” like Steve Austin, so Austin gets no intro. Undertaker then makes a surprise appearance as the trouble-shooter. They start with a normal wrestling match, and then the genius of the booking kicks in. They get outside the ring and Dude takes control with some illegal moves, so Patterson suddenly announces that “This is a reminder that this match is No-DQ”. Austin slams Dude right onto the timekeeper’s table, knocking over Brisco (he holds up the hammer to show that he’s still ready to “ring the f*cking bell”) Dude takes a mammoth clothesline off the railing to the concrete and they brawl over to the car wreck section of the entranceway. Patterson announces that “This is a reminder that this match is falls-count-anywhere.” Brilliant stuff. McMahon counts a few two counts after some crazy bumps by both Foley and Austin, swearing out loud each time Austin kicks out. Brisco, Patterson and Undertaker follow them over, and Brisco is still carrying the bell! Too funny. Austin nicks himself on the forehead and bleeds all over the place. More crazy bumps from Foley, then they head back to the ring. Austin with the Stunner, but McMahon won’t count the pin. He screams at Patterson to throw a chair in and Austin argues with him. Dude swings at Austin, who ducks, and McMahon takes a monster chairshot and is out cold. Stone Cold Stunner on Dude. Another ref runs in and counts two…but Patterson drags him out of the ring and slugs him. Dude gets the Mandible Claw on Austin and Patterson slides into the ring to count 1….2….but the Undertaker drags him out! Then he chokeslams him through the announcer’s table! The crowd is just nuts as this point. Brisco slides in, counts two, and UT drags him out and then puts him through the Spanish table! Austin fights off the claw, kicks Dude in the nuts, and Stunners him, then drags McMahon over and physically forces the unconscious McMahon to count three as Austin retains the title in one of the most emotionally exhausting matches I’ve ever seen. ****3/4 The crowd is just cheering Austin nonstop as we end the show.

Note for nitpickers: I did originally give it ****1/2, but given the way history has elevated its importance, I felt the extra ¼* was justified.

11. Shawn Michaels v. Undertaker – Badd Blood 1997 (10/5/97 – Hell in a Cell). Just barely getting edged out of the top ten because of the Kane finish, although this remains one of my favorite matches of all-time. But fair is fair. From the review

– Hell in the Cell: Shawn Michaels v. The Undertaker. This was the final result of Summerslam 97, where Shawn reffed the UT-Bret title match, and ended up f*cking up and hitting UT with a chair to give Bret the WWF title. They had a wild match at Ground Zero, and then Shawn was forced into a tag match with HHH, and D-Generation X was formed. After another couple of weeks of incredibly obnoxious antics on Shawn’s part, this match was signed. And the general concensus was that Shawn was dead meat. DX tries to accompany Shawn, but get sent back. Shawn tries to avoid UT, who slowly stalks him around ringside. He runs into the ring and right into a big boot. UT rams him to the turnbuckle, and again, which Shawn sells bigtime. He goes for the chokeslam but Shawn kicks him in the shin and hammers away. UT shrugs it off and reverses a whip, sending Shawn crashing to the corner. UT with a wristlock, and he slams into Shawn’s shoulder a few times, then does the ropewalk. Shawn oversells again. UT with a headbutt and choking. Slam and legdrop for two. Michaels is dazed, and UT backdrops him to the heavens. Shawn gets up so UT knocks him on ass several times, and then tosses him over the top rope in a wicked bump for Shawn. He chokes Shawn against the cage, prompting Shawn to try to climb out of the cage. UT pulls him down to the floor, another wicked bump. Front row starts yelling “Make him bleed”, thus demonstrating how much Shawn was despised at this point. UT whips him into the cage, and then tears his head off witha clothesline coming back. Again. Great bumping by Shawn. The announcers are totally selling the idea of UT taking his time and destroying Shawn bit by bit. Taker tries a piledriver on the floor, but Shawn flips up and hammers on his head. UT calmly smashes the back of his head into the cage and drops him on the floor. Ouch. To the steps. UT hammers away on Shawn, and rams him backfirst into the ringpost, then to the cage, then to the ringpost, to the cage again. Crowd eats it up. This, folks, is a shitkicking of the first order. Shawn tries to push UT into the cage, but UT simply clotheslines him on the way back. He smashes Shawn into the stairs. UT whips Shawn into the cage, but Shawn uses the momentum to nail UT on the way back, giving him the advantage. He wisely rolls back into the ring to escape the Undertaker. He nails him a few times on the way back in, but UT snaps Shawn’s neck on the top rope on the way down. Shawn comes back and knocks UT off the apron into the cage. UT keeps coming. Shawn tries a tope suicida, sending UT crashing into the cage, then he climbs halfway up the cage and drops an elbow to UT on the floor. UT keeps getting up, so Shawn clotheslines him off the apron. Shawn, getting desperate, grabs the stairs and rams them into UT’s back a few times. He piledrives Taker on the remains of the stairs and rolls back into the ring to escape again. He comes off the top rope with a double-axehandle to UT on the floor. Back in the ring, and Shawn finds a chair under the ring before returning. A shot to the back puts UT down again. UT gets up, so Shawn knocks him down again. It get two. Notice the story, as UT controlled for the first portion, while Shawn had to use his brain and every advantage possible to come back. UT tries to come back, but gets caught in the ropes and pummelled by Shawn. Shawn charges and eats a boot to the mouth, and charges again and gets backdropped over the top, onto a cameraman. He nails the cameraman (a local worker) and injures him. The medical crew opens the cage to give the guy assistance as Shawn hits UT with the flying forearm back in the ring. Shawn with the Randy Savage elbow, and he cues up the band. Superkick, but UT sits up. So Shawn runs out the door. UT follows and they fight in the aisle. Shawn dropkicks UT, but on a second attempt gets caught and catapulted into the cage. If you go in slow motion, you can see Shawn rip the blade across his forehead in mid-air. It’s not noticeable, though, otherwise. UT rams Shawn into the cage a few times like a batterring ram. Shawn kicks him in the nuts to counter. Shawn climbs the outside of the cage to escape the increasingly crazed UT, and UT follows. They fight on the roof, and Shawn attempts a piledriver, reversed by UT to a big pop. UT grates Shawn’s face into the mesh as a neat camera angle from below lets us see it. Taker military presses Shawn onto the cage, then nails him, sending Shawn scurrying to the edge to run away. He starts to climb down the cage, so UT stomps on Shawn’s hands until he crashes to the table below. Like the Terminator, Undertaker follows and biels Shawn onto the French table, then press slams him to the remains of the Spanish table. Shawn is just bleeding all over the place. UT literally kicks Shawn’s ass around the cage, and tosses him back into the ring. Clothesline, then he puts Shawn on the top rope and chokeslams him off. UT finds his own chair and smashes it into Shawn’s face, then calls for the tombstone…and the lights go out. The now-familiar music and red lights start, and Kane makes his first appearance. He rips the door off the hinges, does the pyro thing, and tombstones Undertaker, then leaves. Michaels pulls his blood-soaked carcass off the mat, rolls over with his last ounce of strength, and covers for the pin. D-X drags him out of the ring before the Undertaker can wake up and finish killing Shawn. Ending deducts 1/4*, but make no mistake: This is THE match of the year. ****3/4

And now, from the home office in Edmonton, Alberta, the top ten

***** matches:

10. Shawn Michaels v. Jeff Jarrett (In Your House II). This another one of those matches where my initial review (way back from 1995) sucked ass, so instead of giving you my lame-o summary of the match from THAT report, I went back and re-ranted, since I had a couple of hours free anyway. From that NEW review…

Intercontinental title match: Jeff Jarrett v. Shawn Michaels. Shawn is ungodly over here. He sends Jarrett flying into the corner with a pair of rights to start. JJ gets an armdrag and struts to celebrate. Shawn alley-oops over him in the corner, but gets nailed with a right and bails. Back in, JJ grabs a headlock and they do a complex hiptoss-reversal sequence. Shawn wins iteration #1 by poking him in the eye, then Jarrett wins the second one, only to get clotheslined to the floor. Great sequence. Shawn skins the cat back in, and Jarrett decides to walk out. He plays mindgames with Shawn, faking coming back in a couple of times before finally Shawn snaps and chases him. Back in, Shawn goes off the top but gets nailed coming down. JJ misses a dropkick and Shawn nails Roadie off the apron and dumps Jarrett, then follows with a tope that the crowd eats up. Back in, Jarrett ducks a cross-body, but gets sunset-flipped. He recovers and Shawn charges, but Jarrett backdrops him clear over the top rope and to the floor backfirst, the move that has since been dubbed by history as The Holy Shit Bump, for good reason. JJ tosses him back in, and hits a gourdbuster for two. He goes into the abdominal stretch, using the Roadie for leverage. Leaping DDT gets two. Jarrett chokes him out, but hits Roadie by mistake. Shawn rolls him up for two, but gets tossed to the corner and Flair Flips to the floor. Jarrett goes to the top to draw the referee over, then lets Roadie do the actual dirty work of clotheslining Shawn off the apron. Back in, Shawn rolls through a bodypress for two. Jarrett sunset flip is blocked for two, but he finishes the move for two. Jarrett hits a Holly-ish dropkick for two. Sleeper gets a two count, but Shawn escapes with a backdrop suplex and crawls over for two. Shawn makes the superman comeback, hitting a flying forearm. Double axehandle gets two. Flying elbow gets two. Shawn posts him and goes upstairs, but Roadie crotches him and Jarrett superplexes him. Figure-four, but Shawn reverses to a cradle for two. Figure-four again, but this time Shawn pushes him off and into the ref. Roadie sneaks in and clips Shawn, and Jarrett hits a flying bodypress for two. Jarrett comes off the ropes to finish, but Roadie is busy gloating about his interference and doesn’t even notice that he trips the wrong guy. Oops. Superkick, goodbye at 19:58 and Shawn Michaels wins the I-C title for the third time. ***** Just a terrific blend of the old-school southern mentality from Jarrett with the requisite sick bumps from Michaels and a super-hot crowd.

9. Royal Rumble Match 1992 (1/19/92). Four words: Ric Flair, one hour. This is the match that truly showcased why Flair was the Man for WWF fans who might not have realized it. After this, they sure did. From my review

The Royal Rumble (winner gets vacant WWF title): This is course was set up after Hulk Hogan cheated to regain the title from Undertaker at “This Tuesday In Texas”. Jack Tunney (big boos) officially opens the match. And away we go. British Bulldog is #1 and Ted Dibiase is #2. Dibiase kills Bulldog and tosses him, but he lands on the apron, climbs in, and clotheslines Dibiase out. Ric Flair is #3 and Bobby has a heart attack. Gorilla rubs it in. Bulldog goes right after Flair, destroying him with power moves until Flair starts a trend by lowblowing him. Nasty Boy Sags is #4. Flair and Sags double-team Bulldog. Bulldog knocks Sags out in short order and then goes back to Flair. Haku is #5. He beats on Bulldog and Flair until getting dumped by Bulldog. Shawn Michaels is #6. He ad Flair immediately begin their selling contest by trading chops. Shawn goes over the top and back under the ropes a couple of times. Tito is #7 and of course he goes after Flair right away, like everyone else. Gorilla: “Some people just hate Flair less than others”. Ballshot #2 on Bulldog. Big “OOooooooh” from the males in the crowd for that one. Barbarian is #8. Gorilla (in ominous voice): “Barbarian doesn’t like Flair”. Another near-elimination for Shawn. Kerry Von Erich is #9, and one guess who he goes after. Flair Flop. Shawn does his own. Repo Man is #10. Nothing notable happens. Greg Valentine is #11 and he and Flair start trading chops. Another Flair flop. Nikolai Volkoff (subbing for Janetty) is #12. Flair and Valentine are trading some NASTY chops. Repo Man dumps Volkoff. Big Bossman is #13 and can just guess who his target is. Repo Man dumps Valentine. Bossman dumps Repo Man. Flair dumps Bulldog, then Von Erich. Santana and Michaels eliminate each other. Whew. Hercules is #14 and he goes right after Flair. Flair is saved by Barbarian, and then turns on him. Oops. Barbarian kills him, but Herc dumps Barbarian and Bossman dumps Barbarian. We’re down to Flair and Bossman. Bossman wallops Flair, but misses a cross-body and flies out. Flair celebrates with a Flair flop. Piper is #15 and the crowd erupts. Piper cleans Flair’s clock from one side of the ring to other. He even works in the eye poke off an atomic drop. Airplane spin and sleeper on Flair. Jake Roberts is #16 and he just sits back and lets Piper continue. Then he turns on him. Evil Jake was so cool. Flair and Jake take turns turning on each other until Duggan comes in at #17. Flair is the punching bag as usual. IRS is #18. Snuka is #19. Not much going on. Heenan is having a nervous breakdown at this point. Snuka goes after Flair, of course. Undertaker is #20. Snuka is gone. UT chokes out Flair, who is saved by Duggan. UT no-sells all. Randy Savage is #21, but Jake Roberts is hiding outside the ring. Roberts comes in and Savage goes medieval on him, knocking him out with a high knee. Savage follows him out over the top, but the ruling is that Savage wasn’t thrown out. UT no-sells a ballshot from Flair. Berzerker is #22. Piper and UT do a double-choke on Flair, but UT doesn’t appreciate Piper’s sense of humor. Virgil is #23. Piper is beating on protege Virgil. Col. Mustafa is #24, but no one cares. And why is Mustafa such a popular name in wrestling? Colonel, Saied, Kama…too many to count. Rick Martel is #25. Savage eliminates Mustafa. Hulk Hogan is #26 to a big pop. He gets attacked by the Undertaker right away. Heenan starts bargaining with God to let Flair win. UT gets clotheslined out by Hulk. Berzerker gets backdropped out, allowing Hulk time to rip off the shirt. Duggan and Virgil eliminate each other. Skinner is #27, impressing no one. Sgt. Slaughter is #28, but the heat is gone at this point. Skinner gets dumped. Kind of a mish-mash of stuff going on. Sid is #29, and he hammers a variety of people. Warlord is #30, so our suspects our: Flair, Hogan, Warlord, IRS, Sid, Savage, Slaughter, Martel and Piper. Slaughter takes a dive over the top and out. 8 guys left and watching you’d have no idea who would win. Piper goes to the apron and pulls IRS out by his tie. 7 guys left. Hogan and Sid double-team Warlord out. 6 guys left. Martel and Piper fight on the ropes and Sid dumps them both. The Final four: Hulk, Savage, Sid and Flair. Sid dumps Savage as Flair and Hogan fight in the corer. Hogan gets Flair almost out…and Sid takes advantage and dumps Hulk! Hulk whines from the outside and won’t let go of Sid, so Flair comes from behind and dumps Sid to win the Royal Rumble and his first WWF title. Sid and Hulk get into a shoving contest in the ring, meanwhile, and the crowd is firmly behind Sid on this one. ***** Best Rumble ever. And the first serious backlash against Hogan from the fans.

That’s some pretty choice booking right there, and Flair’s one-man show was truly a sight to behold.

8. Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart – Summerslam ‘94 (8/29/94 – Cage Match). This is one of those ones that kinda snuck up on everyone, as this was totally overshadowed by the steroid trials and the idiotic Undertaker v. Undertaker feud. Still, given the confines of a WWF style cage match (escape rather than pin, no blood) it’s a perfect match to end the show with. Sadly, it didn’t end the show. From my review

Cage match, WWF title: Bret Hart v. Owen Hart. Owen attacks right off the bat, ramming him into two turnbuckles and doing the 10-punch count. Bret comes back with a lariat, but Owen stomps on his hands. Bret blocks a shot to the cage and DDTs Owen. Another slugfest erupts, won by Bret. He makes the first climb attempt, but gets pulled off by Owen. ENZUIGIRI, BABY! Owen nearly makes it out but Bret catches him going over the top and hits a backdrop suplex to the mat. Bret crawls for the door but Owen catches him and whips him to the other corner. Bret grabs a quick bulldog and tries for the door again. Owen yanks him away and dives, Bret yanks him away and dives, repeat twice. Bret tries to climb out, and gets slammed off by Owen. Now Owen climbs and again nearly makes it, but Bret grabs him by the hair and they fight on the top. Owen kicks him off and dropkicks him off the top rope. SWEET. Owen climbs again and they fight on the top again with Owen getting the better of the situation. Owen goes for a piledriver but Bret reverses. Whip, reverse, and double-KO. Owen lunges for the door again, but Bret stops him and drops a vicious looking elbow on him. Bret to the top, Owen stops him again. Bret kicks him in the face a few times, but Owen holds on and crotches him on the top rope. Owen tries for the door again, but Bret stops him. Headbutt to the groin puts Owen down and Bret goes for the climb out again. He changes his mind and goes for an elbowdrop, but misses. Owen climbs out, with Bret not moving. He pops up at the last second and blocks Owen, however, pulling him in by the hair in a great visual. He slams him in for good measure, then makes his own ascent. Owen brings him back in with a modified samoan drop. Owen tries to climb again, Bret stops him. Owen keeps control, however, and they end up ramming each other into the cage. Bret recovers first and makes it about 3/4 of the way down the cage…when Owen grabs his hair and pulls him back in. Piledriver on Bret. Both guys are exhausted, but Owen tries to climb out again. Bret meets him at the top, and they have a slugfest that leads to both guys collapsing to the mat below. Bret immediately crawls for the door, but Owen grabs his leg. Owen fights him down and then lunges for the door himself, but Bret blocks, drags him back in, and slingshots Owen into the cage. Crowd is WAY into this one. Bret crawls for the wrong corner to build suspense, then finds the right one…and Owen leaps over and stops him. Crowd is having a collective heart attack. Owen is up first and goes behind Bret, but ends up going facefirst to the cage. Bret is selling a knee injury, but still climbs up again. Owen gets up….collapses….and makes it juuuuuuuuuust in time to stop his brother from winning. Back in via the hair, and Owen hits a leg lariat. The crowd is absolutely losing it. Owen climbs to the top again, and makes it halfway out before Bret stops him. They fight on the top rope, with Bret getting a big field goal kick to send Owen flying. He pops up again and hauls Bret back in. Owen hits some european uppercuts, and we get another double-KO. Owen makes it up and to the top rope, but Bret stops him and superplexes him back in. Even Davey Boy, at ringside, is marking out. Both guys are out cold again. Bret crawls to the door . . . slowly . . . but Owen grabs him. Owen slaps on the Sharpshooter, screaming about how the belt is gonna be his the whole time. Bret breaks free and reverses to his own. He releases and climbs again, with Owen once again lunging at the last split second and grabbing the hair. Both men fall to the mat. Owen makes it up and to the top first, and both guys make it halfway down the cage, fighting the whole way. Owen rams Bret into the cage, but slips and gets hooked in the cage, allowing Bret to drop down at 31:51 to retain the title. Meanwhile, Jim Neidhart blindsides the Bulldog in the audience, taking Diana down with him. Owen and Anvil toss Bret back into the cage, chain the door shut, and beat the holy hell out of him as the Hart Brothers storm the cage. Oh man, this is so NWA. I love it. Finally the Bulldog (with his caveman hairdo and all) fights his way in and makes the save. This is easily the best cage match you’ll ever see in the WWF. *****

7. The Hart Foundation vs Steve Austin, Animal, Hawk, Ken Shamrock & Golddust – Canadian Stampede (7/6/97). This might be one of those matches where I’m being influenced by emotional impact, so sue me. Best crowd heat I’ve ever heard, plus non-stop action and effort = One of the best matches ever. This is also the match that made Ken Shamrock into a lifelong heel in Canada. The setup was that Bret Hart reformed his family in opposition to the US, and there just HAPPENED to be a PPV coming up in his hometown, so he threw out an open challenge to any Americans who wanted to go with his team. Austin and his pals answered, and the rest is history. From my review

Main event: Goldust, Ken Shamrock, The Legion of Doom and Steve Austin v. Brian Pillman, Jim Neidhart, British Bulldog, Owen Hart and Bret Hart. Everyone from the US team gets SERIOUS heel heat. Steve Austin is nearly booed out of the building. The Hart Foundation is introduced one-by-one, with the ovation building with every guy, until the roof is nearly ready to blow off the place when Bret comes out. It gives me a lump in my throat to watch it. Austin & Bret start. Oh, by the way, the announcer make mention of a little documentary being shot at ringside. Something about “wrestling” and “shadows” or something like that. Bret beats the hell out of Austin, drawing INCREDIBLE face heat in the process. The crowd literally boos Austin’s every move. I mean, literally, when the guys MOVES they boo him. Austin quickly gets the cobra clutch, and they do the reversal spot in the corner for two. Austin misses the rope run, and Anvil tags in. Austin gets the Thesz press and tags Shamrock in. Zen sighting #3: He gets my masterpiece, “What’s Kayfabe?” on screen for a good chunk of time, and then had it confiscated by Adam (of George and Adam fame) about 10 seconds later. Shamrock controls easily, so Pillman tags in. He uses a blatant cheapshot and gets CHEERED for it. I know wrestlers always say that they like playing a heel and riling up the crowd, but Pillman had a grin about 4 miles wide on his face the entire match because of the babyface heat he was drawing. Backbreaker gets two. Shamrock hits a belly-to-belly, and everyone tags out. Owen & Goldust go. Enzuigiri gets two for Owen. Crowd starts with a VERY loud “Austin sucks” chant, and Austin wisely plays off it for fun. Hawk comes in with a legdrop on Owen for two. Flying splash gets two. Owen quickly comes back with the Sharpshooter, but Animal breaks. Big heel heat. Bulldog comes in with a hanging suplex and powerslam for two. Bret & Animal go next, and Bret kicks his ass. Goldust comes in and gets his ass kicked, too. Then he gets caught in the corner and a mass-beatdown results and the crowd is rabid and I’m nearly standing up and cheering even now. Owen comes in and hits the post on a blind charge, but comes back with a leg lariat on Animal and a missile dropkick. Rana is reversed into a powerbomb and powerslam. The LOD hits the Doomsday Device for two, and another brawl erupts. Austin posts Owen and smashes a chair into his knee, then takes a shot at Bruce Hart in the front row. Crowd lets Austin know how much he sucks as Owen heads to the back for medical attention. Austin gets pummelled in the corner to the delight of the crowd, but he fights free. Austin and Pillman go and a quick stunner ends that fight pretty quick. Bret bails him out and posts Austin, then smashes a chair into HIS knee and applies the ringpost figure-four as the announcers gasp in shock at the bloodthirsty crowd. Back in the ring, Bulldog crotches Hawk on the top rope for two. Austin heads to the back for medical attention, too. Animal & Anvil get into a test of strength. Anvil wins and the Harts double-team Animal. Bret gets caught in the corner, but Shamrock plays to the crowd and Pillman sneaks in and clotheslines him. Hey, Ken, you’re a HEEL here. Shamrock then gets caught in the Hart corner and sent to the floor, where Pillman gleefully launches him into the Spanish table. Pillman is just having the time of his life out there. Sadly, this would be the last great match of his career. It’s nice to actually see a smile on his face for an entire match, ya know? Hart gets the russian legsweep for two. Bulldog comes in and pulverizes Shamrock, but a low blow turns the tide. Ah, now you’re catching on, Kenny. Goldust comes in to clean up with a bulldog on Bulldog and the Curtain Call, but Pillman interferes again. Goldust goes aerial and gets superplexed down for two. Austin makes his return. It’s Bret v. Austin again, and Austin wins this round. Suplex gets two. Bret DDTs him and goes for the FIVE MOVES OF DOOM. Sleeper is escaped with a jawbreaker, and it gets two. Bret comes back and gets the Sharpshooter, but Animal saves, and the crowd is PISSED. Austin does his own version, and Owen returns now to make the save. Austin clotheslines him out to the floor and they fight there. Austin takes a shot at fomer referee Wayne Hart, and they end up brawling as Wayne jumps the railing. Bret comes over and nails Austin for hitting his brothers, then rolls him into the ring. Austin has some choice words for Bret, which lets Owen roll him up for the pin at 24:30. Like you need to ask what this gets. *****

6. Shawn Michaels v. Mankind – Mind Games 1996 (9/22/96 – World Title Match). While I didn’t feel too bad about giving it a perfect score even with a DQ finish (just because it fit perfectly with the chaotic tone of the match), I did feel a bit uncomfortable putting it over any of the matches I had in the top five, so here it sits. If you think Mick Foley can only do brawls, however, this is the match to get to change your mind. From my review

WWF World title match: Shawn Michaels v. Mankind. If, for the sake of argument, you ever needed clinical proof of Mick Foley’s insanity, here’s a good start. The Druids wheel him in a casket to ringside. Mankind starts with a quick backdrop and Cactus clothesline, putting both on the floor. He pulls up the mat, but Shawn dropkicks him to the concrete, then stomps on him. He heads back to the ring, and comes back out with a tope onto Mick. He then comes flying off the apron and viciously slams Mankind’s head backwards into the concrete. Man, that’s just SICK. Back in for a double axehandle and jabs. Flying elbow, and he warms up the band, so Mankind wisely runs away to the outside and rocks for a bit. Paul gives him the urn for comfort. It just cracks me up to see Mick get so completely in character here, considering what a goof he became later. Back in and Shawn absolutely pummels him in a kind of weird segment where he looked legitimately pissed off for some reason. Even the announcers comment on it. Mankind finally blocks a snapmare with a sort of judo choke (like the Tazmission, except not), and from there he tries to apply the Mandible Claw. Shawn escapes and Mick floors him with a right, then tosses him. He pulls the Spanish table out to a weird angle, but Shawn vaults over the table onto him and they brawl at ringside. Shawn suplexes him onto the stairs, right on his knee. Shawn clips Mankind’s knee on his way back into the ring, then drops him on the casket knee-first. He viciously works on it back in the ring, going borderline heel. Shawn gets a figure-four, Mankind reverses. Shawn dropkicks the knee again and uses a Hennig kneebreaker, drawing protest from Mr. Perfect himself at ringside. Half-crab, but Mankind breaks. Sunset flip gets two, but Mankind blocks a rana and drops him throatfirst on the top rope. Funny bit follows as Mick solicits some sort of pen or pencil from Paul Bearer and proceeds to stab himself repeatedly in the knee to get the feeling back. Shawn gets dumped to the floor, then back in for the running knee to the face. Mick rams him into the mat a few times, but Shawn hits a quick backdrop suplex to awaken himself. Slugfest goes Mankind’s way. Another slugfest ends with Shawn getting whipped to the corner and flipping into the Tree of Woe. Mankind drops a couple of elbows on him. Shawn gets up and Mankind boots in the mouth, down to the floor. Mankind charges but hits the stairs again. He gets up and Shawn hits a drop-toehold, sending Mankind face-first to the stairs. God, this is getting downright ugly. In a good way. Shawn gets back in first and they fight over a suplex on the apron. Mick wins, but Shawn lands on the apron. Mick charges him and crashes into the ringpost. Back in the ring, Shawn gets a powerslam for two. Mankind does the “head caught in the ropes” bit, but Shawn goes after him, he gets the Mandible Claw out of nowhere! Both men collapse to the floor, so Shawn uses a little strategy and grabs a chair. Mankind punches at him and Shawn blocks with the chair, then hits Mick in the hand with the chair, thus disabling the Mandible Claw hand. Michaels works on breaking Mankind’s fingers back in the ring. Shawn charges and takes an absolutely MAN-SIZED backdrop to the floor. Mankind drops a Cactus elbow for good measure, then slides out again and hits a swinging neckbreaker on the concrete. Shawn crawls in and Mankind legdrops him on the ropes as he comes in. Double-arm DDT gets two. Pulling piledriver gets two. Amateur-style rolling cradle (!) gets two. Mankind gets REALLY frustrated, pulling out his hair and tossing chairs into the ring. He tries to roll Shawn into the casket for some reason, but Shawn comes back. Flying forearm knocks Mankind down and a flying bodypress gets two. He goes up again but gets crotched. Mankind suplexes him off the top, through that Spanish table. That’s it, I’m declaring BOTH guys as nuts. The finish is then changed on the fly by Vince McMahon, as he relays the instructions to wrap things up to the battered guys. Mick grabs a chair and climbs to the top, but Shawn dropkicks it back in his face and covers, but Vader runs in for the lame DQ at 26:20. Original booking had Mankind winning the title here, but something happened and it was decided to go with either Vader or Sid instead. Paul Bearer KO’s Shawn with the urn, and Mick tries to roll him into the casket, but now UNDERTAKER pops out of it and does some righteous ass-kicking. Quite the finish there. *****

And now THE TOP FIVE!

This would be like choosing between my children, if I had any.

5. Bret Hart v. Davey Boy Smith – SummerSlam ‘92 (8/29/92 – IC Match). Okay, the Davey Boy Smith rule pretty much applies here, as generally speaking a great match with Smith will involve a Hart brother carrying him there. So this is an easy choice for #5. In the Bret Hart shoot video, he in fact reveals that Smith was blown up 2 minutes into the match and the remaining 30 were done almost single-handedly by Bret. Now THERE’S a performance. This was also a last-ditch effort on the WWF’s part to make a star out of Davey Boy back in ’92, although to this day Bret claims he’s just as popular as Smith is in England. Sure, Bret. From my review

Main event, Intercontinental title: Bret Hart v. The British Bulldog. DBS brings Lennox Lewis with him to suck up to the crowd, just in case any of them didn’t know who the babyface was. Shoving match to start. Bret takes a bump to the floor off a shoulderblock. Back in and they trade side headlock takedowns, and Bret flips out of a slam to roll him up for two. Small package gets two, and Bret goes back to the side headlock. Into a wristlock, and Bulldog flips out and goes into the armbar. Bret comes off the ropes, but gets caught with a slingshot into the corner, and Bulldog goes back to move #929 (ARM-bar). Crucifix gets two, and Bulldog takes him down with a hammerlock. Shots of Diana Hart-Smith are cut in. She was cute in 92, but got really ugly from about 96 on. I’m just saying. Bret escapes and knees DBS in the gut coming off the ropes to take control. He goes into Heel Bastard Mode, dropping a leg and taunting the fans. DBS fights out of a chinlock, but eats an elbow coming off the ropes. Inverse atomic drop is called a “reverse piledriver” by Vince. DBS goes for another crucifix but gets dropped on his back for two. They do a criss-cross sequence and Bulldog hits a monkey-flip to take control, then a pair of cross-corner whips on Bret. He runs into Bret’s foot on the second, however. Bulldog (a nasty one, too) from Bret. How ironic. See, he’s the Bulldog, and he got…oh, never mind. Bret goes to the top, but gets slammed off. DBS tries it, but