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Matches that changed wrestling


HarmonicGenerator

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What are the individual matches that you think had such an impact they changed the wider world of wrestling through their influence? For good or ill. It works really well for a company one time, so they start building it into their matches more and more - or a single match affects a whole bunch of up-and-coming wrestlers who use what that match did in their own careers.

For example, I think if we hadn't had Shawn Michaels vs Ric Flair at WrestleMania 24, then one of the main event styles of modern WWE - the "SHOUT THE STORY OUT LOUD SO THEY ALL GET IT", overly melodramatic style we've seen a lot of recently - probably never happens. "I'm sorry, I love you" has a lot to answer for.

The other main event style that WWE seems to have at the moment is the super-quick finisher sprint and that appears to all go back to Goldberg vs Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series and again at WrestleMania one-of-the-30s. Worked brilliantly then, but the novelty has worn off now that pretty much any match either of the two of them have now is that. Especially if it's like last year's WrestleMania where we got one on each night.

Thinking much further back, the obvious one is Undertaker vs Mankind at King Of The Ring 98. It's more than 20 years now but it still feels like any big bump off something high can't help but be compared to that match. Will anything top how memorable and shocking that first time was? Probably not, but people still seem to try.

One that I was thinking about that is probably much more demonstrably wrong is the Kenta Kobashi vs Kensuke Sasaki match from NOAH in 2005. Kobashi and his mates' classic matches from the 90s were always held up as the greatest things ever when I first started reading wrestling stuff online, but the Sasaki match felt like the first time one was happening right then - and thanks to the likes of TWC and Rapidshare and Megaupload, you didn't need a tape trader to be able to see it. To me, it felt like the first classic Japanese match (whether it was a classic or not) that was more widely available, and I do wonder how much of the modern choppy-choppy-choppy-choppy style we get these days came from this match and people focusing on them chopping each other really hard a whole lot, but missing the point of why they were doing it.

 

What other individual matches are there that probably influenced a style, or changed how wrestling is done? (And why are the ones I mentioned wrong?)

Edited by HarmonicGenerator
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Diesel vs Shawn Micheals - MSG, May 19, 1996

The "curtain call" match. From that we got

Outsiders going to WCW leading to NWO

HHH not winning the KOTR as punishment with Austin getting the nod and the 3:16 speech

acknowledgement of "The Kliq" by WWF and running with it to form DX

 

Could also throw in PIllman - Liger Superbrawl II - Feb 29 1992

first real introduction of Liger to American audiences and the best opening PPV match at the time

 

Edited by Sheffbag
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Razor Ramon vs Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania X. It wasn't the first ever ladder match, not even the first in WWF but it brought the match to the limelight and it seemed a really exciting thing at the time. Now WWE have about half a dozen a year. 

 

I think Final Deletion had a big "impact", it was basically a rip off of what Lucha Underground had been doing but it had what lead WWE and Impact to do cinematic matches since then. 

Edited by westlondonmist
added extra match
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3 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

The very first Brian Pillman vs Jushin Liger match in WCW is always the first one I think of. Almost incalculable the effect that match must have had on North American wrestling.

Damn! i was just editing my post to put that in when you posted it! great minds and all that bollocks :) 

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This might be an eyebrow raising suggestion at first glance, but does Paige & Emma versus The Bella Twins from the 23/02/15 RAW merit inclusion?

This is the match that sparked #GiveDivasAChance (the entrances were longer than the match itself), and while the improvement wasn't immediate, in the coming years we would see female wrestlers rising to prominence on NXT and then on the main roster, eventually main-eventing Wrestlemania. 

You could argue that a number of NXT women's matches are more important in this context, but the #GiveDivasAChance hashtag also highlighted the power of social media to influence wrestling, and in particular to amplify female voices. In subsequent years that medium has been important, particularly when it came to #SpeakingOut. 

As far as I can think, #GiveDivasAChance was the first time fans stood up to rightly say that female performers deserved better. In the end, that's what happened, although clearly there is still some way to go. 

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Rey Mysterio vs Kurt Angle (SummerSlam '02) felt like a big one for WWE. It was the first time I can think of where they really showcased smaller high-fliers as being on the same level as the main-event heavyweights. I can't think of many examples before then that weren't classed as upsets. And while the main event did get smaller in the mid-90s, it was still new for a cruiserweight to be in that kind of place on a consistent basis. I think that did a lot for both Guerrero and Benoit a little later, in terms of how they could be booked (even though they're obviously larger than Rey). On a side-note on that, one of my favourite things in wrestling history is Kurt Angle in that match - he's hilarious/intense, obviously, but he slows himself down half-a-step throughout, and makes himself look clumsy in just the right way to highlight Rey's strengths. Amazing stuff.

I'd also throw in a shout for Bret Hart vs Diesel at Survivor Series '95. While the same argument could be made for Diesel vs Shawn Michaels later on, Hart/Diesel was the first time I can think of a WWE main event getting wild in that way - and between two faces, no less. The first table bump, along with some shithousing from Hart, made it feel like a more brutal and 'real' match than they'd had in a while. It feels, looking back, like a big change in their main events from then on.

Edited by Chris B
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Follow on from HBK vs Flair is Andrade vs Gargano from Takeover Texas I think it was, that's the proper template for alot of spam finishes and long matches that affect most companies these days.

I'd say the opposite for Brock vs Berg, I like it cos it's quick impactful, realistic-ish, and doesn't outstay it's welcome, if done with right power guys it works a treat imo Brock/Braun/Goldberg/Drew were right guys for those matches, Roman should quickly smash more guys now and again.

What about Owen vs Austin at Summerslam 97, Stone cold was obviously the next big thing at that point but 3 months of promo's and stunning people kept him protected and made him stand out, also lead to him changing to a brawling style that attitude era became known for 

Edited by The Cutting Edge
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in more of a butterfly effect situation, the 1984 match that led to Atsushi Onita being released from AJPW because he hadn't recovered sufficiently from his knee injury.

Without that, he doesn't come back and try to get involved with UWF-i, which doesn't lead to him working matches with karate guys, and launching FMW. Without him throwing shit at the wall to try and make his company stand out, he doesn't end up promoting deathmatches and getting massively over as a result.

Without FMW proving that "hardcore" is a viable ethos for a major wrestling company, Paul Heyman maybe doesn't take ECW in that creative direction, which means many of the stars who came through ECW, or found their personalities there, don't progress to the WWF or WCW.

Without FMW, you don't get IWA: Japan, so you don't get King of the Deathmatch - between that and ECW, you likely don't get the career reinvention of Terry Funk, or Cactus Jack going from WCW midcard/indie stand-out to "Hardcore Legend". 

Without the FMW influence on ECW, you most likely don't get the Attitude Era, you don't get the Hardcore Title, and so on. You don't get the early 2000s indie boom from companies trying to fill the void left by ECW. You don't get ECW playing a key part in introducing Mexican and Japanese talent to American audiences and proving that they're a viable draw in the US. So on and so on and so on.

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Every Indy match for 25 years has been influenced by the Malenko/Guerrero matches in ECW. Those and the Mystero/Psichosos matches had a massive influence on the WCW Cruiserweight style. That's a really popular style that we've seen ever since with spots from Malenko/Guerrero blatantly copied and the dive heavy matches becoming normal.

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13 minutes ago, Chris B said:

Great match, but how?

hugely influential on the Junior Heavyweight style that would follow, in terms of mixing high impact throws/suplexes with fast-paced acrobatic moves and strikes.

You don't get to Dynamite Kid vs. Tiger Mask - and the entire NJPW junior style that is born from that - without Jones and Rocco. It's significant that Rocco was chosen to be Black Tiger, and Dynamite as Sayama's first NJPW opponent, following Sayama's stint in the UK. 

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