Initial heel run of Randy Savage in WWF with a babyfaced Elizabeth. And Savage-Steamboat is a cliched answer to best match ever ... but it was the best match ever. Going farther back, Chief Jay Strongbow was my favorite when I was 10.
i'll chime in as i've been watching more old school wrestling again lately. shame btw wwe is slowly stopping individual wrestlers dvd releases. i'd still love new dvd's by bruno, jake the snake,superstar billy graham, million dollar man, sgt slaughter and the road warriors. some of these guys never had dvd's about their careers which is somewhat shocking and a few of them had 2 dvd sets back in the day or in superstars case 1 dvd. i'm glad we just got another 2 dvd set for roddy piper or he would have been named as a person needing another dvd set. as far as old school wrestlers. who doesn't love seeing roddy piper , the american dream, road warriors, ric flair, macho man and ricky the dragon in action? in the 90's they said HBK could have a match with a broom and it would by 5 stars. later kurt angle and recently aj styles also had the same things said about them. these are all huge stars. shame watching older matches that it looks like sgt slaughter and million dollar man could have amazing matches with anyone yet never really got to that level of an hbk, macho man or heck even ricky steamboat. great matches always worth watching. maybe some of these are cliche' -roddy piper vs greg valentine starrcade 1983 (this is the dog collar match) - macho man vs ricky the dragon steamboat (any match from the great rivalry of the mid 80s) -american dream vs superstar billy graham (the series of matches they had in the later 70's) -ric flair vs ricky the dragon steamboat (any match from the late 80's rivalry) -ric flair vs harley race (early 80's rivalry) -ric flair vs sting (almost any match with these guys. they just knew how to work together)
I'm not a wrestling fan but here's a music-related thread about Mick Foley: Great Kinks article:WWF wrestler Mick Foley picks his 25 favourite Kinks songs
I think I like the Savage/Steamboat match the best because I was THERE watching it live. Was pretty awesome with all those false finishes. My brothers and I had a great time a very good seats.
Bret Hart Bob Backlund David Von Erich Midnight Express Shawn Michaels And as a kid in the mid-80s Hogan was my first favorite wrestler. I'm currently watching Mid-South and Mid-Atlantic from 1985 on the network. I become a big fan in 1986 as a kid so it's been fun watching what happened before then.
for me these are the 10 greatest matches ever. numbered just so you can see i listed 10 1 ric flair vs ricky steamboat 1989 trilogy (cheating already but the chi town rumble, clash on the champions and wrestlewar 1989 trilogy is the greatest set of matches ever) 2 aj styles vs samoa joe vs christopher daniels unbreakable 2005 (probably the height of TNA wrestling and the 3 greatest wrestlers from TNA. about 4 years later these 3 had a match almost as good) 3 macho man vs ricky steamboat wrestlemania III 1987 (these two had a great feud in the mid 1980's and this was the culmination) 4 roddy piper vs greg valentine dog collar match starrcade 1983 (just a bloody brawl) 5 HBK vs the undertaker wrestlemania 25 2009 (two of the greatest wrestlemania performers ever late in their careers pulled off this masterpiece. some might say though the match from the next wrestlemania should have been here instead) 6 RVD vs jerry lynn ecw hardcore heaven 1999 (these two set the standard for wrestling matches for anything that came after their 1999 feud. this one gets the slight edge over living dangerously 1999 ) 7 ric flair vs harley race starrcade 1983 (the 11/24/83 starrcade is one of the best PPVs ever. two matches from that event are on this list. this match really established flair) 8 razor ramon vs HBK wrestlemania 10 1994 (maybe the most famous ladder match of all time) 9 aj styles vs christopher daniels 30 minute iron man match against all odds 2005 (amazing feud from probably the 2 biggest stars in TNA history and this match seemed to kick off the feud) 10 HBK vs bret hart iron man match wrestlemania 12 1996 (of course these guys had one of the most epic feuds ever. this was HBKs first title run as the top guy in the company) Honorable mentions -ric flair vs terry funk i quit clash of the champions 1989 -ric flair vs sting iron man match starrcade 1989 -ric flair vs dusty rhodes starrcade 1985 - HBK vs undertaker wrestlemania 26 2010 -RVD vs Jerry Lynn living dangerously 1999 - americas most wanted vs triple x cage match turning point 2004 - LAX vs styles and daniels ultimate x match no surrender 2006 -aj styles vs chris sabin vs petey williams ultinate x match final resolution 2005 -kurt angle vs desmond wolfe 3 degrees of pain final resolution 2009 -aj styles vs kurt angle last man standing hard justice 2008 -aj styles vs abyss steel cage match lockdown 2005 -ric flair vs HBK wrestlemania 24 2008 -dusty rhodes vs superstar billy graham series of late 1970's matches i could go on but check out any of these matches if you haven't. all of them are worth it
Flair vs Windham WorldWide time limit draw Bret vs Austin WrestleMania 13 Shawn vs Mankind in your house Luger vs Flair bash 88 Hogan vs Rockers vs Orient Express Royal Rumble 91 Curt Hennig vs Nick Bockwinkel New Year's time limit draw Hogan vs Race one of their Texas death matches I remember seeing Plenty of others I'll have to think about
I just remembered one of my favorites is The Steiner Brothers versus Money Inc in a cage prepared on USA Network on one of those specials they aired days before a pay per view. And of course I need to mention the Flair Steamboat trilogy from 1989, it's been a while so I need to rewatch
Yes late 1986, my parents didn't have cable, but my grandma did so I was able to watch it on ESPN because I was visiting with her over the holiday.
My favourite matches of the 80s and 90s: Savage/Steamboat - Wrestlemania III, 1987 Savage/Hogan - Wrestlemania V, 1989 Flair/Steamboat 1989 trilogy Hogan/Warrior - Wrestlemania VI, 1990 Savage/Warrior - Wrestlemania VII, 1991 Bret/Perfect - Summerslam 1991 Savage/Flair - Wrestlemania VIII, 1992 Bret/Bulldog - Summerslam, 1992 Bret/Perfect - King Of The Ring 1993 Bret/Owen - Wrestlemania X, 1994 Bret/Owen, cage match - Summerslam 1994 Bret/Austin - Survivor Series 1996 Bret/Austin - Wrestlemania XIII, 1997 Bret/Undertaker - One Night Only, 1997 HBK/Undertaker, Hell in a Cell - Badd Blood 1997 Mankind/Undertaker, Hell in a Cell - King of the Ring 1998 The Rock/Triple H, ladder match - Summerslam 1998 - I love how the MSG crowd starts to turn pro-Rock during the match. Star-making performances from both guys, here. The Rock/Shamrock/Mankind, cage match - Breakdown 1998 - this is here purely for entertainment value. Heel Rock is insanely over, Foley is nuts as usual. Double People's Elbow!! My favourite old-school guys are Randy Savage and Bret Hart. From 1998 onward it's The Rock, and always will be. Once in a lifetime talent.
The blow off to Dick The Bruiser running outlaw against Farhat's Detroit promotion. The main event was a tag cage match at the Olympia with Bruiser and Bobo Brazil Vs the Sheik and Pampero Firpo. At the sound of the bell Bobo grabbed Firpo as Sheik BOLTED up the side of the cage seeking escape from Bruiser. No easy trick with those curl toed boots. This happened literally at eye level right in front of me. Bruiser was right after him and halfway up the cage he caught Sheiks boot. Sheik reached down and THREW THE FIRE at Bruiser. Bruiser just leaned back and it missed. He just gave an evil laugh, Muh hah hah, and started climbing up Sheik's Leg. Now THAT'S wrestling!
if anyone wants to know if these matches or any of your favorites are on official dvd's feel free to ask as i have tons of the dvd's
The Flair/Steamboat trilogy in '89 was definitely awesome. I think the first one at the Chi-Town Rumble was the best one, although many think the final one was. One of my all-time favorites was Bret Hart/Curt Hennig from '89. Not sure if it is still on YT, but it was a regular match from a house show that was showed on Prime Time. I had taped it on our VCR at the time and probably watched it 30-40 times. Their later PPV matches were great, at SummerSlam and then King of the Ring, but can't top that one from the house show. Just looked, there are a couple from '89 house shows on YT, but not the one I am talking about. Hennig wins with a reverse roll-up while grabbing the tights and then gives that classic smirk of his while slowly backing away the ring after the match. I think many have now been conditioned to assume that all of the best matches are the ones on PPV, but back in the day, that was usually not the case.
I stopped watching wrestling for awhile because I’m not a fan of the current product. But then I got the network and really like watching the 1980s-early 2000s content.
My favorite wrestlers were Randy Savage Paul Orndorff Curt Hennig A few of my favorite matches (off the top of my head; probably forgetting many obvious ones): Curt Hennig v Nick Bockwinkel - hour long time limit draw. Midnight Rockers v Doug Summers and Buddy Rose - bloodbath from 1986 Hulk Hogan v. Big Boss Man - steel cage match Saturday Nights Main Event or MSG (essentially the same match). An odd ball choice but I always admired Ray Traylor's agility. Going up against Hogan in the main event he gave it everything he had, even got superplexed off the top of the cage. A fun match. Tito Santana v Greg Valentine - any of their matches for the Intercontinental belt in early 80s were good. Ric Flair v Terry Funk "I Quit" match Clash 1989 1992 Royal Rumble (Flair goes the distance)