Al

What are the biggest matches in wrestling history? These are not the matches with the best workrate, nor are they necessarily the highest grossing or best drawing matches in history. I am talking about the matches that paired some of the most significant wrestlers in history. In compiling this list, I took the top ten wrestlers from John Molinaro's book, "The Top 100 Pro Wrestlers Of All Time." It is subjective, but it is a decent list, and I think it does the job. For those who have never seen it, the top ten are Ric Flair, Lou Thesz, Rikidozan, Antonio Inoki, Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, El Santo, Giant Baba, Steve Austin and Buddy Rogers. For rankings, I am looking for match quality, significance, and overall satisfaction. In occasions where they wrestled more than once, I chose the most noteable match. 1. Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant March 29, 1987 - Wrestlemania III The epitome of a big time match. Two legends competing, with a storyline to match, in a big stadium filled to capacity and a hot crowd to boot. To top it all off, a clean ending. 2. Lou Thesz vs. Rikidozan October 6, 1957 These two legends fought to a 60 minute draw in front of 27,000 fans in Tokyo. The match drew an 87.0 tv rating in Japan, and is often cited as a critical event in the establishment of professional wrestling in that Nation. 3. Ric Flair vs. Antonio Inoki April 29, 1995 170,000 fans attended this event, although many say the North Korean authorities ordered fans to attend. Still, that is a massive crowd. Inoki defeated Flair in this bout. Did these two ever wrestle outside of this show? 4. Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair July 17, 1994 The first nationally televised match between these two (they wrestled a match shown on the MSG Network in 1991). Both starred for their respective promotions in the 1980s, but when they competed in the WWF in 1991-92, they somehow never wrestled a major match. This feud marked one of the surest money-makers in wrestling history, but for some reason it lacked the massive appeal it should have held. As Loss noted in a thread months ago, Flair just didn't seem like FLAIR. 5. Hulk Hogan vs. Antonio Inoki June 2, 1983 A famous match in wrestling history. According to some sources, Inoki needed to take several months off, so a worked-shoot angle was booked where Hogan clotheslined Inoki on the ring apron and Inoki could not continue. It was considered a major upset at the time. 6. Lou Thesz vs. Buddy Rogers January 24, 1963 NWA promoters, wanting to get the title off Rogers, booked this match as a one-fall affair, and booked their shooter to make sure everything went to plan. Thesz won without incident, but Vince McMahon Sr. and other promoters used this opportunity to claim the title change was invalid because it was a one-fall bout, and create their own version of the World championship with Rogers as champion. Rogers lost the new WWWF championship a few months later to Bruno Sammartino, in a one-fall bout. 7. Ric Flair vs. Buddy Rogers July 9, 1979 Promoters booked these two in a three match series, billed as the battle of the Nature Boys. Flair defeated Rogers, building his name as he rose to championship status. 8. Antonio Inoki vs. Andre the Giant June 17, 1986 A match most U.S. wrestling fans do not know exists. A year before bowing to Hulk Hogan, Inoki earned perhaps the only submission victory ever won against Andre the Giant. 9. Andre the Giant vs. Ric Flair This match finished third in PWI's Match of the Year poll in 1976. Does anyone have any other information on this match? 10. Steve Austin vs. Ric Flair June 3, 2002 I believe this is the only televised match between Austin and Flair, although both wrestled at the same time in WCW twice. This match included a few odd stipulations and run-ins from Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit. The stipulations died when Austin walked out of the company the next week. Won by Austin. In some ways, this illustrates the difficulty in matching up the very best wrestlers. Hogan/Flair at Wrestlemania VIII did not occur in part because Hogan did not want to job to Ric Flair on his way to retirement. Only Thesz/Rikidozan matched both wrestlers in their prime, and even that ended in a time-limit draw. Flair was nearing his prime when he wrestled Andre, but Andre was the clear star in '76, and never jobbed anyway. I also find it intriguing that these matches, with the exception of Hogan/Andre and Flair/Inoki, do not represent the top drawing matches in history.

I did find the Raw match between Austin and Flair from June 3, 2002.

Did any of these matches ever occur? Lou Thesz vs. El Santo Ric Flair vs. Giant Baba Ric Flair vs. Steve Austin

I haven't seen the match in perhaps a decade myself. It certainly was not a classic, but it was a fun 10-minute brawl from what I remember. I remember they came up with Van Hammer's music video before the match, and I was confused as hell wondering what happened to the wrestling show. I thought I changed the channel by accident.

For Mick Foley's most surprising opponent, how about Van Hammer? I can't recall ever seeing another good Van Hammer match outside of their Clash meeting.

I would add a rule against using signs to promote your own website, etc.

There you go. People read Scott because he does immediate reviews, and covers just about everything.

I honestly don't mind the angles. It is comic relief, and it is not like Vis is squashing Chris Benoit or Christian every week. If it leads somewhere bad, then I'll bitch, but for now, I don't think it is a problem.

Honestly, there was a time when Scott's work stood out. I started out reading the threads at RSPW (anyone else remember when usenet was popular?), and Scott's work was at the very least intelligable and easy to read. It helped that it did not appear fanboyish like many posts appeared in those days. I confess I still read Scott's work, usually for a recap and not a review. Since I almost never see Pay-Per-View live, I need a quick review where I can digest the results. Scott scrapping the PBP is the worst thing he can do, in my opinion. My question. Who do you guys read on the net for good, current wrestling reviews?

And this Jericho/Cena segment is great.

According to Graham Cawthon's site, the match occured on March 8, 1986, and aired on Prime Time Wrestling months later (was this common?). The match has never been available on a commercial release.

I should add that it was in early '96 that I got flamed out on ECW. They increasingly turned to more gut-wrenching spots, usually involving one wrestler hitting another wrestler in the groin. It became uncomfortable to watch.

I was fortunate to be able to see the weekly tv shows every week. What made ECW great at the time was its freshness. WWF was airing Diesel/Mabel, while WCW booked Hogan against the world. ECW aired workers such as Eddy Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Psicosis, Rey Misterio Jr. that I had never seen before. Some of it was garbage wrestling, but it was DIFFERENT. A few things that stand out... -Mikey Whipwreck's Title Chase program. Fans will usually get behind a good underdog angle, and this one was well done. Mikey was portrayed as an inferior competitor, but one tough sob. -The Bill Alfonso Angle. Here's another example of dragging an angle and teasing the fans before delivering the payoff. Alfonso arrived from the PSAC as a special referee to tame the lawlessness of ECW. Fans hated him, and wanted to see 911 chokeslam him. They lasted for months before 911 could finally get his hands on him, and when he did, it elevated the excitement of the crowd during the double dog collar match. -Mick Foley's Promos. These have been covered to death. -Steve Austin's Promos. There is nothing much more fun than a bitter wrestler ripping apart his former employers. -Beulah McGillicutty. She was hot, I was 13. You do the math.

I find it interesting that the Undertaker's best matches occured late in his career. Real improvement or better opponents? Probably a combination of both.

Heyman's only 40? Wow.

They got the date wrong on the Bloodbath dvd as well.

And whenever Benoit is in the Rumble, he always gets a low number.

Especially considering that match is on the WWE Jukebox, so they have no objection to it.

Let me go ahead and nominate the top ECW teams. The Public Enemy The Gangstas The Eliminators The Dudley Boys (Bubba Ray and D'Von) Also, Harlem Heat, the Nasty Boys, the Beverly Brothers (Wayne Bloom & Mike Enos), the Hollywood Blondes (Steve Austin & Brian Pillman), the Moondogs.

I do agree with the reasoning in theory. A look is very important for a top wrestler. I do wonder though. If I could convice Meg that Trish Stratus is doable, does she become World Championship material?

I should run some wrestlers by Megan and get back to you guys.

I have enjoyed the resurgence of Smackdown as a quality wrestling show.

I am a classic footage junkie. Whenever an older match comes my way, no matter the participants, I try to check it out. So when WWE Jukebox offered up this match, I gave it a look. Three of the four wrestlers in this match are Hall of Famers, and the Junkyard Dog is in the WWE's Hall of Fame. Despite their reputations however, this match works mostly as a quasi-comedy match. Hulk Hogan is whipped into the turnbuckle, so JYD runs across the apron to protect Hogan from the buckle (a nice move I had never seen before). Hogan later throws Dory into the buckle and Terry attempts the same move, but Dory reverses and Terry inadvertently protects his opponent. Terry at points becomes entangled in the camera cables while stumbling outside. For many heels all this would make them seem ineffective, but Terry makes himself look like a wild, dangerous, menacing heel, and in a way it works. Hogan sells his injuries from Bundy's avalanches and has his ribs taped. The Funks work over Hogan's ribs at times, and Hogan sells it, but they are not a prominant feature of the match. The finish occurs as Jimmy Hart distracts the referee, Terry Funk grabs a rope and attempts to choke out the Junkyard Dog over the top rope, as Dory holds his legs. Hogan runs into the ring, clotheslines Terry, and gets the pin. While a clothesline sounds weak, Terry sold it well enough to make the pinfall convincing. Overall, this was a fun match. Certainly not a mat classic, but a good house show main event. One issue is that the streaming video frequently paused to re-buffer. I don't know if anyone else has this problem with the match. I run DSL, and I did not have that issue with other matches.

Well, it doesn't say he's having money issues personally, just his business enterprises.