The survivors series thread got me thinking about Survivor Series 1995 and what a truly underrated match the opener was pitting the team of  1-2-3 Kid, Dr. Tom Prichard , Rad Radford and Skip (with Sunny and Ted DiBiase) vs. Barry Horowitz, Bob Holly, Hakushi and Marty Jannetty.  Such a fun match and everybody got a little moment here and there to shine.  Obviously Jannetty hitting a top rope powerbomb was the insane high spot of the match but everything just flowed so well.  Also I forgot just how unique Hakushi was as a performer.  He was busting out offense in this match that hadn't been seen really in that era of WWE.  The match lacked that star power but more than made up for it with some shockingly good action. 

Val Venis vs. D'Lo Brown at Summerslam 1998.  Crazy underrated match.  These two guys put on one hell of a showing to open that event up.  The crowd was hot for it, D'Lo was playing a pretty solid heel back then and Val was the up and coming (pun intended) porn star challenger.  There were some really solid spots, lots of back and forth action and some very close near falls.  This was one of the better straight up non gimmicky matches of 1998 in WWE.  Both guys just worked really well together and didn't need any silly stipulations to make the match work. 

Kane vs. X-pac in a steel cage at Armageddon 1999. I forgot how much fun this match was.  X-pac had recently turned heel and betrayed Kane and was also taking a lot of shots at the size of Kane's dick and mocking his relationship with the super manly Torri and just basically being an obnoxious little twerp that you hoped would get his ass kicked.  Very good little man vs. big man match with the twist of the small man being the heel and the big man being the baby face.  Fun match with some really good spots.  Kane flying clothesline from the top was great.  I liked the new age outlaws running interference.  X-pac spitting in Torri's face before he gives her an x-factor.  Pac beating the hell out of handcuffed Kane with a steel chair.  I really liked the ending to and thought it was pretty creative.  I've never really been a big fan of Kane's in ring work but he and pac both really did a great job with this.

So there are three that I would recommend giving a rewatch on the network.  What about you?  What are some under the radar matches that you would recommend somebody go back and watch?

Sticking with just WWF/E for now.....(Maybe I'll do other promotions later)

Gonna shoot for about ten deep cut matches (or series) I enjoyed that I've literally never seen anybody else put over.

Rougeau Brothers & Rick Martel vs. Rockers & Tito Santana (Summerslam 1989)
You'd think this would get talked up more given the popularity of the Rockers and the fact that it's a relatively rare good 80s WWF match that took place on pay per view back when wrestling was still booming. But nope. I've never seen this hyped. It's just a good, standard face vs. heel match between 6 pretty athletic dudes who all know how to play their roles to perfection.

Ultimate Warrior vs. Undertaker (7/1/91- Bodybag Match)
Watched this a few years ago. Was shocked by how good it was. Warrior hits a killer piledriver. Taker loses but still comes out of it looking strong. Can't imagine a match between these two at this stage of their careers possibly going any better.

Ludvig Borga vs. Tatanka (Superstars October 1993)
Yeah, I'm biased, but this is a **** match in my book. Borga is great as wrestling's Ivan Drago with some of the best no-selling you will ever see. I'll admit the finishing stretch is a little weak but the pin itself and the awesome post-match more than makes up for it.

Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw vs. Henry O. Godwinn (Superstars 6/1/96- King of the Ring Qualifier)
A hossfight with good selling, a killer superplex, and a body part injury that actually plays into the finish. What's not to like?

HHH vs. Rikishi (Smackdown 1/6/00)
This was the culmination of a show-long angle which saw Howard Finkle screw up a lottery HHH had rigged and now he was stuck facing big 'Kish. As with Cactus that same month, HHH did an awesome job of selling Rikishi as a serious threat. Rikishi had already experienced rapid popularity growth as a fun midcarder. This had me buying into him as a legit main eventer. Hell, it only happened a few days of HHH beat Show for the title and for a split second there I actually thought Rikishi was going to pull it off. This doesn't get brought up nearly enough in the pantheon of great 2000 HHH matches. 

Rey Mysterio vs. Chavo Guerrero (Smackdown 5/5/05 & Smackdown 9/7/07)
These are both hardcore/brawling style matches with cool finishes. They're also the two best Chavo matches I've ever seen.

MNM vs. Hardcore Holly & Charlie Haas (Smackdown & PPV May-June 2005)
They had 3 matches- 2 on Smackdown, 1 on PPV. I haven't seen the PPV match but both tv matches are way better than you'd think. The first has a crowd going wild for Holly like he's The Rock, or something, while the 2nd is a rare Ironman tag match that only goes 15 minutes so as not to wear out its welcome.

Undertaker vs. Great Khali (Smackdown 8/18/06- Last Man Standing Match)
An all time great carry job by Taker. I cannot imagine a match between these two (or Khali vs. Anyone, for that matter) going any better.

Matt Hardy vs. Joey Mercury (Smackdown 3/2/07- Money In The Bank Qualifier)
This was the blowoff to their feud and if a random midcard tv match can be ***** this is it.

John Morrison vs. Evan Bourne (WWECW 4/14/09)
An ROH style match in a WWE ring long before that became the norm. My 2009 Match of the Year which, yeah, doesn't really mean a whole lot considering I didn't watch much wrestling that year. BUT it also means I preferred to HBK/Taker, which is pretty famous, so there's that.

*And for a few more well-known (but still somewhat under the radar) matches, you can't go wrong with...
Hogan/Genius (Saturday Night's Main Event), Perfect/Tito- SNME, Perfect/Doink- 1993 KOTR series, Quebecers vs. Steiners- Province of Quebec Rules, and BookDust vs. Vitamin C- Raw late 2002.

C'mon guys! Just me and Baker are it? Surely you have a few you could share.

I remember that Tatanka/Borga match, Baker, and I remember being pissed that they ended Tatanka's undefeated streak with a one finger pin.

HBK vs. Jarret - IYH2

It's only underrated in the sense it never gets mentioned among Shawn's great matches. Certainly not top 10 material, but it's a contender.

Nov 16, 2017 23:20:31 GMT @ness said:

HBK vs. Jarret - IYH2

It's only underrated in the sense it never gets mentioned among Shawn's great matches. Certainly not top 10 material, but it's a contender.

Whoa... Not Top 10!? At times it's definitely been my favorite Shawn match. At all times, it's in the Top 10.

I smell a new List It topic...

Seeing Shamrock mentioned in the change your mind thread made me think of one.

Rock Shamrock Mankind from Breakdown. Remember it being awesome and maybe Rock's true babyface turn.

The blowoff match of the Ted DiBiase vs Hacksaw Jim Duggan in Mid-South 1985. After both were part of the Rat Pack together in 1983, DiBiase aligned with Skandor Akbar and Duggan hated it, leading to a feud that last over a year. This match was a Tuxedo Coal Miner's Glove Match (DiBiase was wearing his loaded black glove at this time) in a cage. Brutal match that has even more than the title indicates. DiBiase in Mid-South was really quite amazing.  It's on Youtube.