The Top Ten 3.04.08: Underappreciated Matches

Posted by Julian Williams on 03.04.2008

The matches that feel more unloved than Britney Spears' kids. What am I saying, nobody feels more unloved than them.

Good day peeps and welcome back to another stirring edition of The Top Ten. This week we're going to look at The Top Ten Unappreciated Matches. Sorry about leaving you all hanging last week, but I had to work numerous double shifts so I had virtually no time to type this up. A few things about this week's topic before we get into the list. These matches are the bouts that I feel were underappreciated, NOT underrated. The difference being that some of these matches have been critically acclaimed, yet are barely discussed when people mention all-time great contests. Other matches included are matches that I felt were overshadowed by other matches on the same show and thusly didn't get the accolades that they deserve. And then there are other matches that people blasted at the time, but I feel were better than most people made it out to be. So I guess you can call this list a mixture of forgotten, overshadowed and underrated matches, but it was just easier to say underappreciated since I believe that applied to them all. Also, the order I did the list in was based on how unappreciated I feel the match is, not how good it is. Ok, ‘nuff explaining, let's do this Marines (sorry, I been playing too much Call Of Duty 4 lately).

A Moment For Commentary: Cena calling out The Rock

Anyone who reads this column regularly knows that I'm a supporter (what am I, British?) of John Cena and usually defend him since I feel that many people in the IWC unfairly criticize him and pretty much just find any reason to shit on him. That being said, I must say that I feel that Cena was completely wrong when talking about The Rock turning his back on wrestling.

You cannot fault The Rock for getting in a more lucrative (and safe) profession. That doesn't mean that he no longer loves wrestling, it just means that he's moved on to the next phase of his life. Honestly, The Rock could have been gone from early 2002 because after The Scorpion King, the movie offers started pouring in for him. But instead of just taking the money and running, he stuck around for a while and helped put over as many people as possible including Chris Jericho, Goldberg, Evolution, and Brock Lesnar. He didn't have to do that. He stopped by occasionally to cut a promo and pop a rating. He didn't have to do that. He taped a promo to hype last year's Battle Of The Billionaires. He didn't have to do that. He did it because he DOES love the business and tried to give something back even though he was moving on. How many of us would be that gracious? How many of us, if we got a chance to be a big time movie star, would go back to our current job to crunch some numbers or help build company morale? I'd say that just about 0.00% of us would do that. But The Rock did. The man is busy filming movies and working on deals for future movies. You can't expect him to still be wrestling or coming in every couple of months to cut promos. That's just unfair and selfish.

Would it be great if The Rock returned to the ring for one final match or showed up on Raw more often to give a classic Rocky promo? Of course it would be. But should we spite him because he doesn't? Of course not. Basically, The Rock has moved on and if you are a true fan of his, you would support his decision to not return to the ring and focus on his acting career. I hope The Rock gets the ovation he deserves at the Hall Of Fame ceremony and I truly hope that there aren't any assholes there to boo him or make stupid comments because that would truly ruin what could be a great moment to show The Rock how much we truly thank him for all the years of entertainment he provided us.


The Top Ten Underappreciated Matches

Honorable Mention: The Midnight Express vs. The Southern Boys (Great American Bash ‘90)
When people talk of great tag teams matches, they might immediately mention Bulldogs/Hart Foundation, Rockers/Brainbusters, Midnights/R&R Express, Dudleyz/Hardyz/Edge & Christian, but you probably won't think of this match which is shame because this is one of the best tag team matches EVER. The Midnights were in the twilight of their run together and people started to wonder if they could still perform how they used to, but on this night Sweet Stan and Beautiful Bobby proved why they were one the best tag teams ever. Jim Cornette even called this match one of the Midnights best matches EVER and considering some of their classic matches, that is a high compliment to this match. The Southern Boys were pretty much seen as fodder before this match, but after this impressive showing, they immediately became big time contenders in the tag team division. This was just a great match that saw The Midnight Express dominate for most of it by secluding Smothers into their side of the ring. Smothers was eventually able to get the hot tag to Armstrong and then it all broke down from there with The Midnights hitting The Rocket Launcher and doing the OLD SCHOOL switch-a-roo, but The Southern Boys just couldn't be put away. The ending came when Sweet Stan nailed Smothers in the back of the head with a kick from the apron which allowed Beautiful Bobby to roll him up for the win. This is definitely a forgotten classic and should be looked up by anybody who loves great tag team wrestling.

10) Mick Foley vs. Edge (Wrestlemania 22)
While this may not be the greatest hardcore match of all-time (like Edge and Foley claimed), it was one of the best hardcore matches I've seen in my life so I don't understand why some people have turned on this match in recent years. I've heard people call it tedious or boring or not that good and I can only wonder what kind of drugs they are on because the match I saw was action packed and featured one of the most insane finishes I've ever seen to a match. This match is also a personal favorite of mine because it gave Mick Foley a chance to finally shine on the Wrestlemania stage. This match completely stole WM22, in my opinion, by being the most brutal match ever seen at ‘Mania. These two men brutalized each other with steel chairs, thumbtacks, barbed wire, and finally a flaming table. That flaming table spot with Edge going FACE FIRST into fire is still one of the craziest things I've ever seen and I doubt I'll see anything that surpasses it anytime soon. Foley finally got his Wrestlemania classic and I think we all know that after all the bumps and bruises he's experienced during his career for our enjoyment, he deserved to shine on the grandest stage of all. For Christ's sake people, Edge went face first through fire. FIRE! Show this match some damn respect.

9) Ric Flair vs. Randy Savage (Wrestlemania 8)
When people talk about all-time great Wrestlemania matches, this match always seems to be excluded and I never understand why as it is one of the best I've ever seen on the grandest stage of them all. This match was about as personal as you can get because Ric Flair bragged about having an affair with Miss Elizabeth and promised to reveal a scantily clad photo of Liz after he won the match (which as a horny eight year old automatically made me root for Flair). This match was a great back and forth contest which saw The Nature Boy focus and Savage's knee and dissect it to the point where Savage could barely stand. Flair seemed to be in total control and ready to set up for the figure four, when Savage was able to catch the Nature Boy in a rollup and take a page out of Flair's book by grabbing onto the tights. This gave Savage his second WWE Title and this was a great payoff to a fantastic storyline. If you've never seen this match, do yourself a favor and check it out because it is truly one of the best Wrestlemania matches I've ever seen.


8) Shelton Benjamin vs. Shawn Michaels (Raw, 5/2/05)
Now I know what you're probably thinking. How could I include a match that has been universally praised on a list about underappreciated matches? It's quite simple. It's because I think this match doesn't get ENOUGH praise as it is one of the best Raw matches of all-time and is damn near flawless. This was a part of the Gold Rush Tournament to crown a new #1 contender for the World Heavyweight Championship and it was a match that lived up to all of our expectations and, at least in my view, far exceeded it. This match made Shelton Benjamin look like an absolute BEAST as he was able to utilize his strength and agility to dominate HBK for the majority of it. This match was so fast-paced that if you blinked, you would probably miss something. It seemed as though Shelton had an answer to all of HBK's offense and just when it seemed like Shelton was going to score the upset, one of the sickest finishers to a match I've ever seen happened. Shelton attempted to springboard onto HBK, but Michaels responded by taking Shelton's head off with Sweet Chin Music while Benjamin was still in the air. Sick, sick, sick, sick, SICK finish to one of the most exciting matches I've ever seen. I truly hope that we see these two lock in up again sometime in the future.

7) Chris Jericho vs. The Rock (Royal Rumble ‘02)
This is a match that I feel is unjustly overlooked when people talk about some of the best matches ever at The Royal Rumble. Jericho had won the Undisputed Championship the prior month at Vengeance and The Rock was poised to dethrone Jericho of his title. This match featured some absolutely awesome action and Jericho hung in tough with The Rock, making him seem like a true main eventer. Everytime that it seemed that The Rock might pull off the win, Jericho would reach in his bag of trickeration to stay alive. The ending to this match is one of my favorite ever as Jericho used not one, not two, but THREE illegal maneuvers to pick up the W. First he gave The Rock a low blow, then threw him into an exposed turnbuckle and then rolled Rocky up with his feet on the rope. THREE TIMES THE HEELERY!! I felt this match made Jericho seem like a big time heel capable of using his cheating ways to outsmart his opponents ala Ric Flair & HHH, but alas Jericho would be promptly bitched out at Wrestlemania 18 and would never get another chance to run with the big belt. Shame I say, he was a damn good champ.

6) Triple H vs. Chris Jericho (Wrestlemania 18)
Speaking of Jericho being bitched out, we have this match. I've always felt this was a match that never got a fair chance. First off, the WWE made the IDIOTIC move of putting this match on as the main event instead of Hogan/Rock which I still can't understand to this day. I understand that you want the title match in the main event, but nothing and I repeat NOTHING deserved to main event more than Rock/Hogan. As a result, the crowd was totally deflated for this match and it resulted in the most silence I've ever heard for a Wrestlemania main event. Despite Stephanie McMahon's involvement, this match still managed to be very good as Jericho played the heel role perfectly by targeting The Game's injured quad. They were able to tell a great story with Jericho being desperate to retain his title by working over HHH's leg and Trips trying everything in his power to fight back. Stephanie, to her credit, took a great amount of punishment in this match including getting Jericho's shoulder rammed into her gut and taking a Pedigree from Trips. This was a fantastic mat based matchup that mixed in some high spots and my appreciation for this match grows everytime I see it. If you haven't seen it in a while, watch it again and you might come to appreciate it a little more. That's if you can get Stephanie's shrieking voice out of your head.

5) The Hart Foundation vs. The Rockers (SNME, 10/90)
This is the infamous "broken rope" match and before seeing this match, I heard about it being so brutally bad that they didn't even show it on SNME and thus robbed The Rockers of the one title reign they had. I have to tell you guys, this match was damn good. It wasn't up to the level of the previous matches between these two teams, but it was a very good match that I feel unfairly gets shitted on. The broken rope only affected the second fall, but the first fall and the third fall featured some fantastic action and the way they responded to the broken rope was good enough that it didn't completely drag down the match. I don't know why this match gets such a bad rap and I wish the WWE would have had the balls to go through with showing this match so The Rockers would have had the title run they richly deserved. I still have a hard time figuring out how Vince thought this match was too bad to show on TV yet has given the green light to such "classics" as Kane vs. Fake Kane, Fake Rosie vs. Fake Trump, and The Great Khali vs. well, anybody.

4) Bret Hart vs. Razor Ramon (Royal Rumble '93)
When you talk about great title bouts at the Royal Rumble, people usually discuss Angle/Benoit, Triple H/Cactus, or The Rock/Mankind, but seem to forget this match which was thisclose to being a classic. I remember this match being the match that made me turn into a huge Bret Hart mark because of the way he absolutely dissected Razor's leg, I thought that was immensely cool because I had never seen psychology in a wrestling match like that before. I also remember Razor throwing his toothpick at a kid at ringside after Bret gave him his sunglasses and thinking that even though Razor was a heel, he was pretty damn cool. I think that was the first time I cheered for anything a heel did. Anyhow, this match was brilliant. Bret spent the majority of the match focusing on Razor's leg, but Razor would fight back and nearly put the Hitman away a couple times. The match ended after Bret reversed a Razor's Edge attempt into a backslide and once Razor kicked out of that, he applied the Sharpshooter for the submission. This match made me a huge fan of both men and is proof that when Scott Hall was sober, he was one of the best in the business.

3) The Rock vs. Kurt Angle vs. The Undertaker (Vengeance '02)
With the legendary status that triple threat matches like Triple H/Michaels/Benoit and Joe/Daniels/Styles has achieved, people seem to forget about this match which was really one of the first great triple threat matches. This match was absolute excellence and was so good in fact that it turned a lot of naysayers, who stated before the match that triple threat matches were played out, into believers that triple threat matches can be great when done correctly. All three men held their own in this match, but Kurt was definitely the glue and brought this match from the "good" level into the "fucking awesome" level. All three men hitting each other with one of the others finishing move never gets old to me. The perfect definition of a fun match.

2) AMW vs. XXX (TNA Weekly PPV, 6/25/03)
Everybody knows about their classic match at Turning Point the following year, but this was the original cage match between these two teams and was an awesome match in its own right. After watching both this and the Turning Point match a few times, I'm starting to like this match more because it was just non-stop action from the opening bell until the finish. Not only was it the first cage match in TNA history, but it was significant because XXX at that point was 4-0 against AMW, mainly due to outside interference from the third member of XXX. This was AMW's way of guaranteeing that there would be no interference from Low-Ki during this encounter. This match is highlighted by Primetime doing a sick crossbody from the top of the cage and AMW delivering the Death Sentence on the Fallen Angel from the top of the cage. A brutal cage match that finally saw AMW get the edge on their nemesis.

1) Bret Hart vs. The 1-2-3 Kid (Raw, 7/11/94)
Whenever there is a discussion about great matches in WWE history, this match is virtually never mentioned and that's a damn shame because it is one of the best pure wrestling matches you will ever see. This match is a forgotten gem in the annals of RAW's history and I'm so glad that the WWE included it on their Best Of Raw DVD set because it truly deserves to be recognized. This match was for Bret's WWE Title and The Kid came in as a huge underdog (big surprise) but by the end of this match, he earned the respect of all the fans. The match started off with some nice matwork, with both men feeling each other out, but soon Bret started to dominate with his strength advantage. He started delivering some vicious shots to The Kid and it seemed like Bret was just too much for the underdog. However, The Kid was able to fight back by utilizing his speed until Bret caught him with a Samoan Drop and pinned him for the three count. The match wasn't over, though, because The Kid had draped his foot across the bottom rope just before the 3 count and Bret (ever the babyface) made the official aware of it so the match was restarted. That seemed like it was going to be a fatal mistake for Bret as soon The Kid was able to regain himself and start taking the fight to Bret, including a SWEET running dropkick in the corner that caught Bret right in the mouth. It seemed like The Kid might pull of the huge upset, but he went for one too many high risk moves as Bret was able to catch him when he attempted a dropkick from the top rope and locked in The Sharpshooter to get the victory. A phenomenal, forgotten match that I hope more people get to enjoy now that it's been released on a DVD set.

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'll do it for me people. Be sure to leave some comments and come back next week when the topic will be The Top Ten Spotfests. Until then, go wash your ass!