So my brother is on one of his every other year wrestling kicks. Having exhausted all the battle royals he could find (he has this weird thing for them) he started watching every PWI Match of the Year. It didn't take him long to realize what I had known since like 1996- a whole lot of PWI Matches of the Year are.....not very good. So he asked me to come up with my own MOTY list. I was more than happy to oblige.

Some of these are more recent discoveries while most are classic "of the time" choices that would probably change today if I could be bothered to go back and do deep dives. For some I'll do WWF & Other with the bolded being my overall MOTY. Other years (the really good ones) will get an honorable mention or two. Pre-1987 & Post-2008 tend to be the best match from small sample sizes. Enjoy!

SPOILER: Click to show

1980- Bruno Sammartino vs. Larry Zbyszko- WWF TV 2/2
1981- Either Jerry Lawler vs. Terry Funk- Memphis Empty Arena Match 4/25 or Pat Patterson vs. Sgt. Slaughter- WWF Alley Fight 4/21
1982- Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid- NJPW 8/5
1983- Jerry Lawler vs. Bill Dundee- Memphis- Loser Leaves Town Match 6/6
1984- Von Erichs vs. Freebirds- World Class- Badstreet Match 7/4
1985- Ric Flair vs. Ted Dibiase- Mid South TV- 11/15
1986- Jerry Lawler vs. Bam Bam Bigelow- Memphis- Texas Death Match 9/7

1987 WWF- Ricky Steamboat vs. Randy Savage- Wrestlemania III
1987 NWA- Dusty/Nikita/Road Warriors/Ellering vs. Flair/Arn/Tully/Luger/JJ Dillon- NWA- War Games- 7/4

1988- Midnight Express vs. Original Midnight Express- NWA Starrcade
HM- Fantastics vs. Midnight Express- NWA Worldwide 4/26

1989 WWF- Either Fabulous Rougeau Brothers & Rick Martel vs. Rockers & Tito Santana or Brainbusters vs. Hart Foundation- both from Summerslam
1989 NWA- Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat- Wrestle War: Music City Showdown 5/7
HM- Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk- Great American Bash

1990 WWF- Ultimate Warrior vs. Hulk Hogan- Wrestlemania
1990 NWA- Ric Flair vs. Lex Luger- Wrestle War

1991 WWF- Ultimate Warrior vs. Randy Savage- Wrestlemania
1991 WCW- Steiner Brothers vs. Sting & Lex Luger- Super Brawl

1992 WWF- Davey Boy Smith vs. Bret Hart- Summerslam
1992 WCW- Sting/Steamboat/Dustin/Windham/Nikita vs. Rude/Austin/Arn/Eaton/Zbyszko- War Games- Wrestle War

1993 WWF- Bret Hart vs. Mr. Perfect- King of the Ring
1993 WCW- Ric Flair vs. Vader- Starrcade

1994 WWF- Owen Hart vs. Bret Hart- Wrestlemania
1994 WCW- Cactus Jack & Kevin Sullivan vs. Nasty Boys- Slamboree
1994 Other- Rock & Roll Express vs. Heavenly Bodies- SMW Loser Leaves Town Cage Match- 4/1

1995 WWF- Bret Hart vs. British Bulldog- IYH December
1995 WCW- Chris Benoit vs. Eddie Guerrero- Nitro 10/16
1995 ECW- Pitbulls vs. Raven & Stevie Richards- 2/3 Falls Double Dog Collar Match- Gangstas Paradise 9/16 

1996 WWF- Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin- Survivor Series
1996 WCW- Chris Benoit vs. Kevin Sullivan- Falls Count Anywhere Match- Great American Bash
1996 ECW- Shane Douglas vs. Pitbull #2 vs. 2 Cold Scorpio vs. Chris Jericho- 4 Way TV Title Match- Heatwave 7/13

1997 WWF- Bret/Owen/Bulldog/Anvil/Pillman vs. Austin/Shamrock/Goldust/LOD- IYH Canadian Stampede
HMs- Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin- Submission Match-Wrestlemania & Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker- Hell In A Cell- Badd Blood
1997 WCW- Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Eddie Guerrero- Halloween Havoc
1997 ECW- Sabu vs. Terry Funk- Barbed Wire Match- Born To Be Wired
HM- Tommy Dreamer vs. Raven- Loser Leaves Town Match- Wrestlepalooza

1998 WWF- Undertaker vs. Mankind- King of the Ring
1998 WCW- Chris Benoit vs. Raven- Souled Out
1998 ECW- Sandman vs. Sabu- Stairway To Hell Match- House Party

1999 WWF- Hardy Boyz vs. Edge & Christian- Ladder Match- No Mercy
1999 WCW- Bret Hart vs. Chris Benoit- Nitro 10/4
1999 ECW- Mike Awesome vs. Masato Tanaka vs. Taz- Anarchy Rulz 9/19

2000 WWF- HHH vs. Cactus Jack- Street Fight- Royal Rumble
HM- HHH vs. Cactus Jack- Hell In A Cell- No Way Out
2000 ECW- Jerry Lynn vs. Steve Corino- Heatwave

2001 WWF- HHH vs. Steve Austin- Three Stages of Hell Match- No Way Out
2001 Other- Christopher Daniels vs. Low Ki- ECWA 11/3

2002 WWE- Shawn Michaels vs. HHH- Summerslam
2002 ROH- Paul London vs. Michael Shane- Fight Without Honor- Unscripted 9/21

2003 WWE- Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit- Royal Rumble
2003 TNA- AMW vs. XXX- Cage Match 6/25
2003 ROH- Paul London vs. AJ Styles- Night of Grudges 6/14

2004 WWE- Chris Benoit vs. Shawn Michaels vs. HHH- Wrestlemania
2004 TNA- AMW vs. XXX- Six Sides of Steel- Turning Point
2004 ROH- Austin Aries vs. Samoa Joe

2005 WWE- Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels- Wrestlemania
2005 ROH- CM Punk vs. Jimmy Rave- Cage Match- Nowhere To Run
2005 Other- Samoa Joe vs. Necro Butcher- IWA Mid South 6/11

2006 WWE- Kurt Angle vs. Undertaker- No Way Out
2006 TNA- Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe- Genesis
2006 ROH- AJ Styles vs. Matt Sydal- Hell Freezes Over

2007 WWE- John Cena vs. Umaga- Last Man Standing Match- Royal Rumble
2007 Other- Chris Harris vs. James Storm- Texas Death Match- Sacrifice

2008- Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair- Wrestlemania
2009- John Morrison vs. Evan Bourne- WWECW 4/14
2010- ??
2011- Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Toru Yano- NJPW 11/12
2012- ??
2013- Goldust & Cody Rhodes vs. Shield- WWE Raw 10/14
2014- John Cena vs. Cesaro- Raw 2/17
2015- Either Jay Lethal vs. Kyle O'Reilly from ROH TV or AJ Styles vs. Katsuyori Shibata from the NJPW G-1 Climax
2016- American Alpha vs. Revival- NXT Takeover 4/1
2017- Neville vs. Jack Gallagher- WWE Fastlane

Not fully confident in 1977 or 2016 but I thought a nice even 40 years worth would be good. Pre-1976 has a lot of gaps between years.

SPOILER: Click to show

1976- AJPW: Summer Action Series (6-11-1976) Terry Funk vs. Jumbo Tsuruta
1977- WWWF MSG (9-26-1977) Superstar Graham vs. Dusty Rhodes
1978- AJPW Real World Tag League (12-15-1978) Jumbo Tsuruta and Giant Baba vs. Terry Funk and Dory Funk Jr.
1979- AJPW Real World Tag League (12-13-1979) The Sheik and Abdullah The Butcher vs. Terry Funk and Dory Funk Jr.
1980- WWWF MSG (5-19-1980) Bob Backlund vs. Ken Patera- Texas Death Match
1981- CWA (4-6-1981) Jerry Lawler vs. Terry Funk- Empty Arena Match
1982- AJPW Excite Series (6-4-1982) Ric Flair vs. Rick Steamboat
1983- NJPW Big Fight (4-21-1983) Dynamite Kid vs. Tiger Mask
1984- NWA Parade Of Champions (5-29-1984) Ric Flair vs. Rick Steamboat
1985- JCP Starrcade '85 (11-28-1985) Magnum TA vs. Tully Blanchard - Steel Cage I Quit Match
1986- CWF Battle Of The Belts II (2-14-1986) Ric Flair vs. Barry Windham
1987- JCP Crockett Cup (4-11-1987) Ric Flair vs. Barry Windham
1988- JCP Clash Of The Champions (3-27-1988) Ric Flair vs. Sting
1989- NWA Clash Of The Champions VI (4-2-1989) Ric Flair vs. Rick Steamboat- 2/3 Falls
1990- WWF Wrestlemania VI (4-1-1990) Hulk Hogan vs. Ultimate Warrior
1991- WWF Wrestlemania VII (3-24-1991) Ultimate Warrior vs. Randy Savage- Retirement Match
1992- WWF Summerslam (8-29-1992) Bret Hart vs. Davey Boy Smith
1993- AJPW Summer Action Series (7-29-1993) Kenta Kobashi vs. Stan Hansen
1994- AJPW Super Power Series (6-3-1994) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada
1995- AJPW Super Power Series (6-9-1995) Mitsuharu Misawa and Kenta Kobashi vs. Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue
1996- WWF Survivor Series (11-17-1996) Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin
1997- WWF Wrestlemania XIII (3-23-1997) Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin- Submission Match
1998- AJPW Giant Series (10-31-1998) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi
1999- WCW Monday Nitro (10-4-1999) Bret Hart vs. Chris Benoit
2000- WWF Summerslam (8-27-2000) Edge and Christian vs. The Dudleys vs. The Hardys- TLC Match
2001- WWF Royal Rumble (1-21-2001) Chris Jericho vs. Chris Benoit- Ladder Match
2002- WWE No Mercy (10-20-2002) Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit vs. Edge and Rey Mysterio
2003- WWE Royal Rumble (1-19-2003) Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit
2004- ROH Joe vs. Punk II (10-16-2004) Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk
2005- ROH Death Before Dishonour III (6-18-2005) CM Punk vs. Austin Aries
2006- ROH Unified (8-12-2006) Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness
2007- TNA Final Resolution (1-14-2007) Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe- Iron Man Match
2008- WWE Wrestlemania XXIV (3-30-2008) Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair- Retirement Match
2009- WWE Wrestlemania XXV (4-5-2009) Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker
2010- WWE Wrestlemania XXVI (3-28-2010) Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker- Retirement Match
2011- ROH Best In The World '11 (6-26-2011) Davey Richards vs. Eddie Edwards
2012- WWE Over The Limit (5-20-2012) CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan
2013- WWE Summerslam (8-18-2013) CM Punk vs. Brock Lesnar- No Disqualification
2014- WWE NXT Takeover: R-Evolution (12-11-2014) Sami Zayn vs. Adrian Neville
2015- WWE Wrestlemania XXXI (3-29-2015) Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins
2016- WWE Raw (7-16-2016) Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose

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{Spoiler}
1999 - WWF No Mercy 1999 - The New Brood (Jeff and Matt Hardy) vs. Edge & Christian - Terry Invitational Tournament Ladder Match
2000 - WWF Royal Rumble 2000 - Cactus Jack vs. Triple H - Street Fight
2001 - WWF Wrestlemania X-7 - Steve Austin vs. The Rock - No Holds Barred
2002 - WWE No Mercy - Edge & Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Benoit & Kurt Angle
2003 - WWE Royal Rumble - Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit
2004 - WWE Judgement Day - Eddie Guerrero vs. John Bradshaw Layfield
2005 - WWE Wrestlemania XXI - Edge vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. Chris Benoit vs. Chris Jericho vs. Christian vs. Kane - Money in the Bank Ladder Match
2006 - ROH Unified 2006 - Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuiness
2007 - WWE Royal Rumble - John Cena vs. Umaga
2008 - WWE SummerSlam - John Cena vs. Batista
2009 - WWE The Bash - Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Jericho
2010 - WWE Wrestlemania XXVI - Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker
2011 - WWE Money in the Bank - CM Punk vs. John Cena
2012 - NJPW King of Pro Wrestling - Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Minoru Suzuki
2013 - WWE SummerSlam - Daniel Bryan vs. John Cena
2014 - WWE Elimination Chamber - The Shield vs. The Wyatt Family
2015 - NJPW WrestleKingdom IX - Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kota Ibushi
2016 - WWE Payback - AJ Styles vs. Roman Reigns
2017 - WWE Survivor Series - AJ Styles vs. Brock Lesnar
2018 - NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia - Johnny Gargano vs. Andrade Cien Almas

Going through my list, what strikes me the most is that it's been years since I last saw some of these matches. I don't make a habit of watching a match a dozen or so times, so I may have only seen these matches once and made up my mind then and there.

Have you guys ever gone back to revisit these matches?

Mar 27, 2018 13:40:55 GMT Big Pete said:

Going through my list, what strikes me the most is that it's been years since I last saw some of these matches. I don't make a habit of watching a match a dozen or so times, so I may have only seen these matches once and made up my mind then and there.

Have you guys ever gone back to revisit these matches?

Same here. During my 90s tape binging days and the mid 2000s WWE dvd boom I'd occasionally go back and watch a classic but it's been years, if not decades, since I saw many of these. That's why I said my list would probably change if I went back and did a deep dive today. Things would likely get weird too. I could totally see myself rating a random tv match over some certified classic at this point in my fandom.

Interesting to see which wrestlers pop up the most on each list.

Bake (Bret Hart) and Shootist (Ric Flair) looked to have swapped places and I'm the #1 fan of the Cenation.

I really need to rip these matches and put them in a folder so I can watch them whenever. Seems odd to revere these matches and only watch them once or twice. Especially compared to music where we've likely heard our favourite tracks at least a thousand times.

Mar 27, 2018 13:40:55 GMT Big Pete said:

Going through my list, what strikes me the most is that it's been years since I last saw some of these matches. I don't make a habit of watching a match a dozen or so times, so I may have only seen these matches once and made up my mind then and there.

Have you guys ever gone back to revisit these matches?

Like Baker if I dug deeper there would be some matches that would challenge my current choices. It's been 20 years though since I've seen a match like Brody and Hansen vs. The Funks from 1984 which would challenge the Flair/Steamboat Night Of Champions match. Every time those two hook-up it just stays with me in my memory which is why they got 3 "awards" from me. Plus when I went back to discover other territories Flair matches would be the first ones I would watch. Bret's best years were when I was discovering other wrestling like All Japan so his resume gets hurt a little just to address your other point of the Flair/Bret swap with Baker.

To elaborate on some things I wrote earlier....

From 1996-2008 I kept a running real time Match of the Year list. Well, it may not have been an actual list in the early years, but I distinctly remember keeping track of the best matches in 1996 so I could vote in the PWI Year End Awards (although I'm not 100% sure I ever actually did). Fwiw my top 3 matches that year were Bret/Austin, HBK/Mankind and Benoit/Sullivan. 2000 was the first year I had an actual list so I could be ready to vote in year end internet awards. That list had an absurd amount of HHH with only Hardys/Dudleys/E&C stuff breaking up the HHH monopoly. Some of the winners may have changed over the years but every winner from 96-08 would have been Top 3-5 in real time.

I had Bret & Flair tied with 6 overall MOTYs a piece. Then HHH & Michaels with 4. Followed by Austin, Benoit, Angle & Bulldog with 3.

I've seen almost nothing from 2010 & 2012. Thought Bully Ray/AJ or KENTA/Yano were strong 2012 contenders but it turned out they both took place in 2013.

*I'll cover the 80s real quick while I have a few minutes.

1981 is another year I'm not happy with. Both of the brawls I mentioned are flawed. I was ready to go deep cut with the awesome Dundee/Rich technical match from Memphis tv (who knew those guys had a streak of Malenko/Guerrero in them?) but that turned out to be a 1980 match, and it isn't QUITE as good/memorable as Bruno/Zbyszko, which was perfectly done for what it was.

For '82 Dynamite/Tiger Mask is a relatively recent personal discovery. I liked it way more than I thought I would. For a movefest, I prefer it to most modern wrestling. And there IS a story that plays out, during the finishing stretch in particular. Dynamite Kid is good and his moves are cool. It's just that Tiger Mask is better and his moves are even cooler. Plus no other 1982 match really comes to mind. The famous Flair/Kerry match with the Freebirds heel turn kinda sucks imo.

Lawler/Dundee was the clear choice in '83, though the Piper/Valentine Dog Collar match rules as well, and probably would have won had it taken place from 80-82.

Freebirds vs. Von Erichs Badstreet Match is like a pro wrestling version of a gang war. Russo's stupid Gang Warz had nothin' on the 'Birds and Von Erichs going to war in Texas. Slaughter/Sheik would be runner up off the top of my head despite Sheik still kinda sucking even in his career best match.

For 1985 I went went the perfect tv match/angle in Flair/Dibiase over sexier, more traditional picks like Tully/Magnum, Duggan/Dibiase and Lawler/Dundee.

Even the (slightly) clipped version I saw of the awesome Lawler/BBB Texas Death Match is enough to take home the prize in 1986, which is a rather weak year from what I've seen. Maybe a Doc/Gordy match would be runner up provided that series took place in '86 and not '87.

The first War Games has long been my choice for 1987 over more traditional picks like Savage/Steamboat and Flair/Windham. They knocked it out of the park in the very first incarnation of that gimmick match. The inclusion of the managers actually made it better imo. I probably should have went with Savage/Bret over Savage/Steamboat for WWF MOTY from '87. Pretty sure I'd prefer the Bret match at this stage of my fandom. The Lawler/Idol cage "riot" match from Memphis also deserves a mention.

Nothing comes to mind for 1988 WWF but NWA is pretty stacked that year with Midnights vs. Original Midnights, MX vs. Fantastics, a few Flair vs. Luger's, and the Luger & Windham vs. Arn & Tully matches.

1989 WWF churned out some solid stuff like the two matches I mentioned and the Brainbusters/Rockers series but NWA is where it's at with Flair having his all time best year highlighted by multiple classics with Steamboat & Funk. I went with Wrestle War because the extracurricular stuff (Final Countdown video, Funk attack) make it either the best or second best hour of wrestling in history but it could just as easily have been another Flair vs. Steamboat or Funk.

*May be back to cover the 90s later.

1990

WWF- Hogan/Warrior is one of the most "WWF" matches ever. As a kid I thought it was the biggest match I had ever seen and they delivered with an evenly matched epic where Warrior happened to be just the teeniest tiniest split second better. Fwiw it's first match that ever would have got a "fight forever" chant from me had that been a thing in 1990. Hey, I was really into tests of strength, and especially double clotheslines. It's sort of a limited muscleman version of Flair/Steamboat and I really wish I had come up with that analogy 20 years ago so I could have made heads explode across the internet and been banned from a bunch of places for "trolling" even though it's totally not a troll. Perfect/Tito from SNME also deserves a mention.

NWA/WCW- Luger/Flair is one of my favorite matchups since Luger was the perfect guy for the Flair formula. For whatever reason this is their definitive match in my head. Love the (inconclusive) finish. Really solidified Luger's babyface turn. At 38 minutes, I'm not sure I'd love it today, but this has long been my standard 1990 MOTY choice. Midnight Express vs. Southern Boys also deserves a mention.

1991

WWF- Savage/Warrior is also one of the most "WWF" matches ever. Tack on a better finish (like Warrior winning with Savage's own flying elbow!), cut out some of Savage's elbows (Warrior kicking out of 6 or whatever was ridiculous even if Savage was "retiring" so his finisher no longer needed to be protected) and it would be one of my favorite matches of all time instead of more of a second tier GOAT choice. Perfect/Bret and Rockers vs. Orient Express also deserve mentions. Loved Perfect's bumps/selling and it's important in the career of Bret. Rockers/OX is just a perfect tag match with great timing and athleticism.

WCW- Steiners vs. Sting & Luger is the quintessential heavyweight actionfest. Just look at that star power! It's like a dream match come to life! And, unlike, most dream matches, it actually delivered! It still wowed me when I first saw it around 2000 and I would have absolutely blown my mind had I seen it a few years earlier. Enforcers vs. Dustin & Steamboat also deserves a mention. Just a classic tag match between four pros with the added 'big moment' bonus of being Steamboat's return. War Games would have been another all time classic if Sid didn't drag it down with one of the worst big match performances ever.

1992

WWF- Bret/Bulldog is one of the first 'workrate' matches in WWF lore and one which blew my mind when I first saw it in 95-96. Today I'd probably be more partial to Savage/Flair from Wrestlemania, which is one of the first matches I think of when I think of just pure face vs. heel battles, and Bret/Piper for being a great story based face vs. face match.

WCW- The definitive War Games features all your favorite War Games tropes. Both Vader/Sting PPV matches also ruled and I could even see myself liking their Starrcade match more than the consensus GOAT War Games at this point. The pioneering Liger/Pillman match also deserves a mention.

1993

WWF- My favorite Bret/Perfect match is another great face vs. face Bret Hart match. It was rather gritty. More of an NWA style match than a WWF one. The awesome Bret vs. Lawler & Doink match/angle from Summerslam deserves a mention. Steiners vs. Quebecers is a fabulous piece of sports entertainment bolstered by the good wrestling you'd expect from those four. Borga/Tatanka is an unheralded masterpiece that I could see myself rating over lots and lots of more famous matches at this stage of my fandom. It's basically Ivan Drago vs. Apollo Creed in wrestling form.

 WCW- Flair/Vader is a great monster heel in his prime vs. underdog veteran face feel good babyface match/moment even with the lousy finish. First time I watched it in 95-96 I distinctly remember thinking to myself "that's the greatest match I ever saw." At least until I rented Great American Bash 89 with Flair vs. Funk.....again. Cactus/Vader and Vader/Sting were matches I used to rate very highly that I'm not really all that keen on anymore.

1994

WWF- Bret/Owen was a star making performance from the youngest Hart which featured excellent wrestling from both men while Owen's fabulous heeling puts it over the top. Razor/Michaels was a revolutionary match which influenced countless others and was my 1994 MOTY for a long time. I used to think the Bret/Owen cage match was kind of boring but it's actually brilliant if you look at it from a certain perspective. Bret/Kid is yet another awesome Bret babyface match. This time he's the aggressor against underdog Kid. Both Bret/Backlund matches are worth a watch. The first is a well done old school technical babyface match with a hugely important post-match angle. The 2nd goes a bit too long, and Backlund's bumping is AWFUL, but it does feature an all time great performance by that lovable little snake Owen as Backlund's corner man. Quebecers vs. Harts is a good wrestling match made better by a money angle. And don't forget to watch Underfaker vs. Tatanka from Superstars! Damn. 1994 is the most stacked year in WWF history up to this point.

WCW- Nasty Boys vs. Cactus & Sullivan is an all time great blowoff. The babyfaces win big. The Nastys get their comeuppance. It's also a straight ECW style tag that happens to be better than just about every ECW match ever. The prior month's Nastys vs. Cactus & Payne brawl is also worth a watch. It's probably even more violent than the Sullivan match. The two Flair/Steamboat matches are as good as you'd expect. They're also completely different so I often used them in arguments to counter all those "Flair wrestles the same match every time!" jabronies. Unfortunately, they're also the last classic NWA style title matches the company ever produced as Hogan was soon on his way in to change everything. 

I initially read this thread title as Big Match of the Year List, not Big Match of the Year List, with Hogan/Andre fitting the former and Savage/Steamboat the latter. And that may be a fun list to compile in here at some point. What we think was the biggest match of each year and different ways we could interpret that.

But as for a straight-up MOTY list, I was working on one some time back and it is incomplete.

1980: Johnny Saint vs. Steve Grey (JP 1/28)
1981: Andre the Giant vs. Stan Hansen (NJPW 9/23)
1982:
1983: MS-1 vs. Sangre Chicana (CMLL 9/23)
1984: Sgt. Slaughter vs. The Iron Sheik (WWF 6/16)
1985: Devil Masami vs. Chigusa Nagayo (AJW 8/22)
1986: Jumbo Tsuruta/Genichiro Tenryu vs. Riki Choshu/Yoshiaki Yatsu (AJPW 1/28)
1987: Carlos Colon vs. Stan Hansen (WWC 3/14)
1988: Bobby Eaton/Stan Lane vs. Bobby Fulton/Tommy Rogers (JCP 4/26)
1989: Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat (WCW 2/20)
1990: Naoki Sano vs. Jushin Liger (NJPW 1/31)
1991: Mitsuharu Misawa/Toshiaki Kawada/Kenta Kobashi vs. Jumbo Tsuruta/Akira Taue/Masanobu Fuchi (AJPW 4/20)
1992: Toshiyo Yamada/Manami Toyota vs. Dynamite Kansai/Mayuki Ozaki (AJW 11/26)
1993: Akira Hokuto vs. Shinobu Kandori (AJW 4/2)
1994: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW 6/3)
1995: Mitsuharu Misawa/Kenta Kobashi vs. Toshiaki Kawada/Akira Taue (AJPW 6/9)
1996: Mitsuharu Misawa/Jun Akiyama vs. Toshiaki Kawada/Akira Taue (AJPW 12/6)
1997: Kenta Kobashi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (AJPW 1/20)
1998:
1999: Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Yoshihisa Yamamoto (RINGS 6/24)
2000: Atlantis vs. Villano III (CMLL 3/17)
2001: The Rock vs. Steve Austin (WWF 4/1)
2002: Low Ki vs. American Dragon (JAPW 6/7)
2003: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi (NOAH 3/1)
2004: Eddie Guerrero vs. John Bradshaw Layfield (WWE 5/16)
2005: Samoa Joe vs. Necro Butcher (IWA-MS 6/11)
2006:
2007: Takeshi Morishima vs. Bryan Danielson (ROH 8/25)
2008:
2009:
2010:
2011: Dick Togo vs. Antonio Honda (DDT 1/30) 
2012: John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar (WWE 4/29)
2013: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada (NJPW 4/7)
2014: Dean Ambrose/Roman Reigns/Seth Rollins vs. Bray Wyatt/Erick Rowan/Luke Harper (WWE 2/23)
2015: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kota Ibushi (NJPW 1/4)
2016: Trauma I vs. Canis Lupus (IWRG 9/4)
2017:

1982 really does seem to stand out for its lack of a standout classic. But maybe I just haven't seen it. People love Lawler/Mantell and it is great, but it has never grabbed me as a true top tier classic. Same can be said for the super fun Andre/Khan match from New Japan. I haven't seen Flair/KVE 2/3 Falls match from August that is pimped (not the Christmas cage match with Freebirds turn that Baker mentioned) but can't find it online. Look at 1985 - Tully/Magnum, DiBiase/Duggan, Duggan/Sawyer, Lawler/Dundee, Chigusa/Dump would all happily sit as 1982 MOTY. Could probably do similar for the other years close to it.

I've bolded 6/9/95 to indicate that it is the best of the best.

When I was compiling this, 1998 was the year where I had not seen the top candidates recently enough to accurately compare, so I left it until I had. The top All Japan matches (Misawa/Kobashi, Kobashi/Akiyama and Kobashi/Kawada) would probably be fighting it out with Tamura/Kohsaka.

2006 probably is Danielson/McGuinness from Unified, but I need to see some more stuff from that year before I stick it in. I wonder how the ROH vs. CZW Cage of Death blowoff holds up.

2008-2010 are years where I can't think of any stone cold, undoubted classic MOTYs. I'm not the keenest on Taker/HBK I from 2009. I prefer the rematch in 2010, but still think there must be a better match from that year. It feels like a bit of a weak period overall. Maybe there is some great lucha from those years.

Haven't seen enough of 2017 to say.

Mar 30, 2018 14:23:06 GMT Strobe said:

2006 probably is Danielson/McGuinness from Unified, but I need to see some more stuff from that year before I stick it in. I wonder how the ROH vs. CZW Cage of Death blowoff holds up.

I watched Danielson-McGuinness and the ROH-CZW around the same time a few years ago and found Danielson-McGuinness way better. 

Mar 30, 2018 14:23:06 GMT Strobe said:

I initially read this thread title as Big Match of the Year List, not Big Match of the Year List, with Hogan/Andre fitting the former and Savage/Steamboat the latter. And that may be a fun list to compile in here at some point. What we think was the biggest match of each year and different ways we could interpret that.

I like this idea. Will work on it when I have more time.

Mar 30, 2018 14:23:06 GMT Strobe said:

I initially read this thread title as Big Match of the Year List, not Big Match of the Year List, with Hogan/Andre fitting the former and Savage/Steamboat the latter. And that may be a fun list to compile in here at some point. What we think was the biggest match of each year and different ways we could interpret that.

Let's do this....

1980- Bruno Sammartino vs. Larry Zbyszko- Shea Stadium
1981-
1982-
1983- Ric Flair vs. Harley Race- NWA Starrcade
1984- Hulk Hogan vs. Iron Sheik- MSG
1985- Hulk Hogan & Mr. T vs. Roddy Piper & Paul Orndorff- Wrestlemania
1986- Hulk Hogan vs. King Kong Bundy- Wrestlemania

I feel confident about 1980. Not sure about 81 or 82. Flair/Kerry for '82, maybe? 83 also had the big Hogan vs. Bockwinkle showdown and I know there was something else big that I'm forgetting. I'm open to a 1984 alternative. Slaughter/Sheik, perhaps? Was the Wrestlemania main event bigger than Hogan/Piper on MTV? Was the Wrestlemania II main bigger than Hogan vs. Orndorff at the Big Event? I assume so in both cases, but I am not 100% certain.

1987- Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant- Wrestlemania III
1988- Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant- The Main Event
1989- Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage- Wrestlemania V
1990- Hulk Hogan vs. Ultimate Warrior- Wrestlemania VI
1991- Hulk Hogan vs. Sgt. Slaughter- Wrestlemania VII
1992- Royal Rumble
1993- Yokozuna vs. Lex Luger- Summerslam
1994- Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair- WCW Bash At The Beach

Maybe Savage/Warrior for '91? I'm sold on everything else in this batch.

1995- Bret Hart vs. Diesel- Survivor Series
1996- Sting/Lex Luger/Randy Savage vs. Kevin Nash/Scott Hall/Hulk Hogan- WCW Bash At The Beach
1997- Hollywood Hogan vs. Sting- WCW Starrcade
1998- Steve Austin vs. Shawn Michaels- Wrestlemania
1999- Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon- IYH: St. Valentine's Day Massacre
2000- HHH vs. Rock- Backlash
2001- Steve Austin vs. Rock- Wrestlemania

Bret/Diesel felt like the biggest match of a weak year (even if it is one that I loved). Went with the NWO formation over Bret/HBK for 96. 97 is obvious. From a personal standpoint I was far more hyped for Austin/Taker in '98, but Tyson + Wrestlemania gives Austin/HBK the nod. For 1999 Austin/Vince felt bigger than Austin/Rock imo. 2000 is a weird one where the first 5 WWF PPV mains of the year have an argument but Backlash gets the nod over the rest because of Austin + the big babyface win. 2001 is kind of like 1998 in that I was more hyped for a big non-Mania Austin match (vs. HHH in this case) but the Rule of Wrestlemania prevails once again.

2002- Hulk Hogan vs. Rock- Wrestlemania
2003- Hulk Hogan vs. Vince McMahon- Wrestlemania
2004- HHH vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Benoit- Wrestlemania
2005- HHH vs. Batista- Wrestlemania
2006- HHH vs. John Cena- Wrestlemania
2007- Shawn Michaels vs. John Cena- Wrestlemania
2008- Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair- Wrestlemania
2009- Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker- Wrestlemania
2010- Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker- Wrestlemania

The biggest match at Wrestlemania is the biggest match in all of wrestling. Only one I'm not 100% sold on is 2003. But Hogan/Vince felt bigger than to me than Angle/Brock. 2004 stands out as a weak year for big matches.

2011- John Cena vs. CM Punk- Money In The Bank
2012- John Cena vs. Rock- Wrestlemania
2013- John Cena vs. Daniel Bryan- Summerslam
2014- Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton vs. Batista/Bryan vs. HHH- Wrestlemania
2015- Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada- NJPW Wrestle Kingdom
2016- Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada- NJPW Wrestle Kingdom
2017- Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega- NJPW Wrestle Kingdom
2018- Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho- NJPW Wrestle Kingdom

Was Cena/Rock bigger than Cena/Brock in 2012? I imagine so but would like a second opinion. I went with Cena/Bryan over Punk/Brock and Rock/Cena 2 for 2013. No idea if that's the "right" call or not. "Bryan at 'Mania" was the big thing in 2014. Over the past few years there has been far more hype for big Wrestle Kingdom matches than big Wrestlemania matches....at least in the corners of the internet I frequent. 

Apr 1, 2018 0:40:28 GMT Baker said:

1980- Bruno Sammartino vs. Larry Zbyszko- Shea Stadium
1981-
1982-
1983- Ric Flair vs. Harley Race- NWA Starrcade
1984- Hulk Hogan vs. Iron Sheik- MSG
1985- Hulk Hogan & Mr. T vs. Roddy Piper & Paul Orndorff- Wrestlemania
1986- Hulk Hogan vs. King Kong Bundy- Wrestlemania

I feel confident about 1980. Not sure about 81 or 82. Flair/Kerry for '82, maybe? 83 also had the big Hogan vs. Bockwinkle showdown and I know there was something else big that I'm forgetting. I'm open to a 1984 alternative. Slaughter/Sheik, perhaps? Was the Wrestlemania main event bigger than Hogan/Piper on MTV? Was the Wrestlemania II main bigger than Hogan vs. Orndorff at the Big Event? I assume so in both cases, but I am not 100% certain.

1980 is an obvious.

1981: I've got nothing either.

1982: Jerry Lawler vs. Andy Kaufman or Backlund vs. Snuka. I'm going with the spectacle of Lawler and Kaufman just because it got mainstream coverage.

1983: Hulk Hogan vs. Nick Bockwinkel. I get why you picked the Starrcade main event, but that was just rasslin'. Hogan was coming off Rocky III ready to conquer the wrestling world to a red hot crowd before he got Verned.

1984: Hulk vs. Sheik is only in retrospect. It happened out of nowhere without any build. I feel like Wendi Richter vs. The Fabulous Moolah was "bigger," but that would seem a bit out of place. It did get a 9.0 rating on MTV, the highest ever for the channel. The Texas Stadium show for the Von Erichs is another candidate. 50K showed up.

1985: No argument here.

1986: Hogan vs. Orndorff. I'm in that camp. Nobody cared about Bundy. They didn't figure out WrestleMania until the next year.

Apr 1, 2018 0:40:28 GMT Baker said:

1987- Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant- Wrestlemania III
1988- Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant- The Main Event
1989- Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage- Wrestlemania V
1990- Hulk Hogan vs. Ultimate Warrior- Wrestlemania VI

Agreed.

1991: Royal Rumble or The Match Made in Hell at SummerSlam. Both got higher buyrates than Wrestlemania.
1992: Randy Savage vs. Ric Flair or Hulk Hogan vs. Sid Justice. That Rumble is the GOAT, but it didn't sell well. WM was by far the most watched event, so biggest match goes to either the title match or the main event. Fans like us would like to think it was the better Savage vs. Flair, but it was probably Hogan vs. Sid. It's impossible to know, though.
1993: Hogan & Beefcake vs. Money Inc. WM doubled SummerSlam (which I why I've always been less outraged about not strapping the rocket to Lex), so unless we think Hart vs. Yoko sold it, it was probably Hogan's return.

Apr 1, 2018 0:40:28 GMT Baker said:

1994- Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair- WCW Bash At The Beach

Agreed.

1995: Bam Bam vs. LT. That WM sold more PPVs than SummerSlam and Survivor Series COMBINED. Should have been the perfect time for another WCW win here, but it was WCW after all.

Apr 1, 2018 0:40:28 GMT Baker said:

1996- Sting/Lex Luger/Randy Savage vs. Kevin Nash/Scott Hall/Hulk Hogan- WCW Bash At The Beach
1997- Hollywood Hogan vs. Sting- WCW Starrcade
1998- Steve Austin vs. Shawn Michaels- Wrestlemania
1999- Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon- IYH: St. Valentine's Day Massacre
2000- HHH vs. Rock- Backlash
2001- Steve Austin vs. Rock- Wrestlemania

Agreed on all.

1999 is an interesting one. Vince/Austin sounds great on paper, but it drew nearly half the buy-rate of Wrestlemania XV. However, it was the highest selling IYH show of '99 and was up 300K over the previous February PPV, where as XV only managed to just top XIV by 30K buys. Again, Austin/Vince reads better on paper, but the match was promoted better at the Royal Rumble. While the match may have contained 29 men and 1 woman, it was billed as Vince's first proper match in the WWF and they hyped the match a lot better with the Rocky pre-tapes and the build up to Austin & Vince both being #1 and #2. The cage match was an extension and a better outing for both guys, but I don't think it was quite as big as the Rumble match.

If we're basing the match on impact, I don't rate Paul White's debut as highly as Stephanie McMahon becoming a heel. Rock/Mankind either on Raw or at the Royal Rumble could be another contender given The Rock's rise in popularity was a huge factor in the company moving forward.

I'd definitely give 2012 to Rock/Cena. It took them over a year to get to the match, it drew a fantastic number and business was largely up around that time. On the other hand, that first Brock/Cena match was completely out of place in hindsight. It was pre-Heyman Brock, where he was brought in as apart of Lauranaitis' regime to destroy Cena because Big Johnny was on a power-trip. Brock lost the match, simply so the WWE could hold something over Brock before they could start pushing him again. HHH/Brock from SummerSlam was the bigger deal and the first time we got to see the Lesnar we know and somewhat enjoy to this day.

2013 I would go Rock/Punk from the Royal Rumble. The WWE basically put everything on hold for that match to happen, they turned Punk heel which led to the formation of the Shield. Rock around this time was a focal point of the company, whereas Bryan sort of got the nod because they needed a sacrificial lamb for the Authority storyline.

2014 would be Brock Lesnar vs. The Undertaker. A pretty awful match and lackluster build but a huge moment that rejuvenated Lesnar's career.

And from a WWE stand-point, 2015 would be Brock Lesnar/Roman Reigns & 2016 would be Shane McMahon/The Undertaker.

2017 is tough, I'd be inclined to say it's Brock Lesnar/Braun Strowman/Roman Reigns/Samoa Joe given the direction of the company.

2018 will be Ronda Rousey/Asuka.

Just a few thoughts on some things I've seen posted.

Rock vs. HHH at backlash 2000...Even though it was great to see Austin back and Rocky finally get the belt, I couldn't help but be somewhat underwhelmed by this match up to the point where Austin comes in and saves the day. Not saying it was a bad match but I thought the iron man match they would have the next month was actually the best match the two ever had with each other and in my book was Rock's second best match in his career. I do like the happy ending we got at backlash but just as a whole, that iron man match the two had is my personal favorite iron man match.

Baker I agree with a ton on his 93 and 1994 favorites. Bret vs. Owen at mania 10 to me is easily the best match of 1994. I know people cum all over themselves talking about the ladder match at mania 10 and yes it was fun and innovative for it's time, it's not really anything amazing on rewatch. I can still go back and watch Bret vs. Owen from mania 10 and love that match. Also this is the shit that I love about Bret Hart matches. They could literally end at anytime off of anything. Think of many of Bret harts match finishes, they weren't always won by the sharpshooter. We are talking small packages, school boys, or just fat fucking Yokozuna slipping off the ropes like an idiot and knocking himself out. haha. I loved that about Bret.

Ditto on Flair vs. Vader at Starrcade 93. I was never really a big Flair guy but this match to me was easily the best of the wcw cannon in that post NWA pre Hogan stretch of time. It was a real bummer to see how Hogan influenced wcw for the worse when he got there. I mean WCW made lots of mistakes before Hogan but the product instantly got a thousand times goofier when Hogan came aboard. Actually rewatching some old nitros from the horrors of 1995 and early 96, I didn't realize how much WCW fans were really starting to turn on Hogan. It did feel like there was some resentment amongst some of the fans that Hogan would come in and kind of change what WCW had been about. There was a very noticeable backlash, not to Cena levels but the boos were there.

Bret vs. Bulldog at Summerslam 1992 was by far and away one of if not the most fluid match I've ever seen from a work rate stand point. I mean this thing just flowed like water. It's really shocking to hear Bret say that Davey was pretty much fucked up on drugs going into this match and even he was shocked it turned out as amazing as it did.

Danielson vs. Nigel at Unified was an amazing match and far better than the cage of death ROH/CZW blow off. Also an amazing match from Unified was Aries/Strong vs. Briscoes. Easily the best match of the series they had in ROH.

The Iron Man match was a minor miracle and another feather in HHH's cap because a lot of fans still had their doubts over The Rock being able to work that long. I agree that by and large it's the better match, but the finish really hurt it. I still think better matches took place, but as far as defining the year and significance, the Backlash match was the bigger deal. Rock triumphing over HHH with Austin looking on, fits the theme better.

From a pure numbers standpoint, Backlash drew a bigger buyrate (675K) than every PPV except Wrestlemania (824K) and even that was fairly close. It outdrew the Rumble, SummerSlam and Survivor Series,* which I imagine would be pretty unheard of today if they were still going by that PPV model. Take away "best" since that's subjective, the biggest match of the year was either the WM Four Way or The Backlash Main Event. Wrestlemania sells itself (and that year in particular which just seemed to throw the main event together on a whim), which is why I agreed with Baker's assessment that Backlash was the bigger match, and therefore biggest. It sold the most PPVs as a main event, which made sense as they were the two biggest stars of that year.

*Judgement Day, which had the Ironman match, sold 420K, the third worst buyrate of the year.

The Smackdown & Raw SuperCard MashUp threads started by 🤯 and myself gave me the idea to do a WWF/E TV Match of the Year list since I always start those MashUps off by thinking of my favorite matches from the year in question and working from there. Some years will have multiple tv shows listed with the bolded being the overall WWF/E TV Match of the Year. Aside from 1999 Raw (where nothing was real time MOTY-worthy ), everything from 96-08 is an "of the time" choice since I kept a running tally of my favorite matches, unconsciously at first, and later consciously. Years before 1987 and after 2008 are limited viewing so take those with a grain of salt. Some years will get skipped if I can't think of anything worthwhile.

*SNME=Saturday Night's Main Event

1980- Bruno Sammartino vs. Larry Zbyszko- Championship Wrestling 2/2
1985- Roddy Piper vs. Paul Orndorff- SNME 10/5- Short, heated fight between two guys who hate each other. A fun discovery from a few years back.
1986- Probably Hulk Hogan vs. Terry Funk- SNME 1/4
1987- Randy Savage vs. Bret Hart- SNME 11/28
1988- Hulk Hogan vs. King Harley Race- SNME 3/12
1989- Probably Hulk Hogan vs. Big Bossman- SNME 5/27- Cage Match
1990- Mr. Perfect vs. Tito Santana- SNME 7/28
1992- Shawn Michaels vs. Davey Boy Smith- SNME 11/14

1993 Superstars- Ludvig Borga vs. Tatanka- 10/31
1993 Raw- Quebecers vs. Steiners- 9/13- Province of Quebec Rules Match

1994 Raw- Bret Hart vs. 1-2-3 Kid- 7/11
1994 Action Zone- Diesel & Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon & 1-2-3 Kid- 10/30
1994 Superstars- Bret Hart vs. Bob Backlund- 7/30- My choice for GOAT Superstars match. I didn't care about match quality growing up. Even the very idea of a "good match" wasn't really a thing I thought about before late 1995. Yet I was enthralled by this display of technique and good sportsmanship despite being a Bret hater and not really caring about/buying into Bob Backlund. This was one of only a handful of pre-1995 matches that I thought was "better" than the norm even in my mark days. The post-match birth of Mr. Backlund is just icing on the cake.

1995 Raw- Probably Bret Hart vs. Hakushi- 7/24
1995 Action Zone- Jean Pierre Lafitte vs. Adam Bomb- 6/11
1995 Superstars- Barry Horowitz vs. Skip- 8/12- Ten Minute Challenge

1996 Raw- Shawn Michaels vs. Marty Jannetty- 7/1
1996 Superstars- Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw vs. Henry O. Godwinn- 6/1

1997- British Bulldog vs. Owen Hart- 3/3

1998 Raw- Mick Foley vs. Terry Funk- 5/4- No Holds Barred Falls Count Anywhere Match
1998 Shotgun- Taka Michinoku vs. Christopher Daniels- 9/19

1999 Raw- Either Hardy Boyz vs. Acolytes- 7/5 or XPac & Kane vs. Acolytes- 8/9
1999 Smackdown- Steve Austin vs. Val Venis- 10/21

2000 Raw- HHH/XPac/Benoit/Saturn/Malenko vs. Rock/Mankind/Rikishi/Too Cool- 2/7
2000 Smackdown- HHH vs. Rikishi- 1/6

2001 Raw- Chris Benoit & Chris Jericho vs. Steve Austin & HHH- 5/21
2001 Smackdown- Chris Benoit vs. Steve Austin- 5/31

2002 Raw- Undertaker vs. Jeff Hardy- 7/1- Ladder Match
2002 Smackdown- Kurt Angle vs. Edge vs. Chris Benoit vs. Eddie Guerrero- 12/5- 4 Way Elimination Match

2003 Raw- HHH vs. Shawn Michaels- 12/29
2003 Smackdown- Brock Lesnar vs. Chris Benoit- 12/4

2004 Raw- Michaels/Foley/Benoit/Benjamin vs. HHH/Batista/Flair/Orton- 4/12
2004 Smackdown- Kurt Angle vs. Rey Mysterio- 8/26

2005 Raw- Shawn Michaels vs. Shelton Benjamin- 5/2
2005 Smackdown- Kurt Angle vs. Rey Mysterio- 2/10

2006 Raw- Edge vs. Ric Flair- 1/16- TLC Match
2006 Smackdown- Chris Benoit vs. Randy Orton- 1/27- No Holds Barred Match
2006 WWECW- Big Show vs. Ric Flair- 7/11- Extreme Rules Match

2007 Smackdown- Either Rey Mysterio vs. Chavo Guerrero- 9/7- I Quit Match or Matt Hardy vs. Joey Mercury- 3/2
2007 WWECW- Either New Breed vs. ECW Originals- 4/3- Extreme Rules Match or CM Punk vs. John Morrison- 9/4
2007 Raw- Shawn Michaels vs. John Cena- 4/23- Perhaps the most "of the time" choice on this whole list. This nearly hour long match obviously caught me off guard. Even at the time the idea of me calling an hour long match "a breath of fresh air" was laughable but, well, this was a breath of fresh air just because it was so unexpected, so out of left field. And my guy won! They should probably do something like this once every five years or so. Today I'm sure I'd pick the awesome HBK/Edge brawl from January, or the super fun Edge/Orton heel vs. heel match but, in real time, I gave Cena/HBK the slight nod over those other two gems.

2008- Jeff Hardy vs. Umaga- Raw 1/7- Cage Match
2009- John Morrison vs. Evan Bourne- WWECW 4/14
2013- Goldust & Cody Rhodes vs. Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns- Raw 10/14- No DQ Match
2014- John Cena vs. Cesaro- Raw 2/17

While Baker was watching his shitty WWF, I was watching ... Shitty WCW.

Best WCW TV Matches: 1990's

1990: Ric Flair vs. Brian Pillman (Saturday Night: 2/17/90)

1991: Sting vs. Cactus Jack (Worldwide: 11/9/91)

1992: Steve Austin vs. Barry Windham (5/9/1992)

1993: Ric Flair and Arn Anderson vs. The Hollywood Blonds (COTC XXIII)

1994: Ricky Steamboat vs. Steve Austin (COTC XXVIII)

1995: Chris Benoit vs. Eddy Guerrero (Nitro: 10/16/95)

1996: Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Dean Malenko (Nitro: 7/8/96)

1997: Rey Misterio Jr. and Juventud Guerrera vs. Psicosis and La Parka (Nitro: 12/15/97)

1998: Goldberg vs. Sting (Nitro 9/14/98)

1999: Bret Hart vs. Chris Benoit (Nitro: 10/4/99)

Since Kilgore did it.....

Same "rules" as the WWF one. Sometimes I may skip years. Sometimes I may include multiple shows per year with the bolded being the overall winner.

NWA/WCW TV Match of the Year

1988- Midnight Express vs. Fantastics- 4/26 Worldwide
*Clash I deserves a mention for being an all time great show with Luger & Windham vs. Arn & Tully being the best of the bunch.

1989- Either Flair/Steamboat- April CotC or Flair/Funk- November CotC. Both great matches, for sure, but both pairings had other matches I prefer.

1990- I'll echo Kilgore with Flair/Pillman- Saturday Night 2/17

1991- Steamboat & Dustin vs. Arn & Zbyszko- November Clash of the Champions

1992- Gotta be something from the awesome January Clash- So either Cactus/Van Hammer- Falls Count Anywhere, Arn/Larry/Eaton vs. Dustin/Windham/Simmons, or Rude & Austin vs. Sting & Steamboat. Take your pick.

1993- One of the two Vader vs. Cactus fights from April Saturday Night. You can't really have one without the other. They go together.

1994 Worldwide- Ric Flair vs. Lord Steven Regal- Marquis of Queensbury Series Match #5- Worldwide was my real time WCW show of choice and I don't think there was anything in WCW I was more into from the Black Scorpion until They Call Him Mr. Wonderful than the Marquis of Queensbury series between my two favorite WCW wrestlers. Hmm...well, maybe the Vader/Cactus feud, but I digress. This was the finale. The stakes were high. His Lordship was up on points. Naitch needed a pin or submission victory to prevail. Would the longtime standard bearer pull it off one last time or would Regal cement his status as the next great villain with a breakthrough victory? I couldn't wait to find out!
1994 Saturday Night- Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat- 5/14- Imagine it's sometimes in the late 90s. The Flair/Steamboat 1989 has already been canonized as the pinnacle of in ring wrestling, while their 1994 Spring Stampede match (which you've just watched for the first time) was considered a worthy addendum to the Holy Trinity (and lived up to expectations). Then, all of a sudden, you find out they had another lengthy, important match just a few weeks after Spring Stampede. You better believe I was excited! Why this was like an art fan discovering a lost DaVinci! And it delivered! With a totally different match than Spring Stampede that would also serve to help me in my arguments with all those "Flair wrestled the same match every single time!" rubes.

1995- Likely a Benoit vs. Eddie clean sweep of Nitro, Saturday Night & Worldwide. They wrestled all the time on all the shows. Those matches were never anything less than stellar. WCW Benoit vs. Eddie smokes WWF Benoit vs. Eddie imo. We'll go with 10/16 Nitro as the overall winner just because that's the one that gets all the love. 

1996 Clash- Konnan vs. Psicosis- January- This match tricked me into thinking Konnan was a great wrestler on par with Benoit, Eddie & Dean for a few months. 
1996 Worldwide- Flair vs. Alex Wright- 3/2- Vintage Flair Formula match given high stakes because it turned into me vs. my dad in a battle of wills.
1996 Saturday Night- Steiners vs. Fire & Ice- 6/8
1996 Nitro- Ever since 1996 I've went back & forth between Regal/Finlay- Parking Lot Brawl, Eddie/Barbarian- 6/24 & Fire & Ice vs. Steiners- 4/29. We'll go with.... Eddie/Barbarian as the overall winner for the year.

1999- Bret Hart vs. Chris Benoit- Nitro 10/4

*EDIT: Shoot. Probably should have been Malenko/Otani for Worldwide 1996. My man Malenko winning the Cruiserweight Title was such a markout moment. And on Worldwide, of all places! Nothing EVER happened on Worldwide! It was so unexpected, so out of left field, and that just made it even more awesome. You have to understand Malenko was more of a lower card cult favorite type than a guy I ever thought was going anywhere. My friends and I were just marks for his "Man of a Thousand Holds" moniker and general wrestling style. But he was a distant 3rd of the "new style" wrestlers in order of importance. Benoit had instant credibility due to being a Horseman. Eddie was already popular, got put over strong on commentary, and would occasionally give big name wrestlers a run for their money. Malenko was treated as more of an afterthought. Just a guy. And if I had known about his ECW run/feud with Guerrero at all, it was just via a passing line in an Apter Mag. Not something that really registered with me as Important. Anyway, Dean & Otani had a quick little state of the art match. And Malenko won the belt!

Fun Fact: Otani's name was spelled differently every single time he appeared on WCW tv. Sometimes it was Otani. Other times it was Ohtani. And once or twice it was even the truly bizarre Ootani. Otani is my favorite of the three so that's the one I went with. I think the 'h' in Ohtani is unnecessary. But you better believe he is totally being billed as Ootani if he ever makes his way to New Generation Wrestling.

I just watched the final matches of the Flair/Steamboat feud a few months ago and was blown away once again. They also had a solid singles send off on the 7/24 edition of The Main Event and a great tag involving Austin and Sting on the 7/30 edition of Saturday Night in their final televised confrontation. They just couldn't have a bad match.

You've got me stumped on the Nitro matches.

I decided to search around and came across Big Evil's old website. He did comprehensive reviews of every major WCW show circa 1995-01, here were his picks.

1995 - Chris Benoit vs. Eddie Guerrero - 10/16/95
1996 - Dean Malenko vs. Rey Mysterio Jr - 12/30/96
1997 - Chris Benoit & Mongo McMichael vs. Jeff Jarrett & Eddie Guerrero - 8/17/97
1998 - Sting vs. Diamond Dallas Page - 2/23/98
1999 - Bret Hart vs. Chris Benoit - 10/4/99
2000 - Mike Awesome vs. Lance Storm - 7/18/00
2001 - Sting vs. Ric Flair - 3/26/01

I never thought I'd see Mongo feature on a list like this. I watched the match on DailyMotion the other night and it's a well paced match with a molten crowd. His pick for singles match was the 6/9/97 Malenko/Jarrett match.

Apr 23, 2018 10:19:41 GMT Big Pete said:

You've got me stumped on the Nitro matches.

I decided to search around and came across Big Evil's old website. He did comprehensive reviews of every major WCW show circa 1995-01, here were his picks.

1995 - Chris Benoit vs. Eddie Guerrero - 10/16/95
1996 - Dean Malenko vs. Rey Mysterio Jr - 12/30/96
1997 - Chris Benoit & Mongo McMichael vs. Jeff Jarrett & Eddie Guerrero - 8/17/97
1998 - Sting vs. Diamond Dallas Page - 2/23/98
1999 - Bret Hart vs. Chris Benoit - 10/4/99
2000 - Mike Awesome vs. Lance Storm - 7/18/00
2001 - Sting vs. Ric Flair - 3/26/01

I never thought I'd see Mongo feature on a list like this. I watched the match on DailyMotion the other night and it's a well paced match with a molten crowd. His pick for singles match was the 6/9/97 Malenko/Jarrett match.

I wish Big Evil had posted more and found his way to the new PW. His WCW & ECW reviews have been a valuable resource over the past few years. He was also THE workhorse of fanfic in the latter days of old PW. And he liked Mongo almost as much as I did. One of his running gags was to the call the Tombstone the "Mongo Spike." 

Apr 23, 2018 22:01:54 GMT Baker said:

Apr 23, 2018 10:19:41 GMT Big Pete said:

You've got me stumped on the Nitro matches.

I decided to search around and came across Big Evil's old website. He did comprehensive reviews of every major WCW show circa 1995-01, here were his picks.

1995 - Chris Benoit vs. Eddie Guerrero - 10/16/95
1996 - Dean Malenko vs. Rey Mysterio Jr - 12/30/96
1997 - Chris Benoit & Mongo McMichael vs. Jeff Jarrett & Eddie Guerrero - 8/17/97
1998 - Sting vs. Diamond Dallas Page - 2/23/98
1999 - Bret Hart vs. Chris Benoit - 10/4/99
2000 - Mike Awesome vs. Lance Storm - 7/18/00
2001 - Sting vs. Ric Flair - 3/26/01

I never thought I'd see Mongo feature on a list like this. I watched the match on DailyMotion the other night and it's a well paced match with a molten crowd. His pick for singles match was the 6/9/97 Malenko/Jarrett match.

I wish Big Evil had posted more and found his way to the new PW. His WCW & ECW reviews have been a valuable resource over the past few years. He was also THE workhorse of fanfic in the latter days of old PW. And he liked Mongo almost as much as I did. One of his running gags was to the call the Tombstone the "Mongo Spike." 

We seriously need to organize a search party to go find and "rescue" Big Evil; i.e., selfishly drag him here against his will.

He was one of my all-time favorite fan-fic'ers. Right there with you, Baker-man.