Favorite match of All-Time

[ShaunGBD]

I was watching Tough Enough last night. What is your favorite match of all time:

 

1) Any company, any time, anybody

2) It doesn't have to be the best, just your favorite

 

Mine is Randy Orton Vs Benoit Summerslam. When Orton won the belt. I loved them both at the time. But I was a HUGE fan of Orton then.

 

So, whats yours?

[The Final Countdown]

The first one that sprang to mind for me was the I Quit match between Bret Hart and Steve Austin at Wrestlemania 13. Really fun match, with the iconic moment of a bloody Austin refusing to submit to the Sharpshooter until he finally passed out. It's not the BEST match I've ever seen from a technical standpoint, but I loved it.

[Teh_Showtime]

Austin vs Bret Hart WM13

 

Undertaker vs Kurt Angle No Way Out

[angeldelayette]

The first match, honestly, that came to mind was Ric Flair vs. Vader Starrcade 1993. Many people wouldn't call it the best match in the world but there was so much electricity in the air with Flair saying he would retire if he lost. The match was held in Ric Flair's adopted hometown, Charlotte where I was living at the time. The atmosphere was absolutely amazing.

[Rone Rivendale]

Glenn Gilbertti vs Jeff Jarrett: TNA Weekly PPV around middle of 2004 I think

 

The former Disco Inferno was going by his real name and as co-leader of Sports Entertainment eXtreme (or S.E.X.) he was finally getting the respect he deserved.

 

Gilbertti won a battle royal to earn a shot at Jeff Jarrett's NWA:TNA World Title (his first ever World Title shot).

 

The match itself was a classic imo. It might not have had the heat of a match with bigger names but something special was happening in this one. As Gilbertti shocked Jarrett time and time again with counter moves and the such, people started coming out of the back to get a closer look. People from S.E.X., people close to Jarrett. Heels. Faces. Everyone wanted to see if Gilbertti had what it took to be The Man. After a thrilling 20 minute match with false finishes and Gilbertti and Jarrett hitting each other with the other's finishers, the match had an anti-climactic ending when the other leader of S.E.X., Vince Russo, screwed Gilbertti by hitting him with a chair. Jarrett crawled on top of Gilbertti and it was over.

 

As I've said before, Glenn Gilbertti is my favorite all time wrestler and this match was the apex of a career that was good but deserved to be better. He was a part of the booking team in late WCW and also in TNA and he never allowed himself to go over the way that people like Jarrett, Nash, Hogan, HHH, etc have done in major wrestling feds.

[TracyBrooksFan]

Clash of Champions 1988 Sting vs Flair 45 minute match.

[ACCBiggz]

I really don't know if I could pick a single favorite match. 89-91 was probably my favorite time and a point in history that I love re-watching because it connects with my childhood. The 1990 Royal Rumble is one of my favorite matches and Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage at Wrestlemania V ia another. The build-up of The Mega-Powers and everything that went with it was just amazing as a child. Austin vs. Hart at Wrestlemania 13 and Michaels at 14 both ranked highly as well, but they don't have that same nostalgia for me and that's something that's different with everyone. And I'm sure I'm missing a lot of quality bouts from some of my favorite all-time workers (Perfect, Arn, etc.).

 

I think what we will find is a lot of people's favorite matches will be certain bouts either during their childhood or ones that helped them get in to wrestling because those are the ones that continue to resonate year after year as you connect with them.

 

He was a part of the booking team in late WCW and also in TNA and he never allowed himself to go over the way that people like Jarrett, Nash, Hogan, HHH, etc have done in major wrestling feds.

I don't want to get in to this discussion, but I will say that some of those guys a) get a bad wrap and b) were placed there after they were already over something that Gilbertti never was. The comparison doesn't necessarily fit. Triple H has been the recent worker to take the brunt of this kind of punishment and people fail to recognize that he has continually worked with new talent over the years and consistently put over others cleanly as well. But again, just wanted to throw that out there.

[Russo]

Lockdown 2010 Kurt Angle/Ken Anderson

[Jaysin]

I believe it was Bash at the Beach 96 where the Nasty Boys faced The Public Enemy. Not the best match ever or even my favorite, but one line always makes me smile...

 

Tony: "He's beating him with a rubber shark..."

Dusty: "...he's beating him with a rubber shark..."

Mike: "...he's beating him with a rubber shark..."

Heenan: "an inflatable rubber shark!"

 

But I guess my favorite of all time...hmmmm

 

I honestly don't know. Probably one of Sting and Flairs matches.

[ShaunGBD]

Alicia fox and Melina

[Jaysin]

Alicia fox and Melina

 

We need a like button

[brashleyholland]

Here's some from a non-wrestling fan.

 

- The first ever Hell in a Cell in October 1997. I guess I was about 13 at the time and it was one of the last WWF PPV's I watched in my wrestling phase. I moved to Holland a couple of months after it aired and there was no WWF on TV there, only WCW.

 

I just remember it being such a big deal; something that had never been done before and something that was going to be beyond brutal. It was probably the bloodiest match I'd seen at that point in time. Kane's debut and HBK going off the side of the cell were awesome moments. I guess it was surpassed by the Mankind/Taker and Cactus Jack/HHH HITC's in terms of insanity, but at the time, it was right up there for me.

 

- Steve Corino vs Jerry Lynn at Heatwave 2000. I was a good few years past wrestling at this point, had better things to do in Holland aged 16, if you catch my drift :-p Still, I'd occasionally borrow WWF PPV tapes off a kid in my class who was obsessed with wrestling. One day he have me ECW's Guilty As Charged and Anarchy Rules 2000. I'd never seen anything like it before...I'd only ever seen WWF and WCW's high-quality production and that, combined with the fact that I wasn't really 'in to' wrestling at the time (and I'd never seen any of the guys on the tapes before) made it difficult to get into. Still, the Lynn/Corrino match was awesome (it was the one where Lynn wrote "DIE" on his chest in Corrino's blood) and after watching it I rewound the tape and actually paid attention to the rest of the show. I ended up buying a ton of ECW tapes after that, but I think it shut up shop soon after.

 

- Hulk Hogan vs The Rock at Wrestlemania. I don't even know how I saw this...I get the feeling that maybe my little brother bought the tape/DVD years after it came out. I hadn't even thought about wrestling in years at the time and although I knew who The Rock was, I hadn't really seen him since the late 90's. Anyway, for some reason I ended up watching just that match and couldn't keep the grin off my face. For me, it was the best wrestling match of all time...I don't think I've ever seen a crowd so into it, and the way they switch good guy/bad guy roles when it became clear that the crowd were backing Hogan was awesome. Made me remember why I loved wrestling as a kid.

[Trell]

I'd have to say my favorite match has to be Macho man vs Ricky steamboat from WM3, and in close second would have to be any of the Bret hart vs Shawn michaels Iron man match, a tie for 3rd is Bret hart vs Stone cold and any of the steamboat vs Flair matches in the late 80's.

[OctoberRaven]

Minoru Suzuki vs Kenta Kobashi in NOAH c. 2004 for the GHC Heavyweight Title

 

Just an amazing bout. Kobashi has been GHC champion for about a year at this point and has turned down all comers in the process. Suzuki was just making the transition back to pro wrestler after retiring from Pancrase. Suzuki plays a total jerk heel (full-blown heels being a rarity in most puroresu promotions) and compliments Kobashi, arguably the greatest of his generation, and takes some of Kobashi's downright nastiest suplexes and comes back for more. Kobashi picks up yet another hard-fought win while Suzuki cements himself as a key freelance asset in Japan for years to come.

[TLLK]

Being the insane ROH fan that I am, I must say...

 

- Samoa Joe vs. Kenta Kobashi. An absolutely electric match several years ago that brought the house down.

 

- CM Punk vs. Colt Cabana. Punk's final ROH match was intense, and the post-match farewell from Punk was an emotional masterpiece. Wrestling done right, in my opinion.

 

- El Generico vs. Kevin Steen. Final Battle 2010. One of the best feuds in Indy history went down to a Mask vs. Career match that lived up to the months and months of buildup.

[Dragonmack]

I'd have to go with the first TLC tag match between Edge-Christian, The Hardy Boys and the Dudleys. That to me is probably my favorite overall match. While I am a Steamboat fanboy, of the three big matches he had with Flair, my favorite was the two out of three falls match because he actually used stuff not in his normal offense. The third one that everyone hails as the supposed best where Flair won the title back to me wasn't really all that great of a match.

[TakerNGN74]

I've said this before in another thread a while back but my favoriote matches are as follows...

 

Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker

Wrestlemania 25

 

In my opinion this match was the best match that they ever had and perhaps the greatest match ever. There match at 26 was good but it didn't even come close to how good their first match at Mania was.

 

Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Bret Hitman Hart

Wrestlemania 13

 

My Personal favoriote match of all time, this match was not only a good match but the fact that Bret Hart went into the match as the face and came out the heel and the fact that Stone Cold Steve Austin went into the match as the heel and came out as the face is amazing. I don't think that they could do that now maybe with Cena and another guy but it would have to be booked right. I also really loved this match because it showed you how tough Austin really was at the time. He was bleeding like crazy while in the sharpshooter and never quit instead he passed out and the match had to be stopped. That moment to me will always be etched in my mind and in WWE history.

 

Oh and just to note I laughed my ass off at Austins reponse to what that chick said her favoriote match was because to be quite honest I had no idea that Melina and Alicia Fox had even wrestled I mean yeah sure I was aware of it but I really could care less if they did or not because women's wrestling has never appealed to me. If I had to say one womens match I really liked it would have to be the Trish Stratus vs. Lita Match on Raw that was the main event because that was the first and only time that a womens match could get away with main eventing a Raw. She should have said that match and not the actual match that she said and my guess is that she wasn't a wrestling fan and that she just wanted to get on TV for her five minutes of fame which is sad cause someone else that deserved to be on the show could have gotten a chance instead of her.

 

Finally in closing sorry this is so fricken long.

[Save_Us.Necro]

Austin/Hart at WM13 as mentioned before

 

1992 Royal Rumble: Easily the best Rumble ever, with one of the best rosters (Hogan, Savage, Flair, Piper, Taker, etc) and features not only one of Flair's best performances but easily the best announced match I've ever heard thanks to Bobby Heenan.

 

Wrestle War 1992; The Dangerous Alliance vs. Sting's Squadron in War Games: My absolute favorite match ever. It's the best told, best worked matche I've ever seen. War Games was always the most dangerous match ever and this made it look like it was. There was multiple feuds in this match and all of them were vital to the match playing out. This is IMO the best match that not alot of people have seen. youtube it if you can

[The Final Countdown]

Being the insane ROH fan that I am, I must say...

 

- Samoa Joe vs. Kenta Kobashi. An absolutely electric match several years ago that brought the house down.

 

- CM Punk vs. Colt Cabana. Punk's final ROH match was intense, and the post-match farewell from Punk was an emotional masterpiece. Wrestling done right, in my opinion.

 

- El Generico vs. Kevin Steen. Final Battle 2010. One of the best feuds in Indy history went down to a Mask vs. Career match that lived up to the months and months of buildup.

If I told you that I've never seen Punk: The Final Chapter, would I be forced to turn in my ROH fan card?

 

Joebashi and Generico vs. Steen were both awesome, though. But I think my two favorite ROH matches are Danielson vs. McGuinness from Unified and Joe vs. Punk II.

 

 

1992 Royal Rumble: Easily the best Rumble ever, with one of the best rosters (Hogan, Savage, Flair, Piper, Taker, etc) and features not only one of Flair's best performances but easily the best announced match I've ever heard thanks to Bobby Heenan.

YES! Heenan was so entertaining in that match. Note to Michael Cole: THAT is how you announce a match as a heel.

[BHK1978]

You know I have to go with the Magnum T.A./Tully Blanchard I Quit match.

[dvdWarrior]

Dunno if I could pick a single favorite, but:

 

• Sting vs Flair from the first Clash of the Champions
  
• Magnum T.A. vs. Tully Blanchard from Starrcade '85
  
• Rey Mysterio vs Eddie Guerrero from Halloween Havoc
  
• Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels from WrestleMania 12
  
• RVD vs. Jerry Lynn from Hardcore Heaven '99
  

 

The Brian Pillman - Jushin Liger matches all get honorable mentions, as they paved the way for my fandom of cruiserweight wrestling, as well as the Sting/Pillman/Steiner Brothers vs Horsemen Wargames match from my 11th birthday was also a longtime favorite as well.

 

If I had to pick just one right now, it'd probably be the Mysterio - Guerrero match.

[Gabbo]

I've said this before in another thread a while back but my favoriote matches are as follows...

 

Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker

Wrestlemania 25

 

In my opinion this match was the best match that they ever had and perhaps the greatest match ever. There match at 26 was good but it didn't even come close to how good their first match at Mania was.

 

I've always thought 26 was better.

 

25 is the better match if you strip everything away and just watch two athletes in the ring for 20 minutes but that's not all what wrestling is about today. The characters, the situation and the goal just tipped 26 into first place for me. HBK giving his all, giving his career for one more chance. You could sense the self doubt and you could sense the all or nothing attitude in HBK alongside it. HBK stating his career means nothing if he can't beat The Undertaker at 'Mania. The match just meant so much more and for someone that appreciates the angle as much as the match (if done right) it just felt bigger, more important and more rewarding to me.

 

Entrances were epic at 25 though.

[TakerNGN74]

I've always thought 26 was better.

 

25 is the better match if you strip everything away and just watch two athletes in the ring for 20 minutes but that's not all what wrestling is about today. The characters, the situation and the goal just tipped 26 into first place for me. HBK giving his all, giving his career for one more chance. You could sense the self doubt and you could sense the all or nothing attitude in HBK alongside it. HBK stating his career means nothing if he can't beat The Undertaker at 'Mania. The match just meant so much more and for someone that appreciates the angle as much as the match (if done right) it just felt bigger, more important and more rewarding to me.

 

Entrances were epic at 25 though.

 

I am not talking about the story behind the match or the situation around the match I am talking about the match itself. If you watch both matches there is no question that WM 25's match was better than 26's. I am not arguing your opinion but if a guy like Jericho says that Wrestlemania 25's match was better than their match at 26 then that is what I would go on. He said it was the greatest match ever and that the match at 26 didn't even come close to touching 25's match. I respect your opinion I just don't agree with it but that's part of the debate of the Greatest match ever or your favoriote match ever.

[FlameSnoopy]

Austin vs. Hart from WM13.

It's not only the best match ever, it was also builded so damn well. The match lasted around 20 minutes, but the time flew by when watching it. The ending is perhaps the best around there as well, with the crowd really giving the respect to Steve Austin, as well as the main catalyst to Bret Hart's heel run. So much good in such a little time it's amazing. Plus, it featured my favourite all time wrestler (Steve Austin).

 

More recent examples include,

 

Shawn vs. Taker from WM26.

Gabbo explained most of the stuff that made the match great, but I disagree with "if you strip it, WM25 is a better match". The match in WM26 was the first five star match in a long, long time, while as WM25 was not even close to that remark. The match was just purely so epic, so good and so exciting, I doubt anything like this masterpiece will be achieved in a while.

 

 

Shawn vs. Flair from WM24.

This match was not the best match by far, didn't include the best wrestling, but it managed to showcase an incredible amount of emotion. It's pretty much the thing that made the match, without it it would have been just an ordinary match.

[Save_Us.Necro]

Just thought of another one

 

HHH vs. HBK Summerslam 2002: Not only was it just a great match in all aspects (in ring, story telling, crowd reaction, announcing) but just the fact it's HBK's first match in 4 years and for it to be so good is a testament why he's the best ever.