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Pro-wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer is well known for his prestigious, and sometimes controversial, match ratings system. Meltzer, unquestionably the Roger Ebert of wrestling, has significant tastemaker influence relative to what constitutes a classic match. Case in point, his love of Japanese puroresu has directly led to increased attention and business for NJPW from American fans over the last few years.
But with New Japan being rewarded with a plethora of "5 star" ratings over its 47-year history, one can't help but think that there's quite a few legendary WWE matches that perhaps Mr. Meltzer has overlooked in the process of giving more praise to the greats from the land of the rising sun. To date, WWE has less than ten 5-star matches out of over 70 that have reached the 5-star status, with several of them occurring just in the last two years in NXT.
In contrast to a bit of a cavalier attitude toward WWE, Meltzer's Wrestling Observer publication has awarded 5 stars to matches from the independent circuit that some would consider to be "spot fests" (Keith Lee vs. Donovan Dijak in PWG for example), multi-man tag matches that featured some glaring mistakes (such as The Young Bucks & Adam Cole vs. Ricochet, Will Osperay & Matt Sydall in PWG), and big men doing little more than hitting each other extremely hard (and often for real) in affairs that could be seen as more brutal than rife with storytelling (like The Funks vs Bruiser Brody & Stan Hansen in AJPW). Maybe it's time to look back and reconsider the ratings for some groundbreaking WWE matches that, in retrospect, most likely deserved the top praise.
These are 20 WWE matches that should be rated 5 Stars, starting with numbers 20 through 11.
#20 Ricky Steamboat vs. Randy Savage (Intercontinental Title - WrestleMania III, 1987)
Perhaps the first match in WWE history that could be classified under the style of "work rate", "Macho Man" Randy Savage vs. Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat for the Intercontinental Title at WrestleMania III has all the right attributes to be considered one of the most legendary performances ever. That includes charisma, ring work, psychology, storytelling and emotional pull for the purported 93,000 fans in attendance and millions more watching at home.
Savage vs. Steamboat was so groundbreaking that a quick glance at highlights from the match shows how the two legends inspired a generation of pro wrestlers and created a template by employing (and even creating) many of the tropes still used in WWE today - weaponized ring posts, referee bumps, using managers and valets to gain advantage, lots of counters etc. This is a match that was ahead of its time, especially for WWE.
Savage, the cocky heel with Miss Elizabeth by his side, had been Intercontinental Champion for around a year before he faced off against the fan favorite Steamboat. Though Savage used shady tactics to stay ahead of the curve in the match, Steamboat had George 'The Animal' Steele, who retaliated against Savage on the Dragon's behalf, helping him. This allowed Steamboat to secure the win and the title in a historic moment.
#19 Hulk Hogan vs. The Ultimate Warrior (Champion vs. Champion - WrestleMania VI, 1990)
As the biggest superhero style characters in the history of pro-wrestling, Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior have never been cited as the greatest in-ring technicians. Warrior is almost universally panned as a bad worker and though Hogan performed technical matches in Japan and AWA during the early 1980s, WWE's presentation of him was that of a full-on cartoon protagonist rather than a skilled athlete.
Nevertheless, due to the company's monumental build of their colossal WrestleMania VI main event, Hogan and Warrior (then WWE Champion and Intercontinental Champion, respectively) put on a match that, relative to their capabilities and limitations, was absolutely perfect. From the storytelling to the raucous crowd response, The Ultimate Challenge dream match between these larger than life figures has all the qualities that just scream "classic".
The match told the brilliant story of two superstars being evenly matched. The test of strength between them led to a stand-off. Both men had their opponent down for the visual three-count with the referee down. They reached deep into their arsenal to hit a suplex (a rarity for both at the time) yet only got a two-count. Finally, there was a mistake by Hogan that cost him - a missed leg drop leading to Warrior hitting his splash for the win. For classic era WWE, this was the pinnacle.
#18 Bret Hart vs. Mr. Perfect (Intercontinental Title - Summerslam 1991)
At Summerslam 1991 inside Madison Square Garden, rising mid-carder Bret " Hitman" Hart challenged the long-reigning Intercontinental Champion Mr. Perfect for the gold. Perfect, who fashioned himself as the greatest IC Champion of all time, promised that "history would be made" when he faced off against Hart inside the Most Famous Arena In The World.
And indeed it was, as fans in attendance went wild during the 18-minute match where Hart was pushed off the apron into a steel guard rail and proceeded to later kick out of Perfect's fisherman suplex finisher, The Perfect Plex.
When Mr. Perfect followed up by trying several inside legdrops on Hart's lower abdomen, the Hitman responded with one of the most amazing counters of the 1990s, locking Perfect's leg between him own and applying his patented Sharpshooter submission finish. Hart, having won his first major singles title, would go on to celebrate with his parents in the crowd, solidifying the win as a WrestleMania level moment within the Summer heat.
#17 Roddy Piper vs. Bret Hart (Intercontinental Title - WrestleMania VIII, 1992)
At the 1992 Royal Rumble, Bret Hart was noticeably absent. Having lost the Intercontinental Title in a fluke to low-card wrestler The Mountie just days before, Hart skipped the event, giving "Rowdy" Roddy Piper the opportunity to challenge for, and win, the title in his place.
The Rowdy One would go on to defend the strap against Hart at the outdoor WrestleMania VIII, and during this match the two Canadian legends told a story worthy of 5 stars.
Piper, a fan favorite and the more experienced of the two athletes, got frustrated at being consistently outwrestled by the rising, fresher talent in Hart. When it became clear he couldn't win in clean technical fashion, Piper resorted to heel tactics by beating Bret to the point of making him bleed and picking up the ring bell to use after the referee was knocked down and out.
Fortunately, fans in attendance loudly booed Piper, leading him to the realization that he had become the exact monster he used to fight against. Piper dropped the bell and went back to wrestling clean, whereby he was roundly defeated by the Excellence of Execution, who became 2-time Intercontinental Champion. Hart was then embraced by a gracefully humbled Piper.
#16 Bret Hart vs. Davey Boy Smith (Intercontinental Title - Summerslam 1992)
After a year of dominating the Intercontinental Title picture, it was time for Bret Hart to ascend to main event status in 1992. At Summerslam, in front of a jam-packed Wembley Stadium in London, Hart passed the torch onto his real-life brother-in-law Davey Boy Smith (aka The British Bulldog) when the two faced off in what was arguably the greatest Summerslam match of all time.
The Bulldog, eager to earn Hart's respect, was also intent to prove he could be as good of a wrestler by taking his cherished title from him. The family feud came to its climax in the ring as Hart's sister, and Smith's wife, Diana, was shown on camera looking on from the crowd, watching the men put on a 25-minute clinic that tore the house down in London.
With the Bulldog countering Hart's sunset flip into a double-leg pinup, history was made as the Intercontinental Title match was the contest that closed a major pay-per-view for the first and only time (aside from Hogan and Warrior's title for title match, which had the IC and WWE Championship on the line).
#15 Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart (WrestleMania X, 1994)
At WrestleMania X in 1994, WWE put on its greatest-ever sibling rivalry and greatest WrestleMania opener, as the realistic-looking tension between real-life Canadian-bred brothers Bret and Owen Hart played out in a fantastic match.
Owen, who played the role of the jealous little brother desperate to get out of Bret's shadow, had been teasing a heel turn since Summerslam '93 and finally turned to the dark side by attacking Bret at the 1994 Royal Rumble when Bret failed to tag his younger brother into the ring in a Tag Team Championship match.
While Hart was injured in the storyline due to his brother's attack, he nevertheless managed to limp back to the ring for the Royal Rumble match, which he co-won with Lex Luger when both stars were eliminated at once.
While Hart would go on to defeat Yokozuna in a good, but far from classic, WWE Title match later in the night, the real gem was the clash with his brother Owen. Technical and intense in its execution, the siblings stole the show from the beginning, putting on a better quality performance than most main events (including the one from that night) with Owen picking up a huge upset win.
#14 Diesel vs. Bret Hart (No Disqualification Match for the WWE Title - Survivor Series 1995)
Arguably the most important match in the history of Survivor Series, Diesel and Bret Hart's No DQ brawl for the WWE Title in 1995 is so important for a number of different reasons. It featured the first table bump in WWE, which was shocking, given how relatively tame the overall product tended to be at the time.
It also lead to other significant changes like more extreme weapons being used and smaller wrestlers being able to enter the main event picture and realistically challenge, and defeat, bigger, stronger men. Be that as it may, the match itself was also an incredible work, as Kevin Nash and Hart put the story of David and Goliath in a pro-wrestling context.
After pummeling each other repeatedly, Hart overcame his physical disadvantages through sheer heart and tenacity. He outsmarted Diesel by playing possum after falling through the table, only to secure the win by rolling him up in a small package (inside cradle) when Nash least expected it.
#13 Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels (Ironman Match for the WWE Title - WrestleMania XII, 1996)
Although Dave Meltzer has claimed in the past that fans in attendance at WrestleMania XII in Anaheim, CA were largely uninterested in the event with the exception of the return of the Ultimate Warrior (who handily defeated a young Hunter Hearst Helmsley), there is no doubt the millions of fans at home were eagerly anticipating the incredible first-time-ever 60-minute Ironman match between Bret "Hitman" Hart and "Heart Break Kid" Shawn Michaels for the WWE Championship.
After making their grand entrances (including Michaels flying in from high above the arena floor on a zipline) the two top stars of the mid 90s brought the level of athleticism in WWE up a few notches, putting their bodies on the line for an entire hour in what amounted to a wrestling clinic.
The timekeeper getting kicked in the face by HBK, Shawn's dive to the outside from the top rope after Bret ducked a Sweet Chin Music, and Bret's reversal of a waistlock into a high-angle German suplex were just a few of the impressive moments during the match. With a sudden death rule adding 3 extra minutes to the conclusion after the match originally ended as a time-limit draw, Shawn Michaels' unlikely win was made all the more sweet.
#12 The Hart Foundation vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin, Ken Shamrock, The Legion of Doom & Goldust (In Your House: Canadian Stampede, 1997)
Though WWE has always specialized in big singles matches rather than multi-man tags, the compelling USA vs. Canada storyline stemming from Bret Hart's 1997 heel turn and formation of the Hart Foundation stable made a gang war inevitable.
Hart, along with his brother Owen, brothers-in-law the British Bulldog and Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, and family friend Brian Pillman, put on perhaps the best non-Survivor Series multi-man tag match in WWE history at In Your House: Canadian Stampede.
With Stone Cold Steve Austin, former UFC fighter Ken Shamrock, the Legion of Doom, and Goldust as their American adversaries, the Harts soaked in the loud cheers from proud Canadian fans who watched with adoration in Calgary, Alberta.
The tension between Hart and Austin was palpable, leading to moments of intense brawling, blatant disrespect and Austin attempting to use Bret's signature Sharpshooter submission, only to come up short in the end when rolled up by Owen Hart, who secured the win for his team. The sole unfortunate aspect of watching this match today is that all members of the Hart Foundation, with the exception of Bret, are now deceased.
#11 The Undertaker vs. Mankind (Hell In A Cell, King of The Ring 1998)
Although it was the climax to an incredible two-year long feud, The Undertaker and Mick Foley's 1998 Hell In A Cell match has been largely taken out of its storyline context and reduced to the one epic spot where The Dead Man threw Foley off the top of the 16-foot cage, destroying the Spanish announce table.
While this moment will probably always be the most shocking in WWE history, the match as a whole was a perfectly great performance that saw The Undertaker finally and permanently overcome his long-standing arch nemesis in the most infamous way possible.
Other great moments from the match include Taker's utterly brutal chokeslamming of Foley into the ring from atop the open cage, and yet another incredibly painful looking back drop onto a bed of thumbtacks. With Foley's body absolutely ravaged by the events of the contest, The Undertaker cemented the win with a tombstone and a three-count.
Stay tuned for part two (matches 10-1).
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