Top 10: HBK Matches

[TheScarlettChad]

If we're talking matches that never happened but we wanted them to, Sting vs HBK. That would have been a belter in 2003.

[wandshogun09]

13 minutes ago, tiger_rick said:

In terms of matches that didn't happen, Eddie is a big one for me too. 

14 minutes ago, tiger_rick said:

I really wish he'd had a few more matches with Triple H too, we just didn't get it enough.

[TheBurningRed]

Difficult to put a top 10 in order for me. Michaels is my favourite wrestler of all time (with Danielson and Stan Hansen behind him for anyone who cares). I could go a definitive top 5

1) Hell in a Cell match vs Undertaker. 

2) Undertaker at Mania 25

3) Triple H - Summerslam 02

4) Kurt Angle - Wrestlemania 21

5) vs Triple H vs Chris Benoit - Wrestlemania 20

The Jericho feud in 2008 was fantastic. All fun matches. He pulled out a great match with Chris Masters at Unfortiven 2005. The Angle rematch at Vengeance. The Wrestlemania 20 rematch at Backlash. D-X vs Legacy feud. Career vs Streak (which had the brilliant Running Up The Hill video package). The Rumble 2010 match and his desperation to face Undertaker again.

Plus the others mentioned on here. Ladder match with Razor. Mind Games with Mankind. Better Enemies with Diesel. One Night Only with Bulldog. John Cena on Raw. The Bret Hart matches (except the Iron Man). Any of those could fill out the rest of my top 10.

Also, justice for Vader. The Summerslam 96 match was really good. And I don’t care if he was smelly, the big man should’ve got the belt. 

[RIDDUM_N_STYLE]

I’m one of the few who enjoyed both DX reunion runs in 2006 and 2009, the latter has, imo, a brilliant trilogy of tag matches with a young Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase Jr, the pick being the middle, Submissions Count Anywhere match where Shawn takes an absolute beating before succumbing to the combo of a Bret special figure 4 on the ring post and Million Dollar Dream

[air_raid]

16 hours ago, wandshogun09 said:

Hogan should’ve lost to Bret at SummerSlam a whole 12 years earlier. Fuck him and his hot dog skin, from then on.

Ah, bless. When he insists that he dropped the idea to Vince that instead of Yoko just winning the belt from Bret, he could give Yoko the extra boost by winning that belt from Yoko so he could drop it back to him on his way out. And that him even wrestling Bret was never part of the conversation.

Almost makes sense, except Vince told Bret he was retaining at Mania right up until the day before. So "we're going all the way" with Bret was the plan until Terry stuck his oar in. There's no version of the plan where Yoko wins the belt from Bret at IX to have a year long reign uninterrupted otherwise (prior to obvious eventual diversion to Lex). If Bret was supposed to hold the belt after Mania, it stands to reason Hogan winning it was supposed to end up with him anointing Bret, as opposed to the King of the Ring consolation and keeping him waiting for another year.

[WeeAl]

I have no order to these other than picking number #1. On any given day I'd swap these up and down all over the show. The first one is easy though. 

#1) Vs Undertaker - HIAC - Badd Blood '97

I've this and Bret/Austin at 'Mania 13 as the two best in company history, so it has to be #1 here. To be honest, Shawn & Taker had incredible chemistry. Their match at Ground Zero was a brilliant brawl, with Shawn getting the piss beat out of him, the Rumble Casket match was as good a casket match as you'd get. Their interactions in the Royal Rumbles before the rebirth of their feud ahead of the two great 'Mania matches. They just clicked. 

Vs Sid - WWF Title - Survivor Series '96

I've a real fondness for this show. Proper warm and fuzzy feeling stuff. Sid's biggest and best night and Shawn was the perfect dance partner. Bumps and feeds for him like a maniac. 

Vs Bret - WWF Title - Survivor's '97

We all know why it was a big deal, but the match itself is fire. It's a shame they weren't able to face each other another time, during the year when both peaked as characters. 

Vs HHH - Raw Dec 2003 - World Title. 

I bought this the whole way, and was fucking livid at the end. Thought at the time, and since, that it's easily their best match with the other, outside of the Summer Slam return. A wonderful piece of work here. 

Vs HHH SummerSlam '02 

Shawn had been gone that long I never thought we'd see him back. Even once it was announced he was returning, I wasn't sure what I thought we may be even able to expect of him. Smoke and mirrors, a one and done type of deal maybe. But no. He just rocks up and tells everyone to hold his beer. Masterful. 

Vs Razor - Summer Slam '95 - IC title

See, I saw this before I saw the 'Mania 10 match, and I believe it was the first ladder match I'd watched as well. The story isn't there like with the first, and their roles don't compliment the same. There's the issue that doesn't make a lot of sense with not being allowed to offensively use the ladder? Even so, their chemistry was amazing. I'd probably have to put both ladder matches on the list really. 

So, 

Vs Razor - 'Mania X - IC Title

As above. 

Vs Diesel - Good Friends, Better Enemies - April '96 - WWF Title 

Again, Shawn has a barn burner with one of his buddies. Really impressive stuff from Nash, who was on a bit of a hot streak here with the Bret match at Survivors, the Mania match with Taker and then this one in April. The leg incident with Mad Dog was shocking at the time. 

Vs Austin - 'Mania 14 - WWF Title 

It gets put down more than it deserves I think. You can tell Michaels is suffering throughout, but realistically, he pushes through and I'm not sure a healthy Michaels wrestles the match any differently - just that he'd feel fresh as a daisy after rather than a physical wreck. But Shawn thought it was over for him here and emptied what was left of the tank. And it was massive. 'Mania 14 was a time and place moment and if you were watching at the time, then this was as big as anything he was involved with in his career outside of Montreal - and at least this went how it should have went. 

Vs Undertaker - Mania 25. 

The Saving grace of the entire show. I get the opinions about it being the definitive setting of a house style and one that's so repetitive that It's ridiculous. However, for that way of doing a match? This was the cream of the crop. I was in attendance at this one and it was euphoric. 

 

Listen, there's fucking dozens of bloody matches you could list here, aren't there? He has a hell of a catalogue does the Sexy Boy. 

[air_raid]

10 hours ago, WeeAl said:

Vs Bret - WWF Title - Survivor's '97

We all know why it was a big deal, but the match itself is fire. It's a shame they weren't able to face each other another time, during the year when both peaked as characters.

The classic trade-off being if it had happened at Mania 13, Austin would have worked Bulldog. Trading in the submission match to see how the rematch would have worked, 20-25 minutes to a proper finish without the title hanging over it? Any takers?

10 hours ago, WeeAl said:

Vs Austin - 'Mania 14 - WWF Title 

It gets put down more than it deserves I think. You can tell Michaels is suffering throughout, but realistically, he pushes through and I'm not sure a healthy Michaels wrestles the match any differently - just that he'd feel fresh as a daisy after rather than a physical wreck. But Shawn thought it was over for him here and emptied what was left of the tank. And it was massive. 'Mania 14 was a time and place moment and if you were watching at the time, then this was as big as anything he was involved with in his career outside of Montreal - and at least this went how it should have went. 

This is an interesting one. It suffers because even at the time, it was a hard watch for me because I knew how banged up Shawn was (there's a recurring theme there). I think their match at King of the Ring 97 is better but gets forgotten because of the non finish.

10 hours ago, WeeAl said:

Vs HHH SummerSlam '02 

Shawn had been gone that long I never thought we'd see him back. Even once it was announced he was returning, I wasn't sure what I thought we may be even able to expect of him. Smoke and mirrors, a one and done type of deal maybe. But no. He just rocks up and tells everyone to hold his beer. Masterful.

I was very much expecting the full-blown shortcuts and distractions match. I felt like they'd do a very similar match to how I'd read this one went, even though I didn't get to see it until years later ;

 

[LaGoosh]

I'm not a huge HBK fan but the first Hell In A Cell is in my top ten greatest matches of all time. Personally I love 90s coked up dickhead HBK but don't really have any time for born again good buy 2000s HBK. In the 90s he was just on another level and I found most his return pretty dull and even his best matches from this period while I can understand objectively that they are good just didn't interest or move me in any way.

However the one match of his from that period which I absolutely love and haven't seen mentioned is the match vs Chris Jericho at Great American Bash (2008 I think) where Jericho busts open HBK's eye with an elbow then spends the whole match working on it leaving Shawn an absolute mess and the ref stopping the match. It just felt like a completely different match than we were used to seeing at that time and was really hard hitting, brutal and realistic. An overlooked minor classic.

[tiger_rick]

I traded for a TWA tape to see the Venom match in the early 2000s. That YouTube video is about 20 times more watchable than the tape was!

[air_raid]

19 minutes ago, tiger_rick said:

I traded for a TWA tape to see the Venom match in the early 2000s. That YouTube video is about 20 times more watchable than the tape was!

Ah, tape traders. I'll never forget buying a "Best of WCW Cruiserweights vol whatever" and it just being every match that could be classified as Cruiserweight from every Nitro over a period of months in chronological order, regardless if the match was 2 minutes long or had a fuck finish/nWo run in or whatever. "Best of."

[Carbomb]

I'm clearly something of a heretic, in that I prefer post-return HBK's work, but a big part of that is because I stopped watching the WWF somewhere around 1994 (when did Owen beat Bret? That was the last match I watched in that period), and didn't start again until 2000. When I watched his 90s matches back, they were impressive, but I wasn't emotionally invested in them. To be honest, I don't think I would ever have been, given I was a Bret hardcore and absolutely detested Michaels - the same element of me that didn't trust face Hogan in the early 90s when I started watching just wouldn't have sided with Michaels on either side of the divide.

Post-return, though, he's been in some matches that I love to re-watch. I go on about it on here, but the DX/Legacy tag match from 2009 is about as close to a perfect example of top-level pro-wrestlers as masters of their craft, nailing all the fundamentals and giving a superb offering without need for gimmicks or unique moments. Essentially, a top-notch steak and chips - nothing groundbreaking or innovative, but satisfying as hell, and reminds you of why you love food/wrestling in the first place. (Unless you're veggie/vegan, but I can't help that wrestling is full of meat.)

Also, a much undersung match for me is his WM23 outing with Cena. It's as much Cena's match as it is HBK's but it is just a load of fun.

I quite liked the WM19 match with Jericho - it had been built up with Jericho talking about how he'd been inspired by Michaels to be a wrestler, emulating his style and look, even to the point of making the same mistakes in a match, but now he was going to surpass him. A simple, but effective premise. The match itself definitely played out along those lines. Wanted Jericho to go over, but other than that it was a fun little match that delivered on a comparatively lacklustre WM card.

 

[air_raid]

22 minutes ago, Carbomb said:

(when did Owen beat Bret? That was the last match I watched in that period)

That's a hell of a flounce. The Hitman would approve.

[Carbomb]

56 minutes ago, air_raid said:

That's a hell of a flounce. The Hitman would approve.

I just realised I was "wrestling"ed out. Other interests had come along by that point. Retroactively I wish I hadn't, as I reckon I'd have loved Bret's World-Face-American-Heel work.

[air_raid]

18 minutes ago, Carbomb said:

I just realised I was "wrestling"ed out. Other interests had come along by that point.

I understand. I jacked it in for about two weeks in late 95/early 96. But Bret was champ and Sunny was still on TV so I realized I was lying to myself and in it for the long haul.

[Carbomb]

2 minutes ago, air_raid said:

I understand. I jacked it in 

Ah, you had the same interests as well!