Brooklyn Brawlin' 02.26.09: Presenting - The Greatest Title Matches of All Time

Posted by Dan Torkel on 02.26.2009

Choosing a favorite Flair/Steamboat match is like picking which child you love the most...

Greetings to all. This column is going to hopefully spur on some debate amongst the readers and commenters so let's get to it! My mission here, is to assume we are filling a time capsule up with matches for the future wrestling fans of the world. In the capsule will be a copy of the very best title matches of all time; one match per title. This counts for existing and non-existing titles from the WWE, WCW, and ECW only. Once again I apologize to the Indies and TNA, but I have a long history with the current WWE library.

RULES:

1. I have to have seen the match - DUH, this sounds obvious, but I cannot go on reviews and star ratings done by others. If someone tells me about a 5- star house show match between Bret and Dibiase for the IC Title, I am sorry but it won't count.

2. Only ONE variation of the same title will used - The United States title brought back in 2002 by Stephanie McMahon to Smackdown will share the lineage with the WCW variation (even though the WWE acknowledges the lineage themselves). Point is, only one match per title, no WWE US Title match and WCW US Title match.

3. WCW/NWA Heavyweight Title confusion - OK, I may be stretching this here but the NWA Title and WCW Title will be kept separate. After Ric Flair left for WWE in 1991, the NWA Title remained in use in WCW until it was replaced with the ridiculous WCW "International" Title. That abomination was combined with the WCW World Title in the spring of 1994. The WWE's World Title's heritage despite what they claim will be considered fresh as of Triple H circa 2002.

4. WCW/NWA World/US Tag Titles/Cruiserweight Tag Titles - For my sanity sake, only one match for any pair of WCW Tag Titles.

5. Sadly, No Chris Benoit. The point is for this to be a time capsule for the future. Benoit was my all time favorite wrestler, who won titles in all 3 major promotions, but also contributed to the biggest black eye in Wrestling History. Again I say, sadly, there will be NO Chris Benoit.

6. No WWE Divas division – they have had 2 title changes, c'mon please!

OK, let's get going... we shall start in the land of EXTREME!!!

ECW Television Title -

We have a bevy of good choices here from some of the top wrestlers in history including Eddie Guerrero and Dean Malenko. But no man means more to this belt then ROB VAN DAM. RVD was the hottest thing that ECW ever had and I still attest had Heyman pulled the trigger on him winning the World Title in 1999, the company might have stuck around a little longer. So where do we go with RVD? One of his classics with Jerry Lynn? Perhaps his battles with Lance Storm, or Sabu? No, the first match in the time capsule is...

RVD vs. Bam Bam Bigelow (c) from Buffalo NY in 1998 - This was RVD's Title win, which cemented him as a major star, (he'd hold the title for a year and a half and never lose it). It was also a brutal, awesome match that included RVD's two most famous dives into the crowd. This wins just narrowly over RVD/Lynn from Living Dangerously 99 because of the history of the title win and the great dives.

ECW Tag Team Titles -

The Dudleys, The Gangstas, The Eliminators, Public Enemy... the list of great ECW Tag Teams goes on and on, but the winning match here is the rather famous ONLY 5- star ECW Match awarded by Scott Keith.

(c) Raven and Stevie Richards vs. The Pitbulls 2/3 Falls from Sept. 1995 - This was the perfect storm of Heyman's booking style. The first two falls take up 5 minutes and for the next 15 minutes, it is "beautiful chaos." First the Dudleys interfere and get taken out. After PB 2 is carted off, Tommy Dreamer returns and PINS Raven. Of course that doesn't count according to evil ref Bill Alphonso who "legalizes" the chokeslam for one night only so his man Big Dick Dudley can chokeslam Dreamer. That brings out 9/11 who had been chasing Alphonso for months and he AHHHHH CHOKESLAMS him! Pitbull 2 returns, Superbomb and we're out with new champs. This kind of match was why people tuned into ECW as the crazy alternative to the Big 2 back in those days.

ECW World Title -

Do you go with the people who capture the spirit of ECW? Sabu vs. Sandman, Sabu vs. Terry Funk? Or do you go pure work rate and go with two guys who had the best chemistry and matches in ECW World Title history... Mike Awesome and Masato Tanaka. I have never been a Sabu guy, and the Barb-wire match is more gratuitous than anything else.

(c) Mike Awesome vs. Masato Tanaka from ECW TV in late 1999 - These two had a series of UNBELIEVABLE matches in the Fall - Winter of 1999 after Taz left for the WWE. Awesome was a surprise entrant and won the belt in September at Anarchy Rulz. He and Tanaka had a better rematch at November 2 Remember. After that, they had 3 matches on ECW TV on TNN (ha, TNN). This match was where Tanaka won his only ECW Title and was highlighted by Tanaka countering the top rope Awesome Bomb to a TOP ROPE TORNADO DDT through a table! One of the greatest spots I ever saw! Tanaka hit the Roaring Elbow and won a phenomenal ECW Title Match.

One promotion down, 2 to go and we move on to the late great WCW...

WCW Cruiserweight Title -

Despite the incredible number of amazing international stars who competed over the Cruiserweight Title, no match in this show-stealing division was ever as good as the runaway winner here between two men who lives and careers will forever be entwined.

(c) Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio: Title vs. Mask at Halloween Havoc 1997 - One of the greatest matches OF ALL TIME! These two were in the primes of their careers and with the added stipulation, it added the hatred and intensity that many Cruiserweight spot fests were lacking. Move of the match, Rey spring boarding up to the top rope and back flipping into a perfect DDT. Simply put, this is a perfect match.

WCW Television Title –
This is a tough one. The belt was around from 1984 till it was eliminated in late 1999 after it seemed everyone who touched it was hurt and thus necessitating another tournament for it. This is the title that knew glory, held by Dusty Rhodes, empowered by Arn Anderson, gave Booker T singles legitimacy. It also has the infamy of title holders such as Renegade, Prince Iaukea, and Disco Inferno. While the best feud over this title occurred between Booker T and Chris Benoit, the best series took place in the NWA heydays of 1989. The match between two all time greats… at what is universally praised as one of the greatest ppvs of all time…
© Great Muta vs. Sting at Great American Bash 1989 – Despite only given about 10 – minutes on a superbly stacked card this match was just fantastic as these two broke out moves and wrestled a style that just wasn't seen in the US at that time. Although today, it was might not be considered as classic an encounter, Sting and Muta tore it down and provided maybe the best match in TV Title history.

WCW Tag Team Titles –
WOW, between the Rock-n-Rolls, Midnights, Koloffs, Horsemen, Steiners, Hollywood Blondes, where do we start… NOT with the Outsiders, that's for sure. The best Tag Team wrestling I have seen came from the late 80's to early 90's WCW. Do I want to include Midnights vs. RNR, (but which one?). Sting/Luger vs. The Steiners from Superbrawl 92? Luger & Windham vs. Anderson and Blanchard from Clash in 88? Midnights vs. Southern Boys from GAB 90? Steamboat & Douglas vs. Windham & Pillman? When all is said and done, let the debate begin:

© Midnight Express vs. Southern Boys from Great American Bash 1990 – I have no reason to choose this over the others, except that I LOVE this match and it has the Midnights cheating to win in glorious Midnight style. Plus any match that can make fans honestly believe that Steve Armstrong and Tracy Smothers are going to beat the Midnight Express is extra special.

WCW Hardcore Title –
This title was only around less than a year and a half, and did not provide many "classics." So I will take the most humorous of title matches…

© Terry Funk vs. Chris Candido – This was the match where they met at a farm and Funk was kicked in the head BY A HORSE!

WCW US Title –
Forget all the crappy WWE matches since its re-introduction; this is another runaway winner…

© Tully Blanchard vs. Magnum TA: "I Quit" Cage Match from Starrcade 1985 – This is simply put, one of the most brutal sickening matches ever, with tons of blood and a famously depraved ending featuring Magnum shoving a wooden stake in Tully's eye. Sick and awesome in every way, this is everything its reputation precedes it.

WCW World Title –
The twisted lineages make this confusing, so we will stick with he who makes WCW famous, along with my all time favorite Big Man. It helps my case that this was just praised on DVD as the greatest Starrcade match ever!

© Big Van Vader vs. Ric Flair – Career Match from Starrcade 1993 – The classic Flair vs. Bigger wrestler match with added intensity of the career stipulation plus the fact that no one from Sting to Cactus Jack could stop the monster known as Vader. Some will complain about the blown ending but I still think this holds up as a great, great match.

NWA World Title –
Ah the twisted differences amongst the NWA/WCW Title lineages. This is covering all World Title matches in the NWA through Flair's defection in 1991. Thus we are treated to the Golden Trilogy of Flair/Steamboat matches, Flair/Race from 1983, or any other of the classic Flair contests. This is again an un-winnable debate because when choosing the best Flair title matches, you are never wrong. That statement counts especially strong for his series with Steamboat over a 3 months span (Feb – May) in 1989. Steamboat's title win at Chi-Town Rumble was a classic. The rematch at the April Clash spanned three falls and 55 minutes, while their May, Wrestle-War match is considered by many to be the greatest one on one match in US wrestling history. Like I said, anyway you go, you win…

© Ricky Steamboat vs. Ric Flair: 2/3 Falls from Clash of Champions 4/89 – This was as close to a perfect wrestling match as I have ever seen. This is proof that wrestling does not need flashy flip moves, weapons, run-ins, dusty finishes, etc. This was two of the best of all time doing what they do best. As Arn Anderson would say, "The W on the marquee stands for wrestling!"

Well that knocks out WCW, and leaves us with the Big Boy… The WWE

WWE Light Heavyweight Title –
The E's attempt to answer WCW's Cruiserweight goodness was to resurrect the Light Heavyweight Title from the early 80's in the Fall and Winter of 1997. After trying unsuccessfully to juice up the division with international stars, it took former WCW Cruiserweight specialist Dean Malenko to get the best match in this title's history against the most unlikely of opponents.

© Scotty 2 Hotty vs. Dean Malenko from Backlash 2000 – After Scotty surprised Malenko to win the title on Smackdown, Malenko got his rematch on ppv, at what I consider to be the greatest Non-Wrestlemania ppv in WWE history, Backlash 2000. Malenko dominated the match with his greatest assets; his technical prowess, destroying Scotty's knees and back to set up for the Texas Cloverleaf. When Scotty made his improbable comeback, he set Dean up for a Superplex, only to get countered into one of the deadliest finishers ever used in the WWE… a Top Rope DDT.

WWE European Title –
Usually a new title gets its start, and then goes on to have a bright future filled with great matches. And then there is the European Title. The highlight for this relatively short lived title (97 – 02) was its inception match, the finals of a tournament held entirely in; you guessed it… Europe and held on Raw in March of 1997.

Tournament Finals – Owen Hart vs. British Bulldog – This was one of the single best pure wrestling matches in Raw history and ranks only slightly underneath the two matches it borrowed so much from (Bret/Bulldog 92, and Bret/Owen, WM X). In fact the finish played off both as Owen went for his victory roll only for Davey Boy to reverse it for the pin. This belt quickly became the butt of jokes amongst DX, Naked Mideon, and Crash Holly, but those 20 minutes on Raw, it was nearly perfect.

WWE Women's Title –
50 plus years of Fabulous Moolah will not be thrown into the capsule here. The one women's match that will stick out for me, was the one time in history where Vince gave the ladies the main event slot on Raw and two of the most popular women proved they were more than just DIVAS…

© Trish Stratus vs. Lita from Raw in late 2004 – The two most popular ladies in recent memory out on a clinic in the main event on Raw culminating with Lita hitting her moonsault and ending Trish's reign of terror over the Women's Title.

WWE Hardcore Title –
With all the crazy Crash Holly sketches and 24/7 nonsense, some really brutal and cool matches took place for this title. The three that jump out at me are Kane/Big Show/Raven at WM X-7, Rhino vs. Raven from Backlash 2001 (where Rhino gored a shopping cart), and then we have the winner…

© Jeff Hardy vs. Rob Van Dam from InVasion 2001 – This was the breakout match for RVD in the WWE. Jeff was the perfect fall guy, a guy who could match RVD for crazy spots and take all of RVD's big ones. Van Dam tipped Jeff off a 20-foot ladder, hit the Van Daminator off the stage, and then nailed the Five Star Frog Splash to secure the win. This was the perfect showcase for RVD as he would go on to become one of the biggest stars in the world over the next few years.

WWE Tag Team Titles –
This set of titles is hurt the most by the exclusion of Chris Benoit since its pretty much outlaws the entire Smackdown Six period in late 2002. A number of good teams have held these titles, but the match I have selected is a little known diddy from a lost great ppv in the shitty year of 2003. A Brock/Angle/Big Show triple threat match highlighted vengeance in June, and a then heel John Cena battling Undertaker. It also had Eddie/Benoit for the re-issued US Title. The diamond hidden amongst those matches was my pick for best WWE Tag Title match:

© The World's Greatest Tag Team vs. Rey Mysterio & Billy Kidman – This was as much a show stealer in the ring as it was on paper. Two former WCW greats, particularly in the Cruiserweight and tag team scenes, facing off against two highly accomplished wrestlers who had quickly become the freshest tag team in wrestling. These four got the crowded riled to a fever pitch especially when Kidman launched Rey up into a top rope hurricanrana. The end was fantastic, as Rey tried a victory roll only for Haas to hold on and Shelton spring boarded off with a Doomsday Device for the pin.

WWE World Tag Team Titles –
These are the tag titles with the longest current lineage, dating back to 1971. Some of my favorite matches ever growing up were between the British Bulldogs and Hart Foundation. Members of the Hart family mix and match well with tag team wrestling. Bret and Owen vs. Steiners from early 94, Owen & Bulldog vs. Austin & HBK from Raw in 97, and the Harts vs. Demolition from Summerslam 90 are also great choices. Of course we can skip past my childhood and talk about 2 years and 3 teams: 2000 and 2001 with Edge & Christian, the Hardys and Dudleys. Since our time capsule is lacking is spots and brutality I feel it appropriate for 4 words… DEVON, GET THE TABLES!!!

© Dudleys vs. Hardys vs. Edge & Christian: TLC II from Wrestlemania X-7 – This was the best of their 3 crazy spot fests partly due to the interference of each team's extra friend (Spike, Lita, and Rhino). Jeff did his SUPER Swanton, Buh Buh and Matt went flying through tables, and Edge hit the greatest SPEAR EVER, (still my all time favorite spot), the 20 foot Spear on Jeff while Jeff is hanging from the cables.

WWE Intercontinental Title –
Ah, the belt with arguably the best bunch of matches to choose from. We have Macho Man/Steamboat, Bret/Perfect, Bret/Bulldog, Bret/Piper, Razor/Shawn Ladder I & II, Shawn/Jarrett, Austin/Owen, Triple H/Rock, RVD/Guerrero, etc. All of the previous mentioned were great, some more historic than others. Well due to the inclusion of the TLC match, I am excluding the two Razor/Shawn ladder matches. That narrows it down for me to WM III vs. Summerslam 92. Two 5 – star matches, including some of the best workers ever.

© Macho Man Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat from WM III – Bret and Bulldog were great in Wembley Stadium, but this is the quintessential match for the IC Title. This was a vicious and violent blood feud that culminated in front of 93,000 people. This was the match that upstaged Hogan and Andre. 22 years later, this match is still looked at as THE classic wrestling contest in the WWE. Just as recently as Monday night on Raw, Steamboat claimed this match as his greatest moment before going into the hall… and he WON the NWA World Title!

WWE World Heavyweight Title –
I am starting here from Triple H being handed the big gold belt by Eric Bischoff in September 2002. Of course excluding Chris Benoit's title win at Wrestlemania XX, this becomes very heavy on the Triple H. So do we go with the Game, or perhaps stray in another direction. If you have read any of my columns, you know my affinity for last year's Wrestlemania main event and it was choice for match of the year. Now its my choice for best World Title match…

© Edge vs. Undertaker at Wrestlemania XXIV – They started slowly with a dead crowd. They built up a great match where Edge was able to counter everything Taker brought to the table. When Taker finally got his big blows in, it wasn't enough to pin Edge and suddenly you could see the crowd starting to think…"Edge might do it." The tension built as Edge kicked out of the Tombstone. The crowd went nuts when Edge hit a SECOND SPEAR but then BAM, Taker locked in the Hell's Gate choke and Edge tapped. They managed to convince the crowd that something totally impossible could happen and that was magic as a wrestling fan.

WWE Title –
This is the big one, the main event, the top dog, head honcho, big cheese and grand Poobah! Hulk and Andre, Mega Powers exploding, The Ultimate Challenge, Flair & Savage for Liz's honor, Bret and Owen in a Cage for Hart family honor, Bret and HBK for ONE HOUR, HBK and Austin in another Torch passing, Rock and Triple H, Triple H and Cactus, Austin and Rock and Vince in Houston, Angle and Austin in a bloodbath, Eddie makes history against Brock, then Angle. So where do we go? Do we want the future to see the spectacle or enjoy the wrestling, see the blood or go into overtime… this is my toughest choice. Since we used Ric Flair in both NWA/WCW Title matches, its only appropriate to use Hogan in the title match for the company he helped build.

© Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant from Wrestlemania III – This was the single most historic match in wrestling history and the match the sealed the deal for Vince McMahon becoming a multi millionaire as the largest crowd in wrestling watched on. Hogan slamming Andre to win the match is the iconic image of a lifetime. It is the perfect ending to our time capsule.

So lets review our matches…
ECW Television Title – © Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Rob Van Dam
ECW Tag Titles – © Raven & Stevie Richards vs. Pitbulls
ECW World Title – © Mike Awesome vs. Masato Tanaka
WCW Hardcore Title – © Terry Funk vs. Chris Candido
WCW Cruiserweight Title vs. Mask – © Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio
WCW Television Title – © Great Muta vs. Sting
WCW Tag Team Titles – © Midnight Express vs. Southern Boys
WCW United States Title: I Quit Cage Match – © Tully Blanchard vs. Magnum TA
WCW World Title – © Vader vs. Ric Flair
NWA World Title: 2/3 Falls – © Ricky Steamboat vs. Ric Flair
WWE Light Heavyweight Title – © Scotty 2 Hotty vs. Dean Malenko
WWE European Title – Owen Hart vs. British Bulldog
WWE Hardcore Title – © Jeff Hardy vs. Rob Van Dam
WWE Tag Team Titles – © The World's Greatest Tag Team vs. Rey Mysterio & Kidman
WWE World Tag Titles: TLC II – © Dudleys vs. Hardys vs. Edge & Christian
WWE Women's Title – © Trish Stratus vs. Lita
WWE Intercontinental Title – © Macho Man vs. Ricky Steamboat
WWE World Heavyweight Title – © Edge vs. Undertaker
WWE Title – © Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant

Let the debate begin…have fun storming the castle.