While thinking recently about how many wrestling styles there really are, it occurred to me that a lot of styles are rather fluid and tend to blend together. From there, I took some inspiration from goodhelmet's match suggestion thread and thought about coming up with a list of a handful (as in no more than 10) of matches that cover as broad a spectrum of styles as possible. Note that this isn't a best-of list, it's more of a sampler pack. I keep going back and forth with matches, but here's my current tentative list.

 

Shawn Michaels vs. Mankind, In Your House: Mind Games

I think this match best represents WWE Main Event style because it would have worked in just about any era.

 

Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat, COTC 6

The most celebrated NWA-style title match.

 

Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi, 10/21/97

A match that showcases both what King's Road once was and what it would end up becoming.

 

Yuki Ishikawa vs. Daisuke Ikeda, 4/24/05

A good jumping-off point for shoot/quasi-shoot style.

 

Midnight Express vs. Rock & Roll Express, WrestleWar

The quintessential Southern tag.

 

Jim Duggan vs. Ted DiBiase, 3/22/85

This one checks off a lot of boxes. You get a cage match, a gimmick match, and a bloody brawl.

 

CMLL minis trios, 10/3/97

Is there a better workrate trios match? Works as an introduction to lucha and junior-style wrestling in general.

 

Bryan Danielson vs. Takeshi Morishima, Final Battle

Another match that works on several levels. It's David vs. Goliath, workrate indy, and garbage indy all in one.

 

You may not agree with my selections, but they should give you an idea of what I'm looking for. Any other suggestions?

I would actually go with 1/20/97 because I think it is the peak of those two styles, with the 10/21 match being more on the downslope.

 

I think the Gringos Locos/Santo and Octagon When Worlds Collide tag match should be included as a straight introduction to lucha, as I think that does the best with rude/tecnico roles and contains two of the greatest workers ever on top of that.

 

If you were looking to separate it a bit more on the indy side, maybe throw in joe/Necro for a garbage indy match?

 

Also, I think you can throw the Lyger/Ohtani 2/97 match in there for juniors if you want.

Maybe khawk, Dylan or Matt D could say more but I feel like a "typical AWA match" has a different structure from your typical WWF or NWA match.

 

For one thing, there's a lot more "King of the Mountain" spots where the heel is keeping the face on the outside.

 

In a lot of WWF matches, it is the inverse: the face(s) hit the ring and have their big explosive shine sequence and the heel(s) clear(s) the ring. How many times have we seen that?

 

There's more to the AWA differences than just that spot, but it's a distinct enough style, I think, to be mentioned.

 

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I also feel like a "typical Hogan match" should be represented. That's quite different, I think, from your HBK-inspired "WWE Main Event style".

Yuki Ishikawa vs. Daisuke Ikeda, 4/24/05

 

I like a lot of Ishikawa and Ikeda matches, but not this one. Not only is it kind of sickening, it's a poor introduction to shoot style. To me, introducing shoot style without the context of the entire Japanese scene from pro-wrestling to other martial arts is somewhat difficult. I don't think it makes sense outside that context. If I were to choose an introductory match I'd probably chose one of Volk Han's more exciting carry jobs like that '95 match against Yamamoto.

 

For All Japan, I'd choose a Jumbo vs. Misawa six-man as they are the most fun matches in the style. You could probably make the same argument for a New Japan multi-man elimination match.

 

For lucha, I like the minis trios idea. The 5/90 trios works too.

If the goal is to cover as wide of a variety of styles as possible then how about a british wrestling match, a joshi match and a deathmatch?

Would there be a match that hits the WOS/British in general style? Sounds like this could be a good place for people to get introduced to new styles.

High Flyers vs. Santana & Martel from 8/29/82 would be an example I would offer as to what a very rare no-turn, no heel-tactics babyface matchup can look like (AWA or otherwise).

Would there be a match that hits the WOS/British in general style? Sounds like this could be a good place for people to get introduced to new styles.

Start with Marty Jones vs Owen Hart and go from there. Usually the best jumping off point.

Also, I think you can throw the Lyger/Ohtani 2/97 match in there for juniors if you want.

My favorite would be Ultimo Dragon/Shinjiro Ohtani 8/4/96. Those dropkicks!

Would there be a match that hits the WOS/British in general style? Sounds like this could be a good place for people to get introduced to new styles.

Start with Marty Jones vs Owen Hart and go from there. Usually the best jumping off point.

 

Thanks I'll be checking that out.