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TBH I don't get very involved with matches very often. Guess it takes a lot for me to mark out. Anyways there are 3 matches that rwally resonated with me.
As mentioned before
Rock v Hogan -- WrestleMania X8
This one rook me by surprise. I was never the biggest Hogan fan. I got into wrestling towards the end of his first WWF run. I was more into Bret Hart, Tatanka and a few others. Add this to the fact that knowing how much he used politics during his WCW days it's suffice to say that I wasn't the biggest Hogan fan.
The same can be said for THe Rock. I enjoyed his work. His in-ring stuff was decent, his mic skills were unparralelled at the time. However, I did tend to bore of him. His overuse of catchprases annoyed me soooooooooo much. My favourite Rock was "Hollywood" Rock, which hadn't quite started yet. So suffice to say I wasn't the biggest Rock fan.
Yet this match was special. I remember watching it at Danny Electric's house (remember him??). I sat up to take notice as the two men stood opposite each other. Once the again the match wasn't a technical masterpiece but the emotional tale of it had me marking out like an 13-year-old girl at a Cena appearance.
Magic
Number two has also been mentioned here.
Chris Benoit v HBK v HHH -- WrestleMania XX.
This was one PPV that I watched surrounded by people. Usually I'm at home on my own, at a mate's house or, whilst at uni, sat in the common room with 2-4 extra people. I guess more people turn up for WM cos the room was rammed.
In the run up to this match there was a lot of speculation that Benoit would indeed grab "The Big One". Obviously this lead to a lot of excitement. Then there were the rumours that they were gonna hold off til Backlash as it was his "home turf". This lead to a sense of will they/won't they give him the title.
Unlike the Hogan/Rock match this was a decent match. Although it was a WWE Triple Threat match (as in there's hardly ever 3 men in the ring at the same time) they pulled out an extrodinary match.
When Benoit had HHH in the crossface I was stood up shouting "TAP! TAP!". I think it was the fact that one of the most technically talented and underated guys in wrestling history was a bout to beat a guy that we all knew had more than a little stroke backstage. Benoit was going to win the title at WrestleMania and he was going to make HHH tap to do it.
I marked out like I'd won the title that night.
My third and final choice (and probably the one that got me going the most) is another WrestleMania matup.
Kurt Angle v Shawn Michaels -- WrestleMania 21
Two of the greatest wrestlers of the last two decades facing off for the first time in what was rumoured to be Angle's last match. A technical masterclass. Both men equal to each other. Both men dedicated to stealing the show. Once again I found myself stood up in a room full of people that were quite firmly seated and I was once agin screaming "TAP! TAP!" and of course HBK eventually did.
What a match. Of course it wasn't Angle's last match but if it had have been it would have been the greatest sendoff imaginable.
An honoury mention goes to Lesnar v Angle at WM19. That was emotional due to fear rather than excitement though. Just sat there shit scared that Angle would end up crippled. Stranger was the fact that I watched 2 or 3 days after the event took place! I don't think I had checked results or anything so I was none the wiser.
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