Because beating dead horses is kind of my thing.

Been working sporadically on WWE cards for all these years. 2005 WWE is complete and will be up tonight if I have the time. 2004, 2006 & 2007 WWE will also get done at some point. I can't guarantee 2008 but I'll try. Also may do ROH & TNA for some of these years but, again, no guarantees. 

2005 WWE: Taking It To The Extreme

The first thing I noticed upon completion of this card was how extreme it is. There are probably more bloodbaths and furniture destruction on this show than any of the ECW or Attitude Era SuperCards I came up with. By my count we have five "extreme" matches (and I could have easily had two more with only the slightest of tweaks*). And I suppose it's fitting in a way given that this was the year of peak ECW nostalgia.

*One of those tweaks was the tough decision to drop the match I was most hyped for, and my real time Match of the Year in Angle/Michaels @wrestlemania. It was the Shawn/Razor 1995 situation all over again. I had sacrifice a 1/4* to get a 10th match and two other important wrestlers involved.

Pre-Show Heat

Christian Raps (Backlash 5/1)
Wanted to get Christian on the show as he was a hot act this year. Plus condemning him to the pre-show actually works in the context of this rap where he calls out all the main eventers. This planted the seeds for a Cena feud the internet was hyped about but one which WWE sadly never went all the way with. Christian would leave the company a few months later and nobody could blame him.

MNM vs. Hardcore Holly & Charlie Haas (Smackdown 6/2- Tag Title Ironman Match)
It's a well known fact that I am a lover of the random forgotten TV match and these teams had several with this being the blowoff. Much like Christian, MNM was a hot act I wanted to get on the show. Best thing about this fun little feud was how much the crowds were totally into Hardcore Holly all of a sudden. Why it was like 1999 all over again! 

Main Show

1. Mike Awesome vs. Masato Tanaka (One Night Stand 6/12- ECW Rules Match)
These two displayed their famous chemistry in front of probably their biggest audience ever. Actually my favorite straight up Tanaka/Awesome match. 

2. Chris Benoit vs. Chris Jericho (Raw 2/7)
Hmm....two more longtime rivals having my favorite (non-gimmick) match of their lengthy series. Could a pattern be developing?

3. Dudley Boyz vs. Tommy Dreamer & Sandman (One Night Stand 6/12- ECW Rules Match)
The perfect show closer to One Night Stand. This match had everything you'd want from these four and, much like Awesome/Tanaka, I actually prefer it to most of their proper ECW stuff.

4. Kurt Angle vs. Ric Flair (Raw 6/27)
Even after the difficult decision to drop Angle/Michaels it was still a toss up between this and Angle's equally fun match with Marty f'n Jannetty(!) from a March Smackdown. Both are Baker Approved hoots. This one had old man Ric Flair trying every cheat in the book to beat the "better man" and a nearfall off a simple suplex that the crowd bought. Good stuff.

5. Shawn Michaels vs. Shelton Benjamin (Raw 5/2- Gold Rush Tournament Match)
Excellent match with a famous finish. Thought this was going to catapult Benjamin to superstardom. WWE never following up on this was such a boneheaded move.

6. Matt Hardy vs. Edge (Unforgiven 9/18- Cage Match)
2005 was a great year for feuds throughout wrestling and this was one of the hottest. But the actual matches had been disappointing until this one where Matt Hardy finally gets his revenge.

7. Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Eddie Guerrero (Smackdown 6/23)
The most famous match of their 2005 feud. This was billed as the blowoff. If only it had been...

8. Undertaker vs. Randy Orton (Wrestlemania 4/3)
This feud revitalized Orton's career after an awful 6 month babyface run. They actually had me thinking The Streak was over for a split second following an Orton RKO. Mission accomplished.

9. John Cena vs. JBL (Judgment Day- 5/22 WWE Championship I Quit Match)
Another bloodbath. Best match of Cena's career up to this point and no less than the 2nd best match of JBL's glorious career.

10. Batista vs. Triple H (Vengeance 6/26- World Championship Hell In A Cell Match)
Another bloodbath. Another hot feud. Another "young" guy going over an Attitude Era veteran. Another rematch that far exceeded a disappointing Wrestlemania outing. So many patterns on this card....
Here's another one....check out how many matches & segments took place in May & June!

Baker, that card seems like an almost perfect representation of 2005 WWE... Maybe a little heavy on ECW ONS stuff, but we've all got our personal preferences and -as you said- extreme nostalgia was running high.

I get the tough decision when it came to scrapping HBK/Angle. HBK/Shelton was probably the greatest thing Shelton ever did or will ever do, certainly in his singles career. Out of curiosity, I just wonder what options are available if you do go HBK/Angle, which feels pretty necessary for representing 2005 along with the pitch perfect top half of your card. I feel like the first-ever MITB is important, and it features both Shelton and Edge prominently (while getting other worthy names on the card) but is it worth sacrificing the Edge/Matt feud? I'm not sure... So what else is there?

And I can't believe you called my idea a dead horse! I'm happy as a pig in shit (to stick with the farm animal analogies) that this idea resonated with you and that you've kept it alive and kicking! My wife's out of town for work next week, so I might have some free evenings to commit to research and card crafting of my own. Your completist attitude, work ethic, determination, motivation, persistence, etc. has been nothing short of commendable, admirable, etc. in my eyes.

Oct 25, 2017 12:44:51 GMT 🤯 said:

Baker , that card seems like an almost perfect representation of 2005 WWE... Maybe a little heavy on ECW ONS stuff, but we've all got our personal preferences and -as you said- extreme nostalgia was running high.

I get the tough decision when it came to scrapping HBK/Angle. HBK/Shelton was probably the greatest thing Shelton ever did or will ever do, certainly in his singles career. Out of curiosity, I just wonder what options are available if you do go HBK/Angle, which feels pretty necessary for representing 2005 along with the pitch perfect top half of your card. I feel like the first-ever MITB is important, and it features both Shelton and Edge prominently (while getting other worthy names on the card) but is it worth sacrificing the Edge/Matt feud? I'm not sure... So what else is there?

And I can't believe you called my idea a dead horse! I'm happy as a pig in shit (to stick with the farm animal analogies) that this idea resonated with you and that you've kept it alive and kicking! My wife's out of town for work next week, so I might have some free evenings to commit to research and card crafting of my own. Your completist attitude, work ethic, determination, motivation, persistence, etc. has been nothing short of commendable, admirable, etc. in my eyes.

Thanks for the compliments.

I considered the first MITB. Scrapped it to get Edge/Matt on the show (Jericho/Benoit was expendable- just a random match they likely booked because that show took place in Japan and both guys had history there) and also to get my 10 matches. A few guys ruled in 2005 WWE but there wasn't a whole lot of depth imo. Like 90% of the good stuff came from about 8-10 guys. Even good 2005 acts like Christian, Shelton & Flair were hard to get on the card due all their good stuff occurring against wrestlers who did even better stuff with other people.

A card with Angle/Michaels and MITB would be something like....

1. MNM vs. Holly & Haas
2. London vs. Akio from Velocity? Or maybe the Eugene/Hassan/Hogan segment from Wrestlemania? Yeah, go with the latter and bump it up the card.
3. Awesome vs. Tanaka
4. Dudley Boys vs. Tommy & Sandman
5. Money In The Bank w/ Edge/Christian/Benoit/Jericho/Shelton/Kane
6. Eddie vs. Rey
7. Undertaker vs. Orton
8. Angle vs. Michaels
9. Cena vs. JBL
10. Batista vs. HHH

See, the first card is better.

*Flair didn't do much of note outside the HHH feud and that random good Raw match with Angle. Any good Divas matches this year? Quality Big Show performances? Any good Matt stuff other than the Cage Match w/ Edge? What about Booker? Regal? Snitsky & Heidenreich? (Sadly their glorious meeting took place in 2004. Believe me. I looked. Because you just know that would show up on my card.) RVD have any matches before his injury? Nothing comes to mind for those guys and I don't feel like searching right now.

2004 WWE

Had some trouble with this one. Ended up having to scrap the amazing Kane/Lita wedding for structural reasons. A shame.

Pre-Show Heat

Heidenreich meets Snitsky (Survivor Series 11/14)
"I like your poetry."
"I like what you do to babies."
*****

Mordecai Vignettes (Smackdown April & May)
Hear him! Fear him!

Main Show

1. Kurt Angle vs. Rey Mysterio (Smackdown 8/26)
These two had great chemistry and Smackdown would wisely throw this match out there every couple of months. Either this or their February 2005 match from Japan is my favorite of their long series due to the cool finishes.

2. Batista vs. Shelton Benjamin (Raw 6/7)
Wanted to get both guys on the show and for once things actually worked out perfectly. Apparently this was even good! Shelton was the hot up and coming babyface while Batista was rapidly becoming a cool badass big man heel in the mold of early Sid or 1994 Diesel.

Storytime: I liked Shelton right from the beginning as the better member of the awesome Team Angle so it didn't surprise me at all that he'd soon get a solo push. But Batista is a different story altogether. I basically viewed him as a forgettable Snitsky/Heidenreich type without even the occasional amusing sports entertainment moment. I wrote him off as a talentless big man and only remember three things he did in his first two years with the company- Being D-Von's henchman during the stupid Reverend D-Von gimmick, nearly decapitating Orton with a clothesline in one of his first matches on Smackdown, and that dumb electrocution angle with Goldust. I didn't even remember him being out with injury for 9 months until Pete & PI mentioned it in another thread. Whether Batista was there or not there made no difference to me. He was forgettable. But he started catching fire around this time as Evolution's enforcer and, oddly enough given the anti-big man bias prevalent among internet fans, became an unlikely smark darling. For example, the DVDVR board started going crazy for him around this time. Anyway....

3. Edge vs. Kane (Backlash 4/18)
Edge's return from a 14 month injury induced absence. It's a Kane match, and I remember it taking a few months for Edge to find himself again, so I'm sure this sucks, but I wanted to get both guys on the show due to their importance. 

4. Undertaker vs. John Cena (Smackdown 6/24)
This marks back to back years of Undertaker/Cena matches on these shows. Both matches also took place around the same time in June. I bet that was intentional. Anyway, this was good for the second year in a row and I distinctly remember thinking Cena's selling ruled in this match. WWE dropped the ball by not booking Cena/Taker III: The Streak vs. Super Cena sometime in the late 2000s-early 2010s.

5. Christian vs. Chris Jericho (Wrestlemania 3/14)
This was a pleasant surprise. Not that these two guys suck or anything but it still exceeded expectations even before the awesome swerve.

6. Lita vs. Trish Stratus (Raw 12/6- Women's Title Match)
Pretty famous match as it's the first time a women's match "properly" main evented Raw (though I think there was a Steph/Lita match once that "main evented" but the true main event was a show closing promo by....somebody).  This was a pretty good feud that spanned most of the year. Trish was one of the best performers in 2004 WWE as evidenced by the fact that she technically has two segments on this show and I had to cut the awesome Kane/Lita wedding she appeared in.

7. Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar (Wrestlemania 3/14)
Look. This sucked. I know it sucked. You know it sucked. We all know it sucked. But it's my favorite bad match ever due to the crowd totally shitting on two wrestlers I couldn't stand even before they decided to leave. So I loved every second of it. "Good riddance to the both of ya."- 2004 me. Also included for structural reasons. 

8. Randy Orton vs. Cactus Jack (Backlash 4/18- Hardcore Match)
Basically HHH vs. Cactus: Royal Rumble 2000 The Sequel. Obviously ruled. And much like HHH/Cactus, Orton did his part here. It wasn't a complete Cactus carry job by any stretch of the imagination.

9. Eddie Guerrero vs. JBL (Judgment Day 5/16- WWE Championship Match)
I know...I know...Eddie/Brock is the "right" choice here for being Eddie's big world championship win. But how could I neglect the Wrestling God? How could I leave off the man who is probably the best promo and best heel of the 2000s? I couldn't. I thought about compromising and going with Eddie/Brock and a JBL segment but then I ran into another dilemma. How do you choose just one JBL segment? It's like choosing the greatest 1995 WWF gimmick or the best Flair match. How do you pick just one when there are so many 10/10 options? And it's not like this match is anything less than stellar. One of the bloodiest in WWE history. Eddie further establishes himself as an all time great babyface while JBL comes through with flying colors to justify his main event push. I don't know much about Jinder Mahal, but lemme tell ya somethin' son, Jinder Mahal ain't no JBL. He ain't no Wrestling God.

10. Chris Benoit vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Triple H (Wrestlemania 3/14- World Championship Match)
Benoit's big win. Probably the best Triple Threat match ever. Don't sleep on the nearly-as-good Backlash rematch either.

*Matt & Flair were the two best guys to miss the cut but Matt's only real big moment in 2004 was crashing Kane & Lita's wedding while Flair's best stuff came in Evolution tags with others who were better used elsewhere. Wait...he probably appears at some point in one of those Evolution members matches anyway. I guess there's Big Show too but he was years into being "just a guy" by this point. Booker, RVD & Dudleys were stale and mostly bad at this point.

So there you have it. Not the greatest show but probably not the worst either. 
OR....
To save time you could just watch the Kane/Lita wedding and every single JBL segment ever.

WRESTLING GOD~!

Baker 's 2005 card looks close to spot on and really high quality. Batista/HHH Cell and Cena/JBL I Quit feel essential. 2005 was the year that Batista and Cena were established as the guys, these were the feuds that established them and both matches were top drawer. Edge/Matt Cage is my WWE MOTY and, although you could argue the futility of a cage and cell match on the same card, fuck it, loads of gimmick matches can work here and they are worked differently, with the cowardly Edge escape attempts and leg drop off cage finish setting it apart from the cell. While it is overrated, HBK/Angle Mania is good enough and significant enough in terms of rep to feel like it deserves inclusion.

Eddie/Rey SD is the pinnacle of one of feuds of the year and a must. One Night Stand has to be represented and Awesome/Tanaka is the match; I don't need the tag main. Benoit/Regal Velocity is a great, short, nasty bout and gets us a match from the SmackDown B-show - although we could consider one of the London/Akio matches as well. Taker/Orton Mania seems like the obvious way to get both their names on the show. The Hogan/Hassan/Eugene Mania segment seems like a fine addition. Hassan was a significant and controversial figure that year and Hogan's return is a big moment in a year where he would headline SummerSlam.

We still have some big names/significant names of that year not making it at this point: Jericho, Christian, Flair, Shelton, Booker, Kane and Show for example. I don't remember Jericho/Shelton Backlash but could imagine it being a solid opener. Hard to find something for Flair that isn't either HHH match - maybe just chuck in his IC Title win over Carlito. Christian's Backlash rap may be the best solution for him, like Baker did. Booker's best match is likely the Benoit Armageddon match, but I'd rather keep the Regal one. Kane and Show can fuck off.

------------------------------------------------------------

To copy Baker's 10 match/segments format, we could have:

1. Shelton Benjamin (c) vs. Chris Jericho - Intercontinental Championship (Backlash 5/1)
2. Mike Awesome vs. Masato Tanaka (ECW One Night Stand 6/12)
3. Chris Benoit vs. William Regal (Velocity 6/16)
4. The Undertaker vs. Randy Orton (WrestleMania 21 4/3)
5. Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio (SmackDown! 6/23)
6. Edge vs. Matt Hardy - "Cage" (Unforgiven 9/18)
7. Hulk Hogan/Muhammad Hassan/Eugene segment (WrestleMania 21 4/3)
8. Shawn Michaels vs. Kurt Angle (WrestleMania 21 4/3)
9. John Cena (c) vs. John Bradshaw Layfield - "I Quit" WWE Championship (Judgment Day 5/22)
10. Batista (c) vs. Triple H - "Hell in a Cell" World Heavyweight Championship (Vengeance 6/26)

Pretty tasty.

2006 WWE: All Good Things Must End

Hardest one yet. My interest in wrestling had declined a little each year since 2000 but those decreases were relatively small. Well, in the summer of 2006 the bottom fell out as my interest plummeted. You'd have to go all the way back to at least 1992 to find the last year I missed more WWE shows, and that was mostly due to participating in a lot of youth activities rather than a lack of desire to watch. I was close to throwing in the towel for good when my two longtime favorites JBL & Angle left within a few months of one another and I realized the ECW reboot was not at all what I was hoping for. I couldn't stand Cena or Batista. Orton wasn't much better. DX was awful now. (Well, I thought they were awful the first time too, but at least they were fresh and innovative in a way back then. Now they were awful and stale.) I was over the McMahon's. The midcard was dire. I even found most of the "good" midcard wrestlers boring. Most of the noobs were awful and flopped. It was just a seemingly endless parade of bad wrestling.

One Night Stand II: Electric Boogaloo and the PPV where DX returned were two of the few post-2003 pay per views I watched live. ONS 2 was a far cry from the original and the DX return pay per view flat out sucked with disappointing match after disappointing match.

Basically King Booker (& Undertaker to a lesser extent) kept me watching recorded episodes of Smackdown (with much fast forwarding) while over on Raw I'd only pay attention when the Spirit Squad, Flair, Foley, or maybe Edge & Nitro happened to show up. I hate to say it but I even lost interest in most of the ECW Originals over on WWECW within a few months once the novelty faded. And of course the less said about the WWECW non-originals, the better.

So it took a long time to come up with 10 suitable matches and I'm still not totally satisfied due to the lack of "Wrestling God" JBL (his best matches were against Benoit & Rey, who were better used elsewhere) and the Hardys/Armageddon TLC (Batista having a lousy year hurt this card) but I've also given up on trying to turn chicken shit into chicken salad where this awful year is concerned.

1. MNM vs. Rey Mysterio & Batista featuring Mark Henry (Smackdown 1/6- Tag Title Cage Match)
These teams had a pretty cool feud over the tag titles in late 2005-early 2006. Their late '05 match was better, and Rey & MNM had better '06 matches elsewhere, but I had to include this to get Batista on the card. And Mark Henry, I guess, who was in the midst of a most unfortunate monster heel super push.

2. RVD vs. Hardcore Holly (WWECW 9/26)
Holly fighting through a nasty gash on his back made this memorable and RVD needed to be on the card given his resurgence of sorts. Weird how Holly made both my '05 (pre-show) & '06 cards. Don't get the wrong idea. He wasn't important, or even necessarily good. He just happened to have two good matches against wrestlers I wanted on both cards.

3. Booker T vs. Bobby Lashley featuring Finlay (Judgment Day 5/21- King of the Ring Finals)
Booker was already on a roll that got him back on my good side after being horrible for the previous two plus years. Being crowned king here put him over the top and he quickly filled JBL's shoes as the best thing in wrestling. Finlay was an important part of Smackdown this year so him getting involved here gets him on the show as a nice bonus.

4. Chris Benoit vs. Randy Orton (Smackdown 1/27- No Holds Barred Match)
My favorite match for both guys this year. Had a cool finishing stretch even if I did misremember the winner.

5. Mickie James vs. Trish Stratus (Wrestlemania 4/2- Women's Title Match)
One of the most famous female matches in WWE history.

6. Big Show vs. Ric Flair (WWECW 7/11- WWE Title Match)
Crazy old man vs. monster. This ruled. In the running for best WWECW match and greatest match of Big Show's career. 2006 was the best year of Flair's 2000s WWE run. His character was basically a babyface version of "middle aged & crazy" 1989 Terry Funk. Flair found himself in wild gimmick matches and bloodbaths pretty regularly during this period. 

7. Shawn Michaels vs. Vince McMahon featuring Spirit Squad & Shane McMahon (Wrestlemania 4/2- No Holds Barred Match)
Typical big Vince match. Lots of weapons and big spots. For what it's worth, HBK sucked/was wasted for most of 2006 in this endless feud with the McMahon's. But, hey, Spirit Squad~!

8. Edge vs. Mick Foley (Wrestlemania 4/2- Hardcore Match)
Typically great "Foley puts over hot young heel" match with a memorable finish that made every WWE highlight reel for years. 

9. Kurt Angle vs. Undertaker (No Way Out 2/19- World Championship Match)
Great. WWE Match of the Year. And I'm still kicking myself for not going to this show in Baltimore because I totally saw this classic coming, having remembered their September 2003 Smackdown match.

10. John Cena vs. Triple H (Wrestlemania 4/2- WWE Championship Match)
As far as 2006 Cena matches with hostile crowds go, this was better than Cena/RVD even if the "wrong" guy won. One of the few post-2000 matches where I actually cared about who won and was shocked. I was gutted. Thought this was going to be the end of the failed Cena experiment. I mean "HHH berries ppl, amirite?" So PLEASE bury this talentless turd so WWE can suck a little less. It didn't happen and I'm positive I had an Ellis Mbeh face for a few seconds when it was over.

*2007 WWE is next. Then maybe I'll finally give this a rest.

2007 WWE

A bounce back year after the awful 2006. Raw got actively good for a little while in between HHH tearing his quad again and Michaels (who was on a roll) getting injured. WWECW found its niche after that rough first year as a glorified developmental show. And it was the King Booker, Matt Hardy & MVP show over on Smackdown.

*D'oh! I had just written up HBK/Orton when I realized I only had 9 matches on this card because apparently I have trouble counting to ten. Oh well. Don't feel like searching for a 10th and making a bunch of inevitable edits right now. Maybe I'll correct it later. Plus the four pre-show segments surely make up for the lack of one match anyway, right?

Pre-Show Heat: SegmentMania

Ric Flair chews out Carlito (Raw 2/8)
Getting verbally eviscerated by Naitch is the clear highlight of Fake Razor 2.0's lousy career.

Santino meets Stone Cold Steve Austin (Raw 11/5)
Early goofball heel Santino ruled. I'm sure he had half a dozen segments that could work in this spot. This is the one I remember most so it gets the nod.

MVP's V.I.P. Lounge w/ Michael Hayes (Smackdown 12/7)
MVP was a highlight of 2007 WWE. He had a bunch of good matches w/ Benoit & Matt but those guys had slightly better matches with others. So MVP gets the segment treatment. This still ruled though. MVP gets the better of Michael f'n Hayes on the mic! Thought he was destined for superstardom after this. Sadly it was not to be.

JBL announces his return featuring Chris Jericho (Raw 12/17)
Jericho had just returned from a two year absence the previous month. It was cool, and kind of a big deal at the time, but who cares now because YES!!! The WRESTLING GOD is back!!! I was 1996-level hyped about this despite being years into the jaded stage of my fandom.
*The awesome Vote JBL segment from a late 2007 Smackdown could also work here.

Main Show

1. Elijah Burke/Marcus Corvon/Matt Striker/Kevin Thorn vs. RVD/Sabu/Tommy Dreamer/Sandman (WWECW 4/3- Extreme Rules Match)
Wrestlemania was a cool moment for the ECW Originals but this smokes it as an actual match. Nice to the Originals get one last moment in the spotlight at 'Mania though. Sandman & Sabu at a Wrestlemania! Who'da thunk it?

2. Matt Hardy vs. Joey Mercury (Smackdown 3/2- Money In The Bank Qualifier)
This doubled as the blowoff to their feud and is pretty much perfect. If a tv match featuring midcarders can be ***** this is it.

*Random Tangent Time: Matt was the most consistently good in ring guy in 2007 WWE (though Michaels & Cena had higher highs). Matt also had killer tv matches with MVP, Finlay, Kennedy....basically everybody they put him against. Thinking about Matt being awesome in 2007 reminded me how he's totally cracking my Top 20 if we ever re-do PW's Favorite Wrestler Countdown (Hmm...next countdown, perhaps?). He had five great runs (late 90-early 00s Hardy Boyz, Version 1 in 02-03, Edge feud in '05, workhorse in 07-08 & BROKEN Matt) + one good one a few years ago in ROH as an aging, self-proclaimed legend. He's a lot like Goldust as an under the radar all time great midcarder.

3. CM Punk vs. John Morrison (WWECW 9/4- WWECW Title Match)
Johnny Nitro was good. John Morrison was great. Was convinced him & MVP were the future of the company. Boy was I wrong. Anyway, this is in the running for GOAT WWECW match. Also historic as it's Punk's first title win if you're into that whole CM Punk thing.

4. Rey Mysterio vs. Chavo Guerrero (Smackdown 9/7- I Quit Match)
Rey gets revenge on Chavo for injuring him the previous year. Either this or a Rey/Chavo no holds barred dealie from May 2005 is my all time favorite Chavo match. OK, so that might seem like faint praise because, like, it's Chavo. But this really did rule!

5. Edge vs. Chris Benoit (Smackdown 6/8)
Benoit's last good/great match. This got the nod over the Benoit/MVP match of your choosing because I felt it was more important to get main eventer Edge on the show over (awesome) midcarder MVP. 

6. Jeff Hardy vs. Triple H (Armageddon 12/16- #1 Contender Match)
Jeff wins! Jeff wins! Jeff wins! Good babyface match that gets the nod over the HHH/Booker Clash of Kings and began the Great Jeff Hardy Superpush (which I was all in on after totally not caring about him for like 7 years) where he briefly had near 2014 Daniel Bryan-level popularity. And how weird is it that Jeff Hardy of all people is one of the few guys HHH ever put over strong?

7. Randy Orton vs. Shawn Michaels (Survivor Series 11/18- Superkick Is Banned WWE Championship Match)
Brilliant match in terms of incorporating the dumb-on-paper stipulation. Probably my all time 2nd favorite Orton match and one of like seven awesome 2007 Shawn Michaels matches. HBK was my WWE MVP for the year.

8. Undertaker vs. Batista (Wrestlemania 4/1- World Championship Match)
Considered a miracle match at the time because wrestling fans are dummies who still doubted the f'n Undertaker as late as 2007. One of Batista's career best matches.

9. John Cena vs. Umaga (Royal Rumble 1/28- Last Man Standing WWE Championship Match)
Basically Sting vs. Vader taken to the extreme. Obviously ruled. Best Cena match I've seen and he's a lot of killer matches.

*Damn. That's a hell of a show. Probably the best one in years even if I did break my 10 match rule due to poor counting ability.
This might finally be it as I'm having trouble with 2008 (struggling to find a place for Jericho, who I thought was the 2nd best guy in the company that year behind Michaels. Also didn't watch/don't remember much from the last 2-3 months of '08) and have thrown in the towel on ROH, TNA & pre-1991 wrestling.

I'll take a crack at 2008 WWE since I can't do any of the preceding years any better than Baker , and since this was a year where I started to flit into watching more regularly...

I can already tell there are a lot of "structural reasons" matches, but oh well... thems the breaks.

SuperCard MashUp: 2008 WWE!

1) Unforgiven 2008 - Tag Title: Legacy (Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase) (c) vs. Cryme Tyme (JTG & Shad Gaspard)
Went with this since it involved the tag titles and represented Legacy, who would become a semi-interesting thing toward the end of 2008 and into 2009.  The other option I was considering was swapping Legacy out for John Morrison and The Miz (my favorite tag team of 2008 probably) and going with their match against Cryme Tyme from Cyber Sunday.  Cryme Tyme were over pretty big as faces, and the fact that WWE didn't do more with them still kinda surprises me.  Maybe I'll throw Morrison & Miz vs. Los Colons from No Mercy on the pre-show... or better yet, Morrison & Miz vs. Jesse & Festus from Armageddon since Festus is the greatest thing that Luke Gallows ever did (not saying that totally to be an ass... I fucking LOVED Festus).

2) One Night Stand 2008 - Falls Count Anywhere: Jeff Hardy vs. Umaga
Not their best match together, but it's representative of their fun feud and matches.  Also gets two key names on the card.  Is this Umaga's last match too before passing away?  I can't remember.  Now I'm sad...

3) Backlash 2008 - US Title: Montel Vontavious Porter (c) vs. Matt Hardy
Like the other Hardy match on this SuperCard MashUp, this might not be Matt & MVP's best encounter but it is representative of their better matches and surprisingly good/entertaining rivalry.  Feel free to swap this out with any of their better one-on-one clashes.  I can't be bothered to do the deep-dive research right now.

4) Cyber Sunday 2008 - IC Title: Santino Marella (c) (w/ Beth Phoenix) vs. The Honky Tonk Man
Baker 's recent post in the thread about the irrelevance of the IC title in the 2000s reminded me of this brief moment of glory.  Santino was a fucking awesome character, and this was a fucking awesome gimmick; i.e., the regular countdown until he beat HTM's record.  This was probably a shitty match in real time (I didn't see it, and still have never watched it) but hopefully it was at least a cute and entertaining surprise.  It gets Santino as IC Champion on the card in a fun (or supposed-to-be fun) moment.  Debated going with Glamarella vs. Kofi Kingston & Mickie James from SummerSlam just to get Kofi and the ladies on the SuperCard MasUp, but fuck it.

5) Armageddon 2008 - #1 Contenders for IC Title: CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio
No idea if this match was any good, but needed to get both guys on the card because of their name value.  Punk won his first world title this year, so he needs represented... but then he was treated as a jobber champion, so it feels fitting that he's fighting for a shot at the IC Title here instead of doing anything more important.  Punk isn't starting his Straight Edge Society run here yet, right?

6) ECW on Sci-Fi (6/24) - Non Title: ECW Champion Kane vs. Mark Henry
Mark felt more deserving than Chavo Guerrero, so wanted to get him on the card against Kane instead of just going with Kane squashing Chavo at 'Mania.
If anyone has any better ideas for getting Mark and Kane on the card, I'm all ears.

7) Judgment Day 2008 - Women's Title: Mickie James (c) vs. Beth Phoenix vs. Melina
Piss break. But in all seriousness, I did enjoy all women involved. No idea if this match was any good or not. Feel free to replace with something else for the ladies, or remove entirely.

8) Royal Rumble 2008 - Chris Jericho vs. John Bradshaw Layfield
Jericho's match should've been his ladder match against Shawn from No Mercy, but I couldn't bring myself to essentially cut Flair from the card.  JBL had a handful of opponents and PPV matches throughout the year, and this match represents something interesting conceptually in that it marks JBL's in-ring swansong year as well as Jericho's return (this was on the heels of that SAVE.US thing, right?) as a face and then eventual reinvention as the best heel WWE had seen in years.

9) WrestleMania XXIV - No DQ Match: Big Show vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Based on past celebrity matches, we all should've had such low hopes for this.  For some reason, heading into this in real time, I vaguely recall being optimistic and excited.  And then the match delivered.  Arguably the best celebrity match of all time.

10) One Night Stand 2008 - Last Man Standing Match for the WWE Title: Triple H (c) vs. Randy Orton
I really wanted to go with a HHH title defense against Jeff Hardy as a nod to Jeff's push and Jeff eventually winning his first world title in 2008... but I got #structurallyfucked. It felt important to have Orton in a title match too, considering his year started off big with the momentum carried over from his hot second half of 2007. He surprised me and surely a lot of others when he walked out of that triple threat at 'Mania with the title still around his waist. I also remember being pretty into the punt around this time. I'm picking the LMS because 1) it seems weird having a cage match (from Judgment Day) AND a Hell in a Cell on the same card, and 2) I vividly remember calling the moment Orton's collar bone broke in the LMS match... and this started a period of heat between me and Orton's fragile shoulder.

11) SummerSlam 2008: John Cena vs. Batista
I remember being pissed in real time that they were wasting this dream match at SummerSlam with zero buildup instead of saving it for 'Mania and giving it the proper buildup that such an epic showdown rightfully deserved. If I recall correctly, I think this match featured Cena hitting a fame-asser off the top rope that somehow tore Batista's hamstring.

12) WrestleMania XXIV - Retirement Match: Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair
Arguably THE match of 2008 WWE... probably should've been the main event of 'Mania, and certainly earns points for being Flair's actual final match in WWE (i.e., Flair never Foley'd his retirement).  It was good enough and packed enough emotion to earn its spot over any HBK/Jericho match (which was THE feud of 2008 WWE).

13) SummerSlam 2008 - HIAC: The Undertaker vs. Edge
To me, in real time, it felt like this feud dragged on awfully long... but I'm thankful for a unique stipulation and a match that doesn't time up a world title while also allowing me to get two important names on the card.  Actually, now that I've structured this card, I realize that I don't have a WHC title match on it.  Let's pretend either this match was for the title, or that HBK/Flair was title vs. career.  Or, worst case, we can swap this for the Undertaker/Edge match from 'Mania.

Holy shit... 13 matches... That's a few too many.  Maybe cut the tag match, the Women's Title 3-way, and Kane/Mark Henry for starters.  Or bump them to the pre-show.  Maybe do the same to the Hardys' matches too if need be.

SuperCard MashUp: 2008 WWE!

Pre-Show (or whatever WWE would've called it in real time):
1) One Night Stand 2008 - Falls Count Anywhere: Jeff Hardy vs. Umaga
2) Armageddon 2008 - #1 Contenders for IC Title: CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio
3) ECW on Sci-Fi (6/24) - Non Title: ECW Champion Kane vs. Mark Henry

Main Card:
1) Unforgiven 2008 - Tag Title: Legacy (Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase) (c) vs. Cryme Tyme (JTG & Shad Gaspard)
2) Backlash 2008 - US Title: Montel Vontavious Porter (c) vs. Matt Hardy
3) Cyber Sunday 2008 - IC Title: Santino Marella (c) (w/ Beth Phoenix) vs. The Honky Tonk Man
4) Judgment Day 2008 - Women's Title: Mickie James (c) vs. Beth Phoenix vs. Melina
5) Royal Rumble 2008 - Chris Jericho vs. John Bradshaw Layfield
6) WrestleMania XXIV - No DQ Match: Big Show vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr.
7) One Night Stand 2008 - Last Man Standing Match for the WWE Title: Triple H (c) vs. Randy Orton
8) SummerSlam 2008: John Cena vs. Batista
9) WrestleMania XXIV - Retirement Match: Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair
10) SummerSlam 2008 - HIAC: The Undertaker vs. Edge

There... split it up to fix the amount of matches on the actual card.  Non-main event non-title matches got dropped to the pre-show.  Take THAT Jeff, Punk, and Rey!

Now my only regrets are not finding a way to work Jimmy Wayne Yang and Kung Fu Naki onto this somehow.

Nov 1, 2017 2:45:23 GMT 🤯 said:

SuperCard MashUp: 2008 WWE!

Pre-Show (or whatever WWE would've called it in real time):
1) One Night Stand 2008 - Falls Count Anywhere: Jeff Hardy vs. Umaga
2) Armageddon 2008 - #1 Contenders for IC Title: CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio
3) ECW on Sci-Fi (6/24) - Non Title: ECW Champion Kane vs. Mark Henry

Main Card:
1) Unforgiven 2008 - Tag Title: Legacy (Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase) (c) vs. Cryme Tyme (JTG & Shad Gaspard)
2) Backlash 2008 - US Title: Montel Vontavious Porter (c) vs. Matt Hardy
3) Cyber Sunday 2008 - IC Title: Santino Marella (c) (w/ Beth Phoenix) vs. The Honky Tonk Man
4) Judgment Day 2008 - Women's Title: Mickie James (c) vs. Beth Phoenix vs. Melina
5) Royal Rumble 2008 - Chris Jericho vs. John Bradshaw Layfield
6) WrestleMania XXIV - No DQ Match: Big Show vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr.
7) One Night Stand 2008 - Last Man Standing Match for the WWE Title: Triple H (c) vs. Randy Orton
8) SummerSlam 2008: John Cena vs. Batista
9) WrestleMania XXIV - Retirement Match: Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair
10) SummerSlam 2008 - HIAC: The Undertaker vs. Edge

There... split it up to fix the amount of matches on the actual card.  Non-main event non-title matches got dropped to the pre-show.  Take THAT Jeff, Punk, and Rey!

Now my only regrets are not finding a way to work Jimmy Wayne Yang and Kung Fu Naki onto this somehow.

I'm glad you went through with this. I gave up when I couldn't find a decent match for Jericho, who was no less than the 2nd best performer in the company this year. But most (all?) of his best stuff came against Michaels and there's no way I can drop Michaels/Flair. Also realized I quit watching for the most part around October. I remember almost nothing that happened during the last few months of the year. Even before that, CM Punk winning the title was a major interest killer. That's the moment Money In The Bank jumped the shark. Long before Sheamus & Jack Swagger, there was CM f'n Punk: Midcard World Champion.

Anyway, here is the card I was working on before throwing in the towel.

Locks

Main Event: Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair (Wrestlemania- Ric Flair's Career On The Line)
Duh. End of an era.
9. Undertaker vs. Edge (Wrestlemania- Championship Match)
Went with this over Summerslam because you can't follow a broken ring and there's no way Flair/HBK doesn't close this show.
Jeff Hardy vs. Umaga (January- Raw Cage Match)
This was during the height of HardyMania and ruled. 
Floyd Mayweather vs. Big Show (Wrestlemania)
Also ruled. GOAT celebrity match contender and greatest Big Show match contender.

*Aaaaand I got bogged down after that in the "option" stage of things.

Possible Options

HHH vs. Orton vs. JBL vs. Cena (Championship Match- Backlash)
Cena vs. Batista (Summerslam)
HHH vs. Cena (Some PPV)
MVP vs. Matt Hardy (Matt wins US Title, probably)
Batista vs. MVP (Smackdown- They had surprisingly good chemistry and a few good matches....unless those were in '07?)
HHH vs. Orton (assuming ANY of them were halfway decent, which is a pretty big assumption considering these two bat below the Mendoza Line against each other)
Matt vs. Finlay vs. Miz vs. Morrison (WWECW #1 Contender Match)
JBL vs. Finlay (Wrestlemania)
Miz & Morrison vs. Dreamer & Delaney (Extreme Rules Match)
Jericho Segment?
Beth vs.... Melina, maybe? Remember them having a decent match or two. What about Beth/Candice? Or was that 2007?
Santino Segment? 

*And what about Rey & Punk? Don't remember anything positive they did this year. Evan Bourne? I was mostly done by the time he showed up. Shelton? Kane (LOL)? Didn't Regal get a most unfortunate push at some point in '08? 

So, yeah, I'm at a loss on this one.

ROH 2004

*This one was difficult. You can go in a million different directions with this one. 2004 was the real time peak of my ROH fandom. Don't get me wrong. 2002 & 2003 were lots of fun in real time but ROH definitely leveled up in '04. There were probably more good/great matches this year than the first two years combined. However coming up with a SuperCard MashUp proved tricky because so many of those good/great matches involved the same guys. So there were a lot of structural issues. 2004 also didn't have many random good matches from scrubs to make things easy the way 2003 did. I'd actually take my '03 card over '04 even though 2004 ROH smokes 2003 ROH. Without further ado....

1. Briscoes vs. Havana Pitbulls- Reborn: Stage One 4/23- Tag Title Match

Gets the Briscoes on the card.....and the soon-to-be overpushed Pitbulls as well. Almost positive I saw this but remember nothing about it.

2. John Walters vs. Nigel McGuinness- Glory By Honor III 9/11- Pure Title Match

Card filler/get 'em on the show specialty. Can't remember if I saw this show or not.

3. AJ Styles vs. Matt Stryker- 2nd Anniversary Show 2/14- Pure Title Tournament Match

AJ only worked a few ROH matches in 2004. You still want him on the show though. Know for a fact I haven't seen this one.

4. Jimmy Rave w/ Prince Nana vs. Trent Acid- Reborn: Completion 7/17

Not the best match but it's important as this is the debut of probably my favorite act in ROH history- EMBASSY Jimmy Rave~!

5. Doug Williams vs. Alex Shelley- Reborn: Completion 7/17- Pure Title Match

Gets these guys on the show. Shelley had a bunch of better + more important matches but I had to include this one for structural reasons.

6. Colt Cabana & Jimmy Jacobs w/ Bobby Heenan vs. Roderick Strong & Jack Evans w/ Jim Cornette

Super fun comedy match. A million stars. 

7. Low Ki vs. Jay Lethal- Midnight Express Reunion 10/2

Great heel vs. face match. Tons of fun live. This match made Lethal imo.

8. Bryan Danielson vs. Homicide- Reborn: Stage Two 4/24

Haven't seen this but it had good buzz and these two obviously need to be on the card.

9. CM Punk & Ace Steel vs. BJ Whitmer & Dan Maff- Death Before Dishonor II: Night Two 7/24- Chicago Street Fight

One of the best brawls in ROH history. Also something of a miracle match considering only one guy here is consistently good.

10. Austin Aries vs. Samoa Joe- Final Battle 12/26- ROH Championship Match

Best live match I ever saw and my all time favorite ROH match sees Aries end one of the greatest title reigns in wrestling history (had it at #3 on our Greatest Championship Reigns countdown) with an epic flurry of offense.