30 Day Wrestling Challenge - Day 11 Favourite Match

Apr 29, 20207 min read

Picking your favourite match is an almost impossible task. I don't have children, so I can only assume it's like picking your favourite, except you're in Dudleyville and you have thousands to choose from.

The WSBF nerds have given it their best shot, though. Enjoy!

SHAFI - OWEN HART vs, BRET HART WRESTLEMANIA X

How many people's favourite match ends with their hero losing?

It will come as no surprise to my WSBF peers that my favourite match comes from WWF 1994. The mid nineties are a much derided period in WWF history but for me 1994 was a shining beacon between two of the worst years in WWF history and much of this was due to the feud between Bret and Owen Hart This match is Owen Hart's coming out party. Before this feud all I knew him for was wearing bright clothes and teaming with Koko B. Ware. I loved Bret Hart and when he teamed with his brothers Owen, Keith and Bruce to take on HBK and the three knights at Survivor Series '93 I was so excited that the Hart family were part of the story. In Bret's book he paints all of his siblings apart from Owen as being incredibly selfish and self serving. Rumour has it that on the day of Survivor Series '93, the talentless Keith and Bruce Hart were overcome with self delusion. They convinced themselves that they could get a WWF contract out of the match and suddenly decided they were not willing to be pinned as planned. Ever the selfless, Owen volunteered to be the only team member pinned and subsequently kicked off a Brother vs Brother storyline that would last over a year. It is one of my favourite things in wrestling ever. When Bret and Owen reconciled at the Rumble I wanted them to win the Tag Titles from the dastardly Quebecers so much and I was gutted when Owen kicked Bret's leg out of his leg. Wrestlemania 10 was the first encounter between the two, the first ever brother vs brother contest in WWF and is still the best ever opening match at Wrestlemania. Not only that but I think it was the best match ever in WWF up until this point. Owen is so good as a heel, some of his mannerisms and the little things he does really make him unlikable in a way that is missing from most modern day villains. The match starts in a very scientific way as Bret is hesitant to batter his brother. Owen shows off an incredible arsenal of moves that were not commonly seen at this time such as a spinning heel kick, a beautiful belly to belly throw, a bridging german suplex and a great jumping tombstone. As the match goes on Bret becomes more desperate and thus more aggressive as he realises he not only needs to get past his brother, who is much better than anyone imagined, but also be in a condition to compete for the WWF title later in the night. Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler are hardly a dream commentary team but they work perfectly here. Vince is so biased for Bret and Lawler is so biased for Owen that they balance each other out wonderfully whilst advancing the story and putting both wrestlers over. I can't think of a time when they combined better than here. When Vince finally concedes that Owen has been impressive it feels genuine and adds to the overall feeling that Owen is just as good as Bret. Owen goes from being a nobody to being on the same level as a former and future WWF champion over the course of 20 minutes and he looks like he belongs. The finish to this match is masterful for an observant watcher as it is a callback to Bret's final win at KOTR '93. Bret goes to the top rope and sits on Owen's shoulders and attempts the victory roll that pinned Bam Bam Bigelow for the crown. However Owen, of course being aware of this, sits down during the roll and reverses the move into a pin that Bret cannot escape from and picks up the shock victory. I loved this match (despite the result) as a child and as an adult I think I like it even more. It is Pro Wresting 101. This should be required viewing for wrestlers everywhere as the art of being a true heel is increasingly lost, Owen does sick moves in this match yet maintains a persona that is completely unlikable. He is is no way a 'cool' heel. This match is also a perfect example of how to make an opponent whilst losing nothing in defeat. Rather than settle their differences this match created a desire amongst the audience to see the Harts do battle again, only this time with the perception that they were on equal footing. They would go on to have the best pure cage match ever at Summerslam '94 and earn the elusive 5 star treatment from Dave Meltzer. There are matches that are rated higher than this one but none will replace the Harts in my heart. It is perfect professional wrestling. To me it is the best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be.

JCH - CAN'T PICK ONE, BUT OFFERS SEVERAL

My favourite match.

This is such a hard question. My favourite matches from the last 3 years have been:

Keith Lee vs Tomohiro Ishii from RevPro

Johnny Gargano vs Andrade Almas from NXT

Tam Nakano vs Arisa Hoshiki from Stardom

This year so far my favourite match was probably Will Ospreay vs Zack Sabre Junior at RevPro.

I don’t tend to watch matches more than once, so trying to think back much further than that is tough. I remember really enjoying an Austin Aries vs Bryan Danielson 2/3 falls match from Ring of Honor. I find this weird as I don’t really like long matches and it went 74 mins, but I have never watched it back.

Rock vs Austin WM 17 and Hart vs Austin WM 13 are two big matches I really liked. Rock vs Austin in the moment. Hart vs Austin one I went back to watch. I also loved Michaels vs Angle from WM21.

So to sum up I can’t pick one.

Watch them all.

PETE HITCHCOCK - OKADA v SHIBATA & BROCK v GOLDBERG

My favourite match of all time is Okada vs. Shibata from Sakura Genesis. I wrote a thesis on that match in the past on WSBF - LINK HERE.

However, for the purpose of this quickfire article here is my second favourite from Wreslemania 33...

Goldberg kills Brock. Then he goes to spear Brock and Brock JUMPS OVER HIM. Then Brock kills Goldberg. (Second) best match ever.

DOM VAN DAM - ROB VAN DAM vs JERRY LYNN

G’day lads. Today I’m cheating a little bit when writing about my favourite match because I’m not choosing one individual match but a matchup between 2 of my favourite wrestlers. I’m also recycling a little bit of a previous Nerd Watch Wednesday; I hope you’ll forgive me.

I’ve been waiting about as patiently as a youngster eagerly looking forward to Christmas Day for the chance to weave a yarn about my childhood hero, Rob Van Dam. People often ask me about my relationship with RVD and how I came to bear his moniker as a nickname amongst a lot of my pals.

In the year 2000, I had never seen ECW before. I grew up with WWF and drank down Nitro quicker than current day DVD drinks Guinness. In Australia, we just never had the tribe of extreme; not on TV, home video and definitely not via dial up internet. That is of course until my local video store, Video Ezy, stocked Hardcore Heaven 2000.

I rented that tape every weekend for about six months until I’m sure the reel was onion peel thin.

The show was headlined (in my eyes) by a match between Rob Van Dam and Jerry Lynn, and 13 year old DVD had simply never seen anything like it. I became obsessed with RVD immediately; mesmerised by his athleticism, creativity and coolness. I only had this one match to study, but I studied it much more closely than I did for any of my secondary school exams.

I learnt the sequences and even the commentary and tried to recreate both in my backyard with my mates (XBW for life). I think the fact that I didn’t have any other reference point to this mysterious athlete added to his allure and by the time he debuted for the WWF in 2001, the mystique meant that he was already my hero as he walked down those stairs and through the crowd on Monday Night Raw.

These days, I don’t like to watch too many RVD matches. It’s a bit like The College Dropout or 500 Days of Summer; in my mind they are an art form, connected to a particular period in my life and listening/watching them as an adult may ruin the nostalgia.

Thinking back on the series of matches between RVD and Jerry Lynn, however, still warms my heart to this day. Of course there have been better matches since. I probably see 2 better matches on every Indy show I attend. But in my mind, The Whole F’n Show vs The New F’N Show will always be my favourite.

30 DAY CHALLENGE

DAY 1 - FAVOURITE MALE WRESTLER

DAY 2 - FAVOURITE FEMALE WRESTLER

DAY 3 - FAVOURITE MOMENT YOU'VE SEEN LIVE

DAY 4 - FAVOURITE TAG TEAM

DAY 5 - YOUR FIRST WRESTLING MEMORY

DAY 6 - FAVOURITE FACTION

DAY 7 - FAVOURITE PROMOTION

DAY 8 - FAVOURITE MANAGER

DAY 9 - FAVOURITE COMMENTARY TEAM

DAY 10 - FAVOURITE ENTRANCE THEME

DAY 11 - FAVOURITE MATCH