In celebration of turning 50, I’ve decided to come up with lists of ’50 Favorites’ for a few different subjects. I started with 50 favorite albums, and now I move on to my 50 favorite wrestling matches. Now I know how wrestling fans can be so let me lead off by saying that these are not the 50 best matches I’ve ever watched. Some absolutely do meet the 4 star/5 star criteria in my opinion, but plenty of them don’t. These are 50 matches that have some kind of special meaning to me or involve favorite wrestlers of mine, or both. And some are one that were really excellent to the point where I just love to watch them over and over.

1985-86 (5)

  • Starrcade 85: Magnum TA vs Tully Blanchard I Quit Match
  • WWF House Show: Hogan vs Terry Funk
  • WrestleMania II: Hogan vs King Kong Bundy steel cage match
  • Great American Bash 86: Dusty Rhodes vs Ric Flair
  • Starrcade 86: The Road Warriors vs The Midnight Express Scaffold Match
Where things began

Although I became a fan in 1985 I didn’t become a full fledged fan who watched every week until 1986. The I Quit Match between Magnum and Tully is one of the matches that could fit on anyone’s ‘Best Ever’ list. It is violent and brutal and intense in a way few matches are now. The match at the other end, the scaffold match, is the peak of pro wrestling insanity: four men having a fight on top of a scaffold where the object is to throw both of your opponents off of it…..it makes zero sense as an athletic competition but when done right they can rope you in, and this may be the best of them all. As for the ones in the middle….like most 12 year olds in 1986 I was a Hulkamanic; Hogan vs Funk was the main event at the first house show my Dad took me to so it holds a special place in my heart. As for Hogan and Bundy, well……….WrestleMania 2 was shown on cable a month or two after it aired live so I watched it a million times because that’s what you back during the 80s when you just got cable; you watched everything you liked every time it came on. And FWIW it wasn’t a bad match or anything, but if it wouldn’t be on this list if it weren’t for sentimental value. Lastly, as a card carrying Dusty Rhodes superfan the match where he finally won the NWA World Title from Ric Flair is another one that I watched a million times back in the day.

1987 (3)

Ready for war

Honorable Mention: Ric Flair vs Ronnie Garvin from Starrcade 87, Team Randy Savage vs Team Honky Tonk Man from Survivor Series

This is pretty easy. There matches all have my favorite wrestlers of that time – Hogan, Rhodes, and the Road Warriors. The first Wargames in 87 was a surreal experience – two cages, my favorite NWA singles wrestler in Dusty and my favorite tag team in all of wrestling in the Road Warriors. WrestleMania III was literally the biggest challenge of Hogan’s career and a match that I legit was worried would not go the Hulkster’s way. 

1988 – 89 (2)

1988 was a tough year for the NWA; there were some bright spots like Sting’s ascension but it was the last year Dusty was a full time wrestler there and would see the end of wrestling’s greatest villains The Four Horsemen as Blanchard and Arn Anderson would leave for the WWF. The one match I’ve gone back to over and over was from the first Clash of the Champions, featuring the Fantastics and the Midnight Express. I watched that one live on WTBS and it embodied everything you need from tag team wrestling and showing how to get heat when you’re working heel. And despite the Dusty Finish it was a great match all on its own. Speaking of the WWF they were a well oiled machine at this time but one match that is burned in my memory is when the Warrior stormed the ring at MSG and brought an end to the Honky Tonk Man’s 13 month reign of terror.

Honorable Mentions: Sting vs Ric Flair from Clash of the Champions, Lex Luger vs Ric Flair at Starrcade 88, The Road Warriors winning the NWA Tag Team Titles from the Midnight Express n 1988, Ric Flair vs Terry Funk and Sting vs Great Muta from the 1989 Great American Bash, Flair vs Funk I Quit Match at Clash of the Champions IX

1990 – 1992 (4)

Honorable Mentions: Sting and Lex Luger vs the Steiners from SuperBrawl I, The Midnight Express vs the Southern Boys from the 1990 Great American Bash, Ron Simmons winning the WCW World Title from Vader

Things were changing as the decade turned. By 1990 my days as a Hulkamaniac had passed and I found myself rooting for his opponent to finally take him down. WrestleMania VI was also the first WrestleMania that I watched live, on closed circuit TV at that! That and the result get that match on the list. Also on that show is one of my favorite squash matches of all time, the Hart Foundation killing the Bolsheviks in 30 seconds. By no means is it a good match but it pops me every time I see it, to this day. On the other side of the street the 1990 Bash was the first pay per view I attended in person AND it was where Sting beat Flair for the NWA World Title. Lastly Pillman vs Liger isn’t just one of the best PPV opening matches ever it was also on the last PPV I watched live during my first run as a fan. By 1992 I had slipped from a die hard to a casual and was starting to move on as a lot of the wrestlers I grew up with were moving on to other companies or retirement. Superbrawl was the last PPV I watched live with my Dad, too.

The Monday Night Wars/Attitude Era (4)

  • WrestleMania 13: Steve Austin vs Bret Hart Submission Match
  • Summerslam 98: Ken Shamrock vs Owen Hart Lion’s Den Match
  • WrestleMania 17: Austin vs The Rock
  • WrestleMania 17: Edge & Christian vs The Hardys vs The Dudleys TLC match

Honorable Mentions: Rey Mysterio vs Eddie Guerrero from Halloween Havoc 1997, Edge & Christian vs The Hardys vs The Dudleys TLC match from Summerslam 2000,

Like a lot of people I got back into wrestling with the arrival of the NWO and fighting of the Monday Night Wars. How ironic that no matches from WCW made my list here. WCW had plenty of good matches but few great ones, and none that I watched on repeat at any point at the time. Even though I missed it live I’ve watched Bret and Austin from ’13 a bunch of times since. The others I saw live and have rewatched many times over. The Lion’s Den match is my personal favorite match of Owen Hart’s and the TLC match literally changed wrestling going forward by certifying a new form of ladder match. And finally Austin vs Rock was the beginning of the end of the Attitude Era in a lot of ways and an all time great match and Mania main event.

The Post-Attitude Era 2000s (1)

Around 2002, I started to drift back out. The guys who made the Attitude and Monday Night Wars were moving on, the landscape was changing, and my favored company (WCW) was gone. So I missed almost everything that happened from WrestleMania 19 through WrestleMania 28, and spent a good bit of time catching up on it much later. The one match I’ve gone back to repeatedly was Ric Flair vs Shawn Michaels from WrestleMania 24. It’s the big storybook ending that any wrestling legend would want to have. (We’ll just act like everything that happened after that match doesn’t exist, ok?) A few honorable mentions are Chris Jericho vs Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 19 and The Undertaker vs Batista at WrestleMania 23

2010s (22):

  • WrestleMania 28: John Cena vs The Rock
  • Survivor Series 2012: Cena vs CM Punk vs Ryback
  • Battleground 2013: Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins vs Cody and Dustin Rhodes
  • Elimination Chamber 2014: The Shield vs The Wyatt Family
  • NXT Takeover Revolution: Sami Zayn vs Neville
  • WrestleMania 31: Roman Reigns vs Brock Lesnar
  • NXT Takeover Brooklyn: Sasha Banks vs Bayley
  • TLC 2015: Reigns vs Sheamus TLC Match
  • TLC 2015: New Day vs Lucha Dragons vs Usos TLC Match
  • NXT Takeover Dallas: Sami Zayn vs Shinsuke Nakamura
  • WrestleMania 32: Charlotte Flair vs Sasha Banks vs Becky Lynch
  • Extreme Rules 2016: Reigns vs AJ Styles
  • NXT Takeover Brooklyn II: Bayley vs Asuka
  • Hell in a Cell: Charlotte vs Sasha Cell Match
  • NXT Takeover Orlando: Asuka vs Ember Moon
  • WrestleMania 33: Brock Lesnar vs Goldberg
  • WrestleMania 34: Charlotte vs Asuka
  • Money in the Bank 2018: Women’s Money in the Bank Match
  • 2018 G1: Tomohiro Ishii vs Hirooki Goto
  • Survivor Series 2018: Charlotte vs Ronda Rousey
  • WrestleMania 35: Kofi Kingston vs Daniel Bryan
  • Survivor Series 2019: 3 Way Men’s Elimination Match

Honorable Mentions: Sheamus vs Big Show at Hell in a Cell 2012, The Shield vs Evolution at Extreme Rules 2013, 2013 Survivor Series Five Man Elimination Match, 2014 Survivor Series Five Man Elimination Match, Charlotte vs Nikki Bella at Hell in a Cell 2015, Roman vs Dean vs Brock Lesnar at Fastlane 2016, Lesnar vs Samoa Joe at Great Balls of Fire, Charlotte vs Alexa Bliss at Survivor Series 2017, Charlotte vs Lynch vs Asuka at TLC 2018, Charlotte and Lynch vs Sasha and Bayley from Monday Night RAW in 2019

I jumped back in during the run up to WrestleMania 28, for the same reason everyone else who jumped back at that point did: the Rock coming back. Not only was it a really good match, it’s on the list for it’s significance. The same goes for the Survivor Series match between Cena, CM Punk and Ryback. It was really good and it was also important because it was the debut of the Shield – Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns. Reigns is my favorite male wrestler since I’ve gotten back in so this of course was a huge moment for me. And then a year later in the crossover of all crossovers I got to see Roman on one side of the ring and Dusty on the other when his sons Cody and Dustin took on Roman and Seth. Something happened during this era that had a huge effect on this list – the creation of the WWE Network. The Network becoming a thing meant that I no longer had to debate on spending $50 for a WWE PPV which meant I would get to see all of them going forward. In 29 years I’d gone from having to get a ticket and travel to see one of the big matches of the year to being to see all of them whenever I wanted. And it’s reflected here because I saw all of the WWE matches on this list live. The one non WWE entry here is Ishii vs Goto, a match that I had on DVR and sadly had to let go when I upgraded my equipment.

2020s (9):

  • 2020 Mens’ and Women’s Royal Rumbles
  • Summerslam 2021: Charlotte vs Rhea Ripley vs Nikki Cross
  • Monday Night Raw 2021: Charlotte vs Bianca Belair
  • WrestleMania 38: Sami Zayn vs Johnny Knoxville
  • WrestleMania 39: Roman Reigns vs Cody Rhodes
  • WrestleMania 39: Charlotte vs Rhea Ripley
  • WrestleMania 40: Roman vs Cody Rhodes
  • AEW Dynasty: Bryan Danielson vs Will Ospreay

Honorable Mentions: Men’s and Women’s 2020 Money in the Bank Ladder Matches, Roman vs Jey Uso at Night of Champions 2020, Charlotte vs Rhea at Money in the Bank 2021, Charlotte vs Ronda Rousey at Backlash 2022, 2022 Women’s Royal Rumble, Charlotte vs Naomi from Smackdown in 2022, Roman vs Drew McIntyre at Clash at the Castle 2022, 2023 Men’s Royal Rumble, 2024 Women’s Royal Rumble, Logan Paul vs Kevin Owens vs Randy Orton from WrestleMania 40

And now we’re into the current era, and to be honest for me this is the ‘enjoy my current favorites while we still got em’ period which is why you see so many matches for both Roman Reigns and Charlotte Flair on the list here. You’ll also the lone entry from AEW on this entire list. As of right now Bryan Danielson vs Will Ospreay is the best men’s match I’ve watch in 2024 so it makes the cut.

So that’s the list. God willing when I do 60 at 60 some of the honorable mentions will move up and maybe there will be some new entries altogether. Hope you enjoyed it, guys and gals.

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Published by robbonnette

Comic reader, movie watcher, wrestling fan

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