THE GREATEST PRO WRESTLING MATCHES OF ALL TIME

[GKJ]

I remember dreading that match because that ending is exactly what I expected. Michaels was my favourite wrestler ever, I never cared for Angle, Angle was making everyone tap out and Michaels was in his stage where he put everyone over. I would have been pleasantly shocked if Michaels had won.



I can't say that I expected to see The Playboy mentioned in this thread, but I'm happy about it.

I wasn’t a big Angle person, I didn’t dislike him and knew he was good. A lot of his comedy stuff seemed to become a greatest hits compilation in sort of shorter.

 

[JackSlater]

I wasn’t a big Angle person, I didn’t dislike him and knew he was good. A lot of his comedy stuff seemed to become a greatest hits compilation in sort of shorter.

I can't even explain why I dislike Angle. I recognize that he is great in the ring, I just don't enjoy it most of the time. He's solid in promos and angles and can at least do two different versions of himself. There's just something missing for me.

 

[SimpleJack]

I wasn’t a big Angle person, I didn’t dislike him and knew he was good. A lot of his comedy stuff seemed to become a greatest hits compilation in sort of shorter.

Oh it’s true…

 

[Emperoreddy]

A lot of those are definitely part of the greatest hits, no question.

I think the best match I’d say I’ve seen live is Andrade vs. Johnny Gargano NXT Takeover Philadelphia

That's a match that probably deserved to be talked about and put on lists more then it has.

The Ironman match with Lesnar and Angle on SmackDown 2003 I think it was, was pretty epic too.

That legitimately might be the best Ironman match ever.

 

[Andre Palot]

Bret Hart V Owen Hart - WM X has to be a part of this conversation. Their Summerslam cage match for the title that year is almost equally as great.

From a pure wrestling, chemistry, and storyline perspective, you hardly can do any better.

 

[Emperoreddy]

AJ Styles vs Nakamura at WK 10 personally is a match that's very high on my list.

WALTER vs Ilja 1 and 2 are also all timers for me.

FTR's NXT run produced some of the best tag team matches I've ever seen against American Alpha and DIY.

Takeover Toronto FTR vs DIY was so f***ing good.

 

[The Marquis]

I remember dreading that match because that ending is exactly what I expected. Michaels was my favourite wrestler ever, I never cared for Angle, Angle was making everyone tap out and Michaels was in his stage where he put everyone over. I would have been pleasantly shocked if Michaels had won.



I can't say that I expected to see The Playboy mentioned in this thread, but I'm happy about it.

It would take some serious convincing for me to believe there is a pro wrestler in history more underappreciated than Playboy Buddy Rose. One of the great talkers of all time and was far better in the ring than anybody who hasn’t watched hundreds of hours of Portland Wrestling would ever know. Dude is a legend. Hulk Hogans tag team partner in Japan after all and he main evented Madison Square Garden for the WWF in 1982, a fact very few people know.

 

[The Marquis]

AJ Styles vs Nakamura at WK 10 personally is a match that's very high on my list.

WALTER vs Ilja 1 and 2 are also all timers for me.

FTR's NXT run produced some of the best tag team matches I've ever seen against American Alpha and DIY.

Takeover Toronto FTR vs DIY was so f***ing good.

That last one is definitely on my list of greatest matches of all time and may actually be my top for tag team matches.

 

[JackSlater]

It would take some serious convincing for me to believe there is a pro wrestler in history more underappreciated than Playboy Buddy Rose. One of the great talkers of all time and was far better in the ring than anybody who hasn’t watched hundreds of hours of Portland Wrestling would ever know. Dude is a legend. Hulk Hogans tag team partner in Japan after all and he main evented Madison Square Garden for the WWF in 1982, a fact very few people know.

Rose is awesome. Great villain in Portland, great AWA matches. shockingly good athlete and gets what his role is as a constant heel. I'm a big fan.

 

[BruinDust]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Bret Hart vs. Davey Boy Smith at Summerslam 1992. Still to this day it's the greatest IC title match of all-time.

 

[Clint Eastwood]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Bret Hart vs. Davey Boy Smith at Summerslam 1992. Still to this day it's the greatest IC title match of all-time.

Is that the one where Davey was completely drugged up and forgot everything so Bret had to repeat all their spots to him during the match?

 

[sabremike]

List of professional wrestling matches rated 5 or more stars by Dave Meltzer - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

If you want to discover great matches this is a pretty handy guide. Regardless of the nutty discourse around the topic of star ratings no sane person would argue that any of the matches on this list aren't great or worth going out of your way to see. Also almost any of the non WWE/NJPW/AEW/WCW matches are on YouTube.

 

[BruinDust]

Is that the one where Davey was completely drugged up and forgot everything so Bret had to repeat all their spots to him during the match?

I've never heard that story before but at little googling and it appears to be the case.

Bret Hart and British Bulldog: True Story of SummerSlam 1992

All was not as it seemed at Summerslam 1992. That night, Bret Hart would have to battle much more than the British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith.

prowrestlingstories.com

I get goosebumps just reading that.

 

[Emperoreddy]

An interesting debate is where does a match like Rock vs Hogan fit?

Obviously from a in ring perspective it was nothing special, but the spectacle and drama was as high as it gets.

 

[JackSlater]

An interesting debate is where does a match like Rock vs Hogan fit?

Obviously from a in ring perspective it was nothing special, but the spectacle and drama was as high as it gets.

There should be a place for matches like that. People want different things. You're never going to get blown away by Rock vs Hogan but in terms of atmosphere, a huge part of a wrestling match, and charisma it is up there with anything. Someone could even make the case that this match is an exemplar of what professional wrestling is all about and what makes it distinct from actual sports.

 

[GKJ]

It’s crazy that it wasn’t the main event.

 

[BruinDust]

An interesting debate is where does a match like Rock vs Hogan fit?

Obviously from a in ring perspective it was nothing special, but the spectacle and drama was as high as it gets.

For me, it's the greatest match of all-time. That moment early on when they lock up and Hogan pushes Rock down to the mat, then flexes and the crowd absolutely erupts, I don't know if I've ever heard a bigger pop in any live event in my lifetime.

The Skydome/Rogers Center is long overdue for another Wrestlemania.

 

[HeisenBaez]

An interesting debate is where does a match like Rock vs Hogan fit?

Obviously from a in ring perspective it was nothing special, but the spectacle and drama was as high as it gets.

For me it was Daniel Bryan .v. Orton .v. Batista at WM 30 which concluded one of the greatest stories in company history with the rise of Daniel Bryan.

Sasha Banks .v. Bayley at Brooklyn was amazing.

HBK/Hart Iron Match is "great" but I agree with Brian Zane in that it was a technical masterpiece but it was also very boring. A couple of pins/submission in that match would have made it great, imo.

 

[Habsrule]

One amazing feud not mentioned yet that had some great matches is Angle vs Benoit.

 

[Emperoreddy]

For me it was Daniel Bryan .v. Orton .v. Batista at WM 30 which concluded one of the greatest stories in company history with the rise of Daniel Bryan.

Sasha Banks .v. Bayley at Brooklyn was amazing.

HBK/Hart Iron Match is "great" but I agree with Brian Zane in that it was a technical masterpiece but it was also very boring. A couple of pins/submission in that match would have made it great, imo.

Sasha vs Bayley in Brooklyn is definitely really high on my list and on top of being good has to be one of the most important matches in history for what it signified for women's wrestling in North America.

 

[sabremike]

There should be a place for matches like that. People want different things. You're never going to get blown away by Rock vs Hogan but in terms of atmosphere, a huge part of a wrestling match, and charisma it is up there with anything. Someone could even make the case that this match is an exemplar of what professional wrestling is all about and what makes it distinct from actual sports.

The match got *** in the Observer and there's an interesting story behind that: for some reason it was the only Mania Dave was unable to watch live and on tape it didn't come off nearly as great as it did "in the moment".

 

[alko]

Now we can only speculate, what a match could it be Rock vs Shawn Michaels.

 

[JackSlater]

The match got *** in the Observer and there's an interesting story behind that: for some reason it was the only Mania Dave was unable to watch live and on tape it didn't come off nearly as great as it did "in the moment".

I think I heard something like that before. These things are so subjective for everyone that any little factor can impact how much you like a match. Even bigger factor when assessing a match that someone watched in person. In Meltzer's case here, who can really say to him that it didn't come off as well after the fact to him?

 

[GKJ]

Dave has since said that it should’ve been higher.

 

[GKJ]

Sasha vs Bayley in Brooklyn is definitely really high on my list and on top of being good has to be one of the most important matches in history for what it signified for women's wrestling in North America.

Been waiting to really gather some thoughts here on the women’s side, as this match was a big catalyst for me, the iron woman match soon after was just as good if not better, imo. The historic nature of that first Brooklyn show was a big thing too as that really set the stage for a lot of what we see now, all over the world.

Best women’s match I’ve seen live was Asuka vs. Ember Moon at NXT Takeover Brooklyn 3. I can’t believe this didn’t even go 15 minutes at the time. I think that’s the most into a match I’ve ever been live (I was on the floor). I don’t think that anyone who thought Asuka would win thought they would have her kick out of the Eclipse, but when she did the place went into a fever pitch. Asuka winning took me to a different place.

A match I think is forgotten is Becky vs. Charlotte at Evolution. It was not only amazing, but they made a Last Man Standing match great, which in Vince’s WWE was basically impossible. This was with the backdrop of the audience refusing to let Becky be the heel.

In AEW, I think the match with highest regard is Britt Baker vs. Thunder Rosa for the championship, unsanctioned match on St. Patrick’s Day Slam in 2021. Can’t think of any other women’s match there that’s had that kind of attention.

In Stardom, there’s matches I still haven’t seen that I will get to, but the best match, is generally seen as Utami Hayashishita vs. Syuri for the Red Belt at the 2021 Tokyo Dream Cinderella Special (which was really COVID-delayed Day 3). Dave went 5 1/2 stars, which is the highest he’s gone on any women’s match, ever. It’s every bit of that, but they also had the balls to go 43 minutes, which was really a 30-minute draw plus a 13+ minute restart. And I loathe restarts, but it was worth it on this one. It was particularly impressive because at that time, Utami as someone who was wooden and lacked charisma or compelling character (ironic given that behind the scenes she’s supposedly the opposite). This became a major show in Stardom’s lore as earlier in the night Oedo Tai beat Stars where Starlight Kid was forced to quit Stars and join Oedo Tai.

Syuri is second among women on profightdb.com’s weighted star ratings, so any of her biggest matches are at the top, especially in modern times. Syuri vs. Mayu Iwatani for the IWGP women’s belt on January 4’s Ittenydom Stardom Gate is one. It’s a lot of yelling though, but it’s also a lot of kicking of faces, too.

I’ve said before, Mayu is on a heater with this belt, and Sareee is also on a heater since she isn’t dressing up like a school girl and playing with jewelry anymore. Their match at All Star Grand Queendom on April 27, may actually be the best women’s match I’ve seen. And they left some things on the table for a rematch. Mayu’s selling and facial expressions are so far ahead of anybody else around.