Greatest WM Match Ever: Round 2 (Berzerker Bracket)
We are moving onto round two of the Greatest WM match tourney. All the favorites from round one of this bracket have moved on with HBK/Hart narrowly beating the WM16 ladder match to move on. It’s 1 vs. 4 and 2 vs. 3 to determine who moves onto the final eight. Vote now.
1. Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin @ WM13
From my column about this match: I will never be tired of seeing this match nor will I ever be tired of talking about it. I will never forget Bret using the figure four around the ring post. I will never forget when Austin cracked Bret in the back with a chair. I will never forget the sight of Austin’s blood dripping into his mouth. I will never forget the pop Shamrock got for pulling Bret off Austin. I will never forget the standing ovation Austin received after delivering the performance of a lifetime. Everybody involved in the match deserves a standing ovation because what they gave us on March 23, 1997 was a terrific match that I will never forget.
This match had everything that is good about the wrestling business. Two great competitors, a terrific storyline, an extremely high workrate, plenty of crowd heat, one of the greatest blade jobs ever and the greatest double turn in the history of the business.
VERSUS
4. Money in the Bank @ WM21
From my WM21 recap: Wow. This was awesome. They had the crowd in the palms of their hands from the moment the match started right until the end. The bumps were sick. The spots, especially Benjamin’s, were innovative. Benoit’s selling was awesome throughout the match. This was outstanding. Simply fantastic. Props to all men involved and the booking was perfect. Edge won, but it came off as cheap, so it works.
This was the first MITB match and to me it’s still the best. It helps that they had the four Canadians in there to carry it, not to mention Shelton Benjamin’s ridiculous ladder spots and Kane to do the power moves.
Wrestlemania 21 Money in the Bank 2005
Here’s the poll.
The winner of that matchup faces the winner of this one:
2. Razor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels @ WM10
From my Top 20 HBK matches column written in 1999: (This is mostly play by play.) They grapple in the ring to start for a few minutes until Ramon is thrown outside where Diesel, Shawn’s bodyguard at the time, clotheslines Razor on the mat. He is then told to go to the back by referee Earl Hebner to the delight of the crowd. Razor whips Shawn into the corner, Shawn does the usual cross corner flop and gets clotheslined outside the ring. Razor exposes some concrete but it does not come into play until Shawn throws him back inside. He reverses a Razor’s Edge into a back shoulder toss that sends Razor to the floor onto the exposed concrete where he lands on his left knee and arm in a sweet bump. Shawn goes to get the ladder before Razor stops him. Razor goes to set up the ladder until Shawn hits a baseball slide dropkick that sees the ladder nail Razor squarely in the ribs. Man, that’s such a sweet move. The next few moments are filled with ladder shots on Razor’s stomach and back as that is the body part of choice for Shawn to work on. As Razor is down, Shawn climbs up, Razor reaches up and exposes his bare ass to the delight of women everywhere and probably Pat Patterson too. Shawn kicks him off and drops an elbow off of the ladder in another cool spot. Razor takes advantage using the ladder as a weapon leading to a wonderful spot that sees him slingshot Shawn into the ladder that was positioned outside the ring. After throwing the ladder onto Ramon repeatedly, Shawn delivered the superkick and a piledriver that kept Ramon down for a while. He carried the ladder over to the turnbuckle on the left side where he mounted the eight-foot ladder and came off of it for a huge splash. He climbed up again and used his own body to squash Ramon in the ribs with the help of the ladder. Shawn set up the ladder again. As he started to climb, Ramon got to his feet, came off the ropes and hit the ladder hard causing Shawn to get his leg caught in between the ropes. With Shawn incapacitated for the time being Ramon climbed up, grabbed both titles and got the victory after nearly 20 minutes of heart stopping action.
Shawn did not win the match, but when all was said and done he proved to the entire wrestling world that he did have what it takes to be the best in the business. Just a kickass match that deserves all the praise it has ever received.
Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon, WM10, Part 1.
VERSUS
3. Shawn Michaels vs. Bret Hart @ WM12
From my Top 20 HBK matches column written in 1999: The first thirty minutes is kind of slow until Shawn goes for the superkick, Bret slides away so Shawn leaps over the top onto Bret outside the ring in a wonderful spot. After some near pinfalls Shawn takes an insane backdrop over the top rope that could easily blow a knee out but this is Shawn Michaels so somehow he escapes unscathed. The next few minutes see Bret working over the back while solidifying his heel role by going after Jose Lothario, Shawn’s mentor, a bit. The final ten minutes of this match are awesome as Michaels begins to mount the offense because we are supposed to believe that a draw would allow Bret to retain the world title. In the span of about two minutes Shawn unleashes a flurry of offense that includes a dropkick, a double axehandle, a top rope elbow and a moonsault among other things. Just as Shawn is set to come down on Bret again the Hitman puts him into the Sharpshooter as time expires which leads us to believe that the match is a draw. President Gorilla Monsoon comes down, orders the match to continue to the dismay of Bret and Shawn quickly hits the Sweet Chin Music but is too banged up from the Sharpshooter to make a cover. Great selling by Michaels there. Shawn gets up again, Bret hobbles to his feet and Shawn drills him with the superkick again as the ref counts the three for Shawn’s first world title. Bret left for 7 months while Shawn went on to have a fabulous year, at least in terms of quality matches (not so much as a draw), as the world champion. As I said earlier, I fully understand why people love this match because I am one of those people. It’s the one you may remember more than any other one, but it is not the best of either man’s career.
Here’s the poll for voting.
The next second round grouping will be posted tomorrow.
Whoa, this is really a hard one, as I am a sucker for ladder matches, but also a sucker for Bret Hart matches.
This round is basically MY LOVE FOR LADDERS vs. MY LOVE FOR BRET…
I’m going to go half and half…
1. Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin @ WrestleMania 12 > Money in the Bank Ladder match @ WrestleMania 21
I think this Money in the Bank match is better than Shawn/Razor, because it had a lot more action and all the guys were great. Razor and Shawn have chemistry, but Shawn was obviously the superior wrestler that day and it was very noticeable. I wish you could switch the Money in the Bank match with Michaels/Razor so the best ladder match can go into the final… It doesn’t matter though, Hart vs. Austin will win the bracket anyway.
2. Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon @ WrestleMania 10 > Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels @ WrestleMania 12
I love this match, and Bret/Shawn’s match was too long for me. I know, maybe I don’t have a good eye for “great wrestling”, but I must point out that I really enjoyed Lesnar/Angle’s Iron Man match and I think its the greatest match in Smackdown history so its not like if I hate hour long matches. I just don’t think Hart/Shawn is such a good match to even consider winning the bracket. If this match wins, the bracket’s final will be a landslide for Austin/Hart. Razor/Shawn would at least give it a run for its money… although Austin/Hart will still prevail with about 60%.
Predictions:
1. Austin/Hart 90-92%
2. Shawn/Hart 51-53% … somehow, I think people will vote for this match instead.
You know one thing, no matter what match wins, it’s gonna be a Shawn Michaels match.
The guy is a legend.
@Brian aka thefifthdoctor
Austin/Hart is winning the bracket man, and because this is John’s tournament, it has been positioned to go to the finals, so I’m betting it will win. Angle/Michaels or Undertaker/Michaels are both better IMO. We’ll see if the people agree….
Austin/Hart is going to beat the Money in the Bank all day everyday. This won’t be close. However the fact that Shawn/Razor is losing to Shawn/Bret at the moment seriously baffles me. We’re talking about “Firsts” here. Of course there were other Ladder matches before, but never to the degree as this one. I think that Shawn and Razor did a better job of making a blueprint for how a ladder match should be rather then the Iron Man match Bret and Shawn put on. As I said in an earlier post….Angle/Lesnar was way better then this Iron Man Match. This match has and always will be overrated in my opinion.
First choice was easy, despite WM21′s MITB match’s workrate, which was exception an I still feel every man involved deserved the props they got for it. Hart/Austin is one of the better matches EVER, and did a ton for Austin. Austin/Hart gets my vote.
The second choice? I had to think for a while. I went with HBK/Hart, and I don’t feel bad about the choice. I still think ladder matches should be done the HBK/Hall way…use it as a device (and not an excuse to spotfest) to enhance the match.
I knew some of the choices in the later polls would be downright evil.
Hart/Austin > MITB
HBK/Razor > HBK/Hart
#1 is not up for debate IMO. Neither should #2 really. I’ve already voiced my opinion earlier on how I feel HBK/Hart is overrated.
I love HBK/Hart at WM12, but one has to admit, it is NOT the most thrilling Iron Man Match. The last ten minutes or so is incredible, including “sudden death”, but there are times in there when they’re literally doing slow mat wrestling with uninteresting holds for like 10 minutes straight. It was really great when I saw it the first time, but rewatching it can be a bit of a snooze-fest at times.
As a big HBK mark, putting HBK/Razor up against HBK/Hart is a really, really tough matchup for me. I can see how people would vote for either match, both are great IMO. But I chose HBK/Hart. Here you had arguably the two best wrestlers ever in their prime going for 63 minutes in the main event at WrestleMania for the world title. I admit there are points in the match where they milk restholds alittle too much. BUT, this was 63 minute match, didn’t you expect there to be a good admount of restholds going on in this match?? To me, I expected that, and to be honest, it didn’t really bother me that much. I can see why people would vote for HBK/Razor, and that is a great match, but I went with HBK/Hart for the above reasons.
I went Austin/Hart because it was a no brainer. The second one was harder but i ended up going for the ironman because it had a long build up a lot of good technical wrestling when it still ment something and a pretty cool finish. Although i do agree with others that there was a lot of boring holds involved. But you have to tell yourself with logic ” This is how you wear a guy down for a submission finisher” not like Cena who slaps on the STFU and you tap in seconds.
Remember Chris Jericho’s 1004 holds. It was hard to vote over the ladder match but then again it might be my bias by looking at Razer and seeing Fat Scott Hall.
What WAS the hold he used to beat Dean Malenko, the man of a thousand holds? The saskatchewan toehold or something? xD
Haha, Jericho is my 3rd favorite wrestler of all time behind HBK and Bret. I really miss the crybaby gimmick Jericho had in his WCW days. “The Paragon of Virtue” “Role Model” “Ayatollah of Rock n Rolla” “The man of 1004 holds.” He was great with that gimmick. I wish he’d go back to that.
You forgot about the armbar…
Guys, can someone tell me the storyline for why there were two intercontinental titles?
As I’ve stated before….I thought HBK/Hart was just way too slow at times. I remember watching it live saying to my brother “this match is boring dude. Too much time spent just doing nothing”. I still feel that way.
I understand nobody can go non-stop for an hour and that there will be downtime….but compare it to Lesnar-Angle for example…I thought the pace of that match was just SO much better it just felt like there was more constant action and the downtime didnt feel anywhere near as long. Thats why I love that match so much. I even like the Rock-HHH Iron Man better.
@Grant
HBK was coming back from being suspended where he was stripped of the title. Razor won the vacated belt while Shawn was gone. When he came back, he still had the old belt w/him claiming he was the real IC champion because he never was never beaten.
@Mike
Fair enough. This match isn’t for everybody. And I can absolutely understand why most people would vote for the ladder match over this match. But it was the first ironman match in WWE history. As is the cost with most first time gimmick matches, both guys were experimenting and feeling it out. Also, WWE wrestling was much different in 1996 than it was during the time the Lesnar/Angle and Rock/HHH matches took place. I am also more of a fan of the technical/mat wrestling as opposed to two guys punching and kicking eachother for the majaority of the match. Just a matter of taste, I guess.
I had to vote for MITB. I forgot how awesome it was. When a crowd is chanting…shelton, shelton, shelton, you know its a great match!
I went with Austin Hart and Michaels Hart.
Bret had some of the best matches of all time at Mania and these 2 stick out in my mind for different reasons.
The beginning of Austin and the beginning of Michaels.
You say that “because this is John’s bracket it’s positioned to go to the finals” like I’m the only one that thinks it’s one of the best matches ever. Austin and Hart themselves say it’s their best match. Lots of people think that way. Yes, I’m one of them, but it’s not like I’m the only one.
I voted Hart/Austin and Ramon/Michaels. I love all four of the matches, but those two are in my top ten all-time.
This tourney is all chalk. Brian is right. Nothing is wrong with that because I agree about the 4 #1 seeds.
Austin vs Bret will make it to the final four.
The Ironman Match to me was better because it was HBK’s first title win and to me, it was oldschool. The Rock vs HHH was better to me as an Ironman match but this match was the first and still amazing.
The ladder match isn’t as good as it was when I watched it. I am fine with it being a #2 but I have the ironman match better because Shawn was more mature…and Bret will always be better than Scott Hall. LOL!
Hart vs. Austin and HBK vs. Hart move on to the final 8.
in watching michaels-ramon ladder match, king made one of his statements by saying, “how much you think that ladder weighs mcmahon? 80-100 pounds?” lol…