The 40 Best WCW Matches of All Time

I'm starting before WCW, actually, with the first Starrcade - it's really television era NWA/WCW that I've seen all of, I think, so that's what the list consists of.

1.       1989 Clash 6 Steamboat d. Flair 5 55min

2.       1989 Wrestlewar Flair d. Steamboat 5 31:30

3.       1989 Chi Town Rumble Steamboat d. Flair 5 23min

4.       1996 Hog Wild Benoit d. Dean 4 ¾ 28min

5.       1997 HHavoc Rey d. Eddy 4 ½ 14min

6.       Dec, 1991 Liger d Pillman 4 ½ 16 min

7.       1997 Uncensored Dean d. Eddy 4 ½ 19min

8.       1999 Nitro Bret d. Benoit 28 min 4 ½

9.       1996 Starrcade Ultimo d. Dean 4 ½ 18:30

10.   1999 Slamboree Saturn/Raven d. Benoit/Maleno & Kidman/Rey 4 ½ 17:30

11.   1992 Wrestlewar Windham/Sting/Steamboat/Dustin/Koloff d.

Rude/Austin/Eaton/Zbysko/AA 4 ½ 33 min

12.   1992 Superbrawl Pillman d. Liger 4 ½ 17 min

13.   1996 BATB Rey d. Psychosis 4 ½ 15 min

14.   1998 Superbrawl DDP d. Benoit 4 ½ 16min

15.   1987 Flair draw Windham 4 ½ 45min

16.   1989 Clash 9 Flair d. Funk 4 ¼  18:30min

17.   1995 Fall Brawl Mero d. Pillman 4 ¼ 30min

18.   1991 Superbrawl  Steiners d. Sting/Luger 4 1/4 11 min

19.   1996 HHavoc Dean d. Rey 4 ¼ 18:30

20.   1996 Starrcade Liger d. Rey 4 ¼ 14min

21.   1997 FBrawl Eddy d. Jericho 4 ¼ 16:30

22.   1999 SStampede Benoit/Malenko d. Raven/Saturn 4 ¼ 14:30

23.   1995 Starrcade Otani d. Eddy 4 ¼  14 min

24.   1996 Uncensored Fit d. Regal 4 ¼ 17:30

25.   1998 Souled Out Benoit d. Raven 4 ¼ 11:30

26.   1990 GAB Midnights d. SoBoys 4 ¼ 18 min

27.   1988 Starrcade Flair d. Luger 31min 4 ¼

28.   1987 GAB Ric Flair, Lex Luger, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, & JJ Dillon vs. Dusty Rhodes, Nikita Koloff, Road Warrior Hawk, Road Warrior Animal, & Paul Ellering. 4 ¼ 26 min

29.   1985 Starrcade Magnum d. Tully 4 ¼ 14min

30.   1994 Slamboree Jack/Sullivan d. Nastys 4 ¼ 9:30

31.   1996 GAB Benoit d. Sullivan 4 ¼ 10 min

32.   1991 Wrestlewar Ric Flair/Barry Windham/Sid Vicious/Larry Zbyszko d. Sting/Brian Pillman/The Steiners 4 ¼ 22min

33.   1997 SStampede Rey d. Ultimo 4 ¼ 15min

34.   1993 HHavoc Vader d. Jack 4 ¼ 16min

35.   1992 Beach Blast Sting d. Jack 4 ¼ 11:30

36.   1992 Beach Blast Steamboat d. Rude 30:00 4 ¼

37.   1987 Crockett Cup Flair d. Windham 4 ¼ 26 min

38.   Starrcade 1983 Piper d Valentine 4 ¼ 16min

39.   1994 Spring Stampede Nastys d. Jack/Payne 8 min 4 ¼

40.   Starrcade 1992 Sting d. Vader 4 ¼ 18 min

The Occasional Tendown September 16-29 2012

Dear Internet:



By "low income" that means, for a family of four, $26,400 a year.  Just so we're clear.



And by "47%" what we're really discussing is 18.1% of Americans not getting a tax deducted from their bi-weekly paycheck, just so we're more clear.

There's also sales tax and a tax on gasoline.  Not demonstrated by either chart.  Because clarity is important.

My favorite part of the Romney 47% soliloquy, well, there were two - there was the suggestion that he'd have a better chance to be President if he were Mexican, because some nice, gentle racism among millionaires is always fun - but my favorite part was the characterization that the 47% of Americans who don't pay federal income tax lack personal responsibility.

It's less that he shined a light on his own worldview; Romney pretty clearly takes whatever position is likely to curry favor with the audience to whom he's speaking, but it does give the temperature of the room.  Romney, with a net worth of hundreds of millions of dollars, pays a lower rate of income tax than I do (my income approximates the amount those millionaires paid per plate to hear that Romney speech) and they all comfortably sat like the Congress of Vienna discussing how poor people (and I guess the elderly?) lack personal responsibility.

There's a disgusting show on the Food Network called Restaurant Stakeout, the premise of which is that the reason restaurants fail is busboys spend too much time on their smartphones.  The bellicose host constantly uses military language to discuss the way a restaurant staff should perform their duties, and when sub minimum wage workers don't view knowledge of some crappy strip mall menu as their most important responsibility, he'll snidely say "there's the American work force for you."

That's Romney in that room - except for that room, that busboy is half of the electorate.  What's the problem with the economy - all those lazy people just looking for a handout and wanting their handout giving President to dole it out.  That's the core belief.

And it doesn't matter that:

The average annual earnings of the top 1 percent of wage earners grew 156 percent from 1979 to 2007; for the top 0.1 percent they grew 362 percent (Mishel, Bivens, Gould, and Shierholz 2012). In contrast, earners in the 90th to 95th percentiles had wage growth of 34 percent, less than a tenth as much as those in the top 0.1 percent tier. Workers in the bottom 90 percent had the weakest wage growth, at 17 percent from 1979 to 2007.

And it doesn't matter that.

From 1978 to 2011, CEO compensation increased more than 725 percent, a rise substantially greater than stock market growth and the painfully slow 5.7 percent growth in worker compensation over the same period.

We work harder for less; it does not stop, it does not lessen, our lack of income growth hidden by access to credit - and by tax breaks - and like cartoon villains these evil sons of bitches sit and chuckle about our lack of personal responsibility over $50,000/plate dinners at the Boca Raton home of a private equity manager at whose Bridgehampton estate:

guests cavorted nude in the pool and performed sex acts, scantily dressed Russians danced on platforms and men twirled lit torches to a booming techno beat. 


Romney's not going to win, but the idea that enough of us buy that plutocratic rap that our economic lives are fundamentally dictated by handouts below and not that 725% growth in compensation above is gobsmackingly discouraging.

Tendown 140 is here. This is Tendown 141.

1. The Goddamn Plutocrats

One last thought on the Romney video - consider this piece.

If Romney and their ilk want to know why the rich bear such a large share of the nation's income tax burden to pay for "big government" these days, they should look at how they influenced big government precisely to serve their interests to concentrate wealth and income in ever fewer hands, to downgrade the middle and working classes, and to expand the ranks of the poor. As the rich never admit, they aren't really anti-government. They are for big government that serves elite interests and punishes the rest. When their so-called free market medicine – replete with giant doses of corporate welfare (the Pentagon System is a leading example) – impoverishes the rest of us (and enriches the few) so much that we rely on them like never before for the revenue to keep government running, they mock us for thinking (in accord with the quaintly idealistic Universal Declaration of Human Rights) that we are "entitled" to food, shelter, health care, clothing, and economic and social security We are instructed to stop our "dysfunctional" thinking about "Who Moved My Cheese,"[13] take a whiff of tough-love self-help smeller salts, and scurry on to sniff out new opportunities that don't actually exist under the rule of the nation's unelected and interrelated dictatorships of money and empire: "Take 'personal responsibility' for your fate in this world we made for you, or starve and die, you bothersome little mice-people![14] You have no right to government assistance – that is reserved for the rich and powerful, like everything else." It's a curious command from those who have become ever filthier rich thanks in great part to big government's role in serving and protecting the already well-off.

2. Meanwhile, in South Florida

When I can, I like to bring you some local stories that are almost certainly never going to get national attention, but are representative of a larger issue.

I personally know two people who were fired so that their employers could avoid contributing to their health insurance.  When you tie in health care to your work, not only does it give your employer the ability to treat you badly with the understanding that they control your access to doctors (this has happened to me) but if you use too much medical care, they can just let you go under another pretext.

Consider this story.

Told his kidneys were barely working, Martin Cupid had one thought: He wanted to keep his job.

Rather than spend his days tethered to a dialysis machine, the Boynton Beach man found a doctor who recommended a treatment that allows Cupid to cleanse his system himself. Committed to finding a more permanent solution, he applied to the Shands Transplant Center at the University of Florida, hoping to be put on a waiting list to receive a new kidney.

When Cupid told his bosses at the Sysco Corp. he had been approved for a transplant, they congratulated him. Three days later, however, they told him to clean out his desk — his job as night manager at the food distribution giant’s Riviera Beach plant was being eliminated.

“It was unbelievable,” the 32-year-old father of three said Monday. “After working there 10 years and giving so much. It was shocking.”

3. And now a few words from our Friends at Fox

Since last we spoke, something called "talk like a pirate day" occurred.

Yeah, I missed it too.  But the White House didn't, and they tweeted out a three year old picture of Obama with one of his speechwriters, dressed like a pirate.


But, of course, here's what Fox "reported":

Fox & Friends, not known for being very thorough in their vetting of content, asserted that the photo was snapped yesterday, and, likely taking its cue from Drudge, claimed Obama preferred to meet with the pirate than with Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

Thanks, Fox. You never disappoint.

4. Would You Like to Read an Oral History of Cheers?


Because you can.

5. The 67 Worst Sports Twitter Accounts

As accumulated by Deadspin.

14. Spencer Hawes (@spencerhawes00), Philadelphia 76ers center

Man who is rich because he won the genetic lottery is concerned about socialism ruining his country.

Spencer Hawes

• ✔

@spencerhawes00

Ronald Reagan is spinning in his grave. We might as well be Russia in 1983. #americancommunists

6. Sarah Silverman Fights Voter Suppression.
Which you can watch here.

7. Here's What Big Government Looks Like
A judge tells you to remove a Facebook comment - you refuse - you get locked up for contempt.

8. I Watch Graps
I've totally cleared my hard drive of the wrestling - here are the four star+ matches I've seen since last we spoke.

Punk v. Cena Sept WWE 4
Tanahashi v. Makabe July NJPW 4 1/4
Kotaro/Aoki v. Marvin/Crazy July NOAH 4 1/4
Generico v. Del Sol Sept Evolve 4

And the two best:
Morishima v. Go July NOAH 4 1/2
Ibushi v. Omega Aug DDT 5 - the current best match of 2012

9. Your 2012 NL West Champs




I guess this means a playoff preview will be coming up this week.

10. So, How Was Your Week?
Mine wasn't bad.

I turned 42 on Tuesday; I don't know how many 42 year old men you know who are both straight and never married.  But it's one fewer than you thought a half dozen words ago.

I got married on my birthday.

There have been worse years to be me; I got a job that allows me to stay home at a salary increase from my previous position - and, as anyone who has seen my bride (first time I've written that) would profess, I've significantly outkicked my coverage with this relationship.

I feel a level of fortunate that I can't express.

All that and playoff baseball.  Everything's comin' up Milhouse.

That's all for this time.  I'll be back next time...if there is a next time...

Your pal,

Jim

Athlete of the Month - September, 2012

August and each monthly winner from 2012 is here.



Andy Murray.  Runners-up: Serena Williams, Miguel Cabrera, Geno Smith

9 months down - 3 to go in the race for 2012 Athlete of the Year.

Every 4.25 and Up Rated Match inWWE/WWF History Part One

I've been watching WWF/E since Snuka came off the top of the cage; I've been watching since before I understood better wrestling existed, sort of like eating at McDonalds before you knew there better burgers.

I still eat the occasional quarter pounder and I've never stopped watching (and complaining) about WWF.  But occasionally, occasionally, an exceptional match makes it past quality control and I gobble it up.

These aren't necessary the most important matches, the most famous matches, or the matches the featured the biggest stars (although some are).  This is strictly a qualitative assessment from someone who has seen every significant WWF/E match of the PPV era in real time (me, I'm talking about me)

The matches that just miss (every 4 1/4 star match in promotion history which isn't on the list proper) are first.

107. January, 2018 NXT Takeover: Philadelphia: Extreme Rules: Aleister Black d. Adam Cole (22 min) 4.25

106. October, 2002 Smackdown Edge d. Kurt Angle (23 min) 4.25

105. September, 1997 Ground Zero: In Your House: Shawn Michaels draw Undertaker (16:30) 4.25

104. January, 2017 UK Championship Tournament Final: Tyler Bate d. Pete Dunne (15 min) 4.25

103. May, 2006 Judgment Day: Chris Benoit d. Fit Finlay (21 min) 4.25
102. August, 2018 205 Live: Hideo Itami d. Mustafa Ali (16:30) 4.25
101. October, 2015 NXT Takeover Respect: NXT Women's Title: Iron Man Match: Bayley d. Sasha Banks (30 min) 4.25 

100. February, 2018 205 Live: Roderick Strong d. Hideo Itami (17 min) 4.25

99. May, 2018 205 Live: Cedric Alexander d. Buddy Murphy (20 min) 4.25

98. June, 2018 UK Championship Tournament: UK Title: Pete Dunne d. Zack Gibson (18 min) 4.25

97. July, 1992: Smack ‘Em, Whack ‘Em: Ladder Match: IC Title: Bret Hart d. Shawn Michaels (14 min) 4.25

96. August, 2014 RAW: Falls Count Anywhere: Seth Rollins d. Dean Ambrose (16:30) 4.25

95. June, 2014 Payback: Falls Count Anywhere: John Cena d. Bray Wyatt (24:30) 4.25

94. February, 2013 RAW John Cena d. CM Punk (26:30) 4.25

93. February, 2015 NXT Takeover: Rival: NXT Championship: Kevin Owens d. Sami Zayn (switch) (23:30) 4.25

92. July, 1995: In Your House 2: The Lumberjacks: IC Title Shawn Michaels d. Jeff Jarrett (switch) (20 min) 4.25

91. July, 2013: Money In the Bank: Money In the Bank Match: Damien Sandow d. Antonio Cesaro, Dean Ambrose, Cody Rhodes, Jack Swagger, Wade Barrett, Fandango (16:30) 4.25

90. February, 2011 Elimination Chamber: Elimination Chamber Match: World Title: Edge d. Rey Mysterio, Drew McIntyre, Wade Barrett, Kane, Big Show (31:30) 4.25

89. February, 2013 Elimination Chamber: Elimination Chamber Match: Jack Swagger d. Daniel Bryan, Chris Jericho, Randy Orton, Mark Henry, Kane (31:30) 4.25

88. February, 2017 Elimination Chamber: Elimination Chamber Match: WWE Title: Bray Wyatt d. John Cena (switch), AJ Styles, Dean Ambrose, The Miz, Baron Corbin (34:30) 4.25

87. January, 1994 Wrestlefest: Bret Hart/Owen Hart draw Steiner Brothers (double countout) (25 min) 4.25

86. August, 2011 SummerSlam: No Holds Barred: World Title: Randy Orton d. Christian (switch) (23:30) 4.25

85. January, 2016 Royal Rumble: Last Man Standing: IC Title: Dean Ambrose d. Kevin Owens (21 min) 4.25

84. September, 2016 Backlash: WWE Title: AJ Styles d. Dean Ambrose (25 min) 4.25

83. May, 2002 Judgment Day: Hair vs. Hair: Edge d. Kurt Angle (15:30) 4.25

82. December, 1995 In Your House 5: Seasons Beatings: WWF Title Bret Hart d. British Bulldog (21 min) 4.25

81. November, 2017 NXT Takeover: War Games: War Games Match: Undisputed Era (O’Reilly/Cole/Fish) d. Sanity (Wolfe, Young, Dain), Authors of Pain (36:30) 4.25

80. April, 2017 NXT Takeover: Orlando: Elimination Match: NXT Tag Titles: Authors of Pain d. Revival, DIY (Gargano/Ciampa) (24 min) 4.25

79. November, 1992 Survivor Series: WWF Title: Bret Hart d. Shawn Michaels (26:30) 4.25

78. February, 2004 No Way Out: WWE Title: Eddie Guerrero d. Brock Lesnar (switch) (30 min) 4.25

77. September, 2016 Cruiserweight Classic: TJ Perkins d. Kota Ibushi (15 min) 4.25

76. November, 2016 NXT Takeover: Toronto: NXT Title Samoa Joe d. Shinsuke Nakamura (switch) (20 min) 4.25

75. September, 2003 Smackdown: Iron Man Match: WWE Title: Brock Lesnar d. Kurt Angle (switch) (60 min) 4.25

74. July, 2015 RAW: US Title: John Cena d. Antonio Cesaro (30 min) 4.25

73. August, 2017 Summer Slam: Universal Title: Brock Lesnar d. Samoa Joe, Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman (21 min) 4.25

72. June, 2017 Money in the Bank: Money in the Bank Match: Baron Corbin d. Shinsuke Nakamura, AJ Styles, Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, Dolph Ziggler (30 min) 4.25

71. June, 2018 NXT Takeover: Chicago: NXT Tag Titles: Kyle O’Reilly/Roderick Strong d. Orny Lorcan/Danny Burch (16 min)

70. May, 1998 Over the Edge: In Your House: Falls Count Anywhere: WWF Title: Steve Austin d. Dude Love (22:30) 4.25

69. August, 2009 Summer Slam: TLC Match: World Title: CM Punk d. Jeff Hardy (switch) (21:30) 4.25

68. August, 2013 Summer Slam: WWE Title: Daniel Bryan d. John Cena (switch) (27 min) 4.25

67. August, 1991 Summer Slam: IC Title: Bret Hart d. Mr. Perfect (switch) (18 min) 4.25

66. October, 2008 No Mercy: Ladder Match: World Title: Chris Jericho d. Shawn Michaels (22:30) 4.25

65. June, 1998 King of the Ring: Hell in a Cell: Undertaker d. Mankind (17 min) 4.25

64. June, 2001 King of the Ring: Street Fight: Kurt Angle d. Shane McMahon (26 min) 4.25

63. April, 1992 Wrestlemania 8: WWF Title: Randy Savage d. Ric Flair (switch) (18 min) 4.25

62. June, 2001 RAW: Cage Match: Kurt Angle d. Chris Benoit (14:30) 4.25

61. May, 2001 Smackdown: WWF Title: Steve Austin d. Chris Benoit (19:30) 4.25

60. August, 2016 Cruiserweight Classic: Kota Ibushi d. Brian Kendrick (14 min) 4.25

59. December, 2015 TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs: Ladder Match: WWE Tag Titles: New Day d. Usos, Lucha Dragons (17:30) 4.25

58. October, 2017 Hell in a Cell: Hell in a Cell Match: Smackdown Tag Titles: Usos d. New Day (switch) (22 min) 4.25

57. February, 1997 In Your House 13: Final Four: Elimination Match: WWF Title: Bret Hart d. Steve Austin, Vader, Undertaker (24 min) 4.25

56. June, 2018 UK Championship Tournament: British Strong Style (Bate/Seven/Dunne) d. Undisputed Era (O’Reilly/Strong/Cole) (12:30) 4.25

55. June, 108 205 Live: No DQ: Mustafa Ali d. Buddy Murphy (22:30) 4.25

54. November, 2017 Survivor Series: Champion vs. Champion: Brock Lesnar d. AJ Styles (15:30) 4.25

53. August, 2016 Cruiserweight Classic: Gran Metalik d. Akira Tozawa (16 min) 4.25

52. July, 1997 In Your House 16: Canadian Stampede Bret Hart/Owen Hart/Brian Pillman/Davey Boy Smith/Jim Neidhart d. Steve Austin/Ken Shamrock/Goldust/Legion of Doom (24:30) 4.25

51. NXT (12/'17) Pete Dunne v. Tyler Bate (22 min)

The 50 best matches in WWF/E history are next #50-26

50. December, 2014 NXT Takeover: R Evolution: NXT Title vs. Career: Sami Zayn d. Adrian Neville (switch) (23:30) 4.25

49. Extreme Rules (5/'16) IC: Miz d. Cesaro/Owens/Zayn (18:30) 4 1/4
One of the places WWE managed to find itself in 2016 was with the storyline flexibility to incorporate an independent program (the breakingup of the great tag team Steen/Generico) into their own narrative. Here, despite new names and the loss of Generico's entire identity, they're still able to utilize their backstory and make it central to this match; one in which all of the multi-person spots came off without hitch.

48. Battleground (7//'16) Sami Zayn v. Kevin Owens (18:30) 4 1/4

The seeming blowoff to a decade plus long storyline spanning multiple promotions, Sami Zayn overcoming his partner turned heel rival Owens with some indie level work in a shiny WWE bottle.

47. May, 2001 RAW: WWF Tags: Chris Benoit/Chris Jericho d. Steve Austin/HHH (14 min) (switch) 4.25

46. Summerslam (8/'16) AJ Styles v. John Cena (23 min) 4 1/4
-AJ Styles couldn't get much interest in WWE despite years of great TNA work, but a couple of runs with the IWGP title belt bought him a contract in 2016; this was the blowoff to a good program with Cena, who appeared to be at the end of his full time commitment to the promotion.

45. Royal Rumble (1/'17) AJ Styles v. John Cena (24 min) 4 1/4
-Best comparison to the Styles/Cena Summer Slam match is the Styles/Cena Rumble match; this was Cena's 16th title win.

44. May, 2001 Smackdown: WWF Tags: TLC: Chris Benoit/Chris Jericho d. Hardys,Dudleys,Edge & Christian (21 min) (switch) 4.25
 Benoit got taken to the back but did the superhero  return to win the match.  If I'm in the WWE writing room when they decide to push Danielson as a legit serious babyface, that's how I pitch they do it. This was the best free TV match in WWF history to that date. 

43.       WM 16(4/’00) Edge/Christian d. Hardy Boys d. Dudley Boys (Ladder) (22:30)4 ¼

They didn't call this a TLC match, but that's what it was - WWF went headfirst into an era of high octane collision matches at WM16.  I tend to cut the Hardys a ton more slack than do workrate minded wrestling fans, feeling as if they gave their bodies for a handful of all time classic matches.  If Matt's hooked on painkillers and Jeff's got an intent to distribute charge lingering, they should be able to play the tapes of a half dozen collision matches and skate at least for another decade or so.  

42. Cruiserweight Classic (8/16) Kota Ibushi d. Cedric Alexander (15 min) 4 1/4

In 2016, Kota Ibushi was in a pure sports based juniors tournament in WWE in which Bryan Danielson was an announcer.  If that sounds totally normal to you, the future of WWE is a very different place than its past.

41. UK Championship (5/'17) Tyler Bate v. Mark Andrews (22:30) 4 1/4
Part of WWE's attempt to turn the rest of the world into a territory system involved gobbling up young European talent, that turned into a UK tournament which, in 2017, led to the winner of that tournament, Bate, defending against Andrews in a helluva match.  

40. SummerSlam (8'13) Brock Lesnar d. CM Punk (25 min) 4 1/4 
How much sense does this make in, say, 2007 - Lesnar and Punk, in a feud the central point of which was Paul Heyman, will be the best WWE match of 2013.   But it was true; the Paul Heyman Guys went out it in what was not just the best match of Brock's run, to date - it was the best match of his life.  That it was against Punk, who also got the best match of John Cena's life, is probably not a coincidence. 

39.      Royal Rumble (1/’01): Chris Jericho d. Chris Benoit (Ladder (18:30)4 ¼  

I can still picture Benoit suplexing Jericho out of the ring.  I'm not any more amenable to the notion that one can't appreciate Benoit's work because of what he did outside the ring than I would be that Ty Cobb shouldn't be considered when talking about the greatest baseball players ever.  But - if say, you can't think about Junior Seau today without the degree to which concussions impacted his decision to kill himself, I'd understand seeing Jericho nail Benoit with the midair chairshot during his tope suicida and not being able to get past how much brain atrophy was revealed in the autopsy.  

38.       No Way Out (2/’00) HHH d. Cactus Jack (Hell in the Cell)(24 min) 4 ¼

You'd think Hunter would be a little more grateful to Foley as Mick gave the end of his full time career in order to give Triple H some credibility.  In a terrific angle, Foley was able to get you to believe that Cactus Jack was really a different guy than his other two gimmicks, and bringing him out of mothballs would mean a higher level of match.  And he was right.  This was the rematch, what was sold as Foley's retirement match, and the second best Cell match ever.

37.      Royal Rumble: (1/’00) HHH d. Cactus Jack (Street Fight) (27 min)4 ¼
And this was the first match; we near the halfway point of the countdown of the greatest WWF matches of all time - two pedigrees finished off Cactus in front of a superhot MSG crowd.  Foley made Hunter in this program the same way he'd make Orton four years later.  

36.      Armageddon (12/’06): Paul London/Brian Kendrick d. Hardys d. MNM d. Steve Regal/David Taylor (20 min)(Ladder)4 ½

-Everything came together in exactly the right way in this match (Joey Mercury's face may take issue with that characterization). It's the Hardys last ever great match as a team; it's London/Kendrick getting to show on PPV what had previously been limited to Velocity or Jakkkkkkked or whatever show WWE was throwing away at the time; and it was Steve Regal, one of the most skilled professional wrestlers who ever lived, bringing the mean.  It would be five years before there was a better WWE match.   

35.      No Mercy (10/’99)Hardys d. Edge/Christian (Ladder) (16:30)4 ½

-If Armageddon was the last great WWF/E tag collision match; the Finals of Teri Runnels invitational was the first.  Spotfest is generally used as an epithet; not for me.  When I hear a worker or an analyst say something like "they need to learn to do less, to slow it down to make it mean more" what I hear is "stop working so hard, you're making the guys at the top of the card look bad." The trickle down theory that wrestling promotions follow offends my egalitarian sensibility.  And I like to see guys fall off ladders. 

34. NXT (11/'16) DIY d. Revival (22 min, 2 of 3 falls) 4 1/2 
-At this point, NXT has established itself as having historically great big matches; most of them, however, have featured tremendous wrestlers who, in this time of WWE hegemony, made their way to NXT and wrestled in (generally somewhat lesser) versions of their previously great matches.  The Revival are WWE homegrown products, Dash and Dawson, doing an Anderson/Blanchard no frills gimmick; Gargano and Ciampa come from the independent ranks, but unlike, say Zayn or Cesaro or Nakamura, they have never been perceived as among the very most elite workers in the world. This match did a near perfect job incorporating more modern stuff with the Revival's well done old school approach.

33. July, 2018 NXT: NXT Tag Titles: Undisputed Era (O'Reilly/Strong) d. Mustache Mountain (Bate/Seven) (17:30) 4.5 (switch)

-Independent veteran Strong joined a couple of former ROH Champions (Cole/O'Reilly) to create an indie proxy stable; Bate and Seven are two young UK wrestlers, part of a group of young, UK wrestlers.  What this has to do with the World Wrestling Federation beats me, but it happened, I promise.

32. NXT (5/'17) Pete Dunne d. Tyler Bate (15:30) 4 1/2
At the time of this writing the two best WWE matches of 2017 took place within the span of a week and both featured Pete Dunne, this was the second one, a real corker with both stiff work and terrific aerial spots.  I've got it as the third best NXT match to that date.  

31. NXT (6/'18) Tommaso Ciampa d. Johnny Gargano (35:30) 4 1/2
Hard to modify this feud with anything other than the word "epic" - it wasn't just the signature NXT storyline, it was probably the best told program in all of North American wrestling, and as the heel went over in this one, it didn't appear to be the end of the story.

30.      Over the Limit (5/’12) CM Punk d. Daniel Bryan (24 min)4 ½

The best WWE match in 2012 as of this writing wasn't at Wrestlemania; it was these two independent veterans going 24 minutes in May.  If you read part I of this list, you may have seen my appending my 80 best matches in Ring of Honor history.  All 80 are 4 1/2 and up; Bryan Danielson wrestled in 24 of those 80 matches, including three 5 star matches. He has put up a body of work as impressive as any American wrestler in history.  I hope he achieves the level of status in WWE that his abilities deserve, but it doesn't matter -anytime you have the opportunity to watch a 20 minute Daniel Bryan match, even if its booked from Full Sail University, you need to make it a point to take it.  

29.      Summer Slam (8/’95) Shawn Michaels d. Razor Ramon (Ladder) (25 min)4 ½

-While I was ranting about Cena I missed that we had hit the twenty best matches in WWF/WWE history - hey, look, it;'s Shawn and Razor climbing a ladder.  This was the sequel, and it was great - it wasn't Empire Strikes Back great but you could call it Temple of Doom.

28.      Good Friends/Better Enemies (4/’96) Shawn Michaels d. Diesel (No Holds Barred) (18 min)4 ½

-If it were a Friends episode the title would be: The One With Mad Dog Vachon's Leg and you'd know exactly what match this is.  

27. No Mercy [10/’02] Chris Benoit/Kurt Angle d. Rey Mysterio/Edge (22min)4 ½

-This would have been the equivalent of say, Escobedo v. Illinois; not as well known by laypeople as Miranda but a critical piece of the period (that's probably as far as I'll extend the metaphor, but if you get to the top 10 of this list and I talk about the double turn from In Re Gault try not to hold it against me). This was the finals for a tag tournament; Angle gets Edge to tap in play off their hair v. hair finish for those of you who have forgotten that Kurt used to be non-bald. 

26.Backlash: (4/’04): Chris Benoit d. HHH/HBK (30min)4 1/2

-It's Shawn Michaels submitting to Chris Benoit in a title match in Edmonton.  That actually happened. The Earl Warren Supreme Court had a demonstratively progressive bent; for a couple of decades in the middle of the 20th century the Court was an apparatus of the federal government that worked on behalf of those Americans who were marginalized by the combination of governmental structural and private power.  But that's an aberration - if you look at the totality of Supreme Court history you are left with the clear conclusion that it has by and large been an instrument used to protect and expand that power.  The Warren snapshot is not reflective of the broader panorama.  I recognize comparing the Warren Court to early 2000s WWF is cliche, but if you watched this match and thought this was a company clearly based on workrate, you would have been in for a hella surprise when John Cena handed down the Citizens United decision.

That's the second half of the best matches in WWF history. The top half is here.

College/NFL Picks Sept 29-30 2012

Last week was here.  I'm 27-25-1 overall.

Stan -6.5 Wash(loss)

Ball St. -1 Kent St(loss)

Baylor v WVA under 80(loss)

Penn St +1.5 Ill(win)

UCF -2.5 Missouri(loss)

Purdue v. Marshall under 64.5(loss)

LA Tech -2.5 UVA(win)

SAlabama +10 Troy(loss)

Cincinnati +7.5 VT(win)

Rice +5 Houston(loss)

Ariz St. +2.5 Cal(win)

WKY -2.5 Ark St.(win)

TTech -2.5 ISt(win)

TCU -16.5 SMU(loss)

Tex v Ok St under 66.5(loss)

Tex SA +3.5 NMexSt(win)

Louis -10.5 SoMiss(loss)

Seattle -3 StL(loss)

SD +1 KC(win)

NYJ +4 Niners(loss)

Mia +6 Ariz(win)

NO+8 GB(win)
Buff +4 NE(loss)
Jax +2.5 Cincy(loss)
Philly -1 NYG(win)

11-14
38-39-1