Shane O' Mac Version 2

1. Stone Cold vs. Dude Love- Over the Edge 1998 It wasn't the first match I saw, but it's the first one I remember in its entirety. Pure Attitude Era madness, brawling around the arena, Vince as the ref, the Stooges as timekeepers, Taker getting involved. Pure chaos. Pure brilliant chaos. As I started watching wrestling in 1998, a child of Attitude, this was the perfect representation of why I loved it. 2. Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker- WrestleMania 25 One of 3 go-to matches I have if I want to show someone wrestling for the first time. Might be a cliche' choice but both HBK and Taker were my introductions to pro wrestling. When I was in the 2nd grade, my best mate lent me a Shawn VHS and a Undertaker VHS. This was the best of both men, on the biggest stage possible, one of the best dramatic, action packed matches ever. Shame about the rest of the card. 3. Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio Jr.- Halloween Havoc 1997 The second go-to match. I didn't watch WCW growing up, I think I first saw this match on a Rey Mysterio DVD collection once he was in WWE. But it was such a mindblowing match athletically, with the clear good guy/bad guy divide just like HBK vs. Taker was. Always gravitated towards the smaller high flier types even as a kid, before AEW, even before the Smackdown 6 and the Cruiserweight division there. Was all about the Jeff Hardys, Eddie Guerreros and Rob Van Dams back then, then when Rey made his WWE debut- I remember that whole episode of Smackdown from start to finish. Even now in 2024, he might be old, but Rey is still one of my favourites, and a massive part of my wrestling fandom. 4. TLC II- WrestleMania X-Seven The third go-to match. Take the drama of HBK vs. Taker, the high flying and athletics of Eddie vs. Rey, add in a shitload of weapons, and you have possibly THE highlight of the greatest WrestleMania of all time. 6 guys, 3 teams, all wanting to prove themselves- as well as the run ins/cameos from Lita, Rhyno and Spike. Absolute balls to the wall carnage, and one of my favourite wrestling visuals ever with Edge's Spear on Jeff Hardy off the ladder. A car crash of epic proportions, and the standard I compare all similar match types to. 5. Matty Wahlberg vs. Caveman Ugg- PWA Black Label 2019 Some eight or so years ago, I became a fan of Australian pro wrestling. One of the early talents to catch my eye was Matty Wahlberg, known today as Grayson Waller on Smackdown. Character-wise, Wahlberg and Waller are basically the same. Cocky, brash, willing to do whatever it takes, Wahlberg filmed a 3 parts docu-series called "The 21st Century Success Story" to hype this showdown. The Wahlberg vs. Ugg main event was something that helped propel Wahlberg towards future stardom, and being scouted by WWE later in the year. Brilliant clash of styles where the perennial heel became a babyface underdog for the night against the monster Ugg.

Fair point. If that's what they're going for, I'm on board. I thought he was genuinely trying to be a hard bastard, which sent me, considering... well, everything I've ever seen from Perry or thought about him. Even if we never saw the footage. Just look at the fucker.

Sucker punch or not, that footage showed a pro wrestler that absolutely could not handle themselves in the slightest in an actual fight. Like the anti-Haku. Him daring fans to jump the rail is laughable, because any one of them could hand him his arse easily. Except maybe children under the age of 10. Then it's a coin flip.

This angle might actually be one of the smartest things AEW have done in a long, long time. Think what you want about Tony Khan, the Elite, Jack Perry, backstage footage... I've seen constant coverage from the NFL, on Draft Week, about AEW and Tony taking a piledriver. When was the last time outlets of that magnitude paid attention to AEW? Perfect timing for some fun mainstream attention that AEW has been sorely lacking through its existence.

Yeah, but is it the weed that makes him say dumb shit, or was he always like that? Who knows how we'd view some of the Attitude/Ruthless Aggression bunch if Twitter was a thing back then.

I feel like this comes down to the FU/AA being his established finisher. You can't have him doing all these crazy suplexes and powerbombs, then finish the match with a relatively weak fireman's carry slam. Maybe if he kept the move closer to the Death Valley Driver it was originally, he could sprinkle in more power stuff. As it is, he kinda needed the AA to be his one big display of power in a match- especially if wrestling a Big Show/Khali type. It's like, the impact of the actual move isn't that impressive, but your closing impression is "wow, look how he lifted them up! So strong!"

I hope they do a better job balancing the two nights this year. Just finished watching WM38. You've got an elite Night 1, and Night 2 is a drastic comedown from that. I'll probably chuck on WM39 next, but it's fresh enough in my head anyway- epic Night 1, and Night 2 is very lucky to have the IC triple threat on it, otherwise it'd be another big comedown. Would be nice for the highlight to be Night 2 for a change.