WWE's Top 100 (Part 1): 90 to 100

In the absence of sports, I've personally been watching a shit-ton of old WWE.  As I noted last week, I was a wrestling superfan back in the heydey of the Attitude Era.  Over the last few weeks, I've been watching the best of what I missed since that era ended -- and my personal fandom lapsed -- while simultaneously explaining my affection for pro-wrestling to my kids.  Hannah has become a fan of classic Stone Cold Steve Austin matches while Emma has lately taken to "The Man" Becky Lynch.

Researching what to show my kids led me to the WWE's best-of list, "The 100 best matches to see before you die".  I don't know that I'm gonna watch every single match -- I suppose that depends on how long the quarantine lasts here in Connecticut -- but I've got a few thoughts on what I've seen so far.

The 100 best matches to see before you die: #90 to #100

100. Neville vs. Sami Zayn – NXT Championship Match: NXT TakeOver: R Evolution 2014

The biggest issue with this match is that it's hard as Hell to find on the WWE app.  You have to scroll through to NXT, find their separate Pay-Per-View (PPV) section, find "NXT TakeOver" in and amongst all those PPVs, and then work your way all the way back to 2014.

This was the main event on what appears to have been NXT's third-ever PPV.

The match itself is fun.  Both guys work a mix of in-ring power wrestling moves combined with a touch of high-flying inspired by Rey Mysterio, Jr.  Neville in particular hits a couple of Mysterio's classic spots, including one through-the-ropes tornado DDT.  I only recognized it because I watched the WCW Cruiserweight episode of The Monday Night Wars just yesterday.

Those kinds of high-spots lead to a series of cool false finishes, and that's what makes the match work.  Alas, as with a lot of recent WWE matches, the wrestlers themselves get so concerned about hitting their high spots late that they lose track of the injuries they're supposed to be selling that ought to in fact drive the psychology of the match.  That's what puts a match like this at #100.  The guys are super-talented, and they throw amazing spots, but when you see the classic guys -- Brett Hart, Shawn Michaels, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and even the Undertaker -- they'll throw some of the same kinds of false finishes off of high spots, but they manage the in-ring psychology at an infinitely higher, more consistent level.

Which is to say that they "forget" their leg is hurt a lot less often.


99. Goldberg vs. Diamond Dallas Page – WCW Championship Match: Halloween Havoc 1998

This has to be the best Goldberg Match of all time.

Misty and I were huge Goldberg fans back in the day.  We even went to see him once at a taping of Monday Nitro.  The guy was a phenomenal athlete.  Not much known for selling other guys' moves, but when you watch this match, you can see that part of the problem was that there wasn't really anybody in WCW who could push him.  Maybe Kevin Nash if he was motivated and not too injured, but really, Goldberg mostly beat people up because he was massively bigger, stronger, and tougher than the other guys.  That was the simple reality of the time.  It looked like Goldberg ought to be able to beat all those guys with ease.  He was an NFL linebacker.  He could probably do it.

Anyway, Page goes out to give Goldberg a fight, and he mostly succeeds.  It's interesting, though, because Goldberg was the more popular superstar, which means that the Face is also the Favorite.  That's a tough piece of psychology.  But when Goldberg misses a spear and hits the ring-post, he never stops selling it, and the logic of that injury drives the rest of the match.  It's actually really cool.

Goldberg was HUGE, but this match shows that he could have been a lot bigger if he'd been working with some of the guys they had over in the WWE.


98. The Great Sasuke, Gran Hamada & Masato Yakushiji vs. bWo Japan (Taka Michinoku, Terry Boy & Dick Togo): ECW Barely Legal 1997

Haven't seen this one yet, and being honest, I don't know how excited I am to go dig it up.  I get that the high-flying Japanese style is a thing, and I know that ECW had something going back in the day, but I'm just not super-excited about it.

WWE brought Taka Michinoku in to compete with WCW's Cruiserweight division back during the Monday Night Wars, but they never really did anything with their Light Heavyweight division, which probably explains why I can't get up to watch Michinoku wrestle now.


97. Natalya vs. Charlotte – NXT Women’s Championship Match: NXT TakeOver, May 29, 2014

I have this match on as I'm writing this post.  The ladies aren't throwing the kinds of insane, through-the-ropes spots we saw from Neville and Zayn in match #100, but they're both clearly better performers than either Neville or Zayn are.  They're not in nearly as much of a hurry, and they working the psychology way, way better as well.

This match shows why the WWE's Women's Division is arguably hotter than the Men's.  They leaned into that last year, giving a three-way match between Charlotte, Becky Lynch, and Rhonda Rousey the top spot on a major PPV, but they should probably do it more.  I'd much, much rather watch Charlotte vs. Natalya or Lynch than either of the current Men's champions.

This match is really great.


96. Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant – WWE Championship Match: WrestleMania III

Considering that this is arguably the most monetarily lucrative match in WWE history, I'm really, really surprised that they put it this low.

I haven't seen this match in years, but I'll probably show it to the kids later as I try to explain 80s wrestling to them.  It's crazy, though, because they've already seen a lot of 90s-era and modern wrestling, meaning that showing them this is like showing them the 1960s-era Batman TV show after having shown them The Dark Knight Returns.


95. Cactus Jack vs. Triple H – Falls Count Anywhere Street Fight: Raw, Sept. 22, 1997

This is gonna be another one of those pain-in-the-ass to find matches.  WWE has the entire history of RAW archived, but you'll have to dig through that archives with painful patience to get to this specific episode, then scroll through to this particular highlight.

Thankfully, they covered this in The Monday Night Wars, and anyway, I saw it live.  It's fun because you see all three Faces of Foley, plus anytime you can get Mick Foley at the height of his powers, it's pretty amazing.


94. Ric Flair vs. Lex Luger – NWA World Heavyweight Championship Match: WrestleWar 1990

Had to get in the Way-Back Machine for this one.  The good news is that WrestleWar was really easy to find using the WWE's search bar.  Bad news is that the PPV also has a Cactus Jack match on it, meaning that I'm going to watch this match, but not until after I've seen Old School Mick Foley.  I'm watching that one now.

Rick Flair & Woman cutting the pre-match promo.

It's crazy because Foley actually looked muscular and athletic back in 1990, and I think his opponent is wearing pajamas.  Good lord, the old NWA really liked the big southern fatties back in the day.

Why do people think big fat guys are tough?  I remember wrestling a big fat kid back in junior high wrestling class, and he was a lot of things, but tough was not one of them.

And... Foley just took maybe a five-foot backdrop onto concrete, and that after throwing Flair-style ring flip over the ropes.

Back to the Main Event.  Honestly, it's hard as Hell for me to believe that Lex Luger ever wrestled a match worth watching, but who knows?  Maybe Flair in his prime can drag a match out of that guy that I'm not expecting.

Foley as Cactus Jack about to job.  Ugh.

Ugh.  They jobbed Foley out to the fat guy by having the fat guy sit on Foley's face.  Foley carried that guy for ten full minutes and then put him over in the most ridiculous fashion.  Gross.

Main event time.  Luger looks like a 'roided-out monster, but he's so stiff that Flair has to do pretty much everything.  It's a lot of jawing in this match, but not for nothing is this thing built entirely around Flair's reactions to Luger's shear strength.  Flair's so good, though, that I find myself enjoying the match itself quite a bit.

Just proves that you could put Rick Flair in the ring with a literal stiff and still get something special out of it.  Which is why Flair is still on TV even in his 70s while Luger was forgotten as soon as he jumped to Monday Nitro back in the mid-1990s.

Last note: Sting shows up towards the end of this match with platinum blonde hair and reflective sunglasses, and he looks exactly like Max Headroom.  It's hilarious.

And... the match finishes with the most egregious screwjob ending I've ever seen.  The crowd is throwing shit into the ring, and boy, they ought to.  Sitting in my living room now, I kind of love it, but if I'd watched this on PPV back in the day, I'd have thrown my TV out the window.  Wow!


93.  Team Hell No & Randy Orton vs. The Shield: SmackDown, June 14, 2013

No chance I'm gonna watch this one.  Sorry guys.


92.  Dean Malenko vs. Scotty 2 Hotty – Light Heavyweight Championship Match: Backlash 2000

They talked about this one on the Cruiserweight episode of The Monday Night Wars.  I can't imagine that it's a great match even with Malenko in it, but I might try it later this week.  Still, my memory of Scotty 2 Hotty was that he sucked.  #SorryNotSorry


91. Ric Flair vs. Kerry Von Erich – NWA World Heavyweight Championship No Disqualification Steel Cage Match: WCCW Christmas Star Wars 1982

My God, this is really Old School.  Gotta watch this just to appreciate the old 80s-style wrestling psychology.  I'm a little surprised that this made it onto TV way back when.  This had to be one of the first big regional matches ever to appear on cable television.

Edit: I'm watching this now, arguably the most interesting thing about it is that the Sleeper Holder and Abdominal Stretch are deadly maneuvers that pop the crowd instantly.  

It's an interesting match. The primary selling point is that this a contest between two huge guys, and to that end, it's paced a bit like an old school Undertaker match.  Every move builds massive psychology through anticipation.  That's kind of a lost art in today's programs.  Something as simple as a punch to the ground gets the crowd absolutely wild.

90. Neville vs. Sami Zayn vs. Tyson Kidd vs. Tyler Breeze – NXT Championship Fatal 4-Way Match: NXT TakeOver: Fatal 4-Way, Sept. 11, 2014

I feel like I've seen this act.  You had to be a real fan to watch NXT back in 2014 if you ask me.  Definitely don't need to watch two of these matches.

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That's all I've got.  Have a nice day!