The John Report Wrestling Blog

Voted for:

Austin/Rock vs HBK/Jericho – voted HBK/Jericho. Both matches were stellar, and I wager Austin/Rock is going to win, but I never liked how that match ended, what with weapons and other people working together to screw Rock, leading into an unsuccessful heel turn that really, I thought Austins heel was freaking awesome, but didn’t get the run it deserved. Austin/Rocks finish wasn’t clean and too many outside variables. I see matches get knocked down ratings points for this, so yeah. At least when Jericho did the dirty move at the end, it was after the match was over. :P

Savage/Steamboat vs Rock/Hogan: had a hard time here, as both were really cool in their unique way, but ended up voting Savage/Steamboat. Again, it’s basically a staple match for people who are training these days to watch, and see how it evolved match styles from what they were before to what they are now. In the end it was much more important to the business than Rock/Hogan. Rock/Hogan was still awesome, though.

I voted for HBK/Jericho and Savage/Steamboat as they were pure wrestling matches with no weapons and no interference and they really set the bar high for all other wrestling matches.

HBK/Jericho vs. Savage/Steamboat = Savage/Steamboat

The final showdown of the bracket would have ended with Savage/Steamboat taking it. It was too great a match. However, I’m sure Austin/Rock beats Savage/Steamboat when you do the final bracket.

Semi-Finalists will be Austin/Hart, Austin/Rock, Angle/HBK and Taker/HBK. The finals will be Austin/Hart vs. Taker/HBK with Taker/HBK coming out on top for sure. However, I would like to see Angle/HBK win this tournament.

voted for austin vs rock.hbk vs y2j is very very good but the level of anticipation for austin/rock was phenomenal.to me this is the best ever wrestlemania main event and this is what a wrestlemania main event must be.two of the top most superstars of their generation fighting out for top honours.nothing can ever come close to matching this coz i dont think anyone will be a more loved superstar than austin and rock was also pretty famous even though i think he is overrated

also voted for savage/steamboat coz rock/hogan sucks hard.rock is famous only for his promos while hogan is only for his gimmick.both were never very good in ring though rock improved and some of his matches were entertaining.both are melee mouthed bastards in my opinion.austin was god compared to them.also i have said it earlier and ill say it now that the crowd would have never ever turned against austin if he had been there instead of rock

@rattlesnake4eva
You contradict yourself. You didn’t vote for the awesome bout between Jericho and HBK because of the “phenomenal anticipation” Austin/Rock had.

However, you vote for Savage/Steamboat when Hogan/Rock might have had even more ANTICIPATION than Austin/Rock… weird.

How the hell did Rock/Hogan beat Lesnar/Angle?

Voted for HBK/Jericho. The Austin/Rock match is really overrated IMO. Ita probably rhe best of all the Austin/Rock matches, but that’s not really saying much as those matches aren’t exactly pure wresrling clinics. Their matches are entertaining, but not impressive from a pure wrestlong standpoint. There’s only so many Austin/rock punch and kick fests one can watch.

Feedback :@rattlesnake4evaYou contradict yourself. You didn’t vote for the awesome bout between Jericho and HBK because of the “phenomenal anticipation” Austin/Rock had.
However, you vote for Savage/Steamboat when Hogan/Rock might have had even more ANTICIPATION than Austin/Rock… weird.

nope not in my view hogan/rock cannot top austin/rock.remember at that time people knew hogan was a popular guy but he had been down and out of business for a while.plus he was up against rock who is still seen a rung below austin and hogan.

plus remember the match man even dave meltzer the king of all jaded smarks has rated the wm 17 main event as better than hbk/y2j.trust me i love hbk and y2j but nothing can top the promos and the storylines leading upto the austin/rock match.

maybe you are one of those who sees wrestling just from the workrate point of view.i believe that a storyline promos charismatic wrestlers crowd heat are just as important.still everyone is entitled to his/her point of view

I voted for Hogan vs Rock only ’cause I was there. The crowd was HOT for that match.
I also took HBK / Jericho as it is (in my humble opinion) the greatest match every. Ok, there I said it. And I’m not even an HBK fan.

I looked at this bracket as the most difficult bracket in the competition….anytime u have lesnar and angle as a #3 and it gets bounced….solidifies my point.

In this Round I went w/ Austin vs. Rock over Michaels/Jericho. I thought both matches were very well done, I liked both storylines, I loved the Limp Bizkit promo to lead to WM 17….I think they are very even… But here is the deciding factor to me. WM Main Events are supposed to be the Headliners…the match that brought folks to the place. It is suppose to be the best, most anticipated match on the card. And here we are in the sweet 16 and we only have 3 matches in all the WM ever, that was THE main event and this was one of them(Michaels/Hart, Benoit/HHH/HBK/ the others) Nothing against Jericho/Michaels, but their match wasn’t there too deliver the goods… they just went out and had a great match. Other then Angle/Michaels and Michaels/Undertaker 2, no non-title match will be as highly anticipated as the main event. WWE was banking on Austin/Rock to deliver the goods and they did. Very few WM Main events have left the fans fully satisfied…Rock/Austin did.

I went w/ Steamboat/Macho Man, b/c as said earlier…it’s a wrestling clinic for today’s wrestlers if they want to have a great match. And the match was done 23 yrs ago. Other then maybe Steamboat/Flair 89 no match has stand the test of time for so long. This match allowed the WWF to take a chance on the small…worker to carry the banner of the company. For the longest and even a few years after Hogan and Warrior likes were the heavyweight champions, while great workers like Hitman, Mr. Perfect, Steamboat, and Macho Man had great IC matches. This match however allowed McMahon to see that your Main Eventers can be great workers too. Hart, Michaels, Benoit, Guererro and others that have been champions have this match to thank in my opinion.

If people actually think Rock and Austin are better workers than HBK and Jericho, they are sorely mistaken.

Everyone talks about the crowd for Rock/Hogan? Does everyone forget how awesome the Astrodome crowd was for Rock/Austin? To this day I believe the pop Austin got when the “glass broke” was the single biggest pop any wrestler has ever received. The crowd for that match was hot the entire match…and was off the hook the last 10 minutes.

I voted for Rock/Austin and Savage/Steamboat. Rock/Austin is my fav WM match ever and IMO the best main event match to ever take place at WM. With the exception of Austin’s obvious blade job, EVERYTHING about that match was perfect. How Austin’s character slowly trended towards a heel as the match went along (him getting more pissed, him whipping out moves like the Million Dollar Dream etc.) was so damn good. Vince getting involved was fine IMO cuz it helped make the heel turn happen. The exchange of finishers was well done….Austin spewing blood while in the sharpshooter–an ode to Hart/Austin at 13–was great. Rock continually kicking out the final few minutes of the match after Stunners, chair shots etc…..which just had the crowd in a frenzy and Austin kicking the ropes, yelling, cursing–so frustrated that he couldnt put the Rock away. I can go on and on. The match was just brilliantly executed.

Savage/Steamboat was one of the better technical bouts you will ever see….and in this matchup they prevail. Simply put it was a better match and more entertaining.

Btw I forgot to add JR’s performance calling the Rock/Austin match. Maybe the best job he’s ever done…especially the end of the match and after the match ended. JR acted so pissed “god damn that son of a bitch! I thought I knew Austin! How could he ever join sides with Satan himself?? I thought we were friends! I thought I knew that man! I was at the hospital when he came out of surgery etc etc etc”. His acting job of being pissed and betrayed….was amazing.

Voted hbk/y2j & rock/hogan sadly I remember everything about austin/rock but the match itself, I will always remember the crap finish of 800 chair shots but the rest has been forgotten

Yeah, we’ve poked fun at HBK being in every match already. Several times. xD

I still think HBK/Y2J has a place, it was a hell of a showing with a clean finish. Jericho even got his cheap shots in…after the match was over. Now, when I saw HBK/Diesel on this list I was like “…really? REALLY?” :P

My only beef with Rock/Austin WM17 was the finish. I’d be fine if I was seeing Austin/Rock WM15 or 19 doing this well, as far as I remember they had clean finishes.

HBK/Jericho absolutely has a place in this tournament. It should NOT win the whole thing (and it won’t), but it deserves its place. But I guess someone who grew up on punch/kick fests wouldn’t understand that.

@oop2010
How can you criticize about bias when you obviously hate the guy. You’re a tool, you hypocrite.

@oop2010

And you’re a 17 year old tool who “grew up” watching The Rock and Austin kick and punch eachother for 30 minutes at a time on PPV and 5 minutes a time on the Raw main event. Awesome! Now that’s impressive!

You can name all the moves HBK does in every match? I can do the same for Austin and Rock. Punch, kick, peoples elbow, Lou Thesz press, Stunner, Rockbottom! Whoa! Wrestling clinic! Yeah, Shawn Michaels can’t compete with that! Bahahahaha!

I just couldn’t bring myself to vote against Michaels vs Jericho, you can’t go wrong with either of those but to me HBK vs Y2J was too special for me to not pick it. And I just watched Rock vs Hogan again the other night, and I love it, but Macho Man vs Steamboat isn’t remembered for nostalgia it’s remembered because it’s a pure awesome classic. It’s stood a longer test of time, and it had to be my choice.

i think atiba and mike express my sentiments beautifully.i will ask all those people to see rock/austin and y2j/hbk once again.if you still think hbk/y2j is better then sorry u dont know prowrestling.

i like hbk and y2j both.austin is my fav followed by hbk.but man look how the crowd responds to austin’s arrival.prowrestling is about stories not jaded smarks who want to see beautiful moonsaults.according to u smarks the main event of every wrestlemania shud be bryan danielson vs evan bourne

but that doesnt happen people because most people like those 60000 at astrodome connect to austin and rock the way they can never connect to hbk or y2j

and yeaah all those losers who are sayin austin can only punch and kick,he has participated in about more 5 staar mtches than chris jericho(as raated by john)so yeaah staart respecting him guys as a wrestler too

Whoever thinks Austin and Rock werent great wrestlers….simply dont understand the business. No they arent on the level of Angle, Benoit, HBK, Hart in terms of technical wrestling…but they certainly could perform well in the ring and both were phenomenal storytellers.

You can have a 5-star match and just not have it all mat-based wrestling. Technical wrestling is important but its not the only way to judge a great match.

If you think HBK or Y2J can’t tell a story as well as Austin or The Rock, that’s ridiculous. The Rock is the funniest of the four, Austin is the best at getting people’s testosterone pumping, HBK is better at softer emotions and Y2J is better at making people hate him. They’re all different, but they’re all great storytellers. Evan Bourne and Bryan Danielson are not, nor are they anywhere near HBK’s in-ring best, so that’s a transparently silly argument. The argument for HBK and Y2J over Rock and Austin would be that HBK and Y2J can put it all together – story and wrestling.

That said, there was a huge angle built into Austin/Rock itself, with Austin turning. There were some great promos leading up to HBK/Y2J, but the match itself is more straight up. I went HBK/Y2J but I sort of went back and forth. They’re great for different reasons.

I respect the hell out of both Austin and The Rock. They are both responsible for that rebitrth of wrestling in the Attitude Era. I watched every Monday night back then and was entertained. They were both good wrestlers, but neither one was on th level of Angle, HBK, Bret Hart, etc. Austin and Rock were superior on the mic, but in the ring, the other guys owned it. I also want to say Austin was better in the ring than The Rock. But guys like HBK, Angle, Hart, Jericho, those guys are better wrestlers.

And just so it’s so out there, I wasn’t trying to bash Austin and The Rock but was responding to someone who said you know all the moves HBK will do in any given match, meanwhile touting the likes of Austin and The Rock. That is a joke and *extrmemly* hypocritical.

Austin and Benoit have put on two of the best free matches that I’ve ever seen on TV. He could mat wrestle, he was also smart enough to realize the people that connected with his gimmick wanted to see a double bird, kick to the gut and a stunner rather than a technical masterpiece.

Austin and Benoit have put on two of the best free matches that I’ve ever seen on TV. He could mat wrestle, but he was also smart enough to realize the people that connected with his gimmick wanted to see a double bird, kick to the gut and a stunner rather than a technical masterpiece.

Heaven forbid if anyone has anything negative to say about the overrated HBK.

He will never be Ric Flair. “Diamonds are forever, and so is Ric Flair.”

@jay

There’s nothing wrong with condstuctive criticism. No one is perfect. But the “criticism” that was made here was that of very immature and downright inaccurate. And comparing Austin or Rock to HBK on the in-ring aspect is nothing short of a joke. Neither one of those guys can touch HBK in the ring. That’s a fact.

People even comparing the rock to shawn michaels as a wrestler are completly lost. Rock was never more than an anverage wrestler. While Austin was above average. I’m guessing the 18 year old marks here have never seen an hbk match prior to his comeback in 2002.

And considering all of the money and time Vince invested in the Austin/Rock feud and all of their matches, the fact that HBK/Jericho can even compare to their best match (WM17) is hilarious. They were the main even at that WM and many others, the fact that HBK/jericho and their one WM match can compare to the best Rock/Austin match tells you just how talented HBK/Jericho are. Take the mic and Vince’s ideas away from Austin/Rock and you have one average wrestler and one above average wrestler. Take the mic away from HBK/Jericho, and you still have a very good match. That’s the difference. From a wrestling standpoint, every Rock/Austin match was almost exactly the same.

@Dave

I agree nothing is wrong with constructive criticism. Two wrestlers that I am openly critical of are HBK and the Undertaker. HBK for being overrated and the Undertaker for being a cartoon character that even people who understand wrestling seem to believe is a dead zombie.

No matter what point I make about either wrestler almost inevitably brings up a salvo of harsh criticism, and/or personal attacks. Of course, I often encourage the personal attacks because they are fun. But occasionally they do piss me off.

Technical wrestling knowledge has never been a prerequisite to holding the WWWF/F/E during the VKM regime. In fact, VKM seems to hold technical wrestling in disdain. No one who has knowledge of wrestling would ever call the Rock or Austin a great technical wrestler. In my opinion, neither is HBK. They are charismatic individuals who have learned that technical wrestling knowledge has little to do with success in the WWE. They emphasize larger than life qualities that VKM and 8 year old boys who buy dolls seem to love.

@jay

That;s fine, but I, as well as many others, don’t take what Vince thinks or says as gospel or agree with him 100% on every front. The point of this toruney is wrestling matches. In the Attitude era (which I enjoyed), wrestling was put on the backburner. My “criticms” of Rock and Austin (or facts) is that neither of them can touch HBK in the ring, and they can’t. There is a reason why many many people consider HBK to be one of the best ever, and it is not because all of those people overrate him. You just don’t like him, which is perfectly fine. But go watch his matches from his prime and compare them to Austin and Rock in their prime and it isn’t even close.

HBK on the surface isn’t a technical wrestler. BUT, he can wrestle that way if he has to. Go back and watch the Ironman mach, go back and watch his WM 21 match with Angle. The man can technically wrestle if he wants/has to.

I guess it comes down to what you prefer, a good wrestling match or a brawl that was prevalent in the Attitude era. I find most of the brawls boring.

@Dave

Don’t you think calling the Rock an average wrestler is being very generous? He may be in my list of my 50 favorite wrestlers of all time, but I can’t really say that he is much of a wrestler.

However, he does understand a crowd and how to connect with viewers on a TV.

He is also really good at making one eyebrow go up while the other eyebrow stays in place.

Jay, absolutely its generous. He improved as time went on and left when he was at his best imo. Gotta run.

@jay

I agree with your stance on brawling especially in the main event. I like a good brawl as much as the next person. I don’t like it to be the featured part of a card unless there is a purpose.

There is nothing better than a Flair steel cage match for a main event. I am like you and believe that the champion should be something special. Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior really ruined wrestling in my opinon. They proved that wrestling knowledge and the main event were mutually exclusive.

HBK can wrestle better than most, but to call him an all time great does a disservice to the generation before him. (I do openly admit to being biased regarding HBK, because I really do not like or appreciate his skills.)

Agree with everything you said except for hbk stuff. He is imo the best ever. Its my birthday today, gotta run. I’ll post late tonight.

just a few things i wanna say.most of the stuff posted by you guys isvery precise i must say

the thing is y2j has never ever wrestled a 5 star match.many are at 4 and half or so but never 5 star.i think he lacks that extra bit to have a five star match.also in my opinion none of his feuds were that memorable except against michaels which was a gr8 story as well as a gr8 guy like hbkhe was up against.

austin btw has had many 5 star matches.so imo he is better than jericho especially in big matches

also hbk imo is also a very strong actor and very charismatic too.he is often underrated in that area even though he is called the greatest in ring performer

and i think that many wrestling fans(especially smarks) are very critical of brawlers.i think its also a style of wrestling something which is hard to do.not everyone can do it.it may involve a lot of punching and kicking but its very hard to do convincingly.

hulk hogan should not be called a brawler.he is at best a disgraceful in ring performer

and last but more importaantly aaustin/rock iss the best main event in wm history and thats the bottomline coz the rattlesnake said so

I vehemently disagree. I personally feel Jericho has had a 5* match or two. His knowledge of the ins and outs of the ring, how to generate applause, heat, favor of the crowd, and overall describable as ability to simply draw raw emotion is almost unparalleled. The man is an in-ring general, and an all around genius when it comes to preforming.

His opponents over the years have also been a very good list. Stone Cold, The Rock, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, Undertaker, Eddie Guererro, John Cena, Rey Mysterio (epic feud here), RVD, Christian, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, and this is really only just scratching the surface of his WWE career. He still has all those epic contests in WCW with technical magicians like Dean Malenko. I believe he even had a couple decent showing in old old old ECW, but he didn’t stick around long.

I honestly simply cannot accept the idea that among every single one of those matches across the globe, over the span of what must be at or near twenty years, Chris Jericho has never had a five-star match.

Honestly the concept strikes me as ridiculous. You ARE welcome to your own opinion, however.

I will state this; anyone who suggests Austin and Rock were incapable of wrestling a solid technical match really needs to do their homework on both competitors. Much akin to John Cena, they both knew a lot more than they showed typically in the ring (if you rewatch Austin/Rock WM19 you’ll see Rock bust out some pretty surprising moves) as they’ve all been trained by older-school wrestlers.

Why do they do that? They follow a formula. Hogan was the same way (though I wager he knew less about how to do moves than any of the people mentioned above, he does know how to sell a wide variety of moves. He sold AJ’s pele kick beautifully, for instance) and as far as I can gather, the reason is because they sell tickets that way. They have particular moves and spots that people pop for. (Refer to Orton and his rope-DDT or his walk around stomping technique) The rest of the time they’re often selling moves of other competitors, again, to draw emotion from the fanbase watching.

Suggesting to me that Stone Cold, The Rock, John Cena, Randy Orton, and just about everyone on TV who steps between the ropes simply cannot wrestle (there ARE examples of people who can’t, mind you they’re usually pretty obvious. Rosa Mendez comes to mind, but give her props, she’s trying. She was just on tv matches WAY too soon) is generally going to get me laughing at your general opinion, even though I feel you’re entitled to it. I recall a match somewhere where Stone Cold was brawling with two technicians, or one, I can’t remember. I honestly think it was Jericho, Benoit, or The Rock. One of them were laying flat down on the ground, stone cold walked by their legs and slapped on the fastest sharpshooter I have ever seen. He just crisscrossed their legs and winded back. I was so accustomed to seeing people slap on a sharpshooter the same way as Bret I had absolutely no idea you could just sit on their ass, and wind their legs in an X and voila, instant sharpshooter.

@rattlesnake4eva

Maybe you didn’t care to watch Jericho’s feuds and matches against Rock, HHH, Mysterio or Benoit?

Austin vs Rock(Mania 17) was an amazing match but it’s very overrated! Vince’s interference ruined the match for me.

Jericho vs Michaels is what you call “perfect” booking!

I can appreciate all types of matches. I think (or it seems) most of you guys like one type or another. Some like technical mat-based matches only. Others lean towards more brawling type matches. Others like the spotfests.

I love them all and appreciate them all in their own way.

Rock/Hogan is one of my favorite matches ever. There’s nothing technical about that match, it was all about storytelling and two legends going at it, and I absolutely loved it. :P

There’s not many Hogan matches in my favorite matches ever list, but this one made it. Hogan did everything he was good at, and obviously Rock was younger and more athletic. Kinda like HBK/Hogan, but Hogan was more broken down at that point and Shawn had to do a lot more carrying than Rock did. Both Rock/Hogan were good at storytelling and drawing emotion, and the part that impressed me the most? Hogan came in heel, Rock came in face. The Canadians love Hogan, so the crowd went ballistic. To compensate, Hogan behaved more like a face, and Rock behaved more like a heel. They did precisely what the fans wanted, and it made the match better for it.

The only matches I don’t usually care for are careless spotfests you’ll find in smaller wrestling companies that promote themselves to be the best wrestling ever, which isn’t 100% false…it IS quite exciting until the injuries start piling up.

I appreciate what they do to themselves to entertain me, but the truth is I don’t WANT to see them get cut up, brains beaten out, or get hurt. Really, that’s the most you get out of hardcore/spotfest wrestling. It’s unfortunate, really. Not to say it doesn’t have its place, it does, ECW proved that. It can actually contribute to the storyline if used correctly. I just ask they take precautions when they do this stuff.

Anyone see that clip of that ex-TNA wrestler “Judas Mesias” in some other company climb a ladder in a ring, and leap off it, intending to land on a guy on a table that was on the floor. Something went wrong, can’t remember what….maybe the ladder was wobbly?….and Mesias completely missed the table and other wrestler, and just bodysplashed the floor. I don’t know how much of a drop that is, but I know he got hurt as a result of such a spot.

I honestly don’t want to see that. Really, I don’t.

@tamara
yeah please name any one 5 star match jericcho has had.his best if i recall correctly is the ladder match against benoit and his matches against michaels
and if you were reaading carefully i mentioned ausstin as being a very good wrestler.he has given maany good matches over the years.and rock improved as he went along

@warrior
yes they are good feuds but nothing special.nothing which comes close to ausstin/rock and austin/hart imo.plus mosst were sstopgap feuds.its never like jericho was the face of the company or the top heel for that matter

though i still stik to my opinion that hogaan isnt very good in the ring

@rattlesnake4eva

Jericho was the top heel during his feud with Rock.

nothing special? Really? Did you even care to watch those feuds? They were amazing!

Jericho’s 5 star matches:

vs HHH at Fully Loaded. I think their Hell In A Cell match was great as well!

vs Rock at No Mercy and Royal Rumble

vs Rey Mysterio at Bash

@warrior
his feud vs rock was a starmaking feud but where did he go after that he jobbed to hhh in an insipid main event

and all the matches mentioned above are about ****1/2 range none are five star according to john’s ratings

Moving on will be Austin/Rock and Rock/Hogan. Upset city.

Wow….I never saw this coming. Rock/Hogan wasn’t even in the tournament initially and now it makes it to the final 8

@John Canton
This is geeeeerbage!! But its the people’s voice. But Savage/Steamboat was actually my favorite in the whole bracket. *sigh*…

HBK/Jericho I feel tends to be a little overhyped, but it was a great pure wrestling match, and the match of Jericho’s career. It’s just that Austin/Rock was better. HBK/Jericho appealed largely to older, more knowledgeable fans. Austin/Rock appealed to all. As JR famously said of the match, the Austin/Rock epic was and still is “off-the-page intense”.

Savage/Steamboat and Hogan/Rock are also both overhyped to me, but I think Hogan/Rock was so much bigger. To me, Wrestlemania matches are about the moment moreso than about the workrate, and Hogan/Rock tended to have both. I don’t get the same feeling watching Steamboat taking it to Savage, even though Steamboat is one of my favorites of all time.