Top 10 Favourite Matches

My Personal Favourite Matches Ever!

I have been a wrestling fan near enough all my life and in that time I have had many jaw dropping moments and favoured matches. May be a cliché but this is going to be a top 10 list, I personally love them and since this is a personal list that’s the way I’m going.

Number 10 – Ric Flair v Shawn Michaels (Wrestlemania XXIV)

This was built up perfectly and was truly the best match Flair could have had for his final run. The build was what really made this, the angle of Flair losing again and he retires was brilliant (Stone Cold’s idea if I remember right) and the old yeller references were perfect! The idea of Flair going one last time as one of, if not the, main match at the 24th Wrestlemania was just captivating.

However, the reason this isn’t one of my top matches is the fact that Flair ruined it a little when he went to TNA, I was the biggest Flair mark in the world in 2008 and even for a good while after his retirement but the second he went to TNA something in the whole thing was lost and Flair became a big like Hogan to me; a guy that was in it for all the wrong reasons.

Number 9 – Vince McMahon v Hulk Hogan (Wrestlemania XIX)

For me the very best heel in this business is Vince McMahon he is just the epitome of the bad guy boss that rules over everyone and he does it with so much overblown machismo that its genius. And so for the best heel ever to go against arguably the greatest babyface of all time in Hulk Hogan it resulted in pure magic.

The angle leading up to it, as with most of my picks, was done very well and was over something as egotistical as who was responsible for the success of Wrestlemania (Vince). It suited both characters to a tee and the matches was surprisingly really good, and the image of Vince McMahon peering up with blood dripping down his face is something that should never be forgot and is both haunting and brilliant at the same time!

Number 8 – Kurt Angle v Shawn Michaels (Wrestlemania 21)

This is one of the few matches on this list that didn’t have the greatest build up, although Kurt Angle singing his own theme song and then putting Sensational Sherri in an ankle lock was genius. This feud was all about the match and what a match it was! Angle and Michaels went over 30 minutes in the Staples Centre and not one moment was wasted or was it dull!

The only reason it ranks pretty low is because it wasn’t a match I really have a personal fondness for, in fact when I heard it was going to happen I was dreading watching it. That was mainly because at that time I preferred the brawls more than the pure wrestling matches; hey I’m a child of the attitude era.

Number 7 – Chris Jericho v Chris Benoit (Royal Rumble 2001)

For me this is the last great Intercontinental Title match, it had everything that made the IC title the workhouse belt of the WWE. It had the drama, action, story and technicality that the division had been known for since Pat Patterson won it in 1979.

The match is just completely enthralling from start to finish and for my money is the best ladder match I have ever seen, and sadly will never be given the credit it is due to what happened in 2007. But it is a great match and for me was one of those matches that as a child I was in awe at, mainly due to the sick chair shot Benoit takes!

Number 6 – Team Raw v Team Smackdown (Survivor Series 2005)

I have always been a fan of factions fighting each other, DX v The Nation or WWE v The Alliance there was always something I loved about it. This is my personal favourite because it was built perfectly, a moment I remember is all 10 guys in the match fighting on an episode of Raw out in the parking lot it was a wild brawl but it was exactly what needed to happen to entice the viewer and it certainly did for me.

The match was one of the better classic Survivor Series matches, although I did feel that Team Smackdown (Batista, JBL, Orton, Lashley and Mysterio) outmatched Team Raw (HBK, Big Show, Kane, Carlito and Masters) significantly! But as with every match Shawn Michaels stole the show and put on a perfect performance and the final few minutes of the match are brilliant!

Number 5 – Royal Rumble Match (Royal Rumble 2007)

I will be honest this is here primarily because the final 8 minutes of the match, when Undertaker and Shawn Michaels put on the best ending to a Royal Rumble ever! Whilst the rest of the match was good the final few minutes were done to excellence as the 2 veterans, and more importantly the favourites in the match, put on a clinic in only 8 minutes! The best part about this was it made everyone who saw it plead for a match between the 2, including myself! Two of the best ever going at it for 8 minutes and still out performing 99% of the roster.

Number 4 – Undertaker v Batista (Backlash 2007)

All due respect to their match at Wrestlemania but for me the best match Batista and Taker ever had, and indeed the best match of 2007, was their last man standing match at Backlash. Just one month prior they stole the show at the grandest stage of them all and once again they did the same thing. My hopes were incredibly high for this one seen as their match had been so good at Wrestlemania and the fact that the WWE put on fantastic Last man standing matches, so to say the expectations were high was a slight underestimate.

What they produced was for me the best Last Man Standing match I have ever seen, the close calls and the fact that I was and still am a big undertaker fan made this match for me extremely exciting and one of my all time favourites.

Number 3 – Stone Cold Steve Austin v Undertaker (Fully Loaded 1999)

An odd choice this may seem but for me there was no better character in pro wrestling in 1999 than Vince McMahon and this match had his career on the line, if Austin lost he wouldn’t get another shot at the WWE title, so this was the first time I was emotionally involved in the outcome of a match. So this was billed as an End of an Era match as the McMahon v Austin rivalry was coming to an end once and for all.

So right off the ball this was built up brilliantly, McMahon and Austin had been rivals since 1997 so this was 2 years in the making, and with so much on the line this was viewed as a must see match! And for me it was I didn’t want to imagine a WWE without Vince, I was young I didn’t know he would be back in like 2 month.

For me this is my favourite match due to the fact I was just so into it and for me it was completely must see television. The reason it isn’t number 1 is because the other 2 are better quality matches.

Number 2 – Stone Cold Steve Austin v The Rock (Wrestlemania X-Seven)

This match without a doubt had the greatest build I have seen for any match in the whole time I have been watching pro wrestling! This match had just so much emotion to the build and it made the WWE title seem like the most prestigious belt in all of wrestling as these guys desired it so very much it was astounding, or seemed to anyway.

The promo’s before the event were amazing, Austin telling Rock he needed more than anything else to be WWE champion was perfect and set up for Austin aligning himself with Vince McMahon at Wrestlemania, a bit of forward booking for the WWE for a change. This was the desperate Austin come back home to try and reclaim his throne from the new face of the company in The Rock, it was perfect booking and had a shock and yet understandable ending, utter perfection.

Number 1 – Undertaker v Shawn Michaels (Wrestlemania 25)

It was always my lifelong dream to go to Wrestlemania and witness one of those cherished Wrestlemania moments that JR would always go on about, and on April 5th 2009 I finally got to go. I don’t really know what I was expecting, the card was good and the build had been erratic but exciting. But one thing I did know was I was seeing the match I had wait over 2 years to see, Shawn Michaels v Undertaker. Ever since Royal Rumble 2007 I had been dying to see what these two could do if given enough time on a big stage. And there was no bigger than the 25th Anniversary of Wrestlemania.

So I was excited I knew I was going to see a good match but what transpired for me was 30minutes of the most exciting and jaw dropping minutes of my life! I had waited years to see this and it didn’t disappoint in fact it over shot the mark and went from a good match to a classic, and for me the greatest match I have ever seen! Am I biased because I saw it live, yes, but whoever saw it live either there in Houston or on TV will know it was incredible and truly deserves its places at the top end of the greatest matches of all time lists.