The Top Ten 2.19.08: Overrated Matches

Posted by Julian Williams on 02.19.2008

The matches more overrated than Wilt Chamberlain's sex life. Banging thousands of white women when you're a 7 foot black man isn't impressive, it's standard.

Good day people and welcome back to another edition of the most overrated column in the entire IWC, The Top Ten. This week we're going to look back at The Top Ten most overrated matches and there were many to choose from, but I think I compiled a definitive list of some truly overrated (at least in my view) matches. Ok, enough small talk, it's business time.

Julian's Unwanted and Unnecessary PPV in Review: The No Way Out Edition

Chavo Guerrero def. CM Punk to retain the ECW Championship
This was a pretty decent, albeit short, opener. I like the fact that Chavo got the clean win because he needed to look strong after weeks of being Punk's personal bitch. I really wish that they wouldn't rape the ECW Title matches for time on PPV's because I think with 15 minutes, these guys could give us a really great match. But we'll just have to settle for another solid encounter between these two.
Match Rating: **1/2

The Undertaker wins The Smackdown Elimination Chamber
This match exceeded my expectations because the ‘E was smart enough to get rid of the two lugs (Khali and BDV) quickly and have the focus of the match on Batista and The Undertaker. Those two, along with Finlay and MVP, put on one hell of a show. ‘Taker throwing MVP off the top of the pod was insane, as well as when he chokeslammed Finlay on the STEEEEL. The final few moments with Batista and ‘Taker were pure gold and ‘Taker's counter into the Tombstone is one of the best that I've ever seen. Fantastic match that I believe surprised many people.
Match Rating: ***3/4

Ric Flair def. Mr. Kennedy
This match was short, to the point and actually pretty decent. I don't like them jobbing out Kennedy in such a short time span because even though it makes Flair look strong heading to ‘Mania, it makes Kennedy look weak. Hopefully they can rebuild Kennedy heading into ‘Mania because they send mixed signals with him so the fans don't know whether to take him seriously or not. One moment he's beating Shawn Michaels cleanly and the next, he's losing cleanly to Ric Flair in 7 minutes. Dammit WWE, give us a reason to care about Kennedy!
Match Rating: **

Edge def. Rey Mysterio to retain the World Heavyweigh Championship
I think we all knew that this was going to be a short match due to Rey's injury so it's no surprise that this one was done in less than 6 minutes. It's a shame because this match looked like the early portions of what could have been a great match, but Rey got put away quickly with the spear. Short and inoffensive, you can't really hate on the match because they did the best they could do given Rey's injury.
Match Rating: *1/2

The Big Show returns and confronts Floyd Mayweather
This segment was pure gold. Big Show makes his return and the fans were definitely happy to see him. He started off nice enough, but soon the mean side of Show took over as he felt that Rey being attended to at ringside was taking away from his glorious return. So he goozled Rey and began taunting Rey's friend, Mayweather, to come help him. Mayweather was held out by his entourage, but when Show went to chokeslam Rey, Mayweather had seen enough and rushed the ring to confront Show. You could tell by the fans reaction that this was a huge deal and could definitely contribute to ‘Mania's buyrate. Big Show taunted the much smaller Mayweather and gave Mayweather a free shot and Floyd proceeded to bust Show wide THE FUCK open! He legitimately broke Show's nose and whether it was intentional or not, it added greatly to the segment as the image of a pissed off Show spitting out blood is an awesome one to be used in future video packages. This was good shit here people and hopefully they can follow it up with a compelling feud that can garner them some mainstream attention.
Segment Rating: *****

John Cena def. Randy Orton by DQ
I know a lot of people that didn't like the DQ ending, but I for one LOVED it. It fit perfectly with Orton's character because he tried every conceivable way to get out of the match with his title, including attempting to be counted out and trying to have Cena get counted out. Once he realized that Cena wasn't going away that easily and his title ws in jeopardy, he slapped the shit out of the ref to get the DQ loss but retain his title. This helps set up the much rumored Triple Threat Match at ‘Mania because Cena can claim that Orton purposely got himself DQ'd and he deserves another title shot. SMELL THE INTRIGUE!!!
Match Rating: ***1/2

Triple H wins the RAW Elimination Chamber
This was some good shit right here and I think it's the second best Elimination Chamber in history, right behind the first one. It started off excellently with Jericho and HBK starting off with some great wrestling sequences. Jericho's counter to HBK's elbow drop by putting up the knees was SWEEEET! I think everyone knew it was going to come down to Jeff Hardy and Triple H and that's exactly what we got. It took a long time for someone to get eliminated but once JBL got eliminated, the eliminations came fast and furious. The star of the match I felt was Umaga who not only dominated the majority of the match, but hit that sick double Samoan Drop on Jericho and Michaels and gave Jericho the running Ass Bump through the (alleged) bulletproof glass. The final few moments with Jeff and HHH were fantastic and when Jeff kicked out of The Pedigree, I foolishly started to think he might pull it off. Alas, it was The Game's night and he will now be heading to ‘Mania.
Match Rating: ****

Overall Show Thoughts
I haven't ordered a WWE PPV in a while so I was pleasantly surprised when I ordered this one because it surpassed my expectations. Both Elimination Chamber matches were great, the Cena/Orton match was good stuff, the Show/Mayweather confrontation was gold and everything else was good. There seriously wasn't anything bad on this show, everything ranged from solid to great. Definitely check it out if you haven't yet, it'll be worth your time.
Show Rating: 8 (out of 10)

The Top Ten Overrated Matches

10) Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk (Joe vs. Punk II)
Don't get me wrong, this was a very good match and perhaps one of the better hour long matches that I've ever seen, but this match suffers from a case of having people hype it up SO much that you couldn't help but be disappointed with the match. I mean the match would have to be FLAWLESS for the way that people hyped it up and this match certainly was not flawless. Freakin' Dave Meltzer, who is extremely stingy when giving out star ratings, gave this match 5 stars. So needless to say, I was looking forward to seeing one of the best matches I've ever seen in my life and instead I got a very good match, but certainly not up to the level that many people had put it on. If I had heard nothing about this match and just saw it without hearing any previous opinions, I might have enjoyed it more. But seeing how it was placed on such a high pedestal, I couldn't help but feel that this match was overrated. If you've never seen it, you should definitely check it out because it is a fantastic match, but it just isn't the classic that most people tried to make it out to be.

9) Triple H vs. Jeff Hardy (Armageddon '07)
Was this a huge upset and great moment? Yes. Was it a fantastic match? Not so much. I didn't get to watch Armageddon live, so when the reviews started pouring in about how great this match was, I couldn't wait to see it. I was sorely disappointed because although it was a pretty good match, it definitely wasn't the must-see, incredible match that some folks made it out to be. I do think that it was a huge win in the career of Jeff Hardy and that the match will probably be looked back as the starting point for Jeff Hardy's road to the WWE Title, but it just isn't that great. Good match, but not an all-time classic.

8) Pat Patterson vs. Sgt. Slaughter (MSG, 5/4/81)
This was perhaps the bloodiest match I've ever seen, but it certainly wasn't one of the greatest. I think sometimes people get so wrapped up in the amount of bloodshed and the fantastic crowd that they don't realize that this wasn't that great of a match. It was very good, but it's not the all-time classic that many people tout it as. Honestly the only thing I really remember from the match is Sgt. Slaughter's crimson mask and Patterson's insanely tight I Love NY shirt. When those are the most memorable parts of a match, that doesn't equate to a classic.

7) The Rock vs. Hollywood Hogan (Wrestlemania 18)
Before you leave words of hatred in the Comments section, hear me out. This match featured one of the hottest crowds I've EVER seen and also had one of the biggest mark out moments when Hogan began Hulking Up for the first time in a WWE ring after 9 years. But mark out moments aside, this wasn't a very good match. The Rock got a much better match out of Hogan than I expected, but it still wasn't the classic that some people say it is. This is a match all about the crowd reaction and marking out like a fifth grader, but as an actual match, it isn't anything to write home about. It's more of a great moment rather than a great match.

6) Shawn Michaels vs. Marty Jannety (Raw, 7/19/93)
When people talk about the best matches of 1993, this is usually one of the first matches brought up and I never understood why. It's a pretty good match, but it definitely isn't the awesome spectacle that some describe it as. I actually prefer their two other matches in 1993, The Royal Rumble match and the match on 5/17. Those matches were a lot more fast paced and exciting while this one was dull in spots. I know people who love this match and call it one of the greatest matches ever, but I just don't think that much of it. It's definitely a good match, but I don't believe it's as good as the other encounters that these two men had.

5) Sabu vs. Abyss (Turning Point '05)
This was the first Barbed Wire Massacre in TNA and even though it was MEGA bloody, it wasn't that great of a match. I think the fact that this was the first mainstream Barbed Wire match since the days of ECW, a lot of people overhyped it at the time because in retrospect it was more of a bloody spectacle than a great match. Now some might argue that the match was SUPPOSE to be a bloody spectacle and I would agree with them on that, but for people to give it 5 stars and call it one of the best matches in TNA history is pretty ludicrous. Good match with a lot of cringe-inducing moments, but it isn't the classic affair that some people portrayed it as.

4) Great Sasuke vs. Taka Michinoku (Raw, 7/7/97)
This two men tore up the house at Canadian Stampede and had a rematch that next night on Raw which some people, even the revered Scott Keith, called even better than the CS match. Methinks? (Sorry Meehan) Not so much. It was a good match that was near the quality of the CS match, but it certainly wasn't better than it. That would be like saying that any other Eddie Guerrero/Rey Mystreio match was better than their Halloween Havoc '97 match. That simply isn't the case. Sure they had a bunch of other great matches after that, but they weren't as good as that match. That's exactly the case with this match. A very good match, no doubt, but just not as good as the near classic they had at Canadian Stampede.

3) Don Muraco vs. Jimmy Snuka (MSG, 10/17/93)
This match has achieved legendary status due to The Superfly coming off the top rope with the splash, but people seem to forget that the match before that moment wasn't a particularly great one. It was pretty slow and plodding and to me, it didn't really feel like a match to resolve a blood feud. It was decent enough, but people seem to place this match on a pedestal due to the splash and the funny thing is that the splash happened after the match was already over! So many people rate this match highly due to a moment that didn't even happen in the actual match. The match between Snuka and Bob Backlund where Snuka actually missed the splash from the top of the cage is a much better match, but people remember this one more due to the splash on Muraco. Snuka coming off the cage is a legendary moment that will be remembered throughout the history of the WWE, but I don't think that anybody will look back at the actual match that fondly.


2) Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage (Wrestlemania 5)
This was the match where the Mega Powers EXPLODED and while it was a pretty good match, it definitely isn't the classic that some try to proclaim it is. I think the reason people overhype this match is because this was one of Hogan's first really good matches because before this he was mainly facing lugs like King Kong Bundy and Andre The Giant (in the latter stages of his career). So it was surprising to see such a good Hogan match, but it definitely wasn't as phenomenal as some portrayed it to be. Also, I'm still kind of bitter that Macho Man lost because I was a HUGE Macho Man fan as a kid and Hogan was pushing up on his lady dammit! Sorry, repressed childhood thoughts there for a moment.

1) Jeff Hardy vs. The Undertaker (Raw, 7/1/02)
This is BY FAR the most overrated match that I've ever seen. Some people have called it one of the greatest ladder matches ever and one of the best matches in Raw's history and in my view, it was neither. Was it a good ladder match? Definitely. But it wasn't a remarkable classic like some tend to classify it as. More than anything, I remember JR's phenomenal commentary which made me actually think for a second that Jeff could pull off the major upset. The match itself was pretty sloppy in places and certainly not one of the best ladder matches ever. It wasn't a bad match by any means, but when people talk about how fantastic this match is, I cant help but disagree. This match was more a compelling story of an underdog trying to win the title and I think that's why its remembered so fondly, but it just isn't that great of a match.

Drive-By Pimpin'

Check out all these great columns by my 411 brethren:

-Andy Clark's "Shimmy"
-Ari's "Column Of Honor"
-Sean, Alex and David's "Triple Threat"
-Bayani's "Truth B Told"
-Weyer's "Shining The Spotlight"
-Byers' "Cheap Wrestling for Cheap People"
-Larry and Geoff's "4R's"
-Fact Or Fiction
-Sat and Uncle Trunx's "High Road/Low Road"
-Phill Feltham's "Quick Talkdown"
-Sarnecky's "Piledriver Report"
-Slimmer's News Report
-Hidden Highlights
-Carapola's "That Was Then" and "Friendly Competition"
-The Fink's Payload
-Gamble's "Just 'Spose"
-Cook's "Ask 411"
-Wilcox's "Thoughts From The Top Rope"
-Meehan's "Meethinks"
-Sforcina's "Evolution Schematic"
-Prag's "In Defense Of?."
-Wrestlers of the Week
-Randle's "Wrestling News Experience"
-Linkous' "Why I Love Wrestling"
-Double M's Rasslin Report
-News To Start Your Weekend
-Dunn's Rawtopsy, Smackdown Breakdown, & ECW eXperience
-Your News, Larry's Views
-Zac Calhoun's "The Ripple Effect"
-Joe Estee's "Keys To The Game"
-Halden's "You're An Idiot And Here's Why"
-Buy......OR SELL!!
-Chris Lansdell "The Way I C It"
-Alex Barcham's "Hitting Below The Beltway"
-T.G. Corke's "The Seventh Dimension"
-Magnus Donaldson's "Cut To The Crap"
-Tim Haught's "Pro Wrestling Pundit"
-William Bumgarner's "What Were They Thinking?"
-Jarrod Westerfield's "Viral Dose Of Reality"

The Sign-Off

That's all I got this week people. But be sure to leave your comments and come back next week when the topic will be The Top Ten Underappreciated Matches. Until then, go wash your ass!