Great Matches: 1998

By Erik Clancy
    With Roger Ebert's series entitled "Great Movies" I thought I'd do my own series of articles, entitled "Great Matches" where I'd pick a year (randomly I might add) and run through that calendar year's top bouts of the year. For my first edition I'll be honest and say that the choice of year was not completely random but, in my opinion, the greatest year in professional wrestling. Keep in mind this will include matches ONLY from American promotions, so you international fans may be disappointed. So, in no particular order, I'm going to run down the essential matches from the year 1998.

-Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker (Royal Rumble 1998, 1/18/98)
    One of the best series in professional wrestling, this final match between the two was set up as both the Phenom and HBK had never wrestled each other for the WWF Title. Now in the throws of D-Generation X, Shawn Michaels had remained the WWF's kingpin and had bulldozed through the WWF's top contenders including Undertaker, Bret Hart, Vader, Owen Hart, and Ken Shamrock. Undertaker and Michaels would follow up their October 1997 Hell in a Cell match in the same way most people feel Return of the Jedi follows The Empire Strikes Back, less than the predecessor but still a hell of a ride. The match is fairly straight forward in design, with Michaels playing the cowardly heel champion and Undertaker the unstoppable machine, but the beauty in this match is the execution. They have, what I consider, to be the greatest casket match of all time by utilizing as a weapon for one of the first times ever. There is a spot where Michaels is back dropped onto the object (which herniated his back discs and forced him into a four year retirement), a elbow drop from the top rope to a prone Dead Man lying in the casket and finally a devastating tombstone in the casket. Undertaker looks more like a killer than he ever did and Michaels is infuriating as the arrogant rock star who someone gets away in the end. A carefully paced and wonderfully executed match.

-Undertaker vs. Kane (WrestleMania XIV, 3/29/98)

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