My Underrated WWE Matches
When I do a blistering review, such as my overrated matches blog, I try to balance it out with some positive vibes. Here's my WWE matches that don't get enough, or in some cases no, love.
Shawn Michaels vs. Vader Summerslam 1996
HBK's title reign in '96 was fantastic. Maybe not from a business standpoint, but if you look at all the big matches, it's easily one of the best ever. And since there were so many classics, it's pretty easy for some to get looked over. In my mind, it's the Summerslam match with Vader.
When you look at the Iron Man Match, the No Holds Barred vs. Diesel, and the wild brawl with Mankind at Mind Games, it's easy to see why this match gets little props. Also hurting I feel is the backstage politics involved. Allegedly Vader was slated to win the title, but Shawn threw a fit until Vince changed his mind. Compounding the nonsense, Vader messed up some spots in the match, and Shawn was visibly angry with him, or what some call "throwing a temper tantrum."
I don't speak for anyone but myself, but those factors dont' take away from the match for me. The crowd is bananas for Shawn, he and Vader gel perfectly, and you actually don't see how the underdog champion can beat the behemeth after he kicks out of Sweet Chin Music. I love this match, I wish others did too.
Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar Summerslam 2003
I mentioned this briefly in the overrated matches. I truly feel this match is superior to their Wrestlemania encounter. Heel Brock makes for so much better of a match. There is also no shooting star press's anywhere in sight, so it's all good.
Edge vs. Jeff Hardy Ladder Match Extreme Rules 2009
When you think of the ladder match, two of the first people that come to mind are "Jeff" and "Edge." What you don't think of is their one on one match in 2009. With all the previous tag matches involving the two, it dwarfs just about anything else they did in their careers - and rightfully so. However, you would be missing this bad boy.
The rivalry made sense. The match made sense. Jeff was on the biggest roll of his career, and they had a great match, with many throwback spots of the past - only with a unique twist. (There may be a pun in there.) So what happened? Jeff then went into an unbelievable feud with CM Punk immediately after this match(Jeff wins, Punk cashes in MITB). It was a great way to end Jeff's WWE career, which lead to a TLC match at Summerslam. The only problem is, as good as that feud was, and as good as the TLC match was, the ladder match with Edge was better. Had that Punk feud not happened, then we may hear more mention of this match. However, it still wouldn't achieve the notoriety of original TLC matches.
Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit Unforgiven 2002
Possibly the greatest pure wrestling feud of this generation was Angle vs. Benoit. They had fantastic matches in 2001. They had probably their best match at the Royal Rumble 2003. Which is exactly why this match is seemingly forgotten (aside from the erasing of Benoit).
No it's not as good as the RR '03 match, but I would wager that it's better than at least 2 of the 4 major 2001 encounters. Possibly even 3 of 4. I'm nit-picking here, you can truly not go wrong with Angle vs. Benoit.
Chris Benoit vs. Eddie Guerrero Armageddon 2002
Again, forgetting the erasing Benoit part, this is a great match on an otherwise crappy show. (Which was a shame, because the second half of '02 had phenomenal PPV's; minus this one.) I'm too lazy to look it up, but I'm fairly confident this is one of only two meetings of the two friends on WWE PPV. As you can assume, it was a wrestling clinic from bell to bell. This was right before the Angle vs. Benoit classic in '03, and there was a shitload of great wrestling going on at the end of '02, so this is another one that got buried in the shuffle.
Shawn Michaels vs. Vader Summerslam 1996
HBK's title reign in '96 was fantastic. Maybe not from a business standpoint, but if you look at all the big matches, it's easily one of the best ever. And since there were so many classics, it's pretty easy for some to get looked over. In my mind, it's the Summerslam match with Vader.
When you look at the Iron Man Match, the No Holds Barred vs. Diesel, and the wild brawl with Mankind at Mind Games, it's easy to see why this match gets little props. Also hurting I feel is the backstage politics involved. Allegedly Vader was slated to win the title, but Shawn threw a fit until Vince changed his mind. Compounding the nonsense, Vader messed up some spots in the match, and Shawn was visibly angry with him, or what some call "throwing a temper tantrum."
I don't speak for anyone but myself, but those factors dont' take away from the match for me. The crowd is bananas for Shawn, he and Vader gel perfectly, and you actually don't see how the underdog champion can beat the behemeth after he kicks out of Sweet Chin Music. I love this match, I wish others did too.Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar Summerslam 2003
I mentioned this briefly in the overrated matches. I truly feel this match is superior to their Wrestlemania encounter. Heel Brock makes for so much better of a match. There is also no shooting star press's anywhere in sight, so it's all good.
Edge vs. Jeff Hardy Ladder Match Extreme Rules 2009
When you think of the ladder match, two of the first people that come to mind are "Jeff" and "Edge." What you don't think of is their one on one match in 2009. With all the previous tag matches involving the two, it dwarfs just about anything else they did in their careers - and rightfully so. However, you would be missing this bad boy.The rivalry made sense. The match made sense. Jeff was on the biggest roll of his career, and they had a great match, with many throwback spots of the past - only with a unique twist. (There may be a pun in there.) So what happened? Jeff then went into an unbelievable feud with CM Punk immediately after this match(Jeff wins, Punk cashes in MITB). It was a great way to end Jeff's WWE career, which lead to a TLC match at Summerslam. The only problem is, as good as that feud was, and as good as the TLC match was, the ladder match with Edge was better. Had that Punk feud not happened, then we may hear more mention of this match. However, it still wouldn't achieve the notoriety of original TLC matches.
Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit Unforgiven 2002
Possibly the greatest pure wrestling feud of this generation was Angle vs. Benoit. They had fantastic matches in 2001. They had probably their best match at the Royal Rumble 2003. Which is exactly why this match is seemingly forgotten (aside from the erasing of Benoit). No it's not as good as the RR '03 match, but I would wager that it's better than at least 2 of the 4 major 2001 encounters. Possibly even 3 of 4. I'm nit-picking here, you can truly not go wrong with Angle vs. Benoit.
Chris Benoit vs. Eddie Guerrero Armageddon 2002Again, forgetting the erasing Benoit part, this is a great match on an otherwise crappy show. (Which was a shame, because the second half of '02 had phenomenal PPV's; minus this one.) I'm too lazy to look it up, but I'm fairly confident this is one of only two meetings of the two friends on WWE PPV. As you can assume, it was a wrestling clinic from bell to bell. This was right before the Angle vs. Benoit classic in '03, and there was a shitload of great wrestling going on at the end of '02, so this is another one that got buried in the shuffle.
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