Superstar Sleeze

What's it like Chad knowing you have 119 more months to finish the 2000s but you have already seen the best match of the decade? 😋

I thought Summerslam match was way overrated but this was incredible!!! I think the Money in the Bank match was wicked underrated and best match of the series. A much better version of SSLam match with actual transitions and urgency!

AJ Styles save me!

I have been pretty underwhelmed thus far. I just so tired of That style of plunder brawling. I expected and wanted to see Reigns/Braun for the title. Well at least we are getting the match could be the show stealer at Mania!

70s - WWWF Heavyweight Champion Bob Backlund vs Greg Valentine - MSG 2/19/79 80s - NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Ricky Morton - Great American Bash 1986 Steel Cage 90s - I need to rewatch all the AJPW stuff one more time, but I think it is 6/9/95, 4/15/95 or 1/20/97, for the US I think I would say Bret vs Owen WrestleMania X 00s - Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jun Akiyama - AJPW 2/27/00 10s - WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns vs AJ Styles - WWE Payback 2016

WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels vs Marty Jannetty - WWF RAW 7/19/93 These two definitely know how to whip a match into a fever pitch. Shawn has since added Diesel to his act which paid immediate dividends as he won the IC belt back. Marty turns his back to Shawn to look at Diesel and Shawn attacks. Great way to get over the presence of the big man. Marty impressively lands on his feet on a back drop. Another great shine with Marty looking crisp and Michaels bumping like a madman. Nothing out of this world. Everything is upbeat and well-done. Marty hits a DDT. 1-2-3! Lightning strikes twice! Wait! Michael's foot was on the ropes, Diesel points it out and the match is restarted. I like this use of Diesel. Not can he intimidate and interfere, but he can watch Michaels' back if injustice is to occur. Jannetty continues with the shine suplex and backbreaker. Jannetty should have been a solid mechanic in the midcard and tag scene if not for personal demons. Definite anchor on this match is Michaels' heat segment. Nothing memorable transition and chinlock city otherwise. Michaels would get better on top, never his strong suit, but very weak here. Jannetty crotching him to get out of a front facelock almost makes the front facelock worth it. Again they work a ton of great nearfalls for Jannetty that get awesome heat. Jannetty takes an insane bump flying over the top rope on a missed crossbody down on the floor. Diesel helps him back in 1-2-3! I actually dug the finish a lot. The bump was insane and really puts over the move as high risk. PWI Match of the Year for 1993 and I don't even think it is the best match in WWF in 1993. Fun shine, lame heat segment and red hit finish, a great way to spend 15 minutes of your life, btu nothing that will change your life. ***1/4

WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels vs Marty Jannetty - WWF RAW 5/17/93 The May 17, 1993 episode of RAW has to go down as one of the all-time great RAWs between the red-hot Razor Ramon/1-2-3 Kid angle and this angle where Marty Jannetty returns to the WWF in disguise as a civilian and forces the cocky Shawn Michaels into a match. Fast-paced TV sprints. Nothing really extraordinary. Just solid, basic pro wrestling. Jannetty gets some nearfalls early and then gets some fun babyface offense which Shawn bumps great for. Loved the slingshot crossbody to floor. Shawn clearly overwhelmed looks to hightail it out of there, but Mr. Perfect who is feuding with Michaels stops him. Loved the heel heat transition with Shawn dropping Marty throat first on the rope during a headscissors attempts. They would some double hot nearfalls down the stretch like the catapult of Shawn into the post and the top rope reverse cross body. Michaels hits proto-Sweet Chin Music, taunts Perfect who throws his towel at him and Marty cradles him for the victory and upset title change! Wasn't in love with the finish think there was a better way to make everyone come out looking there, but still a HUGE moment with Marty winning the title in a good little TV match with a hot finish stretch. ***

SMW Tag Team Champions Rock N Roll Express vs Heavenly Bodies - WWF Survivor Series 1993 My hometown of Boston let the wrestling world down by being absolutely dead for all this kickass tag team action. From the Morton suicide dive to start the match to Del Rey catching the tennis racquet to drive it into the RNRs to win the tag belts, the action in this was fast and furious and never ever let up. In fact my complaint would be that they were wrestling too fast. They knew this would be a cold crowd and they tried to compensate by being extra hot but I think it was to the detriment of the match because it took away from the selling and the awesomeness of the spots. The Bodies are just great successors to the Midnights with the all fun spots at the beginning, the row the boat spot is the one I always think of with this match. When it comes time to get heat they get heat. Pritchard's powerbomb is great and Del rey's Asai Moonsault and body jiggle it awesome. Loved seeing the Trash Compactor. God Bless Southern tag Wrestling. Morton with the Misawa-rana on the second powerbomb attempt was great and double DDT sets up the coldest hot tag ever. I am so sorry everybody for my hometown! I will say the finish stretch was a bit of a mess with the convoluted that would be a DQ in SMW but not here in WWF, who the fuck is legal (Morton was not but was being treated as such) and zero heat for the double dropkick. Superbrawl III was a better match, but this was very good. I don't think there is anything more jarring than Rock N Roll Express wrestling for WWF in Boston. Just so weird. ***1/2

Bret Hart vs Doink The Clown Summerslam 1993 So building off the Lawler's beatdown of The Hitman at King of the Ring 1993 over who the real King of the Ring was they booked Bret Hart versus Jerry Lawler for Summerslam. However, you see The King was in a massive ten car pile up caused by an old blue hair and injured his knee. Heenan says on commentary that even after he pulled his own body from the fiery wreckage he saved a school bus of children! What a hero, The King Jerry Lawler is! However, he has chose a replacement his court jester, the Evil Clown, Doink! I love the Doink gimmick so much. He throws a bucket of confetti on the fans and then a bucket of water on Bruce Hart! HA! Bret tees off on Doink. Bret just murders Doink. Besides 1997, we don't get enough of this pissed off Bret. He is so great here just kicking ass. Loved him crotching Doink on top rope and then letting him fall face first. Of course, Bret is tempted to attack Lawler and this when Doink jumps him from behind. Doink is great here ramming Bret hard into the steps and then working the knee over. I love that the Evil Clown is a technical wizard using the STF and stump puller. Doink eats knees on the Whoopie Cushion! Bret tees off on Doink again and goes for the Sharpshooter and Lawler breaks the crutch over the Hitman's back! It is a miracle! I guess Bret wins this match by DQ . Love it! Bret Hart vs Jerry Lawler - Summerslam 1993 Jerry The King Lawler is helping his buddy, Doink the Clown to the back when Jack Tunney stops him and sends him back to the ring to have the regularly scheduled match. Bret is fighting through officials to try to get to the King. Once Bret gets to him, he just murders The King with rights. This is the best Memphis match to ever take place in WWF. Just a wild, chaotic brawl. Bret bites Lawler in the head. He just throwing the punches with reckless abandon. Bret finds a crutch and breaks it over Lawler's back. The King picks up broken crutch and jabs it into the abdomen of Bret. He jabs it in the throat and chokes him with it. Lawler is great in this. So cheap and desperate, goading Owen and Bruce and just cheating at will against Bret with the crutch and ramming his balls into the post. Bret's trick knee acts up and rams Lawler in the Royal Family Jewels! Bret is great in this when he takes the strap down. There s just a look in his eyes where you actually think he might murder the King. He just conveys so much badass asskicker here. Loved the punches and PILEDRIVER!!! This is not played up enough on commentary. Bret applies the Sharpshooter and Lawler is forced to quit, but Bret wont relinquish the hold. This goes on for a while even his brothers get involved. Once he releases it we find out Jerry Lawler has won the match by disqualification making him the Undisputed King of the WWF. He leaves on a stretcher with one finger in the air. Awesome! One of the all-time best WWF angles ever from the bullshit Lawler story to the great Doink match to great Bret/Lawler brawl to the bullshit finish of Lawler remaining "undisputed" King of the WWF. Lawler was at his Memphis heel best and Bret was in full asskicker moder. Really something to behold. ****1/4 for the whole kit and caboodle.

Pete, I liked you so much until I found out you were a Buckeye fan. I went to the University of Michigan, BABY! GO BLUE! WWF World Tag Team Champions Steiner Brothers vs Heavenly Bodies - WWF Summerslam 1993 "University of Michigan, anybody could graduate from there" - Bobby The Brain Heenan, I know all too well, Brain, all too well. I popped for that line. Summerslam 1993 emanates from the Palace of Auburn Hills, Michigan so the Steiners are decked out in the Maize & Blue of the University of Michigan. Loved the Lets Go Blue chants for the Steiners on multiple occasions throughout this match. I watched this match about 4-5 years ago and loved it. Loved it just as much this go around. Awesome Southern sprint! This would not feel out of place at all in Crockett or WCW. The Bodies carry the torch for Midnights so well with the fun spots and cool, innovative offense. Bodies jump the Steiners before the bell. They try to isolate Rick by keeping Scott outside the ring, but eventually Scott gets in and opens a can of whoop ass. Suplexes galore, monkey flip and Steinerlines from Rick! Really fun shine see the Steiners do what they do best throw muthafuckas around and hit em hard. Scotty seemed to be pumped to be wrestling in Michigan. LOVED the transition to the heat with Del Rey ducking under Scotty's legs and Dr. Tom comes flyin in with a bulldog. Del Rey was a monster in this heat segment. Somersault off the apron on Scotty and then a beautiful DDT and followed up with his sleazy little dance. HELL YEAH! The Steiners are not the greatest at selling but the Bodies make up for it with great offense and heel tactics. Del Rey gets cute and tries for the DDT again, but Scotty has seen this movie before and chucks him over the shoulder. Then sends Dr. Tom flying with a Tiger Bomb. Rick cleans everyone's clock with Steinerlines. Tons of hot nearfalls here with Rick's bulldog, Pritchard's tennis racquet shot getting over huge. Loved the moonsault by Del Rey (he rocked!) hitting Tom and then Scotty snapping off a Frakensteiner. Awesome, bomb throwing sprint. LOVED THIS! LETS GO BLUE! ****

Bret Hart vs Bam Bam Bigelow - WWF King of the Ring 1993 Never seen this match before, really good extended squash before the upset victory. Bret is coming into this banged up with injured fingers from Razor and knee from Perfect. He has also wrestled for 30 minutes in two minutes compared to Bam Bam's one which went 8 minutes. I liked how this started as a fight as Bret just threw all he had at Bam Bam. First Press slam does not end well for Bam Bam with Bret falling on top. Finally Bigelow chucks Bret out onto the floor in a gnarly bump. Bigelow destroys Bret's back with an array of suplexes and holds (bearhug, Argentine backbreaker). Bret's first hope spot is when he whips Bigelow hard into the railing. He mounts a bit of a comeback before Bigelow catches him off the apron (no wonder Bret kept trying to repeat that spot it worked here just never after) and Bam Bam drove Bret's back hard into the post. Then Luna comes out and hits him with a chair in the back. Bam Bam hits a diving headbutt and 1-2-3! WAIT WHAT THE FUCK! My jaw dropped because I had never seen the match before. Earl Hebner comes out and says the match should continue because Luna's interference that's pretty inconsistent at best and weak at worst. What I liked about this match is that it was so different tan your typical Bret match. It was basically this extended squash with Bam Bam just beating the tar out of the Hitman, but Bret was actually good about hope spots in this match. Like the back suplex and senton. I thought the sleeper set up by a face rake out of the Argentine Backbreaker was perfect. The exact move Bret needed to regain some of his strength and sap the big man of his. I really think that is the perfect use of a sleeper. To follow up Bret just starts using his body as a weapon first with a dropkick to send Bam Bam to the floor and then a pescado! Great comeback! I really liked how Bret set up for the second rope elbow but because Bigelow got up he transitioned to a bulldog. That's a great kayfabe way to show someone thinking on their feet. Bam Bam blocks Sharpshooter and back to bearhug. Bret makes him eat a boot on a charge. He hops up to the top rope and then onto Bam Bam's shoulders to get the victory roll. The fun does not end there, the post-match with Jerry Lawler, which sets up a two year feud was excellent. Lawler rants he is the real king. Bret kind of blows him off by getting the fans to chant "Burger King" only for Lawler to kick the royal shit out of Bret. Including throwing the throne on top of him. Jerry Lawler can rest peacefully though because he still has the honor of having Bam Bam Bigelow's best match. This is the second best Bam Bam match I have ever seen. Thought he looked great as a monster here and Bret was perfect as the underdog babyface. Really different Bret match than normal, check it out! ****

Bret Hart vs Mr. Perfect - WWF King of the Ring 1993 "This is a CLASSY match!" - Macho Man Randy Savage Bret is the king of the face vs face match, but here he is not playing the subtle heel. It is his opponent rather that plays de facto heel in this contest. Easily the best Curt Hennig match since his days in AWA as he has the offense here to match his bumping. Loved the gradual progression from the locker room where Mean Gene was stirring the pot through the match in how Hennig became more and more heelish. At the start of the match, he was the one laying heavy blows like the chop or pulling hair and it was Bret doing what he does best picking a base hold (side headlock) and working cradles out of the hold. Each man looking for quick victory to get out of Dodge and face the rested Bam Bam Bigelow in the finals. I liked how Hennig was bumping on the side headlock takeovers, good snap to them. Hennig uses the hair to force Bret into the ropes and delivers a kneelift. His standing dropkick sends Bret to the outside. He holds the ropes open and cements his mid-match heel turn by attacking Bret as he gets into the ring. Perfect looks great here with chops, kneelift, even a missile dropkick! The awesome spot I always remember from this match is Perfect slingshotting Bret from the apron to floor and railing. Nasty. My big problem with this match is that spot does not lead to more heat. Instead, Bret pops up before Perfect can come off the top and hits a superplex. Just felt like a weak transition. Hennig sells the knee so he can take his favorite bump the one where he does backflips. Bret applies the figure-4 and Hennig makes the ropes. He goes to Bret's eyes and then biels him out by the hair, always a nasty spot between these two (shades of Summerslam). Love it! In another callback to Summerslam when Bret whips Perfect into the corner and he slides under and posts himself by the balls. Another crowd-pleaser. Here comes the Five Moves of Doom. Sharpshooter, but in one last act of desperation, Perfect goes for the taped fingers (injured in the Ramon match) and this quashes Bret's attempt. Perfect now goes for Perfectplex, big time struggle and they both go over the top rope in an insane suplex spot crashing to the floor. They milk the count and back in the ring Perfect gets an inside cradle, but Bret reverses and wins the match! I think what really pushes it over the top is Perfect going for the fingers. He starts with hair pulling and then it is attacking him as he is entering the ring. But it is only when he thinks he is in real danger that he goes for the fingers. It was his ace in his back pocket. He only wanted to use if he had too. It is hard to outshine Bret in his matches because his fingerprints are usually all over of the match, but I really thought Perfect gave an excellent performance. My one complaint is I thought the transitions could have been tightened up. Best Mr. Perfect match in WWF, best WWF match of 1993! ****1/4

Bret Hart vs Razor Ramon - WWF King of the Ring 1993 Really fun traditional pro wrestling match. They don't do anything extraordinary but they do the ordinary so right that the match has incredible heat and is a real fun watch. It especially helps this is coming on the heels of the wicked hot 1-2-3 Kid angle with the fans chanting 1-2-3 to taunt Razor. This is Bret by the numbers but there is a reason his formula works. He does a great job keeping the deceptively big & tall Scott Hall off his feet with headlocks and wristlocks. I really like simple stuff like Razor missing the elbow in the shine with Bret getting up and going back to work. I love the eyepoke as the transition to the heat segment with the charge into the post cementing it. I thought Razor was good in his heat segment adding the running powerslam to his fallaway slam. Razor had a really hard time hitting elbow drops in this match. Missing four in a row. Bret executes his Five Moves of Doom excellently, but ends up taking the Bret Bump. The nearfalls down the stretch are wicked hot. Loved Bret shifting his weight on the super back suplex to win the match because that was the finish of every single match I have ever had with my brother because it was the only suplex I could ever do so I would have him shift his weight to win (I am the older brother so I was always the heel). Really fun textbook wrestling match. ***1/2

Bret Hart vs Owen Hart - WrestleMania X Brother versus brother is such a great, natural storyline and this is the best ever execution of this storyline. Owen plays such a great insecure snot riddled with an inferiority complex. Look how he celebrates the break from the collar and elbow tieup or just kipping out of a fresh headscissors. That's premature braggart side. Watch how he takes it when his ego has been bruised how quickly he is jump to the ropes and call for a break or when he feels humiliated for being tossed out by Bret, he comes in and slaps him. Owen is just the consummate insecure brat. On the flip side, Bret is the definition of cool, calm and collected. At the beginning of the match, he makes it a point to safely win the match. Remember wrestling is merely pinning your opponent's shoulders to the mat for three, you don't have actually have to hurt him. So with this in mind, Bret goes for a host of cradles and uses the armbar as a base hold. Barring the arm controls Owen but it does not hurt him. From that base he can work his different varieties of rollups. Even the slap is more of a warning shot, snap out of it shot than trying to hurt his brother. Now this all changes when Owen gets a spinwheel kick. Unlike his big brother, he is not going to take the advantage lightly and he rams Bret's back into the ring post and beging to work with some really stellar offense. Definitely his best Belly to Belly of all time and a beautiful German Suplex. I thought Bret was chippier than usual in this heat segment throwing in hope spots and making Owen cut him off. This is the missing ingredient in most Bret matches to take him to that ***** promised land. The Tombstone Piledriver spot was out of this world. I had forgotten how great that was and the missed top rope diving headbutt was such an excellent transition spot. The Five Moves of Doom are so great because it allows Bret to extend his comeback and create extra segments. Instead of three segmented match, he can have a five one which allows for variety and more of a roller coaster effect. Now that Owen has started attacking Bret with suplexes, it showed him that he needed to elevate to his Five Moves of Doom. He is able to hit his Russian Legsweep, Backbreaker and second rope elbow with such beauty. You really feel he has the match on his side when BANG! Enziguiri of Death! Owen wants the Sharpshooter, but ends up on the floor and Bret slingshots himself over, but hurts his knee on the landing. Now here comes the heat, which plays off great from the Quebecers match and the original heel turn where Owen "kicked the leg out from under the leg". Owen decimates the knee in true Hart fashion. Bret does a great job selling. Bret is a very good subtle seller, he may not play to the cheap seats but he does a great job for those in TV Land. Owen was vicious and you feel him become more and more confident with each leg wrench. Yes, he applies the Figure-4 to the wrong leg, but that's a pretty common mistake. Loved the reversal would have loved to see Bret try for the Sharpshooter from that position as a Sharpshooter is just a standing reverse Figure-4, but we did not get that spot. Like Bret's payback spot with his own enziguiri. Love that symmetry. I also really loved how commentary was playing up how this would affect Bret's title match later that very night. It is one thing to lose a match it is a whole another to sustain an injury and so Lawler's point of just giving up was very valid. Now that Bret's knee has been injured he holds NOTHING back and hits a PILEDRIVER AND A TOPE ROPE SUPERPLEX! See the progression of Bret's offense from cradles & barring the arm to typical pro wrestling moves to DROPPING HIS LITTLE BROTHER ON HIS HEAD! It matches perfectly with Owen's progression. He starts off as a petulant, insecure snot to suplexes and traditional pro wrestling to INJURING HIS OLDER BROTHER! Owen takes it a step further when his trick knee acts up and rams Bret in his ballsack. There is really no turning back now, you are just a douche. Owen goes for Sharpshooter, but isn't as proficient as Bret and Bret breaks it. He applies his own, but Owen gets the ropes. Bret goes for the Victory Roll to try to get out of here, but Owen kneels down on his shoulders and wins the match! I love how the match started as a match to see who was the better wrestler progressed into a match of trying to injure your older brother or drop your little brother on his head, but ultimately finished with a wrestling hold reversal. Just beautiful circular symmetry. Owen is very jealous, insecure brother that there ever was and he plays that role to perfection. Bret is the great mature, calm brother whose hand is forced to battle his little brother for self-preservation for his own title shot. Even Bret's face at the loss is perfect. He is like I cant believe that little fucker pinned me, The knee injury to play off the original heel turn was great. Incredible match. I will have to think about but I think this is the greatest WWF match of the 90s (need to watch Austin/Hart again) and it is right there with the Boot Camp match as greatest WWF match of all time. Bret and Owen made the Hart Family proud! *****

WWF World Heavyweight Champion Diesel vs Bret Hart - WWF Survivor Series 1995 No DQ What is missing from pro wrestling today is enthusiastic grandmas in the front row! I think this most underrated WWF match of all time. I truly think this is incredible and one of the best Bret Hart performances of all time. I say this all the time but he is the king of face vs face matches and this is his best ever. As each wrestler takes turns playing babyface throughout the match in really logical fashion that never undercuts the drama or the characters in the ring. The video package before this is awesome with each man discussing their strategy. I thought Nash was especially excellent saying he was going to use power and size, this is not collegiate wrestling he is going for the early knockout. It really set the table for the actual match where these two just wove in a compelling story over the course of 25 minutes. Each other taking off a turnbuckle pad right at the outset set the tone of the match and established that each man had come for a dirty, nasty fight. Loved Bret going for the leg early and driving Big Daddy Cool into the corner. Nash does a great job hitting heavy, heavy blows to stymie The Hitman. I love how Nash keeps Hart in that corner. He is suffocating him. Hart can find no quarter. Nash stalking Bret as he escapes to the outside is such a great visual especially how Nash always climbs over the top rope. There is such a looming sense of dread with each blow that Hart has to take from the big man. If I had one complaint, it is not the speed as this had a great horror movie like feel to it, but like in most Bret Hart matches there was not much in the way of struggles, he just took his licks. His matches can be too neat sometimes. The transition to Bret Hart on offense is awesome. He holds onto Nash's leg for dear life to avoid being splatter on the canvas via the Jacknife. He eventually makes it to the ropes and then starts biting the arm of Diesel. You know how I know this because Diesel just starts hollering. Great verbal selling by Nash. Hart kicks at the knee and we all know what is coming up next. Just textbook dissection of the knee with excellent execution. Figure-4 always a nice touch. I liked how Diesel going for Jacknife was a transition and we see Bret going for the Sharpshooter leads to Bret being kicked off and his head hits the exposed turnbuckle. Bret, being wary of losing his lead, trips up Diesel and wraps his knee around the post and then in the most famous spot of the match ties him up with the mic cable. Diesel is now helpless. It is funny to see Grandma Hitman fan cheering on Bret even though he is clearly heeling on Diesel now. I love this segment so much. Diesel trying to stand but getting knocked over, but the cord stopping him from falling properly. Diesel knocking the chair out of Bret's hand with his free foot, but only for Bret to step on his hand when he was trying to get the chair. That's some next level heel shit right there. Bret hitting the backbreaker and just mercilessly attacking the knee. Bret goes up top again, but this time Diesel crotches him. A really effective heat segment. Diesel's selling of the leg is top notch. Like really fucking good. Love him gingerly walking over to drop all his weight on Bret's neck. Or the Snake Eyes and how he does it. Bret slams Diesel's face into the exposed steel on the second attempt this allows him to go for the Five Moves of Doom, bulldog off the middle rope was cool. Bret misses the pescado in epic crash and burn fashion. In a bump I absolutely love, Bret gets slingshotted from the apron through table still makes me say holy shit. Here is my big grievance is the possum finish. It is just the bump right before it was so badass. I just feel like the finish undercuts that bump. I did like Bret dropping like a dead fish when Diesel first tried to pick him up. Cradle and the Granmda Bret Hart goes crazy and Diesel famously says "Muthafuckin Shit" and then destroys Bret two of the most badass Jacknife powerbombs ever. Love, love this match. I am genuinely curious why people do not rate this higher. The David vs Goliath beginning with a great transition to the leg work then the awesome tie Diesel's foot to the post segment followed by really friggin awesome Diesel selling during the finish stretch with two huge Bret Hart bumps before the possum finish. Easy Top 10 WWF match of the 90s and really should be discussed more as an interesting case study on how to work face vs face. ****1/2

WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels vs Razor Ramon - WWF Summerslam 1995 Ladder Match Part Deux Probably the greatest WWF match where limb psychology was the main hook of the match. Razor just decimates Shawn's left knee in a way you just never saw in the WWF then what adds to it is the use of the ladder. My favorite spot in this match is where Razor just lets the ladder fall onto the injured knee. It really is a master class in how to work a body part and Shawn is phenomenal at both selling and timing hope spots (like the kicking off into the ladder or over the top rope). In such a heavy, heavy heat segment, hope spots are so critical to avoid dying. I will get on people's case when heat segments go so far that they hurt the credibility of the match because they render a comeback unbelievable. Here I thought they toed the line, but it was Shawn that was keeping it all alive. Before that all happens, there is a nice little match that happens without the ladder. It is face vs face so I loved the symmetry of them both going for their finishes. I liked that it took THREE big moves for Razor to finally bring the ladder in. The Irish Whip bump and the super Fallaway Slam were great spots, but the crown jewel was that suplex to the floor. Damn! Usually people just tease that and even when they do take it is a much safer bump on the feet. Shawn went all out on that. I loved all the callbacks to WM X. Razor smartening up to the baseball slide. Shawn mooning the audience, but this time het tries to keep climbing, but when Razor pushes the ladder, he wrenches his knee. Razor taking Shawn's bump with the Irish whip to the ladder. Shawn doing a super tippy-top of the ladder splash to do WrestleMania X, but eating canvas. Shawn's comeback was perfectly pitched. It was a very gradual progression to finally gaining control. It was not too energetic, but it was also not completely dead either. The reverse crossbody off the ladder was great and the aforementioned missing the big splash was a good level the playing field spot. The finish was my least favorite part even if it was not blown. It just felt so contrived and really drawn out like the cinematic WWE main events of today. So much down time selling, I usually encourage more selling, but this was excessive. The Razor's Edge, only for Michaels to still be able to set up another ladder. The two ladders in general just did not sit well with me. If Sweet Chin Music hit well AND he was able to leap and grab the belts, I would probably forgive everything because that would be badass. The fact he missed it a second time (nice cover with backdrop on Razor's Edge attempt) was pretty funny especially with the classic Shawn hissy fit. Third time is the charm for the Heartbreak Kid. Callbacks and the leg psychology make this an all-time WWF classic for me. Razor never looked better on top and Shawn gave an impressive performance in a very difficult role. The finish is the only thing that holds it back from the tippy top. It feels like such a unique match in the WWF environment with how critical the leg psychology is in this match and they do a great job mixing in big time spots. ****3/4

Razor Ramon vs Shawn Michaels - WWF RAW 8/1/94 Macho Man is on fire referencing that Vince & WWF had just defeated the US DOJ in court. Vince was great with his false modesty, knowing him, he was loving it. For some mysterious reason, Shawn Michaels has not wrestled since WrestleMania X. It is funny that in time period that is so well-researched that Shawn Michaels' four month absence from in-ring is a completely unexplained. This is a very good RAW match that is given plenty of time. Two things stood out to me, how well Shawn Michaels bumped and how quickly they made sure they went to payoff spots. I think they were always quick to give the fans something to pop for. For example, Shawn Michaels trips up Razor and steps him on, but immediately eats a right hand and takes a big bump. I liked Shawn going to each side of the ring only to eat a fist. Shawn gets a nice eyepoke. I thought Shawn was a pretty good heel in this and used Diesel effectively. They did the shine very interesting with Shawn stringing 2-3 moves, but then getting cutoff. Liked Razor catching and then chucking him into fallaway slam. The catapult bump over the top rope onto Diesel was great, as was the press slam off the top and that HIGH back body drop. It was funny watching Scott Hall work a workrate sprint and really not miss a beat. Good general back work on Michaels. They finally go to heat proper with Razor getting thrown over the top (great bump) and then Diesel getting involved. Michaels' Sweet Chin Music still needs some work, he calls for the Piledriver, but backdropped. The finish stretch is very high-end workrate for the time and WWF. Michaels doing a top rope reverse crossbody. Razor punches Diesel and then ducks Shawn with the belt, but in the commotion eats a boot from Diesel. The match was nothing extraordinary, but I thought Shawn's bumping and setting up and delivering on a lot of payoffs was really cool. Definitely a very good early RAW match. ***1/2

Savage was excellent in this. Vince was so proud and happy to defeat the US Government.

WWF Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon vs Shawn Michaels - WWF WrestleMania X Ladder Match Vince must love this match because there are so many iconic moments in this match, Shawn going around the ladder wagging his finger, Razor strutting underneath the ladder, the splash from the top of the ladder (camera shot is great), riding the ladder down from the turnbuckle and of course the amazing finish. That's really the thing that traditional WWF did so much better than any other wrestling company in history is creating long lasting memories from singular spots. What buoys this match from relying on simple nostalgia and is the awesome violence incorporating the ladder and the smart, compact layout. From the opening salvo of the baseball slide of Shawn Michaels sending the ladder into Razor Ramon, they use the ladder in almost every single spot in new violent, vicious way. I am a mark for throwing heavy objects on people. I forgot Shawn chucked that ladder at Razor, he really got him good. Shawn was great really beating the shit out of Razor with the ladder. Shawn goes up for the title belts (Shawn was claimant to Intercontinental Championship because he was stripped but never beaten) and Razor pulls down his trunk, but Shawn kicks him off and hits an elbow. You know you have a match with a lot of great spots when this is not fondly remembered. Probably because the spot right after this one is the iconic splash from the ladder onto Razor. UN-BE-LIVE-A-BLE! Vince really liked saying that a lot on commentary. I liked the transition to Razor being in control because it was a series of ladder shots that were required to dig him out of a hole. He had to push Shawn off the ladder, whip him into the ladder (wicked bump over the turnbuckles to the floor), ladder shots and the catapult. I think what this match does really well that it is hard for most wrestling matches to do without coming across as cheap is building drama without a traditional comeback. A traditional comeback builds drama through the fire of the babyface overcoming the odds of the heat segment and then there is a couple twists and turns before the finish. Razor did not make a fiery comeback. The drama was that getting up that damn ladder was so damn difficult. Even though you would think a ladder match would be one of unlike sport matches, it feels like the drama of real sports. Shawn was not especially nefarious in this match and Razor was just in an early hole. As he dug himself out, it was not this comeback that whips you into a frenzy, but rather you are intrigued how somebody will actually be able to win this match. One of the spots that really wowed me that, I had totally forgotten was Razor suplexing Shawn off the top of the ladder. That has to be my new favorite spot of the match. Insane bump and just awesome looking made better by the ladder giving way under Razor. Shawn is able to dropkick the ladder. Shawn was really damn good on offense here with Sweet Chin Music, a really nice piledriver (he should have the used the piledriver more) and in that other iconic moments rides the ladder down on Razor. I forgot how quickly they go into the finish with Razor shouldertackling the ladder and Shawn getting tied up in the ropes. Shawn was fucking awesome in the ropes, wriggling to get free, he actually gets free and then his arm gets caught. It is great because it provides so much entertainment to the slow climb and Razor's victory. In my book, it goes down as one of the all-time great finishes. So conspicuous by its absence is the beginning. I will say that having Diesel ejected early was very smart and that Razor was a bumping machine in the beginning (the concrete bump was great to set up getting the ladder). That being said, I did not like this early. This seemed like the prototype for today's problem in wrestling, registering the move, but not selling the move. Razor threw some FANTASTIC punches. Like I forgot how good Hall's right hand was. Shawn took some great bumps registered it wit the spit take, but in five seconds was hitting the a neckbreaker. Or Razor taking the concrete bump but getting up fast enough so he can take control of the ladder to set up the baseball slide. They were wrestling way too fast and that's today's problem. Once the ladder got involved, I thought this was amazing. They did a really good job incorporating the ladder in almost every spot in interesting and logical ways. I thought they did a great job building drama down the stretch. I absolutely love that finish. This WWF classic remains timeless. ****1/2

When it was first announced Kenzo was going to join WWE in like 2005, I mistakenly got really excited it would be Kensuke Sasaki. Then I saw him and I was like damn wrong guy. That's my Kenzo Suzuki story.

Put me in the camp that thinks the Summerslam 1992 match is better. WWF World Heavyweight Champion Bret Hart vs British Bulldog - In Your House V Between September 1995-June 1996, there were ten PPVs, Bulldog main evented half of them. Pretty crazy stat that often goes over looked, This match has a pretty huge reputation, not quite as big as Summerslam in WWF lore, but in terms of match ratings. This is either my third or fourth time watching it, I come away with the same thoughts each time. This first half is boring and the second half is badass. First half is Bret formula to a tee with an unmotivated Davey Boy. Bret's bulldog and piledriver look nice, but Bulldog was chinlock city. On top of that no struggle, just moving spot to spot. Just too neat. Once Davey Boy crotched Bret Hart on the top rope when Hitman was trying to do a superplex the match picked up in a big way. Bret slams his head into the edge of the steel steps in order to blade, but make seem like it was hardway (I think that was his intent) as I imagine Vince was not thrilled about this. Bullodg kicked some ass here. Piledriver and delayed vertical suplex all great blood rushing to the head spots. Loved the press slam. I think he jammed his knee pretty good on the diving headbutt. Bret sprinkling in some hope spots helped give some struggle. I liked Bret diving out onto Bulldog. Then trying the Vaderomb on the outside to be caught with the POWERSLAM on the floor. That was big. Bulldog really wants to hurt him and exposes the concrete, but Bret crotches him on the railing (receipt), clothesline city. Great clothesline really! He finally gets to hit his superplex that is how this all started! I really think that should have been the finish. They do some rollups to try to recreate the Wembley magic, but it is off and La Magistral feels abrupt. Tale of two halves, first half is formulaic and second half is bloody and dramatic. Finish is too abrupt also. No way is this better than Summerslam 92. ***3/4

WWF Intercontinental Champion Owen Hart vs Steve Austin - WWF Summerslam 1997 Austin says he will kiss Owen's ass if he loses. Great energy right out of the gate from Austin. The Thesz Press was super hot here. Loved Owen Hart trying to destroy Austin's middle finger slamming into steps, stomping and biting it. Best part of the match for me. Austin makes comeback, but neckbreaker starts neck work. Really great throws from Owen here as they are doing a good job bringing the energy up and coming back down into holds. The Piledriver spot was actually a cutoff spot for an Austin hope spot. Scary moment for sure. Because this happened well before the comeback, I consider this incomplete and impossible to rate. I am surprised it made the Top 500 given its incompleteness.

WWF World Heavyweight Champion Shawn Michaels vs Diesel - WWF Good Friends, Better Enemies No Holds Barred When you have a newly crowned white meat babyface, you gotta test his mettle in a brawl against big, bad, tough muthafucka. This is Booking 101 and with the past history these two shared took the normal story and made it even better. One of those matches I have seen 8 million times, but I have always enjoyed and it has been about five years since I last seen it. This is probably the best Nash has ever looked on top in a match. The Bret match have him playing along to the Bret Show, here he show he can hold his own on offense. Shawn with scowl on his face ready for war was great. I forgot how pissed he looked. Great exchange of punches to start. We see Shawn star off red hot but that is quickly quashed by a big kneelift. So he turns to speed where a dropkick sets up a reverse crossbody from the top rope to the floor. Nice big spot to kick the match off! He grabs the boot of a Spanish Announcer which gets over the gimmick early and shows he needs to weapons to beat this monster. I have said before sometime Nash feels like the world's smallest seven footer. He just does not project size in his matches. Here Shawn does a great job making him look huge with how desperate he is on offense and way he sells. Nash whips him hard into the ropes and then sends him flying off the apron to take a nasty Pillman bump. Great start to heat segment. Nash was slow and methodical but in a vicious, sadistic way. I liked him choking out the ref to get the belt. The whipping and hanging, followed by the chair shots were brutal. Nice hope spot with Nash hitting the chair on the ring rope and it ricocheting up. Nash stymies Michaels again with a low blow. Love when Goliath hits David in the balls. Nash is kicking Shawn's ass. Here comes the big spot. The MONSTER POWERBOMB THROUGH THE TABLE!!! Nash celebrate prematurely by putting the belt around his own waist. Shawn gets up in drmataic fashion and in an iconic spot also sprays his face with fire extinguisher. He fights back ferociously! NIP UP! Diesel cuts off, but Shawn roars back by countering the Jacknife and then hitting the elbow. Sweet Chin Music and Diesel dives through with a clothesline. IN what I think is the most famous spot of the match, Diesel goes into the crowd and tears off Mad Dog Vachon's prosthetic foot. Still mind-blowing. Now the Heartbreak Kid goes low and calls his shot ala Babe Ruth before hitting a home run with Mad Dog's foot and Shawn hits Sweet Chin Music to retain. A very important match in Shawn's title reign to really establish credibility. With Bret on sabbatical and Diesel & Razor leaving, it really was just him and Taker. That is a lot of pressure. I actually think the heat segment was too much to be honest. Diesel crushed Shawn. Shawn died on me. Not enough hope spots or struggle. This in turn hurts the credibility of the comeback. Kip up usually does not bother me, but here it did. On its own, the finish stretch was fantastic. More struggle in the heat segment or something to make Diesel sell a little more would have taken this up a notch. Still a badass match, Diesel was awesome as a monster and Shawn did come off as an asskicker. ****1/4

WWF European Champion British Bulldog vs Shawn Michaels - WWF One Night Only 1997 Lets talk about the match first and then I will get to all the backstage stuff. Incredible match, one of my all-time favorites, I have this at number three in WWF 1997 in a loaded year for the promotion. The heat for this is nuclear. Bulldog is insanely over and Shawn Michaels is at the height of dickish heel superpowers. Shawn makes out with about 5 young girls at ringside. What a fucking asshole! This only gets him more heat from the men. You think Cena is bad. This is the sharpest male vs female divide I have ever heard. Shawn flirts with the line, but never crosses it as he bumps like a madman for the Bulldog. This has to go down as one of the all-time greatest shines. Shawn is flipping over himself getting the Bulldog over as one man runaway freight train of power and speed. I always think of the back drop over the top rope tumble spill onto the floor bump. The clothesline bump into railing was nasty. I loved him trying to climb the ropes in the collar-elbow tie up to try to gain a leverage advantage only to be thrown off. The Press Slam spot with the ref running to stop Bulldog from throwing him into the crowd was great as Bulldog just dropped him. Michaels poking Bulldog in the eyes only to eat a powerbomb when he tried for the hurricanarana left me pumping my fists. The delayed vertical suplex had me cheering on the Bulldog. Then the insurance policy, Rick Rude comes out. He flips Bulldog over on an O'Connor Roll, then fucks with him while he is running the ropes and finally Michaels gets the advantage. Rude liberally helps out. Michaels was having an all-time great heel run, but the one thing that would always keep him from being the best heel ever is that he just does not have much in the way of offense to sustain a heat segment. I am as big of a Shawn Michaels fan as there is (without being worked by the WWE political machine), but I am not delusional, it is his biggest flaw. They keep it simple focus on Bulldog's selling and the other key is they keep it short. The short arm scissors into the a powerbomb (play off their 92 IC Title switch, which JR reminded us of) was a great spot as knocking their heads to level the playing field. Here comes HHH & Chyna. If the heat was nuclear before, this is fucking Hydrogen Bomb level shit that is about to happen. Two top rope elbows from Michaels and he looks to set up Sweet Chin Music. Smith deadweights him. This is my biggest problem with moves which require your opponent to stand up, just don't stand up OR hit the move when your opponent you know is STANDING. This whole waiting thing is my least favorite thing in wrestling. But I digress. He props him up in the corner and Bulldog misses and hoists him up on his shoulder. He is going to plant him in the ground, but Rude has his leg. Confrontation ensues and it is chaos. Outside the ring, Bulldog looks like he will hit the Running Powerslam on the floor, but his leg slips off the platform wrenching his right leg which has a kneebrace on it. At this point, you can just feel everything boiling. SWEET CHIN MUSIC! Rude & HHH ram the railing into the knee as the fans are just trying to fight against them by holding the railing back. THAT IS PRO WRESTLING! That spot gets me every single time. So powerful. Pedigree on the floor. Triple H is such a fucking leech. HBK removes the knee brace and tosses to Davey Boy's wife and terminally ill sister. Fucking douche. Michaels applies the Figure-4. HHH & Chyna are holding on to him stretching him to apply extra leverage, but when Davey Boy is about to turn him, Rude cleans his clock with a right hand The British Bulldog passes out from the pain. Michaels gets his vanity trophy and sticks it to the Hart Family. The crowd is at a near riot. PELTING THEM with garbage. Michaels is goading the Hart Family and Diana. Diana comes in and chokes Shawn with the knee brace when he re-applied the figure-4. FINALLY The Harts come out to save Davey Boy, but don't get in any licks. Yes, by far the most frustrating thing about this is that Bret & Owen don't even get their hands on HHH & Shawn. That is bullshit. Like give the Harts a bone, you just screwed them out of a meaningless title because you can and did it in front of a man's dying sister and in his home country where they go like once a year. The match is fucking awesome. The shine rules. Smith is a powerhouse and Shawn is a bumping freak. Shawn's heat segment is weak, but it is also short. The finish is insanely powerful and heated. Yes some of that heat comes from the backstage antics so it is hard to decouple the two, but for my money this is an all-time classic. Davey Boy is well-protected in this match. It takes Rude to turn the tide initially and once Davey Boy overcomes that, HHH & Chyna interfere. So it is four on one plus a bad slip cost Davey Boy the match. So it is not like he was buried. What Shawn did was pretty bullshit. If you are judging just what was on screen this is amazing pro wrestling. So I will rate it as such. ****1/2

WWF World Heavyweight Champion Bret Hart vs Undertaker - WWF One Night Only 1997 Just by Bret Hart kicking Undertaker's knee, there is a massive reaction. That embodies pro wrestling to me. It is not about the crazy flips or modified suplexes. It is about caring about your favorite wrestler and telling a story where you are building to an outcome. In the pre-match promo, Bret Hart is getting a decidedly mixed reaction. Bret is talking about his fans worldwide and Vince is just a total douche on commentary pointing out that Bret is being booed heavily by the live audience. Bret is kinda taken aback. Vince really ramps up the dickishness "Does it matter to you how the fans feel? Does it make if they like you?". Bret who is clearly uncomfortable and feels backed into corner just says "It does." Forget the Screwjob, I wanted Bret to haul off and punch Vince right there. That promo happens before the Vader/Owen match. In a really cool moment, Owen stops by the commentary table to tell Vince to stop fucking with his brother. I really loved that. Takes a lot of guts to stand up to your boss like that, but Vince was being an unprofessional prick and Owen called him out on it. Unlike Vince's interpretation, Bret was very over with live crowd once he made his entrance. I would say it was like 60/40 Bret for the most part. I thought both segments of fans were really loud and that added a lot to this match. In America, Bret would clearly be the heel, but you could argue this face vs face in the UK, but regardless Bret Hart plays the heel to perfection in this match. Undertaker gives the best selling performance of his career, which something we would not see again for about ten years. Bret tries to fire away with heavy bombs early on, which goes about as well as you would expect. So he gets desperate and takes off the turnbuckle pad while the Undertaker intimidates the ref, which plays off the Ground Zero match with Shawn where he just waylaid ref after ref in that match. This also play off how early in the show Triple H did the Flair spot with the ref where HHH cowered from the ref. Now the ref is cowering from the Undertaker makes that spot mean more. There are some nice spots early like Undertaker misses an elbow, does his Zombie situp and Bret does a sliding clothesline to knock him down. Undertaker has a hard time catching Bret and drives him into the concrete only to get him back up and put him into the ring post. Bret is actually really good at arena brawling. Him and Undertaker brawl up the rampway and Taker is in total control. Taker sets too early on a back drop and Bret nails a DDT. Bret ramps up the heelishness here rubbing his face on ropes then choking him with his boot. Taker whips his hard forcing Bret to take the Bret Bump into the exposed turnbuckle! Undertaker is actually pretty good working over Bret's chest with the Heart Punch then surfboard. Here is where we get the first inkling of Bret's strategy. He gets backed into a corner and starts kicking the knee. The crowd comes alive for this simple move. Undertaker cuts Bret off twice. However, when Taker goes running into the turnbuckle, his knee hits (should have done the exposed steel, minor point). Bret is a shark that smells blood in the water. he absolutely decimates Taker's leg, who sells so well throughout the match. Stumbling and bumbling. He is fighting so hard throughout, which is forcing Bret to use eye rakes to keep him down. I love that struggle. The high five to the fan before the figure-4 around the ringpost is great. Bret applies the figure-4 in the middle of the ring and it is a beauty. JR & Lawler do a great job describing the figure-4. Taker reverses the pressure and both men sell their legs really well. Bret kicks Undertaker's legs out form under him. The reaction for that is deafening. Boos and cheers! That is pro wrestling! Here we go Five Moves of Doom time. Taker gets his boot up on the second rope elbow and they clothesline each other. The leveling the playing field spot going into the finish run. Taker gets up first to cheers and boos. He goes to legdrop Bret in between his legs, but gets caught! Bret is typing up the legs for the Sharpshooter! Not his best ever, which could explain why Taker was able to break it by powering out. Bret does the only reasonable thing and tries again. He gets GOZZLED! He avoids the chokeslam, but eats the big boot and leg drop, BRUTHA! Bret sensing he might be losing his grasp on the championship, grabs the ring bell, Taker knocks it out of his hand. Now Taker wants to use it and the ref grabs it, Bret chop blocks the knee! Huge reaction again! Love this crowd! Weird spot as Bret is going to do a seat drop on the knee that we have all seen a million times, but this time somehow a cameraman gets in the way and Bret ends up outside the ring. Bret takes that nasty bump where he slides underneath the bottom turnbuckle and hits his back against the steel post. Bret Hart is pretty good at this pro wrestling thing. They do a Tombstone reversal spot where Bret ends up getting his head caught in the ropes ala Mick Foley. Undertaker wont let up and gets disqualified. I had seen the match before could not remember the finish and figured it was something cheap. It is a very precarious situation, but yeah it just does not feel like a greta finish. I don't know what I would have done as I agree it should been cheap. After the failed attempt with the turnbuckle, Bret stayed focused on the knee. There were multiple times when he could have departed from the knee, but he stayed on it. It was the touchstone of the match. Undertaker was there with him every step of the way selling it. It is pretty incredible both men worked this fantastic of a match without using many of their signature moves. Part of that is that Bret has one of the deepest arsenals in the game. I would say like the Summerslam match, this match is a little long. They could have tightened up the beginning and probably tacked on a better finish run. Once Bret goes after the knee, this is pure gold until the anti-climatic finish, but sometimes the journey is the destination. ****1/2