The Best of the Biggest Stage!

My last list looked at the worst so now here's the best matches (in my opinion) in Wrestlemania history and in honour of this I've picked 20. Again can't embed the videos so will just put the links up if available.

20) Undertaker vs. Triple H-Wrestlemania 27
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwVmSnjE_Ds
I've not watched the rematch so don't know if that was better than this but this was a good match. I think it was over hyped much like their last match just because of who was in it but it was still a great match. I also loved Triple H's entrance, as I've covered before.

19) Edge & Christian vs. Hardy Boyz vs. Dudley Boyz in a TLC match-Wrestlemania 17
These 3 teams really made tag team wrestling important again in 1999-2002, no matter what combination you put these guys in they worked great and put on great matches. But it was these high risk matches e.g. ladder matches and TLC matches that made them all superstar. This was the 2nd TLC match in WWE history and they would set the standard extremely high for the future.






18) Hulk Hogan vs. The Rock-Wrestlemania 18
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fp6gW2MIhb0
Icon vs. Icon was one of the biggest matches at the time you could argue a dream match, although many would say Hogan/Austin was the dream match. In the ring this match was the typical Hogan affair but both guys were extremely over and the fans ate everything up which made this match something special.

17) Batista vs. Undertaker for the World title-Wrestlemania 23
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHBw88T81KM
On paper this match looked awful, Batista wasn't good in the ring and Taker had to be in there with the right guy but these 2 gelled great. Batista was arguably at his best in 2007 put on some of his best matches and Undertaker helped bring that out of him. These 2 always had great matches and their series of matches was fantastic in my view.

16) Randy Savage vs. Ultimate Warrior in a Retirement match-Wrestlemania 7
Shawn Michaels became known as Mr Wrestlemania but in my view Randy Savage was that before him, if you look at his body of work at the Mania's he worked he got way better matches out of guys he shouldn't have like this match. The small things like Warrior walking to the ring to show how serious this was and the extreme extent both men went to beat the other were great. The aftermath with Randy & Elizabeth was something special and just added that little bit to a great match. My only negative was that Randy was technically on his feet on the outside before Warrior pulled him in to pin him making Randy look a little weak.



15) CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho for the WWE title-Wrestlemania 28

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PyoLdNJgv0

 

This may have only happened last year but I love this match partly because I am a Jericho fan and a massive Punk fan. These 2 are some of best in ring wrestlers going today and they were really over but that's not surprising. It program between the 2 started over who was the "Best in the World" and the promos were incredible between the 2, it later went into alcohol vs. straight edge but it was still great.

 

14) Edge vs. Mick Foley in a Hardcore match-Wrestlemania 22

In my opinion I think Edge should have entered this Mania as WWE champion against John Cena, he had won the title and lost it within a month. I think he took some of that anger and put it into this match with Mick, who also looked like he had something to prove. I don't think anyone expected Edge to go as far as he did in this match but I think he had the mind set of "I'm going to steal the show tonight" and in my view he did.

 

 

 

 

 

13) Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels in a Career Threatening match-Wrestlemania 24

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVQRirSaljE

This is probably the most emotional match in Mania history. Going in we all knew this would be Flair's last match but even so Shawn was able to put some doubt in the fans minds at parts. I think Shawn was the right guy to "end" Flair's in ring career and he did it well.

 

12) Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho-Wrestlemania 19

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCtJKAaP8U8

2 of the best of all time showing why they are so good. Shawn had only recently came back to wrestling and had a point to prove, Jericho was a long time fan of Michaels and wanted to show that he deserved to be looked at as a main eventer. Wrestlemania 19 is seen as one of the best ever and this was the best match on that card so that says a lot.

 

11) Hulk Hogan vs. Ultimate Warrior: Champion vs. Champion-Wrestlemania 6

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9lt__ACbFY

Much like Taker/Batista this match looked awful on paper but it blew everyone away on the night. It was a great face/face match and it really helped make Warrior a main event, sadly Hogan let his ego get in the way and stole focus away from the new champion. But this was the one time (I can think off) where the Hulk up/leg drop was dodged and it lead to Warrior winning.

 

10) Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels in an Iron Man match for the WWE title-Wrestlemania 12

This is called one of the best matches ever and it's hard to argue that. When the debate of "Who is the greatest wrestler of all time" is brought up you will often find these 2 names put in there. This was an hour long match and in their Rivalries Bret talked about how perfect this match was to him, saying that they planned for a spot to happen at the 45 minute mark and Bret looked at the clock during the spot to see it was around the 45 minute mark. These 2 would go the hour and then overtime leading to Shawn Michaels winning his first WWE title. Now sadly this match was so long that many members of the crowd actually left and they must have been kicking themselves after.

 

9) Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels-Wrestlemania 25

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piOOrMyRz2o

This would be called the greatest match in Wrestlemania history I don't know about that but it was pretty damn good. They would do a rematch the next year which I really liked as well but I think this was the better of the 2. This was near the end of Shawn's in ring career, he would only go one more year, but he was as good as ever and the chemistry between these 2 was always something magic. Now again like the Taker/HHH match this is often over hyped but it's still great.

 

8) Triple H vs. Chris Benoit vs. Shawn Michaels for the World title-Wrestlemania 20

This was the night for Benoit to become champion and what a better match to do that in. I remember watching this live and being so sucked in to what was happening, every little thing grabbed my attention and the in ring action was amazing. Now sadly this can't be looked back on by many because of what happened at the end of Chris Benoit's life but that shouldn't take away from this spectacular match.

 

 

 

 

7) Randy Savage vs. Ric Flair for WWE title-Wrestlemania 8

This was one of the first Mania's I ever watch I rented it from a video store and this match stayed with me. I loved it from Flair's incredible promos, Savage being Savage, Flair's hair turning red from blood or just the action in the ring. These 2 were outstanding in the ring and have put on some of the greatest matches ever so you knew this was going to be special. It should have gone on last but Hogan's ego didn't let that happen and we got one of the worst matches ever closing the show. Also if you haven't seen it check out Flair's post match promo it's just something else in a good way.

 

 

6) Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels-Wrestlemania 21

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsoKfLcB0Ow

You could rename this list "Why Shawn Michaels is so great" because he's all over it but this is the last time I swear. Kurt was and is a machine, it's scary to think how bad of shape he's in physically and how good he still is in the ring. This feud was built great it started with a simple elimination at the Rumble and it built from there including Kurt saying "When I won an Olympic Gold medal in 1996 all I was hearing was how some guy called Shawn Michaels came from the rafters and put on a clinic at Wrestlemania". Kurt would try to out do everything Shawn did towards the match. On the night these 2 were magic and they saved Mania 21 in my book, it was one of the worst I've seen. They tried to repeat this in rematches but never really got the same feeling as they did here.

 

5) Chris Jericho vs. Christian-Wrestlemania 20

In my view this is one of the most overlooked matches in wrestling history. These 2 were so great and this could have been a main event feud, why Christian hasn't gotten a real run in the main event is beyond me. Built on Jericho falling in love with Trish Stratus and Christian turning on Jericho because he felt Jericho had chosen her over him. Wrestlemania 20 had a very stacked line up and this to me stand outs from the rest. On a side note I brought the massive Wrestlemania 20 collectors pack when it came out and in there is a freeze fame from this match, there's a ton more but that stand out to me right now.

 

4) Steve Austin vs. Bret Hart in a Submission match-Wrestlemania 13

Many talk about this match as being pretty much perfect and it's hard to argue. They were able to do the double switch and tell a great story throughout. It was the little things like Austin coming in with the glass breaking and Bret having to walk over that glass, he was annoyed at what WWE was putting him through and this was another example of that. It's amazing to think this match almost didn't happen as the original plans was for Bret to face Shawn in a rematch but Shawn lost his smile and I think Bret took his anger towards that situation and added it to his work ethic for this match. The finish with Austin bleeding in the sharpshooter is one of the most iconic moments in wrestling history and this was the making of him in many people's eyes.

 

3) Ricky Steamboat vs. Randy Savage for the Intercontinental title-Wrestlemania 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBtNBC9J-AU

Not much more can be said about this match, it's known as one of the greatest of all time. This took place in 1987 and in my view it still holds up today some 26 years later. This could have made Ricky a big time star in WWE but for some reason he requested time off soon after this match and the company didn't appreciate it, I can understand why. Randy would go on to win the WWE title the next year even though he was meant to win the Intercontinental title but Honky Tonk man vetoed that so in many ways we should thank Honky, that's the only time we should thank him.

 

2) Steve Austin vs. The Rock in a No DQ match for the WWE title-Wrestlemania 17

In my opinion these are the 2 biggest stars of the attitude era and this was the biggest match in years and years. The arena looked incredible and these 2 had that something special when they wrestled. Now the only downfall to this match was the Austin heel turn at the end but I don't think it hurt the match that much overall. This match main evented Mania 3 times, only Triple H/Taker have done 3 matches at Mania but WWE like to forget that first one. Much like 19 this Mania is seen as one of the best of all time and this being the best match on there shows how good this was.

 

1) Owen Hart vs. Bret Hart-Wrestlemania 10

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZvUBTHXdT4

A opener at Wrestlemania 10 is my favourite Mania match ever and if you've seen this match I think you'll agree. This was Brother vs. Brother and this match helped launch Owen into a high profile picture. These 2 were doing moves that others weren't in 1994 and the fact Owen won shocked everyone especially when you consider that Bret was going on to win the WWE title later that night but it was done to set up a program between those 2 for the rest of the year. I think Owen is seriously overlooked in terms of his in ring talent, many have said that if he took it more seriously he would have been better than Bret as his in ring talent was already slightly better than Bret's. Wrestlemania 10 should not be gone back to at all except to watch this match over and over again.

 

Hopefully this has helped hype you up for Wrestlemania. I apologise for some of these videos being in different languages but you get what you can on Youtube. Now my question is will any matches on the upcoming Wrestlemania be put into this list? I think Punk/Taker has a shot but not much else., sorry Mania you still haven't grabbed me.

 

A pile of Garbage on the biggest stage of them all!

Wrestlemania is creeping up on us day by day and I for one am still not excited about  it, outside of one match (Punk/Taker) nothing grabs me we're getting 2 rematches that we didn't ask for and a uninspiring undercard. Regardless Wrestlemania is meant to be the stage where wrestlers show how great they can be but that doesn't always happen hence this list, I'm highlighting my personal top 15 worst Wrestlemania matches of all time. Now a quick warning for some reason I can't embed the videos in this article so the best you get are the links but hey if you can't click a link 1) you wouldn't be here and 2) you're a whole other level of lazy and I'm impress but you wouldn't know that.

15) HHH vs. Randy Orton for the WWE title-Wrestlemania 25
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXEmYr3GZZs
This match had many problems. The first was that it had been done to death already at the time WWE were obsessed with putting Cena, HHH and Orton together in some combination as the top feud, sadly no matter the combination these guys often found it hard to get on the same page. Not saying they always had bad matches but the majority of the time the matches were lacklustre to me at least. The second problem was going in HHH could lose the title by DQ which would have worked if he was the heel but he was the face. The biggest problem though was the fans were spent, this went on last after Shawn Michaels and Undertaker put on a classic. But having said all that it was really a match that lacked that main event classic feel rather than a bad match.

14) Eddie Guerrero vs. Test-Wrestlemania 17
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYrtPv1cY24
Wrestlemania 17 is seen as one of, if not the best, Wrestlemania ever and it was a fantastic show. This match would come off as probably the worst on the show surprising to see Eddie's name on a Worst of list but it really wasn't his fault. The match was fine up until Test trapped his foot in the ropes and that killed the match. Test was once pencilled in to be the WWF champion and it's stunning to see how far he fell, this would be his last Mania even though he was on the roster till 2007/2008.

13) 10 Diva Tag-Wrestlemania 26
This match is really an example of the Wrestlemania problem. WWE want to put so many people on Mania to give them a pay off but we get matches like this. Huge tag matches that last a matter of minutes and is literally everyone hitting their finishers, in a recent interview Kofi Kingston said "I've literally had a Wrestlemania match were the entrance lasted longer than the match". The reason I put this on the list is because of Vickie Guerrero's disgusting frog splash, Eddie would be ashamed.

12) Jake Roberts vs. Rick Martel in a Blindfold Match-Wrestlemania 7
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXkpHpAByE8
Blindfold matches are never good, this gets a break for me as it was the first one and the crowd were so hot it worked well but it was still a pretty bad matches at the end of the day. For those who don't know Martel "blinded" Roberts with his arrogance and they built for months to this match so at least it had a reason and my guess is that Jake killed it in promos leading up, I mean come on he's Jake Roberts and that guy could talk.

11) Great Khali vs. Kane-Wrestlemania 23
Wrestlemania 23 was meant to see Hulk Hogan vs. the Big Show to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Hogan's bodyslam on Andre the Giant they planned to recreate that spot in the same city. Sadly Hogan had a falling out with Vince and was never brought back to WWE and by sadly I mean thankfully, so instead we got this train wreck and the slam was inserted here. It didn't come off as special as Kane wasn't that much smaller than Khali. Combine that with the fact Khali has always been awful in the ring and Kane isn't that great either it results in well this.

10) Boogeyman vs. Booker T & Sharmell-Wrestlemania 22
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNNFTYNzf7A
This was really a one on one and I still don't get why they added Sharmell outside the end freak out. Boogeyman at best was a stupid gimmick that lasted too long he was awkward in the ring and while Booker has put on some great ones he has to be in there with the right guy. Little story in one of their matches Boogeyman broke Booker's nose during a tie up spot, that shows how bad he was and thankfully he's gone.

9) Undertaker vs. Kane-Wrestlemania 14
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksXvZwAHt4Q
These 2 have never had good chemistry and yet this is a program that WWE kept going to. I still don't understand the people who want to see one more from them at Mania because it would "tie up the story" while there is no story left to be told. Anyways to this match it was built great it must have been a year plus of story but sadly the match didn't do well in the ring, they tried protecting Kane a bit too much and this really came off as a feud ender instead of their first match.

8) Hulk Hogan vs. Sid Justice-Wrestlemania 8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kENNhkSslmA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqQTPefRwqM
In 1992 Hulkamania was really beginning to die fans were turning on him and in fact at the Royal Rumble near the end the fans were booing Hogan and cheering Sid. But he was Hulk Hogan so his ego wouldn't let that be, this was the main event when it shouldn't have been and this was both men's last match with the company for a big period of time. The 2 just didn't click and there was a spot near the end that shouldn't have happened, Sid kicked out of the leg drop and Papa Shango missed his cue and ran down late. So the main event was a DQ for some reason and the only highlight was the Ultimate Warriors return after the match.

7) John Cena vs. JBL for the WWE title-Wrestlemania 21
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDWeMEum7GU
This got voted by the fans of Powerslam as the worst match of that year. Cena at the time was an awful wrestler, I give him credit he's improved a great deal from these days and while JBL was a great heel he wasn't a great worker. These 2 just didn't click and I don't think they ever did outside of their I Quit match a couple of months later. But regardless of the match Cena was over and this was his first title win, watching him collapse into the crowd was a great moment looking back, if he did that these days he probably wouldn't come back without injuries.

6) HHH vs. Booker T for the World title-Wrestlemania 19
This match was based around racism, only HHH could get away with that. No one believed in Booker as a challenger, no one really wanted to see this match and it was during the time when Triple H was the champion and he was facing the most random names and just beating them. What really hurt this match was the finish as Booker looked insanely weak, HHH would hit the Pedigree from out of nowhere and it took him about a minute to crawl over and pin Booker. Wrestlemania 19 is another one in the line of greatest Mania's ever but this isn't brought up in those arguments.

5) Jerry Lawler vs. Michael Cole with Steve Austin as Special Referee-Wrestlemania 27
At the time Cole was being pushed as a big heel sadly he was just more annoying than an effective heel. Lawler is one of the greatest of all time but he couldn't save this match as Cole was just a chubby announcer at the end of the day, no matter what you added to the match it couldn't help. Combine that with the anonymous GM reversing the decision and having Cole win made this match ridiculous.

4) Sable vs. Tori for the Women's title-Wrestlemania 15
Imagine if you will 2 models being thrown out there to wrestle and that's pretty much what this match was. Sweet lord this was awful, so much was botched and the heel was more over as a face than the face was. They even messed up a ref bump. It stuns me to see how far women's wrestling has come when compared to these 2. It came off as 2 women who didn't even want to wrestle (Sable especially) and they just wanted to be that hot women on TV.

3) Undertaker vs. Giant Gonzalez-Wrestlemania 9
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT-oS79P-9Q
The streak is now this holy grail in wrestling terms but Taker had another streak when it came to Mania and that was having the worst match on the show. Taker has had some really bad showings at the biggest stage of them all and it's amazing to see how drastically he's improved over the years. Gonzalez on the other hand was literally a case of "Wow he's big" he got signed because he was a legit giant who couldn't play basketball. I would have loved to see him vs. Khali as that would be so bad it becomes good.

2) Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar with Steve Austin as special ref-Wrestlemania 20
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BXFVvUGkDw
This was a big match at the time but it didn't live up to the hype. Outside the crowd being awesome this match sucked. Both men were leaving WWE after this show and the fans knew so they expressed their opinion and most pros could ignore that but for some reason these 2 let the crowd take over. Lesnar was a fantastic worker at the time and it's amazing to see the crap he dished out for his last match (at the time). Both didn't want to be out there and the only saving grace was Austin stunning both after.

1) Bret Hart vs. Vince McMahon in a Street Fight-Wrestlemania 26
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5P3_VRrdFs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9XxTNV4z_M
This was basically a one sided squash and one that didn't work. It was meant to be Bret finally getting revenge but you began feeling sorry for Vince as everyone (most of the Hart family were out there) took shots at him and killed him. And when you add that to the fact Bret physically couldn't bump you have to question why would you book this match? You should have had both managing someone, hell the Hart Dynasty team were out there have Bret manage them. The only time the fans cared was when Bret teased the Sharpshooter, probably because they knew when it was on this match would end. Thankfully Shawn Michaels and Undertaker had their rematch on this show otherwise I would have switched off the show.

Well that's my top 15 worst. Let me know what you think and what yours are as everyone's should be different. Keep an eye out as next time I'm doing the best matches in Wrestlemania history and you'll be glad to hear there's more good than bad.

Now that's an Entrance

It's Wrestlemania season and the general view is "What again?" as this years top matches are all rematches including a "Once in a Lifetime" match. Anyways to get into the mood I'm going to do a few lists about Wrestlemania this one looking at the best and worst entrances in Wrestlemania history (in my view). At the Grandaddy of them all certain matches/superstars get extra attention put in to them by doing flashy entrances so here are my 5 best and worst.

Worst
5) Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 19-I love Shawn Michaels and it wasn't that the entrance itself was too bad but it was the fact that some of the machines in use decided not to work. Shawn was set to come down the aisle while picking up confetti guns and shooting them into the crowd, sadly a couple of them didn't work. But this being Shawn Michaels he played off it and moved on. The problem was quickly forgotten when he got in the ring and the massive firework display for him began around the top of the stadium which looked awesome.
4) Rey Mysterio at Wrestlemania 22-Now I should put all of Mysterio's entrance at Mania in mainly because he always tries to pull off a special outfit, usually comic book or movie related, and you end up just asking what it is or why did he chose thatt. But at Wrestlemania 22 they got P.O.D to perform his entrance theme and he came out in a head dress, he proceeded to said next to the band and do nothing until he headed to the ring. It just came off as awkward and odd, I also didn't get the head dress at all was he saying he's an Indian chief because I don't think that's true.
3) Triple H at Wrestlemania 22-Wrestlemania 22 was a pretty bad show in terms of entrances. The main event was Triple H challenging John Cena for the WWE title so for his entrance Triple H came up onto the ramp in a throne dressed like Conan the Barbarian (he's often been called a Conan wannabe), he just sat there while Motorheads "King of Kings" played which was the songs debut and then his normal music played. Triple H just looked awful in that outfit and it played no part in the rest of his entrance as he stood up and removed the outift and walked to the ring like normal.
2) The Miz at Wrestlemania 27-Remember when Miz main evented a Wrestlemania? Now look at where he is, he can't even do a Figure 4 leglock correctly. The entrance started with a video showcasing the Miz's life and rise to the WWE title, which would be great if he wasn't walking in as the heel! But the entrance was killed when he came out to inflatable Miz letters which looked so cheap. Not only did they give him a video with the wrong message but they also made him look like a pile of crap when he actually came out. Lucky for him he was already being overshadowed that year by Rock & Cena, the former not even being in the match.

1) John Cena-Yep I pretty much hate every entrance he gets at Wrestlemania. They always give Cena a big entrance at Mania and they either come off as just sucking up to the crowd/city or just bad. Whether it was the Gangster entrance at 22, the car driving which he wasn't in until the end at 23, the copy cats at 25 (which WWE must have drooled over) or the several marching bands/choir singers he gets, they're all bad in my book. This isn't a shot at Cena it's a shot at WWE for choosing these entrances, Cena is just the guy who gets given them.

Best
5) Steve Austin at Wrestlemania 13-I'll be honest I was struggling to find good entrances at Mania, I find a lot of them just come of as goofing and bad. This one was pure and simple as the glass breaks in Austin's song a panel of glass that was filling the entrance with "Austin 3:16" written on shatters, something WWE did several times with him. It was nice and simple, the added effect of Bret Hart having to walk over it after was a nice touch as well.
4) Triple H at Wrestlemania 27-To be fair I'm just a fan of Metallica's "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and it worked great here. There were soldiers surrounding him and he was all dressed up with a mask and everything, now like the 22 entrance it was removed when he actually walked to the ring but his appearence on the ramp was awesome.
3) Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 12-Probably the most iconic entrance in WWE history. We've all seen the zipline and Vince McMahon's call of "What a ride!". It just looked awesome I can't think of many people who didn't watch and think "I'd love to try that". It did give away the ending of the match however as Bret Hart, who was defending the WWE title, just came out normally so he didn't look like the focus of the company one bit but since they were doing the switch I'm ok with it.
2) Ric Flair at Wrestlemania 24-Going into Wrestlemania that year we all knew this would be Flair's last match, how wrong we were but we believed that he was retiring. So to see him walk that aisle in a gorgeous robe (personally think his robes looked awful while in WWE but this one looked amazing) he did his usual Ric Flair thing and when he reached the end of the aisle he slowly did a full turn and the fireworks began. This entrance was all about aura and that special feeling of "End of an era" throughout it. The match itself is one of the most emotional I've ever seen and this entrance only helped that.
1) Undertaker-Much like Cena I'm including all his Wrestlemania entrances here. WWE put special effort into his entrance and they come off as incredible, much like Flair's it's all about the aura that comes off and it's just awe inspiring, at points you lose the fact you're at a wrestling show when he enters. Whether you like him or not there's just something special about his entrance, even while he was the American Bad ass his entrances stood out above anyone else.

The line up for this years Mania has 4 matches announced and out of that I'd say the top 3 have potential to put on special entrances especially since 3 out of the 6 have been mentioned here.
Now this may seem like a silly list to do but you should never overlook a wrestlers entrance. How they come out can make them look like true superstars or just another guy. Regardless of if I think these are good or not the fact is that these guys try to come off as bigger than life and when you look at everyone else who usually just come out normally they succeed in their goal. It also shows the the company has faith in them for going that extra mile for them at the biggest show of the year.

Midnight Express & Jim Cornette-in book form!

This past Christmas I received the Midnight Express and Jim Cornette 25^th Anniversary Scrapbook written by Jim Cornette & Tim Ash. I have wanted this book for a long time after watching Cornette’s Youshoot where the book was brought up a lot and I wanted to read it. Over the past 2 months I’ve picked it up from time to time (not the biggest reader if I’m honest) but recently I went to London and the 1 plus hour train ride to and from really helped me finish it off. So I thought I’d give a little review of the book, promise I won’t spoil anything major.

Now in terms of the Scrapbook part of the title of this book there are a lot of pictures included here, there are odd ones put in to help tell a story and there are a few pages of just pictures including some hate mail which has one that is just a drawing of a hand giving a middle finger. So onto the main book it starts with an introduction/dedication to Ray Traylor who really got his first break in wrestling being the bodyguard of Jim Cornette, Ray would go on to become the Big Bossman in WWE.

The book starts of by looking at all 4 men’s (Cornette, Dennis Cordrey, Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane) careers before they would team up. During this chapter you really see how lucky Jim Cornette was in wrestling as he got his manager role with the team really early on in his career. You also see how often all 3 wrestlers would interact before teaming up. Now before the bulk of the book starts Jim explains what he believes “heat” is and this is a great chapter as heat back at that time was a great deal different to what it is today, wrestlers were literally attacked and almost killed due to the fans hatred of them.

So the bulk of the book starts at page 32 it covers the genesis of the group in Mid-South wrestling and the idea coming from Bill Watts. Over Jim’s career he kept detailed notes about every night they worked this included the match, the finish, how much money was drawn in and sometimes how many people attended. The book basically shows these notes off, which might sound boring but throughout this stories that occurred at the time are thrown in. There is also a chapter that explains the notes/results in details so you don’t get confused, to be honest that was a help as the odd DCOR, standing for Double Count Out of Ring, was there and I forgot what it stood for at some points.

The team consisting of Dennis, Bobby & Jim as a manager started off in Mid-South where they would win the tag team titles and the legendary feud between them and the Rock ‘n Roll Express would start off. In December 1984 the team wanted to head to Jim Crockett’s Mid-Atlantic NWA but ended up going to Fritz Von Erich’s WCCW which they hated a great deal and they only lasted a few months there before going to Crockett’s company. The majority of their career would take place there so a lot of the book is this.

A story about the team meeting up with Vince McMahon about going to WWF and the craziness that came out of it is a highlight. An interesting photo that is included for the Starrcade 1986 chapter is a pay check showing that they got paid $10,045 for their Scaffold match against the Road Warriors. Another pay check shows the talent would give up $25 to a wrestler who was injured (this happened for Barry Darsow and Magnum TA). Now one of the things I learnt in this book was why and how Condrey left the team and how Lane got in. I found out that Lane wasn’t the original choice, Jim wanted Tom Prichard but Dusty Rhodes chose Stan Lane a better choice in my view.

A story highlighting how a match against 2 jobbers who got over (the Mulkey Brothers) ended up being a super-heated affair in the jobbers hometown. After November 1987 a lot more stories are told in the book as this was when the team started to hate the company they worked for, they started having very few opponents which was surprising considering the company had 2 tag titles at the time and a packed tag division. In November 1988 the company was brought out and it began changing into WCW, Jim Herd would be introduced as the new boss and hell would commence. It’s amazing to see what they had to go through, like starting of a feud with the Original Midnight Express and having it killed off by Herd, having to work with the infamous Dynamic Dudes and the random duo of Z-Man & Brian Pillman. You really get the idea that working with the company was nothing but frustration and this ultimately ended up with Stan Lane & Jim Cornette walking out on the company, Bobby would stay and ended up working with WCW for years after.

That closed of the career retrospective of the book the next chapter looks at what each person did after the Express ended and then looks at the reunions the team would do at reunion shows (shock horror) including the first time that all 4 men would team together, in Ring of Honor. Near the end of the book Jim Cornette shares a few stories this includes some legal battles the team faced, a look at how Jim Crockett tried to explain how the talent was paid on shows and the theory being put to use, a look at the ring introduction that Cornette would do, a look at some of the comedy spots the team loved to use, some of Cornette’s favourite one-liners, ribs the guys played on each other and 2 Christmas poems Cornette wrote.

That closed out the book. Honestly this is a book you can power through if you wanted to but it’s worth the read. Granted running through the endless results can be annoying at times, you often get lost at times but it’s broken up very well with some great stories. The book is only £35, Jim Cornette will sign it as well for free. I really loved this book, the Express have a career that is worth talking about and it really highlights how underrated they all were at the time, I find that the Express is often overlooked when you look back at that time period but they were not only amazing workers but a great heel attraction that could get a real intense heat level to their matches. Again I would highly recommend this book to any wrestling fan out there.

I would like to add that this review was hard to do as I really didn’t want to ruin any of the book if you decide to go read it so I tried not to go into that much detail. The book is quite big and I only scratched the surface of what was inside it.

A Chamber that Eliminates people.

We have just had the Royal Rumble and we are months away from Wrestlemania but the often overlooked Elimination Chamber takes place inbetween these 2 shows. I say overlooked because it becomes just another show you have to do and often very little will change on this show. I thought that I would have a look at the Elimination Chamber match and give a little history of it as well as some interesting facts. So before the history here are some facts on the Chamber. The chamber was made in 2002 at the cost of $500,00 and the story is that the developmental territory HWA was closed down that same year, WWE would pay that company $500,000 a year because of the relationship so in theory they destroyed a developmental company to get the chamber. The match starts with 2 men in the ring and the other 4 locked in pods with them being added to the match randomly every 5 minutes, this has changed from year to year.
A total of 44 wrestlers have competed in the chamber over 15 matches with 9 men winning. Triple H has the most wins with 4, John Cena has 3 and Edge has 2 besides that no one has won the chamber more than once. Chris Jericho has both the most appearences (with 7) and the most eliminations (with 10), Triple H & CM Punk both have 7 eliminations and Taker has 6. Big Show, Kane and Randy Orton all have 4 appearences and no wins, they also have very few eliminations between them. R-Truth probably has the worst luck when it comes to the chamber having appeared 3 times and having a total time of 4:45. Kevin Nash has the shortest time of 2:05 for one match while Jericho has the longest total time of 138:04. Triple H has the longest time in one match with 39:20 while Edge, Rey Mysterio & John Morrison all lasted over 30 minutes in one match. Goldberg, Carlito and Undertaker all have the most eliminations in one match with 3. The longest chamber match lasted 39:20 and the shortest match lasted 19:12. There is currently 2 undefeated men when it comes to the match, Bobby Lashley who won his one off appearence in 2006 and Daniel Bryan who won one of the chambers last year.
The chamber was introduced at Survivor Series 2002 as a Raw exclusive match, less than a year later the 2nd match would take place at Summerslam 2003. The match would then be "assigned" to New Year's Revolution for 2 years, the first year would be crown a new World champion after the title was vacated and it saw Triple H win 2 chambers in a row something that would only happen three times, two of those times by Triple H. The second chamber at New Year's Revolution was the first to see the WWE title be defended in the chamber and also had the first cash in moment prior when Edge won the title from John Cena.
The first non-Raw chamber would take place at December to Dismember 2006 which saw Bobby Lashley win the title in probably the worst chamber in history. Interesting note what was originally planned and what happened were 2 very different things, orginally CM Punk was meant to start the match with Big Show (then ECW champ) and Punk would make him tap out before anyone else would enter, Punk would go on and win the match. WWE wanted Lashley as the guy so he won, the fans disagreed and literally turned their backs on the show. This was also the only time that the chamber would have a twist as this was an "Extreme Chamber" with the 4 men in the pods having weapons they could use.

The chamber wouldn't return until No Way Out 2008 and would begin the 2 chambers in one night which the company would do from then. The 2008 show would decide who would challenge for the World titles at Wrestlemania, with Undertaker and Triple H winning. At No Way Out 2009 aka the night of Edge, both chambers would be for the titles. The show started with Edge defending the WWE title and losing it to Triple H, when the main event came about Edge would attack Kofi Kingston who was meant to be in the match and took his spot, Edge would end up winning the match and the title. Edge is the only one who has wrestled in both chambers in one night.

In 2010 the PPV was offically renamed Elimination Chamber and again saw both titles defended in the chamber. John Cena and Chris Jericho would win the matches that night. But John Cena would be the victim of another "cash in" moment when Batista was given a title match by Vince McMahon out of no where. In 2011 one match would decide the World title while the second would name the number 1 contender for the WWE title. Edge and Rey Mysterio would put on a match with 4 guys interfering with Edge retaining the World title in one of his last matches before retiring, while John Cena won the Raw chamber and it would be the third time someone would win back to back chambers. Last year saw both titles being defended in the chamber and both champions retaining with CM Punk and Daniel Bryan winning.
That's a brief history of the chamber. Looking forward to the upcoming show it seems that we will only be getting one chamber this year which will be to crown the number 1 contender to the World heavyweight title. Personally I'm very happy they've gone back to one chamber as having 2 in one night is a bit overkill and I've never been a fan of putting the titles in the chamber so close to Mania and I prefer that the chamber be used to name the contender for the title that the Rumble winner isn't going for. Also looking at the PPV the Rock/Punk rematch and the likely Show/Del Rio match have more importance & story behind them. We'll also likely get the Shield vs. Cena/Ryback/Sheamus in a 6 man tag.
The chamber much like the Hell in a Cell has become a trival note in WWE, it's a match that takes place in February and that's about it. Like the Cell they have a Chamber for a match instead of a match for the chamber. If you're interested in seeing the history of the chamber you can get Iron Will which has all the matches from 2002 to 2010.

One of the most looked forward to PPV's of the Year

The Royal Rumble is one week away and I am hyped for it like I am every year for it. I truly believe that the Royal Rumble and especially the match is one of the most looked forward to shows of the year. So I'm looking back at my personal favourite Royal Rumble shows ever I'll go over the highs and lows of the show, now I want to note that this is the overall show and not just the Rumble match which would likely be a very different list.

10) Royal Rumble 1997-January 19th 1997 in the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas
Highs:
The Royal Rumble match-Won by Steve Austin, who entered number 5, the match was pretty solid from his entrance onwards. The finish saw Bret Hart eliminate Steve behind the referee's back leading to him coming back in and eliminating the final 4 guys including Hart.
Shawn Michaels vs. Sycho Sid for the WWF title-Maybe not Shawn's best match but one of Sid's for sure. This was Shawn's revenge for losing to Sid at Survivor Series but did you know that was meant to be Vader? The duo was meant to wrestle at Summerslam, Survivor Series and the Rumble trading wins but Shawn shut it down after the first match because of how Vader worked.
Lows:
Ahmed Johnson vs. Faarooq-The hype video got you hyped, sadly in the ring the work failed mainly because of Ahmed who has become a running joke to fans now.
Luchadore 6 Man tag-Being in Texas WWE decided to use a lot of luchadores on this show, sadly the fans didn't care one bit (except for Mil Mascaras) and personally I'm just not a fan of that style.
Notes:
WWE took a massive gamble by doing this show at the Alamodome, which is a big stadium instead of an arena, having Shawn as the focal point helped draw a big crowd of 60, 525 but still not a sell out. What's funny is that TNA will be running Lockdown there and if they get a 10th of that crowd they'll call it a good turn out.


9) Royal Rumble 1994-January 22nd 1994 in the Providence Civic Centre in Providence, Rhode Island
Highs:
Quebecers vs. Bret & Owen Hart for the WWF Tag titles-A very good tag match which was only let down by the bad finish of the ref ending it out of no where. After the match Owen Hart turned on his brother which lead to one of the best Wrestlemania matches of all time. The Quebecers are a very overlooked tag team in my view especially Jacques Rougeau.
The Royal Rumble-Not the greatest Rumble match looking back but it was the first time that you had a wrestler dominate the match in Diesel who became the first man to wait for an opponent to come out. This is also the rumble which saw co-winners in Lex Luger & Bret Hart, a finish that has been copied many times but it's never worked as well as in this match.
Lows:
Razor Ramon vs. Irwin R. Schyster for the Intercontinental title-You just can't take IRS seriously and Ramon was good in the ring but not great. This match was really only there to build to Ramon/Michaels Ladder match at Mania.
Yokozuna vs. Undertaker in a Casket match for WWF title-Taker may have become a better worker over the past few years but back here he was awful and Yoko wasn't the best worker outside look how big he is. A very slow moving match with an insane finish of the entire locker room beating up Taker leading to him being taken of TV for months and coming back as the Purple Taker.


8) Royal Rumble 2010-January 31st 2010 in the Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia
Highs:
Undertaker vs. Rey Mysterio for the World title-I said Taker became a better worker and here's an example of that. Just the visual of these 2 facing off made you think it would be one sided but they put on a great match and really made it look like Rey could win.
Christian vs. Ezekiel Jackson for the ECW title-Without a doubt Jackson's best match and Christian showed how good he truly is. Now Jackson is pretty much doing nothing and we're all better off.
The Royal Rumble-Won by the surprise return of Edge the match was only highlighted by the return, Shawn Michaels who showed so much in this match and by CM Punk's domination of the ring at the beginning where he would cut amazing promos.
Lows:
Miz vs. MVP for the US title: This was basically a one sided squash in favour of MVP until Miz rolled him up when he was getting into the ring, not a good way to build the man they were planning to push later that year.
Sheamus vs. Randy Orton for the WWE title-Sheamus was not ready for this run and the match was pretty bad. Orton can put on good matches and Sheamus has improved greatly but back here they just didn't click. Also the "break up" of Legacy was just awkward at best. Basically everyone left this match looking weak.


7) Royal Rumble 2008-January 27th 2008 in Madison Square Garden in New York, New York
Highs:
Edge vs. Rey Mysterio for the World title-2 fantastic workers who you knew were going to have a great match. Edge was the ultimate heel and Rey was the ultimate underdog and it worked great. Edge would win by hitting a mid-air spear to Rey after Vickie Guerrero interfered leaving it open to a rematch.
John Cena return-The Rumble match was not the best but the surprise return at number 30 was something to see. The place exploded from surprise, sadly soon after Cena would begin to wrestle and it became business as usual towards him and boos would arise.
Randy Orton vs. Jeff Hardy for the WWE title-Jeff was one of the hottest guys in wrestling at the time and they probably should have pulled the trigger on him here instead of waiting a year, although he was still as over then. When it comes to the match it was a really good affair, I think Randy put in some effort as he wasn't in there with Cena or Triple H who dominated the title picture at the time.
Lows:
JBL vs. Chris Jericho-Jericho had just returned the previous month and wasn't back into the swing of things, JBL had just came out of retirement and needed to get the rust off. It was a hard hitting match but it just wasn't good.
MVP vs. Ric Flair-This was nearing Flair's "end" and while he could survive of the Career Threatening gimmick it could only go so far. No one believed MVP would win and Flair didn't put much effort it.


6) Royal Rumble 1995-January 22nd 1995 in the USF Sun Dome in Tampa, Florida
Highs:
Jeff Jarrett vs. Razor Ramon for the Intercontinental title-This is a personal favourite of mine and I don't know why. I think I secretly loved the Double J gimmick the flashing hat & jacket, the promos, the ring gear and so much more. But on a serious note I thought these 2 flowed really well. Jeff originally won by countout after the Roadie attacked from behind but Razor wanted to continue and Jeff would roll him up out of the Razor's Edge to win the title.
Diesel vs. Bret Hart for WWF title-Diesel's best matches were with Hart and Michaels. Diesel was only champion for a matter of months here but the match suffered by several false finishes. During the match interference happened on both men at different times in front of the ref and the match continued. It ended in a draw when both men were attacked at the same time but besides that fact it was a very decent match.
Lows:
Undertaker vs. IRS-These 2 were pretty awkward in the ring together and it just didn't come off well. The storyline was beyond stupid and the match was even worse.
The Royal Rumble-While Shawn Michaels gets a lot of praise for this match it wasn't that great. The match is the fastest in Rumble history and Shawn only wrestled for 40 minutes. However the beginning 2 becoming the final 2 was a first.
Notes:
The Royal Rumble match was done with new wrestlers coming in every 60 seconds for one reason the lack of star power. Vince was afraid that the fans wouldn't recognise the names they had so they kept it fast to keep the fans attention, he had a point as during the match even Vince forgot who some guys were. The Rumble winner was meant to win Pamela Anderson for wrestlemania however Shawn Michaels would come out with Jenny McCarthy and Diesel got Anderson, personally Shawn won there in my view.


5) Royal Rumble 2000-January 23rd 2000 in Madison Square Garden in New York, New York
Highs:
Triple H vs. Cactus Jack in a Street Fight for the WWF title-Jack was getting ready to retire and this was his final push in the main event. To me this was the program that made Triple H a true main eventer as Jack made him look great. An insane bloody brawl which Triple H barely survived is remembered as one of the best WWF title matches ever.
Hardys vs. Dudleys in a tables match-This was when tag team wrestling meant a lot and these were 2 of the 3 key teams of WWE at the time. This match is remembered as a classic tag encounter and it really was great, you made 2 teams look fantastic in one night.
Tazz vs. Kurt Angle-This may not have been a long match but what an debut for Tazz. The fans loved it and Tazz looked amazing. Sadly he would quickly die down but going from this you would of thought they had a superstar in the making.
Lows:
Miss Royal Rumble-This was a massive waste of time. Oh look how hot these women are and then Mae Young goes "topless" leading to the win.
New Age Outlaws vs. the Acolytes for the tag titles-This wasn't long or good. And when you take into account this was for the tag titles you should have got more.
Chris Jericho vs. Chyna vs. Hardcore Holly-Not only was Chyna in this match, a women who wasn't that great in the ring, but Holly was as well (one of my all time most hated wrestlers for many reasons). Jericho must have been shaking his head and thinking "I left WCW for this"


4) Royal Rumble 2011-January 30th 2011 in the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts
Highs:
Edge vs. Dolph Ziggler for the World title-This kicked off the show and was a fantastic match. Dolph showed he was a main event guy and this was early 2011, he should have been World champion by now and I mean a long reigning champion. Edge was just a few months from having to retire but at the same time he was producing some of the best matches of his career.
The Royal Rumble-The only time 40 men would compete in the match and it worked extremely well. In my view it kept you interested from start to finish. It began with the New Nexus dominating the match until Cena came in and cleared the ring, it became bad for a bit when he & Hornswoggle buried many wrestlers but it picked back up soon after. I also loved the false finish with Santino Marella coming up from out of no where, people really thought he had a chance to win but Alberto Del Rio ultimately won.
Lows:
Fatal 4 Way for the Divas title: This was one of the many Kharma teases that went no where, especially when Eve Torres came out. No one cared and while there were the odd cool spot it wasn't anything worth of note.
Miz vs. Randy Orton for the WWE title: The 2nd year in a row that Randy would work with someone who wasn't really ready for the title. I personally liked the Miz's heel title run but he had a lot against him and just didn't click at first.


3) Royal Rumble 2003-January 20th 2002 in the Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia
Highs:
Ric Flair vs. Vince McMahon in a Street fight-The only way you could get a good match out of Vince was in a street fight or gimmick match. But this was a great match and it was a back and fourth match which made sense as Vince was bigger than Flair and with the hardcore rules added more could take place. This was Flair's wrestling debut and it went great. Very surprising that this stole the show.
Chris Jericho vs. The Rock for the Undisputed title-I loved Jericho as the champ, this run and his entire 2001/2002 run is very underrated in my view. These 2 just had magic in the ring together and they are known as 2 of the best of the modern era of wrestling. The promo package showed exactly what the fans thought and that was that Jericho would be over looked as champ and while he tried his hardest to not make that true I think that's sadly the case.
The Royal Rumble: A lot happened in this rumble and it kept you entertained throughout. There were big moments like Maven eliminating Undertaker, surprise returns like Mr. Perfect and great action. Triple H would ultimately win by eliminating Kurt Angle.
Lows:
Dudleys vs. Spike Dudley & Tazz for the WWF tag title-Honestly not a lot of lows on this show but this was a low. In ECW putting Spike against the Dudleys was a sure fire thing but here it just wasn't great. Spike & Tazz as champs just looked silly to me.

2) Royal Rumble 1992-January 19th 1992 in the Knickerbocker Arena in Albany, New York
Highs:
The Royal Rumble-Without a doubt (in my mind) the best Royal Rumble match in the history of WWE. It has to be the most packed Rumble in terms of star power and it's one of the best in terms of quality. It also has to be one of the best called Rumbles with Bobby Heenan being amazing in his role. This match was really the Ric Flair show he put on an outstanding performance as well as a great pre-match promo and a great post match promo. Even Hogan being a glory hog couldn't hurt this match.
The New Foundation vs. The Orient Express-WWE tried to copy the previous years rumble by putting a tag match in the opener and while it wasn't the classic last years was it was a pretty solid match. This really was Owen's showcase match and while he wouldn't become a star round this time you could see the potential there.
Lows:
Beverly Brothers vs. the Bushwhackers-What was this? How did the Bushwhackers get a run in the WWE? Seriously I don't see the appeal. Beyond stupid and beyond bad, this match just sucked.
Natural Disaters vs. the Legion of Doom for the WWF tag titles-Oh this was brutal, none of these guys were great workers and both work better as heels. You had 4 big men who didn't want to sell for the others.


1) Royal Rumble 2007-January 28th 2007 in  the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas
Highs:
John Cena vs. Umaga in a Last Man Standing match for the WWE title-I believe that John Cena's best year was 2007 he was just amazing in the ring that year and it started here. An insanely brutal match that built well and it not only made Cena look great but Umaga looked great as well because of how far Cena had to go. There were insane spots like Umaga running across all 3 announce tables and Cena locking on a STF with a loose tope rope.
Batista vs. Mr. Kennedy for the World title-Much like Cena Batista had a great year in 2007. Kennedy was so close to becoming a world champ and this match was the testing ground. The fans were into it, the action went well and because of JBL on commentary Kennedy came off as a winner in losing (something WWE should seriously look into doing more often).
The final 2 of the Rumble-Honestly this years Rumble wasn't great and is probably one of the worst ones in history until you get to the final 2 of Taker and Michaels. These 2 put on a mini match for 10 minutes which was outstanding. A saving grace to say the least.
Low:
Bobby Lashley vs. Test for the ECW title-WWE tried so hard to get Lashley over as the next guy but he just sucked so much in pretty much every aspect. Test also had to be in there with the right guy to get a real good match and Lashley wasn't that guy. Combine that with an awful countout finish and you got one seriously bad match.

Looking forward to next weeks Royal Rumble PPV I have to say I'm really looking forward to it. I always love the Rumble just for the look and the surprises, I think Punk/Rock will be great and I'm interested to see who will win. I do plan on watching if I can and I should be able to. I hope this blog has hyped you up for the Rumble as well.

20 Years and 20 Matches

First off happy new years everyone. We're offically in 2013 so those Mayans were complete idiots it seems. But the celebration is set to continue as like I mentioned in my last blog Raw is turning 20 years old this month. Last time I looked at the best moments and now I'm looking at the best matches in the shows history. Now like the last post I'll add videos where I can just because it's easier to see than explain, plus these matches deserve to be watched in my view.

20: Trish Status vs. Lita for WWE Women's title-6th December 2004

In 20 years of Raw a women's match has closed the show twice. First was when Lita beat Stephanie McMahon for the title and then this one. And safe to say this match was 1000% better than the previous one. 2 of the best women wrestlers ever showing what they can do. Imagine if they tried this today? I don't think they could at all as the division is pretty much dead.

19: Cactus Jack vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley in Falls Count Anywhere-22nd September 1997
Nothing but WWE '13 is coming up in the search but lets be honest we've probably all seen this match. This was the reintroduction of Cactus Jack with the great 3 way promo between Jack, Mankind and Dude Love. Luckily for them the fans knew who he was otherwise this would of fell flat. The 2 had a really good feud in 97 and this was the blow off match, it really help put Jack over as something special.

18: CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan-30th January 2012

Every indy wrestling fan was drooling over this match, myself included. This was the first time these two had met in WWE before they would overkill it the rest of the year. To make things better this was champion vs. champion both were World champions and the story of no one thought this would ever happen was great to see. When it comes to the match it was awesome these two always had great matches but it got let down by the DQ finish.

17: Shawn Michaels vs. Shelton Benjamin-2nd May 2005

This moment is probably the biggest part of the match. This was a one off match in a tournament and I don't believe they did it again. Benjamin was getting a big push at the time, sadly it would go no where but Benjamin showed how good he could be in this match. Also this is the first of many Michaels match on this list he truly is one of the best wrestlers of all time.

16: Shawn Michaels vs. John Cena-23rd April 2007

Over an hour! No one expected these 2 to go so long on Raw. They had a great match at Wrestlemania 23 and this was the rematch. First off they did this in front of the right crowd as we English fans are insane for wrestling and come off as one of the best crowds to work in front off. But the reason it's so low on my list is just because of how long it went, it just dragged at points I found.

15: Randy Orton vs. Dolph Ziggler-29th August 2011

This shows that Dolph was ready for the main event years before his current push. He's one of the best wrestlers WWE have and as much slack as Randy Orton gets he's still a pretty good wrestler especially at this time as he was having a great feud with Christian and would make Mark Henry look so much better than he actually is. These 2 clicked so well and they still did during their recent feud.

14: Chris Jericho vs. Christian in a Cage-10th May 2004
Chris Jericho Vs Christian Steel Cage Match 2004 - Video Dailymotion
These 2 just had magic in the ring I thought. They could have stole the show at Wrestlemania 20 if Eddie/Kurt and Benoit/HBK/HHH weren't on the show as well. The follow up at Backlash was just a good and they continued to put on fantastic matches. This was the feud ender mainly because Christian suffered a bad back injury during the match.

13: Shawn Michaels vs. Marty Janetty for the Intercontinental title-17th May 1993

The 1993 match of the year is still a great match today. This was one of the first big matches to happen on Raw. As much as people joke and the difference between these 2, we've all heard the "Which one's Shawn and which one's Marty" when a tag team splits, this match showed how great Marty was. The match flowed so well and was a shocker at the end.

12: CM Punk vs. Dolph Ziggler-21st November 2011

I had much higher hopes last year when these 2 had a feud for the rumble and this match is partly the reason why. The match itself at that Rumble wasn't bad but was overshadowed by Punk vs. Johnny Ace. But this match was great the only downfall was the small botch near the end but these 2 are so good they covered it quickly and it didn't hurt the match.

11: Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle in a Cage-11th June 2001

These 2 always put on fantastic matches. The biggest shame about WWE removing Benoit from history is that some of the best matches in history are overlooked. Of course the biggest moment in this match was the missed moonsault from Angle and 12 years on I bet Angle would do that spot in a cage match again even though he's older and a physical wreck. And if he ever reads this I was hacked!

10: Undertaker vs. Jeff Hardy in a Ladder match for the Undisputed WWE title-21st May 2002
Jeff Hardy vs Undertaker Ladder Match - Video Dailymotion
I remember this time being very busy when it came to TV. The draft had only just started at the beginning of the year and the only superstars who could be on both shows were the Women's champion and the Undisputed champion so there would often be two feuds going on at the same time leading to odd matches like this happening. It was a great match that made Jeff look fantastic, shame he's a drugged up idiot and blew so many chances he's been given otherwise he could be making so much money in WWE. The biggest story of the match was that Jeff just continued to fight back no matter what making him look great even in a lose, something WWE hasn't done in a long time.

9: Bret Hart vs. 1-2-3 Kid for WWF title-11th July 1994
Bret Hart vs 1-2-3 Kid-WWF Title - Video Dailymotion
I personally feel that Sean Waltman is one of the most underrated wrestlers of all time, he was just so good in the ring and could make anyone look great. So when you combine that with one of the best wrestlers of all time you get a fantastic match. This match really made the Kid as it looked like he could hang with the WWF champion.

8: Shawn Michaels vs. Rey Mysterio-15th November 2005

This was a tribute show to Eddie Guerrero who had only just pasted away and what a way to do a tribute to one of the best ever by putting 2 great wrestlers in there together. Much like Orton I feel that Rey gets too much hate, he does have a lot of issues but he's great in the ring and can make guys look great. This would be the beginning of the Rey push to the World title for Eddie so the win was there to help him and during Shawn's 2nd run with the company he wasn't against putting anyone over.

7: Edge vs. Ric Flair in a TLC match for the WWE title-16th January 2006
TLC: Ric Flair Vs Edge RAW - Vidéo Dailymotion
In my last blog I mentioned how Edge claimed he was the most watched WWE champion of recent time when he first won the title. His live sex celebration was one of the reasons and this was another. Much like they did with the Miz/Lawler TLC match on Raw years later they used this extreme match and the whole angle of "This legend has never done anything like this" to help make the match that more important. This was the right crowd on the right night with the right guys, Edge looked like a true evil heel and you couldn't help but admire Flair's drive.

6: John Cena vs. Edge in a Cage for WWE title-2nd October 2006
Edge vs John Cena Steel Cage Match - WWE RAW - Video Dailymotion
I just remember the heat of this match being incredible. Edge was the first guy that really clicked with Cena at that main event level to the point that fans actually booed Edge at a time when fans were turning on Cena. The 2 had just come off an amazing TLC match for the title and this was ending the feud. My biggest let down back then was that Edge didn't win as the angle had it that Cena would go to Smackdown if he lost and that show really needed the big name talent on there but that didn't happen and he's still on Raw today.

5: Mr. Perfect vs. Ric Flair in a Loser Leaves Town match-25th January 1993

This really was the first big match in Raw history the show had only been on for a matter of weeks when it occurred. 2 of the best ever wrestling meeting during their prime. Perfect looked great here and why he never got a WWF title run is beyond me. Flair was off back to WCW and had promised to put Perfect over before he left, not only that but Bobby Heenan helped put this match over huge while on commentary.

4: Shawn Michaels vs. Edge in a Street Fight-28th February 2005
HBK vs. Edge - Street Fight - 2005 - Vidéo Dailymotion
A brutal and bloody match that we might see again in the future if this end of PG era rumour is try. This is the final Shawn Michaels match on this list and he was working with a great wrestler in Edge. Not much can be said here except go and watch it.

3: Chris Jericho vs. Triple H for WWF title-17th April 2000

I remember losing my mind when I watch this back then. I loved Jericho and I thought he had won the title. These 2 put on a great match and the fans were losing their minds as well as it built and built. Triple H was actually really good in 2000 and it was the little things of going against the unlikely guy and making them look like he could win, he would do this with Taka Michinoku and Rikishi while as champion.

2: Edge vs. Randy Orton-30th April 2007

I LOVE this match. I don't know what it was but I just love it. Earlier I highlighted the Cena/HBK match and this match was meant to go on the same night but as it went an hour it didn't happen. While this was heel vs. heel it was worked great with Orton being subtle face. We got an insane spot with the spear from the apron onto the announce table from Edge to Orton and we even got hard way blood on Orton. They built up the finish great with the fact they knew each other so well, they had be tag partners, so it was counter after counter until the final blow. Seriously I just love this match.

1: Steve Austin & Triple H vs. Chris Jericho & Chris Benoit for the WWF tag titles-21st May 2001

What a match. The fans were hot from the get go, the action in the ring was fantastic and even Triple H getting injured didn't slow things down one bit. This was a match that started out great and just got better. I loved the team of the Chris' but they wouldn't last long as Benoit would get injured at the next Smackdown in fact. Probably the best tag match in Raw history and in my view the best match in Raw history.

Well there you go. Hope you like my list and it's hyped you up for the actual 20 year celebration, however WWE decides to celebrate it.