Opinion
Mathew’s Top Matches of 2018: Honorable Mentions
As the year comes to a close, rewinding a bit to go over favorite matches seems par for the course. Let’s see which matches just barely missed Mathew’s Top 25 cut!
Hello everyone, I would first like to say that I hope everyone had an amazing holiday. Secondly, the year has come to a close as starting tomorrow, I will be writing my Top 25 Matches of 2018 where we will see which matches were my personal favorites of the year.
This article though will be for the honorable mentions that while they were amazing matches, they just didn’t make the cut and I thought I would give them some love here at least and you should at least check them out. I separated them from the company for the majority of them while the rest will be listed under as other.
So I hope you enjoy and look forward to the real list starting tomorrow!
WWE:
- Men’s Royal Rumble (Royal Rumble 1/28/18)
- Women’s Royal Rumble (Royal Rumble 1/28/18)
- AJ Styles vs. John Cena (SmackDown Live 2/27/18)
- Mustafa Ali vs. Cedric Alexander (205 Live 1/23/18)
- Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Rusev (Fastlane 3/11/18)
- Bobby Roode vs. Randy Orton (Fastlane 3/11/18)
- Lars Sullivan vs. EC3 vs. Velveteen Dream vs. Ricochet vs. Adam Cole vs. Killian Dain (NXT Takeover: NOLA 4/7/18)
- Andrade Cien Almas vs. Aleister Black (NXT Takeover: NOLA 4/7/18)
- Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa (NXT Takeover: NOLA 4/7/18)
- The Miz vs. Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor (WrestleMania 34 4/8/18)
- Charlotte Flair vs. Asuka (WrestleMania 34 4/8/18)
- Kurt Angle & Ronda Rousey vs. Triple H & Stephanie McMahon (WrestleMania 34 4/8/18)
- Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor (Raw 4/30/18)
- Seth Rollins vs. The Miz (Backlash 5/6/18)
- AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (SmackDown Live 5/15/18)
- Cedric Alexander vs. Buddy Murphy (205 Live 5/29/18)
- Mustafa Ali vs. Buddy Murphy vs. Hideo Itami (205 Live 6/19/18)
- Cedric Alexander vs. Hideo Itami (205 Live 7/10/18)
- Undisputed Era vs. Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch (NXT Takeover: Chicago 6/16/18)
- Velveteen Dream vs. Ricochet (NXT Takeover: Chicago 6/16/18)
- Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa (NXT Takeover: Chicago (6/16/18)
- Undisputed Era vs. Mustache Mountain (UK Championship Tournament Day 1 6/25/18)
- Nia Jax vs. Ronda Rousey (Money in the Bank 6/17/18)
- Meiko Satomura vs. Mercedes Martinez (MYC 10/3/18)
- Toni Storm vs. Meiko Satomura (MYC 10/24/18)
- Undisputed Era vs. Mustache Mountain (NXT Takeover: Brooklyn IV 8/18/18)
- Adam Cole vs. Ricochet (NXT Takeover: Brooklyn IV 8/18/18)
- Shayna Baszler vs. Kairi Sane (NXT Takeover: Brooklyn IV 8/18/18)
- Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz (SummerSlam 8/19/18)
- Johnny Gargano vs. Velveteen Dream, (NXT 8/23/18)
- Randy Orton vs. Jeff Hardy (Hell in a Cell 9/16/18)
- AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe (Hell in a Cell 9/16/18)
- Ricochet vs. Pete Dunne (NXT 9/19/18)
- AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe (Super Show-Down 10/6/18)
- Cedric Alexander vs. Buddy Murphy (Super Show-Down 10/6/18)
- Hideo Itami vs. Mustafa Ali (205 Live 10/23/18)
- Johnny Gargano vs. Aleister Black (NXT Takeover: WarGames 11/17/18)
- Undisputed Era vs. Ricochet, Pete Dunne, & War Raiders (NXT Takeover: WarGames 11/17/18)
- Charlotte Flair vs. Ronda Rousey (Survivor Series 11/18/18)
- Seth Rollins vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (Survivor Series 11/18/18)
- Daniel Bryan vs. Brock Lesnar (Survivor Series 11/18/18)
- Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Asuka (TLC 12/16/18)
- Daniel Bryan vs. AJ Styles (TLC 12/16/18)
NJPW:
- Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho (Wrestle Kingdom 12 1/4/18)
- Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito (Wrestle Kingdom 12 1/4/18)
- Kenny Omega vs. Jay White (New Beginning in Sapporo 1/28/18)
- Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Minoru Suzuki (New Beginning in Sapporo 1/27/18)
- Kazuchika Okada vs. SANADA (New Beginning in Osaka 2/10/18)
- Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Juice Robinson (New Japan Cup 3/16/18)
- Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi (New Japan Cup 3/21/18)
- Kazuchika Okada vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (Sakura Genesis 4/1/18)
- Golden Lovers vs. Young Bucks (Strong Style Evolved 3/25/18)
- KUSHIDA vs. Will Ospreay (Wrestling Dontaku 5/4/18)
- Will Ospreay vs. Hiromu Takahashi (Dominion 6/9/18)
- Tetsuya Naito vs. Chris Jericho (Dominion 6/9/18)
- Jay White vs. Kazuchika Okada (G1 Climax 7/14/18)
- Kenny Omega vs. Tetsuya Naito (G1 Climax 7/15/18)
- Kenny Omega vs. Hirooki Goto (G1 Climax 7/19/18)
- Hirooki Goto vs. Tomohiro Ishii (G1 Climax 7/21/18)
- Kota Ibushi vs. SANADA (G1 Climax 7/26/18)
- Tomohiro Ishii vs. Kenny Omega (G1 Climax 8/4/18)
- Tomohiro Ishii vs. SANADA (G1 Climax 8/11/18)
- Tomohiro Ishii vs. Kota Ibushi (G1 Climax 7/28/18)
- Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada (G1 Climax 8/10/18)
- Golden Lovers vs. Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii (Fighting Spirit Unleashed 9/30/18)
- Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada (Destruction in Kobe 9/23/18)
- Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Jay White (King of Pro Wrestling 10/8/18)
- Kenny Omega vs. Cody vs. Kota Ibushi (King of Pro Wrestling 10/8/18)
- Chris Jericho vs. EVIL (Power Struggle
- Golden Lovers vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Will Ospreay (Road to Tokyo Dome 12/15/18)
AJPW:
- Joe Doering vs. Zeus (New Year Wars 1/2/18)
- Violent Giants vs. Yoshiken (Yokohama Twilight Blues 2/3/18)
- Koji Iwamoto vs. Josh Bodon (Dream Power Series 3/25/18)
- Yoshitatsu vs. Suwama (Champions Carnival 4/22/18)
- Kento Miyahara vs. Shingo Takagi (Champions Carnival 4/7/18)
- Shingo Takagi vs. Yuji Hino (Champions Carnival 4/15/18)
- Zeus vs. Naomichi Marufuji (Champions Carnival 4/20/18)
- Jun Akiyama vs. Naomichi Marufuji (Champions Carnival 4/25/18)
- Kento Miyahara vs Yuji Hino (Champions Carnival 4/29/18)
- Kento Miyahara vs. Naomichi Marufuji (Super Power Series 5/24/18)
- Jun Akiyama & Yuji Nagata vs. NEXTREAM (Dynamite Series 6/12/18)
- Kento Miyahara vs. Dylan James (Dynamite Series 6/12/18)
- Kento Miyahara vs. Zeus (Summer Action Series 7/29/18)
- Zeus vs. Naoya Nomura (Oudou Tournament 9/17/18)
- Koji Iwamoto vs. Shuji Kondo (Oudou Tournament 9/22/18)
- Kento Miyahara vs. Jake Lee (Oudou Tournament 9/22/18)
- Kengo Mashimo vs. Zeus (Oudou Tournament 9/24/18)
- Yuji Hino vs. Kento Miyahara (Oudou Tournament 9/24/18)
- Kengo Mashimo vs. Kento Miyahara (Oudou Tournament 9/24/180
- Violent Giants vs. The Bomber (Real World Tag League 12/11/18)
Dragon Gate:
- Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Kzy (Kotoka Road to Final 2/7/18)
- Ryo Saito vs. Shingo Takagi (Kotoka Road to Final 3/6/18)
- Dragon Kid vs. Yosuke Santa Maria (Dead or Alive 5/6/18)
- YAMATO vs. Kzy (King of Gate 5/8/18)
- Naruki Doi vs. YAMATO (King of Gate 6/1/18)
- Ben-K & Big R Shimizu vs. BxB Hulk & YAMATO (Kobe Pro Wrestling Festival 7/22/18)
- BxB Hulk & YAMATO vs. Masaaki Mochizuki & Shun Skywalker (Dangerous Gate 9/28/18)
- Masato Yoshino vs. Naruki Doi (Dangerous Gate 9/28/18)
- Masato Yoshino vs. Ben-K (Gate of Destiny 11/4/18)
- Ben-K, Big R Shimizu & PAC vs. BxB Hulk, Flamita & YAMATO vs. Genki Horiguchi, Kzy & Susumu Yokosuka vs. Jason Lee, Masato Yoshino & Naruki Doi (Gate of Evolution 11/6/18)
- Masato Yoshino vs. PAC (Fantastic Gate 12/4/18)
NOAH:
- Kenoh vs. Takashi Sugiura (Great Voyage in Yokohama 3/11/18)
- Takashi Sugiura vs. Naomichi Marufuji (Navigation with Breeze 5/29/18)
- Takashi Sugiura vs. Kenoh (Navigation with Emerald Spirits 6/26/18)
- Akitoshi Saito & Naomichi Marufuji defeat Katsuhiko Nakajima & Masa Kitamiya (Junior Heavyweight Tag League 7/28/18)
- Takashi Sugiura & Daisuke Harada vs Atsushi Aoki & Jun Akiyama (Flight 9/1/18)
- Naomichi Marufuji vs. Hideo Itami (Flight 9/1/18)
- Daisuke Harada vs. Kotaro Suzuki (Global League 10/30/18)
- Kenoh vs. Naomichi Marufuji (Global League 11/8/18)
- Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima (Global League 11/25/18)
- Kotaro Suzuki vs. Daisuke Harada (Great Voyage in Yokohama Vol. 2 12/16/18)
- Go Shiozaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Yuji Hino & Maybach Taniguchi (Great Voyage in Yokohama Vol. 2 12/16/18)
- Takashi Sugiura vs. Kaito Kiyomiya (Great Voyage in Yokohama Vol. 2 12/16/18)
Stardom:
- Toni Storm vs. Meiko Satomura (Queen’s Fes 2/18/18)
- Io Shirai & Tam Nakano vs. Kagetsu & Natsu Sumire (Dream Slam in Nagoya 4/1/18)
- Toni Storm vs. Mayu Iwatani (Dream Slam in Nagoya 4/1/18)
- Kagetsu vs. Io Shirai vs. Mayu Iwatani (Stardom Rebirth 4/15/18)
- Io Shirai vs. Mayu Iwatani (Cinderella Tournament)
- Io Shirai vs. Kagetsu (Golden Week Stars 5/5/18)
- Io Shirai vs. Momo Watanabe (Gold Star 5/23/18)
- Io Shirai & Mayu Iwatani vs. Kagetsu & Hazuki (Goddesses of Destiny 6/19/18)
- Momo Watanabe vs. Hazuki (Bright Summer 7/16/18)
- Starlight Kid vs. AZM (Queen’s Fes in Sapporo 6/3/18)
- Jungle Kyona vs. Utami Hayashishita (Stardom x Stardom 8/12/18)
- Kagetsu vs. Mayu Iwatami (Stardom x Stardom 8/12/18)
- Konami vs. Kagetsu (5 Star Grand Prix 8/18/18)
- Tam Nakano vs. Jungle Kyona (5 Star Grand Prix 8/26/18)
- Mayu Iwatani vs. Utami Hayashishita (5 Star Grand Prix 9/24/18)
- Kagetsu vs. Momo Watanabe (Grand Champion Carnival 9/30/18)
- Momo Watanabe vs. Mayu Iwatani (True Fight 10/23/18)
Misc:
- Nick Aldis vs. Cody (All In 9/1/18)
- Kagetsu & Hazuki vs. Chihiro Mashimoto & DASH Chisako (Sendai Girls 11/16/18)
- Pete Dunne vs. Ilja Dragunov (Progress Chapter 76: Hello Wembley! 9/30/18)
- Shingo Takagi vs. Jeff Cobb vs. Bandido (PWG: Battle of Los Angeles 9/16/18)
- Ilja Dragunov vs. Shingo Takagi (PWG: Battle of Los Angeles 9/15/18)
- Shotaro Ashino vs. Manabu Soya (Wrestle-1 Trans Magic 3/14/18)
- Manabu Soya vs. Shotaro Ashino (Wrestle-1 Love in Yokohama 9/2/18)
- Shotaro Ashino vs. Koji Doi (Wrestle-1 Grand Prix Finals 7/18/18)
- WALTER vs. Will Ospreay (OTT 4 Year Anniversary 10/13/18)
- WALTER vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (Progress Chapter 79: Pumpkin Spice Progress 10/28/18)
- Bandido, Flamita & Rey Horus vs. CIMA, Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz (PWG: Battle of Los Angeles 9/15/18)
- CIMA vs. Konosuke Takeshita (DDT: Ryogoku Peter Pan Fall Festival 10/21/18)
- Tomohiro Ishii vs. Keith Lee (RPW: Epic Encounter 5/11/18)
- Jay Lethal vs. Will Ospreay (ROH Death Before Dishonor 9/28/18)
- Kenny Omega vs. Cody (ROH Supercard of Honor XII 4/7/18)
- Cody vs. Nick Aldia (NWA 70th Anniversary 10/21/18)
- Tessa Blanchard vs. Mercedes Martinez (RISE 10: Insanity 10/19/18)
- Austin Aries vs. Johnny Impact (Impact Bound for Glory 10/14/18)
- Austin Aries vs. Pentagon vs. Rey Fenix (Impact Redemption 4/22/18)
- Matt Sydal vs. Brian Cage (Impact Slammiversary 7/22/18)
- Sami Callihan vs. Pentagon Jr. (Impact Slammiversary 7/22/18)
- Will Ospreay vs. Matt Riddle (OTT ScrapperMania IV 5/12/18)
- Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Matt Riddle (Evolve 102 4/5/18)
- Jordan Devlin vs. Will Ospreay (Progress Chapter 72: Got Got Need 6/24/18)
- Arisa Nakajima vs. Rina Yamashita (SEAdLINNNG d-Higher 10/3/18)
- Nanae Takahashi vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto ( SEAdLINNNG d-Higher 10/3/18)
- Arisa Nakajima vs. Nanae Takahashi (SEAdLINNNG Go! Beyond! 11/3/18)
- Mika Iwata vs. Hana Kimura (Sendai Girls 4/19/18)
- Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Cassandra Miyagi (Sendai Girls 10/14/18)
- Masashi Takeda vs. Jun Kasai (FREEDOM Tokyo Death Carnival 8/28/18)
- Hideki Suzuki vs. Daisuke Sekimoto (BJW Ryogokutan 2018 11/11/18)
- Hideyoshi Kamitani & Takuya Nomura vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima & Masa Kitamiya (Riki Chosu Power Hall 7/10/18)
- Bobby Gunns vs. Ilja Dragunov (wXw World Tag Team League 6/10/18)
- Meiko Satomura vs. Io Shirai vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto (Fortune Dream V 6/11/18)
- Matt Riddle vs. Shane Strickland (Evolve 108 8/4/18)
- Jay Lethal vs. Jonathan Gresham (ROH TV 9/8/18)
- Daisuke Sekimoto & Kazusada Higuchi vs. HARASHIMA & Naomichi Marufuji (DDT Judgement 3/25/18)
Any of these companies you might not be familiar with, take these matches as a good starting point. Even though they didn’t make my Top 25, doesn’t mean they aren’t enjoyable and well wrestled. If any of these were some of your favorites of 2018, keep your eyes open for my Top 25. That way you can see what I thought was maybe a little better.
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Opinion
TheChairshot.com PRESENTS: WWE Bash In Berlin Immediate Reactions
Join DJ and Tunney for their immediate reactions to WWE Bash in Berlin. For the latest, greatest and up to datest, ALWAYS #UseYourHead and visit THECHAIRSHOT.COM
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prowrestlingtees.com/TheChairshot – TONS of Great designs…MAKES A GREAT GIFT!
About Chairshot Radio Network
Launched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you’ll find!
MONDAY – Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)
TUESDAY – Musical Chairs (music) / Hockey Talk (NHL)
WEDNESDAY – The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling)
THURSDAY – Keeping the news ridiculous… The Oddity / Chairshot NFL (NFL)
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CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS
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Patrick O’Dowd’s 5X5
Classic POD is WAR
Chairshot Radio Network
Your home for the hardest hitting podcasts… Sports, Entertainment and Sports Entertainment!
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About Chairshot Radio Network
Launched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you’ll find!
MONDAY - Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)
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CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS
Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history)
TheChairshot.com PRESENTS...IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends
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Opinion
AJ’s Top 3 Favorite SummerSlams
AJ is back with his annual opinion article, and this time the SummerSlam buzz got him wondering about his personal Top 3.
It’s been a while since I have done any form of writing and SummerSlam is this Saturday. Of all the SummerSlams I’ve seen over the years; which ones are my favorites? While it’s not a revolutionary idea, I figured everyone loves to debate favorites of well, anything. Don’t worry though because this isn’t just going to be pure recency bias. I’ve watched the majority of them so with the ones I put on the list, it hit me more in some way shape or form whether it was story, a really good match or it just felt like a solid event.
At least this proves WWE is trending in a good direction for me, when it gets the ol’ brain juices flowing just because a show is around the corner!
#3: 2022 (Ol’ Brock Lesnar Has A Farm)
Starting off the show, we get Bianca looking for a rematch against Becky from last years SummerSlam and it was better than the 21 second affair that everyone claims was a squash. This time Bianca holds her own and beats the Man in a fairly decent match, good way to get the event started. Next up is the heat seeking missile, Logan Paul against the former heat seeking missile because, well he wasn’t cut out for it and wasn’t a guy in everyone’s eyes, The Miz. After they had their blow off at Mania with Logan coming out on top which… isn’t awful, I just don’t like Logan Paul because he has that dude bro aura and swagger to make him more hateable than any other person on the card. Which I suppose is his gimmick…so…kudos?
First Championship match is for the US Championship and it’s as expected that in Theory, he should never beat someone to the caliber of Bobby Lashley which is no surprise. Dominik and Rey still back when Dom wanted the good fight against the Judgement Day before joining them later. The former Colts players, which they hammered it dahn in this match up showed that the canal swimming, trash talkin’, podcastin’, current RAW Color Commentatin’ goofball we all love, Pat McAfee came out on top again Bum Ass Corbin.
Usos putting the Street Profits on lockdown in the penitentiary since I believe this was peak Bloodline with the belt collecting and running all of WWE. Liv beat Ronda Rousey which isn’t astonishing but it’s not something people had on their bingo cards for anything with WWE so it was a nice little shock factor. The most memorable part of the night is obviously the Main Event, Lesnar brings the tractor, Roman catching the Microphone and Brock stands on top of the vehicle. Damn good match that showed off what they do in the ring since Roman caught his stride as the main bad guy and Brock… liked people after all of this? That is still a weird statement in my head. Brock being a good guy people person. If Liv wasn’t on bingo cards for wrestling, that is not on bingo cards in any aspect of life really.
That is more of the event that had solid matches and story going for it. No weird double count out, multiple people involved, 5 tag matches on the card. Things made sense and weren’t convoluted, had shocking moments that were great to see like Liv actually getting a title defense and there were the results we all expected at the time like Theory losing in 4 minutes to Bobby Lashley.
#2: 2009 (Are You Ready for The Return?)
This event wasn’t that strong. It was strong with the star power involved in 2009 with guys like Rey Mysterio as Intercontinental Champion, Orton and Cena for the WWE Championship as it was becoming as stale as month old chips and CM Punk was facing Jeff Hardy before he ultimately returned to TNA at the beginning of 2010 after this PPV. For me, it’s not so much of the show itself, it was more of the memories because the Balai as our friends Chris Platt and Rey Cash like to call my brother and I, we were just coming back into wrestling and we were TNA Fans. We didn’t watch WWE that much really, it was just what came on after another channel had old ROH shows before they moved to three hours and swallowed the 8pm Eastern Slot. No, the reason why this has so many memories for me is three main reasons. First, Orton and Cena. They have had their rivalry since the beginning it seems, being each others foils like Hogan and Piper before them and there had to be a stipulation where if Randy was Counted Out or DQ’d, he’d lose the championship regardless. This was prime Viper Randy and the obvious joke we had of Super Cena where he very rarely lost, unless it was SummerSlam surprisingly enough.
Number two reason was CM Punk and Jeff Hardy. Hardys known for the Ladder and TLC matches in the past and this being the penultimate match for this feud and it was a banger of a match. If you didn’t know Punk before, it was a great introduction to his wrestling. I used to like Punk a lot because of this match because he could talk, wrestle… and not insanely personal with things in wrestling. In all seriousness, this was a great match. Ultimate risks, high reward for Punk grabbing the World Heavyweight Championship and he was given his next feud because of the final boss of SmackDown at that time. Thanks, Teddy Long.
The main and final reason though why this match gave me the memories flowing back is more of the fact that one of my closest and longest termed friends of 23 years, also loves wrestling. Back when we were younger, he’d do MoCap videos on YouTube with his figures. We’d have friends come over for parties at his house and we’d do the one thing WWE always told us not to do and that was try it at home. He was always stronger than me, I was always more charismatic. He had the power aspect and did things with brute force, I could talk my way out of trouble with parents if we did something wrong. There was always one thing that our respective mother’s always called us though… it’s on the tip of my tongue… oh right, ‘Degenerates’.
As soon as we were called that, we kind of parodied the DX line. I was limber enough to do the HBK pose and do a Superkick before it became the new DDT and he would just Spinebuster people and knew how to do the water spit. So what do you think was the main reason we even ordered this PPV for his 13th Birthday? I think the two guys we were pretending to be were set to return on a tank and toss out some glow sticks. The return of DX, Shawn Michaels coming back after Mania with Triple H to deal with the Legacy problem was an amazing return for them and made everything so much fun.
So we have the solid card and this one has a personal story… what’s my number one SummerSlam? Is it personal? Well yes but not going into that. Is it a good card? To me, it was a phenomenal card! Is it memorable? Seeing how wrestling fans still mention at least three matches to this day.
#1: 2005 (Octopus in the Washer, Lover’s Quarrel and Where the F%#$ is Vickie?)
Quite possibly some of the best matches I’ve seen and one that was just the most hilarious moments of overselling in wrestling history, I know why I love this SummerSlam but it’s also a really good card at the same time. Redacted beats Orlando Jordan in 25 seconds for the US Title and they made jokes about it like, he can make a coffee faster than he beat Orlando and stuff like that, it’s pretty funny. Angle getting sick of Eugene’s antics for his Gold Medal was also a great bit they had play up, the Year long feud of Randy Orton and Undertaker was still going on where Orton comes out on top this time around to get the win back from Mania, Jericho returning for the match with Cena in a whole promotional thing for each other’s groups, Fozzy for Jericho and the Chain Gang doing Bad, Bad Man for Cena leading up to a match for the WWE Championship. JBL won a 20 man battle royal on SmackDown to win the Championship…… Opportunity to face the newest member of SmackDown, Batista but the three main matches that a lot of people talk about to this day; Edge vs Matt Hardy, Rey vs Eddie for Dominik and Hogan vs HBK in the Main Event.
I have reasons to enjoy the Hardy/Edge match but it looked like a real fight, it really made us believe that Matt Hardy was going to kill Edge because real names were dropped during this tirade from Hardy. It wasn’t Edge and Lita, it was Adam and Amy. Matt was so dead set on beating the hell out of Edge that they made a situation into gold and it was a great moment for this match to happen, I believe it was also an Unsanctioned Match too which added the intensity until matt got concussed and knocked senseless that it looked like he couldn’t fight for anything but the build up was what made it seem like a marque match. It made it feel real, it made it feel awesome and it made it feel personal.
Eddie kept tormenting Rey Mysterio about Dominik not being Rey’s but Eddie’s for the summer. That’s all you heard from Eddie being the weasel he was is hanging out with Dominik, making the world believe it’s his son and what not (Let’s not do a fast forward to today where he has the mullet, mustache and everything like Eddie) but they settle this in a Ladder Match where the top of it is a document for the custody of Dominik and my god, this match is better than it should have been. I expect nothing else from Eddie because the man hated having a bad match, Dom got involved and stopped Eddie, Vickie was late and stopped Eddie. The whole match was good it was just very weird with the premise but was a great match. I wonder if Rey regrets his decision to win the match now…
Octopus in a Washing Machine… those five words have resonated with Shawn Michaels’ performance in this match, forever. It was supposed to be an amazing match up between Hogan and Michaels, Icon vs Icon it said and suddenly Hogan’s back gives out, can’t do a trilogy of matches so we can only do the one and then pull out of everything after. This match was set up to be a classic and instead turned into the most unbelievable sell fest ever. A Hogan big boot caused Shawn to tumble 3 or 4 times, getting crotched on the ropes had HBK bouncing higher than he should have, being tossed out of the ring made it look like Shawn never broke his back in 1998 from how much he flopped and flipped around like crazy. It’s bad… or maybe even good that a lot of current wrestlers watched this match that went, “I can sell like that, I want to be a wrestler” and did. So good or bad, I don’t know but for some reason this PPV has always had a place in my heart for how memorable it was.
Those are my top three SummerSlams so far but who knows, 2024 has potential to maybe bump something or at least get me to consider a shift. Should be fun to see how the show plays out! What are some of your favorite SummerSlams?
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TheChairshot.com PRESENTS...IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends
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