Pro Wrestling Matches Of The Year

[cactusmaac]

Pick your favourite match of the year from whichever starting point you want, using any fed from anywhere.


My list (forgive the WWE bias):

1990 - Hulk Hogan vs Ultimate Warrior (Wrestlemania 6)

Hart Foundation vs Demolition at Summerslam '90 was a very close second, but this match between the biggest two stars of the era beats it for sheer atmosphere.

1991 - Steiners vs Lex Luger and Sting (Superbrawl '91)

Awesome tag match. It's a surprise to see Luger working so hard.

1992 - Bret Hart vs Davey Boy Smith (Summerslam '92)

1993 - Bret Hart vs Mr Perfect (King Of The Ring '93)

1994 - Shawn Michaels vs Razor Ramon (Wrestlemania X)

Probably the most influential WWE match of the 90's.

1995 - Diesel vs Bret Hart (Survivor Series '95)

Nothing really stands out in what was a poor year wrestling-wise.

1996 - Bret Hart vs Stone Cold Steve Austin (Survivor Series '96)

Austin's best wrestling match ever and the one that put him on the road to becoming a superstar.

1997 - Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels (Badd Blood '97)

Incredibly violent match from a very strong field of candidates. Other contenders were Bret Hart vs SCSA (WM 13), Bret Hart vs Undertaker (One Night Only '97), Shawn Michaels & SCSA vs Davey Boy Smith & Owen Hart (Raw) and Eddie Guerrerro vs Rey Mysterio Jnr (Halloween Havoc '97).

1998 - Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Dude Love (Over The Edge '98)

Hey, I need Mick Foley on this list at least somewhere. :)

1999 - Bret Hart vs Chris Benoit (Nitro '99)

The Owen Hart tribute match.

2000 - Triple H vs The Rock (Judgement Day '00)

The best Iron Man match the WWE has put on, and the reason I got into it again after a long stretch away.

2001 - The Rock vs Chris Jericho (No Mercy '01)

Underrated match from two of my favourite performers.

2002 - Kurt Angle & Chris Benoit vs Edge & Rey Mysterio Jnr - 2 out of 3 falls (Smackdown 11/11/02)

Awesome tag match from when Smackdown was the best wrestling show TV had ever seen.

2003 - Kurt Angle vs Chris Benoit (Royal Rumble '03)

It's pretty rare for a match to stay as the firm MOTY favourite from so early on in the year, but this was the exception.

2004 - Triple H vs Shawn Michaels vs Chris Benoit (Wrestlemania XX)

one of those times when a belt switch really means something.

2005 - Samoa Joe vs AJ Styles vs Christopher Daniels (TNA Unbreakable 2005)

WWE Triple Threat matches generally boil down to one-on-one contests where an alternating particpant stays out of the action. This featured constant interplay between all three contenders and was a sheer joy to watch.

2006? - Mick Foley vs Edge (Wrestlemania 22)

What I've currently got pencilled in. Angle vs Undertaker from No Way Out was also good but both men have had better matches with other people before they accumulated their massive list of injuries.

[Forefinger]

2003 - Kurt Angle vs Chris Benoit (Royal Rumble '03)

It's pretty rare for a match to stay as the firm MOTY favourite from so early on in the year, but this was the exception.

Was this the 30 minute ironman submission match?

[Hiromi]

If you needed a Foley match there's a better one from that same year, Mankind vs Undertaker, Hell in a Cell at King of the Ring 98.

[Scorpion13]

I gotta disagree with the 97 pick.

Not only was the Hart/Austin match brutal and well worked, it included a double turn which signaled the beginning of the Attitude era, wherein the clean cut babyface was booed over the trash talking badass.

[JohnPopa]

I've been watching wrestling for a bit over 23 years -- do you know how much research this would take? :)

[BoosterBronze]

Here's a few of my pics off the top of my head.

2005- HBK vs. Angle, WM 21
2002- HHH vs. HBK Summerslam
2001- HHH vs. Undertaker, WM 17, IMHO both of their best matches.
1997- HBK vs. Taker Badd Blood
1994- Ladder Match. Nuff said
1993- Hart vs. Diesel, Survivor Series
1992- Flair winning Rumble
1991- Hart vs. Perfect, Summerslam
1905- Hackenshmidt vs. Gotch

[StrawNilla]

1992-Bret Hart/British Bulldog (Summerslam '92)
1999-Bret Hart/Chris Benoit (Owen Hart tribute match)
2000-Triangle Ladder Match (WM 16)
2001-either TLC 2 or Rock/Austin (WM 17), honorable mention goes out to HHH/'Taker (WM 17)
2003-Chris Benoit/Kurt Angle (Royal Rumble '03), honorable mention goes out to Shawn Micheals/Chris Jericho (WM 19) and Brock Lesnar/Big Show (Smackdown) where the Big Show gets superplexed
2004-HHH vs Benoit vs Shawn Micheals (WM 20), honorable mention goes out to the string of classics Eddie Guerrero had with Kurt Angle on SmackDown
2005-I'll throw in my bid for Eddie Guerrero/Kurt Angle on SD
2006-Kurt Angle/Rey Mysterio jr. for the World Heavyweight championship (SmackDown)

[StrawNilla]

Was this the 30 minute ironman submission match?
Nah, this one was for the WWE championship. Hey Forefinger, how good was the 30 minute submission ironman match?

[Erik Lehnsherr]

Hakushi vs Bret Hart was MUCH superior than Bret vs Diesel in 1995. And even though Lesnar is overrated to a great extent, Eddie carried the kid to his best match ever at NWO '04. A match that was better story-wise and work wise to HHH vs Michaels vs Benoit. Probably the last great true comeback match of such magnitude.

[Leslie Lee III]

It'd take more time than I'm really willing to put into a message board post, but:

1993: Akira Hokuto vs Kandori - Best. Match. Ever.

2001: Meiko Satomaru vs Aja Kong - GAEA - David vs Goliath with lots more stiff kicks.

2005: Low Ki vs KENTA - ROH - Lots of other contenders from NOAH and ROH, but that one brought the best of both worlds together even moreso than Joe vs Kobashi.

2006: Eh...KENTA vs Kobashi has been the best I've seen so far.

And even though Lesnar is overrated to a great extent, Eddie carried the kid to his best match ever at NWO '04. A match that was better story-wise and work wise to HHH vs Michaels vs Benoit. Probably the last great true comeback match of such magnitude.

It was a great match, but I wouldn't put it above the triple threat especially with the asinine Goldberg run-in at the end.

[Erik Lehnsherr]

Goldberg was a story point though that blended with what they wanted to do with Lesnar but the WORK can not be denied. I've never seen such a great Lesnar match in my life and Eddie just proved once again that he can work with any kind of talent there is and get the best out of them.

[Erik Lehnsherr]

Oh yeah. There is NO DOUBT that Eddie/Rey was the MOTY in 1997. Halloween Havoc '97 was as close to a legitimate 5 star match as your gonna get.

[Forefinger]

Nah, this one was for the WWE championship. Hey Forefinger, how good was the 30 minute submission ironman match?
Fucking awesome! It's one of my favorites. I guess that was at a Backlash now that I think about it. I'd suggest looking for it on youtube, but I don't know what kind of luck you will have finding it. I posted a link to it on the wrasslin thread at one point.

[Forefinger]

Hakushi vs Bret Hart was MUCH superior than Bret vs Diesel in 1995. And even though Lesnar is overrated to a great extent, Eddie carried the kid to his best match ever at NWO '04. A match that was better story-wise and work wise to HHH vs Michaels vs Benoit. Probably the last great true comeback match of such magnitude.
I stand by the triple-threat at Wrestlemania 20. I can't remember the last time I was so excited watching a WWE match as I was watching that one.

[marshal99]

Was this the 30 minute ironman submission match?

I do believe the 30 min ultimate submission match was in 2001 before the whole WCW/ECW invasion if i'm not wrong , i remember it because Chris Jericho & William Regal also had a feud at that time and RAW and Smackdown had all 4 guys in tag matches , and it was pretty entertaining as they had submission tag matches and regular ones leading up to the PPV.

The 2003 match was for the championship when Team Angle (Benjamin & Haas) was the tag champs , they were barred from ringside and Angle & Benoit had a outstanding match which after Angle won and left , Benoit received a standing ovation at the end. Pretty much almost all of Benoit/Angle matches had been outstanding matches as they complement one another very well.

[Forefinger]

I do believe the 30 min ultimate submission match was in 2001 before the whole WCW/ECW invasion if i'm not wrong , i remember it because Chris Jericho & William Regal also had a feud at that time and RAW and Smackdown had all 4 guys in tag matches , and it was pretty entertaining as they had submission tag matches and regular ones leading up to the PPV.

The 2003 match was for the championship when Team Angle (Benjamin & Haas) was the tag champs , they were barred from ringside and Angle & Benoit had a outstanding match which after Angle won and left , Benoit received a standing ovation at the end. Pretty much almost all of Benoit/Angle matches had been outstanding matches as they complement one another very well.
Thanks for the history lesson.

I think that they really missed the boat recently. They should have had another Benoit/Angle program. I'm still hoping for one over the World title when Angle returns.

[Hiromi]

Oh yeah. There is NO DOUBT that Eddie/Rey was the MOTY in 1997. Halloween Havoc '97 was as close to a legitimate 5 star match as your gonna get.

You can find that one on Youtube, Rey pulled off some of the best Luchador moves WCW saw during its entire run in that match.

[cactusmaac]

If you needed a Foley match there's a better one from that same year, Mankind vs Undertaker, Hell in a Cell at King of the Ring 98.

It was a pretty stunning match to watch, but other than the shock factor of the two bumps, it doesn't really belong with the other MOTYCs.

[Erik Lehnsherr]

It was a pretty stunning match to watch, but other than the shock factor of the two bumps, it doesn't really belong with the other MOTYCs.

Rock vs HHH at Summerslam '98 was in another league compared to Foley/Taker at King of the Ring. The Foley/Taker match only matters because of Foley getting his asskicked the whole match. That's all. It didn't have any match build or psychology in the least.