Bonus Matches, 1994 through 1998
Thanks to everyone who has been participating in the discussion on the forums regarding my last column. As I expected, there were several great matches that people brought up which didn’t make my original list.
Just for fun, here are five more great matches, one from each of the years 1994 through 1998:
1994: Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart, WrestleMania X. Inside Pulse forumers Basco and DLO both made a case for this match, which was part of one of the most entertaining brother vs. brother feuds in the history of Professional Wrestling. Bret and Owen don’t really do anything spectacular in this match, they rely entirely on solid basic wrestling to tell their story, which has an ending that nobody, at the time, saw coming.
1995: I’m going to throw in a match that I saw for the first time this week, the Eddie Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko Two Out of Three Falls match. This match is a big part of the reason why I picked up the Guerrero DVD set, and it didn’t disappoint me in the least. What can you say about an exhibition of pure wrestling that left the hardcore crowd begging for more? The respect that Eddie and Malenko had for one another, and that the crowd had for them, was really something to see.
1996: I’ll go with Crippla’s recommendation of the awesome Hayabusa & Tanaka vs. Funk & Pogo Death Match, and I’ll take this opportunity to point out that I love the fact that Professional Wrestling can be great in so many different ways that a No Rope Barbed Wire Explosion Match doesn’t look out of place next to an exhibition of pure scientific mat work.
1997: Both Basco and Crippla included Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Eddie Guerrero on their lists, and it’s easy to see why. The Halloween Havoc Mask vs. Title match is 13 minutes of non-stop action. The reverse flip DDT that Rey pulls off on Eddie is one of the greatest spots I’ve ever seen.
1998: I’m going to go with a personal favourite here rather than an all-time classic, and tip my hat to Taz vs. Bam Bam Bigelow from the living Dangerously PPV. On the forum boards, Slaughter Noogies made a very good point about how we would have picked different matches when we were kids than we’d tend to pick now. The spectacular finish to this match (I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen it) is one of those moments in wrestling that lets me feel like a kid again.
Great Matches Great Moments 1999 through 2002
As we get closer to the present, it gets harder and harder to narrow my choices down to just three per year. The last few years have been rich with great memories for all true wrestling fans. I am taking it for granted that the discussion on the boards will really pick up this week, as I’m sure almost everyone reading this column will have some favourites that I do not list below.
1999:
1) October 4: Chris Benoit vs. Bret Hart, Owen Hart Tribute Match. I think it would be fair to call this my favourite match of all time. Partly it’s due to me being from Western Canada, but I know I am not the only person who would call The Hitman and The Crippler their two favourite North American professional wrestlers, and in this match they both gave it their all in a moving tribute to a fallen warrior.
2) February 5: CIMA vs. Magnum Tokyo in a classic Toryumon match-up. Toryumon is the brainchild of Ultimo Dragon. It’s a promotion that tries to combine the best of Lucha Libre with the best of the NJPW welterweight style. CIMA and Tokyo have great chemistry in the ring, and this match serves as a great example for how to use interference to enhance a match rather than detracting from it.
3) January 29: The Serial Thrillaz over the Hardy Boys in one of the greatest North American Indy matches of all time. Matt and Jeff were set to leave for the WWF, and the crowd saw that as a betrayal of their beloved OMEGA. This match has as much heat as any independent promotion has ever generated, the teams work very well together, and as a result the match is incredibly entertaining.
2000:
1) October 9: Kensuke Sasaki vs. Toshiaki Kawada. This was arguably the climax of the epic New Japan vs. All Japan feud. The heat was astonishing, and this stands among the stiffest and most physical matches ever contested.
2) January 2: Big Japan Heavyweight Champion Ryuji Yamakawa vs. Tomoaki Honma in a Barbed Wire Board Spike Nail Death match. This is probably the most athletically exciting Death Match ever contested, as the two combatants fused exciting cruiserweight style action with the sick bumps and borderline mutilation that is Big Japan Pro Wrestling’s trademark.
3) March 18: The Rock hosts Saturday Night Live. Yes, I’m choosing this non-match over Tenryu’s Triple Crown victory. At the time, SNL was mired in a pretty deep slump, and The Rock, with a little help from Vince, HHH, Mick Foley, and The Big Show, led the beleaguered cast to their funniest show in ages. This probably did as much to get wrestling over with mainstream North America as anything since Hulkamania was at its peak.
2001:
1) August 12:Yuji Nagata vs. Keiji Muto. Quite simply, this was the best G-1 Climax final match in years. In 22 minutes of solid action, New Japan managed to put Nagata over as a star while simultaneously demonstrating that Muto could still go with the best of them.
2) April 1: TLC 2 at WM X7. This was the absolute peak of the WWF highspot style. It’s kind of become fashionable to dismiss matches of this type, but I know that very nearly everyone marked out like an idiot the first time they saw this.
3) April 15: Mitsuharu Misawa defeats Yoshihiro Takayama in the finals of a tournament to win the NOAH Global Honored Crown Heavyweight Title in Tokyo, Japan. This match stands out for the “historical importance” of establishing a new world heavyweight title, and also as the match that elevated the very stiff and intense Takayama into the puroresu pantheon.
2002:
1) June 5: IWGP Tag Team Champions Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Osamu Nishimura & Manabu Nakanishi. This 60-minute draw is a personal favourite, partly because it’s the match that established once and for all that Nakanishi really is a good worker. It’s totally classic New Japan tag team action, with a few unusual twists, including an amazing spot where Nakanishi suplexes both Chono and Tenzan at the same time.
2) October 20: Angle & Benoit over Edge & Mysterio for the SD Tag titles at No Mercy. This was the apotheosis of the Smackdown Six era, and it was one of the fastest moving and most exciting tag matches in recent memory.
3) Feb. 23: Low Ki vs. Christopher Daniels vs. American Dragon as The Era of Honor Begins. Ring of Honor capped their debut show with an absolutely amazing three-way bout. The timing, innovation, and high risk nature of the match is even more amazing when you consider that the action is kept entirely the confines of the ring. The finish is explosive, creative, and completely satisfying.
Muto vs. Nagata
Next Week
I am going to take a look at a few of the matches that didn’t make my list, as well as an in depth look at my favourite matches and moments of 2003. This is all leading up to a discussion on the forums of everyone’s choices for the greatest matches and moments of 2004.
If you haven’t posted on our forums before, this is the perfect time to start.
Elsewhere on the Site
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