The 411 Wrestling Top 5 4.29.09: Week 20 – Fan Making Moments

Posted by Michael Bauer on 04.29.2009

From Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant and the Monday Night Wars, to your first live event and even the births of ROH and TNA, the 411 staff ranks their top moments that made them a fan of pro wrestling in the latest edition of the 411 Wrestling Top 5! Check out the full article for all the details and make sure to share your own fan making moments!

Hello everyone and welcome to 411 Wrestling's Top 5 List. What we are going to is take a topic each week and all the writers here on 411 wrestling will have the ability to give us their Top 5 on said topic, plus up to three honorable mentions. At the end, based on where all these matches rank on people's list, we will create the 411 Wrestling Top 5 list. The scoring is very similiar to the Wrestler of the Week as it looks like this:

#1 Choice – 5 points
#2 Choice – 4 points
#3 choice – 3 points
#4 Choice – 2 points
#5 Choice – 1 point
Honorable Mentions will break ties, but get no points.

Also, in the case of a tie, the most votes win, regardless of where it is listed in the individual Top 5. I will also use this rule in the event that one item is mentioned more often, but is one point behind. For example, one second place vote and two Honorable Mentions will defeat simply one first place vote.


So, on to this week's topic…

THE TOP 5 MOMENTS THAT MADE YOU A FAN

In one of the most subjective topics we could possibly do, we asked the 411 Staff to give us their Top 5 moments that made them a fan of Pro Wrestling or kept them from shitting away their fandom of the entertainment. For each person who is a fan of wrestling, or anything else for that matter, there is that moment that made them say, "Hey, I like this stuff. Let me get more into it." It could be a match, a specific moment, or just some event that had that wow factor for us.

Now, being that this topic can range from the 1970's, 1980's, 1990's, or this decade because of the different ages of the 411 Staff, we will not be doing an Overall Top 5 this week. There is no right and wrong answers here, just the truthful ones.


So what did our great group of writers select? Let's find out…



Shawn S. Lealos

5.TNA and ROH starts up - Yeah, I'm going there. I am so annoyed at stupid people who think that unless you are the WWE, you suck. I get so sick of hearing people talk about these two organizations as low class and nothing promotions. People need to understand that if all that existed was the WWE, things would get stale really fast. TNA and ROH give me an alternative to what the WWE pushes out there week after week. I love the WWE, but I also like to see other things as well. It's called being a well rounded individual and people need to figure that out. ROH is not about spot monkeys or people wrestling in a gym in front of 300 people. It is great athletes putting their hearts into giving fans a great show. If you love the wrestling part of the industry, you can't help but admire ROH. If you do, I don't believe you love the actual wrestling in a show. TNA is the closest I have to WCW, which I loved until the minute Vince opened the final episode. It is different than the WWE and that is fine with me. I don't want an alternative that gives me the same thing the WWE gives me. I want different types of entertainment and between WWE, TNA and ROH, I get three different forms of entertainment and that is what keeps me a fan to this day.

4.Shawn Michaels becomes the Show Stopper - I was a HUGE Shawn Michaels fan when he was wrestling with Marty Jannetty as the Midnight Rockers in the AWA. True Story: As a little kid, I took a picture of Shawn Michaels with me to the barber and said I wanted my hair to be just like that. When the two went to the WWF, I followed them even while my interest in wrestling was fading and I reached college age. I missed a lot of his transformation into the egotistical boy toy, but remember the time he threw Marty through the barbershop window vividly. I didn't care, because he was still my favorite. When I started watching wrestling again, it was all about Shawn and Bret Hart in the WWF and I still chose to side with the bad guy Shawn. When Shawn and Hunter started tearing things up, I loved every minute. Then when his career came to an end, I was devastated. My favorite wrestler of all time was gone and I'd never see him perform again. When he returned a few years later, I leapt to my feet (still a dork) and screamed in joy. To this day, Shawn Michaels is who I want to see on my TV over any other wrestler.

3.The Von Erichs ruled Texas - These were the wrestlers who made me a huge fan of professional wrestling. For much of my youth, there was no one better in my eyes than the Modern Day Warrior Kerry Von Erich. The feuds with The Freebirds as well as Chris Adams and Gino Hernandez still reign in my memory as the greatest feuds of all time. When Kerry beat Ric Flair for the NWA World Championship at his brother's memorial card, it was a great, great moment in my memories. The tragedy that struck down David, and then Mike and then Kerry is part of what made me quit watching wrestling completely. However, for about ten years the Von Erichs were what kept me a fan.

2.The Outsiders invade WCW - As I said, I quit watching wrestling for a few years after the tragedy of World Class Wrestling but one night I was flipping channels and, by fluke or fate, saw something that caught my interest. I had quit watching wrestling but still listened occasionally to things that were going on in the industry. One guy I remembered was Scott Hall, a cowboy from the AWA that won the tag titles with Curt Henning. I knew he went to the WWF and became Razor Ramone, but I never really think I saw him wrestle a match there at all (I have seen a lot of them since). There he was sitting in the audience and I was curious. Then he stepped over the rail and said he was coming to WCW and was bringing friends. What the hell, my naïve self thought! Then Kevin Nash showed up and the "invasion" was on. I was hooked once again, thanks to the great storyline of the nWo.

1.Mid South Wrestling won me over - I live in Oklahoma so my first experiences with professional wrestling was with Mid South and World Class Wrestling. There were quite a few individuals in Mid South like Dr Death Steve Williams, Ted DiBiase and The Rock n Roll Express that made me love that federation. The wrestling was rough and tumble, a no bullshit attitude that really made me take notice. There were bigger than life superstars, like the giant Humongous, wearing that hokey mask, but he wasn't a cartoon character, he was a scary ass dude. I started watching after Magnum TA, Junkyard Dog and others had already passed through, but the time I started watching made me love the sport. From Jake "The Snake" Roberts' feud with Humongous, to great tag teams like the Rock n Roll Express, Fantastics and Fabulous Ones, to the evil Devestation Inc with Scandar Akabar, to "Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert introducing the world the tag team of The Blade Runners (who would later be known as Sting and the Ultimate Warrior). I couldn't have picked a better time to start watching wrestling.



Ryan Byers

5.Aja Kong vs. Chaparita ASARI (Monday Night Raw, December 1995) - In the mid-1990's, the World Wrestling Federation had a working relationship with All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling. This began with Bull Nakano coming in to the company to feud with Women's Champion Alundra Blayze. That feud caught my eye as the two had consistently good, albeit not overwhelmingly good, matches. AJW then produced a new rival for Blayze in the form of Aja Kong. Two weeks after making her WWF debut at the Survivor Series, Kong and fellow AJW import Chaparita ASARI had a match on Monday Night Raw which is forever etched in my mind. If I recall correctly, ASARI busted out a lovely skytwister press, a move not seen at all in mainstream American wrestling at the time. On top of that, Kong broke her opponent's nose with a backfist, which was definitely not to be expected in US women's wrestling. The bout left an impression on me for quite some time, enough that women's wrestling in Japan was one of the first things that I started to search for and watch when I regularly began following pro wrestling on the internet a few years later. That one showcase match on Raw got me hooked on a whole new genre of wrestling, which in some ways built up to my current enjoyment of promotions like SHIMMER.

4.Dean Malenko vs. Rey Misterio, Jr. (Monday Nitro, 6/17/96) - I missed the 1996 version of the Great American Bash, where Rey Misterio, Jr. made his WCW debut. However, the next night on Monday Nitro, Misterio and opponent Dean Malenko put on a rematch of their Cruiserweight Title bout which may have eclipsed the original. There was a reason that the work of guys like Malenko and Misterio was said to have "revolutionized" American wrestling in the 1990's, and I was immediately hooked on their groundbreaking style the second that I locked my eyes on it. It allowed me to enjoy wrestling in a whole new way, and watching the game evolve probably prevented me from getting bored with the whole sport.

3.Owen Hart turns on Bret Hart (Royal Rumble 1994) - I have told this (somewhat embarrassing) story on 411 before, but I'll do it again. When I was a kid, I loved High Energy. Yes, I was the world's biggest mark for Koko B. Ware and Owen Hart, mainly because I had ZERO fashion sense and thought their oversized windpants were the coolest things I had ever seen in my life. Looking back at it now, I was a moron. In any event, when Owen left the team, I remained a fan of his - even when it looked like he might be turning heel. He was probably my favorite guy on the roster, but part of me, even before the internet smartened us all up, felt that he would never be a main event guy because he had never gotten all that far in the company. Then, almost out of nowhere, the big turn at the Royal Rumble happened. In their Tag Team Championship match, Owen kicked Bret's leg out of his, um, leg, and a new top heel in the World Wrestling Federation was born. I was already in to wrestling pretty heavily by that point, but the fact that one of my favorite guys was finally getting a run at the top turned 1994 in to the year that I cared about wrestling perhaps more than any other.

2.Ricky Steamboat vs. Steve Austin (Clash of the Champions, 8/28/94) - This match is important to my history as a wrestling fan for a couple of different reasons. First of all, prior to this point, I had been a pretty hard and fast WWF mark. It's not as though I had watched other wrestling companies and decided that they weren't for me . . . I just hadn't seen much reason to give anything other than the Fed a shot. Then, for whatever reason, I caught the Clash of the Champions one night while channel surfing. Eventually the show came to Austin vs. Steamboat for the United States Title. I don't know if the match would hold up as a classic if I went back and watched it today, but, at the time, I couldn't believe the effort that these two were putting in to their contest. It seemed significantly more athletic than the majority of the wrestling I had watched up to that point in my life, and I dug it. It was at that point I decided to add WCW to my regular rasslin diet. However, on top of that, this was probably the match which more than any other resulted in me becoming a "workrate" fan. Starting at this point and moving forward, if it didn't involve a good in-ring performance, I wasn't going to even try to be entertained by it. Fortunately I've softened that stance significantly over the years, as wrestling is much more fun to watch without that mindest.

1.Roddy Piper Rambles About . . . Something (Undetermined Point in the Early 1990's) - Yes, it's probably pretty odd for me to list a moment that I have no precise memory of as number one. However, it really was what got me started watching wrestling, even if it was so many matches and so many promos ago that I've forgotten what it was all about. You see, I grew up on the outskirts of a small midwestern town without cable. For the majority of my childhood, we got five television stations, and some rainy weekends consisted of almost nothing aside from flipping back and forth between them until SOMETHING interesting popped up. On one of those weekends, I came across a broadcast of WWF Superstars. "Rowdy" Roddy Piper was being featured, and, though to this day I do not know what he was talking about, something in my pre-pubescent mind decided that he was the single coolest human being on the planet. I tuned back in to see him next week and the week after that, coming to enjoy more of the Fed's characters in the process. That's what began my wrestling fandom, which has lasted uninterrupted for almost twenty years now. As a result, I have to stick this promo at the top of the list, even if my mind fails me as to the specifics of the "moment."



Julian Bond

HONORABLE MENTIONS

ROH (Ring of Honor) - When the crazy antics of TNA and the WWE sometimes gets on my nerves, I thankfully turn to the best pure wrestling alternative around in the form of ROH. Definitely gives me confidence that basic awesome wrestling (minus BS gimmicks and storylines) is still alive and well.

Mick Foley - Foley is easily my favorite wrestler of all time. He may be a little off nowadays in his current TNA role, but the man has provided countless great memories for me including his crazy multiple personas and the infamous Hell In A Cell match.

Hulk Hogan - If it wasn't for Hogan in the 80s, I may have never ever turned to an episode of wrestling as a kid. The man officially made it cool to be a fan of the sport.

5.The NWO (New World Order) - Before I became fully pulled into wrestling with the rise of Stone Cold Steve Austin, I slowly got hooked back into watching wrestling as a teen with the antics of the NWO. I like everyone else was shocked as all hell with seeing the former Razor Ramon (Scott Hall) and Diesel (Kevin Nash) cross over seamlessly from WWF into WCW Land. Then when the group blew up to include everyone and their mama in the company, it became a full-blown drama to see how the remaining WCW faces can stand up to the massive mob. Watching people like DDP, Goldberg, Luger, and Sting try and fight only to get beat down most of the time every week was the some of the most fun I've ever had watching the sport.

4.ECW - The moment I discovered ECW in the middle of the "Monday Night Wars" between WWE and WCW, it opened up my eyes to the different styles of wrestling that I was totally missing out on. Seeing so many various wrestlers like Super Crazy, the Dudleys, Tajiri, Taz, Steve Corino, RVD, Jerry Lynn, and so many others tear up the house every night on the most unorthodox, bootleg looking wrestling show barely found locally on my small TV screen absolutely got me utterly hooked and first instilled in me the fact that there exists (via them and other independent wrestling companies including ROH) other alternatives to the standard WWE and WCW shows that I've so used to seeing as a youth.

3.The Dominance of Bret Hart - Bret Hart made me watch wrestling all throughout the 90s. Period. While I wasn't a die-hard fan like I am today, I was still hooked on catching wrestling whenever I could mostly because I knew Bret Hart was going to kick someone's ass. I was so used to seeing big dudes like Hogan, Taker, and Diesel (Nash) dominating everyone and to see someone like the much shorter, not too muscular Hart take it to all of these people and then some was a sight to behold. And it was even crazier that the man didn't have to use big moves to get over. He took his deep knowledge of highly skilled technical wrestling and made it into some of the most enjoyable moments in wrestling ever. A true testament to this was with his Iron Man match against Shawn Michaels. To have a kid like me be actually glued to my TV for a straight hour without alerting my natural ADD to turn the channel is a feat onto itself.

2.WCW Cruiserweights/TNA X-Division - The sight of these various cruiserweights in these divisions is literally my anchor to continually watch wrestling. When everyone's storylines are crappy and the current main eventers end up being lame, I always looked to the high flying action of the cruserweights to keep me in line. Watching SO many different styles of wrestling from all over the globe (Mexico – Mysterio, Super Crazy, ; Japan – Tajiri, Taka Michinoku, Ultimo Dragon) along with our homegrown wrestlers here (Kidman, Styles, Daniels, London, Sabin) has continuously kept my faith strong in wrestling being good. Despite not being as strong today, the sheer fact of one putting on a cruiserweight match nowadays or even going back and watching them all on DVD/tape always reminds me of why I am a fan today.

1.Stone Cold vs. McMahon - This storyline was the sole reason why I was fully drawn into watching wrestling on a full-time basis. The moment when Austin stunned the once-coveted announcer/WWE owner Vince McMahon, I was instantly hooked and made it a semi-religious ritual of tuning into wrestling on a weekly basis. Instead of being afraid to tell my friends about it, back then it was perfectly cool to discuss the going-ons of Monday Night Raw at the school lunch table. Without this storyline, I may have not been persuaded all the way just on the NWO saga alone to become a full-fledged follower of wrestling.



Scott Rutherford

HONORABLE MENTIONS

WM1 - The first wrestling I ever saw.

Funk & Foley teeing off with chairs on each other at Royal Rumble '98 - I was just coming back to wrestling after time away and watching these two just knock the piss out of each other was HIGHLY entertaining. It certainly created enough interest for me to keep tuning back in to watch. Yes, Mick Foley put my ass in my living room seat

5.Seeing my first Road Warriors squash - From some episode long forgotten of Championship Wrestling, the Legion of Doom used to just murder jobbers back in the day. I had never seen someone with their look, their presence and their attitude and coming from cartoon-centric WWF this was a shock to my fan system. What I realize now was that the NWA offered a more realistic product and that came through watching them for the first time because they brought a genuine edge to their matches. Some say the Midnight Express turned jobber matches into an art form but give me L.O.D killing hapless jobbers any day. And it only took up 60 seconds of your life!

4.Bret Hart wins the IC Title - While I was fast losing my mark status at this time and discovering about the backstage workings of wrestling and smartening up, this was the first occasion when my smark knowledge was satisfied and someone winning meant more than wrestler A beating wrestler B. This was victory as affirmation and while these moments don't happen very often, I was strangely, justifiably proud when Hart won the IC title as I knew he was being pushed as a star and rightly so. You should have seen me a couple short years later when he won the world title…

3.No Mercy '99 – Ladder Match - While the WWF had heated up again thanks to Steve Austin and the mayhem that followed him around what had been missing for a while was a must see spectacle that had people buzzing and wanting to tune in again for their next match. Edge & Christian and the Hardy's certainly provided a buzz. While there had been sporadic appearances of the ladder match since Razor/Shawn it certainly wasn't on their level, but with these four uniquely talented wrestlers they manage to restart the nearly dormant tag team scene and create a must see atmosphere when they wrestled each other. It helped cement me as a fan again after only watching cursorily for the few years before after becoming bored with the product.

2.Randy Savage nearly kills Ricky Steamboat with the ring bell - I hated Randy Savage as a kid and when I sat down to watch Superstars I was fully expecting Steamboat to walk away as the IC champ and make the world right again. So when Savage cheated to get out of losing his title by dropping the ring bell into Steamboat throat I was horrified. While I was still a fully-fledged mark this violence was a step above what I had seen before and just made it all seem more real. The subsequent revenge hunt by Bruno Sammartino and Steamboat WM3 revenge completed the picture whole but it was the original act that helped me cement my fandom and the difference between heel and babyface.

1.Hulk body slamming Andre - I first became a fan at WM1 but when Hulk picked up Andre and slammed him, it became an immortal memory and probably the exact moment I knew I was a fan for life. Time always dilutes impact of events but in wrestling terms, Andre being slammed and pinned was like the US beating Russia to the moon, it was that big a deal. The fact people still talk about it to this day with such esteem even though Hogan has attempted to sully the memory with outright bullshit shows just how special it is and why it made a fan of so many of us.



Larry Csonka

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Scott Hall Invades WCW - I was out of high school and thought that I was going to move away from wrestling. I sat there in college, finishing up some work, click on some WCW and holy shit, Razor Ramon is there! I am pulled back in.

World Class and Mid-South - World Class was one of the things I rushed home from school to watch when it was on ESPN, so it gets a mention. Also, I love all things Bill Watts from UWF and or Mid-South, many of my booking philosophies come from Watts style booking.

Cruiserweights/X-Division - I love little dudes nearly dying while doing cool moves, what can I say.

5. Mick Foley - Mick Foley is likely my favorite wrestler of all time. For some reason I have always been drawn to Mick, from the early days of Cactus Jack to Makind and even the Dude Love days, Foley was a dude that I had to watch. I also met him at Kennywood in Pittsburgh and was able to talk with him for an extended time, he was a hell of a nice guy, and that meeting validated my fandom.

4. My Discovery of Lucha and Puro - Until I found out how to get tapes, Wrestling was rather Neapolitan. But then, then I found out about lucha and puro, and I realized that wrestling was like Baskin Fucking Robbins! It wasn't just about or one two or three styles, this shit was way bigger than I knew about. I've been collecting tapes and DVDs since 1994, and now have over 2,000. Yeah, than God for climate controlled storage and the DVD burner.

3. ECW - If lucha and puro were the other 29 flavors, ECW was essentially like seeing your first porn. Shortly after finding puro and lucha, I discovered ECW at 2am or so on some shitty cable channel in Pittsburgh. I was hanging out with some friends, the parents were out of town, we were drinking and just chilling and then this shit comes on, and it was like HOLY SHIT! I saw another new side of wrestling, and it made me stay.

2. Ric Flair and The NWA - I have said time and time again that I started as an NWA fan. I watched the NWA religiously, I watched WWF as well, but the NWA was MY TEAM. Ric Flair was MY champion, he was THE champion in my eyes, and come 6:05 Saturday nights you knew where I would be. The NWA, Ric Flair, the Horsemen, the Road Warriors, Dusty, The Rock and Roll vs. Midnight Express, these are the things that help develop and form my fandom. I remember these days, I miss these days, and thank God for my collection so that I can relive them whenever I wish.

1. TNA and ROH - While Ric Flair and the boys of the NWA made me a fan, and the other things on this list KEPT me a fan, there was a time back in late 2001 or so that I was close to giving it up. WCW and ECW were dead, WWE was stale as shit, I wasn't getting as much new material as I was due to being newly married and with the news of a baby on the way, I relied on the TV product. It was simply a point where I was not that excited about the product, and I was starting to not watch. But then in 2002 ROH and TNA were born, and while not perfect (they weren't) they gave me the variety I wanted, the fresh talent I wanted, they changed wrestling, and in my opinion for the better. I came close to giving it up, but they pulled me back in, and I am glad they did.



Jeremy Thomas

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Shawn Michaels vs. Bret Hart (WrestleMania XII) - This is probably my favorite 'Mania match of all-time. Shawn Michaels...well, we'll talk about him in a few, but putting him against Bret for a solid hour was like a dream come true for me.

WCW's Cruiserweight Division, circa 1997-1998 - I had only just recently gotten back into mainstream wrestling after a couple years out, drawn back in by the nWo. While that was all well and good, it was Rey Mysterio Jr., Kidman, Juventud Guerrera, Chris Jericho and the rest who really got me back into being a hardcore fan.

Hulk Hogan vs. The Ultimate Warrior (WrestleMania VI) - Back in the day, this was phenomenal. I was a huge Warrior mark, and pretty much everyone were Hogan marks. This was a great match that reminded us all what an event match truly was.

5.Raven/Tommy Dreamer feud, ECW - During my time off from the Big Two, I had gotten interested in the indies, and ECW was the one that caught my eye. Raven had hometown hero cred for me, having spent time in Portland wrestling, so I paid him more attention and was instantly enthralled with his feud against Dreamer. When he left for WCW I was really sad, because it meant the end of an amazing feud.

4.Shawn Michaels - Bar none, HBK is my favorite sports entertainer of all-time. Ever since the days of the Rockers I was totally into him as a performer, and I enjoyed following his career all the way through his breakup with Jannetty and his rise as the cocky asshole heel. He's always been a consummate performer who could make ANYONE look good in the ring with his selling. When he left the 'F following 'Mania XIV I was sad to see it, and his eventual return had me doing cartwheels. No one can top the Heartbreak Kid in my book.

3.Mankind vs. The Undertaker (King of the Ring '98) - C'mon, honestly who DIDN'T mark out hard for this one? We can talk about Hell in the Cell for hours, but this is one of the truest "HOLY SHIT" moments in wrestling (as we covered a couple of weeks ago). Foley nearly killed himself--twice--to get what he considered to be a doomed match over, and people were talking about it for months. Myself included.

2.Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant (WrestleMania III) - I had seen other wrestling matches before, but this was the first one I truly remember as clearly today as I did then. I actually wasn't supposed to be up, but my parents and brother were watching and I snuck downstairs to peek around the corner into the living room so I could watch. I actually got discovered after I exclaimed something when Hogan bodyslammed Andre, and I got in trouble. It was well worth it, though. I would have been a wrestling fan anyway, but that made me a die-hard fan for life.

1.WrestleMania XIX - Why is WrestleMania XIX at the top of my list, even ahead of the defining moment when I became a fan? Very simply, I was there. Oregon has always been very uptight about pro wrestling, and for a long time when other states had no restriction, they required drug testing for touring wrestling companies. The WWF and WCW simply said "Okay, we don't need you" and avoided Oregon for years. When 'Mania XIX came to Seattle, my brother and I went to see it, and it was my first live major wrestling event. I remember every single moment. I remember yelling my throat hoarse during Michaels vs. Jericho, and marking out like a 12-year-old fanboy at a Dragonball convention when Piper showed up to interfere in the McMahon/Hogan match (again, Piper's a hometown hero--funny fact, I used to work with his daughter at a call center). I remember gasping and thinking that Brock had killed himself with his botched Shooting Star Press, and so did people around us. Literally, the girl two seats down from me screamed. It was the high point of my fandom to date, and while I've attended other live events--Unforgiven '04 where 'H beat Orton and a couple house shows) they will never trump my one and only WrestleMania attendance to date.



Michael Bauer

5.The nWo is Formed - I gave WCW a shot when they went to Monday Nights and I was ready to give up on them. Then out of nowhere we see Scott Hall jump ship, followed quickly by Kevin Nash. This didn't make me a fan of anyhting, but kept me a fan of WCW probably about two years longer than I would have been otherwise.

4.The Attitude Era begins - Stone Cold proclaims his version of 3:16, the formation of Degeneration X, The Rock smells what everyone is cooking… all of these kept me in as a fan back when WCW got really stale and I was ready to pack it entirely. But between Austin's antics and everything else, I started enjoying watching the programming again. Probably with the exception of my number one choice, nothing pulled me into the entertainment more than this moment.

3.My First Ring of Honor Show in New York City - I remember this date like it was yesterday. August 25th, 2007… Manhattan Mayhem II. I was lucky enough to upgrade from my last row seat in the balcony on the Manhattan Center to the front row thanks to a very good friend of mine. That night was unreal, because while I had been an outside RoH fan for about a year, this show made me a fan for life of Ring of Honor. I couldn't top the atmosphere or the electricity of that night… until RoH debuted in Hammerstein Ballroom.

2.My First Ring of Honor Show - It was May 12th, 2006. My only reason for going to this show was because Christian Cage was showing up. Now, at his point, I was getting very tired of the WWE bullshit and TNA was starting to disappoint me. Again, I was ready to walk away from the entertainment. But the I saw this show. And while everyone told me this was one of the worst Ring of Honor shows ever, I didn't care. This was the best wrestling show I had ever been to at that time. I mean, for me to be watching wrestling for four hours and actually have over three hours of it be actual wrestling, I was blown away.

1.WrestleMania VI: Warriror vs Hogan - I was seven years old when this match happened and I don't remember how I saw this match, but I was just awe struck. It was the first wrestling match I had seen and being that young, I was auto-hooked. The match just seemed bigger than life and it was then, almost 19 years ago, that I became a fan of wrestling. Of course, when I was seven, I thought it was all real. It definitly took me a few years to realize it, but I wouldn't trade those years of being scared to go near a funreal home for fear of the Undertaker stealing me away for anything.



Aaron Hubbard

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Sting beating Vader for the World Title: - I can't tell you the exact date, but this is the first match my older brother saw, and he loved it. If it were not for him falling in love with wrestling, I never would have been introduced to it.

5.Wrestle War '89: Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat - The first wrestling DVD I ever bought was ‘Triple H: The Game'. I was still a huge mark for the guy (and still am to a lesser extent), but what intrigued me was that it said "Triple H's favorite match". I watched this match for the first time, and even though I was used to a somewhat faster pace, I enjoyed this one tremendously. I've watched this match several times since then and as far as I'm concerned, no better match has ever been caught on camera. The pacing, the moves, the psychology, the personality, the drama, the work, the execution. It's perfect. This is the standard right here.

4.Wrestlemania IX: Lex Luger vs. Mr. Perfect - Not the match itself, as I've actually never seen it. And it's actually the fact that I didn't see it that made me a fan. One of the tapes me and my brothers would rent was this one. My mother always told my older brother to fast-forward this match. The reason is obvious: Luger's scantily clad valets. However, to me it was a mystery. She also wouldn't let me watch matches with blood. And for several years, we weren't allowed to watch wrestling period. The fact that this was "forbidden fruit" kind of gave wrestling a mystique to me, and made me determined to see as much as I could.

3.Best of 2001 Special - At the end of 2001, the then WWF had a special program where they would show the top 10 matches of 2001. All but one of those matches were on PPV and thus beyond my ability to see. I HAD to watch this, but my brothers weren't interested, since it wasn't live. I ended up watching Austin-Rock, Taker-HHH and TLC II from Mania, Angle-Shane from KOTR, and Benoit-Jericho from Royal Rumble. Destined to become a nerd.

2.Summer Slam: Shawn Michaels vs. Triple H - I've discussed this match and it's effect on me a few times. At the time, I was just getting back into wrestling, and still a huge mark. I didn't know a thing about star ratings and the closest thing to recognizing psychology was that I understood that Ric Flair would hit a chop block and a shin breaker before applying the figure-four. However, when I saw this match, I was in absolute awe. And for the first time, I started thinking of matches in terms of quality instead of hype.

1.Bash At The Beach: Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan - As mentioned earlier, my older brother is largely responsible for getting me into wrestling. And this is the big match that he wanted to see, so we would go to our local Dillions and rent the show all the time. A lot of older fans grew up wishing that they could see this dream match. I was lucky, because this was the first big event going on when I got into wrestling. I watched that match probably a dozen times. I knew these two were larger than life. Hogan was the ultimate good guy, Flair the ultimate bad guy. I was hooked.



Join us next week when we start the month of May, which will be a completely themed 411 Wrestling Top 5, as we look back at the greatest matches in Wrestling History. Next week will be the Top 5 Intercontiental Title Matches.