As a side project, Ive compiled a list of 200 matches: some classics I want to revisit, others significant matches with my all-time favourite wrestlers that Ive been meaning to check out.
Ive been doing one match from the list a night. Ive worked out a list of my all-time favourite wrestlers (a top 50), and plan on (re)watching a chronology of some of the greatest matches of their respective careers. But to start off, I decided to rewatch the 8 matches in WWF/E history that the Wrestling Observer has awarded an elusive 5-star rating, and log my thoughts. Here they are...
SHAWN MICHAELS VS RAZOR RAMON, LADDER MATCH, WRESTLEMANIA X
Historically significant as the first ladder match, at least according to WWE canon. Looking at it now, some say its less spectacular than modern ladder matches, but that works to its favour for me. Rather than feeling like a heavily choreographed stunt show with the performers rolling from one ornately set up spot to another, this feels raw, two enemies roughly scrambling with this new instrument and trying to figure out how to use it as a weapon, in the process inventing the language of ladder matches employed to this day. And the crowd are SO invested. Every simple motion from Shawn Michaels to lift the ladder overhead and crash it down into Razor Ramons gut has the kids in the crowd screaming in terror!
BRET HART VS OWEN HART, CAGE MATCH, SUMMERSLAM 1994
The history going into this match, and the story behind it, are a big factor in why the match stands as a classic. The rivalry between the two brothers had been developing since the previous years Survivor Series, and reached a fever pitch when Owen had got the shock win over Bret at WrestleMania 5 months earlier, going from there on a career ascent that put him here in the World Title picture. And here it feels like a big culmination, with the Hart family gathered at ringside to milk out maximum drama and gravitas. Not that the match itself was any slouch. It was a bit jarring at first how the focus was less on inflicting punishment on each other than just on escaping, with the punishment coming as a consequence of that. But once I got into this more old-school rhythm it became gripping viewing, with some heart-stopping false finishes. Owen was like the Terminator in this match, where on more than one occasion I thought Bret was ready to win when Owen would leap across the ring to grab him by the hair and drag him back in. This really should have been a star-cementing turn for Owen that should have seen him as World Champ by Survivor Series, but for whatever reason things never worked out that way.
BRET HART VS STEVE AUSTIN, SUBMISSION MATCH, WRESTLEMANIA XIII
What surprised me about this match, watching it back, was how short it was. In my head, with what a massive match it was for me as a wrestling fan, I had it blown up to be at least twice as long. But Hart and Austin go at it at a relentless pace, its a violent, hard-hitting sprint of the match, where you can feel the hatred and boiling over emotions from bell to bell. People rightly praise Austin for his iconic, blood-soaked performance, the match that cemented him as the most popular star in the company and kickstarted the attitude era. But its perhaps Bret Hart who impressed me most of all here. He does great work with one of wrestling historys most justified heel turns. He never changed: he still slaps hands and gives his glasses to little kids, he still believes in classic sportsmanship. Its the fans who changed, who treat him with contempt while cheering on this foul-mouthed thug who treats them like crap and has spent months running Hart and his family down. At the end, soaking in the audience boos, Hart looks on with bafflement and even hurt.
SHAWN MICHAELS VS THE UNDERTAKER, HELL IN A CELL, IN YOUR HOUSE: BADD BLOOD
Weve perhaps become desensitised to Hell in a Cell now, with how often its dragged out, and it even having its own branded PPV. But this was the first, and if anything, the roughness to it, the growing pains with trying to grasp the format with the performers and even the cameras, adds to its raw power. Unlike a cage match, theres no focus on escape, its all about the promise of these two hurting each other that has the live crowd rabid. And hurt is certainly inflicted, on Shawn Michaels in particular. He gets the crap kicked out of him in this match, and has one of the nastier blade jobs Ive seen, its like watching a mugging! At the time of watching this on first airing as a kid, I was kinda willing it to end to get to the much anticipated and expected arrival of Kane, and it was the second Hell in a Cell against Mankind the following year that wowed me. But watching this one back now I have a whole new appreciation for the viciousness of this fight, and the dynamite performances put in by The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels. Bret Hart may have been champion, and Steve Austin may have had the most buzz around him, but at this moment, these two were arguably the two best acts in wrestling.
JOHN CENA VS CM PUNK, MONEY IN THE BANK 2011
The formula of John Cena VS an indie darling who is ostensibly the heel but who the fans rally behind has produced some of Cenas best matches. And Id argue that some of the ones that followed this one - VS Daniel Bryan, VS Kevin Owens, VS AJ Styles, maybe VS Seth Rollins if you can look past the screwy Jon Stewart finish - are possibly superior, from a pure in-ring perspective at least. But what sets this one apart, and what Id imagine helped it be the first canon 5-Star match for WWE in 14 years, is the absolutely electric atmosphere of the Chicago crowd in getting behind hometown hero CM Punk. There is one moment in particular, where I can remember being sure the match was over: Punk had kicked out of an F5, hed got some shine, but then Cena hits him with a second F5 and goes for the quick pin, no delay. You can feel the energy being sucked out of the arena... then when he kicks out at 2 AGAIN, the roof blows off that place! For the whole match, and especially with the result, the experience of watching that match felt like a new era being born, and a new star to be at its forefront.
Now, Im something of a geek for wrestling narrative, and enjoy building long term structured meta-narratives out of what was in fact a lot of on-the-fly booking and throwing crap at the wall. I said at the time this felt like the star is born moment. But if we look at the John Cena/Rock Saga as one big two year story, an era of WWE, then the primary overarching villain of that era is surely CM Punk. And again, this is likely giving them too much credit, but when you consider the heel champion run Punk would embark on through 2012 and the contempt for fans that was such a feature of it, and consider that Cole on commentary even signposts Punks 2009 run in the Straight Edge Society and tendency to manipulate people by telling them what they want to hear... I have a theory that I believe makes this match much richer. CM Punk never turned face. In kayfabe, at least, he remained the same self-absorbed scumbag that he was before dropping the Pipebomb and after attacking The Rock, and the whole voice of the voiceless shtick was a ruse to get the fans to play along and help him achieve his own ends. And when you look at it, the story here - Punk threatening to walk out of the company holding the title hostage - is the same one that got him nuclear heel heat on his way out of ROH. Which makes the fans buying into it so completely actually kinda tragic in hindsight, and makes Cenas role here, weathering the storm of fan hatred and being determined to do the right thing even when it ultimately costs him the match, even more heroic.
ANDRADE CIEN ALMAS VS JOHNNY GARGANO, NXT TAKEOVER: PHILADELPHIA
Its rare for me to revisit a match so soon after watching it, but in the case of this bout, doing so was a pleasure. The story told here is just so powerful: Johnny Gargano the ultimate underdog, coming off a terrible 2017 following the dissolution of his tag team with Tommaso Ciampa and a subsequent losing streak, who has fought back on the comeback trail. Andrade Cien Almas is the champion, the man seemingly destined for glory by birthright with his third generation wrestling lineage, with all the momentum having recently gained the belt, and crucially, already holding two wins over Gargano. This was one of the best types of wrestling story, where your logical brain tells you Almas likely holds onto the belt until the big WrestleMania weekend show to drop it to Aleister Black while Gargano goes off to fight Ciampa, but Gargano draws you in and emotionally invests you to the point where youre thinking maybe, just maybe, he might upset those expectations...
Not that this is a one man show. Both Gargano and Almas are superb here. For all the talk about how some folk are great in the indies or Japan and not the same once they hit WWE, you could argue both these guys have hit a whole other level in NXT this year. Its like watching Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels in 1994, including the excitement of knowing theres potential for both to get even better. I love the story of Almas at first being one step ahead of Gargano at every turn, until Gargano digs deep and matches him, then Almas tries obliterating Johnny with the big moves, but Gargano wont quit and brings the fight right back. Then Zelina Vega, playing her role to the hilt, gets involved. At every stage, the crowd are right there in the palm of their hands, utterly invested in every moment, which is as essential to the matchs success as any of the incredible moves and exchanges featured. Kudos also to Mauro Ranallo for some all-time great commentary.
Some seem to be scoffing at the cluster of 5-Star ratings given over to WWE this year after it being so rare for them to get that rating over the past few decades. But honestly, having watched all the previous 5-Star WWF/E matches, this holds up as up there with the best of them.
EC3 VS KILLIAN DAIN VS ADAM COLE VS VELVETEEN DREAM VS LARS SULLIVAN VS RICOCHET, LADDER MATCH, NXT TAKEOVER: NEW ORLEANS
When watching WWEs original ladder match, between Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon, I remarked on how basic it was, and how part of what made it so special was the huge reaction even the simplest offence with the ladder got, as it felt so shocking and new. And with the countless ladder matches weve seen since then, this was the first one since then (in WWE at least) to get that 5-star rating. And it could be because, even with how jaded we are to these things now, this has such shocking spectacle that it was able to recapture that original amazement. There were at least two moments in this match where I said out loud, No f***ing way! when I could see a big moment approaching. And the spot with Ricochet moonsaulting off the toppling ladder is perhaps the most visually stunning moment Ive ever seen in a ladder match. The pace is relentless, everyone feels like they are playing a role and have something to do throughout, and the bumps are BRUTAL: there is at least two moments where I think they should have just done a stretcher job on EC3 and carted him away, he looked like he got KILLED! Is it the best ladder match ever? I dont know if Id go that far, the classic original TLC matches have to be up there, along with a few others. But it made a format that was in danger of being played out feel fresh and exciting again, and everyone involved came out of the match more over than when they went in. Also surely on the shortlist among the all-time great opening matches.
JOHNNY GARGANO VS TOMMASO CIAMPA, UNSANCTIONED MATCH, NXT TAKEOVER: NEW ORLEANS
Johnny Garganos TakeOver performances against Andrade Cien Almas and here, against arch nemesis Tommaso Ciampa, has to be up there with some of the best performances by wrestlers in back-to-back events against different opponents. Other notables of mine would probably be Bryan Danielson in his 2006 and 2007 ROH runs, Samoa Joe having two 5-star matches for different companies in the space of a month in 2005, or Shawn Michaels underrated 1996 World Title reign. But in Garganos case, each match is a different beast, and Gargano giving an emotionally-charged superstar performance for the ages in both. I possibly prefer the Almas one, but this showdown with Ciampa is also a masterclass, and the long-term rivalry behind it gives it this whole other dimension of added emotional gravitas. Certainly, the crowd buy into the drama here of Garganos career being at stake every step of the way, which helps push it to another level.
As much as I praise Gargano, Ciampa matches him step for step here, as reprehensible and monstrous and deserving of the crowds derision as Gargano is heroic and determined and holding the hearts of the whole audience. The drama alone could probably have sold a pretty basic match, but neither settles for that, and so the intensity is upped with some truly vicious, wince-inducing bumps, like the suplex off the table or the powerbomb onto concrete. This felt like a brawl, but not the high concept chaos of an ECW-style extreme match, rather something more old school, like an NWA era street fight or grudge match. Perhaps the match it most reminded me of was the classic Ric Flair/Terry Funk I Quit Match, just in that feeling of two guys who want to seriously hurt each other having a FIGHT.
Gargano and Ciampa told an epic story here, full of callbacks to their twisting history. And that closing moment, with the emotional pause followed by that nasty as hell Gargano Escape with the hooked knee and the brace, is just about the most rewarding culmination of this saga you could hope for.
Feel free to join in with chatting about any of these matches, too!
