Thursday, May 07, 2020

Wrasslin'

I don't know what's occasioned it, but I've been watching a lot of wrestling over the past month.  It might have something to do with the COVID-19 stuff, where I feel inundated with both info and emotion over the course of a day.  Wrestling's an easy watch.  Little to no thought involved.  I'm on vacation this week, and I've been listening to the Grilling JR podcast while I do chores, and I've ended up watching a lot of the shows Jim Ross has been discussing....The Spring 2000 WWE run, and the Spring 1989 feud between Ricky Steamboat and Ric Flair for the NWA World championship....

During the podcast, JR and Conrad both mention one or multiple occasions of the Flair/Steamboat feud as favorite matches.  I'd definitely call the feud a favorite myself, and when asked, I often cite the 2 out of 3 falls match at Clash of Champions VI as my favorite match of all time.

Which got me thinking, apropos of little, what are my favorite matches in the year 2020, especially since I've paid as little attention to the wrestling world in the past couple of years...

In almost chronological order:

Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat      Chi Town Rumble 1989
Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat      Clash of Champions VI
Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat      Music City Showdown 1989
Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat       Wrestlemania III
Bret Hart vs. Mr. Perfect          King of the Ring 1993
Owen Hart vs. Bret Hart            Wrestlemania X
Bret Hart vs. Roddy Piper       Wrestlemania VIII
Royal Rumble 1992      (Flair wins WWF Title)
Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels     Wrestlemania XII
Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin      Wrestlemania XIII
Taz vs. Sabu          Barely Legal 1997
Underaker vs. Mankind      King of the Ring 1998
Steve Austin vs. The Rock     Wrestlemania XIX
Low Ki vs. Jerry Lynn vs. AJ Styles      NWA TNA, August 2002  (Favorite Match seen live)
James Storm/Chris Harris vs. Elix Skipper/Christopher Daniels   NWA TNA    June 2003
Jeff Jarrett vs. Raven       NWA TNA, April 2003
Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker       Wrestlemania XXVI
CM Punk vs. John Cena       Money in the Bank 2011
Triple H vs. Undertaker      Wrestlemania XXVIII
Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar (vs. Seth Rollins)    Wrestlemania XXXI


I don't watch or get into as much Japanese wrestling as a lot of hardcore wrestling fans do.  I've seen a lot of really good stuff.  The Omega/Okada stuff is great, but I don't have emotional ties to it.  And that's the fact of the matter....a lot of it is about the nostalgia of the time, as well as the emotion of the match.....