In the thread marked “Any WWE fans in the audience?”, we had this request by a user named Grumman:
The first response was this:
My response was this:
Rather than flood the existing thread, how about us wrestling fans post some more examples in this thread for Grumman and for those who might be interested in seeing if they like professional wrestling?
Thanks for the thread, Ekedolphin. Your response is more what I was looking for when I asked the question - Knowed Out rattled off twenty names (four of which I recognise) who I’m sure are good wrestlers to follow, but they might have thousands of matches between them, so narrowing it down to two names, a time and a place helps immensely.
Also, if possible, find the Sasha Banks/Bayley match from NXT Takeover Brooklyn.
I know it’s cliche to give an NXT match, but this is a good way for you to see who is in right now, and also see a damn good women’s match.
As for men’s matches…Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins in Hell in the Cell match at Summerslam of 15 I believe.
Just watch WWE Raw on Monday night. Wrestling isn’t very much about individual matches, you need to watch the TV shows and if you feel like ordering one of their PPVs or going to a live match to see what happens then you’ll know that you want to watch wresting.
My default response will probably always be Dynamite Kid v. Tiger Mask in any of about 50 matches for various Japanese promotions. They’re all over YouTube. Chris Benoit/Dean Malenko v. nWo in a cage match on WCW Thunder in 1997 is on YouTube, as well. I can’t link ATM because I’m at work.
Really, once you find a match on Youtube, the right panel has other matches the same wrestlers were part of. It’s often interesting to see how widespread their careers were.
For instance, Akebono is a sumo wrestler who had a match with Big Show a few WMs ago. Although it’s regarded as more of a spectacle match with no real significance, the side links show other matches Akebono’s been in. He supposedly went bankrupt because his wife cleaned him out, so he signed up for other combat sports like boxing and MMA to make ends meet. He didn’t do any good in them because he’s slow and weighs over a quarter ton, but it’s still an interesting history.
Vampiro’s also an interesting character to track. Before his current job announcing for LU, he had long black hair and white skin and played an undead gimmick. He worked for Juggalo Championship Wrestling with the Insane Clown Posse as well as WCW, AAA, and a whole shitload of other promotions.
I can’t really recommend any particular match, because I might have enjoyed it for different reasons. Some like the more technical stuff, some like the spectacle and colorful characters, some like the blood and gore and garbage matches, some like Lucha over American style, and so on. I like it when they can pop the audience, whether it’s done with a cool aerial move, a really profound promo, or with a brilliant character concept.
Another way of going about it would be watching a couple wrestlers who have different styles, and deciding which style you like. Once you know what you like to see in the ring you can research who did it best.
Although I don’ exactly know how beneficial that would be right now since a lot of the popular wrestlers all kinda-sorta look the same in the ring now
I think that’s a product of the ECW-ization of the sport [s entertainment]. Instead of the impressive-looking but generally useless big men that Vince used to love, we’re get smaller, quicker, better athletes from top to bottom. And because everyone is roughly the same size, nobody has to focus on a move set that works in a match with a 400-pounder.
Here is a matchup between two of my favorite wrestlers of all-time, in their prime: Chris Jericho vs. Eddie Guerrero for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship at Fall Brawl '97.
That’s a great choice, or Bayley/Asuka from the more recent Takeover: Dallas. From that same event, Sami Zayn/Satsuke Nakamura.
If you want to go old-school, two choices come to mind: Savage/Steamboat from Wrestlemania 3 or Bret Hart/Stone Cold Steve Austin from WM 13. Hart/Austin was one of the few examples of a very well done double-turn and established Austin as the major star of a new generation.
Here is the Bret Hart vs. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin submission match from WrestleMania 13 that GoodOmens mentioned. As previously stated, it was a great example of a double-turn. Hart came into the match as the “babyface”, the good guy, while Austin entered as the “heel”, the bad guy.
By the time the match was over, the cowardliness that Hart had shown and the grit and determination showed by Austin had caused a “double-turn”. One moment in particular became iconic, and I’m not going to spoil what that moment is. You’ll know it when you see it. It’s considered by some wrestling fans to be the true start of the “Attitude Era” in the WWF, and Austin would soon become one of the most popular wrestlers in WWF history.
If you’re interested in great matches with current stars, New Japan is showing some amazing stuff on AXS (I think–something like that) every Friday night. The matches occurred last summer, but if you haven’t seen it, it’s new to you. Several top wrestlers from there recently signed with WWE, including AJ Styles and Nakumura.
If you’re interested in the stuff I like–territories from mid-70s and on–there’s tons of stuff on You Tube. Google Mid South Wrestling and you’ll find complete episodes as they aired back in the day.
If you want to see great tag matches, search Midnight Express-Rock & Roll Express (or Fantastics)
Or Free Birds-Von Erichs
Here is a hidden gem-- Part 1 of a 4-part series of videos that aired August 14, 1982 in Memphis, ultimately resulting in an NWA World Heavyweight Championship match between champion Ric Flair and Jerry “The King” Lawler.
“You wouldn’t be putting any of that ol’ country jive on me, would you?”
“Would I do that?”
It wasn’t really the start of the Attitude Era. It was before the Monday Night Wars, and WCW’s two-year buttkicking of the WWF/WWE. It was definitely the beginning of the end of the classic babyface, though.
Enjoy this one for free while you can: Shinsuke Nakamura makes his WWE debut at NXT TakeOver: Dallas against Sami Zayn.
One of the chants during the match: “Fight forever!” I can wholeheartedly agree with that.
The best match of 2011, bar none: CM Punk challenges John Cena for the WWE Championship at Money in the Bank, in Punk’s hometown of Chicago. If Punk wins, he’s promised to walk out of WWE with the belt, and Cena will be fired.
It’s hard to believe that Cena/Punk was almost 5 years ago. That was such an amazing feud all around.
CM Punk “talked me into the building” for Money in the Bank; I went to a WWE Blast Zone at a bar 50 miles from home to see the show.
This was a particularly interesting story. Prior to Wade Barrett’s match against Randy Orton for Orton’s WWE Championship, Barrett has the Nexus (including Husky Harris, who would later transform into Bray Wyatt) beat the hell out of Orton. There’s concern over whether Orton will even be able to make it to the ring, and the implication that if he doesn’t, he will have to forfeit the title to Barrett. Orton makes it, all right, and what follows is compelling television-- two WWE Title matches including The Miz’s Money in the Bank cash-in. The night birthed one of the greatest memes in WWE history, which would later earn a Slammy award: Miz Girl.