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With WWE on its way back to Saudi Arabia for Crown Jewel 2019, it seems prudent to discuss some of the best matches that WWE has ever put together in a ring off of US soil. WWE rarely does non-US televised or PPV events outside of Canada and England.
The Saudi Arabia shows have changed that up, but have yet to produce a classic match -- although the original did give us 'Titus Worldslide', so we have that going for us. Seth Rollins and The Fiend Bray Wyatt have the opportunity to have the first truly great match in Saudi Arabia, and hopefully, they come home with a well-received match under their belts (no matter who walks out with the actual belt).
With an exciting PPV in Saudi Arabia coming up, here's a look at five top quality matches WWE has produced on shows outside of the United States.
#5 Shawn Michaels vs The British Bulldog (One Night Only
1997 - Birmingham, England)
Shawn Michaels and the beginnings of the DX faction were in the midst of a brutal, heated rivalry with Bret Hart and his family, the Hart Foundation. During the feud that led up to one of the most infamous events of all time (The Montreal Screwjob, of course), WWE ran a show in England that was aired on a PPV in Europe, but didn't see the light of day in North America until it was released on VHS (and later DVD and the WWE Network).
With Michaels in such an emotional rivalry with the Hart Family, something bad was bound to happen. In this case, you had a great match that saw The British Bulldog, inaugural European Champion, defendig his title against Shawn Michaels in front of Bulldog's countrymen and women. Bulldog's wife and very ill sister were in the front row, as well. What could go wrong?
Michaels would end up winning the belt and becoming the second-ever European Champion, but doing so after the entirety of the original team that would soon become DX interfered. Triple H started, followed by Chyna and Rick Rude.
They did everything they could to keep Bulldog down, but it looked like nothing would work. Finally, after scratching and clawing to get out of the Figure Four that Shawn had applied to his injured knee, he passed out from the pain. Shawn would then dedicate his win to the Bulldog's wife, in a moment only befitting of the heel beginnings of D-Generation X.
#4 Finn Balor vs Kevin Owens (Beast in the East 2015 - Tokyo, Japan)
Outside of the RAW and SmackDown tapings in 2005, WWE has only run one big event in Japan in the modern era (unless you count the episode of NXT in December 2016). It happened 10 years later and was an early, experimental special event for the WWE Network. Beast in the East was Brock Lesnar's return to Japan for the first time in almost 10 years, as he had last appeared for New Japan in 2007.
The most anticipated match of the evening wasn't involving the man for whom the show was named, however. Kevin Owens was the dominant and down-right scary NXT Champion, and Finn Balor was coming for him.
Balor, as you may expect, received a hero's welcome in Japan, the country in which he became a star under the name Prince Devitt. Balor was the man NXT needed in order to be saved from the monster who was Kevin Owens, and he did it in style in front of what was something akin to a hometown crowd.
Sure, he's from Ireland, but he was 'made in Japan', for lack of a better term. Finn would go on to be the longest-reigning NXT Champion in history, holding the title for 292 days, a number that has yet to be topped.
#3 Bret Hart vs The British Bulldog (SummerSlam 1992 - London, England)
This match is often referred to as the best match in SummerSlam history, and one of the greatest matches in WWE history in general. Bret Hart and his brother-in-law, Davey Boy Smith, the British Bulldog, closed the show at the jam-packed Wembley Stadium in the summer of 1992. It was the only 'big 4' PPV ever held outside of North America, and WWE decided to do it big.
Davey Boy would win the Intercontinental Championship from Bret to close the event to a massive crowd reaction. Bret, a friend, family member, and proud champion relinquished his championship belt to the Bulldog and allowed the new champ to celebrate with his family.
It was emotional, it was fast-paced, it was a technical marvel. This match was pretty much exactly what most fans would likely be looking for in a professional wrestling match. How else could you expect a big-time Bret Hart match to go down? At this point in his career, The British Bulldog, while obviously known for his physique, was mostly known for being a tag team star and an outstanding professional wrestler. He showed his ability to hang with one of the greatest Superstars of all time and did it in front of 80,000 fans.
#2 John Cena vs Shawn Michaels (RAW, April 23, 2007 - London, England)
No other match in RAW history was as long as this near 56-minute classic. Well, no other match that didn't specifically have a time stipulation, such as the 60-minute Iron Man match from a few years prior. This was a rematch of their also-classic match that served as the main event for WrestleMania 23. John Cena retained the WWE Championship at WrestleMania, but would go on, just a couple weeks later, to lose to Shawn Michaels in a non-title match on RAW in England.
It's not uncommon for WWE to run shows with minimal storyline advancement when they head over to the UK. Due to the 5-hour time difference, the show's results are already available to fans in the United States before the show even comes on the air. Superstars who are usually bad guys (mostly William Regal) become good guys for one night, and WWE does some fun wrestling and has a silly set dressed up with phone booths, a classic car, and two gigantic flags.
On this night, however, WWE wasn't messing around. Knowing that it was going to be a show in order to bring the fans an episode of TV on Monday night and not anything more spectacular, Vince McMahon gave the entire second hour (RAW was only 2 hours back then) to Shawn Michaels and John Cena, and just let them do whatever they wanted. They created magic.
#1 Hulk Hogan vs The Rock (WrestleMania x8 - Toronto, Canada)
What else could it be? Not only is it one of the biggest WWE matches of all time (rivalled only by Hogan vs Andre and Rock vs Austin), but it featured one of the loudest, most amazing crowd reactions you will ever hear as a fan. In a packed SkyDome in 2002, The Rock and Hulk Hogan squared off in a dream match. Icon vs. Icon, as WWE billed it.
Going into the match, WWE had The Rock play the babyface while Hogan was the villainous leader of the nWo, which had just returned to wrestling as the original trio, debuting in WWE only one month prior at No Way Out.
They immediately targeted The Rock, and history was set in motion. For those unaware, two places in which The Rock has often had a, we'll say difficult, time with the WWE Universe are New York (as you can hear in his title match later this same year against Brock Lesnar) and Toronto. Canada as a whole didn't seem to take The Rock's side very often. That would play into this match and the rest of Hogan's WWE career.
Chances are that Hulk Hogan was going to go back to the red-and-yellow sooner rather than later, and the 68,000 people in Toronto did everything they could to expedite that process. All The Rock needed to do to elicit the most raucous boos from the crowd was, well, just be there.
Everything Hogan did was cheered at a fever pitch, and The Rock was booed as if he was the biggest bad guy in the history of pro wrestling. At the end of the night, The Rock would beat the Hulkster, but the two men would shake hands. When Scott Hall and Kevin Nash tried to interfere and ruin the moment, Hogan and Rock teamed up to stop them, which culled some favour with the Toronto faithful.
The atmosphere was amazing and it will go down as one of the most memorable and most iconic matches in WWE history.
