The Best Of The Rest 5.28.08: Volume 45 – FIVE Matches That Need To Happen

Hello all and welcome back to “The Best Of The Rest.” I hope all is well with everyone. Due to the recent outburst from the readers surrounding the comments I made about Jeff Hardy and such, I felt that it would be a good change of pace to get away from current events. So with that being said I have comprised a list of the 5 matches in professional wrestling (in this country) that need to happen. Some are totally a dream for me that will most likely never come true, others could happen somewhere down the road. Whatever the case, these are matches that need to happen. Also to wrap things up I’ll have the #8 Forgotten Classic. Enjoy.

Five Professional Wrestling Matches That Need To Happen
*Honorable Mention* – Umaga Vs. Necro Butcher
What can you say about this match up? While I’ve never fallen in love with the Umaga gimmick, you can’t argue that he pulls it off well and portrays the dominant force well. He has never really gotten in the ring with anyone that crazy, or anyone that is really known for being incredibly stiff. Who is crazy? Who is incredibly stiff? The Necro Butcher. Not much can be said about this crazy bastard that hasn’t already been said. I have always gotten the feeling that Umaga could be even stiffer if he really wanted to be, he just cares about the guys he is working with. Necro has never taken it easy on anyone. A match pitting these two against one another would be ridiculously hard hitting, and ridiculously intense. This match would need to be housed in an independent promotion for us to get real results. No build would be needed. It would be similar to the Joe-Necro match. All you need to do is just announce the match was signed and tickets would sell.

5: Chris Jericho Vs. Alex Shelley
This would be a battle of “father Vs. son” as my buddies and I put it when acting out this match on No Mercy (still the greatest wrestling game ever!). You don’t have to be a wrestling know-it-all to see that Y2J has clearly made an impact on Alex Shelley, his heel shenanigans, and most importantly his style of wrestling. Not only could this be a wrestling clinic, it would be so entertaining on so many levels. For this match to be the best it could be, it would need to be booked as a heel Vs. heel match. Just seeing who could out-heel each other could turn the match into gold, then the wrestling kicks in and you have the makings for a hell of a match. If the E were to have this match in NYC or someplace with a rabid fan base, the fans would absolutely eat it up and bring an extra energy to the match that would help give us a memorable encounter.

4: Beth Phoenix Vs. Awesome Kong
A clash of the two most dominant female’s wrestlers around. It would be exciting and awe inspiring for fans to see Phoenix get manhandled by Kong or for Beth to pull off some power moves on Kong. I assume many fans, including myself, wouldn’t really know what to expect from this one or who would win. One thing is for sure, this is probably the biggest women’s match any company could have right now and would draw attention from many viewers. While I think an E crowd would respond well to this match, I believe for it to achieve its true potential this mega-match would need to happen in TNA. TNA actually invests in their women’s division (TNA do something right?) and their crowd always appreciates the wrestling done by the women.

3: The Undertaker Vs. “The Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels
First off, if this match were to be as good as it could be it would have to happen in the E and it would require anywhere from 6 to 12 months of build. The best way this match would work is if the feud started the day after a WrestleMania and the match finally happened at the next ‘Mania. While I’m not sure how the actual match would turn out, there is no question that the build to this match could be astounding. I mean seriously, the fallen angel and dead man gimmick… that shit could write itself. And with the E’s check book they could have all the cool special effects and such that would make this feud larger than life. Of course in the end Taker would defeat Daniels, but not after nearly losing his ‘Mania streak in a back and forth contest. Like I said, I’m sure how the two would mesh, they both great wrestlers but you never know. But just imagining The Fallen Angel telling the Undertaker that he is not afraid of him and his destiny is to beat him at WrestleMania and that that’s “the gospel” is enough to make me want to see it. It could be the best pulled off angle the E has done in a long while.

2: Jay & Mark Briscoe Vs. LAX
This is probably the most realistic match on the list as it could potentially happen at anytime. Why it hasn’t already leaves me pretty surprised. The Briscoes are undoubtedly one of, if not the, best tag teams in the world. There tag work is on a different level than 95% of the tag teams out there. LAX is the best big man-little man tag team I have personally ever seen, and to think I doubted their capabilities when they were first paired up. If this match were given enough time and took place in front of a crowd that really appreciated tag team wrestling, we could have something we’d remember for a long time. The double team offense we’d seen in this one would be out of this world, and I would love to see how the Briscoes dealt with the size of Hernandez. I think a great story could be told here, and that the Briscoes could come out with a convincing win.

1: Samoa Joe Vs. John Cena
This is it people. This is literally the biggest possible match up of two wrestlers in this country currently. While Cena is not currently champ in the E, he is still recognized by many as the face of the company. Samoa Joe has been recognized as the face of TNA for awhile by most. A clash between these two would be an epic encounter and would be the most important match in wrestling for quite sometime. Would the E, or TNA for that matter, be down to have an inter-promotional showdown between what could be the two champions of opposing companies? I’m 99.999999% sure that the answer would be no. But if this match were to ever take place, I have no doubt that it could headline WrestleMania and please every fan that tuned into see it. No matter would win the match, if done right both Cena and Joe would look excellent. This match may one day happen, but obviously now is the time it would mean the most.

The Forgotten Classics
Coming off of a feud from SoCal that defined two wrestlers, we moved to Orlando. We move to a night that will go down in TNA history as one of the most wild, panic inducing events. Hard Justice 2006. We got one match then the building was evacuated due to a fire that broke out in the rafters. It was wild, trust me I was there. Well the event started back up about 45 minutes later and the wrestling audience was treated to a brawl that made the whole PPV worth the whole fiasco.

Forgotten Classic #9: Samoa Joe Vs. Rhino Vs. Monty Brown – Falls Count Anywhere
Well to be fair the entire TNA crew deserves credit for getting the event back up and running. But the match that stole the show damn near tore the whole building down. This match had a build that just plain worked. TNA took the three baddest dogs they had and put them against each other in the best scenario possible. The weeks leading into the event showed these three just “looking for a fight” and they found one in each other. The match I believe exceeded any and all expectations the fans had. It started off great with Joe rushing the ring and three engaging in a slug fest. It didn’t take long for the weapons to come into play and before you knew it, they were beating the shit out of each other all around the arena. The crowd was going insane. I have been to MANY professional wrestling events and I have never been around a crowd as hot as this one during the course of this match. We got about 20 minutes of great brawling action and when it was all said and down Samoa Joe was the one with his hand raised. While this match may not have been a technical wrestling classic, or a match with great emotion like the Steen-Dragon showdown, everything about this one just clicked perfectly. The build was great, the three styles meshed well together, and it was the first time that Joe really got to go crazy in TNA. This match just all around worked.

-That’s all for me this week. Remember feedback, as always, is welcome at [email protected] or directly below.

*This Week’s YouTube Sendoff*

^Looks awesome! If you’ve got nothing to do go see it this weekend.

-I’ll see you back here in 2 weeks, I won’t be able to turn out a column next week while I’m in Vegas. So until then… take care.

-Alex