You'd have to put in a few of the really bad Rumbles to give someone a real sense of it.

 

I wouldn't want to waste a spot on a bad one. 1992 is so good. 2001 is also up there but I prefer 1992.

 

Ric Flair vs Ricky Steamboat

 

Which specific match?

 

The Tupelo Concession Stand Brawl is required watching.

It influenced so many key people in the industry including Heyman, Cornette, Onita, etc...

 

This right here?

 

gotta make top 25 or something. too many great matches to narrow it down to 10.

 

• Austin vs Hart- WM 13
• Undertaker vs Mankind- KOTR HIAC
• TLC II- WM 17
• Austin vs Rock- WM 17
• Rock vs Hogan- WM 18
• Undertaker vs Brock Lesnar- No Mercy 2002 HIAC
• Kurt Angle vs Chris Benoit- Royal Rumble 2003
• Kurt Angle vs Shawn Michaels- WM 21
• Shield vs Team Hell No & Ryback- TLC 2012
• CM Punk vs Brock Lesnar- SS 2013
• Royal Rumble match- RR 2020
• CM Punk vs Drew Mcintyre- HIAC

I think the collection of these matches, of the top of my head of course, will cover the spectacle, technical, hardcore and dramatic aspects of this crazy profession.

 

Taker v HBK — Bad Blood 97
Austin v Bret — WM13
Pillman v Liger — SuperBrawl 92
Angle v Benoit — RR03
Taker v HBK — WM25
Piper v Bret — WM8
Flair v Savage — WM8
Undertake v Mankind — KOTR98
Bret v Owen — WM10
TLC II — WMX7

 

I have never watched Andre vs Hogan.

Im almost maintaining that being the case these days because it’s utterly bizarre

 

It's not a great match, but the entrances and finish are exciting. If you get a chance to watch the original Coliseum Video VHS the beginning of the tape is really cool with Gene Okerlund talking about how many miles of cable are going through the Pontiac Silverdome and then the interviews with fans in the parking lot add a special touch to the hype to make the match and whole event seem huge.

 

• The Shield vs. The Wyatt Family - Elimination Chamber 2014
• Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat - Intercontinental Championship - Wrestlemania III
• The Undertaker vs. Mankind - Hell In A Cell - King Of The Ring 1998
• Kurt Angle & Chris Benoit vs. Edge & Rey Mysterio - WWE Tag Team Championship - No Mercy 2002
• Mankind vs. The Rock - WWF Championship "I Quit" - Royal Rumble 1999
• Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio Jr. - WCW Cruiserweight Championship - Halloween Havoc 1997
• The Rock vs. Triple H - Intercontinental Championship - Summerslam 1998
• Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn - Payback 2016
• Chris Benoit vs. Chris Jericho - Intercontinental Championship - Royal Rumble 2001
• Shawn Michaels vs. Kurt Angle - Wrestlemania 21

It's impossible to narrow it down to just 10, I'm leaving a LOT out.

 

Would be totally different lists based on whether I was trying to entertain them, or give some historical overview. Going with the latter, which is probably easier - 20 that I could actually find:

Rikidozan vs. Lou Thesz; October 6th, 1957
Buddy Rogers vs. Pat O'Connor; June 30th 1961
Jerry Lawler vs. Bill Dundee; August 22nd, 1977
Antonio Inoki vs. Hulk Hogan; June 2nd 1983
Hulk Hogan & Mr. T vs. Roddy Piper & Paul Orndorff; March 31st. 1985
Chigusa Nagayo vs. Dump Matsumoto; August 28th, 1985
Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant; February 5th, 1988
Perro Aguayo vs. Mascara Ano 2000; April 30th, 1993
Aja Kong vs. Manami Toyota; November 20th, 1994
Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi; June 9th, 1995
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Nobuhiko Takada; April 29th, 1996
Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin; March 23rd 1997
Antonio Inoki vs. Don Frye; April 4th, 1998
Mistico vs. Perro Aguayo Jr.; May 13th, 2005
Bobby Lashley vs. Umaga; April 1st, 2007
The Rock vs. John Cena; April 1st, 2012
The Undertaker vs. Shane McMahon; April 3rd 2016
LA Park vs. RUSH; June 22nd, 2018
Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito; January 5th, 2020
Kenny Omega vs. Bryan Danielson; September 22nd, 2021

 

Yeah, it will be subjective either way.

I think being thorough and trying to cover as much ground as possible is a good idea too, which means trying to showcase several time periods to show how the industry has changed.

Since I have really only seen 80s, 90s, and the early 2000s that is pretty much what I included in my list. I also only included stuff that was put out by major North American promotions (i.e. WWF and WCW). Would covering earlier and later eras do that better? Yes, but since I'm only adding things I have seen then I can't do that and feel right about it.

Even at that, our own preferences of what we view as entertaining, high quality, influential, and historical will vary to a degree, especially the concept of entertaining and high quality. I tend to favor the more pure form of professional wrestling with great in-ring work and a good clean finish. But, I still included some gimmick matches or matches with a screwy finish due to how historic or influential those matches were.

Good topic to really make us think.

 

From my experience non-fans like gimmick matches and short, exciting matches. They also seem to really like the large wrestlers....but this is just from my personal experiences. These are actual matches I've recommended when asked by people I know in real life, and all got really positive responses.

Raven vs Goldberg - WCW Nitro 1998
Goldberg vs Brock Lesnar - WrestleMania 33
Stan Hansen vs Andre the Giant - New Japan 1981
Brock Lensar vs Big Show - SmackDown 2003
Goldberg vs Scott Steiner - WCW Fall Brawl 2000
Cactus Jack vs Big Van Vader - WCW Saturday Night 1993
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Kane (WWF Championship) - WWF RAW 1998
Goldberg vs Hollywood Hogan - WCW Nitro 1998
Big Show vs Brock Lesnar - WWE Judgement Day 2003
Dustin Rhodes vs Bunkhouse Buck - WCW Spring Stampede 1994

If they like that then you can start trending into stuff that appeals more to people who already like wrestling. Most people have a negative opinion of wrestling by default, so I tend to keep that in mind. It's either gotta be over the top, them laying shit in, or both.

 

Non-fans with short attention spans. They don't want to commit 20-30 minutes into watching a match. They want to see high spots and catch phrases.

 

I'm a nut, so I'd probably do 10 for each company in each era, lol.

You need 10 Rock & Wrestling WWF, 10 classic 80s NWA/JCP, 10 AWA, 10 WCCW, 10 WWF Early 90s, 10 WWF New Generation, 10 WCW Pre-Hogan, 10 WCW MNW, 10 ECW, 10 WWF Attitude Era, and 10 RE. And then I'd throw TNA, ROH, and Lucha Underground in there for good measure, lol.

I'd really have to think through those lists.

 

1. Stone Cold Steve Austin vs The Rock Wrestlemania 17
2. CM Punk vs John Cena Summerslam 2011
3. Triple H vs Randy Orton Unforgiven 2004
4. Batista vs Undertaker Backlash 2007
5. Goldberg vs Chris Jericho Bad Blood 2003
6. Brock Lesnar vs Big Show Survivor Series 2002
7. Hulk Hogan vs Andre The Giant Wrestlemania 3
8. Shawn Michaels vs Razor Ramon Summerslam 1994
9. John Cena vs Edge Unforgiven 2006
10. Big Show vs Mark Henry Vengence 2011

 

Can we speak about NXT?

Gargano put some banger back in the days

 

• Shawn Michaels vs Mankind | WWE Championship (Mind Games)
• Lex Luger vs Hollywood Hogan | WCW Championship (Nitro 1997)
• Sasha Banks vs Bayley | NXT Women's Championship (NXT Takeover Brooklyn)
• Seth Rollins vs Roman Reigns | WWE Championship (Money in the Bank 2016) + Ambrose's cash in
• Rey Mysterio vs Dean Malenko | WCW Cruiserweight Championship (Halloween Havoc 1996)
• Shawn Michaels vs The Undertaker (Bad Blodd 1997)
• CM Punk vs John Cena | WWE Championship (Money in the Bank 2011)
• Sting vs Diamond Dallas Page | WCW Championship (Nitro 1998)
• Kurt Angle vs Chris Benoit | WWE Championship (Royal Rumble 2003)
• John Cena vs Rob Van Dam | WWE Championship (ECW One Night Stand 2006)

This would give this young fan a variety of storytelling and in-ring action.

 

I almost pulled the trigger on a match from Raw and Nitro, but ended up just going with PPV matches due to match quality. TV matches that could be considered if I was doing a list based off TV matches alone could inclue:

• Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant - The Main Event (February 5, 1988)
• Hulk Hogan vs. The Big Bossman - Saturday Night's Main Event (April 25, 1989)
• Shawn Michaels vs. Marty Jannetty - Monday Night Raw (May 17, 1993)
• Bret Hart vs. The 1-2-3 Kid - Monday Night Raw (July 1, 1994)
• Brian Pillman vs. Jushin Liger - Monday Night Nitro (September 4, 1995)
• The British Bulldog vs. Owen Hart - Monday Night Raw (February 26, 1997)
• Owen Hart & The British Bulldog vs. Shawn Michaels & Stone Cold Steve Austin - Monday Night Raw (May 26, 1997)
• Hollywood Hulk Hogan vs. Lex Luger - Monday Night Nitro (August 4, 1997)
• Hollywood Hulk Hogan vs. Goldberg - Monday Night Nitro (July 6, 1998)
• The Rock vs. Mankind - Monday Night Raw (December 29, 1998)
• Booker T vs. Bret Hart - Monday Night Nitro (February 22, 1999)
• Bret Hart vs. Chris Benoit - Monday Night Nitro (October 4, 1999)
• Stone Cold Steve Austin & Triple H vs. Chris Jericho & Chris Benoit - Monday Night Raw (May 21, 2001)
• The Undertaker vs. Jeff Hardy - Monday Night Raw (July 1, 2002)
• Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar - Thursday Night SmackDown (September 16, 2003)