The WON after SC 1993 is one of my favorite old ones. Meltz is just in awe of the whole scene.

Vader/Flair from Starrcade 93 used to be one of my top 5 favorite matches. Its not anymore but I still like it a lot. I was surprised to see how many people think it sucks.

I like Flair vs Vader but I like so many other Vader matches so much more.

This is more relevant to this board than to internet wrestling fans as a whole, but I love HBK-Diesel from Good Friends: Better Enemies. It's big and cartoony and hokey, and I don't care. The focus is on Diesel destroying Michaels and Michaels selling every blow like a KO, (rather than on Michaels' acting, which is the kind of hokey that probably would have bugged me), so it really feels like Michaels is in real trouble. That's all I want out of big matches like that.

 

Michaels climbing up after the jackknife has never bothered me. He looks like a goof, but he was motionless for like twenty seconds after the move.

That match is a classic for Mad Dog Vachon's leg making a run-in if nothing else.

Jumbo vs. Hansen 4/16/89 is one that I really love that doesn't seem to get a ton of praise. Jumbo finally going off on Hansen is pretty sweet.

I'm not sure if I completely love Bunkhouse Buck/Dustin Rhodes from Spring Stampede '94, but it's one heck of a satisfying brawl. I much prefer it to Nasties/Jack & Payne from the same show as in this match Buck and Dustin went at it non-stop and didn't spend as much time wandering around trying to set up spots. A mean, violent, and nasty match, and one that I really dig.

With the acclaim over his match with Bryan, I went back and re-watched HHH's cage match with Flair and it still holds up to me as the best match possible with old man Flair.

Following dawho's run-down of '90s All Japan, as he's getting into 1998, I rate the 10/31 Misawa/Kobashi match as their second best and a key part in their story that they finally play-off and wrap-up in '03.

Watched Great American Bash 1997 last night, mainly to see if Savage-DDP II held up. It was pretty good, at least better than their first match.

 

The opener between Psicosis and Ultimo [sic] Dragon held up except for the goofy ending.

 

I tend to think Benoit-Meng is a very overlooked match. Had never seen it and was nearly blown away. Dream match realized. I didn't mind the Return Death Match stipulation since the work was solid.

 

But what I was really impressed with was how much I dug the Outsiders-Flair/Piper match. Sure, it was mostly a bullshit angle to build to a nothing feud between Flair and Piper, but holy crap was Roddy awesome in this. And the Outsiders were fun to watch as long as they were killing people. Once this became a squash with Piper being the turd that just wouldn't flush, I was all-in.

 

But what I was really impressed with was how much I dug the Outsiders-Flair/Piper match. Sure, it was mostly a bullshit angle to build to a nothing feud between Flair and Piper, but holy crap was Roddy awesome in this. And the Outsiders were fun to watch as long as they were killing people. Once this became a squash with Piper being the turd that just wouldn't flush, I was all-in.

 

I loved the six-man from May with the Outsiders and Waltman against Flair, Piper and Kevin Greene. Probably my favorite surprise from going through all of 1997.

I loved the six-man from May with the Outsiders and Waltman against Flair, Piper and Kevin Greene. Probably my favorite surprise from going through all of 1997.

 

^another one I slept on all these years, mainly due to the participants

 

I'll check that one out as well.

I'm not sure if I completely love Bunkhouse Buck/Dustin Rhodes from Spring Stampede '94, but it's one heck of a satisfying brawl. I much prefer it to Nasties/Jack & Payne from the same show as in this match Buck and Dustin went at it non-stop and didn't spend as much time wandering around trying to set up spots. A mean, violent, and nasty match, and one that I really dig.

 

I saw BB vs Dustin live and it delivered the goods. Very good card overall.

That match is a classic for Mad Dog Vachon's leg making a run-in if nothing else.

 

I LOVE the "stomp" buildup for the sweet chin music in that match. HBK just takes it slowly and methodically, and the crowd gets into it where almost everyone in the camera view is clapping along with the stomp, and stomping themselves, to the point that hard camera begins to shake right before HBK hits the kick on Nash. Just a great, great match with an awesome ending. I love that match.

 

I absolutely love the Shane Douglas/Al Snow match from Wrestlepalooza '98.

 

Between the legitimate injuries Shane had going into it, the ridiculousness with which the head was over, and the fact that everyone though Snow was winning the belt that night, the atmosphere was awesome, the build up had been good, and while the work was probably neither mans best, the story they told was a good one.

For years, this has been one of those "secret matches I loved that everyone else missed". Then I got the network and rematched it. I was disappointed.

 

This would have been the match I'd list for "matches you thought were good but rediscovery disappointed you." I don't think we have that thread yet.

 

 

I think it's a really thrilling in the moment match; once you know the conclusion and are divorced from the drama, it's pretty terrible. But in the moment, it's this big moment for Snow (and yet, would they make him the champ with that gimmick? And how long before he went back to the WWF?) and also for Douglas (how can they possibly keep the belt on him when he has to take time off?). And the build, focusing on those aspects, was pretty great. But the work evidences Snow's limits and Douglas' injuries.