Welcome to the 33rd No Smark Zone. In keeping with my Wrestlemania theme this month, this week I am going to finish off my list of the greatest WM matches of all time. Thats right, EVER. So after you read this, go out and get these matches, and then burn the rest of your WM DVDs. Kidding, dont do that. Send them to me, I'm a collector! Ok enough, lets get right into this.
Just to recap....
20. Jake “The Snake” Roberts vs. “The Model” Rick Martel in a Blindfold Match at Wrestlemania VII
19. Hulk Hogan and Mr. T vs. “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff at Wrestlemania I
18. “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho at Wrestlemania 19
17. “Macho Man” Randy Savage vs. “The Million Dollar Man” Ted Dibiasie in the finals of the WWF Title tournament at Wrestlemania IV
16. Shane McMahon vs. Vince McMahon in a Street Fight at Wrestlemania 17
15. “Macho Man” Randy Savage vs. Hulk Hogan for the WWF Championship at Wrestlemania V
14. Edge vs. Christian vs. Chris Benoit vs. Chris Jericho vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. Kane in the first ever Money In The Bank Ladder Match at Wrestlemania 21
13. The Undertaker vs. Batista for the World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestlemania 23
12. Hulk Hogan vs. The Rock at Wrestlemania 18
11. The Undertaker vs. HHH at Wrestlemania 17
And now onto the rest....
10. Mick Foley vs. Edge in a Hardcore Match at Wrestlemania 22
In what was, to the best of my recollection, the first ever one on one hardcore match in the history of Wrestlemania, the hardcore legend Mick Foley had what would be his most memorable Mania match against one of the WWEs hottest rising stars, Edge. And boy howdy did they make it memorable. I hadn’t seen such a brutal match in a VERY long time. And this match had pretty much every gimmick imaginable, outside of a kitchen sink. Which I think would have been a great idea btw. But none the less, it was everything a fan of hardcore wrestling could want. It was bloody, it was stiff, and it was brutal. The spots I remember the most are the thumbtacks, which gave Edge a chance to show off his classic facial expressions, Edge’s creative use of a metal stop sign, including a nicely placed dropkick to Foley’s face, the barbed wire Mr. Socko/Mandible Claw, which I can only IMAGINE hurt like hell, and, of course, the speak through the flaming table. I always wondered how the make the fire go out so fast. I mean how often does fire just GO OUT like that? Everyone got a piece of everyone as Lita got involved and got the barbed claw as well. I really cant think of a better hardcore match on such a grand stage. This did exactly what it was supposed to. It entertained the fans, and it helped establish Edge as a legitimate main eventer who could work anywhere on the card and still have a match that everyone talks about for years on afterwards.
9. Edge and Christian vs. The Hardy Boyz vs. The Dudley Boyz in a TLC Match for the WWE Tag Team Titles at Wrestlemania 16
This was the first match of the epic series of gimmick matches these three teams would have together. And what better stage could the WWE have picked than Wrestlemania. The build up was special. Every team had their weapon of choice, so lets throw them together. The only minor complaint I had with this match was that it was a bit spotty, but that is by design and by the nature of who was in the match. That isn’t a diss to any of the guys who were in there, but lets face it, one of them were HBK, Razor, or Bret, the guys who had had the only previous ladder matches in the WWE besides these teams. The best thing about this match was that it was in the middle of a time when the WWE was interested in pushing tag teams and they did so REALLY WELL. This match was the stepping stone for 4 men and made 2 other men relevant again in tag team wrestling. This match had some of the most amazing feats of athleticism, endurance, and tolerance of pain I had ever seen at this point. There are so many spots that were beyond brutal in this match, its kind of hard to recall them all. I remember seeing Jeff do that double team move with his brother, I cant recall the name at this second WHILE using a ladder, and that was just the first one. Jeff would later do a 450 that was MISSED and he would land on the ladder. At that point I remember thinking “how in the hell are they gonna top that because brutality like that had rarely been seen. I think the funniest part of the match was Bubba Ray showing his whiteness and doing the old 3 Stooges whirlybird ladder thing. I always get a kick out of it when people do that spot in ladder matches. But that wasn’t all there was to be. Christian diving out of the ring from the ladder, Bubba doing a seated senton from the ladder, Bubba powerbombing Matt through a table, Edge spearing Jeff off the ladder, and, of course Jeff doing that recockulous swanton from the 25 footer through a table on the floor. Just a great match.
8. “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels vs. Kurt Angle at Wrestlemania 21
On the completely opposite side of the wrestling spectrum, we have HBK vs. Kurt Angle at WM 21. Really, this match was nothing but a good old technical wrestling match between two guys who are masters at what they do. And what made this match so great was that it was something the fans were BEGGING for. The year before the match fans were begging for, Brock vs. Goldberg, turned out to be the shits, relative to its hype anyway, so this match, I think, had to deliver on some level, and I’ll be damned if it didn’t. On one had, you had HBK, a living, breathing, walking, wrestling legend. And on the other hand you had Kurt Angle, a living, breathing, walking, wrestling machine. When the two meet in the middle of the ring, it is something special just based on that alone. The set up to the match was amazing as well, which just iced it off as one of the best matches in the history if Mania, if not WWE history. And a case could be made that it was that match that sold Mania that year and not necessarily the title matches. I remember very distinctly I was making something to eat at a friends house and not wanting to miss a SECOND of that match. Then when the title matches came around, I almost fell asleep during both of them. I think what really made this match work so well was the style of each man in the ring. Kurt, by his own admission, is a stiff wrestler, and I have no problem with that. In fact, I love stiff wrestling. And then you add that to the psychology and selling ability of Shawn Michaels and you literally have a match made in wrestling heaven. And no, its not like the first “Match Made In Heaven” in the WWE where Randy Savage got married to Elizabeth live on PPV was the MAIN EVENT, I might add.
7. The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon in the first ever Ladder Match for the Intercontinental Title at Wrestlemania 10
The first ladder match to ever take place at Wrestlemania would have to be something special. It would have to set the bar for years to come because chances were, it was gonna happen again. You had two guys in this match who have amazing chemistry. That alone would have been enough for this match to sell. But no, lets make it even MORE interesting, and lets add a fucking LADDER to it, something most WWE fans had ever seen and they ate that shit up. I know I like to go back to this a lot when I talk about good and bad matches, but this match, pretty much, had perfect psychology. From the second both of these guys walked out into the arena, there were using psychology. HBK, the cocky heel, side stepping the ladder not walking underneath it because its bad luck and of course he is too smart for that. Then the brash, rough, straight up fighter Razor comes out and says “I don’t need no fucking luck chico” as he walks right underneath the ladder. THAT set the tone for the whole match. Both guys made the belts the most important thing in the match, and not the fucking ladder, which is what most guys do now a days. Add to all of this masterful work, the brutality of a ladder, and you have something special. The ladder was used as a tool and as a weapon, and wasn’t made THE thing of the match. I remember sitting in a room full of kids and we were like HOLY FUCKING SHIT I CANT BELIEVE HE JUST DID THAT! And we said that about 40 times in the match. From the dropkicking of the ladder into Razors face to HBK doing a splash from the top of the ladder, it was just an amazing match, from soup to nuts.
6. Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar for the WWE Title at Wrestlemania 19
This, I think, will be the most controversial pick. A lot of people hate Lesnar, and even more think he is over rated. While I do not like him very much for being a big fucking pussy and leaving after guys sacrificed not only their bodies but their careers to get him over, I do not think he was under rated at all. Face facts folks, the guy new how to work a match in the ring. He took to wrestling like a fish to water. And a lot of it had to do with his amateur background. Add to that, a man who won a gold medal in the Olympics with a broken freakin neck, and you have the elements to have one of the greatest WM matches of all time. Now anyone who knows me knows that I favor psychology over “workrate” but this is one of my guilty pleasures, so to speak. This match, for me, was good because of the actual moves involved. Not saying it didn’t have great psychology, because it did. You cant have a great match of any kind without great psychology, but to me, the moves were so much better. Actually, what made the match so great, like other great matches, were the moves accented the story being told. This match was about one thing, pride. Who was “the best”. Unlike the other world title match on the card, which was more about being pissed and making one guy not focus on the title, which was really fucking entertaining, but this was just that much better. These were two pure bread athletes who wanted it. The wanted to win, and they wanted to prove, if only to themselves, that they were the standard, they are the man, and they are the rightful champion. If ever two guys in WWE match ever “left it all in the ring” it was Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar. Brock was billed as this new up and comer who had had his run but still wasn’t quite at the level of Angle. And then there was Angle, the proud champion, the master technician, the man who could outwrestle ANYONE. While he did have “superior” wrestling skills to Brock, Brock had an obvious power advantage and maybe a speed one too. It was that story that was told in the match and in the end, what made it so great.
5. “The Game” Triple H vs. The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels vs. “The Crippler” Chris Benoit in the first ever Triple Threat Match for the World Heavyweight Title at Wrestlemania 20
I am probably letting my bias place this match so high, but its my list so fuck you. What made this match so special for me was that Benoit was in it. I had been watching wrestling for 5 years when I first turned on WCW and saw things like “Flair For The Gold” and watched this other type of wrestling. I wasn’t all that impressed but I still watched because, much like now, I loved wrestling, and hey, it was something different. Then, something amazing happened. WCW had an influx of new guys. Granted I didn’t know that, but I saw this new guy. He was short but built, he had a mullet, but he was a fucking ass kicking MACHINE! It was from then on that I would be glued to WCW TV until they went out of business. Chris Benoit hopped out of a limo and said “WCW, where the big boys play?” and “I like him.” Then I started seeing his matches and I was floored. It would be a year or so before he got any major MAJOR exposure, regular matches, and whatnot. And that was when I started to do something I had never done before, I started taping matches. WCW Worldwide, Saturday Night, Nitro, and later Thunder, if Benoit was on, so was my VCR. So you can understand I had been following him for a loooooooooooooong time. Now, Chris Benoit was finally getting a chance at the big one not under bullshit circumstances. He was getting in the ring with two of the best the business has ever seen. I remember reading the smark sheets and reading “Benoit is likely being fed to HHH” and I was so pissed because part of me thought it was true. Fuck HHH had run through EVERYONE in his path, what fucking chance did Chris Benoit have? This was my first year in REAL college and I ordered the WWE webcast. And a guy a few doors down hooked it up with his 50 in TV. How the fuck he got that beast in and out I will never know. But we crammed at least 10 people into a dorm room and we watched it. All of them were casual fans and I was the only hardcore one in the group. When Benoit came out, I had chills going through my body. Would his be his only chance at the title? It was the first time, I can remember, that I was actually getting up and screaming at the TV “TAP BITCH TAP! TAP YOU MOTHERFUCKER!” No wait, it was the second time. The first time was when Goldberg won the title from Hogan on Nitro. But you get what Im saying, it was just something REALLY special that I knew I was witnessing. I guess the match itself wasn’t anything wholly extraordinary, all I know is that it will be a match I will remember as long as I am a wrestling fan, and there aren’t many of those that will just come to mind like that.
4. Bret Hart vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin in a Submission Match at WM 13
Steve Austin and Bret Hart have been quoted as saying this match was one of, if not the best match of their respective careers. And it’s hard to argue that it wasn’t. This is one of the only matches where a face turned heel and a heel turned face in the same match and only the second time it happened at a Wrestlemania. The match had pretty much everything you could want. Outside of some high flying, it was the complete package. Technical wrestling, brawling, power moves, amazing psychology, submission wrestling and even a smidge of hardcore. The match almost a changing of the guard as one man was stepping up to become the hottest babyface after beating who was, at one point, the hottest babyface in the company. The thing I remember most about the match was the end. The image of Austin being locked in the sharpshooter, pushing up trying to break it and the blood just POURING from his head will be engrained in my head for the rest of my life.
3. “Macho Man” Randy Savage vs. The Ultimate Warrior in a Career Ending Match at Wrestlemania 7
Ok, we all know how fucking ROTTEN the Ultimate Warrior was back in the day. I don’t care if you are a fan of his or not, he was shit in the ring, and you know it. But I can say, with all certainty in my mind, that this match is the best match Warrior could and would ever have, and all of it is owed to Savage. This match showed that Randy could, literally, wrestle a broom, and make it look good. I think the reason it was so good, also, was the story that was told in it. Warrior was this unstoppable force in the WWE who, for the first time, had come across someone who was more “evil” than he could handle. He had made every other bad guy look like a chump, but not Savage. Savage broke a scepter over his head, he damn near collapsed his throat, and he cost Warrior the championship. Something no other hand had been able to do until then. Warrior was out for revenge and Macho, in his own way, used it against him in the match. There were a lot of moves that Macho used Warriors own momentum or stupidity, or overzealousness against him. What also made this match so great was you really didn’t know who was gonna win and the crowd was fucking horny for this match. This match could have easily been the main event of the night for the reaction it got. In the end, this is another match where each man left it in the ring. I mean for fucks sake, Macho Man hit Warrior with, if I’m not mistaken, five, 5, FIVE of his top rope elbow drops. That was unfuckingheardof back then. Savage literally gave everything to Warrior, even the credibility of Savage’s finisher. And then when Warrior made his comeback, god damn not only did Savage sell it to perfection, Warrior was so full of fire, you couldn’t help but get behind him. It was just an unbelievable match all around.
2. Bret “Hitman” Hart vs. “Rowdy” Roddy Piper for the Intercontinental Title at Wrestlemania 8
If ever there was a match that showed all you need to do is stick to the fundamentals of wrestling to become successful, it was this one. I can not name a match I have seen, EVER in my 900 years of watching wrestling (cuz im old) a match at this level that was better fundamentally than this match. This was about telling a story. Two friends who want the belt, but only one can leave. The fighter and the wrestler. The two friends go out and start out having a friendly match, but one guy gets the upper hand and the other guy gets PISSED and starts to start using underhanded tactics. Its one of the oldest stories one can tell. Everyone has experienced it, I think, on some level or another. Say you’re playing a friend in BBall or something. He’s a little better, you get pissed and start taking him to the rim a little harder, start throwing elbows, and just generally start playing more aggressively. That is EXACTLY what happened here. Roddy quickly realized he was outclassed by Bret and started brawling, spitting, and eye gouging. What made this match even better was it followed the most basic of match structure. Babyface shines, heel gets heat, face makes a comeback. Though, the comeback was more of just a really fucking creative pin, but it was pretty much that formula. And each guy played their parts to PERFECTION. Another thing I loved about the match was the commentary. This was, to say the least, some of Bobby Heenans best announcing. He was going back and forth about who should win and then decided it didn’t matter because he hated both of them. The one quote I will remember is him saying “What the hell, use the bell” when Piper is ready to crack Bret Hart with the ring bell. The other one I can remember is the beginning when he said “I remember when I was champion Monsoon.” “CHAMPION OF WHAT?!” asked Gorilla. To which Heenan said “Of my neighborhood.” Just great stuff. I just cant say much more about this match other than it was perfect in almost every way. If you have not seen this match, GO FUCKING SEE IT. Get on DM or U2be, or whatever and see it, you will be as amazed as I was when I first saw it.
And now we have come to the greatest WM match of all time.
What will it be?
Hogan vs. Andre?
Austin Rock?
Hogan vs. Warrior?
Bret vs. HBK?
No.
The greatest Wrestlemania match of all time
Is
1. “Macho Man” Randy Savage vs. “Nature Boy” Ric Flair for the WWF Championship at Wrestlemania 8
Yes, yes, I know, two matches from the same PPV as number 1 and 2, but you have to realize how good these matches are, this one in particular. This is the classic bad guy, good guy match. Ric Flair, the cocky champion has to defend against a man who he believes to be better than him. So to even the odds, he starts distracting Savage. He pokes at his wife, threatens to display naked pictures all in an attempt to get Macho Man so fired up, he makes a mistake. Just like the last match, it was basic down to the match structure. Shine, heat, comeback. Macho Man starts out the match like a house of fire jumping on Flair and shows off he is fucking pissed. Flair takes over after a poke to the eye and beats the hell out of Savage. He does everything he can think of. Suplexes, chops, dirty tactics, and anything else. But Savage fought, clawed, scratched, and snarled to get back into it and won. I can not express how much I like this match, yet, all in all, I cant really point to one “remarkable” moment. There wasn’t one defining spot, or moment that made this match what it was. It was all good. The facial expressions, the fire, the psychology, the moves the set up, the execution, the build up, the aftermath, EVERYTHING was simply amazing. I know I should write longer about the greatest match of all time, but short of going through a move by move synopsis, there isn’t much more to say about it.
So that is it. Now you know the best WM matches of all time. Go out watch them and tell me what you think. Or hell, if you think I have made a HUGE mistake, fucking tell me! I like to read what you people have to say, that’s what makes the NSZ great, other than the fact that I write it.
Next week we will have, hopefully, a title defense of Kaedons YBTB title currently held by Switchy and I will also be calling on my good bookie friend Stu Finer to make your betting lives easier as he gives you the winners at Wrestlemania. Until next time!
Just to recap....
20. Jake “The Snake” Roberts vs. “The Model” Rick Martel in a Blindfold Match at Wrestlemania VII
19. Hulk Hogan and Mr. T vs. “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff at Wrestlemania I
18. “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho at Wrestlemania 19
17. “Macho Man” Randy Savage vs. “The Million Dollar Man” Ted Dibiasie in the finals of the WWF Title tournament at Wrestlemania IV
16. Shane McMahon vs. Vince McMahon in a Street Fight at Wrestlemania 17
15. “Macho Man” Randy Savage vs. Hulk Hogan for the WWF Championship at Wrestlemania V
14. Edge vs. Christian vs. Chris Benoit vs. Chris Jericho vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. Kane in the first ever Money In The Bank Ladder Match at Wrestlemania 21
13. The Undertaker vs. Batista for the World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestlemania 23
12. Hulk Hogan vs. The Rock at Wrestlemania 18
11. The Undertaker vs. HHH at Wrestlemania 17
And now onto the rest....
10. Mick Foley vs. Edge in a Hardcore Match at Wrestlemania 22
In what was, to the best of my recollection, the first ever one on one hardcore match in the history of Wrestlemania, the hardcore legend Mick Foley had what would be his most memorable Mania match against one of the WWEs hottest rising stars, Edge. And boy howdy did they make it memorable. I hadn’t seen such a brutal match in a VERY long time. And this match had pretty much every gimmick imaginable, outside of a kitchen sink. Which I think would have been a great idea btw. But none the less, it was everything a fan of hardcore wrestling could want. It was bloody, it was stiff, and it was brutal. The spots I remember the most are the thumbtacks, which gave Edge a chance to show off his classic facial expressions, Edge’s creative use of a metal stop sign, including a nicely placed dropkick to Foley’s face, the barbed wire Mr. Socko/Mandible Claw, which I can only IMAGINE hurt like hell, and, of course, the speak through the flaming table. I always wondered how the make the fire go out so fast. I mean how often does fire just GO OUT like that? Everyone got a piece of everyone as Lita got involved and got the barbed claw as well. I really cant think of a better hardcore match on such a grand stage. This did exactly what it was supposed to. It entertained the fans, and it helped establish Edge as a legitimate main eventer who could work anywhere on the card and still have a match that everyone talks about for years on afterwards.
9. Edge and Christian vs. The Hardy Boyz vs. The Dudley Boyz in a TLC Match for the WWE Tag Team Titles at Wrestlemania 16
This was the first match of the epic series of gimmick matches these three teams would have together. And what better stage could the WWE have picked than Wrestlemania. The build up was special. Every team had their weapon of choice, so lets throw them together. The only minor complaint I had with this match was that it was a bit spotty, but that is by design and by the nature of who was in the match. That isn’t a diss to any of the guys who were in there, but lets face it, one of them were HBK, Razor, or Bret, the guys who had had the only previous ladder matches in the WWE besides these teams. The best thing about this match was that it was in the middle of a time when the WWE was interested in pushing tag teams and they did so REALLY WELL. This match was the stepping stone for 4 men and made 2 other men relevant again in tag team wrestling. This match had some of the most amazing feats of athleticism, endurance, and tolerance of pain I had ever seen at this point. There are so many spots that were beyond brutal in this match, its kind of hard to recall them all. I remember seeing Jeff do that double team move with his brother, I cant recall the name at this second WHILE using a ladder, and that was just the first one. Jeff would later do a 450 that was MISSED and he would land on the ladder. At that point I remember thinking “how in the hell are they gonna top that because brutality like that had rarely been seen. I think the funniest part of the match was Bubba Ray showing his whiteness and doing the old 3 Stooges whirlybird ladder thing. I always get a kick out of it when people do that spot in ladder matches. But that wasn’t all there was to be. Christian diving out of the ring from the ladder, Bubba doing a seated senton from the ladder, Bubba powerbombing Matt through a table, Edge spearing Jeff off the ladder, and, of course Jeff doing that recockulous swanton from the 25 footer through a table on the floor. Just a great match.
8. “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels vs. Kurt Angle at Wrestlemania 21
On the completely opposite side of the wrestling spectrum, we have HBK vs. Kurt Angle at WM 21. Really, this match was nothing but a good old technical wrestling match between two guys who are masters at what they do. And what made this match so great was that it was something the fans were BEGGING for. The year before the match fans were begging for, Brock vs. Goldberg, turned out to be the shits, relative to its hype anyway, so this match, I think, had to deliver on some level, and I’ll be damned if it didn’t. On one had, you had HBK, a living, breathing, walking, wrestling legend. And on the other hand you had Kurt Angle, a living, breathing, walking, wrestling machine. When the two meet in the middle of the ring, it is something special just based on that alone. The set up to the match was amazing as well, which just iced it off as one of the best matches in the history if Mania, if not WWE history. And a case could be made that it was that match that sold Mania that year and not necessarily the title matches. I remember very distinctly I was making something to eat at a friends house and not wanting to miss a SECOND of that match. Then when the title matches came around, I almost fell asleep during both of them. I think what really made this match work so well was the style of each man in the ring. Kurt, by his own admission, is a stiff wrestler, and I have no problem with that. In fact, I love stiff wrestling. And then you add that to the psychology and selling ability of Shawn Michaels and you literally have a match made in wrestling heaven. And no, its not like the first “Match Made In Heaven” in the WWE where Randy Savage got married to Elizabeth live on PPV was the MAIN EVENT, I might add.
7. The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon in the first ever Ladder Match for the Intercontinental Title at Wrestlemania 10
The first ladder match to ever take place at Wrestlemania would have to be something special. It would have to set the bar for years to come because chances were, it was gonna happen again. You had two guys in this match who have amazing chemistry. That alone would have been enough for this match to sell. But no, lets make it even MORE interesting, and lets add a fucking LADDER to it, something most WWE fans had ever seen and they ate that shit up. I know I like to go back to this a lot when I talk about good and bad matches, but this match, pretty much, had perfect psychology. From the second both of these guys walked out into the arena, there were using psychology. HBK, the cocky heel, side stepping the ladder not walking underneath it because its bad luck and of course he is too smart for that. Then the brash, rough, straight up fighter Razor comes out and says “I don’t need no fucking luck chico” as he walks right underneath the ladder. THAT set the tone for the whole match. Both guys made the belts the most important thing in the match, and not the fucking ladder, which is what most guys do now a days. Add to all of this masterful work, the brutality of a ladder, and you have something special. The ladder was used as a tool and as a weapon, and wasn’t made THE thing of the match. I remember sitting in a room full of kids and we were like HOLY FUCKING SHIT I CANT BELIEVE HE JUST DID THAT! And we said that about 40 times in the match. From the dropkicking of the ladder into Razors face to HBK doing a splash from the top of the ladder, it was just an amazing match, from soup to nuts.
6. Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar for the WWE Title at Wrestlemania 19
This, I think, will be the most controversial pick. A lot of people hate Lesnar, and even more think he is over rated. While I do not like him very much for being a big fucking pussy and leaving after guys sacrificed not only their bodies but their careers to get him over, I do not think he was under rated at all. Face facts folks, the guy new how to work a match in the ring. He took to wrestling like a fish to water. And a lot of it had to do with his amateur background. Add to that, a man who won a gold medal in the Olympics with a broken freakin neck, and you have the elements to have one of the greatest WM matches of all time. Now anyone who knows me knows that I favor psychology over “workrate” but this is one of my guilty pleasures, so to speak. This match, for me, was good because of the actual moves involved. Not saying it didn’t have great psychology, because it did. You cant have a great match of any kind without great psychology, but to me, the moves were so much better. Actually, what made the match so great, like other great matches, were the moves accented the story being told. This match was about one thing, pride. Who was “the best”. Unlike the other world title match on the card, which was more about being pissed and making one guy not focus on the title, which was really fucking entertaining, but this was just that much better. These were two pure bread athletes who wanted it. The wanted to win, and they wanted to prove, if only to themselves, that they were the standard, they are the man, and they are the rightful champion. If ever two guys in WWE match ever “left it all in the ring” it was Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar. Brock was billed as this new up and comer who had had his run but still wasn’t quite at the level of Angle. And then there was Angle, the proud champion, the master technician, the man who could outwrestle ANYONE. While he did have “superior” wrestling skills to Brock, Brock had an obvious power advantage and maybe a speed one too. It was that story that was told in the match and in the end, what made it so great.
5. “The Game” Triple H vs. The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels vs. “The Crippler” Chris Benoit in the first ever Triple Threat Match for the World Heavyweight Title at Wrestlemania 20
I am probably letting my bias place this match so high, but its my list so fuck you. What made this match so special for me was that Benoit was in it. I had been watching wrestling for 5 years when I first turned on WCW and saw things like “Flair For The Gold” and watched this other type of wrestling. I wasn’t all that impressed but I still watched because, much like now, I loved wrestling, and hey, it was something different. Then, something amazing happened. WCW had an influx of new guys. Granted I didn’t know that, but I saw this new guy. He was short but built, he had a mullet, but he was a fucking ass kicking MACHINE! It was from then on that I would be glued to WCW TV until they went out of business. Chris Benoit hopped out of a limo and said “WCW, where the big boys play?” and “I like him.” Then I started seeing his matches and I was floored. It would be a year or so before he got any major MAJOR exposure, regular matches, and whatnot. And that was when I started to do something I had never done before, I started taping matches. WCW Worldwide, Saturday Night, Nitro, and later Thunder, if Benoit was on, so was my VCR. So you can understand I had been following him for a loooooooooooooong time. Now, Chris Benoit was finally getting a chance at the big one not under bullshit circumstances. He was getting in the ring with two of the best the business has ever seen. I remember reading the smark sheets and reading “Benoit is likely being fed to HHH” and I was so pissed because part of me thought it was true. Fuck HHH had run through EVERYONE in his path, what fucking chance did Chris Benoit have? This was my first year in REAL college and I ordered the WWE webcast. And a guy a few doors down hooked it up with his 50 in TV. How the fuck he got that beast in and out I will never know. But we crammed at least 10 people into a dorm room and we watched it. All of them were casual fans and I was the only hardcore one in the group. When Benoit came out, I had chills going through my body. Would his be his only chance at the title? It was the first time, I can remember, that I was actually getting up and screaming at the TV “TAP BITCH TAP! TAP YOU MOTHERFUCKER!” No wait, it was the second time. The first time was when Goldberg won the title from Hogan on Nitro. But you get what Im saying, it was just something REALLY special that I knew I was witnessing. I guess the match itself wasn’t anything wholly extraordinary, all I know is that it will be a match I will remember as long as I am a wrestling fan, and there aren’t many of those that will just come to mind like that.
4. Bret Hart vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin in a Submission Match at WM 13
Steve Austin and Bret Hart have been quoted as saying this match was one of, if not the best match of their respective careers. And it’s hard to argue that it wasn’t. This is one of the only matches where a face turned heel and a heel turned face in the same match and only the second time it happened at a Wrestlemania. The match had pretty much everything you could want. Outside of some high flying, it was the complete package. Technical wrestling, brawling, power moves, amazing psychology, submission wrestling and even a smidge of hardcore. The match almost a changing of the guard as one man was stepping up to become the hottest babyface after beating who was, at one point, the hottest babyface in the company. The thing I remember most about the match was the end. The image of Austin being locked in the sharpshooter, pushing up trying to break it and the blood just POURING from his head will be engrained in my head for the rest of my life.
3. “Macho Man” Randy Savage vs. The Ultimate Warrior in a Career Ending Match at Wrestlemania 7
Ok, we all know how fucking ROTTEN the Ultimate Warrior was back in the day. I don’t care if you are a fan of his or not, he was shit in the ring, and you know it. But I can say, with all certainty in my mind, that this match is the best match Warrior could and would ever have, and all of it is owed to Savage. This match showed that Randy could, literally, wrestle a broom, and make it look good. I think the reason it was so good, also, was the story that was told in it. Warrior was this unstoppable force in the WWE who, for the first time, had come across someone who was more “evil” than he could handle. He had made every other bad guy look like a chump, but not Savage. Savage broke a scepter over his head, he damn near collapsed his throat, and he cost Warrior the championship. Something no other hand had been able to do until then. Warrior was out for revenge and Macho, in his own way, used it against him in the match. There were a lot of moves that Macho used Warriors own momentum or stupidity, or overzealousness against him. What also made this match so great was you really didn’t know who was gonna win and the crowd was fucking horny for this match. This match could have easily been the main event of the night for the reaction it got. In the end, this is another match where each man left it in the ring. I mean for fucks sake, Macho Man hit Warrior with, if I’m not mistaken, five, 5, FIVE of his top rope elbow drops. That was unfuckingheardof back then. Savage literally gave everything to Warrior, even the credibility of Savage’s finisher. And then when Warrior made his comeback, god damn not only did Savage sell it to perfection, Warrior was so full of fire, you couldn’t help but get behind him. It was just an unbelievable match all around.
2. Bret “Hitman” Hart vs. “Rowdy” Roddy Piper for the Intercontinental Title at Wrestlemania 8
If ever there was a match that showed all you need to do is stick to the fundamentals of wrestling to become successful, it was this one. I can not name a match I have seen, EVER in my 900 years of watching wrestling (cuz im old) a match at this level that was better fundamentally than this match. This was about telling a story. Two friends who want the belt, but only one can leave. The fighter and the wrestler. The two friends go out and start out having a friendly match, but one guy gets the upper hand and the other guy gets PISSED and starts to start using underhanded tactics. Its one of the oldest stories one can tell. Everyone has experienced it, I think, on some level or another. Say you’re playing a friend in BBall or something. He’s a little better, you get pissed and start taking him to the rim a little harder, start throwing elbows, and just generally start playing more aggressively. That is EXACTLY what happened here. Roddy quickly realized he was outclassed by Bret and started brawling, spitting, and eye gouging. What made this match even better was it followed the most basic of match structure. Babyface shines, heel gets heat, face makes a comeback. Though, the comeback was more of just a really fucking creative pin, but it was pretty much that formula. And each guy played their parts to PERFECTION. Another thing I loved about the match was the commentary. This was, to say the least, some of Bobby Heenans best announcing. He was going back and forth about who should win and then decided it didn’t matter because he hated both of them. The one quote I will remember is him saying “What the hell, use the bell” when Piper is ready to crack Bret Hart with the ring bell. The other one I can remember is the beginning when he said “I remember when I was champion Monsoon.” “CHAMPION OF WHAT?!” asked Gorilla. To which Heenan said “Of my neighborhood.” Just great stuff. I just cant say much more about this match other than it was perfect in almost every way. If you have not seen this match, GO FUCKING SEE IT. Get on DM or U2be, or whatever and see it, you will be as amazed as I was when I first saw it.
And now we have come to the greatest WM match of all time.
What will it be?
Hogan vs. Andre?
Austin Rock?
Hogan vs. Warrior?
Bret vs. HBK?
No.
The greatest Wrestlemania match of all time
Is
1. “Macho Man” Randy Savage vs. “Nature Boy” Ric Flair for the WWF Championship at Wrestlemania 8
Yes, yes, I know, two matches from the same PPV as number 1 and 2, but you have to realize how good these matches are, this one in particular. This is the classic bad guy, good guy match. Ric Flair, the cocky champion has to defend against a man who he believes to be better than him. So to even the odds, he starts distracting Savage. He pokes at his wife, threatens to display naked pictures all in an attempt to get Macho Man so fired up, he makes a mistake. Just like the last match, it was basic down to the match structure. Shine, heat, comeback. Macho Man starts out the match like a house of fire jumping on Flair and shows off he is fucking pissed. Flair takes over after a poke to the eye and beats the hell out of Savage. He does everything he can think of. Suplexes, chops, dirty tactics, and anything else. But Savage fought, clawed, scratched, and snarled to get back into it and won. I can not express how much I like this match, yet, all in all, I cant really point to one “remarkable” moment. There wasn’t one defining spot, or moment that made this match what it was. It was all good. The facial expressions, the fire, the psychology, the moves the set up, the execution, the build up, the aftermath, EVERYTHING was simply amazing. I know I should write longer about the greatest match of all time, but short of going through a move by move synopsis, there isn’t much more to say about it.
So that is it. Now you know the best WM matches of all time. Go out watch them and tell me what you think. Or hell, if you think I have made a HUGE mistake, fucking tell me! I like to read what you people have to say, that’s what makes the NSZ great, other than the fact that I write it.
Next week we will have, hopefully, a title defense of Kaedons YBTB title currently held by Switchy and I will also be calling on my good bookie friend Stu Finer to make your betting lives easier as he gives you the winners at Wrestlemania. Until next time!