Favorite Straight-Up Matches

[Supreme Olajuwon]

*I know this has been done before, and I can tell you with 100% certainty that I do not give a shit.

I think we're pretty much in agreement that last night we witnessed an all-time classic match between Taker and HBK, and some people like Xero have already placed it as one of their favorite matches ever, which is fair. And the nice thing about the match was that it was a standard one on one encounter with no gimmicks or stipulations thrown in. A lot of matches on people's all time lists are matches with gimmicks or special stipulations like Rock/Foley, Razor/Michaels and Hart/Austin so I ask you: what are your favorite standard, one on one matches of all time? No gimmicks, no special circumstances. Just two guys putting on an amazing show.

Bret Hart vs British Bulldog @ Summerslam 92
Kurt Angle vs Shawn Michaels @ WrestleMania 21
Bret Hart vs Roddy Piper @ WrestleMania VIII
Bret Hart vs Owen Hart @ WrestleMania X

I'll think of more. Possibly less Bret related as well

[Supreme Olajuwon]

I don't count title matches as special stipulations.

[Fox]

Eddie vs. Rey - Halloween Havoc 97

[CSL]

Shawn Michaels/Mankind - IYH: Mind Games. Pretty much my favourite match.

[The Show Off]

Here's my Top 10 Non-Gimmick 1 on 1 Matches...

1. Bryan Danielson [c] v. KENTA (for the ROH World Championship, ROH Glory by Honor V: Night 2)

2. Brock Lesnar [c] v. Eddie Guerrero (for the WWE Heavyweight Championship, WWE No Way Out 2004)

3. The Undertaker [c] v. Bret Hart (With Special Referee: Shawn Michaels for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship, WWF Summer Slam 1997) *not sure if this counts what with the Special Ref stip

4. Kurt Angle v. Shawn Michaels (WWE Wrestlemania 21)

5. Chris Jericho v. Shawn Michaels (WWE Wrestlemania XIX)

6. Ric Flair [c] v. Ricky Steamboat (for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, WCW Spring Stampede 1994)

7. Ricky Steamboat [c] v. Ric Flair (for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, NWA WrestleWar 1989)

8. Ric Flair [c] v. Sting (for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, NWA Clash of the Champions #1)

9. Eddie Guerrero [c] v. Kurt Angle (for the WWE Heavyweight Championship, WWE Wrestlemania XX)

10. Big Van Vader v. Sting (King of Cable Tournament Finals, WCW Starrcade 1992)

*I didn't rank HBK/Taker in there because I generally like to re-watch a match before determining where I rank it but by inital watching I think it'd rank 4th

[Jeez]

Hart/Perfect - Summerslam 91

[Supreme Olajuwon]

oh yeah Savage/Steamboat is probably somewhere up there

[Anybody Thrilla]

Kurt Angle v. Brock Lesnar @ XIX
Shawn Michaels v. Shelton Benjamin on Raw
The British Bulldog v. Owen Hart for the inaugural European championship on Raw
Shawn Michaels v. John Cena the night after Mania
Undertaker v. Kurt Angle at No Way Out

.....just to name a few for now.

[mike adamle]

thank you for putting dragon-kenta on there

[Jeritron]

Last nights match.

First ones that came to mind...

Mankind vs Shawn Michaels at Mind Games

RVD vs Jerry Lynn at Living Dangerously

Jericho vs Michaels at WM19

[Jeez]

The British Bulldog v. Owen Hart for the inaugural European championship on Raw

Wish I thought of that one.

[NeanderCarl]

Wasn't the Mind Games match a No DQ match?

Anyway, my picks, a lot of which have already been mentioned, some of which haven't:

Hart vs Perfect, SummerSlam '91.
Hart vs Perfect, KOTR '93.
Perfect vs Flair, Raw 1993
Flair vs Savage, WrestleMania VIII
Flair vs Steamboat, WCW 1989
Austin vs Hart, Survivor Series 1996
Jericho vs Michaels, WrestleMania XIX
Bulldog vs Hart, SummerSlam '92
Angle vs Michaels, WrestleMania 21
Hart vs Piper, WrestleMania VIII
Hart vs Bulldog, In Your House 6, December 1995
Hart vs Hart, WrestleMania X
Michaels vs Jarrett, In Your House (May 1995?)
Undertaker vs Angle, No Way Out '06
Austin vs Benoit, Raw 2000

Also Undertaker's recent WrestleMania matches, bar Mark Henry, have seen some genuine classics. The matches against Michaels, Orton, Batista and Edge were all fantastic.

[NeanderCarl]

Only looking at my list do I remember just how damn good Bret Hart was when he stepped inside the ring. Not many people have had more classic actual wrestling matches than Hart.

[mike adamle]

... has no one said savage-steamboat yet?

[CSL]

Wasn't the Mind Games match a No DQ match?

The finish was a DQ

[mike adamle]

also, i may be wrong, but i dont think i've seen angle-benoit from rumble 03 on here either

[mike adamle]

and if you want something pretty rare, check out low ki-bryan danielson from 02 roh, i think it was round robin, low ki-amazing red from road to the title?, and low ki-aj styles at honor invades boston, those are all very rare classics, as well as teddy hart-jack evans from a pws indy show that you can find on youtube